"If you want a lighter sword, bring me my tools and lighter ether roots," Thomas Warren's Son complained. "Not one runesmith in the world's going to place a swiftness rune in a fucking iron root."

Andre's brows furrowed. He held back the deeper scowl that tried to twist on his face. The smithy was dark, lit only by the forge and a few candles, for Thomas refused to install an ethereal lamp. Too much light made it hard to focus, apparently. The basement, with its stone walls, tasted musty from the blazing furnaces. Andre was already light-headed from the lack of air.

"You claimed you could not work with more complicated ether roots," Andre said.

"Not with these toys I have to use as tools," Thomas said, matching Andre's expression. "How many days ago did I request a branch of black aspen? You still haven't found one?"

Your daughter—orphan daughter—worked with just a simple tuning fork, Andre thought. For someone that Andre spared out of prison, this old man was the most infuriating person Andre had worked with.

"Black aspen grows on the fourth level," Andre said. "Getting hold of it has proven difficult."

Thomas rolled his eyes. "If only a perfect set of tools hadn't been destroyed along with my home. Wouldn't that have been fantastic? How is it that I've never had problems purchasing black aspen, but you dimheads somehow struggle?"

Andre crossed his arms.

"To answer your question," Thomas said. "No, I cannot create a lighter sword. Not if you want it to have four runes. These steel piece of shit crochet hooks are too heavy, slippery, and all around impossible to work with. I can make do with heavy roots, since their surface is already rough, but not anything softer. For that, I need black aspen. I can't craft a good enough sword to save my daughter without the correct fucking tools."

Andre closed his eyes and breathed in. If the old man in front of him had been anyone else, Andre would have lost his patience by now. But the three swords that Thomas had completed showed results. The crystal mithril sword Melloris wielded was strong enough to overpower any spirit blade.

Problem was, spirit blades were quick. A good swordsman could outmaneuver Melloris with swordsmanship. That was how Vanitas Gemseeker ended the Greenwitches' streak of domination in the arena. A humiliating defeat for Andre and his team. With a lighter sword more fit for dueling, Vanitas would have been defeated.

"If four runes is too much, make a three-runed sword," Andre said. "We need a swiftness sword."

Thomas grumbled something under his breath. before saying, "I'll start tomorrow."

Difficult old man, Andre thought. He bowed, but only for the sake of discouraging Thomas from spitting inside their swords.

Andre exited the basement and entered a hallway of Greenwitch's base of operation. Sunlight shone past the open curtains, lighting the marble flooring. It had felt good to return to the surface, underneath a clear sky, wearing his actual outfit instead of the rags in Zand, but the novelty had quickly worn off, and a hunter's daily life had replaced what satisfaction he'd momentarily felt.

Storm season was supposedly coming. Greenwitch wouldn't struggle. Not with the swords they had. Any boss monsters that specialized in a tough defence would be cracked open. The question wasn't whether their hunters were strong enough, but rather, how many swords Thomas could manage to craft, and how many storms Greenwitch could afford to purchase for themselves.

Vivi might become a problem, Andre thought. The girl was distracted down in the earth below, busy wasting her time. Andre had believed keeping her alive would be good just to give Thomas more of a reason to live. The only reason Thomas worked so hard without pay was with the belief that his swords would be used to save his daughter.

Now that Vivi knew her grandpa was alive, she would probably try something stupid. Although, her efforts would probably take a while. She didn't know how to get to the third level. Most likely, she was lost on the fourth level right now.

I should have just killed her and lied, Andre thought, sighing.

He walked to the end of the hallway with no goal in mind, lost in thought, when a loud ringing sounded from the corner of the room—from the ethereal alarm system set in place.

Andre lifted his eyebrows, gritted his teeth, and rushed to the foyer. "What's happening?" he shouted.

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"It's Vivian Runeblessed!" Igni, the head butler said. "She has arrived in Surchester"

"What?" Andre shouted. "She's here? With whom?"

"She is alone in the plaza right now," Igni said.

"Alone?" Andre asked. "Capture her!"

"Sir, that might be difficult," Igni said. "She has requested a formal meeting with all hunters present in Surchester. She claims she wishes to clear her name."

***

The human capital, Surchester, reminded Vivi of a certain floating island she despised, but with a few key differences.

The huge buildings of the capital were built of far more normal materials. The richest establishments had marble facades, while the tenements of lesser townsfolk were built of painted hardwood with tiled roofs. Hunting companies tended to have the most interesting establishments, houses constructed in odd shapes with more uncommon materials such as smoothed graphite.

The oddest thing was the sky. A ring of rainclouds surrounded the city. The sky directly above the city—clear but grey—was open and cloudless. As rainclouds intersected with the city sky, some unseen force pushed them to the sides, circling around the city.

