Heading to the west, I kept an eye on the street names. It was nice to walk alone for a bit. As much as I liked Shuzshu, she was a bit overbearing. Constantly wanting to be nearby, preferably with physical contact. Introversion wasn’t a concept this world was aware of, but I knew that I had always suffered from it. I want, need, and crave company, but too much of it mentally exhausts me.

  This walk was also a perfect time to get a look at the city unimpeded by having a massive Gnoll exert pressure on the surroundings. I could see people going about their days, and I was more than a bit surprised to see many monsters and beasts. They almost outnumbered people. All of them going about their lives. And as I had speculated earlier, it seemed that beastfolk outnumbered humans in this city.

  It was a nice change in scenery. The construction of the buildings was noticeably better than other places I had been, and the expense on infrastructure was immediately apparent. At some point I would need to figure out if this was the Duke’s doing, or the King’s.

  Out of the corner of my eye I spotted one of my favorite sights; a food stall. But not just any food stall, the classic fantasy food stall of meat skewers. I had honestly been ecstatic the first time I saw one, and made a point of getting them often. And before I realized it, I was at the front of the stall. “Afternoon! New in town?” came the man’s voice. He was a rodent beastfolk, but I couldn’t quite tell the species. Perhaps a marmot?

  “I am. How much for a skewer?” I reached into my coat to fish out some copper.

  “Eight copper each,” he said cheerfully.

  “Two skewers then,” I said as I pulled out the coins. They were skewers of very large chunks of meat. Who knew what beast it had come from. I had learned a long time ago to never ask about what kind of meat it was, or what spices were used. It did well for an appetite to not know the details.

  “Good, good.” He pulled up two, taking the coins before handing them over. “Adventurer?” he asked, taking note of my gauntlets.

  I nodded, taking the skewers and glancing around.

  He nodded a bit in response. “Dungeon brings a lot to town.”

  “Do you know its name? I haven’t looked into it.” I took a bite of the meat, immediately recognizing it as some sort of reptile.

  His brow arched as he looked at me. “You didn’t come for the dungeon?” I shook my head. Lizards weren’t the best tasting meat, they were a bit too chewy, but they weren’t bad. “Well, it’s called the Yawning Smoke, on account of the first few floors being all misty.”

  Again I nodded. “Thanks.” I moved away, looking for a place to sit and people watch. You could tell a lot about a place by watching the people. Or so I’d been told. Honestly there was only so much I could figure out. But it was a good habit to get into when you’re an adventurer. Mostly I just liked to sit and space out enjoying a snack.

  So much knowledge, and a theoretically high intelligence, it’s hard to make the thoughts stop. It’s hard to relax. Everything is tense. There’s always something. But there was something pleasantly numbing about sitting and watching life pass while enjoying something tasty.

  My gaze drifted down to the cat that was at my feet, making little meow noises at me. It was an interesting beast, a black cat with four eyes, a pair stacked on top of where it should have eyes. Large ears, and two tails. I pulled a piece of my skewer, and offered it to it.

  It greedily took it, gnawing at the sizable chunk of meat. It was a hungry little thing. Suddenly it jumped into my lap and curled up. A smile pulled at the corner of my mouth as I gave it the rest of the skewer, which still had a few chunks of meat on it. It purred as it gnawed at the lizard meat.

  Up close like this, I could see that it was not pure black, but had dark purple and blue markings. It was not a creature I was familiar with, but I always liked cats. I pulled off my gauntlet and began to gently stroke it’s back, which caused it to purr louder. “Analysis,” I mumbled, and then blinked. “Oh? You’ve a blocker skill?” That meant that it was some sort of shadow beast, or perhaps a demon? Both would explain why I didn’t recognize it. Information on either of those was scarce, for different reasons. Shadow beasts because they were elusive and skittish. Demons because they were smart and tended to destroy research on them.

  Eventually it finished the meat, lounging on my lap. It wasn’t a bad way to spend time, petting an odd feline and watching the people go about their day. I was reminded of that border town back in Hallow. There was hardly anyone out. Even in the first town I’d gotten to in Haven had been bustling, but that other one was…it was as if it was dead. Maybe it was?

  That was honestly a good way to describe Hallow in general. It was as if it was dead. Certain areas were crammed with people, while others were not just deserted, they were desolate. Devoid of any evidence that there were people living there. There were exceptions, such as the city where I had set up the Red Feathers. That was why I had chosen that location.

  Months of meticulous planning and location scouting. All to get stabbed in the back. But at least now, I had a cat. That made things better, if even for a moment. There was something about gently petting a creature that was soothing. And this cat had soft and sleek fur. I really wished I had awakened as a Tamer, or a similar profession. Life might have been better.

  Of course, I could always make a familiar contract, but those were time consuming, expensive, and required commitment on an extremely deep level. It tied a bit of your souls together. Having one of those broken was like having a finger severed. And I know for a fact something would happen that would cause it to break if I ever made one. That’s just how things are.

  “You’re a good kitty,” I mumbled, scratching under it’s chin. That seemed to be the spot it liked the most, enough that it even drooled a little. “I used to have a cat,” I said softly, mostly talking to myself. “She really meant everything to me…” This feline was very different, but it still brought up some good memories.

  A sudden noise caused the cat to perk up and look around. I wasn’t sure what the noise was; possibly the sound of a beast? But the cat hopped off of my lap and bolted down a nearby alley. “Well, so much for that…”

  The noise happened again, and I realized it came from above. I looked up to see an airship. Those were a rare sight, only for the truly wealthy and powerful. That was probably someone on the level of the Duke. An airship was the pinnacle of an Artificer, someone who had reached an absolutely insane level of skill.

  This was the third time I had ever seen one in person. I wasn’t the only one who had stopped to stare up at the massive craft. It was heading towards the raised area of the city, where even from here I could see the massive mansions. Judging from the reactions of those around, this was probably a rare sight even for here.

  I pulled my gauntlet back on and watched the ship slowly begin its descent before continuing my journey through the city. It was evident when I came to a poorer area of town, as the streets and buildings weren’t as nice, nor the peoples clothes quite as well kempt. But they all looked to be in good spirits. It didn’t take long till I found Crissing street. And it took only a moment to spot the Red Bottle.

  It had the air of an Alchemist lab, that was to be certain. I could see different colored smoke rising from somewhere behind the building, and the storefront had shuttered windows. Many potions and ingredients were sensitive to light, so it was best to not let natural light into the shop. A two story building that was painted a very vibrant shade of red. Some places were almost pink in color, and it had a prominent sign at the front that designated what it was; Red Bottle Alchemy.

  Stepping in, the first thing I noticed was that there were no patrons. Nor was there anyone manning the counter. There were many displays, mostly empty with a smattering of different ingredients here and there, but I could see many potions behind the counter. I took my time browsing for a moment, noting that they had quite a good selection of materials despite the empty shelves, though most of them were very common.

  Suddenly a door opened, and I turned to look only to find no one there. Puzzled, I approached the counter, and as I did I watched as a figure slowly climbed up onto a raised platform. It was a little reptilian creature, with pink scales and four horns protruding backwards. It stared at me, apparently just as shocked to see me as I was to it.

  It opened and closed it’s mouth a few times, trying to figure out words in it’s moment of slight panic. “Welcome?” it finally managed.

  “Ah…yes.” I walked forward, looking at the small draconid. It was a kobold, small reptiles with draconic blood. I had seen many, fought many, and killed many. They were cunning, and used traps and tricks to defeat their enemies. Though I had never seen one that was pink. “You are open, correct?”

  “Y-yes yes. Just stepped into the- ack-” they had bumped something, sending something behind the counter to the floor. “Just…keeping eye on…on batches,” it said as it frantically picked things up.

  “I…see…” I reached into my coat and I saw the way that it flinched. This kobold had obviously not had an easy time of it. “I was wondering if you’d be interested in buying red weed. I have about a pound of it.” I pulled out the sack that I had been carrying for weeks.

  They immediately snapped up, practically crawling over the counter to get closer to me. “Are you an Herbalist? Or an Alchemist?”

  I shook my head slightly. “No, I’m an Archanist…”

  “Archanist?” they said, tilting their head to the side. “That’s…that’s a triple combination profession… Very rare. Don’t get those. You have herb gathering skills, yes?”

  “I…do…”

  “Would you gather materials?” they said, their voice dripping with desperation. “This one is a Synthesizer. Brother is- was…Herbalist…” I could hear the waver in their voice as their shoulders sagged and they backed away. “He never came back…”

  That was a good combination. An Herbalist was like an Alchemist who was more specialized for finding herbs, and medical treatments. While a Synthesiser was like an Alchemist who was more focused on making potions and alchemical items.

  “Been getting supplies through guild requests, and buying, but other potion shops have realized and won't sell anymore.” She was clawing at the counter. “And now they matching requests and pay more.”

  I frowned a bit. Quest scalping was something that was extremely looked down upon, but, “That doesn’t surprise me, considering how Laslow and Tunslow operate.” I put the bag down on the counter. “I’ll take your requests, as long as you pay near market rate.”

  “Yes yes. Pay more. One gold for pound of red weed.” The kobold ducked a bit behind the counter and retrieved a gold coin from somewhere, putting it on the table.

  “Alright, I’ll take that deal.” I lifted the gold coin, and they lifted the bag with a pleased expression. “Do you have any magic silver?”

