Something Sincir quickly learned after having left Stormbay is that things in Itera, or, at least, in Adall specifically, tend to revolve around guilds.

  Carpenters Guild, Courier Guild, Commerce Guild… You name it, and there’s probably a guild for it somewhere in the continent.

  The one that attracted his attention at first sight, however, was the Explorers Guild. On paper, the guild’s objective is stated as mapping untamed areas of Adall and beyond, recovering territory for human use; However, in practice, the guild often serves as a pce where mercenaries of all sorts gather to find monster sying contracts, as well as doing many types of odd jobs which might require somebody with fighting skills to accomplish.

  And more recently, the guild has taken yet another role, that of containing, or at least mapping, a new threat which might come to destroy the continent of Adall in its entirety.

  Although the phenomenon doesn’t exactly have an official name, it is, undoubtedly, caused by some sort of invasive species (most likely from Elysium) which has arrived in Itera, somehow.

  These creatures are also what Esme was referring to when she asked him to be careful, and that is because Elderspire, the city where Inquiry is located, has no less than three known nests in its immediate vicinity.

  Now, for the nature of these nests, themselves...

  Apparently, they’ve begun appearing about a hundred years prior to Sincir’s birth in Itera, popping up faster than the Explores Guild managed to destroy them, until they were essentially everywhere in Adall, causing all sorts of mayhem for local popuces.

  Fortunately, they seem to have stopped expanding as fast ever since, though their numbers aren’t exactly decreasing either, in spite of the combined efforts of many different kingdoms and guilds…

  The only way to destroy a nest is to travel to its dept and kill its queen; However, the longer a nest has been around for, the more dangerous it becomes, and the deeper it grows. To make matters worse, without exception, these nests are built like mazes, and the adventurers or soldiers to have explored their depths often report feeling as though they were being watched, almost as though the nest itself was alive.

  Lastly, and as a small mercy among the disaster, the monsters birthed by the nest’s queen seem to often harbor crystals inside of their bodies, which they both use to gather mana from their surroundings, as well as to identify food from friends… Allegedly. The good side here being that the crystals can be salvaged after the monsters to which they belong are syed, being then used as batteries for magical artifacts even a normal person, or soldier, might be able to use.

  In Itera, at least, no longer is magic exclusive to the few lucky enough to have the talent for it, or having been born with elf blood in their veins.

  Unfortunately, these crystals also make these monsters all the more dangerous, and the older the monster, the bigger its crystal, and the greater the danger... Although, as he has yet to encounter one of them, the information he has is second handed, and not exactly reliable, as it comes mostly from rumors.

  Of Elderspire’s nests, one of them has been around since the beginning of these creatures’ invasion, being a bit more than then a hundred years old now, and having swallowed entire armies and countless adventurers to have attempted to close it during this period, while the other two are two and three decades old, respectively.

  Normally, the first nest aside, the other two would’ve been destroyed already, being this close to a town as big as Elderspire, and the national treasure which is Inquiry, but unfortunately, the Explorers Guild's attempts at doing so have been fruitless thus far, as anyone who meets the nests' queens has yet to return to tell the tale.

  Fearing a repeat of the first nest, where its surroundings have now become all but barren nd in virtue of the strength of the monsters that come out of it, the citizens of Elderspire are understandably scared... After all, are all three nests to reach a point where they’re unconquerable, the city will most likely perish.

  In these past hundred years, certain areas of Adall have become what people call Dangers Zones, pces where several, or sometimes even a single, but extremely dangerous nest, have grown unimpeded for far too long, driving away any nearby human settlements.

  If nothing is done, Elderspire is soon to become one of these zones…

  Well, it probably won’t come to that. If nearby authorities don’t do something about it soon, then so will he; After all, he is to join the Explorers Guild soon.

  Truth is, he’d have long ago done so, if not for their stupid age restrictions, and for the fact entering a nest without a license from a guild, or from the army, is illegal, since untrained personnel tend to simply die, stirring the nest and causing the monsters inside to come out.

  As such, good boy that he is, Sincir has waited until the ID he acquired in order to work at Inquiry states his age as being fifteen; Fifteen being considered the major age in most of Adall, as well as the minimum age required to join the Explorers Guild…

  Sincir would’ve gone for an even older ID, but he’s pushing things as is. Since his real body was only eleven when he acquired the ID, it was already hard to have them believe he was thirteen at the time, and he’d never gotten away with something more than that.

  Thankfully, Inquiry has less intense restrictions by virtue of being a safe job, so these past years weren’t a complete waste.

  Well, according to his ID, he is finally old enough the enter the guild as of st week, so there’s no use in dwelling on the past now.

