Tarphus entered the Guildhall, his troops were tasked with finding a place to stay and taking care of the wagons. Tarphus took the goblin's captives to the guild master's quarters, his face grim as he was worried about being out of line.

Tarphus stopped in front of the large double doors of the Guild Master's office. Sweat trickled down his back. He turned towards the survivors and told them to stay there so that Tarphus could read the room before introducing them.

The survivors nodded without comment. He did not want nor need their verbal confirmation as that would only be a delay tactic from his upcoming trial. He took a deep, worthless breath and knocked on the large, solid doors.

Now he had not done anything wrong; per se, however, he did not return from what was essentially milk run after three days. With this at the forefront of his mind Tarphus and was the source of his worry. 

Tarphus felt like a child in front of Werthine as he had helped his father raise Tarphus after his mother became ill. This caused no small amount of frustration to Tarphus as legally he was an adult, but he could put himself in the shoes of Werthine.

A cold presence came forth from the other side of the door. "Enter." Tarphus shuddered as he heard the familiar voice, but it was the killing intent behind it that sent chills down his spine. He opened the door, head lowered.

He could feel the glare that was centered on him. The deep voice boomed. "Boy, ye had no idea how much ye are grounded." There was a pause, and tarphus felt the killing intent receded. "I had given ye an' yer troops one quest.

I had ye gain one goblin eradication quest. It should have at most taken five hours for your team to go through a single nest, and yet you arrive here five an a half days later with several severe wounds."

At this time, Tarphus heard the chair groaning, getting pushed back. He dared not look up as he listened to the stomping footfalls storming towards him. Werthine was in front of Tarphus in mere seconds, but to Tarphus, it felt like hours, even days.

However, he stayed there rooted to the floor even as the booted feet of Werthine came into his view. "Look into me eyes when I talk to ye." Tarphus slowly looked upwards until he saw the sore red eyes.

He then felt pain lace itself into his right cheek with such force that he was sent flying to the side of the room. He felt the sting and reached for his check that had already started to swell. He looked up to Werthine.

The dwarf looked furious. "I thought ye were dead! Now ye had best explain why it took ye an yer crew days ta kill a single nest!" Werthine looked down at the small figure, rage dimming slightly as he then looked at his hand.

Tarphus tried to move his mouth, but fear kept it wired shut. Werthine never hit Tarphus ever, even when Tarphus was a brat. Upon seeing the terror on the face of his nephew, Werthine then sighed. It seemed he was too worked up.

Werthine then sat behind his desk and ordered some tea for the two of them. Even though he hated tea Werthine felt he needed to calm the boy down. After a few minutes, he finally got the boy to talk and rage-filled him once more. 

However, his ire was soon directed at a different source. The clerk who gave so much work to the young boy before him. He then sighed loudly, "I apologize for attacking you, boy. It seems that I was miss informed. Therefore you are entitled to the rewards. Give me the ledger and come back tomorrow."

Upon saying this, Werthine then picked up a quill and started going over paperwork but stopped when he noticed that Tarphus did not immediately move. This caused Werthine a twinge of sorrow as he believed he went too far before with his scolding.

Tarphus wondered how he could broach the subject of the upcoming invasion. His check was still hurting, causing him to feel rage. The tea helped calm him down. He was surprised that Werthine would give him the tea. This is because Werthine hated tea. Werthine would go out of his way to loudly pronounce it. 

"Something that cannot get me drunk does not deserve ta be in me hand!" This allowed Tarphus to feel glad as they both continued to drink the tea. It was through a few minutes of this silence that Werthine finally spoke again. 

"So why have you not given me the book yet? Did you lie, boy?" The dwarf frowned at Tarphus, who immediately got the book from his pack and placed it before the dwarf. When he did this, the dwarf stood up and took the book skimming through the pages calmly and coldly.

He nodded, and he smiled, "I will get you and your squad a room in the Guild for a night as it is dark out. Free of charge, of course, your rewards will be given in the morning."

