The bed stirred deep in the night, so gently I would have missed it had I not been staying awake. To be fair though, If I hadn’t stayed awake she’d have snuck away in the dark of night without a goodbye. There was no way I’d let her leave without seeing her first—talking to her at the very least. “Leaving already?” I leaned up and rubbed one eye, pretending to have been asleep.

  She wiped her face as she sat up and yawned slightly, “The sooner I leave the sooner I’ll be back.” I couldn’t tell if she was trying to convince herself, or me. Not that she needed to convince me, as it was my idea in the first place. I understood the sentiment of it, though.

  “I’ll miss you.” I said while leaning over and kissing her on the shoulder. “Be safe, please.” The kiss only paused her for a moment. She was never one to dawdle long in the morning, especially not if business needed handling.

  Her shoulder slipped from my fingers, “It won’t be long.” She said. She dressed in a moment and a ration was already hanging out from her mouth. “You need to focus on yourself for the next two days. I’ll be back before you know it.” She was right, but I still worried. It was impossible to not.

  “I know.” I said, “See you soon.” I was starting to hate the idea of goodbye. Something about it was too final for my taste these days.

  She left me with a whisper, “Soon.” and then disappeared into the hallway darkness. Her nonchalant attitude actually gave me some relief. I was as confident in her just as much as she was confident in herself. I fell back into the bed, and managed to fall asleep during that moment of reassurance.

  It was impossible to deny that not having her there in the morning felt weird. Her voice replayed in my head as a reminder that I had important things to address here as well. The downstairs chatter sobered my thoughts as I trotted down the stairs. Others were already up and eating their morning breakfast. Glenn was among them, and noticed me, “All three of the notes sold for one copper.” He smiled.

  I pulled a chair out from the table and sat, “Good, let’s put up another three after breakfast.” I turned my attention to Lucas who was smacking like a horse. “Can you take one of the lists to Lidya and have her see if their group has any of the materials?”

  Biscuit crumbs fell from around his lips as he swallowed hard. “First thing after breakfast.”

  Alan and Maria weren’t there at the moment, but Richard was, so I focused on the tanks first. “Can you get in touch with Marcus, both you and Alan, and try to work something out with the new group? Maybe training, maybe coordination? I just don’t want them lost in the event this raid happens.” He actually burped in response, but that was as good as a yes from him.

  “I’ll join you after.” Lucas added. The melee DPS should also be inclined to work with the tanks in some way, so it was good initiative.

  Anna’s duo in mischief Maria was clearly still sleeping, but I still had a similar mission for her to complete, “You probably know what I’m going to ask you, so just include Evee as well, and someone tell Thomas to connect with Rebekah.” With some quick delegation, tanks, healers, melee and ranged DPS would at least have some understanding of each other. Even if only a little, we would be a bit stronger as a group.

  No one seemed inclined to ask me any questions about my plans after I gave out orders, which was actually a welcome change today. Jessica being gone felt off, and truthfully my ideal plan wasn’t set in stone yet. The entire abode started to feel a bit constraining.

  I looked at the rations on the table, and even a few snacks that were clearly scavenged along the way. Eating now would only be for show, and the thought of Jessica lingering in my head put a knot in my stomach. “Keep me updated.” I said while standing, and then made my way out to get some fresh air.

  It wasn’t a pleasant morning to say the least. The humidity was overwhelming, and within a minute my skin felt sticky. I could be convinced I was wading through a swamp if I closed my eyes. In fact, the only thing missing when I did were the buzzing insects. Jessica was maneuvering through this right now.

  I deeply missed those few cool nights we had. They came sparingly now, whenever a cold front moved through, really. I opened my eyes and looked around. There was no one out and about, not even Lidya was out and training today. The mood probably wasn’t great given the circumstances.

