Arono slowly came to, feeling dizzy, his thoughts unfocused. He looked around, feeling a foul taste on his tongue, unsure of where he was for a moment. Slowly, the memories trickled back to the elf as he raised himself from the muck of the bog. He was caked in mud and gods knew what else. He felt woozy, and his surroundings seemed to spin. It took him a while, especially slipping in the bog, but eventually Arono was walking more confidently.

"Popalo?" Arono croaked out, his throat dry and raspy. He looked around for several moments before finding the donkey sullenly standing underneath a tree.

"There you are," Arono rasped as he approached his mount. "We must make haste. The fair maiden awaits our rescue."

Popalo snorted and moved back a bit from Arono. The elf looked at the now nervous donkey, having never seen that reaction before.

"Stop this foolishness, Popalo, we have a quest to complete." Arono reached for the reins. Popalo snorted again, letting out a bray, and jerked his head back. His nostrils flared the entire time. After several attempts, Arono was able to grab ahold of the reins. He soothingly started to stroke Popalo's neck, helping the donkey to calm down.

"I think perhaps we should go back to the fork and take the other path," Arono said, keeping his voice level. He frowned at the taste still present on his tongue. It was a foul and bitter taste, and the smell coming from his mouth wafted up to his nose.

"And along the way, I think I'll give my teeth a good brushing. I hope I remembered to pack some mouthwash," Arono said as he started to lead Popalo away from the bog and back to the road. Popalo was still nervous, smelling a scent that he didn't like. His eyes traced over to a flash of skin from Arono's wrist, where there was a series of black runes. They seemed to shift very slightly, formed a moving chain along the elf's arteries, starting from two puncture wounds. Not that Popalo could understand the significance of this or even convey this discovery to Arono.

Meanwhile...

"Okay," Daso said as he examined the slightly translucent glowing red screen being projected from the hovering green crystal just below him. After the last attack by the bandits, once Daso had assured everyone that the tentacled monstrosities were all truly dead, the reconstruction had resumed at a much more rapid pace. Daso of course finished installing the security system and was currently doing a systems check. "Everything looks good so far."

"Miss Daso," said the translucent black and white image of Holst Gwentin, which was being projected by a hovering blue metallic sphere, "I cannot begin to express my gratitude. I only contracted you to construct the fort's new security system during construction, not to assist in driving off those dangerous bandits. Yet General Hectalo has informed me that you were instrumental in their defeat!"

"Apparent defeat, sir," Daso said as he swiped up on his own holographic screen to check a few more readouts. "I prefer to err on the side of caution, so I'm adding a few additional security measures that are being incorporated into the restoration. I won't be charging you extra for them, by the way."

"Yet something else that sets you apart from the Thaumaturgists' Guild! Any change to a project not already covered in the contract, whether those changes were asked for or not, incurs a small fortune in additional fees," Holst said.

"I'm aware of their practices," Daso said with a grunt while closing out the screen, making it disappear and the crystal to shoot back into his palm, then put it in his pocket. "They like to gut as much gold out of their clients as possible, taking any opportunity to do it."

"Well said," Holst said with a laugh. Daso got the impression that it had been a while since the man had had a reason to laugh. "Well, Miss Daso, I for one am more than satisfied with your work, and I will absolutely be recommending your services to all of my friends and associates."

"Thank you, sir," Daso said with a smile, "that means a lot to me."

Holst smiled brightly before clearing his throat. "So it's looking like the restoration of the fort is coming along smoothly now; how much longer do you estimate it will take before the security system will be fully operational?"

"My best estimate will be in about two more days, maybe three," Daso said.

"Amazing, I would still be waiting on the guild to send a team out!" Holst said before looking to the side, his brow furrowing. "I'm afraid that I must go and attend to other matters, but thank you once again, Miss Daso."

"It's no problem on my part, sir." Daso said, earning a bow from the projection before it flickered out of existence. The sphere started to make a series of clicking noises before it floated up over the walls and zipped away.

Daso looked around, noting all the construction that was well underway. The hastily built scaffolding had been replaced with newer, much more sturdy and safe scaffolding. The construction crew were diligently at work on the walls of the fort. Most, despite the fort's dilapidation, were still in great shape. However there were a few places where the walls needed to be knocked down and replaced. All along the top of the walls and patrolling the outer perimeter were the mercenaries. General Hectalo and his soldiers were in high spirits, which were also felt by the construction crew, even if a few of the latter were still grumbling about Daso punching out Lurksi.

