Chapter 65: Companion Acquired

Chapter 65: Companion Acquired

“Are you alright, are any of you hurt? In trouble?” Aila asked, concern evident in her voice.

As soon as Jadis had left the magistrate’s office, she’d been escorted back to the lobby by a single guard, some secret message conveyed to the men standing watch indicating only one was needed to show Jadis the way out. When she’d exited the back corridor, she’d found Aila and her uncles waiting in the lobby, grim and worried expressions on their faces.

Aila had immediately approached Jadis, nothing panicky in her actions or movements but the worry she tried to hide behind her normally stoic mask peaked through.

“We’re fine,” Jay assured her, putting on a soothing smile. “The magistrate just wanted to talk to us about the grundwyrm we killed. Had some questions about what we saw and where it was.”

“That’s no reason to send near a dozen guard to lead you three away like common thieves,” Aila pronounced crossly. “Is that really all?”

Still standing in a public lobby with many ears around, Jadis kept her explanation to a minimum.

“No, she wanted to know more about our race, too,” Dys said in a lowered tone. “We can tell you about it later.”

“Yeah,” Syd joined in, “We haven’t eaten yet and we’ve had our fill of government buildings for now. Mind if we take this elsewhere?”

Aila nodded, motioning to the large double doors of the building. “Then let’s go. We can eat at the Archway.”

“Well, you four can,” Ludwas spoke up, reminding Jadis that Aila hadn’t come alone. “We’ve got a job to get to. Can’t delay returning to the camp, the wagon will be leaving soon.”

“Does that mean...?” Jay trailed off, looking expectantly at Aila.

The redhead nodded, a smile threatening to break through on her face. “Yes. I’ve ended my contract with Bernd’s Blades. I was coming to your inn to rent a room when we saw the guards taking you all away.”

“Nice!” Syd grinned, holding up her hand for a high five.

Aila stared in confusion, along with Gerwas and Ludwas.

Clearing her throat, Syd turned her hand towards Dys who slapped it with a resigned sigh.

“Guess that’s not a thing around here, culturally.”

“We’re really glad you decided to join up with us,” Jay brushed past the awkward moment, still grinning. “We’re going to have an amazing time. You won’t regret it!”

“Aye, you better not make her regret it,” Gerwas growled in his best impression of a bear. “I had a long speech I was going to give about what I will be doing to the lot of you if any harm comes to the Bean Pole, and that’s before her mother gets involved. We’ll have to skip it for time, but I think you three are smart enough to take my meaning.”

Aila threw Gerwas a withering look that bounced off of his thick skin harmlessly. “I know, I know, you’re a grown woman and you can make your own damn decisions. I still say it’s a wild risk you’re taking and your parents will have our hides—”

Aila was quick to agree that before they could do any truly serious demon hunting, all three giants were in dire need of a weapon and armor upgrade.

“You all seem to have a lot of health,” Aila said, motioning towards Jay’s chest, “but you got lucky with that axe. If it had dug any deeper, that could have been a killing blow. Your fortitude is probably decently high, but it’s not as high as an archetype specialized for combat without armor, I can tell. You need something better than all that.”

Jay’s fingers ran across the open gash in her chest piece. “Yeah, that one hurt like a bitch. Any suggestions on where we can go for some good armor? You mentioned a smith you know, if I remember correctly.”

“Oh, and a tailor,” Syd pipped up, swallowing a mouthful of eggs. “We still need something better than this crap,” she said, tugging on the coarse material of her stitched blanket tunic.

“Yes, I’ll take you to the smith and the tailor I know,” Aila readily agreed. “Anything they make will have to be custom crafted, though, so it might take some time before you’re fully outfitted.”

Dys hummed, fingers drumming on the wooden table. “I imagine the cost for custom armor will be high, never mind weapons. Any idea on price ranges?”

Aila shrugged and shook her head. “All good armor is custom fitted to a degree; but for you three? I can’t imagine it’ll be as simple as minor adjustments to premade gear. It also depends on what kind of armor you want made, the material it’s made from, and so on.”

Taking a bite of her fish, Aila looked at Dys consideringly before pointing at her with her fork. “My uncles once told me that a good set of full plate armor could buy a whole house in most towns, and that’s before enchantment. Multiply that by three and even that reward you got from the grundwyrm isn’t going to get you far.”

Jay sighed heavily. “Seems like we’ll have to prioritize based on what we can afford for now and then earn what we can as we go.”

“And we can’t forget about paying for room and board, food, and Blue’s cut of the profits,” Syd pointed out. “We’re going to have to budget things.”

“You don’t have to—” Aila began to protest but Jay cut her off.

“Yes, we do. You’re on the team now, right? So that means you get a cut. Even if you aren’t contributing much to the fights right now, you will be soon enough and you still need to make a living too. So don’t argue and take your share.”

Aila closed her mouth tightly, lips pressed thin, but made no further argument.

“On the bright side, once that scouting mission or whatever comes back from the village where we were staying at with the proof that we killed a demon mother, we’ll hopefully get a big reward for that. I’m sure that’ll help our savings,” Syd pointed out.

“The reward for a matriarch’s death is substantial,” Aila nodded at Syd. “I’m not certain of the sum, but it would pay for quite a lot of what you three might want, depending on the armor and the smith.”

“Then we’ll price things out for now and once we get our big payday, we can go hog wild,” Jay announced with a grin, drawing a confused look from Aila.

“Hog Wild? What do hogs have to do with shopping?”

All three of Jadis smirked and sighed at the same time.

“Never mind.”

“For now, let’s see what kind of stuff we can buy with what we’ve got,” Jay said, finishing the last of the food on her plate.