“Alright, kid, raise your right hand.” The grizzled Climber said. His face and hands bore the scars of decades of climbing. His hair was just starting to gray at the edges, and if his easy confidence was anything to go by, he probably had an Advanced Class, given that the 10th Floor was a mere bus ride away.

Will couldn’t imagine someone getting this close and giving up here.

How interesting that people who would be demigods outside the tower choose to be rank-and-file guards on the inside. Perhaps ‘retirement’ meant different things to different people.

Obeying the prompt, Will raised his right hand.

“Repeat after me.”

Will nodded.

“I give my word that I am not a Fae, nor do I act on their behalf.”

Will repeated it.

“I give my word not to commit fraud, give false testimony, or unjustly deprive others of their life, property, or freedom inside the walls of Bakton Keep.”

“I give my word not to commit fraud, give false testimony, or unjustly deprive others of their life, property, or freedom inside the walls of Bakton Keep.” Will repeated.

As Will uttered the final word, he felt the Miasma around them take notice of him, Debt tightening snug around him.

At least it was a loose promise that left plenty of wiggle room for everyday behavior. Basically, don’t lie, steal, kill, or kidnap. Pretty simple to get through a week without doing those things.

Probably. Will’s life hadn’t always turned out to be that simple.

In theory he could still beat someone half to death, so that was good.

Will nodded to the gate guard and continued onwards towards the gate before the guard caught him by the arm.

“Hold on a moment, I’ve been looking around, and the people in your caravan are, by-and-large, teenagers, which is pretty unusual for people not being bussed. I’ve been asking around and they tell me the leader is William Oh. I can’t tell if they’re messing with me somehow. I don’t see anybody that looks like a nine-foot tall Climber with the power to crush giants. Can you point him out?”

Will pointed at his own chest.

The guard’s brow rose in a disbelieving expression.

“You’re him?” He asked, his tone skeptical.

Wordlessly, Will took his Feathered Serpent mask off his belt and put it over his face before hefting his tomahawk.

“Huh.” The guard grunted, eyeing Will from top to bottom. “You don’t look nine feet tall. You look five foot eight. At best.”

“I’m still growing.” Will said, a bit more defensively than he intended. He’d put on at least four inches since he started Climbing.

“And soloing a Raid Boss, and fighting a Graneshian army by yourself, that exaggerated too?” The guard asked, chuckling.

“Nah, I did that.”

The man’s chuckle persisted for a breath before his expression began fluctuating rapidly. Will watched as the man glanced over at his script, realizing that he’d already gotten the ‘no lying’ promise from Will, then his critical thinking skills kicking in, realizing that either William Oh could lie after making a promise on the 9th Floor, or he was telling the truth.

Neither of which was normal.

“Ahem. Lord Bakton likes to meet caravan leaders personally to discuss their goals. You can schedule a meeting with the clerk in the office there.”

The guard leaned forward, his meaty arm reaching out of the window and pointing to a boxy building further through the gate.

“…It’ll be interesting to visit a place where nobody lies.” Will said, putting the mask back on his belt.

“It’s convenient, for sure, but it’s got downsides,” the guard said, his gaze drifting past Will and landing on a few of the settlers of Will’s caravan that had already passed the checkpoint.

“So, do you think my sister’s prettier than me?” Eolande the Seamstress asked.

“Lil’ bit.” Kearney the carpenter replied with gentle smile, his face slowly morphing into horror as the realization of what he’d just said began to dawn on him.

“I see.” Eolande said, nodding. “Good to know.”

“Babe, that’s not what I meant to say!”

“I know,” Eolande said as she walked away, her husband trailing behind, apologizing profusely.

“I see what you mean,” Will mused. “I hope it’s not too much of a problem.”

“Well, they can’t kill each other, so that’s good.” The guard said, resting his chin on his palm. “In my experience, if two people are actually in love, the truth will be a boon. If they’re not, the truth’ll clear that shit up real quick.”

“What am I supposed to do if some of my caravan break up here?” Will asked.

“…Welcome to Bakton Keep,” The guard said with a blasé shrug, waving Will past and dealing with the next member of the Caravan.

Will followed the guard’s instruction to the office, where a single older woman behind a bar bustled back and forth consulting books and scrolls while a floating pen at her desk made notes in a ledger of some kind.

