Finding Willem’s house was substantially easier than locating Juliette’s apartment. Not only was I armed with far more detailed instructions on how to find the place, the house also had a pyrography plaque with the Boiland Crest prominently displayed outside.

  The crest, a pair of pickaxes over a lump of ore and surrounded by a laurel ring like a Roman Emperor’s crown, was quite large. It measured roughly a meter tall by 750 cm wide and was colored in with bright reds, silvers, greens and dark blacks.

  Mine was way better and would look even more badass when I got Tizek to spruce it up with colors.

  The house itself was four stories tall and was a beautiful willow. While the home was only a 15 minute walk from The Gnashing Teeth, it was definitely in the upper part of the middle class spectrum. A small courtyard rang the property behind a wall of stacked granite stones and I had to enter through a wooden gate to get inside.

  A covered walkway ran from the gate to the door, which I took advantage of to shake the water off my wide-brimmed hat and kick away some mud that collected on my pink boots. There was enough mud from the trip to the Laborer’s Quarters that it looked like the flowers were growing out of soil.

  After getting most of the muck off, I approached the door. The door was fairly modest. It was made of wood, like most things in the city, and didn’t have a glass partition to look through. I did see a magic eye up in the corner near the door which looked down on me. It was this world’s version of a doorbell camera.

  I found a spot on the door with the magical chime. My mana had recharged after using my Guild card, so I was able to activate it. I pressed my hand on the circle and willed my mana into it. A gentle tinkling of chimes rang out inside the house.

  After a minute of waiting, the door creaked open and, on the other side, I saw Jennifer, Willem and Sari’s daughter. She was a squirrel-clan girl around 15 years old and had fur markings of the raccoon-clan.

  “Baron,” Jennifer squeaked when she saw me. “What can I do for you?”

  “Heya, Jenny,” I said. “I’m here to see your dad.”

  Jennifer stood back and beckoned for me to enter. “You can wait in here.”

  I gave her a friendly grin and stepped inside where I wiped my boots on the interior mat.

  Jennifer pressed her finger against a pad on the wall. “Dad? Baron Stewart is here to see you.”

  “Give me a few minutes!” the voice on the other side called out. I heard a crash before the sound cut out.

  “He’ll be here soon,” Jennifer offered.

  I took advantage of the moment to look around the house.

  The entryway was fairly modest for someone who was a member of the nobility, even if he was a Lansen. The entry hall reminded me of a larger two-story house in a well-to-do subdivision. A single stairway led upstairs in the two-floor entry room to a hall and balcony above. The main floor had three doors leading to the interior of the house.

  As I observed a family portrait hung near the left side door, I heard Jennifer squeak behind me.

  I turned and saw her playing with her pink blouse while looking at the floor. “Baron? I was wondering…I’m turning 16 next week and, um, I…”

  She stopped and her eyes darted to the side in thought. When she didn’t continue, I spoke. “Did you want something from me?”

  “Never mind,” Jennifer quickly answered.

  “She wants you to come to the party,” a voice called out. I looked at the top of the stairs and saw Darren, Willem’s 13 year old son. He had a similar raccoon-clan patterned fur as his sister.

  “No, I don’t!” Jennifer snapped back. “I wanted to ask if he could mentor me in archery!”

  I could tell Jennifer wasn’t telling the truth there.

  Darren rolled his eyes. “Is that why you have his poster in your room?”

  “Darren,” Jennifer growled with venom in her voice.

  “You’re in there making weird noses while looking at it with your hand down—” Darren started with a smug grin.

  “DARREN!” An angry shout echoed through the entry hall. I startled and turned to see Sari staring daggers up the stairs while Jennifer had her hands on her face in shame.

  “But Mom—” Darren started.

  “But nothing! Go to your room. You’re not getting any sweets for a week!” Sari ordered as she jabbed her finger toward the end of the balcony.

  Darren’s eyes shifted to me. He was pleading for me to help him out.

  “Don’t look at me. That wasn’t cool, kid.” I put my hands up in the air to show I wasn’t in on this. I decided it was time for a little emotional manipulation. “You should cherish your family. You never know if you’ll end up summoned to a different reality where you’ll never see them again.”

