13. Rescue quest

"So, that door leads to the eleventh floor?"

I said while pointing.

"No, more like an antechamber between sets of floors."

(Flora)

Flora and the rest of them started hacking off pieces of the ogre.

"Shouldn't we go into it? Before it closes."

"No need, it won't close until we pass through it."

(Jurea)

With that, I shrugged, and got to butchering.

Everything we sliced up went into the capacity bag Eric had, and when I got to the mana heart I tossed it to Eric.

"Why did you give the slave the mana heart?!"

(Flora)

"Because our not - a - slave teammate killed the ogre."

"It only gave the last hit! If anyone deserves the heart - after me of course - it is the shit farmer."

She is right, Jurea did beat it basically single-handedly.

I turned to Jurea.

"I'll follow whatever decision you make, you're the party leader."

(Jurea)

That was a lot easier than I thought it would be.

"Well, that settles it. Eric it's yours."

"But don't you want to eat it, like you did to the spider's heart?"

"Nope, it's a Mid-rank. I can't safely absorb it, but that doesn't mean I will leave empty-handed."

I turned to the parts of the ogre we can't sell, and dug in.

After I eat this, I'll be able to transform into an ogre.

I might not have its ability, but with its physique I'll be able to kill most things.

<That you know of.>

That I know of? What's that supposed to mean?

< I could tell you, but I rather laugh when you finally figure it out. >

Shut up Patty.

After I am finished eating we headed through the door, which closed behind us.

The chamber we entered is a small hexagon shaped room with two portals in the middle, one the normal purple and the other a light teal.

Flora pointed to the purple one.

"That one leads further into the dungeon, and the other one leads to the surface. Slave give me your dagger."

Eric just ignored her.

"..."

"..."

"Fine! Eric, would you please pass me your dagger."

Eric passed the dagger over to her.

Once she had it she went over to the teal portal and cut her hand, then she dripped the blood onto the portal.

"Why'd you do that?"

(Eric)

"If you must know, it's so we can return to this spot when we return to the dungeon, and not have to fight the boss every time we wish to proceed to the second set."

I'm so glad Eric asked that, I thought I'd have to waste some energy asking Patty or just... ugh... ask Flora.

I started for the purple portal.

"What are you doing?!"

(Flora)

"Aren't we going to keep going?"

"Are you crazy?!"

"We just beat an ogre, I

think we can make it further down."

Yes, I was feeling a little full of myself, you would too if you beat a twenty-foot monster of death.

Jurea touched my shoulder and shook her head.

"Even though that ogre was a boss on the tenth floor, it will be a regular monster going on."

My eyes widened.

"You mean that bosses aren't bosses, but just regular monsters from lower floors!"

"Yeah, genius, and it only took you this long to figure that out. How long did you live here again?"

(Flora)

"I never got to the tenth floor! Cause I would've died."

"Whatever. Let's head back, I can't wait to sell all of this to Jungo."

__________________________

We were in Jungo's shop, and Flora was haggling her ass off.

"What do you mean one gold per still?! We're adventurers, not wealthy royalty."

According to her she is, when it suits her.

"I will go up to five gold per high-grade heart, that is it."

"Thirty-five."

"Ten."

"Thirty-four."

" Fifteen."

"Thirty-three."

"Twenty, final offer."

"Fine, we'll take it."

Flora took out the ogre's heart.

Jungo's face didn't change.

"Forty."

"This is a boss' heart. I will not take anything less than three hundred."

"Two hundred or leave."

"Two hundred it is."

After all was said and done, all the monster drops got us one thousand gold.

But we weren't finished.

After we left the dungeon, Flora passed me mana potions she had brought and hid.

Then, after downing the potions, I turned into my ambush spider form and made ten spools of monster spider silk.

Finally Jungo's expression changed.

"Flora! This is monster silk! Where did you get this."

"Nevermind that, do you need to get it authenticated?"

"No need, I'll give you two thousand for all of it."

"What, This is highway robbery! The going price is five hundred per spool, not two hundred!"

"Yeah, at those posh stores that charge hefty taxes. If you want to take your business to them, go ahead, see how much profit you earn then."