  The lizard’s expression turned thoughtful as they walked the bag over more towards the door to the back. “Nnnnn-yes. Some.”

  “Alright, well, I will buy all the magic silver you have.”

  Her eyes suddenly lit up and she leapt from the spot she was at and cleared probably half the shop before hitting the floor with a rough landing, but she didn’t fall over. “Right right! Magic silver!”

  Eventually she came back, and placed a flask in front of me that had a little window at the front to show off the contents. “How much?”

  “Nine gold,” she responded immediately.

  I tried to estimate how much was in there, but at this point I couldn’t be picky. With a nod, I put nine gold on the table. “Can you make more?”

  “If had some water slime.”

  I rubbed my chin a bit and nodded. “Do you know where to find water slime?”

  They shook their head. “No… just make the potions.”

  Immediately I felt bad, realizing that it was probably a sore subject. I wondered how long their brother had been gone for… The shop didn’t look to be in too good of shape, but it also wasn’t awful. Unless there was another kobold running around with managerial skills, this one seemed to be handling itself quite well. “Alright…well, from now on, any item you need, post it through the guild with a request that it’s for the Archanist.”

  They gave me a toothy smile. “Yes yes. Thank you much.”

  With that, I left. I paused when I got outside, pouring the little flask of magic silver into my gauntlets, filling up ten vials. That was an extremely good deal that they had given me on the magic silver. I looked back at the building. Synthesiser was an extremely rare and specialized profession. They were like an amplified Alchemist. The problem was they had no skills for gathering, or any of the more wilderness focused skills that an Alchemist got. Their potions would be more potent, and use less ingredients.

  And yet Laslow and Tunslow had shunned the little kobold. Probably due to a human superiority complex, that’s very common in this world. They probably also killed the brother. Not many would mourn the loss of a kobold, or care for the reason. Even if I brought it up with the guild, nothing would happen.

  All I could do was help, and maybe get some good discounts on ingredients. Maybe use their lab. With a proper laboratory I could make magic circuitry, and at least repair the collar. Once I had the money to get the materials. With that thought, I started to make my way back to the guild. They should have information on where to find certain herbs and alchemical ingredients.

  I looked down at my gauntlets as I walked, the knuckles were still slightly dented and warped. I would need a magic forge to fix these. I guess that’s what I get for skimping on the thickness of mythril, but honestly it was one of the strongest materials in this world, so I had thought it inconsequential.

  That was something I had been excited about. Finding out that the magical mythril was a thing, and like many stories it was one of the rarest and strongest material, with high conductivity to magic. But like those stories, it was extremely rare and required special forging methods. Finding a Dwarven blacksmith would be the best bet. Even though it was one of the most cliche fantasy tropes, it was one of the truths in this world that some of the best were Dwarves.

  I had convinced a Dwarf to let me use their forge to forge my tools and weapons. It was that Dwarfs successor that I sold the equipment to, and they melted it down for the materials. That felt like the stupidest thing I had ever done. I used to have a plethora of things at my disposal that I built up over seven years. Even my gauntlets were in an incomplete state, as I had sold off everything from the elbow to the shoulder.

  Maybe I should focus more on having a few tools that have greater variety, rather than having dozens of specialized tools? I had been working on a design for improving my gauntlets, since they were the only weapons I had now. But now I was having a flood of new ideas with the thought of making them more versatile. I would need to see how my new circuitry designs would work out.

  That was going to be expensive, unless I wanted to melt down the gold that made up the current circuitry, and reshape it. But if it was worse, then I would have to go back to the previous design and waste a lot of time. I suppose I have a lot of time now…and a hunting dog. My thoughts went back to the Gnoll, who was probably out slaughtering beasts. Or perhaps returning, judging as it was starting to get dark. I had spent more time on that bench than I initially realized.

  As soon as the guild came into sight, I immediately saw that it was the liveliest place on the street at this time. Many people would be coming back from their quests before it got dark, so of course it would get busy. But it was the commotion in the street out front that got my attention, and I immediately knew that it was related to my Gnoll without even seeing her.

  “And I say you stole it!” came a voice.

  I had to work my way through the crowd, trying not to just shove people out of my way when I heard the reply. “I stole nothing,” it was Shuzshu. “You are a liar.”

  There was a wide area that many were avoiding, but sticking around to see the show. I could see about seven people inside the circle, surrounding Shuzshu. The fact she hadn’t bludgeoned any of them yet was commendable. “That is my brother's hammer, and I say you stole it!”

  The hammer? Were those not mercenaries, but guild members? That could complicate things. “Your brother was a murderous thief.”

  Why wasn’t the guild getting involved? I managed to shove the last few people out of my way, finally getting a good look at the seven people. Four of them were wearing guild uniforms, while the other three were armed and armored. “You! How dare you!”

  “And what are you going to do? Your brother died pathetically without even putting up a fight, what do you expect to do?” Shuzshu wasn’t holding the hammer, having set it down for the guild staff to examine.

  One of the guild staff moved towards me. “I’m sorry, but we-”

  “That’s mine,” I said, pointing at Shuzshu. Her tail started to wag.

  “So you’re the scum that owns this stupid dog?” one of the men said, the one that had claimed to be the brother of the half giant bandit. He had blonde hair and a robust body, with a bit of a baby face. The other two seemed to be there only for support.

  “I would like to report those three for colluding with bandits,” I said to the guild staff. “If what he says is true, and he is the brother of the bandits that attacked us the other day, then I question his involvement.”

  “You dare throw around accusations!” He stomped towards me, shoving the guild staff out of the way. That just sealed his fate, but it would take a few moments for him to feel the repercussions of that. “Some nameless Hallow bastard wants to act all big?” he sneered, now that he was closer I saw a badge on his armor. Tier Nine. Guild badges were something fairly popular for larger guilds, to show off the tier of its members.

  “Do you even realize what you just did?” I asked, glancing over at the guild staff member who was being helped by two others. The third had ran into the guild. “Assaulting a guild staff member means expulsion, and imprisonment.”

  He laughed. “No one in this town would dare, not even that pathetic old man.” He grabbed and drew his sword. “There’s no one in this city who’d stand against me.”

  I wondered where he got this sort of confidence? Landerson may be past his prime, but he was still a powerhouse. A noble? That line of thinking would have to wait. This guy was now officially threatening me. Before he raised his sword, I stepped forward, activating my gauntlets just before my fist impacted his chest.

  He slid back several feet, but his armor hadn’t even been scratched, though it crackled with the remnants my magic left. Mythril, or adamantine. Adamantine was probably the strongest material, second only to star metal. But you couldn’t channel mana through adamantine. But since it didn’t disperse the magic force from my gauntlets, it couldn’t be adamantine. “You!” The other two men drew their swords.

  Shuzshu made a move to grab the hammer, but I shook my head. “Shuzshu, don’t.” She looked at me, annoyed, but I didn’t want to complicate this more. A slave, or pet, or tamed beast attacking someone, even a criminal, was not a hassle I wanted. I would have to explain it to her later.

  All three charged.

  After a full minute, I had to give them one thing, they were coordinated. Even as I dodged, and blocked, they covered for each other. Blocking one blade meant I had to block or dodge two others. When I struck towards one, they would block or retreat and another would counter. They were a bit too coordinated. There was only so much cohesion you could have with another without some sort of magical connection.

  I hopped back a bit to make space, and watched them. I was a bit out of breath, but only one of them seemed to be showing signs of fatigue. “Gods, and you’re supposed to be a Tier Nine?” I said, looking around and trying to see what was taking the guild staff so long. “Who did you bribe to get that rank?”

  “Shut it!” he yelled, obviously frustrated. He had not hit me in any way that had mattered, even though it was a three on one fight. I had also not been able to hit them, always being blocked. It was a stalemate of a fight, however I had noticed they had a pattern. If I attacked one, a certain one covered it, and the other counter attacked.

  Mentally I labeled them as One, Two, and Three. If I attacked One, Two would block, and Three would counter. If I attacked Two, One would block, and Three would counter. If I attacked Three, One or Two would block, but no one would counter. Three was also the only one talking. It was pretty obvious that this was his profession. Maybe…Puppetmaster? Or a golem related profession? One and Two didn’t seem like people; their movements were a bit too stiff.

  Out of the corner of my eye I saw Landerson who was…just standing there, with his arms folded. “Is this how you operate your guild?” I practically shouted at Landerson, which drew everyone's attention to him, including Three. One and Two didn’t look away from me.

  “My hands are tied,” he said rather flatly. “This is a fight between adventurers.”

  “Bastard. Fine.” I slammed my fists together, activating my gauntlets again. I was going to strip this bastard of his mythril and use it to fully repair my gauntlets. “Then you can’t complain when I kill him.” The street fell silent as the tension thickened. I had not been aiming to hurt him because I was waiting for the guild to step in, but if they weren’t, I was going to end it.

  “Hah! You? Kill me? If you dare to even put a scratch on me, my father will-”

  “Impact,” I muttered as I swung at the armored figure to my right. His sword shattered as my fist traveled through it and buried inside its chest, punching a hole straight through the plate.