  That got him a little bit, but not enough. It was time for the coup de grace. “Besides, only people from Daulien watch their sisters doing stuff like that.”

  Darren’s face screwed up in disgust at what I said and he quickly retreated out of sight. That left Jennifer who was looking horrified at what had just occurred.

  “Jenny, you need to stop bothering the Baron,” Sari gently said.

  Jennifer turned to me. “Do you still want to come?”

  I gently smiled at her. “No. You’re still a kid and it’s not appropriate.”

  “I’m an adult next week,” Jennifer mumbled.

  I shook my head. “Where I come from, you’re still a kid. You’ll be one in my eyes for another six years at least. Besides, I already have Void.”

  Jennifer gave me a brief curtsey. “Sorry, Baron.”

  “Hey,” I replied. “Don’t be. You need to shoot your shot in life even if it doesn’t work out. I like that boldness, it’ll serve you well.”

  Jennifer nodded and, after a second curtsey, ascended the stairs and disappeared through the hall opposite Darren’s.

  “I’m sorry about that,” Sari said after both left. “Jennifer is going through her changes. She wanted me to send you an invitation by messenger; she even wrote it out. I had to lie and say it got lost.”

  I shrugged. “Kids. We forgot what it was like to have all these confusing pressures going on at the same time.”

  “I have to say, you handled that remarkably well. You didn’t leave a family back home, did you?” Sari asked with a hint of worry.

  “No, no kids,” I replied. At least not back on Earth. I wasn’t going to reveal Void’s pregnancy here; that was up to her if she wanted to bring in the friend group on this.

  Then I shuddered as a few unpleasant memories came to me. “I’m a professor and I’ve had a concerning number of students try to sell themselves for a passing grade. It was two, but more than none is very concerning.”

  “Some things are similar between our worlds,” Sari said with a frown. “No more of this talk, what brings you to visit Willem today?”

  I glanced upstairs and moved in close to Sari to whisper. “The names in the pantry.”

  “Oh,” Sari said with a poker face. “Willem is in the study. Please forgive the mess, I keep telling him to clean it up in case guests come.”

  Sari guided me through a side door which led into a living area with a nice fireplace and two large couches. The family loved their portraits and there were many more here with Willem, Sari and the kids.

  “Did something happen?” Sari asked as we walked through the house. “I see a little bruising on your left side.”

  I touched my face. “This? Just had to deal with a pair of kidnappers that abducted Juliette.”

  “Oh my!” Sari gasped. “Is she safe?”

  “She wasn’t fed for a few days,” I explained. “Otherwise, she’s safe. The other two aren’t.”

  Sari’s expression was conflicted when I said that. “They weren’t sent to the penal brothel, were they?”

  “No, I saw Juliette tied up and couldn’t risk capture. One was skewered and the other splattered on the ground.” I decided to leave out Lia’s part in this. She wasn’t proud of it and I know she wouldn’t appreciate me talking about her kills.

  Sari paused when we reached a rear stairwell leading upwards. “I’m not sure what to think. I know the city is dangerous, but…maybe it’s best what you did. I wouldn’t subject my worst enemy to the brothels.”

  “Nor I. I can’t stand that this world practices slavery at all,” I commented. Sari and I began to ascend the stairs. “Let me change the subject to something pleasant. Any news on Jummi and Amis?”

  Sari instantly perked up at the change of topic. “Amis said he’s going to move back! Isn’t that exciting?”

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  That one made me feel pretty good about myself, especially with how I conducted myself on the loop after I finished my lengthy regicide phase. “I can’t imagine Layla is all that happy.”

  Sari spun around another set of stairs leading further up. “Amis has to sell the place since they can’t afford to keep two shops open, especially out in Gesper. Knowing Layla, she’s going to be upset and won’t want to live there.”

  I thought a moment as I ascended the next steps. “The Teeth has one extra room if Layla needs a place.” The last room was a small one on the top floor above Void’s and my room.

  “I don’t think Doun would want too much of a full house.” Sari turned and ascended yet another flight of stairs.

  “I’m actually the owner now,” I huffed. My stamina bar was, once more, falling from all this exercise, which added more to the grey.

