It takes some convincing, but Sherbie finally talks me out of returning to Colonel Adolphus’ camp. He tells me just before he left the entire army was preparing to move out, following the demons to their next targets in the hopes of preventing further incidents like those we experienced with the possessed tree huggers. Since my love Tamiel is part of their troop, she’ll be long gone already.

  It’s likely I’ll see her again, if I follow the main quest chain. But it’s also likely she’s already forgotten all about me, the way all NPCs do when you don’t have their favor.

  It’s too late for us Tamiel, my love. And now my heart is broken…again…

  Oh well. I guess we still have Captain Moon…

  Back at the Whale Base, I try to distract myself from my broken heart by focusing on upgrades.

  [A member of your guild has won the favor of an experienced military officer. This individual may be appointed to the position of Chief of Defense, automatically raising the guild’s fortifications, as well as any military bases on the premises by one level.]

  Flippin sweet!

  [Would you like to appoint Captain Moon as Chief of Defense?]

  Hell, yes!

  [Base Fortification has been upgraded to level 2]

  Suddenly on this side of the moat, walls with a turret on each of the four corners are built up out of nowhere amidst a small display of fireworks.

  “Ooooohhh,” Sherbie watches them spring up, clapping delightedly.

  [Barracks has been upgraded to level 2]

  “Aaaaaahhh…”

  Curious, I check the upgraded buildings.

  [Fortification, level 2

  Adds walls and 4 turrets to base defense]

  [Barracks, level 2

  Upgrades pikemen to halberdiers, upgrades archers to marksmen.

  Maximum occupancy: 35]

  Nice. Upgraded defenders.

  “You have a good layout here.” Captain Moon’s voice over my shoulder startles me, and I jump.

  “H-hi, there. Nice of you to join us, Captain Moon.”

  “The pleasure is all mine,” the ridiculously handsome heartthrob soldier answers with a smile. “When I explained to Colonel Adolphus that I wished to work in the service of my savior, he was most understanding.”

  “Truly?”

  “We can always use another military outpost, he said. Though he wasn’t keen to lend me too many of his troops.”

  Military outpost? I check the status of Whale Base and indeed, find it upgraded from Guild Base to Military Outpost.

  “Still,” Moon continues, “I brought a few of my own to supplement defenses. Perhaps you remember Private Drayer?”

  The heck? He brought reinforcements? Sherbie, we struck the mother truckin jackpot with this one!

  I shake hands with the new guards, five in all, including Drayer, who first tipped us off to the captain’s disappearance.

  “The barracks seems large enough to house all the guards, that’s good. Being an officer, I shall take up quarters in the residence beneath the tower, if that is suitable, guild leader.”

  “Certainly,” I say, honestly a bit dumbfounded by it all. “It’ll be a relief to know you’re taking care of our defenses, Captain Moon. Though we are a small base, I hope you will guard us well.”

  “You may count on me, guild leader,” he says, saluting sharply and frankly intimidating me with his perfectly polished military air. “Ah, but if I may make a suggestion?”

  “Cer-certainly.”

  “I advise you acquire a few more archers. With only three, we haven’t enough to man the turrets. I should like to see two marksmen on each turret at minimum, and a few guarding the gate as well. As for the pikemen, I would be more than happy to invest the time required to train the troops and turn them into even more efficient soldiers.”

  That’s right, the new barracks upgrades pikemen to halberdiers and archers to marksmen. Or is it just Captain Moon that made this upgrade possible? Either way, I’ll leave it to him.

  “I’ll see what I can do about more troops. I’m not exactly in a position to hire a lot of soldiers just at the moment.”

  “I understand, Sir. You have the entire base to think of, not merely its defenses. Of course I’ve already met the merchant Yock and your alchemist, Mad Wim. I must say, you do keep interesting companions.”

  “I guess that’s one way of describing them.”

  “Yes. I trust you won’t be recruiting too many more of these interesting characters?”

  Wait a minute. Is he insulting my friends right now? Or just the way I’m running this camp?

