The sun was starting to cross the horizon as the morning came. The merchants had already started to move to prepare for arrival in Berta. Delan was first to wake up out of the Northern Pathfinders. I was sitting over by the camp when he got out of the tent, so I stood up to walk over to greet him.

“Hey, Kaya…”

He sounded groggy - understandable, since me and Lillian woke him up in the middle of the night.

“Hi, Delan. You were impressive last night,” I said.

“Hahaa… thanks,”

He walked over to me and took a look.

“Damn…” he sighed.

“What?”

“You said you didn’t need sleep… but it sure hits different when I see you like this,” he said.

“I guess that’s true,” I chuckled.

 

The rest of the Northern Pathfinders woke up shortly after, except for Lillian, who was asleep in a different carriage from the ones the bandits were in. We had breakfast before the caravan headed out shortly after sunrise. After our run-in with bandits, we fortunately had no further banditry incidents.

This brought us to shortly before noon, when we finally came to Berta. I looked over to the city as we approached the gate: It was a city built split by the river that flowed from the lake near Diamûn - we were entering on the western side. The eastern side of the river saw the city buildings climb up a large hill.

Delan had explained to me that the city originally was the parts on the hill, with a few trading posts on the western bank - but as the Valdor Federation grew, the city expanded southward down the river, giving it an elongated shape. He had explained that the Guild’s office was in that oldest section.

“Kaya, let me do the talking for now,” he said.

“Okay,” I answered.

We arrived at the gate. The merchants talked to the city guards and started processing their goods. Meanwhile, Delan and the rest of the Pathfinders talked to the guards.

“I’m Delan Orfurt, leader of the Northern Pathfinders,” he said.

“Oh, Delan. You’re back, good to see you,” the guard said.

“Yeah, well. We picked up a stray on our way back. She’s with us, so I hope it’s okay,”

Delan pointed over at me. The guard looked at me for a moment.

“Hmmm… that’s fine. You taking her to the Guild? What’s the story?”

“Yes, and that’s why I’m taking her.”

Delan’s curt reply seemed to minorly annoy the guard, judging by his facial expression.

“You’re no fun. Well, I’m assuming that she’s your responsibility, then?”

“That’s right.” Delan answered.

“Okay then.”

We entered the city. Lillian had woken up by this point and was walking with us under a parasol. I looked around as we walked. According to Delan, this was one of the older districts of the city. We walked around the side of an open square - the buildings rose from the ground in an arrangement where the streets didn’t line up with each other. There were shops of all kinds facing the square.

“Kaya, stick with us,” Karl said.

“Oh! Sorry, sorry,”

I sped up my walk for a moment to catch up with the rest of the group.

“Merry, Lilith, can you go to the Guild residence? Tell them about us plus-one. I’m going to go talk to the guild leader about little Kaya here. Karl, can you explain the bandit situation once we get to the office?”

“On it, boss.” Karl said.

“Alright,” answered Lillian.

“Do you think they’ll let her in?” Merry asked.

“I’m going to get permission. They’ll give it,” Delan said.

“You’re sure? Wow,” Merry mused.

She took a hop and started to run ahead.

“Merry, wait!” Lillian shouted.

Lillian tried her best to catch up with Merry. Merry, meanwhile, darted across a bridge over the river and stopped on the other side. Me, Karl, and Delan continued our walking pace across the bridge. Delan turned to face me.

“Kaya, we’re going to the Guild office. My plan is to introduce you to the leader of our branch. He’s an older Demon - he’s serious about business, but also an affable guy.”

“You want me to talk to him?” I asked.

“Yeah, basically. No one around these parts knows where Diamûn is, except for us right now. That’s very valuable information… and you’re a very valuable person. I don’t want that running wild and out of control,”

“You don’t want everyone rushing out?”

“Quite. Besides, as much as you know where it is, we never got a chance to exactly locate it. Existing obligations and all that.”

We had crossed the river bridge by this point and were now on the east side of the river. Karl gave me a playful nudge, which oddly didn’t knock me off balance at all.

“Ow- that, okay… Besides, you said the entire dungeon’s been redesigned, right?” he asked.

“Yeah, why?”

“Guild wants someone to scout out at least the first floor before they start having everyone dive in. It’ll probably be us doing it. I hope we’re good guests,”

Delan chuckled.

“How’d you hurt yourself on Kaya, Karl?” he asked.

“I went for a playful bump, but she was a wall! I didn’t think she was so sturdy,”

Karl’s comment got me thinking about it.

“Eh? Are you losing your touch? Do I have to inform the boss about something?” Delan teased.

“No, I--”

Karl’s response didn’t finish as I interrupted the bantering duo.

“No, I think it’s because I’m a Keeper,” I said.

“Eh?”

“Hm?”

I paused to take a breath. We continued to walk as I explained to the other two.

“I’m a Keeper, and the job of the Keepers is to maintain and manage the stats system of the world, right?”

“Yeah?” Delan said.

“It’d be hard for me to do my job if someone could come up and interfere. So people can’t,”

The two looked at each other.

“Don’t give Karl too hard a time.” I added.

 

We approached a large building. It was part way up the hill - the front had some windows, and inside was a medium lobby area with seating with a desk in the back of the room. There was an extension on the building to the left, seemingly added later as extra storage space or something. The original building section had a second floor.

“Here we are, Kaya. I’ll take it from here,” Delan said.

We entered the front entrance. There were a few people sitting off to the side who saw us enter.

“Hey, welcome back Delan. Oh? Who’s this?” one of them asked.

Delan ignored him. He walked up to the front desk to greet the lady at it.

“Hi. Northern Pathfinders are done with the escort contract. Is the Guild leader in?”

“Good to hear. Tokra is upstairs, by the way. What’s the matter?” she asked.

Delan leaned forward and began to speak a little quieter.

“Something I think he’d very much like to know as soon as possible, that I don’t want to say publicly.”

The lady gave Delan a confused look. I wasn’t sure if they knew each other or not.

“Well, if it’s you saying that… Alright, you can go upstairs. Knock on the door, first.” she said.

“Thank you. By the way, on our way back we ran into some bandits. Karl can tell you about that,” Delan said.

After nodding, Delan took a step back from the desk.

“Oh, by the way, this one here is part of it. I’m bringing her upstairs, I vouch for her.” he added.

Delan turned to face me and waved for me to follow him. Karl walked over to the front desk as we went upstairs.

“Sorry about that. She takes her front office job seriously,” he sighed.

We rounded up a corner on the stairway and reached the second level. The hallways upstairs were plain with only a few doors. We walked past one and then Delan knocked on the second.

“Tokra, it’s Delan. I have something you want to hear,”

After a moment, a deep male voice sounded from inside.

“Come in.”

Delan opened the door to show a well-furnished room with a desk and a few chairs. Delan entered first and I followed him in. Tokra sat behind the desk and gave me an investigative look as I entered and took a seat. The window behind him didn’t face the sun - in fact, it faced a building presumably built after the Guild’s. After both of us were seated, he looked back at Delan.

“I see you’ve brought someone… okay. What’s your information, Delan?”