They sat across from Yona in one of the outdoor cafes surrounding the Scholarium. Yona was clearly unsure why Oliver had brought along another person, especially one masked like this.
River had seemed interested in Oliver’s escapade, given the purpose behind it, and so came along. Yona cleared his throat, “well, not much need for talking. Let’s just trade information.” He placed a folded piece of paper and an envelope in front of him, but didn’t hand it over yet.
Oliver pulled his own account of what went down on the expedition out of his bag. He had omitted Paige's true identity and the fact Oliver recognised any of the combatants as Earthers, but everything written down was truthful.
Oliver and Yona both slid their respective information to the other’s side, an equivalent exchange. Well, that was yet to be seen. Oliver wasn’t sure the value of a recount of his knowledge, he had already given it to the city.
As Oliver picked up the envelope, Yona lifted a hand, “it’s best you leave that for somewhere more private. The other, you can peruse at your discretion.”
Oliver nodded. He put the envelope in his bag, and then picked the folded piece of paper up instead. It was the information on finance ministry malpractice he’d asked for, and the list of offences thankfully wasn’t so long, however some of the names on it did raise an eyebrow.
Hold on, that’s not really that relevant to what he asked for… Oliver looked up at Yona, who was concentrating on the information he’d just gotten. Oliver shrugged, but the next one caught his eye. Not the kind of direct ministry corruption he was looking for– but…
Oliver wondered if the Finance Ministry actually had any power over that. If they were a government body dictating the flow of public funds, surely something like this was akin to fraud? Perhaps more of a Law Ministry job, but he’d find out.
The rest of the list were minor and more likely the result of accidents than malicious acts.
River had been patiently waiting this whole time, but Oliver expected she was eager to see what was in that envelope– so was he. They stood to leave.
A hand landed on Oliver’s shoulder from behind, then spun him around. He came into contact with large grey eyes and short grey hair. Oliver’s sense of spatial awareness had not given him any indication she was there before.
She stuck out a hand to shake, “hello Oliver. I’m Reine. Friend of your little brother.” She indicated the heap on the ground that was Levi, groaning.
Oliver’s eye twitched. Reine retracted her hand, nodding, “he’s fine, just dizzy, i think.”
River had backed up against a nearby wall. Yona made a sound from behind Oliver.
Oliver looked at this strange woman. Steadfast, seemingly well-equipped. Some kind of hammer thing… Oliver snapped his fingers, on her back. “You some kind of soldier? Adventurer?”
“Adventurer’s correct. I’ve got a job in this quaint city and am looking to do some research if you’ll indulge me.” Her eyes were wide with interest as she spoke, looking Oliver up and down as if evaluating him.
“Depends on the information I s’pose.”
“I was looking to ask you about your recent expedition. I might be taking them on, you see.” Reine grabbed a chair from nearby, sat, and crossed her legs, gesturing for Oliver to do the same.
Oliver lowered himself slowly into his seat.
He glanced at Yona, who held that same information she was looking for. “I’m… open to that, do I get anything in return?”
Reine tsked, then slipped a couple gold coins out of a pouch. “Gotta spend money to make money. Will that do?”
Oliver glanced at Yona again, wondering if that was what the information might be worth, but Yona was too busy staring at the adventurer to care.
Whatever, Oliver was fine with a couple gold. He put the coins away. “Where should I start?”
Reine leaned forwards, “their clothes.”
That sinking feeling… “Quite dirty, the combatants themselves seemed to be acting against their will…” Oliver glanced at River, still against the wall, eyes also on this adventurer, “slaves, most likely.”
Reine nodded thoughtfully, “alright, did you glimpse their owners?”
Oliver had gained a bit of understanding when it came to magic, nothing substantial but enough for context. “Some kind of mage who performed large scale necromancy. The city people seemed to have a guess at who it might be, so probably a known figure.”
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Reine narrowed her eyes in thought, hmmed, then asked another question. “You say large scale, do you mean numbers or strength or both?”
Yona was also listening to this conversation, possibly annoyed that this was being discussed in public. Oliver hadn’t included his assumptions in the recount though, so Yona was silent.
Oliver speculated, “I’m not so sure what counts as strong, but as a regular citizen I was able to handle myself alright I guess. I’d imagine they could’ve been stronger.”
Before Reine asked another question, Oliver continued, “I am under the impression that magic is hard to perform in that forest, though. The Lamenting Woods might have been a restricting factor.”
If this adventurer was going to go fight them, and it was in different territory, Oliver didn’t want to have been wrong about easy undead.
Reine looked thoughtful, “if so, how then was the defeat so sound? The guardsmen out here, while lacking in experience, seem well enough equipped.”
Oliver sunk in his seat, sighing, “flammable gas, after getting them all close together, they lit them on fire.”
Burnt alive. Reine was unmoved. “So at least a mage and an alchemist.”
Oliver nodded, “and now a whole 40-some guard’s worth of equipment.”
“Do you want to spar?”
It took him a second to register that. “What?”
Yona looked alarmed. Reine indicated a direction, “I need an indication of how strong you are for context.”
Reine pulled him up by the arm and started leading him along.
