Stepping into the hall of the third floor of The Gnashing Teeth, I noticed the doors to both Tizek and Lia’s rooms were open and the interiors empty. Further down, the door to my old room was also standing open.

  Moving toward it, I noticed something odd. When I looked inside, Tizek was huddled behind Lia, shaking in fear, which was impressive because Lia was pressed against the wall. The eyes on her bald face were wide open and she was staring at something in the corner.

  “Heya, what’s the problem?” I asked after I walked in.

  Lia slowly pointed like she was trying to avoid attracting attention with her movement. I followed her finger and saw, in the corner, a large spider perched over the desiccated body of a rat. The spider had a leg span nearly double the breadth of my hand. The arachnid’s long brown hair had little speckles of black and grey to mimic the coloring of stone. I also noticed a slight undulation on its rear butt thing I can’t remember the name of because I’m not a Spiderologist. I’m a physicist.

  “Ugh,” Void gagged. “I’ll go get a boot to squish it.”

  The reactions of my three companions were visceral. Tizek’s head crests were folded out wide to the side, flashing their deep red color and shaking like a spitting dinosaur from a movie. He was hyperventilating from his overwhelming fear of spiders. Right, we didn’t go to Silk Caverns this time around, so he hasn’t addressed his arachnophobia.

  Lia’s eyes were searching for her greatsword, which she had mistakenly left in her room. I could tell she was regretting venturing out into the dangerous wilds of my old bedroom without her weapon in hand. I commended her bravery at standing between the threat and the healer, though it looked ridiculous to see a 180cm frilled-clan man cowering behind a 160cm lynx-clan girl. Not that gender meant much in this world regarding physical prowess since magic enhancement was a thing.

  Void was grousing about pests as she prepared to leave. My fiancé wasn’t your typical girl – she didn’t mind getting her boots filthy.

  Then there was me. I had the most visceral reaction of anyone in the room when I caught sight of the spider. “Aww, you’re a pretty girl! Here, let me help you outside. Poor thing.”

  I started to move toward the spider when I heard Void yelp. “Oliver! What are you doing?”

  “Helping this gorgeous mama find a safer place to live,” I replied as I knelt down to examine the arachnid guarding the dried-up rat husk on the floor. “I’d guess Doun has a hole in the larders leading to the sewers. Explains why it tracked a rat up here.”

  “H…how do you know it’s a female?” Lia stuttered behind me.

  “Yoink,” I said as I reached down and gently scooped the spider into my hand. I turned and presented the critter to the room. “This here’s a Coastal Ratcatcher. You can tell she’s a female by her color pattern and size. The males are brighter and half this size.”

  “My lord! You need to be careful or you’ll loop again!” Tizek said with a soft voice, his fear unable to raise his volume.

  I laughed. “Nah, they’re harmless to people and are good for keeping pests in-check. Their venom just hurts. Besides, they know if they’re being threatened. See?” I held the Ratcatcher up to give my compatriots a better view. She was calmly holding onto my hand using her mandibles and not piercing the skin.

  Void shuddered as she stared at the spider using her fangs as an anchor on my hand. “How do you know she’s a mother?”

  I gestured to the spider with my other hand. “See how the hair is moving? She has a couple hundred babies hiding in there. If you squished her, the babies’ll scatter all over.” OK, maybe I am a bit more of a Spiderologist than I thought. Guess a long life makes you learn a few bits of trivia.

  “Just get that thing out of here,” Void said as she waved toward the window.

  I walked over to the window and popped it open. I looked to the side to find the branch I knew grew from the side of the building and set the spider on it. I was about to bid it farewell when I caught something interesting in the alley below.

  Down near the entrance to the street, I saw a pair of familiar faces along with two I never saw before. One belonged to Hespeth, the red furred fox-clan woman who was in Gully Jack’s, aka Lisa of the rabbit-clan, crew. The other one I recognized was Bayle, the wolf-clan man who also ran with Lisa. The two had their first Advancement and were trusted lieutenants in the crime syndicate.

