Vin had intended to work on some sort of self-heating spell prior to finally paying Forpurt a visit, but he figured they'd all probably be fine with just some added layers and their additional attributes. None of his friends had an endurance anywhere near as high as his own, but they'd all put at least a couple points into it here or there. Somewhat similar to Lumel's magic amulet, Vin also had his Total Resistance skill, which should help against frostbite.

Scule and Reginald were the two to worry about. Thankfully, he had an idea to help with that.

"This is humiliating," Scule muttered as Becca cooed over him and continued taking his measurements, a few pins held between her lips as she worked with the speed of a professional Tailor. "She's acting like she's designing clothes for a doll."

"Do you want a coat or not?" Vin asked, ignoring the petian's continued grumbling as he nodded toward Becca. "Thanks for making this on such short notice. We're about to go somewhere rather cold. Figured this was a good idea."

"Don't mention it!" Becca managed around the pins in her mouth as she kept working. "Can't say I've ever designed clothing for a petian, or a rat for that matter, but first time for everything! And it really shouldn't take me too long. In exchange, would you mind swinging by Sakis on your way back and seeing how much longer until the Farmers come home? It's been nearly a week already!"

"I can do that," Vin said, laughing as Scule swatted one of her fingers that had nudged him slightly.

True to her word, they were in and out of Becca's workshop in no time, and after grabbing a quick bite to eat, the four of them made their way north to the Infernals' new town. Vin warned Lumel about the snakes before they got there, but he needn't have worried. Lumel most likely had an even higher focus than he did at this point, and the mage was easily able to pick out their hidden locations within the tall grasses. It wasn't long before they hit the dirt road, and shortly after the town itself.

"Oh hey, it's Malzar!" Scule said, perking up on Vin's shoulder as they spotted the young Warlock near one of the elderwood trees, peering up into its hidden canopy high above. "Oye! Malzar! You're going to get yourself killed doing that!"

Malzar jumped at Scule's voice, a wide smile growing across his face as he spotted the four of them heading toward town. Vin had known that Malzar and Scule had gotten on thick-as-thieves back in the day, but he hadn't realized just how close the two had become.

"Scule! Vin! Good to see you guys again!" Malzar waved, walking back to the road as his eyes went to Vin's pocket. "You too, Reginald, how's it going?"

A rather indifferent squeak sounded from Vin's pocket, before Reginald's head poked out, complete with a tiny pair of hot-pink earmuffs. Malzar blinked at the unusual sight, before quickly recovering and moving on. "You guys are back already? Agne told me you just stopped by a few days ago."

"Just passing through, actually," Scule said, pointing over to the north-east. "Off to freeze our butts off in the arctic fragment bordering your guys' new home. You checked it out yet?"

"Agne and the Slayers said we should all stay relatively close to town for now," Malzar said, looking depressed. He managed to hold the expression for a few seconds, before his grin broke through and he began laughing. "So yeah, I've already poked my head into each of the surrounding fragments by now. That one was way too cold!"

"Glad to see you haven't lost your Explorer's spirit," Vin drawled, earning a sheepish grin from the Warlock. Back in Madam Trebella's manor, Malzar had confided in him that he had never even wanted to be a Warlock in the first place, but had been forced to take the class due to his golden eyes that allowed him to see trace amount of mana found in useful ritual reagents. The infernal wanted to go out and explore the world, and while Vin had tried to stress just how dangerous Edregon was and warned him against checking out the dungeon he'd had his sights set on, he was glad to see that he still held that desire in his heart.

Maybe when he finally prestige he could become an 'Adventurous Warlock' or something along those lines.

"Actually, this is fantastic timing," Scule said, hopping from Vin's shoulder over to Malzar's. "Any chance you could give me a top off on your magic charm? I think the magic is starting to wear off a bit, and a certain someone hasn't gotten around to making me a permanent artifact just yet."

Vin rolled his eyes as Malzar took the charm he'd given the petian awhile back. It was a magic brooch enchanted to allow Scule to understand and speak other languages. Without the charm, he'd been entirely reliant on Vin, Shia, or Alka translating for him. While that had had some benefits, such as them getting to vet and approve of the things he said before he said them, it had been more annoying than anything.

"Repairing a charm that's beginning to wear is much easier than making a new one," Malzar said, nodding as he looked it over. "As long as you're the one who originally made it. Give me a couple of minutes, and I'll have it good as new."

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Scule and Reginald chatted with Malzar as he worked, and Vin turned to talk with Lumel while they waited.

"I suppose sooner or later I'm going to need to ask to borrow that artifact you swiped from the floating library in order to reverse engineer the translation spell."

"I'll remind you that I accidentally took it. I still plan on returning it one day, so it's more like borrowing than stealing," Lumel stated with a sly smile.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night," he laughed.

