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Book 2: Chapter 67: Smiles and Impartial

Lone moaned blissfully when he felt the perfectly heated water of the steamforged bath sink into his pores and his tail\'s fur.

It had been over a month since he\'d last experienced the joy that was the perfectly crafted piece of machinery known as a steam bather.

Sure, the cold baths he was able to cobble together with the help of his Dimensional Storage had their charm. A very distinct charm that got old about two days into the month-long expedition to and from Urd Grun.

"Showers are for cleaning, baths are for relaxing," Lone hummed lightly as he sunk his body further into the tub and grinned. "So tempted to steal this fuckin\' thing."

A twinge of pain went off in his mind, causing a frown to form on his face. "Yeah, yeah, calm down. Stupid scripture magic."

As it turned out, if Lone even so much as thought about breaking one of the magical enforcement\'s unbreakable tenants, his mind would be shocked lightly.

Apparently, were he to actually somehow get close to breaking one of tenants by acting against the scriptures clauses, he would just outright die.

Lone had his doubts about that given his Basic Regeneration but he wasn\'t in a hurry to put it to the test.

He was even less inclined to do so since while the mental shock for thinking about going against a clause would incapacitate a normal person, to someone with his mental fortitude it was nothing more than a light annoyance.

Of course, this meant that he had tested this \'feature\' as much as possible. What was infuriating was that despite all of his efforts, thinking about resisting the magic didn\'t give him any levels in the relevant resistance.

He cleared his mind and just focused on enjoying himself. Lone had spent his first two day holiday casually with Soph, Sophie, Breena, and Kyuubi.

He hadn\'t left the inn ever since returning to it. It was just better for his mental health that way. He even though it perhaps might have been beneficial for the mental health of the dwarves who would look upon him as if he were worth less than the dirt that made up the majority of their sky.

\'I swear to God, if there\'s some BS discrimination at the Crimson Foxkin Clan too, I\'m slapping someone. I don\'t care who, but their face will meet the front side of my hand before saying hello to the backside soon after,\' Lone thought seriously before he burst out laughing.

As his laughter slowly stopped, his mind wandered to his roguish dwarven companion.

Lone hadn\'t seen him since being \'released\' and the dwarf hadn\'t bothered to visit the Rusty Sprocket. \'Probably better this way. I was just starting to like him which is an issue since I don\'t want a whole party following me around. Besides, he said he wanted to retire, right?\'

While his mind was on the topic of the dwarven people he knew, his thoughts naturally drifted to his blacksmithing master. A somberness shrouded the bathroom.

Were it up to Lone, he\'d have gone to Wilbur\'s shop and checked up on the old man the moment his two day \'holiday\' began.

That was impossible though as the scripture magic forbade him from contacting the soon-to-be epitome.

Somehow, he\'d talk to the man face-to-face again before he passed, of that, Lone promised himself.

\'I wonder how I\'ll develop my crafting skills after leaving the dwarven lands? I can always learn on my own but if Wilbur\'s taught me anything, it\'s that the system doesn\'t know all that you know. Experience matters just as much as skill bonuses. Question is, where would I go to find someone willing to teach me steamforging?\' Lone pondered.

He was itching to level something up, anything really. Soph and Sophie had taken turns convincing him to avoid focusing on any of his skills the past two days so he could truly unwind.

He didn\'t want to, but had he not recently resolved himself to listen to his beloved\'s advice more often now that it had been made painfully obvious that doing the opposite tended to lead to later regrets?

As addicted to earning and levelling skills as he was, taking some time away from it had actually helped clear his mind and relieve some of his stress.

\'I guess it\'s always healthy to step back from something you love and reflect on it every now and then, isn\'t it? Addiction is just another form of love. A twisted form. I should make the first two day leave of my task outings a forbidden time to train skills from here on out.\'

Considering the state of his mind, Lone valued any levity he could find in regards to his mental health.

