Aside from noting the main probable culprits behind the slave trade he dismantled, or at the very least temporarily stopped, Rex ignored the remaining nobles. Truth be told, he ignored the remaining members of the royal family as well, not the least bit interested in dealing with the local politics any more than him accepting quests already would. As such, the only other person present in the halle he actually bothered to acknowledge was the king himself. Rex made a small, but noticeable nod towards the king before getting straight to the point of his visit.
"Evelysandra said you will have some jobs I might be willing to take. I have some time to check and maybe accept some."
"But of course. If you would follow me, there is a room just around the corner where we could discuss it in detail." the king then looked towards the nobles, adding. "Today's meeting is over. We shall reconvene next month as per usual. Dismissed." With that said, he led Rex and Danica to the aforementioned room, Evelysandra obediently following along them. She too received numerous, jealous glances, though this time said glares came from her own family youth. Such was the life in the court. Greed, jealousy and envy ran rampart, even in a family as virtuous as this one.
Short while later the four people arrived in the aforementioned room. The king sat in one of the seats, a pile of documents in front if him, as she slowly reached forward and took a part of said pile.
"Ever since my dear Eve informed me of the details of your agreement, I had my people work to create a proper list of quests that might rouse your interest." he finished speaking as he stretched out his hand, handing over the quest pages he was holding.
Rex took them in his hand, though before he started to leaf through them, he spoke.
"Right. First things first." as he said so, he pulled out a condensed crystalized blood orb, reverting it to liquid state in mere moments and proceeded to craft multiple miniature, lifelike statues, all red of course, the color of blood remaining as is even with the level of control he had over it. "Write down the names of these people. They are often in the vicinity of serious bloodshed or death, possibly even the ones inflicting it."
The king frowned as he gazed at the figures, asking "And is there any evidence of said actions?"
"Yes and no. As you might have guessed by my current actions, I am quite proficient in blood magic, something only higher vampires are supposed to be capable off, or as far as you understand it. It is due to this particular skill that I see and sense things others could not. Blood essence for one. Undetectable traces of one's last gasp for life, clinging to the ones who took part in extinguishing said life, slowly decaying over time. Do note that monsters or beasts do not create such phenomenon. Thus, the ones I singled out have been in the presence of someone, be it human or beast man, and snuffed out their lives themselves, or were important enough to be marked with said residue. Since there is no active war with your nobles serving in the frontlines, they either execute their super dangerous criminals themselves, or kill someone else all hush hush like. At the end of the day, I don't much care whether you do something about them or not. Do note though that I will kill anyone foolish enough to come after me or my girl here."
With what needs to be said out in the open, he turned his attention towards the quest pages in his hand, different monster after monster noted that was to be hunted and what kind of drop they wanted to acquire from each one, alongside the dungeons where said monsters were known to be found. All in all, Rex could not complain about the intelligence aspect of the tasks offered, nor did he felt that rewards promised for each job, each and every one noted on the page itself, were insulting either. Some he could tell would be on the lower end, while others seemed incredibly high, though each had a logical reason behind it. Of course, part of the prices came from his targets all being A ranked monsters. The other part no doubt was the rarity of the monsters themselves in their natural habitats, or more precisely the dungeon floors or biomes they lived in. And last, but not least was the rarity of the drop itself- the less likely to acquire one, the greater the promised reward.
"Anything catch your eye?" he asked Danica, not really caring about any of it himself, but since he was no longer traveling on his own he might as well start listening and considering her, and eventually their opinions on the matter.
"Actually" Danica smiled as she took the stack of papers from his hands, fishing out a couple of the quests he had went over and pointing to them "I think these two are going to be rather easy, though we will need to get back to my home lands for it." she smirked knowingly" I can guarantee that we have a dungeon back there with a much better spot to hunt these 'seven point vipers' as well as the 'snake eating vulrams' than whatever the dungeons around here provide. And unlike here, we can do both at the same time." smirking at the knowing smile blooming on Rex face she confirmed hi guess "Yep, the snake eating vulrams prey on seven point vipers there, making it for quite the perfect place. It would have been a pain to reach, were we not uniquely equipped with a rather convenient mount."
"Anything else that caught your eye? With what you have disclosed you get to pick another one, the trid quest we can take on. That is if you want to. We will not come back before we deal with all of them, so take that into consideration as well."