Oliver tried to bring this back to a discussion rather than a done deal, “I’m not trained in anything. You can assume I’m just weak.”
River was following with Levi, which was expected. But Yona was too– scribbling in a notebook, as if recording what was happening.
“I’ll go easy on you.”
—
Adventurers sat around in the guild, young, old, but rarely anything in between.
Those starting or ending their careers, not many adventures to be had in this backwater.
Hell, even the job board only had one or two monster subjugation requests, and neither were particularly difficult. Most of the board was filled with escort work or weapons tutoring requests, a couple for herb gathering, but on the whole there wasn’t much ‘adventure’ in this adventurer’s guild. Hardly anything awe inspiring.
It wasn’t every day that a prominent adventurer in the prime of her career came through the doors, one as infamous as this one, dragging some ministry worker along.
They went right on through to the back, an outdoor training area which was more often used for storage than training. Something interesting was afoot, and so adventurers followed the scholar and the masked poncho person with a boy in her arms.
—
Reine looked over the wooden weapons hung on the wall, choosing a simple sword in lieu of anything that resembled the real weapon she carried around.
Oliver was being underestimated, which was understandable but still a bit damaging.
Oliver wasn’t such a petty man… he such a petty man. He chose a big fake halberd.
It was not sensible, he had used a short spear in real battle. He had more experience even with a kitchen knife. And now was not the time…
Well, he hadn’t wanted to do this fight anyway… hadn’t he had wanted to at least.
First time for everything. Halberds are cool.
He found a grip that felt comfortable enough, not wanting to do test swings in case he revealed himself to be useless, but it felt alright in his hands.
Reine stood on one side of the training court, Oliver the other. A familiar voice sounded from the side–
“On three! One. Two. Three–”
Oliver barely saw a flicker of movement before he was bringing his halberd down, purely on instinct.
He took a step back as Reine dodged the weapon, and he pivoted on his back foot as she thrust at him, managing to dodge and catch her sword on the halberd’s shaft…
He lasted three more seconds before the wooden sword was at his neck.
Reine seemed contemplative at the win, “that’s not so bad actually. You clearly don’t know how to wield a halberd, it’s not a weapon to wield alone anyway, but it wasn’t a bad showing.”
Oliver sat on the ground, “was that indication enough of my skill level? I feel like I’m owed more gold.”
Reine shook her head, “nah, that’s part of the information, tough luck. I think that’s all I need for now, thanks for the chat.”
Oliver blinked as she left.
—
River watched. Since the beginning, this adventurer had given off… the wrong kind of energy, though Oliver didn’t seem to have noticed it.
A sense that she had the ability to do undesirable things without hesitation. Not the same intentionally as her captors or the criminals ordering ‘Paige’ around, but dangerous.
River didn’t even know how she could tell. But clearly the adventurers could too, aside from those too inexperienced to understand or too experienced to care.
They all cleared a path for Reine to walk through as she left.
The guy called Yona left too, muttering something about ‘how interesting that had been’ under his breath.
Oliver didn’t seem to have a reason to stay, and probably wanted to hear what was in that letter. River wanted to hear it, too. Levi was also heavy.
—
“River, could you take Levi back to the apartment or party or whatever he’s up for. I would have gone back to check this letter, but I’m on a bit of a time limit.”
River held out a hand. She wasn’t waiting for him.
Oliver hesitated to hand her the letter, but caved when he thought about the establishment of trust he thought was necessary for cooperation.
—
When Oliver got back to the office and recounted his experience, he received looks of mild horror.
Edward spluttered, “and you her!?”
Emilia was more pragmatic, “regardless of her reputation, not a bad connection to have.”
Oliver shrugged, “she had an alright personality, if pushy. Here’s the information I got, by the way.” He handed the list to Emilia as he kept going, “we can probably knock a lot of these out in due course, but in regards to the adventurer’s guild–”
Emilia nodded, “mmmm. Yeah, I imagine this is more of a Law Ministry job, but we should tackle it without asking them.”
Edward raised an eyebrow. Oliver raised both his eyebrows.
She continued, “if we have any inclination to advance our influence, which I do, we should set precedents now. We’re in a unique position for opportunity here.”
She put down the list, seemingly happy to have the information. “Alright, Edward, I’m happy with your help and you’re competent enough– but we’re still understaffed.”
Edward began, not wanting a pay decrease, “I don’t think we’re unable to manage–”
Emilia continued, “not with the small amount we’re doing. It’d take all month to get through every Lower Official’s records, which is fine if I wanted to sit around in this job forever.”
There was a glint in her eyes, “Oliver, investigate the guild, I give you special privileges and will take responsibility for your actions. Report to me when reasonable, record examples of misconduct.”
Oliver uncrossed his arms slowly, “reconnaissance?”
Emilia turned to Edward, “find more people for paperwork, anyone that can read or write– we don’t want vested interests coming from the upper class.”
Edward stumbled, “they’ll need to be able to do numbers at least?”
Emilia gave him a flat look, “if you can’t find anyone, you’ll have to teach them.”
And on that kind of note, the work day ended.
Oliver went home, anticipating a conversation.
Sunday.
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Why did the chicken cross the cobbled lane?
