Luke woke up the next morning feeling rather horrible his stomach still hurts a lot and his limbs are sore, he checked his bandages and found it entirely dark red from blood and his vision is hazy from the lack of it 'turns out a wish isn't always pleasant in the end huh?' He thinks about how long it Will take for it to heal and decided to forget about it, although he did think how cool-looking his scar might be when he recover.
he looked at Vina who is peacefully sleeping with that dog-curl position again, he considered waking her up but stopped when he thought about the possible consequences of waking up someone who is literally a wolf who is also Grumpy at him last night, that and he heard sounds outside the tent as well, he peeked outside and Saw the elven girl from last night reading a beautiful-looking book, he got out of the tent and walked up to her.
"Hey uhh how are you, Eryn was it?"
She turned her head his direction so fast Luke thought he heard a snap, she has a surprised but fierce look in her face and he can see that she has dropped the book and already reached for something inside her robe, probably a weapon, 'fast reflex' Luke noted to himself to never mess with her.
"Oh, it's just you, you scared me there"
"Sorry, didn't Mean to, Eryn right?"
"Yes i am Eryn and you must be Luke the golem-killer" she said with a chuckle, she picked up her dropped book and started reading again.
"What? Is killing Golems some kind of achievement?"
"Not necessarily, but Golems are known to be pretty hard to kill, especially metals" she replied while still casually reading the book
"Vina said you're mage, what kind?"
She didn't reply and instead pointed at the ground and muttered something he can't understand, Luke was about to question what she was doing when a plant stem raised from the ground and quickly grows into a berry bush, she took one of the berries and ate it.
"Wow"
"Impressed?"
"I have no words to be honest"
He picked a berry from the bush and ate it, it was way more sweet than he thought.
"Never seen this kind of magic hmm?"
"I haven't seen alot of magic in my life"
"Luke can i ask you a question?"
"Sure"
"What are you? I didn't notice last night but you don't look like anything i know"
Luke feared that question, it have been pretty easy to trick kottar to thinking humans are just a newly discovered species by the alliance but he can tell that eryn isn't the type of gal that is easy to fool, Luke wanted to limit the reality of what he is to Vina for now so he came up with a lie
"Uhh i'm an orc"
"You don't look like one, you're not as big as Them and you don't have any Tusk and most orcs stays in a clan, what are you doing here?"
"I have a birth defect, so i was Rejected" he had to admit he's proud coming up with that one on the spot, but she still has that judgeful eyes
"Hmm... Curious"
She closed the book she was reading, stores it in her robes, took out her notebook and started writing on it with an ink and Quill set Luke had seen last night, Luke wondered how the hell she stored all that in that robe of hers, perhaps it's magical?
"A new and strange orc behavioral quirk, this should be interesting for the scholars"
Luke silently breathed his relief, she was convinced, well... somewhat convinced
"Would you mind answering more?"
"Oh uhh sure"
"What does it feel like to be dejected by your own clan?"
"It sucks at first but i just forget about it now"
"Interesting, If you are a reject, what are you doing here?"
"Trying to live life as it is i guess, get it straight you know"
"What does it feel like to be unloved?"
Luke coughed "Elaborate"
"Sorry that was too broad, i mean what does it feel like to be unable to find a life partner? Now that you are rejected by your own?"
"Depressing, but i got over it"
"Mmm ok thank you, you might be the weirdest and skinniest orc i've ever seen, but you are definitely brighter than most"
"Well if you are born without the muscle you're meant to have, might as well replace it with something useful rather than cry about it"
"Those are some wise words there Luke"
"Thanks i guess"
"Seems like your friend is awake"
Luke looked behind him and Saw Vina stretching in front of the tent
"Morning you two, what are you guys talking about? Uhh Why is there a bush?"
"Eryn was just showing me what she can do"
"That's amazing"
"Thank you, shall we start walking back to the town?"
