4 Cairo - A Risk (2/2)
Mooks put his paw on my shoulder, ”He's been through a lot…”
Although it was nice of him to say that, Rina already knew far too much about me. She didn't know the small details of my time after the war, but I'm sure she could imagine the worst of the worst.
”Listen…” Her voice became quiet again. ”Me and a few others are planning to go on a quest. One that'll yield a reward that only gods can dream of.” She paused for a second, pulling up a stool and sitting beside us on the opposite side of the table. ”I know asking you to join us would be-”
”We're in!” Mooks barked at her with excitement.
Both Rina and I looked at him with wide eyes and dropped jaws. I however, have had enough of Mooks's carelessness. ”What's in it for us?” My voice was strong and thick like a bucket of tar.
Rina hesitated for her reply, but her eyes told more than her words ever could. ”The reward is the Jewel of Mynotna. A Jewel that can grant one wish to the holder. Anything they've ever wanted, or any question they've ever wanted to be answered.”
”What's the catch?” Mooks was quick with his answer, ”Seems too good to be true. And how would you know of such a thing? Will there be others who are trying to get it? Will we have to steal it? Who else knows? Do you have a team?”
With so many questions at once, even I couldn't follow Mooks's train of thought. Nevertheless, he was right. This did seem too good to be true.
”Well,” Rina gave an innocent giggle. ”It's on the bounty board.” She pointed to a large, rectangular board nailed to the side of the entrance. It had tons of stapled papers to it, each with a different drawing of some sort, and a different reward written on the bottom.
Personally, I've always thought of it as a chore list, or something similar to the matter. Then again, prior to today my hood always remained atop my head, so my vision never obscured from my next steps forward.
Rina poured herself a glass of tart cherry juice, sighing and finally feeling more relaxed. ”As shitty as this place seems, this is a Guild. It's just that the others are usually off doing something else, so business here is pretty slow. Aaaand…” She exaggerated that last part to draw more suspense, ”Everyone just arrived earlier this afternoon after being gone for months, so they've crashed for the night hours ago.” She took a sip of her juice, making a cringing face, then returning it back to normal.
”How did you come about such a quest?” Mooks made his question direct, with his voice leading his curiosity.
”The Bureau is responsible for all bounties that arrive at any Guild. The Bureau is..” She thought of a way to describe them for a moment, then continued. ”Kind of like our employer in a way. They send bounties and quests with great rewards to any Guilds in the country, kind of hoping that the Guilds will take care of the mess.” She sighed again. ”The Jewel of Mynotna was recently said to be sighted in the Catacombs of Nyrvana. So.. the quest to retrieve it was sent out, but no one has found it yet.”
I thought about what she said for a good moment. Then I thought about what Mooks had said previously. This did seem too good to be true. If there was one thing I've learned over my miserable years living in this world; If things are too good to be true, then they are indeed too good to be true.
However, a wish that comes true is a wish I was willing to make. Even if this quest was nothing more than a trap of some sort, or even a dumb joke played on it's victims. I was willing to take the risk. The risk of finding happiness.
I got up from my seat, gave Mooks a look of no regrets, and cleared my throat of any anticipation I had remaining. ”When do we leave?”
Rina smiled delightfully, staring into my eyes like a lost soul. ”Get some sleep first. You'll need it for the journey.”