The force also clumped the clouds together, creating the thickest, stormiest clouds that Vivi had ever seen. Crossing them would be dangerous even with a raincoat. It was said that entering Surchester was only possible through teleportation.

Vivi stood in the middle of what Lucius called the Hunters' Plaza. She was clad in her dark swordmaiden's dress, makeup freshly done, though smudged slightly from the rush to get into position.

The plaza was an open square with a few rocky stands to the sides. Nothing about it looked special, but this was apparently the place where ether hunters most often held public hearings or spread announcements. With Vivi's arrival resonating across the city, hunters were slowly arriving. The hunters picked their seats, waiting patiently for the hearing to begin.

Ythar's imposing pyramid-shaped palace loomed a few streets in the distance. Vivi stood perfectly still as she waited for her hearing to hopefully be accepted. Is there a chance Ythar himself shows up?

"Very unlikely," Lucius said. "Ythar fell asleep a hundred or so years ago after blessing the humans with spirits. I have talked to him only once. During my creation. Demigods enjoy their sleep."

Vivi took a deep breath, feeling the auras of each hunter that arrived in the plaza. She recognized a few hunting groups from Paradise. Most people, however, were strangers. Her core tickled from all the prying eyes examining her and Lucius, as if a dozen etherprint scanners were reading her all at once.

Everyone saw the million ether, as well as the three skills in her core—the third of which was a rare skill she borrowed from Shivenar. Vivi hadn't yet activated it, and she hoped she wouldn't have to. The skill's presence was on another level compared to common skills. Lucius claimed it was a decent skill. Not quite an exalted skill, but a good one nonetheless. Just having all of her skill slots filled for examining was enough to spark whispers amongst the crowd.

As for her void core… Lucius said hunters wouldn't know what it was even if they saw it. Vivi hoped that was true.

"Look, familiar names!" Lucius said as a new hunting group arrived. "The Goldbridges. And that's the Lifeweavers. Those white and green uniforms are new. The Solis? Or the Gemseekers?"

Such odd names… Vivi thought. Ythar came up with these all, right?

"Yes, and insulting the names is not a good idea."

I'm just happy we haven't been killed yet, Vivi thought. She sensed guards on every exit; the hunters didn't plan on letting her leave, but it seemed they were ready to hear her out.

To Vivi's left, black uniforms rushed to the plaza. The Greenwitches, including Andre. Melloris wasn't with them. That probably meant he was defending home base.

Andre looked like he wanted to have a word with Vivi, but too many hunters surrounded the plaza. More than a hundred were already present. Attacking Vivi randomly was out of the question now.

"We're just waiting for the judges and an arbiter, or a magistrate," Lucius said. "Once five or more are present, the hearing can become official."

How many are here right now?

Lucius frowned. "There are four judges. One of which is unfortunately Andre. Nelson Soli is a judge. That woman in a light red dress. We're just waiting for an arbiter."

Lucius had explained what the term arbiter meant, but Vivi still wasn't entirely certain. An arbiter was like the ultimate judge, someone who had been voted into a position of authority by hunters from a company they didn't own. Vivi's success today would depend largely on her ability to convince the arbiter.

"It's possible that the hearing fails simply because an arbiter doesn't show up," Lucius said. "The system is a bit screwed. Only fifty arbiters exist amongst all hunters. If one doesn't show up on a short notice, we can either hold an unofficial hearing, or we'll have to postpone this."

Which would be problematic, Vivi thought.

"Yes," Lucius said. "If we can't get a hearing in the next thirty minutes, move to plan B immediately."

The thought made Vivi bite the inside of her mouth. Plan B would deem her a criminal amongst hunters for the rest of her life. If at all possible, Vivi wanted to resolve the situation peacefully.

That would probably be impossible. Plan A was nothing more than a desperate hope. Vivi knew the hunters weren't nice enough to back down on their awful behavior.

The crowd behind her shuffled. Vivi turned. Hunters made room for a woman whose smile Vivi had not forgotten from her very first visit to Paradise.

"Vivian Runeblessed and Lucius, Spirit of Ingfried," Veronica Lifeweaver said. She looked into Vivi's core, and her cheek lines rose. "A lovely pair of visitors, arriving with the illegal use of a teleporter. I am glad to see some things never change."

"We were not allowed in legally," Vivi said. "You would know how difficult it is to get here if you had the same reputation as I."

Veronica finally stopped walking ten or so paces away from Vivi. "Your request for a hearing has been heard. I, Magistrate Veronica, will be the arbiter for today's judgement. Tell us, why should we not arrest you and your spirit for your crimes right at this moment?"

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