"Shamesh?" Phantom asked the open space around a pair of slightly worse for wear bandits. It was two hours after dark and they were an hour and a half jog away from Sapphirestone in a gully that was both mostly dry and out of sight of the road.

'I am here. My Master has cloaked me in shadows for my own protection until I have returned from this mission.' Shamesh sent directly into Phantom's head via telepathy.

'How's the boss and lady boss doin'?' Phantom sent back.

'Better than they had been.' Shamesh cryptically replied. 'You will have to talk to them yourself at some point in the near future.'

'Will do.' Phantom promised. 'So, what's with these failures?'

'My Master has given them to you, along with the crate of supplies that they carry. If you believe that they are capable of being used, my Master requests that you send them south in search of those he is after.' Shamesh explained.

'Chatohsha, Arnold Drake, and Morgan Effy.' Phantom surmised. 'Got it. What if they are untrustworthy and useless?'

'Execute them.' Shamesh stated directly. 'My Master and Mistress both request that they be questioned while under some form of compulsion to ensure that they have not committed any heinous crimes.'

'The usual list?' Phantom questioned.

'Anything illegal involving children, extended torture, and rape, yes.' Shamesh replied. Those were the lines that Isaac would not cross. Children were always innocent until they reached a certain age of physical and mental maturity, and the other two things were both cruel for no other reason than the one inflicting its sick pleasure. Anyone who was going to crack under torture would do so within half an hour. If it took any longer than that, the information one would get would be dubious at best.

'Got it.' Phantom sent with a nod. "I'll get them into the city and then sort everything out. Tell the boss I'll be back when I can and I have a lead on another potential minion."

The pair of bandits shared a look when they finally heard Phantom speak out loud again and he mentioned 'another potential minion'. It really seemed like the Phantom, the man who had hit the shattered underworld of Sapphirestone like one of Gravity's 'Rods From the Gods', had just referred to himself as a minion. Sure, even if Phantom was working under the Lord of Darkness, to actively call himself a minion was just a bit too much from Karson and Tarel's perspectives.

'I will.' Shamesh assured him and immediately filled in Isaac while he and Lenna were still on their way back to Safeharbor. The duo had gotten past the dwarven fortress already but had yet to make it to Safeharbor itself. 'My Master wishes you luck and thanks you for all of your hard work.'

Phantom nodded. "Thanks. Talk to you later, Shamesh." He then turned to the two bandits who had been watching him intently. "I am The Phantom. Our magnanimous master, the Lord of all that is Dark, had instructed me to give you both a chance. If you do not pass my tests, I will rip out your soul, store it in a gem, and then mail it to Shamesh so he can eat it to maintain his lichdom without leeching off of our master's power. Then at least I can use your bodies as spares for when this one inevitably gets injured beyond repair."

Both bandits gulped. "S-so your not mortal either?" Tarel squeaked. Having a forty year old man's voice squeak while talking to him almost made Phantom break character in genuine laughter but he reined in the humorous response.

"Didn't you hear me?" Phantom questioned. "I am The Phantom, Shamesh is The Lich, and I am trying to track down the others. Your job will be to track down mortals who have wronged our Lord and inform us of their locations. You do not have to fight them, but that is for later, for now, grab your crate and follow me. If you fall behind, you won't have to worry about catching back up."

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—

"I can't pay you both for taking one caravan." Edward told Isaac and Lenna. It was after midnight but he was still in the Guild Hall, in his office, trying to get coverage for his own position or at the very least someone else capable of protecting a caravan with little to no assistance.

"I figured." Isaac replied. "Until Lenna is back up to double platinum combat levels, she's stuck tagging along with me."

Edward nodded. "As long as we have that settled, I'll let the," Edward cringed slightly at the name that he was about to say. "Innerworld Inquisition, know they can have a day off and tell the next caravan to start getting ready tomorrow morning."

Isaac looked at him with humor in his gaze and an eyebrow raised. "The Inquisition? Based on your reaction, they aren't the Crowns Inquisitors playing caravan guards, so who are they?" He wondered.