  This move was why I became known as the Impact Archanist. A specialized magic that I had designed to be as destructive as possible. I could only make it due to my knowledge from my previous life. Mana is similar to water in how it flows, and while you can increase its density, it has no springiness to it. So if you have a bunch of mana flowing rapidly in a direction and then suddenly block it, the remaining mana slams into whatever blocked it with immense force.

  My gauntlets were designed to maximize this flow, by swirling it around and around until I essentially open the outlet at the knuckles and have it all shoot out. And then when it strikes a surface all that energy would keep that momentum and be forced forward with explosive results. It’s similar to the water hammer phenomenon, though not exactly the same. It was all about applying physics to the manipulation of mana.

  The armored figure crumpled, but left no blood. It was some sort of construct. Using Impact took half a vial of magic silver, or two vials of magic essence in order to achieve the same results. I had used the latter this time, since I had extra magic essence and magic silver was still precious. Even while it was on the ground, it was still trying to move.

  Suddenly I blocked a downward strike from the side, and looked over to see the other construct. “Impact.” An uppercut removed its head completely, sending it soaring into the sky. Another two vials of magic essence gone.

  “What?” The one I had marked as Three took several steps back. “But…you…you’re a Maker.”

  I walked forward, gauntlets crackling resplendently from the remaining overflow of mana. “I’ve been hearing that every day for nearly eight years. And I’m real fucking sick of it, you know?” He made an effort to stab towards me, but without his backup it was easy to parry his sword and deliver a blow to his head, sending his helmet flying. I was met with a familiar head of blonde hair.

  I hesitated.

  That would explain everything. Being one of the Duke’s sons would allow him to get away with a lot. But that would also mean that that half giant was related to the Duke. Unless he meant brother in the more comrade way, rather than by blood. It was at this point the head of the construct that I had knocked off hit the ground.

  “Not going to finish it?” I heard Landerson behind me.

  I didn’t turn around. “Oh now you’ve grown a spine and want to stop me?” That actually shut him up. I don’t know if I could take Landerson in a fight, but I know for sure that Shuzshu and I could do it.

  The man in front of me, apparently now realizing that I had the full intention of killing him right now, started to panic. “Wait. Wait wait wait. Wait, we can talk this out.”

  I thought about it for a moment. “In exchange for your life, you are going to leave everything you have on the ground. That means your weapon, your armor, and everything but your pants.” I flexed my gauntlets. “Including the remains of those constructs.”

  “What?”

  “You are paying me to spare your life,” I said bluntly.

  I saw the hesitation, but when I flexed my gauntlets again and caused them to spark and crackle, he thought better of trying to argue and quickly stripped. Even with a crowd, his life seemed far more important to him than any honor. Afterall, he probably thought he could get revenge later.

  Once everything was on the ground, he backed away from it. “Th-there.” I looked him over, seeing as how his pants didn’t even have pockets.

  “The boots, too,” I said as I gestured at them.

  He looked at me incredulously for a moment, but then complied.

  “Good. Now, run off home and beg your father for forgiveness from having raised such a shitty son who cavorts with murderers and thieves.” I was honestly surprised I didn’t have to say it twice before the man took off running.

  I moved over to his things, and began taking stock. He honestly didn’t have much. Two gold, ten silver, twenty copper, a mythril composite knife and sword, and his guild card. It looked like he came here in a hurry with the sole purpose of picking a fight. “Well done!” Landerson’s voice came from behind as he approached.

  “No thanks to you.”

  “Well…he is the son of the Duke. What would you have me do?”

  “You go to the duke, and tell him that his son is a piece of shit.” I pulled out the man's guild card. “And if he doesn’t listen, you make him.” I crushed the card in my hand before tossing it at Landerson’s feet.

  “It’s not that simple. He was appointed by the King-”

  “Pathetic,” I interrupted. “Weren’t you the one who said sometimes you just have to hit someone to make them stop being stupid?” I looked the man up and down before shaking my head. I turned away from him and gathered up almost everything he had left, putting the coins and weapons into my coat. I would have to carry the armor, and I probably left a few shards of the broken sword, but I got the big pieces. Materials are materials. I left his shirt and boots on the ground.

  I caught out of the corner of my eye as he and the other guild staff began to make an effort to disperse the crowd. “Good fight,” Shuzshu said, “We eat now?”

  “Yeah. Once we get all this stuff in.” I picked up the armor and headed towards the guild. I glanced at Landerson again, and shook my head. “To think I actually looked up to him. Shuzshu, grab the…two metal construct things,” I said as I gestured at them before picking up the head of the one I had knocked off.

  She happily obliged, hefting them onto one shoulder, the hammer resting on the other, as we made our way inside. I chose a table near the wall, and put down the armor, gesturing for the Gnoll to put the constructs there as well. As I sat down I looked around, seeing everyone in the guild eying me warily. A guild staff member came over. “We have confirmed that the hammer was indeed taken from bandits,” he said, looking down at a piece of paper.

  “Which means that that man was affiliated with bandits,” I added, wanting to make sure that that point was part of the discussion.

  “I…uh…well, we are currently looking into that.”

  “Talson Lanshire, and his Gold Fire Guild, are suspended until further notice,” Landerson said as he entered the guild.

  “Bit late, but at least you’ve grown some sort of spine,” I muttered as I used my mana to cast Analyze on the armor and constructs. As I thought, they were made of a mythril composite alloy. Unalloying them was beyond my skills. I would need a good blacksmith to help separate these. “Does this guild offer housing accommodations to mid tier adventurers?” I asked the staff member who was apparently too nervous to retreat.

  “We- we do. Though they are quite basic…”

  “As long as it’s a room, and I don’t have to worry about being attacked, again, it’s fine,” I raised my voice a bit in the later half of the sentence, to make sure that everyone could hear. “Please get one for us.”

  He nodded.

  “How did your hunting go, Shuzshu?” I asked, looking at her out of the corner of my eye.

  The Gnoll moved to my side and placed three pieces of paper down. “I hunted these. Good fights.” She sat down on the floor behind my chair, still able to easily put her head on my shoulder as she got comfortable.

  Looking at the pieces of paper, she should have made seven gold and twenty silver. She happily put the small bag down on top of the papers, her arms moving to wrap around me once she was done. I counted the coins before putting them into my coat. That would put my total at eleven gold, fifty-seven silver, and sixty-eight copper. “Good job.” I reached up to scratch the top of her head.

  The guild staff member coughed slightly. “Is…is there anything else?”

  “Now it’s time for food, so if you could send over a waiter and a menu.” Large guilds like this were always nice as they doubled as restaurants. He nodded in response and hurried away. I could see him at the other side of the room, arguing with a waiter. Their uniforms were similar, but the trim was white on the waiter, while the staff member had gold.

  Eventually the waiter went into the back, clearly not wanting to deal with me and going to find someone else to pass it on to. It’s amazing how cliche some of the things in this world are. People are just so passive and let those with some false perceived authority do whatever they want. If Landerson wasn’t going to do anything about it, I was going to have to go and have a chat with the Duke.

  I really did not want to do that. Nobles are hard to deal with, because while punching their teeth in is easy, it causes problems. There were going to be problems with this Talson, and probably all of the Lanshire family, but I’d just deal with that later.

  Suddenly I felt teeth on my shoulder and glanced over to see Shuzshu had put her maw around my shoulder. This wasn’t something new; she liked to put her teeth on me. Still a bit of a surprise when I’m not expecting it, but she had yet to bite down. I scratched her head, smiling a bit.

  Looking up there was a rather young woman coming towards my table, appearing to have been crying a moment earlier and holding a bit of paper. She had curly brown hair and large round glasses, dressed in the attire of a waitress. “How cruel…bunch of cowards,” I muttered, continuing to pet the Gnoll.

  She came up to the table, standing on the other side of it and using it as a barrier. “H-hello,” she managed to say before holding out the paper to me.

  I took it, glancing through the menu. They just had a breakfast, lunch, and dinner option. Most of the menu was made up of the seven different types of alcohol they had. And it was all cheap. “Twelve dinner servings, and four meads,” I said as I handed the menu back.

  She stared at me blankly, forgetting her fear for a moment. “What?”

  “Twelve dinner servings. And four meads.” I put down three silver coins.

  She hesitated for a moment before reaching out and taking the silver. “R-right. I shall…get that…” She turned and practically ran.

  What blatant bullying by the staff. I sighed a bit and put my hands on the table, looking down at them. The sleeves of my coat were shredded past my elbows. Honestly they had lasted me longer than I had thought they would. I only put the sleeves on my coat after downsizing my gauntlets, because it felt weird to have my arms exposed.

  That was another thing I would have to do. Find a really good blacksmith. It wasn’t hard to find a blacksmith, but finding one capable of the things I needed was difficult. And expensive. There were so many things on my to-do list that it was giving me a headache.

  But at least I was actually getting back on my feet. I actually had a chance now. “Did you have fun hunting?” I asked softly to the Gnoll.

  She gave a soft grunt in response, her teeth still enveloping my shoulder. She specifically reached out and tapped one of the fliers.

  “That one was the most fun?” Again she grunted. It was some sort of dark shaded humanoid figure. A Hulking Shade. Not quite a shadow beast, but close. They weren’t usually active during the day, but they were large, strong, and fought every fight like that was their reason for existing. It didn’t surprise me that that was her favorite. Though I knew there were others that she would probably like more.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  Even if she was a Tier Nine, there was a Tier Eleven in that list. Though it was Tier Eleven on paper, it was not actually that good at combat. It was just really tough. I had no doubt that she could beat it. We sat in silence for a while, as I simply pet her and watched the room. Everything was starting to return to normal as the excitement of what happened faded.

