“Why couldn’t you have retired somewhere more tropical?” Devon asked, sliding a seat over to Hans’ guild hall desk. “Some place with lots of sun where it’s always okay to go outside.”

  Hans smirked. “I’ll let the Merchant know to get on that,” he replied, without looking up. He had stacks of loose papers and Bunri books on his desk. Page markers with large notations stuck out from the stacks at various intervals.

  Devon studied Hans for a moment. “Alright, out with it. What’s the idea?”

  “What makes you think I have an idea?”

  “You’ve got that look in your eyes.”

  The Guild Master leveled a flat gaze at the Paladin.

  “...I mean, you’ve got that look in your eye.”

  The pair held the deadpan stare for two beats more and then laughed.

  Active Quest: Prepare the Association for spring.

  “I’m scrambling like a dumbass,” Hans said, looking over the chaos on his desk. “I should have been working on this all winter, but I didn’t think of it until recently.”

  “Think of what?”

  “Have you heard about what Luther and Galad are working on?”

  Devon offered a halfhearted nod. “The construction is hard to miss, but all I’ve heard about is an inn and moving the Gomi Games.”

  The plan was still more or less as Luther had explained it to Hans days back, with the exception of Galad’s inn. Instead of building it on the surface, which would mean having to wait until spring to even start, they opted to locate it in Leebel’s Rest instead, where they could begin work immediately.

  “The short version is that if Gomi is going to end up attracting more and more attention, we should find as many ways as possible for that to benefit the people here. Travelers bring business. The more folks we get to like Gomi, the more allies we’ll have around the kingdom.”

  “So you’re… developing tourism ideas now?”

  Hans chuckled. “In a roundabout way, I suppose I am. I need to get Charlie and Galad to look at the numbers for me before I spend the gold, but I want to send a copy of Tales and Tactics to every chapter in the kingdom. Then I’d like to send them to the allied nations as well, but I’m still figuring out what that part would look like.”

  “Tales and Tactics?”

  “That’s the name I’m giving our collection of training drills and job debriefs.”

  “Ah. Right.”

  “They’ll just happen to include a pitch for the Borderless Association of Adventurers, but even if chapters don’t convert, getting a few of their people to make the trip out here is good for Gomi.”

  “I can see that working,” Devon said.

  “Anyway, you came to me. What’s up? Something on your mind?”

  Devon fished a wrinkled piece of paper out of his pocket and spent the better part of a minute trying to flatten it out before officially handing it to Hans.

  “It’s pretty much what we expected,” Devon explained. “The undead are coming from the mana-poisoned area of the forest, but the reach looks farther than the poisoning itself. At least, farther than the poisoning we can see on the surface.”

  Hans studied the paper, squinting occasionally to decipher Devon’s handwriting. “These numbers aren’t the worst.”

  “That’s what I thought too. Barring another titan popping out of the ground, a small patrol stationed at the pass and then a few regular sweeps around Gomi should be plenty. The Tribelands are a bit exposed since only the barns are behind walls. We’re kicking around ideas for keeping an undead from wandering up to someone’s window in the middle of the night.”

  “Like?”

  “Nothing fancy,” Devon answered. “We could dig a trench pretty quick if we borrowed some sedimanders. Then we’d put up a split rail fence with some bells. That should be plenty to slow them down and let patrols know they got some killing to do.”

  “That’s… That’s a lot of fence.”

  Devon shrugged. “Yeah, but there’s not a better option, right?”

  Hans studied Devon’s notes again. “I can’t think of one. I’ll let Tandis and Terry know we’ll need these patrols on the schedule permanently. Really appreciate your work on this.” When the Paladin seemed to linger uncomfortably, Hans asked, “You okay?”

  “I’m bored. I’m not looking to bail or anything, but I thought you might have some ideas for keeping me busy.”

  Hearing that from Devon wasn’t surprising. Very little could challenge the Paladin, and he had been running the same patrols, more or less, since he arrived last winter. There was no variety or novelty beyond the Tainted Caves forcing high-level monsters into the dungeon for him to cull, and he had done that so many times that a fight with four gazers was routine.

  “What do you want to do?”

  “Huh?”

  “How would you like to spend your time?”

  “I was thinking you could give me a project.”

  “Tell you how to spend your time,” Hans said, clarifying.

