Leon

"I'm guessing that this is the man that you were talking about?" I ask as the man continues to stare at the ground with what looks like a mixture of hatred and sadness.

I wonder who he is angry with?

The image of Arthur's face passes through my mind before I shake my head and make my way through the door before shutting it behind me.

I guess I don't really need to ask considering whose party he was a part of.

"Yes, this is Jake Castell," Damien says as he waves at the man from across his desk.

Castell? That isn't a noble family that I have heard about from the brief lessons that Pallus has been giving me about The Drezar Kingdom, so he is probably the son of a Knight, or of someone outside of The Drezar Kingdom.

The man finally looks up at me and gives a very shallow nod before turning back to look at the ground again.

He must have been really close to the person that had died to be having this big of a reaction.

Which is honestly a little bit surprising considering who the leader of his party was.

I glance at Damien before he continues, "As I mentioned before, I would like to ask if you would take Jake into your party."

Jake's head raises when Damien asks this as a look of surprise covers his face.

Damien continues before he can say anything, "His father was a friend of mine at a previous Mercenary Guild branch, so I would like to help him out. He is a talented archer, and even has some background working with magic thanks to his mother, so he wouldn't hold your party back at all."

I squint my eyes at Damien before turning to Jake and examining him from head to toe.

He has a medium build with brown leather armor covering him, with a bow resting against the chair that he is sitting in, and a quiver of arrows next to that.

But what stands out to me isn't any of this. It's that, despite how obviously upset he is, he is still coherent and paying attention to us, while also keeping his hands near a dagger hidden at his waist in case he needs to jump into action.

"I don't trust him," I bluntly state, causing both Damien and Jake to tense up before I continue, "but I do trust you, Damien. Not to mention that the last time you recommended someone, they turned out to be a good party member, so I can't say that won't happen again."

Damien relaxes after hearing me finish my statement, while Jake just looks confused before he finally speaks up, "Thank you for-"

I interrupt right away, "Don't thank me. I understand how Arthur is, and I can't imagine that most of his party are much better, but if you ever try to pull what you did to his party to mine, then I won't hesitate to banish you from my mountains."

Jake quickly nods his head before saying, "Don't worry, I won't!"

I return his nod before my face softens a little as I add, "I do understand how you must have felt though. Arthur is not exactly the best person to be leading a party."

He isn't exactly the best person in general either, but it's best not to say that out loud.

Damien actually snorts in amusement at my comment before asking, "So you're allowing him into your party?"

"Yes," I answer while looking Jake in the eyes before turning to Damien and adding, "but it isn't permanent until I can see with my own eyes that I can trust him."

"Of course," Damien says with a nod before he begins to grab some papers, only to pause and look back up to me and say, "Thank you for this, Leon."

I just nod my head before asking, "Was there anything else?"

Damien looks up for a second before seemingly remembering something as he looks back at me and says, "Yes, actually!"

Seriously?

"Don't worry, it's not something that you have to do anything about," Damien says with a smirk as he sees the look on my face before continuing, "A party of mercenaries is arriving in Wolfdenn soon and will be changing branches to join this branch."

I look at him in surprise as I mutter, "A new party will be switching branches? Why?"

Damien turns to the paperwork on his desk and says, "I think it was because of issues with their last Guildmaster. Overall, though, they are a pretty decent group."

"Really?" I mutter before turning to Jake and asking, "Do you already have accommodations?"

Jake – who had been alternating between looking at me and Damien during our conversation – turns to me and shakes his head before saying, "I did, but Arthur was paying for it, so I doubt I will be able to go back there."

"I thought so," I say before turning to the door and waving at him, "follow me. You can live in my manor like the rest of my party. Assuming you stay in my party that is."

Jake looks surprised before he gets up, grabs his stuff, and follows me out the door.

And the work just keeps piling up.

The outskirts of the valley housing the Dungeon City of Wolfdenn.

"So, this is it," a large-set man says through his steel helmet, "the Dungeon City of Wolfdenn."

"I'm rather surprised that it is already so well established," another, much smaller man says as he gets off of his horse.

The city in question is surrounded by walls that span over a dozen meters in height covering almost the entire area of the valley. Within the walls are several large buildings, with a few dozen smaller ones as well. Meanwhile, dozens of people are going in and out of the large gates, with many of them riding carriages.

A woman wearing tight black leathers mutters with some surprise, "So the city really does employ Orcs as well as Humans."

"It's just as I thought! This will be a very interesting place to work out of!" a plump looking Dwarf shouts with a laugh as he gets down from his horse.

"That appears to be so," a woman with blue skin says as she stares at the city.