Captain Gerrik sat at the end of the bar in an exclusive tavern called "The Last Bit" that only catered to high-ranking officials within the city. Being a Caster was a minimum requirement, while having the badge to prove your position was needed to get past the front door. It was both a relieving place and a dangerous place to drink one's woes away; yet here Gerrik sat, debating whether he should keep drinking his magically infused mead and wait, or just give up and go back home.

The riots had been going on for almost a week now, and their cells were packed full of people who had joined in the destruction of property, but he had made certain no true rebel had landed behind bars awaiting further punishment.

Once recordings of Petal's pacifist message and subsequent "death" had hit Fox's Illusion Network for the rest of the city to see, it had become a struggle to deploy enough Order Fighters throughout the whole city when pockets of protestors would spring up at random. Of course, he was also expected to help quell said riots.

Gerrik took another slow sip of his mead and contemplated his next steps, along with waiting for a particular prince to arrive whom he could "accidentally" run into. He didn't want to bring attention to himself by directly requesting a meeting with Crown Prince Thame, but he needed to get a better read on the man that his and Alaina's combined spy network had been lacking in obtaining.

"The Shadow's Edge wishes to speak with you, Captain," a woman said as she sat on the stool beside him, dressed in the all black garb and mask of a Whisper assassin.

"Why do you insist on using that ridiculous moniker?" he grumbled into his mug. "When we agreed on using codenames, I thought we also agreed on using a single simple word."

"I don't think that was ever officially voted upon," Alaina replied, gesturing to the mute Servant behind the counter for a pint.

"Why are you here and interfering? I told everyone not to contact me for at least another three days."

"Because the wilted flower is not happy about your actions after waking up, and honestly, I'm starting to get concerned about you pushing things too hard. I know you were the one who staged—"

"Not here," Gerrik snarled, cutting off Alaina's words before someone unfriendly in the bar overheard them. "Are you out of your mind?"

"Well, you keep refusing to come in and meet with people," she replied flippantly as she spun around to sit properly in the seat to drink her own pint of mead.

Gerrik scowled at her, glancing past to the entryway, suddenly hoping that his target wouldn't appear while Alaina was in the way. "Because I'm busy, or have you not noticed the people screaming in the streets, chanting for that bloody pacifist, and destroying shops and even a Speaker's home?"

"Maybe that wouldn't have happened if you hadn't—"

"I swear to all the gods, Alaina, if you don't leave right now, I'll throw you in a cell myself," he snapped at her, tired of her thinking herself so clever when she can barely keep the heat off herself, let alone other Whispers under her.

"Alright, I'll back off for now, but the group wants a word as soon as you're free, Captain," Alaina returned with a smile that didn't match the deadly glare she leveled at him. "None of us wants to see another dead Servant killed by overzealous Fighters in the street after yesterday's… accident."

Gerrik huffed and didn't deign to respond as Alaina slipped back into the shadows. He finished off his drink, then pulled her abandoned one closer to begin sipping again. He needed to look casual but also distraught about what was happening if this plan was to work.

It was only three minutes later when Prince Thame strode into the bar, not even looking at the other patrons or the Servant tending the bar as he sat in his usual spot three stools away from Gerrik. He knocked on the counter twice, his gaze fixed on a magical tablet that apparently had some kind of interesting report on it. Only twenty seconds later was the drink placed in front of the prince, and Gerrik had to mentally applaud the Servant for reacting so quickly to the unspoken demand.

Gerrik pretended not to notice the prince at first, just sipping on his drink and looking lost in thought, while Thame took a swig of his wine, eyes still fixed on scrolling through the information. When Thame had finished about half the glass, he suddenly scowled audibly at the tablet, and Gerrik took the opening.

He leaned over and somewhat drunkenly said, "Shit news lately, eh? Can't go anywhere without hearing about how terrible a job we're doing. What did they say we messed up with this time?"

The prince glanced at him with startling crimson eyes, likely from his Blood-Attuned Familiar, and seemed to relax infinitesimally when he recognized him, replying, "There's outrage because another Order Fighter got too aggressive and a Lover child died. Your Sect is making a mockery of our image of control and stability, Captain Gerrik."

With a heavy sigh, Gerrik let a bit of exasperated whine enter his tone. "I know, Your Highness, but Sect Leader Buster won't listen to reason! I've been arguin' with her for days now to send out my Coterie instead to help waylay the insurrectionists, but she's sayin' the Order Coterie is meant to show them a heavy hand to fear instead of one designed to shield.

"The Protection Coterie is meant to defend our borders from monsters," the prince replied with a frown, though he didn't seem upset by the idea, merely curious. "How exactly do you think they will succeed where Buster's Order Fighters have failed?"

"Because they don't see the people as monsters to try to wrangle like the Order Fighters do. They've seen real monsters and know that the people are who we protect." He took another long drink of mead, wiping his mouth on the back of his sleeve, knowing the casualness would actually put the prince more at ease around him, before continuing, "I've been suggesting a defensive stance on violent outbreaks and tellin' Buster that letting them yell like a child throwing a tantrum is the best way for the fire in them to burn out, but she simply won't listen to my advice."

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Prince Thame seemed to contemplate his words for a long moment before asking, "Are you suggesting Leader Buster is unsuited to her position and failing in her purpose?"

"Well, I wouldn't say that in official company, Your Highness. Buster would tear me limb from limb like the barbarian she is if I were to make an official complaint," Gerrik quickly replied, raising his hands defensively with his palms facing the prince.

Thame observed him for a beat before leaning towards him and lowering his voice conspiratorially as he asked, "And unofficially? Would the great Former Champion Gerrik believe Buster is the ideal person to lead the Fighters through this political mess?"

