Cinnamon Bun Volume 5 E-Book

RavensDagger

• Herausgeber: Podium Publishing
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Serie: Cinnamon Bun
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 609

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

Even with the world on the brink of war, Broccoli Bunch's bright spirit shines through the darkness, bringing hope and friendship to those who need it most. Following a simple yet powerful philosophy, Broccoli Bunch shows kindness and honesty to everyone she meets. She always sees the best in people, regardless of who they are, where they come from, and what they've done. Her beliefs have won over even the most skeptical and rigid warriors and leaders, making her the perfect builder of bridges between the diverse diplomats attending the peace summit in the kingdom of Sylphfree. Accompanied by her friends—and fellow Exploration Guild adventurers—Amaryllis and Awen, Broccoli's eternal optimism is put to the test when she finds herself playing politics. Meeting with suspicious sylphs, cervids, grenoils, and harpies who all harbor ill feelings toward one another and believe war to be inevitable may be disheartening for most, but Broccoli proves she's up to the challenge of championing the value of fellowship. But there's a warmonger in their midst. The shapeshifting riftwalker Rainnewt has been sowing discord throughout the realm. Once the various species destroy one another, he can purge the Evil Roots corrupting the land and remake the world in his own image. And since the disagreeable diplomats refuse to believe they're being manipulated, Broccoli must convince Rainnewt to abandon his plan and let her cleaning magic wilt the Evil Roots without inciting war. But when Broccoli confronts the fiendish flora, she will come face to face with her greatest fear . . . The fifth volume of the hit LitRPG fantasy series—with more than seven million views on Royal Road—now available on Audible and wherever ebooks are sold!

Leseprobe

Cinnamon

Bun

• Volume 5 •

RavensDagger

To those few whose names I always see in the comments,

Who always have an encouraging word,

And who are pressing me on from the background.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without prior written permission from Podium Publishing.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living, dead, or undead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2023 by Edgar Malboeuf

Cover design by Podium Publishing

ISBN: 978-1-0394-2498-2

Published in 2023 by Podium Publishing, ULC

www.podiumaudio.com

Contents

• Chapter One • Game of Groans

• Chapter Two • Out Over the Town

• Chapter Three • The Guild House

• Chapter Four • Lost and Found in Translation

• Chapter Five • Taking a Friendtrip

• Chapter Six • Royaltea

• Chapter Seven • Okay-Authoritarian

• Chapter Eight • Fortress of Knowledge

• Chapter Nine • Chivalry Isn’t Dead

• Chapter Ten • Knight of the Feather Duster

• Chapter Eleven • Hot Springs Episode

• Chapter Twelve • Casus Antibelli

• Chapter Thirteen • Have You Tried Asking?

• Chapter Fourteen • Haystack

• Chapter Fifteen • Disorder in the Port

• Chapter Sixteen • Ganging Up

• Chapter Seventeen • Jailbirds

• Chapter Eighteen • How to Win Friends and Influence People

• Chapter Nineteen • Finally Playing Tourist

• Chapter Twenty • Are You Trying to Get Arrested?

• Chapter Twenty-One • The Honorable Judge Bunch Presiding

• Chapter Twenty-Two • Into Thin Air

• Chapter Twenty-Three • Warhawk

• Chapter Twenty-Four • Political Ramblings and Rumblings

• Chapter Twenty-Five • You’ve Got a Right to Your Fights

• Chapter Twenty-Six • Say Hello to My Little Friends

• Chapter Twenty-Seven • Don’t Cut Yourself on All These Edges

• Chapter Twenty-Eight • I’m Not Touching You!

• Chapter Twenty-Nine • Sandblasting

• Chapter Thirty • Blitzkrieg

• Chapter Thirty-One • To the Victor, the Spoils

• Chapter Thirty-Two • In This Solemn Hour

• Chapter Thirty-Three • Dawn of a New Day

• Chapter Thirty-Four • Hugs and Wishes

• Chapter Thirty-Five • Free Action

• Chapter Thirty-Six • My Bunny Sense Is Tingling

• Chapter Thirty-Seven • The World is Diseased, and I Alone Can Cure It

• Chapter Thirty-Eight • True Colors

• Chapter Thirty-Nine • Someone Set Up Us the Bomb

• Chapter Forty • Out of the Dark

• Chapter Forty-One • Royal Expositioner

• Chapter Forty-Two • Alea Iacta Quest

• Chapter Forty-Three • Dine Hard with a Vengeance

• Chapter Forty-Four • Hiring a Professional Cleaner

• Chapter Forty-Five • Away

• Chapter Forty-Six • Weedbane the Dandelion Slayer

• Chapter Forty-Seven • The Knights of the Long Rest

• Chapter Forty-Eight • A Full Bedspread

• Chapter Forty-Nine • Lay Them to Rest

• Chapter Fifty • Knight-Light

• Chapter Fifty-One • Unbearable Arms

• Chapter Fifty-Two • Childish Fears Grow Up to Become Adult Fears

• Chapter Fifty-Three • Past Tense

• Chapter Fifty-Four • Counting Sheep

• Chapter Fifty-Five • Sheepish

• Chapter Fifty-Six • Nightie Knight

• Chapter Fifty-Seven • The Root of the Matter

• Chapter Fifty-Eight • Uprooted

• Chapter Fifty-Nine • Sizing Up the Future

About the Author

• Chapter One •

Game of Groans

We need to go over everything, then plan out what we’ll be doing while we stay in Goldenalden,” Amaryllis said. She slapped her book onto the surface of the room’s dining table, then pulled out a map from her bag and unrolled it on the tablet.

“I thought we just had to deliver some letters,” I said, bunny ears twitching. “And maybe snoop about, have some fun? Play tourist.”

Amaryllis huffed, a very particular huff that I think meant something like “this is going to take some explaining.” “Things are more complicated than that. I don’t have a good lay of the situation either—until then, everything I’m about to say is entirely speculative.”

Awen and I glanced at each other, then back to the table. It felt like she should have been doing this in the Beaver instead of the Dewdrop Inn, but if Amaryllis thought this was the right time … “Okay,” I said. “What do you want to explain, and what will we be doing?”

“The situation first,” Amaryllis said. She tapped the world map with the tip of a talon, something that I’d noticed she liked doing. “There are four bigger players here and quite a few smaller ones.”

“I’m guessing Mattergrove isn’t one of the bigger ones,” Awen said, her expression somewhat pained.

