I had a lot to do.

Handing the last box to Wynn, I sighed in relief as I climbed down off the wagon… glad to finally be done. At least with the unloading.

“Last one,” I told Wynn.

“Aye,” he said simply as he took the box and stepped away. I watched him go for a moment, and then looked back at the now empty wagon I had just been on.

Really… why did it always seem like we had more stuff once we reached our destination than we did when we left one? I had helped Vim load the wagons, and I hadn’t remembered there being nearly half as many boxes… had they somehow multiplied during our journey? Had Renka played a trick on us, or something?

Or was it instead the simple fact I had so much to look forward to, and do, that the extra time being spent on mundane tasks was getting to me…?

“That made more sense,” I admitted to myself as I stepped away and headed for the door. I had helped unload the last wagon, one of three that had come here to the Animalia Guild. The rest had gone to the church, where Light and the rest were. And although I had only helped unload them into the warehouse, I was done. They didn’t have any plan to carry the boxes anywhere else yet. They had simply put the stuff into a storage room, one that…

I paused, turned, and glanced over to the hallway that Wynn had just entered. I knew, from having carried many in there myself, that the storage room was a few doors down that hallway. Wynn was the type to not even ask for help half the time, so of course him carrying the last box I just handed him into the room himself was not a surprise… but…

Glancing around the warehouse, which had been slowly getting busier over the last half hour or so, I noted the workers who were now busying themselves around me.

The guild was about to open. The warehouse doors soon to open wide, inviting countless goods and products in and out of their maw… so it wasn’t too surprising to see only a few familiar faces, since most of the others had left already, but…

Why was it that I and Wynn had been the last two dealing with their stuff…? I of course had not minded helping, and Wynn was also the kind of man to always be willing to help in such physical activities, but… it sure did feel a little annoying lately to see how little thanks some members got when they helped others out.

I knew many of those who had accompanied us here were not able to help, even if they wanted to. Some were infirm. Others unable to blend in safely, such as the ducks, but… there had also been plenty both capable in appearance and physical abilities to have helped out a little more. And they hadn’t. And it had been their own stuff, too!

Though… why was I so frustrated over this? It’s not as if no one had helped at all… they just had left, carrying boxes and stuff into the guild proper, likely to their new rooms or what have you, and as such had more important things to do. So by all rights I shouldn’t be too annoyed, yet… I was. Undeniably.

Maybe I was just agitated… though I wasn’t really sure why I was so. No one had recently said anything that had annoyed me, and nothing bad had happened… yet…

If anything I should be happy. I was back in Lumen. An interesting place, where I had many friends to visit. I also had many things I wanted to do while here, given the opportunity. I had people I wanted to ask certain questions, stores I wanted to check, letters to deliver and receive…

“Wonder where Vim is…” I mumbled as I turned away and headed for the door that led out of the warehouses into the guild building.

He had left a short while ago. Brandy had summoned him, so he had apologized and abandoned me and the rest in our unloading. It wasn’t often Vim didn’t see such menial tasks to the end, but I knew better than to fault him for it. Odds are, like me, he had much to do. And… I wasn’t really sure how long we had to get all of it done.

Vim wanted to head east as fast as possible. To handle the requests he’s received, and to check on Berri and her family… all the while also attempt to avoid Light and any new prophecies or what have you. I doubted it’d go as well as he wanted, especially what with Renka and Fanci and all their drama, but I knew he’d still try his best to fulfill that desire. Knowing him, if we could leave today he could and would.

Still, either way I had to find him.

Like always my plan was to deal with the most important task first… deliver the letters that had been entrusted to me. And although many of those recipients were here in the guild, and thus easy to deliver, the rest were all at the church. Several city-blocks away. Usually this would not be a big issue at all… I’d just run out the door down that hallway there, and then hurry over to the other Society location here in Lumen and handle it.

Today though I couldn’t do that. At least… not without making Vim upset.

I was actually a little surprised he had even allowed me out of his sight. I had half expected him to whistle at me and wave me over earlier, when Brandy had asked him to join her elsewhere. He hadn’t done so though, but I knew it was not because he had simply forgotten his desire to keep me under his watchful eye.

Vim could sense me. From… a greater distance than I think he would ever admit. He likely knew where I was at this very moment, even… though I could obviously not do the same for him.