  The other two were a pair of white furred rabbit-clan kids barely the same age as Lia. One, a boy, had a single flop ear on his left side while the other, a girl, had her ears standing tall. They were wearing cheap Advancement 0 dungeon formed clothing which was normally provided via charity organizations.

  All four of them were armed with long wooden daggers.

  Hespeth was currently leaning against the wall of the opposite building near the entrance to the alley keeping an eye on the front door to the Gnashing Teeth. Bayle was watching the opposite end of the alley as a lookout. The two kids looked bored.

  I silently closed the window and turned. “Lisa sent a crew to keep an eye on us.”

  I heard a deep hiss emanating from Tizek. He had come out from behind Lia and his frills extended from the sides of his head again. “I will remove them, my lord.”

  I waved him off. “They’re not harming anyone. Lisa agreed to not come after us. Besides, Hespeth and Bayle aren’t stupid. They’re being overly conspicuous, after all. My guess is they’re phoning this in to avoid trouble.”

  “What’s foh-ning?” Lia asked.

  “A thing from my world. Sorry, even after a few centuries, I still use a few colloquialisms from home,” I replied as I flopped down on the bed. “With those distractions out of the way, this is a long overdue conversation.”

  “The time loop?” Void commented.

  “That, too. No, I want to talk about the cistern battle, mainly how proud I am of you three,” I stated as I felt the corners of my mouth stretch into a grin.

  The three of them stared at me like I just said the world is flat, so I pressed on. “Tizek, buddy? Good job getting over your hesitation using Light magic. Your efforts were the margin needed to keep Lisa’s people in shape to win the big fight.”

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  “Are you sure this is the best time for this?” Void asked, sitting next to me on the bed. Tizek dropped to the floor cross-legged and Lia took the sole chair in the room.

  “I believe it’s best to celebrate wins. Besides, I’d rather not forget to tie up this dangling plot thread,” I explained.

  Lia’s bald face shifted to concern and she turned to address Void. “Is this the audience thing he mentioned before?”

  I felt Void’s hand rest on my thigh. “Are you sure you don’t need to see a doctor, too?”

  Void’s words paused my train of thought. I know I said we should put on a strong, unified front, but it turned out I’m the weak point in the defenses. “This is a lot to process. I’m not used to maintaining continuity right now. All this change after hundreds of years is hitting me hard. I think I need to go over the cistern the most to remind me it was real.”

  “My lord? Your praise brings me joy,” Tizek blurted out. “I believe my hesitance will remain. I am still ashamed of my attunement.”

  I gave him a soft smile. “Thanks, buddy, for making this normal. We’ll work through it.”

  I straightened up and slapped myself on the face. I’m not the only one going through a hard time. “Lia? I’m proud of you most of all. You stepped up and ate a fire arrow to keep me protected and, even in a stressful situation, you stood strong.”

  Lia’s face turned away and toward the floor. “Thank you. I still...” Lia trailed off and a haunted look came to her face.

  “Whenever you’re ready, any of us is available to talk,” Void interjected. I knew Lia’s speech was a result of her taking her first lives. It was easy to forget this version of Lia wasn’t the one who previously fought off an ambush in an alley or defeated bandits in the wilds.

  “That’s right. I want to see you become the bubbly little sister who ribs me now and then. I know she’s in there,” I added. Lia was also still dealing with the lingering issues we had when I was being overbearing at the start of the loop. Instead of the girl who laughed when I fell in the sewer, this one was still stewing over her initial fear of me.

  “What about me?” Void asked. I looked at her and her face had an expression of anticipation. I could also see her tail slightly wagging, which she unconvincingly hid with her hand.

  “You did a good job standing there, I suppose. Even took a rock to the noggin like a champ,” I replied in my super-serious professor voice.

  I rocked slightly from the friendly punch Void gave me. After a brief smirk, her face turned serious. “I wish I contributed more.”

  I pulled her into my side. “You did plenty. Don’t forget, you’re our rogue. You presented yourself as a low battlefield priority and disrupted the enemy when it mattered.” I could tell she wasn’t fully convinced by the way she bit her lower lip. Too cute.

