Chapter 5 “Partners”

“I’m back.”

“Welcome back, Zin.”

“How was it? Any news?”

“Well…first, don’t get your hopes up, okay?”

As soon as I entered the watering house which also serves as the guild’s main house, I was greeted by my two new…companions…I guess? They said that although they still feel the need to be cautious, they will take their chance in believing me, which had made me quite happy.

After picking a seat on their table, I quickly relayed the information I had gather from around the town. Just as the two men said to me the other day, a terrible fire had burned down the fair. The death toll is…quite a lot. Most of them are the slavers and their slaves. And with a relatively high amount of victim came from the slave traders, the fair had been stopped for the time being.

In my curiosity, I stopped by the stall of the man that forced me to do his dirty job. To my surprise, it had suffered quite an amount of damage. His tent has been burnt down completely and I could only see a few number of cages still remained. Of course, the occupant has been evacuated. Alive or not, I would not know.

I asked one of the guards that is guarding there about the fate of the owner of the place, saying that I am one of his previous customer that still have some business with him. With a rather troubled expression, he then showed me the owner. Or at least, what’s left of him. I could still recognize the remains of his moustache, but his entire body has been burnt off for good. Judging from his terrible condition, he seemed to be near the worst part of the incident.

“…The only lead we have…gone.” While saying that, Lin’s fist tightened so much that her knuckle started to become white slightly. “Just our luck.” I could see her shoulder is trembling slightly.

“Calm down, Lin.” Ris put her hand on her sister’s clenched hand. “Even if we have him, I doubt that he has any useful information for us.”

“…I hate to admit it…but…,” Lin closed her eyes and let out a low groan, “you’re right.”

“I guess…we have a lot to do before we can go back…If we still have a home to go back too.”

The two became silent after Ris said that last statement. The mood around us grew heavy and I was at lost to what to say. Once again, I don’t know how terrible their previous life has been so I don’t know what to say to them. I could say something like ‘Don’t worry, it’s gonna be okay’ or ‘Cheer up, you’ll do just fine’ to them. But those sound quite insensitive and out place for me. Because of that, I could only join their silence.

“Heyya!” A tap on my shoulder made me turned around. “What did ye do to them, Zin?”

“W-What?! I didn’t do anything!” Why are you accusing me like that, Ms. Ell? Oh, right…I seem to be the bad guy here no matter how you look at it, eh? “I swear I didn’t do anything!”

“Really? Hey!” Ms. Ell loud voice snapped the two back into reality. “Did Zin do anything bad to ye?”

“W-What? N-No, he didn’t!” Ris quickly rejected that statement. “In fact he helped us a lot.”

“Hmm? Really? Ye, with the long hair! Is dat true?”

“Y-Yes, it’s true.” Certainly didn’t expect to be called like that, Lin reply came out a bit as stutter.

“Well…if dis guy did anything bad to ye, call me, ye got dat?” The two could only nod at her pressuring cheerfulness. “Oh, forgot. Introduction. The name’s Ellent, a receptionist and also overseer of dis guild. Call me Ell just like everyone else.”

“A-Ah, I’m Rishilda and this is my twin sister, Lindisa. It is nice to meet you.” Both Ris and Lin gave a short bow to her.

“Oh, mighty mannerly girl the two of ye! Ye a pair of newcomer, I see. Well, ask Zin for a tour or two.” She then tapped me on my shoulder again. “Be sure to take care of them, Zin.”

“G-Got it, Ms. Ell.”

“Again with the Ms. business.” She shook her head. “Well, suites yerself. Oh, some new request has come. I’ve posted it on the usual place. See ya!”

After she left, I looked at the two and they still have their gazes locked onto Ms. Ell. I let out a cough to get their attention.

“Well, she is a not a bad character. A bit pushy and all, but a very good and caring person.”

“Ah, yes. I could see that.” Ris smiled at me. “Seems to be a very dependable person.”

“Quite strong looking too.” Lin gave her comment while still have her gaze locked onto her again. “I could learn a thing or two from her.”

