“Merchant caravan is here,” Tandis said as she approached Hans’ desk in the guild hall with an armful of mail. “There’s a letter from Quentin. I left that one on top.”

  “Oh yeah?” Hans said, reaching for the stack.

  “Sent one to me and Roland too. Kane wrote Uncle Ed.”

  “That’s good. Has Roland been worried? Ed has, I think, but he doesn’t like talking about it.”

  Tandis smiled sweetly. “He’d never admit it, but it’s been keeping him up. I’m glad he took that run with Buru. Gave him something to do.”

  “I can see that.” Hans slid a finger under the envelope lip and broke the seal. Bert let Quentin borrow a seal and stationery, it seemed. “Doesn’t happen to be an Izz and Thuz letter hiding in this stack, I take it?”

  “No, I’m sorry,” Tandis replied. “Are you expecting them to write?”

  “Wishful thinking on my part. Anything else look urgent?”

  “There are a few letters from Adventurers’ Guild chapters. I can get started on those if you like.”

  “Yes, please.”

  Tandis took a seat at one of the guild hall tables near to Hans’ desk and chose a piece of mail to start with.

  Hans removed and unfolded the letter from Quentin.

  Mr. Hans,

  Training with Master Bertram is going well for all of us. The chapter here has been really nice. Meeting Donbia and Marrok in Gomi before this made that easier. There are also quite a few folks we met at the Gomi Games, so that’s helped too.

  Classes are a bit different from what we do back home. We spar a lot. Some classes are nothing but sparring from start to finish, and every Saturday is an open room session. Basically, it’s two hours of sparring, but you can come and go whenever you want. We’ve been trying to do the full two to get as much out of our time here as we can.

  Kane and I got invited on a goblin job. We’re leaving for that tomorrow. You should have seen the face on this Bronze when he tried to guess how many goblins we’ve killed in our lives. He thought we were full of it until Donbia backed us up.

  Gunny takes three private lessons with Master Bertram each week. Watching the lesson was allowed for a bit, but that didn’t last long. I wasn’t there to see it, but somehow they nearly took down a wall of the training hall. It’s still getting fixed, and there are beams all over the place wedged in to keep the building from falling over. After that, all sorts of folks came to watch, and Master Bertram put a stop to that.

  I’ve never seen Gunny sleep so much, but it seems to be going well. Master Bertram makes it a point to keep me and Kane in the loop, and he’s been pleased.

  The trip here wasn’t bad. We got a lot of side-eye in Osare and a little bit on our way to Kohei, but we didn’t have any actual problems. Gunny was pretty nervous about that, I think. This trip has been a lot for him.

  I’m running out of paper. I’ll try to write again before we leave to come home. Hope everything is going well back home.

  -Quentin

  “The boys are enjoying Kohei, it looks like,” Hans said. He reread the letter once more and set it aside for Tandis to read.

  Tandis held up three letters. “We’ve gotten a few angry responses to the latest Gomi Games invitations. Do you want to read them?”

  “Anything actionable?”

  She shook her head. “They’re pissed about the usual stuff: Us leaving the Guild, us trying to poach chapters, us using the Gomi Games as a secret recruitment tool.”

  “Toss ‘em.”

  Without hesitation, Tandis did just that. When she removed the next letter from the envelope, she briefly read it and then offered it to Hans.

  “This is from Theneesa,” she said. “She must have been worried about someone reading her letter.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “It’s not addressed to you personally, and there’s no indication on the envelope that it’s from her.”

  Hans opened the letter.

  Hans,

  I hope you’re well. I won’t be able to attend the Gomi Games this year, but I thought you should know that I’ve heard a few rumors. Vaglell is telling Guild Masters not to send students to the Games. That’s not an official piece of policy, but word is going around that it’s “strongly recommended” that anyone from the Adventurers’ Guild should sit it out.

  That’s disappointing, but it doesn’t surprise me. I have a feeling that will backfire on him and drive a few more chapters our way, but we’ll see.

  I’m sending two Diamond candidates to you in the spring, one Spearman and one Black Mage. The Spearman is one of mine, and the Mage is from within the Association. You don’t know his Guild Master as well as I do, so I wanted to let you know the Mage passes muster.

  Be safe out there, and give Gomi my best.

  -Theneesa

  “Vaglell is telling people not to come to the Games,” Hans said, rereading the letter once more. “So much for water under the bridge or whatever the fuck story he was telling.”

  “Wow,” Tandis replied.

  “He does this kind of thing. One time, this Gold left the Guild and adventuring as a whole after a dispute with Vaglell. He was an excellent Archer, so he was in demand for lessons all over. Vaglell made sure no chapter in the kingdom used him for lessons or for seminars.”

  “Really? And Guild Masters listened?”

  Hans shrugged. “It was framed as a request, but it came with a big list of potential repercussions that were just short of being threats. Things like, ‘We only have so many resources to share, so we have to choose the chapters that use their time and supplies more wisely than others.’ I’ve seen that happen a few times. One seminar isn’t worth the years of grief that the Guild could inflict, so dropping the seminar is what happens.”

