Sheveret Troop Encampment, Fander Field

"Morning, A-Silver," Windy greets me upon logging in, "Jupiter logged out not too long ago, said he'd be back in an hour."

Yawning, I sit up on my bedroll, "Mention why?"

"Just that his Capsule was getting pinged from reality, so whoever he lives with wanted something, I guess," she throws her hands up in askance.

"Well, hopefully he doesn't take too long, we've got work to do, and losing our best source of aoe damage will complicate matters," I glance around as Jade's Vessel stirs, "Where's Angelus?"

"Went for a walk," Windy informs me, "Oughtta be back soon."

Slowly getting to my feet, I stretch away the stiffness, "Jade, could you go take a look around the camp for him and make sure he doesn't run into any trouble?"

"Hey Win, and yeah sure I'll go babysit Chickenfeet," A languid Jade agrees, blinking blearily then wincing when she tries to stand, "Ow, sore. I hate camping out."

"Consequences of cheap accommodations," I roll my head around to get a kink out of my neck, "We'll have access to proper beds again after the Siege is over."

"Looking forward to it," Jade successfully stands, scratching the back of her head and yawning luxuriously, "Feels like I've barely slept at all."

It occurs to me that I don't know if we're still going to be allowed to use The Golem's secret room when all is said and done or if we're going to be kicked out and made to find other accommodations. I'll have to ask Lifk about it if he's still alive - odds are he's hiding down there himself, come to think of it.

"I've a few things to take care of before we set off into the city anyway, so this works out fairly well," I muse.

"What're you doing?" Jade questions, performing some perfunctory stretches of her own.

"I've a meeting set up with a team that's been farming the first boss of Miner's Nightmare religiously to Identify all their drops for them, for starters," I reveal, "Which will give us a hefty chunk of change to soften the imminent loss of 50 Stone Gold if we can come to some good terms."

"Setting up more connections?" Windy guesses.

"That too. Mostly I just want any money and Terrorstone I can squeeze out of them," I shrug, "The other thing I need to do is get a helping pair of claws for the minibosses."

"Oh? A new Guild member?" Windy looks interested.

I deny it, "No. One of the minibosses we're going to be going up against, The Scavenger, is a pain in the ass for our team composition with three ranged builds. We need melee damage to clean up the adds so I asked if Miss Leovoldt had completed her First Step and wanted to pitch in."

"The lion girl from Wolf Hunt?" Jade recalls, "Not that assassin chick from Rambling Rose?"

"Conflict of interest there, unfortunately," I frown, "Hadrian King has decided that I'm his rival or something, so we can't expect to get any help from Rambling Rose again. Olrica is being kept on a short leash at the moment as such."

"So, what's the deal with the miniboss?" she follows up.

"I'll talk about it in detail when we're all together, but as I said, we need melee to deal with the adds. They're almost entirely immune to ranged damage sources of your calibre," I explain shortly, "And they will kill us if they're not managed."

"Sensing a running theme here," Windy snarks.

"Yeah, well, all these things are from the same 'family' more or less," I grunt, "I guess it's just Arevas's style. Or a habit gained from being imprisoned and forced to work through a proxy for millennia, who can say? We're getting distracted though; Meet back here when you've gotten Angelus and don't go anywhere."

"Uh-huh," Jade takes the hint, "I'll go first then. Any idea where he's gone?"

Windy thinks about it, "I think he went to the north to check out the situation at the barricade."

"Gotcha," Jade raises a finger and points in the rough direction of the gatehouse, "Thattaway."

The Harrier leaves with a wave, and Windy looks expectantly at me, awaiting orders of her own.

"Would you come with me? Unlikely that anyone will try to start something, but just in case," I request, rather than order.

Windy nods, "Sure thing, boss. Where to first?"

"We'll stop by Wolf Hunt's tents to pick up Miss Leovoldt first," I decide, "Then negotiate with Holy Spring Orchard after."

We set off, "That the name of the team?"

