“So, how was your first day?” Jeanne asked.

  “It’s... alright, I guess?” said the thin, pale girl sitting across the table. She was wearing the same dress Viktor had seen the other day, as the Guild hadn’t issued her a uniform yet, probably because they didn’t have any avaible for someone with such a small body frame. She hesitated for a moment, her fingers tracing the edge of the table, before looking up with a small smile. “I just hope I didn’t mess anything up or cause problems for anyone.”

  “Don’t worry, Rhea,” Cire said, leaning on one elbow as she took a sip from her mug of ale. “For someone on her first day on the job, you’ve done well. It could be overwhelming at first, but you’ll be fine.” She lifted her mug high, and everyone else followed suit. “Welcome to the Adventurer’s Guild!”

  The thin girl’s pale cheeks turned pink. “Thank you,” she murmured, raising her apple juice to join the toast.

  “Too bad the dungeon might get sold tomorrow,” Lucian said, stirring idly at his bowl of stew. “So you might lose your job right after you get it—Ouch!”

  The young mage winced, jerking his leg. He turned to Fiora, who was gring at him. “Don’t talk like that!” She scowled at him. “Nothing’s decided yet. And even if it does get sold, that doesn’t mean the Guild will shut down overnight.”

  “But if there’s no dungeon, most adventurers will leave.” Lucian grimaced, rubbing his leg. “If they leave, the Guild won’t need to hire more staff. And if it doesn’t need more staff...”

  “Shut up! Or I’ll kick you again.”

  “Now, now, you two,” Cedric interjected. He then gnced at Rhea, who was looking down, her fingers tightening around her mug. “Don’t worry, Guildmaster Gideon will take care of it. He’ll convince the townspeople not to sell the dungeon.”

  “Exactly,” came a voice from behind.

  Viktor turned and found a woman with a serene aura. Her dark brown hair was braided and pulled back into a bun, though some stray strands still fell around her face. Behind the round gsses sitting on the bridge of her nose were a pair of eyes that carried the weariness of someone who had seen many years pass. Yet, he could sense a spark of fire still lingering somewhere within them.

  “Chief Secretary!” Cire called out.

  Ah, this was Calyssa, the woman he had seen at Gideon’s meeting with the Overseer and the Mayor, though back then she had barely made an impression. The Guildmaster’s presence had been so overwhelming that anyone sitting next to him might as well have been invisible. Now, however, she looked like someone who could carry the weight of authority in her own right. Rhea, who sat across from him, flinched. The girl’s face had gone from nervous to full-blown panic as she saw one of the Guild’s higher-ups standing at her table.

  “Rex,” the woman said softly, smiling at the girl as she pced a gentle hand on her shoulder. “I just want to make sure you’re doing alright.”

  “I... I’m fine. Cire has helped me a lot.”

  “Good. Just observe and learn from her. She is one of the best employees of the Guild, after all.”

  Viktor arched an eyebrow. “One of the best?”

  Calyssa turned to him. “You’re Cire’s brother, right?” He nodded. “Yes, that’s right. Your sister is the Guild’s best asset right now. Even though she’s still a receptionist, she’s been doing the work of a Junior Secretary, or even more. You could say she’s been handling the work of at least three people at once.”

  He grinned. “I take that to mean her sary is triple now as well, right?”

  A dry chuckle escaped the woman. “Well, we’ll do our best to make up for her hard work, but the budget’s a bit tight right now. So please, bear with us,” she said, giving an apologetic gnce toward Cire.

  “It’s fine, Chief Secretary. I understand,” said the receptionist.

  Such things were to be expected in a small Guild of a small town. Resources were limited, so they had to do more with less. Calyssa herself had also assumed the responsibilities of Vice-Guildmaster, since the position had been vacant. The discovery of the dungeon had briefly given the Guild a glimmer of hope, but then the problem with Clovis arose. Gideon was now probably scrambling for any money he could find to battle Rennald’s influence, but that was a fight he was never going to win.

  “Chief Secretary,” Lucian said. “The Guildmaster’s supposed to have a debate with the Overseer tomorrow morning, right?”

  The bespectacled woman nodded. “Yes, it’ll take pce in front of the whole town.”

  That was the st card Gideon had in his hand. The man was known for his charisma, and he was ready to use it. So he proposed that he and Rennald have a debate right before the voting began. It would be his final chance to sway the crowd.

  Lucian frowned. “If that’s the case... should he really be drinking that much tonight?”

  Everyone’s eyes followed his gaze to the center of the mess hall, where the big man himself stood. The tankard in the Guildmaster’s hand was a beast of a mug, probably three or four times the size of those used by everyone else. He brought it to his lips and took a long gulp, his throat bobbing with each swallow. Once he finished, he turned it upside down to show that not a single drop was left, and the crowd roared with cheers.

  “Don’t worry,” Calyssa said, smiling at Lucian. “No matter how much he drinks tonight, he’ll be the first to wake up tomorrow. He’s never had a hangover, not even once.”

  “Not even once?”

  “Not even once.”

  “It seems you’ve known him for quite a while,” said Cedric.

