Getting off the airboat, the devastation of the mangrove snatcher attack became apparent. Thad could see streaks of dried blood coating the side of a sunken dinghy, and felt that little zing of adrenaline he always got when he knew someone needed medical treatment.

  He’d known that they would meet an injured man on the trip; it had been a scene showing one of Jason’s best traits in Thad’s opinion. But he had not been quite sure when they would make this discovery.

  “Looks like someone’s hurt,” Clive said as he tied up the airboat.

  “I hope so,” Jason said, looking from the boat to the town.

  “You hope someone’s hurt?”

  “You can fix hurt, we can’t fix dead,” Thad said, only to realize he’d stolen Jason’s line as the affliction specialist looked at him and nodded.

  “Just what I was thinking, wait, can you fix dead? It never occurred to me to ask.” Jason said, looking between Thad and Clive.

  “Not at our rank. Some gold-rank healing effects can bring you back if they're used immediately.”

  “Like magic CPR,” Jason said.

  Thad nodded his head in agreement before pausing as he heard Clive’s confusion.

  “I don’t know what that is.”

  Shoot, he would need to be better about keeping Earth and Pallimustus straight.

  “Well, we can’t expect that big brain of yours to know everything,” Jason said, patting the scholar's shoulder as he walked past.

  “Hello, anyone home?! Promise not to be a talking monster! Though it would be unfortunate if I were!”

  “Well, it’s rare to see a monster that can speak below silver rank, so yes, that would be rather unfortunate indeed,” Clive said, looking around the town. “Though you, being an outworlder, may provide an interesting perspective—”

  “What they mean is, the Adventure Society’s here!” Thad yelled, cutting Clive off. He did not need Jason to have an existential crisis out here. Not while someone was hurt.

  Hearing the words Adventure Society, it wasn’t long until a middle-aged woman came out to greet them and introduced herself as the town's mayor. Talking them through the situation, Thad already knew they were dealing with Sepsis.

  “I can handle the infection,” Jason said. “The injury will take a potion. Unless you can heal injuries, Clive… Thad?”

  “No, I have some self-healing, but I can’t use it on others,” Clive answered.

  “I have potions on me, but no healing abilities… though I wish I did.”

  “What, so you could get rid of your healer?”

  “Neil’s amazing, why would I want to be rid of him? No, I think healing magic’s cool.”

  “Good to know you're less shallow than a kiddie pool, Thad, but I’ll use that potion of yours if you’ll spare it,” Jason said, only to be stopped by the mayor.

  “We really can’t afford—”

  “We’re here to save the day, Madame Mayor. All part of the service.”

  “Feed me your sins.”

  Thad watched Jason pull the sepsis from the man’s body with wonder.

  He’d memorized so many protocols, and the affliction specialist could cure it so easily.

  How many times had he needed to explain to a family that it was a coin toss whether their family member would survive?

  How many times had Thad left the hospital and cried, for the case far too gone to save?

  Seeing the man’s eyes open as he looked around the room made Thad feel so relieved that he quickly tamped down on his aura so as not to draw attention to himself. God, he loved magic.

  Thad glanced at Jason and saw this confident, self-satisfied smile as he watched the injured man come back to reality. Yes, despite Jason’s snark and pride, his willingness to step in and help was something Thad couldn’t help but respect.

  “Welcome back, mate. I’m Jason. Adventurer, raconteur, man-about-town.” Jason said, then waved his hand towards Clive. “This is Clive, scholar, airboat stuntman, and turtle dad.”

  Clive scrunched up his face at the introduction, but unable to technically find a fault, accepted it. Jason smirked at the man before turning to Thad.

  “And this is Thad, the Noble from Greenstone, known for his charity, who will be providing you a potion today.”

  “What?” the man asked as Jason went to the bandages and started removing them.

  A small vial appeared in Thad’s hands, and he pulled the stopper, handing it to the man, who looked at him and then his wife with wide eyes.

  “We can’t afford this.”

  “Well, I can’t afford to see you hurt,” Thad said with a small smile as he motioned for the man to drink.

  The potion, unlike the one Jason had used in the books, had been made from higher-grade materials and flawlessly healed the wound. However, Thad didn’t disparage the lower-cost potion, knowing that it was one of the few ways this world would get closer to healthcare for all.

  Thad looked over at the rest of the family, noticing that while there were no significant wounds like the man's, they all carried minor injuries from the initial attack as well.

  “Asano, do you have some healing ointment, by chance?” Thad asked, looking at Jason, then motioning his head towards the wounds he could see. The affliction specialist nodded with understanding.

  “One tin of healing unguent, coming up,” Jason said as a small tin appeared in his hand, and he gently handed it to the woman by the bedside. Who immediately clutched it close to her chest.

