I stretched as I checked myself over for any lingering issues, finding nothing wrong at all. The healing here—the medical wing of the Order of the Thorned Rose, it turned out, since while the knights had been decimated, the support staff hadn't—and to some extent, my Constitution, had erased any traces of my headache, my severed hand, and whatever other maladies I may have sustained.

  It was actually a little too effective. It was all too easy to forget how I'd almost died, and then almost lost myself in the process of clinging to life.

  In any case, that little incident aside, things were looking up. Harvent Canton had been dealt with. Not perfectly, and not without sacrifice, but the worst was over. The dungeon break could be handled, although again, there would be sacrifice. There probably wouldn't be assassins hunting me for a while, either—the Enshrouded knew about the prince, because of course he did, and had told me as much. Heck, he or a subordinate was probably responsible for leaving the letter. He had, however, informed me that should certain people within the Klendian Kingdom discover I was responsible, I'd find myself once again with a considerable bounty on my head.

  That, of course, raised questions about who had hired the first set of assassins. I didn't ask, because I suspected I already knew, and didn't want it confirmed.

  I'd also cleared every E-rank dungeon in the canton. Conquered, even, except for the Fungal Garden, which I didn't feel like doing on account of the challenge being to be affected by every pollen type prior to killing the boss. That would be irritating to do solo. I'd almost go so far as to argue impossible, except that you could clear out a clearing before exposing yourself, ensuring the effects were suffered in relative safety. I wasn't sure I could be bothered, but if I was going to, it would need to be before my Constitution grew enough to render me outright immune to the pollen.

  For now, it was time to start on the D-rank dungeons. Also, to complete a few C-rank missions, ready for my next promotion. I was almost at the second growth milestone, which wasn't something I thought I'd be saying a couple of days ago. Spending a full day on medical leave was annoying, but gaining four levels from the trip made it worth it. If all went well, I'd hit the next growth marker in the next few days.

  Maybe I'd reach the third before the next big thing went wrong, too, but with the way my life had gone thus far, I didn't want to hope for too much. With my luck, it was perfectly possible that I'd pop into a dungeon for an hour and return to find a dragon sitting on the smouldering ruins of the capital.

  Satisfied everything was in order, I said my goodbyes to the mage who'd taken care of me and stepped out of the medical ward into a plush red corridor.

  A familiar maid was dusting a statue set into an alcove in the wall.

  She looked up at my presence and frowned. "If I'd known you were going to cost me my job anyway, I wouldn't have tried so hard not to laugh at you..." she mumbled.

  "Sorry," I said, despite a part of me loudly pointing out that it hadn't been my fault, and she was the one who should be apologising for blaming it on me.

  ... I suspected the last part of that thought was the influence of past-me, but subjecting it to careful, rational consideration, I couldn't argue that it was wrong. Still, understanding and politeness was my preferred response, not... I wasn't quite sure what past-me's response would have been, but given the echoes of anger from the depths of my memory, I suspected it would be vindictive, not reconciliatory.

  "It's not your fault," she sighed. "I know that... It's just that... well, you got a lot of people killed."

  "And I saved a lot of people, too," I pointed out. "Not to mention that if the former Count Harvent's plans had come to fruition, and he'd attacked the royal canton, the knights would likely have been deployed and died anyway."

  "I know!" she repeated. "Oh well. What's done is done."

  "The order can't have been completely wiped out, surely?"

  "No, there were some on leave, or deployed on other missions, or who hadn't completed their training and weren't brought on a cross-canton deployment. We still lost over half, though, including the captain, vice captain and most of the lieutenants. The Thorned Rose simply isn't viable, and the other orders are already picking over its corpse, trying to replenish the manpower they lost in the second Harvent Canton expedition. None of them lost maids, though, and this land is being sold off to some rich foreign noble or other who's bringing his own staff, so no place for me."

  "I'm... sorry things turned out like that."

  "I'll live. But, since I'm pretty much free to say what I like now..."

  She turned fully toward me, hands firmly on hips.

  "Learn what a bloody sofa is, dammit! Seriously! Just how much of a country bumpkin are you, to be surprised when a sofa is soft?! And getting excited over a random guest room? And, okay, I'll forgive you for not knowing the thousand and one tea leaf varieties off the top of your head, but you were boggling at the cups! They're just cups! If they were the posh silver we bring out for banquets, I'd forgive you for being a little impressed, but they were just the daily use ones. Why are you laughing?!"

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  I couldn't help it. Her rant was just too funny.

  I would never claim that I'd spent long enough in the capital to cure my class shock, but I'd like to think I was better now than upon our first meeting. Not that anyone had offered me tea from a trolley ever since, but at least I understood the concept of guest rooms, and that the temples weren't the only buildings around with interesting artwork.