  As for the reason he wishes to become a member, that would be to grow stronger and make money, of course. Over these past five years, he and the girls had to divide their time between working and training, which left them exhausted, more often than not…

  But if they’re able to combine their training with their work, then they’ll finally have some free time in their lives, and the fact successful nest diving pays well is simply a bonus…

  Having finally managed to say goodbye to Esme, Sincir quickly closes the door to her space in order to hide the mess they’ve made of her reading sofa; Had she known he is a mage, he’d have offered to clean both them and the room, but he hasn’t gotten to revel that part of his life to the public yet, though he’ll have to, once he joins the guild.

  Speaking of which, he’ll have to think of a better excuse for it than: “Oh, this? I was born knowing how to do it.”

  Since it barely worked with Ena, and she was a thirteen-year-old girl who knew nothing of the world at the time, Sincir doubts it’ll fly out here…

  “You might want to keep it down, from now on,” a voice calls out to him as he is about to turn away from the door, causing Sincir to gnce in its direction as he spots a man, most likely in his earlier twenties or te teens, with an open book on his hand, and leaning against the wall down the corridor.

  He stares at Sincir from behind messy bangs falling over his dark blue eyes, his skin being pale like Esme’s, but almost sickly so, unlike hers. His hair is shoulder lengthened and disheveled, while his librarian uniform seems at least a size bigger than it should, falling over his slim body loosely…

  However, in spite of his messy appearance, Sincir can’t help but admit the man is attractive.

  “You heard that, huh?” Sincir retorts, smiling politely and somewhat apologetically as he does so, “I’m sorry, but I don’t believe we’ve met before.”

  “I work underground,” the man expins, with a shrug, “And I usually don’t come up until nighttime.”

  Sincir nods. “I see,” he says, “Well, I’m Sincir, but I’ll be quitting the library soon, so we might not be coworkers for much longer… A pleasure to meet, though.”

  “Is that so? Esme will be crestfallen… She doesn’t have many friends, and I believe you’re the only special one.”

  The man says the word special with a tone which makes it clear what sort of special he is referring to… However, rather than sensing hostility from his posture or voice, Sincirdetects a tone of boredom, as though he is just making small talk, rather than talking about one of his coworkers doing something that would most likely get her fired…

  Weird guy.

  Well, the reason Sincir still hasn’t told Esme he’ll be quitting working at Inquiry is that he’ll still be visiting the library in the future, so they’ll still see each other.

  In fact, he was pnning on telling her today, but with everything that happened, it ended up slipping his mind… Although, she’ll kill him if he just stops showing up one day for work, without her knowing why, so he better tell her soon…

  “Sorry if you had your eyes on her,” Sincir tells the blue eyed man, “But don’t worry, we’re not dating or anything, and I’m not the jealous sort.”

  The man cocks his head, as though the possibility of him being interested in Esme had never occurred to him… Good thing she’s not here to see it, or her confidence might’ve taken another hit.

  “It seems you’ve misunderstood me. I don’t mind your retionship with Esme… I merely happened to listen to you as I walked by, and I thought I might wait to give you a warning about the noise... I don’t mind it, but some of the others might.”

  Sincir blinks. Did he wait around just for that? Without knowing how long he might take to leave?

  “I see… Well, thanks for the warning, I guess. We’ll make sure to keep it down next time…?”

  “Name’s Noah,” the man says, straightening himself as closes his book, then gives Sincir another bored gnce from behind his disheveled hair, “And you’re welcomed… Though, if you’re leaving soon, my warning might’ve not been necessary.”

  And with that, Noah walks down the corridor, without another look in his direction, leaving Sincir to scratch his head as he watches him go.

  Well, in his long life, Varzath has met all sorts of weird, and since Noah doesn’t seem particurly dangerous, Sincir decides to forget about him as he heads for the staircase which will lead him to the library’s entrance.

  By now, Inquiry has already closed its doors for the day, though many of its works actually live on its premises, Esme included, which means the library is never empty.

  Adonis, a tall man in his fifties who seems to have a permanent frown on his face, is the one to care for the library’s reception, and as usual, he throws Sincir a sour look from behind his desk as he walks across the library’s lobby.

  Today, as Sincir is leaving much ter than usual, the light of Adonis’ ntern, which is sitting at his desk next to him, throw deep shadows against the lines of the old man’s face, making his already severe profile even scarier than usual…

  Still, Sincir waves and smiles politely as he walks by. “Night, Adonis. Tell the boss I wanna have a talk tomorrow, okay? It’s important.”

  Adonis grumbles something which might have been an affirmation or a curse, then finally shifts his eyes away from Sincir, returning to his book.

  Sincir chuckles. All in all, he is pretty confident the old man actually likes him…

  Outside, Sincir descends the library stairs with slightly hushed steps. His librarian uniform attracts some looks, but he ignores them.