  Sari paused on the stairs and looked at me with a raised eyebrow. I shrugged. “I figured it would help cut the tax bill. Plus the, you know, pantry thing.”

  I saw a grin pass Sari’s face, mainly at the tax thing.

  We arrived on the top floor and Sari took me to the left to a door. She opened it and, inside, I saw a mess.

  The room Sari led me to was an office. It had a large window overlooking Wall Street and provided shaded light through the tree branches. There was a long bookshelf along the left and right sides of the room with a dizzying array of titles on the shelves.

  At the center of the room were a pair of high backed chairs with a small table between them. Before the window, an office desk with another high back chair faced the door.

  The reason the room was a mess was the shelves were incapable of housing the volume of books Willem had. There were also a few stacked dishes with old food debris on them on the small table. Upon the desk, a collection of teacups and pots were forming a small kingdom.

  The only clean-ish thing in the room was a liquor cabinet in the corner with a crystal decanter and some glasses.

  Willem was currently rushing around the room desperately trying to tidy the place up. He had a pair of porcelain plates in one hand and he was scooping another off the floor.

  “Willem? The Baron is here to see you,” Sari announced.

  Willem startled and dropped the plates, shattering the disks on the floor. “Sari! I needed more time! Look at this place!”

  “I told you to keep it clean,” Sari said with a wave of her hand. “Now you’ll have to entertain the Baron here. I’m not keeping him in the tea room while you clean.”

  “Come in then,” Willem pouted as he shoved the broken plates under his desk. He walked over to the two chairs and threw the books piled on them to a side. “Have a seat, Baron.”

  I sat in the chair which sent a puff of dust up when I landed on it, which was impressive since that dust built up before all the books were set there.

  Willem took the seat next to me. He reached over with a hand toward my head. “Here, let me heal up that bruise. It looks unpleasant. Do you have grey in your health bar?”

  “I do. Took a punch to the head earlier today,” I explained.

  Willem nodded and a glow came out of his hand which banished the grey and filled my red bar back up. A sense of clarity came along with it which made me realize I wasn’t thinking straight up until now.

  “You need to be more careful. What happened?”

  I briefed Willem on what happened with Juliette. He nodded along and a frown came to his face. “Interesting. I’ll have to ponder how you ended up crossing paths with Gully Jack. Let’s set that aside for now. What brings you here?”

  I folded my hands in a steeple and leaned forward. My eyes dramatically shifted toward the liquor cabinet. “I haven’t had a drink since I was summoned. Do you mind if we share one?”

  Willem’s eyebrow raised. “You came here to get a drink? You live in a pub.”

  I snorted. “Sorry, I’m just being dramatic to lighten the mood. In actuality, I’m trying to avoid drinking around some of my companions.”

  “Ah, the Abyssal Grip,” Willem nodded. This was how the locals referred to alcoholism. Some kind of shadowy entity from the abyss takes over and forces you to drink.

  “Sure, let’s go with that.” I had to act like I didn’t know what that meant to keep Willem from suspecting anything.

  Willem stood and poured a pair of drinks. He handed me one and sat back down. I took a sip and, wow, this stuff was good. It was a smooth bourbon-style drink with a nutty chocolate undertone. It made me miss chocolate all of a sudden, what with the carnival and its deep-fried bars being closed and all.

  “Not bad,” I said and took another sip.

  Willem smiled. “Glad you like it.” His expression changed to all business. “What really brings you here?”

  I set the glass down and looked over at Willem. “It’s about some names, locations and a schematic we found in the pantry at The Gnashing Teeth.”

  A pause followed before Willem took another sip and stood. He walked slowly to the door to the office and clicked the lock. Immediately afterward, a sword made of pure light formed in his hand out of yellow energy. It was a thin-bladed smallsword with a basket hilt, perfect for a finesse weapon. I almost got one for Void, but she had the power behind her to leverage the reach of the far heavier rapier.

  Rapiers weren’t natural finesse weapons. Despite their appearance, they were quite girthy and had more mass than an arming sword. I liked them for their reach. It was strange my mind went to optimal weapon choices for Void when I was being faced down by a now-threatening Advancement 12 Royal Mage.

