It was already well past noon when Anastacia woke up to Emilia knocking on her door.

“Anna, you need to go to the guild office today. So get up already.” The priestess reminded her and kept knocking.

Anastacia felt like she had barely closed her eyes for a second. I took her almost half a minute to muster the strength to answer.

“Yeah… thanks. I’ll come down in fiv… thirty minutes.” Anastacia uttered.

She could hear Emilia walking away from the door. The next challenge would be to get her eyes open and even that seemed like too much effort. She turned on her side to face the two simulacra in the corner and slowly opened her turquoise eyes.

The king was sitting cross-legged next to his broken friend, unmoving as usual. Seeing him gave Anastacia an idea.

“Hey king… there’s some clothes in wardrobe next to you, could you pick a dress for me?” Anastacia mumbled. “When you’re done with that, please pull me up.”

The simulacrum nudged awake and quickly got up. It had some trouble picking the dress as the wardrobe was a complete mess. Everything was just stuffed inside, so he had to empty an entire shelf to get a dress out. The king looked at the crumpled yellow dress and tried his best to smooth out some of the wrinkles. Having done what he could, the king moved on with his tasks and pulled Anastacia upright by her arm.

Now that she was halfway up, Anastacia was able to work up the energy to get out of the bed and put on the dress. She glanced at the bed and it seemed more inviting than ever, but Anastacia knew that if she lied down again, she would fall asleep and the matter with the guild office was really important.

“Okay… now carry me downstairs.” Anastacia ordered and gave up on any scraps of pride she had left this morning.

Again, the king did as he was asked. lifted Anastacia over his shoulder and headed downstairs.

“You can put me down there.” Anastacia said and pointed at a table where Gilbert and Emilia were sitting.

The king placed Anastacia on a free chair and she slumped down on the table.

“Really? You’re making it carry you now?” Emilia mocked her. “Here, I ordered some grub for you. Eat up and get ready.”

Emilia handed her a plate with a chicken sandwich and some vegetables, which the necromancer gladly gobbled up. Slowly but surely Anastacia woke up properly.

“Gil, is there anything I should know before visiting the guild office?” Anastacia asked while looking around for Rosie so she could get some coffee.

“Not really, just get geared up so you’ll look the part. We could come with you if you want?” The old adventurer suggested.

“Nah, I’ll handle it. Is it okay if I pick out a quick quest for the three of us? Maybe take the king with us too?” Anastacia asked and gestured for Rosie to bring her a coffee. “I doubt he’ll be able to register with the guild so I suppose he’ll just have to pass as equipment.”

They chatted for a while about what kind of quest would be good and where Anastacia’s new haircut was from. Apparently, Rosie had found out about Xamiliere bringing Anastacia to a brothel, and the spriggan was now cleaning the baths. She would have been thrown out but Rosie and Dam were actually friends with each other, so out of the terrible places to take Anastacia to, Dam’ brothel was not the worst. The three necromancers had disappeared somewhere during the night too, most likely they left back to Mournvalley.

When the time came for Anastacia to leave, she went to her room to gear up. The mail and gauntlets she got from Coquelicot were in the wardrobe with the daggers Rosie had returned. Anastacia strapped everything on and left for the guild office with the king.

The simulacrum gathered a lot of attention on the way, many hadn’t seen one before and those that had, had also fought them on a quest to inspect a machine fort or in some other similar situation. This made Anastacia wonder if she should have given him some clothes to wear. It would have probably helped a bit.

“Don’t mind them, they’re just not used to your kind.” Anastacia said, not knowing whether the king actually understood what was going on. “Just stick with me, do what I ask and we’ll be fine.”

At the guild office they were greeted by one of the clerks, who asked them to follow him to the second floor.

“There will be three guild officials present, they will question you about the simulacrum.” The clerk explained on the way to the meeting room. “There will also be four guards present, we understand that they won’t even slow you down in case you were to do something, but please refrain from making a scene in case their rulings are not to your liking.”

The clerk knocked on a door at the end of a long corridor and opened it. He gestured for Anastacia and the king to enter and closed the door after them.