Tarphus nodded, then spoke shakily. "Sir-" The dwarf cut him off. "Guild Master out there, or Uncle in private." The dwarf winked, trying to lighten the situation. This caused Tarphus to smile as he spoke. "Werthine, I will not call you uncle even in private; however, I have something important."

Werthine saw the seriousness in the boy's eyes, so he refrained from talking. Instead, he waved his hand in a circular motion. "Werthine, I have brought survivors from the last goblin nest." Tarphus rubbed his side, where the goblin stabbed him.

Werthine saw how awkward Tarphus became, the wounds he still had, and the bruises. Tarphus seemed to be wobbling. He was pale, deathly so, yet the boy still wanted to speak. So, finally, Werthine said, "Tarphus, you are injured and weak. I will talk to them by myself. This is out of your hands now."

Tarphus was shocked this was his mission; he was the one who fought the Greenskins. He was the one who had saved people. It was his honor, his glory! A pit of hatred stared gnawing at him as he touched his cheek.

 He was about to talk but was cut off viscously. "I will find out what they know and if ye can participate. However, your squad needs ye boy. They are wounded and need a drink. So rest and relax for the day and see to yer squad boy."

Tarphus was about to talk back but then remembered how injured his troops were, so he just nodded solemnly, asking, "I will be the first to know what I can do, right?" Werthine nodded, and Tarphus left with a slight limp. The gnawing sensation faded into nothing as he entered the stables.

After telling the survivors to enter, he gathers the troops, all thirteen guardsmen and the Tech-Priest, the freed slaves were also collected, and they all went into the Guild. There they were all avoided by the staff. However, the group was ecstatic over their victory.

They partied like heroes. Gus got slapped by Lucy when he got handsy with her. This got a chuckle from the heavy weapons team that was trying to out-drink both Gudo and Guile at the same time.

The twins Louis and Gabriel were in a hot competition of poker with Tabois and Wither. However, the twins seemed to be on the back foot for now. Julian was hitting on Ari, who was tinkering with some of the explosives.

The freed slaves talked with whoever spoke to them and laughed with or at anyone that came close. They even started playing cup games amongst themselves. But, they did not bet anything… yet.

While this chaos was brewing. Tarphus was watching with a smile on his face as he sat next to the Tech-Priest. Surprisingly it was the Tech-Priest that spoke first. "Query, Squad Captain, are you not to join your squad? You could be 'having fun with them. Why stay with me?"

Tarphus paused for a few seconds thinking over what the Tech-Priest said. "What do you see, Tech-Priest?" This caught the Tech-Priest off guard. As they tried to come up with something to say, Tarphus sat there looking at the robed individual.

"They are just meat bags, seeking the chemicals that make them 'feel' good. Illogical." Tarphus snorted, mirth in his eyes. He turned towards the group. "You are also illogical Tech-Priest." This earned Tarphus a cocked head from the figure.

Tarphus kept going. "I have read up on your kind. I know how secretive you are and how paranoid the Tech-Priest can be." The robed figure looked back at the group. "Careful Squad Captain, I hope that you know not to pry into our secrets."

Tarphus nodded solemnly, "I do not want to be a servitor right now, so no, I have not dug any further into the Mechanicus. You have my word." The Tech-Priest chuckled low and metallic, "Understood. However, that does not answer the query." 

Tarphus smiled. "No, I suppose that does not…." Tarphus looked over his people with a smile. "I wanted to stay with you, or rather I wanted to thank you and remind you that you still are human." This caused the robed figure to be visibly confused.

Tarphus continued, "I saw how you were helping the newcomers and how you fine-tuned the weapons team's weaponry. This has been noted and appreciated. I would prefer if you keep this up as they trust you now… and so do I."