I supposed she was worried about her home.

“I’m afraid you’re correct,” Amaryllis confirmed. Her talon moved to the west and down, settling over the Seven Points. “Mattergrove has economic ties with Deepmarsh and the Harpy Mountains and deeper ties with the independent cities to its north, but otherwise, I don’t think they have a big enough stake in things to truly get involved. If a war breaks out, they might be a source of supplies for the harpies and grenoils, but I don’t think they’ll be any more involved than that.”

“Oh, all right,” Awen said. “That’s probably good.”

“So who are the big players?” I asked. “And what’s that mean, anyway?”

“The big nations to watch out for are the Nesting Kingdom, Deepmarsh, the Trenten Flats, and Sylphfree.” She tapped each nation’s capital as she named it. “Deepmarsh is the smallest of these, but they are well situated. Their marshland is inhospitable to large troop movements, and the grenoils are capable of having big population booms if they so choose.”

“They can?”

Amaryllis nodded. “You’ve spent some time in their kingdom. I’m surprised you didn’t know how they’re born.”

“I never asked,” I said. “Do they do it like … frogs?”

“Essentially, yes. They have pools where eggs are laid by the hundreds. The fittest of these are chosen and then raised to become tadpoles and, eventually, members of whichever family they’re from. Most eggs are never hatched, though.”

“Huh,” I said. I didn’t know what to think about that.

“It’s an important factor to consider in the grand scheme,” Amaryllis said. “But we’re going off topic. The next country to consider is the Nesting Kingdom.”

“Your home,” I said. “Would they go to war?”

“Against the sylphs or the cervids? Definitely. We’ve skirmished against the cervids before, and the sylphs are longtime enemies.” She touched the mountain between the two nations. “The Golden Peak is a natural wonder that both of us want. Not only for the gold found there but the ancient dungeons as well. Right now, it’s ostensibly owned by both sides, with everyone having claims over the same area. In reality, it’s neutral, unclaimed territory.”

“That’s not great,” I said.

“It isn’t,” Amaryllis agreed. “Having fought the sylphs before means that we—the Nesting Kingdom, that is—don’t think the idea is impossible. The last war was a long time ago, though. Now there are proper airships and new weapons to account for. The populations of both nations are quite a bit larger too.”

“Does that make it more or less likely that they’ll want to fight?”

“I don’t know. People have been at peace for a while. They might not want that changed. And some of the xenophobia has settled down a little.”

I nodded. That was good to hear. “What about the other two? The Trenten Flats and Sylphfree.”

“The Trenten Flats are a problem regardless of whether a war is started or not. They’ve been expanding a lot. They nearly have cities spanning the central continent. They’re stretched thin across most of that, though. A lot of wide, barren swatches with nothing but plains and a few forests. Still, they have by far the largest military, though it is also the least advanced.”

“Advanced how?” Awen asked.

“Cervid airships, as far as I’m aware, are still two generations behind anyone else’s. Their bodies also mean that piloting isn’t as easy for them as it is for a harpy or sylph. Their enchantments are generally of lower quality, as is most of their spellcraft. Really, their greatest advantage is their numbers.”

“There’s a lot of them,” I said.

Amaryllis nodded. “Plenty more than any other nation can field. If it comes to a wide-scale battle, it doesn’t matter that their mages are weaker. A modern, academy-educated harpy war mage will run out of mana long before the cervids run out of poorly trained novice mages to throw into the battlefield. Likewise for their soldiery. Every single soldier counts as cavalry, being who they are. On an open plain, their mobility is a huge advantage. Their bowmen are also quite gifted.”

“Scary,” I said. I could imagine a big group of them charging down a hill. That would be terrifying.

“Indeed. Unfortunately, I think any modern war will be fought in the skies. Which brings us to the sylphs.”

“They have a big army,” I said.

“It’s not only big, it’s modern,” Amaryllis said. “I think only the Snowlands might have better equipped and trained soldiery. It’s a mark of pride there to have served, as well as an obligation. They have … usable airships as well. They lack elegance, and I believe any harpy ship could outpace and fly circles around a sylph ship, but there’s no denying that they make up for it in durability and numbers.”

Nothing I didn’t know, though I doubted some of Amaryllis’s patriotic views about ship designs. She had some biases. Airships that looked like ships were nice, very romantic, but there was nothing wrong with big boxy ships too. It wasn’t the size or the shape of the ship that mattered, but the way it handled and how much it was loved by its crew.

“So, that’s the, ah, players? That’s what my mother always called the people who were taking part in a big political event,” Awen said.

“That’s the players, yes. The big ones, at least. There’s also the Snowlands to the north, who are likely to only defend their borders unless the cervids antagonize them, in which case they might expand southward a little. The independent cities are a mixed bag. No two of them are similar, except in their scope. For the most part, they’re too small to really change things on an international scale.”

“Those are places like Rosenbell, right?” The place where we’d first met Rhawrexdee and where I fought in that tournament.

“That’s one of them, yes,” Amaryllis said. “It’s somewhere in the middle in terms of size, I think.”

I nodded. Those cities likely had a lot of people in them, but they probably didn’t care too much about other countries since they weren’t part of any. “What about the desert?”

“The ostri? They’ll be on both sides as mercenaries. Likely more of them on the harpy and grenoil side, if only because of geographical convenience. The only other big player on the continent is the Kingdom of Endless Swells, and that’s only because they have a few colonies set up to the west, along the shores of the Moonstruck Sea.”

“Are they nice?” I asked.

“They’re very fixated on the sea and its surroundings. I can’t say whether or not they’ll fit whatever definition you have of nice,” Amaryllis said.

Awen awa-ed, silently. “I’ve met some of their traders. They dressed strangely, but they were very kind.”

I nodded. “That covers everyone, then?”

“We could go over the groups that make up these players,” Amaryllis said. I think she noticed my pout because she rolled her eyes. “But we should move on. The current situation is somewhat precarious.”

“Because of Rainnewt,” I said. The no-good, mean … jerk who had tricked Amaryllis and I into almost getting kidnapped and who had blown up that ball.

She nodded. “In part, yes. Pointing out that he’s likely an outside factor trying to aggravate the current political situation would be a good place to start. But there are a lot of tensions between all these nations. Right now, we need to navigate things toward a peaceful resolution.”

“It’s like trying to calm things down between angry neighbors,” I said.

“And one of them is accusing the other’s dog of pooping on their porches,” Awen said with a barely restrained giggle.

