“Y-you came back!” Nudru exclaimed, after the trio opened the door to their house and marched inside. He had been hiding under the bed, thinking the approaching people might be the debt collectors, already having found him again. A not entirely unjustified fear, given how close they were to the city.

“Of course, we came back,” the masked Apexus said and tilted his head. “We live here.”

“I mean… uhm…” the failed Scribe wasn’t sure how to answer that. In the end, he just went with admission. That the masked man was odd, even he with his lacking knowledge realized. “Yes, you do.”

Aclysia closed the door and the trio sat down around the stone tablet on the floor. “Come over here,” the angel said in the tone of divine benevolence. “We have to finalize our plans.”

After inching over and sitting down on the floor, there being only three tree stumps, Nudru cleared his throat. “Is this… really wise?” he carefully asked, looking at all three of his benefactors.

“For us to get involved with you? Fuck no,” Reysha returned. “Lucky for you, I’m screwed in the head in other ways than a few months ago.”

“Uhm… no, I mean, the three of you sitting together,” the dark-haired scribe swallowed when the niceness Aclysia displayed switched into physically noticeable annoyance. The metal fairy had grabbed her beloved slime and was cuddling him with as much enthusiasm as she could without displacing his robe and Apexus was answering the motion in kind.

“Are you suggesting we separate?” the white-haired woman asked and narrowed her eyes.

“N-no, of course no!” Nudru threw his hands into the air, as if to surrender. “It’s just that it’s bad luck for two women to sit together with one man, you know?”

Apexus and Aclysia did not know about that and Reysha just groaned. On the inquisitive gaze of the two, she explained. “It’s some rumour that gets peddled among adventurers. Basically, one man sitting with two women means that the group will mysteriously vanish or eat itself from the inside, is the stupid fucking idea. Just some tall tale.”

“I see,” the slime just noted. That was just another odd construction of society to him. “Is it something we need to pay attention to? Is that important like this whole currency thing?”

“No, its just something stupid, idiotic morons and other dumb fucks believe in,” Reysha cussed, evidently quite annoyed at the rumour.

“S-s-sorry,” Nudru hung his head. Personally, he believed that there was something to that rumour, but this clearly wasn’t the environment to bring that up. Especially since those three were committed to helping him. “Feel free to ignore my complaints…”

“Done,” Reysha responded with a smile that felt surprisingly carefree. Then she was reminded what this whole thing was for and the myriad of things that could go wrong. The smile shrunk, but didn’t vanish completely. “To the point – Aclysia?”

“At once,” the metal fairy responded and grabbed the bag in which they kept their valuables.

About ten minutes of unloading and sorting later, they had just about three gold coins and ten silver in pure coin, a fine leather quiver, a small iron amulet of mediocre craftsmanship, five blank slates of copper (each about the size of a playing card), a simple iron scimitar and, lastly, a fine satin glove with extensive summer-god iconography. That had been the boss loot and it looked a lot more valuable than the rest.

The metal fairy pointed at the finely stacked amount of money. “The value of this is unquestionable. Granted, I have not checked for counterfeit coins, but we have been given most of them out of common market circulation. The remainders we got out of the dungeon itself. I do not doubt the genuine nature of any of these coins.” Her hands moved over to the items. “The quiver is alright, I would guess it to sell for about five, maybe six silver coins. The amulet is a little less valuable, created easily and with little materials, one or two silver coins at best. The copper strikes me as almost valueless.”

“It’s the standard shape they use for those identification cards the Adventurer’s Guild hands out,” Reysha told them. “Which, I guess, only makes them more worthless because the guild shits them out on the daily.”

“Affirmative,” Aclysia nodded and moved on. “The scimitar would be worth more if it was proper steel, but even as iron it should fetch a good price. I estimate about eight silver pieces.” Reysha nodded, that was a considerably higher price than her daggers had gone for, but that was of little wonder, given the difference in size. “The glove, I’m not sure about. Its main value is artistry, rather than anything tangible. I would offer it up along with the money, rather than try to sell it in a hurry. That wouldn’t work in our favour. Even with that, we end up at about 3 gold and 40 silver, thanks to the other things we already sold to nearby farmers. Adding your own savings to that puts us at about 3 gold 90 silver. If you sell the items for the estimated price.”

