Oh so innocently, Notwick tilted their head with curiosity, stepping back from the ruins of their cake to inspect the paper Madam Holly held out. “What do you mean?” “Yeah, what do you mean?” Thalia leaned in from her seat toward her grandmother, speaking with a much more suspicious tone and expression. Lindle joined her, closing his status screen and narrowing his eyes at Madam Holly from the other side.

  “Now, what’s that tone for? It’s just a quest,” she answered, not phased whatsoever despite the distrust sandwiching her.

  “I more meant, why are you offering me a quest? It’s not really like I can sign up for a badge.” Notwick said.

  She shrugged. “Ah, but now Lindle can take you along for one instead of leaving you at home every time, even if you still have access to wonderful company.” Madam Holly gestured to Lindle’s mom, who took the compliment with a smile and an eye roll.

  “If you pay for the ingredients, I can make more for you, they aren’t cheap here.”

  Grinning triumphantly, Madam Holly continued her explanation. “I just so happened to be passing by the outpost the other day, and I saw that this one would be perfect as both a field test of your new body and a celebration.”

  “And why is that?” Thalia asked rhetorically as she grabbed the quest paper away to read it herself. “Past the Black Wood… Pack of undead Speartalons… led by an Undead Spear Tyrant!?”

  Thalia’s voice went a little high-pitched at the end, looking up at her grandmother in disbelief at her sheer unrepentant audacity.

  “Wait, that sounds familiar?” Dorothea questioned out loud, furrowing her brow in a moment of concentration before snapping her fingers. “Wasn’t there a quest for a bunch of Speartalons listed when you all signed up at the outpost? And you said Madam Holly put it up there with an unlisted Spear Tyrant as a trick?” She stared at Madam Holly. “Are you sending them after the same group of monsters, but undead, because they didn’t fall for it the first time?”

  Madam Holly laughed. “What? No, it’s not the same Spear pack as the one I killed.” She paused, putting a finger to her cheek. “At least… I don’t think it is? Hmm… it could be?” Now, everyone was staring at the veteran. She shook her head after a few moments. “It doesn’t really matter, and this isn’t a trick. See, the Tyrant listed is right there.” She tapped the paper.

  “Doesn’t explain why you want us to go on a quest for a nearly veteran-tier monster, unless you wanted to get your chance to show off this time by coming along,” Humphrey pointed out.

  “You’re close!” Madam Holly said before gesturing to the members of the Nine-tail heroes watching. “It’ll be for both of your parties! A double party quest.”

  Rosato opened his mouth to protest before pausing. “Huh… that’s actually reasonable for this kind of quest. A Spear Tyrant with a full pack with it would be too much for our group, but with some apprentices to take them on instead… An undead one at that…” He looked at Chip for emphasis, and when the cleric didn’t look opposed, the kitsune nodded, looking at Lindle. “From a tactical standpoint, it’s more than doable, and it would be wonderful XP.”

  Rosato looked at Lindle. “Not least of all, it would serve as a good experience for you all regarding the raid. Practice working around higher-level fights in battle would be invaluable.”

  “I agree,” Notwick added. “I’ve never been in a fight before, and I want to be useful to everyone when we go back to the dungeon. This is exactly what we need.”

  Lindle and Thalia both crossed their arms in unison, exchanging glances, asking the other silently if there was some kind of flaw in Madam Holly’s plan they could exploit to protest, but finding none. It still felt like a trap of some kind, because it was Madam Holly, but eventually, Thalia nodded, and Lindle relented with a sigh. “Fine, it’s a good idea.”

  Humphrey shrugged, entirely unbothered either way.

  “I’m glad we’re all in agreement,” Madam Holly exclaimed with a small clap. “Especially since that isn’t even the best part! If you could hand that map to either Lindle or Humphrey Thalia, I would like to see if either of them notices something interesting about the location the Talon pack was reported in.”

  Thalia raised an eyebrow but handed the map to Humphrey because he was closer. The ranger studied the map for a bit, no doubt drawing on his Int stat to enhance his memory to avoid embarrassing himself. “Yeah… I’ve made a map to near here before… back when…” His eyes lit up in recognition. “This is right by Notwick’s weird dungeon.”

  “Hey.” Notwick flicked their ear in minor annoyance.

  “Sorry.” Humphrey apologized as Lindle reached his arm all the way out over the table to look at the directions on the quest listing himself. Sure enough, the area the Speartalons and Spear Tyrant occupied was less than an hour away from where Lindle and the Nine-tails delved into the dungeon months ago.

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  “You want us to go back to the dungeon?” Lindle asked Madam Holly.

  “Of course! Surely, you planned on doing at least a little scouting before the dungeon raid and all those extra adventurers showed up. I mean, shouldn’t you see if there were any more strange artificer or ethos-related things down there? More unfinished homunculi, or creatures like that Librarian who you believe used to be a person?”

  Lindle glanced at the more experienced adventuring party, who suddenly all found other things to look at. Dorothea coughed.

  Madam Holly looked at them, unimpressed. “I see.” She pinched her nose. “I never thought the day would come that I’d be the one in a group to think ahead the most, but here we are. You.” She pointed at Theodore with a serious expression, who flinched at the sudden attention. “You’ve got the best scout capabilities here. I know it’s usually risky to scout an entire dungeon by yourself, so let Lindle load you up with all his stealth-based artifacts, grab Notwick, and let them point out anything of interest to them as far in as you can manage.”