  Seeing the dried blood in the dirt near the massive doors of the abode pulled me back. It was only just yesterday I had killed multiple people in cold blood. That situation… I did have a choice in the matter. I had chosen the lives of my friends, my party. It was a choice I was forced to make, but my choice nonetheless.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  I realized that it was a choice I’d make again if needed. These people were my new family, the only people I could reasonably trust in the world. It was a sobering thought to find out something new about myself—that in a tough moment I could make a hard decision.

  Still, it wasn’t all good. While I had gained new trust with my own friends, trust had surely been broken with the newcomers. Their trust in me, my trust in them, it wasn’t equal anymore. The four that died, did one of them have a brother? A best friend? A secret lover? I didn’t know if I had a target on my back now. It was an unsettling thought. Violence was becoming a more acceptable answer to any problem as time went on.

  Their power was needed though, and I desperately didn’t want to create an us or them mindset. There were still good people in the world, surely they existed amongst them. I told myself I’d give them all a clean slate, but without that dose of naivety. Sketchiness was an instant no-go. I wouldn’t let myself make the same mistake again.

  There would be a time to address the elephant in the room, but a few days of peace was in order first. That would give time to prepare, either for the impending assault on our Abode or raid we would be performing. The appeal of fresh new skills for my entire party was hard to pass up. I also needed to pick my newest slot, too.

  I took my time walking over to the quartermaster. The days after battle the abode looked so foreign. A part of me felt like enemies would jump out at any time and attack me. It felt less like a place of safety and more like a battlefield. Sixth sense told me that wasn’t the case, but that eerie thought lingered. The feeling only lasted for a few days usually.

  Unfortunately, the quartermaster didn’t have any new quest, and there was still just the raid quest in my log waiting to be completed. There were no new potions or anything of the sort, so it wasn’t just from his levels in the abode. There was also reputation to gain.

  I hoped that wouldn’t be the case, but to see any new items or potions from the quartermaster it was likely this raid quest needed to be completed, and there might even be a follow up to that quest. The first set of potions in the shop were already overpowered by any standard, so it begged the question how good would the next addition be? Especially towards demons.

  The auction house was still empty, as no one had taken from our example to post notes with information. I was sure in the next coming days we would have a response, but it seemed for now until Glenn put up new notes it would remain empty. I turned away from the little commerce section and headed back to the front.

  My thoughts remained muddled between Jessica and yesterdays incident. Standing atop the dried blood was sobering, but it was also a reminder. I did this, and not just with my minions, bone manipulation had proved useful in a pinch.

  The skill had come in clutch when I needed it, and the feeling it brought at the time was hazy. Even the pain was probably drown out by the adrenaline. The proof of concept was there at least.

  It wasn’t enough though, and so I used it against my better judgment. There was no hesitation at all, just a sharp searing pain at my elbow. A piece of bone had been forced out through my skin and fresh red blood dripped down my arm. It retracted like claws with just a thought, but the skin didn’t close behind it.

  Still, it was a clean cut that a simple heal would take care of instantly. In fact it would probably scab over naturally in just one day. Even my own self-healing would probably take care of it in a few seconds of leeching.

  I went through my inventory and pulled out some cloth that remained from our gnoll slaying days and started to wipe away the blood. A few droplets had made it down between my fingers and dripped onto the dirt below.

  “Need a heal?” I looked up to see a concerned Rebekah eying me curiously.

  I hadn’t even heard her approach in my concentration, and before I could even get out “That won’t be necessary.” An earthly flash of green illuminated me for a brief moment. “Thank you.” I said, and then continued to clean off the blood as nonchalantly as possible.

  She started to turn away and then stopped. The realization that her heal had done nothing came delayed, but came nonetheless.

  “It’s a secret.” I said. “For now, healing doesn’t work on me.” It was a fact I had wanted to keep hidden, and even from myself was willfully downplaying. Potions and healing not working in a game with one life… I was suddenly playing hard mode. “Please don’t let anyone else know.”

  She nodded without a word, confusion on her face.

  “It will be fine.” Was all I could say, but inside I was thinking: maybe it was cosmic justice for picking a minion class?