Like every city that had a dungeon nearby, there were numerous traders around that bought items off adventurers and then sold them further for a profit. Nobody liked those middlemen, largely because the only skill their profession needed was bartering and they were exceedingly good at it. However, because adventurers weren’t (usually) interested in getting into the fine details of trading, they still flourished as much as the adventuring profession in an area did. They basically operated as a distribution node.

They would get something like 75% of the actual market price for each item, but it would get them that money immediately. They had reason enough to believe that this was for the best, when it came to Nudru’s health. The trio also wanted to get this affair done with as quickly as possible. Their instinct to help may have been stronger, but the wish to minimize contact with others was very much present still.

“Do you agree with my assessment?” Aclysia asked Nudru, while slinging both her arms back around her darling.

“That does sound smart, yes,” the Scribe answered and looked wonderingly when he was offered the adventurer’s bag. The empty thing dangled from Reysha’s hand, while Nudru just stared. “Uhm, I feel like I need further explanation…?”

“Put stuff in bag,” Apexus stated, his deep, almost commanding voice clashed with the simplicity of his words and tone. “Leave the money and glove, for now, and sell the rest. We cannot go to Adventurer’s Guild building for reasons.”

“You should also make contact with your debt collectors,” Aclysia added. “Tell them that you have the money and want to meet them at a place that is remote.”

“Remote, and at a place and time of their choosing – but within the next few days,” Reysha also chimed in. “We don’t want them to think that you have back-up about to take them out.”

“Also tell them to bring something that guarantees that they won’t bother you again in the future,” Apexus had the final word. He had no idea what that something would be, but insurance was needed.

Nudru swallowed, still intimidated by those three figures, and tried to summarize all of that. More for himself than for anyone else, he thought out loud, “So I’m supposed to head into the city, sell the items, see if I can get into contact with the debt collectors, tell them to meet me a remote place of their choosing, soon but at a time they pick and that they should give me insurance. Is that right?”

“Yes,” the slime kept his answer simple. “Go now.”

“S-sure thing, s-sir!” Nudru said, hastily threw the sellable items into the bag and then hasted towards the door.

“Sir?” Apexus wondered after he was gone. He would have asked earlier, but he still tried to solve it on his own before the Scribe was out. “Why ‘sir’?”

“He’s intimidated and thinks you to be his superior, instinctively,” Aclysia offered an explanation. “Given the difference of power in your situation and bodies, this is no surprise.” The metal fairy then looked over to Reysha. “If you feel up for it, I would appreciate it if you could follow Nudru from a distance. A precaution, should they feel it necessary to assault him again.”

“Got it,” the Rogue nodded and got up. Grabbing one of the cloaks, she pulled it over her head. “I’ll be back before he is – unless I need to carry him back.” Aclysia just nodded.

_________________________________________________________________________

It was not necessary. As a matter of fact, everything went scarily smooth. Nudru headed towards the town he actually lived in, sold the items and was immediately approached by guys that had roughed him up a few days earlier. They still thought he was an adventurer so waiting for him at the guild building had been the most logical place to wait. It certainly helped that the booze was relatively cheap there.

Nudru presented his conditions for handing over the money. Despite being surprised at the idea that he would already have the entire sum (and the fact that he could even walk at the moment), they agreed. They named a place and time, remote, as had been demanded, and assured they would have a guarantee for him. There was no violence anywhere in the conversation and they just parted. Reysha returned to the house, Nudru was right after her and then reported all of it.

Just two days thereafter, the group headed out to get to that meeting.

“Remember not to mention us in any detail,” Aclysia said for the third and final time, while they approached the meeting site. “We’re going to reveal ourselves if necessary, otherwise we will be hiding in listening distance.”

“Unless they have brought their own goons to keep watch over the area,” Reysha added. “In that case viewing distance will have to do.”

“T-that’s good… yes… good,” Nudru nodded along. “What are you going to do if they break their end of the bargain though?”

“Depends on what they do,” Apexus told him truthfully, having no great concept of white lies. “If they threaten you, we will try to save you. If they kill you, we will run away.” If he could at all avoid it, the slime would always do his best not to kill any sapient creatures. He would compromise on that ideal to avenge Aclysia or Reysha, but a Scribe he was helping was not worth killing humanoids over. Especially not in their current situation.

“I-I see,” the meek man nodded a bit too abruptly. He wasn’t much shocked to hear they wouldn’t try to avenge him, he understood that they weren’t friends and was still confused why they even helped him in the first place. It was the mere idea that he might die that got him to stutter. The group stopped when the density of trees thinned to unhidable levels. “H-here goes nothing then!” Nudru exclaimed louder than he had meant to and then went on his way. The trio remained where they were.