  In spite of the possible imminent danger cased by the nest surrounding it, Elderspire is still very a rge city, and its well-lit, well-guarded streets are almost always filled for one reason or another. Night having fallen not long ago, most hard-working people are now closing their shops to enjoy some fun, while the taverns and brothels are quickly beginning to fill.

  Of course, given the increase in the number of possible clients, many shop owners still choose to remain open…

  A new visitant to the city might think some sort of festival is going on, but having now lived here for two whole years, Sincir knows the city is like this all year around.

  Normally, he’d have left the library before nightfall, which means he’d already be home by now. The yearly night atmosphere of Elderspire is a nice experience though, and Sincir doesn’t mind the crowd, especially since it’s too early for most drunks, or thugs, to be causing trouble…

  And for that reason, Sincir is fairly surprised when he spots a rough looking man beelining in his direction through the crowd.

  For a moment, Sincir wonders if he is mistaken, but no; After making a sharp turn for a path he wouldn’t normally take, it becomes clear the man is targeting him specifically, by the fact he immediately turns as well, too sudden for it to have been a coincidence.

  Sincir snorts. Whoever his friend might be, he is terrible at his job… So much so, that Sincir considers calling one of the guards around, rather than dealing with the problem himself.

  And, had he been on his own, he might have. However, it is always possible an enemy he makes will target the girls, which means he needs to remain on his best behavior… Or crush anyone who turns out to be a danger for his family so utterly that they’ll never pose a threat again.

  Oh Lords, over these past five years, they often pretend to be the part, but at some point, he really started thinking of them as such, didn’t he?

  Hard not to, when he assumed the figure of a parent in Father Anders's stead.

  Damn it; Him, a father. Sunnazoth would never let him hear the end of it.

  Having made his decision, Sincir leaves the crowded streets and heads into a nearby alley, pretending not to know it leads to a dead end in a couple of turns. Once he realizes his tail doesn’t even hesitate to follow, he sighs.

  Sure enough, once they reach the dead end, Sincir hears a winded ugh at his back, and, turning around while performing an exaggerated surprised expression, finds himself corned by the man who had been following him this whole time.

  Now, to find out how bad this is…

  “W-who are you?” Sincir asks, making sure to put some awareness and fear into his voice.

  Nothing makes bad guys more willing to talk than thinking their prey is defenseless… At least, so long as they’re the stupid type, that is.

  But this one looks the part, considering how incompetent he has been thus far.

  Meeting Sincir’s gaze menacingly, the man ughs again, before taking out a knife from somewhere under his long-sleeved shirt. “I can't believe you’ve made this so easy for me, kid. Should’ve stayed where people could still hear your screams.”

  Ah, the irony. And besides, Sincir is pretty sure they’re not far enough from the nearest street for a scream to go completely unnoticed…

  Faking an expression of fear, Sincir steps back. “W-wait, I don’t have any money on me… You can see I just came from my job, right? I’ve just started as a librarian…”

  “Not my problem, kid. And besides, I haven’t come for yer money.”

  Sincir expected as much. Now, for the final push…

  “Not… Not for money? W-wait…! No, no, please don’t hurt me…”

  Sincir steps back until his back bumps against the wall behind him. If the man has been hired to kill him, now would be the moment to strike; But if the man has been hired to scare him instead, or for some other reason, then…

  The man shakes his head. “Heh, easier than taking candy from a baby. Now listen well, kid, 'cause I don’t like repeating myself. I won’t hurt ya, but you’ll do exactly as I say.”

  Sincir nods desperately, causing the man to smile once more…

  At this point, his guess about the man is a rapist who targets little boys, in which case he’ll end up committing murder tonight; After all, although he doesn’t fancy himself a hero, since he was targeted by the man directly, he’d feel responsible for any children the man might hurt in the future, if he simply allowed him to go.

  As for handing the man to the local authorities, it’d be too much of a pain, and if he really is a child rapist, his fate would be execution, anyway.

  “First off, yer gonna take yer clothes off and throw them over here…” the man says, all but confirming Sincir’s suspicions, who contains a sigh.

  “…Then, I’m gonna leave, and yer free to go. Is that clear?”

  Having been about to separate the man’s head from his shoulder with a wind bde, Sincir blinks.

  …What?

  “I... You’ll let me go?”

  This time, Sincir doesn’t need to pretend his confusion.

  “Shut yer trap and do as I say! I don’t have the whole damn night!”

  Sincir grimaces. Does this idiot understand how close he came to death, a second prior? He doesn’t need more than half a second to cast a spell, and that’s exactly how close this poor fel was to having his life cut short.

  Well, from his perspective, right about now, Sincir’s expression has gone from scared to neutral, seemingly without reason...

