I close the door behind me as I look at Lyon. She is clearly unhappy about what Blaine just told us.

“I thought he would give up honestly, or that she would at least say no.” Lyon tells me, throwing up her hands in frustration. I nod at her but remain silent. I thought the same. But contrary to my best friend I’m not that pessimistic about it. Maybe it is possible to get out of the assassin’s guild. Maybe she likes him as much as he seems to like her. He did save her life apparently.

The only thing that doesn’t make much sense is why she would accept. I don’t understand it. She doesn’t know him truly, and he doesn’t know her either. So why would she accept out of the blue? If I was interested I would have probably tried to spend at least some time to see if things were working out first. It seems like such a spontaneous and random decision in my mind.

Maybe we are overthinking things and everything will be fine. I turn to look at Lyon angrily packing her bags. I follow suit quietly and without making such a fuzz. I can’t help but smile a bit as I see Lyon angrily throw things into a disorganized pile.

“What?” She asks me a bit irritated.

“You’re being so dramatic about it. We are assuming a whole lot of things that might be untrue. Why not simply let it play out and see how it really is?” I ask her and she looks at me, grumbling.

“I know. I know Elyana. But I can just feel it. She is going to be trouble. Plus I don’t think she sees Blaine like… that.” I do tend to agree, but it’s hard to know.

“Can you at least reserve judgment until we meet her? Wouldn’t want to meet you at your wildest.” I tease Lyon and she looks at me seriously.

“You know I hate that.” She shoots back. Jeez, so serious. I sneak a look as I continue to make my bag and see how serious she is.

“Sorry. You know I would never say that in public, right?” I try for forgiveness and I see her face soften as she continues packing.

“I know. Sorry for lashing out at you. I’m a bit nervous with two strangers. You know I can’t really relax right now with Blaine around.” She sighs as she adjusts her cute beanie on her head. Her orange hair slips out past it and on her shoulders. I don’t know how she keeps it on at all times, but I understand the necessity.

I continue packing while I let my mind wander. We’ve had a hard time finding true friends we could trust except for each other for quite some time, which is also why we didn’t have a team. And I do like Blaine. He does seem nice. I’m just a bit worried about this new girl. It feels like Blaine might be one of the few humans we’ve met that has a big enough heart to accept Lyon for what she truly is. But that is not something we are going to risk just yet. Hopefully one day.

I close up my two bags and let them stand by the door. Lyon still isn’t done and I give her a hand to make it go faster. She thanks me and we soon finish up. We head downstairs and spot Blaine already sitting at a table on his lonesome. He lights up as he sees us and waves us over. We go over to sit down beside him.

“So, all ready huh?” He asks us and I nod.

“Yeah.” Lyon responds as she takes a seat beside me.

“I just hope our last recruit isn’t going to bring more trouble than she is worth.” Lyon can’t help herself it seems. I sigh and try to make things better before Blaine gets mad or something.

“What she means is she is happy Sarah decided to join us, if slightly nervous as we don’t know her at all.” I say and Lyon glares at me but nods. Blaine looks unsure of what to say and hesitates before speaking.

“It’s. I mean. I know it’s a lot to ask you both as you have never met her, but I’m sure you’ll love her once you meet.” He says. I nod politely. We’ll see, but I notice Lyon clearly not as confident and I sip a bit of water from my mug to hide a smile.

“When is she coming?” Lyon asks Blaine, again.

“This evening. It shouldn’t be long, probably.” Blaine shrugs. We sit in silence for a bit and order some food. Last meal in an inn for a while probably. Lyon teases Blaine a bit on his training and his apparent muscular growth which makes him go beet red. I know she finds it funny and I can’t help but smile at their antics.

I notice a beautiful and lithe blonde girl in traveling gear come into the inn. She looks around for a second before beelining to our table. She sits down and grins at all of us. Blaine beams up when he spots her but she turns to look at me and Lyon.

“Hello! Nice to meet you guys. I’m Sarah.” She tells us as she stretches out her hand for a handshake. I take it and Lyon does too. She turns to grin at Blaine and if it wasn’t obvious to them before, it is now clear to anyone looking at him. He likes her. He couldn’t have made it more obvious if he tried. Maybe if he spoke but that’s about it.

“I’m sure you guys have questions, but I’m afraid they’ll have to wait. We should get out of here, eastern gate.” She tells us. Blaine nods, ready to go but Lyon stays sitting.

“Where are we going?” She asks the newcomer with a hint of defiance.

“I’ll tell you as soon as we are out of prying ears.” She responds and Lyon grumbles but accepts the answer. It is a valid point after all.

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We all pick up our bags and make our way to the eastern gate. Luckily they aren’t closed yet and they still let people through, so we leave without any trouble. It doesn’t take more than twenty meters after we leave the city before Lyon opens her mouth.

“So? Are you going to tell us where we are all apparently going?” She asks.

“I have heard that a new dungeon was discovered on the border to the Brudian Empire. There is a village close by, that’s where we are going. Any objections?” She asks. I notice she makes surprisingly little noise when she walks and she looks nimble and agile. Slim too.

“Is the dungeon rated yet?” Blaine asks. A good question. We don’t exactly want to wander into a gold-rank dungeon, or the gods forbid, a mithril ranked one.

“The preliminary ranking is silver, so unless we dive too deep or take risks we should be fine, no?” She asks with a wide smile and a hint of challenge.

