Guild Master Straights

In the morning, Nero and Alicia ate in silence, then prepared to head home. We were almost ready to leave by the time Alicia’s gaze fell on me and she started. “Luna? What are those?”

I blinked at her, confused for a moment, before I remembered the pair of wings on my back. “Meow?” I asked, giving her the most innocent look I could manage.

Alicia frowned. “Have you always had those?”

To be honest, if she wanted to gaslight herself into thinking I’d always had bat wings, I wasn’t going to complain, but my Master had different thoughts on the matter. “No, she evolved,” Nero said quietly. “Sorry, we had the Skeleton King’s bone the whole time, so she was able to evolve once we got the last Hellhound tooth.”

“O-oh. Why didn’t you say anything?”

Nero shrugged awkwardly and looked away from her. “It didn’t seem like the time.”

Alicia looked confused, but in the face of Nero’s discomfort, she accepted that and let the subject matter drop.

We once more tied Fay to Heather and started on our way north. We didn't know where we were, exactly, but the terrain wasn't that different from where we'd been before the dungeon formed around us, so we assumed that we'd eventually find our way to familiar landmarks if we just went north.

“What do you think happened to them?” Alicia asked as we trudged along.

Nero hesitated. He knew exactly what’d happened, but was there any reason to tell Alicia? “I don’t know. Maybe some trap activated as we left.”

“That’s horrible… They seemed to think that God had something to do with the dungeon, but there’s no way God would do something so awful.” Alicia glared at the ground ahead of her. “It’d make more sense if dungeons came from the Demon Lord.”

Nero flinched slightly at that. “There isn’t an active Demon Lord in this country right now,” he pointed out quietly. “Not since the king killed the last one.”

This was news to me. It was the first time I’d heard anything concrete about Demon Lords existing beyond Fyth calling himself one.

“Well, I bet a new one’s appeared, then. He probably tried to kill Crimson Rain before and failed, and this was him finishing off the job.”

For some reason, this made Fyth laugh hysterically for a long time after. I didn’t exactly disagree. The idea that someone as important-sounding as a Demon Lord specifically targeting Crimson Rain sounded ridiculous… even though that was exactly what had happened. It just hadn’t happened the way Alicia thought it had. But logically, Crimson Rain was a D-ranked party. Wouldn’t it be more reasonable for a Demon Lord to target an A- or S-ranked party?

Alicia didn’t let this topic drop. Every time Alicia grumbled about the Demon Lord, who was, according to her increasingly unrelated complaints, the root of all evil, Fyth started laughing again. He sounded like he was really enjoying her thoughts on the matter. Nero withdrew into himself more every time she said something about it, and Fyth’s laughter was giving me a headache, so I wished she’d cut it out. I couldn’t exactly say that to her, though. ‘Hey, Alicia, would you mind not talking about Demon Lords being evil? My Master’s a Demon Lord Candidate, and there’s a demon lord in my head whose laughter is super annoying.’ Yeah. That’d go over well.

We didn’t sleep much during our trip back. Every time we stopped to rest, we couldn’t stop ourselves from jolting awake at every crack of a twig or rustle of leaves. There weren’t any arguments, though, to my surprise. Normally, when people are stressed and sleep-deprived, they tend to snap at each other. Although Nero had retreated into himself quite a bit, he and Alicia weren’t fighting at all. I didn’t know whether this spoke to their friendship or their base personalities, but I appreciated it either way.

It took us two weeks of mostly quiet and awkward travel, but we did eventually find ourselves at a river that, when we followed it, led to a small town we'd stayed at for quests before. From there, it took us another three days to return to the city. We stopped at a clinic, where we left Fay along with the explanation that her summon had died.

"I see," the doctor in charge said with a heavy sigh. "Does she have any family?"

Alicia shook her head. "She never spoke of them if she does."

The doctor's lips thinned. "We'll send notice to the Guild then."

"Uh, what's going to happen to her?" Nero asked.

"Most people can't handle the loss of a summon," the doctor replied. "She might wake up eventually, but in most cases, the patient remains nothing but a shell of their former self."

"Isn't there anything you can do?" Alicia asked. “The rest of… I mean, we heard there was a cure! We don’t mind if it’s hard to get. We’ll do whatever it takes.”