“Immature, both of you,” Amaryllis said. “But essentially yes. Even if this problem is solved, that doesn’t mean the tension will disappear. Accusations are likely to be tossed around, and insults will follow right behind.”

“So even after learning that it’s a stray pooping on their porch, they’ll still be mad at each other because they said mean things to each other before,” I surmised.

Amaryllis glared. “Anyway. The situation is volatile, but I think we can keep ahead of it. First, though, we need to know what everyone thinks is going on and how they’ll move. Which means either spying on everyone, which we don’t have the equipment, people, or experience for, or we use the Broccoli method.”

“What’s the Broccoli method?” I asked. I was Broccoli. I should probably know what that was.

She grinned. “Aggressively befriend everyone.”

I felt my cheeks puffing out. “I don’t befriend people aggressively,” I said. “And you can’t just … weaponize friendship!”

“Not with that attitude you can’t,” Amaryllis replied. “We need to get information from each faction, in particular the diplomats who will be gathering here. There should be some from every nation, which means that Goldenalden will become the center from which a lot of important choices will be made. We need to learn what those diplomats know in order to know how to act ourselves.”

I thumped my foot down. “I don’t like any plans that involve pretending to be someone’s friend just to use them. Friendship should be treasured, not commodified.”

“I don’t know,” Awen said. “Forced friendship would be nicer than doing some of the things my mother encouraged me to learn. It’s a lot more honest.”

I thumped my foot harder. “Awen!”

Awen raised her hands in surrender. “It’s like walking from house to house to see what everyone in the neighborhood thinks of the yard-poop situation before trying to fix things.”

I considered it for a moment, then gave in with a nod. “Okay, fine. I wouldn’t mind meeting more people anyway. Is that the whole plan?”

Amaryllis rolled up her map. “That’s part of it. A lot of it will depend on what we discover. For the most part, if I can represent the Nesting Kingdom, then our goal becomes deflecting and discouraging open conflict. We want to avoid a war at any cost.”

“I’m sure everyone can get over a few stains on their porch,” I said.

My head stung, and it took me a moment to realize that Amaryllis had whapped me with her map. “Stop it with the dog-turd analogies!”

I rubbed the spot between my ears, then glanced at Awen, and we both giggled while Amaryllis fumed. She couldn’t resist for long, though, and soon she chuckled before trying to hide her own amusement.

“So, what now?” I asked. A glance out the nearest window revealed that it was still midday.

“We have a week to get everything ready, which should afford us some time to reconnoiter between setting up appointments,” Amaryllis said. “I also need an idea of where and when to meet everyone important.”

“Oh! Then we have time for fun!”

• Chapter Two •

Out Over the Town

Before you run off and find trouble,” Amaryllis said, “we should decide whom to focus on first.”

“You mean which group to go meet with first?” I asked. “Do we even know where we should go to meet with them?”

“We don’t, but I suspect it won’t be all that difficult to find out. There’s a readily available source of information for us in this city.”

“What’s that?”

“The Exploration Guild.”

I blinked. “Oh gosh, I almost forgot all about them. Is there a branch here?” I reached up to the bandoleer running across my chest. I still had the guild’s pin attached to the front of it, just over my chest.

“There’s a branch in nearly every country. Even in the Trenten Flats, though the organization is quite unpopular there. It’s not all that influential in Sylphfree either,” Amaryllis said.

“I’m not a member,” Awen said. “Will that matter?”

“It shouldn’t,” Amaryllis said. “The guild often employs people outside itself to assist with certain things. I know some parties only have one or two members that are part of the guild, especially those made up of poorer members.”

“To avoid the guild fees?” I asked.

“Exactly. The guild’s missions pay relatively well for someone willing to risk talon and wing, but they’re only available to members. It’s a business, after all, though not one that’s centered around profits first.”

That sounded a little strange for a business, but I couldn’t complain. “Right, so we visit the local branch for information first, then we … uh, scout out the city?”

“That’s an interesting way of saying sightsee,” Amaryllis said.

I grinned. “Isn’t it?”

She bounced to her talons and started for the door. “We’re wasting time, girls! We have a world to save, because it certainly won’t save itself.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I replied before giggling and hopping after her. “Do you know where the local Exploration Guild building is?”

“I don’t,” Amaryllis said. She opened the door into the corridor and held it open for Awen and I to step out. “We can ask the innkeeper.”

I took the lead heading up to the topmost floor. The Dewdrop Inn was getting busier. I guessed that being close to noon meant that many more people were coming out to grab lunch.

Mister Jared was at the counter, smiling at a customer while he set a plate before them, then filled a pitcher from a tap behind him. His eyes lit up when I bounced closer and leaned onto the countertop.

“Hello, Miss Bunch.”

“Hello, Mister Jared,” I replied with a big old grin. “You know the city well, right?”

“Like the back of my hand.” He chuckled. “What are you looking for?”

“The Exploration Guild,” I said. “I heard they had a branch in Goldenalden, and I thought I’d stop by to see. Plus, don’t tell Amaryllis, but it’s an excuse to walk around.”

“That sounds like a great excuse to see the sights,” Jared said. “Here, give me a moment.” He reached under his counter and brought up a frame with a map within it. “This is a little old, but it’s still good enough. We’re in the Gold District now. The Yellow District here is where you’ll find all the best shops in the capital. Just head north and west from here. The Green District bisects it, so don’t worry if you end up there. If you find yourself at the big wall, then you’ve gone too far. Now, you’re looking for the Exploration Guild. They’re on the far side of this park here.”

“Oh, I see,” I said. “Which way is north from here?”

Jared laughed and pointed toward one corner of the inn. “That way, my dear.”

I pointed north with one ear, then pointed northwest with the other. I had it pretty much figured out, I thought. “Thanks!”

“No problem. If you get lost, don’t be afraid to ask a passing guardsman.”

“I will! Do you think we can travel from above, or will we need to go to the ground level?”

“As long as you don’t purposefully jump into people’s way, you should be just fine,” Jared said with a nod.

Laughing, I stepped back and ran over to my friends. “I know where to go!” I said. “We’re going to need to jump a bunch, though.”

“I can fly,” Amaryllis said. It was a bit of a white lie. She could hover a little, and I think if she was aiming for something below, she could glide quite well, but she didn’t quite have the whole “upward lift” thing handled well enough to call what she did flight.