  The guards didn’t even show up. But that was one thing about the Adventurers Guild; it operated independently. Guild matters were handled by guild people. Even if the Duke wanted to do something, he would have to go through the guild. I wondered if Landerson would throw me under the bus? …cart? Would it be throwing me under the cart?

  The movement of several waiters with plates and mugs approaching caught my attention. They piled the food onto the table and quickly retreated. The staff was probably going to remain cautious of us for a while until things actually calmed down.

  Shuzshu finally removed my shoulder from her mouth and moved more beside me. “I can eat all this?”

  “Well, I mean, I want some,” I said, getting myself a plate and mug. “But other than that, yes.”

  She made a few pleased noises that reminded the entire room that she was very much a hyena before she began to eat.

  I was glad she wasn’t a messy eater, though she didn’t know how to use most of the utensils, she understood not to use her hands for most foods. Generally she watched me on anything she wasn’t sure about. Of course, her use of utensils was rather humorous as she just stabbed at it. Though I suppose I was just stabbing it in a specific way.

  A few others looked over to watch the Gnoll eat, but it was not like she was some sort of wild animal tearing at a carcass, so they eventually lost interest. It was quite good food, though I always preferred the street food. They were always so much more caring in their foods. Chefs at places like this just tried to make decent food as fast as possible. Not that I had anything against them for that.

  The mead was good. There must be a large patch of bluebells near the hive, maybe a garden, judging by the taste. It had that slight tang that was expected from healing potions. I wondered if anyone without Alchemist skills would notice that? Probably tanks and fighters who use potions a lot.

  I caught the guild staff coming over with a piece of paper and a small pouch. “Your housing situation has been handled,” he said as he passed the things to me.

  “That was quick.” I furrowed my brow. Usually this would take days, if not weeks.

  “Landerson made it a priority.”

  “Of course he did…” I muttered as I read the paper. It was a house on Crissing Street, numbered 470. About a block from Red Bottle Alchemy. This was obviously done on purpose. “What is that old man planning…” Inside the bag were seven small charms.

  “The Guild Master does his best.”

  “So I’ve seen,” I said with snerk and stuffed the objects into my coat.

  It looked like the staff member wanted to say something else, but decided better of it. I had to admit that at least Landerson was trying. Those charms were to bypass whatever wards were on the building. Which meant that it was actually a building, not just a room or section of a house.

  With a sigh, I had to admit he was probably under a lot more restrictions than me. He was probably hoping that I would get into a conflict with that guy. A scheming Guild Master. I glanced at the Gnoll, who was more than half done with the food, whereas I had barely gotten half way.

  It was too much to think about right now, and would just have to be something I kept in the back of my head.

  ~

  The building was a lot rougher looking than I had hoped, but from an Analysis, it was structurally sound. The inside was only slightly better, having been neglected for probably a decade. Standing inside the entryway, which was sort of like a living room, I explained to Shuzshu how she needed to keep the charm on her in order to enter the house. “We live here now?”

  I paused for several moments, realizing that- “Yes. This is where we live now.”

  This seemed to please her greatly and she set off to explore the house. I joined her. It was a two story house, three if you counted the attic, and four if you counted the cellar. The attic was all one large empty room, but the cellar had four servant quarters, and a food storage area. The ground floor had a living room, a restroom with a large wash basin, a kitchen, a pantry with a door to a yard, and a sitting room. The second floor had four rooms, similar to the cellar, though they were larger.

  It was much smaller than the guild house I had funded, but it was much larger than I expected. This would normally be a place for a small guild. Maybe that’s what Landerson wanted? Either way, I had no serious complaints after walking through. There was even fairly new furniture on the first and second floors that appeared to have been recently placed. I already had plans to turn the attic into my workshop. It was the largest room in the house, and would be the largest workshop I had ever had. I really wanted a large lab.

  Glancing at the piece of paper, the terms were pretty clear. Ten gold a year, but nothing up front, payment after two months, and that was when the contract would officially start. They were giving me time to get set up. Though ten gold was obviously way too high for the price of such a building…but it did have its own well. And a large overgrown yard in the back, with an eight foot metal fence with thick shrubs growing over it. Shuzshu could actually see over the wall, and onto the alleys on either side. There was a gate at the back, leading to a sort of private road behind all the buildings in this area.

  I could afford it, and it was nice to have a house. Though I would still try and bring Landerson down on that price… Hopefully Landerson didn’t plan to kick us out once we fixed the place up. If he tried, I was going to remove his head from his shoulders. “Where are we going to sleep?” Shuzshu suddenly asked.

  Thinking about it for a moment, I shrugged. “Which room do you like most?”

  Her face scrunched up, and then she pointed. “That one. It overlooks the stairs, and the windows face the yard.” A strategic decision.

  I chuckled, and nodded. “Alright, then we’ll sleep there.” I made my way up the stairs. It also opened up directly towards the stairs leading to the attic. The stairs creaked ominously under Shuzshu’s weight, but as long as they held it was fine.

  Moving into the room I took more of a look around. There was only a bed, and while the mattress, sheets, and pillow looked new, the frame did not. I sat down on it, testing it to see if it would even hold my weight, let alone the large Gnoll. “Might need a better frame…” I muttered and then watched the Gnoll enter. She had disrobed, wearing only the collar.

  She then started sniffing around the room, seemingly getting familiar with it. I watched her for a few minutes, unable to help but chuckle as I watched. “Clean…” she said after a while, a hint of confusion in her voice.

  I blinked, and then looked around. It was true. The place was clean, just…old. If it had just been a lack of dust, I would have thought that whoever moved in the furniture had dusted, but even the windows were clean. I thought for a moment, wondering if someone was taking care of the property. But if that was the case, then it would be in better shape. “A House Spirit?” I questioned aloud.

  I watched as Shuzshu’s mane bristled. “Spirit?”

  “A House Spirit,” I said as I removed my gauntlets and placed them on the floor. “You sometimes see them in old houses of old families.” I looked up a bit, lightly touching the wall. “It means that there was a loving and caring family that lived here.”

  “Danger?”

  “No,” I said, shaking my head. “They might be a little upset that someone moved in, but as long as we treat our new home well, they’ll get used to us.” I was looking around the room, checking the corners; there was not even a cobweb. “They’ve been working so hard…” I muttered.

  Shuzshu was looking around, and looking behind and under things. “Where?”

  I chuckled softly. “Oh we probably won't see them for years, if ever.” She looked at me and tilted her head. “They’re like all Spirits. You have to do quite a lot to receive the honor of their presence. Spirits, also called fae, are things of magic. While we have magic stones, they don’t, because they are made of magic. There’s a lot of…bad blood between Spirits and mortals. Because when a Spirit dies they turn into powerful magic energy, so there are people who capture them to use as materials.”

  Her brow furrowed as she came over and put her head on my lap. “You know so much.”

  A smile pulled at the corner of my mouth as I started to pet her. “Knowledge is extremely powerful, and I used to spend a lot of time researching.” I ran my fingers through her mane. I really liked how it felt…a certain greasy texture, but a certain soft feel to it once you got under the rough outer ends.

  “Smart and strong,” she mumbled.

  “What a silly Gnoll…” I said softly, continuing to pet her.

  We sat there for a moment, her eyes closed and enjoying the feeling of my fingers. Her brow suddenly furrowed, and I heard her take several deep breaths. “Smell?”

  “Hm?” I looked down at her.

  She sat up a bit, sniffing over my thighs. “Smell,” she said again.

  My brow arched a bit, before it occurred to me what she was probably smelling. “Ah, yes there was a cat. It was cute.”

  Her eyes narrowed at me. “Cat?”

  “Yes, it was a cute thing. An interesting feline beast that-”

  Suddenly I was shoved onto the bed, and she was hovering over me. She was pinning me down and was staring at me, examining my face as if she was looking for something. What exactly was she thinking about? Was she jealous that I gave attention to a cat?

  She stared at me for several moments. “You’ve never called me cute.”

  I had to try really hard not to laugh, but I did smile. “Oh you silly Gnoll.” I reached up, gently placing a hand on her cheek. “You are cute. An adorable thing.” I could feel her tail thumping against the side of the bed, and I started to stroke her cheek. It seemed that she really just wanted to be praised.

  “Mmm…” she made a soft noise, her eyes almost closing as she stared down.

  “You’re big and strong,” I continued, “And you do so well.” I ran my fingers through her fur. “You’re such a good girl.” That seemed to be some sort of trigger, as suddenly her weight pressed down on me and she shoved her mouth against mine. I had started to get used to her weight with how often she laid on top of me, but this was different; she was actively pressing down on me.

  Her fervor and confidence in making out had increased quite a bit. She had not initiated kissing since the first time, and I had honestly started to wonder if she had enjoyed it or not. But what she was doing now brushed those thoughts away. It was as if there was an intense need for it.

  Maybe I needed to praise her more in the future? I realized I had not really done so. I usually just called her a silly Gnoll. I had given her a lot of affection, but it had all been physical. Maybe she wanted more verbal appreciation? Was that why she was always so happy when I referred to her as my pet?

