Chapter 19 The baron's plight.

  I woke to find Sarah drooling on my tail, still asleep. Sighing I woke her up and we got ready, putting our armor back on and my tail ring. After we had gotten our swords and packs back on I knocked on the boys door.

  “Hey, the weather's let up, get ready to leave in 10 minutes.”

  After hearing Jean stop snoring and Derrick's heavy footsteps we snacked on some leftover rations as we waited for them to gear up. After a few minutes they came down the stairs, with a small bundle of jerky in hand the both of them made their way to our table.

  “Nice to see you both up, we'll get moving once we're done eating, " I asked for directions to the Barons estate and it should take about half an hour assuming we don't get lost. Derrick you're on negotiations like usual should we get a job.”

  The group nodded as we finished our quick breakfast.

  We walked through the streets, a cold breeze flowing past us occasionally as we made our way through the snow frosted streets. After a while and getting lost once we found the Barons estate. A guard at the small iron gate called for us to stop.

  “Halt! What business do you have with the lord?”

  I brought out the small insignia of the bandit group.

  “On our way here we fought with brigands. I was hoping they had a bounty that the lord might endorse. That and we heard of a dungeon problem.”

  The guard takes the scrap of cloth for a moment before handing it back to me.

  “I think the baron had a small bounty on them, only a few gold coins worth, which isn't much for bandits but it's something, come, I’ll show you to the lord. He's been waiting for anyone to help him with his problem.”

  He walks us through the gate and into the estate. After walking through a hall lined with paintings we were led to a large door guarded by two knights.

  After waiting for a minute a short boy with a scroll on his hip approached us.

  “The lord will see you now.”

  The knights opened the large door where we saw a tired looking human man on a small throne.

  “I present a band of mercenaries"

  He quickly whispers in my ear.

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  “Whats the name of your company?”

  “Tails of fortune.”

  I whisper back.

  “The band of mercenaries called the ‘tails of fortune' to his lord Alberich.”

  As we approached we kneeled halfway across the room.

  “So, Tails of fortune. I hear you've taken care of some pests that have been bothering the road to your home town of Nyft. The bounty was 2 gold pieces per head. And from what I hear, you've proof of 7. You shall have your reward. Now, on to other matters. Your timing is impeccable, travelers are rare this time of year due to the weather. And here you are. Last month, just a few days after the new year, a dungeon popped up a few miles from the fields where we grow and export wheat and cotton. A small boy found it while playing, and I need to be rid of it. Normally a dungeon would be a boon to a city like mine. But as far out as we are from the capital and with our main source of capital our crops, we need it destroyed. My reward for you is 200 gold coins and anything you find in that dungeon should you destroy its core.”

  Derek speaks up and they haggle for a few minutes on the reward, his silver tongue keeping things cordial.

  “As per your friend's suggestion I shall outfit you all with rations and some small upgrades to your armor should you accept, and a word of recommendation to Salin, the port city, of your success should you accomplish this.”

  “As the leader of the Tails of fortune I accept your request, we will move in three days to the dungeon and destroy its core.”

  After we're sent off to the smithy of the lord where we hand off our armor as he gives all of it some reinforcements, a few bands of metal in vital spots and a hefty amount for Derrick, seeing as he's essentially our tank. Alice also gets a pair of caestus with metal studs as per her request. Morale was high as we went back to the tavern. While our pay for getting rid of bandits was rather low our first contract was amazing. For context, a loaf of bread cost several copper coins depending on region, the average price was 3 coins. A knife was about 2 silver based on haggling and a piece of armor was anywhere from 2 to 5 gold depending on how intricate and resource heavy it was. If the bandits had managed to kill us they would've had around 50 gold worth of gear if they sold it to the right people. After dropping off our armor we went back to the tavern and extended our stay to a few more nights. For the rest of the day we relaxed and lazily worked on our magic, Alice in particular had a breakthrough with her light magic, managing to work the spell cleanse, as Jean had a few too many drinks in the tavern. We all laughed as he went from being happily drunk to stone cold sober in seconds.

  “Alice, I had the best buzz just now! Why did you ruin it for me!?”

  Sitting down I played with my gravity magic, trying to make a glass hover with less mana. Compared to the ease of fire magic it was like trying to use a straw to keep a feather in the air by blowing through it. Difficult but possible.

  [Skill level up! Gravity magic- inverse gravity in a small radius of you with ease or increase it to slow others down or add more heft to your attacks!]

  As the skill leveled up the cup that was floating stabilized, its slight shaking disappearing as my skill immediately showed its worth. I feel like I could barely pick up Alice with my gravity magic now… that's a fun idea. As the others were laughing at Jean still mourning his drunkenness I focused on lifting Alice. As she took a step she began to float, eyes opening wide as she looked around for the source of her plight.

  After a moment she locked eyes with me, seeing my brows furrowed in concentration.

  “Oh no you didn't, you did not just get your skill up!”

  She said as she slowly rotated in place.

  The others looked on with awe as Alice floated in place yelling at me to put her down. Jean however was laughing like a mad man.

  “Yes Xion, yessss, use your powers to get back at her!”

  After a moment I carefully ended my magic, Alice still glaring at me.

  “Well, we have a long day ahead tomorrow, I propose we get some rest.”

  Alice still grumbled about payback as we filed upstairs and slept for the night.