Vorin slept until nearly midday. When he got up, he took his time. There was no rush since the space mage wouldn’t be back for another few days.

  A stroll through the city took him to the wildlife preserve to inform them that Zuls would be gone for much longer than initially planned, and then it took him to Zul’s house to get a few things she had left behind. Next was Prith’s house to do the same thing. After that he went to The Grove for Synexus, as he wanted to check in on how things were going.

  To Vorin’s surprise the place was packed full of customers. After a couple of hours of waiting there was enough of a lull to ask the gentleman at the counter a few questions.

  “Hello, I’m a friend of Synexus and happened to be in the city for a few days. He asked me to check in for him since we had seen some of his bamboo variants over in Port Palm.”

  “Greetings! Synexus must be the name of my son’s friend. I never met him myself, but business is good. I’m sure he has a small pile of gold in his bank account already.”

  “That’s great! So, how far is the expansion planned?”

  “I heard it would be a few port cities, and a few main cities over there. Then over here we are planning to open a few more along the coast.” He paused for a moment like he was determining on how much to say. “You know, you’re not the only person to ask about him.”

  “What? What do you mean?”

  “A serious-looking lady and gentleman came in here a couple of weeks ago or so asking about your friend. I couldn’t tell them his name since I didn’t know it. They ran out of here in a hurry when I said Port Palm. There wasn’t any trouble was there?”

  “Not that I know of. The space mage isn’t back yet. It’s possible they are still in the city. Thank you for the information, however.”

  “You’re welcome! Tell your friend that we thank him!”

  Vorin nodded and then left. It was worrying news, but there wasn’t much he could do about it. Even if he went back to Saltrock he would barely get a head start and there were a few more things he needed to get done in the city like wait for a reply from Kumo’s dad, and have that meal with his brother.

  Leaving The Grove, he decided to stop in a clothing shop and pick everyone up cloaks specialized in stealth in case they needed to give these pursuers the slip. They had to be the organization that Synexus warned them about.

  ***

  A day later, he found himself out at a nice restaurant that boasted they had a level 78 Chef in the kitchen. His brother looked excited and told him that he had been getting by on cheap food from the guard’s mess for a long time which panged Vorin’s heart a bit.

  “Sorry, I didn’t realize they didn’t pay you that much.”

  “Eh, it’s part of being a guard. They prepare you for the worst conditions, you know?”

  “Still, a nice meal can go a long way!”

  “You can say that again. Even from here that food smells exquisite.”

  “It sure does. I suppose it’s been a while for me too. On the island we mostly sustained ourselves on fruits and vegetables. Occasionally we would catch an animal to have, but it’s been a while since I had a decent meal in which I didn’t first have to gut it myself.”

  “That’s the life of a class chosen, huh? I figured you would be living in luxury by now.”

  “Well, my party and I took a couple of years off adventuring, and it hurt out funds. Although it really doesn’t pay as much as people say. I think when we were on the road, we were only doing slightly better.”

  “Then how did you have enough to give me all those guins?”

  “There is always an exception to the rule and one of the guys I’m travelling with is it. A few weeks into being a class chosen he created all those bamboo variants in town, I’m sure you know the ones, and well it greatly increased his wealth. He likes to share though due to his upbringing.”

  “You know the Bamboo Genius?”

  Vorin laughed. “Is that what people are calling him?”

  “Yeah, he’s practically famous here. Everyone who is anyone wears something from his collection of odd bamboo.”

  “Oh, he’d hate that if he knew. It’s starting to spread across the sea, and he already didn’t know how to feel about that. But, enough about him. What’s been going on with you?

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  “A lot actually! I’ve gotten second in my guard class. They were considering fast tracking me to captain if I wanted to wait around here for a few years to accumulate wealth before heading off, but I’m not sure. I really would like to get out of this city.”

  “I understand that. Sometimes it does benefit to go a little slower and plan, however. Do you have a party put together?”

  “We have three people so far. We would like another two before we set out though. It’s me and then two people hoping to be magic specialists. So, we are looking for someone that wants to be more melee damaged focus and then some kind of healer.”

  “A healer will be hard to find. My advice, even if you don’t want to follow it, would be to take the captain spot for a couple of years if you haven’t put together your full team by your class day. If you are set on leaving on your class day, then I would ask around the medical center for an experienced healer that wants to set out or ask around if the noble families have any children reaching their class day. They often bring up more healers than the commoners.”

  “That’s a good idea! We are pretty set on leaving on our class days. The two mages have theirs like five days or so after me. Both have already taken me shopping, so the whole party is set up in terms of equipment. Those gold guins are helping a ton with that. I still have nearly half. We were considering maybe offering an entrance payment to a healer and poach one from another upcoming party, but that seems wrong.”

