The rest of the trip to Evenguard had been mostly pleasant. Harald turned out to be a delightful conversational partner. Even Sarah chimed in on occasion and to Nest’s relief, she was typically more informed and thoughtful about her words than she had been when speaking about the noble houses.

  Evenguard was a nice city. Similar in size to his home in the mountains, but the main difference was that the entire city stood together in a single collection of buildings. In the mountain, the city was broken up into multiple smaller towns that existed in massive chambers.

  The construction was decent, but notably didn’t compare to dwarven make. Whoever had built many of these buildings had made them almost entirely out of lumber. Only parts of the structure were made of stone. The opposite held true in dwarven construction. Lumber buildings were ideal for temporary structures, but their buildings were typically made of stone and brick. Wood was great for decor and finishing, like trim. With the lack of overly severe weather in the mountain, some of the buildings had been there since the establishment of the clan.

  Immediately upon arrival, Nest’s escorts had a few stops to make. The clan had a number of goods to sell. From hand crafted dwarven goods to beast cores and magic items from far away dungeons- the trio of dwarves stopped at multiple shops, haggled for prices and collected a large sum of coin.

  After the first few stops, Sarah counted the content of the pouch the coin had been collected in and compared it to something in her notebook. With a nod to Harald, she tied the pouch off and tossed it to him. After that, any additional coin was collected in a separate pouch.

  Nest’s immediate thought was that the two sinners were collecting their cut of the profits. They were dwarves of Greed after all. Then he remembered that cultivators weren’t influenced by the sins the same way saints were.

  Now, Nest stood inside a tavern. The door he was staring at was as simple as any he’d ever seen. A few dozen powerful looking men and women of all the races walked around the area and around the upper gallery, coming in and out of what looked like bedrooms. There were even a few dwarves in the mix, ones he recognized from the mountain. However, it was the humans that vastly outnumbered everyone else. Nest had never met anyone that wasn’t a dwarf. It was staggering how tall everyone was. How did they not fall over or bump their heads on everything?

  As he understood it, the guildhalls also acted as a barracks of sorts for sinners who were lucky enough to get a room in one. The accommodation came with many benefits, including easy access to the thing most people were currently crowded around.

  The questboards seemed full of fluttering papers. So many, that there were two full boards and if a third were installed, you could still call them full.

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  The mass of people were looking over the first board. They flipped through job listings, some grimacing, others getting excited before snatching pages off the board and taking them over to the bartender to sign off on them taking the quest.

  On occasion, someone would walk into the hall and walk directly to the second board. There was no one gathered around that board. That person would briefly look over the listings and if they found something they liked, they would take it and leave.

  *Creak*,

  The door into the guildmaster’s office swung back open. “Thank you, Sir. We’ll leave him in your hands.” Harald exited the room with a smile on his face, Sarah right behind him. “Well, Nest, our job is done here. We’re leaving you in good hands.” Harald leaned in to whisper to the new sinner. “He comes off a bit grumpy, but it grows on you. You know, like mold.” He patted Nest on the arm.

  “I heard that, brat,” came from inside the office.

  “Oh and he hears everything.” The jovial dwarf nodded and offered Nest a hand. “Come find us when you finish your training.”

  Nest shook the offered hand. “I will. It’s been good to get to know you, Harald.”

  Harald waved a hand. “Enough of that. We’re friends now. Call me Harry.” Harry gave Nest another pat on the back and left towards the door.

  Nest found the happy man to be a strange character, but he would be lying to say he didn’t enjoy his company.

  Sarah walked up to Nest and, to the new sinner’s surprise, held out a hand as well. “Sorry about the other day. I have a hard time talking to people and when the anxiety I feel builds up, I end up coming off aggressively when I finally speak.

  Was that seriously her issue? She was just shy? Nest’s head started spinning a bit, thinking about the last few days. The proof was in how she had started everything she said. Her first few words had almost always come out as if she couldn’t hold herself back anymore.

  “It’s uh-” Nest paused for a moment as he took Sarah’s offered hand. “It’s fine. I’m sure it’s also hard to get a word in with Harry around.

  “A blessing and a curse,” Sarah responded with the first genuine smile Nest had seen her give.

  He felt his chest thump a bit harder as her flushed cheeks lifted into the smile. “It was nice to meet you, Sarah.” Nest was fully aware at that moment that he was still shaking the woman’s hand, but for the life of him couldn’t convince his arm to stop.

  Realizing the same thing, Sarah awkwardly yanked her hand away.

  It didn’t reflect any distaste for Nest, but now knowing her a bit better, it was like when she finally forced herself to speak. Awkward and a bit too abrupt.

  She pushed her braid over her shoulder and tucked any loose hair behind her ear. “You really should come find us when you get home. I’ll buy you a drink to make up for how I spoke to you-” She placed a hand on his shoulder as she walked by him towards the exit. “Lord Dungeonstalker.”

  Nest could hear the playfulness in her voice and he smiled again.

  “Nest,” A strong dwarven voice came from inside the office. “Quit flirting and get in here!”