Remy swallowed, steadied her eyes on Taiga, and toughened her stance. “You probably don’t remember. But Parin and I… my brother and I were passing through a small village on the outskirts of the neutral zone in Monx. The village was raided by Lanrian soldiers.”

  Mouse blinked at her and the man. Both Taiga and Mouse were often a part of both offensive and defensive squads when stationed at the western wall. It was possible they were reinforcements for an attack. They’d never been frontliners; Taiga refused anything of the sort, and he had the liberties to do so.

  “We were all rounded up, the women and men were separated. We’re used to war. We knew the chances of getting out unharmed. Especially the women.” Her voice quivered a moment.

  When she regained composure, she continued. “I remember you. You were angry, yelling at the leaders about the treatment of civilians and ordered our release.” She shrugged, “hard to forget.”

  Well, that didn’t narrow it down much. Taiga did such actions on multiple occasions. He maintained high standards for the soldiers and, being official knights, they held high enough rank to issue orders. He never tolerated any abuse of power towards the locals.

  Mouse always told him one day it would come back to bite them. Today seemed to be that day.

  “And what, you’ll tell everyone we used to be knights?” Taiga let out a laugh, “oh no.”

  “You’re parading around as mercenaries. I don’t know if you’re deserters or were unknighted, but I’m sure you’ll both lose your mercenary licenses.” She snapped.

  Taiga only smiled. “And? What makes you think they aren’t aware?”

  She said nothing. Mouse pulled back to him, cocking an eyebrow and unsure eyes. The mercenary guild wasn’t aware, and she was right; they would lose their licenses. But Remy couldn’t know this for sure.

  “In fact, go right ahead. Make sure you tell the Gale Order, too.” Taiga turned, walking away.

  Mouse ran up beside him, glancing at him. Taiga made eye contact, dropping his smile. Mouse blinked, then nodded. He was bluffing, and now they were on the same page. The Gale Order’s captain was already aware of their situation. So even if she did say something, the Gale Order, who specialized in information gathering and rumor control, would resolve it cleanly.

  Remy was smart. A scholar. Surely she’d know he meant the Gale Order would handle anything she said. And besides, who would believe an outsider wanted for the spread of misinformation?

  “Rem, let it go. We were wrong this time,” her brother, Parin, muttered to her.

  She put up a hand to stop him, before clenching her fists and burning her eyes into him. Another attempt incoming. “Don’t you want to know more about the imbalance of magics? You asked about it before. I’ve got a lot of information about what’s going on and I know how to fix it!”

  A lie. She would’ve put such information at the forefront of her negotiation. And certainly with more confidence. “No.”

  “Yes.” Mouse turned back to her, talking over him at the same time. He paused, turning back towards Taiga, “wait, we don’t? She said she could fix it.”

  “Mouse,” he sighed. Weren’t they on the same page? Were they not going to bluff, hand them over, get rewarded, and possibly nab her belongings for information?

  The woman smiled, her grin spreading to the tips of her glasses. “So, you do need information.” She let out a haughty laugh, “well, we have plenty.”

  Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

  “And you know how to fix it?” Mouse checked for confirmation. Well, at least he did something right.

  Her grin tapered a bit. “Well, I know how to figure out how to know how to fix it.”

  “How to… what?” Mouse’s eyebrows furrowed.

  “So she doesn’t.” Taiga corrected.

  “Hey, I resent that! At least I know something needs fixing, which is more than I can say for anyone else we’ve come across.” She wrinkled her nose at him.

  “She’s right,” her brother cut in, his eyes glancing at Taiga gingerly. “We’ve been doing some work to figure out what’s going on. We have some strong speculations and hypotheses to try out. Those should give us an idea of what to do next.”

  It sounded sciency enough to be true. Not that Taiga could tell whether it was or not. He preferred swinging his sword and talking to grass. Neither of which needed much science. Mouse and Taiga looked at each other.

  “And I’ll die with this information before handing it over to you, if you turn us in.” Remy proclaimed. Her chest puffed out, her grin still over her face. “Let’s see you two figure anything out after we die.”

  Her brother blinked at her, before moving towards her ear, “isn’t that extreme? I mean, I’d rather give the information…” If he’d been human, Taiga may not have heard them, but well, he did.

  “Shhhhhhhh,” she shot back, “I’m winning them over.”

  She had, in fact, not won Taiga over. He suppressed a laugh. Mouse’s eyes flicked to his, blinking. He wanted the information. And Taiga couldn’t deny that it was probably worth it.

  “Information in exchange for overlooking your past…. Endeavors. Fair?” He spoke after considering a few moments longer.

  Ahead of them, three mercenaries came out from behind the trees, speaking to one another. When one saw him, they waved. Reinforcements had arrived. The conversation would need to end for now. “Deal?”

  “Deal.” Remy laughed, her head knocking back a bit maniacally.

  He turned from her, “good. When we get back to the guildhall, you’ll answer some questions then, right?”

  “Mmmmmm,” she started, making him turn back. She walked by him, looking at the ground. “Actually, we want to join the mercenary guild.”

  “As a wanted person, you plan to join the guild that’s… hunting you?”

  “Yeah, why not?” She shrugged.

  “We’re hoping to get access to libraries. I heard Pall has a massive archive on magic theory and many studies done by past magicians.” Parin came up beside him, towering at least twenty centimeters over Taiga. Remy ran a couple paces ahead, and Mouse walked between she and them.

  Taiga stepped to the side to give the bear of a man more space. “Queen Nolara did extensive research on magical properties earlier into her reign.”

  “She’s a magician, right? I heard she’s lived over three hundred years.” Remy spun around, backing up when she spotted the mercenary reinforcements and nearly running into Mouse. He sidestepped, a grimace showing long enough for her to notice. She said nothing, only pursing her lips and letting Taiga walk ahead.

  “She’s three hundred fifty something. She celebrated her semicentennial birthday a few years ago.” Taiga stepped ahead of them, nodding a short bow to the three. “Are you taking over?”

  The shortest in the front, a middle-aged man Taiga remembered wandering the guildhall occasionally. “Heard there were demons? Any more?”

  “Two, one eaten by the kikaua, another we got a heart for.” Taiga called.

  Mouse ran by him, arm raised with the blueish black demon’s heart in hand. So, he’d stolen it at some point when no one was looking. Taiga smirked at the jaw-slacked Remy. “Good job,” he whispered to Mouse, who nodded with a smile.

  The mercenaries whispered about fear and uncertainty, but the short one nodded to Taiga, “We’ll take over for now until the city can send people. Thanks for covering.”

  They made their goodbyes, and started back towards town. Once they were out of hearing of the group, Remy came up beside Taiga with a stern glare. “It’s ours! I need to study it.”

  “And we need money. We killed it, so it’s ours. Find your own. Unless you’d prefer we earn money off your capture?”

  That shut her up, and she grumbled behind him for several minutes. Mouse fell behind the group, fingers running through Sweet Bun’s feathers. At least she’d begun to accept him, even if warily. Mouse’s smile, for now, was enough.

  “Alright. We’ll find one after we’re mercenaries. Help us out, okaaaaay?” Remy rocked her head to the side, watching Taiga for longer than he preferred.

  “Fine. But your information better be worth it.”

  She smiled. “It is.”