"How about this one then?" Danica asked, showing Rex another quest page "Those bullmors look mightily delicious."
Rex took a look, humming as he did so. "Could that be because the item desired from this quest is royal beef? Though that does sound like something extra tasty. Sure thing. We will do that one as well then." With that, Rex took the three quests sheets and addressed the king who had been talking with Evelysandra, discussing some measures they would have to take to carefully investigate the nobles Rex had marked as suspicious, possibly taking part in some extremely illegal activities and deciding how to deal with those who were to be found guilty of the levied accusations.
"I'll take these three on. Anything else to finalize us taking them on?" Rex asked.
"Just one moment please." The king replied, looking at the three quests and finding an exact copy of each one. Then, he placed his copies on the table, indicating for Rex to do the same. One all six were on the table, the king took out a quill, that as he explained was magical and was counterfeit proof. He then signed on each of the quests pages, asking Rex to do the same as the party leader. Then, each side took their own copy and stashed it away. There was no binding magic within it, since it only served as the proof that a private quest was issued and accepted, ensuring that even if the king suddenly decided he no longer needed the job done, it could not be canceled before both sides have met, with the additional caveat that said quests were not fulfilled when this meeting happened.
"May ask you something?" Evelysandra asked as the duo were about to depart, earning a raised brow from both Rex and the king. Before either of them could respond though, Danica replied.
"Go ahead."
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"May I join you?"
"Evelysandra. Don't be rude." the king half panicked, well aware of the power difference between the two parties, not wanting to offen the A rankers in any way.
Danica, like a mischievous cat, was right next to Rex moments later, her hands wrapped around one of his, a pleasant softness enveloping said hand. "Hooo?" she cooed "Taking my words in Ravenhold Fort to heart I see."
"She is a bit below the power that is needed to take the mentioned monster on. What is your angle?" Rex asked, his gaze on Danica, though his tone was telling. He was just curious, no anger of direct dismissal in his voice. With a smile on her face, Danica explained her reasoning.
"She seemed like the archer type. And since we don't plan of on having front liners, courtesy of your chosen combat role and style, I suspect she would become capable combat asset with little training."
"A glass cannon that I would have to ensure is never reached by the enemy. That about right?"
"Yes. But let's be honest. I have the strangest feeling you would be more than just fine with such an arrangement."
"Fine. And what is the other reason?" Rex asked, a knowing look on his face. Danica just smiled at him back, replying "I will tell you one day, but not now."
"Fine." Rex just shrugged moving his gaze over to Eve. "Well, you heard the lady." he said, leading Danica over towards the door, and once almost outside, noticing the rather gob smacked father-daughter duo added " Come along now, we have a few quests ahead of us to fulfill." That was all that was necessary to rose Eve from her stupor, the younger woman moving towards their side.
"I expect you to follow my commands to a T during combat encounters. And feel free to share your opinions, though note that for the foreseeable future you don't get to take part in deciding our next course of actions. If that is not acceptable, speak now."
"N-no. That's is perfectly reasonable. Thank you for having me." replied Eve, incredibly excited and still a bit shocked that they even agreed. As they left, they left the king alone, still staring at the back of the trio as they departed. Only when one of the knights entered and noticed his king just standing there, rushed over and asked if anything was wrong, did the king came out of it, a light smile creeping on his face.
"No. No, on the contrary. Things seem to be looking up." the king replied, moving on to deal with other tasks he had to deal with. Rare were the days he did not curse the amount of things he had to stay on top of, lest their small nation gets devoured by a slightly bigger fish, eyeing them like a juicy piece of meat.
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The trio made a small detour, reaching Evelysandras room since she had made the request as a momentary decision, thus she had not prepared beforehand. How could she have known Rex would arrive exactly today of all days. Not like she had a way to track his movements. Danica did tease Eve a bit where she could as she went through her own closet, packing some of the things she would need, starting from change of clothes and unmentionables, ending with her weapons, armor and a few other necessities, all neatly stored away in her own storage ring. She was royalty as such it was only logical she would have one.
Once done with that, Rex and the two ladies soon returned to the balcony they had entered the building through, the two falcons still waiting for them obediently. Their fierce and dangerous looks, as well as their large frames had ensured no foolish noble had even tried approaching them.
"Let's head to Ravenhold Fort, where we will resupply and then head on further from there. Any objections?" Rex asked as he looked at Danica, awaiting her response.
