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Chapter 18 – Hard work never pays... this well

Wil

Having discussed the details of roughly when the expedition would be leaving Gol, the members began to clear out.

Since the meeting was mostly broken up and the rest of group left, we came to the real discussion. The twins had eerily motioned to Anilea to stay behind to ask about the obvious worries. I'm not really needed, but I'm here because it sounds interesting. I want to know how that Planner managed to get 1000 gold as a bounty for the job. That amount is a far cry from our normal hunting trips.

“Is there anything” “you're not telling us?” the twins question Anilea in tandem.

I'd be worried if they weren't this wary, but Anilea is as reputable as they come.

She gives a quick nod to acknowledge their concern.

“I can understand that you'd be skeptical. There aren't any catches.” she says, once again skimping on information.

The twins turn to look at me. Yes, this is another reason why I'm allowed to come to these meetings. So they don't have to get Anilea to elaborate.

“Anilea, how can you be sure? It sounds too good to be true.” I ask, prodding her for more information. The twins both give me a look of a job well done.

She takes a moment to think before responding. Like weighing how much information she can say without the Planner finding out and lopping her head off.

“When the request came in, the Planner might have shown his displeasure about their spies being in the city. There may have been body parts displayed as a … subtle warning.”

The twins go wide-eyed at this.

I guess they're shocked. I'd be shocked too, if I hadn't met him face to face. The man probably put severed heads on display while simultaneously adding up the extra gold he would make by doing so. I take back what I said earlier, he's scary enough to always be shocking.

“That is enough” “to quadruple the normal price?” the twins, back to their normal strange selves, say skeptically.

“Well, like I said before, it's technically an infestation type expedition, not hunting. It's just that there are very few expedition teams available in Gol-ta right now.”

“So we were” “chosen by necessity?”

The twins are right, they have successfully lead many hunting type expeditions over the few years they've been doing this, but there are bigger and better teams in the city. When the twins put up their expedition announcements, they usually are only in the upper middle in terms of interest. Not quite the elite, at least not yet.

“Partly, but you are a well known team with an excellent reputation. It helps that you have two special core members, especially Jelt.”

Because me and Jelt both fill peculiar roles for an expedition, we're looked at as a 'special unit'. I couldn't be any less pleased by a designation, even an informal one like this. The man makes it his personal mission to make my life a living hell. I don't want to be part of anything with that man. I know it's lucky that I'm even considered for the expedition in the first place.

“Jelt” “has his flaws”

That's very true.

He's seriously annoying. Everyone dislikes him.

But we put up with him and the twins sign him up for every expedition.

Why?

Because he has precognition.

It's a rare gift, rarer than being a Mage, that's for sure. As far as I know he has some very definite limits, his ability works based on projected harm and the potential timeframe of a future event, although the way he says it doesn't make much sense to me. His limitations in these areas fit nicely into short hunting expeditions. We find the monsters faster and avoid being overrun almost every time. Along with my distractions we've become one of the most efficient expedition teams in the entire city, as of late.

This efficiency would be my first guess as to why the Planner let Anilea bring this to us.

Or maybe he just hopes I'll die. He's still pretty mad I won't harvest more Fleetingwood.

“Jelt might have flaws, but the rest of your team can cover them.” she says. She's looking at me at the moment. Stop. It's embarassing.

“Athem won't” “go back on it's word?” the twins ask.

“Even if they do, the City Planner has guaranteed this job. He's the one offering it. You know what that implies.”

Yup. We'll get paid, no matter what, he's very serious about money. On the other hand, if we mess this up, he might kill us to set another one of his infamous 'examples'.

The twins appear satisfied.

“Very well” “Thank you for answering our questions” they say together, before turning in sync and leaving.

They're strange.

“Anilea, will we really be ok?” I ask her, seeing if there was any concerns of her own that she didn't dare voice to the twins.

“You should be fine, Wil. You need the experience of being outside this city. Just keep your eyes open. I'll talk to you later, I need to get back to work.” she says, before giving my shoulder a light pat and then leaving herself.

I'm still somewhat worried, thinking about all the monsters I'll have to lure away. Since it's a stone totem infestation, that means there will be an absurd amount of things to kill.

Then again, the money is amazing, and I won't have to do anything except run around while everyone else fights.

