“I’m sorry?” Albert asked.

“Never mind,” Jason said. “Why do you ask about Gary?”

“He’s been coming in and asking after you for the last couple of days,” Albert said. “Is it alright to tell him you’ve registered?”

“Sure,” Jason said, “although I’d rather tell him myself. Do you know where he’s staying?”

38. Just Another Adventurer

38

Just Another Adventurer

The guild district was the region of the Island that contained the Adventure Society campus, along with many other guilds and societies. Occupying the north-west region of the Island, the guild district also contained the bulk of the Island’s visitor accommodations. Staying on the Island was a relatively expensive prospect, but with price came quality. Rufus, Farrah and Gary had secured a three-room suite in Sailor’s Watch, an inn at the very edge of the Island, with exceptional ocean views.

Having returned from the Geller Estate, Rufus ran into Farrah outside their lodgings as she returned from her own business.

“How did it go?” Farrah asked.

“Well enough,” Rufus said. “Now we just need Jason to finally arrive.”

Farrah sniffed at the smell of fresh baking wafting out of the inn.

“Smells good,” she said. “Should be just about time to get some supper.”

“It should,” Rufus agreed, and they went inside.

Walking in, they headed in the direction of the dining room. There was a doorway leading directly to the kitchen, from which they heard a familiar voice.

“Now, it’s equal parts sugar and water, then flavour to discretion, and I do mean discretion. You don’t want the flavour of the syrup to overpower the cake. Once the syrup is soaking in, there’s no getting it back out again. Unless you can extricate the syrup with magic, somehow. I need to get my hands on a cooking magic skill book.”

Farrah snickered at the exasperation suddenly on Rufus’s face.

“Jason?” Rufus called out.

“Rufus! Excuse me for a moment, ladies.”

Jason wandered out of the kitchen wearing an apron marked with flour.

“G’day,” he greeted them. “Nice little place you’ve found. A bit exxy, but I picked up a decent bit of coin during our misadventures at the Vane Estate. Fighting cannibals is lucrative. I forgot to loot that woman, Cressida, though. Probably missed out on a good bit of coin, there.”

“I still have your share from looting the manor,” Farrah said. “They filched all the really good stuff before running off, but they left enough behind to be worth splitting up.”

“Oh, nice,” Jason said.

“What took you so long?” Rufus asked.

“I took the scenic route through the delta,” Jason said. “I had a good time.”

“There was some talk about someone roaming around healing people,” Farrah said. “Did you hear about that?”

“How did you hear about it?” Jason asked.