  “How did you know that?” Willem growled low as he nearly blinked across the room and had his light-formed blade against my throat. I knew it wasn’t teleportation because it didn’t exist. That and the rain of papers flying in the air from the wake of his charge.

  I put my hands up. “Whoa there. I just got here. A Guard colleague of Void’s said the Royal Guards were coming and—”

  Willem’s blade pressed against my neck. I could feel the weapon’s magical blade sizzling my skin. This thing was on-par with one of those laser swords from the space opera I forgot the name of. Or were the lightestocs? I can’t remember the official name.

  “A city Guard wouldn’t know Royal Guard operations,” Willem snarled at me. “Besides, none of you should be able to read High Vialinan. Explain this to me or I’ll ensure you vanish without a trace.”

  Whew, I got chills from that. Willem was always so easy going. It made sense. When you were Advancement 12, nothing bothered you. He wasn’t the strongest out there, but he was high enough in the pecking order that he didn’t have to concern himself with much.

  I scrambled for an excuse and came up with nothing. Sure, I know I’d loop again, but between the shifting reset point and my promise to avoid dying at all costs, I had to find a way out of this. Then I settled on a big gamble.

  “Willem? This is going to sound strange, but I’ve been living here for centuries,” I began. I then started talking about my time loop, gave Willem a few details about him I know he didn’t tell me this time around, explained the apocalypse, how I ended up working with Gully Jack and our recent battle which broke the prior loop and started a new one.

  Willem only stared at me while I spoke. His blade never left my throat the entire time. When I finished, he barely backed away, knelt down and picked up a book with his free hand. He tossed it to me. “Read a few random pages.”

  I glanced at the cover and it was a book on the geography of Alios written in High Vialinan. I opened to a random page and started to read the words.

  “…mana in the center of the world rises into the void above Alios, it brings great warmth. There, great deserts are formed. The mana then cools in the vast space above and loops back, forming vast ranges of ice.

  Scholars believe other civilizations exist beyond these impassable frozen wastelands. Visiting them has thus far proven impossible. An expedition of Black Pegasi-drawn carriages laden with supplies was once sent to cross the wastes. It was never seen again.

  Calculations estimate there are over 1,000 other regions of Alios. Many wonder what kinds of tribes exist—”

  “Enough,” Willem ordered. He backed away and, with a flick of his wrist, he dismissed his light sword into motes of yellow light which vanished in the air. He spent a good two minutes staring at me.

  I took another sip of the bourbon in my glass and waited for Willem to process my story. I was really enjoying the booze after my three month abstinence.

  “The fastest an adult learned High Vialinan in history was 11 years.” Willem fell into his chair and looked at his glass of bourbon. “This explains why you were able to stare down my Illuminary Sabre without flinching. And how you ended up associated with Gully Jack.”

  Willem poured the contents of his glass into his mouth and swallowed hard. He then stared at the bottle of bourbon, picked it up and began chugging it. He let out a long gasp for air after sucking down half the contents.

  “You good, man?” I asked. “I like booze, but, damn, that’s something. Easily in the top 10 of what I’ve binged in the past.”

  “Are you saying I’ve lost centuries of memories? My family? That we’re facing extinction?” Willem slurred. He stared at the bottle again.

  I gently pulled the bottle out of his hand. “I know this is a lot to take in.” In this moment, I was impressed by Doun and Mira’s reaction. They were a lot more resilient than Willem. I chalked it up to their slums upbringing.

  Willem ran a hand down his raccoon-like face. “Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?”

  “I tried,” I said. “Last time I brought it up, the Royal Guards showed up a few minutes later and marched me to the gallows. I also tried Illian a few times and he usually had me locked away.”

  “That doesn’t sound like something I’d do,” Willem mumbled as he tried to grab his empty glass. He slipped and knocked it to the floor where it rolled under his desk.

  “You’re too sloshed to talk right now,” I said and set the bottle aside. “I can come back and talk about this after you’ve centered yourself.”

  A glow grew on Willem’s hand and he waved me away. “I’m…urg…fine…can cast a spell.”

