A few minutes later and the guards seem to have warmed up to him, as they're now sitting around Jed in a semi circle and speaking to him less nervously. The three remaining bowmen up on top of the wall are still muttering among themselves, probably feeling left out of the conversation. After glancing behind him at the gate and seeing that Jeff has yet to arrive, the guard on Jed's left leans forward, eyes on him once more.

"So my name's Neil, that's Dave, and the losers back there aren't worth mentioning. You got a name, rock dude?"

The guard over on his right gives him a half-assed wave in greeting.

"Yo."

"..I'm..call..ed...Jed..and...hello."

Jed eyes the man's well made armor hungrily, it must be worth a few strength points if eaten. Neil takes notice of the dangerous look in his eyes and the corners of his mouth droop slightly.

"Jed...my eyes are up here. I don't know what you've got going on down there as a rock thing...person...guy. But I'm pretty sure I don't swing that way."

"..ehh?...no..nono...I'm..not...li..ke..that. You have...shi..ny..arm....or."

"Are you trying to say I'm too ugly!?"

Jed just stares at him for a few moments in bewilderment, not sure how to respond to such a reaction. Luckily, Dave steps in with an assist.

"Neil is a huge drama queen, just ignore him like I do. You should really just-... oh it would seem they're finally back."

The gates swing open to reveal Jeff and an angry looking plump old man in fancy clothes with a pimp cane. The two guards that Jed had been talking with immediately jump to their feet and rush over to meet the mayor with a bow, which does nothing to make him less pissed off.

"I got woken up to deal with your shit AGAIN, Neil! This happens like three times a week, what could possibly be important enough to interrupt my beauty sleep?"

Both guards just point over at Jed without another word and the mayor stares past the two, over at the rock man, narrowing his eyes. After a second or two he blinks and rubs at his eyes before reaching into his pocket and withdrawing a pair of glasses, wiping them off and putting them on. He stares at Jed momentarily and then shakes his head in exasperation.

"Well...I guess for once you weren't a complete idiot, Neil. I guess I'll have to let it slide this time, but more importantly, what the hell is that thing and what's with the foul smelling bag of goblin ears?"

The guards, along with Jeff, crowd around the mayor and retell the story of their meeting with Jed to get him up to speed. When it's over he lets out a long sigh and gives the sack of green ears a look of disgust.

"I suppose I have no choice but to reward you for saving the village. Damn good Samaritans going around helping people and taking my gold. I've already seen the proof, so go ahead and get rid of the ears, Dave. You...Jed, was it? Come along and I'll make sure to pay you or whatever."

Happy to get a reward, Jed quickly heads after the man, who's met with four bodyguards on the other side of the gate. They help keep people from getting too close as the group walks down the street toward a huge house that looks closer to a mansion. They pass a few different shops and plenty of houses on their way through the town, but nothing really stands out to him. Slowly a boisterous crowd gathers and follows closely along behind them, the citizens all babbling about the strange rock person who's walking along with the mayor. When they finally arrive at the mayor's place, he rushes through the front lawn and over to the door, ushering everyone inside before slamming and locking it behind him with a sigh of relaxation.

"Thank goodness that's all over with, I really hate crowds. You're probably thinking I shouldn't have taken the position in that case, I bet. But the benefits of being in charge are just too great to pass up, trust me! Oh, anyway, come have a seat and we can talk."

Two of the bodyguards head back outside to guard the grounds, while the others stay inside and nearby the mayor just in case something happens. The mayor dives onto a fluffy couch, making himself comfortable and gestures toward a chair across the table from him. Jed carefully takes a seat, the chair creaking under him but luckily it somehow holds up against his weight. Before he manages to get any words out, a servant walks in and passes a cup of tea to each of them, quickly leaving afterward.

The mayor raises his cup in a toast, apparently ignoring the fact that an earth elemental probably can't drink anything. Not wanting to be rude to his host, Jed raises his cup as well, pouring the scalding liquid over his head while the mayor takes a small sip. The man just sits still, dumbfounded, and gives him a confused look before he goes back to speaking.

"So you killed all the goblins and saved a village, good for you. The thing is... I already donated money to the Helpful Heroes Organization, or HHO as they call themselves, so that they can pay whoever does jobs for them. You'll have to head over there to accept the reward for saving Riverside village. I'm pretty sure that request has been sitting there for months without being completed so there shouldn't be an issue. I'll write up something as proof and sign it for you."

'Sweet. Free gold, I knew the tea thing would work.'

"..thank...s."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm a great person and far too generous with my fortune, I know."

A few minutes later and Jed is all set, heading out the door with letter in hand. He happily heads in the direction where the mayor said the HHO building was, ignoring the curious and fearful stares of those he passes by.

'This is kind of awkward but it's worth it for the gold! What should I even buy with it... metal maybe, perhaps a cloak to get rid of all this attention? This HHO place sounds a lot like an adventurer's guild.'

He arrives at the HHO building and heads inside, noting the locations of all the strong or scary looking people in the place, careful to keep a distance from those shooting him especially hostile glares. Toward the back of the room near the stairs, there is a desk with a slightly less scary looking guy sitting at it and sifting through huge stacks of paper with a bored expression across his face.

"..pay..ment..for save..ing..Riverside...vill..age..please."

The man at the desk looks up from his work as he's passed the mayor's letter. His piercing green eyes narrow a bit but otherwise his scarred face gives no reaction to suddenly seeing a stone man standing right in front of him. After giving Jed another look over, he quickly skims the letter and tosses it into an overflowing trash bin under the desk.

"Fine. Gimme a second."

He starts rummaging around in a drawer, the sound of coins clinking against each other is music to Jed's ears. Well he doesn't really have ears but the music is still there. As Jed is about to accept payment, the sound of two simultaneous gasps come from behind him. Turning around to look over toward the entrance of the building, he spots three familiar figures. The three survivors of his first fight outside of the cave from back then.

'Ahh shit.'

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Sorry for the chapter being even shorter than usual. Been busy lately and I don't know how often I'll be able to write much, I'll still try though!