“Really now? Well, speaking of a job, I have another proposal to you.” At first, the two looked at each other and then they looked at me.

“Okay, what is it?”

“It’s this. Have I told you about why I was at the slave fair?” They shook their head. “Well, it is because I was planning to buy a slave or two to help me with my job. You do remember what my job is, right?”

“A coachman, right?” I nodded. “Does a coachman usually use slave?”

“Well, in a regular job, no. But recently, the number of job that came up has been pretty dangerous. Some of my colleagues had been a victim of bandit or wild beast attack.”

“So you are buying them as guards?” I nodded again. “Is this your proposal for us? To work for you?”

“Not…exactly.” Lin really has a sharp tongue. “Not ‘for me’ but ‘with me’. I’m not hiring you, but teaming up with you. We will split the pay evenly.”

“But Lin is the only that can fight. I on the other hand…”

“That is not right.” I shook my head at Ris’ comment. “You can use heal, right? And you can use some other magic, I presumed?” She nodded. “Then it is a very welcome ability in our situation. As my job often forced us to work in a rather unexpected situation and condition, the assistance of magic is a very welcome help.”

“Why–“

“Why am I asking you, right?” I cut Lin’s words, already expecting that from her. “I need more power. My money is only enough to buy a slave or two, which I had to say I’m not quite fond off in the first place. The thought of slavery is…something I quite hate. But as they say, beggar can’t be chooser.”

“So the next thing you came up is to ask us, right?”

“Correct. Besides, instead of hiring someone I don’t know, I rather have someone I know, right? And to make matter worse, the cost of hiring guard is quite high. What do you think?”

“Hmm…your offer is not a bad one, Zin.” Lin said that while tapping the table. “But…we have no gear.”

“I’ll take care of that. Take it as my down payment and recruitment fee. Tell me what you need and I’ll buy it for you. Although, most of them will be cheap stuff since my money is not much. That also includes your clothes since you can’t exactly do this kind of job wearing that simple dress.”

“That is a good offer.” Ris looked at her sister. “What do you say, Lin.”

“I think that–“

“Ah, one more thing.” I cut Lin’s words, which earned me a sharp glare from her. Again. This might become a bad habit. “By doing this job, besides earning money, you might come across interesting information.” The two immediately showed their interest at my statement, especially Lin. “The road is a mine for information since we will come across with many travellers. Not all of them are true, that’s to be sure. But by going from places to places, chances are we will get much more information than just staying in one place, so we can–”

“Deal!” Lin quickly grabbed my hand, not letting me finish my explanation. “We’ll do it!”

“Agreed!” Ris took my other hand. “We’ll do it.”

“O-Oh, o-okay.” I was surprised to see both of them showed their enthusiasm.

“When can we start?” Lin looked at me with her pair of hazel colored eyes. She then got up from her seat and leaned her body forward. “Tell me!”

“R-R-Right now?” I then pulled my hand from theirs and let out a cough to recompose myself. “But first, we need to equip you girls.”

“Are ye sure, Zin?”

“Sure as I can be, Ms. Ell.”

“Well, suits yerself.” She then wrote her signature on the order sheet that I pulled out of the job board. “Done! Be careful out there, ye hear me?"

“Got it, Ms. Ell.”

After finishing the administration stuff with Ms. Ell, I went to the back of the watering hole to get my horse. As opened the stable door, my eyes quickly moved onto a certain spot.

“How you doing, Altent buddy?” I greet my horse and he let out a neigh as soon as he heard my voice. “Ready for a job there, buddy?” Another neigh came. “Great! Let’s go!” I untied the reins and led him to a nearby building that looked like large shed.

When I set my foot there, a loud voice came from the inside of the building. I then opened the large shed’s door. As the door opened, the light came to illuminate the dark interior and a figure lifted his head toward me.

“Oh, Zin!”

“Old man Gylan, aren’t you working too hard?” I smirked as I greeted a rather large and hardy looking man that was on top of the wagon. “You’re going to break your back one of these days if you work too hard.”

“Shut it, boy! I know my limit! What do you need, boy?”

“Ah, here you go.” I gave him the order sheet from Ms. Ell. “Prepare it like usual.”

“Hmm….let’s see. Okay, okay… got it. Come here, Altent, let old Gylan take care of you for your next trip.” A loud neigh came from the horse as he heard that. “I’ll bring him out together with the wagon, boy. Just wait for it patiently.”

“Okay, Old man Gylan.”

Old man Gylan really is a expert at doing his stuff. Altent has been fitted very perfectly for the trip. And since our next job is mainly consists of goods delivery, he choose a slightly bigger wagon than usual, completed with a cover on top. I only hope that Altent will be able to pull the weight. As I put my supplies for the trip onto the wagon, I felt a tap on my shoulder. As I turned back, I saw my two companions.

“Well…what do you think?” Ris said to me as she made a post with her new outfit.

Just as she asked, I got her a simple frilly shirt and a pair of sturdy brown pants and also a pair of boots. She also asked for me to get her a belt that can have some pouches and satchel since she will be in charge of our healing. Continuous use of healing magic will drain her energy too much so she will combine it with medicine and potion that will be either be made by her or bought along the way. I also got her a thick vest and a coat for the cold, but at the moment she left the coat on her hand.

Although I don’t want to say it, her outfit made her looks more boyish than before. Better keep it to myself or she will get upset. Oh, I could also see the dagger I bought her clung nicely on her waist besides the other stuff. I figured that she will still need to have some sort of weapon in emergency. She could also use that to harvest herb along the journey.

“Fitting and professional. Nice!” I gave her a thumb up.

“Are we riding that?” From behind her, her twin sister Lindisa looked at the wagon.

Just like her sister, she also requested the same outfit as hers. But instead of frilly shirts, she asked for a simpler one that can make it easy for her to move around. And she also asked for some kind of armors since she will fight close-ranged. With the amount of money I have in hand, I could only afford some simple leather chest plate and leather gloves. She let out a sigh after I said that to her.

The most priciest part of her gear is her weapons. I got her a long sabre and a short dagger, which cost almost half of her entire outfit. I remembered how my hand trembled before giving out the amount of coin the merchant asked me for the equipment. I also got her a coat too. Even if I’ve spend a lot, I will not left out the necessary gear since we are going to get into the cold night almost every day.

“Yeah, we’re riding that.” I then hoped onto the coach’s sit in the front. “Are you done packing?”

“Yup.” Ris showed me her bag that is probably filled with our supply.

“And also the water?”

“Right here.” This time it’s Lin that showed me her bag. I have to say, the two really looks professional. Although their gear is a bit on the cheap side, I’m glad that they are fitting for them. The gallant looking fighter Lindisa and the gentle looking mage Rishilda.

“Get those on the back and we’ll ride straight away.” The sound of stuff being load onto the wagon could be heard from the back. “Is there anything else?”

“Nope, that’s all.” Ris then hoped onto the back of the wagon. I glanced at her and saw her helping Lin hoped onto it. “We’re ready.”

“Nice! This will be a long ride before we get onto out first stop. I hope you girls are ready!”

“Just get on already!”

“Sheesh, okay, okay.” I couldn’t help but let out a small smile after hearing Lin’s annoyed voice. She really isn’t the patience type. “Oh, one more thing! Come here for a second.” I beckoned the two to get near me. After they were near me, I reached onto their hand. “This is our first job together. Let’s work hard together!”

“Yes, we will!”

“O-O-O-kay.” Unlike Ris who shook my hand with a smile on her face, Lin averted her eyes from me with a slight blush on her cheeks. These two really are an interesting pair of sister.

“Well, let’s go then. Hyah!!!” The sound of Altent’s hooves marked the start of our journey together.

Author Note:

Please give me comment and opinion for this story, or even critique so that I can improve my writing. Do tell me if you find something strange or wrong with the chapter. Thank you for reading!