Drip-Fed New Word, Old Problems 13 – Recompensated

“Y-you ca back!” Nudru exclaid, after the trio opened the door to their house and marched inside. He had been hiding under the bed, thinking the approaching people might be the debt collectors, already having found him again. A not entirely unjustified fear, given how close they were to the city.

“Of course, we ca back,” the masked Apexus said and tilted his head. “We live here.”

“I an… uhm…” the failed Scribe wasn’t sure how to answer that. In the end, he just went with admission. That the masked man was odd, even he with his lacking knowledge realized. “Yes, you do.”

Aclysia closed the door and the trio sat down around the stone tablet on the floor. “Co over here,” the angel said in the tone of divine benevolence. “We have to finalize our plans.”

After inching over and sitting down on the floor, there being only three tree stumps, Nudru cleared his throat. “Is this… really wise?” he carefully asked, looking at all three of his benefactors.

“For us to get involved with you? Fuck no,” Reysha returned. “Lucky for you, I’m screwed in the head in other ways than a few months ago.”

“Uhm… no, I an, the three of you sitting together,” the dark-haired scribe swallowed when the niceness Aclysia displayed switched into physically noticeable annoyance. The tal fairy had grabbed her beloved sli and was cuddling him with as much enthusiasm as she could without displacing his robe and Apexus was answering the motion in kind.

“Are you suggesting we separate?” the white-haired woman asked and narrowed her eyes.

“N-no, of course no!” Nudru threw his hands into the air, as if to surrender. “It’s just that it’s bad luck for two won to sit together with one man, you know?”

Apexus and Aclysia did not know about that and Reysha just groaned. On the inquisitive gaze of the two, she explained. “It’s so rumour that gets peddled among adventurers. Basically, one man sitting with two won ans that the group will mysteriously vanish or eat itself from the inside, is the stupid fucking idea. Just so tall tale.”

“I see,” the sli just noted. That was just another odd construction of society to him. “Is it sothing we need to pay attention to? Is that important like this whole currency thing?”

“No, its just sothing stupid, idiotic morons and other dumb fucks believe in,” Reysha cussed, evidently quite annoyed at the rumour.

“S-s-sorry,” Nudru hung his head. Personally, he believed that there was sothing to that rumour, but this clearly wasn’t the environnt to bring that up. Especially since those three were committed to helping him. “Feel free to ignore my complaints…”

“Done,” Reysha responded with a smile that felt surprisingly carefree. Then she was reminded what this whole thing was for and the myriad of things that could go wrong. The smile shrunk, but didn’t vanish completely. “To the point – Aclysia?”

“At once,” the tal fairy responded and grabbed the bag in which they kept their valuables.

About ten minutes of unloading and sorting later, they had just about three gold coins and ten silver in pure coin, a fine leather quiver, a small iron amulet of diocre craftsmanship, five blank slates of copper (each about the size of a playing card), a simple iron scimitar and, lastly, a fine satin glove with extensive sumr-god iconography. That had been the boss loot and it looked a lot more valuable than the rest.

The tal fairy pointed at the finely stacked amount of money. “The value of this is unquestionable. Granted, I have not checked for counterfeit coins, but we have been given most of them out of common market circulation. The remainders we got out of the dungeon itself. I do not doubt the genuine nature of any of these coins.” Her hands moved over to the items. “The quiver is alright, I would guess it to sell for about five, maybe six silver coins. The amulet is a little less valuable, created easily and with little materials, one or two silver coins at best. The copper strikes as almost valueless.”

“It’s the standard shape they use for those identification cards the Adventurer’s Guild hands out,” Reysha told them. “Which, I guess, only makes them more worthless because the guild shits them out on the daily.”

“Affirmative,” Aclysia nodded and moved on. “The scimitar would be worth more if it was proper steel, but even as iron it should fetch a good price. I estimate about eight silver pieces.” Reysha nodded, that was a considerably higher price than her daggers had gone for, but that was of little wonder, given the difference in size. “The glove, I’m not sure about. Its main value is artistry, rather than anything tangible. I would offer it up along with the money, rather than try to sell it in a hurry. That wouldn’t work in our favour. Even with that, we end up at about 3 gold and 40 silver, thanks to the other things we already sold to nearby farrs. Adding your own savings to that puts us at about 3 gold 90 silver. If you sell the items for the estimated price.”

