Ring, ring, ring… click


    “I never expected you to be the one to initiate our nightly check-ins, Artyom,” said Gus from the other side of the phone. “And this early in the day, at that.”


    “Me neither, but this isn’t a check-in. It’s a mission report.”


    Artyom leaned back in the bed in his room at the inn. It wasn’t anything luxurious, but the layer of cotton over the pile of straw was more than he could ask for given the price he paid for the room. A sound-blocking privacy ward surrounded him in a small bubble that kept any noise from escaping the room.


    “It’s worse than I thought, Gus. I don’t know how you did it, but the place you sent me to is a complete madhouse. Something very deeply fundamental to this place is downright wrong.”


    “You’ve already described the duality of human nature there, what else has happened?”


    “Oh, where do I begin,” mumbled Artyom before focusing back. “The hero’s party tried to kill me.”


    “Did you get away? If they’re still treating the Earther well, we can try to extract him at a later date.”


    “No, not like that. They gave me a little errand to run before I got to join the party, retrieving some treasure from a nearby ‘easy’ dungeon. Their priestess gave me a little ‘blessing’ first. It might have let me start leveling up, but it made me dumb as all hell. I just ran into the dungeon without a care in the world and got knocked out the moment I was ambushed. Not to mention the boss monster was a true end-game threat, something even an entire squad of our soldiers would have trouble with.”


    “That… is concerning. And highly unlike you.”


    Artyom stretched his leg, which suddenly felt stiff as its ligaments reattached themselves. “Understatement of the century. But the stupid went away when I got this weird Skill, [Emissary of Dharma]. I don’t know if it actually does anything else beyond clearing my mind and canceling all of my level ups, but I met two others who have it. They seem to be a lot sharper than everyone else around here, so maybe it makes you smart or something? It might just cancel out the stupidity curse in my case.”


    “Hmm, dharma, I think it means truth in Sanskrit, but there’s probably more to it. We’ll get you checked out by a medical team when you return to headquarters.”


    “That won’t be for a while.”


    A turbulent silence settled around the two that lasted several seconds before Gus popped it.


    “After the injuries you’ve sustained, I’m willing to switch you out with someone else; you can take their support role on the current big mission.”


    “Are they more experienced than me?”


    “No, they are not.”


    “Then forget it,” Artyom spat. “I told you something is fundamentally wrong with this place, and I intend to figure out what, all while by the hero’s side.”


    “In the presence of his party members who tried to kill you?”


    “That’s why I can’t be anywhere else.”


    Gus took in a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “I seem to be lost, you need to explain your reasoning to me.”


    “Remember why I got sent on this mission in the first place?”Stolen story; please report.


    “Because you need a vacation-”


    “I mean what’s on the dossier, Gus.”


    The man on the other side of the line paused for a second before snapping his finger. “The unknown summoning method. You need to make sure they won’t be able to summon another Earther once you rescue this one.”


    “Exactly, and if I do extract Tommy, his entourage would kill me on the spot if I tried to rescue the next one.” Artyom exhaled and shook his head. “I don’t even know if I should rescue the kid. He looks nothing like someone from Earth, but has all the memories of one.”


    “Which is another reason you wish to get close to him.”


    “Yup.”


    Gus hummed in thought before speaking up again, “Will you need additional gear? I can issue you sturdier body armor and a gauss rifle.”


    Artyom shook his head. “No, the kid will recognize all of that and blow my cover. I’m not sure how the others will react if they know I’m also from Earth.”


    “I believe it is safe to bet they would try and kill you.”


    “It’s safe to bet they’ll do that anyway.”


    Artyom burst into laughter while Gus gave a polite chortle.


    “Man, this is going to be dangerous,” said the man from Earth with a bittersweet smile.


    “It will be,” replied Gus solemnly. “You’ve made your decision and I won’t try to stop you, but I wish you best of luck. Be careful.”


    “Thanks, I will.”


    Artyom said goodbye and hung up the phone. There was nothing more to discuss.


    “Alright, the potion should be done healing me up by tomorrow, so I’ll drop off this armor piece once I’m back in shape. Don’t want to show any weakness around those harpies.”


    <hr>


    “Come on, Tommy!” cooed Daisy as she clung to his arm. “Can’t we go already? I’m getting bored here.”


    “We promised Artyom we’d wait for him to get the armor piece, we can’t leave now!” said Tommy. “At least there’s plenty of fun to have here in the meantime.”


    The hero’s party stood around the “Fancy and Pancy,” Brimhaven’s premier inn. It was late in the morning, and while many nobles were present for brunch, they stuck to the corner tables of the main hall. It was the only way to keep some semblance of the peace they were used to without coming off as rude in front of a national hero.


    “She has a point,” said Xerica as she walked up to the two with her arms crossed. “If he actually cared, he would have gotten back here by now. We can only assume he’s not interested or he couldn’t get through the dungeon.”


    “I mean…” began Tommy, not making eye contact with the redhead. “He just seems really cool, you know? I’d love to have him as part of the team.”


    Standing in a corner, Neitra silently nodded along with a soft frown, her brown hair bobbing as she did.


    Lensa walked up and put a hand on his shoulder. “Worry not, Tommy. If it is the goddess’ will, she will see him back to us safely. I gave him her blessing, after all.”


    Tommy looked up to her and smiled bashfully.


    “But he really should be back here by now,” drawled Ecole as she cleaned out her fingernails with a dagger. “I bet the dungeon’s boss did him-”


    The rich wooden door of the inn was kicked open and Artyom walked in. What little dialogue was taking place in the corners of the main hall went dead silent as the man from Earth strode in with a scowl. He made his way to the table Tommy and the other ladies were sitting at and slammed his hand down onto it.


    “Given up already?” asked Xerica with a smug grin. “It’s a lot smarter than I would have expected from you.”


    “As a matter of fact,” replied Artyom, his own lips rising from a frown into a smile that surpassed even her’s in smugness. “It was just as easy as you said it would be.”


    All four of the ladies looked at the table with disbelief as Artyom lifted his hand to reveal the armor piece. Neitra looked over with equally wide eyes, but with an expression of wonder to back it up.


    “Awesome, welcome to the party!” exclaimed Tommy, jumping out of his chair.


    The others remained silent, but they raised their heads to Artyom, directing their collective wrath and disdain onto the singular target.


    The man from Earth merely regarded them each with a polite smile.


    “I know this isn’t going to be the last time you all try to kill me,” he gravely thought behind his placid facade. “But I’m ready this time. I know you’re all up to something, and I’ll stake my life on keeping this kid safe. That’s my duty, after all.”


    “So, ladies, what’s our first order of business?”