  “You both have already been so generous, we can’t—”

  “On the house, well, on me. This is your house, and we have more villages to check on.”

  “Why am I the bait!?”

  “Just be glad you're not covered in meat like his initial plan,” Clive yelled from the top of the hill he and Jason were watching Thad from.

  “Well, I’m having second thoughts about this!” Thad yelled, looking back at the water with a grimace. He’d learned from a young age to watch for gators while swimming, so knowing the monster was pretty much an angrier, stronger version of one gave him pause.

  “Oh, shut up and keep looking tempting!” Jason yelled back at Thad, who looked up with confusion.

  “Do you hear yourself right now, Asano? Are you on a mission to flirt with every Mercer?!”

  “I’m not flirting with you!”

  “Then why did you say I looked tempting?!”

  “It’s an objective fact! I have eyes!”

  “You know he has a point, if I were a monster, I would want to eat you right now, too!” Clive yelled towards Thad, who just crossed his arms and kicked the stake, his ankle was tethered too, out of the ground.

  “Oi! You better not think of wandering off, mate!”

  “I’m not a goat, Asano!”

  -User, the monster! –

  Thad whipped his head towards the water, sensing the monster just below the surface. He lifted a finger and pointed towards the aura.

  Clippy, toggle celestial bolt to 60% output.

  -You should just blast it full strength. -

  That’s a waste, and you know it, no point being flashy if a smaller amount of mana will get the job done.

  -Fine.-

  “I command the heavens!”

  A loud crack of lightning flashed into the water. Thad felt his mana dip, but not significantly enough for him to worry about overdoing it. The initial testing of his power toggle ability was going well. He walked towards the water as the Mangrove Snatcher floated to the surface, steam rising from its body.

  This was the fifth one they’d taken out today, and the sun was starting to set, and while he’d been using his abilities sparingly, there was still a bone-tired weariness of being in the sun all day. It’s probably nice that he’d come on this contract; this would have been a much longer day for Jason and Clive if he hadn’t been here.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  Thad heard a whooshing sound as Jason teleported near him using his own shadow.

  “You couldn’t have just let it get out of the water first?” Jason scowled, looking at the monster bobbing far out of reach.

  “Electricity conducts better through water. Also, why are you complaining? Can’t you walk out there, Asano?” Thad retorted, to which Jason, appearing to just now remember the fact, laughed.

  “Oh yeah, you're right. Must be a first for you, huh?”

  “Oh, shut it.”

  “I’m just glad to be here for such a momentous occasion. I wish I had one of those recording crystals going, could’ve shown it to your mum,” Jason said as his cloak appeared.

  “After the comments you made about my mother, I don’t want you anywhere near her,” Thad said as he watched the stars shining through the cloak as Jason walked out onto the water.

  “I said I was sorr— Wait, you’re that impressed with my ability, Thad?”

  “What?”

  “Your aura mate, for someone who grew up around them, your control’s rubbish,” Jason said, glancing back at the young nobleman who looked truly embarrassed and was now purposefully looking away from Jason.

  Jason lightly tapped the Mangrove Snatcher with his foot, causing it to dissolve into rainbow smoke.

  “God, that’s rank,” Thad said, covering his face and backing away from the shoreline.

  “That’s the smell of money, honey.”

  “Legit, do you not hear yourself?”

  “Just cause my translation ability makes me sound weird to you—”

  “I doubt it's your translation ability, Asano.”

  “Well, until you have one, Thad, I don’t want to hear any sass from you.”

  “Was that the last of them?” Clive asked, finally having made his way down from the hill, with Onslow in tow.

  Seeing the tortoise, Thad strolled over and scratched Onslow’s head with a smile. Such a good boy!

  Man, he missed Pretzel. He wondered who she was living with now.

  “My Quest’s still active. So, I think it’s gonna be another day out here.” Jason said, looking out at the sunset. “Best we head back and set up camp.”

  Exhausted silence filled the airboat despite the loud wind.

  Thad watched the water zoom by as he actively traced a rune on Onslow’s shell. It left a tingling sensation on his finger, but the Tortoise seemed happy. He glanced back at Clive driving the airboat, his curly dark hair flying in the wind, then his eyes caught on to Jason watching the scholar as well.

  It was nice seeing the relationship that formed the start of their fledgling team. However, it was odd getting to experience it firsthand. So much context could be lost in writing, with no single scene ever fully realized.

  Thad thought back to the conversation Jason and Clive had before they felled the first Mangrove Snatcher. Clive’s explanation that, by being an outworlder, Jason had died and reformed on his arrival to Pallimustus. The food-based analogy did little to prevent the look of shock on Asano’s face as he learned of his demise and then resurrection. The shock had almost brought Thad mentally back to his existential crisis weeks earlier.