Will glanced to the side and met Badur’s eyes, where their logistician was seemingly haggling over their taxes with the clerk.

Since the vast majority of the caravan’s wealth was Relics and Sacrifices, and it all had varying value, there were a lot of grey areas and wiggle room: Pay a bit more of this one thing we find worthless, in exchange, pay a bit less of this other thing that is vital to the caravan.

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Important work.

Badur looked like he was having a great time, sweat beading on his forehead, lips muttering curses. Will didn’t want to interrupt him.

“I’d like to make schedule a meeting with Lord Bakton.” Will said, approaching the bar.

“William Oh send his messenger boy?” the clerk said, directing her attention away from Badur. “Gods, you’re young.”

“I’m pretty fast, so I do deliver messages for William Oh from time to time,” Will said, studying the older woman. “This being one of them.”

Now that he thought about it, it seemed like each floor aged the population by a couple years. It wasn’t noticeable on the first few, but by the ninth Floor, it seemed like the majority of people were middle-aged.

It’s not that the Floor itself ages them, these are the Slow-and-Steady folk who carefully work their way up The Tower, taking as few risks as possible to reach this point.

The fast Climbers were by-and-large, dead by this point, which made Will’s caravan of fresh-faced young’ins something of a rare sight.

The clerk grunted, and a book flew down from the shelf into her waiting hand.

“Do you have authority to make appointments for William Oh?”

“Yes.” Will said.

“Hah. Most newcomers to the keep forget to give their messengers temporary powers of attorney.”

“What can I say? William Oh regularly defies expectations.” Will said.

“Lord Bakton is free…three days from now. Shall I book it?”

“Please.”

Her floating pen sang over to the book in her hand and made a quick scribble, and Will could feel the Debt around him settle into place, an ominous feeling that seemed to slowly descend on him. The very definition of a deadline. It seemed as though the Floor itself would enforce his arrival.

“Tell Mr. Oh that the Floor itself will see to his appointment being kept. If he feels a sudden urge to go somewhere three days from now, he shouldn’t fight it.”

“What happens if you fight it?” Will asked.

“Could get messy.” The clerk said, peering down her nose at Will. “Alright, get outta here kid, I gotta deal with your equally green Logistician.”

Will gave Badur a sympathetic back-pat and left the office.

June was overseeing getting the caravan settled and Badur was handling the entry fee, leaving Will...basically free to explore Bakton keep.

“Hey Will!” Anna shouted, grabbing Will’s attention as the blonde baker girl approached. The young woman stopped beside Will and looked up at him with pleading eyes.

“Jean’s making me go shopping for tonight’s dinner all by myself while we’re here. Would you come with me and help me carry stuff?”

Will blinked, opening his mouth as the obvious retorts came to mind:

#1: You could split and literally carry the entire caravan if you wanted. You’d still technically be all by yourself, but come on. Really?

#2: Jean is the one calling all the shots so if you’re asking me to come with you, that’s Jean asking. Why make her look like the bad guy?

#3: This is just a thinly-veiled excuse to- OH.

“…Sure.” Will said.

“Thanks!” Anna stood on her tiptoes and pecked the side of his face before grabbing the crook of his left arm and guiding him towards the smell of delicious meats.

“You should never go shopping on an empty stomach,” Anna said, dragging him to a restaurant with a picture of a stag on the sign.

Once inside, Will discovered that Bakton Keep’s food was unique due to their limitations. There was an overabundance of wild game due to Fae shenanigans, and a handful of basically limitless wild herbs that the hunters would collect and carry back with their catch of the day, forcing a very specific kind of flavor.

It was gamey, salty, and had some weird, tangy herbs, but it was strangely…not bad?

There was also a stew that they made with the dripping from their BBQ, mixed chunks of roast meat and a few potatoes grown inside the walls of the keep.

The prices were mind-bogglingly expensive, but Will was used to that by now.

Once they were done eating, Anna dragged Will out to shop. Wild game and herbs were the cheapest food they could acquire, so that’s where they went.

Really wish I bought that bag of endless salt, Will thought as they walked along the market, marveling at the sheer amount of meat for sale, and the fact that none of it seemed to be going bad.

I wonder how they pull that off, Will mused.

Anna seemed to know exactly what she wanted, picking out some quartered deer and herbs for tonight’s stew, with an eye on adding it to their daily gruel to spice things up.