  Eventually she pulled away, panting softly. “Mine,” she breathed.

  I couldn’t help but smile. “Oh? Is that so?”

  “Yes,” she said, looking down at me. “I can share, but only with those I approve.”

  I blinked at her, feeling that that was a tall order on my part. I was extremely unlucky in that department, with three failed relationships in this life and dozens in my last one. Some of which ended really, really badly.

  “You are strong. Smart. We’ll make a big clan.”

  Truly I wondered what was going on in this Gnolls head. I had nothing against polyamory, and in fact I had some really good friends who did that. But where I struggled was picturing myself in such a situation, with how much of a failure I’d been in relationships it was hard to imagine being successful in multiple. Eventually I sighed, and closed my eyes. “If that will make you happy.”

  “Yes yes. Strong males need many mates, so that they can make strong clans.” She put her head on my chest, rubbing against it. I wasn’t entirely sure where she had gotten this idea, since hyenas were matriarchal. If we were to follow that, she would be the one in charge. Maybe it was different for Gnolls? Or maybe this was her telling me how things would go? It was still a bit confusing to me.

  Maybe I should look more into how Gnoll society functions rather than using fringe knowledge that I’ve come across, and things I know about animals. “Alright. Can I get ready for bed now?”

  She seemed to consider this for a moment before slowly getting off of me. However before fully removing her weight, she bit my lip softly. I just sort of looked at her before shaking my head and making my way out of the room after grabbing a small bag from my coat. She followed me, confused. “Where are you going?”

  “To take a bath,” I said, glancing at her. It had been…almost a year since I had properly bathed. All I had done really was wipe myself down, which was the norm. Baths were not quite a luxury, as there were public bath houses, so people tended to go every so often. But having your own bath was rare.

  Her brow furrowed as she watched me walk down the stairs and into the bathroom. As I had suspected, this bath appeared to be hooked up to the well somehow, and I began filling the basin.The basin itself was large, and mostly sunk into the floor. It was honestly very large, almost like a personal communal bath. I imagined that the family probably took baths together. There was a little side shoot designed for firewood to be put in to heat the water. Heating it would require effort, and I thought about getting some wood to heat it, but I decided that it would be faster to just use magic.

  I had to wait for it to be at a suitable fullness, before I used a spell specifically for boiling water. Fire magic was something that I could never grasp and I didn’t know even the most basic fire spell, but a spell for boiling water was extremely useful when mixing potions. Since heating water was essentially just vibrating it, water magic could be used, and I was good at that.

  Once I was satisfied, I undressed. The water would be far too hot to get in, so I turned the water on again to finish filling the basin and getting it to a comfortable temperature. It was at this point that Shuzshu walked in, looking at me. “Wash me.”

  “Hm?” I looked back at her as she stood just inside the doorway. It was honestly amazing that she could get through the door frame, but I knew that a lot of her seeming bulk was actually fur. “You want me to wash you?”

  She nodded.

  “Alright.” I moved over to the edge of the basin, making sure it was a good temperature. It was fairly hot, but not scalding anymore. In the small bag was some basic soaps that I had made or bought. I looked at Shuzshu, realizing I was about to use all of my shampoo. I grabbed one of the stools and placed it near the basin.

  A proper bath was a long process in this world, consisting of washing yourself, rinsing, and then soaking. It reminded me more of the eastern method of bathing than what I was used to. Just jump in the shower, wet down, lather and scrub, then rinse. Done. Although I had grown to like the soaking part afterwards.

  However, once I was done cleaning myself, I turned to Shuzshu, who had not moved. “Come here,” I said with a bit of a smirk. She had been watching me the entire time. She slowly made her way over and sat down in front of me. I started to grab the bottles that I had, before I hesitated. “Is…there any place that you don’t want touched?” I asked. “Some place…painful?” It was the best way that I could phrase it.

  She shook her head. “No.”

  With a nod, I began to wash her. It reminded me of when I helped a neighbor wash their massive dog; a saint bernard. I wasn’t sure if she would enjoy the comparison, but she most definitely enjoyed the treatment of me scrubbing deep into her fur once she had been soaked.

  I had been worried about touching her back, considering all the scarring, but she showed no reaction so they must not hurt. In fact, her tail was thumping quite a lot. She seemed to enjoy every moment of the scrubbing, though I avoided her more intimate lower section, her chest was scrubbed as well. That part she seemed to particularly enjoy, judging from the way she pushed out her chest.

  Arms and legs were scrubbed, which amused her as she pushed me around a bit in a playful manner. If I had known she was going to be like this, I would have washed her first so that I wouldn’t have to spend the time rinsing off. Again.

  Around her head I had to be a bit more careful, doing my best not to get anything in her eyes. Once that was done, the only thing left was the area I was a bit hesitant to touch. However, she seemed to notice this and grinned at me. “Well? Aren’t you going to finish?”

  I had to just…stare at her for a moment. “Where did you learn to talk like that? Who taught you this? Why?” I couldn’t take it anymore and I just had to ask. This Gnoll was far too good at pushing buttons.

  She also just stared at me for a moment, and then shifted a bit and looked away. “My Mistress was… I learned it from watching her…”

  I watched her for a moment longer before I sighed. “Because, fuck, I swear. You keep talking like that, and doing things and my heart just…” I pat my chest a bit, trying to calm down. “It is far too effective.” It makes me feel like a young fool. I’ve lived over ninety years counting both lives, you would think I wouldn’t be able to get struck by a school boy crush.

  There was a smile on her face as she reached out, grasping my hands. “Then…do you not find me attractive? Is that why you hesitate?”

  I blinked several times. “What? Of course I think you’re attractive. You’re beautiful.”

  She had to turn away at that. “But…I am a beast. A monster…” She paused for a moment before adding, “A silly dog.”

  My smile widened a bit. “Well, that may be true, but I don’t really think that factors into if I’m attracted to you. If anything, it makes me more attracted to you.”

  Her gaze suddenly snapped to me. “Then why do you always look so miserable?”

  The smile on my face faltered, and slowly disappeared.

  “You’re always so sad… I see it all the time.” She had been so close to me for weeks now, and so it was obvious she would have noticed. “You don’t look happy when you eat. You don’t look happy when you fight. Or when you’re writing. You don’t look happy when you sleep… You look at me like…like you’re just waiting for me to leave.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said softly. “It’s not that I… I don’t want you to leave. But everyone does.” A bitter laugh escaped me. “Everyone does. And I’m left there wondering just…what the hell happened? What did I do? Why does everyone either turn against me, or die?”

  She was silent, just looking at me. I looked down at her hands, they were massive compared to mine. I had never explained to anyone about my past life, because that was a taboo. It was actually an established thing that many people have reincarnated in this world, and they’re seen as evil things. Things that shouldn’t exist.

  That was a long historical thing in itself. Hundreds of years ago there was a group of reincarnators that came together and plunged the world into war. They used the knowledge from their past life to take control. Hundreds of millions were killed, and the Twelve Stars ruled as tyrannical gods for decades. They would have ruled for longer if there had not been sudden infighting and most of them killed each other. The survivors either disappeared or were killed.

  Since then it was a death sentence to tell anything about other worlds. I had been extremely careful about it, as I had read quite a number of stories. That ended up being a good hobby, since it gave me a lot to look out for. Caution was the rule of living a long time. Though it was very hard not to be curious. I had always wondered if the Twelve Stars were from my world, or from different ones.

  “Pain,” Shuzshu suddenly said softly and I looked up. Her face was scrunched up, some soap had dripped down into her eye.

  “Ah-” I pulled my hands free, grabbing the bucket we had been using. “Close your eyes. We need to rinse off the soap.”

  The next few minutes were spent washing out the shampoo from her fur. That had been the most the Gnoll had spoken at one time. She was a lot smarter than even I had given her credit for, or at least far more well spoken. I had to assume she just didn’t like talking.

  Once we had both cleaned of soap, I moved into the basin. I wasn’t sure how she would feel about soaking because of her fur, but after some hesitation she eventually crawled in. The water was still quite warm, which was nice to just sit in and soak. There were a lot of things that I wanted to say, to add onto the interrupted conversation, but at the same time I didn’t want to bring it back up.

  However Shuzshu seemed to have a lot of things on her mind as she moved over to me and sat down before pulling me onto her and making me sit on her lap. If I had ever felt small around her before, this was the moment that I felt the smallest. I leaned back, resting my head against her chest. “God’s you’re huge,” I muttered as I looked up at her.

  She cackled as she ran her hands over my chest. Her laugh was one of the most hyena things about her. “I am large, even among Gnolls.”

  I sighed softly as I leaned back against her. She was comfortable. My mind started to wander back to times when I felt like this. There were a few pleasant memories. There would be more, but most were twisted. It was no wonder that Shuzshu had noticed how miserable I was, since I couldn’t stop myself from recalling bad times. It felt like a curse.

  At least things were getting better for a time. Shuzshu seemed satisfied with the conversation and didn’t say more. Drying her off was an absolute pain and used several towels just for her to still be damp. Though she didn’t seem to mind it.

  Once that was done, I brought up all of my things to the room. I finally noticed that Shuzshu had removed all of her clothes and such and dumped it in the room besides the one that we were going to use. That caused me to chuckle a bit.