Reysha reached into her bag and pulled out a strip of Steproot wood, shoving it into her mouth while she watched Nudru slowly march through the darkness. For her and Apexus’ cat eyes, the night wasn’t too big of an obstacle. Making out both his slowly shrinking form and his destination was easy.

It was another abandoned resting place, not too different from the one the trio was currently occupying. A clearing in the forest with numerous spots where a tent would be safe from rain and a central circle of stones around a fairly sizable firepit. Whatever group had used this place once upon a time had been fairly sizable, between seven and ten people. A small wooden wall had been used to make a house from the overhang of a giant boulder. A house the two debt collectors sat in front of, playing some dice game on a table, illuminated by candlelight.

They didn’t seem too bothered with their own safety and had a familiarity with this place. As Apexus correctly guessed from that, this was a regular place they used when they had to stay in the area.

Reysha swallowed the strip she had been chewing on and immediately shoved a new one in there. While she would have liked to say that she was only eating to make sure she was in top condition, that wouldn’t have been half the truth. Her jaws worked continuously, clenching beyond healthy degreed, making her teeth hurt and only increasing the intensity with which her heart pumped.

Crouching, she tried to remain calm outwardly, if nothing else. Something that, to her two lovers, gave away her nervousness more than anything else. The tiger girl just didn’t stare that concentratedly at a target under normal circumstances. She just did things as they came to her. While that had been somewhat compromised the past few months, this amount of singular focus was odd for even in these bad times.

“Can you hear them?” Aclysia asked her two beloved companions. Both of their acute ears were raised and waiting.

Apexus watched the movement of the man’s hand. It looked like he was throwing the dice, but he heard nothing. “No,” he quietly answered and turned his ears to listen for any other sounds in the forest. “Think it’s safe to get closer, what about you, Reysha?”

“I can smell someone sweaty from somewhere in that direction,” she said and gestured towards the opposite end of the clearing.

“Do I understand correctly that they have their own back-up?” Aclysia asked.

“At least one really smelly guy, yes,” Reysha answered. “But they seem rather awful at their job if they’re dumb enough to stand with their backs to the wind. I think we can get a bit closer without issue.”

Reysha took the lead, with Apexus right behind her and Aclysia hovering to avoid making any sounds herself. They made their way towards another brush and hid themselves. “Can you hear them now?” the metal fairy asked again, even quieter this time around.

“Yes,” the chimeric slime answered, following first the roll of the dice and then the words that echoed out.

“And there is the star of the evening,” said one voice. That was the previously annoyed man, now sounding a whole lot happier with life and generally exuding patience. “Take a seat, this doesn’t need to be as ugly as our last encounter.”

“T-thank you,” Nudru answered and the third person at the table, the angry man, grumbled something. It was unintelligible, not because of the distance, but because there was barely a word in there to start with. Apexus watched that same brute gathering the dice from the table and put them in a leather cup. Just out of sheer boredom, he began to shake it, giving the conversation the backdrop of steady rattling.

“Now, do you know why we beat you to a pulp last time, Nudru?” the patient man asked.

“Because I owed you money?” the Scribe asked, thinking it would have been obvious.

“No, no, that is not the point,” came the swift response. “If you had stayed where we could see you, we would have just come across your home every now and again and extract you until we got what we needed – by non-violent means, as long as you played along. We’re a professional syndicate in defiance of the ‘civilized’ law, not some kind military under the command of a robber baron. No, the entire reason why we had to beat you up was because you tried to run away. We cannot let anyone think they can get away with that. So, do us all a favour – whenever you find someone else who tried to flee from us, tell them that we’ll be a whole lot nicer if they spare us the trouble of finding them.”

“I… I’ll keep it in mind,” Nudru said and yelped when he got a firm shoulder pat from the brute.

“Good lad,” the much larger man said, before going back to shaking his dice.

“Now, I don’t know or care who you made a deal with to get healed and the money in such a short amount of time,” the patient fellow continued, “and neither do I care. You’ve gotten our warning, we will get our money and we’ll just separate like civilized people. Whoever your benefactors are, we don’t care to ever investigate them and they promise to never meddle in our turf, does that sound good?”

“Y-yes!” the Scribe answered, once more way too loudly. A small thud followed his words, when the bag was placed on the table. Money was presented and counted and, finally, the glove brought forwards. “W- I didn’t manage to get all of the money yet. I hoped that glove would make up for the remaining ten silver.”