Heh. It shouldn't be too bad.

I decide to head back and enjoy my brief respite.

---

Knock knock.

Ugh. That nap was beginning to be enjoyable. I was at that quiet point of wakefulness just before sleep ushers your mind away.

Knock.

Seriously stop, Anilea. What could you want now, when I saw you last not even an hour ago?

I hop out of bed quickly this time grabbing my cloak and throwing over my head quickly. I want to deal with this then get back to sleep.

“Anilea, what do you wa-”

Blast it.

“Interesting. I didn't know Anilea came to your inn to visit you.” an eerie and quiet voice replies.

Before I have a chance to say anything, the person continues on.

“Sorry to bother you, but do you know where Jelt is? It'd be preferable to have his name on the expedition posting this time.”

“Why does everyone think I know where Jelt is all the time!?” I rebuke by reflex.

The person appears taken aback.

“Aren't you two friends?” asks the person, puzzled.

“NO! Why does everyone think we're friends? I don't know where he is, I never know where he is until he is knocking on my door, waking me up, just like you. Now go away!”

I slam the door in their face.

Wait a moment.

That voice...

That face...

They don't match.

That was one of the twins, by voice alone.

But I have never seen that person before.

Am I just groggy from being woken up?

…

As I rub my eyes I notice something.

Uh-oh.

I'm not wearing my Ethul.

I race over to the side of my bed where it had shuffled to, and hopped right on top of it. Once it wrapped itself up my body, I took stock of my surroundings.

Am I under mental attack again?

I wait, holding the breath that I don't need.

…

…

Nothing is happening. Now that the Ethul is on, and I've checked my surroundings, everything seems fine.

I slump down onto my bed in relief.

The Ethul is doing it's thing and I'm not getting any homicidal hunches. Whatever the twins are up to, it doesn't seem like it's meant to harm me. What exactly are they doing then?

With the Ethul on, they look pale and strange.

With the Ethul off, they look normal … I'm still not sure what gender they are but they look affable and attractive.

Those twins must appear normal to everyone that doesn't have psychic or mental protection. That is why no one finds their appearance strange. I always thought it had stood out, but I'm the last person in the world who would mention anything. For all I know, everyone looks that strange in Athem.

Thinking now about them using psychic powers to manipulate people doesn't bother me as much as I expect it would.

I'm able to deal with them being psychic; Jelt is one after all.

My real concern is that their powers of the mind or illusion might not stop there. I'm not sure if this Ethul protects me from telepathy or anything else that could cause me indirect harm.

All these non-stop fantasy encounters give me a headache sometimes. Not a literal one, I don't really suffer those unless I drink too much. Rather it's an existential one.

This is all too complicated for how tired I am, being woken up mid-nap.

Still sleepy, I shake my head and wander back to bed.

I'll figure it out when I wake up.

---

Ooh. Not too bad. I'm around 49 gold coins towards my goal, if I count all the smaller coins too.

After all the interruptions, and having finally finished my nap, I've spent the afternoon relaxing and playing around with my shiny money. I have made a resolution to stay focused and not let the many oddities of this world overwhelm me. So here I am, building small towers of precious metal. I need something to balance my mind, and right now, with the feeling of security and power that precious metal brings, I can soothe myself.

I also figure I should take it easy between expeditions, considering they're both the hunting type, which heavily relies on my abilities to guide the group. Not to say that hunting expeditions are the worst. The recent postings I've joined haven't been the guard type expeditions, those are the worst for me. Getting chased by thugs and bandits with human minds to chase you is no fun.

I'm busy stacking up the gold and then unstacking it, for therapeutic reasons. There is so much metal here, I can really feel the weight of my wealth in my hands. It's satisfying. I'm enjoying myself and I'm almost at the halfway mark for my personal goal.

It's nice to have a goal, even if you don't need to achieve it.

My survival doesn't depend on it. I'm quite fortunate that's the case. This world is cruel.

Most people are living day to day, some don't even get paid.

It's a world where a small fuzzy white creature can kill you with ease.

People die everywhere, all the time, for all sort of reasons in this world.

I don't want to be one of them.

This is going to be a distant expedition, and so we'll be gone for a while. I think I will source out some weapons tomorrow.

Hmm.

But before that, I'm going to hunt down Voxol and get him to tell me more about those twins.

---