"Yes," I confirm, "They're camped on the southwest end of the encampment. We're meeting them there."

"Alright. How are you holding up, y'know, in reality?" Windy expresses concern.

"As well as can be, considering," I sigh, "If there's a silver lining, it's that Jade has been less bratty because of it."

She laughs, "Yeah, she's a mother hen, through and through. Told you she didn't hate you."

"You'll forgive me if I don't entirely believe you," I roll my eyes, "It comes off less as concern for me because she cares and more because she doesn't want to deal with the consequences should something go wrong."

"That'll be part of it, but trust me, she's not that callous," Windy smiles encouragingly, "Besides, what happened to talking through her problems with you?"

"Saving it for after the Guild is established," I avoid her gaze, "I've not forgotten, just been prioritising since she's been content to work with minimal complaining recently. I'll bring it up before she signs the contracts."

"You're totally procrastinating, boss," Windy voices her disapproval, "And you know it."

I sigh, "A little, perhaps. It is as I said, however, I've not forgotten."

"I'll be nagging you until you do," she warns, "No joke."

"Feel free," We round a corner and past a huddled group of Newborn, "I encourage it, in fact."

That takes her off balance, "You do?"

"Yes," I affirm, "I'd planned to bring it up later, but I might as well ask now."

"Ask..what?" Windy questions, suddenly anxious.

"Whether you'd be interested in taking on the position of Vice-Guild Leader in Truthseekers for the duration of your Contract or not," I smile at her.

Shocked, Windy blinks twice rapidly, "R-really? Huh."

"Yes," I reiterate, "If you want to know why it's simple enough. You're smart, reasonably mature and you've shown more trust and investment in this whole endeavour than anyone else on the team. Angelus might meet the first two conditions, as an aside, but he's...not quite there on the rest. Put another way, I simply trust you more, not to make that an indictment against his character. As for Jade and Jupiter, I don't think I really need to justify myself where they're concerned."

"I...see," Windy mumbles, almost bumping into an NPC passing by, lost in thought.

After a minute she speaks up, "What exactly, would that entail?"

"About what you'd expect from context alone. You'd be trusted to operate the Guild and make decisions in my stead when I'm either unavailable or busy with more important matters. Not that you'd be bogged down with paperwork, exactly, neither of us are particularly qualified as administrators, but you get the idea."

"That's a lot of trust and responsibility you're asking me to take up," Windy pulls a face, hesitant.

"It is, but I wouldn't ask if I didn't have faith in you," I pat her shoulder encouragingly, "What do you say?"

She breathes deeply, gazing up at the clear sky, "Sure. Why not?"

"The aforementioned burden of responsibility," I joke.

Windy giggles, "Yeah, that. What kinda privileges does this get me besides bossing more people around?"

I half-shrug, "Your access to Guild resources will be second only to me for as long as you hold the position. Exactly what else that entails depends on what happens in the future, but in the event we expand and open a branch farther afield in a different territory, you'd likely be the person in charge of managing it as a second Guildmaster in a way."

"I see," Windy mumbles, going silent for a while.

---

 

We arrive at Wolf Hunt's campsite in short order, which is to say, the two adjacent tents that Wolf Hunt is using as their temporary base of operations. Mr Fathom appears to be absent today, though a pair of Officers are around, engaging other members in conversation as they lack anything more productive to do. Barricade duty is being undertaken by the local teams in shifts, a compromise following Hadrian's failed attempt to rally them all under his banner like he did in the original timeline. His influence over the locals is still too weak, particularly compared to me.

"I don't see her around," Windy glances at me.

"Neither do I," I frown, clearly remembering mentioning that I'd meet her here a little before noon, "Try asking the group over there, I'll take a look around."

"Understood, boss," Windy approaches the Wolf Hunt members, while I stroll between the tents to check the other side.