  “Uh… that’s a good idea. I’ll do that, ma'am?” The rogue was the most flustered Lindle had ever seen him. Lindle had forgotten that the journeyman party of adventurers had barely ever interacted with Madam Holly face to face before, mostly only knowing her second hand through Lindle. A veteran tier warrior suddenly giving you orders could rattle anyone.

  Madam Holly kept up the stern look for another second before a grin cracked it. “What a sweet young man. Please, ma’am isn’t necessary.” Theodore made quiet, confused noises as Madam Holly looked at Lindle. “As for you, I’m sure you’d like the chance to look around the entrance a little more now that your Ethos sense is more developed.”

  She spread her hands out. “A chance for you all to get some much-needed practice, gather some intelligence, and celebrate with a spot of monster murder. Three birds with one stone! What are you waiting for?”

  Lindle’s mom walked in and out from the kitchen with a broom. “If you’re going to head out, would you all mind helping clean up?”

  Everyone looked at the mashed cake covering the table and cake crumbs that had been flung everywhere.

  ~

  After everyone had tidied up Lindle’s dining room, they had gone as a group to the guild outpost to sign up. Elias had helped them sign as a dual-party and explained how the rewards would be split.

  Afterward, they all briefly split up to pack their gear; it was at least a two-day journey there and back after all. Lindle stuffed most of his artifacts into his pack alongside Notwick, stocked up on rations, travel gear, and alchemical products, before meeting up at the gate to leave together with everyone.

  The weather was good at the moment, and that, combined with the fact that they wouldn’t want the undead monsters to spread too far before being eliminated, had them setting out immediately.

  Unlike the first time Lindle and the Ninetail-heroes had traveled together, the older adventurers were much more experienced with traveling in the Glacial Reach, the group accepting what had likely been dozens of quests in the months since they first arrived. All of them had learned something close to the [Trek] technique to keep their footing and stamina in the snow. Humphrey had started the journey pretentious about needing to slow down for the Soarians and then thoroughly humbled when they kept pace easily and repeatedly showed him up in the case of Theodore when it came to scouting.

  He had simply grumbled when Lindle pointed out to him that Soarian adventurers rarely ever stayed in the Glacial Reach longer than a month, and of course adventurers a full tier above him would adapt.

  It had been a couple of hours of trekking when they slowed down in a part of the Black Woods warmed by several Steamheart trees. Lindle set down his pack and pulled out Notwick. Hedgehog secured safely on his shoulder by a vine, he called out to everyone. “Alright, everyone! Artifact time!”

  “Yes!” Thalia exclaimed happily, reaching into her pocket and putting on her Decomposers Palm glove and drawing Lotus Thorn with a flick.

  Lindle tossed Humphrey a bundle of arrows with multi-colored arrowheads, many of them having different textures and shapes. It was quickly followed by the pair of Lynx Prints boots. Humphrey put them on quickly to avoid freezing his feet. Petalshade was already on his finger underneath his glove.

  All three of them put on their versions of Frostgreed at the same time, if only for dramatic effect, as the ethereal ice shields sprang to life. Lindle put on his Pureheart ring, and the Heartpure ring went to Thalia. Its effect was better for emergency healing, and Lindle still remembered the scare they had when the zombie mammoth had landed a serious blow on her.

  Lindle held back some giddy laughter as he put on his Alzmeymical Gloves, reflexively swirling his MP pool. Wildhunt Warhorn went on his hip, and this time, a little cackle escaped his lips. Both of these were the artifacts he was the most excited to test personally.

  The artifacts Dorothea and Rosato had bought from Lindle were on their persons, the kitsunes taking them out into the open. Rosato attached the Snowblind Rage talisman to the front of his shield. Using [Ethos Ignition], Lindle had combined Ethos from a Vine Flake, a local plant monster that used spores to send its targets into a rage, and the feathers of a Shinegoose, which reflected concentrated moonlight off its feathers into vulnerable eyes, to create an artifact that let Rosato send out rage-inducing flashes of blinding light.

  The spellcasting cousin had been inspired by Frostgreed, wanting an artifact that synergized with her ice magic, so Lindle had re-used some of the same aspects he had built Frostgreed with to draw on the ambient cold, but instead of creating protective shields, Lindle had reversed the mana-draining aspects of the Wretched Willow to increase Dorothea’s MP regeneration. It had become a wand holster made of scales and wood named Permafrost Well that the mage swapped her normal holster for.

  Chip and Theodore were the only ones who simply watched, the latter having said he’d take his stealth artifacts when they arrived at the dungeon since he would have to take them all from Humphrey. When Lindle looked at the former however, he got an idea.

  He reached into his pack and tossed the Hotpond Band to Chip.

  The cleric shot him a confused look after he caught it and read the description.

  Still filled with a little manic energy, Lindle gave him a savage grin before answering the unspoken question. “Boiling Holy Water that won’t freeze in the cold.” Notwick raised his little paws and rubbed them together evilly to match his energy.

  Chip’s eyes widened before he looked at the artifact in a new light and put it on.