The Icefall Adventurers Guild was even louder and more boisterous than usual. The cheerful atmosphere that permeated the rest of Icefall City extended to this place as well. Everyone was in high spirits, and the smell of cheap beer was thicker than usual.

I searched the lobby for my friends, but didn't see them. A part of me considered asking Marilyn about them, but I decided against it. I didn't want to waste time by waiting in line. Instead, I searched through the rest of the building. However, my efforts proved fruitless. None of them were in the Icefall Adventurers Guild. Not Leroy, not Cally, and not Anna. Nor did I see Andre or Richard. How frustrating.

In the end, I decided to ask Marilyn after all. While the thought of standing in line annoyed me, it was better than running around like a headless chicken. However, as I headed back towards the lobby, I rounded the corner and saw Guildmaster Charity talking with a group of people. Perhaps she knew something.

I caught Guildmaster Charity's eye, letting her know I was here, but I didn't interrupt her conversation. Instead, I stood nearby and waited for her to finish. A few minutes later, she dismissed the group of people and turned towards me. Guildmaster Charity looked me up and, before raising an eyebrow at me.

"Greetings, Lord Gabriel." She said. "May I ask why you're wearing a mask?"

I sighed.

"The last time I showed my face, I caused a commotion. I didn't want a repeat of that, thus the mask."

Guildmaster Charity's lip quirked up in a smile.

"Fair enough." She said. "You are rather beautiful. If I weren't married, I would've made a pass at you myself."

Huh. Considering that I found Guildmaster Charity attractive, her words flattered me. If I weren't with Anna now, I might've accepted her hypothetical proposition.

"Now then," Guildmaster Charity said, "What can I do for you, Lord Gabriel?"

"May we speak in private?"

The guildmaster nodded and gestured for me to follow her. The two of us headed towards her office. The guildmaster sat behind her monstrous desk, while I sat before it. The smell of tobacco lingered in the air. Mementos from her career as an adventurer decorated the office. However, there were a few new additions. A result of recent events, perhaps?

"So, what did you wish to speak about?" Guildmaster Charity asked.

"I heard that the team you put together with House Icefall and the Church of the Sun found the demon summoners' hideout."

Guildmaster Charity nodded.

"Yes, a few days ago. After they reported their findings, Theo and I led a force to wipe them out. Just in time too. They had already summoned dozens of demons, and created even more fiends. If we had left them alone for even a few more months, they would've become a serious threat."

Hmm. Dozens of demons? That put things into perspective. That was far too many demons to sacrifice just to distract House Icefall, the Icefall Adventurers Guild, and the Church of the Sun. Even an imp took time and effort to summon. Maybe Guildmaster Charity and Lord Icefall actually found our enemies' hideout and wiped them out.

Still, I couldn't take that for granted. It was best to assume the worst.

"Are you sure you didn't wipe out a few sacrificial pawns?" I asked.

Guildmaster Charity's expression grew serious.

"You sound like Calla." She said. "She said the same thing."

"She did?"

Guildmaster Charity nodded.

"Yes. After we destroyed the demon summoners' hideout, Calla told us that it wasn't over. She said we needed to remain vigilant and keep searching, just in case."

Her tone filled me with a sense of foreboding.

"That didn't go over well, did it?"

Guildmaster Charity shook her head.

"It did not." She said. "A lot of people thought it was a waste of time, including Theo. When Calla heard this, she said that she would keep looking, even if no one else would. She ended up in a massive argument with Theo, which resulted in him confining her to Icefall Manor for the foreseeable future."

Damn it. That was the last thing we needed.

"This was bound to happen sooner or later," Guildmaster Charity continued, "Considering what the three of you were up to. Honestly, given how protective Theo is, I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner."

Fair point.

"What about you, Guildmaster Charity?" I asked. "Do you disagree with Calla?"

The guildmaster made a so-so gesture.