“Awa, that might be hard for me. I can’t jump like you do, and I don’t have wings,” Awen said. There was a gleam in her eyes, a dangerous one. “Though, I think I could make do. I took a good look at those rockets the cry used. With a small tank and some thrusters … I’d need a magic element to create the initial flame and some sort of control surface too. Oh, and directional thrust and some wings for lift.”

“I think we can settle on Broccoli carrying you across any gaps for now,” Amaryllis said. “I don’t know what you’re thinking, but the mere mutterings about it are giving me shivers.”

“I could mount a repeating crossbow to it,” Awen whispered.

“Come on!” I said. “Daylight’s burning, and we have a whole heap of city to explore.”

I led my friends out of the Dewdrop Inn. The top exit opened onto a wide platform that served as the building’s roof. There were flowers next to the roof access and no railings on the edges, but there were nets just a step off the side to catch clumsy people.

I glanced up as a sylph in a blue courier outfit buzzed by. There was plenty more traffic in the air too. Sylphs zipped about, most in loose, flowing clothes that didn’t hamper their wings.

Instead of backpacks or purses, a lot of the sylphs I saw had fanny packs dangling in front of them. That made sense. They didn’t want anything catching on their wings, and most flew … not quite upright, but not horizontally either.

I looked toward what I hoped was the northwest—my ears had never stopped pointing that way, like a fluffy compass atop my head—and I judged the distance to the next building over. The space was a bit shorter than the width of a road, if only because both the Dewdrop Inn and the building across from it had balconies around their tops.

I could make that jump easily, and so could Amaryllis.

“All right, Awen, hop on my back,” I said as I hunched down.

Awen stared at me, then at my back. “Are you sure?”

“Oh yeah, it’s just a small hop. You don’t need to worry!”

She hesitated a little more, then jumped onto my back, and I grabbed her knees while she wrapped her arms around my collar. It was like a back hug!

I bounced up and down a couple of times, to make sure Awen had a good grip on me, then I stepped back and away from the edge. I probably didn’t need a running start, but it might help. Feet thumping on the balcony, I sprinted ahead until I was on the very edge, then shot some stamina into my legs and launched myself over the gap.

Awen screamed, a mixture of fear and delight that had all four of my ears ringing. The wind flapped around us, Awen’s hair a streaming banner and my own a tangled mess, before I landed at a jog on the other rooftop.

“Awa! That was great!” Awen cheered.

I laughed and turned around, Awen still gripping onto me. “Come on, Amaryllis, you can do it!”

I couldn’t hear her huff, not with the distance and the wind, but I’d know that facial expression anywhere. She backed up, pinched her tongue between her lips, then lowered her goggles over her eyes before she took a running leap over the chasm. Her arms flapped twice, catching the wind and giving her just enough lift to land right on the edge of the balcony.

“Easy,” Amaryllis said as she walked to a stop.

“Uh-huh,” I agreed. Still, I made a note to find shorter paths to jump next time. I didn’t want any accidents, and a crosswind could come up at any time and cause some trouble.

The Exploration Guild headquarters was supposed to be to the west of a big park. It wasn’t too hard to spot that part. A section of the mountainside had been built out with dirt, and big old trees were growing in clumps.

We jumped over to another building, and I couldn’t help but notice all the strange looks we were getting from the sylphs passing us by. There weren’t any other humans or buns or harpies up on top of these buildings—at least, none that I could see.

We crossed over to the Yellow District, then into the Green, then back into the Yellow. For all that the sylphs seemed to care a lot about being neat and orderly, they still had to work with a mountainside as the location for their city, which meant that they had to build around the bumps and inclines of the landscape. I imagined that not all the buildings around us were at the same height. There were clearly ramps below where carts had to be helped up to higher or lower levels. The entire city was built atop a whole heap of artificial plateaus.

Once we reached the edge of the park, Amaryllis found a building with a few shops in it. A bakery on the top floor, a butcher in the middle, and a grocer’s at the bottom, all connected via stairwells. So I let Awen down, and we climbed down to street level, with only a quick pause to buy some pastries.

The sylphs, it seemed, preferred these small, supersweet pastries. They were little balls of bread, fried and dipped in a glaze and stuffed full of either jam or something the baker behind the counter called mountain-bee honey. They were so sweet my entire face puckered up, and I couldn’t help but shiver after every bite.

I didn’t dare eat more than six or seven of them, else they’d do terrible things to my tummy.

We went down and down until we reached the ground floor, then we headed outside and walked along the edge of the park. Lots of younger sylphs were within, with sylph moms looking after the teeny-tiny sylphs who were darting around and play fighting and learning how to fly. A few neat play forts were tucked away in the woods, and I saw more than one squealing group of sylphs running around with blunted wooden swords. Others were jumping off jungle gyms, playing something that was like extreme hopscotch by flying from suspended plate to suspended plate.

Amaryllis gave me a look which I interpreted as “No, you can’t go play with the kids. You’re a big girl.” She was probably right—a lot of them were pointing at us already. I bet I was the first bun they’d ever seen!

We found the Exploration Guild right where Jared said it would be. It was a shorter building, but no less stately for its size. There was a big brass compass rose above the entrance, with the familiar bandoleer across it and the name of the guild beneath it.

The building was nice but also a little bit on the shabbier side. The plants next to its entrance looked like they could use some watering and maybe a bit of weeding, and the stones were water-stained in a few spots.

“I have the impression that I’m not going to get all the answers I want from here,” Amaryllis said.

“Well, there’s only one way to find out for sure,” I said.

• Chapter Three •

The Guild House

Ipushed the front door open with a squeal of protesting hinges and peered inside. The interior wasn’t all that well lit—the only light slipped in from the windows at the front, illuminating a lobby area filled with shadows and a thin film of dust.

“Hello?” I called out as I stepped in. My voice echoed across the room.

I had only ever been to two Exploration Guild houses before: the large one in Port Royal, which was a stately building, well maintained and richly decorated, and a smaller one in Awen’s hometown, which had been clean and quite nice, though not as affluent. Maybe that clouded my impression of the guild, because I was expecting something similar here, especially in Goldenalden, where the city seemed much richer, and the people here had a greater focus on propriety than I was used to.

There were some decorations. The last two guilds had had dioramas of dungeons and hand-drawn maps made by members of the guild. This one had glass-covered plinths to the sides, with strange weapons and artifacts with little plaques next to them. They might have been impressive if a number of them weren’t missing and the rest weren’t currently being used as scaffolding by enterprising spiders.