The Tech-Priest then nodded, while Tarphus pushed some tea towards the Tech-Priest. "Let us enjoy the atmosphere and friends." The Tech-Priest tilted its head, then softly grabbed the tea and spoke. "I will if you keep me company."

Tarphus nodded, sipping on his own cup of tea. "Alright, do you have any stories from where you are from?" The metallic chuckle was the answer. It took a few minutes before the Tech-Priest responded. "When I was young…."

…

The next day Tarphus was summoned by the Guild's staff to Werthine's office. When he arrived, he saw Werthine standing over a large map. There was a lot of topographic information on the map, small figurines constantly moved around, and places built-in real-time.

This must be the legendary map of Revana. Unfortunately, there were only a few such maps in the kingdom. Werthine looked up from the map and smiled at Tarphus, "Boy yer early, remember to live a little, especially in this line of work."

Tarphus smiles uneasily as he looks at the map. This brings out a chuckle from Werthine as he looks worriedly at Tarphus. "Alright boy, ye an yer group are to head to Martha's Ridge to set up reconnaissance against the foe. After that, you are to set up traps, then withdraw to the first line."

Tarphus nodded. It was a simple reconnaissance mission; he and his troops were adequately equipped for this. Kit had a recording, and the squad had enough munitions to cause the enemy some issues.

Tarphus then spoke, "What is the enemy?" Werthine looked at him, surprised. "They had important information, an ye did not get them to tell ye? Alright, we will be facing an army of orcs an goblins."

Tarphus chuckled coldly as he responded. "Understood." Werthine noticed the determined smile on the boy's face. "Boy, remember this is a reconnaissance mission, the Royal Academy will be reinforcing us, so that means ye an yer group must return alive."

Tarphus nodded solemnly. He remembered how the Academy must be open now. He was surprised that the opening ceremony was only two days prior. 

He had forgotten; he had so many plans for the Academy. First, Tarphus was going to use the Academy to utterly humiliate Christepher. Then he would gain further standing amongst the royalty to get some of their advisers to see his mother.

But the most important thing about that was the ability to help his friend. He owed Dimitir so much. It was through him that he was able to cope with his lover's death. 

However, things changed Tarphus then turned and left the room with the rewards from the goblin nest. He was also given the area that the horde was likely in. It would be up to his troops to verify it, which filled him with pride.

With his new mission, he had gathered his troops and made sure that they understood their mission. They did complain about scouts when others were more capable or had less strength than them.

Tarphus just replied. "Because they have a reputation and do not use guns. Now let us earn a reputation so that this will be considered beneath us later." Though Tarphus disagreed with his second statement, he believed fully the first.

As they left, the guards sneered at the "federation dogs" Tarphus did not care about the supposed insult. He had much better things that he needed to do. Tarpuhs spoke with his troops to help himself hold off the faces of those he had let down.

… 

It took a day to get where they were supposed to go. The road was clear, which caused Tarphus to grin evilly as he sent Kit to scout and map. When Kit returned, it told tarphus of a large yet slow force "marching" its way to the fort along the road to Mount Ketwurm.

This allowed Tarphus a sigh of relief as he ordered a slow retreat as the force was a few days from their position. This allowed his troops to set up many landmines, grenade traps, and pitfalls in the way of the oncoming forces.

Surprisingly the Tech-Priest loved this and would help excavate the pits alongside Tarphus, though he felt slightly awkward around the silent-robed figure. Tarphus thought he was being observed more closely by the Tech-Priest than before, which unsettled him though he would not dare admit it.

The squad did not grumble about being out here once Kit reported the number of goblins alone. "Over twelve thousand Goblins and one thousand lesser Orcs. However, some of the orcs are wearing strange armor. So the Tech-Priest will have new study materials."

The Tech-Priest was happy over this but slightly worried over the time frame that the Guard had. Tarphus and his crew were slowed down considerably to place every trap they could gather. Kit found as many bear traps in the woods as they could find and set them into the road.

