The weight of the irregular on her back pushed her back to bow, but she refused as she walked past the gate's guards. Skandr, as always, flicked a copper coin to them, but they didn't catch it, instead gawking at the scaled gnoll's corpse. As the coin clattered on the ground, Astrid exchanged a quick glance with Muti, feral smiles on their faces. The Barbarian's jagged teeth, once revealed to the air, had the guards recoiling, but they were long since used to the reaction. They continued walking.
Not more than two minutes later, Astrid accidentally stumbled into the Rogue, and Skandr into her behind. Unworried, Muti perked up, her pointed ear twitching.
"What is it?" Astrid asked.
"There are many. Many speaking, I think I heard our names? But there is no anger and nobody approaches us. I do not think so, at least."
"So you don't think the thieving cowards manage to build up an angry mob against us?" Astrid half joked.
"This fast?" Skandr sighed. "I doubt it. I think they were the brothers party? They're not particularly well-regarded, but I don't pay attention to them."
Astrid merely grunted in response. After all, she'd been there mere days, and while her party members had been around in Kznietch for longer than her, they weren't exactly social butterflies. Their path continued onward, and as the the Guild's tavern came into view, Astrid could finally hear what Muti's Skill-enhanced senses could. A constant murmur of movement, excitement, and a little displeasure, maybe?
Breathing deeply and hoping to center herself, Astrid resettled the irregular's corpse across her shoulders, squaring them as she did so. Then, pulling her helmet from her head, she passed it to Skandr.
"You ready?" she whispered.
"Always!" Muti interrupted Skandr's more hesitant answer and slammed through the doors.
"We have returned in victory and carrying trophies! Come look and see what we killed!"
The golden-haired Rogue grinned widely as she stepped to the side and allowed Astrid to enter. The cacophony of voices, of questions, died out as she and the green-scaled gnoll came into view. They all looked at her, unsure of what to think or to do, and Astrid forced a grin on her own face to mirror Muti's. If she just avoided the conversation about the kill-stealing bastards for now, maybe that would be enough?
"Hello!" She greeted. "Where should we take this?"
She imagined she could hear crickets in the silence, but, with no answer, she strode through the inn's main room and stepped before Tomas's bar.
"Straight to Anders for now?" she asked.
"That would be for the best." The bartender's strained face answered. She'd drained most of the blood already, right? Looking behind her, there were a couple droplets of blood on the floor, but nothing that wouldn't be rubbed out from the constant footsteps through the busy inn.
While she turned to walk down the hall towards Anders's office, his guard stepped out, her hands towards Astrid. "We'll take care of this outside, thank you."
"Very well." Astrid smiled, nodded at a couple people who met her gaze, and stepped out. Behind her, she could hear Anders and his guard following, the inn going quiet in the wake of the Guild's assistant representative in the city. A part in the back of her mind whispered about how she hadn't seen the brothers. Where were they? Would they be spreading rumors about her "willingness to kill"? They hadn't done anything, so it would be the men's word against her party's… and she had a sneaking suspicion that the Barbarian, new girl, and man in debt wouldn't be seen as the most reputable of sources.
She mentally forced the thought away, instead thinking specifically about the fight with the irregular, and how they would have to change their approach if they ran into one again. After all, three broken fingers on the Rogue, deep cuts in her arm, and nearly broken ribs weren't a perfect turn of events. Could she have better positioned herself when she was first distracting it? And how could she have gotten to action faster to better support Muti? What should she have had Skandr do differently to better support the two on the front lines?
"So, did you delve beyond the first floor?" Anders's voice pulled her from her musing. "I do believe that we stated you were to stay on the first floor until you communicated to Klara or myself that you were ready to descend further."
"No, we didn't." Astrid shook her head, her "warbraid" swinging around and hitting her shoulders, making a tinkling sound against the metal pauldrons. "It was on the first floor, about four kilometers from the eastern entrance. Which direction was it, Muti?"
"North northeast of the entrance." The Barbarian replied. "I could show anyone the exact location."
"That would be great, Muti." Anders nodded. "Would you be able to—"
A flash of light appeared in front of Anders, and the man sighed as Klara communicated something to him from inside of the building. Then, after cocking his head for a moment, he changed his tune.
"I have been informed that my senior representative knows and is unconcerned. You did not delve beyond your capacity or assignment. With that being the case, the Guild offers an official apology regarding our failure, as an irregular should never be found above the fourth floor. As such, we will increase the sale price of the irregular corpse by 20%, waive Muti's additional taxes on it and all the spoils and trophies from today's delve, and offer you first access to any of the materials that you desire. Would that suffice for you?"
"I… have no complaints." Astrid forced out. That seemed to be a particularly good offer, to her limited understanding.
