80 Chapter 80 - Almost New Year, New Cart | Out Shopping (1/2)
Gren's optimistic view towards the cart being stolen wasn't shared by Jessica.”Please explain to me why you didn't hide the cart or at least tie it to something.”
Gren already knew that his answer wouldn't work on Jessica.”The area was clear of any people.I didn't think that it would be stolen by anybody.”
”Start thinking more.You were the leader of the mission.It's your job to make sure that all equipment is secured.As punishment, you're not going to be the leader for any more missions until you've proven that you can be responsible.”Gren had a problem with discipline so she wanted to try fixing it now before his children were born.Next month he'd be considered an adult so he really shouldn't be so immature at his age.”If you fail to follow orders then you'll be banned from doing missions for a month.Got it?”
Gren didn't like the sound of that but it was better than her outright banning him from doing missions.”Understood.”He didn't really care whether or not he was the leader as long as he could still do the missions.”Do you have another mission for me?”There was still plenty of time in the day so he was hoping that there was something nearby that he could complete to get that last research point.
Jessica pulled out the papers from her sidebag to confirm the requests.”There was a request to take out some wolves that were seen near the farms outside the walls but Midna and Luna were already dispatched to deal with them.There's another subjugation request that we've got but I won't accept it unless Ahk returns from her mission before tomorrow night.Other than that we've got a request to help sell some products for a blacksmith, an escort request to Fort Togo, and a request to help look for a lost child.I'm most likely not going to accept the sales request but the search request seems like it will be good for the inactive members without combat capabilities.”
Gren didn't really care about the other requests; other mercenaries would accept them or they would hold a meeting to see who was willing to go.If anything, Gren was more interested in why Luna and Midna went on a mission.He figured that Luna's upset stomach would be better by now but what happened to Midna's date?”Why was Midna back so early?”
”The man that she was supposed to go on a date with turned out to be a scammer.He tried to get her to help pay ransom for his kid but one of our clients tipped us off when they saw him.He doesn't have any kids and he has scammed women in the past.”Jessica didn't understand how anybody fell for such obvious scams.
Gren didn't know much about the guy but he already hated him.”Well, if someone from our guild ever kills the guy then let me know.I can help hide the body.”Even the detectives from his old world wouldn't find the body if it was in his pocket dimension.
Jessica ignored Gren's comment and got back down to business.”You've got a few things to do today so make sure you remember this.Go submit this to the mayor's office, buy the ingredients on this list, and make sure that you feed the vampire; today is your turn to give her blood.”
Gren took the registration slip and grocery list while thinking about the vampire.He had only fed her once before but he was a bit scared of her.The look in her eyes made him think that she would attack him if her mask was taken off.There wasn't much about the vampire species in the Bestiary so he didn't know what to expect from her.All she did all day long was sleep, drink blood, and stare at people like they're just food.”It's getting a bit warmer out so I'll check on Jasmine to see if she feels like going.”
”Don't bother.She's not ready to leave her little cave just yet.Try to find someone else that's willing to go with you.”Jessica knew Jasmine better than he did so Gren took her word for it.
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Gren thought about the various active guild members to see who might be willing to go.
Ahk, Korra, Luna, Midna, and Tahloh were currently doing requests.There was no way that they could go with him on an errand.
Jasmine, Eliza, and a bear beastman that went by the name of Yuna were all hibernating due to the cold.There were other ones that couldn't deal with the cold but they hadn't been doing requests.Gren kept the three of them listed as active members because it wasn't their decision to go inactive.He didn't want to punish them for what was merely a part of their biological differences.Each guild member got paid a small amount each month so that they could buy essentials but members that completed requests got more each month on top of the commission from completing those requests.Just like the women that were currently doing a request, there was no way that they could go on an errand.
Shenzi, Noir, and Choco just completed a mission and it was against his policy to ask someone to do two jobs in one day.He'd ask them if they wanted to go shopping but he'd still need to hire someone to protect the cart.He couldn't think of any other women... that's it!
If there were no more women then what about the men?He had forgotten about the knights as potential candidates because they weren't doing missions but they were really strong.They were staying here for free while doing practically nothing; not even one of them had gone on a request so far and had only helped out in other ways.Two of them--Sven and Herman--seemed to have a thing going on with the succubus while the third--Rodge--had become Rumi's drinking buddy over the last few days.It might seem hypocritical for Gren to think this but he thought that they should really be doing more than just flirting around with women all day long.
