River found it hard to believe that such a good deal would fall into their laps, but no matter how he looked into it, Albert seemed to be legitimately interested in forming a connection. At the same time, he seemed to be a legitimate businessman.

The reason for calling them over in such a way was because while Albert claimed that he would have no problem delivering goods to their inn, strictly speaking he was not allowed to do that. After all, any goods he moved in and out of the city were supposed to be to fulfil the city’s demands. But Albert assured River that instead of taking anything out of the official goods being moved out of the city, he’d just send along the supplies to be delivered to the Guest House.

To assure River that he was acting in good faith, he did not take any money for all the supplies River requested, and told them to pay upon delivery. It sounded too good to be true, but since he wasn’t really losing anything, he went along with it.

By evening the couple returned to the Guest House and found that it remained undisturbed. The next morning, as promised, a wagon belonging to Reddings Logistics showed up outside their inn to deliver what they had ordered.

River finally put his heart at ease, and they once again resumed taking in guests. However, the number of people passing through the roads had decreased. The lockdown discouraged movement, and people had been frightened from the stories of the Abyssals.

Still, a peaceful if somewhat slow routine returned to the Guest House. They only got people stopping by for food instead of any overnight guests, not that River or Pearl minded.

Yet that streak finally broke after ten days. It was already dark, and based on the routine they’d observed for so long, they knew it was unlikely they’d get any guests so they turned in for the night. Since there were a limited number of rooms, River and Pearl shared a single room, though River slept on the floor and Pearl slept on the bed. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Previously, before the martial lockdown, River used to hand a lantern outside the door so any passing travelers might detect the inn in the darkness of the night. Since trouble began, however, he had stopped doing that. Who knew what might attract these so-called Abyssals.

Thus, when a loud banging tore through the silence of the night, River’s first instincts were to grab his shields. He sat still on the floor, looking at Pearl, as he’d just woken up. It was only when another round of banging sounded that he realized someone was at their door.

"Is there anyone home? I’m Captain Dover of the Blue Stone city guard! I have injured soldiers with me! Is anyone there?" someone yelled outside the door, banging on it impatiently.

River was wary, but if the guest meant trouble he doubted a mere door would stop them. Besides, these lands were relatively peaceful with few brigands, so after strapping the shield to his left arm as a precaution, he unlocked the front door.

In front of him were a few dark figures, most of them covered in dirt and blood. As soon as River opened the door, Captain Dover came inside carrying a man on his back and laid him on the ground.

"Do you have clean water? And bandages?" he asked with a sense of urgency in his voice. "Get me anything you have. Bary, Dale, you keep watch outside in case those infernal things followed us!"

The situation was clearly urgent, and hearing news of ’infernal things’ somewhat alarmed River, but he had to deal with the situation in front of him first.

"I’m a Spirit doctor, move aside," he said as he kneeled beside the injured men to take a look at them. Pearl, without needing to be told, sat next to him and began treating them based solely on where River pointed. In just a couple of seconds the bleeding stopped, though the black lines running up the skin clearing indicated some kind of poison.

"What’s infecting them? They won’t recover unless the poison is treated!" River said, turning to the captain, but the soldier was already on it. He unfastened the bag that he was carrying and quickly took out a bottle of pills, carefully giving only one to each soldier.

Whether the pill would save them or not, River didn’t know. After stitching up the wounds that could be closed, and doing what he could for the injured, River looked at the remaining men. Two were standing guard outside, and two were on the floor, leaving only the captain inside their humble inn, looking physically and mentally exhausted.

The man, however, did not seem relieved now that his men had been taken care of - at least as best as the situation would allow. Instead, he still looked tense as he looked outside the window, as if he was expecting to get attacked any moment.

"Here’s lesson number one about the path of paladins," said Cliff, who appeared as a small projection sitting on River’s shoulder. "Although it is bound by your oath, and your power revolves around it, only by completing impossibly difficult tasks can you hope to make any real progress. So far, you can’t even be classified as a proper paladin knight. You’re, at most, classified as an oathbound - the lowest possible level.

"To make matters worse, your oath isn’t all that impressive either, which will only make it harder for you to progress. You have to really ask yourself the best way to fulfil your oath."

River’s oath was to make Pearl’s life better, and to have heaven and earth witness the depth and extent of their love. Such an oath... was genuinely difficult to use on the path of paladins. However, it wasn’t as if it was a dead end. Lex could think of a few ways in which even that could be used to grow stronger.

Ignoring River’s confused and conflicted expression, Lex looked at his fingers, and felt the feedback from his own oath still ongoing. Lex had witnessed many different power systems, from cultivation, to bloodlines, to beast bonding, wizardry and so on. To date, the path of the paladins was the one that he understood the least.