The patient man hummed and appraised the glove, turning it in his hands. “Boss loot?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

“That will do then, our own boss likes his collections.” There was a moment of hesitation and then the patient man grabbed two silver coins from the clean stacks and slid them back towards Nudru. “Let’s say it counts for twelve, then you can at least feed yourself tomorrow.” The patient man smiled and added, “Again, we’re not animals. We run a business. Remind people of the fact that they only need to fear us when they cross us and nobody will need to get hurt, neither now, nor later. Sound good?”

Nudru nodded eagerly several times in a row and then jumped in his chair when the brutish man slammed the dice on the table. Reysha’s body pulled together like a spring about to relax in a massive burst of energy. There was a raw laughter from both criminals, followed by some calming words and the large man beginning to throw the stacks of silver into a bag.

‘Ask about the assurance!’ Apexus shouted in his mind. Something that it took the meek Scribe another ten seconds to get to. He was almost as tense as Reysha still was.

“Uhm, what about the guarantee for my debt being paid?” he asked.

“Ah, yes,” the patient man said and rummaged in his own bag and produced a single item. “Here you go,” he said and placed it on the table.

“Uhm,” Nudru looked down on it. “That’s my old adventurer’s card. I know I gave it to you as a countervalue but…”

“Yes, indeed,” the patient man sounded amused by the evident confusion of his debtor. “How do you think we knew to search for you here in the first place? You signed a document made by a Contractor and you left us with an object that has your personal aura attached to it. Sure, it’s not as accurate or easy as higher level solutions, but we wouldn’t just hand out loans without some assurances on our end.” He tapped on the card, created on a copper sheet, with three drops of blood and the magic of a Scribe. “Honestly, I don’t think you’re cut-out for the adventuring business if you don’t think about things like this.”

“Yeah… yeah, I agree,” the Scribe sighed and sunk down, while the two men stood up. “T-that’s it?”

“That’s it,” the patient man responded and stretched. “We have some other business in town, but that’s none of your concern. If you ever come across us again, act like you don’t know us and we’ll keep it the same. It’s in everyone’s best interest. Now, be on your way.”

“Yes!” Nudru sounded downright ecstatic about that, practically jumping out of his chair and almost sprinting away.

The trio in the trees kept still, quiet and muscles tensed, all the way until Nudru arrived where they had originally parted. They looked back and forth between the Scribe they had helped and the men in the clearing. “Pfffff…” Apexus heard a tiny, amused sound, when they saw how the two men they already knew were joined by a few other individuals, just chatting. They grabbed the table and carried it into the house. “…hehehehe…”

Apexus and Aclysia both looked at Reysha just in time to see the tiger girl turn around and dart away from the clearing as quickly as she could run. They chased after her as quickly as they could. Given that Reysha was by far the quickest out of them when it came to short distances, that gave the tiger girl a considerable lead. Only when the fairy and the slime were in the air, they managed to keep up with her.

It wasn’t a terribly long distance they bridged, a hundred metres or so, then the redhead suddenly collapsed on her knees and just exploded with laughter. Seemingly endlessly cackling, giggling, loud roars of enjoyment and all other kinds of laughter that existed poured from her mouth. She threw herself on her side, rolled around, kicked and punched the air until her stomach hurt and she had to clutch it, even as the maniacal sounds continued to echo in the forest.

“Ahahahaaaa…” one last loud series, then she managed to, just barely, inhale. “That was… hihihi…” she tried to say, when her two companions stood bowed over her in the warm, winter grass. “That was… so easy… pffff…” she giggled for another minute straight. Giggled and cried, felt truly alive for the first time in months. Felt like she had finally been aligned with herself again. “What in the name of the roots… what was I so worried about the entire time…? Why couldn’t I just do things?!” Her laughter continued, but was overtaken by tears of relief and confusion. “Why wasn’t I able to be myself? That’s just so stupid!”

“It may have been stupid, but now you laughed again,” Apexus said and kneeled down, smiling himself, as he hugged her. “I like it when you laugh, Reysha. It’s loud and carefree and wild. I love you and want to hear you being happy and so I like it when you laugh. I missed it.”

“Psh,” Reysha let out a mocking sound through the tears and cackled again. “I… urgh, I don’t even…” she stopped trying to answer, just embraced him back and gladly included Aclysia when she kneeled down as well.