Multiple voices cried out at the same time in response to Noll’s casual announcement.
“What in the flying fuck?”
“You can’t be serious!”
“Oh my…”
“Sp—sp—spy on us?”
“Who?”
The last was voiced by the trio of Jadis’ selves. The idea that someone was spying on her had lost its shock value for her after having dealt with Vraekae, though it had lost none of its annoyance. That the spy in question would just come out and tell her that was what he was doing was almost disturbing in a way, and Jadis had every intention of addressing that little matter, but the big detail that struck her about the statement was the reveal of who precisely it was that had sent Noll to spy on her.
Prince Kestil was the name Noll had carelessly tossed out into the air like it held no value. Presumably, that wasn’t some kind of euphemism and the guy was actual royalty. In fact, the more she thought about it, the more Jadis was sure she’d heard the name before in exactly that context.
Running a hand through her hair, Jay leaned down towards a gaping Aila and asked quietly, “Isn’t that the, uh, third prince of the empire or something?”
“Second Prince,” Aila corrected, her knitted brows and intense gaze focused on a beer imbibing Noll. “Second Prince Kestil is the overall ruler of the Weigrun territory, among other places. So it’s a fairly big deal that he apparently sent an exceptionally bold spy to investigate you and, I presume by extension, our mercenary company.”
“Just the big three there. No slight to you, human. Also, I’m no spy,” Noll growled, lowering the flagon from his mouth. “I said he sent me to spy on you. There’s a difference.”
“Fucking piss…” Syd moaned. Leaning forward, she set her forearm on the table and gave Noll a direct stare, meeting the therion’s yellow eyes. “Don’t give me any shit here, okay? You show up unannounced and uninvited, make me look like the asshole for assuming you were up to no good, and now you just outright state you were sent here on the behest of a prince to get up to no good! Just, talk straight with us, okay?”
Jadis found it difficult to read the man’s expression due to him having a completely inhuman face, but if she were any judge of a wolf’s mood, Noll looked both confused and annoyed.
“I am talking straight,” he motioned with his ale mug towards Syd. “I just said I was sent here to spy on you by Prince Kestil.”
That… was a fair point. What Jadis had presumed was a fast talker splitting hairs in order to confuse her could very well have been a blunt man’s honest attempt at clarifying a misunderstanding before it got out of hand. Or the furry mutt was attempting one of the strangest ploys at subterfuge she could imagine. Whatever the actual reasoning, she figured the best way to approach the conversation was with the same direct bluntness that Noll seemed to have gone with. If what the high-level mercenary said turned out to be some attempt at misleading her, she’d have to rely on her companions to guide her since they possessed the experience of living on Oros and understanding the culture and history that she did not.
“Okay,” Jay started, leaning back to look Noll over. “You were sent here to spy on us by Prince Kestil. But you’re not a spy. So what are you doing here?”
“Making an assessment.”
Jay shared a glance with Aila at that response.
“Assuming that assessment is about us, I’m guessing you’re doing that so you can report back to Kestil?”
“Prince Kestil,” Eir whispered a correction.
Noll snorted, then waved his mostly empty tankard towards Hans, who quickly refilled it.
“Fair assumptions,” he said, making a deep sound somewhere between a growl and a chuckle. “But don’t get your hackles up, I don’t give two shits about your secrets and I’m not interested in sniffing them out. I owed that fat-necked fuck in the palace a favor so I’m here to check you Nephilim things out and report back what I see.”
“Prince Kestil has a fat neck?” Jadis heard Sabina quietly ask Thea, but Jadis chose to ignore that detail for the moment.
“Just checking us out? That’s all?”
“That’s all.”
“Alright then. You’ve checked us out. When are you leaving?”
“Hah!” Noll barked out a laugh. “Not exactly the most hospitable bunch, are you? Is that a Nephilim thing, or is it just you three?”
“Sorry, but we just finally reached an understanding with the local leadership,” Jay announced flatly. “We’re not really interested in starting all over with the whole ‘uninvited assholes sticking their fat noses in our business’ thing again.”
Noll shrugged, baring his fangs. Now that she was getting used to his mannerisms, Jadis thought the snarl might actually be a smile. Though it was still hard to tell.
“You three are popular,” he leaned towards Jay while sending a glance towards the other women at the table. “And not just with the ladies. You’re going to have a lot more attention on you than just an old dog sent by a prince and that frigid bitch over in the city hall. Take a bit of free advice from someone who’s also had unwanted fame thrust upon them: think carefully about who you choose to associate with. You can’t make a friend without making an enemy.”