  Not that he could explain his shared understanding to the affliction specialist. Instead, he had just quietly let the man work through his feelings, wishing there was something he could do. But this wasn’t his scene to interfere with.

  Making it back to the last town they’d visited, the town mayor, Marco, warmly greeted them. And while the inn was closed due to damage, lodging had been offered by the family of a child Jason had healed.

  There truly was something special about how Jason could so easily ingratiate himself when he wasn’t pushing against authority. Thad listened to Clive and Jason easily quip with each other as the affliction specialist helped support the tired scholar to the residence, feeling content with the friendly atmosphere.

  The house was a two-bedroom affair with bedrooms upstairs and a kitchen-living room combo downstairs. Unlike the first time they had entered the home, they were greeted by a happy squeal as a young boy ran up and hugged Jason around the middle. The boy beamed up at his savior.

  Thad fondly smiled at the boy, whom Jason had cured from cancer, now running around like nothing had ever happened. Thank goodness, Jason stopped for healing at each village. It was well worth the extra time it had taken to see the joy on the family’s face.

  “Did you get all the monsters? Can I go outside now?”

  “Emmet, don’t be so clingy, they’ve had a long day.” Cara, the boy’s mom, said as she warmed the kettle in the hearth. The young boy nodded and ran off, zooming around the house excitedly.

  “Oh, you’re back. You know, I just wanted to say thank you again.” Emmet’s dad, Terrence, said as he came over and shook each man’s hand. “Seriously, without your help… we… we.” The man stopped, overcome with emotions as his wife came and patted him on the back.

  “Don’t mind him, big softy,” Cara said, looking from the adventurers to her son, who was still bolting around the house with newfound energy.

  “Emmet, do you want to tell them what’s on offer?”

  “You’ll sleep in my room tonight!” Emmet said much too loudly for the small room, but his excitement was infectious.

  “If you want,” Cara added with a smile as she continued to pat her husband’s back, who was trying to pull himself together.

  “We don’t have much food, but I’ll have tea for you if you want,” Cara said, leading her husband to the table and having him sit down.

  “We have spirit coins, so no worries, but I’ll take some tea, actually,” Thad said as he dodged Emmet running past him and took a seat on a bench that took up one side of the table.

  “While I wish there was coffee in this world, I do appreciate a good cuppa,” Jason said, sliding in beside Thad, who could not help but mentally lament the lack of coffee as well.

  “Yes, tea would be nice,” Clive added, though the scholar looked honestly run-ragged, and by the time the tea had been served, he’d fallen asleep with his head on the table.

  Jason, Clive, and Thad stared at the singular bed in the room.

  The quiet was deafening for a second before Clive pulled out a bottle of crystal wash and poured it over his head, seeming not to care about the situation he found himself in. The scholar then proceeded to flop onto the bed with a tired groan, clothes still on.

  “Alright, I’m gonna leave, good—”

  “There’s enough room on the floor for both of us,” Jason cut off Thad, pointing to the ground.

  “Listen, no offense, Asano, but I think I’ve earned a break from you. What? You scared of being alone with another man?”

  “No—Of course not, it’s just…how can you leave me and Clive like this? Whatever shall we do!?” Jason said, dramatically leaning against Thad, who almost fell over from how tired he was.

  “We’ll probably go to sleep, Jason. Besides, without Thad, there’s enough room in the bed for both of us. It’s quite generous of him.” Clive said, turning onto his side.

  “Us… Sharing a bed? I’m fine, I can sleep on the floor,” Jason said with a flustered expression. Thad was unable to stifle his snickering, which caused Jason to give him a two-fingered salute. Thad returned the gesture in kind, receiving a puzzled expression from the affliction specialist.

  “Why the floor? This is the second time you’ve brought this up. Is it an outworlder thing? Do you not have beds in your world?”

  “What, of course, we have beds! I just figured the guy that blows up monsters with his mind would sleep better without someone kicking him all night.”

  “Don’t worry about that,” Clive said. “I grew up in a family of 11 kids, and a lot of them were kickers. It’ll just feel like being back home. Here.”

  Thad and Jason watched Clive grab the corner of the blankets with one hand and lift it in invitation.

  “Well, enjoy the cuddling,” Thad said with a smirk, seeing Jason look at him with big, desperate eyes that seemed to be pleading with him to stay. Good, this is what Asano got for getting him assigned to this contract.

  And Thad left the affliction specialist to wallow in his fanfiction-worthy moment.

  Seriously, the one-bed trope.

  If only the shipping fans of the books had known this took place in canon, they would have had a field day.

  Thad lay on his bedroll, staring at the ceiling that flickered with warm red light from the hearth. Slowly, he saw a young face come into view.

  “Hello, Emmet, can I help you?” he said as the young boy stared down at him.

  “Why are you sleeping down here?”

  “I just thought this room had a bit more space to stretch out in.”