  “Is there anything else anyone wants to bring up?” I asked as I stood up and stretched my lower back.

  “What are we supposed to do about the time loop?” Lia asked. “What’s our plan?”

  “Just live your lives,” I replied.

  “I don’t understand, my lord,” Tizek stated. His scaly brow was furrowed in confusion.

  “It’s simple. We have no idea what or when the next event is coming. All we know is the loop is still active,” I said.

  “Do you think our knowing is important?” Void rhetorically asked.

  “It could be because we formed a party,” Lia speculated.

  I shrugged. “Likely not the Party. We did that before and it didn’t tie you to the loop. Who knows? All I can say for certain is whatever saddled me with this ability has never communicated with me in any clear manner. All I’ve ever gotten was the rare vague hint from a treasure chest. That said, my previous statement stands. We really have no idea what’s coming and it’s good to enjoy the unpredictability while we can. I have a bad feeling we’ll be looping for a while.”

  The others looked down from my warning. This is going to be worse than summer Florida mosquitoes.

  “Alright, to begin, I believe Void and I were heading to the apothecary. We still owe Lia hair growth tonic I so rudely forgot when I was proposing,” I said with a clap of my hands.

  Lia’s eyes went wide and her hands slapped over her face. Poor girl had completely forgotten she was burned bald in the battle. She pivoted on a heel and rushed out of the room, likely to go find a covering.

  “My lord? May I accompany friend Lia while you’re away?” Tizek asked as he stood up.

  I chuckled. “I already said it was alright.”

  A strange look came to his face. “That was…today? You did not give permission since I last woke.”

  I walked over and clapped him on the shoulder. “This is going to be confusing for a while. Just assume I always give you permission to keep your friend company.”

  Tizek’s mood instantly improved and he scampered away after giving me another bow.

  After the teens went off, Void and I ventured downstairs. There, Mira was stocking the bar while Doun was doing some light cleaning behind the bar top in the back of the tavern. Or is it a pub? I keep forgetting the difference. Which is the one that serves food again?

  “It’s a pub. Food is foremost,” Void whispered to me. I must have been muttering out loud to you guys again. At least I cleared that one up.

  “Where are the esteemed Baron and the future Baroninne off to this morning?” Doun asked as he wiped the inside of a slightly malformed glass in an incredibly stereotypical barkeep manner. At least he didn’t spit in it first.

  “Off to the apothecary,” I said after rolling my eyes at the formality. I had given them an order to not worry about my rank when we were in private. “I forgot to buy Lia’s hair growth tonic yesterday and we need to pick up something natural with citrus for Void’s stomach.”

  At my statement, one of Mira’s eyebrows arched, though she didn’t say anything.

  Doun also had an interesting look in his eye. “Mind picking me up a bottle of Philo’s Potency in embernut flavor?” Doun just asked me to buy him ED medication. He couldn’t naturally get it up due to his losing his sack to a monster when Void was a toddler.

  Mira’s face beamed and she giggled. “Oooh, what’s gotten into you? And in front of our future son-in-law?”

  “Tomorrow’s Danesday and we’re closed. I figured we could stay up late,” Doun said with a grin. He reached behind Mira and gave her a little rub on her backside. Mira’s tail began to wave wildly at the touch.

  Void groaned. “Mom? Dad? Really? We don’t want to hear about this.”

  “Oh tut,” Mira replied with a flick of her favorite weapon, her bar towel. “Where do you think you came from? We enjoy our intimate time just like you two do.” She really did. Mira was quite the moaner.

  “You got it, pops. Can’t have my future in-laws living like monks,” I replied.

  Doun’s face changed to his usual sour expression. “And you two buy some protection. Can’t have any surprises before the wedding.”

  I thought I heard Mira mutter, “I don’t think it matters now.”

  “What was that?” I asked, hoping to clarify what she said.

  She smiled at me. “Oh, nothing. You two have fun!” I guess I was hearing things.

  Before I left, I recalled one other thing. “Oh, Doun? I found a Ratcatcher spider upstairs with a dead rat. You may want to check the cellar. My guess is you got an opening to the sewers somewhere.”