Noll stood up from the table, draining the last of his mug with one large gulp. Clunking the ceramic vessel back on the table, he waved towards the table at large.
“I’ll leave you all to your meal. It was a long ship ride to get down here and my bones could use a rest.”
He turned to leave, but not before flicking a shining piece of silver towards Hans, who silently caught the coin out of the air.
“Well, thanks for dropping by,” Dys muttered, scowling at the old wolf as he plodded to the door. “Have a safe trip back to the capital or wherever you’re going.”
Noll half-turned back, his muzzle pulled back to reveal shining white teeth.
“Who said I was leaving? I told you three, I’m making an assessment. I’ll see you lot in the morning.”
Before Jadis could quite finish an objection, Noll sauntered out the door, letting it shut solidly behind him.
“Fuck,” Syd cursed while turning towards Kerr. “You know that guy? Cause he’s kind of a fucking dick!”
“I said I know of him,” Kerr shot back. “Cum for brains! I’ve seen him, like, once years ago during a tournament. I’ve never exchanged two words with the old bastard. I just know him by reputation, which is why I don’t want to pick a fight with a non-elf that surpassed CLR one hundred before a demon invasion!”
“Okay, fine, we’re not trying to start a fight with him,” Syd huffed. “But he wasn’t exactly easy to get along with! He’s literally here to spy on us.”
“What did he mean by seeing you in the morning?” Aila asked, breaking up the burgeoning spat between Kerr and Syd. “By that I mean, he said he wanted to make an assessment, but does that mean he’s planning on just following you three around all day, starting in the morning?”
“Fuck I hope not,” Dys groaned. “We just got Vraekae to call off the damn guard detail! No offense, Thea.”
“N—none taken.”
“Perhaps we can avoid much of the anguish of having Mr. Noll snooping on you by simply having a straightforward conversation with him?” Eir asked before taking a careful bite of her slowly cooling meat pie. She used one hand to cover her mouth as she spoke, even after chewing and swallowing. “Perhaps offer him a set amount of information. Enough to satisfy the curiosity of the Prince without giving away anything too sensitive?”
“What, just tell him he can ask twenty questions and then that’s it?” Dys asked while picking up her own extra-large pie.
“Something like that,” Eir said with a smile.
With Noll no longer darkening their doorstep, the rest of their dinner went much smoother, albeit still slightly awkward. Conversation couldn’t help but hover around the topic of the Second Prince and the powerful mercenary he’d sent to keep tabs on them.
It was unfortunate that Sabina’s first dinner with her new mercenary company was spoiled by a contentious visitor and troubling news. Jadis wouldn’t have blamed the half-elf if she had decided it was all too much to handle and backed out of the contract she’d signed. Jadis would have let her, no bad blood between them. But Sabina seemed to take the situation in stride. For being a nervous talker who rambled on end, she had a definite backbone to her.
Wanting to at least try to steer the conversation in other directions, Jadis asked questions that set her companions talking on various tangents, slowly branching off and away from the worries of how to deal with their new self-proclaimed “not a spy”. Since there were so many of them at the table, it turned into multiple conversations at once, which didn’t bother Jadis too much since she was uniquely qualified for the task of engaging in several discussions at the same time.
With Kerr and Aila, Jay went over the particulars of the medallion they had pointed out Noll had been wearing on his belt.
As Aila had said, the medallion was given out by the Empire to officially recognize any individual who surpassed CLR one hundred. It was a rare feat for anyone, especially so during peace times when there were little to no demons around that would grant bonus experience when they were slain. There was some variation in that, of course. Elves had longer lifespans compared to most other races and were more likely to reach high levels simply due to their longevity. Some even lived long enough to experience two demonic invasions in their lifetimes, so if they stayed combat capable, they were the most likely to achieve the truly extraordinarily high levels.
“There are other long-lived races, too,” Aila explained. “Though the only ones I can think of that compare to elves are the ones like, well, your race. Children of the Gods, Avatars, those kinds.”
“Like Seraphim or Dryads,” Kerr added between downing her third mug of ale. “Those stuck up salope can last for a long fucking time.”
“What’s max level then? Has anyone reached it?” Jay asked, curious about how powerful a max-level person would be on Oros.
“CLR three hundred,” Aila answered before eating a forkful of her meat pie.
“One hundred levels in each class,” the slightly inebriated archer continued. “Doesn’t happen. Well, maybe it has, but if it has, it’s been ages.”