Flora glared at Jungo.

"Can you do two fifty?"

"I can swing that."

After she got the money, Flora turned to leave.

"Ahem! I think you're forgetting something Flora."

I crossed my arms and blocked her path.

"Huh?"

"..."

I looked between her and Jungo until she got my point.

"Oh, yeah, hey Jungo."

She turned back to face him.

"Yes?"

"I've decided out of the kindness of my heart to start giving Anellia one silver coin..."

"Cough... gold... cough."

"I mean one... g... gold... co... coin a week."

"Huh, thank you lizard."

"Why are you thanking him! I'm the one giving your daughter more money than she'll know what to do with!"

"Because I know you."

Flora slammed down a gold coin.

"Just make sure Anellia knows who to thank."

She turned around and left.

"Have a good day lizard."

"You too, and give my best to your family."

_______________

Back at Jurea's house we divided the money - after putting Emira's pay to the side.

"All of this money is really mine?"

(Eric)

"It shouldn't be, I deserved a bigger cut."

(Flora)

"What do I do with all of this money?"

"Anything you want, but if you want my opinion, I would ask Emira to make you one of her special weapons. I already gave her the horns of the ogre we killed."

At least someone should get something.

Because I wrecked another set of armor, Emira said no to making me more.

"Okay, I'll do that."

"You see? Money is wasted on it. Ow! Stop hitting my a.....ow!"

Ah! The benefits of having a tail.

Emira burst through the door.

"I have to talk to you Jay."

Jurea glared at Flora.

"You were the last one in the door, I told all of you when you enter the door to lock it!"

Flora crossed her arms.

"We're awake and not going asleep anytime soon, and even if we were, what would they possibly want to steal! Your shit bucket, or maybe they'll take the one bed in this place!"

I have to say knowing how kick-ass Jurea is, I did not expect her to be this worried about home security.

We all have our pet peeves I guess.

"It's attitudes like yours that allow home invasions to be so rampant!"

While those two kept arguing, I listened to what Emira had to say.

"Someone I know wants to hire you for a job, apparently words got around that Jurea has finally picked a party."

I don't want to just accept a quest from someone I don't know.

"Who are they to you? And are they trust worthy?"

"He is the guy who supply's me with the rare stuff I used for y'all weapons. As for if he's trusty worthy, that is a big fat no."

"He gave you those rare items! So, you owe him I guess."

"No, he gives me shit because he wants something from me."

"Do you think we should meet him?"

"Sure, he wouldn't do anything to y'all."

"Hey, we should have a say in this!"

(Flora)

Huh, Flora and Jurea had finished arguing.

I thought that would have taken at least another five minutes.

"He is the party leader, we'll just follow his lead."

(Jurea)

"When you got hit in the head with that hammer it must have caused some serious brain damage because the Jurea I knew had balls. Instead, you want to blindly follow him into meeting a guy we don't even know!"

"He's offering twenty thousand gold coins."

(Emira)

"We should at least hear him out."

(Flora)

Money whore.

<You know that is redundant, right?>

Shut up Patty.

"There is something you might not like about him."

"What?"

"He's a merchant."

"I got nothing against merchants."

"One of the things he deals in is slaves, specifically the house that sold Eric."

I turned to Eric, her face was aflush with warring emotions.

The anger and humiliation were obvious, but there were others brewing under the surface too.

I turned back to Emira.

"We don't deal in slavery."

"I know, this is a rescue quest."

"A rescue quest! We definitely should hear him out. If he is willing to fork out twenty thousand gold, he must really love this person. Imagine how much we can squeeze out of him, if he really wants the victim returned to him."

It's really hard to say that between a slaver and Flora which one is more evil.

"Eric should decide."

Unexpectedly Jurea spoke up.

"Hmm?"

"She is the one that has suffered at their hands, so she should decide if we accept or not."

"You're right, Eric it's your choice."

"You can't leave a decision this sensitive up to an animal."

(Flora)

"I think we should hear him out."

(Eric)

"What?!?!!? I... uh... mean see just as I said she is the perfect slave to make the decision, and we should leave now before anyone else has a say."