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  “I’ll grant you, they are a bit…anti-social. Still they are an important part of our base.”

  “The guild merchant, I somewhat understand, though the fact that he’s a goblin…” Captain Moon trails off disapprovingly. “Regardless. I’m just saying rather than invest in an alchemist, you might have put that money to better use.”

  “The alchemist was free,” I say tightly. “The merchant, too. I had their favor, so they joined me here.”

  “Ah,” he smirks faintly. “I suppose that explains it. Anyway, you’re the guild leader. We’ll make do with what defenses we have for now, until you are ready to invest properly.”

  Alright, wise guy.

  “Incidentally, these five you’ve brought with you, would they be on your payroll, or?”

  “These un-upgraded swordsmen will cost you 15 sp a day,” he answers with a smile. “Oh, and my salary as Chief of Defense is 50 sp a day.”

  Gasp! Choke! Struggle!

  I didn’t have to pay Wim and Yock to settle down here, but I guess with as much as Captain Moon is adding to our base, it only makes sense he should receive a salary too.

  “Right,” I say, anxiously checking my current financial status. Fortunately the colonel awarded me 10 gp for rescuing the captain, but that money won’t last forever, not at well over 2 gp a day just to keep the current status quo. To say nothing of buying more troops—plus the upgraded ones will probably cost even more. Still, he has a point about the archers.

  In the end I hire five more archers, bringing the total to eight. With upgraded pay, my daily total investment into the guild’s defense works out thus:

  8 Marksmen - 14 sp/day for 112 sp total.

  6 Halberdiers - 13 sp/day for 78 sp total.

  5 Swordsmen - 15 sp/day for 75 sp total.

  1 Captain Moon - 50 sp/day.

  Which works out to 315 silver pieces a day to keep this place running.

  I can work with that. So long as I continue questing and saving up the coins I get for reward, we should be just fine. Especially with the help of my fellow guild members.

  “Sherbie. Today’s your day to pay for defenses.”

  “What?”

  “You heard me. I can’t be expected to foot the entire bill. Fork over three gold and fifteen silver.”

  “Aw man…”

  “Is there a problem, gentlemen?”

  Captain Moon appears suddenly by our sides, smiling that same friendly smile. And yet, I sense something just a tad sinister behind it as he looks at me through narrowed eyes.

  “No problem,” I assure him. “I’m just asking Sherbie here to share in the guild’s expenses.”

  “You don’t really need to bother Master Sherbert for such trivialities, now do you, guild leader?”

  I laugh awkwardly. “You’re misunderstanding. This isn’t some kind of shakedown—”

  “No?” he says, still smiling.

  “I’m just trying to keep things fair—”

  “I’d say it’s already quite fair,” says Captain Moon, extending a hand to catch my shoulder with a rather powerful ‘friendly’ grip. “Who else should handle guild expenses but the guild leader? Wouldn’t you agree, guild leader?” His grip tightens menacingly on my arm, all while his smile remains totally non-threatening.

  Gulp.

  So it’s like this. I suppose it makes sense he’d be defensive of Sherbie, when Sherbie is the one he came here for. He’s a good soldier so he’s respectful of me as the guild leader, but his first allegiance is always going to be to this clueless guy right here.

  “You know what? You’re right. Sherbie shouldn’t have to worry about something like that. I’ll take care of the guild expenses, of course.”

  “Of course. What an excellent idea,” says Captain Moon, releasing his grip to clap me on the shoulder, rather roughly by my estimation.

  Completely confused, Sherbie looks between us a moment, then shrugs and turns his gaze back to me.

  “Anyway, if you don’t need any money, Rev, I’m going to spend a little more time with Hannah.”

  Which one was Hannah again? Oh yes, the fox.

  “Right. Go on ahead. I’ll call you when it’s time to leave.”

  “Ok, byeee.”

  We watch him go. Captain Moon glances at me sideways. I find myself straightening automatically beneath his glare.

  “You don’t have to protect Sherbie from me, you know? We’re friends.”

  “Sure,” he says casually. “Friends.”

