“Tim?” “Yes, Remian?” “How much tunneling did you guys do on the East Side? The whole thing broke apart…” “Quite a lot.” “One more thing.” “What?” “We need to spy on Fal’Herim.” Remian rubbed his forehead back at the Adventurers Guild Hall, sitting with Tim, George and Mindy for breakfast. At the next table, six Lynxmice appeared to be listening to one hero Lynxmouse chitter over a stack of cheese, and at the table after that, five wolfcat cubs appeared to be minding their own business chowing down on their own food, but their ears kept twitching as the Lynxmouse told his stories. Fal’Herim; that was what the Secret Waves chief said. His claims were backed by Fal’Herim. Why of all places, did it have to be the nearest and only city for a thousand miles? Fal’Herim was practically Frontier Town’s lifeline. One look at a map could tell anyone that the Desert King’s citadel controlled Frontier Town; Remian just hadn

“What to do, what to do?” In a high tower, a man paced to and fro in front of a large crystal, muttering to himself.“Master?” a voice came from the crystal, uncertain.“Just… do the usual.” The man waved his hand. “I don’t want to bother the king about this little… hiccup. We’ll simply have to find new agents at the target point.”“What sort of creatures should I target this time?” the voice at the other side of the crystal asked.“Just… pick the strongest creatures you can get your sights on.” The man waved dismissively.“The strongest creature? Are you sure?”There was a short silence.***When Mindy and the twenty scroll-students helping her finished the first Sky Barge, the final results did not look like the drawing she showed Remian weeks ago.“We still get Guild Points for it, though, don&rsq

“We need more speed!” Remian called to Charlie across the deck of the Roving Albatross. “Spike’s headed straight for us!” “This is as much power as I’ve got!” Charlie panted. “The magic drive is going on full, and I’ve already exhausted most of my mana fusing that Tier 4 spell! I can’t boost it by much more! Don’t you realize how much weight we’re towing?!” “How can I help?” Remian asked. “Don’t! Your powers are too unstable! A sudden super-boost like yours could totally wreck my engine!!” Charlie gasped. “Don’t try it!” Remian growled. He glanced at the cannons. “NO!” Charlie barked at once. “You might very well blow us all up!” “There has to be SOMETHING I can do!” Remian grouched. “Use your Light Barriers.” Charlie suggested. “They could protect the ship if Spike starts roaring at us.” Remian clambered to the deck as Spike neared. The Tier 5 lizard was completely ignoring the town under reconstruction and seemed to b

Meanwhile, Mandy was doing what Remian really should be doing. She was studying magic. While her body recovered slowly, and Charlie's household took care of the children, Mandy somehow found she had time and ended up studying Charlie's old books. Some of them weren't there any more; Charlie had taken most of the basic wind magic books to Mindy and sold quite a few others, but plenty of others, especially those related to water and ice magic, were still there, sitting on bookshelves in a general study area that rather resembled a library. This very moment, she was reading 'A treatise on mana flow adjustment for basic water magic'. Charlie, it should be noted, would never have given away, sold, or shown this particular book to anyone. There were just too many hand-written notes in its pages that had nothing to do with water magic alongside various little drawings, and the name 'Cynthia' that kept popping up in nice handwriting… Across from her, Madam Porrin tau

Frankly speaking, today was the worst day anyone could have picked to threaten Remian.Not only had he lost the western settlement (which had been built at his expense), he’d gotten a big new debt to Charlie, plus the mystery bugging him all along had led to a sleepless night and a scarce few hours of sleep this morning. Remian was feeling very grumpy. Despite having two cups of coffee and some well-cooked (overcooked?) bacon and sausages (made from grounded Blood Rabbit meat), he still wanted to bite somebody.Instead, he led an army of wolfcats and lynxmice and let them do the biting.The ‘Deep Desert Den’ was an hour north into the desert on Mindy’s airship. The Foresight flew low, barely ten feet off the ground, Miik and his clan scurrying alongside while Carrie and the wolfcats ran on ahead. The wolfcats went ahead and started early. By the time they arrived at the Deep Desert Den, Carrie’s three packs already had a pile of kil