  “Yes.”

  Hans thought. “No. I won’t do that.”

  “Really? Why?”

  “I can think of several reasons,” Hans said. “You’ve spent your adult life taking assignments from other people or doing what someone else thought was best. If you aren’t finding that fulfilling now, me giving you more of that isn’t going to help. Then there’s the rest of your life to think about. You’re going to outlive me by at least a century, if not more, given your… abilities.”

  Hans almost said "gifts" but caught himself.

  “Why does that matter?”

  “I’m here to help you with whatever you need right now, but if you put this off much longer, I won’t be, and you’ll have to do it alone.”

  The faintest of glimmers in Devon’s eyes told Hans that the Paladin wanted to bring up Diamond boons again. Getting one of those, even if it wasn’t under the conditions Hans wanted, would extend the Guild Master’s life. Much to Hans’ relief, he didn’t raise the topic.

  “Can I have a few hints at least?” Devon asked.

  “Be on the lookout for moments where all you’re thinking about is how much you’re enjoying the here and now. From the outside, being around the kids looks like it might do that for you.”

  Hans had been practicing a similar habit himself recently. One of his quests demanded it:

  Active Quest: Enjoy it.

  More and more often, Hans forced himself to pause and recognize when he felt content or joyful or even just at peace. That was still very much a work in progress, but he made progress each day.

  “I mean, yeah, it’s fun to get the kids wound up, but it’s not productive or helpful for Gomi,” Devon said.

  “First of all, I disagree that it’s not productive. Second, fun for the sake of fun is a good thing.”

  “What do you do for fun?”

  “We’re not talking about me.”

  Devon chuckled.

  “I’m serious, though,” Hans continued. “Some of the things the kids around here have seen in their lives? Have experienced? You know how that shit stays with you even if the scenery changes. Giving them an hour of raw, simple fun? That’s up there with making sure they’re fed, clothed, and housed.”

  “You think?”

  “I do.”

  Devon picked his teeth as he thought. “I like being around the griffons too.”

  “On the ranch?”

  “Yeah.”

  “From what Chisel tells me, you could offer children griffon rides all day and night and never get through the line,” Hans said. “Whether you pursue them separately or together, I think you’ve got some good leads.”

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  When Devon departed, reflecting on the conversation inspired Hans to fish through his desk for one of his other notebooks. A larger project had been on his mind, but he still lacked a clear structure or direction for how to develop it into something useful.

  Active Quest: Learn to help your advanced students as much as you help beginners.

  If Devon needed this conversation-

  Well, if Hans was being honest, he had needed it too.

  If a Gold and a Diamond benefited from this kind of conversation, maybe other upper-ranked adventurers could too. Hans wrote it down.

  “Do you know what this is about?” Olza asked as she walked with Hans down a waterfront street in Leebel’s Rest. Jerry, her imp, trailed behind.

  “His message said he needed me to come to his shop. That’s as much as I know.”

  “He’s a tough one to read. Sometimes I’m not sure if he actually likes being here.”

  Hans smiled. “For all of Dunfoo’s oddities, he’s not shy about saying when he doesn’t like something. If he didn’t want to be here, he wouldn’t be.”

  “I suppose I can see that.”

  “He’s got the headstrong halfling complex, that’s for sure.”

  Olza laughed. “So you’re not expecting this to be bad news?”

  “Not at all. He’s basically invited us to a performance. I think he has something to show off.”

  When they arrived at the door to Dunfoo’s lakeside workshop, Hans knocked. An imp opened the door and held an arm out to invite Hans and Olza inside. Dunfoo and the smith talked energetically to one another while Eduardo, the smith’s apprentice, inspected the various tools and items on Dunfoo’s shelves, his fingers laced behind his back to show the enchanter he had no intention of touching anything.

  “Welcome! Welcome!” Dunfoo gestured toward two chairs that faced a workbench.

  A blanket from the Forgeborne dorms covered what was undoubtedly the top half of a mannequin–the silhouette was plain enough–so Hans guessed the halfling had made a new advancement with Gruwalda iron. He didn’t say that guess out loud, however. He took his seat and let Dunfoo manage the moment however he liked.

  Dunfoo rubbed his hands. “We have much to discuss. We should begin with saying that young Eduardo was the catalyst for this meeting. Eddy, would you like to explain how this project came to be?”

