Piper raised her fists as Jason barreled in her direction. The hulking man hurled a punch at her, and she raised her arms to block it. She barely had time to register shock as his mailed fist blew right through her defenses. The blow smashed into her jaw and sent her flying.

  Stars danced in her vision as she hit the floor and rolled through the disgusting straw. She didn’t come to a stop until she struck a thick table leg. For a moment, she lay there, disoriented, with pain radiating down her face.

  Pushing herself up groggily, she looked up at Jason, who was unleashing haymaker punches at Selene. However, his lumbering strikes kept missing as the dark-haired woman bobbed and weaved, even backflipping up onto a table at one point.

  Althea appeared at Piper’s side, pressing her hands against the injured jaw. “This will take away the pain for the time being,” the woman said. “But I can’t deal with the fracture at the moment.”

  Piper pushed the healer aside and stumbled to her feet. She had to get back into the fight. She could worry about healing later. Right now, her new friends were in trouble.

  As she lurched forward, she used [Identify] on Jason.

  Human, Level ???

  Ding! Your skill, Identify has reached level 11.

  At the sight of the question marks, she felt a chill creep up her spine. No wonder Lukas hadn’t been able to resist Demetrios’s brothers. This one man was over 200 levels above Piper, and based on his gold badge, he had at least one epic class. That meant his stats were probably far higher than her own.

  If she were going to win this fight, then she needed to use her class to its full potential. No matter the consequences. As she watched an orb of water blast Jason, she prepared to cast [Umbral Terror].

  Before she could unleash her spell, the front door to the inn banged open, and the innkeeper led a swarm of armored men inside. They carried long spears, round shields, and the one in the lead had a red horsehair crest on his helmet.

  “Town watch!” the lead armored man roared. “As sergeant of the watch, I order you to cease fighting immediately!”

  Piper hesitated for a moment. Then she raised her hands and stepped back. After a brief hesitation, Jason also lowered his fists and grinned.

  The man with the crested helmet strode over to George. He poked the much taller man in the chest. “You know there is no fighting in the city. Do you need to cool your heels in a cell for the night?”

  “Fighting?” George said. “Who was fighting? We were merely having a conversation with our new friends.”

  The town watch captain surveyed the room before snorting. “You’re just lucky there doesn’t appear to be any damage.” He then turned toward Basil. “Do you wish to press charges?”

  Basil nodded his head. “I most certainly do. This man assaulted my party.”

  After inspecting the group, the sergeant shook his head. “I’m not going to waste hours on paperwork if none of you are even maimed.” Turning his gaze to Lukas, he continued, “Mind you, this fellow looks like he’s endured a beating. What about you? Do you want to press charges?”

  “I… fell and hurt myself,” Lukas muttered. “It was my own clumsiness.”

  “I guess it’s your lucky day.” The man in the horsehair helmet said to George. “However, in the name of the law, I demand that you release this man immediately. And don’t let me hear about you causing trouble again. I don’t care who your father is; you can’t break imperial law in the city. If you have trouble with this group, settle it outside of my jurisdiction.”

  George gave Piper a thin smile. “I’ll be seeing you again very soon.” With that, he gestured at his brothers, and together they left the inn. The moment they’d departed, the music resumed, though the conversation was slower to follow.

  As Lukas sagged forward, Piper and Althea rushed over to his side. The healer immediately began using a spell of some sort. Together, they carried him over to a chair and deposited him on it.

  Ophelia tossed her wooden sword onto the table with a clatter. “I need a real weapon.”

  “No, you really don’t,” Piper said, pain radiating down her jaw as she spoke. “If you’d gotten involved, they would have mopped the floor with you. The last thing I need is you fighting people hundreds of levels above you.”

  Selene returned to the table, her daggers disappearing into wherever she hid the blades. “I almost fainted when I used Identify on them. At least now I can say I fought an adventurer and survived.”

  “They were adventurers?” Piper asked as she leaned Lukas back into the chair.

  “And extremely powerful ones at that,” Selene said. “Didn’t you see their badges?”

  Piper shrugged. “I’ve never seen one before.”

  Selene pointed at her own badge. “Unlike ours, they have a full tree on them. Next time, try not to pick a fight with someone who can bring down the entire inn around our ears.”

  “He didn’t seem that strong.”