“This place looks abandoned,” Awen said as she glanced around.

“Yeah,” I replied. I had that impression too. “But the door wasn’t locked, and there’s still some things here.”

“Nothing of great value, but still enough that I suspect a common thief wouldn’t just leave it lying around,” Amaryllis said.

The clink of a door opening had all three of us looking up and to the end of the room. A desk was there, and a door behind it slowly swung open. A sylph stepped out.

I wasn’t great at judging the age of people, but I guessed him to be in his thirties or so—a proper adult. He had a suit that was well cut but a bit rumpled, and he walked with the hunched back of someone who had given up.

“Hello!” I called out.

The sylph jumped, then spun to stare at us. His confusion quickly gave way to a shaky smile, and he scurried around the desk to come and address us properly. “Hello, hello,” he said. “Welcome to the Goldenalden Exploration Guild. It’s been some time since … Ah, never mind. I mean to say that you’re all very welcome. Are you looking to hire someone to find something? A scout, a map-maker? Perhaps a dungeon diver?”

I shook my head. “We’re not looking for anything like that,” I said. “My name’s Broccoli, and these are my friends Amaryllis and Awen. We—at least Amaryllis and I—are part of the Exploration Guild.”

The sylph froze, his smile turning brittle. “An inspection team?”

“Huh? No, nothing like that,” I said. “We’re just normal members.”

“Oh! That’s wonderful. Are you looking for a mission? We don’t have many, but there are a few outstanding ones that we could use an experienced team on.”

Amaryllis raised a talon. “What’s going on here? I’d suspect that the Goldenalden guild was just not as popular or as well off, but the location of this building and its size suggests otherwise. It looks, at a glance, as if this branch is falling apart.”

“What? No, no, we’re …” He tried to keep up his smile, then gave up. “All right, so you’re not wrong. We’re basically skirting failure here.”

“What happened?” I asked. “It looks like this was a nice place.” The decor was poorly maintained and dirty, but I could imagine it being quite fetching beneath all that.

“Happened?” he asked. “Ah! Where are my manners? My name is Reginald Leaflock. I’m the current guild master of the Goldenalden branch of the Exploration Guild, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” He bowed.

“Nice to meet you too!” I said. “Are you the only one here?”

“No, no, we still have some staff. Not many, though,” he replied with a glance over his shoulder. “Mostly the older members who have been around for so long that they wouldn’t know what to do with themselves.” He laughed, but it lacked any humor.

Amaryllis shifted, and I could see the calculations flashing by in her eyes. “So, what happened here? The guild looks like it’s underperforming.”

“We’re getting along,” Reginald said, but he folded at Amaryllis’s look. “Or we’re trying to. It’s a long story, and not one that I think anyone would want to hear. I’d much rather listen to your own. Are you members from the Harpy Mountains?”

“We both joined in Port Royal,” I said.

Reginald’s eyebrows rose. “Ah, a nice branch over there. The guild master is a woman of great repute. Did you have a mission that needed you around here? We might be able to provide some assistance.”

“Mister Leaflock, could you tell us what happened here?” Amaryllis repeated. “We came because we were looking for some information, but the state of the guild is questionable at best.”

Reginald winced. “Well, ah, perhaps we can have this discussion in my office? Though, I’m not sure if it’s a discussion worth having at all.”

“You seem worried,” I said.

He shrugged a shoulder, a very careless gesture for a sylph. “I don’t think the guild has much time left, at least not this branch.”

“Well, now I want to know what happened too,” I said. “But not if it’ll hurt your feelings to repeat it.”

Reginald stared at me, then took a deep breath and shored up his resolve. “No, no, I don’t mind telling you what happened. Come, my office is at least a little more comfortable.”

We followed Reginald to the back, and instead of going around the counter as he had, he led us to the side and headed toward a staircase at the rear. Once we were up a floor, we moved down a richly appointed corridor and finally reached an office.

Reginald’s office was nice and big, with a stout desk in its middle and a few plush chairs for guests. Portraits were hanging on the walls, and from the plaques beneath them, I guessed that they were the former guild masters for this branch.

“Take a seat, please,” Reginald said as he gestured to the free seats before his desk.

I looked to my friends before pulling one out and plopping myself down onto it. A small puff of dust rose around me that I quickly and quietly got rid of by pushing some magic into my Cleaning aura. I didn’t want to interrupt anything, so I kept it subtle. His desk was less dusty due to regular use.

“So, what happened?” Amaryllis asked.

Reginald worked his jaw. “I don’t know exactly where things started taking a turn for the worse. We were having a relatively difficult year. Securing government contracts was made more complicated by the army ramping things up and edging into the budget we’re usually allocated, but otherwise we were doing well financially. You have to understand, the Exploration Guilds in Sylphfree are treated … in an interesting way.”

“Interesting how?” I asked.

“In most countries, the Exploration Guild is primarily made up of two groups: well-off members of the gentry who can afford to mount expeditions and talented individuals looking for reliable work who can assist with those expeditions. There are always new dungeons to find, ancient ruins to explore, and new cultures to visit and exchange with.”

I nodded—that was what had made me want to join, mostly.

“But in Sylphfree, there’s a powerful pressure for most to join the armed forces. Most nobles will try to find a place in the military hierarchy, and it’s not as common for one to wish to join our guild. We still have … had plenty of members, though.”

“What was the appeal?” Amaryllis asked.

“Mostly the ability to move outside of the borders of the country. And we worked closely with paladins and others of the sort to scout out new dungeons and locations of interest across Sylphfree.” Reginald seemed quite proud. “The Exploration Guild allowed its distinguished members to make a mark in a way that being part of the more traditional sylph culture wouldn’t allow.”

“You still haven’t told us how everything turned out like this,” Amaryllis said.

Reginald’s proud look deflated. “It started with … I suppose we received a new member. He was very talented, a young human from somewhere. He never really said. He was a hard worker, and while he was rather antisocial, he worked well enough with the rest of the guild. He took quite a few missions, mostly mapping out dungeons. There are a few in the nation that aren’t as popular, so they’re not delved as often, and our maps of those have become dated.”

“I imagine he did more than just that,” Amaryllis said.

The sylph nodded. “We didn’t know it at the time, but he … Well, he destroyed some of the dungeons he visited. Three of them, as far as we now know.”

Amaryllis took in a deep breath, and I saw Awen raise her hands over her mouth. As I understood it, dungeon destruction was a big deal. It would probably be really wise of me not to mention the dungeons I’d destroyed.