"And how much is the irregular worth?" Skandr asked, practically vibrating where he stood.
"In this shape, an irregular should be worth 10 silver." Anders hardly needed to look at the creature to appraise it. "As such, you will be paid 12 silver for this, plus, of course, whatever the rest of your spoils from your delve result in."
Astrid let her mouth fall open. That much? Maybe she could start using draughts again! She immediately pushed the thought down, though. Instead, she reminded herself that she wouldn't make that much money every day. There was still the regular gnolls' worth of money to be paid, and Skandr was looking at her with obvious thoughts in his head. The look on his face was enough to push Astrid to speak again.
"And we have the fangs and ears of 52 gnolls right here. Is the rate still effectively 9 copper each gnoll?"
"Yes." Anders nodded once, his bodyguard taking the bag in her hand and hefting it. Looking in, she seemed to like what she saw, and nodded at Anders.
"That will be, in total, 16 silver and 68 copper. The only thing left to discuss, then, is if you would please let me know what materials you would most like and I will ensure that you can buy them at a reasonable price. Which are those?"
Astrid shrugged, looking at her allies. "I don't know what they would be used for, other than the scales as armor or something in that same vein."
"I want it for armor!" Muti jumped in. "As much as I can buy with all but 50 copper that I made today!"
"That can be arranged. The specifics will be determined at the time of purchase, which will be after the harvest. Is that acceptable?"
"Yes!"
"Very well. And you two, Astrid, Skandr?"
"I'm just wanting to get my money." Skandr answered predictably.
"Then wait out here for Astrid, Skandr. We'll be along shortly with each division of the payment." Anders nodded and turned on his heel back into the inn. Something about the way he moved and acted was off, different from how he had the day before. Was he uncomfortable outside of his office? Was it something the brothers had said? She couldn't say, and Astrid was sick of the second guessing that'd filled this early afternoon.
Walking back inside, quiet conversation had returned, and continued as they walked past tables, chairs, and benches. Arriving in the hall, Anders gestured for Astrid to lead the way into his office. She did so, and then settled into one of the chairs that sat in front of his table. As the assistant Guild representative settled into his desk, he smiled and seemed to confirm her suspicion that he just preferred to be in his office.
"Now, each of these will have five silver, five copper tenners, and six coppers. If there's anything that you need from me in the next day or so, let me know. Otherwise, be on your way."
"Then I guess I'll go have some lunch." Astrid smiled as she said. Anders merely nodded in response and settled into work on some paperwork. Maybe it really made sense that he was a Scribe…
She thrust the thought from her mind, and instead grabbed the three small bags of money and turned to walk away. Before she got out the door, though, Anders asked, "And how was your day?"
Though she wasn't sure what to think of him suddenly asking this question like he hadn't been so business-like before, Astrid smiled as she shrugged and said, "Surprisingly good! I mean, I never thought that we would run into an irregular, much less be able to kill it, so I'd say it was a great day!"
"Good." was all that she got in response. Then he said nothing else, and Astrid eventually took that as another dismissal and stepped out of the room without saying anything else.
Once she finally stepped out of the room and into the hallway, Astrid made to walk out of the hallway and was instead interrupted by a flash of light that appeared in front of her and pointed towards Clara's office. With a sigh, she looked down at the pouches of money, at Tomas at the bar, and then went to open the door into Klara's office.
"Yes, yes, come in!"
Klara's office looked the same as it always had, with her trophies and shelves, and everything exactly as it was. Now, though, her desk was covered with different papers, and her face had a more predatory grin than Astrid had ever seen on it before.
"Good. Good job! Your timing is impeccable! You will join me in a bath. Do you want to eat your lunch first?"
"I… you want me to bathe with you?"
"Yes. The best place for an after-combat review, for deep conversations, and relaxation! If you'd like, we can invite your party as well. So, right now, or after you eat?"
Klara's speaking gave no room for doubt, for changing, or for wriggling out of it. "I'll invite Muti, if she'd like to. For now, I don't think Skandr needs to bathe with us. And I'd like to be able to eat first."
"Sounds good! I'll warm the water." Klara grinned widely and flashed out of the room. Astrid took a deep breath, held it in her chest for a solid handful of seconds, and let it out. Then, she walked out, carrying three pouches of money and more questions than she'd thought she would have when it came to what was going on in the city.
***
"So, tell me about your run in with those three." Klara said as soon as Astrid and Muti had stripped off their clothing. The Barbarian had perked up at the idea of bathing with the Guild's representative and tried to convince Skandr to join them. He'd been more than a little unwilling, and the moment he had his money in hand, he nodded his thanks and scurried off. Astrid had resolved to follow down that trail soon, as how much money could he really owe someone? That wasn't something to concern herself with right now, though.