It’s times like this I wonder if Gertrude was onto something. Will thought. Sure, the Graneshian zealots probably would’ve found and killed him, but it was nice walking around a market with a cute girl and-

“Hold this,” Anna said, shoving a massive package of waxed paper oozing deer blood into his arms, followed by a bag full of spices.

“One hand, one hand!” Will cried as the hefty waxed paper package awkwardly slipped in his grasp, threatening to tumble and explode onto the grimy cobblestones.

Will hastily assigned his Phantom Snakes to grab the package out of his arms and carry it above him before it could fall.

“I knew you could do it,” Anna said, giving him a mischievous grin and a thumbs-up, prompting Will to groan.

“Cute couple,” the merchant said with a laugh.

“Oh, no, we can’t be a couple because I’m not a real person.” Anna said with a smile and a dismissive wave, her tone eerily divorced from her words.

“…”

Anna stood there, wide-eyed and frozen for a good two seconds as Will and the merchant stared at her.

Finally, the cheerful baker took a deep breath, the smile returning to her face.

“Thanks!” She said before turning and walking away at a ground-eating pace.

“Anna, are you-“ Will began speaking as he caught up, but she pulled away again, her pace redoubling until she was nearly running.

Will followed Anna until she ducked into a dark alcove in an alley, where she wrapped her arms around herself, taking a shuddering breath.

“I’m not a person. Hah. I was always afraid to say that out loud, but in this place, it just popped right out.”

Will waited, unsure of what to say.

“Do you think I’m a person?” She asked, peering up at him.

“I think you’re a very important part of a person,” Will said. “I think you’re Brianna’s heart.”

“Fancy way of saying ‘no’.” Anna groused, sliding down the wall until she was curled up into a ball.

“Hmm…” Will thought as he slid down to sit beside her.

“If it makes you feel any better, I’m starting to have doubts about my personhood.” Will said.

Anna scoffed for a moment before her expression turned confused, realizing that Will couldn’t lie in town.

“Really?”

“Really. I might be the latest in a long line of hapless tools that The Tower uses to…I don’t know…shake things up before everything falls apart. A disposable catalyst. The latest iteration of a convenient idiot created by creatures thousands of times older than me,” Will mused, thinking of his father. “My fate plotted out from beginning to end.”

According to Arkesh, Thomas Oh was a first generation molt of Ouroboros. Which made him a godlike entity, who’d gone around for thousands of year, sowing seeds, waiting for one to get lucky and land in the role that had been arranged for it.

Still owe that guy a punch. Might be harder to make it hurt than I thought, though.

“I always feel like…if I can make people happy…it feels like I’m real for that heartbeat they’re smiling. Even if I know that isn’t the case,” Anna said, staring at the far wall. “I keep chasing that feeling, like a drunkard with his drink.”

“You’re real. You may be a part of someone else, but you’re damn sure a real one. That’s not even on the table.” Will said firmly.

“But how do I know if anything I feel is coming from me, or her?” Anna asked, peering at him.

“It’s both.” Will said. “You’re her heart. Brianna liked making people happy. You like making people happy. She likes me, you like me. You’re not some separate puppet, you’re literally a walking, talking piece of her. Jean doesn’t even have those feelings anymore, at least not what they used to be. You’re carrying them for her until she can handle them again.”

Anna broke into a sudden laugh, wiping tears away from her cheeks before she spoke. “I Like you? Making some pretty big assumptions there, Will.”

“Am I wrong?” Will asked.

“Not really,” Anna said, standing and brushing off her skirt before hauling Will to his feet.

“I like the idea that I’m carrying Brianna’s feelings for her.” Anna said, nodding. “It’s a better way to think about it. Thanks.”

“You’re wel-“ Will’s words were cut off as Anna squished the air out of him.

230 base Strength! Lungs collapsing! Ribs Creaking! Spine deforming!

Will heaved in a grateful breath as Anna’s hug softened around him a moment later.

“I should warn you,” Anna said, her breath tickling Will’s chin as she looked straight up at him.

“Eh?” Will asked, heart hammering in his chest.

“…Loth wants to go shopping for Relics with you. She’s waiting in the marketplace with me and Badur.”

“Eh?”

“Thanks for your help, byeee!” Anna said, waving as she effortlessly snatched up the packages of food and left. “Dinner’s in three hours! Don’t be late!”