Rounding a corner, I frowned as I debated either going to Gerald’s office first or Brandy’s. Gerald’s was closer, but odds are Vim was likely with Brandy… but at the same time, there was a chance they were with Gerald… and I did have letters to give to him…

Choosing Gerald first, I took a left and headed for some stairs.

It didn’t take me long to get to his office, and sadly I had not encountered anyone familiar as I did so. It was a little disappointing to not run into one of my friends, but I didn’t let it bother me as I knocked on Gerald’s open office door as I entered.

“Ah! Renn! Welcome back,” Gerald greeted me, warmly, and I smiled and nodded as I walked over to his desk as to stand before it.

“Hey Gerald… how have you been?” I asked. He really was pretty… again I wondered what it would have been like for Vim to look like him. I personally would not have preferred it, but I knew that was simply because I had already fallen for Vim as he is now. If Vim had been… well, more like Gerald or some of the other men in the Society instead, I probably would have preferred him that way instead. My tastes were not something he fulfilled, but instead something he had created. Though I wasn’t sure how that really worked, or if I was even understanding it properly was another matter entirely…

“Very, very busy… and I fear and suspect you’re about to make it even worse, aren’t you?” Gerald asked with a small smile. He had not been snide just now, but he did look tired all of a sudden.

“Regrettably, it’s possible… here, letters from Oplar, The Chronicler, Link and Hands,” I said as I dug out his letters.

“What a list…!” Gerald said with an odd tone as he accepted them from me.

It… kind of was, wasn’t it? But who was I to pry? “Vim’s here too. I’m… not sure if he has any others for you or not, this time,” I said. Last time we had been here I had been the one carrying all the letters, but Vim had commented the other day that he had a few himself. I wasn’t sure why he sometimes gave them to me and sometimes didn’t, but I figured he had his reasons. Or rather, maybe he simply just forgot about them half the time.

“Well, hopefully he doesn’t. His letters typically carry urgency, and I hate those ones,” Gerald said as he examined the letters I had given him. He didn’t open any, just studied them… though only Hands’ letter seemed to have anything written on the outside. The rest were blank and bare, except for the wax seals that stamped them closed and shut.

“Honestly mine have been feeling like that too lately, so I should probably not make a comment about that…” I said with a small smile.

Gerald chuckled, and nodded. “Well, you’re two pears in a can after all!”

Pears… in a can…? Was he saying we were pickled together or something…? Or was it some kind of commerce idiom, much alike that cactus he had been given that one time?

Ah. Right! “By the way, Gerald…” I was glad I had remembered, as he tilted his head and I cupped my hand open and pointed at it. “Remember that little cactus that you gave me? The one you got from some merchant from the south?” I asked.

“Yes, why? Did it finally die? Do you want more?” Gerald asked calmly, with a smile.

Gosh, why did everyone think I was so greedy! Even if I was, that wasn’t fair! “It’s still alive! Actually, I was wondering what ever came of it? Or of the person who gave it to you? How’d that go?” I asked.

“Ah, well their little company as we’d call it collapsed. Two of the upper members died, and the rest either quit or joined different organizations. They had fled the sinking ship, as you say,” Gerald answered smoothly, he hadn’t even needed to think about it.

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

Dead… “Did we… kill them?” I asked.

“Huh? No. Their own people did the deeds. Though I suppose one could argue and claim the original cause is our own, for pushing their company into hardship and debt… but I’d like to believe that doesn’t justify our souls being rotted by the curse of murder. We took their coins, their purses, not their lives. We had no need for those,” Gerald said simply.

Sounds like something Brandy would say. “I see… well, I’m glad it turned out fine at least?”

He nodded. “Yes, it had.”

That was good… I think.

“Also, again, Vim plans on leaving as soon as he can. He has some stuff to handle to the east, so he feels like he has to hurry. If you or anyone else has need of him I suggest letting me or him know as soon as possible,” I said, choosing to refocus on my original task.

“Ah, the ghosts, right…? I’m actually looking forward to finding out what’s actually going on, so I hope you do leave soon!” Gerald said with a chuckle. I smirked at that, since he obviously found it seemingly hilarious… which hopefully meant it was nothing too dire. But then he frowned as he leaned forward onto his desk, and nodded. “But actually I would like to talk to him. Please let him know I would like a moment of his time before you two depart again, if he can spare it,” he asked.