“The amount of experience you need in each class to level grows exponentially the higher you go,” Aila continued her explanation. “It’s difficult for most people to get a class above level forty, even during demonic invasions. It usually involves either a lifetime of constantly pushing your limits and fighting against dangerous foes, or somehow overcoming the odds against the kinds of threats that shake the foundations of the mountains themselves. The only example I can think of for a CLR three hundred is one of the great heroes from legend, Sigsteinn the Golden. And he lived over three thousand years ago.”
“Back when Nephilim were running around in bigger numbers, free range,” Kerr pointed out around a full mouth.
From what Aila and Kerr told her, it definitely made sense to Jadis that a person getting above CLR one hundred would be recognized and venerated by society at large. There was also a practical aspect to handing out such an award for high-level individuals to display on their person. If you didn’t have a Detect Stone or similar device, there really wasn’t any way to easily identify who was high level. Flashing one of those medallions around was a quick way to let everyone around a person know that the person in question was not one to be fucked with.
While Jay discussed levels with Aila and Kerr, Dys talked with Eir and Thea about another subject that had come up that day that she was curious about.
“So, what’s up with Dryads?” she asked, tilting her head towards the priestess. “Are they common around here? Or are they from somewhere else?”
“I would not think of Dryads as common anywhere,” Eir shook her head with a mournful smile. “Alas, Villthyrial’s Children are a rarity.”
“Vill-a-who?”
“Villthyrial,” Eir repeated. “He is the god of the wild places of the world. Beasts, travelers, and horizons are among his domains. The Dryads are his avatars and serve his will, just as the Nephilim do for Lyssandria or the Seraphim do for Valtar. You don’t see them often, unfortunately, as they are often solitary by nature and prefer the communion of the trees to that of mortal men.”
“I—I’ve seen one,” Thea spoke up for the first time in a while. “Once.”
“Did you?” Eir asked, her smiling attention on the brunette. “Where? Please tell us the story, if you don’t mind?”
“It’s not m—much of ah, a story,” Thea shrugged. “Where I’m from, Cold Brook, is up near the B—Brenna Wood. There’s a Dryad who l—lives in those woods. I s—saw her, ah, once. She was r—riding a silver b—bear. She waved to me.”
“How long ago was that?” Eir asked.
“I w—was, um, thirteen, I think. Y—yes, thirteen. So it’s b—been a while.”
“What did she look like?” Dys asked, happy to see Thea talking.
“B—beautiful,” Thea said with a far-away look in her eyes. “Her hair was filled with flowers. O—or maybe it was flowers? And she had the most amazing glowing eyes. They shone, l—like the sky. I would go looking for her every d—day after that, to see if I could glimpse her one more time. B—but I never did.”
“It was a blessing to have seen one at all,” Eir said, putting a hand on Thea’s shoulder. “Most are reclusive, like the wild beasts they protect.”
While Thea was no wordsmith, the way her voice changed while she reminisced about her brief encounter with the Dryad made Jadis want to track one down all the more. Not every goal she had needed to revolve around fighting demons and leveling, after all. Meeting a Dryad felt like a good enough long-term secondary objective.
The conversation Syd maintained with Sabina was of a far more practical nature. Primarily they talked about how the armor had performed during the fight out in the forest against the manticores, as well as some discussion about her new weapons. Once Syd confirmed that the heavy weight of the thick armor was entirely manageable, Sabina excitedly began discussing potential enchantments that could be applied to the armor, crossing weight-reduction types off the list as not necessary.
Jadis was happy to find that, when more comfortable and less flustered, Sabina didn’t ramble quite as much. She still spoke fast and had a lot to say, but she at least took more time to breathe between propositions.
Their conversations went long into the evening before they finally called it a night. Bidding Sabina a good night, Jadis and her lovers retired to their large bedchamber with a lot on their minds, but also with a positive outlook on what the next day would bring. Noll had been an unexpected intrusion into their plans, but Jadis could roll with the inconvenience.
Besides, the last group of people a powerful leader had sent to follow Jadis around had turned out to be truly good people who Jadis regretted not getting to know better before their passing. Now that she was calmer and thinking about it with less of an edge, it was entirely possible Noll could follow in the same vein. He didn’t seem as stuffy or married to rules the way the guards had been, and he acted like he didn’t actually care about digging into her privacy. Those were certainly positives in Jadis’ book.
So, how bad could he be?
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