Completely ignoring Flora I questioned Eric.

"Are you sure this is what you want?"

"Yes, for longest those people have looked down on me and my kind. I will never forgive them, but I want to show them how strong I am. On other hand I still want to make them hurt like they hurt my family."

"There is no better way to do that than to take twenty thousand gold - or more - from them."

(Flora)

"If we do this we're helping not hurting them, is that okay?"

"I know and yes it is. Because I'll need the money, because I know what I want to do with my share of the money. I want to buy all of the slaves that they own, and set them free."

"You know you'll never make enou... I mean yes and twenty thousand - one fifth of it anyway - is a good place to start, let's go."

(Flora)

Ignoring her we all left.

"Lock the door when you come out!"

(Jurea)

____________________

Emira took us to a big house in the middle of town.

She banged loudly on the door.

"I'm here! Open up."

A dwarf opened the doors and led us inside.

As we were heading up a hallway towards some stairs, we passed a private library.

I bet if I pulled one of those books a hidden door would open.

<Don't be ridiculous, that would be too obvious. >

Hey, I know what I'm talking about.

<Really? Could've fooled me. >

Shut up Patty.

Once upstairs we were ushered into a small room and bid to wait.

I decided to look around.

It was an average room with chairs, side tables, bookshelves, and a desk filled with junk.

Something drew me to that junk filled desk, I didn't think about it as I started rummaging through the junk.

Until I came across the thing that drew me over here, it was a green marble.

I wonder what this is? It doesn't seem all that remarkable, why was I drawn to it?

"Put that down!"

(Flora)

When Flora screamed it made me clench my fist, which made the marble crack then crumble into dust.

<Skill learned 'Pet Taming'.>

"What was that thing?!"

"It was a mage stone. An expensive, one use item that we can't afford!"

"Sorry, I guess. But it said I learned a skill, I thought only Dalians had that ability."

"We do, that is just the mage guild's knock off."

(Emira)

"Knock off, how so?"

"If someone gave a warrior a Dalian weapon that grants the ability of fire balls and also gave him a mage stone that also grants fire balls, the Dalian weapon would be better. The Dalian weapon would grant the user not only the ability, but all of the techniques, insights, and power level of the original caster. While the mage stone would just give you the ability, no insights or power level, it would basically be a beginner level spell."

(Emira)

"So, whoever owned this stone won't be too upset, I was a little worried there."

"You should be. Even though Dalian gear is better, the cheapest one would still cost you a couple of shields at least, mage stones is the best most people can get. A decent stone can go from anywhere between sixty and a hundred thousand gold easy, and people have been murdered for less."

(Jurea)

All that for a marble!

"Should I apologize, and offer to pay him back?"

"Don't bother, he won't care."

(Emira)

"He won't care that this idiot picked up something he shouldn't have and used it?!"

(Flora)

"Nope, he still wants something from me. He has given me a lot more expensive stuff than that for free."

(Emira)

"What the fuck do you possibly have that he would ever want?"

(Flora)

"You really want to know?"

"Fuck yeah."

"A mountains worth of....."

"Yeah?!"

"Mind your own business."

"Fuck you!"

"Sorry, I have standards."

________________________

A little while later a Dalian male walked through the door.

He was tall with bright red hair woven into a long braid, which surprisingly worked well with his dark complexion.

His green eyes settled on me, then he looked at Jurea.

"I'm glad you came, I'm Siel Steelman."

"Oh Mother! Your friend is Siel Steelman!"

(Flora)

"You didn't tell them who I was?"

He looked at Emira questioningly.

"I told them we're acquaintances, and I assumed they'd realize who I was talking about when we entered the building with your name on the door."

Shit, there was a sign on the door? I did not see it.

<You know observation is a key point in survival, right?>

Shut up Patty.

"How were we supposed to know you meant you knew the Siel Steelman?! I thought you meant some nobody merchant who worked for Steelman."

(Flora)

"Why?"

"Because you're a nobody."

"Whatever, Siel tell them what the quest is, I got places to be."

Siel went and sat in one of the chairs.