"While I think Calla might be overreacting, I do think it's better to be safe than sorry." She shook her head. "However, my authority is limited. Without sufficient justification, I can't send people out on what could be a wild goose chase."

I had an easy solution for that.

"What if I put out a job commission?" I asked.

Guildmaster Charity's right eye gleamed with interest.

"Oh ho." She said. "Well then, that changes things. If you put out a job commission, I can have my people keep searching for the demon summoners. However, I'll warn you right now that it won't be cheap. If this does turn out to be a wild goose chase, then I want to make sure that my people are properly compensated for their time."

I nodded. Fair enough.

"Charge it to House Sturm." I said. "My allowance should be more than enough to cover it."

Guildmaster Charity chuckled.

"Spoken like a true House scion." She said.

"I need to make the best use of the resources available to me. Sometimes, that means acting as a House scion instead of an adventurer."

Guildmaster Charity studied me for a long moment.

"So, think the same as Calla?" She asked. "You think this isn't over? That the real demon summoners are still out there?"

"Yes." I shrugged. "However, I know most people would think I'm being paranoid and overreacting. Still, I'd rather keep looking and be proven wrong. That's better than the alternative."

"Why?" Guildmaster Charity asked. "What do you know? What makes you so certain?"

I grinned at her and refused to answer. When the guildmaster realized this, she sighed.

"Fine then." Guildmaster Charity said, irritated. "If that's all, you may go."

At that clear dismissal, I stood up to leave.

"Oh, before I forget," Guildmaster Charity called out, "Congratulations on reaching Second Star. I don't know how long you were at First Star, but it's still impressive that you went up a rank less than two weeks after entering the Heart Chamber."

I glanced back at her and smiled.

"Thank you, Guildmaster Charity." I said.

Guildmaster Charity eyed me with curiosity.

"Tell me," she said, "Were you one of the really lucky ones?"

Really lucky ones? Ah, right. She wanted to know if I gained an affinity for Ice.

"If I said yes, how would you react?" I asked.

"Lament at the unfairness of life."

I chuckled.

"In that case, I won't answer your question."

Guildmaster Charity let out a resigned sigh.

"Just go." She said.

With that, I left the office.

After talking with Guildmaster Charity, I decided to visit Icefall Manor and see if I could meet with Cally. My chances were slim, given what little I knew about Lord Icefall, but I needed to at least try. At this point, our best chance at finding our enemies' hideout was Glasses, the man we suspected of being one of the demon summoners. However, I needed the magic tracking device that was in Cally's possession.

'What's this about demons?' Aurora asked, her voice in my head.

'A demonic incursion is about to attack Icefall City,' I said. 'My friends and I are trying to prevent this.'

'Why? From what I've gathered, this isn't your home. Why bother?'

I gave her the mental equivalent of a shrug.

'It's what I do.' I said. 'Hunting monsters, killing demons, and saving people.'

Aurora took a moment before responding.

'You're a more interesting vessel than I expected.' She said. 'I'm glad we made a contract.'

I grinned at that.

When I reached the lobby, I headed towards the front entrance. However, before I made it halfway, I sensed a presence coming at me from my right. I tensed, ready to defend myself, but then I recognized who it was.

"Hello there, Lover." Anna said, throwing an arm over my shoulder.

Her vanilla scent teased my nose. In that moment, I realized how much I missed Anna. I hadn't noticed it while in seclusion, since I was focused on cultivation. However, seeing her now made me realize how deprived I felt. Her presence soothed me, like a rainstorm after a long drought.

Gods, I had fallen hard for her. Hard and fast. This was why I tried to hold myself back. I knew this would happen. A part of me regretted my decision to be with Anna. However, now that I was on this ride, there was no going back. This would either end in bliss, or heartbreak and misery. There would be no in-between.

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"What's wrong?" Anna asked after I didn't say anything for a while.

She stepped back and gave me a concerned look. I grabbed her hand and pressed it against my cheek. I couldn't feel anything, since I wore my mask, but the contact still soothed my soul.