  Neatly putting my things down near the bed, I finally settled in. The Gnoll promptly lay on the bed as well, partially on top of me with her head on my chest. I ran my fingers through her mane, which was taking on quite the soft and fluffy texture from the shampoo. I would have to make more when I could, or ask the Kobold to. That little reptile could probably make high end shampoo if I gave them the recipe.

  But that would be something for another time. For now, I would simply enjoy a good night's rest in our new home. That was a very pleasant thought. Having a home again was…nice.

  ~

  It felt like the morning came quickly, as I was awoken by the Gnoll waking just before the sun came up. She had quite the precise internal clock and was able to do so every day, no matter how late she stayed up. Though she did occasionally nap. Usually on top of me.

  I watched as she stretched before leaving the room, heading to the one she had dumped her clothes. I chuckled a bit as I got up and dressed. She came back as I was checking over my gauntlets, rubbing a finger over the dented knuckles. “Hunting,” She said.

  Looking up at her, she looked excited; all dressed up in her guild tabard. “Alright. I’m going to look for a blacksmith, to see about getting those things melted down. And maybe do some other shopping.”

  She nodded.

  “I’ll meet you at the guild before sunset.”

  Again she nodded, more vigorously this time. “Meat?”

  “Yeah, you can eat lots of meat.” I could see her tail wagging as she made her way down the stairs. Following after her, I watched her heft her hammer, which she had left by the bodies of the constructs. “Remember to not lose your charm.”

  All she did was nod a few times before rushing out the door. Apparently she had really enjoyed hunting the previous day. Her Battlejunky profession probably had a lot to do with that. Could that also be why she’s so large?

  I shook my head as I moved over to the constructs. It would be best if they were high in mythril content, but knowing my luck it was probably a fairly small percentage. They were…a bit crude. Probably done by a low tier Artificer. I could do much better.

  The streets outside were already starting to move with people. Although it would be more appropriate to say that the movement never stopped. But now stalls were opening, and things were becoming noisy. I made my way over to a stall that was doing some sort of breakfast pastry. It was quite tasty, and very sugary.

  It occurred to me that Shuzshu had given me the entire reward from her quests. That was an oversight on my part. I would need to make sure that she kept some for herself so she could buy herself things. Although she could just…keep it all for herself. She had no obligation to give me anything. I would have to have a talk with her about it later.

  I could probably assume, since she was a slave or something similar, that she didn’t really have the concept of money. She was probably just used to giving all of her rewards to her owner.

  After asking the stall owner about Dwarven Blacksmiths nearby, they had given me directions to one nearby. It was quite a ways past Red Bottle, but it was the closest one on this side of the city. Apparently all the other forges were on the other side of town in a sort of Dwarven district.

  That made me curious as to why this particular Blacksmith had set up in this side of town, but I would find that out pretty quick. The building looked like what I would expect of a blacksmith, with nearby shops peddling forged items. Weapons, armor, and all those other goods. It didn’t seem like this Blacksmith was in the market of selling things themselves.

  As I pushed open the door, I was welcomed by the rush of heat. While it was early in the morning, it seemed that they had already worked to get the forge going. Or they just never let it cool. Before I had even fully entered, a short man with a large beard appeared from seemingly nowhere at the other end of the room.

  “Whatcha want?” he said as he looked me up and down. He had the oh-so-typical Dwarven appearance. Short, wide faced, huge beard. Looking at his beard it was full of little decorations. One of which I took special note of. It was three iron beads capped with a small copper hammer.

  “Is the Master available?” I asked, looking around the room to see if I could see anyone else. It was a sort of store room. Some completed things, raw ores, some ingots of basic metals.

  The man's eyes narrowed at me. “He don’t talk to people he don’t know.”

  I paused for a moment before reaching into my coat and retrieving a small cord with six iron beads, capped with a silver hammer. “Well, I have a job for him.” With my other hand I pulled out the head of the construct. “Go ask him if he can unalloy this.” I tossed the head to the Dwarf.

  He caught the head, though he didn’t even look at it. Instead he was staring at me and the cord. He eyed me for a moment more before nodding and heading through a door at the back of the room.

  A few moments later another Dwarf came out. This one was a bit stockier, with a few bits of gray in his red beard. “You the silver hammer?” he asked, looking me up and down.

  “I am.” I held up the cord as I looked him over as well. A Dwarves beard told the story of their life. Any major accomplishment would get its own little thing to be woven into the beard, but they were all uniquely made by the Dwarf or those they knew so it was hard to estimate their meaning. One consistency though, was for Blacksmiths. You could tell a Dwarfs skill level by how many beads they had and the type. This one had fifteen gold beads, with a gold hammer.

  “Who’s your teacher?” Gold was the highest of ranks as far as Dwarves were concerned, so this Dwarf was a Tier Fifteen Master Blacksmith. That confused me even more as I wondered why they were here.

  “Aldsbrava.” He was a good friend, and taught me everything I knew about Blacksmithing and Dwarves.

  “Aldsbrava…” the man repeated, running his hand over his beard. “That’s a name I’ve not heard in eighty years… How is he?”

  “Dead. Almost four years now.”

  The Dwarf nodded a bit. “Alright, come on. Tell me about this job.” He turned and walked into the back.

  I nodded as I followed him. We went into a large forge, there were a few other Dwarves working material and keeping the fires going. “I need a bunch of metal unalloyed.”

  He lifted up the head of the construct that had been left on an anvil. “Same composition as this?” He turned it in his hand, examining it.

  “Yes. I just want the mythril, and gold. Anything else is yours.”

  He stopped, rubbing the smooth part of the side of the head. “Would that change if you knew the composition?”

  “No,” I said as I reached into my coat. “I wouldn’t care if there was adamantine in it. I just want the mythril and gold.” He nodded as I pulled out the weapons. “I’ve got three swords, one is broken, and a dagger. The rest of that construct,” I said as I gestured to the head, “As well as another complete one. And a full suit of armor.”

  The Dwarf arched a brow at me. “That all?” I nodded. He looked down at the head a moment before peeling it open like it was an orange. “There’s not much mythril in it. I’d say about twenty percent. Of that, you’d probably only get eighteen percent. Not sure about gold, at least in this, so I can’t tell how much you’d get of that.”

  I watched him as he spoke and when he stopped, I nodded. “That’s honestly a bit more than I expected.”

  “And all you want is the mythril and gold.”

  “Yes. That’s all I want.” I had a feeling there was probably something in the mixture that he could tell that was causing him to confirm so many times.

  “Even orichalcum?”

  “I couldn’t care less.” Orichalcum was slightly worse than adamantine. It had similar antimagic and hardness attributes, but was slightly less. “I can’t use orichalcum, or adamantine.”

  He laughed, a deep belly sort of laugh. “Good, good. Well, then I think we have a deal.” He turned and shouted, “Agron, Gauld, go get a large cart and follow this guy back to get the goods.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Don’t thank me yet,” he said as he turned back. “Depending on how this all goes…I might actually owe you money.”

  I smiled a bit, and shook my head. “Instead of that, how about use of your forge?”

  He arched his brow at me again. “Well, you are a silver hammer, so you have the skills…but what more work do you need? I might be able to facilitate.”

  I shook my head as I raised up my hand, showing him the damaged gauntlets. “I like to work on my own things.”

  The Dwarf approached me and grabbed hold of my wrist, pulling my gauntlet down to get a better look at it. “Hmph. Not bad.” He let go. “Alright, lead those boys off to wherever you’re storing the rest of this stuff,” he said as he pat the head of the construct.

  With that I set off back down the road back to my new house. It took a bit of effort for the three of us to move it all onto the cart, as well as all the weapons which I tossed on. “We’ll send someone by to let you know when it’s all done,” one of the Dwarves said, Agron I think.

  “If I’m not around, you can also leave a message at the adventurers guild for the Archanist.” They glanced at each other before nodding and heading off. Now that that was taken care of, it was time to do a bit of work myself. I needed to learn some things, and figure out good locations for herbs and materials. For that, it was off to the Guild.

  The guild was rather quiet at this time, it was well before lunch and all those planning to take quests had already left for the day, so the only ones there were those taking it easy, or guild staff. I was glad for the quiet as I walked over to a counter. “I’d like some information on a few things.”

  He looked up. “Of course, we’re always happy to help.” I didn’t recognize the staff member, but being such a large guild that wasn’t surprising.

  “I wanted to ask about water locations in large forests, as I’m looking-”

  There was a sudden pressure and a man had put an arm around my shoulder. “Hey, hey, you’re the one who owns that Gnoll, right?”

  I glanced at the man, a robed individual. Probably a spell caster, and from the smell of him, drunk before lunch. I also ignored him. “I’m looking for water slime.”

  “Oh don’t be like that, I’m just trying to be friendly. The guys and me just wanna know,” he looked around, and lowered his voice before continuing, “What it’s like?”

  My brow furrowed, but I continued to look at the guild staff. Who to their credit carried on the conversation, “Well there’s a few different locations. The forest to the north east known as Blind Oak has been reported as having water slime.”

  “Come on,” the man continued. “A big beast of a woman like that, we’re all curious. She’s probably rough, right? Or is she a gentle giant?”

  “So Blind Oak,” I said, trying really hard to ignore the man and shrug off his arm.

  “Probably a real monster in bed, eh? Especially since she’s a Gnoll. I can only imagine what they’re like when they go into heat.”