"You done yet?" Soph\'s sweet yet hurried voice asked through the bathroom door.

Lone shrugged, knowing she could see him with her Mana Sensing even if she wasn\'t in the room with him. "Five more minutes then I\'ll dry off. Don\'t worry. I physically cannot avoid going to the guild by exactly tenth bell. We won\'t be late."

"Okay... Well, uh, I\'m ready. Are you gonna store all of the moisture on you from the bath when you\'re done or do you want me to dry your tails for you when you\'re done?" Soph asked, some hope marring her tone.

Lone grinned. "I\'ll leave it to you."

On his way to the guild after getting cleaned up and dressed, Lone noticed a change in Breena\'s gaze that was directed at the people around them.

She had always been rather closed off and tended to keep her eyes to the floor while trying to make herself look as small and as invisible as possible.

Now though, there was a resentful sort of confidence in her eyes which only grew the more the passing dwarves scoffed at Lone\'s very presence.

Just as they were about to enter The Adventurer\'s Guild, Lone leaned down and whispered to his foxkin brethren, "It\'s not bothering me so don\'t let it bother you."

That wasn\'t entirely true, but Breena didn\'t need to know that. It bothered Lone enough that he was secretly hoping to get a new skill like Social Anxiety Resistance or Not Giving a Fuck Mastery.

"Ma-!" she cut herself off quickly and said in a far softer tone, "But... you\'re not in the wrong. They\'re in the wrong for being so harsh. You saved so many of them inn Urd Grun but they only see you as a skill thief... Skills don\'t belong to anyone but those who earn them... Besides, th-they\'re looking at you like you... Like you\'re... him."

\'Like Daisuke? Being compared to him stings like a motherfucker.\' Lone smiled it off and shrugged. "Their culture, not ours. We won\'t be here for much longer anyway. Less than a year, two at a push if something motivates me to stay past one."

"But your sentence..." the teenaged girl trailed off.

Soph shook her head as she opened the door to the guild. "That\'s why we\'re here, silly. To help him work it off!"

Her joyful aura was infectious and it seemed to calm Breena\'s growing unease somewhat. Sadly, it came back in full force when the guild became utterly silent upon noticing Lone\'s entry.

Lone sighed internally as he scanned the room carefully. About 40 or so dwarves were standing around or sitting at the left-side tables.

Few people were moving and those that were had slowed incredibly to get a good long uncomfortable look at Lone.

"Ah, I\'m glad you\'re here," he said as he approached a certain dwarf he\'d met before.

Lone reached into his \'adventurer\'s pouch\' and pulled out the white wooden pickaxe he\'d been gifted by a charitable soul a month ago.

"Hmm?" The dwarf was one of the few people in the room not staring at the entrance, he was instead focused on a card game he and his friends seemed to be playing

Raising a quizzical eyebrow, the dwarf squinted as he glanced at Lone. The smell of hard whiskey hit Lone\'s nose, making him smile a bit wryly.

"Ah... you," the dwarf said.

"Yup, me. Here," Lone replied as he handed the dwarf his pickaxe.

The dwarf stared at it blankly for a bit as if confused. Perhaps he was drunker than Lone had first assumed.

Lone grinned regardless and said, "Told ya I\'d return it. Took a little longer than expected on account of me getting arrested, but hey-ho, that\'s life, eh? I\'ve got those stories you wanted too if you don\'t hate me with every bone in your body now. I understand if you do."

Agar Mudborne exhaled deeply as he made a troubled expression, some clarity returning to his eyes.

He shook his head. "Keep it. Look, ye\'r naw ah bad bloke, but ah\'m ah man o\' faith. Ye learned one ah the Stone\'s sacred arts despite nae bein\' one o\' oor kind. Sorry, fox. Keep the pick an\' dinnae talk tae me ever again, aye?"

The hand Lone was using to hold the tool clenched slightly as he struggled to continue smiling.