Like every city that had a dungeon nearby, there were nurous traders around that bought items off adventurers and then sold them further for a profit. Nobody liked those middlen, largely because the only skill their profession needed was bartering and they were exceedingly good at it. However, because adventurers weren’t (usually) interested in getting into the fine details of trading, they still flourished as much as the adventuring profession in an area did. They basically operated as a distribution node.

They would get sothing like 75% of the actual market price for each item, but it would get them that money imdiately. They had reason enough to believe that this was for the best, when it ca to Nudru’s health. The trio also wanted to get this affair done with as quickly as possible. Their instinct to help may have been stronger, but the wish to minimize contact with others was very much present still.

“Do you agree with my assessnt?” Aclysia asked Nudru, while slinging both her arms back around her darling.

“That does sound smart, yes,” the Scribe answered and looked wonderingly when he was offered the adventurer’s bag. The empty thing dangled from Reysha’s hand, while Nudru just stared. “Uhm, I feel like I need further explanation…?”

“Put stuff in bag,” Apexus stated, his deep, almost commanding voice clashed with the simplicity of his words and tone. “Leave the money and glove, for now, and sell the rest. We cannot go to Adventurer’s Guild building for reasons.”

“You should also make contact with your debt collectors,” Aclysia added. “Tell them that you have the money and want to et them at a place that is remote.”

“Remote, and at a place and ti of their choosing – but within the next few days,” Reysha also chid in. “We don’t want them to think that you have back-up about to take them out.”

“Also tell them to bring sothing that guarantees that they won’t bother you again in the future,” Apexus had the final word. He had no idea what that sothing would be, but insurance was needed.

Nudru swallowed, still intimidated by those three figures, and tried to summarize all of that. More for himself than for anyone else, he thought out loud, “So I’m supposed to head into the city, sell the items, see if I can get into contact with the debt collectors, tell them to et a remote place of their choosing, soon but at a ti they pick and that they should give insurance. Is that right?”

“Yes,” the sli kept his answer simple. “Go now.”

“S-sure thing, s-sir!” Nudru said, hastily threw the sellable items into the bag and then hasted towards the door.

“Sir?” Apexus wondered after he was gone. He would have asked earlier, but he still tried to solve it on his own before the Scribe was out. “Why ‘sir’?”

“He’s intimidated and thinks you to be his superior, instinctively,” Aclysia offered an explanation. “Given the difference of power in your situation and bodies, this is no surprise.” The tal fairy then looked over to Reysha. “If you feel up for it, I would appreciate it if you could follow Nudru from a distance. A precaution, should they feel it necessary to assault him again.”

“Got it,” the Rogue nodded and got up. Grabbing one of the cloaks, she pulled it over her head. “I’ll be back before he is – unless I need to carry him back.” Aclysia just nodded.

_________________________________________________________________________

It was not necessary. As a matter of fact, everything went scarily smooth. Nudru headed towards the town he actually lived in, sold the items and was imdiately approached by guys that had roughed him up a few days earlier. They still thought he was an adventurer so waiting for him at the guild building had been the most logical place to wait. It certainly helped that the booze was relatively cheap there.

Nudru presented his conditions for handing over the money. Despite being surprised at the idea that he would already have the entire sum (and the fact that he could even walk at the mont), they agreed. They nad a place and ti, remote, as had been demanded, and assured they would have a guarantee for him. There was no violence anywhere in the conversation and they just parted. Reysha returned to the house, Nudru was right after her and then reported all of it.

Just two days thereafter, the group headed out to get to that eting.

“Rember not to ntion us in any detail,” Aclysia said for the third and final ti, while they approached the eting site. “We’re going to reveal ourselves if necessary, otherwise we will be hiding in listening distance.”

“Unless they have brought their own goons to keep watch over the area,” Reysha added. “In that case viewing distance will have to do.”

“T-that’s good… yes… good,” Nudru nodded along. “What are you going to do if they break their end of the bargain though?”

“Depends on what they do,” Apexus told him truthfully, having no great concept of white lies. “If they threaten you, we will try to save you. If they kill you, we will run away.” If he could at all avoid it, the sli would always do his best not to kill any sapient creatures. He would compromise on that ideal to avenge Aclysia or Reysha, but a Scribe he was helping was not worth killing humanoids over. Especially not in their current situation.

“I-I see,” the ek man nodded a bit too abruptly. He wasn’t much shocked to hear they wouldn’t try to avenge him, he understood that they weren’t friends and was still confused why they even helped him in the first place. It was the re idea that he might die that got him to stutter. The group stopped when the density of trees thinned to unhidable levels. “H-here goes nothing then!” Nudru exclaid louder than he had ant to and then went on his way. The trio remained where they were.