  I watched Willem fumble his spell a couple of times. The light coming from his hand sputtered out with a whimper before he finally managed to keep it illuminated. He then placed the light on his head and his posture straightened.

  “Ah, much better,” Willem sighed. He again looked at my bottle before shaking his head. “No time to have an existential crisis. Now, you said you told me and ended up at the headsman?”

  I nodded. “Yes. It’s why I was hesitant to tell you just now. You had a sword on me and I figured the lowest odds of you resetting my loop was to tell the truth.”

  Willem closed his eyes and crossed his arms. “My current instincts are to inform the king of this, yet from what you tell me of your prior attempts, this is a key reason why you ended up as you did.”

  “The king never did react well when I told him. He always sent me to be executed,” I said. “It makes me wonder if he’s the one pulling the strings behind the cult.”

  Willem snorted. “The king is vain and stupid. He neither has the acumen nor the interest in destroying his kingdom. He had you executed for being a threat to public order. He wouldn’t want a summoned hero running around claiming the world is coming to an end.”

  “Yet he still made me a Noble,” I replied. “Which makes no sense to me.”

  “It was Johann,” Willem countered. “He’s far more adept than his father at politics. Most of the other nobles aren’t happy he’s the heir. They’d prefer the Second Prince, who is more intellectually inclined like the King. I believe Johann saw the opportunity to pull you in as an ally and subtly shift the balance of power his direction.”

  I snorted. “If that’s what he’s after, it’s a bad choice. I’m not politically inclined and I’m hardly noble.”

  “Still, he saw something in you to keep you close,” Willem stated. “Enough of that, we have to focus on the end of the world. How can I help?”

  “Not much you can do.” I drew another sip from the glass and ran the bourbon over my tongue. “I’d rather focus on helping you with your thing.”

  Willem stared at me with his mouth partially hung open for a moment. I sipped on the last of my bourbon and looked at the bottle. I decided against taking another; I had to remain coherent since I still had the dinner with Prince Johann later today.

  “The world is ending and you want to focus on sneaking slaves out of Vialina?” Willem asked with a rather strong hint of disbelief on this voice.

  “It’s not that I don’t want to stop the end of the world,” I said. “It’s more that I don’t know what is coming right now. I’d rather focus on something else in the meantime.”

  Willem shook his head. “If I take this at face value…no, you have the experience in this. I’ll defer to your expertise.”

  “As good as that does,” I sighed. “Right now, you know about as much as I do. I haven’t been this far before.”

  “It’ll take some time to arrange a meeting with the boss.” Willem crossed his legs and ran a hand across his furry muzzle. “I’m wondering…why you of all people? You have intelligence hiding under your simple manners but you’re a dud. I’d think Aoto would have been a better choice.”

  “Deceptive, huh? That’s rich coming from Lansen Boiland of all people,” I grinned.

  Willem’s expression turned sheepish. “I find leveraging my family name rather…tacky. Sari and the kids don’t receive any benefit from the title and all it does is cause me trouble. I tend to avoid bringing it up. Now, back to why you are the one with this ability. Did you discover why?”

  “Apart from being all-attuned? You have a piece of paper and some ink I can borrow? I have to show you something,” I responded. I knew Willem was a castle mage, meaning he’d have attended the Mage’s College. It was time to see if he knew anything about my mana bar.

  I waited as Willem rifled through his stacks to find something to write on. It took him a few minutes to find a blank sheet of paper and be brought it along with a quill pen from his desk to me.

  I glanced up at my black mana bar to refresh my sense of scale. I had to get this one accurate compared to the one I toed in the dirt back at the training yard for Void, Tizek and Lia. Willem would need the best information possible if I wanted to see if he could help.

  After I drew the bar, I scrawled in the black portion with hash marks and left the little sliver to the left untouched. “This is what my mana bar looks like. Best I can figure, my rating is 1,200% or so.”

  Willem’s brows tried to find their way up to the crest of his head when he saw the drawing. “Is the scale accurate?”

  “Reasonably,” I responded.

  He hummed as he looked at the paper. “You may be mistaken,” Willem mumbled.

  The words made my stomach drop. Was I wrong about the black bar? “About what?”