"I missed you." I said.

Anna's jaw dropped. A moment later, her cheeks flushed red. She covered her mouth and looked away from me.

"If your goal was to seduce me," she said, "it's working. If you keep acting cute and pitiful like that, I won't be able to resist the urge to pounce on you."

A mischievous part of me felt like teasing her.

"What if I don't want you to resist?" I asked, rubbing my cheek against her hand.

Anna looked at me once more and swallowed. Ha! So, I affected her just as much as she affected me. Good to know. I absolutely planned on taking advantage of this. All's fair in love and war.

Someone nearby cleared their throat. Oh. Right. The two of us were in the middle of the busy and public lobby of the Icefall Adventurers Guild. Anna's presence intoxicated me like a drug. When she was around, I lost all track of my surroundings. And yet, I refused to feel any shame about it.

I let go of Anna's hand and looked over at the person who cleared their throat. It was a tall and lean woman, with pale skin, short red hair, and green eyes. She glared at me with undisguised hostility. She seemed familiar. Who was she again? Oh, right! Corrie, one of Anna's adventuring teammates. I hadn't seen her since my bout with Anna several weeks ago, so I had forgotten about her.

A short and cute woman stood next to Corrie. She had tanned skin, brown hair, and brown eyes. Lorelei Sinclair, or Lorelei Frostheart, Guildmaster Charity's daughter and Anna's other adventuring teammate. Like Corrie, I hadn't seen her since my bout with Anna. Unlike Corrie, she gave me a cheerful smile.

"If you two are done flirting," Corrie said, irritated, "We have a commission to turn in, Anna."

Lorelei nudged her.

"Come on." She said. "We can handle this part. Let Anna have some time with Lord Gabriel. She's been talking about him all week."

Corrie rolled her eyes.

"I know." She said. "If I hear another 'Lord Gabriel this…' or 'Lord Gabriel that…', I'm going to lose my mind."

I glanced at Anna. She looked back at me without an ounce of shame.

"All the more reason to let them have their reunion." Lorelei said.

Corrie let out an irritated sigh.

"Fine." She pointed a finger at Anna. "You owe us for this."

With that, she headed towards the receptionist desk with Lorelei in tow. The latter glanced back at me and winked.

"You have some good friends." I said.

Anna nodded.

"I do." She said, a fond expression on her face.

I felt a surge of irrational jealousy at that. As unhinged as this sounded, I wanted to be the only one who received her fondness. I wanted to be the only one she smiled at.

Wow. Fuck. I had it worse than I realized.

"Let's go sit down." I said in an attempt to distract myself.

The two of us headed towards the tavern part of the lobby and grabbed ourselves some beer. Afterwards, we found an empty table and sat down. People eyed us with curiosity, but we ignored them.

I took a sip of my beer. Eh. Cheap swill, but I've had worse.

"So," Anna said, "What's with the mask?"

I shook my head.

"I didn't want a repeat of what happened last time."

Anna pouted.

"I mean, sure. However, that mask prevents me from seeing your face."

"It also prevents other women from seeing my face."

Anna looked thoughtful for a moment, before she nodded.

"Fair enough."

I sighed. As much as I wanted to continue our little back and forth, we had more urgent matters to attend to.

"Did you hear about the demon summoners?" I asked.

"Yes, just before we got here." Anna said, a serious expression on her face. "When you went into seclusion, I took a job to search for leads. This job took me out of the city for a week, so I didn't hear about what happened until I came back."

I nodded, before I gave her a brief summary of my conversation with Guildmaster Charity. To avoid anyone eavesdropping on our conversation, I spoke in a low tone. The lobby was loud enough that I doubted this was necessary, but a little caution never hurt.

"Damn it," Anna said, before taking a sip of her beer, "This will make things difficult."

"We need to speak with Cally." I said. "Our only chance at finding our enemies' hideout is Glasses, and Cally has the magical tracking device."