Reysha reached into her bag and pulled out a strip of Steproot wood, shoving it into her mouth while she watched Nudru slowly march through the darkness. For her and Apexus’ cat eyes, the night wasn’t too big of an obstacle. Making out both his slowly shrinking form and his destination was easy.

It was another abandoned resting place, not too different from the one the trio was currently occupying. A clearing in the forest with nurous spots where a tent would be safe from rain and a central circle of stones around a fairly sizable firepit. Whatever group had used this place once upon a ti had been fairly sizable, between seven and ten people. A small wooden wall had been used to make a house from the overhang of a giant boulder. A house the two debt collectors sat in front of, playing so dice ga on a table, illuminated by candlelight.

They didn’t seem too bothered with their own safety and had a familiarity with this place. As Apexus correctly guessed from that, this was a regular place they used when they had to stay in the area.

Reysha swallowed the strip she had been chewing on and imdiately shoved a new one in there. While she would have liked to say that she was only eating to make sure she was in top condition, that wouldn’t have been half the truth. Her jaws worked continuously, clenching beyond healthy degreed, making her teeth hurt and only increasing the intensity with which her heart pumped.

Crouching, she tried to remain calm outwardly, if nothing else. Sothing that, to her two lovers, gave away her nervousness more than anything else. The tiger girl just didn’t stare that concentratedly at a target under normal circumstances. She just did things as they ca to her. While that had been sowhat compromised the past few months, this amount of singular focus was odd for even in these bad tis.

“Can you hear them?” Aclysia asked her two beloved companions. Both of their acute ears were raised and waiting.

Apexus watched the movent of the man’s hand. It looked like he was throwing the dice, but he heard nothing. “No,” he quietly answered and turned his ears to listen for any other sounds in the forest. “Think it’s safe to get closer, what about you, Reysha?”

“I can sll soone sweaty from sowhere in that direction,” she said and gestured towards the opposite end of the clearing.

“Do I understand correctly that they have their own back-up?” Aclysia asked.

“At least one really slly guy, yes,” Reysha answered. “But they seem rather awful at their job if they’re dumb enough to stand with their backs to the wind. I think we can get a bit closer without issue.”

Reysha took the lead, with Apexus right behind her and Aclysia hovering to avoid making any sounds herself. They made their way towards another brush and hid themselves. “Can you hear them now?” the tal fairy asked again, even quieter this ti around.

“Yes,” the chiric sli answered, following first the roll of the dice and then the words that echoed out.

“And there is the star of the evening,” said one voice. That was the previously annoyed man, now sounding a whole lot happier with life and generally exuding patience. “Take a seat, this doesn’t need to be as ugly as our last encounter.”

“T-thank you,” Nudru answered and the third person at the table, the angry man, grumbled sothing. It was unintelligible, not because of the distance, but because there was barely a word in there to start with. Apexus watched that sa brute gathering the dice from the table and put them in a leather cup. Just out of sheer boredom, he began to shake it, giving the conversation the backdrop of steady rattling.

“Now, do you know why we beat you to a pulp last ti, Nudru?” the patient man asked.

“Because I owed you money?” the Scribe asked, thinking it would have been obvious.

“No, no, that is not the point,” ca the swift response. “If you had stayed where we could see you, we would have just co across your ho every now and again and extract you until we got what we needed – by non-violent ans, as long as you played along. We’re a professional syndicate in defiance of the ‘civilized’ law, not so kind military under the command of a robber baron. No, the entire reason why we had to beat you up was because you tried to run away. We cannot let anyone think they can get away with that. So, do us all a favour – whenever you find soone else who tried to flee from us, tell them that we’ll be a whole lot nicer if they spare us the trouble of finding them.”

“I… I’ll keep it in mind,” Nudru said and yelped when he got a firm shoulder pat from the brute.

“Good lad,” the much larger man said, before going back to shaking his dice.

“Now, I don’t know or care who you made a deal with to get healed and the money in such a short amount of ti,” the patient fellow continued, “and neither do I care. You’ve gotten our warning, we will get our money and we’ll just separate like civilized people. Whoever your benefactors are, we don’t care to ever investigate them and they promise to never ddle in our turf, does that sound good?”

“Y-yes!” the Scribe answered, once more way too loudly. A small thud followed his words, when the bag was placed on the table. Money was presented and counted and, finally, the glove brought forwards. “W- I didn’t manage to get all of the money yet. I hoped that glove would make up for the remaining ten silver.”