"A group of seven adventurers who like working together and combined are capable of handling a platinum level threat without casualties. They are all in the eight to eleven range so they can handle themselves, but they still worry me when they take escort missions back to back to back." Edward explained. "Even just a day of rest will ease my worries, even if it will feel like a punishment for them. They've been a bit too eager since our last lost caravan."

Isaac nodded. He knew how they felt more than anyone else. If Lenna had been in perfect condition, and the bandits had already been dealt with, both of them would have been running caravans simultaneously for weeks by then. Isaac knew that taking the fight to Contantis was out of the question, but turning a raid into a reverse jumping was something that he was very confident in doing. Both he and Lenna would be able to handle multiple of Contantis's finest warriors at once. Their paladins would be strong but nothing that Lenna, in her V'Nova Matriarch Armor with an adamantine sword, wouldn't be able to handle, even with a few others as backup.

"Shamesh is running an errand but he will report in when he returns." Isaac informed the Guild Master. "He is willing to wait however long it takes for a caravan to decide to take him on as their guardian, but just so everyone is aware, I have a continuous connection to Shamesh at all times. He is my retainer and I expect people to treat him with at least that level of respect. He doesn't need to be bowed to or addressed with any titles or honorifics, but common decency and standard politeness is the expectation."

Edward nodded in agreement. "I was already planning on talking to each of the caravan leaders, but being able to tell them that you will be keeping an eye on Shamesh the entire time will ease my mind. I am not going to lie to you and tell you that I did not foresee someone being an asshole because he is not technically living, but I hoped that his adventurers badge would dissuade that from happening in most circumstances." Edward replied.

"Will the change in protection detail cause any issues with the caravan that we are going to be taking care of?" Lenna wondered. "There will only be two adventurers instead of seven."

Edward chuckled. "Not in the slightest. You two are legends, more so Isaac after the exhibition match, but I am willing to bet that some of the caravan leaders would be willing to fight each other in order to be the one protected by two double platinum adventurers. Most of them either heard second hand or actually got to watch Isaac melt through a Reality Bubble and shatter Reality Shields with sword strikes. If Lenna had an exhibition match of her own, then people would be lining up just to get one of you, let alone both."

"Speaking of," Isaac began with a suggestive look towards Edward. "would you mind?

"What?" Edward questioned. "No way. I refuse. Find someone else to get blown up. I know how she fights."

"Damn." Isaac swore. "I was hoping to use you as a benchmark for how healed she was."

"Well," Edward looked at Lenna. "you haven't gotten any faster suddenly, have you?"

"No." Lenna replied.

"Then you are going to fight more or less the same way as before, right?" Edward asked.

"More or less. I have some new techniques and more spells that aren't self destructive. I probably won't Fireball us both and I won't cast Perdition." Lenna explained.

Edward sighed. "I'll think about it." He told her. "But I don't feel like being turned into Blonde Barbeque."

Isaac snorted and Lenna glared at Edward. "It's just to show off and push ourselves a bit, not for either of us to win. I'm not going to try to cook you alive like I would Fable."

"I'll think about it." Edward repeated. "For now, get some rest, the caravan leaves at six, which, last I checked, is in five and a half hours."

"You too." Isaac replied. "I could use a cat nap before we spend the next ten days on alert."

Isaac and Lenna left and went home for a few hours to relax before it was time for their mission. They had already turned in their bounty and given Alexis the stolen jewelry. The payment was negligible compared to their rank and level. It was supposed to be a platinum level bounty, not their usual double platinum tier, and seeing as it was only a small bandit group with the highest level person estimated to be at level ten, he was actually level eleven, and there were only supposed to be around a dozen of them, there were actually fifteen, that was a fair rating. Someone like Shy from the Flame Ravens could have assassinated them one at a time from strongest to weakest without much of a problem. Even Lenny, the Phantom, if given enough time, could probably have handled them all.

With their bounty already taken care of, and their next job lined up, Isaac and Lenna only had to drop off the extra money that they had liberated from the bandit camp at home, because the bank was closed, and then restock on their used travel rations and water. Conjured water was generally not ideal for long term hydration so they still brought fresh water with them when possible. Due to Lenna's Bottomless Backpack having plenty of extra space and weight, they were able to carry quite a bit of water with them that could just be dumped in a pinch.

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