Lone set the wooden thing down on the floor, resting its head on Agar\'s table. "Sorry. That being the case, I don\'t think I can use it without feeling bitter. Maybe sell it if you don\'t want it. Thanks again."

He left without letting the dwarf reply. Lone then quickly approached the reception of the guild. \'The sooner we get to the Farwinds, the better, I think.\'

Lone saw Breena bite her bottom lip in anger while Soph shot him a concerned and sympathetic look. He gave them a reassuring smile to tell them he was fine.

He then immediately approached the reception desks. He, Soph, and Breena, found themselves in front of an unfamiliar dwarven woman who looked very unwilling to serve them, but she still forced a smile on her face and asked what they needed.

Lone could appreciate pushing past the prejudice and hard feelings to maintain a good work ethic if nothing else. Since she didn\'t want to deal with him, he\'d make this short and sweet and skip all pleasantries.

"I\'m off to Urd Siltal to fix the Sheinling problem there. I\'ll be hiring adventurers Sophie Vladimiovich and Breena Redtail to accompany me. Their fee shall be handled privately," Lone said.

Soph and Breena nodded when the guild employee glanced at them for confirmation of the private hire. The guild would usually take care of such a thing for a trivial fee if requested to avoid scammers, hence why Lone needed to declare the nature of the arrangement as being private.

Lone took off his bronze plate adventurer\'s tag and fished for Soph and Breena\'s which were in his trouser pocket, since he\'d collected them from the two earlier.

Placing all three metal plates on the receptionist\'s desk, he said, "We\'d also like to claim the reward for the quest we accepted last month. Urd Grun has been cleared of all danger. If there are any pending rewards for the rescue of the missing dwarves of the krieg, we\'d like to claim those as well."

Something about the silence in the guild hall turned aggressive. Offended, even.

The receptionist, while maintaining a strained expression, asked, "You what?"

Lone\'s face didn\'t change one bit. "You don\'t want me here. I honestly feel pretty uncomfortable myself. Let\'s be official and nothing else. Reward us sufficiently and give me any quests relating to Urd Siltal, and I\'ll be out of your hair."

"Arrogant fookin\' topsider," a dwarven adventurer with a dark-steel adventurer tag - one rank shy of silver - growled.

Another dwarf, a woman on the other side of the hall, yelled, "Just leave, ye feckin\' criminal!"

"First ye steal our sacred skill and now ya try an\' claim rewards ye arnae entitled tae?" a third grumbled disapprovingly.

Before long, every dwarf in the guild was glowering at Lone, Soph, and Breena, while saying all manner of horrific things from speciesist slurs to threats of death.

\'They\'re no different to those from Milindo, huh?\' Lone commented mentally as his expression turned vacant. \'Why is it so hard for people to look past such a basic collectivist mindset? \'We good, everything else bad.\' Utterly barbaric. I committed a crime and owned up to it. I\'m being punished by the law. Being outcast makes sense too, but this verbal abuse is something else...\'

Bitter feelings swirled around in Lone\'s heart while he impassively stared at the employee, waiting for her to do her damned job.

Soph, meanwhile, was looking more and more uncomfortable and from the way her hands were positioned, it appeared she was ready to use barrier magic any moment now if they were attacked.

Breena was staring at the floor but one of her hands was hovering threateningly over her waist-strapped needle pouch.

"Enough!" a loud and familiar voice boomed.

From the second floor of the guild\'s central hall, Guildmaster Hilda was looking down at everyone with a scowl on her face mighty enough to make even a dragon cower.

"Freya! Do yer feckin\' job! Pay the fox an\' his friends! Swap out their plates tae ones fittin\' their deeds anaw!" she screamed at the receptionist who jumped in fear before nodding and getting to work immediately.

The guildmaster swept her gaze across the entirety of the first floor\'s occupants. "If ye dae ah quest, ye get rewarded! If ye dae ah quest without takin\' it but wish tae claim the reward, ye get rewarded! Life circumstances mean nothin\'!"