"Actually, you don't have to worry about that." Anna said. "She gave it to me before I left for the job. I think she predicted something like this would happen, and prepared for it ahead of time."

I let out a relieved sigh. Good. That was one less thing to worry about.

"We should still visit Cally," I said, "If only to see how she's doing."

Anna nodded. A moment later, Lorelei and Corrie arrived at our table. They sat down without a word.

"You don't have to worry about watching your words around these two." Anna said. "I already told them everything."

I blinked at her.

"What do you mean you told them everything?" I asked.

Anna snorted.

"Exactly that. Everything. Well, the basics at least."

My jaw dropped.

"Why?!" I asked.

"They're my friends, and it's more convenient this way. Besides, you told Leroy. You have no room to complain."

"You're the one who said that some secrets shouldn't be shared!"

Anna shrugged.

"I'm a hypocrite." She said.

It took me a moment to respond to that.

"You're shameless."

Anna chuckled.

"Damn right."

I sighed, before I looked over at Lorelei and Corrie.

"In that case, welcome to the club."

"Thank you," Lorelei said, "I think this is all rather exciting."

Corrie snorted.

"I think it's all nonsense."

Lorelei gave her a disapproving frown.

"Still, you have to admit that it explains a lot."

Corrie gave her a sideways look.

"Which is why I'm willing to tolerate it for now. However, until I see some definitive proof, I'm going to remain skeptical."

"As long as you help when it matters, I don't care what you think." Anna said.

Corrie rolled her eyes at that. However, I sensed that she wasn't as disdainful as she pretended to be, at least when it came to Anna.

"So," I said, "Did you find any leads? During your latest job I mean?"

Anna shook her head with a disappointed expression on her face.

"No."

"Damn it. Glasses really is our only hope."

Lorelei and Corrie shared a look.

"Glasses?" The former asked.

I gestured to Anna. She gave her two friends a brief explanation about Glasses.

"That's it?" Corrie asked. "That's the only lead you have?"

Anna and I nodded.

"Yes." I said. "And before you say anything, we know how flimsy a lead he is. That should give you an idea of the kind of people we're dealing with."

Lorelei and Corrie shared a look.

"What's going to happen to Icefall City if we can't find these people?" Lorelei asked. "This place is our home."

"Nothing good." I said.

Her expression fell. Corrie offered her reassurances, while shooting glares in my direction.

'I can help.' Aurora said in my head.

'What do you mean?'

'As a spirit, I'm more sensitive to the presence of demons than most. As long as you bring me close enough, I'm sure I'll have no problem finding them.'

My heart started to race. If Aurora found our enemies' hideout, we could strike at them before they gathered enough strength to attack Icefall City. We could do this. We could stop the demonic incursion before it was too late.

'We'll be counting on you then.' I said.

I came back to the present. During my conversation with Aurora, Anna had been talking to her friends.

"-the worst happen." Anna said. "You need to be prepared to flee the city."

"No." Lorelei said, a determined expression on her face. "This is my home. I will fight for it. It is my responsibility and duty to protect my people. I am my mother's daughter."

Anna gave her a hard look.

"You are the heir to your Clan." She said. "If you die, your Clan dies with you. As long as you live, they have a future."

Lorelei looked conflicted at this.

"Perhaps it won't come to that." I said.

The three women looked at me.

"I have an idea."

A few days later, Anna and I arrived at the spot where the imps ambushed my friends and I some time ago, back when we hunted down the fire beak. It was a beautiful day, with clear skies and calm weather. With summer almost upon us, the temperatures in the Icefall region had risen to an almost comfortable temperature. Not that it mattered to me. Thanks to my cold tolerance, I could run around buck naked and still be completely fine.

We weren't alone. Our respective teammates accompanied us. In Anna's case, that meant Lorelei and Corrie. In mine, that meant Leroy, Andre, and Richard.

"It's a shame about Cally." I said. "She should've been here for this."