"The three?" Astrid asked, hoping that, for some reason, Klara would be asking about three of the gnolls, not the three delvers. Muti didn't hesitate to answer.
"They are cowards and thieves. They stole my kill! Could have shot me too, as cowards lack the skill necessary to defeat monsters in direct combat. We drove them off without violence, and Astrid allowed them to collect the spoils if they wanted them. I do not believe they have the strength to do that." She nodded to herself, then looked at Astrid. "You should not have left any benefit for the weak. It merely takes from the strong. Victory comes before all, even blood."
Astrid sighed. Klara looked at her expectantly. She pursed her lips and answered.
"I left the corpse for them to collect so that way we could say that, legally, we didn't take their spoils. I supposed that they might try to use that as a reason to build sentiment against us. They could have lied, though, which now that I think about it, would have been bad. Maybe we should have just taken it, but I didn't and don't think that nine coppers are worth it."
Muti's eyes met Astrid's as she thought. Across the small bath, Astrid couldn't help but notice the thick covering of scars all over Muti's torso, arms, breasts, back, and, when she was naked outside of the water, everywhere else. Everywhere except for her face, the pink scars stood out stark against the woman's dark brown skin.
"You talk sense. You understand the blood and the soul of the Dungeon. Somewhat."
Astrid couldn't pay her any more mind, instead looking at Klara. The Guild's representative's face was impassive. The petite woman had virtually melted as soon as her feet met the water, but she sobered up somewhat as she spoke.
"It wasn't a bad idea. If I were you, I would have harvested the materials, and brought them back to the inn. As soon as you arrive, you should have announced something about three idiots getting so scared of you that they decided not to harvest the monster they killed. It'd bring up enough curiosity that you could have explained the situation to your benefit."
"I hope I don't have to put your lesson into use, but I appreciate it." Astrid answered.
"I've lived a lot longer than you, it just makes sense. Now, tell me about this irregular. How did you find it? Why did you decide to fight it?"
"Muti guided us." Astrid shrugged, looking at the Barbarian. "And I think all three of us wanted to give it a try. A challenge after a day of basically routinely slaughtering gnolls meant it was maybe a foolhardy choice, but one we made all the same."
"You sustained wounds in the fight?" Klara asked.
"I am the only one whose wounds remain, because Astrid is blessed by the Dungeon." Muti said with pride and bitterness.
Astrid opened her mouth to say something, anything, but she had no idea where to start. Klara looked at Astrid, her eyebrows climbing up underneath the wet bangs that stuck to her face. Wet, her dark auburn hair looked almost black pasted across her pale skin.
"You have Quick Recovery? How'd you manage that?" Klara asked, her tone even but obviously painfully curious.
"I… was offered it at my Bestowal." Astrid said, forcing herself to maintain eye contact with Klara. The woman, whose face was somehow timeless, didn't say anything in return, just looking Astrid up and down.
"That is not a Skill commonly offered among Humanity." She said simply. "It's almost exclusively given to Barbarians, and sometimes the Kin. Only the Ursine and Bovine have ever shown any results on that front, but it doesn't matter. Just know that this is immensely uncommon, and something that many people in the Capital would love to exploit you for. You shouldn't go there until you're Steel and have a good, established party that you can trust."
"Why?" Astrid asked. "That's what Miriam told me too!"
"Miriam?" Klara squinted. Then, her mind seemed to throw a dozen ideas together all at once, and she stood up in the bath. Water coursed over her body as she zoomed forward at Astrid, the water splashing everywhere as she seized the much larger but much weaker woman by the shoulders.
"You spoke with Miriam when the Golden Fist passed through Schteldt? And she gave you advice? When you knew who she was?"
"Yes, and she didn't tell me why!" Astrid protested, deciding not to ask how she could have known this. "She just said that after her Dungeoneer somehow looked at my Skills and decided to just ambush me in my room! They just… blessed my helmet and disappeared!"
"Sounds like an Adamantite delver to me." Klara chuckled. "Every one of them lives in the Dungeon, the Golden Fist more than any other. After all, they report directly to the Duchess, and she believes that a good tool shouldn't ever be allowed to rest. They're mostly willing to serve as her Adamantite party because of the benefits that they get from her and the nation at large."
"You… know them personally?"
"You have met the Golden Fist?"
While Astrid asked Klara, Muti asked her. That the Barbarian had heard of some of Humanity's delvers struck some pride into Astrid's heart and she nodded while watching Klara's response. The woman laughed as she settled back into the bath.
"I'll tell you about them, I suppose. We delved for the same time in the early Steel tier, though they passed me up soon enough. And I can tell you about why you should stay out of Ginnastadt for now. So long as you'll stick around in the bath and give me a reason to stay soaking in here."