“So, what should we do first? Are we going to go collect some information? Check in with some connections to try to learn something from them? Hunt down whoever the thieves are? Go—“

Kezati was pulled back abruptly when Alrynn tugged on the back of his scarf.

“The first thing you can do,” Alrynn remarked, “is slow the hell down. Nothing’s going to magically solve itself the quicker you bounce around the street. It’s better if you pretend like you’re just out for a stroll—the more eager you look, the more ideas some other guy’s going to have about what we’re doing. And we’re not supposed to be drawing any attention to ourselves, remember?”

“R-right,” Kezati mumbled with a short, quick nod. “Sorry…”

Alrynn sighed. “Besides, I don’t want you getting too far away from me. This is the shadier part of town, according to what I’ve heard from the locals. A kid like you all by yourself is an easy target for thieves.”

Kezati just gave a small nod. He was getting ahead of himself and, worse, he probably wasn’t even being helpful. He was probably just getting in the way… and he didn’t want to try to change that, because Alrynn made it clear that playing the hero was a mistake a lot of new mercenaries make. Not like that was the kind of decision they’d be able to learn from, since there usually wasn’t a second time to try it out. At least, that’s the way Alrynn made it sound.

After a little while of just walking, Alrynn finally said something else. “I’d like to tell you a few more things about being a mercenary. First of all, you’ve got to know how to read people. That’s the kind of thing that gets you a commission, and helps you find the information you need to complete it. What were your first impressions of that noble?”

“It was… kind of weird, honestly,” Kezati admitted. “I mean, incredibly great and convenient for us, but… in a strange way. I guess it makes sense to go to a busy place to try to find someone to take a job, but I’m pretty sure there’s at least twenty better places for it… I know for a fact we passed by three just on our way there…”

“That’s some pretty good thinking,” Alrynn remarked. “It took me a while to pick up on that kind of stuff—who was safe to talk to, and who just wanted to do harm.”

“Do you think the guy who gave us the commission..?”

“It’s a little too early to decide right now. Reading people is the first step in a successful job—but you’ve got to learn how to use that information, too. Eventually, you’ll figure out how to pick up on subtle details, or ask seemingly unrelated questions that get the answer you want to know. I’ll be showing you a bit of that during this commission, and we’ll decide together if this guy is worth working with or not.”

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“I know you said we didn’t need the money right now, but what if we don’t finish this, and we can’t find another job? Should we really just give up that kind of money?”

“That’s the second thing I wanted to mention. You have to keep in mind that money isn’t everything. It doesn’t matter how much someone’s paying for something, you should never decide that the paycheck is worth breaking your ideals over. That’s a line that you’re never going to be able to cross again. Once you’re over it, there’s no going back. And there’s no amount of money that’s going to make something like that worth it. Do you understand?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s another thing that not many kids learn until it’s too late. Which leads me to my third point, which is probably the most—”

Alrynn got interrupted when a group of thieves darted out of an alley. Given what he’d said about the place earlier, Kezati almost wouldn’t have been surprised… if he hadn’t noticed they dropped something when they left.

Something that, when he dared to get closer and pick it up, made it seem like they weren’t so random after all.

He passed it along to Alrynn. “Hey, that guy they mentioned—that’s the commissioner, right? Why do you think they don’t seem to like each other? They specifically mention that they need to get the necklace before us—well, the people who the noble hired to return it to him…”

Alrynn looked over every bit of the paper. “I’ve seen enough jobs to know that we should take this with a grain of salt. This definitely wasn’t just because of some kind of coincidence—they knew that we were the ones who accepted the commission.”

“What do you think we should do?”

“For now? Just keep an eye out for anyone suspicious and don’t interact with more people than we have to. We don’t know what those guys want or what their ultimate plan is and I don’t want us to get into any trouble.”

Alrynn gestured for Kezati to keep following him. “I’ll give you one last tip about mercenary work for right now. You’re going to face people who don’t want you to do the job—but it’s the reason that mattered. You have to think about if they’re trying to guard or protect something or someone, or if they’re also in it for the money. That’s a thing employers do, sometimes—hiring different companies, giving the reward to whoever earns it—but more common in bounties. I don’t think we have to worry about this, at least not yet. We should just take it as a sign that we should be a little more careful about the commissioner, and we should try our best to learn exactly what that necklace is for…”

Kezati, after a moment, dared to ask the question, “And what are we going to do all of this ends up becoming more complicated?”

“That’s the thing about mercenary work—it’s a pretty uncertain business.” Alrynn shrugged. “All you’ve got to do is roll with the punches and do what you think is right. No point in over-analyzing things that don’t exist.”