Hey! Colby!" Megumin's voice had snapped me out of a short nap. I awoke with my face in a mug of ale, the smell of alcohol burning my nose hairs. I had taken Megumin to get lunch while the rest of the party was out looking for a house. I had tried to keep myself awake earlier in the day, but now it was much harder, "That must be pretty strong stuff to put you to sleep that easily, or you just don't stomach booze very well."

I felt a little insulted that she would even consider that I was that much of a lightweight. I mean, yea, Alcohol was a new thing to me, but I have a Scottish heritage, so I have a tough stomach "No, I'm just tired is all."

"Didn't sleep well?"

"Guess not." I said rubbing my eye and yawning. Of course, that's not the real reason I was so tired. Well, sort of I guess.

(Last Night)

Getting inside of Gilderoy's mansion was, surprisingly, the easy part. There wasn't much in the way to keep us out, besides a locked door. Thankfully Chris knew how to pick locks, and she was pretty good at it too, as expected of an experienced thief.

I wondered how it came to be that Gilderoy could afford a mansion like this. I mean, he's a librarian, it's not like he makes a lot of money, especially with how few people seemed to be in that library at any given time. Come to think of it, in the week that I worked there I can only recall seeing maybe 8 people in there other than me, Gilderoy, or Chris, and Chris was only in there once. It was obvious by now that he was much more than a simple librarian.

Once we got in, I was taken back by the grandeur of the main entrance. Above us hanging from the ceiling was a large chandelier. In front the main hall opened wide with several large doorways that opened up to different rooms. There were two large staircases that came curved from the ground and joined at the second floor, and on both floors there was a large double-door in between them. "Well, he's certainly doing well for a librarian." I whispered to Chris.

"You've got that right." She responded. Because of the size of the mansion, we decided it would be best to split up so we could cover more ground. I took the upstairs while she looked around downstairs.

As I walked upstairs, I was awestruck by the craftsmanship of the stairway. The stairs were all completely made of marble, and completely smooth with a rounded edge. The railing had marble columns, but appeared to be made out of bronze. At least, I assumed it was bronze. Down the middle of the stairway was a dark blue carpet with black trim. It seemed odd to me that it wasn't red.

One thing I instantly realized was how many rooms there were upstairs. I definitely had my work cut out for me. I was doing my best to be as quiet as possible, thankfully my shoes were pretty light and didn't make all that much noise. Most of the rooms seemed like they were set up to be bedrooms, albeit unused. I wonder if he had many guests very often. Certainly he couldn't have this big house and live in it all by himself could he?

As I was checking the various rooms, I found one in particular that seemed quite interesting. When I walked in I noticed that it was much darker than the rest of the rooms on account of it not having any windows for the moonlight to enter through. Thankfully my swords worked well as a light source. I drew them from their sheath and filled the room with a soft blue light. There was a lot of equipment in here, most of which seemed to be for alchemy. Various vials and flasks and beakers, all filled with different liquids of varying color. One of them even seemed to glow. On the other side of the room there was a table with a lot of different markings on it that I couldn't make out. This must be where he worked on a lot of different magical tools and potions I guess. At the other end of the room was a wooden chest. I got excited when I saw it. Certainly this could be a place where one might store a talisman that could instantly restore someone's magic poole.

When I opened the chest my heart sunk. It was full of random things that seemed to have just been thrown in there. No talisman to speak of. Nevertheless I searched through it, maybe I'd find something useful. While I was rummaging through it I noticed something unusual, but familiar. A faint blue glow coming from under the mass of junk. I reached my hand in and pulled out a small round...something. It was a small round doughnut shaped token, and in the center was the source of the glow. The sword in my hand glowed immensely when I moved it closer the round object. I noticed that they both had similar markings etched on them. There was a hole in the Pommel of my sword that I had always just thought was for decoration, but on closer inspection it seemed that the object would fit perfectly inside the hole.

