“Okay, guys, come in. Sorry about the welcome—dealing with some things right now.”

  Marcus and Carter walked into the office.

  “No worries, anything we can help with?” Carter asked.

  Ben shrugged. “I’ll make an announcement before I leave. The Warriors—the gang that’s been running rampant in Simonston—have taken Adam and most of Damien’s team hostage. We’ll go and rescue our people within the hour.”

  The two old-timers looked at each other, and Marcus put a large bag on the table.

  “We can’t help you directly, but maybe this will help.”

  Ben opened the bag and saw the armor within. He looked at them with awe in his eyes, slowly pulled out the two parts, and used [Analyze].

  “Epic. Advanced. Three enchantments—and the most beautiful piece of armor I’ve ever seen. How?”

  Carter cleared his throat, clearly happy about Ben’s reaction. “We used the best materials we currently have access to and worked together from start to finish. We also successfully experimented with a joint enchantment process.”

  “Two of my apprentices helped too,” Marcus added, and Carter nodded.

  “Guys, this is a real ray of sunshine on a cloudy day. Let me try it on right away.” With that, Ben stepped out of his roughly fixed old armor and put on the new one.

  “It fits perfectly. It’s significantly heavier, but honestly, I hardly notice, and it really doesn’t encumber me at all. I can’t thank you enough, and I’ll proudly wear this. Please also give my thanks to your apprentices.”

  Marcus grunted, and Carter smiled broadly, seeing Ben wearing the armor with excitement.

  “Can I ask the two of you to build similar items for the rest of my team? I’d suggest for Jamal you go even heavier on the True Iron, for Michael probably more leather, for Anne something similar to this, and you’ll need to talk with Mom about what she wants, but I’d think probably all leather too. We’ll make the material available to you.”

  “Of course, it’s truly fun doing these things, and knowing that it’ll keep all of you safe makes it very special to all of us.”

  Ben got up and hugged both of the men who had been with them for years.

  After they had left, he fixed his axe harness to his new armor, checked the contents of his Bag of Holding, and walked toward the plaza. It was time to rescue his people.

  ***

  As he got to the plaza, his team wasn’t there yet; however, Damien and Nils were.

  “Hey guys, why aren’t you resting?”

  “We want to come along,” Damien said with a tight jaw. Nils nodded in the background.

  “Let me be honest, you look horrible—like you really need a full day of sleep and then some. Your gear is damaged as well,” he said, pointing to the tears in their leather armor. “Also, we’re planning an infiltration mission, not a large-scale confrontation; neither fireballs nor bows are particularly well suited for that.”

  “But… but… you think that we’re not up to it?”

  Ben took a step forward and clasped Damien’s shoulder. “My friend, I believe you’re up for anything. I’d trust you with my life in a heartbeat. But I can also tell when somebody is fundamentally tired. You’ve done your job—thanks to you fighting your way here, we have a shot at getting our friends back. Now rest and leave the next step to us. When your team is back, you can get back on the road. OK?”

  Damien nodded hesitantly, looked briefly at Nils, who also nodded, and then the two left to catch up on sleep.

  Sarah and Kevin came running up to him instead.

  “You have new armor! It’s so cool. Was it a dungeon reward?” Kevin asked.

  Ben chuckled. “No, no dungeon reward. It would be great if the dungeons could create customized armor, though!” He tapped the Protectorate emblem on his chest.

  Kevin blushed. “It’s cool, though.”

  “That it is.”

  “Are you leaving for a mission?” Sarah asked.

  “Yes, soon.”

  “What’s it about?”

  “Can you do me a favor and run to gather people quickly? Don’t make it sound like an emergency, but I’d like to leave soon, so I’ll make the announcement in 15 minutes.”

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  The two ran off to get more kids to spread the word.

  A few minutes later, the team had assembled, and about a third of the Protectorate stood waiting on the plaza.

  “Friends, I wanted to tell you before rumors spread—the Warriors, a despicable gang in Simonston, have intercepted our food delivery and taken four of our fellow citizens hostage. There’s no need to worry—we’ll get them back. Until we return, you might be asked for an additional shift or two on the walls. Please support Barry, who will lead in our absence, as best you can. Thank you!”

  There were some uncertain looks, but mostly determination and anger. A few people clapped—less for Ben, more to encourage themselves and their friends.

  Ben was confident that the Protectorate’s morale would remain high.

  Steve Taggart approached him. “I’d like to join you. I know the city well, and I know the Warriors.”

  Ben considered the offer. It wouldn’t hurt to have someone along who knew the city and had experience in these confrontations. He looked to his mother, who nodded.

  “Thank you, Steve. I appreciate the offer. Can you get your stuff and be ready in ten minutes?”

  “Give me five!” the man called, already jogging toward his apartment.

