The interior of the house was the same as when I had left earlier, though the simple presence of a lizardman in the house made it feel oddly alien.

"Good evening," I called out to the somewhat familiar blue-scaled lizardman. He was sipping from a teacup and sitting opposite to Granny Qi. There were no guards inside the house - likely he had not seen the need for any given that it was just an old lady he was dealing with. Again, seeing a lizardman in a human house was a bit of a peculiar sight - the chairs were too small for him and he seemed to barely fit on the sofa, but he didn't look uncomfortable. For her part, Granny Qi was behaving as if nothing was out of the ordinary and Zeke was just an old friend who had stopped by for a chat this fine afternoon. Of course, Zeke was no ordinary guest - whether you considered what species he was or his rank in the city's hierarchy.

"Good evening to you, Master Stefan Dawson," Zeke said, getting up. He didn't bow, but did offer to shake my hand, and the way he greeted me told me that he at the very least thought of me as a somewhat equal right now, if not holding me in slightly higher regard than himself.

I knew Zeke had nearly finished most of his Rank Three slots from what I had heard from other people in the guild, meaning he would be around level twenty-seven or twenty-eight, while I was still level twenty-one. In terms of power or wealth, he greatly outclassed me even disregarding the fact that he was favored to be the future governor of Arconia.

And yet, he was not a Master Liberomancer. That was a form of respect that money could not buy, nor something that could be inherited! You couldn't pay someone to write a new Rank Three grimoire for you and pass it off as your own - the Guild heavily detested something like that and it would be treated like fraud just as much as plagiarizing something and passing it off as your original work would be. Even someone like Zeke could not get away with that.

I also had a feeling he was here to ask for a favor, which is also why he was being so courteous. Or maybe I was looking too deeply into things? People did say he was the more reasonable of the governor's two sons, so this could just be how he usually is. I hadn't really spoken with him that much aside from the brief time I'd spent with him when there had been the incident with the demonic grimoire.

"Good thing you finally came," Zeke said. "I was about to send a runner to the guild to fetch you, I'm sorry, but this is an urgent matter and with the upcoming siege I am already inundated with work, so if you will forgive my bluntness, I would like to get to the meat of the matter as to why I'm here directly."

"No problem," I said. "I honestly appreciate open talk."

"Hmm…" Zeke said, turning his gaze to Granny Qi.

"Don't worry, Granny Qi isn't going to mumble anything to outsiders," I told him. "And I trust her completely."

"No worries, I'll be upstairs," she said, already getting up. "My hearing isn't as good as it used to be, so feel free to talk - rest assured that I won't overhear anything."

"No, no, Lady Qi," Zeke protested. "You have already been so generous as to invite me into your house, ah, it's no issue - you can also sit down if it makes Master Dawson more comfortable."

Granny Qi handed me a cup of tea. "So, what's going on?" I asked.

"The matter is that I need your help," Zeke said.

I nodded. That was what I was expecting. "What kind of help?"

"The upcoming dryad invasion is going to need the cooperation and coordination of Liberomancers, both human and lizardmen, in order to repel successfully," Zeke began. "However, I doubt that you are unaware of the recent incidents between humans and lizardmen that have caused a rift to grow between the two sides."

"Yeah, I've heard of the news," I said.

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"I understand the feelings of the humans," Zeke said. "However, this is not the time for internal squabbling, I think you can agree on that? This is the time to bury the hatchet and focus on repelling the dryad invasion. However, that is easier said than done. It is one thing to say that we must put our differences aside, but in truth, people don't always think rationally - humans and lizardmen alike. There will no doubt be resentments even if on a surface level we agree to cooperate. Like two gears in a machine, we need to turn in sync, though like with any machine, there needs to be some sort of oil to ensure that the gears mesh well together without too much friction."

"I… don't really follow your analogy?" I said.

"Ah, right, sorry, sometimes I get carried away in my own thoughts," Zeke said. "What I mean to say is that we need someone who can act as a bridge between the lizardmen and the human Liberomancers, and who can smooth over any conflicts that might arise. Someone who both sides can respect, but who both sides can see as one of their own. Someone like you, Master Stefan Dawson."

That threw me for a spin. "Me? Why?"

"You are instantly respected by anyone because you are a Master Liberomancer," Zeke said. "Of course, there are both lizardmen and other humans who are Master Liberomancers as well, but they are - how shall I say, bound to factions? Lizardmen will not be seen as trustworthy by humans and vice-versa in current circumstances, generally speaking. But, you have a history of cooperating with lizardmen already, when you worked in Lady Lauren's shop. Many lizardmen visited her shop and remember you. Of course, the humans of this city respect you for your title and because you are 'one of them.' But, as you are a foreigner, you have no close ties with any specific family here. In a way, you are in a unique position where you can appeal to both sides without appearing completely beholden to either."

"So you want me to act like a bat?"

It was Zeke's turn to be confused. "A… bat? I'm afraid I don't follow."

"Right, it's a story from where I'm from," I said. "In the jungle, there was a war between animals and birds. The bat, when it saw the animals were winning, appealed to them saying that he was also an animal given his fur and lack of feathers. When the tides of war turned, and the birds had the upper hand, he went to them saying that he was actually a bird - he could fly, after all. You want me to tell the humans that I'm one of them - and you want me to tell the lizardmen that I'm not with the humans as I'm a foreigner and worked for a lizardman, is that right?"

"Yes," Zeke said. "I'm glad you under-"

"-I'm sorry," I interrupted him. "But, that's not the whole story of the bat. See, the animals and the birds eventually had a truce and the war ended, though once this happened, they began talking to each other. They then realized what the bat had done - after which they chased him out of both factions and he was left to fend for himself. So you see, I do agree with you on one point, that we do need to cooperate. The issue is that people, at least where I come from, who play both sides like that tend to be called two-faced and ostracized."

I remembered incidents from back on Earth - like politicians who tried to reach across the isle between political parties, or people in general who tried to remain neutral when it came to many things. That could work in normal times, but when things were especially polarizing, people who did such tended to be called 'fence sitters' and rather than being recognized for taking two different viewpoints into account; were instead more often than not hated by both sides.

"Well, I'm not asking you to deceive anyone," Zeke said. "Yes, things might be difficult- but I can't think of anyone else with your reputation and in your position who might be able to easily do this."

"Listen… I don't have a problem trying to do this," I said. I didn't want the city to fall either, because I was one of the idiots who lived in it. "I just need to tell you two things: one, I might not be very good at this given I don't have much experience." The only thing I could call that would be even somewhat close to managing something was being asked to lead projects in class- hardly what you could call experience. "Another thing, I do want something in return for accepting this in case things later go south." I didn't think that Zeke was the kind of person that would discard me or make me a patsy for things going wrong later on, but I did want to know I was promised something in case that happened.

Reputation was almost everything for Liberomancers - maybe someone like the Ruler of the Astral Winds was powerful enough to do whatever he wanted without reproach, but he had been leagues above anyone else at his peak. If I was placing my reputation on the line - which would no doubt take a hit if we did not succeed, I wanted something for my trouble.

"What would that be?"

"You can fly, correct? I've heard about that through the guild grapevine, and I also want a grimoire that help me fly," I told him. I had tried using the Liberomancer's Guild to help me in my search for a grimoire that would help me fly, but had come out empty-handed even with their aid.

Aside from a grimoire that could help me do that, the only thing that I felt like I was missing was a stronger reliable defensive ability, but I could probably find something like that if not in Arconia, at least in the capital at some point. It was regarding the ability to fly that I really needed some help.

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