"Yes, a week ago one of my salesmen by the name of Ledina was on her way to Harvain, when she was taken by monsters to their lair. If she is not rescued soon, I fear not even her bones will be left to bury."

"Hold up, I have a question."

(Flora)

Flora is probably the smartest person in the room, I didn't think she would need to ask anything.

"Yes, what did you want to know?"

"It's no secret we're a new party, with completely incompetent members - except for me."

What the hell Flora!

"Yes, and...?"

"You must have asked more accomplished parties to try this quest, which tells me they failed or refused. So, my question is, what took your employee?"

"Slangans."

Everyone in the room - except for Siel and I - tensed up.

Patty, what are Slangans?

I felt some of my energy leave me.

<They are monsters with an upper body that looks like a human and a lower body of a serpent. They absorb the heat of their prey while constricting them. They are most known for abducting humans for reproductive purposes.>

I immediately thought of a giant snake dick ramming up someone's ass.

Can you please clarify that reproduction part?

< Their eggs need to be kept at the same temperature of humans, so they take humans to warm their eggs. Then, once the hatchlings hatch, they consume the weakened humans.>

So, Slangans are not something you want to mess around with.

<No.>

"Slangans, you want us to go into a Slagan nest? I'm sorry but I can't see myself risking my teammates like that."

(Flora)

What the fuck is she going on about, since when does she care about anyone but herself.

"I'll raise the reward to thirty thousand gold."

Flora wrapped her arm around Eric.

"You can't put a price on the lives of your friends. So, only fifty thousand will do."

"Deal. When can all of you head out?"

"As soon as possible."

"Thank you. Ternis will see you out."

Damn it! Flora did it again.

While Jurea and I was too stunned to say anything, Eric just stood there sniffing the air.

Too late now I guess, we'll just do our best.

Worse comes to worse I can just out run Flora, it'll take them forever to chew threw her boney ass.

As we were leaving I heard two employees arguing in a side room.

"....nd I'm telling you over a month ago that lizard came into town with Flora, and it beat up Jurea!"

(Employee 1)

"Don't be stupid! If Flora tamed the monster, why is it calling Jurea mistress? And furthermore, Jurea couldn't have been defeated by a mere lizard like you claim, she lucked out on whatever her ability is, she hits above her rank. Heck, just a two weeks ago she brought a slave after showing a Mid-rank mana heart to the crowd. Whatever that heart came from would've wiped the floor with most people I know."

(Employee 2)

"As if you know anyone strong!"

"Why you!!! I'll have you kno..."

I couldn't help but laugh a little at that.

........

As I watched them be led out by a dwarf I came out of my hiding place.

"Did you learn anything?"

"Nothing we didn't already know. It was right here, why couldn't we have just taken it right here? You could do whatever magic ceremony you wanted to it, and then given it to me."

"It doesn't work that way, if we do this the wrong way, neither of us get what we want. Anything else?"

"It stole and used one of your mage

stones."

"Good."

Siel left the chair he was sitting in and walked over to the desk.

"Good? How is that good? Those things cost a fortune."

He pulled two more mage stones out of the desk.

"This was the test, I placed three hidden stones in this desk. One was extremely beneficial, one neutral, and the final one harmful. The stone it was attracted to was the neutral one."

He pocketed the stones.

"So, does that mean it's protected by a neutral god?"

"There are no neutral gods, all are vying against each other seeking to assert dominance."

"Then what does the neutral stone mean?"

"Two or more gods are fighting over it, one wishes to end it, and the other wishes to save it."

"Do we have to alter our plans?"

"No, either way we'll lure out a god, and I don't care which one I get."

He turned to leave.

"You know sending your employee out to get taken by slangans is..."

He turned back to face me.

"What? Brutal? Cold? Heartless? Yes, of course, it is. The purpose of employees are to be useful, and she was the most useful this way at the moment. If she dies, I'll pay her relatives and hire someone else. Did you need anything else Lynne?"

I shook my head.

"Good, I'll take my leave, and you go see Haysith about everything you'll need for your part of the plan."

Without another word he turned and left.

I can't wait to get my money, and be free of assholes like him.

But first things first... who the hell is Haysith.