  "I'll do my best," I promised. "The guild probably owes me a pile of gold by now, anyway. Won't be too long until I am one of those rich gentlemen."

  "A pile of gold?" asked the maid, glaring at her duster as if it had personally offended her. "Sheesh. I'm in the wrong job. Shame I've used my skill points already."

  "Counterpoint: I'm on my way out of the medical ward, on account of almost dying."

  "True. I'm alive, while the knights are not. Oh well. To each their own."

  "Maybe a bit late to ask this, but what's your name?"

  The maid blinked. That probably wasn't a question I was supposed to ask, under whatever protocols governed maid behaviour, but she'd already ditched them and I hadn't cared about them from the beginning.

  "Melody," she answered.

  "Robin," I responded in kind. "I wish you the best."

  "You too. Try not to die for real."

  And with that unexpected social interaction out of the way, I exited the manor—noting how silent and empty the place was compared to my last visit—and stepped out onto the streets of the sapphire city.

  The sun was low in the sky, it still being mid-morning. Ironically, I found myself treading the path between the Thorned Rose and the adventurers' guild at pretty much the same time as I had the previous time I'd made this journey. Oliver was even manning the reception desks on his own again.

  Of course, unlike my first visit, there had been no adventurers sitting outside, nor were there any sitting around drinking inside. Just like the Order of the Thorned Rose, the guild was silent and empty. The barman seemed to be taking the opportunity to do some cleaning, scrubbing wood until it turned a shade of orangish-brown that probably hadn't been seen in here for decades.

  "Yo," called Oliver. "Please tell me you're here to pick up some missions? We've got a few that are getting... desperate."

  "Now that the army is back, can't they deal with emergencies?"

  "Yes, they will. The problem is that by the time something is an emergency, people are already dying. I'd rather get them dealt with before that point."

  "Fair," I agreed, remembering the Thorned Rose hadn't made a move until I brought them direct evidence, despite it being obvious something was wrong. The various knightly orders had obviously never heard of proactive action. "But I'm after C-rank missions this time."

  Oliver blinked. "Yeah, I'm not going to ask questions. We've got a goblin village that's threatening to birth a goblin king, or if you're bored with goblins, there's a new orc village."

  So a bunch of orcs without a chieftain, or a bunch of goblins with one. I'd seen first-hand the difference made by good leadership, so the fact that both jobs ended up with the same rank wasn't a surprise. "Are they anywhere near each other?"

  "Afraid not. The orcs are back in the forest where you hit the last goblin village, except the northern side. The goblins are north-east."

  Hmm... If I was going to conquer the Fungal Garden, that was a good opportunity. On the other hand... "Where exactly north-east?"

  "It's near... no, wait. Since it's you asking, I doubt you care about towns or villages. It's near the Harpy's Aerie."

  "Oh, awesome!"

  Not that I had any chance of dealing with harpies with my daggers, given their flight and attack patterns, but now I had [Mana Manipulation], four spare skill points, and a shop only one floor away that sold many juicy skill crystals.

  "Yup, I knew you'd find that more interesting."

  "So, two questions. Do you know the bonus task for that dungeon off the top of your head, and can I collect whatever money I'm owed from the dungeon delving stipend?"

  "... Why do you even know about dungeon bonus tasks? No, I'm afraid I don't. Go check the library. As for the second, yes, let me check your card."

  I pulled out the tool that recorded my guild status, and Oliver took it. Then he glanced at it, and his eyes bulged.

  "What the actual fuck?"

  I'd always thought 'his eyes bulged' to be one of those hyperbolic descriptions people used to emphasise something, rather than a thing that actually happened, but for a small fraction of a second, I was concerned Oliver's eyes were going to pop completely from his head.

  "No questions... no questions... no questions..." chanted Oliver as if it was some sort of mantra as he fetched a handful of coins and dumped them on the counter along with my guild card. "And for the record, that B-rank mission you've cleared—and no, I don't want to know—will count towards your C-rank promotion too. Just who have I got myself involved with?"

  "I didn't think you wanted to ask questions."

  "It was rhetorical, so clear off!"

  I grinned as I headed upstairs to the library, to research the bonus tasks of the D-rank dungeons and the sort of magic that was available. Of course, 'the sort of magic that's available' was a rather sizeable topic, resulting in me spending all day up there. Nevertheless, I found what I wanted.

  That left me completely empty of skill and stat points. Even then, I wasn't sure my mana would be enough; the bonus task was to defeat all harpies—including the boss—while they were more than ten meters above the ground. Basically, fighting the harpies where they were strongest. Lightning, with its near-instant speed, was better placed for the task than projectiles or slower magic, but the D-rank Skill [Lightning Shock] cost thirty mana per shot.

  Still, it was a start. Back in the Goblin Den, magic had been on the goblins' side. This time, it was going to be on mine.

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