  “I was good to you too, though you probably don’t remember, since I’m not the one you bonded with. I could have killed you in that tent with Jezol and I didn’t.”

  “No, you didn’t. But you hesitated,” he accuses simply.

  Gulp again.

  He does remember. Because I was in Sherbie’s party, I wonder?

  “You also smashed the cockatrice eggs, when he wouldn’t.”

  “How do you remember that, too? You weren’t even there!”

  “I know exactly what kind of man you are, Revelator. You take care of business. But guys like that don’t understand business,” he indicates to Sherbie as he snuggles his fox with a jerk of his head. “It is in me to protect the purest, most helpless ones. It’s why I was drawn to him. Because though he had that innocent, vulnerable soul, a soul that couldn’t even destroy helpless monster eggs, he was still brave and honorable, willing to put it all on the line and fight for my sake when he didn’t have to.”

  “So help me,” he goes on, “if I find you’ve taken advantage of that pure-hearted creature, you and I will go out into the forest together, and have a nice long talk.”

  Wait a minute. Did an ai just accuse me of not having enough heart? Is he actually threatening me right now?

  It’s hard to be mad at him. After all, he’s a good guy, and I care about Sherbie too. Still, there’s something about Captain Moon coming in here and smugly insulting not only my methods, but the way I deal with my friend, that’s rubbing me the wrong way. I think I’ve had just about enough of these insults. It’s time I put him in his place.

  “Sure,” I say, smiling tightly. “Like I said, Sherbie’s my friend. I’ll take good care of him.”

  With that, I leave Captain Moon, though I feel his eyes on me all the way to the house.

  “Ah,” I call, glancing back. “I forgot to tell you you’ll have an upstairs neighbor when you stay in this house. But don’t worry, Bax is a nice guy. You should go up and introduce yourself sometime. He loves visitors.”

  Inside the charmingly decorated fairytale cottage, I go to the handle in the ceiling and pull it down, lowering the retractable ladder. I make the long climb up the wizard’s tower, arriving at last in the wonderfully branching room I remember from before. And, standing before a bookshelf with his back to me in long black robes, I spy a familiar figure.

  “You again.”

  “Hello, Bax.”

  He snaps his book shut and a light cloud of dust rises into the air.

  “I thought I told you last time to leave me alone,” he says, turning to glower at me. His face is mostly hidden beneath the hood, wreathed in shadow. Very dark, I note, thinking of Tamiel’s words. Darker than ordinary shadow. He’s part demon, alright.

  “Don’t be like that. I brought you something,” I say, tossing him the antacids. “Medicine. For when your ulcers act up.”

  Bax stares balefully at the medicine in his hand a minute. Then his fingers close over the bag slowly. He lifts his eerie yellow gaze to me suspiciously.

  “What do you want?”

  Ah ha. Progress. But I don’t want to push my luck. I’ll keep befriending him like this, and get myself well on his good side, before I ask him to enchant my gear.

  “Nothing. I’m going now,” I say with a grin and a wave. I start for the ladder, than stop myself.

  “Oh, yes. We have a new tenant. A Captain Moon. He’ll be moving in downstairs.”

  Bax makes an unpleasant sort of sound, something between a growl and a belch.

  “Not a bad sort,” I assure him. “Sort of a pretty boy, the do-good macho type. You know, the kind that’s popular with ladies and men alike.”

  The wizard makes the sound again, and I swear his face goes a bit green.

  “Ah, just between you and me, he’s not a huge fan of magic. Prejudiced against it, really, doesn’t trust magicians. Maybe you can restrain yourself from casting any spells around him? Wouldn’t want to cause any trouble between the two of you when you’re just getting to know one another.”

  Bax’s eyes tighten at my suggestion, and the faintest curl of a devilish smile begins at the corners of his thin lips.

  “Of course, my lord,” he says, and to my surprise he spreads his black robes in a deep, menacing bow. “Your wish is my command.”

  Enjoy your housewarming present, Captain Moon.

  Kekeke.