While ignoring all the shit that we probably should have talked about but were absolutely going to avoid, we made it back to the city. Then we traveled on foot to the Rogues guild.

It would have been better for the whole not getting caught issue if we’d waited longer before turning in our quest items but, after the night we had, I just wanted to be done with everything. I was pretty sure Lore was on board with that decision.

Oddly, the Rogues guild was equally as busy at night as it was during the day. We had to wait in line for a whole frustrating and silent hour before it was finally our turn.

As I entered the room behind Lore, I noticed Crimea sitting comfortably on the armrest of Guild Leader Burntwind’s throne.

When she saw us, her eyes lit up with joy and she patted her friend’s shoulder excitedly.

“So, did you do it?” The leader’s strong melodic voice sounded through the room.

“We have them.”

Her eyebrows rose in surprise. “Are you sure?”

Lore reached into thin air and pulled out three books.

“They’re copies, but you wouldn’t be able to take the original home anyway.”

She nodded and pulled out a looking glass and a bulging bag.

“As we agreed, the Mirror of Answers and your payment.” She tossed them over and studied Lore with curiosity. “You’re still planning to use it to find an artificer for your prisoner’s collar?”

Lore nodded while he studied the mirror, a grin sporadically appearing on his face as if he was so happy that he couldn’t conceal it.

She bit her lip. “It can search for anyone, you know, even if you don’t know anything about them. But once it gets locked on it will only help you find that one person so you’ll need to be extremely careful how you word your question.”

“I understand.”

Huh? The item he wanted could literally search for anyone? Then could it search for someone that knew about what happened to my dad?

Attention! You have discovered your main quest, Find What Happened to my Father. Part 1 of this quest is to prevent Lore from using the mirror. You’ll need that.

“...”

Motherfucker! Did it just tell me to choose between my partner and my quest? That quest was the whole reason I pushed myself to continue with this game despite the pain and frustration. And Lore... was looking deeply into the mirror! Shit, he was about to use it now!? Can’t I even have a minute to think about this?

I snatched the item from his hands and hid it in my inventory.

At first, his eyes grew wide with shock then horror. He turned to me, staring like I just murdered his whole family.

“Lore,” I said with a calm but shaky voice.

“Mia,” He replied equally calmly, but I sensed a hint of crazed anger. “I’ll give you ten seconds to return it.”

“I think you should calm down.”

“Do you know how much I spent, what I went through, to get those books just so I could get this one magic item?”

“I do. I was there. You need to calm down. Let’s talk about the best way to use this mirror,” I said, like a complete ass. But I also wasn’t okay with giving up without taking some time to contemplate shit.

“It was more than just money.” He chuckled unpleasantly and closed his eyes briefly as if remembering. “It was more than just effort too. And you want to use it for yourself don’t you?”

“I mean, I can’t say I’m not tempted—“

“I fucking knew—”

“—But I’m not going to use it without your permission. We’re still partners. So let’s calm down and see if there is another way to remove your collar without using the only super expensive mirror that we have.”

“You think I haven’t tried already? For six fucking years, I’ve searched everywhere for information on how to remove it, and the only way is through an artificer.”

Suddenly the whole room flinched. All eyes, but mine, narrowed as if they received a quest or notice of some kind.