I moved the round object closer to the hole, and it suddenly jumped from my hand perfectly into position. My sword grew brighter, and my still sheathed sword flew from my sheath and made contact, forming a completely new sword. It was much heavier than either of them, and glowed far brighter. The design was completely different as well. While my swords were curved outward at the center, this one was straight all the way down the blade, with two small spikes coming out at the end, and the tip had a small cut-out through the center, about an inch long. Although it was much heavier, I found it still easy enough to use single handed, even though the hilt could accommodate both my hands. The cross-guard was much wider now as well, and had a slight upwards angle to it. "Well, that's certainly interesting." I said to myself.

I looked back down at the Pommel. The circular object was still there, and no matter how I swung the sword, it never came out. I wondered how I was supposed to get them back to normal, assuming I even could. Then I noticed on my hip had appeared a new sheath "Well, I guess it's stuck like this until I can find something else out." I sheathed the new form of my swords, but when it had fully been inserted it disappeared, leaving only the round object in my hand. I panicked for a split second, then realized that my swords had reappeared on my back in their original form. I put the circular object in my pocket and continued my search for the talisman, excited by the potential for new abilities with my "new" sword.

Continuing onward I didn't find much else worth noting. I was about to go try and find Chris until I walked into a large opening in the center of the mansion's hallway which faced the backyard. There were two very large double-doors in the center of the opening, but what was most interesting was an open window. I didn't think much of it at the time, assuming someone had just left it open.

Suddenly, I heard one of the large doors open. I hid behind a wall, doing my best to be as quiet as possible. I looked around the wall to see if it was Gilderoy...it wasn't. In fact, I'm not quite sure what it was. It stood on two legs and was quite tall. Because of the moonlight I couldn't make out anything more than a basic silhouette. It did seem very careful to shut the door back as quietly as possible. It then leapt for the window and sprouted wings that looked like a bat and flew off...well...I guess me and Chris weren't the only ones robbing this place tonight...at least...that's what I assumed it was doing.

I entered the room behind the two large doors. It turned out to be another bedroom, again not very well lit. I took out one of my swords to help light up the room so I could see. I didn't really look towards the bed, as there were other types of storage on the other sides of the rooms. This room did seem much better furnished than most of the other rooms. Several dressers, a very ornate vanity, a table, a few chairs. I decided to start looking through the vanity before anything else. While I was rummaging through one of the drawers I heard a snort come from the other side of the room...the side with the bed. I looked back towards the bed and saw Gilderoy, sleeping happily. I decided it was best it stay that way. I silently crept back outside the room and went about my business.

After completely going through the upstairs area, I decided to go back downstairs and meet up with Chris. She was waiting in the main entrance for me "Did you find anything?" she asked me.

"Uh, no unfortunately," I responded, I thought it better not to tell her about the little trinket I picked up "What about you?"

"I think I might have, follow me." She lead me through various rooms until we reached a large room that appeared to be some kind of library, or a study. If there was one thing that was true to Gilderoy's character here, it was that he loved books.

"So what do you think you found?" I asked Chris, curious as to why she brought me here.

"Well, while I was searching this room I noticed an odd shining coming from over here." She moved over to one of the bookshelves "And look, there's a gap in between these two bookshelves that you can look into and see a different room. I'll bet if we pull on enough of these books, we might find one that'll let us in." Ah the classic bookshelf lever cliche, never gets old.

It would seem that one of the levers did in fact open the bookshelf, as after much pulling, the bookshelf moved out of the way, revealing a completely new room. Inside the room were several pedestals, each with something inside them that looked very powerful and/or very expensive. They all had glass casing on top of them that covered whatever it was inside. At the very center of the room was the talisman that we had been searching for. We walked up to it. It was covered in glass like everything else.

"So, what do we do, just take it off?" I asked.

"No, he could have it set to trigger some magic rune or something as a trap." uh, duh "No, it would be much better if I just did this." then she put her fist out in front of her "Steal!" she called, and the talisman disappeared from the pedestal and into her hand. She fist bumped the air excitedly.

