Zack Adder had gone too far.

  He could tell instantly.

  These were not the reactions of fellow teammates sharing information.

  These were the reactions of a clique closing ranks against an outsider.

  Exclusion.

  Suspicion.

  Exasperation, and even frustration.

  But he stayed true to his constructed persona. He was just a curious, friendly guy, asking innocent questions.

  The [Priestess] glared at him suspiciously. Not the angry, offended glare of the last couple days, but the suspicious, hostile glare she had given him the first night when she burst into his room hurling accusations that he was a lich or a sorcerer of some kind.

  And even Bradley gave him a look full of frustration. His prior excitement on the topic of magic had been snuffed out like a candle in the wind.

  “Bro, you can’t even do magic. What’re you talking about? You’re going to be a [Scout],” he said, a hint of frustration leaking into his voice.

  Apparently the word ‘secret’ had been a trigger of some kind.

  Excuses flashed through the former secret agent’s mind:

  I was just thinking ahead, for when we get a mage.

  I was thinking about shoring up our magical defenses.

  I was just curious.

  But before he could say anything, it was Rosimund who responded to his question directly.

  The [Guide] placed his elbows on the table and steepled his hands in front of his bushy mustache, looking over them at the overly curious, disturbingly unpredictable [Otherworlder].

  The unexpected, unneeded, extra factor.

  “Zack Adder,” he said gravely.

  Crap.

  “That depends on the book of magic spells in question.” The Knight Captain spoke evenly, though with the utmost seriousness. “I presume you found this book in the castle book room? Do you recall the title?”

  Zack let his expression match the older knight’s seriousness.

  “It was A Compendium of Magic Spells,” he replied.

  “Then the answer is yes, there are secret magic spells not contained in that book.”

  Zack noticed that Maria relaxed the slightest bit when she heard the title, though she quickly rallied and continued glaring at him.

  “In fact, when it comes to magic, you’ll find that books like that Compendium are quite rare. Most magic spells are kept secret as a matter of course, and only actual practitioners are taught the spells by a mentor.” Rosimund furrowed his bushy eyebrows even further. “Information about how spells work and how to cast them successfully is [Mage]s’ business, let alone secret spells. They’re not something you should concern yourself with, Zack Adder.”

  “Alright, okay. I was just curious.”

  Zack backed off.

  A misstep, but he now knew that scouring the castle’s book room wouldn’t lead him to answers about the summoning ritual.

  And he knew that Rosimund was familiar with the spells in that book, and knew of other spells that were considered secret beyond what Zack had already seen.

  Despite not being a [Mage], himself.

  But there were yet more consequences of his overly bold question.

  Bradley, the [Hero], the most important person in the room, frowned at the secret agent.

  “Hahh…” he sighed. “Zack, dude, what’re you doing?”

  “Huh?” Zack couldn’t tell where this was going, but he could tell it wasn’t good.

  “Bro, I want you to be a core member of the party, but you keep doing crap like this.” Bradley furrowed his eyebrows, a loose imitation of Rosimund.

  “What do you mean?”

  A quick glance at Maria revealed…

  Huh, she wasn’t grinning triumphantly. Just still glaring.

  That was unusual.

  “This, dude, this! We already decided you’re gonna be the party’s [Scout], and you’re studying books of magic, trying to find secret spells?” Bradley brought his hands together like he was praying, then pointed all his fingers on both hands at his fellow [Otherworlder]. “You need to focus, man! You don’t have any [Scout] skills yet—you need to catch up! I want to keep you in the party, I want you to be a core member, but you’re not taking this seriously!”

  “I did get the [Running] and [Archery] skills,” Zack offered.

  But Bradley wasn’t appeased. Rather, he got more irritated.

  “That’s only two skills, man! I’ve got like a dozen! I learned three new skills in the time it took you to learn two! And you have that cheat skill!”

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  “It’s not—”

  Bradley slammed a hand down on the table, rattling all the dinnerware and causing Maria to flinch.

  “It is for picking up new skills! But, Zack, dude, you’re not going to be a [Mage], okay? You’re going to be a [Scout]. And if you’re not taking it seriously, you can’t be on the team, man. Let alone a starter—I mean, a core member. You gotta quit making excuses, quit running off to the library to screw around, you gotta take this seriously!”

  Bradley was getting more and more worked up.

  “Brad, okay, I get it, alright? It’s not like I was only reading the one book, okay?”

  Bradley smacked the table again with both hands and leaned back in his chair, glowering.

  Zack was adjusting his plans. This was clearly not going to be a quick investigation, if he needed to be actually focusing on training where Bradley could see.