"mmm? Oh yeah, Luke get your stuff, your armor is there by the tree"
He looked at the mentioned tree and indeed his armor was there, well.. hanged there, it was cakes in his blood and has a clean cut across the stomach area
"I got hurt that bad huh?"
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
"Indeed, it was quite difficult to heal you, i'm not used to healing such deep and big cuts, you're rather lucky to be alive" Eryn replied
"And thanks to who is that....?" Vina added
"Yeah yeah yeah i already said thanks last night, can we go?"
"Wash yourself first, there's a river behind that treeline to your right"
"Can't i just wash myself at the inn?"
"Why not do it now? You Don't want any infection on that wound right?"
"I thought you guys treated it!"
"A little, now go wash yourself"
----~----
As soon as Luke entered the river, his body immediately relaxed, it was comfortably warm, though that moment was kind of ruined by the sudden sting of pain when his wound touched the water, he was sitting nicely with his head popping out of the water.
"I told you to clean yourself and your wound, not take a luxury bath"
Luke jumped at the sound and Saw Vina standing on the side of the river, with a hand on the hips and foot tapping pose on her.
"You said to clean myself"
"Clean your wounds, not take a bath"
"It's the same thing! Just takes a little longer"
"Oh well if you're taking a bath i might as well join"
"Wait what"
There was no warning, Vina just straight up undressed herself and jumped to the water making a splash.
"Ah get out! This is not a mixed bath!"
"I do what i want" Vina replied bluntly, Luke was thankful only her head was popping out of the water, though the river is pretty clean so the water looked rather.... Transparent..., Luke can practically feel the lizard part of his brain acting up as he vaguely stared at her direction.
"Hey, why are you so silent?"
"Wha?"
"Nervous mmm?"
"No, i uhh... just realized i didn't bring a towel"
"What"
"And you didn't bring any sooo..."
"Oh you moron! Now we're stuck and our clothes is too far away!"
"Hey! I'm not the one who stripped down and jumped!"
"Oh damn you, erynnnn! Can you come here with a towel? Please?"
"You think she gonna do that? We know her for 1 day!"
"She's not stupid like you, she has sympathy"
"Hey... That's not nice!"
"what are you two fighting about?"
They turned their head to look at the source of the sound and found Eryn in the water seemingly bathing like they do
"Wait how are you here?"
"I was bathing further downstream to not disturb you two, what's going on?"
After a bit of explanation and a bit of fuss she understood the situation and came up with a plan, that plan goes something like this :
-step 1:Eryn go back to the camp to get towels or anything that can afford to get wet to cover your body
-step 2:Vina Will hold luke's head underwater while eryn gets out of the water to stop him from peeking
-step 3:a violent protest from Luke about step 2
-step 4:Eryn came back with towels half naked while Luke's eyes wasn't covered
-step 5:a backhanded slap from Vina to the back of the head
----~----
"Can't believe you slapped me"
"You were staring!"
"What? that was your fault! You could've just covered my eyes but you decided to dip my head!"
"You would peek!"
"I'm not a pervert!"
"I doubt it"
"Can you two stop fighting please? You have been fighting the entire way, is there a way resolve that incident?"
"It's not my fault right Eryn?"
"It was nobodies fault"
"See? Eryn forgive me"
"Out of exasperation, now focus on the road!"
The trip fell to an awkward silence, Luke observed Eryn who was walking on the front and just realized how tall she was, she's easily around 6'3 foot tall, pretty tall compared to luke's 5'11 and he felt rather small, so he was rather glad Vina was about the same height as him otherwise he'll feel even smaller, then Luke remembered something and started whispering to vina.
"Hey Vina"
"What?"
"You haven't told Eryn about what i am right?"
"Of course not, why are you asking?"
"She asked me about what i am this morning, i told her i'm an orc that got rejected, just wanna make sure she's not trying to trick me"
"Why would she do that?"
"I don't know, bait me out or something? Make me admit to a lie?"
