"Well, Barry has had his fair share, but you know he's an honest bloke, he gave all his away to the leaky tap back in forty-five, which was an odd choice. I'm paraphrasing here but, "They're neutral, they're not going to get involved with anything outside the business, and the failsafe spell automatically teleports the traitor to the shame square near Bompeeyo's domain, and nobody wants to risk a clash with the one colossi who wants to scrap if the chance occurs,"

Emcee smiled ever so slightly. I'm not sure if she thought it was funny or was thinking of the possibility of what that fight would look like and is enjoying the thought in a sadistic manner.

Either way, I looked away in case I caught her attention. "I'll get in touch with some of the other guilds and hold a meeting, I appreciate the intel ya dingbats now clean up and Fuck off I have no other need for you" said Emcee politely.

"Thanks for your hospitality, Emcee!" We said together out of fear. Frank and Curly both decided to shove us in the direction of the door. They were far more polite with the Von family. You save a rich bunch, putting our lives on the line, and we get treated like this… elitism is crazy, I thought to myself, faking a smile but dying inside.

"Here," said Frank, who slammed a large bag of HFC into Horace, knocking the wind out of him, and I'm sure his eyes popped out of his head for a second before he slumped to the floor.

"From the boss," Frank continued with minimal speaking. She said "Ta," And the door was slammed so hard we were pushed back a little, and Horace slid down to the street still grasping the money.

"If her lackey could do that, it's scary to think he's forty places lower than Emcee and has that much power." Looking up to the sky, pondering how much worse it could have been.

"Screw that guy pushing us around like that, where the hell where they when all that was going down!" Rhua retorted. "Probably in a Chasm or dealing with someone far more worthy than our mortal selves," Came the surprisingly negative words from Lucy.

Lucy, realising she was coming across as depressed, tried to move the conversation along, "We should meet up with Larry and Hans. I want to know if that little girl is doing all right and if she has woken up after the big clash. I'll get some niceties along the way, we can try to lighten the atmosphere after all that."

Lucy shopped by herself, but found the town lacking in foodstuffs, only managing to scavenge Noet horns, clotted Schmuu cream and Gurdbår jam, common treats for Maliterr but nothing particularly outstanding. It felt like my birthday when I spotted a Cranky Jay's Vinella Flapper. I asked her if it was for me, and she nodded.

"I passed someone selling goods from Terra. Here, I got these as well for everyone, they better be worth the price," she huffed, and several bottles of fizzay floated in the air, no way … LOICHEE flavour! The smile on my face right now, it's got to be my birthday. "Thank you, Lucy, you're a star!" I said and hugged her.

Rhua and I helped Horace get back on his feet, then Wardi led the way to the Scrollitorium. Hans was the first to greet us, though he showed some caution as Broekslang came into view.

"Hans, forgive this old coot," rushing over and falling to his knees, "I have shamed my family and let you down, I'll never forgive myself for getting turned by evil doers!" Hans raised Broekslang and dusted off his suit.

"Do not worry about me. You and the ladies of the house should lie your heads and rest a while," nodding with a smile.

"Hans darling, your concern is appreciated. But think of yourself for once," Hans shook his beaky head, "Ney ladyship, it is a butler's duty after all, to ensure the master and mistress needs are well met. Come now, I will lead you to your room at the inn; these honourable adventurers have important matters ahead of them, and we should leave them be." Hans insisted, trying to hurry them all along.

Lady Von stayed behind to tell us that she insists we stop by before leaving town; she wants to thank us personally. Larry spotted us through the store window and ushered all in quickly. Stepping into the familiar place, the whirring and twinkling sounds of Arts were activated. The doors were locked tight, and the lights were switched on.

It was as if a bomb had gone off in the shop, smoke still lingered in the air..The remnants of detrimental effects were ever present and being cleaned up by small little Larry clones brushing, scrubbing, and repairing as they went.

"This was my fault. I didn't deactivate the defensive spells when I brought the girl here, and they kicked in, slightly blowing the place up, lucky I keep the GOOD STUFF out of the way," he said whilst throwing aside some parchment from chairs that he had forgotten about.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Sit down, we have a blue haired problem to deal with. Laid out on the table was the girl from Broekslang's manor. "Has she awoken? Lucy spoke out showing concern, she looked to be a few years younger but was the closest to her age if she was as old as she looked.

"Well, an interesting little story to tell here…" Larry looked hurt or sad, I couldn't quite tell. "I am so ashamed… Hans and I…had to knock her out physically," Larry said sadly. Shocking all of us except Wardi.