  Doun and Mira glanced at one another and I thought I caught a hint of worry in their expression. Rodents in the larder were a big problem, especially for an establishment selling food. “How do you know what a Ratcatcher is?” Doun asked.

  “I told him about it,” Void said, saving me once more for knowing a little too much for someone who has only been here officially for three months.

  Doun grunted. “Thanks for telling me. And don’t forget my bottle!”

  Void was quick to pull me out of The Gnashing Teeth to avoid any further discussion of her parents’ sex lives. Not that I blamed Doun. Mira aged remarkably well for a 45-year-old and was still quite sexy, though not in the way I enjoyed.

  Void started to veer left toward the main road where the apothecary was located when I turned right. She gave me a puzzled look. I gestured toward a white-tipped tail poking out from the corner of the pub. Hespeth hadn’t done a good job concealing herself.

  I crept along the wall and…why was I so deft and silent all of a sudden?...leaned around the corner. “Heeeere’s Oliver!”

  All four of the gang members yelped when my head popped into view.

  “Baron!” Hespeth said after she composed herself. “W…what are you doing here?”

  “Really?” Void responded with her Guard persona. “We live here.”

  “I…uh…” Hespeth stammered. Bayle also looked like he had a sudden case of voice loss.

  “Why are you afraid of this guy?” the rabbit-clan boy asked with a look of disbelief.

  “Yea,” the rabbit-clan girl added. “It looks like he has a layer of fat around the middle and his clothing is ridiculous.”

  “Hey! I’ll have you know this is the height of fashion where I come from,” I argued. Which was technically correct if one narrows the range down to my house back in DeLand where I lived alone. And technically correct is the best kind of correct.

  “Ivy! Quinn! Shut your gobs!” Bayle barked. He turned to me with a sheepish bow. “Sorry about that, Baron. Won’t happen again.”

  “Some lieutenant you are,” the rabbit-clan boy said with a roll of his eyes.

  The girl turned and stared me up and down. “These two expect us to believe you’re some time traveler.”

  “I sure am, Ivy,” I replied.

  The girl rolled her eyes. “I’m Quinn. He’s Ivy.”

  The boy, Ivy, laughed. “See? He isn’t a time traveler, just some fraud. He didn’t even know who we were.”

  Hespeth glared at the two and the kids both shrunk back in silence. She turned to me. “Sorry about that, Baron.”

  “Why do you know I’m a Baron now? And what are you doing here?” I asked.

  “The news sheets are all talking about it,” Bayle said.

  “And sorry about us being here. We’ll try and stay out of your way. Jack…er…Lisa ordered us to keep an eye on you. She’s obsessing over you. But the gang? We’re all scared of what you’ll do to us if we cross the line,” Hespeth stuttered.

  I felt confused by that one. “What? Why are you scared of me?”

  “The time travel stuff,” Hespeth replied. “We worry you’ll show up behind us one day for revenge for something we’re gonna do. Lisa’s gone crazy and we’re scared you’ll do something to us.”

  “She can’t be that bad,” I said, forgetting in the moment that, yes, Lisa was absolutely nuts.

  Another hint of fear crossed Hespeth’s eyes. “You should buy a copy of the daily paper.”

  “We already know Oliver’s a Baron,” Void said testily. I could tell she was beginning to feel sick again and wanted to get to the apothecary.

  Bayle shook his head. “Not that, Baron. Uh, we don’t want to talk about it. Just read the Vialina Digest. You’ll know.”

  I wasn’t in the mood to dig into the cryptic nonsense. Void was feeling sick and we also had a couple of other items to buy. “Just don’t go scaring off the customers. If you think I’m scary, just see what happens when you interfere with Mira’s profits.” Void snorted with a humorous tone to indicate she agreed with my assessment.

  Hespeth raised her hands. “You have our word. We’re just sitting around here because Lisa told us to. Last thing we want is to get you angry.”

  I shook my head in bemusement then Void and I walked away. It was time to finally get those tonics. And this time, I’ll be sure to pay attention to traffic.