  “[Hero] Bradley, if I may?”

  Bradley turned his angry gaze to Rosimund and nodded.

  The [Guide] stood and strode to the door, speaking with someone outside. There was a flash of grey cloth, and after a minute’s conversation, he returned.

  In the meantime, Zack endured the glares of both the [Hero] and the [Priestess] with a look of contrition on his face.

  And during that time, his mind whirled.

  Secret agent though he had been, in his past life, he hadn’t been the kind of double agent spy in the movies, who sat across from targets at poker tables and wore disguises and tricked people face-to-face.

  He had done his best thus far, trying to play the human intelligence game.

  But he had been a hacker.

  To the extent that he had been a double (technically, quadruple) agent, it had been from behind a computer screen, staging false network break-ins and managing real penetrations to exfiltrate and manipulate data in computers.

  That was how he had managed to wipe his own personnel records.

  Even the secret ones he hadn’t been supposed to know about.

  He had never even met his own handlers face to face.

  Sure, he had had some training with Army Intel, but that only went so far before the CIA and NSA picked him up.

  He was deep in enemy territory, and he didn’t have the full picture.

  There was no extraction team waiting in the wings.

  He had no active handler providing support.

  He had played this badly—no two ways about it.

  But…

  It was day two.

  It wasn’t over yet.

  He had made a mistake, but that just meant he needed to back off.

  Bradley, the [Hero], was frustrated, but he had been frustrated before even sitting down for supper.

  He was only eighteen years old.

  Lashing out with misplaced aggression was perfectly understandable.

  It would blow over.

  Probably.

  Once it did, they would get back on the same page, and their relationship would be all the stronger for it.

  Rosimund returned.

  He sat down, and seemed somewhat more relaxed than when he had gotten up.

  “Alright, Sir Bradley, I just got a report of Zack Adder’s activities today, and in the book room.”

  Bradley turned to look at him.

  Maria maintained her glaring at Zack.

  Zack, unsure what expression to make, settled on not reacting.

  This was open confirmation he was being monitored, but was now the time to raise a fuss?

  He’d have to let it go.

  “He did indeed read a book on hunting local monsters, like he was supposed to.”

  Rosimund gave Zack a look, and he nodded.

  The [Guide] continued.

  “Then he read several theological books, and took notes on increasing his devotion to the Goddess.”

  Now the [Guide] gave the [Priestess] a look, and she… looked stunned.

  Clearly she hadn’t been expecting that.

  Bradley’s expression started to shift from anger to… something approximating relief.

  “And it was only after taking his notes that he flipped through the book on spells for a short time, and then was summoned for supper.”

  Zack, once more, took a risk.

  “And I ran all morning and practiced [Archery] this afternoon, before I went to the book room. Barclay said I’d need to level up a bit before I could handle the longbows.”

  He watched Bradley’s expression carefully, and…

  Bradley sighed.

  “Just…” He covered his face with his hand. “Just, dude, focus on the [Scout] stuff, alright? Leave the magic stuff alone.”

  “Alright, I will,” Zack lied. “Hey, I do want to stay in the party, alright?”

  “I want you to stay in the party too, man, but you gotta show me—show everyone you’re serious.”

  “I am serious.”

  “Then show it.”

  “I will.”

  Bradley then turned to the still-glaring [Priestess]. “Maria, he was studying prayers and stuff. I don’t want to hear any more whining about Zack, alright? Not from you.”

  Maria gasped and looked at Bradley, stunned once more.

  “I mean it.” He turned to the [Guide], whose face was an expressionless mask; an impressive poker face. “Rosimund, keep track of Zack’s training. His unique skill is too rare to lose, even if it’s not doing much yet.”

  “As you wish, [Hero].”

  Bradley stood up and, without any farewell, stormed out of the room.

  Zack wanted to ask what was bothering him, but he could guess, and from the looks on the other party members’ faces, it wouldn’t go over well.

  “Hey, uh, sorry, Sir Rosimund…”

  The older man sighed, showing some of the stress he was also under.

  “Zack Adder, you really must take this more seriously.”

  “Yeah…”

  “Tonight, focus on praying. It’s too dark to train in the courtyard, and you’ve had enough of the book room. If you make a real effort tonight, surely the Goddess will reward your efforts.”

  Zack nodded.

  “Okay.”

  Maria was back to glowering at him.

  “Well, I’ll get to it, then.” He stood up from the table, leaving most of the food on his plate. He’d lost his appetite in the heat of the argument. The other two members of the party merely watched him silently as he left.

  What a disaster.

  He would have to reassess his priorities.

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