The Adventurer's Guild was one of those buildings that looked like it had been renovated so many times it had lost the thread of what it originally was. One wall was stone, one was wood, one was canvas painted to look like stone in a way that did not hold up under scrutiny. The sign above the door had been changed so many times it now said, in layered paint: ADVENTURERS' GUIL — ADVEN — THE GUILD — WELCOME TO THE GUILD BUILDING (OFFICIAL). Someone had wedged a bracket between GUIL and ADVEN that had probably once held a D.
Inside was loud. Loud in the way that a place gets when everyone in it has a problem and none of the problems are being solved. Adventurers in mismatched gear argued over a table map. Cards were being played in the corner. A woman in full plate mail was asleep face-down on a table. A man near the quest board was stapling documents with total concentration, like it was the only thing keeping him sane, which it possibly was.
Behind the main desk was a large chair with a lot of badges on the man sitting in it, and the man sitting in it was hiding behind a potted plant in a way that he clearly believed was working.
"Is that the Guildmaster?" Kael said.
"Yeah." Sable had agreed to walk him here, framing it as mild personal interest rather than any charitable impulse. "Aldric. Ex-adventurer. His wife shows up sometimes."
"He's hiding from his wife."
"Ex-wife. Vera. She hits hard and she doesn't knock."
As if on cue — genuinely, as if the world had scripted it, which maybe it had — the front door swung open. The woman who walked in wasn't large but she walked like someone who expected furniture to move out of her way as a courtesy. Sensible boots, hair pulled back, expression of a person who has driven a long way and would like this to be quick.
"ALDRIC," she said. Room volume dropped by half. "I know you're here."
The potted plant did not respond.
Everyone else found something urgent to look at.
Vera walked directly to the potted plant, reached behind it, and moved it aside. Behind it was Aldric, a large man who had clearly once been a legendary warrior and was now crouched in a ceramic planter with his knees near his ears, wearing the expression of someone who made a strategic mistake about four minutes ago and has been living with the consequences.
"I am," he tried, "not here."
"The alimony, Aldric."
"The guild's had a difficult—"
"Aldric."
The rest was done in tight whispers and Kael stopped listening, because Sable was steering him toward a side desk with a tired young man behind it who processed new registrations the way water processes the path of least resistance.
"Blessing?" the man said, not looking up.
"Inventory Organization."
The man wrote it down. Stopped. Looked at it. Looked at Kael. "Like sorting items."
"Apparently."
The man pressed his fingertips together like he was bracing something. "Tier?"
Kael explained about the goddess, the sneezing, the complete absence of any coherent information transfer. The young man nodded like he'd heard this before, produced a small stone tablet, and had Kael put his hand on it.
The tablet glowed. The man read it. Read it again.
"Tier Four," he said.
"Is that good?"
"For most blessings, very. For Inventory Organization..." He turned the tablet around. The script was small. Kael squinted.
INVENTORY ORGANIZATION (TIER 4) — Reorganize any inventory, container, or organized storage within line of sight, instantly. Includes biological storage. Unlimited containers. Speed: instant. Error note: Blessing was originally logged as [REDACTED LEGENDARY ARTIFACT]. Status: filed. Resolution: pending.
"What's biological storage?" Kael asked.
"Monster anatomy, mostly. We had a healer a few years back with a lower-tier version. Used it on a patient's skeleton." The young man paused. "Very effective. Very illegal. She's not licensed here anymore." He stamped a form and slid Kael a thin booklet. WELCOME TO OAKHAVEN: A SURVIVAL GUIDE FOR THE NEWLY REINCARNATED. On the cover, someone had drawn horns on the illustrated adventurer. "Dormitory upstairs. Three nights free, five silver after. Tuesday stew is — well. It's not stew."
"It's Tuesday," Kael said.
"Yes."
The dormitory bed had opinions about his posture. Kael sat on the edge of it and read the Welcome Guide with the focus of a man who understood he probably needed it.
The guide was the least reassuring document he'd ever held.
Chapter Three: Debt Management — Most reincarnated adventurers accrue significant debt in the first week. This is normal.
He'd been here less than an hour. His debt was sixty-eight gold. He flipped to the end. The last chapter was titled When To Consider Early Retirement.
He closed the book.
The Core was in his pocket. He took it out. It pulsed green and offered him the same floating text again, the part where divine support was unavailable. He read the part about the Legendary Artifact twice. He thought about the goddess sneezing. About the stack of papers falling off her desk.
He put the Core away and went to see what had just exploded downstairs, because something had, and motion seemed better than sitting.