The doctor frowned at her. "The only cure, if you want to call it such, is to locate an unbound summon and bind it to her.”

“Unbound summon?” Alicia asked.

“Rare summons or higher can survive the passing of their Master. The rarer the summon, the longer they remain in this world once their Master passes. Rare summons can remain for a few hours, while there are rumors that SSR summons can remain for years.” The doctor sighed and gestured around the room where Fay rested. Hers was only one of a dozen beds occupied by unconscious men and women. “I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that there are very few unbound summons in the world. It is exceedingly rare for a Master to die before their summon in the first place, let alone for it to happen in circumstances that let us make use of that summon."

Nero and Alicia were silent as we made our way to the Adventurer's Guild. I didn’t know how Alicia was interpreting the doctor’s words, but I was sure Nero was considering them through the lens of what I’d told him. The doctor had unknowingly confirmed what I’d suspected, which eased my guilt by quite a bit.

We left Heather in the stables, entered, and reported the appearance of a dungeon to the assistant at the counter.

The woman's eyes widened, and she quickly looked around. "Please follow me," she whispered, coming around the side of the counter and leading us upstairs. She left us in a room alone, but Nero and Alicia didn’t talk. They were preoccupied with the conversation with the doctor, I assumed.

The door opened, saving us from the awkward silence. A tall, heavily muscled woman entered. She had copper-colored hair, fierce brown eyes, and a square jaw that wouldn’t have looked out of place on a bodybuilder. She sat down opposite us and swung one thickly muscled thigh over the other, leaning back and spreading her arms on either side of her on the back of the couch. "Guild Master Raeleigh Straits," she said. “Pleasure to meet you.”

Alicia tried to speak, but failed. She shook herself and tried again. "Uh, I'm Alicia, and this is Nero. Luna is his Shadow Cat."

The Guild Master studied me for a moment, one eyebrow raised. I felt a tingle sweep over me before she snorted and nodded. "I see. So? You ran into a new dungeon? Tell me what happened. I want every detail."

Alicia did most of the talking until we reached the point where I evolved. There, she faltered, unsure of what had happened.

Nero looked at me. “Go ahead. Tell your part.”

Okay, I said. Alicia stiffened in surprise, having never heard me speak before. I’d gotten used to not talking, so it was strange to have the option again. I’d kind of prefer not to, but I was, strange as it seemed to me, better at lying than Nero, and there were a couple of lies I’d prefer to sell here.

We originally planned for me to evolve once we’d returned to the city. When the dungeon formed, we thought about it, but given how much Dragon changed when she evolved to a Dragonnewt, we thought it would be better to hold off. I already know how to fight in this form. It seemed safer not to introduce new variables in such an already unstable situation. However, when the guardian cast that spell, we didn’t see how it could hurt, so I evolved. One of my evolutionary options was to 'enhance my Master.' None of the other options would allow me to save the party, so we risked choosing that one. I hoped Nero didn’t mind me casually acting like he’d been controlling me the way a normal Master would.

Nero nodded, apparently unbothered. He scratched under my chin as he spoke. "It seemed like time froze, and I heard a voice saying I could evolve. I accepted. When I did, I gained a skill called 'Reverse.' It lets me reverse a single spell and most of its effects, so I used it. It can’t reverse death, so I couldn't save Justice, but everyone else's damage was undone. Then Luna used Blessing again, and the guardian died."

The Guild Master had us describe the Goblins and the Goblin King, and she correctly identified them based on the descriptions. Then she asked, "You said that your other party members had experienced a dungeon formation before?"

Alicia nodded. "That's what they said. Fay... Fay kept saying they were cursed."

The Guild Master's eyes narrowed. "I see. Do you know why she thought that?"

Both Nero and Alicia shook their heads. I spoke up. All four of them had the title Hated by God. Could that have had something to do with it?

Alicia’s gaze snapped to me. She looked startled. “Hated by God? They did? Why?”

The Guild Master gave me a knowing look, and I realized there was a good chance she had Assessed me earlier. "That title can be gained in many ways. Many monsters, for instance, bear it at birth. However, among humans, it almost always means they've committed an unpardonable sin.”