Happily, Miss Leovoldt is performing some martial arts drills on a patch of flatter grassland, exhibiting expert form and fluid movement. My knowledge of hand-to-hand combat is fairly limited, so I'm not able to instantly identify whatever it is she's a practitioner of, but speaking as an experienced fighter, I can say that she's definitely skilled with it, though by no means a prodigy.

She notices me, but doesn't acknowledge my presence, continuing through the motions to their conclusion as Windy quietly joins me in spectating. After a few minutes, Miss Leovoldt relaxes into a perfectly straight posture then bows her head slightly to an imagined teacher, breathing a little hard.

"Hey," She greets, smiling and waving, "Sorry if it felt like I was ignoring you."

"I don't think we mind," I glance to Windy who shakes her head, "What were you practicing, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Muay Thai mostly," Miss Leovoldt chuckles, a little embarrassed,  "I work at an MMA gym so..."

"I assume that's what informed your decision to become a Ravager," I come to an understanding of her general demeanour.

"Yeah, hand-to-hand, that's me," she smiles, "Still need to get some proper weapons to go with it though. Turns out I can't just freehand it entirely."

"So, like, boxing gloves or something?" Windy tilts her head.

"Not quite," I shake my head, "Ravagers use a mix of claws, kicks and punches, but they need special gauntlets or claws. That, or a Skill that lets them treat their foot and hand armour as weapons."

"There's a Skill for that?" Miss Leovoldt blinks, making me realise I might have said a little too much. Too late to retract that now.

"Yes, it's a shared Skill with other hand-to-hand Classes though I don't know where you'd get it from," That much is true at least, though if I had to guess, you need to badger an NPC to sell you a Skill Gem with it.

Her eyes sparkle, "I'll have to look into it, is it any good?"

"Not as good as an actual weapon, I don't think? I honestly don't know the details," I raise my hands in apology, "In any case, are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, whenever you are," She smiles and gestures for us to lead the way.

"We'll be making a couple stops before we meet up with the rest of the team, if that's alright with you?" I query out of politeness, intending to do it myself regardless of her answer.

"Sure, I don't mind. I've got time to kill," Miss Leovoldt smiles, "And in time we'll kill~"

Windy snorts a laugh, "That sucked."

The smile widens to a grin, "That was the plan."

"So, what kind of stuff did you get for your new Class?"

"Punch gooder, magic claws and not dying," Miss Leovoldt summarises, "Also, I do more damage when I land more hits."

"Furious Flurry," I distantly recall, "Stacking damage buff per instance of damage dealt with hand-to-hand strikes."

"Yep. How'd you know?" she quirks an eyebrow, tail swishing.

"Just do," I shrug her off, "The why's and wherefore's are private."

"Which is fancy talk for he's got beta tester knowledge," Windy helpfully covers my ass. Yeah, the excuse is starting to wear pretty thin, but I've yet to actually confirm it I believe, so I'm just gonna keep riding it into the ground for as long as people keep assuming such.

"I see," Miss Leovoldt muses, her nose wrinkling from the acrid stench of an active coal forge.

We arrive at the queue for repairs where Henna is working with the Sheveret Troop's Armourer. Since we're close by, I figure I should stop in to get my gear repaired and check in on her. I'm not eager to take her into the city with me, but I don't want Henna to feel neglected or ignored, so I might consider it since the lesser minions aren't all that dangerous if she asks. At the very least, allowing her to be present for the confrontation with Geronil goes without saying. She deserves that much.

"Thought you'd repaired your stuff already," Windy questions, eyeing the half dozen people with trepidation.

"No, I logged off as soon as I finished erecting our tent," I join the back of the line, "Not that it ended up making much difference to the amount of sleep I got, but it was the thought that counted. If you want, you can go back to our tent with Windy, Miss Leovoldt."

The lion woman spreads her arms in a magnanimous gesture, "I already left you hanging around, I can manage a queue. Also, just call me Ingrid, you sound like some of my students."

"Super formal?" Windy queries, receiving a nod, "He's like this all the time, you'll get used to it."

I feel strangely maligned for having good manners.