Krow shook his head at Ebry. “They’re his horses.”

“But the waste, Krow! Think of it.”

“Not our waste.”

“I came to you for support,” Ebry all but whined, theatrically pressing the back of his hand to his eyes.

He really was related to Morumain.

“I support the view that a person can do whatever they want with their belongings.” Krow felt whole organizations of animal conservators on Earth look around suspiciously, feeling the need take up arms at the blasphemy that came out of his mouth.

He made a mental note to delete that clip from his personal database as soon as he logged out. 

He looked around. 

The vid-owl appeared to have gone up a level in Stealth; he couldn’t see it anywhere.

His video records would always be pinned to the same three angles, plus the avatar perspective, so the lurking thing should be around somewhere.

A hand clamped on Krow’s shoulder.

“My friend,” came a wet voice. “Your words are a balm!”

Krow glanced behind him. The runaway Avan Fresland was staring at him with teary eyes.

Baffled, he looked at Ebry, who huffed and looked away.

Bro, you’re not my girlfriend, alright?

Why are you acting like a wronged maiden?

“Krow,” Calon said immediately. “As you and our guest have a philosophical connection, you’ll be assigned to his security until we reach Tvarglad.”

Shkav, no.

That bastard.

In another life, he’d done escort jobs.

Avan Fresland seemed to be the worst kind of protectee ever. Flaky, airheaded, convinced of his own greatness, and a talker.

Calon had taken the opportunity to dump all that on him.

He opened his mouth to protest, but Calon strode away stiffly.

Tsk.

He hoped the escort leader retained that road rash for days.

He shoved his revolver into its holster.

“You are Krow? Have you ever been to Baraldore? It is a city of great beauty, you must visit. I once traveled your sky-cities, you know. Excellent, but somehow I always felt a yearning for home.”

Krow leaned back, murmured to Ebry. “How long until Tvarglad again?”

“Three hours.”

Three hours. He could deal.

“Great.” He smiled grandly at Avan. “What are your favorite places in Baraldore, may I ask?”

“Oh! I’m glad you asked, there are so many! There’s the Palace, of course, do you know it has two thousand and two hundred rooms in total and over nine smaller interconnected palaces? You must see the Palace Gardens when you visit, it has many more specimens than the gardens you have in your skies, haha! Then there are the conservatories, by the Eighteen, they can’t be missed! Better than your morning songs, I hear, eh?”

He couldn’t deal.

Ebry brought Krow a horse, patted him on the shoulder with a smug smile, and quickly left.

He cursed at the siren in his head.

He’d been planning to sit his new protectee by Ebry. 

Because if he was to be tormented, then others should share in the torment too!

Krow was part of the protection detail, but he was only technically under the command of Calon, alright?

If the leader slacked off, his subordinates suffered.

Avan nimbly mounted the horse, still talking. “Have you heard of the Crystal Baths in the south of Baraldore? Refreshing, I say. Refreshing! Like a morning ride, hm? What a morning. I am ever grateful that you all came by, did I say? Oh, you are the one I threw the dagger at? I must apologize, I was distraught. So distraught I could not answer when you spoke.”

Was there something that can be done to make the man descend into distraughtness again?

Krow looked around in consideration. 

He was surely not the only one thinking it. 

Who would make a good accomplice?

Unfortunately, the riders moved away from them. Ebry glared at Krow as he and Avan stayed by his wagon. 

He smiled sunnily back. “Are we there yet?”

Ebry twitched, face falling as he understood Krow wasn’t moving from his post. “Two hours and three quarters.”

Only fifteen minutes had passed? It felt longer.

That forsaken Norge, what kind of twisted mind came up with an escort quest like this?

“Oh, I almost forgot, next month there is the Aska Stakes at the Breness Racecourse. You know the Breness, certainly! I’ve never met anyone who didn’t. I…someone I know has a horse in the running, so you must bet on Garblue Lightning! Best out of the Grayesand Stables yet!”

Krow endured, nodding when the man turned to him during a particular enthusiastic recommendation.

City key, he told himself. The Enchanter’s Library.

To enter the Enchanter’s Library, a player needed to know someone who was a part of the Tvarglad Enchanters’ Association or work their way up the ranks of the organization.

Either way would take time that Krow didn’t have to spare.

His papers from the application for the Bloodright Gauntlet returned, and with it a Unique quest. He had to be at least Lvl 30 to participate.

There were two level brackets. The lower bracket had a minimum of Lvl 30.

Krow had a feeling that just gaining Lvl 30 wouldn’t be enough to fully take advantage of the opportunity. That was why his goal was the next tier, which started on Lvl 45.

He had two and a half months to prepare.

That was cutting it close.

One reason why he was making this trip now: once he started going deeper into the Forest, most of his time would be spent on his gear.

The quest he was after was ‘The Lost Tigercat’ quest in Galbrane.

But since the route was going through Tvarglad, how could he pass up the opportunity to acquire something for his future Enchanting career?

Despite the draculkar despising the vargvir race, vargvir were actually some of the best enchanters in Redlands.

Tvarglad was, in another life, one of his favorite cities to explore.

Finally, he would see something familiar and dear with his own eyes. Virtual eyes, but still.

Krow was looking forward to it.