“But what could have happened for every member of Crimson Rain to have that title?” Alicia asked. Her tone was pleading. It sounded like she had an idea of what could have happened - not surprising, since she knew there were three dead members of the party - but desperately wanted some other option she could believe in.

“Why would that lead to a dungeon forming around us?” Nero asked rather than address the subject.

The Guild Master sighed. “Do you know what luck is?”

We all looked at each other, confused by the non-sequitur. “The likelihood of something good happening?” Alicia guessed.

“Sort of. Luck is a stat that affects how likely it is that certain types of beings will notice you and intervene on your behalf, whether that intervention is positive or negative. That title both reduces luck and draws God’s attention, specifically. For a single individual bearing the title, this generally manifests in worse summons, drop rates, and outcomes when gambling, but the effect of having multiple instances of it within the same group can prove devastating. For instance, it can lead God to notice a group and create a dungeon around them to try to snuff out the lives of those who offend Him."

I appreciated her taking the time to exonerate me.

"What do you mean by unpardonable sin, though?” Alicia asked again. “They were nice! We were friends!”

"Cold-blooded murder, for instance," the Guild Master said flatly.

Alicia shook her head. “That can’t be true. They wouldn't do that.”

“I’m sorry,” the Guild Master told Alicia, speaking gently and giving her a sympathetic look. “I understand that this is a heartbreaking discovery.”

Alicia started crying. “I don’t believe it.”

The Guild Master gave us a moment before saying, “Can you finish your report?”

I can do it, I offered. There isn’t much more. We stepped onto the teleporter, but when it was about to activate, the members of Crimson Rain, except for Fay, who was on Alicia’s summon, all suddenly stumbled. It looked like they’d been pushed off the teleporter by something. We assume it was a trap.

The Guild Master hummed and stared at me. Then she looked at Nero, who kept his gaze focused on his hands in his lap. She turned back to me and sighed. She no doubt understood that I’d used Telekinesis to, essentially, kill them, and that I was hiding it from Alicia. “This party, Crimson Rain… I remember them. They encountered a dungeon creation event only half a year ago or so. I was out of the city at the time, but I was told the details of their experience were suspicious. Ultimately, nothing could be proven, and with no clear evidence of wrongdoing, we allowed them to continue as adventurers.” She continued to stare at me for a while before she finally said, “I suppose God didn’t want them to escape His justice a second time.”

Thank you, Miss Guild Master, ma'am. I appreciate you not throwing me under the bus. Even with the revelation of the Hated by God title, Alicia probably wouldn't take the news that I'd killed them well.

There was a lot of paperwork that needed doing, but we eventually returned to the Guild assistant downstairs. She smiled at us and handed Nero a new ID. "Congratulations, Nero. You've been promoted to C-rank." She looked at Alicia. "While we cannot promote you until you have one evolved summon, know that your promotion is ready to be processed the moment your summon evolves."

"Oh, thanks," Alicia said weakly. I didn't think she cared too much about adventurer rank right then. None of us did.

“Now, for your party going forward, there are a couple of issues that must be handled. Do you have time right now?”

“I - yes, that’s fine,” Alicia said.

“Thank you. First of all, while it isn’t necessary, those who lose more than half of their party often choose to change their party name. Would you like to do so at this time?”

Nero and Alicia looked at each other. Alicia bit at her lip, lowered her gaze, and said, “I don’t know. Can we answer that later?”

“Yes. Next, parties typically should be made up of at least four human members. While this isn’t strictly enforced, we recommend that you add yourself to the list of parties accepting new members. Is that acceptable?”

Again, Nero and Alicia consulted each other. This time, Alicia nodded more firmly, even though Nero wasn’t nearly as certain, I thought. “Yes. How long does it usually take to get new members?”

The Guild assistant gave us a commiserating smile. “Most likely, your new members will be from the next generation of adventurers. First-time summonings have finished for the year, so I wouldn’t expect new members until next April at the earliest. While there are individuals who have lost their parties, experienced adventurers typically join more well-established parties.”

Alicia offered her a tight smile and a nod, while Nero released a relieved breath. “Is there anything else?” Alicia asked.

“That should be everything. Thank you for your cooperation,” the Guild assistant said with a curtsey.

“Thank you,” Alicia and Nero repeated, and we headed to another counter to rent a room for a few nights.