The patient man humd and appraised the glove, turning it in his hands. “Boss loot?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

“That will do then, our own boss likes his collections.” There was a mont of hesitation and then the patient man grabbed two silver coins from the clean stacks and slid them back towards Nudru. “Let’s say it counts for twelve, then you can at least feed yourself tomorrow.” The patient man smiled and added, “Again, we’re not animals. We run a business. Remind people of the fact that they only need to fear us when they cross us and nobody will need to get hurt, neither now, nor later. Sound good?”

Nudru nodded eagerly several tis in a row and then jumped in his chair when the brutish man slamd the dice on the table. Reysha’s body pulled together like a spring about to relax in a massive burst of energy. There was a raw laughter from both criminals, followed by so calming words and the large man beginning to throw the stacks of silver into a bag.

‘Ask about the assurance!’ Apexus shouted in his mind. Sothing that it took the ek Scribe another ten seconds to get to. He was almost as tense as Reysha still was.

“Uhm, what about the guarantee for my debt being paid?” he asked.

“Ah, yes,” the patient man said and rummaged in his own bag and produced a single item. “Here you go,” he said and placed it on the table.

“Uhm,” Nudru looked down on it. “That’s my old adventurer’s card. I know I gave it to you as a countervalue but…”

“Yes, indeed,” the patient man sounded amused by the evident confusion of his debtor. “How do you think we knew to search for you here in the first place? You signed a docunt made by a Contractor and you left us with an object that has your personal aura attached to it. Sure, it’s not as accurate or easy as higher level solutions, but we wouldn’t just hand out loans without so assurances on our end.” He tapped on the card, created on a copper sheet, with three drops of blood and the magic of a Scribe. “Honestly, I don’t think you’re cut-out for the adventuring business if you don’t think about things like this.”

“Yeah… yeah, I agree,” the Scribe sighed and sunk down, while the two n stood up. “T-that’s it?”

“That’s it,” the patient man responded and stretched. “We have so other business in town, but that’s none of your concern. If you ever co across us again, act like you don’t know us and we’ll keep it the sa. It’s in everyone’s best interest. Now, be on your way.”

“Yes!” Nudru sounded downright ecstatic about that, practically jumping out of his chair and almost sprinting away.

The trio in the trees kept still, quiet and muscles tensed, all the way until Nudru arrived where they had originally parted. They looked back and forth between the Scribe they had helped and the n in the clearing. “Pfffff…” Apexus heard a tiny, amused sound, when they saw how the two n they already knew were joined by a few other individuals, just chatting. They grabbed the table and carried it into the house. “…hehehehe…”

Apexus and Aclysia both looked at Reysha just in ti to see the tiger girl turn around and dart away from the clearing as quickly as she could run. They chased after her as quickly as they could. Given that Reysha was by far the quickest out of them when it ca to short distances, that gave the tiger girl a considerable lead. Only when the fairy and the sli were in the air, they managed to keep up with her.

It wasn’t a terribly long distance they bridged, a hundred tres or so, then the redhead suddenly collapsed on her knees and just exploded with laughter. Seemingly endlessly cackling, giggling, loud roars of enjoynt and all other kinds of laughter that existed poured from her mouth. She threw herself on her side, rolled around, kicked and punched the air until her stomach hurt and she had to clutch it, even as the maniacal sounds continued to echo in the forest.

“Ahahahaaaa…” one last loud series, then she managed to, just barely, inhale. “That was… hihihi…” she tried to say, when her two companions stood bowed over her in the warm, winter grass. “That was… so easy… pffff…” she giggled for another minute straight. Giggled and cried, felt truly alive for the first ti in months. Felt like she had finally been aligned with herself again. “What in the na of the roots… what was I so worried about the entire ti…? Why couldn’t I just do things?!” Her laughter continued, but was overtaken by tears of relief and confusion. “Why wasn’t I able to be myself? That’s just so stupid!”

“It may have been stupid, but now you laughed again,” Apexus said and kneeled down, smiling himself, as he hugged her. “I like it when you laugh, Reysha. It’s loud and carefree and wild. I love you and want to hear you being happy and so I like it when you laugh. I missed it.”

“Psh,” Reysha let out a mocking sound through the tears and cackled again. “I… urgh, I don’t even…” she stopped trying to answer, just embraced him back and gladly included Aclysia when she kneeled down as well.