"What exactly is the lie you told her?"
"Uhh i told her i was an orc with uhh birth defects?"
Vina tried her best to not laugh "hmmpp... what...?"
"Don't laugh at it, it's the best i can come up with"
"Why don't you just said the same thing you said to kottar?"
"Does she look like a type of person to be fooled by that? She doesn't even looked like she belongs here, Eryn probably came from an educated and wealthy family, just look at her"
"Well i suppose that makes sense"
"What do you think Will happen if she finds out?"
"I don't know, if i have to guess then maybe she Will report you"
"Yeah and then probably get taken away or executed or something, you can keep it secret?"
"Of course i can!"
Vina was a bit too loud on that one and Eryn looked at Them with a face that screams the word 'really? again?'
"Are you two fighting again?"
"Uhh no just discussing something"
"Well it might be time to stop, i can see the town gate from here"
"Oh really? Oh well that's good then"
"Can i ask a question?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you have a place to stay?"
"We do, why ask?"
"I'm not familiar to the town, i just arrived yesterday morning and i haven't booked a place so can you two maybe recommend me a place?"
"Well there's a lot of inn to stay on but... It's full of refugees from the east"
"Wait really you didn't told me that"
"Why would i need to tell you Luke?"
"Well... umm..."
"I figured as much"
"Is there any place that still has room in the town"
"There is one..."
Luke snapped his head Vina, and shook his head slowly
"On the place we stay on..."
"Excellent, that also means we're going to meet each other daily?"
"Yes..."
Luke was staring daggers at her, Vina just unverbally said sorry
----~----
"You said you we're going to keep it a secret! And not five minutes later you make her live next to our room!
"Hey it was an act of kindness"
"An act that would get me caught! What if she wants to visit but we're not here and founds my phone? Or worse, our gold chache?"
"She wouldn't do that without our permission, she has manners Luke"
"But still"
"Look we just have to be more careful"
"Ugh fine"
"Good, now go to bed and rest your wounds"
"Bed? You Mean chair?"
"Bed, now wait here while i go out to buy more bandages and other things"
"You're not gonna make me lay in bed while i heal right? I Mean come on i feel kind of ok, probably needs a couple of days, but that healing magic is pretty good"
"Go to bed"
"Some things just never change in life huh? Wait, the quest thing, we should go meet the the commissioner after we finish it right?"
"At night, this is still middle of the day"
"Do i come with you?"
"I don't think it's neccesary"
"Nah i'm coming i wanna complain about the quest"
"Why?"
"I got thrown into a wall! Again! That was the second time this week! And i've only been in this world for like what? A month?"
"Well it is partially your fault for getting hit by that hammer, or the slime"
"I still wanna complain, plus the reward we get is 30 silver! I don't think risking our lives fighting multiple iron Golems nearly Twice as tall as us is worth 30"
"Well... You're not wrong, but should we bring Eryn? She did accept the quest"
"Probably not, we can talk to her about it after we do it"
"We're set then"
----~----
Luke and Vina stood in front of the tavern, although for Luke it doesn't look like what you would call it, the place was big like an official bar or a mini casino, definitely not what you would expect from the name 'the tavern' and yes it doesn't have any name it's just called THE tavern, capital letters included, atleast according to Vina after Luke had asked if the sign hanging in front of it had the owners name.
They entered and honestly Luke doesn't know what else he was expecting, it look pretty standard as far as he is concerned, tables with stacks of mugs on it, people having fun drinking, people having fun dancing on top of tables and dwarves having a drinking contest with random people.
"Any idea where the guy we're supposed to meet? Even if it is a guy"
"No clue"
"Time for my instinct again"
"Huh?"
"Remember that movie i told you in the dungeon?"
"Yeah, what does that have to do with this?"
