Chapter 15: A noble merchant

After cutting the Ptedon’s head and putting them into bags without any preserving agent, the team head back to the province’s capital. As usual, Arc and Dalene grumble about the smell.

- I really wish they allowed preserving agents. (Arc)

- You know full well why they can’t. (Chris)

- Still, they should think about the people who have to travel weeks with rotting corpses. There are methods to mark a corpse before preservation, to show it was caught fresh. (Dalene)

- But that doesn’t really solve the problem. (Chris)

- It could if we date the kill every time put our mark. (Dalene)

- That’s too much trouble for the central office, it’s much easier to judge the freshness of a kill from how rotten it has gotten. (Chris)

Dalene swears, then don’t touch the subject anymore.

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Five days later, when the Quickhatches enter the central office to claim their reward, they are met with a very bad surprise.

- We’ve come for the request put by the lord of Nyx about a family of Ptedon, we got them all, a whole family of four.

- Good job, that makes you the fifth group coming to claim the reward, but so far, you’re the ones with the most kills.

- Fifth?

- With yours, that’s nine Ptedons in total.

- The request was about a family of four, we got them all.

- The request was indeed motivated by a group of four, but the reward was per head, we sent a demand to the client asking how we are to deal with the reward. Also, because it was in the request, we need to wait until the client has confirmed there are no more sighting of the behemoths in his territory.

- Is there any job we can take in the meantime?

- I wouldn’t recommend it, if you’re not around when the answer comes, we won’t be able to pay you afterward.

- That’s bullshit!

The receptionist gives him a tired look then answer.

- Sorry, but we cannot go against the wishes of a lord.

- That means we have to stay in town until the answer come, how long is that going to be?

- The first group has been waiting for nine days already.

- And the second?

- Seven.

- We’ve been had!

The tired receptionist speaks in a very hushed voice.

- That’s why no one takes the Nyx’s lord requests.

Then louder.

- Please tell us of your lodging, we’ll send someone for you when the time comes.

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Later that day, at the hostel, the team is discussing the situation.

- What do you think is going to happen?

- I just hope the lord isn’t going to make us wait until we’re out of money and have to leave.

- If he does that, no hunter will work for him ever again, but I am certain we aren’t going to get paid the full amount.

- That’s a nice scam he has going. What an asshole, we should have listened to the militia’s leader warning.

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Three days later, a messenger comes to warn them the client has answered and a solution has been reached. The officer welcomes all the hunters, and explain them the situation.

- As some of you already know, we now have seven groups with twelve Ptedons total claiming the reward for one single request. The client fears some hunters went far out of their way to hunt creatures but he cannot punish those who answered the request faithfully.

The hunters face hardens and cries of outrages sound all around the office.

- For this reason, the lord decided to divide the prize between the participants depending on the number of kills.

- That’s goddamn theft!

Scream someone.

- Please, remember you are talking about a lord! We know you are angry, so we will ignore it once… Since the division is impossible, the lord has offered to pay a little more than the initial offer, so that it can be rounded up. Which is why the reward will be two and a half crowns per head.

- That’s below minimal, a Ptedon should be five crowns plus daily wages.

- We are sorry, but due to the nature of the request and the demand of the client, we cannot offer more.

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The various hunters congregate at a nearby tavern to discuss the recent event. One of them says.

- That was a complete set up, right?

- I’ve asked around a bit afterward, the lord only lost two heads to the Ptedons six months ago, then he moved his herd north.

- So, he had us killed the beasts preemptively before he had to move his herds south again.

- Make sense, if you know about Ptedon and hunters, you know in advance none of us will take that kind of job without a daily wage, in which case we’ll wait for when the young are about to leave and the parents exhausted from raising them.

- Half price and no daily wage. The worst is we jumped in the trap ourselves out of greed.

- I will be sure to make him the worst reputation wherever I go from now on.

- Not sure it’ll be enough, in fact, it will probably make thing worse if the hunters passing think they are the only one working for him.

- Damn schemer.

- The officers aren’t too fond of him either, but they are confident the son will end the lineage by spending everything on prostitutes and alcohol.

- Good riddance and at least some of the money will be coming back to the people that way.

The hunters spend more time discussing and venting their frustration before separating. While they go back to their room, Arc takes Dalene apart to ask him:

- Will you have enough for the ring?

- I already had enough, I just needed a bit more the ceremony and to keep some saving. You know how she gets when people are broke.

- How wouldn’t I? And I wasn’t broke at all… Do you really think she cares about getting a ring?

Dalene stays silent for a while, then answer.

- I know what you think, and you’re probably right… She probably won’t ever answer my feelings nor understand them. But you can’t stop yourself from liking what you like. If I could I would have abandoned or left this team long ago.

- You’re probably right. Good luck, I think you’ll need a lot of it.

- Thanks.