“The Inquisition marched in here and started rooting around, looking for him, but he had disappeared. Worse, he took a lot of paperwork with him when he left. Gold as well. I think the only silver lining in the entire matter is that the Inquisition wanted the destruction to stay silent.”

“Did they ever find him?” I asked.

Reginald shook his head. “No. We lost a few members then and there. Others left soon after. I scrambled to fulfill the missions we still had, but that meant sending less experienced members out to tackle more complicated missions. We had to deal with a big surge in injuries. Then the news broke out amongst the nobility, and a lot of our members who were part of the gentry parted ways with us.”

“Oh no,” I said. “They were the ones supplying the guild with money and stuff?”

“In part, yes,” Reginald said. “We used to receive frequent donations from the nobility, often in lieu of donating to other organizations.”

“Huh?” I asked.

Reginald blinked. “Ah, yes, you’re not from Goldenalden. Ah, the nobility are legally obligated to pay a certain amount of their earnings back to the nation. They can get an exception from this if they donate some of those proceeds to certain organizations. Some are military, others are civil services.”

“Ah, tax evasion,” Awen said with a nod.

“It’s … not technically that. Anyway, a lot of noble families would donate to the guild, especially those that enjoyed the banquets and meetings we held here. Which we can no longer hold here, not with the state the guild is in.”

“And all of this was caused by a single human?” Amaryllis asked.

“One human, yes. At least, I think he was human.” At our looks, Reginald shook his head. “Never mind, just a rumor.”

“Wait,” I said as I leaned forward. “You’re not sure if he was human … Did he ever just change appearance? Like an illusion spell or something? Or shapeshifting?”

“It was just a rumor. We needed to track him down after all the crimes he committed. So I employed some of the guild’s best to chase him down. They cornered him, but all they found was a scared and confused sylph who didn’t know anything. I trusted those members to track someone down, so it was a strange occurrence. Then I heard that something similar happened to the Inquisition.”

“What was his name?” I asked.

“Drizz. His name was Drizz L. Lizard.”

I blinked. “No!” I said as I jumped to my feet. My palm slapped the table. “That’s Rainnewt!”

• Chapter Four •

Lost and Found in Translation

Rainnewt?” Reginald asked.

“How do you figure that?” Amaryllis asked.

I gestured vaguely through the air. “The name. It’s obvious, isn’t it?”

“No. No, it really isn’t,” Amaryllis said.

I huffed. “Come on. Drizz L. Lizard? It obviously means drizzle lizard, and that’s just a terrible pun for rain newt.”

Amaryllis blinked. “None of that made sense,” she said.

I stared at my birdy friend. The clues and all were super obvious, and she was a smart girl. Then it clicked, and I felt silly. “It’s a multilingual pun,” I said with mounting horror. Puns were already a bit evil. Puns that required translation … That was a whole new level of terrible. Rainnewt really was a villain.

“How does it work?” Amaryllis asked. “I don’t see the link between the names.”

“It might be because of my autotranslation,” I said. “But the name means rain lizard. A newt is a kind of lizard. That, and Reginald mentioned something that might have been shapeshifting.”

“And there’s a solid link with the Exploration Guild,” Amaryllis added. “But then, for him to be able to make that kind of—dare I say—joke with his name, he would need to either have a gift for multiple languages or be a Riftwalker.”

“That would make sense, wouldn’t it?” I asked. “Him being a Riftwalker. He’s been destroying dungeons. Reginald! Did the dungeons he destroyed have any Evil Roots in them?”

Reginald leaned back in his big office seat. “Evil Roots? Ah, I don’t know? Actually, there was— Give me a moment.” He slid his chair to the side and opened a drawer. “I only have these on hand because the Inquisition demanded copies of everything related to Drizz. They couldn’t find him initially, so they started to investigate with more depth. That meant going over everything with a fine-tooth comb.” He pulled out a stack of papers and set them on his desk, then he started flipping through them.

I watched as he paused on a page, frowned, then turned it around and slid it our way.

Awen, Amaryllis, and I all leaned over to inspect the paper. Reginald tapped a paragraph near the middle.

The Hidebank Dungeon was explored by a local delve team, who reported strange growths on the boss floor of the dungeon. The dungeon has not acquired any new floors since its last survey, but there have been some noted changes in its behavior.

“What’s this report?” Amaryllis asked.

“It’s the demand from Riverhide to send someone to explore one of the small dungeons in the region. It’s not a very popular dungeon, so there wasn’t a lot of local interest in uncovering the changes within it. It was one of the first missions that Drizz took. That dungeon was destroyed.”

Amaryllis turned my way, a talon resting against her chin. “It’s not much to go on. Circumstantial at best.”

“But it’s something,” I said. “Did any of the other dungeons mention plant stuff? Big roots, the dungeon acting weird?”

“Not that I’m aware of. Drizz had a knack for tackling dungeons across the nation, but he only destroyed three as far as I’m aware.” Reginald sighed. “Only three. As if that’s not an enormous number of lost dungeons.”

I looked at Amaryllis, and she nodded, though it was a little reluctant. “All right, I’ll admit that you might be onto something.”

“You know Drizz, then?” Reginald asked.

“Yeah, but not under that name,” I said. “I’m not sure, not without seeing them, but it sounds like Drizz might be Rainnewt. He was a man that worked at the Port Royal Exploration Guild. He tried to get Amaryllis kidnapped at some point, and he might be responsible for a bunch of diplomatic problems in the area too.”

“Not to mention what he did in the Nesting Kingdom. He set off an explosion that killed and injured members of a sylph diplomatic party,” Amaryllis continued. “He got away with it, too, as far as I can tell.”

Reginald paled. “He did what?”

“Yeah, it was really bad,” I said. “I don’t know if he destroyed more dungeons along the way, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he had.”

Amaryllis’s eyes narrowed. “Why did you suspect he was linked to the Evil Roots, Broccoli?”

I shrugged. “The World told me to fix those. So if there’s another Riftwalker, maybe they’re here for the same reason. Trying to start a war doesn’t make sense, though. If all he wanted was to destroy dungeons, he could be a lot sneakier about it.”

“Awa, maybe he doesn’t want to do it himself?” Awen asked. “If he could convince the nations to fight, then one of the first things they’d do is destroy each other’s dungeons, right? I know that my dad had some procedures in place, if there was ever a war or something, to protect the dungeons closest to Greenshade.”

