Chapter Three hundred and Twenty-Three - Adventurers For Hire

“We’re back!” I cheered while hanging off of the airship’s side.

Below me was Goldenalden, the great big capital city of the Kingdom of Sylphfree lit by the first clear rays of morning sunlight. It stuck off the side of a huge mountain, with sylph-made plateaus and carved out sections of the mountain giving the city plenty of room. It helped that the sylph, liked building things tall, on account of being able to fly.

“Back away from the edge, you dufus, you’re going to trip off the side and I don’t care how good you are at jumping, you’ll splatter yourself at this height” A familiar taloned hand grabbed me by the scruff and pulled me away from the edge.

I laughed. I couldn’t help it, I was filled with this great manic energy, and no amount of worrying from Amaryllis was going to rob me of it. “I was holding onto the edge,” I said.

“Yes, and I’m sure you’ve never dropped anything before,” Amaryllis said with a huff. “You would feel quite stupid if you tripped off the side of the ship. At least for the few seconds it takes for you to hit the ground.”

I grinned, but she was probably right. “Okay, fine. Thanks for worrying.”

Amaryllis’ cheeks puffed and she strutted off in a huff.

“If you want,” Awen’s more timid voice said from next to me. “I could get some ropes and straps, that way you can hang off the edge of the ship all you want.”

I shook my head. “It’s fine,” I said. “Besides, it’s a bit windy.” I had to keep adjusting my ears and hair because both kept getting flicked around by stray gusts.

The ship--a sylph military vessel commandeered to get us to the dungeon of the Lullaby Knight--was about as aerodynamic as any sylph ship, which is to say that it was basically a flying brick with sharply angled sides and a partially-armoured balloon.

The ship sailed past the busiest parts of Goldenalden, over the blue and red and gold districts, before we finally glided down towards the military port where sylphs in uniform flew up to meet the ship with long cables behind them.

Amaryllis returned, carrying her stuff as well as mine and Awen’s. “Here. I figured I would grab all of our things while I was below deck.”

“Thanks!” I said. I hadn’t brought too much on our last adventure. A small bag and Weedbane, my new scythe, were about it. Awen had a bunch more stuff, but she was a mechanic and she needed her tools and such.

The ship docked, a gangplank was fixed to its side, and after the first few sailors moved across it we squeezed past and onto the docks.

“Okay,” I said as I walked with a bounce to my step. The docks clunked and bobbed beneath me. “Where to now?”

The sun had just come up after our overnight trip back to the capital, so we had a whole day ahead of us. I hadn’t slept a wink all night. Our guide in the Lullaby Knight dungeon--Lieutenant Petalwrought--had given us potions that were meant to make us resistant to Sleep magic.

They worked really well against normal sleep too. My friends and I spent the night in a little cabin just chit-chatting about everything and nothing.

“I suppose since this mission was given to us by the king, we ought to report back to him,” Amaryllis said. “But it would be somewhat unusual for three contractors to report back directly to the king unless he specifically ordered us to do so.”

“We could pop over to the palace anyway and leave a message,” I suggested. “I bet he’s got secretaries.”

“When you’re a king they’re called stewards, but yes, he definitely has people who can take care of appointments for him,” Amaryllis said.

I glanced around, got my bearings thanks to the mountain peak poking out above the city, and then we set off to cross Goldenalden. Last time we’d come with a carriage, but this time we simply walked. It was early enough in the morning that most of the city was still sleeping, though birds were darting around after each other and the earliest to wake were already out and about.

We stuck to the ground level, where the traffic was even quieter. Most sylph liked to fly around, or at least flutter from rooftop to rooftop, so the streets were relatively quiet except for the occasional donkey-drawn cart.

As we moved north and towards the gold district, the streets widened and apartment buildings gave way to stately homes and eventually small estates before we reached the walls surrounding the palace.

Two guards stood on either side of the gate, and more waiting in the towers above. These weren’t city guards; they had much nicer armour with a lot more feathers and fluff on their helmets.

“Hello, sir,” I said as we came over. “I’m Captain Bunch, these are Lady Bristlecone and Lady Albatross. We’re here to see the king.”

The guard blinked at me. I think he might have been close to his change of shift, because it took a moment for him to realise that I was asking for something. “Ah, one moment, ma’am,” he said.

A cord was pulled, a bell was rung, and soon enough a butler-looking sylph flew over the front gate and greeted us with a bow. “I’m afraid his majesty was not yet expecting you, though we do have orders to expect your arrival sometime today. If it would please you, we may extend the royal family’s hospitality to you and offer you a stay in one of the guest lounges until his majesty is ready to receive supplicants and guests.”

“That would be fine,” Amaryllis said.

“Could we have snacks while we wait?” I asked.

The butler stared.

“We could pay you back. I’m really hungry.”

“Ah, yes, something could be arranged, of course. Please, follow me.”

The butler led us--and a complement of two guards--through the front gate and across the palace grounds. We entered, then I immediately got lost as we navigated through an unfamiliar part of the palace.