Suddenly, we both felt a blast of heat rush past our faces as a magic fireball past by us. We quickly turned around to see Gilderoy standing in the doorway. "Well, well, well, it appears a couple of thieves have interrupted a wonderful dream I was having." I felt something grab my ankles and pull me off my feet as my head slammed into the floor, knocking me out.

I woke up much later hanging from my ankles upside down. We were in the main hall now, strangely enough. I could look out a window and see that it was still nighttime, thankfully. I didn't want to explain to Danny where I had been last night if he wakes up to find me missing. Gilderoy was standing in front of me with his arms crossed. "So, Colby. How are you liking being an adventurer?"

"Uh, gotta say Gilderoy despite the constant fear of pain and death...it's actually pretty fun." I found myself spinning slowly, so I actually wasn't looking at him while I was saying much of this.

"Well that's good, very good." he responded "And how about being a thief, even though your a scout?"

"Well, uh...not quite as good I must admit..."

"Gee thanks." Chris said sarcastically.

Gilderoy then got much more sincere "So who posted the job, if you don't mind me asking."

"No one posted any job." Chris said "The fact is that you had gotten your hands on something I wanted, so I decided that, being a thief, I'd steal it from you."

"This is a very precious talisman, very powerful. I can understand why you would want it." He said, holding the talisman from it's chain, he then looked at it thoughtfully, "You really want it that badly?" Chris stared at him, frustrated "Hmm. I'll tell you what, if you help me with something, I'll repay you with the talisman, how does that sound?"

"What exactly is it you want us to do?" she asked him.

He thought for a moment, then hung the talisman in front of her face "Oh, you needn't concern yourself with it now. I'll give it to you now, you just have to promise me that when the time comes, you'll help me, deal?"

"And if I refuse?"

"Then no talisman for you I'm afraid."

Chris thought for a moment "alright, but only if I can have it right now."

"I'm only going to make the deal if you both agree." he said, motioning towards me.

Chris stared at me hopefully "Colby?"

I was silent for a moment. I didn't want to get stuck into something I couldn't handle because I made a stupid deal, but I decided that I might as well given the circumstances "Ah, what the heck, why not? After all, I did say I'd help you get the talisman, and if that's what it takes to get it then I'll keep my word on that." Suddenly my ankles were freed from what ever snare they were in and I fell to the ground head first...again.

"Well then, in that case I'll give this to you," Gilderoy said, giving her the talisman "and you both are free to go. Just keep an eye out for me. I'll get in contact with you when you're ready to make good on your deal."

"Just a minute Gilderoy," I said "there's something I want to ask you."

"Yes Colby?"

"You're not just a librarian are you?"

"No, that's more of a side-job. I'm actually an adventurer myself, an arch mage to be exact. Although, personally I prefer to consider myself as more of an archaeologist of sorts."

"Are you in a party?" Chris asked.

"No, I'm somewhat of a loner, which is actually why I need the help of you two." and at that we said our goodbyes and left Gilderoy's mansion.

I got back to the stables shortly after the sun had come up. I jumped through the window doing my best to be as quiet as possible. Danny was still asleep thankfully. I stretched my arms and started to take off my shoes, then Danny woke up yawning and rubbing his eyes "Hey Colby, up already huh?" I started putting my shoes back on instead.

"Yea, woke up just a little bit ago actually. Thought I'd get an early start on things." I didn't really want to tell him about last night, considering I hadn't said anything before to him.

(Current Time)

I paid for mine and Megumin's meals and decided to go looking for a new quest for our team. There weren't a lot right now, and the ones there were seemed to mostly have a lot of skulls. Nothing on the board seemed to grab my attention so I decided to go to the bar and see if they had something I could get as a pick-me-up.

The barmaid recommended something called a "Cold Blazer" which, turns out, is a pretty accurate description. I swear that when it went down it took some of my vocal chords with it. It did wake me up though, so I got what I asked for.

While I was sitting at the bar trying to recover from nearly coughing up my own esophagus, a man walked up to me and asked if I was with the party that cleared out that dungeon a couple days ago.