The meeting room was big and had no furniture aside from a long table in the middle and the five chairs around it. Two of which were at one side of the table and obviously reserved for Anastacia and the king, the other three were already occupied by the guild officials. The officials looked almost identical to the clerks Anastacia had already dealt with, they had the same crystalline horn and hair color.

“Anastacia the necromancer, please take a seat. We did not know whether the simulacrum would want to sit or not, but prepared another seat for it.” The leftmost official said and pointed towards the empty chairs.

“Yeah, thanks.” Anastacia said, sat down and told the king to do the same.

“We are here to discuss the matter of this simulacrum of yours.” The official on the middle stated.

“There’s two. Two simulacra, but one is broken. I’m planning on fixing him when I can.” Anastacia interrupted. “just wanted to make that clear.”

The official on the right began writing something down.

“Two? Very well… Let’s start with the one that is present. The report from one of the guards stated that it was in your control. If this is true, please demonstrate it.” The middle one said.

Anastacia wasn’t exactly sure what they meant. Did they want him to do a trick or something?

“Uh… okay. King, could you please go and stand over there? And no matter what I do, do not move.” Anastacia instructed the simulacra and got up from her chair.

Once the king was in place, she threw one of her daggers at it. The dagger bounced harmlessly off from the simulacrum’s chestplate while he made no effort to protect himself. The officials seemed impressed. Anastacia thought it wasn’t quite enough and sprinted towards the king, jumped a few meters before him and performed the most unprofessional flying kick seen to date. The impact barely moved the simulacrum and she fell on her back. The guards did their best to not burst in laughter.

“Ow… is that good enough for you?” Anastacia asked while getting up from the floor and limped to her seat.

“Yes… the first demonstration was more than enough for now. Let’s say we believe you, for what purpose did you bring them to Valor?” The leftmost official asked. “Do you intend to use them as companions on quests?”

“Well it’s a bit hard to explain, but I was offered as a bride to him by some goblins and was asked to repair the other one. Right now, I’m trying to figure out if someone here can help me with it. I’m not entirely sure what happens when I fix the broken one… But I hope they’ll stay here. Since we’re now the king and queen of those goblins and need to look after them.” Anastacia explained.

The official on the right had stopped writing and was just glaring at Anastacia.

“Are you being serious? This is an important matter.” The middle official asked, raising his voice a bit.

“Yeah. The goblins are not that far from here, they’re building a castle for us. I was kind of hoping you guys would make sure there wouldn’t be any quests about killing them off. They’re not bothering anyone.” Anastacia continued explaining.

All three of the officials stared at Anastacia, trying to figure out if what she said was true.

“We have made a decision, the simulacrum present here will be allowed to stay in the city, frankly it’s one of the less dangerous things you have attracted to us. We are also aware of the situation in Mournvalley and think it could be useful if any more necromancers try to enter the city. But, we require that you hand over the broken one for the guild to keep. We will be inspecting it and making sure it can be contained in case it becomes operational again.” The middle official declared. “You will be allowed to enter the storage as long as you inform the guards and report any changes you’ve made. As for the goblins, you will tell us the location of their ‘castle’ and we will send an investigator to see if they are indeed harmless. Do you have a problem with our decision?”

It seemed fair to Anastacia, especially if she was allowed to come and go as she pleased.

“Yeah, I can work with that.” The necromancer agreed.

“Then you are excused. The paperwork will be delivered to you when we’re ready to store the simulacrum.” The leftmost official said and nodded to the guards at the door. “We thank you for your co-operation.”

Anastacia thought that the meeting went well overall, aside from the sore back. And it was faster than she had expected, how were they able to make a decision without talking about it first? She’d need to ask Gilbert about the guild clerks.

Back downstairs, Anastacia went through the short quests. The usual hunting and guarding quests were there but none of them seemed interesting. She was about to give up and pick at random when she noticed a something interesting. Behind other notes, there was one that had barely any information on it. Anastacia picked it up to take a look at it.

“Perfect.” Anastacia grinned.