"I… heard," I said, glad that Felix was not lying to me and luring me into a trap. "You guys provide asylum to the enemies of the Holy Xan Empire, right?"
"To most of them. The ones that we think would piss ‘em off. Y’know, we even had a division of spellcasters once. Heretics that either practiced magic for their own benefit or were part of the Dark Crusaders whom we arrested, and were given the chance to earn their freedom. The Church threw such a hissy fit, it was hilarious. Too bad it didn’t work out."
"Why didn’t it work out?" I asked. "Did you guys cede to the Holy Xan Empire’s demands?"
"No. They all died during an incident. A disaster." Gennady’s tone became significantly more somber. "And everyone’s been too scared to join it ever since. They’d rather spend a few years rotting in the dungeon before being set free, than risk their lives."
I decided not to press the issue, since it did not look like he was going to talk more about it anyways; I asked another question instead.
"Why do this for me? We only just met, Gennady. How do you know I’m ‘good’, as you said?"
"Other than the fact that you went out of your way to wipe out an entire horde of Abominations when you could have very easily have not done anything about it, and avoided getting discovered for your magic?" The Dwarf placed a hand on my shoulder, and smiled. "You also saved my life. When that Amalgam came up at me and I froze up, you protected me. So I owe you one."
"But I nearly killed you," I said, cringing at the thought.
"Hm, you did try. And you would have succeeded very easily, if you did not give me that entire monologue telling me how much you did not want to do it. Tell me now: do you really think you would have gone through with it?" Gennady asked, staring into my eyes, and I into his.
This was the first time I noticed, but Gennady had a kindly way of looking at people. He might have been loud, and slightly too intimate with people he just met, but he was a good man. His hazel green eyes had a glint to it which spoke of his intelligence, yet one would assume from his personality that he was nothing more than a rough brute; there was a depth to him, just like there was a depth to everyone else, which I found piquing my curiosity.
I hesitated.
Clearly he thought I would have changed my mind in the last second even if he did not show me he could cast magic— that was the answer he already had in his head. Yet, I found myself doubting that; perhaps I was cynical, or perhaps I did not know myself as well as I thought I did, but I did not have as much faith in myself as he seemed to have.
Gennady, however, seemed to take my lack of a response as a confirmation. "Exactly," he said, stepping away from me.
"Are you really going to be bringing me to Taw?" I asked, gesturing at a book on the table. "Don’t you have to complete your bestiary or something? I don’t want to trouble you, Gennady. I’ll accept maybe just a written letter of recommendation? Or a list of people I could speak with."
I did not know why I tried to reject his help; this was a chance— an opportunity that most others would never get. I just felt… uncertain. I did not know why I did, but something unsettled me. Not the man himself— as said, I thought he was interesting.
But Gennady just waved his hand dismissively.
"I don’t know how far a simple letter could take you, Aria. And you don’t have to be concerned about me. I was planning to return soon, since most of my bestiary is complete. Plus, I’m sure the King would like to hear how I’d rank the Abominations. The Holy Xan Empire only provided descriptions, but never what their abilities would be. And from what I’ve seen so far, it seems they either gave us bad information, or outdated information. There should not have been an Atrocity here. Oh, and speaking of…"
The Dwarf pulled out a small pouch full of gold coins, and gave it to me.
"This is for you. The reward for the extermination of the Abominations."
"This?" I rapidly closed and opened my eyes. "This is a lot of gold!"
"I told the Hunters Guild that there were a lot more Abominations than they estimated, and about the Atrocity. So that they’ll be on higher alert throughout the continent. This can’t just be an isolated incident."
"Wait, how did you explain how you wiped them all out?" I asked, still staring at the heavy pouch of gold sitting on the palm of my hands. Is it glittering? I’m pretty sure it’s glittering!
"I just told them I used this," Gennady said, pointing at the bazooka-cannon looking weapon he showed me yesterday. "They don’t know that it doesn’t work, but they know about my background, so they just assumed I was telling the truth. They’re sending people to confirm that the Abominations are gone, but this is the initial payment. If they find that we’re telling the truth, they’ll probably pay us a lot more gold in the future, and we can collect it in any of the big Hunters Guild branches if we can’t just wait here for them to check."
I opened my mouth to speak, but Gennady just shot me a wink.
"Don’t worry, I already took my cut."
It looked up at the Dwarf, then back
