George drew in deep breaths, trying to slow his breathing, all too aware of how heavily his heart pounded. This wasn't good. His strength was waning, while in front of him, his opponent moved easily, lifting his heavier blade like it was nothing, not missing a beat in his movements.

Cautiously, George defended. Bracing both his legs, he tried to save some strength and went for a block instead of trying to dodge or parry the next obvious blow. If he could engage the other guy in a blade lock, throw in his weight at the right angle, so long as the other guy was caught off-guard, he could buy himself a moment or two to catch his breath, regain his balance…

Fat chance. The other guy's weight and momentum far superceded his own. There was a jarring sock and on top of that, George felt like he'd run into one of DD's herd charging ahead at full speed. "OOF!"

The world went black for a moment. He was slightly aware of himself falling backward, and trying to keep standing, but his legs just couldn't hold him up any more.

When he came to, he was on the ground, with a heavy wooden practice sword pointed at his nose.

"What was that?" his opponent, Max, asked, one eyebrow raised. "What kind of idiot thought was running through your head when you made a mistake like that?"

George took off his padded practice helmet, panting heavily. "Urgh. Did you have to charge forward that hard?"

"Sorry. Old habits. I just couldn't resist. You were just standing there, bracing for impact, knowing it was coming but just happily getting hit…" Max chuckled. "Besides, didn't you say you wanted me to be serious with you? Something about becoming stronger quicker?"

"I was an idiot." George admitted, sweat dripping down his face. "Both times."

"Oh, I think there was some merit to practicing more seriously." Max shrugged. "Though I do think you might have picked someone around your size."

George just sat there and let out a groan while Max laughed.

"What's the hurry about getting stronger anyway?" Max questioned. "I mean, I get it, but there are better fighters around you can rely on."

"Ugh… the idea was to have everyone strong enough to fight off Tier 3, maybe even Tier 4 Wilds. I'm the one who came up with the policy, so I thought, maybe I should set a good example…"

"Challenging someone thrice your size and telling him to go serious on you is really not a good example." Max advised. "Someone around your size and skill, perhaps, maybe even one of the trainees, but not one of the grizzled veterans. Maybe ask Tim? I haven't seen him on the practice grounds in ages. He could probably use some practice these days."

"It's been days since I've seen Tim anywhere, practice grounds or otherwise." George grunted. "Any idea where he's gone?"

"Not a clue. I thought he went south with Remian or something? Or is he skulking around the mines and the tunnels with the lynxmice again?"

"Maybe." George wasn't sure himself. "Anyway, thanks for the practice, but I think I've reached my limits for the day, and I have an appointment soon."

"Sure. Just… take it easy, all right?" Max scratched his head. "You know, we don't actually need you on the front lines in person. We need you more at the bank and the farm, if you know what I mean."

"Yeah, yeah. I get it. I won't get myself killed and put your paycheck in jeopardy." George snorted, and waved as he went to prepare for his appointment.

***

His appointment was with Salim.

"So, how many mercenaries did you intend to hire? What skill levels and for how long?" Salim asked.

"I don't actually want to hire mercenaries. I just want to reward them." George told him.

"What?" Salim stared at him blankly.

"It's like this. I don't want to employ them full time. I just want them to get some work done, and pay them for it afterward. How long they take or what they do to do it is up to them." George explained. "Basically, I want to post bounties."

"Ah." That was easy enough to understand.

"The difference is the bounties aren't just for kills. They include protection duties, like 'one week of safety for North Amber Gorge Mine, all our miners protected from Wilds while operating unhindered. Bonus for zero injuries.'"

"And if they fail?" Salim asked. "If even one person dies to an accident?"

"Accidents don't count. They only fail if someone gets killed by a Wild." George said.

"That's still a very tall order. There's no telling what some idiot miner might get himself into, sometimes."

George thought about it. "Okay, then at least a 95% survival rate, and most of the time, the operations of the mine must run smoothly. You can sort out the exact wording and details, but the point is they don't get paid unless our miners are safe."

"Understood." Salim jotted down notes. "Are we providing anything else? Food, accommodations?"

"Nope. They'll have to handle all of that on their own." George answered decisively. "I've got enough trouble to deal with already. I don't need any more."

He'd learned a thing or two from Remian's previous hires. Trying to provide amenities for everyone, especially mercenaries, was a serious pain. Given that the whole town was wiped out and that they weren't going to rebuild it, George felt it best that they not even try.

"Aren't the FDF guys guarding the mines?" Salim questioned.

"Only when we can't get mercenaries. I want the FDF focused on KarGoth." George told him.

KarGoth was the new heart of their operations now. Fort Spoas was history; but the mines and the tunnels of KarGoth were extensive, and increasingly so day by day. They already rivaled the size of the town back when Remian first arrived. Given time, the underground town could very well grow into a full-sized city. George fully intended to turn both hills into earthen fortresses. In fact, looking at the Pit, George wondered if a similar design could be implemented inside each hill…

He could picture it already. Huge holes down the center of each hill, each an open s.p.a.ce oval where one could look up at the sky, with shops and houses on floor after floor surrounding it, maybe with the occasional rope bridge across…

Mindy had shown him pictures of something similar. It was from a large mall in Ashdale. It had cost her some good silver for that magic photo, but George felt it was priceless.

One day, he decided, he was going to see that mall for himself. But later, after he'd secured Shadowflash Fief.

On that note, they had to do something about Shadowflash himself. The only way to really make a legitimate claim to these lands was to kill him or make him swear fealty. He should make that a bounty too. Something like… five thousand Lir dead, ten thousand alive?

No, wait. Carrie and Vigil and all those wolfcats might get upset if they heard about a kill bounty on Shadowflash. More like a missing persons bounty, then? At least, they needed to find Shadowflash before anything else. 100 lir for verified whereabouts (they knew he was somewhere deep inside the Amber Gorge, but where in the Amber Gorge exactly?), and 10,000 for safe return.

100 lir… or 300 Guild Points. 30,000 GP if an Adventurer brought him in. That sounded about right.

"Squik."

George turned around. "Miik. What's the word on Fal'Herim?"

Miik's nose twitched. [We found her stores and her vault, but Asda is wary of us. She has all her people keeping an eye out for lynxmice, especially. It is hard to make a move.]

"That's fine." George allowed himself a thin smile. "Steer clear and avoid them. Don't even let them see you. We're not in a hurry to make her pay. At least, not before we get our airs.h.i.+ps."

[Do we move on the market?]

"No, not yet. Take what you need if you can get away without being seen, but the time to strike is not now. We'll just have to be patient and bide our time." George decided. "Just keep looking for weak spots and areas where we can make them hurt. When the time comes when we finally do strike, I want to hit them so hard, they'll remember it forever."