  The man blinks. “Kid, I’m not joking around he-”

  Before his assaint can finish his sentence, Sincir is already dashing in his direction.

  He doesn’t bother using any buffs, and still, the knife swing Sincir expected to have to dodge never even arrives; The man’s eyes have just about finished widening by the time his stomach is kicked, hard enough to have him bending over.

  Kicking the man’s hand next as he sends his knife cttering through the dark, Sincir then simply pushes him over, causing him to fall.

  Staring down at the man, now squirming on the ground while desperately attempting to draw breath, Sincir sighs.

  At thirteen, his body is still far from reaching its full potential, but compared to some thug, and considering he began his physical training at six, having never stopped since, this is a joke… Let alone his two thousand years of experience as a fighter; Or rather, Varzath’s, which really, are more like a thousand years, since he didn’t fight much of anything, after becoming a Lord.

  “I know you’ll still need some time to catch your breath, so I’ll take the opportunity to expin some things,” Sincir tells the wheezing man on the ground, “First, if you try to run before we’re done, I’ll break one of your legs, and then probably some of your teeth, to stop you from screaming. Second, when I ask you a question, I expect an answer within three seconds, and if I don’t receive one, bad things will happen. Is that clear?”

  The man turns to stare at him, eyes now wide with shock. Considering how hard Sincir kicked his stomach, he should still be unable to walk for a bit, but it is possible he has another knife somewhere under his clothes, so Sincir maintains his distancem for now.

  “I see you’ve stopped gasping for air, which means you’re now able to answer my questions… Remember, three seconds. Now, who sent you?”

  The man hesitates at first, but something about Sincir’s utterly neutral expression or tone of voice must’ve sunk in, because, at second two, he gulps.

  “I… I don’t know, I swear… They… They wore full-armor and a helmet, S-sir…”

  “Colors?”

  “W-what?”

  “You think any random vagabond walks around wearing full armor? Tell me the color of their garments, and I’ll know which noble house they work for.”

  The man pales. “I… I don’t remember-”

  “Lie to me again, and I’ll break a finger,” Sincir warns coldly, before continuing, “A man approaches you in full armor, and you’re telling me you don’t remember the color of his garments?”

  “…Red… Red and green, Sir. His colors were red and green… Please… Please don’t let them know I spoke… T-they will kill me…”

  Red and green? Somebody at House Barnett has been very careless in their shady dealings.

  “That depends on what you’re about to tell me next. What were you ordered to do, exactly?”

  The man gulps again. “I was ordered to… I was ordered to follow yer and give yer a good scare… Then have yer take your clothes off, and return home naked… That was all, I swear! It was never meant to cause yer any real harm!”

  Sincir grimaces. As far as jokes go, this one is growing out of proportion, already. But from this, he knows someone at House Barnett has it out for him, but not enough to want him killed, or harmed… The only thing that comes to mind would be one of the nobles who he barred from entering the library, except he doesn’t remember any of their names being from House Barnett.

  “And then?” Sincir asks the man, “What were you to do after you had taken my clothes?”

  “I was to report back, give them yer clothes, and… A-and describe what happened in detail… Yer expression and such… They wanted to know how yer looked humiliated, I guess.”

  Sincir grimaces again. “You think I’m stupid? I know that.”

  It seems somebody at House Barnett has some really twisted tastes. For them to go as far as to ask for a description, it means this was something done for entertainment, rather than just a scare tactic, or revenge… In other words, his enemy is a bully who is used to getting what they want, most likely.

  “Did they tell them you where I live?” Sincir asks next, to which the man quickly shakes his head.

  “N-no, S-sir… They told me where yer work, and a description…”

  “Were you paid in advance?”

  “Only… Only half…”

  “How much?”

  “Twenty-five s-silver...”

  Half a gold coin for an easy job, then. No wonder the man seemed so happy earlier... For twenty-five silver as a front payment for a job, so would Sincir, considering he makes about that in a month of work.

  “Do you have family? And don’t bother lying; I’ll know if you do.”

  “I… I don’t, S-sir… P-please, I really wasn’t going to take more than y-yer clothes-”

  “Shut up, you think I’d get off on killing some trash like you? You want my advice? If I were you, I’d take that silver and leave town before the sun is up; If they come after you for having failed the job, then don’t bme it on me. Now disappear from my sight, before I change my mind.”

  The man’s eyes widen, and Sincir doesn’t need to repeat himself before he’s scurrying away as fast as he can without a single look over his shoulder.

  Watching him go, Sincir sighs. It seems he’ll have to pay somebody at House Barnett a visit, and soon…

  But before that, he’ll have to survive the night. And unlike the pathetic excuse for a thug whose life he spared, his next enemy won’t be nearly as easily defeated.