That made some sense, but it was such an awful way to go about doing things. Why not just warn people? Or find another way to get rid of the Evil Roots. I’d proven that Cleaning magic could do it, so I bet there were other ways to get rid of the roots too.

“This is distressing,” Reginald said. “But, at this point, I’m not sure what the guild can do about it. It’s obvious that this is a problem that’s much bigger than the guild.”

“Humph, that’s no reason not to try to do your part,” Amaryllis said. “We’ve moved very much offtrack. I came here to ask the guild for help finding certain groups in the city. It would aid us a lot if we could track them down.”

“We’re trying to stop Rainnewt,” I said. “Or at least the war he might be trying to start.”

“I can try to help,” Reginald said. “But I’m not sure if there’s much I can do at all.”

I shook my head to clear it. Too many thoughts were bouncing around in there at once, and I only had so much room for thinking about things. “Maybe we can help you while you help us!”

Reginald sat up a little straighter in his seat. “You think you can help the guild? At this point, we’d accept any help we can get.”

“We might be able to help, a little, on the condition that the guild helps us in turn,” Amaryllis said. “Notably, we’re looking for the location of the diplomatic parties sent over for the summit. We have a little over a week to try and convince all the players here not to go to war with each other over the actions of one madman.”

“Or madperson,” I said. “Rainnewt can shapeshift. We have no way of knowing who they are.”

Amaryllis nodded. “That’s a fair point. I suspect that most nations will have ways of intercepting and preventing that kind of security breach, if only to counter skilled spies and assassins. Warning them of a potential issue wouldn’t be amiss.”

“The weakest point of any defense is the people behind it,” Awen said. It sounded like a quote. “Even if everyone has things in place to catch spies, they might not be paying them all that much attention. Though I guess that wouldn’t make sense now, not with everyone being on high alert.”

“No, it’s a fair point,” Amaryllis said.

I nodded along. Spying and such wasn’t my forte, but I imagined that my friends were probably right. “So, that’s what we need: to know who and where the nice diplomats from everywhere will be.”

“I think I can manage that,” Reginald said. “I don’t have many contacts left, but I still have some. The guild isn’t lost, not yet. If I can help you with that, what can you do to help the guild?”

“We don’t have much money,” I said.

Amaryllis shook her head. “Certainly not enough to keep an entire guild afloat.”

“Surprisingly,” Reginald cut in, “we’re still staying afloat financially. We had to cut off a lot of services and the like, but we had some gold saved up. It’s our reputation that we need to salvage the most.”

“Well, I don’t know about that,” I said. “But maybe if we cleaned the place up a little, that would help? Give me half a day and some gardening tools, and I can have the whole place looking like new.”

Reginald smiled. “I think that would help, at least a little. I suppose we’re not presenting the greatest image while looking so slovenly.” He nodded, then eyed me and then my friends up and down. There was a calculating gleam in his eyes, and I couldn’t help but feel that maybe Reginald was the guild master for a reason. “You’ve been on some interesting adventures, haven’t you?”

“Oh yeah, plenty,” I said.

“Any of those recent?”

I considered the trip from the Nesting Kingdom to here. “Yeah, I think a few of them are.”

Reginald’s eyes narrowed, and he leaned his elbows onto the table. “Would one of you mind telling the story of your voyage? Truthfully, that is. No need to exaggerate or anything of the sort, just a straight recounting of what occurred.”

I glanced at my friends, then shrugged. “I can do that,”

“Awa, maybe I can do it?” Awen asked. “I have a good memory for that kind of thing, and Broccoli might be busy cleaning and doing gardening work.”

“And in the meanwhile, I have a few small questions I’d like to ask,” Amaryllis said. “Notably, what exactly are you thinking of doing with our story?”

Reginald nodded. “That’s only fair. The guild needs a victory right now. Several, in fact. And spreading the story of a successful venture by some intrepid young members might just count as that victory. It’s not much, but I’m sure we can find some mutual benefit from announcing to the nobility of the nation that you’re a force to be respected and admired.”

“Ah, I see,” Amaryllis said.

It sounded to me like Reginald just wanted to use us to create a good image for the guild. I wasn’t exactly against the idea. We hadn’t done anything too amazing, I figured, but maybe stories about going around and making friends would attract more people who needed friends too.

After all, Amaryllis joined the guild because she secretly wanted to make friends, deep, deep, down inside.

I bet there were plenty of Amaryllises out in Goldenalden who needed a good friend too!

“I like it,” I said. “But no lying or embellishing.”

“He wouldn’t be able to in any case,” Amaryllis said. “We had Bastion with us for the entire trip. He would be able to fact-check any part of it, and to most sylphs, the word of a paladin is assumed to be truthful by default, and usually for good reason.”

“Bastion?” Reginald asked.

“A paladin who accompanied us on our voyage,” Amaryllis said.

Reginald’s brows shot up, and he seemed genuinely impressed.

I clapped my hands. “So! Should we do all this stuff today?”

“Ah, well, as much as I would enjoy that, I’m afraid that I can’t uphold my end of the bargain today. The information Miss Amaryllis wants isn’t something I know offhand. Would it be possible for the three of you to return tomorrow?”

“Sure thing,” I said. “Can you set out some gardening supplies? I’m hardly an expert, but I can fix up the front no problem. And I am an expert at all things cleaning.”

“I look forward to seeing the results. In any case, yes, I think we have tools and cleaning supplies lying about.”

Reginald stood, and so did we.

“You’ve given me a lot to think on. But I think this might be the start of the Exploration Guild’s return to a proper level of decorum. Or at least I very much hope so. Thank you, girls.”

“No problem,” I said.

• Chapter Five •

Taking a Friendtrip

The final summit thing was going to happen in one week, which was a very long time. Still, we’d spent half our first day in Goldenalden already, which left us with closer to six and a half days to have fun and also stop a war.

“I think we should put off any sort of preparations for the summit,” Amaryllis said. “We don’t know what the local fashions are like, and we don’t want to accidentally imply something with the way we dress and prepare for it.”

We stepped out into the full light of day, and I had to squint to protect my eyes. I hadn’t noticed just how dark it was inside the Exploration Guild, at least not once my eyes had gotten used to the relative lack of light. “So, if we can’t go shopping, should we play tourist? I bet there’s all sorts of things to see. Didn’t Jared mention a parade ground?”