"Yes sir, that would be us." I said as I was trying to keep myself from coughing up my lungs, which I was sure wasn't helping "What is it we can do for you?"

"I have a job that I'd like your party to take care of. I've heard that your team would be the one to ask about it." He seemed quite frantic for some reason "you see I'm a landowner here in Axel, but recently an officer of the devil king started blocking one of the roads that I travel on." He said, handing me a piece of paper that outlined the quest in detail "He doesn't let anyone pass, he doesn't carry any weapons, he just stands there, blocking the road."

I observed the piece of paper he gave me and looked it over. The reward was a very good haul, but something struck me as odd "Uh, it says here that we have a month to complete it."

"Yes, it won't be very vital for it to be done until then for reasons I don't care to share right now, so there isn't any need to rush into it. So do you think you and your party can handle it."

I looked it over a couple more times "Well, I personally don't think it would be an issue for our group, either way though I'm not the group leader so only he'll be able to decide whether or not we'll do it."

"Of course, I understand completely. Thank you for sparing your time sir." and at that he left the guild and went about his business.

I wasn't sure what Danny might think. He could think that it would be too dangerous, but I just wasn't sure. Megumin was sitting at the table looking rather board. I decided to tell her about it in advance before we actually showed it to Danny to get her feeling better. She certainly did like the prospect of getting to use her explosion magic on an officer of the devil king's army. Of course, that was a month away at most, so all she had to do was look forward to it. We wandered through town for a while until we found the others and showed them the job the landlord had given us. Danny seemed somewhat hesitant at first, but was altogether accepting of it, specifically given that we didn't have to do it until a month's time. It also didn't feel like a job we could refuse.

By the time we had found them it was already getting pretty late, and although it felt like we had only just had lunch, the whole party was already pretty hungry by now. It was actually quite a while ago since me and Megumin had lunch because of how long it took to find the rest of the group.

Dinner was actually quite eventful. Darkness challenged Danny to an arm wrestle, with the whole guild getting in on it and betting in money that no one actually cared to swap hands to at the end of it...mostly because everyone bet on Darkness to win and Danny won. Personally I wanted to bet on Danny, but decided not too. He was already in penny pinching mode and I felt like it wasn't really worth the risk.

Finally getting back to the stables everyone went to sleep. Well, all except for Danny who usually stayed up a little later than everyone else. Me, I fell asleep almost right as soon as my head hit the hay, still tired from last night.

I woke up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat. Judging by the moon outside I hadn't been asleep for very long...which was frustrating.

As I was rolling around on the hay trying to get comfortable I felt something in my pocket that kept me from sleeping. I took it out of my pocket and looked at it for a while "I wonder how it is that Gilderoy came into possession of you." I said to myself. After a long while of staring, I grabbed my swords and went out into the field.

I grabbed one of my swords and inserted the circle into the Pommel. Instantly just like last night, the two swords formed one larger sword. I swung it around in various ways. Over my head, spinning it beside my, making various cuts through the air.

While I was swinging it something interesting and unexpected happened. Halfway through one of my swings, a flash of blue glowing energy was thrust from my sword and obliterated a random sleeping frog. I looked at my sword, in awe of it's potential. I attempted a thrusting motion and a similar, but more arrow-like energy blast shot from the blade. I was far enough away from the stables that no one could have heard me.

Now ready to go back to sleep, I made my way back to the stables, slightly more tired than I was before. As I was walking back I felt a large gust of chilling wind on my back. I remembered Danny mention that we needed to get a house before winter came, but how we were going to do that was up to him.

Author's Notes

Hi All

So this chapter took A LOT longer than I wanted it to. Mostly because I had gotten pretty busy and it sort of fell to the back of my mind...I also completely rewrote it at some point, so yea there's that to. It's also much shorter than I wanted it to be, but I did get in all that I wanted to in terms of the actual chapter length itself. Just think of this as sort of a foreshadowing chapter, which is partially what it's supposed to be.

I'm going to try and make sure the next one doesn't take as long, I don't think it will. But anyways, I hope you enjoyed it.

Thanks for reading!