  “Dad says your family’s very important.”

  “I would say, all families are important.”

  “Is my family important?”

  “They are to you, aren’t they?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, there's your answer.” Thad said as he watched the little kid sit down beside him, his back leaning against the couch.

  “Your name's Thad.”

  “Yes, it is, and yours is Emmet.”

  “Do you play Astralmah?”

  Realizing he was not about to sleep any time soon, Thad sat up and looked at the boy, who smiled at him.

  Clippy, what's Astralmah? I know I’ve seen it in my memories.

  -It’s a card game Thadwick played with Cassandra as kids. -

  “I haven’t played in years, so you’ll have to teach me.” Thad said.

  He watched the young boy jump up excitedly and run over to a small shelf in the room, where he grabbed a wooden box. Inside the box was a deck of cards, each card well-worn. The little boy started shuffling the deck, with intense concentration on his face, but a practiced hand, probably from being inside so much due to illness.

  “Ok, the game's easy. Even for you.”

  “Oh, even for me?” Thad laughed as he watched the kid deal a pattern he recognized.

  Three cards face down and face up in front of each of them, with five cards to hold in hand.

  Thad was surprised to see that while the numbers and letters were in the local script, most of the cards looked the same as in his world, but the suits didn’t match; instead, they looked like a star, an essence cube, a shield, and a wand. A blank figure outlined in yellow had replaced the ace, the drawing portraying light pouring from within, a visualization of a god, with each suit supporting its own deity.

  Emmet went into the rules and, to the kid’s credit, explained the game well, with the rhythm coming to Thad naturally. He could even feel a slight hint of happiness from previous memories of playing it with Cassandra seeping into his mood.

  “You win again, great job,” Thad said with a smile as Emmet laughed, shuffling the cards.

  -Why are you letting him win? -

  Cause he’s a child.

  -That’s no excuse-

  Thad took the new hand and started laying out cards in quick succession against his young opponent.

  I’m still learning. Besides, I play hard enough to challenge him, and he’s seeing the opening I’m leaving, which means he’s learning too. And maybe I’ll win to keep it interesting, but eventually, with enough time and training, it will all come down to each of our skill levels. And I won't need to go easy.

  -Kids learn by losing. -

  I mean, they’ll learn, but does that build any confidence?

  “Ope, you got me on this one, but look what I have!” Thad said, pulling out the Deity of Magic with a laugh as Emmet scrambled to counter.

  -My family never let me win. -

  You had a family?

  -That’s none of your business, User. -

  Jeeze, sorry, I’m not trying to get you banned again.

  -Why? You’d probably be happier with me gone. -

  Nah, I’d miss my grumpy lil guy.

  -Never mind, I’m getting myself banned now. -

  What? Is it ‘cause I called you lil?

  -Personal assistant has disconnected. -

  Ahhh, Clippy, come back!

  “You make funny faces when you're playing cards.”

  “Do I? I need to get a better poker face.”

  “What’s poker?”

  “It’s nothing. Say, do you want to learn a magic trick?”

  “I don’t have essences; I can’t do magic.”

  “Oh, but you can with just this deck of cards here,” Thad said with a smile, not wanting to point out that technically ritual magic still existed… but he wasn’t about to go into the finer points of ritual and array magic with a 7-year-old. He didn’t have the time.

  It had taken another hour of showing the card trick to Emmet before he’d mastered it. And soon after, completely tired out, the boy had fallen asleep on the couch.

  Thad wanted to sleep, but for some reason, despite the tiredness he’d felt throughout the day, his mind raced. So, he stared into the embers of the fire.

  Playing the card games had been nice, but it had brought up feelings he had been trying to avoid. A deep well of loneliness sat in his chest, the sense that no matter how close he got to these people… these characters, they would never really know him.

  He thought about playing spades with Nico, Marcus, and Fritz, and trying and failing to teach Ash multiple times. How Marcus and he would read each other’s micro-expressions when they bet. How Nico would yell at them for cheating, though she was a blatant table talker.

  Would he ever see them again?

  He would've kept spiraling, but suddenly he felt something. No, it was someone’s aura. Jason? Well, that had to be rare; he usually was much better at control. But despite that, Thad could feel something familiar in the affliction specialist, and that was loneliness. Isolation. That sense of loss only Jason and he could understand. Had he woken from a nightmare, or had he just been reflecting on the day?

  Thad lay there, unable to think of anything to help. He could reach out, but knowing how prickly Asano could be, he doubted that would be useful. And then Thad found himself wishing that he could tell Jason that he was also an outworlder, that he wasn’t alone. And while their situations were different, maybe there would be comfort in the knowledge of shared circumstances.

  If only.

  Slowly, then all at once." Specifically, the first work in this series, "".

  Memes based on referencing other people's fanfics.