Chapter 595: Visiting the Sentinels (1/2)

Chapter 595 Visiting the Sentinels

They found Trian in his office down in the Sentinel headquarters, Ilea knocking on the door before she entered. “You called?”

Trian looked at the group of young healers before he stood up. “Lilith,” he said and looked at the three healers. “I’m afraid we’ll have to continue this at a later time. I’ll call for you, take the afternoon to work on your spells.”

The three glanced between Ilea, Feyrair, and Trian as they left in a nervous hurry.

“What’s happening?” she asked.

Trian waited until the door closed behind the last healer, enchantments activating as soon as the room as sealed. He glanced at Feyrair with interest but turned back to Ilea. “It’s about one of the Sentinels. Gael, if you remember him. He might be in danger, or may be endangering others. If you have matters more pressing, I’ll send another team to check the situation but with his growing power and the job he was sent on, I thought it best to see if you’re available.”

“No, I have time. What’s happening?” Ilea said and appeared on one of the chairs facing Trian’s desk.

The man sat down. “Are you not going to introduce your friend? Or did you learn how to make high level golems?”

“Ah that would be useful. He’s much more annoying than that,” Ilea said and gestured for Feyrair to sit down too. “He’s a Cerithil Hunter. An elf. And who I’ve been fighting with for the past few months.”

“I see. Was wondering when you’d introduce the first of them. Well it’s not any more unusual than Weavy. Welcome to Ravenhall. Trian’s the name,” he said and smiled at the elf.

Feyrair revealed his face and bowed respectfully. “Feyrair Kaa, always a pleasure to meet associates of Ilea.”

“The same,” Trian said with a smile. “I’m sorry but I have to ask. Do you eat humans?”

Feyrair hissed as he sat down, Trian not reacting in any visible way. “I won’t now that I call one of them an ally and friend. The hunt is usually quite boring too, which spoils the taste I find.”

“As long as you refrain from eating our students. Otherwise, make yourself at home. Drinks? Meat?” Trian asked.

“I’ve already eaten, thank you,” Feyrair hissed.

Trian copied the sound and sat down in his chair. “So, Gael. He-”

Ilea stopped him. “Wait, wait. You hissed? What just happened? Have you met Elves before?”

“I haven’t, no. But it’s obviously a gesture their species uses in a complex manner. I simply tried to be polite. I hope you didn’t take offense,” Trian explained and looked at the elf.

“Not at all. Your efforts are appreciated, Mr. Trian,” Feyrair said.

It’s like they’re different people. Shapeshifting diplomats.

“Wonderful. Gael received several monster subjugation jobs in the border regions of Lys and Baralia. The area is somewhat turbulent right now as you can surely imagine. We received confirmation that he completed two of the jobs last week but haven’t heard since then. Our inquiries with the local Adventurer’s Guild suggest he went into the wild near the village of Samethol, in an effort to deal with a Shredder sighting in a nearby mine. However he hasn’t returned or reported,” Trian explained.

“One week isn’t that long, is it? Probably just exploring still,” Ilea suggested.

“We have protocols, Ilea. Especially with Sentinels who work alone or in teams of adventurers. They are to report every three days to a local guild or someone in the last settlement they visited. I understand your interpretation but despite his disposition, Gael has not missed a single report since he started taking on jobs,” Trian explained.

“Did anybody investigate already?” Feyrair asked.

Trian didn’t miss a beat. “No. The locals have refused because of the aforementioned Shredders. The distance and lack of available Hunters made me think of you. Also… well, many of the Sentinels are not exactly comfortable with Gael. I heard from Claire that you received an invitation to Yinnahall and thought that you may be in the region anyway. I hope I’m not wasting your time.”

“You would never, Trian. Don’t worry. Right, that was next week I think?” Ilea said and summoned the letter. “Yeah. I mean sure. I can check it out, see what happened. Might be he discovered a dungeon or something. We could benefit too. Do you still feel like joining Fey?”

The elf glanced over and smiled. “Of course. It sounds exciting. And if I can help out in any way, I’ll gladly do so.”

“Got any other jobs in the region just in case?” Ilea asked Trian. “Or dungeon locations, I suppose.”

“I’ll check, give me a moment,” Trian said and summoned a large book. “Southern Baralia… yeah there are a lot of requests, but you’re more than overqualified for most of them.”

“They sent all those requests to us?” Ilea asked, looking at the loose pieces of paper between the pages of his book.