“Why did we have to leave the capital?” Lyon asks.

“It’s a lot harder to ambush someone in the wild, at least for assassins.” She answers with a glint of mischief in her eyes. I’m surprised she admitted it so easily.

“I’m sure you all figured it out.” She says, shrugging.

“While that may be true, I’m surprised you would say it so openly. It’s not like we know each other that well.” I tell her and she smiles back at me with the first genuine smile I think I’ve seen on her face.

“I wouldn’t have accepted to leave with just any team you know.” She tells me and I do believe her.

“Aren’t you just using us to leave the assassin’s guild?” Lyon asks her. I wouldn’t have dared to ask that but I am curious how she responds. Blaine is frowning at the question.

“Oh I completely am. I’m not going to try and spin it in a nice way either. I’ve wanted to leave for a while. I only accepted Blaine’s offer because I think he, and thus you, have what it takes to come out alive.” I see Blaine almost stop as he thinks through things.

“Wait, are you leaving the team once you are safe?” He asks her in disbelief and hurt.

“What? Maybe, but I’ll stick around for a while to help pay you back for the help. I’m not heartless Blaine. I guess it depends on how this all works out, if we make a good team and all.” She says and I have to admit her brutal honesty is almost refreshing if I didn’t fear for what we might face because of her. Lyon looks at her almost in disbelief and I fear what she is going to do.

“What?” Sarah asks Lyon, clearly unsure what her expression means. To my surprise Lyon throws her head back as she laughs wholeheartedly. It takes her a while to calm down and both me and Blaine are unsure what is so funny. Sarah too of course.

“I like you more than I thought I would!” Lyon claps Sarah on the back as they continue.

“Thanks.” Sarah grins back at her.

“What? Just because she is honest about using us and everything she gets a pass?” It’s surprisingly Blaine who seems the most upset now.

“What did you think would happen Blaine?” Lyon asks him seriously.

“Didn’t you understand the risks of asking her to join us when you asked her?” She looks at him with disbelief. He is clearly flustered as he looks at her, trying to find his metaphorical footing once again.

“So? Maybe I don’t know about everything in the big city like you guys. She could have at least told me what we were getting into, no?” He defends himself and turns to me for support. I shake my head slowly at his foolishness.

“Isn’t he cute when he is angry?” Sarah tells me and Lyon. Blaine turns beet red once more. I fear Sarah has the advantage here my friend and an amused smile forms on my lips.

“That’s not the point!” He tries to steer back the conversation, but we all know he has already lost this battle. Sarah defeats him easily as she arches a brow up at him and he deflates when the three of us clearly agree that it is fine now.

“Look, all of you, I told you fast enough so you can still turn back and go into the city. I will say however that I think we more than stand a chance to whatever they’ll send, but if you don’t want to, I’m not going to ask you to risk your life for me.” Sarah tells us all seriously. The city isn’t that far and we could all make it back and leave her. Blaine grumbles a bit before speaking louder for all of us.

“When you put it like that… We can’t just leave you out here on your own now, can we?” He tells all of us and a smile makes its way on all of our faces as we look at each other. Strange how fast Sarah grew on all of us. How mad are we to willingly risk our lives for someone we barely know? But then again, it does take a special kind of madness to be an adventurer to begin with.

—

We set up the camp a few hours later. The city is truly out of sight now and I’m fairly sure the morning isn’t that far off. We decided earlier to sleep a bit instead of pushing forwards through the night. Sarah shares a few more details as we set up the camp with us, regarding the guild and everything.

Apparently when you quit the guild they always send one or two rather competent assassins. Never the best, they don’t want to waste the best. If you manage to survive they usually leave you alone as you clearly cost more resources to silence than it is worth. It seems they are very pragmatic. Unless of course you know some big and important secret that warrants to silence you whatever the cost, but Sarah assures us that isn’t the case with her.

I sleep very little, we all do, and soon we are back on the road. I’m a bit nervous as we are getting closer to the Empire and I spot Lyon also looking a bit nervous. We have always stayed rather far away from that place, just in case. I look at the rather empty road at this time of the day and back at our group.

Sarah is in tight leather armor, mostly brown with a rather light backpack and nothing on her head. Blaine has leather armor too, but with parts protected by iron, like his shoulders and breast. Not complete plate armor, more like a mix. His helmet is hanging on his backpack with his shield. Lyon doesn’t have armor at all, instead she has airy clothes that do not let you see exactly where her body is with the wind, and the cute beanie on her head as always. She has two curved swords on her hips that lend her a dangerous air. I look down and see my rather baggy and brown clothes, a walking stick in my hand. Out of all of us? I look the least like an adventurer, but together I feel like we really do look like a team.

Still I can’t help but grin despite knowing full well that in the coming days, we have a tough ambush ahead of us. Of course, knowing they will come makes it a lot easier to prepare. And I’m not sure I’ve told Blaine yet exactly what kind of magic I specialize in, but one thing is for sure. I’ll be a lot more useful out here than in the city.

But the days pass as we make our way further and further away from the capital and still no ambush. No assassins. I would think it was a good thing if I didn’t know there was supposed to be one. Now it raises a lot of different questions. Is no one coming after Sarah? Or are they taking a lot of time because they are preparing to wipe us out?

We travel without issues and arrive at our destination after two weeks, and still nothing. I just hope they won’t ambush us while we delve into the new dungeon…