  Selene rolled her eyes. “He didn’t even draw his weapon, and he took on our entire group. If he’d wanted to, he could have killed us all in an instant.”

  As they’d been talking, Althea had been ministering to Lukas. Some of the swelling had gone down on his face, and the bruises had faded slightly. He could even see out of both eyes now. But it would probably take a few days until he was back to normal.

  Piper squatted in front of Lukas. “What happened?”

  Lukas laughed before he grunted with pain. “They didn’t like the fact that I came home from the Black Pyramid, and their brother didn’t. I guess they thought Demetrios was a better aspirant than me. The sad part is that they weren’t wrong.”

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “So, they beat you for that?” Basil exclaimed. “That’s shameful behavior. To hold someone accountable for something that happened on a quest is ludicrous. Everyone knows the dangers when they accept one.”

  “They didn’t just beat me,” Lukas said softly. “The day we arrived back in the city, they kidnapped me. I’ve been held at their family’s manor for over a week now. They… did things to try to make me confess to murdering their brother. But I kept telling them it was a demon that killed him. Which only made them angrier.”

  Lukas took a deep breath and turned toward Piper. “I’m… sorry I brought them here. I thought if they heard the story from you, they might believe me and let me go. It was stupid, and I almost got you hurt.”

  “Don’t worry about it.” She patted his hand and stood up. “If they come back, I’ll deal with them.”

  Selene chuckled as she sat down primly in a chair. Crossing her legs, she shook her head. “You’re going to deal with a trio of high-level adventurers?”

  “She’s stronger than you think.” Lukas winced slightly and touched his face.

  Althea placed her hands on her hips. “Both of you stop talking this instant. Especially you, Piper. You have a cracked jaw, for goodness’ sake. I knew someone struck with an enchanted gauntlet once. They kept talking until one day their jaw just fell off. Is that what you want to happen to you?”

  Piper rubbed her chin, wincing in pain. More than anything, she wanted to use [Demonic Blood] to heal the wound. But she wouldn’t be able to do that until she got back to her room. Then she realized she might have to hold off using her racial skill altogether.

  For some reason, it seemed that Althea could sense injuries. If she went home with a broken jaw and showed up completely healed tomorrow, it might raise some uncomfortable questions. Would she have to endure this agony for a few days?

  In her old life, she’d lived in almost constant pain. But since arriving in this world, she’d gotten used to pain-free living. The thought of dealing with a cracked jaw for a few days soured her mood.

  “Stand still,” Althea said. Reaching up, she took Piper’s head with both hands. She closed her eyes and began to channel a spell. After a minute, she removed two bones from a pouch and touched them against Piper’s cheek.

  Piper felt a soothing sensation creep down her face. Slowly, the pain dissipated, leaving only a dull ache in its wake. She moved her jaw from side to side before realizing that was a very bad idea. The pain came roaring back and made her stomach twist.

  “Stop doing that,” Althea said, shaking her head. “It took almost all of my mana, but you should feel better by tomorrow.

  “Thank you,” Piper said earnestly. So far, she hadn’t really seen the group's healer in action.

  “I’m happy to help.” Althea said. “Just try not to get hit again in the future.”

  “I’ll do my best.”

  To be honest, she felt a little silly having been taken out by a single punch. She should have been more cautious in the fight. In the future, she’d have to assume all her opponents were more powerful than herself. Especially when they were wearing gold and silver adventurer badges.

  Returning to her seat, she settled down and began to spoon the now-cold food into her mouth. The others returned to the table, while Lukas took a chair at the end.

  After trying to chew, and failing spectacularly, she resorted to just sipping the stew’s gravy. As she finished her second spoonful, she noticed Lukas looking at the food longingly. “Are you hungry?”

  He nodded. “But I don’t have any coin.”

  “You don’t?”

  Lukas shook his head.

  For the first time, she realized his ridiculously oversized backpack was missing as well. “Did the Orion brothers take it?”

  “They stole all my possessions,” he said bitterly. “I have nothing left.”

  Basil leaned forward. “Why not report them, then? How can you allow this wrongdoing to occur?”

  “They belong to one of the most powerful families in the city. That’s a quick way to end up in a shallow grave.”

  “I still say that you should report them.” Basil frowned deeply. “It’s simply not right that they’re breaking imperial law with impunity.”