Gren decided against asking Shenzi and the kobolds after thinking of a better idea.Ruby had been wanting to go shopping for a while so it would be perfectly normal to ask Rodge and Rumi to come shopping with them.This would also let him spoil Sasha since she didn't normally accept things from him.It was the perfect plan; he could complete the errands that Jessica gave him and spend some time with Ruby while trying to complete two secret objectives.
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Gren summoned the new cart.Unlike the last one which was made entirely of wood, this one had leather straps on its handles and metal reinforcing the frame.There was also the letters FMC engraved into different parts so that it was identifiable.It was a massive improvement over the old design.The best feature of all was the optional metal frame covered in canvas--the canvas was also covered with the FMC logo through embroidering--that could be removed using a special tool that he created alongside it.It was essentially just a socket wrench but nobody else seemed to be using tools like this yet.The rest of the world was still using nails in everything and hadn't advanced to the point of using nuts and bolts.
He only planned on using it for another few months before he could upgrade to an automobile but he wanted those few months to be more comfortable.He designed it with the idea in mind that it would one day be his children that he was pulling around in it.Technically that day would be today since he was going to be pulling along his adopted daughter but she was a child already.He wanted to make sure that it would be safe to bring around infants in it.If Estella's pregnancy would last the normal nine months then he'd just wait until he could build an automobile but he didn't have the luxury of having that much time.
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Rumi was confused by Gren's request for her to go shopping with him until she saw that Ruby and Sasha were waiting upstairs by the courtyard door.Ruby was excited to go out while Sasha was clearly nervous.Sasha was afraid to be around humans so coming out from the underground was already difficult for her; leaving the guild was definitely a bit much for her but with Ruby and Rumi there then maybe she'll be fine.It took Sasha a few days to warm up to Rumi and if it weren't for Ruby explaining to her that dwarves weren't just short humans then maybe Sasha never would have warmed up to Rumi at all.
”Not everybody is here yet?”Gren arrived just after Rumi did.The only person left that they were waiting for was Rodge.Ruby wasn't running up to Gren but that was normal when Sasha was there; she was a good girl that wouldn't abandon leave her friend when she seemed scared.”You girls can go ahead and get in the new cart.You're in for a real treat, nobody else has even gotten a chance to see it yet.”
Ruby was the first to run outside, leaving the frightened Sasha behind.So much for Gren's thoughts; Ruby just needed the right incentive to leave her friend behind.Gren realized that Sasha was scared of him and kept his distance while Rumi helped her leave the house.After they left the guild's building, he slowly followed them into the courtyard and saw Rumi help the two little girls get into the back of the cart.Gren still didn't know why Sasha feared him; he barely knew anything about her.She didn't want to talk to him and everybody else respected her privacy and chose not to tell him anything about her condition.Hopefully their shopping trip would change the way that she saw him.
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Rodge finally showed up after they had waited for around fifteen minutes.The reason for his tardiness was obvious when Gren noticed him; he was now in his full suit of armor.The unique luster of the magic metal it was made out of couldn't be completely hidden with the well-worn travel cloak that he was wearing over it.
”Good, everybody's here now so we can begin the meeting.We've got two tasks for today that the guild master has entrusted us with.”Gren decided to treat it like a request since Ruby had hinted towards wanting to go on one with him.That, and he found it more fun to pretend that he was doing something more important.”The first task is to drop off some paperwork to the mayor's office.The second task is to go shopping; the members of this group will be given an allowance to buy whatever they like but we need to secure the items on this list.Any questions?”
Ruby popped her head out from the flap on the back of the cart.”Can we bring Purrnina with us?”That sounded like the worst idea he had ever heard.Gren was just beginning to forget that Purrnina existed.Why did Ruby have to bring her up now of all times?
”She's probably too busy to come with us and her room would take a long time to reach.We don't have that amount of time.I'd rather not bother her.”Gren hoped that would be the end of it but Ruby really liked Purrnina.It was odd but the annoying cait sith was surprisingly good with kids; when Ruby pulled her tail when playing with her or Sasha chased her down and tackled her, she would never use her claws or teeth to defend herself.The only exception was when she was eating but, even during those times, she would only use her natural weapons on the goblins and violence against that group of goblins was always acceptable.They could take a beating and, even if they didn't deserve it at the moment, they would surely do something in the future that would make them deserve one anyways.
”She's already in the cart.”What?Gren wasn't sure if he heard Ruby correctly so he popped his head in to look.There she was, a curled up ball of fur just sleeping in the cart.How?He just had the cart built by the system not even an hour ago and he didn't see her on his way down to talk to everybody.It just didn't make sense for her to be in the cart.”Can she come with us?I promise that I'll make sure that she behaves.”