Chapter 104: Another settlement needs our help (1/2)
“What do you mean they didn’t give it level three? We nearly died!” Claire was a little lost at Eve’s outburst at the news. The woman had received the money from the guard captain, receiving a thanks for recovering the bodies. The discussion with the Guild had taken her only fifteen minutes but as Ilea heard with her Sphere, waiting outside the room the reason the mission’s level wasn’t risen was simply because the enemy mostly used mind magic.
A one dimensional threat, dangerous yes but nothing that would constitute raising the mission’s level. Ilea was pretty sure whoever rated the missions simply didn’t want anybody to question them but quite frankly she didn’t care that much. Eve was the one who really wanted to get the level three mission so that the team could join in the tournament.
“Don’t worry, we still have nearly the full two weeks to get a level three. Claire did you get us some more missions?” Ilea asked, patting Eve on the shoulder. More to keep her from going in there and murdering the person Claire had talked to than to console her.
“The mission was a success and we’re now all considered full fledged members of the Shadow’s Hand. I think we’ll get badges but Joseph will have to handle that. Honestly I didn’t think you’d want to get another mission so quickly.” she checked the paperwork she had received and looked to all of them.
“Took us a day to finish that one, why not get some more? You guys need the money.” Ilea said, getting a chuckle from Trian but he didn’t seem to disagree.
“Sure, m… might even be better to fight together more before the tournament.” Kyrian said and Ilea shrugged, both looking towards Claire. Ilea wasn’t quite sure everyone thought of her as the team leader but she was definitely the team manager already.
‘Thank fuck for that...’ she thought, looking at the stack of paper Claire was carrying in her arms.
“We won’t be able to just get a level three mission. I can look for anything located in Lys that is level one or two. Maybe we’ll be able to get some missions.” Claire said, the papers nearly falling out of her hands when a metal disk hovered below the papers, expanding to hold them in place.
“Thanks.” the woman holding the papers said and glanced towards Kyrian.
“Get more than one mission, three to four then we don’t have to travel back every time.” Trian said and continued “More training before she’s done? Blasting spirits isn’t quite as satisfying as attacking humans.”
“Fucking psycho.” Ilea said in a mocking tone, only getting an eye roll from the man. It was getting harder to annoy him every day. Maybe he got a direct Resistance skill to her comments, or perhaps it was classified under Mental Resistance. A mystery that Ilea likely wouldn’t solve in the next months or years to come.
“Let’s go then. Same place as the last two weeks. Claire come get us when you’re done.” Eve said, still sounding a little annoyed at the whole situation but it was the only solution they had at the moment. “Why are these stupid requirements even in place?” she said as the group descended downwards. Ilea had managed to get some food from the street vendors in Viscera, some of them knowing her already, running up to her with food already in their hands. She would buy, every single time.
“So that the casualties stay as low as possible.” Trian answered the question “I know of more than one fighting ring, some of them noble only. Trust me a requirement like that is good for all the participants.” he said and stared at the moving wall of the elevator shaft. Ilea looked at him but then shook her head.
“Makes sense...” Kyrian said “If they would just let us in we’d murder everybody.”
“Did you just make a joke?” Ilea asked and chuckled.
“I’m learning from the best.” this time Trian audibly groaned at Kyrian’s response, giving Ilea a big smile on her face. The day wasn’t lost after all.
Claire pointed at three specific parts on the map laid out in front of her. “These are the locations of the three missions I could get. I’m getting the feeling that we won’t be getting a lot of info on any of these. All of them are level one sadly.” she looked towards Eve who was grumbling under her breath. Ilea chuckled at one of the more original swear words.
“You still think the ratings make sense considering how little they actually know?” Ilea asked in Eve’s stead.
“Somewhat, yes. To raise the level there needs to be an identified threat. If a shadow’s hand team is sent and doesn’t come back it’s immediately level three. If it’s unidentified and in a territory not known to inhabit high level threats, it’s level one. Also why those missions are usually not very popular, even for the Hand.”
Claire continued as nobody else interrupted “The first one is a village nobody has heard from since three months ago. Some people and adventurers went to investigate but they haven’t returned either. Right here.” she pointed again to an indistinct part of the forest a couple hours of flying time north west of Ravenhall. “The second one is likely a Harpy Queen near Damwell. The adventurers who were sent did not manage to advance through the cliffs but reported the high pitches cries of the harpies, indicating a nearby queen. The empire apparently doesn’t want to waste resources so the city sent a request our way.” this time there was a small city painted on the map with the name Damwell underneath in neat handwriting.
The city was at the sea, so quite a while from the first mission’s location. Considering their ability to fly, it wouldn’t be as much of a travel nightmare than it would be for most people. “Last one is a newly discovered ruin close to the coast here...” the map didn’t show anything but water.
“In the water?” Ilea asked, her tone a little more serious than before.
“Possibly but there are massive rock formations going into the ocean. Likely caves, water might be an issue but I have some runes to deal with it. Trian should be quite a bit more effective too. Apparently there are a lot of traps inside, none of the adventurers who went in have managed to find even a single monster so far. Over twenty have died already. The adventurer guild has sent a request in to minimize further casualties.” Claire finished explaining and rolled up the map before putting it into her pack. “No time limits or anything but the sooner we leave the sooner we’re back.”
“Well let’s go then.” Eve said and shouldered her pack. They were all still in the same gear they had arrived in just two hours earlier. Well rested and itching for more.
“The village over there? Is that it?” Ilea asked, looking at the small dots of houses in the distance, surrounded by trees.
“Should be the contact the empire has listed. Or it’s the abandoned village already.” Claire said but as they got closer Ilea could see people moving about.
“Those don’t look like monsters.” Eve said, holding on to Ilea’s right arm.
‘They’re getting suspicious of me...’ Sally thought, spotting at least two people looking at her from the comfort of their homes. The village had treated her as an outsider from the first day of her arrival and it was bloody miserable. They wouldn’t sell her any of the good food and her lodgings were laughable compared to what she was used to in any town with more than a hundred inhabitants.
‘Sometimes this job bloody sucks...’ the woman thought, pulling her coat a little closer towards her chest and grabbing the mug of ale sitting on the table next to her. At least they had alcohol here and a somewhat steady supply of goods.
“How ya doin Sally?” the innkeeper came out into the cold air to talk to her as he had many a time before in the past weeks. “Still nothin? Aventures stopped comin eh?”
It had been six days since the last group of adventurers tried their luck but still nobody had returned. Neither she nor the empire made them stop trying. The pay got up after every failed attempt after all and if one of them managed, the empire wouldn’t have to pay themselves. The guild would. Sally couldn’t care less about who managed to find out what happened to that god forsaken village if only she could leave this place already.
The gold she constantly carried on herself didn’t help in the least to make the uneasy feeling go away. The villagers likely wouldn’t try something but she wouldn’t be the first official to be murdered in their sleep. Why they stopped sending them out in teams was a complete puzzle to her but then again having one person murdered instead of two was a smaller loss. The woman sighed and finished her ale, handing the mug to the innkeeper whose name was still unknown to her. A testament to the level of trust these villagers showed towards an imperial official.