  A few minutes later, they were on their way. They would hike faster than usual and planned to rest only briefly, but running through the forest at night was too dangerous, and arriving exhausted would do them no favors.

  The mood in the team was grim. Everyone—even Anne and Steve, who’d joined after Arrival Day—was friends with Adam or someone from Damien’s team. This was deeply personal to all of them.

  After three hours of hiking, a blue notification popped up before Ben. “Damn!”

  “What is it, son?”

  “I think I just got a mission. Let me check!”

  A micro Energy surge is imminent within the next few minutes. The surge can be contained for your region by upgrading one Dungeon. It will likely remain Tier 1, but that cannot be guaranteed.

  Choose a dungeon to upgrade. You must choose now.

  Ben thought quickly. It would have to be one of their first dungeons; upgrading a three-level dungeon would likely push them into Tier 2.

  His first dungeon ever—the wilderness dungeon—was their only solo dungeon; that made it a bit more dangerous for beginners. But it also offered some resources.

  He felt he was running out of time, so he made a gut decision to upgrade the Rat Attack dungeon.

  Upgrade will commence once the surge is handled.

  The Rat Attack dungeon was probably their easiest and useful for training group cohesion, but they also got little out of it. He wasn’t sure it was the right decision, but he thought it would be fine.

  “Was it a mission?” Anne asked.

  “No, something new.” He relayed what had happened.

  A few minutes later, they all felt a slight increase in the pressure around them, not anywhere near as intense as on Arrival Day, but still meaningful.

  Surge has been handled. Dungeon will break in four days unless cleared.

  Ben groaned. “We’re now on a timer. The new dungeon will break in four days.”

  “Let’s stay focused on our task; if we rush too much, we put everyone at risk,” Allison admonished.

  Ben nodded. In principle, it was possible. Given that they were all fitter now and knew the route by heart, they could get to Simonston in less than two days. Depending on how quickly they could execute the mission and the condition of the hostages, they should be able to make it back in time to run the dungeon.

  He banished any thoughts of anything but the upcoming rescue from his mind and focused on the hike.

  They had left late in the morning and marched until there was no light left under the canopy. With six people, watches were short, and everyone could rest quite a bit until they were back on the road at first light.

  A few hours into the day, Michael signaled them to stop. He vanished quickly between the trees to scout whatever had triggered his instincts.

  Just a minute or two later, he reappeared. “Seven Warriors.”

  As much as Ben wanted to press on, hiding wasn’t an option. He didn’t want them to get to the settlement without him present. That left an ambush or talking to them—at least at first.

  They certainly didn’t deserve the benefit of the doubt, but maybe there was a way to get some information out of them.

  “Get ready. I want to learn what I can from them, but expect this to evolve into a fight—none of them can flee back to town to warn the others. Steve, you want to give it a go?”

  The former police officer nodded. “Sure. In my experience, they only respect strength, if anything.”

  As usual, Michael sought the shadows, while the others positioned themselves around Steve, with Allison bringing up the rear.

  The seven men—Ben had yet to see a female Warrior—were clearly surprised when they stumbled upon Ben and his team.

  Steve took a step forward. “What brings a bunch of steroid junkies like you into our lands?”

  A couple of the men reached for their weapons; some went red in the face with anger, and one sputtered, “Your lands? Are you some of those Protectorate clowns? We own you, bitches!”

  Steve just grinned at them. “And why would a bunch of gym monkeys own us?”

  It had taken a while, but Ben recognized the speaker. At first he had thought it was one of the guys who had visited them with Smith, but no—it was “Little Tony,” one of Jane’s grandsons. They had met him on their last visit to Jane’s shop, where he had helped the Warriors rob his own family. Ben felt nothing but disdain for the weasel, but it put him into a difficult situation. If it came to a fight, could they risk killing Jane’s family?

  From the way his mother shifted from foot to foot, he could tell that she had recognized him as well.

  “We tried to play nice with you, but we have taken some of your people who attacked our territory into custody. If you behave, nothing will happen to them,” Little Tony continued.

  “They attacked you? How did that happen?”

  “I don’t have to explain anything to you. We are just here to tell you how things will go from now on. You will deliver the same amount of food your team brought each week plus a hundred sets of armor and swords over the next month. Once that is done, you can get your people back. Understood?”

  A hundred sets of armor and swords. That was valuable information; it meant that the actual size of the gang was somewhere below that. Maybe not by much, but certainly not above it.

  It still didn’t solve his problem with what to do with the man spouting nonsense before them. Ben decided to give him a chance.

  “Little Tony, if you help us, I’m sure your family would welcome you back with open arms.”

  The man turned beet red in the face. “Who do you call Little Tony, you bitch? It’s Antonio, and I don’t give a rat’s ass about those losers. I’m a Warrior, and they’re the only family I need, sucker.”

  Ben grimaced—not because of the playground insults, but because it seemed that Little Tony had made his choice.