The Other Freelancers
When we finally went to Lariss' apartment and talked to her about what had happened in the last day, her smile became faker and faker. She wasn't too happy about Thelora staying in the north as an adventurer, nor that I didn't ask her to watch my back last night. The fact that the Bandit Queen reports to Duchess Torgeir did cause her to be surprised. I was then surprised at how she took the news that we were taking a Troll Hunting quest.
"That sounds great. There's nothing like a troll hunt." She said with a genuine smile.
"Are you sure? I didn't think you were too keen on Borhildr and this just seems like a move to control us." I said.
"Yep, I need to take on quests to stay in the Union anyways. We'll want to make sure to take some alchemic acid and fire with us. Depending on the subspecies we'll need goat or cow blood for traps or to poison. Thelora you're good with poisons right?" Lariss started talking really fast.
"Does that mean we can count on you to handle supplies?" I asked, knowing that she wanted me to feel that she was helpful.
"Of course I know just the shop." She said.
"Good, let us know if you need any gold to help cover our costs." I said.
"Oh that won't be a problem." She replied. Which made me wonder if she was rich or if the guys didn't make her pay for supplies because she had a lot of different potions and enchanted items.
"We'll be taking two other freelancers under Borhildr." Her smile slipped when I said that. "Is that going to be a problem?"
She paused for a moment before having a huge grin on her face. "No, there's no problem."
Which of course meant there was going to be a problem and she was going to enjoy watching me have to deal with it. And from the same smile on Thelora's face, she also picked up on that and was looking forward to it as well.
"Just show up to the Union hall in three days. Between now and then, I'll mostly be training in the courtyard so feel free to come on by if you want." I said.
"That's a terrific idea. I will join you." Thelora said before Lariss could respond.
"I'll… I'll have to think about it. I might have other things I want to accomplish." Lariss said.
"Alright, just know the invitation is there." I then stood up to leave.
"Oh are you leaving so soon?" Lariss said.
"We were headed back to the Union hall to train. Did you want to go with us?" I asked.
"I guess, since the only reason I was avoiding that place was to not get roped into a quest from Borhildr." Lariss said.
"Really I find her quite charming." Thelora said with a side glance to me.
After that the three of us went back to train for the rest of the night. If I was getting stares before when training with just one of them, with both of them, it was a lot worse. I could almost hear them cursing my fortune within their heads. The only look that I ended up caring about was the one Vesta gave when I finally saw her watching from the corner of the balcony.
The days until we left were all filled with training. Having seen the black armored man reminded me how powerful I could become in the next few years. And if Duchess Torgier really was paying attention to me, I needed to be worth it in her eyes.
The morning of the third day we all met in the Union's main hall. Borhildr was there with two men. One was a very stoic and handsome swordsman. While the other was a chubby shabbily dressed mage.
"I'm glad you all made it. I'd like to introduce Kay and Sundri." Borhildr said.
"It's good to meet you and I hope we can work well together." The swordsman Kay said.
"Likewise." The mage Sundri said.
After we introduced ourselves we all sat down and began to discuss the quest. Borhildr just sat back with a satisfied smile while we worked out the details.
"Trolls can be tricky. We'll want to purchase some sort of acid. Sundri does have some fire spells but in case something happens to him, we should each have a way to disrupt their regeneration." Kay said.
"Lariss already has that covered for us. She bought some alchemic acid and fire the other day." I said.
"Oh that sounds good. We'll also be relying on you to track the troll so let me know if you need anything before we set off. The quest is over a week's ride north and the villages up there won't have what Torinheim has." Kay said.
"'I'm all set." Lariss said.
"Are you sure? I know you don't go on quests that often." Kay said.
"She's been on enough. We've all been preparing for the last few days. Unless there's anything specific that needs to be addressed I think we'll be fine setting out. Like you said, it's over a week's journey and that's if we ride early and rest late." I said.
"Agreed, we can discuss battle strategy on the road. It will be nice to understand what all of you are capable of." Kay said.
After a quick bite to eat we went to the Union stables and acquired horses. I made sure to stop at the Flask and Anvil to see if my gauntlets were ready and was glad to find that Uhtric finished them last night since Lariss told him we'd be setting out today. Kay made some comment about using facilities on Union property but I just ignored him.
On the way Kay set a decent pace and the two of us discussed everyone's abilities. At first I thought it was a sharing of information so that we could come up with a strategy together. But the longer we talked the more I realized that while he was listening to what I said, he wasn't really taking in my thoughts on how we could work together. I was already starting to get an idea of the problem that Lariss thought would be funny to watch.
When we stopped late the first night it became apparent what my real problem with him was going to be after he ordered and assigned rooms; Lariss and Thelora, Sundri and me, and Kay be himself. He also made sure to lay some ground rules about getting enough rest and not playing around in the common room. There were also some words about not trying to enter each other's rooms that included a side glance towards me.
This idiot thought he was incharge. He was also acting like this was an overnight high school trip and he was the chaperone, though none of them would get that reference.
I must have had quite the expression as this fully dawned on me before we headed towards our rooms as both Lariss and Thelora could no longer hold in their laughter that had been building all day.
Around noon the next day I insisted that we stop and have a few sparring matches so that we could become accustomed to each other's fighting style. And I might have wanted Kay to be impressed by my skills so that he'd back down, it definitely wasn't a dick measuring contest like when I sparred with Kalfr. Of course that wasn't how it worked out.
He was a C ranked adventurer and had the skills to back that up. Unless I went all out and risked injury, I was only able to spar with him to a draw. Afterwards he took the time to point out my flaws and gave me tips on how to improve. Except they were all geared towards his fighting style of a single longsword and no shield. He didn't even take into account my defense oriented fighting style.
Thelora then had a few rounds with him. She didn't hold back as much as I did and kept him on the defensive. When they were done he did the same with her, telling her how to change her fighting style to match his own ignoring the weapons she had in her hands.
The whole endeavor ended with me even more frustrated. Not only did he think he was in charge but there was an arrogant innocence to him. With people like Kalfr and Gunnar their actions were about superiority and trying to assert dominance over others. Kay seemed to legitimately think he was helping us.
Sundri showed us some of his spells that included Earth Shackles and Soft Earth. He also had a few of the basic spells like Firebolt, Fireball, and Ice Lance. In terms of personality he was one of the most laid back people I had met in either world. While Kay looked to take control of everything, Sundri just went with the flow.
After that Lariss showed off some of her skills. Kay didn't have much comment on her archery, he at least didn't try to tell her to try and shoot in the style of a longsword.
The following days we took close to an hour each day to practice again. Kay wasn't too supportive since he wanted to get there as soon as possible but I just needed to make him think it was his idea.