  Suddenly there was a spark in the back of my mind, as if things suddenly made sense. Heat? Did Gnolls go into heat? That would completely explain how she was so aggressive but then hasn’t sought out that again. “There’s also Everlast Forest, but that’s not recommended for uh…lower tiers.”

  I would have to put the thoughts of heat to later. “Where’s that?”

  “To the west, past the dungeon.”

  “Thank you,” I said with a nod and forcibly shrugged off the arm of the man.

  “Oh come on, it’s just a question.” It was hard to resist the urge to sock him in the face, but he was extremely drunk and had given me something to think about, so I would let this slide.

  On my way out of town I grabbed a few skewers. Lizard meat again. There must be a large population of lizard monsters nearby, or perhaps in the dungeon, as most of the meat seems to be from reptiles. I also passed by the dungeon, which was an interesting structure that looked like a large skull of some beast, with mist slowly seeping out from it. It truly had a fitting name. There weren’t many people outside, at least not as many as I would have expected. The majority were probably inside already.

  As much as the dungeon had been a sight to see, the forest was even moreso. It had that absolute classic enchanted forest look. Huge trees, colorful stones and fungus scattered about. It was beautiful just to look at. I could see that there looked to be a few well trodden paths, most likely from adventurers. There was the sound of birds and animals, and the odd ringing of bells and laughter.

  This was a Spirit Forest.

  It was no wonder that the receptionist had said that it was not for low tier adventurers… Most low tiers would not know how to deal with Spirits. But it was also the best place to find materials and herbs. It wouldn’t be a matter of if I could find water slime here, but how long it would take.

  I sighed softly as I made my way down one of the paths. That didn’t mean I wanted to be in a place like this.

  Several hours passed, the trail having long since disappeared. Now it was a matter of traveling around trees and over roots and rocks. The strangest part was not coming across anything. No beasts, no people, no Spirits. That was concerning, but there was no reason to worry about it too much.

  Eventually I found a small creek, which I followed. As I went further in, I slowed from the noise. There was the sound of laughter, and the jingling of bells and windchimes. I had nothing against Spirits, but they could be extremely dangerous. And hostile.

  The creek eventually let out into a small pond, on top of which was the source of the noise. Six little Faeries were messing about, playing tag, or doing something with the water. It was hard to guess at what fae got up to. I picked up a rock and hurled it to the left, causing it to knock on a tree a ways away.

  Immediately the Faeries scattered. I tried to remain low and motionless, to not give myself away. Once I was sure the coast was clear I stood up, and nearly bumped my head on something. Taking a step back I looked at it and immediately felt my blood run cold. A Spirit Trap. I grabbed it and ripped it down, crushing the fragile thing.

  Spirit trapping was illegal, at least as far as I knew. I sighed softly as I put the now broken trap into my coat. It would serve as good evidence when I confronted the guild about it. There was always something I was having to deal with. If I were more of a passive man, maybe my life would be less hectic.

  Moving to the pond, I knelt down, retrieving a few jars from my coat. As I had thought, there were plentiful amounts of water slime. Water slime is a sort of clear algae that likes to grow in ponds that are mostly stagnant. It prefers still water, but still wants fresh water to come and the old water to leave. A rather picky thing.

  Four jars of the stuff was a good haul. Any more than that would disrupt the ecosystem of the pond and prevent the water slime from repopulating. Rather than getting eight jars now and having to find a new source, it was better to take half and come back in a month or two for more.

  As I stood up, thinking about looking for a few other herbs, a sudden chime caused the hairs on the back of my neck to stand up. I didn’t dare to move, in case whatever it was spotted the movement. But after a few moments, I heard the chime again and looked over to where it was coming from. It was in the direction that several of the Faeries had fled.

  I waited, and watched, looking for any signs of movement until I heard the chime again. Now I was confused, and a bit curious, and so I took a few steps towards the source of the noise. Another chime, this one sounding a bit frantic, was the response. I waited for a bit longer before I decided that I might as well see what the fuss was. Especially if it was what I thought it was.

  And it was. One of the Faeries had gotten caught in one of the Spirit traps, and was trying to call out for help. It panicked the moment it saw me, struggling more against the trap and letting out frantic chimes.

  With a sigh, I made my way over. “Alright, alright. Calm down. It’s okay.” I reached up, grabbing and prying off a large part of the trap. Immediately the Faerie took its chance and fled. I watched it for a moment until it was out of sight, and then pulled the trap down, crushing it before storing it away.

  After casting Analysis on one, I decided to spend the next hour going around and collecting these little traps, making sure to crush them before storing them. It seemed that the Spirits around here had learned to avoid them. But for me, they were just materials. There was not a small amount of gold used in them, which also told me that the Maker was most likely an Artificer. I decided to take one trap intact, so that I could study their circuitry.

  As I knelt, examining some footprints, a soft chime caused me to turn my head, seeing a Faerie not terribly far away. I had a feeling that it had been following me, but this was the first time it had made a noise. “I don’t speak fae,” I said softly, tucking what would be the last trap I would gather. Which put me up to twenty seven. I was confident I got all the ones in this area.

  There were a few more chimes, and the Faerie got closer.

  “No, I didn’t put up the traps, nor do I know who did.” Just as the words left my mouth, I realized that I had understood the intent of what the little Spirit was trying to say.

  There was a questioning chime, as it asked why I was collecting them.

  I glanced at the little fae. “Two reasons. One,” I held up a finger, “It’s good materials.” I had no intention of lying. “And two,” I held up a second finger, “It’s a horrible thing to do to an intelligent being. Some people don’t see Spirits as living things, but that’s just…dumb.”

  It actually got quite close now, just out of reach. It had the figure of a young woman, wearing leaves as clothes, with silver hair. She was quite a lovely little thing, but that was fae. They were either beautiful, or absolutely horrific to look at. It made a few little chimes.

  “You can call me Archanist,” I said, as it was asking for who I was. There are legends that you have to watch how you answer a fae’s request, and most of them were true. However, I had no name to steal even if it wanted to.

  When I stood up it fluttered a bit away, obviously cautious. It gave another questioning chime.

  “Well, obviously I’m done here,” I said softly, looking around a moment to get my bearings. “I just came here to have a look around and get some materials.” Satisfied with where I needed to go I began walking.

  The Faerie followed, floating closer as it chimed a bit more. Again it stayed right out of reach, not that that would help if I really wanted to capture it.

  “Water slime,” I said as I pulled out a jar and showed it to her.

  To my surprise she actually came up to take a good look at it.

  “I have enough for now, but I’ll probably be back for more.”

  She touched the jar, pushing her face against it to try and see what was inside. I chuckled a bit, which caused her to chime at me.

  “Oh no, of course not, I’m not laughing at you. Who would be so foolish?”

  Her cheeks puffed up and she folded her arms, pouting at me. She stood on top of my hand and began a chiming tirade, obviously not believing me.

  “Yes, yes, I’m sorry,” I said as I continued to walk. It was like being chastised by a child who knew that it had been wronged, but did not understand the joke. Which was not incorrect.

  Before I realized it we had gone quite a distance, and she had not left. She had moved from sitting on my jar, to sitting on my shoulder, and had begun asking me about my things. It started with her asking why my sleeves were all cut up. Which led into my fight, and my gauntlets. She was quite interested in the magic contained in the little vials. Without being able to stop her, she pulled out the magic essence. Thankfully the magic silver was too thick.

  “Ah- I need that,” I said, trying not to shout.

  She gave me a puzzled look, responding with a few chimes.

  “Well, yes, I do have mana. It’s different. I can’t turn my mana into essence.” Which was true, I had tried.

  All I got were a few dismissive chimes.

  I rolled my eyes. “Well excuse me for not being able to use magic in the ‘normal’ way.”

  The little fae looked at me, about to say something when she suddenly stopped and looked around. She made a few little chimes.

  “Yes, we’re near the edge of the forest. I’m pretty sure I told you I was leaving.”

  There was a bit of a frantic look on her face as she fluttered up and around a bit. She chimed excitedly, though worriedly.

  “Yes, I will be coming back. There’s a lot of good materials around here.” I gave her a bit of a questioning look. Surely she had not grown an attachment to me? That could be dangerous if left alone, but it could also be extremely helpful.

  She made a few chimes, pointing at me with quite a fierce expression.

  However, I hesitated. What she had said at me was not a question, or a statement, but a demand for a promise. I sighed. “Alright, I promise that I will return to the forest before the next new moon.” A promise with a Spirit was like a soul contract, and while it was dangerous to accept, denying it while still in a Spirit Forest would turn everything inside it against you.

  The little lady eyed me a bit before nodding, satisfied with my response. With a small chime she suddenly disappeared into a flurry of glitter and bubbles. I watched the spot for a few moments. The next new moon was a few weeks away, so I had time, and I was sure I’d be back to this forest long before that.

  But for now there was nothing left for me to do here. Or I could say that there was a lot, but I didn’t have time. The sun was starting to go down, and I would have to meet back up with Shuzshu. Of course, before that, I had another hornet's nest to kick.

  ~

  Shoving open the door to the guild, I was met with the loud and bustling noise of what looked to be a celebration. Scanning the room, I spotted Shuzshu, who had already ordered a ton of food and was currently enjoying herself. While no one sat at her table, no one seemed to shy away from her. That was good. I had been worried about whether they would be hostile towards her.