Anna shrugged.

"We tried our best." She said. "I'm annoyed that they didn't even let us see her."

I scowled as I remembered that day. After I discussed my idea with Anna and her teammates at the Icefall Adventurers Guild, we headed to Icefall Manor to talk with Cally. Rather, we tried. However, we couldn't even get inside. House Icefall's servants turned us away at the door. No matter how much we argued with them, they refused to budge. They even turned away Lorelei, who was kin to House Icefall.

In the end, we gave up and turned away. While we could've bullied our way in using status, we decided against it. We hadn't wanted to escalate things. In my case, this would've caused a conflict between House Sturm and House Icefall. I doubted Cally wanted that.

We decided to leave without Cally, and separated to make our respective preparations. That was when I ran into Leroy, Andre, and Richard. The three formed a temporary team in order to train and take jobs together.

I almost didn't recognize Leroy when I first saw him. He wore the enchanted armor that Lord Icefall commissioned for him a while back. It covered his entire body, enhancing his already intimidating appearance. He looked like a walking tank. Whenever he spoke, his words came out muffled.

After catching up with Leroy and the others, I told them about my idea. After some discussion, they decided to come along. Well, Leroy had no choice in the matter. He was my bodyguard. Where I went, he followed.

When we all finished making our preparations, everyone met up at the Icefall Adventurers Guild. From there, the seven of us headed out. The journey itself was uneventful. Other than some friction between various members of our group, nothing untoward happened.

It was late morning when we arrived at the spot where the imps ambushed us. The place looked as I remembered it: a plain covered in scorch marks.

"Well then," Anna said, "You said that you had a way of locating the demons." She gestured towards me. "We're here. Go right ahead."

While I told everyone that I had a way of locating the demons, I never told them the specifics.

"You can come out now." I said.

Everyone gave me confused looks. However, before anyone could say anything, Aurora crawled out of my body and settled on my shoulders. They all stared at her with wide eyes.

"Everyone," I said, "This is my spirit companion, Aurora. She will find the demons for us."

"Behold, Humans!" Aurora said. "I, the frost dragon Aurora, have deigned to grace you with my presence! Bask in my glory!"

Everyone looked at her, then at me, and then back to Aurora. No one said anything for several moments.

"Wait a minute." Lorelei said, breaking the silence. "Is that the spirit of the Frostheart?"

Aurora and I both stiffened.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I said, feigning nonchalance.

"I have never heard of this Frostheart you speak of." Aurora said at the same time.

Lorelei pointed a finger at us.

"It is!" She accused. "You stole it from us!"

I gave Lorelei a haughty look.

"Her name is Aurora," I said, "And she has nothing to do with the Frostheart."

Lorelei fumed at me.

"Lies. It's-Her appearance matches the descriptions from our records."

I frowned at Lorelei. What records?

'I thought you said that you didn't reveal your appearance to Clan Frostheart.' I asked Aurora through our bond.

'I never said that.' Aurora said. 'I didn't ask them for help. That's different.'

I wanted to facepalm. Goddamn it.

"Alright, let's keep things nice and calm." Anna said, stepping in-between Lorelei and myself. "We're here to the demons and their summoners, not fight amongst ourselves. Let us settle this after we finish. Agreed?"

Lorelei threw a glare my way, before nodding.

"Agreed." She said.

"Agreed." I said, shrugging.

Anna nodded.

"Good." She looked at my spirit companion. "Lady Aurora, thank you for your assistance."

Aurora seemed pleased by this.

"I like you, Human. Unlike some people, you show me the proper respect." She nodded. "Yes, you are a suitable mate for my vessel."

I rolled my eyes.

"Aurora, just go find the demons."

Aurora snorted, before she jumped off my shoulders and dived into the ground. As a spirit, her relationship with the physical world was…flexible. While there were limits to this, she would have no problem traversing through regular dirt and stone.

With that, we waited for Aurora to return with news about the demons.

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