Chapter Nineteen: Squad Part Three

“Atlas!” I hear Damon growl, very quietly at me as I enter the Guild with Julian.

“Yes?” I respond as Damon stalks over to me with eyes of pure rage.

“What in the blaze’s possessed you to jump off the building with Master Julian?!” He says almost screaming, but still quiet.

“We were stuck on the roof,” I say obviously, I mean why else would I be jumping off the roof.

“How?!” He asks seething with annoyance.

Julian choose that moment to intervene “His brute mind and my magic, I guess, It was fun though.” Says calmly.

Damon sighs defeatedly and looks at his master seriously “Master, please you just can’t go wandering off like that whenever you want too. It’s too dangerous.”

“I had Atlas with me though.” He says pointing at me, and I nod.

Damon points at me and says exhaustedly “I’m afraid he is the danger, if not all the time, at least most of the time.”

I nod, “You’re not wrong, but that’s what makes my life interesting.”

Julian nods along with me sagely.

Damon rubs his temples and says “What were you guys even looking for that got you on the roof.”

“The cafeteria.” Julian and I say at once.

Damon stares at us blankly and making a barely noticeable twitch for a moment before he says calmly with something fluttering behind his eyes. “Can you please say that again, I want to make sure I heard that correctly.”

“The cafeteria.” Julian and I say in tandem once again, we’re getting good at this maybe we should start up a show.

Damon’s eyes go wide for all of half a second before slamming back to normal size, as then twitches and shakes rack his body before a violent laugh escapes him with a “Bwahaha!” It didn’t last long though, as Damon clasps his mouth shut with his palm. Then stares at us blank-face as if nothing happened, though still twitching.

The three of us look at each, none willing to comment on the abnormality that just happened.

Julian talks first, looking at Damon in disbelief and says “Are you going to be fine? You don’t normally do that.”

Damon averts his eyes and says in his normal monotone. “It’s nothing. Just a bit of an allergy.”

Julian raises a slender brow and gives him a wry smile “I wasn’t aware you had any allergy. What are you allergic to? I shall have medicine made posthaste.”

Damon to his credit didn’t freak out immediately but looks like he came pretty damn close once the realization that Julian was offering to have medicine made for him.

Shaking his head vigorously, he says with heat “No! My lord, I could never impose on you so much! I’ll deal with it myself.” He gives me a wry look at that. What’s that supposed to mean?

Julian waves him off nonchalantly. “Oh, nonsense your health is my health, isn’t it? If you’re not alive and well, or in top condition, who’s going to protect me?”

Damon looks abashed at that, and I was slowly starting to get disinterested in this.

My stomach agreed with me and let out a roar to tell me it’s awake and ready to be fed.

My stomach grabbed both of their attention, and I gestured to the cafeteria.

“Alright,” George says with a clap, he had arrived to eat after doing some lingering paperwork. “We need supplies.”

“Hmm?”

Julian doesn’t say anything, but Damon stares at him curiously “Why’s that?”

George sighs, but keeps up his smile “Well, I’ll put it bluntly, this is going to be a long ass quest. Since first off the location is about 120 miles or more out east over rocky terrain and dense woods, and then secondly, there’s the fact this is an investigation quest, in which you know, we investigate. So this I’ll take a couple days at least to find out what's going on, and then a couple days to find where whats causing this, and then a couple days of watching to make sure that’s not the only problem.”

I nod my head at that.

“And thirdly, there’s another problem.”

“What’s that?” I say.

George grimaces at me “Well, to be honest, it’s you Atlas.”

I scowl at him, honestly though on the inside I feel a little shocked. “Why’s that?” I manage to growl out.

“You're too fast, and I doubt any of us will be able to keep up with your stamina even if we could.”

“Oh,” I say a little relieved.

Damon speaks up. “He’s right you know, I don’t have the stamina to keep up with you, and I don’t think we could afford a fast enough beast of burden to keep up with you.”

Then Georges' eyes light up. “Wait, Damon say that again!”

“What? A fast enough beast of burden?” Then his eyes go alight too and he looks at me.

Julian looks at them in confusion and so do I.

“I don’t see what the big deal is, I could be at the location in an hour at most. So I could wait for you guys there.”

“Yeah, you could but we couldn’t I’d take us at least a day to get there, and by then we’d be too tired to do anything. And plus there are supplies to move since not all of us like hunting and foraging.”

“Pfft, lightweights.”

George’s eyes seem to shine at that, and a manic grin creeps across his face. “Which, bring me to my next point, Atlas you’re quite strong, fast, and have a lot of stamina.”

“Yep, take a lot of pride in it too,” I say a little smugly, but I’m am starting to feel a little concerned where this conversation is going.

“So, would you say you would make a good beast of burden?”

“Maybe? I think a Titan Mule or Gale Beast would work better though… Oh, shit,”

Taking a look at the wagon that has been loaded to the brim with supplies like food, camping, medicine, and other stuff, I feel a little impress that George managed to get them all so cheaply.

The wagon is also pretty nice for its price, being more than large enough to seat me and the rest of the guys with space to spare, and the supplies. It even has an extra tough canvas roof and metal studded wheels. The only thing about it that I’m annoyed by, is that I’m the one that has to pull it.

George stepping up beside with a smug grin, “A beauty ain’t she?”

“Yeah,” I say disgruntled, “Just wish, that I hadn’t had to pay for it and have to pull it.”

“Well, don’t just think of it as a wagon, think of it as a home on the road and a long-term investment opportunity!”

“Thanks, but that sounds like bullshit, and I should know because that’s the same shit that the wagon salesman said!”

“Look I paid for the supplies and I’ll cook, and Julians going to ward it, and Damon well he’ll do whatever he does to help! So just relax, I got you a good deal on the wagon, and we'll more than make back what we lost here once we turn in the quest, and plus you’ll get to kill stuff!”

I give a laugh and smile at him, “Yeah, I guess you're right.”

“Damn right I am!” He pauses for a second, and then pull something out behind his back “Check this out, I bought it for this occasion!” He pulls out a long leather whip and gives it a couple snaps.

Then he looks at me and snap it a couple more times, before his face brightens up and turns to me quick and say “Don’t worry mate, I won’t use it on you.”

I give him a laugh. “Don’t worry I know you won’t.” He chuckles a little, and snaps it again “Well, even though I just told you that, why’d you think that?”

“Because you know what I’d do you if you did,” I say blandly, and cool.

He pales, and stutters out “Yeah, good point… Let’s go get Julian and Damon.”

Not long later, we’re at Julian’s manor, where Julian’s waiting next to a small mountain of books with Felix, and Damon who's next to a large trunk. Once I pull next to the trio, Julian lifts a hand and the books fly into the wagon. “Careful!” I say to Julian “Mud’s back there somewhere.”

He nods his head and Felix flies back there too and I hear some happy yips and annoyed hisses.

Damon looks at me and then the chest, I get the message. I pick up the chest and put it in the back too.

“So, this is the wagon… I’ve seen worse.” He says, almost complementary.

“Yeah, just get in,” I say a little antsy, to get on the road.

Next stop is at the gate, and we give the guard our cards, and he opens the gates and I zoom out.