  “Why don’t I buy you a meal?” Piper suggested. “I still have some coin left over.”

  Lukas shook his head. “I can’t ask you to do that…”

  “I insist. After all, I owe you for helping me get across the Black Pyramid.”

  After she flagged down the innkeeper, Lukas soon had a plate of steaming food in front of him. Watching him polish it off quickly, she ordered him a second one.

  Apparently, he hadn’t been fed much during his captivity. And he’d been on the edge of starvation when she first encountered him outside of the Black Pyramid. The young man looked like skin and bones.

  As Piper softened her bread with the gravy, her [Ambush Detection] blared a warning in her mind. She simply rolled her eyes as a wooden sword poked her in the ribs. As she’d feared, it hurt way more than a stick.

  “Got you, foul demon.” Ophelia whispered into her ear, with a satisfied smile on her face. “You’re just too old to keep up with me.”

  Glaring at Ophelia, she decided they were going to have a very long talk when they got home. While she understood her friend was used to living alone on a farm, she needed to learn to watch what she said in public, even in a whisper.

  Across the table, Selene’s eyes widened with horror. “What a horrible thing to say to her!”

  “You heard that?” Ophelia blushed and pushed back a strand of her blond hair. “She knows that I’m just joking.”

  “But to call someone a demon…”

  “Is that what she whispered?” Basil dabbed at his mouth with a handkerchief. “While I don’t know about the Bloodveil Empire, to call someone a demon here is a great insult. Duels have been fought over less.”

  Ophelia almost seemed to wilt in her seat. “I didn’t really mean it…”

  “It’s fine,” Piper said, forcing a smile. “There were a lot of old demonic ruins around our farm. We used to play a game pretending to hunt demons all the time when we were younger.”

  “If you say so…” Basil trailed off before clapping his hands together. “Now, let’s talk about tomorrow. If we arrive first thing, we’re almost guaranteed a good quest.

  Piper tried to listen as Basil droned on about the different quests they should try to take tomorrow. But she felt her mind wandering as her eyelids grew heavier.

  She couldn’t wait to get back to the inn and flop onto her bed. Her warm, comfortable bed. Whatever Basil was talking about was future Piper’s problem. Right now, all she wanted was some sleep.

  Stifling a yawn, she rose from the table. “We’re going to head back to the inn to get some rest.”

  Basil stood up as well. “It was most interesting questing with you today. See you at first light tomorrow?”

  “Sure.” She took a step and then froze. “Wait. First light?”

  “To ensure we get an appropriate quest.”

  Piper chewed on her lower lip before nodding. Hopefully, in the future they could start taking the middle-of-the-day quests. Because she did not like waking up before dawn.

  Selene gave her a cute lop-sided smile. “It’s been fun.”

  With a wave to Althea and Lukas, she headed for the exit. She paused at the door and glanced outside to make sure the Orion brothers weren’t lying in wait. Then she set out in the direction of their inn.

  At least she thought it was the direction, but Ophelia had to correct her after a few steps. She couldn’t help but think that maybe an explorer or mapmaker class wouldn’t be such a bad idea after all.

  When they reached the end of the street, she realized they were being followed. She grabbed Ophelia, ignoring her protests, and ducked into an alleyway as a shadowy figure drew nearer.

  Her heart hammered in her chest, and her mouth went dry. If it was one of the Orion brothers, she was in serious trouble. Even with [Demonic Fury], she wasn’t sure if she could stand against a single one of them.

  Piper exhaled with relief as Lukas stepped into a pool of moonlight. She emerged from the shadows, making him start. “Why are you following us?”

  “I… don’t have anywhere to go.”

  Piper twirled a strand of hair around her finger. She couldn’t just leave Lukas to sleep on the street. Not after everything they’d been through together.

  “I guess you can stay in our room tonight,” she said. “But you sleep on the floor. And don’t touch anything!”

  “I promise I’ll find a way to repay you.”

  An idea formed in her head, and she grinned. “I know exactly how you can do that.” With a glance over at Ophelia standing nearby, she asked, “How do you feel about being poked with a wooden sword?”

  Lukas stared at her dumbly.

  Motioning for him to follow her, she realized she’d found the perfect tutor for Ophelia. And he would work for room and board.