Shepard folded his arms and said, “Let me get this straight, Luke. Two days ago three people died, Cormac was injured, and you want to take over? Despite having no experience hunting monsters, no firm numbers on salary, no business experience, and no idea what you are doing?”

  Luke chuckled as if that had been a joke. “I hear you, it’ll be a bit of a risk. But you know I am a solid power armor mechanic, and that’s the number one expense of the job. I’m just asking you to do what you’ve been doing before. I don't have firm plans yet, but we can learn together. Big rewards come from equal risks. This is a huge opportunity. I’m sure we can increase your salaries.”

  “No, you are guessing, you don’t know anything for sure. You haven’t even been doing this for a full Kalibutan week. Do you even have enough suits of armor left after you had to cremate three of my coworkers? Maybe you will luck out and get your shit together, but it won’t be by risking my life today.” Shepard looked at his friends. “Our lives. We are out. Maybe we can talk after the memorials for our fallen brethren. Until then, good luck.”

  Luke stood there in shock as the four of them walked back up the stone steps up to the portal. They had come all the way here, knowing the situation, and still chickened out. He hadn’t really considered this possibility. He had been planning on asking one of them to help with the business side of things.

  He turned to Bumblebee, “Are you going to leave me too?”

  The young black guy shook his head. “Nah, man. I’m in. I know it’s dangerous, I was there. I’ll help you wreck shit and put the smack down on those monsters. I think we owe it to them not to give up. If we do, then it’s like saying Cuddles, Degenerate, and Rooster died for nothing.”

  Luke nodded seriously. He hadn’t really known them, but they deserved whatever respect he could give them. “Thanks, man. I really appreciate it. We are going to kill enough monsters to honor their memory ten times over.”

  Bumblebee nodded and looked away. He wiped a tear off his face and then cleared his throat. “Aren’t you going to introduce me?”

  “Introduce, to who?” Luke said and looked around. There was no one else here but... “Oh! This little lady is Jinx. She’s a rescue, literally. I found her after a car hit her. I made her legs and runed them so she can run around. She isn’t particularly friendly, so wait for her to come to you if you want to pet her.”

  Bumblebee nodded and said to Jinx, “Pspspspss. You are a beautiful cat, aren’t ya?”

  Jinx was unimpressed and curled up on the bottom of the bag.

  Luke laughed, “I told you she wasn’t friendly. Anyway. I realized yesterday that I am missing a lot of key details about this job. First off, what are the livestock monsters we need to keep alive? Also, what kind of monsters are out there that we need to kill? And how does Cormac decide what to handle first? Does he have a schedule, or does he run around the forest scouting things out?”

  Bumblebee shrugged. “I didn’t really pay attention to that kind of stuff. He tells us what to do, and we do it.”

  Luke ran his hand through his wavy brown hair. “Come on man, you gotta know some stuff. You gotta pick up some of it just by working here for a few years, right?”

  “Ok, yeah, sure. I guess I know most of that stuff. Right. Um. There are four kinds of monsters you aren’t supposed to kill. The most important are the Red Slimes. They make the healing potions from those guys. The purple and yellow slimes are valuable too. The only slime you are allowed to kill on sight are the brown slimes. Those buggers eat the other ones, you gotta wipe them out quick.”

  “Do the different colors mean anything?”

  “Bet. Purple ones do this poison mist thing, yellow ones are earth benders. Brown ones have super strong acid. I don’t know what the red ones do.”

  “Ok, good. I think Cormac said the slimes are south of the village?”

  Bumblebee nodded. “The slimes are mostly along the southern edge of the forest. We pass through their feeding grounds on the way to the city. Cormac calls them herds, but they aren’t like that. They don’t crowd together, they just don’t eat each other."

  “Cool beans.”

  “Cool beans? What are you, sixty?”

  “Come off it, man. It was hard enough retraining myself not to swear every second word after I got out of the guard. I don’t need you giving me grief about it. Anyway. What about the other monsters?”

  Bumblebee kept smiling for a bit before he continued, “There are Crystal Golems in the caves to the west of the village. They make magic lights out of them. The training camp is supposed to take care of the Purpleheart Ents and the Gem Flies north of the city, but I guess that’s our job now.”

  Luke nodded. “You know anything about the ents or the flies?”

  “The ents are red, not purple, I know that. Don’t know why. So don’t cut down any red trees you see. The flies are the size of your fist, you’ll know them when you see them, they are all sparkly.”

  “What do they use them for?”

  “Dunno.”

  “Alright, I guess it doesn’t really matter.”

  Cormac’s grandson Eamon arrived then. It was strange seeing his space warping magic from the outside. It looked like he was just casually strolling through the forest, but every step he took brought him much farther than it should. It didn’t look like he was teleporting. It was more like his eyes were playing tricks on him.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  The young orc was wearing the same robes as yesterday, but looked taller and more imposing this time. Perhaps it was because he no longer had his grandfather to compare to. Even a juvenile orc was much taller than Luke.

  Eamon gave the assembled shrines a sneer and turned towards the humans. He said in orcish, “Luke of Machines. Or should I say Luke of Beasts? Did I misunderstand your system class?”

  “It’s my pet cat, Jinx. I’m not a beastmaster or whatever. My cat just didn’t want to be home alone all day. I won’t go out hunting with her or anything crazy like that.”

  After Luke’s cell finished translating, Eamon blinked. He slowly leaned down to look at Jinx more closely. Jinx stared back for a moment and then settled back down.

