“Bruna Pimental is a [Witch],” said Brin.

It had taken until the following morning for Brin to see Hogg again, and the man definitely wasn’t happy to be down in the cold cellar this early in the morning.

“Congratulations!” said Hogg sarcastically. “You got the easy one. Now if there’s nothing else…”

“Hold on! You let me eat dinner with her weekly. For months! What happened to ‘never accept a [Witch’s] hospitality?” asked Brin.

“Accepting a [Witch’s] hospitality will put you in her power. But you only need to worry about that if you think she’s going to do something bad with that power. I don’t think she means you any harm.”

“But you don’t suspect any of the seven [Witches] in particular. That’s why they’re all still alive,” said Brin.

“Sure, but especially her. Bruna is exactly what she seems. A nice lady, a dutiful mother, a good farmer.” Hogg crooked an eyebrow suggestively. “A loyal wife, too. I don’t know if you think you have a chance there but–”

“Oh shut up. How do you even know about that? Never mind, don’t answer that,” said Brin. “It was embarrassing, but I learned some stuff from that. First, that Poco is a familiar, and second that [Witches] can see and hear through their familiars. It’s no wonder you built this anti-espionage circle. Every raven or crow might be a spy.”

“More likely a raven than a crow,” said Hogg. When Brin didn’t respond, he continued. “Because crows move in flocks and ravens are solitary?”

“Oh,” said Brin. “I didn’t know that. I thought they were synonymous.”

“Then your education has been sorely lacking.”

“What about undead?”

“What about them?”

“Can [Witches] see through the eyes of their undead?” asked Brin.

Hogg leaned forward, suddenly excited. “That’s a good question! It’s a good question because everyone thinks the answer is obvious. Of course they can. Why wouldn’t they? They’re [Witches]? They can turn people into animals, why wouldn’t they be able to do something as obvious as see through the eyes of the undead they’ve raised? But the more I see, the more I’m certain.”

“You’re saying they actually can’t,” said Brin.

“That’s right. They can’t. There are too many things that they should’ve done that they didn’t do, that can only be explained by a delay in communication. Also, the [Witches] of Arcaena have a tremendous number of [Illusionists] on staff. Their armies are always covered in illusions, in invisible eyes and the like. Why would they bother with that, unless they had to? I think they have to order their undead around exactly the same as any [General]. I think the undead have to report back, in person, if the [Witches] want to know what the scouts have found. Or supplement with [Illusionists] and their familiars.”

“Wait. That night, back when I was still alone in Travin’s Bog, the undead all got incredibly smart all of a sudden, like they were being directed by something with a mind. When I told you about that, you all assumed that the [Necromancer] who raised the army had visited that day. We followed the trail, even though it was days old. Only, the trail didn’t lead to a [Necromancer], or a [Witch] for that matter. It led to a Lambent Phasmid that was way too high level to make any kind of sense. You all assumed that the [Witch] flew away, leaving no trail. But what if it was something else? Is there any chance that the Phasmid was a familiar?”

“Damn,” said Hogg.

“What?”

“Well, it’s just that I didn’t think of that,” said Hogg.

Brin blinked a couple times. “Wait, really?”

“I mean, a lot’s been on my mind. I can’t be expected to always think of everything!”

Brin laughed. “Right. Pay up.”

“For what?”

“For guessing Bruna!”

“Right now? I kind of figured that at the end we could–”

“No way. It’s more fun if you have to shell out every time I guess one,” said Brin.

Hogg scowled, but dug in his pockets for ten gold coins and counted them out into Brin’s palms. “Happy? Now I’m going to get some tea.”

“Wait! I still had more… he’s already gone.”

As soon as Hogg left the circle he wouldn’t be able to hear anything from the inside, so it was useless to shout.

Brin looked at the gold in his hand and smiled. Six more to go. He had an idea for the next one, but after that he was stumped. There were a few leads, sure, but mostly his list consisted of all the most powerful people in town. It made sense that high-level people would be using [Witch] to supplement their skill.

Hogg closed the door to the cellar, and Brin jumped out, following him into the house. “I still have more questions!”

“Well, it’s too late. Questions on that topic need to stay in the cellar,” said Hogg.

“Then I’ll ask a more general one. Let’s say I’m a [Carpenter] who changes Classes to [Smith]. Can I still get new [Carpenter] Skills or will they all be [Smith] going forwards?”

“They’ll all be [Smith]. So you would be able to tell that they’d switched their Class by the fact that their [Carpenter] advancement seemed to stall out. But I should warn you, there are all sorts of complicated Classes. [Wood and Black Smith], for example. That’s one Class that does both wood and iron. It probably isn’t worth taking because the leveling speed is atrocious. But if you really wanted the Skills from both, I guess you could do it.”

“Thanks,” said Brin.

“You’re welcome. Now leave me alone! A retired person shouldn’t be up this early.”

Brin left for Ademir’s shop next. Ademir was doing window panes today, which wasn’t something he was ready to let Brin try next.

Oddly, the way Ademir made glass for windows started off much the same as bottles. He scooped up a large glob of glass on the end of his blowpipe, and blew it exactly like he was making a bottle, only this would be more of a ten gallon jug than a bottle. It was so big that he stood on a tall stool and let gravity pull it down, blowing and twisting all the while.

Brin assisted by pricking the bottom, which made it open up on the end, and then when it was done he struck the top with a hammer, breaking it off and leaving only a perfect cylinder. Then Ademir cut down one side and put it in a separate furnace where they used a long hoe to open it up and make it flat.

It was mostly an Ademir job, but he let Brin blow glass bottles in between window panes.

“Can I put some mana in it?” asked Brin.

“If you’re ready to clean my shop again,” Ademir said with a smile. “Why not try this? Think blue thoughts.”

“Come again?”

“Just what I said. Think of the color blue while it’s spinning. And let a trickle of mana into it. A tiny amount. Changing the glass’s color will come sooner than changing its shape, I think.”

Brin tried to do what he said, thinking of the bottle turning blue and shoving mana into it while he worked. He made four, five, then six bottles during the shift, and none of them changed color in the slightest. The work was noticeably easier than it had been before he’d upgraded [Shape Glass] in little ways that were hard to define, but they all stayed the foggy white color. The seventh bottle would be his last, and this time he shoved his mana into it as hard as he could. The bottle started to turn ugly, and he cut it off, but it was too late. The bottle was completely black.

Ademir shrugged, “I can sell a black bottle. I can’t sell a mess on my floor. This is a win in my book.”

Brin chuckled. “You have the patience of a saint. Hey, look, about the other day, it left a bad taste in my mouth how I left things. I know you never told me why [Crafters] can’t fight. I don’t know if it’s because the Class just doesn’t give you any offensive abilities or if it actually stops you from fighting…”

Ademir scratched his chin. “I suppose I never said.”

After a pregnant pause, it was clear he didn’t mean to either.

“That being said,” Brin continued, “I just wanted to say I admire it. It’s really brave, what you’re doing.”

Ademir nodded, meeting his eye. “Thanks, Brin. I rather expected you to call it cowardly.”

“Not at all,” said Brin. “Cowards are people who betray their own ideals out of fear. Choosing a peaceful life and sticking to it, even knowing that means you may be exposed to danger some day, is extremely brave.

Ademir nodded and shrugged and turned back to the glass.

Brin got a notification when he was cleaning up the shop after the shift.

Level up! Level 5 -> 6.

+2 Strength, +2 Dexterity, +2 Vitality, +2 Mental Control, +1 Will, +2 free attributes.