Chapter 7

I knocked politely and waited for permission to come in. Not a moment later and the captain responded. I straightened myself up and entered.

Everything looked the same as yesterday with the only exception being a cup of steaming coffee? It smelled like it. Apparently coffee was present here, good to know. The captain looked less like a sleep deprived soon-to-be corpse and more along the lines of a tired office worker.

“Good morning captain. It’s good to see you looking better.”

“Ah, good morning Reginald. Yes, it’s amazing how much three hours of sleep can vitalize you.”

Three hours of sleep? That definitely can’t be good for him. Then again who am I to say what the man should and should not do. Judging from all the work he has piled up, three hours of sleep seemed like the most he could afford.

He took a sip of coffee and continued speaking. “First off, you have my apologies for not introducing myself yesterday. I was exhausted and distracted by several things. My name is Gaul Lighthammer, the captain of this unit of knights and commander of Pinereach keep. It’s a pleasure to work alongside you.”

“Likewise sir.” I had a good impression of the man. He actually took the time to treat me with courtesy even if our ranks couldn’t be any more different. Then again, Greg seemed to have a lot of respect for the guy too, so maybe the captain was a knight in attitude as well as in title.

“Speaking of work, here is the contract, read it and sign at the bottom.”

He handed me a piece of paper. I read through it and didn’t find anything strange. Basically I worked as an agent outside of the normal military hierarchy, directly under the command of captain Gaul. That may seem impressive, but it was not actually so.

The captain explained that this was the standard procedure for hiring adventures and mercenaries. You couldn't really integrate such freedom loving professions in a strict hierarchy so it was best they simply answered to the main commander of the place.

Other than that there were simply clauses of not working against my employers interest and executing my assigned duties to the best of my ability. The pay was two hundred gold just like he previously said, to be paid at the beginning of each month.

I signed the paper and handed it over. The captain took a look at it and placed it in another pile of paperwork that he'll probably have to go through later.

“Alright Reginald, everything is in order. I already have your first assignment.” He eagerly said. “Present yourself to Lucian, the keep’s doctor. He’s filed a request for an escort.”

“Why does he need an escort?” I curiously asked.

“The medical ward has been running low on medical regents and Lucian is adamant he has to go gather them himself. Unfortunately that means going into the forest, thus the escort.”

“And you think I’m enough to protect him?” I asked incredulously

“You valiantly defeated an enraged Gorillasaurus by yourself, did you not? No need to be humble. Lady Asteria has personally related to me how skilled you are.”

While I was thankful Asteria went out of her way to help me out with a good reference to the captain, I was not sure if this was the way to go about things. I mean, I handled myself alright, but saying I took one of those abominations down by myself was a bit irresponsible.

Still, I couldn't bring myself to tell captain Gaul the truth. I really did need his favour and the chances his work offered. So I kept my mouth shut and nodded.

Fake it until you make it, am I right?

“Good, you can find the medical ward by asking around. When you’re done with Lucian come back and report to me. Any questions?”

“A couple sir. First off, where can I get myself something to eat?”

“We don’t really have a mess hall anymore since that explosive...incident a few weeks ago. Everyone just gets their rations from Jim at the storeroom and eats wherever they want too. It’s right near the medical ward, you can’t miss it.”

I’m starting to think there are a lot of incidents happening around this place. Explosions are apparently on the list now.

“I understand. And sir? Could I request a sheath for my sword and maybe a watch?”

“Sure, it’s no big deal. You can talk to Jim about those too. As acting quartermaster you have my permission to get one longsword sheath and a standard military reinforced handwatch. It sounds fancy, but it’s just a normal watch with some more iron around it to protect it.”

I took the permission slip he quickly wrote and stuffed it in my pocket. “I see. Why are you acting as quartermaster too captain? Something happened?” I asked curiously.

“Our quartermaster got stabbed.”

“...”

“...”

“Say, uh, is it just me or there are a lot of people getting stabbed around here?”

Captain Gaul leaned into his chair. He grabbed his head with one of his hands and groaned.

“Tell me about it! Most of them aren’t even getting stabbed in the line of duty. I am actually having trouble justifying our budget for bandages…”

“T-that’s rough buddy-I, I mean sir.”

He gave a resigned sigh and straightened himself. He looked at me wanting to say something. In the end he just gave another sigh and took a sip of his coffee.

“In any case, give that paper to Jim and he’ll have your things ready in no time. Now, I have to get back to work and you have an assignment. You’re dismissed.”

With that I wished him a good day and left. Walking along the keep’s inner halfway I quickly found some patrolling knights and asked them for directions. A few more minutes of walking and looking around the place I found a building with two doors. Both had words engraved on them.

On the left it said ‘Infirmary’ and on the right ‘Storeroom. Don’t take anything without permission or I’ll shove my foot so far up your ass you’ll be tasting yesterday’s meal - Jim’. For some reason that I could only attribute to another incident having happened at some point, the storeroom had an entire paragraph written into it.

I went up to the more… personalized door, intending to knock on it. Before I actually had the chance to lift my hand though, the door swiftly swung open.

“What do you want?” At first I thought a bear was talking to me, but when I looked more carefully I realized it was just a man. A very big, very intimidating man.

‘Why the hell is a viking guarding the storeroom!?’ The man was wearing armour made out of dark fur and hides that contrasted heavily with his blonde, braided hair and blue eyes.

“A-are you Jim?” I shakily asked.

“That’s me.”

Please stop scowling at me like that. “Right, the captain gave me this permission slip for a sheath and a watch so…” I hesitantly handed him the paper I got from captain Gaul.

He took it and gave it a look. A moment later he turned around and went inside. I was left standing there like an idiot, not knowing whether I should just wait or go inside with him.

Thankfully, after a few minutes of indecision on my part he came back with what I needed. The sheath was made out of leather and with no ornaments. It’s strap went around the waist and kept my sword firmly in place. The watch was, just like the captain described, a simple hand watch with a thicker, iron case. It was sturdy and felt comfortable on my wrist.

“Thank you Jim, these are really useful.”

“Hm. Anything else?”

“Uh, could I get something to eat?”

This time he didn’t even get out of my sight. He just turned to the side and picked something with his hand. Turning back to me he gave me a piece of bread with some jerky and a banana.

“Enjoy.”

And then he slammed the door in my face.