"Fine by me." she replied, slightly sour look on her face that had appeared as they passed through the hall where some of the nobles still lingered. As Rex noticed she wanted to talk about something, he quickly jumped upon the falcon that had carried no one on their journey here, beckoning the two girls to join him. The falcons were large enough to carry four of five people without much difficulty after all and they still did not have any sort of saddle to ensure they could ride the skies comfortably. It took a bit longer for the trio to settle in on the birds back, Rex not entirely willing to hold onto Evelysandra as he was doing with Danica who had already snuggled into his side, the previous scowl now replaced with content calm. With a single mental nudge, the falcons rose into the air, slowly flapping their powerful wings as ascended into the sky. Their speed was initially slow as they disappeared from the sights of the people back in the castle, their gazes locked on the majestic form of the two birds.
Once Rex was sure they were out of sight, he called upon his blood chains, gently yet firmly wrapping them around Eve to ensure she was not lost the moment his falcons picked up speed. And after giving his mounts yet another mental command, setting their destination, he turned his attention to Danica, urging her to explain whatever she had on her mind ever since they had walked through the hall with nobles the second time.
"Its somewhat difficult to put in words, truth be told." she began, thinking on how to phrase whatever was on her mind better "Ever since I was young, I have had this sixth sense when it came to people. Are they good? Bad? Treacherous? I could often feel their nature, though it had dulled somewhat over the years, demanding more and more time in someone's presence for that same sense to kick in. It was why I was willing to risk it all when you refused Igdan's request and had turned to leave. Sure, my desperation and desire to save the kids were the major reason I acted as I did, but I cannot deny that I felt that you would be an honorable and just man towards me. And then, after you marked me, it has gotten stronger. That sixth sense of mine even eclipsing the peak it was back when I was young. As we walked through the hall the first time, I could sense numerous presences that were so repulsive a lesser person would have vomited then and there. And when we walked back, the same feeling assaulted me, even when most of the nobles present upon our arrival had already left."
"Can you explain about what you felt back there?" Rex asked all while he was stroking her back with one hand, calming her down. Once again, Danica sunk into contemplation, trying to figure out the best way to explain what she felt, eventually settling on a metaphor of sorts.
"I suppose the closest comparison would be that everyone within a certain range from me has a half transparent entity above them, doing something. You for example," she looked at Rex for a moment before speaking "Have this regal looking shade sitting on a throne like chair, gazing off into the distance all while numerous apparitions of women circle you, trying to get your attention or something." She then looked towards Eve, continuing "Eve over there on the other hand has a rather fragile looking girl, dressed in a fancy dress and with shackles around her wrists, gazing out the window towards some sort of commotion in the distance."
"We will visit this later." Rex spoke with a wide grin as he eyed Eve. "But first things first. What about those nobles that you found particularly repulsive?"
"Yes. So, most of them were either some sort of a schemer, or the like. Distorted, ugly looking beings were trying to conceal a dagger in their hand as they stood behind some ghostly figures or trying to obviously steal something that's not theirs. But those were not the main issue there. There were far too many nobles with grotesque and malformed monsters, either chopping someone else apart or enjoying having their way with some ghastly figure chained to a wall of a bed. And so on an so forth. I can only imagine what sort of things they do to earn such interpretation of my senses." she shuddered recalling those scenes, less so from fear or whatever, but more so from the sheer disbelief of such quantities so despicable men present at the king's court.
"Give me a moment." Rex spoke as he gazed at her, his gaze seemingly seeing right through her, absorbing her own gaze as if she was falling deeper and deeper into an endless pit with no beginning or end. The two stayed as they were for a few minutes, causing Eve to return to enjoying the feeling of flying through the air, her gaze moving from one scenery to the next as they flew ever onwards with high speeds.
It was some ten minutes later that Rex finally blinked, breaking their locked gazes, a small smile creeping on his face. "Interesting indeed. It would seem that when I marked you with the blank brand, your soul was freed from some of the worlds suppression, allowing that special skill of yours to properly awaken and come to be. It is why you found it to be much stronger now that when you were a kid. Back then it was nothing more than bleeding over from you sould to your unconscious mind. Now its awake and ready to assist you since it had always been a part of you, even if suppressed."
"Does that mean it will stay as is forever?"
"Yes and no. How it works and expresses itself all depends on how much you will refine and work on developing it further. But you can trust your instincts, they are far sharper than most conscious minds."