A week later, Yorgar asks me to slow down, so that I don’t show my overwhelming physical prowess off too much. I have been pretty liberal in doing so, so I wonder what the problem may be? I didn’t really encounter any problems in Honecker, after all.

“This is a different city” Yorgar explains. “If you show off, the news will spread and annoying, powerful nobles will pester us for months or even years. Better to limit how much trouble you invite, and we don’t even know if the hero is at the base yet.”

I simply nod. I slow down, and Derby and Yorgar get off the cart and start walking besides it. “So the trip is finally over… It was unnerving me a little.” I complain.

“How so?” Yorgar asks as the city starts emerging from the fog. It is definitely mores the size of Roxas, rather than a smaller one. It may even be larger.

“I was just troubled that I can’t use my read as a perfect radar, since there are monsters about.”

“Hasn’t there always been monsters about?” Derby asks.

“No, at least not long, long ago. They would only be on the surface if the abandoned dungeons didn’t regularly get their first few floors cleared, though”

“I think I know” Yorgar says “I heard that when the first hero appeared, he gathered up all the able-bodied men and expanded the human territory through his massive army. He became the first leader of man, too! But it is said that he left the hunter’s guild with little no nothing left, and requests went undone and the local economy in many places collapsed.” Huh. So the requests for clearing dungeons also went undone.

“But how come they never reapplied the procedure? Seems to be trouble for everyone to have monsters between the cities” I ask.

“Don’t know” Boo, give me an answer!

We are currently at the gates, and Yorgar, Derby and I show off our hunter tags. Yorgar is 1st rank, Derby is 2nd.

“Eh? How come you are only 3rd rank, Yos?” Yorgar asks me.

“Well, I did only start up hunting again 2 years ago” Since it requires a year of service, I couldn’t possibly be the second rank yet.”

“Then, what did you do all this other time?” Ehh, guess he would have to know sooner or later.

“I was encased in metal.”

“You mean, like behind bars? In a prison?” Derby asks. Oh right, he is here too, better be a little ambiguous.

“Yeah, I was locked in an abandoned, maximum security underground prison. It took me centuries to break out, since it was really solid.” That sounds plausible enough?

“How did you eat? Didn’t you starve?” Eh? Shit, think Yos, think.

“While it is not ideal for us, dryads don’t need to eat.” Yorgar saves me, with something I think is a bold-faced lie. Hannah did eat every day, after all. Though she did make it sound like the process was a lot different than that of a human’s.

“What did you end up in prison for?” Amina asks. I haven’t shared that with anyone since my release. I guess I can give an abridged version.

“I… I wanted to change the world. And a girl offered me the opportunity to do so, but powerful men were about to kill her… I found out that I didn’t only need her to do what I wanted… I had started to fall in love with her… I bet everything on saving her, and failed. And though I was completely overpowered, they did not kill me, but rather imprisoned me.” I feel sad and touched by the recount of Atna… I still remember her expressions of desire towards me… And that one night… Why can’t you be more like her, Amina? Shit, that’s not fair.

The story turned the mood sullen as we followed Yorgar to the clan house.

“Here we are!” He says, in a forced cheery tone, probably trying to restore our mood.

As I examine the building, it is nothing like the clan house I remember, but rather seems to be a small mansion. It looks expensive, large and well-built, even compared to the general superior architecture of this era. Yorgar guides us inside, and we find ourselves in a very large main hall, but still retaining the important elements, since I can see empty mugs lying about. There are three large, long tables, stuck together to form a horseshoe. The middle seat of the center table is obviously special, it is both higher, larger, fancier than any of the other seats around. I guess that is the hero’s seat.

“I’M HOME!” Yorgar shouts out loud. A little while passes, before two men come down. One is bearded, pretty short and has scars, the other is average height, but thin and pretty?

“Welcome home, Yorgar! You made much earlier than expected!” The thin man greets him.

“Thank you, Nimor, good to see you, and you too, Arin” He says as he nods his head towards the short man who only emits a grunt and nods his head in response.

“I brought good people to bolster our ranks! Met them by complete accident too!” Yorgar talks excitedly.

“Let me introduce you!” And thus follows a sham introduction, where the names are correct but our backgrounds are the false ones we decided earlier.