  Moving quickly to a receptionist desk, I quickly got their attention. “Hey, I just have a real quick question.”

  They looked exasperated, and gave me a look.

  “Spirit trapping is illegal, right?” That statement seemed to kill the mood of everyone nearby who heard it.

  The bespectacled guild staff adjusted their glasses, giving me a look. “Yes.”

  “That’s what I thought.” I then began taking out the broken traps. The room seemed to get more and more quiet the more I pulled out. It was silent once I hit twenty, but I went all the way to twenty-six, leaving only the intact one not on the pile. “I came across these while exploring Everlast. And the Spirits were pissed.” That last part was a lie, but everyone knew what happened if someone started catching Spirits.

  They would become more and more hostile. They would start seeking revenge. Annoyingly, that was the only reason it was illegal. The people in charge feared the response by the more powerful Spirits. “Where…where did you find these?”

  “Everlast,” I said, looking at the pile. “These were all scattered around a pond that I think was near a Faerie House, judging by the large amount of Faeries.”

  Once again Landerson appeared. He picked up one of the broken traps. “I take it you broke them all?”

  “Of course. All the ones I could find. I’m not going to leave something like that intact.” He was turning it in his hands, examining it. “I want the scrap,” I added. “There’s a lot of materials that I need.”

  “Of course. You found them, afterall. Could you tell me exactly where?”

  I shook my head. “I could find it again, but it would probably take half a day. And the fae were pretty annoyed that they were there, but calmed down when I started destroying and removing them.”

  He rubbed his face, tossing the scrapped trap onto the pile. “Alright. I’ll…make a report about this. Did you find anything else?”

  “There were some boot tracks, but they were generic. Too old for Observation…so more than a month old.”

  He pinched the ridge of his nose and sighed. “Alright…alright…I’ll… put together an investigation team.” He sighed again and turned around.

  “Oh, one more thing, Landerson.” He stopped to look back at me as I put away the broken traps. “That’s two.”

  The frown on his face deepened. “You’re going to keep track?”

  “Of course I am.” I was going to keep careful track of all the problems that I solved, or brought to light.

  “That’s not a good way to make friends,” he said, his voice tinged with annoyance.

  “I don’t need friends,” I responded, placing the last of the traps into my coat. “I have a Gnoll.” With that I turned and made my way to Shuzshu.

  Despite how it may look to others, the Gnoll had been paying close attention to me and what I was doing. Of course, she had not stopped eating, but she was watching and listening. As I took a seat, she shifted so that she was more beside me, and pressed her face against my chest, pushing her muzzle into my coat.

  I smiled a bit as I pet her. “Did you have a good day?”

  She made a soft noise of agreement, “Mhm.”

  Looking at the table, most of the food was eaten, but I noticed that there was an untouched plate and mug. “Are these for me?”

  Again she made the soft noise, “Mhm.” I could feel her breathing within my coat, taking in deep breaths.

  “You’re a good girl,” I said softly as I ran my fingers through her mane for a few moments longer. Her tail was swishing back and forth vigorously. I decided that I would ask her more about her day and how her hunting went when we returned home. There were also some…other…questions that I wanted to ask.

  As I ate the meal, Shuzshu eventually pulled herself out of my coat, seemingly satisfied, and finished off everything that wasn’t on my plate. It still surprised me a bit that she was very conscious that I get to eat my fill. The feeling of having someone care about me and look out for me was very nice. Familiar, yet vaguely distant in memories.

  Once we were done, we headed back to the house, with her doing her usual thing of practically walking on me. A thought struck me and I decided to take her hand. The gesture confused her for a moment until she realized what I was doing and her tail began to wag so hard I felt it thump against my back.

  When we entered the house, the moment the door was closed, she began to strip. I wondered if this was the norm for her. “What did you hunt today?” I asked as I removed my coat and boots. It would be rude to walk on the floor with dirty boots considering our resident House Spirit probably spent a lot of effort to keep it clean.

  “Pack of Dire Wolves, and mean horse thing,” she said, stretching now that she was once again nude.

  “Ah, the Grandlefer. Yeah those are annoying to fight.” An extremely large horse with eight legs and two heads. One head could breathe fire, while the other sprayed acid. “Tomorrow, hunt the big turtle thing. I think you’ll like that.”

  She suddenly pulled me against her, pressing my face into her chest. “I missed you.” Her voice was so soft that I almost didn’t hear it.

  But I did, and it actually made my legs feel a bit weak. I put my arms around her, not even being able to touch the tips of my fingers together behind her back. “Did you now?”

  All I got was a soft grunt from her, which caused me to chuckle. However my laughter only seemed to entice her further as she lowered her head, completely putting it over my own head and placing her chin against my back. She was surprisingly flexible.

  We stayed like that for several minutes. I could still smell the scent of the shampoo from last night, though there was also the scent of dirt. But her fur was still so soft and had not become noticeably greasier.

  “I made seven gold,” she said suddenly, shifting and loosening her grip on me slightly so that she could look at me. “I spent the silver on food.”

  “That’s alright. You did the hunting, so it’s all technically yours.”

  This caused her to frown a bit, and her brow furrowed as she started to think. “Then… I keep two gold, you get five.”

  “You’re the one who made that gold. Are you sure?” I asked, trying to reassure her that it was fine if she wanted to take more.

  However she just nodded. “Mhm. I am…not good with money.” Her grip suddenly tightened a bit. “And I know you’ll buy me anything I need…”

  I chuckled a bit. “You trust me that much?”

  For her answer I received a kiss. It was brief, but held a lot of meaning. “You’re the one I chose,” she said softly.

  “Chose, eh?” It was honestly nice to hear.

  “Yes.” She rubbed her face against my neck and shoulder. “Mine,” she said softly.

  “Alright…but you get to decide how the money gets split, alright?” It made me feel a bit weird to have her just…give me all of the money she earned. She wasn’t my slave, but sometimes she acted like it. Old habits?

  “Yes yes.” Suddenly we were moving, and I realized I was being carried. “Bath?”

  “No, not a bath. Just washing ourselves down a bit. We…don’t quite have the luxury of taking baths every night.” Shampoo was expensive.

  She nodded. “Yes. I will clean you.”

  I was a bit stunned at that statement, unsure of quite what she meant. However, once she had removed my clothes and her tongue touched my chest it was extremely obvious what she meant. Although it was very clear that this was not going to be a full tongue bath, as she only licked my chest, stomach, sides, back, neck, face, and arms. I felt…slightly slimy. But it was sure one hell of an experience, as her tongue was quite large.

  She did eventually get water and a cloth and began washing me that way after I warmed the water up a bit with mana. Unlike me, however, she was not shy at all about the locations she washed. Deliberately taking her time with certain areas.

  It caused me to remember a question that I had. “Do Gnolls go into heat?”

  Shuzshu paused, mid wiping down my leg as I asked the question. “No?” She gave me a look of utter confusion.

  I blinked at her. “Then…why were you so aggressive in the woods?”

  I swear I could see the Gnoll blush as she put on the most embarrassed, guilt ridden expression I had ever seen on a canine. It was that look that dogs get when they know they did something wrong and all they can do is try and look pitiful to hope you forgive them. “I wanted you…”

  “Alright.” It wasn’t like I was upset at her or anything, I was just curious.

  “You’re not…mad at me?” She had her head down, though she was looking at me out of the corner of her eye.

  “Mad? Why would I be mad?” I questioned, eying her curiously. “I was just confused why you hadn’t initiated anything since then.”

  “You…you mean you want…more?” She was suddenly very close to me, her eyes a bit large.

  “Of course I do?” I had a feeling that someone told her that no one would want her. “You’re a big beautiful Gnoll. You are shapely, and have a pleasant figure. While you are not…curvy, you have ample breasts, and a big butt. You’re very attractive,” I concluded.

  She tilted her head. “What does my butt have to do with it?”

  I laughed. I actually laughed, completely unable to help myself. “Did your…did your Mistress not explain this sort of thing to you?” I was almost to the point of tears, I was laughing so hard.

  “Well…” She sat back, looking at me with confusion. “She often complained about having a sore ass, but I assumed that that was because her clients were always striking it.”

  I nodded a bit, trying to reign in my laughter. “Yes, that was probably part of it. However that particular statement probably referred to those who preferred using…other holes. The reason why I bring it up is that many, myself included, find a large butt attractive.”

  Her brow furrowed more and more until realization suddenly dawned on her, and her expression turned to one of shock. “You mean that they put it in her butt?!” she exclaimed.

  That was far too much for me and I actually slipped off the stool because I was laughing too hard. It had been far too long since I laughed this hard, and Shuzshu soon joined me in laughter. Though I wasn’t sure if she was laughing for the same reason I was, or because I was laughing. Or she was laughing at the fact I had just fallen over.

  It took several minutes for our laughter to finally die down. “Gods I haven’t laughed that hard in so long…” I managed to say as I wiped tears from my face. My face actually hurt. My stomach hurt. I actually could not remember the last time I had laughed so hard. Probably some time in my previous life…

  Shuzshu was quick to wrap her arms around me, pulling me onto her lap. “I am glad. Laughter is good.”

  I closed my eyes as I leaned into her. “It’s…nice to laugh like that.”

  For the first time, in a very long time, I actually felt good.