  Eamon did jazz hands and stood back up. “See that you do. I can tell this beast has the heart of a vicious killer. I would not want her loose in the forests.”

  “That won’t happen, and even if it did, she would be in danger, not anything from Kalibutan. Earthlings are all weak, remember.”

  “That will not be true of you for long. As you embrace your class, you will grow strong in body and mettle. Speaking of which, our lord will want to meet you once you are advanced past the first tier. That’s level six. Come, we will walk and talk.” Eamon said.

  “Lord Falodun is your master, not mine.”

  “He’s Lord Edobar Falodun to you. And yes, he is your master. Everyone on Kalibutan has a master, whether they accept it or not. Even Lord Falodun has a master in Dornoj Krono.”

  “That’s not how it works. I work for Cormac and his lord, he doesn’t own me. I won’t be taking orders from self important assholes.”

  “Ownership has nothing to do with... You are acting ... Whatever. You can bother the snakewoman with your nonsense. I do not need to help you with court politics. Once we get to the estate village, my gift to my grandfather will be complete.”

  The rest of the walk/jog was completed in silence. Even the monsters picked up on the awkwardness and none attacked. Luke hoped that Eamon was wrong about needing to know court politics. Luke had a bad habit of telling powerful assholes exactly what he thought of them. He might be able to hold it together for one court visit, but any more than that and he would crack.

  Eamon left them without a word as soon as they reached the city wall. Luke rolled his eyes and walked into the city. This time as he passed the barrier to the city, he noticed something. It felt different here, something quantitative, but not something he understood yet.

  He was still trying to put words to the feeling when they arrived at the Outer Runewright’s workshop. Luke rolled the door out of the way to find Kruro where she always was, in the center of the room, working at her obsidian workbench.

  Today she was working on a new set of power armor. They had to replace the ones they burned in the cremations. Luke was very thankful for the initiative.

  Kruro looked up and said in elvish, “Where is sheepman and his fellows? It is his day, is it not?”

  “Sheepman?” Luke asked and tilted his head. “Oh, you mean Shepard. Yeah, he and the other cowards bailed on us. It’s just the two of us for now. Well, three, actually. This is Jinx, my pet. Jinx, this naga is Kruro. She is pretty nice.”

  Jinx hopped out of the bag and started to slowly wander around the shop. Kruro leaned over to keep the cat in view. She kept the naga in the periphery of her vision, but mostly ignored the large snake.

  “Does it understand you?” Kruro asked.

  “She doesn’t understand words, no. But she understands tone and intent. She’s always been a smart cat. People keep asking if I am a beastmaster, but I’m really not. She won’t be fighting with me. I want to keep her safe.”

  “So, it’s just the three of you, and only two of you will be culling monsters, correct?”

  “For now, yes. I have a good idea on who I can hire to replace them, but that won’t be for a few days. I need to nail down finances and procedures before I get to that point. I hope you have some answers for me in that regard.”

  She gave him jazz hands. “Yes. Seneschal Cormac sent you a letter. I placed it on your workbench.”

  Luke smiled. After only a few days, he had his own workbench. His torn up mech suit was placed atop it with a parchment letter nearby. He walked over to grab the letter from Cormac.

  Kruro hissed. “I tried to fix your suit, by the way. Turns out, I can’t. Not easily anyway. Your inside out runes give my class a fit. I can’t use any of my class skills to fix it. I decided it was a better use of my time to fabricate a new suit of armor from scratch than to attempt to fix your crime against magic.”

  Luke chuckled at what he hoped was a joke. In the light of a new day, he saw that the damage to his suit was more extensive than expected. The metal was battered and bent, and the chitin had rends and holes. It was a miracle he was able to walk back to the estate. Thankfully, the fixes should be fairly quick. His mana torch would get plenty of use reshaping the metal and monster parts, but he wouldn’t need to reinscribe much because the runes were on the inside.

  But first, Cormac’s letter. Luke smiled as he picked up the parchment letter and cracked the wax seal. So cool. There was a short letter written in orcish. He pulled out his cell to translate.

  Luke of Machines,

  Thank you for agreeing to take over the culling duties for the next four days while I recover. Once I am fully healed, I will come talk to you in person about the future.

  My first priority is tracking down the Hive Wolves, but we do not have any leads on their location. To that end, I want you to do a thorough check of the monster herds. Start with the slimes today, then the golems tomorrow, and the ents and flies the day after that. Talk to Shepard about their locations and expected numbers.

  If you find any herd below expected numbers, then you know the hive must be nearby. We can start the extermination mission from there. Do not attack the wolves without substantial backup. At this point I am certain it is a large hive, and they will use tactics and attack intelligently.

  By the time I am healed, you should have enough suits of armor made to handle two more teams. Ten total should be enough with rotating teams and you there to keep up with repairs.

  During the short time I am out, you may keep the monster cores you collect to fund your operations. When I return to full duty in four days, the standard agreement will be reinforced.

  Seneschal Cormac Gobnait

  Luke nodded to himself. If they could collect a few monster cores, he could easily sell them on Earth and have plenty of money. It would be more than enough to attract quality candidates, and pay them and his friends well.

  It was interesting that Cormac was pretending that he would be fully healed in a few days. Even in a sealed letter to an unimportant human he was remaining secretive of his injury. He wouldn’t be able to use his class for months, but he would have to pretend to be fine soon.

  Luke really hoped the orc’s secret wouldn’t come out at the worst possible time. He slowly blinked. Maybe he should set up some backup plans. Trusting that the world wouldn’t kick him when he was down seemed like a bad idea.