  Another letter appeared under Hans’ nose.

  “From Doorstop.”

  Hans accepted the letter and read it:

  Tandis,

  Inventory is moving more quickly than anticipated. If larger deliveries are possible, I would be grateful to have them. We’ve even got interest from an outfit in the town next door. Potential for big orders. If we can meet the demand, I’d like your input on how to navigate that. Otherwise, business is running smoothly for my part. The new delivery crew has been reliable as well.

  I’ve not seen a single friend since I returned from Gomi, by the way.

  -Doorstop

  “Is the line about friends code?” Hans asked.

  “Uh huh. Means he hasn’t seen any tusks.”

  Further confirming their suspicions about the nature of the stationary wards. Doorstop’s work put him in contact with people all over the kingdom. To not encounter a tusk in all of those dealings was abnormal.

  “He also wants to know how we feel about selling to other countries in the alliance,” Tandis added.

  “He does?”

  Tandis pointed to the letter. “That’s what he means by ‘the town next door.’ Someone is interested in importing, but he’s not sure if we have enough product or if we’re willing to risk shipping magic weapons and Gomi-grade potions outside the kingdom.”

  “You two decided on this code when he was here?”

  “No. It’s all there between the lines.”

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  To Hans, a few of those conclusions felt like significant jumps in logic, but Tandis had interacted with the smuggler-merchant far more than he had. “If we decided it was worthwhile, when would we have enough inventory to do that?”

  “Not in the near future,” Tandis answered. “Demand within the kingdom is still growing, and we’re struggling to keep up with what we have already. Could be the town next door is willing to pay a premium for the privilege.”

  “Thoughts?”

  Tandis thought. “For now, I’d say no. We’re not hurting for gold, so the jump in profit doesn’t strike me as being worth the risk for anything that would turn the kingdom against us.”

  “Agreed.”

  The rest of the mail was mostly administrative–important and necessary, but brutally dull. A few Guild Masters, both inside and outside of the Borderless Association of Adventurers, inquired about training over the winter season for their members. There were two more Diamond requests from Association members, and there was one letter from the Osare town guard. The reports of griffon riders made them nervous, and they sought clarification on what was happening on the Gomi side of the mountains.

  “Mr. Hans!” a familiar merchant called, approaching Hans’ desk.

  In the doorway behind him, a sweat-soaked laborer leaned on a hand trolley. The waist-high box he delivered must have been heavy.

  The merchant slapped a list on Hans’ desk. “Always good to see you, my friend. I’m pleased to make our first library delivery.”

  “Really?” Hans replied, reaching for the paper to quickly skim it.

  The manifest was primarily composed of regional encyclopedias for the kingdom that offered summarized histories of major towns and cities as well as an analysis of local flora and fauna, which included known monster activity. They weren’t comprehensive by any stretch, but they were good resources regardless.

  The other books on the list were for Gomi’s blossoming academy, which included a few primers on mathematics as well as books on grammar and usage. More exciting for Hans, however, were the storybooks. He recognized a few classics from his childhood, like The Troll and the Gnoll, The Phantom Guardhouse, and Nigel the Master of Nose Picking Sorcery.

  Quest Update: Continue the momentum of establishing a Hoseki-grade library in Gomi.

  “This is great,” Hans said. “Has this been too much trouble?”

  “For you? No, sir. The future deliveries should be larger, but we have a promising start. I was worried that the undead problem would get worse and foul up deliveries, but Gomi seems to have a handle on that.”

  “Excellent.”

  Noting the invoice included with the list, Hans reached into his desk and produced the requested amount of gold.

  “That will square us, I believe,” he said, handing the coins to the merchant, who didn’t bother counting it before he stashed it away.

  “Thank you for the patronage, Mr. Hans. Might I trouble you for your thoughts on another matter?”

  Hans gestured for the merchant to take a seat. Tandis continued to work through the mail, making notes to herself as she went.

  “I heard that Master Devontes first arrived in the midst of winter. If you don’t mind my asking, is that true?”

  “It is.”

  “If Gomi is planning to open a winter route, I wouldn’t mind hearing about that well in advance,” the merchant said.

  “I don’t believe we are.”

  “What are the chances that changes?”

  Hans’ first thought was, I hope it doesn’t. He still dreamed of having the snowed-in winter he heard so much about when he first arrived, the kind where there was nothing to do but sleep and read. That had never panned out for Hans, and that was even less likely now that Leebel’s Rest held the same temperature year-round.

  “Charlie or Galad would have a better answer about that,” Hans replied. “What makes you ask?”

  “Gomi’s been driving a good bit of profit for my humble business. If that could continue through the winter, I’d be interested in that.”

  “I see. This is a guess, but I think the chances are very low. Devon’s the only one who could make that possible, and snow removal is not on his list of priorities. All the same, if I ever hear differently, I don’t mind letting you know.”

  The merchant dipped his head in thanks. “And the Gomi Games are still on schedule?”

