One by one, the mercenaries who raised Loren fell in a terrible, bloody battle. No one else survived. Alone in a hard world with his wits, his sword, and no coin to his name, he hires himself out as an adventurer. But Loren's new party proves all too willing to run headlong into danger using him as their meat shield. Only Lapis, the party's sly priest, sees his true worth, just as Loren sees hers. Soon, they must rely on each other, or neither of them will live to see the end of their firs...

This second volume, together with the first of a two-volume set, probes the lived experiences and subjectivities of music performers in the western art music tradition, using phenomenological, hermeneutical, empirical and historical inquiry.The two volumes widen this research area through close investigations of a variety of rich, complex, and nuanced experiences classical music performers have qua performers, as they interact with musical scores, instruments, performance ...

Despite Loren's seemingly unending string of losses, the adventurers' guild has noticed his promise. They offer him a chance to take a test to prove his mettle and raise his rank. The only complication is that he's also caught the attention of a young woman of strange abilities--a vampire. Even stranger, she's not the only one of her kind eyeing Loren...and some of them may have a connection with the long-lost captain of his old mercenary company.

Desperate for a job that actually results in success, Loren agrees to Lapis's newest suggestion: instead of a quest, they'll partake in a monster hunt. But fate seems to have it in for Loren. The moment they hit the road, they come across a bandit army from whom they rescue a kidnapped elf child. The child leads them to the discovery of dark things afoot in the elven forest. Worse, there may well be a connection between these strange happenings and the darkness Loren and Lapis uncovered be...

Having made it to Lapis's home, Loren finds himself tasked by her mother, Demon Lord Judie, to destroy a dangerous artefact by throwing it into a nearby volcano. Unfortunately, an old foe has his sights on the artefact in question. And as if that wasn't bad enough, the volcano just so happens to be occupied--by an ancient dragon!

Loren spent years fighting for the highest bidder, drifting from one battlefield to the next as part of a mercenary band. All that changes when a battle goes horribly wrong, and Loren barely escapes alive. Alone and without so much as a coin to his name, Loren resolves to start a new life as an adventurer. The adventuring trade is a world unto itself, and Loren's cynical common sense clashes with the foolhardy courage of his new comrades. Meeting the enigmatic and beautiful priestess Lapis...

Former mercenary Loren survived his first adventure by the skin of his teeth. Now he's bound to Lapis the priest by an ever-growing debt. In the middle of his first attempt to repay her, they stumble on a young high-born girl, alone and unconscious in the woods. Her name is Scena, and she's a long way from home. The reward for her safe return will be substantial, but the road is full of dangers--including Scena. Her escorts keep dying, and if Loren and Lapis don't find out why, they may we...

Now that the party knows the names of all the evil gods, it's clear there's something fishy about one of their acquaintances--namely one Ivy Bridgeguard, humble receptionist at the adventurers' guild. Might she hold the key to reviving Scena?

Fresh off his promotion to iron rank, Loren takes on a request from an old friend, Claes. A supply run to a nearby village needs security, which Loren and Lapis can happily provide. However, to reach the village, they must pass through a dangerous forest that devours everyone who dares to enter it. All too soon, Loren suspects they've identified the culprit behind these disappearances--the dark god Gula Gluttonia. But Gula isn't the only threat lurking in the night, and her hunger isn't th...

Loren knows better than to share Lapis's excitement when she brings him a new quest. It sounds easy enough--proctoring students from an adventuring academy on their final exam--but he knows his partner. Lapis has an ulterior motive. Sure enough, she claims that one of her missing parts is hidden within the labyrinth the students are delving into. She'll stop at nothing to reclaim it, even if it means endangering their charges. Worse, something's gone wrong with the labyrinth, and Loren soo...

After momentarily fending off the evil god of wrath, Loren is finally reunited with Juris, his old chief. But there isn't much time for catching up, as Juris has yet another a job for him--one that will secure the means to destroy the evil god of wrath for good.

Loren and company team up with another mercenary band to seek some much-needed downtime in Karlovy, a town known for its hot springs. Their hopes of rest and relaxation are ruined, however, when it turns out the springs have been tainted by something evil at their source. Can both parties work together to solve the mystery? The fate of Karlovy's entire economy depends on them--and so does the fate of their vacation!