I packed up my bags, grabbing my satchel from underneath the bed, and made sure I had everything I needed. Once I was certain I was fully ready to leave, I exited my room and made my way downstairs.
"Finally leaving, little Miss?" the Innkeeper asked, as I handed him some coins. "Going to miss you clearing out our pantry everyday at lunch."
"Give your cook my commendations. His meals were always a treat."
"Of course," he said, reaching for something under the counter. "And here’s a meal for the road. Don’t eat it all at once, ok?" He handed me a container packed with dried meats.
"Thank you." I gratefully accepted the box, and headed off.
Now to find that Plague Doctor.
When we parted a few hours ago, he gave me half of the gold we managed to find in the gang’s hideout. It was not much— around 9 gold total worth of coins for me; apparently they were falling on hard times since their only business model— selling slaves to the Free Lands— was not so profitable anymore.
Extorting poor people did not count, by the way; they specifically did it not expecting to make any money, using it as a method to support their primary income. But they did seem to be branching out to selling illegal drugs, which was a recent thing, and was probably the reason why they did not have as much money as I expected them to have.
But after the Plague Doctor handed me the gold and a weapon off of a dead body— just a pistol, to keep on me at all times— he said he had to settle some things and took off. We arranged to meet again later, although he did not exactly tell me where—
I walked out of the inn and was faced with a beak-like mask.
"Well then, took you long enough," the Plague Doctor casually remarked.
Blinking, I raised an arm and pointed at him. "Wait, when did you get here?"
"About an hour ago," he said, pulling out a small pouch from his coat. "Come. And here, this is for you."
I heard some metallic clinks as he placed it on the palm of my hand. Loosening its strings, I peered inside of the pouch. "Coins?" I pointed out the obvious, as we started down the mostly empty street. "But didn’t you already give me my share of the loot?"
"That was what we took from the thugs. However, they are criminals. Wanted by the local government— and some townsfolk all over the area too, I presume. I went to the Mercenaries Guild in the next town over to collect the payment for their bounty. It’s not much. Not even a gold coin for each of us. But if they were actually worth something, they would have been wiped out long ago."
"Oh, uh, thanks. You didn’t really have to give it to me." I appreciated how fair he was being towards me, but there were a lot of coins. Mostly copper, with a handful of silver. But the weight of it all added up, and it was not even worth that much. "So where are we going?"
I was following him; he was not exactly leading the way, but the Plague Doctor was just ahead of me, tapping his cane on the cobblestone road with every other step. "To talk. Over a meal, of course. My treat."
I nodded excitedly at that. We walked for a bit down the road, as I counted out the coins he had given me. It was, in total, worth less than a gold coin— not much, but I was not surprised.
We strode through the busy streets; it was not packed per se— there were just a moderate amount of people going about their business. People who lived in the town, merchants, refugees. I eyed the ragged men and women huddling in the corners and alleyways of the streets, some were begging, others were just laying down there doing nothing. "So you’re a Bounty Hunter?" I asked, handing some of the bronze coins as we passed by a beggar.
"Correct," the Plague Doctor remarked, "even though that is simply a misleading term. Bounty Hunters are just those affiliated with both the Mercenaries and Hunters Guilds, since those are the ones more likely to accept bounties on people."
"I see. And you don’t like that term because you didn’t go out of your way to kill them for the money, right? You were just helping the orphanage, and earning money while doing so is the practical thing to do."
"That is one of the reasons," he said. "Another is that it helps in clearing things up with the local authorities, of course. I did not just go to get paid— I also went to make a report to those that need to know about the destruction of a wanted gang in the vicinity."
"And if they aren’t wanted?" I knew the answer to the question, but I still felt the need to ask it.
"Then no one needs to know about it, now do they?"
"Thought so," I sighed. "So what did you want to talk about? You said you had to speak with me earlier."
"Yes I do," the Plague Doctor said as he led me into a tavern. I followed him in, greeting the tavern wench as I did. "And before you ask— no, I already told you, I can not teach you that. I simply don’t know how," he added.
"I wasn’t going to ask!" I lied.
The Plague Doctor gave me a blank look. Well, with his mask, he always had a blank face on.