Daso walked along, doing his own rounds. His first stop was one of the walls that had been knocked down and was being rebuilt. The crewmen gave him a wide berth, which he didn't mind, as he pulled out his green crystal. He opened up the readouts from before and started to look around at different points along where the wall, which was already half-way built, was going to be. He tapped away at the screen for a few moments before seeming satisfied. He gave a nod to the workers and wordlessly left, making a mental note to give the system one final stress test once everything was all set back up. He eyed the various pieces of construction equipment that they were using and started to think up ways that the designs could be improved upon.

He was almost to his second point of interest when he spotted a certain kymanian approaching.

"What's the news, Zed?" Daso asked. Due to the misgivings that the other crew members apparently felt towards him, Zed had become more of a liaison between Daso and the crew.

"Well, the ridgell is currently working at 85% efficiency, but I know for a fact that it's over thirty years old, so that makes it rather impressive."

Daso nodded and turned to look at the obsolete piece of machinery. Ridgells were originally built for constructing cobblestone roads. But, after some design tweaks, it was found that they could have other construction applications. The ridgell's body vaguely resembled a box-like tarantula. One of the workers was standing on top, working various levers and buttons. He was wearing a hard hat and standing in the center of a ring of safety rails. The ridgell was painted a loud yellow, with the paint chipped and the steel underneath showing all over.

Behind it was a large, mostly yellow cube that would periodically open. Several workers started to feed the large bricks into the opened cube, while others carefully poured in the mixture to be used as mortar. This was processed internally before coming out of the "mouth" where four metallic arms where rapidly constructing the wall. Eight metallic legs were constantly moving back and forth along the wall, slowly beginning to rise as Daso and Zed watched. It chugged along, belching out red smoke from its tailpipe.

There were a series of dials along the left rear side of the body where one of the workers was keeping a watch on the readouts.

"Good gods, Zed, you weren't joking about that thing being over thirty years old," Daso said after looking at it. "That there's a friggin' Besa9 model, it's practically an antique!"

"I'm aware, kiji, but it's all the company has to work with. It's just cheaper to find new parts and... ahem... make them work than it would be to replace the entire thing," Zed said, rubbing the back of his shaved head.

"I think I see what you mean. I'm pretty sure that I spotted a few parts that came from other models... damn. I wonder what they're going to do when it finally breaks down for good?"

"It is no longer my problem, kiji," Zed said with a shrug before turning back to face Daso. "As of this morning, my services with the company will no longer be required."

"Oh damn," Daso said with a smirk, "I guess that it's a good thing that you were already looking for employment elsewhere. Because I'm pretty sure you nailed that interview."

Zed threw back his head and laughed. "I think that I shall enjoy being your assistant."

"At least until you finish your training. Then you can help me tackle the list of orders properly."

"I look forward to it, kiji," Zed said. Just then, there was a shout, and the two turned to see one of the elven mercenaries running towards them.

"You're needed at the front gate, Miss Daso," the soldier said, "there's an elf here who is demanding to see you."

Daso's brow furrowed as he nodded to the soldier and started to make his way towards the front gate.

"That idiot is in for a world of hurt when I get my hands on him," Daso grumbled under his breath, which Zed, who had fallen into step beside him, picked up on.

Daso was grateful that there was indeed a half full dumpster near the front gate as he strode up to Hectalo himself.

"General," Daso greeted respectfully, "I would like to apologize in advance."

"What for?" the older elf asked, looking a little confused.

"Because I have a pretty good idea who this visitor is," Daso replied, earning him a chuckle from the general as he regarded the maiden before him. While the armed sentries looked on, Hectalo led Daso and Zed over to where the new arrival waited. Daso froze in his tracks as he looked upon Tietro, who smiled at the sight of Daso. Daso unclenched his fist and blushed before returning the smile and quickly making his way over to the elven guard, who was still wearing his red uniform.

"Hello there, Tietro," Daso said.

"Miss Daso, I am glad to see that you are safe." Daso was unsure just why he felt that warm feeling upon hearing that, but he attributed it to something he had eaten earlier.

"That I am," Daso said.

"Then am I correct in assuming that I have arrived before my wayward cousin? I was hoping to have arrived before the bandits would have made their attack... but from the bodies I saw as I rode up, I find that I was not."

"Yeah, they tried to take back the fort, but they were driven off, and I don't think that they'll be coming back anytime soo--" Daso suddenly stopped, his eyes narrowing.

"Wait a minute, is Arono on his way here?" he asked.

Tietro sighed and nodded. "Yes, it is my belief that he was coming to be your valiant savior and to sweep you off your feet."

The nearby mercenaries, Hectalo, and Zed, all looked amused upon hearing this. "That idiot comes into my shop regularly, and bugs the hell outta me practically on a daily basis. But this... does he not understand how unprofessional he's going to make me look?!" Daso was livid.

"I would like to apologize on his behalf, again, Miss Daso," Tietro said, shuffling his feet while looking uncomfortable. "I've had to deal with similar complaints from various women throughout the years. But the thing is... he left before me, and I haven't met him out on the road... so I've become rather worried that he may have gotten himself into something unsavory."

"I caught him watching my shop a few times through a set of binoculars while I was away, after coming home of course. The idiot's probably around here somewhere," Daso said with a frustrated sigh.

"And that's what worries me. He'll probably try to interfere with the bandits when they attempt another assault, but he won't be behind the relative safety of these walls, or what I'm sure are your impressive additions to them."

Daso smiled along with the rest of the mercenaries before looking back at the slightly confused elf. "Oh, they're not going to be coming back."

Elsewhere...

Arono bounced along, opening his eyes and blearily looking around. He wasn't sure when he had fallen asleep, but he smiled as he saw that he and Popalo were approaching a massive set of walls and a gate.

"Well, Popalo, it would seem that despite your penchant for getting us lost, I have managed to lead us back to our original destination." Arono looked at the walls, but then pitched forward, feeling woozy. He noticed Popalo coming to a stop and heard the approaching footsteps of one of the mercenaries.

"Hopefully I shall be able to get a proper bath in first and change into my afternoon outfit before the fair Lady Daso lays her eyes upon me. But if not, I'm certain that she won't take much notice of my being a tad unkempt from our heroic and epic journey," he mumbled to Popalo just as he sat up to face the guard.

"You look like you fell into a bog," said the dwarf guard who was looking up at the mud-caked elf. Arono looked down at the dwarf in the red uniform standing beside him.

"Gunna need to see some identification sir, oh, and Welcome to the City of Pharanx."

"Wait... I'm back at Pharanx?" Arono asked as the world began to spin. He felt lightheaded and let out a laugh before he fell over in his saddle, having passed out. Popalo let out a bray while the guards looked from one to another in confusion.

Meanwhile...

Soaria let out a huff of annoyance as she tried the entrance of Daso's shop. She had been hoping that Daso would have returned already, but that was apparently not the case. With a sigh, the little oshel started to trek her way back to school. She knew that she was going to get a lecture about going out on her own again in her near future.

At least if Miss Daso was home that would have made it worth it, Soaria thought to herself. Living at the shelter, she had started to come out of her shell quite a bit, but much to the exasperation of her teachers and the other adults there, she, much like most young oshel, had a tendency to wander off places, usually when she was daydreaming. If it wasn't for the large number of young oshel for the caretakers to look after, it would be easier for them to keep track of the little ones. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.

Taking the shortcuts that she was becoming very familiar with, Soaria soon saw the oshel shelter, along with the attached school, come into view. And standing right out front, with her arms crossed, wearing a flowing crisp white and blue dress, was Mrs. Hanni, the adult oshel looking both annoyed and worried. Her tail was twisting itself behind her, back and forth.

Uh-oh, Soaria thought to herself. She ducked behind a parked cart, and very stealthily started to make her way around to the rear entrance.

"Soaria! You come right here this instant, young lady!" Soaria's shoulders and tail slumped at the stern voice of Mrs. Hanni.

How does she always know? Soaria stood up and trudged her way to the older oshel. Mrs. Hanni stared down at Soaria before bending down and wrapping her arms around the younger oshel.

"You cannot simply run around on your own unsupervised, Soaria," Mrs. Hanni said gently, taking Soaria's right paw in her left, after releasing her from the hug, and led her towards the entrance. Soaria's tail started to tuck itself between her legs as the lecture was starting once again.