Once Scule's charm was repaired, they reminded Malzar not to go so close to the large trees without a Slayer nearby before continuing on into town. It wasn't hard to find Alka, seeing as she was shouting at about two dozen potential Slayer trainees as she put them through what looked like the world's most intensive yoga session.

"Come on! Hold your positions!" she shouted, pausing to lean down and correct someone's form here and there as they struggled to maintain near impossible shapes with their limbs. "Above all else, a Slayer has to be flexible! You need to flow like a blade of grass in the wind before striking with the force of a falling branch. We kill monsters!"

"And we never stop!" came two dozen weak and anguished cries from the human pretzels struggling to make it through her training alive. Vin had to admit, it was almost impressive that Alka had managed to make a session of yoga look more horrifying than most military training. Some of them were actually crying from pain, yet they held their positions.

"You've got a serious lot of trainees this time around," Vin said, switching to Alka's main language to keep their conversation private. Unless he specifically focused on a specific language, his Polyglot passive ensured everyone heard his words as if he were speaking in their native tongue. "How many do you think are going to make it to the end this time around?"

"I'm hoping for at least ten," she said, her eyes narrowing as they swept over everyone. "Once we finally get into the rigors of combat and actual monster killing, I'm expecting at least half to drop out rather quickly."

"Guys, if you want to speak privately, Alka's language is not the one to use," Scule chuckled, grinning at them both as he held his broach in his hands. The magic wouldn't activate until he secured it once more to his chest. "Have you forgotten it's the language of ghosts? You two just sound like you're moaning back and forth to one another."

Sure enough, the expressions of pain and misery on a good chunk of the trainees' faces had been replaced with looks of confusion as their eyes flicked back and forth between the two of them, clearly wondering if this was part of their training.

Vin was about to make a joke, when he noticed something strange out of the corner of his eye. While he'd been chuckling at the confused expression on the trainees' faces, he could have sworn he'd seen something shimmering on Alka's face, under the edge of her darthsteel helm. But before he could turn to look at it, Alka's head spun one hundred and eighty degrees around, and she whipped out her sword.

"Quiet!" Alka hissed, everyone immediately going silent at her order. Vin already had his staff at the ready and the runic formation for Stone Shot half-formed within his core, but try as he might, he couldn't see anything threatening in the direction she was facing.

"Uh, Alka?" he asked after a few seconds of tense silence. "...What is it?"

"False alarm," she said, slowly sheathing her sword before turning around to look at them once more. "Thought I heard a monster falling from one of the elderwood trees. It's extremely rare for them to drop during the day, but not unheard of."

Vin couldn't help but notice how her darthsteel helm looked totally normal again, and he frowned slightly as he made his staff vanish with Dimensional Sheath. He didn't know what it was he'd seen, but he knew Alka well enough by now to know she was trying to hide something. The question, of course, was what? And why?

"Good Gods, Alka, don't do that!" Scule snapped, tucking his blowgun back into his cape and clutching his chest. "You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"Better to be safe than sorry," Alka shrugged, her head suddenly whipping to the side as she shouted at her trainees. "And did I say to stop holding your poses?!"

Naturally, the trainees had uncontorted themselves when they thought a monster was coming, but the moment Alka shouted at them they struggled to quickly transform into human pretzels once more.

"Anyway, assuming you guys came to ask if I wanted to join you wherever it is you're going, I have to pass again," she said, her annoyance clear from her voice. "Tiffany is taking her sweet time getting used to her new body, and I promised I'd be here for her when she was finally ready to head back to town. I can't leave and risk missing her."

"That's sweet of you to stay behind for her," Lumel said, smiling at the Slayer. "I'm sure she'll appreciate you being here for her when she's finally ready."

"Hardly. I'm going to put her through some truly hellish training to make sure her new body is still up to snuff," Alka snorted, waving them on. "But yeah, go on without me this time around. I'm definitely in for the next one, however, especially after everything you told me about the sky fragment."

Vin could only shake his head at her offhanded interest in the World Eaters. Despite her seeming to understand that they were unbeatable, horrifying monsters unlike anything she could ever imagine, she still seemed far too curious about them.

He could only hope she wasn't thinking of doing something as insane as actually trying to fight one of those things at some point in the future, as attempting such a feat would basically be the same as throwing her life away.

"We'll tell Forpurt you said hello," he said, before turning and directing his small team toward the arctic fragment. It was only him, Scule, Reginald, and Lumel. With Alka sitting this one out to wait for Tiffany and Shia wrapped up in whatever surprise Erik was planning, they were down their two heaviest hitters, which wasn't exactly the greatest way to venture into a new fragment.

In typical Explorer fashion, he supposed they'd just have to make do!

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