  “They are.”

  “I know Gomi works closely with Master Doorstop, but I wanted to ask after the story rights for the event, assuming he hasn’t claimed them.”

  Hans cocked his head. “I don’t follow.”

  “Folks are still talking about last year,” the merchant explained. “Two Platinums resigning from the tournament instead of facing Master Devontes, an Iron-ranked Black Mage surviving an attack from a Diamond-ranked because of a cave crawler familiar, the debut of Gruwalda iron, a mountain farm lined with fairywood trees, and the reveal of a new dungeon with a town in it no less? These are stories that would sell, were there any official source for them, that is.”

  “Really?”

  Nodding, the merchant added, “There’s also the Cleric with the dragon arm and the one-eyed Guild Master who inspires the loyalty of Diamonds and Platinums despite only being Gold.”

  Only Gold.

  “I can’t stop other people from telling those stories,” Hans said.

  “Being the only official source should solve that, I believe.”

  Hans noticed Tandis listening carefully. He wasn’t sure how much she had heard. “What do you think of this?” he asked.

  “I’d feel better about being the ones to tell our story,” she answered. “Would be another way to bring more folks to Gomi as well, for the Association and for trade.”

  Those were good points.

  “I can’t agree to this without input from the rest of Gomi,” Hans said to the merchant, “but I’d be willing to champion it if you didn’t mind a few conditions.”

  “Speak your mind.”

  “There are several talented artists in Gomi. I’d like for them to have the right of first refusal before you hire artists from elsewhere, and I can vouch for their skill. You won’t be compromising quality whatsoever.”

  The merchant nodded and continued to listen.

  “If their kids agree to it, I’d want the first book to tell the story of Gomi’s founders and explore the history here. I can promise it will be interesting. It begins with a dungeon discovery, for instance.”

  “Noted. Do you have other terms?”

  “If Gomi agrees, Tandis will be the one who negotiates the revenue share for the town.”

  Leaning in, the merchant said, “Seems like you have something else on your mind.”

  “I do, but it can wait. Want me to try setting up a meeting? I assume you’re leaving in the morning.”

  “Not so. We’ll be in town for the next two days. The accommodations are pretty appealing to myself and my colleagues.”

  “Excellent,” Hans said as he stood. He extended his arm for a handshake. “I’ll talk to some of our people and then come find you.”

  The merchant bowed and made his exit.

  “What did you hold back?” Tandis asked when the door shut.

  “I’m trying to decide if we mention the stationary wards and what we discovered. There might be a way to expose that without leveling specific accusations.”

  “I’m in favor.”

  “That quick?” Hans asked.

  “Absolutely,” Tandis answered. “I’m worried enough as it is about Willow going out into the world someday. I’d feel better knowing there weren’t Blood magic wards out there designed to prey on her specifically.”

  New Quest: Consider revealing the existence of the Blood wards to the public.

  Bridun the Bard approached Hans at the close of another class on defending against ranged attacks. His party had done several runs with Mazo, and she reported positive results. Their first outing with the halfling was a small disaster, but every run after was a dramatic improvement over the last. To her, she had mostly observed the rest of their training coming together, contributing very little to the jump in performance. The progress was so heartening that Bridun’s party had begun doing solo armorback runs with no supervision or backup.

  “Mr. Hans?” the Bard asked.

  “What can I do for you?”

  “We’ve trained a lot since coming here. I’d like for you to reassess us and share your thoughts, if you have the time.”

  “I’ve heard good things as well,” Hans said. “What do you suppose made the difference there?”

  “Training.”

  Hans waited for Bridun to add more, but he didn’t. “I don’t mind tagging along. Is the reassessment all you’re looking for?”

  “Challenge us. We’ve been doing the armorbacks one at a time. We’d like to take on two at once and get your thoughts.”

  “Deal. We’ll get it scheduled.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Bridun said and excused himself.

  Quest Update: Evaluate the progress of Bridun and his party.

  “He’s an odd one,” Terry said when Bridun had gone. “Compared to him, Honk is a court jester.”

  “Yeah. I still feel like I don’t have a good read on him or the others.”

  “That’s a strange feeling for you, I bet.”

  “Very strange,” Hans admitted. “I’ve not run into that for a long time, so I guess it was bound to happen eventually. If they’re improving, that’s good enough for me.”

  “My read is that he gives me the creeps.” Terry shivered involuntarily.

  “Why’s that?”

  “A feeling, I guess. I know he’s just a kid, but I can’t get myself to like him.”

  “Does he laugh at your jokes?”

  “Never.”

  Hans smiled.

  “No,” Terry added, sensing Hans’ conclusion. “It’s not his sense of humor that irks me.”

  “Not at all?”

  “Okay, maybe it’s a factor, but it’s not the only factor.”

  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.”

  Continue the momentum of establishing a Hoseki-grade library in Gomi.

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

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

  Relocate the titan bones to the dungeon entrance.

  Evaluate the progress of Bridun and his party.

  Consider revealing the existence of the Blood wards to the public.