"This girl seems to have some innate resistance or immunity to abilities and arts, I was heading here with Hans, and we were maybe one or two streets away and she suddenly woke up screaming and kicking," he continued, by saying "We tried all the basic stuff: Trying to put her to sleep, paralysis potion, induced coma, silence scroll but nothing worked, and the guards were certainly concerned by all the noise, lucky for me my reputation proceeds me and I said she is a patient for my cousin Barry no need to worry just a side effect," Larry continued his ramblings.

"Hans held her as I bonked her on the head. I'll never forgive myself for that." Rhua was fuming, Lucy and Horace were both sad, I was indifferent, and Wardi was the only person from the party to speak.

"Unpredictable situation we were, in don't blame yourself, this is an unfamiliar individual," he began turning to us making sure we heard his words, "She could be young, she could be old, she is an unfamiliar individual and those can put you in a situation that means life or death, so pull your fingers out your arses, what if she was another Edge Lord? You wouldn't be acting this way if she were."

Damn, those were some harsh words he used but he is right they're letting emotions get the better of them here I thought to myself. Rhua walked over to her, gently rocking to see if the girl would respond, but there was nothing. Reaching into her bag, she pulled out wakey-wakey salts and waved the bottle under the girl's nose. It hadn't been more than a second or two before the girl shot up straight up, inhaling deeply, her hair was notably standing up as if she had been hit by some Raiton Art recently.

She looked at Rhua, who was still taken aback by the sudden surprise action, and leapt at her. Clawing and swinging fists in rapid succession, but nothing was besting Rhua's defences. Wardi stepped in, restraining the girl who was becoming increasingly aggressive.

"Hello ALL! It's me, Horace! MEANWHILE and unbeknownst to everyone else, I HAD BEEN trying to synthesise something to help with the SITUATION. The ability finished, and I showed off my newly formed shell, raising it high in celebration…if only everyone had witnessed me and my GLORIOUS CREATION, I thought to myself as I readied the turret, loading it up. "Incoming, SULFERGIC acid pentamide!" Horace piped aloud

A shell flew up and gas quickly spread around the shop front …the fighting continued, however. "Hmm, I thought this would DO THE JOB,"

The innate resistance from having a class seemed to be kicking in for everyone except for myself and the little girl who appeared to be starting to slow…slow down …. like…. alo----t. "I feel a little funny I said. Ah bugger, Horace you div, you've gotten the two of them OUT OF IT! Look at the state of them, he pointed primarily at the young girl Horace just accidentally debilitated, and Horace just skulked into the corner and stared at the wall in shame.

The girl had calmed down significantly, though she was acting more unusual now. Rhua noted that the young girl was waving her hands in the air slowly, up... down… left… right… left… right. Though it seemed she appeared far, FAR away at the same time. "Horrrrrrace…wwwwhat wassss …the shhhhelll," I said it so slowly everyone aged at least a year, maybe two by the time I finished speaking.

"Fffloating…I'm ffffloating!" I spoke.

Wardi, realising this was something like illegal narcotics back on Terra, began laughing, "Rhua…Horace got him high! I think he's managed to recreate SAP, the narcotic." "Oh no, he's going to be like this for a while then," her face now turning to one of annoyance after speaking.

"What is sap?" said Lucy, concerned

"There used to be something people took in our old world, it would supposedly change the way your mind worked, colour would be more intense, you could think and imagine things beyond your limits, you could feel the very essence of yourself, flowing into the world, into the universe," Rhua said and Wardi followed this up "For a low-low price and 30 minutes or less."

"W-w-where am I? Who…who are…you?" the girl began talking, much to our surprise. "Well, I'm glad she's capable of speaking the same tongue as us at least," Said Wardi. Lucy began talking to the girl.

"This is the Scrollitorium, in the town of Et-Navn and the world is called Maliterr." The girl seemed to ignore Lucy's words. "A GIANT…TALKINGGG HATTTT… WITH ...A FACE IN IT HEE HEEEEE," she said slowly

"I think you may have made that one a little bit too strong, Horace," said Larry, "STOPPED them from FIGHTING at least," piped Horace firing back. Lucy removed the hat, and the girl was even more gleeful.

"THE HAT…WAS CONTROLLED… BY A GIRL HEEEEEE. "We are adventurers, we rescued you from an evil monster" "Mmmonster?" the girl said "Silana is not monsterrrrrr!" she protested.

"Are you Silana? Rhua said, putting her hand on the girl's shoulder to try and show her she cares. "I'm Silana!" she said, staring at Rhua's hand on her shoulder intensely, "it's so …gigantic … your hand and … SHINYYY," "I think the imaginative side is starting to kick in now, and he… he's been looking at the same thing for the past five minutes Wardi said aloud.

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