The butler dropped us off in a room with a few lounge chairs, an end table, and a little bookcase next to a window overlooking one of the greenhouses next to the palace. “I shall return with refreshments in a moment,” he said before heading off.

The guards stayed on either side of the entrance. They were really good at staring blankly ahead.

“Awa, do you think the king will want us to do more work with dungeons?” Awen asked.

“It’s a possibility,” Amaryllis said. “But I doubt it would last for very long. Training people with Cleaning magic to use it the way Broccoli does shouldn’t take too long. A few weeks at most. Sylphfree won’t lack for volunteers. Grab a few soldiers with appropriate classes, have them clean the latrines until they get the skill, then escort them through a few fights until they level up enough to pour points into Cleaning magic, and voila, a new person able to clear out Evil Roots.”

“It took me... about two months?” I guessed. I wasn’t great with keeping track of the date, so I just guesstimated how long I was on Dirt for.

“Which is impressive,” Amaryllis said. I puffed up with pride, but then she shattered that with her next words. “But I suspect that soldiers undergoing strenuous training can go from level one to ten in as little as a month. Less, if risk is being put aside in favour of speed.”

“Soldiers train that quickly?” Awen asked.

“Oh no,” Amaryllis said. “Soldiers can level that quickly. Given access to dungeons, with guides and facing threats as a group, they can definitely spend days fighting and working to level up. The training to learn how to fight as a group though? That can take several more months.”

“You know a lot about this,” I said.

She shrugged. “I had a passing interest in the matter back home. I recall that most career soldiers take six months to a year to train before they’re deployed anywhere, with frequent re-training and additional classes if they specialise in anything. If there’s a draft, though, the average training time is reduced to a handful of weeks.”

“That’s not very long,” Awen said.

“No, it isn’t, and so you can imagine that the quality will be similarly impacted.”

I tapped my chin, then turned to one of the guards. “Hey, mister guard. How much training did you get?”

He blinked, then glanced at his companion. “Ah, forgive me, ma’am, we aren’t meant to interact with guests.”

“Not even to ask questions?” I asked.

He nodded slightly.

“What if I need to use the ladies room and don’t know where it is?” I asked. “Would you just stand there while I did the ‘I have to pee’ dance?”

The guard’s cheeks definitely took on a reddish hue. He was saved from having to explain himself when someone appeared at the doorway. “Stop bullying the guards, Broccoli.”

“Caprica!” I said as the princess entered the room. She was in one of her usual outfits. A tight red uniform, not too dissimilar to the guard I’d been talking to (not bullying!) a moment ago, though it was tailored very neatly, and her uniform’s gold-coloured gilding looked like actual gold as opposed to yellow thread. “It’s good to see you.”

“Has it even been more than a day?” she asked.

“Does it matter how long it’s been? I’m still happy to see you,” I said. I pulled Caprica into a tight-tight hug, making sure to be careful with where I placed my hands on her back. I didn’t want to squish her wings.

Caprica patted my back in return. She was still a bit awkward about hugs, but I’d wear her down eventually. “Well, regardless of all that... how did it go?”

“Dungeon cleared!” I cheered at indoor-voice levels.

“Broccoli’s right, the dungeon was cleared. She took out the Evil Roots. We’ll have to wait and see whether the dungeon itself will heal after this,” Amaryllis said. “I imagine some of the people who went down with us will be writing reports on the entire event for you to peruse.”

“They will,” Caprica said. “But it might take some time before I get access to those. Still, if you say the dungeon was cleared, I’ll believe you.”

“Awa, thank you,” Awen said.

Caprica found a seat on one of the free lounge chairs and looked ready to say something when the butler sylph returned with a tray before him. He paused a bit on seeing her in the room, but he continued and placed his tray down on the coffee table before leaving the room with a bow.

There was toast and jams and little pastries dusted in sugar and filled with creams. Sylph food was always super sweet.

“So, what’s the next step?” Amaryllis asked as she plucked a pastry off the platter.

“That depends,” Caprica said. She grabbed a piece of toast--which looked like it was still warm--and started spreading jam on it. “Mostly on what you want to do next. I imagine father wouldn’t mind continuing to pay you to clean out our dungeons.”

“That could be fun,” I said. “But it sounds a bit too much like doing the same thing over and over.”

“Could be good for levelling,” Amaryllis pointed out.

I frowned, then picked one of the pastries for myself. It was gooey and yum and I was lucky I had Cleaning magic or else I’d need to get my gambeson cleaned because some spilled out of the back of the pastry when I bit into it. “Mmm, yeah, but we’re here to save the world and have fun. Not just grind and get stronger.”

Awen giggled. “I guess not.”

“In that case,” Caprica said. “I think there’s another job you could do. But I’ll have to ask father about it first. This is a somewhat politically sensitive topic, and one that I think you’d be well-suited to take care of.”

“Do tell,” Amaryllis said.

Caprica grinned.

***