Gerrik mentally cheered at the question and his plan falling into place as he met the prince's gaze and slowly shook his head. "Unofficially? I really, really don't, Thame. I think we'll see more bodies and outrage as long as she's calling the shots."

The Crown Prince took another thoughtful sip of wine and said, "I may need to have my mother intervene then and find a suitable replacement." He glanced at Gerrik and added with a knowing smirk, "Perhaps someone who's handled monsters before."

Jin was feeling exhausted already. It had already been four nights since they had been on the third floor, and she was already missing the swamp. Clover was also missing the swamp and had been staying merged more often just so she wouldn't have to deal with the unnatural cold.

She wasn't the only one who was exhausted. Every night, they would have to deal with a wave of monsters every hour—a variety of them, including Frostprowlers, Snolves, Rimehorns, and Icespitters, who were annoying birds that didn't actually spit ice but acid. They tried sleeping during the day, but that was also the safest time for them to actually explore the floor instead of bunkering down to fight monster waves.

They had gone back to the wall where their portal to the second floor was located, but neither Rayyan nor Liraz could get through yet. They had argued back and forth for a while that first day about whether to camp right there against the wall, and had ended up compromising on camping there at night while exploring during the day. Unfortunately, that plan got shaken five minutes ago when they all got their first bracelet ping, indicating their new base location was further east of the central mountain.

"We should stay by the portal," Rayyan argued, trying his best to sign for Alim.

"We can afford a day or two to check out what this new base location has for us," Alim wrote back in the air, his fingers moving much faster than a normal human's. "It might even make Mr. Snuggleroot stronger to help battle the monster waves for us."

"But we don't even want to stay on this floor," Rayyan retorted with a frustrated whine and running a hand through his hair.

"He does have a point there, Al," Hadia interjected, signing almost fluently at this point while she spoke aloud for Rayyan. "What if this new base area locks Mr. Snuggleroot in place? It'll be better if we have it to help clear more goblins and monsters while gathering tribute points. We don't want to be stuck in the swamp without it."

"I agree that's a fair worry, but we could at least scout it out," Alim replied, obviously getting frustrated as well, with his writing becoming sharper. "We have no idea how long the other Sects are going to wait to move to this floor. We don't want to stay here for weeks if the Workers wait until the last day."

Jin interjected next. "How about a compromise? We go check out this base area, making sure it's not going to trap our base in place, and we come back to check the portal every… what was your word for Sunday again?"

"Which number day was that one again?" Hadia asked with a furrowed brow, trying to recall an earlier discussion about their calendar differences.

"The first… or seventh, depending on who you asked," Jin said with her own scrunched face.

"Let's just say every Sonsol. That's the best day, anyway," Liraz piped up, sitting next to Karam on the couch in the warm fireplace room they currently debated in.

Jin narrowed her eyes at the little Slime Witch and asked, "Is it because it starts with an S like 'slime' does?"

Liraz grinned with pointed teeth and nodded happily at Jin's recognition of the connection.

Shaking her head in amused exasperation, Jin refocused on the others and said, "Sure, every Sonsol we check the portal, otherwise we accept the fact we're here and proceed like we're stuck on this floor."

"I'm surprised you don't just leave Miss Liraz and me here while you go back to safety," Rayyan murmured, collapsing onto the couch on the other side of Karam. With a defeated shake of his head, the Lover bemoaned, "We all know you still hate me for some reason."

"Hey, we don't hate you," Karam replied, putting his hand on the smaller man's shoulder. "Miss Jin even protected you, remember? You're just saying those things because you're still tired."

"Of course I'm still tired! We've been draining our reserves every night, fighting constant waves and then stumbling through the forest portion of this bloody freezing biome non-stop. Between Alim and Jin leading us without actually committing to being called our leader, it feels like we've been going in circles endlessly!" Rayyan ranted, gesturing between Jin and Alim as he called them out on their behavior.

Jin only winced because she knew he was right… sort of. She took charge during fights because that's what she seemed to be halfway decent at, but everything else she kept turning to Alim or someone else for. She didn't want to actually be a leader, especially when she barely understood the world they were in, but part of her also didn't want to be the one held responsible if one of them didn't make it in a fight. She already blamed herself for Basima; she couldn't handle another death resting solely on her hands. Unfortunately, she was fairly sure Alim felt the same way, which was why he refused the title as well.

"We don't need a leader; we need to all agree and vote on a plan, that's all," Jin firmly cut in. She moved to crouch down in front of Rayyan and said, softer but no less firm, "Hey, listen to me carefully because I'm only gonna say it once. I don't hate you. You might annoy the crap out of me sometimes, but you've been fighting with us long enough for me to trust you enough to not simply abandon you here to get slaughtered without us or the base. You're part of our team now, so quit acting like a Lover and start acting like a God Slayer."

Rayyan looked at her, blinking owlishly before giving a lopsided smile and replying, "You know the temples will hang us for that team name if we get out of here, right? I'm not really sure I want to be one."

Jin gave a bark of laughter and stood as she replied, "Well, too bad, you're already on the roster. Now, do we all agree on the compromise plan and not leaving this melodramatic God Slayer behind?" She turned to the others, who all smiled and nodded, though Liraz seemed to pout a little.

She reached out a hand for Rayyan to take, which he accepted and stood again. Looking down at her smaller frame, he softly said, "For the record, I think you're officially insane for doing all this."

Jin laughed again and replied, "Well, then I'm unofficially a brilliant evil mastermind that's going to take down the system that made you believe it's okay to leave a teammate behind. Now, let's go and figure out how to beat this floor without going mad from sleep deprivation."

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.