  “You can.”

  That worked out well, Hans thought. Eduardo hated to talk, and Dunfoo loved to.

  “Very well,” Dunfoo said before directing his attention to his audience. “As you well know, our exploration of Gomi’s unique materials is ongoing. For instance, the carapace of shadow scorpions has not been well-studied. Their native grounds are far from the kingdom, and adventurers prefer to avoid those monsters instead of seeking them out. So even if innovators like myself wanted to work with the material, you simply couldn’t get it.”

  Shadow scorpions were a relatively recent addition to the dungeon meant to teach adventurers how to deal with basic Illusion magic. Outside of the dungeon, they were found in the Last Desert, which was at the edge of the frontier and mostly unexplored.

  When the halfling paused, the smith spoke. “I had a stack of the stuff sitting around the shop to play with, but I’ve got orders through next year already, so I haven’t had the time. Eddy was curious, so I told him to have at it. I opened up the shop one morning, and this was sitting on his workbench.”

  The smith nodded to Dunfoo, and the halfling whooshed the blanket off of the mannequin. A black chestpiece hung on the form and looked like a cross between platemail and scalemail. The pauldrons and the piece across the pectorals were solid, but the rest of the armor used varying sizes of plating. The more flexibility an area needed, such as around the lower ribs and waist, the smaller the pieces became.

  The armor wasn’t made from metal. It was made from shadow scorpion carapace. It was an oily black that was mostly matte with swirling lines of material catching the light like gloss. The best comparison Hans could think of was woodgrain. The bulk of the carapace was flat and dark but had gleaming strands winding throughout.

  “It’s beautiful,” Hans said as he leaned forward to admire the details. “You made this, Eduardo?”

  The apprentice nodded.

  “Can I touch it?” he asked.

  The enchanter, the smith, and his apprentice nodded.

  Iron armor had a natural slickness to its surface. It wasn’t wet, but polished metal took on a smooth glossiness that gave the sensation of being wet but without liquid. The shadow scorpion material was hard but dry, like the surface of a smooth but unpolished stone.

  Hans lifted the chestpiece slightly to get a sense of the weight without removing it from the form completely.

  “Damn,” he said. “That’s really light.”

  Olza joined him in inspecting the material. “Wow. Yeah. Your leather is definitely heavier.”

  “What’s the durability like?” Hans asked.

  “You need a crossbow in close to puncture it,” the smith answered. “I’m not saying it’s impervious, but we couldn’t get an arrow to go through at a normal distance. The Bassassins took a few tries, and any hits they got were between the seams of the chitin. Not through it.”

  “Weapons?”

  “That’s trickier. It’s not as good as plate but better than leather. The catch is that leather can outlast it. This’ll save you from a few cuts, but it can’t take that abuse for long. I wouldn’t put you in a suit of this, but an Archer or a Mage? Pretty serious upgrade for those types.”

  “Maintenance?”

  “We haven’t put it through all of its paces there, but wiping it down is easy enough. If one of the chitin pieces breaks, though, there’s no half measures. You gotta replace that piece entirely instead of repairing it. That would be pretty frustrating because you aren’t going to find anyone but Eduardo who could do the work.”

  “So if you’re on a job and it gets busted up, you’re shit out of luck?”

  “You got it,” the smith confirmed.

  “There’s definitely a customer for this, though,” Hans added.

  “I agree completely,” the smith said. “But you haven’t seen Dunfoo’s work yet.”

  “Oh?” Hans asked, turning his attention to the halfling, who beamed with glee.

  Dunfoo fished a bracer from behind the mannequin. It was made from the same scorpion chitin and had the simple construction of any other bracer. Long pieces of armor attached to leather that wrapped around the wrist that could be laced or tied to hold its position.

  “This is a prototype, and you’ll see that the refinement isn’t finished, but I think… Well, let me just show you.”

  Before equipping the bracer himself, Dunfoo wrapped thick leather around his forearm and then wrapped chainmail on top. Then he put the bracer over all that and secured it in place.

  “It’s got one charge, so pay attention.”

  When the halfling saw that Hans and Olza gave the bracer their full focus, he smiled.

  Dunfoo’s forearm didn’t exactly vanish, but it wasn’t visible anymore. The place where Hans knew his forearm to be looked like imperfect glass coated in smudges–blurry, distorted, and muddied.