“Of course, I’ll let him know,” I said, nodding.

“Thank you.”

I nodded again, and then ran down my internal list of people I needed to deliver letters to. “Wouldn’t happen to know where Lawrence, Jasna and Pierre are do you?” I asked.

“Lawrence should be in his office. Jasna… I can’t say. I’d check with Liina if you can’t find her around here. Pierre is this shift’s harbor master, so he’ll be at the docks if not here,” Gerald said.

“Thanks. I’ll go get them their letters, then!” I said as I turned to go.

“Aye, before Vim gets you swallowed up in more dire tasks. See you later then,” Gerald said as I left.

His words bothered me a little, but I knew better than to read too deeply into them. He had spoken to me kindly, and had worn a smile throughout our little meeting. He was just… odd in his own way. As I was finding out most birds were.

Actually what had Vim said he was…? A dove? I wonder if I’d seen any other doves lately…? I feel like I would have noticed them instantly, since I’d assume they would have been pretty like him… but maybe he was just pretty because he was, not because of his bloodline…

Heading for the entrance stairwell, the one that had a balcony and overlooked the main entrance, I decided to check if Reatti was already at her post or not. I had a letter for her, from Lorto, the meerkat who had returned to with the others. I probably could have asked Gerald for her location too, but oddly had decided on the spot to keep it secret… because I felt it was a little more personal than the others I carried.

Lorto wanted to reach out to Reatti… as one meerkat to another, as to build a connection. To him she was already family. They were already a pack, in his eyes… and I wanted to do all I could to support and ensure that connection came into existence and also survived for as long as possible.

It was my fault there was only one person to be connected to said pack, after all. There should have been another.

One that should have… made more connections…

I gulped as I reached the balcony, and I slowed as I eased up to the railing and glanced down.

Reatti wasn’t here. Only two others were, both a pair of clerks sitting at their desks readying for the day.

By now she should be here. The doors were to open shortly… but she might be meeting and greeting the new members we’d just brought here.

Although a little sad she wasn’t here, I was also a little relieved.

Telling her of Lorto, and the rest of his pack, had been… a concern of mine. Vim had told me of her history. Of how she and Brom had been forced to flee, and even kill, many of their own family members. Because they had been cruel and evil. Abusive.

Knowing their pasts made me… sad. Because it made me feel even more related to them than I already had been.

She had suffered her family’s decadence and scorn much like I had. If not worse, based off the little Vim had told me. So… not only did I owe it to her, to help her find a new family if able thanks to the family I had taken from her… there was also the desire to help someone become happy who was like me. Someone who had suffered like me deserved the same joy and happiness I had and desired, and I wanted to make sure she got it. One way or another… but…

“Ah, hello Renn! Welcome back!”

I smiled as I turned and looked down, and greeted Tosh with a smile and a nod. “Hello Tosh!”

About to hurry down the stairs, as to greet Vim’s friend, I found I didn’t need to. He had begun climbing the stairs the moment he had seen me.

Waiting for him a short distance from the stairwell, I smiled and held my hand out as Tosh walked over. Instead of taking my hand he instead stepped forward and wrapped me in a hug. “How’ya been, Renn?” Tosh asked as he gave me a friendly squeeze.

“Not too bad, yourself Tosh?” I asked as I patted his back in return. His hug didn’t last too long, not long enough to be awkward, but I still felt a little silly as we separated and he gave me a grin. I should have just fully returned the hug… he was Vim’s friend, I shouldn’t be ashamed of such contact with someone like him. Yet I had hesitated for some reason…

“Personally I’ve been terrible!” Tosh then said.

Oh…? “Why?” I asked worriedly. Was his memory affecting him again? Did his body hurt, or something? Had Vim or I forgotten to do him a favor or…?

“I keep getting spurned, Renn! I’ve not had a losing streak this bad, or this long in… well… hundreds of years!” Tosh said, loudly, and then laughed at himself. He had obviously exaggerated the time he spoke of, since that was even longer than his… unusually long absence of self. His mind had only been broken for a bit under a hundred years, so I’d been told.

“Spurned… I’m assuming you mean by women,” I said with a small smile.

Vim had said he had once been a womanizer, hadn’t he? Though he had said it with a smile at the time, and had thought highly of Tosh, he had still used that word.

“Well duh? I’m not you, Renn, I have no desire to be held by a man!” Tosh said.