Tarphus was asked if the Orcs would go into the woods. He chuckled as he spoke. "The elves would kill them brutally, even now they and we are being watched. Kit can go in to find the traps because it is not able to be hunted. They and we are flesh and blood."

This brought confused looks to their faces, but Tarphus could only smile as he answered their confusion. "These wood elves of the Bloodmoon Forest are 'Predators,' and their favorite hunting exercise is sapient life. One of their favorite cuisines is human, but I heard that they also enjoy goblinoid; however, that is hearsay."

The troops frown as they look toward the forest nervously, to which he chuckled. "So far, the kingdom has an agreement that basically the Bloodmoon Tribe can keep whatever comes into their woods." 

This did not seem to help the troops, as Wither asked. "What happens if they don't keep their agreement?" Tarphus smiled cruelly as he spoke. "Then their beloved forest will go down in flames, as will their hopes and dreams for peace with the three powers."

This got the troops to relax just a bit to focus on the task in front of them. There were several tense moments when dealing with the mines; however, the troops made it out just fine.

Tarphus felt surprisingly calm about the ordeal as he helped his troops lay down the various traps. He got reports that the enemy made it to his first wave of traps, and the explosions were beautiful to watch.

Days pass and Tarphus managed to delay them further, allowing Tarphus to get more mines and grenades. The troops were happy to see their work slow down the enemy. Though they were not expecting it to be this much while also causing some deaths amongst the scum.

However, the group was now using stimulants via Kit and the Tech-Priest, monitoring the troops and Tarphus. Tarphus was also using those stimulants to keep awake so that they could keep up with building the traps, rotations, and stimulants allowed for multiple days of non-stop trap placement.

Not a lot all told but enough, goblins were used to fill in the pits to allow the wagons of food gear and slaves to be brought to the siege. Then, of course, there were also the siege weapons. Though Tarphus could not do anything to them, he desperately wanted them to be destroyed.

The traps became harder and harder to find as the group learned how to properly set traps. The rope was now used fully as it was also replenished over time. The enemy took days to arrive and sacrificed many goblins to make the approach possible for their wagons.

However, every day they gave the defenders was a day they could use to bolster the defenses. Tarphus smiled coldly as he had bought seven days, though his challenge was fast approaching with only twelve days left to that clock.

Much like the fast pace of the approaching challenge, the town was in sight, which allowed him to breathe a sigh of relief. The troops were so tired, and so was Tarphus. However, he would never say so. Instead, he tried to keep going, only resting for an hour at a time, following his own advice.

Before Tarphus entered the town, he donned his helmet and wore his cloak on top of that. He did not want to be recognized by his past peers. Not yet anyway. He had much more on his plate already.

When he reached the gate, he was met with shock; obviously, the guards did not think that he would return. Most likely due to the time he had bought for them, he was so proud of his troops, and they all wanted to sleep as they were tired and weary.

Their hands were full of bruises and blisters while scrapes ran along with their bodies. They could barely move at times. However, it was alright as Kit allowed them to directly give their work and effort to Werthine so no one could steal their glory.

Tarphus went directly to Werthine. His ragged appearance allowed him to go up to the office. However, Tarphus was stopped in front of the Guildhall due to the secretary. They told him that the Guild Master was talking to the representative of the Royal Academy. 

Tarphus could only sigh in resignation as he waited, sleep was calling to him, but he knew that the nightmares would be just around the corner should he give in to temptation. So he waited, cleaning his auto gun.

When the secretary tried to scold Tarphus, he did not respond. However, Kit lowered itself to appear in the secretary's face. The glowing blue eyes cast an eerie, ethereal glow upon the skull that seemed to quell any words that the secretary was going to say.

It was thirty minutes before the doors opened. By this time, Tarphus had cleaned his weapons and had started to pace slightly. Tarphus looked at the figure, and he recognized her. She was one of the heroes of the Federation war almost twenty years ago.

Lady Lilitine, the Elemental Witch.