  “Well, yes. I might not look it, but I was once an adventurer myself. Gideon and I were in the same party. When we first met, he was already an accomplished man, while I was just a young, na?ve girl. He took me in and mentored me. So when he retired to become a Guildmaster, I decided to follow him here as well.”

  It was clear that Calyssa admired the man, and she was not alone in this. Looking at the adventurers flocking around Gideon, cpping him on the back, ughing with him like old friends, Viktor could tell that they loved him. That was why they believed in his victory. To them, he was the man who could fix everything, the man who could make it right, the man who could turn the tide at the st minute with the sheer force of his personality.

  Viktor, however, did not share such optimism.

  The very fact that Rennald easily agreed with Gideon’s suggestion was enough to show how much the shrewd Overseer considered it a threat to his pn. So no, Viktor was not going to bet on Gideon. He could not, and would not, leave the matter in the hands of someone else. He was going to handle it personally.

  “I’m going to get more juice,” he said, getting to his feet with the empty mug in hand.

  Jeanne grinned. “You should try some ale.”

  “No,” Cire said firmly. “He’s too young for that.”

  Don’t worry, “sister.” I have no interest in alcohol.

  Viktor never drank. Not now, not in his past life, not even back when he was an adult. First of all, he disliked the taste. They said it was an acquired taste, and he had never “acquired” that taste. But more importantly, being drunk made a person vulnerable. He had never understood why someone would choose to voluntarily put themselves in such a state.

  He moved to the row of massive oak barrels next to the wall, the cloying sweetness of fruit and alcohol washing over him as he came closer. Tonight, the Guild was offering free drinks of all kinds for everyone. Gideon said it was to boost morale, but he suspected this was also a small bribe to influence the vote tomorrow. Though compared to the sheer volume of coin Rennald had been throwing around, this seemed almost pathetic.

  He filled his mug with apple juice from one of the barrels. When he turned around, he found Rhea approaching. Did she want to refill as well? He stepped to the side to make way for her, but instead of walking past, she veered toward him.

  “Hi, Quinn,” she said with a small smile.

  “Yes?”

  “It’s hard to talk about it with everyone around,” Rhea said, gncing back at the table. “So I waited for a chance to talk with you alone.” She paused. “Well, I just want to say thank you.”

  “For what?” Viktor asked, recalling what happened the other day. “All I did was stay in your house while you were away.”

  “You saved Alycia’s life.”

  Viktor was taken aback. “I... I didn’t do anything.”

  “Oh yes, she told you to keep it a secret.” Rhea leaned closer to him, whispering. “You don’t have to worry about that anymore. She’s told me everything.”

  “She did?”

  The girl nodded. “She tried to hide it, of course. But when I noticed the wound on her wrist, I kept pressing her about it. Eventually, she spilled the whole story.”

  “For the wound, I’ll manage,” that woman had told him. Manage my ass.

  Viktor frowned. “So all the effort I’ve put into cleaning up her mess is for nothing?”

  Not really, though. He did all of that in exchange for Blondi—no, Alycia teaching him about her gadgets. Even though the secret was out now, she still had to keep her word. If she didn’t hold up her end of the deal, he would make her taste the needle he had in his pocket right now.

  “It’s not for nothing,” Rhea said. “She’s grateful for everything you’ve done for her.”

  “She told you that?” Viktor asked, raising an eyebrow. He found what the girl had said unbelievable. After all, he spped Alycia twice and threw many hurtful words at her. Why should that woman be grateful to him?

  “Well, no. Not directly. But I could feel it from the way she spoke.”

  You can feel it, huh? How reliable. “So, how is she now?”

  “Better, I think. At the very least, she talks to me now. She used to stay silent for whole days before, so this is a huge improvement.”

  “I see,” Viktor said, taking a sip from his mug. “She’s at home alone now? Is that alright with you?”

  The girl hesitated for a moment. “Well, I was worried at first,” she admitted. “But she told me that she would be fine. She just wanted a little more time to sort through her feelings before facing everyone. I thought it was best to let her go at her own pace instead of pushing my own wishes on her, so I agreed.”

  Let’s hope Rhea was right and she wouldn’t come back home tonight only to find a corpse. Oh well, what could he do about it? He had his own murder pn to carry out, so it wasn’t the time to worry about someone else’s potential suicide.

  There was a loud thud.

  Viktor and Rhea turned at the same time, eyes snapping toward the center of the hall. Gideon had finally reached the end of his performance, his massive frame sprawling out on the wooden floor as he succumbed to the effects of alcohol. Calyssa rushed to him. She gestured to three of the rger adventurers nearby, and they quickly joined her. Together, they heaved the drunken man to his feet and carried him toward the door.

  Then came the ctter. Sharp, metallic. Something had slipped from Gideon’s pocket, bouncing across the floor.

  “Someone pick that up for me,” said Calyssa.

  “Let me!” Viktor shouted. He shoved his drink into Rhea’s hands before she could say a word and bolted toward the fallen object. He knocked into a nearby table, sending it wobbling and making a mug tip over, its contents spshed across the surface. “Sorry!” He tossed a quick apology at the cursing adventurers.

  But he didn’t slow down in the slightest. His focus remained forward.