Right… “Um… I’m sorry, I guess…?” I said. What else did one say during moments like this? I was sure he was just joking, as to keep the mood healthy, but I also knew he was probably being somewhat serious. For him it might be an actual problem, one worth complaint.

“Ah, you have no reason to apologize! But I would like to whine about it to your mate… is he here too? Or is he off doing something?” Tosh asked as he crossed his arms gingerly.

“He’s here. Last I saw him with Brandy. We do plan on leaving pretty soon though, so I’ll make sure he knows you got some complaints,” I said.

Tosh grinned a little. “Complaints aplenty! Where are you two heading after this?” he asked.

“Eastward. I’m not sure the path he wants to take, but our main goal will be the Crypt,” I said.

Tosh frowned as he nodded knowingly, in a way that told me he knew not just of the location… but likely knew it by memory and heart. “Hm… I see.”

Oh…? That had been the kind of response one normally gave when they were considering something a little… serious. “Do you… want to leave?” I asked, wondering if I had read his tone properly.

Tosh blinked, just once, and then he nodded. “I think I do. Yes.”

I see…! “Well, we already have a small group heading that way with us. I’m sure one more would not be any trouble at all, if you’d like to come,” I suggested. Not only would him joining us be fine, it’d give me an opportunity to not just spend more time with him but also see how he and Vim acted during such a venture! I would probably really enjoy that, since supposedly the two had traveled around together a lot back during the wars. They were old traveling companions, much like how Lilly had been with Vim often too.

“Please tell me it’s a pair of beautiful women,” Tosh said, focusing on that instead.

I chuckled at that. “They do have lovely feathers, at least,” I said.

Tosh seemed to understand what I meant flawlessly. “I’ve never been much a fan of feathers myself,” he said with a sigh.

Oh…? Right… Vim had said that the woman he had fallen for, actually fallen for, had been some kind of lizard or something hadn’t he…? “What do you like then?” I asked, curious.

“Oh I got a long list…!” Tosh chuckled at me as he said so.

A wry smirk wormed its way on my face. “I’d actually like to hear that list, if you’re willing.”

“Do you now? Trying to get me on Vim’s bad side are you? Well, sucks for you Renn because I’m neither stupid enough nor cocky enough to do so!”

I laughed again at him. “No, no! Actually I’m hoping by hearing your stories and stuff I can hear more about Vim! You see I’ve actually been having trouble lately too. Spurned, you said…? Yes. I’ve been getting spurned too,” I said, telling him honestly.

Tosh’s smirk softened a little… seemingly becoming a little more real as he glanced around, and then refocused on me once he realized we were alone. “I… I see. Well, although Vim and I have… shared a lot together, I’ll admit Renn I’m not really sure if I can be much help in that regard. I’ve actually never been very sure of his preferences myself, even with all the times we’ve talked and all the times I’ve seen him flirt and stuff with others,” Tosh said, and as he did he gestured gently at me while speaking kindly. He no longer had that loud chuckle in the back of his throat, though he did still wear a smile. It seemed he was now taking our conversation a little more seriously.

Which was good, because I was being genuine. I really was hoping he might offer a little insight into how I could… better seduce Vim. Anything would help at this point.

“All the same, would you mind if we had a conversation about it later? Unless you decide to join us, then we can have it another time,” I said.

“Of course! I uh… at least, I think so…? Huh… I’ve honestly never thought about what to do if I’d ever found myself in this situation…”

“What kind of situation is it…? I just want to have a little talk,” I asked.

“I’m not sure… is this a betrayal? Am I breaking some unspoken rule amongst men? Betraying my comrade in arms? Backstabbing my teacher and protector…? So many options…”

“Gosh now you’re making it sound as if I should bribe you or something!” I said with a laugh. He was speaking so seriously! As if it was dire!

“Okay, let me in on this conversation! What is going on!?”

I turned to happily greet Reatti as she hurried out of the hallway and over to me. She wrapped me in a hug, one that I full-heartedly returned without any hesitation, and then I laughed happily as Tosh immediately betrayed Vim by telling the two of us all about some woman who had given Tosh a bunch of dirty coins in exchange for a key to his bedroom.

I of course learned nothing from it, since it turned out Vim had kicked her out and then also kicked Tosh out along with her… but it had been entertaining all the same.

And that was all that mattered, in the end.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep