53.2. Escort

“Sorry— wait, Salvos?”

I blinked.

“Daniel? What are you doing here.”

The black haired Human man stared at me for a moment. He rubbed at his eyes before looking me over once again.

“You are Salvos.”

“Hello. That’s me.”

His eyes widened in shock as he just stood there. I cocked my head, confused.

“I’ve been waiting for you for— I thought you died out there! Didn’t you say you just wanted to test out your Skills a little bit?”

“I did. It went great!”

I smiled, giving him a reassuring nod. He paused, opening his mouth. Then he sighed and grabbed my arm.

“Well, it’s a good thing you’re here. There’s a job I signed us both up for— an escort mission. They wanted Gold Ranks, and we’ll be heading in the same direction, so might as well earn some gold while we can. The only reason they even waited for us is because we’re kinda well known in the area since… y’know? And there's been rumors of another Greater Demon in the area after you… y’know?”

“No, I do not know.”

He sighed, shaking his head.

“Come on, you don’t need to sleep, right? Let’s go now before they just—”

“Hold it right there.”

Daniel blinked, turning to the voice. He immediately paled, backing up.

“Woah, wait— what’s going on?”

My companion let go of me and raised both his hands; Helen did not lower the bow however, keeping it trained on his chest.

“Who are you and what are you doing with Salvos?”

“I’m just taking her to meet with— wait, you know her?”

“Yes. And you? What is your relationship with her?”

“She’s my—”

“We’re companions!”

I piped up, grinning. Helen blinked and Daniel’s face turned red.

“Oh, uh… sorry, I had no idea that you were her…”

The Human man’s face burned furiously as he waved his hands over his face.

“She means friends. We’re friends!”

“Ah…”

Helen slowly lowered her bow, putting the arrow back in her quiver. Daniel sighed in relief as two more figures approached from behind the [Archer].

“Is there trouble, Helen?”

“No, it was just a misunderstanding.”

“I see you’ve made a few new friends while you were gone, Salvos.”

Daniel turned to me, raising a brow. I nodded.

“Yep! Daniel, this is Helen, Jaakko, and Zack. Helen, Jaako, and Zack, this is Daniel.”

“Daniel?”

Zack blinked.

“You’re one of the others who saved Silvergrove, aren’t you? I didn’t expect you to be Level 50. Although, you look kind of familiar…”

I glanced at Daniel. Level 50? He’s not—

[Warrior - Lvl. 51]

“Huh.”

It took me a moment to catch on, but he was disguising his levels to be higher than it actually was. Why is he doing that though? The Human man noticed my confusion and quickly leaned in to whisper.

“I have to look stronger than I actually am because of our job. Since it’s just the two of us and all.”

He turned back to the three Gold Ranks.

“Sorry— Zack, right? I don’t believe we’ve met before. It’s nice to meet you.”

“It’s a pleasure to make the acquaintance of you too. Tell me, are you her bodyguard or her steward?”

“Uh…”

“He thinks I’m a noble or something.”

I quickly whispered to Daniel. He sighed.

“Well, you certainly do come off as sheltered as one.”

“Hey!”

“Don’t feign offense, I know you don’t know what that means.”

“But I can tell it’s meant to be an insult.”

I crossed my arms and glared at him. He ignored it, instead going over to greet the other two. They shook hands and Helen profusely apologized.

“Sorry again, for what happened earlier. Salvos seems kind of… so I thought you were…”

“It’s fine, I know what you mean.”

They both shared a light chuckle. Then the smile vanished from Daniel’s face, being replaced by a nervous trickle running down his face as he spoke to Jaakko.

“Uh, hi, Mr Jaakko.”

“Please, just Jaakko is fine.”

He seemed rather intimidated by the Cyclops man— and that made no sense, considering that he was higher leveled than Jaakko. But Humans acted weirdly all the time, especially Daniel. So I didn’t question it.

“Where are you staying, Daniel? We couldn’t get a room in this inn because it’s fully booked— apparently some noble booked out all the available rooms for themselves.”

“Oh, I’m staying at a cheap inn on the other side of the city. I won’t actually be staying the night, but I think you might be able to get a room here since the person who—”

“So this is the Gold Ranked team you promised me, Daniel?”

A loud voice interrupted him as a rather young looking Human woman walked over to us accompanied by armored guards. Her high heels clacked against the marble floor with each step as her long, dark frilly dress trailed behind her. She had her long pink hair tied into what resembled a horsetail, reaching down to her waist.

Helen, Zack, Jaako, and I blinked as she placed her hands on her hips and nodded.

“Well, it seems like I didn’t waste my time waiting for you to deliver, after all. Come on, we leave now.”

The three Gold Ranks— actually, two since Jaakko cocked his shead— immediately erupted into a flurry of protests, demanding an explanation from the woman. Daniel rubbed at his temples as I turned to him.

“Who’s that?”

“That’s Saffron Merryster, third daughter and fifth child of Nixa’s Merryster Dukedom. And she’s who we’ll be escorting further up north to Warrington.”

…

“Huh, so that’s a noble.”