May as well cross out a few items in my to-do list while I’m here.
The Hunter’s Guild offered little jobs in the city of Luke. I would have expected there to be plenty of escort jobs available for the taking, but it seemed that most ships found it more efficient and cost-effective to simply hire Mercenaries to protect them from both sea Monsters and pirates.
After taking a look at the also bare amount of bounties in place, I returned to the receptionist to inquire on my previous job with the Abominations; Gennady had told me the truth when he said I would receive extra payment once the Hunter’s Guild confirmed that we were not lying about the number of Abominations there were.
Unfortunately, the Hunter’s Guild must not have done a thorough job of excavating the cave of bodies, since I was only given an extra hundred gold coins. It was a lot of gold— despite having seen a similar amount of money just the other day, I still found myself gawking when the receptionist handed over the small bag of coins to me.
And yet, it was hardly the amount which I had expected to receive: the original job description suspected there to have been a few hundred Abominations at most. I ended up killing thousands of them, including an Atrocity, and yet my payment was merely doubled. It was not a fair compensation, but when I tried pressing the issue, I realized it would not have gone anywhere and gave up.
I was certain this underpayment was a result of both neglect by the scouts the Hunter’s Guild sent, as well as the fact that they were probably going to revise the reward for exterminating Abominations if they really were more commonplace than was thought.
Regardless, I stayed in the Hunter’s Guild until just before sunrise, when the streets of the city began to fill up with regular people going about their days, before daring to go out and return to my inn. The sense of unease was gone, and I found myself questioning whether I had suffered from a momentary panic attack due to whatever reason.
I was back at the inn before I knew it and changed back to my other clothes; Gennady was still asleep, snoring loudly in his bed. I took a peek at the clock, and deciding that it would not have been an issue if I took a quick wink, I went to bed.
The Dwarf woke me up just after noon, having come back from shopping for mana crystals and other tools he needed. He did not find what he wanted, but he managed to get away with two ‘high quality’ Superior mana crystals for a good price— that meant it had a good cut for its size, which made it far easier to inscribe on when tinkering with it.
"Slept late last night, huh?" he asked, as he handed me a small bag of food; it had grilled fish skewered on thin wooden sticks. "You hungry?"
My stomach growled in response, and he chuckled.
"Hah, I knew it." He winked at me as my face grew red.
"I had a long night, ok?" I meekly defended myself. That was technically true, but I knew for a fact that my stomach would have reacted the same way even if I had gone to bed early last night. The scent of good food was enough to make me hungry most of the time.
"I saw," he said, glancing at the desk in the corner of the room. "You used up all your paper, huh?"
"Mhm," I made a noise in reply, as I chewed on my food.
"We’ll get you some more later. First, we’ll be heading to the harbor— speak to the sailors and find if any are willing to bring us to Taw."
I nodded my head and finished up the short meal before I spoke; "Well then, let’s not waste any time." I hopped out of bed and grabbed my staff while donning my pointed hat. "Let’s go, shall we?"
The Dwarf snorted. "Don’t act like ye were tha one waiting for me, lass. I was the one waiting for ya!"
I grinned, then we were off. We exited the inn and started for the harbor; it was in a different direction to the beach I had my weird surge of paranoia, or… ‘episode’... last night. That beach episode did not go the way I expected to, and I was glad that I was completely normal now.
Could that Half Elf have done something to me? I thought, wondering if that was the result of some gaseous alchemical concoction. But that would not have made sense; if he was trying to attack me, why did he just up and leave? Plus, it only happened once he had been gone for a few minutes.
I shook my head and shook away those thoughts for now. I focused on the task at hand: finding a ship.
I strutted behind Gennady alongside the wooden pier of Luke’s harbor. He was stroking his bushy beard while carefully inspecting each boat we passed.
"What kind of ship are you looking for?" I asked. He was probably finding one that looked sturdy enough to be able to last the voyage all the way up to Taw rather than any old dinghy, but I did not know what were the specifics he had in mind.
"Well, I’d prefer a mana powered boat to bring us there since those are far better suited for the rough oceans, but I’m willing to settle for just a fully rigged ship with three or four masts."
I drew my lips to a thin line. "I have no idea what any of that means."
The Dwarf sighed. "It means I want a big boat," He paused, glancing around, before pointing at something in the distance. "Like that."
I looked in
