The people of Salcret were a hardy bunch. You had to be, to create a self-sustaining settlement surrounded by magic- and non-magic beast and flora alike. Of course, having Skills helped a lot. Imagining that Humanity somehow managed on Ross for a time even without it, supposedly, was a mind-boggling idea.

Dormata was the capital of Humanity, and from its roads spread village and town alike, all the way to the borders. Luckily Humanity was mostly surrounded by vast swathes of wilderness rather than opposing civilizations. The Cloven being the exception to the rule. That did not mean there wasn't the occasional raid, every area had its opportunists after all. But the heartlands were safe from all but the major threats.

Salcret was lucky to be down south of Dormata, most other villages and all the greater townships rather spread to the east and west, positioned almost like a shield for the sleepy home town of Harold. This was despite being located near the middle of Elderwood. Salcret was still a frontier town albeit on the smaller side, just not in every direction thankfully. There was still the two weeks trip to the nearest other town, but by the time you arrived there, there wasn't more than a day's worth of travel to the capital anyway. That was the way the people of Salcret liked it. The town was barely more than a hundred years old, and its founders had chosen the spot for various reasons, not least the quality of the earth on that one hill.

Lena was one of the descendants of those very founders. Today she was moping around the town square, letting the lack of sun bother her far too soon into the lightless season. Since purchasing the Hare's retreat at a bargain, thanks to the village funds that encouraged young villagers who wanted to travel, which then again Lena had in fact contributed to. So, maybe it wasn't such a bargain. Anyway, since making said purchase Lena had been doing quite well. She still served breakfast and had a few rooms to rent for the occasional trader, including the [Farmers] and [Foresters] from the outskirts of Salcret who just felt too drunk to make the walk home, but other than that she spent her days preparing some food to take over to the Hare's Retreat, where she relieved the young Aspiring [Innkeeper] who was trying out the life during the day shift. They were making bread, and the life probably wasn't looking at all bad for the teen who just had to serve drinks and keep the place decently clean, while handling the occasional stock refill and getting paid. Of course Lena was waiting until he actually picked the Class before springing the heavier, yearly chores on him. This wasn't her first rodeo.

Harold, Kalle and Oscar returning so soon, and not having faced utter defeat, but with a stranger in tow, was a big surprise. Lena had given them good odds, and the Captain had agreed. Only a five percent chance they ran into something dangerous and came back to live quiet lives, most predators should still be fat and slow from the summer season, but less than one that they returned with something like this. A complete stranger, who made quite the splash when she sold quite the superior quality hammer in the square yesterday.

Lena was just returning to her own place, having closed up the Hare's Retreat when she heard shouting voices from the, until recently, vacated lot behind her own house. It was Harold's voice.

"[Guild Master]!? Why would you ever pick such a Class, you could have made any number of choices, we don't even have a guild in town, surely you know this or could have asked?" He didn't sound angry, more surprised into shock and frustrated confusion. He apparently received an answer, but not one he liked.

"What, what are you even talking about, we just started those yesterday, and we don't even have any way of recruiting more members, they need to be casters, remember?" This was getting confusing, but Lena was almost leaning to hear more and figure out what the situation was. [Guild Master]? Maybe she has a plan, something like the founders.

"So what about now then!? Are you just going to loiter until we find a location, not leveling for the whole winter?"

The response he got seemed to finally calm him down because the shouting ceased, and the continued discussion was too low to hear across the yard.

Interesting, maybe things are shaping up to something new around here.

Livia proudly declaring her Class had not been as well-received as she hoped, but Kalle had been sure he was just missing something, and Oscar leaned towards that mindset as well. Harold was the one whose frustration boiled over into an eruption, but he too was open to wisdom once he heard it. A Class was all about how you personally shaped it on your path, after all.

"There's no need to worry at all, even now at level 1 I can do a lot of useful stuff. But my Class is a bit like Kalle's in that some abilities work better if I don't explain them, it's just so you don't start feeling like everything I do is to level and not because it's actual advice." She was thinking specifically of her [Nurture Talent] Skill, it was unlikely to work quite as well if you completely lost any personal relationship and your guild member started feeling like all you did was aimed at cultivating their talent. Nobody wanted a robot for a leader.

"And even if we don't have any recruits knocking on the door right now, by the time we leave I definitely plan on leaving with someone else too, besides us four."