“Broccoli.” I turned toward Awen, then followed her gaze. She was looking to the side, where a sylph was walking toward us. He was the tallest sylph I’d seen so far, coming right up to my eyes in height, and he wore the same sort of dark armor as Bastion.

The paladin came to a smart stop a pace away from us and bowed at the waist. “Greetings, ladies,” he said in a gruff, formal voice. “Are you Broccoli Bunch, Awen Bristlecone, and Amaryllis Albatross?”

“And if we are?” Amaryllis asked.

“Please just confirm your identities,” he said.

“We are,” I said. It would be rude to lie, and besides, there weren’t exactly a wealth of bun-human-harpy threesomes on the street.

The paladin nodded and tugged a small scroll out from his belt. It had a wax seal on the front, with pretty yellow tassels hanging from beneath. “This is for you,” he said.

Amaryllis took the scroll gingerly, as if it might explode at any moment. “And who exactly is it from? For that matter, what is it?”

The paladin obviously hesitated, but not for very long. “It’s from Her Royal Highness Princess Caprica. As for the contents, that isn’t something I’m aware of.”

Amaryllis quirked an eyebrow. “Very well. Is it your professional opinion that this should be opened in private?”

“The princess isn’t known for sending ultimatums, threats, or matters of intrigue in this fashion,” the paladin replied.

“I wanna see what it says,” I said as I crowded over Amaryllis’s shoulder. Awen got onto her tippy-toes to peek over Amaryllis’s other side.

Amaryllis sighed, but she edged a talon under the seal all the same and popped it open with a practiced flick. The scroll unrolled itself to reveal a letter written with very pretty calligraphy.

Dear Ladies Albatross and Bristlecone, and Captain Bunch,

I wish to cordially invite you for tea sometime this early evening or, if such isn’t convenient to you, sometime tomorrow morning.

Please don’t fret. This isn’t a grave matter. I merely heard some very interesting stories and wished to speak with those responsible for them. We have at least one mutual friend already, and I’d consider it a wonderful idea if we could become friends ourselves.

If you’re unable to attend, then please write back. I’m certain we can arrange something.

Sincerely,

Caprica

“Aww,” I said.

“It could be a trap,” Amaryllis said.

I scoffed. “It’s an invitation for tea and to make friends!”

“Yes, which sounds like exactly the sort of bait I would use if I intended to lay a trap for you,” Amaryllis said. “I would be attracted by the political machinations, and Awen … Well, honestly, I think she’d come along just because we’re going.”

“I like tea too,” Awen said with just a hint of a pout.

Amaryllis nodded. “Yes, but bait specifically designed for you would involve the kind of machinery that wouldn’t be present near a princess, or my sister.”

“If it helps, the princess also isn’t known for trapping people,” the paladin said.

Amaryllis waved the comment off. “You could be on her side. For all we know, you’re not even an actual paladin.”

The sylph blinked. “Impersonating a paladin is illegal.”

“Well, at least you have the right amount of stick up your—”

“I think we should go,” I cut in before Amaryllis could say anything too rude. “This Princess Caprica sounds nice, and the friend she mentioned sounds like Bastion. He wouldn’t lead us into a trap.”

Amaryllis gave me a look.

I retaliated with a pout.

“Very well,” Amaryllis said. “Sir Paladin, would it be possible for you to lead us over to the princess? The time given in the letter suggests that we should arrive this evening, but we have little else to do at the moment, and we aren’t familiar with the quarters where the princess resides.”

“Of course, Lady Albatross,” the paladin said with another short bow. “Would you like to stop by your inn on the way? It isn’t too far from our destination, and it would give you the opportunity to freshen up.”

I let out a quick burst of Cleaning magic, then combed my fingers through my hair and straightened my ears. “I’m freshened.”

Awen giggled and nodded. “I’m ready too. I don’t really have the kind of dress that would be appropriate for tea with me. Ah, unless I wear the same outfit I wore at the ball?”

“Oh, that would be cute,” I said. My own outfit was pretty cute too. It wouldn’t hurt to get niced up for tea.

Amaryllis shrugged. “If you insist. I’m more comfortable in my current outfit. A dress would get in the way if fighting broke out.”

The paladin cleared his throat. “I doubt that there would be any fighting at the palace.”

I nodded. “Better to stay in armor, then, just in case.”

I don’t think he expected me to interpret his words that way, but I knew from experience that when someone said not to expect trouble, that was the ideal time to start expecting trouble.

Taunting fate to have more fun adventures was one of my favorite pastimes, after all. “Too bad we can’t bring all of our gear with us,” I said.

“I don’t think I can bring a repeating crossbow into a palace,” Awen said. “It might be seen as an insult—or as a threat.”

I nodded. That sounded wise. “So, Mister Paladin, could you guide us over to the princess? Oh, should we tell her that we might be a bit early?”

“I’ll dispatch a runner as soon as we arrive near the castle,” the paladin said. “Follow me. We’ll take the quieter route.”

“That’s fine by me,” I said. A nice walk would be refreshing after the rather heavy conversation we’d had with Reginald. I had a bit of stuff to think about, mostly Rainnewt and his involvement in … in … Amaryllis’s kidnapping, and … I couldn’t help but remember Amaryllis, bound up by those cervids, disappearing into the swamps. I tried to put it out of my mind and think, but then all I could remember was crying on that bridge.

Rainnewt had caused that, hadn’t he? Then the ball, with the explosion. There had been so many nice people screaming, so many innocents hurt.

How could someone just … be that way?

No, that wasn’t a fair question to ask. Sometimes I wanted to do mean things, too, to be rude and to put others down because—even though I knew better—it felt good to do that. Not good-good, but still … a squicky-yucky kind of good. Did Rainnewt feel that when he blew up the ball?

I was probably not the best when it came to philosophy, I knew.

Usually, I only dealt with smaller problems of morality. How to be careful not to tease someone too hard, how to help a friend while still taking care of yourself. Little problems that a bun like me could handle just fine. What Rainnewt was doing was a whole order of magnitude more complicated than what I was used to thinking about.

Actually killing people, and not during some morally grayish thing, like self-defense. He was harming people because … I didn’t know why and I really wanted to. Maybe there was some excuse out there for what he’d done. I didn’t know if I’d accept it, but it would be nice to know that the violence and hurting wasn’t just senseless.

I did have an inkling of what it might be, but it made me nervous to think about it.

The Evil Roots.

Rainnewt’s trick with his false name.