  Willem pointed to the sliver. “With mana bars, there’s an issue of resolution. Below a percent, the bar is not able to accurately scale what’s left. It’s a problem people with high Advancements have to adjust to. I’m rated 112% and I’m Advancement 12. When I start running low in mana, I find it difficult to gauge how much I have left. Do you notice your bar just vanishing when you cast spells?”

  I nodded. “Yes. I never noticed it getting smaller before. When I charge my guild card or a hot shower, the blue vanishes.”

  “It’s very possible your rating is higher than you think,” Willem replied.

  Now it was my turn to be surprised. I was even more powerful than 1,200%? Even after centuries, I still had things to learn. “Not that it’ll do me any good. A black mana bar is a well-kept secret. Best I could find was it can result from forbidden spells.”

  Willem nodded. “That’s what I understood. I think I know how I can help you. I believe the Mage’s Guild may have information. I’ll have to leverage my contacts though.”

  “You can get me in?” I asked.

  Willem shook his head. “No. The testing is comprehensive. You need to know magical theory, have a rating above 110% and you’d need to be fluent in High Vialinan.”

  I cursed. “Damn. I have one, I can easily learn the other but the rating is a problem.”

  “Right. I’ll see what I can find for you. In the meantime, what will you do?” Willem asked. “I estimate I can arrange a meeting in two weeks if I can convince the boss to meet you.”

  “I have a dinner with the Prince tonight,” I said.

  “He’s likely going to prepare you for the quarterly Low Council meeting,” Willem explained. “It’s in five days. He’ll want you to make an introduction and a speech.”

  I groaned. “Great. I’d rather not, but I don’t have much of a choice, do I?”

  Willem gave me an apologetic smile. “I fear in some regards Nobles have fewer freedoms than the commoners.”

  I sighed. “Alright. I also have to deal with the Gully Jack threat.”

  “What? What did she do?” Willem asked.

  I explained my history with Lisa in its full details along with the cistern battle. Then I told him about Juliette’s kidnapping and getting hit with Regvald’s Curse.

  Mentioning Regvald’s Curse caused Willem’s face to form a scowl. “I hope you take that scum down. The slums aren’t under any Noble’s control. Do you intend to take it?”

  “I hadn’t thought about it. I really don’t like being a Nobe and I have no intention of being a ruler.” The idea of being a leader, especially a hereditary one, didn’t sit well with me.

  “You should consider it. The slums need stability and the other Nobles don’t think it’s profitable enough to bother,” Willem growled.

  “You seem overly aggressive about this,” I said.

  Willem took a few deep breaths to calm himself. “It was Regvald’s Curse. Did you know it was banned?”

  I nodded. “22 years ago, right?”

  “Correct.” Willem leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. “Duchess Alfriss is holding a party the day after the Low Council meeting. There’s someone there I’d like you to meet. It’s related to the curse and is a party interested in stability in the slums but can’t take direct control without causing political waves.”

  “Do I need an invitation?” I asked. I knew I could go because my special item I ordered will be ready then.

  “Nobles don’t need invites. They can show up at any ball, gala, soirée and party they please,” Willem said. “This one you’ll want to go to. Gully Jack’s attack on you will be of interest and you may gain an ally.”

  “Works for me.” I stood and brushed my leather pants. “I think I should go. I have to get ready for the Prince’s dinner and Tizek doesn’t have anything to wear.”

  Willem snorted. “Don’t worry about it. He’s just there as a retainer. The Prince will likely ask for a private discussion. Feeding the others is a courtesy.”

  I reached out and shook Willem’s hand. “It’s nice to have you on my side after all this time.”

  Willem gripped my hand and, once again, I forgot how strong he was. “I’ll keep in touch about the party and meeting. I’ll also head out to the Mage’s College tomorrow to see if I can get into the restricted stacks about your damaged mana bar.”

  After that, Willem escorted me to the front and I bid him farewell. It was still raining outside, but I didn’t care much. Florida deluges were far worse and I had a sweet hat to keep the rain off my head.

  Next up? The Prince’s dinner. I really wanted to know what he wanted, especially now that he figured out I’m not what I seem to be.