  But the forearm itself was gone. If Hans focused and looked carefully, he could see faint shadows indicating its shape. The bare hand floating around made that form easier to notice. Had he not known to look, however, he would have certainly been fooled.

  The bracer reappeared, and black smoke wafted out of the chitin. Instead of removing it with his hand, Dunfoo cut the lacing holding it in place and let the sizzling bracer fall onto a workbench.

  As if reading Hans’ mind, the halfling said, “Don’t touch it. It’ll be hot for another minute or so.”

  “You’ve figured out how to activate its camouflage?” Olza asked.

  Dunfoo used the tip of a knife to flip the bracers over and expose the interior. The leather inside was coated in runes. Their red-hot outlines made them easy to see.

  “Your research with Mazo got me thinking about how much the material itself was responsible for their Illusion ability. It took me a bit, but I’ve figured out how to activate it.”

  “This is remarkable.”

  “I know.”

  Hans restrained his laughter.

  “The hard part,” Dunfoo continued, “is going to be sustaining it. Gruwalda was easier because the conductive part, the valorite, is pure. Testing it is straightforward, and the data is consistent. This stuff, though, there’s a lot of chemistry happening in the chitin that isn’t so easily observed.”

  Olza wiggled in her seat and started to smile.

  “I was hoping you’d feel that way.” Dunfoo grinned back and pointed to a wooden box on another table. “There’s fresh as well as spent chitin in there. I ground some of it up for my own research, so there are bottles of that too. I’m sure you have a process and all that that you prefer, but it’s there if you want it.”

  “May I review your notes as well? I’d love to see what you’ve learned already.”

  “Of course. We can schedule a time for you to review them here.”

  “I thought I’d borrow and copy them.”

  Dunfoo shook his head. “I’d rather that material never left this workshop.”

  “That’s a bit paranoid.”

  “Justified, I’d say.”

  Olza sighed. “If Mazo trusts me to collaborate on research, there’s no reason you shouldn’t. Let me know if you change your mind, and I’ll see if I have time for it then.”

  “You won’t help?” Dunfoo asked, perplexed and mildly concerned.

  “Not unless you trust me as an equal.”

  The halfling twiddled his fingers and looked at the floor. His head rocked side to side as if he were having a conversation with himself.

  “Do you promise not to publish without me?” he asked.

  “I promise.”

  “Okay, fine. I’ll let you copy my notes, but please lock them up when you aren’t in the lab, and please keep them away from your apprentices.”

  “Sure.”

  Dunfoo directed his nervous eyes at Hans next.

  “What is it?” Hans asked.

  “Many species grow into their unique characteristics as they mature. If this is the case for shadow scorpions, we could learn a great deal by observing and studying that process as it happens.”

  “Okay…”

  “Honronk is open to attempting to breed them, but he said he couldn’t begin unless you approved it.”

  “Breed shadow scorpions.”

  “That’s correct.”

  Perhaps nurturing and encouraging the ambitions of his pupils was a mistake after all, Hans thought. Back in his Hoseki days, the questions he fielded from students were far simpler. No one came to him wanting to raise baby mimics and other assorted monsters. They had normal adventurer questions, like what weapon to use against what monster, or at the most unusual, maybe an idea for a new hunting tactic.

  Intentionally adding more dangerous monsters to the world? Hans hated that idea but was also very aware of the forces at play around him. He could fight this until someone inevitably attempted it without his input. Or he could stay involved and, hopefully, mitigate the dangers.

  “What do you think?” Hans asked Olza.

  “I can’t speak to what’s safe and what isn’t, but the science is exciting.”

  “Okay,” Hans said to Dunfoo. “Give me some time to think about this.”

  New Quest: Decide how to manage breeding requests for monsters like mimics and shadow scorpions.

  Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

  Monitor for independently grown sections of dungeon.

  Complete the next volume (Bronze to Silver) for “The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers.”

  Establish a Hoseki-grade library in Gomi.

  Prepare the first collection of job debriefs for publication.

  Learn to help your advanced students as much as you help beginners.

  Adapt.

  Enjoy it.

  Prepare the Association for spring.

  Decide how to manage breeding requests for monsters like mimics and shadow scorpions.