Lone was certain the woman was using some sort of skill, perhaps a taunt or maybe a fear effect. Heck, she could be using both. He wasn\'t gaining any new skills but he\'d experienced both before so it wasn\'t so surprising.

"An\' all o\' ye losers sittin\' \'ere gamblin\' an\' drinkin\'! Dae some feckin\' work rather than vent on the lad who\'s tryin\' tae make up fae \'is own wrongdoin\'s! The guild is impartial! Feckin\' impartial! Do not make me say it ah third time!" Sharp nods met her demand. "Good! Ah swear, takin\' care ah ye lotta spoons directly drains ma lifespan."

Lone raised an eyebrow. \'It\'s been so many years since I heard someone call another person a spoon.\'

He couldn\'t remember exactly when the last time was that such an insult had graced his ears and that kind of bothered him. \'I should try to get a skill that boosts memory. That\'s usually what the Wisdom stat does in these kinds of situations, right? Maybe it\'s a hidden stat like Charm, Charisma, and Magic Power.\'

Lone coughed softly. "Thank you, guildmaster. I\'m sure Freya would have done her job without your insistence. All of my experiences with the guild thus far have been nothing but stellar, even in Milindo - a place that\'s hard to beat on the discrimination front."

Guildmaster Hilda nodded. "Ah appreciate yer understandin\'. When ye\'r done gettin\' yer rewards an\' new tags, come up \'ere. We \'ave tae \'ave ah little chat."

"Of course," Lone smiled.

Soph frowned. \'That sounds threatening.\'

Lone shrugged mentally. \'My gut is telling me I\'ll just get a \'be careful\' warning. If it\'s anything seriously concerning to our safety, I\'ll handle it.\'

\'How?\' Soph asked as she tilted her head in thought.

\'I think I\'ll let slip that I can contact Gilbert,\' Lone explained.

Soph wore a look of realisation on her face. \'Wouldn\'t that be kinda suspicious given that it\'s been over two months since we came here?\'

She was right. It was a while ago that they were teleporting over a barren wasteland while fleeing Milindo. \'You know how I feel. If things really go tits up, you just need to teleport us to the surface. Easy-peasy. I\'m confident I can live through the scripture magic having a fit.\'

\'... You\'re not the one who has to teleport three people several times in a row while staying focused on their surroundings,\' Soph grumbled.

"Um," the now-timid receptionist said, trying to get Lone\'s attention. When he looked at her she handed him three plates and slid a leather pouch across the desk. "Your new plates. Yours has been upgraded to dark-steel, two promotions above your prior rank of bronze."

The receptionist glanced at Soph and Breena. "Hamish of the Black Iron Company has already filed an extensive report of what happened to, at, and from, Urd Grun. In light of that, Sophie Vladimirovich has also been promoted by two ranks from iron to bronze, skipping copper."

Lone handed her tag over, allowing Soph to put the chained plate around her neck.

"Sadly, due to how little you were actually involved in the quest from Hamish\'s reports, your rank shall only rise by one tier, Breena Redtail. From iron to copper. If you wish to contest this, you may, but substantial proof will be needed to dispute the word of a silver plate adventurer like Hamish," the employee explained.

Lone gave Breena her plate and asked her, "I assume you\'re fine with only a single promotion, right?"

The girl nodded softly. "It\'s more than I deserve."

Those weren\'t words of self-loathing or lacking confidence, but just what the girl truly believed. Lone couldn\'t fault her for that.

Breena had spent all of her time on the expedition training, more or less. And at the climax of their adventure she had almost been consumed by Darkness, becoming its puppet avatar.

\'She got a lot stronger. She\'ll do more than just train when we go wipe out these Sheinlings, I\'m sure,\' Lone gave her a mental vote of confidence.

He then went through the needed paperwork to enlist himself, Soph, and Breena, up for the only two quests the guild had in relation to Urd Siltal.

With that done, it was time to speak with the local guildmaster.