"Well if there is one thing i learned from a movie is that if you're looking for someone in a bar or a tavern like this one, you either found the most active one... Or... The one sitting in a corner not drinking anything, possibly with a cloak"
"Again Luke just like last time you mentioned this movie thing, it's absurd"
"But it worked right? we found the switch, well... The crank, but whatever"
"Assuming you're correct then hmm... We have... One sitting on a corner, not drinking anything and has a cloak"
"Where?"
"Top left, oh and also, judging from the height i think our quest giver is a true draconian"
Luke looked at the the direction Vina said and true, there in a corner, a tall figure sat on a table with a cloak, well... 'Tall' would be an understatement, this man/woman is somewhere around 3,5 meters tall so the 'mysterious cloaked figure sitting in the corner' stereotype Luke was relying on was a bit of Stretch.
'why do i have to deal with so many tall things lately?"
They approached the figure and it spoke in a deep but feminime voice, it took off it's hood and true to vina's prediction it was a female true draconian with red scales.
"So you two completed my request?"
'again! Two tall powerful ladies in one day!'
"Hello? Did you hear me? I don't have much time so don't waste it"
"Uhh? Oh yeah we do"
"Good, what did you find?"
That question Made Luke remember something, his complaint
"Ok listen up Miss or Ma'am or whatever but i want to complain here a little bit about the quest"
"Luke, What are you doing?"
"Oh" the huge draconian replied in calm but cold tone, and the natural deepness of it unnnerved Luke but that won't stop him, the sail had been unfolded
"what is it you wanna complain about?"
"I wanna complain about the reward here"
"Is 30 silver not enough for you? I even let you take anything you find"
"Well yes, but do you know what we have to fight?"
"Nonsense, the dungeon is cleared"
"Well apparently not lady! There are iron Golems there, 5 of Them"
At that word the eye of the dragon-ish lady that previously looked disinterested perked up and the stare become intense, Luke can swear they started glowing, the lady speak again this time with anticipation in her voice.
"So what do you find?"
"Uhmm..." The sudden change of tone Made Luke uncomfortable, he looked at Vina and Saw her thinking the same thing
"Well.. we found two silver necklace"
"Not important, what else"
"A pouch of magic crystals"
"Don't care, you can have it, what else?" Her tone was getting impatient
"And this ring" Luke holds up the intricate golden ring and the draconian eyes went even wider and a rather... Evil smile graced her face
"YES, THAT'S IT! GIVE IT TO ME!"
Luke held back the ring just before a huge clawed hand was about to Rip it off his fingers
"Whoa whoa whoa hold it there, we worked hard for this thing, give us a raise if you want it"
"YOUR PAYMENT IS ENOUGH! NOW HAND IT OVER!"
"no, i got thrown into a wall and almost got myself cut in half for this, and this wolf-lady i'm with risked her life to save me"
"GIVE. IT. TO. ME!"
"Fight me for it!"
"Uhh... Luke, i don't think that's a good idea"
"Ehh don't worry, she wouldn't have the nerves to attack us in public"
The draconian lady calmed down and sat back down, Luke didn't even realize she was standing, and she spoke again in that unnervingly calm tone, this time with a bit of malice
"Have you ever heard of the tavern rule Stranger?"
"Uhh no?"
"Luke, we better go"
The huge lady leaned her face down to Luke, they stared eye to eye with a stare that can melt rocks And she whispered
"The first minutes of a fight is ignored, no matter how chaotic, as long as someone unrelated to the reason of the said fight doesn't die in the process, and... In a town near the Borders Like this one... That rule timer is Made even longer~" she said with a deep, sultry voice
"So what you're saying is..."
She get's up from her seat, took off her cloak revealing wings, she bared her razor sharp teeth and huffed making a puff of smoke, Luke can see glowing of fire down her throat and she has her claw at the ready.
"So... Are you still sure you don't want to hand it over?"
"Uhh wait we can talk about this"
"Luke, take your Axe"
"Well then, get ready~" the huge lady said with a wink and a small puff of fire from her mouth
"Oh boy here we go again"