  “I wouldn’t say it’s wrong, but keep in mind that you don’t necessarily want someone who is only after money. It’s a good motivator, but its more about the life experience and adventure!”

  As he finished the sentence their food came out and both brothers looked at it with incredulous stares before immediately digging in. Once they finished, they took a walk to a local pub and had a few drinks while they continued to just spend time with each other. When they finally said goodbye for the night, Vorin made sure to tell him that he loved him and gave him the last hug he would be able to for a long time.

  Vorin reached his house and realized someone was standing outside. He approached and noticed the insignia of the messenger guild.

  “Here you are, sir.”

  He handed Vorin a small package with a letter attached. It was addressed to Kumo. He tipped the messenger and went inside to sleep. Tomorrow he would go check on the teleportation gate since all his business was done in Gale.

  ***

  He arrived at the gate bright and early. There were two guards there and they informed him that they received word the space mage would be back shortly after midday which was a little sooner than expected. Vorin decided to sit and meditate as he waited for him.

  A couple hours later, a man and a woman stepped up to the gate before sitting on a bench nearby. Vorin noticed the insignia on their chest and noted he didn’t know what it was representing. He listened in as they spoke.

  “I can’t believe how blatant this guy is being.”

  “Maybe he isn’t what we are looking for. I heard they were incredibly intelligent. There is no way they would be this obvious.”

  “I’m starting to think that as well, but no, there is no way. What other class could do all this.” He waved his hands around to gesture at everything.

  “Taking the title Bamboo Genius is so conceded. He’s probably just full of himself to the point where he thinks he can get away with all this.”

  That was Vorin’s cue.

  “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to eavesdrop, but I heard you mention the Bamboo Genius.”

  “Uh, yeah. Who are you? Do you know him?”

  “My name is Vorin. I was captain of the Windswept. He was aboard my ship a few weeks ago.”

  This got both of them practically salivating. Although the man moved his hand to the hilt of his sword.

  “You took him to Port Palm, correct?”

  “That was the plan, but we got attacked by a giant kraken halfway there. The attack was brutal, and we lost a lot of good people. I’m not sure if he was one of them or not. We never found his body. Hopefully you two aren’t family, I’ve delivered too much bad news in the past few days.”

  “You’re saying he’s dead?”

  “There is no confirmation. He could have been picked up by pirates or another ship. It was chaos during and after the attack, you know? If he did get picked up, there is a chance he will be in Dragon’s Coast though.”

  “Why Dragon’s Coast, weren’t you taking him to Port Palm?”

  “I was, but once on our way he said his true destination was to head straight north to Dragon’s Coast. Most of the captains here won’t sail up there from here. It’s too long of a trip. As far as I could tell, his plan was to get to Port Palm and then head north. Again, I don’t think he made it though.” Vorin hung his head in sadness to sell his acting.

  “Damn. That muddies the water for us a bit. We thought for sure we were on his trail. How long ago was the attack?”

  “That would be roughly three weeks ago.”

  “So, there is a chance that he already in Dragon’s Coast?”

  “If he lived, I suppose it’s possible, but again that attack was brutal. Thousands of tentacles crushing ships and melting people. It was horrific.”

  “Well, unfortunately we need to go check. Do you know if this space mage can open a gate to Dragon’s Coast?”

  “Perhaps. If not, then somewhere much closer than Port Palm.”

  “Well, Vorin, thank you for your information. One final question, though. What color were his eyes?”

  This made Vorin pause because he could lie about their color to further throw them off the trail, but it’s possible that someone already told them and they were testing him. “They were this metallic silver color. Very strange and the first time I had ever seen eyes like that.”

  They nodded. “That is what others have told us. This is indeed the same person.”

  At that moment the space mage hobbled up the steps with a broken leg in a special fast-healing cast. Vorin motioned for the pair to go first. They asked the mage to go to Dragon’s Coast, and he smiled. When it was his turn, he went directly to Port Palm and sprinted towards their temporary villa where he only found Gene and Yu.

  Hours passed as he waited for his party to return. He explained everything that happened to Gene and Yu. Gene was especially shaken and flew out to find Synexus immediately. They all needed to leave as soon as possible.

  When the group arrived at the villa, they were already informed thanks to Gene and after collecting their things they took their leave to Goldhill. For Yu, Synexus gave her an Untraceable Lychee to get out of the city. After two weeks exploring Port Palm, they were once again on the road, and everyone was excited about that fact even if the circumstances forcing them to leave early weren’t ideal.