Philip's Solution

"You're such a great friend!"

Solam held the cup in his hand and glared indignantly at Philip, whose expression remained perfectly calm.

"Heh heh, I guess we were fated to meet!" Philip lounged back in his recliner, showing not the slightest guilt over Solam's complaints. Seeing that the man had no intention of repenting, Solam could not be bothered anymore. Philip was a textbook playboy; treating life as a game was his whole philosophy, so Solam was not surprised in the least that he had done something like that.

"Forget it. I can't be bothered with you. By the way, what are you doing on the Shining Plains? Weren't you looking for your friend? Did you find him?"

Seeing Philip like this, Solam knew there was no point dwelling on what had just happened, so he simply changed the subject. Back in Silverymoon, Philip had said he was going to look for a friend, then vanished. Solam had not heard from him since, yet they had unexpectedly run into each other on the Shining Plains today.

"I found him, but then I lost him again..." Philip shrugged with a gloomy look. "I got word that someone had seen him around here, so I came looking. What about you? How did you end up in Beauclair?"

"That's a long story..."

"Then give me the short version."

Solam did not hide what had happened to him over the past two years. Apart from a few particularly sensitive matters, he told Philip almost everything. None of it was truly secret; anyone willing to put in some effort could find out about it.

In fact, there was no need to deliberately investigate. One could easily hear tales of Solam's exploits. Though his name was not yet known across the entire continent, he had