Trian smiled. “No. We’re not that popular quite yet. Contrary to the Shadow’s Hand, we work with the Adventurer Guilds too, those who agreed to the terms that is. Which… a lot did actually. But that’s another topic. You’ll have to meet whoever put up the jobs or visit the respective Guild first to make sure it’s still available. Like this we can send the Hunters on somewhat low risk jobs to gather experience. And to spread our name.”

“Hunters… is it a rank?” Feyrair asked.

Trian smiled. “Indeed. Those above level two hundred who have passed a set of tests are granted that title. However it’s mostly used internally. Our members are normally called Sentinels or Medic Sentinels. It’s in no way comparable to your own title, Cerithil Hunter.”

“I hadn’t meant to imply such,” Feyrair answered. “Merely curious. It seems to be a prevalent rank, no matter the species or allegiance.”

Ilea pictured the two sitting at a table drinking tea, gossiping about the latest news from the local nobles. Maybe they could join Helena at some point. Throw in Elana and you’ve got a murder.

“Give me the juicy jobs you have. I could certainly do with something else than machines for a change, no matter the power,” she said.

Trian leafed through the many forms and handed her three of them. “Slavers hiding west of Mothine. Imperials posted the job in the town’s Guild. I’m not sure why they don’t deal with it themselves but they must have their reasons. Next one is further north, closer to Nara. Unknown monsters in the area that attack villages and farms. Might be interesting because they specified Emerald rank or higher.”

“What level is that?” Ilea asked, summoning her crate and displacing out her own adventurer badge, looking at the shimmering metal.

“That one, yes. Two hundred,” Trian said.

“Why don’t they hire Shadows?” Ilea asked, putting it back.

“They might’ve sent a request too, but the Shadow’s Hand isn’t exactly overstaffed,” he said. “They would likely take lower leveled adventurers too if they were interested. Plenty of desperate folk trying to make a living in Baralia. And plenty of monsters and bandits around.”

Trian handed her the third note. “Last one is farther west. A large group of those cursed in the blood ritual in Mophis have apparently wandered into a massive quarry west of the city. I don’t think the enemies in any of these requests will be particularly challenging for the two of you, but I’m sure the locals would appreciate a swift resolution. None of these are likely popular for the adventurers in the region, but I could be wrong.”

Ilea took the note and looked at it. “Why a quarry?”

“I don’t know. Maybe they followed someone who fled there, or a beast,” Trian said.

“No I mean. There are earth mages around. Why would they need quarries?” Ilea asked. “I don’t know if I’ve seen a quarry here or in Lys.”

“Earth mages still need good stone. Only few are ever creators. We have plenty of mountains nearby and even in Lys, the empire sends out high level mages and architects to help set up city walls, buildings, and whatever else is necessary. But when you add slavery… well if the human labor is free, quarries can make sense again.”

Capitalism, following me everywhere I go, Ilea thought with a slight grin. “Makes sense, I suppose.”

“You humans,” Feyrair commented.

“At least we don’t eat each other,” Ilea said. “Most that is.”

He hissed. “And wasteful too.”

“Cannibalism is generally seen as an offensive practice. A cultural difference, I suppose,” Trian said.

“I understand,” Feyrair said, looking at the man.

“Sure you don’t want to stay here? Maybe go on a date together with Trian?” Ilea asked.

“Jealous?” Fey asked her.

“Oh no, go for it,” Ilea said and glanced over the three notes before she made them vanish. “I’ll check on Gael and make sure he reports back. Hope he didn’t lose to his berserker rage.”

“That would be problematic. And also a reason why you checking in may be a good idea,” Trian said.

They got up, preparing to leave.

“Feyrair, if you’re ever in the area, feel free to check in with me. I’m sure your experience with magic would be most beneficial to our students,” Trian said.

The elf smiled. “As would be my cultural knowledge and the information I could share on your Elven enemies.”

Trian smirked. “An added benefit. I’m sure an adequate agreement could be found.”

“I’ll remember. But to be honest, I doubt I’ll be frequenting these parts. Good fortune in your dealings,” Fey said and walked towards the door.

“And to you,” Trian said with a hiss and bowed slightly.

Ilea rolled her eyes at Trian and reapplied her mark. “Don’t overdo it.”

“Why. Potential allies are potential allies. Can you imagine? Elves within our ranks?”

“Yes, we would be hunt down by the collective human species,” Ilea said.