Chapter 75 (1/2)

Alana looked up, bored. They had largely been left alone here, and the charm of the group’s company had worn on her. Devan’s plan to wait until the blonde man had taken some action had seemed reasonable initially, but now that two days had passed, it was beginning to seem foolish.

It’s not like there was enough room in here to practice with her spear. And not even the guards provided much distraction. Although today, most of the guards seemed excited about something else, so much so that there was a life to their faces as they were served gruel, which the group didn’t even bother to go near.

But then, as the sun set, something changed.

There was banging, and yelling, and swearing, and then silence. The blonde man who had claimed to be in charge of the town came in, pale faced, followed by three men. The first was tall and grizzled, his hair cropped short, a total military type. He hovered around the blonde man, glaring daggers at the other two.

The most eye catching of the two was a large man who was missing his left arm. But strapped to his back was a large metal disk that seemed to be part shield and part buzzsaw.

The third figure was a portly man with glasses. He smiled at the group when he arrived, but otherwise stayed silent.

Finally, the blonde man coughed, turning to the “prisoners”, who had clearly escaped their handcuffs and were enjoying a meal of dried wolverine meat.

“We… we have decided to believe your story. And offer you your freedom, in return for an alliance.”

Devan nodded serenely, as this was the most natural thing in the world, but Alana could barely resist snorting. But she managed it, barely.

“What sort of alliance?” She asked cautiously.

The blonde man’s face fell, and he turned to the two figures who were clearly from another power in the city.

The portly man smiled. “Hello, it’s nice to meet you. You are Alana right? I’m Anthony, the man who founded a combat focused organization in Franksburg, the Freedom Fighters. We are in the midst of an operation to kill one of the nearby bosses and receive a gold coin, so we can gain a Newbie Village.

“At our suggestion,” Anthony glanced at the blonde man, “The Senator has seen fit to offer you your liberty in the city in exchange for your assistance in this operation. I assume you came here with a purpose, and as long as it’s within reason, I’m sure we will be amenable to it.”

Although she was pissed off at being trapped here for so long, Alana felt that some exercise would be just what the doctor ordered. It would mean that they could finally recruit more actively in the city.

Still, helping them gain a Newbie Village might be counterproductive to the recruitment efforts…

For a long moment, she was torn between helping them, and the goal of the mission. But she supposed that they came with recruitment as a goal, it was just an assumed goal. They had just wanted to help any families who were still surviving. But as things seemed to have stabilized in the region, assistance and the development of a positive relationship could be considered a success.

For her pride, she would find a way to extract reparations, but that was for later…

She gave her toothiest smile, resembling more wolf than person. “...That would be excellent, Mr. Anthony, of course we would be willing to help you. We are all humans, after all. We need to work together to defeat this monster threat.”

“And honestly, I would do anything if you gave Devan a shower.” Clarissa added snarkily, her nose wrinkling. “It smells like stale animal sweat in here.”

Devan just chuckled, his face impassive, as the Senator and his military aide looked on nervously, worried by the recent developments. But things were no longer within his control, and the Senator could do nothing but acquiesce.

****

“Pan-seared, pan-seared!” The small hispanic man yelled over the clatter of the kitchen noise, miming at Randidly. Randidly cocked his head to the side, and then recalled the method that had been explained to him earlier, and used a spatula to press down on the beef, or whatever red meat this actually was, before flipping it and repeating the same on the other side.

Still, he didn’t press too hard, so as not to drive out the juices. He took a pinch of spices and sprinkled them on top, before raising the heat and placing the pan back down. He pivoted to his left, bending over and removing the fish fillet from the oven.

His other hand reached out and began to throw butter, herbs, and garlic in a pot, stirring rapidly. Then he flipped the meat again, lowered the heat, and brought the sauce onto the stove.

The hispanic man, Karlito, working to Randidly’s left, passed him the vegetables, shaking his head. “You do learn quickly, don’t you? Don’t forget about cutting the meat. Smooth, even strokes!”

On and on it went, a night of movement and constant heat. Orders were shouted from the front, and the kitchen staff jumped to work. Apparently the previous chef had volunteered for the Freedom Fighter operation and hadn’t come back in time for his shift. That, combined with the ominous news that had made it back from the front line, made the owner willing to let Randidly work in his kitchen, regardless of his lack of experience.

It also helped that he had a Cooking skill of 10.

By the end of the night, of course, that skill had risen to 13, the constant stress of a long night working the kitchen pushing him beyond his comfort zone. Mostly, the small, cramped space had started to wear on him, but that too, had its own benefits. He had earned the skill Grace, and raised to Lvl 3.

Grace Lvl 3: Passive Physical skill. Increases the fluidity and control over movement. Also slightly increases coordination and balance.