Chapter 21: Neighborhood Watch
“But I need to go back to the Twin Cities and join up with my friends,” said Bandit, sticking to her original story.
“Ah, that’s right, we’ll need to get back pretty quick or else it’s going to mess up Nina’s plans. You guys said you were already planning to return north, right?”
The other adventurers nodded.
“In that case, there should be time for us to turn in the request at the nearest Guild branch in the Union and then return to the Twin Cities, after a good payday, right?”
“Yep.”
He turned back to Bandit. “Well, there you have it. We’ll probably only lose like a day. We’ll both get more pay and more credit with the Guild, and you’ll have a story to tell your friends when you meet up with them.”
Even if they were telling the truth, Bandit was pretty sure they would be losing more than a day. Either way, she thought the argument was convincing enough that she could pretend to be placated. She really just needed cover to go with them without raising any alarms.
Although she and her friends had noted DM’s looming presence as an argument for why this mission wasn’t too dangerous, Bandit was still concerned. Potentially, Thaw was actually observing Bandit from some hiding spot. It wouldn’t be the first time, and it was very difficult to predict Thaw’s actions or whether she was around or not.
If Bandit got into trouble, Thaw would likely step in. She may chastise Bandit for her failure or even dismiss her from the Guild entirely, but Bandit didn’t think she’d be allowed to die unnecessarily or, heavens forbid, eliminated by Thaw. Thaw wasn’t afraid to kill, but she wasn’t quite that brutal. Bandit hoped.
The problem was that two different people might be watching Bandit. If DM stepped in before Thaw, that would be really bad. Bandit wasn’t sure exactly what would happen, but she knew DM did not want Thaw finding out about his close relationship with the five girls.
If Thaw stepped in first, DM could simply observe and take action if absolutely necessary. Bandit would need to count on his judgment and proceed with her mission.
“Okay.”
“Great! Where did you guys make camp?”
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Lupy wandered around the city. It was probably a bad idea for her to do this. After all, her wandering is what got her into the situation where she fought to the death with several thugs. She had the same problem; Lupy didn’t have anything to do. She finished up a suitable Guild request fairly early in the afternoon before the other girls were done with their various activities.
To Lupy’s credit, she avoided the part of the city where the killings took place. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the only questionable section of the Twin Cities. While walking down a narrow road, she heard a woman’s voice call out to her from behind.
“Excuse me miss!”
As Lupy turned, she noticed the woman was older and quite pretty. Although Lupy wasn’t a good judge of age, she guessed the woman was at least 18, if not in her early 20s. Also, she had animal characteristics. Lupy couldn’t identify the type, but the woman definitely had some bird-like features despite her beauty.
“Yes?”
The woman slowed her approach and looked both ways, likely to verify nobody was nearby, as she asked her question in a hushed voice. “Why did you kill those three men?”
Lupy’s eyes teared up. “How did you—“
The woman placed a finger in front of her mouth, instructing Lupy to keep quiet. “It was just a guess.”
Lupy’s eyes widened as she realized she was played. Her fight-or-flight instincts flared up based on what Vulp told her the evening before about the search for the murderers.
“I know you were just acting in self-defense.”
Lupy lowered her hands from her axes.
The woman continued, “Honestly, those assholes got what they deserved. I’m glad you weren’t hurt.”
“Oh.”
“Let me introduce myself. I’m Anne. I won’t ask you for your name since you appear to be quite on guard, and justifiably so.”
“Are you a bird?” asked Lupy.
“Uh, yes, I do have bird features… Eagle features to be specific.”
“Anne the Eagle?”
“Please don’t call me that.”
“Why did you want to talk to me?”
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“You’re an impressive girl. Are you looking for work?”
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DM paused to assess his situation. First, Bandit was on a dangerous mission trying to out a suspicious adventurer who was circumstantially linked to the disappearance of several girls in the capital. He was keeping a close eye on her since the situation could degrade at any moment. He had to be careful not to reveal himself because Thaw could be watching.
He was concerned about where the mission would go from here. If these guys really were guilty, and they kept up the charade until the party crossed the border, Bandit would be increasingly isolated from the Holy State branches of the Guild. They might encounter even more people, further outnumbering Bandit. DM didn’t want that to happen but wasn’t sure what to do about it.
Meanwhile, a strange woman had just approached Lupy with full knowledge of the killings that occurred a few days ago. At a glance, she seemed like an upstanding citizen, and a pretty one at that, but her attempt to offer Lupy work at this juncture was shady as hell. What type of work did she want to hire Lupy for after learning that Lupy bashed three men’s heads in? DM would need to keep a close eye on Lupy as well.
DM turned his attention to Barney who was scouting around the Nar Union. He was all alone in his room at the inn, and DM noticed a signal indicating that Barney had a report to make. Hesitant to draw his attention away from the two other girls, DM decided to have a very brief discussion with Barney. He spawned a tentacle and charmed Barney, enabling telepathic communication.
“What is it? We need to keep this brief,” said DM.
“I’m sorry I don’t have more to go on, but I’m seeing signs that something big is happening.”
“Something big?”
“The Union is annoyingly good at keeping their operations secret until the last moment, but I’ve noticed some troop movements and increased mercenary activity.”
“Like they’re preparing for war?”
“Yes. I have to be extremely careful not to get outed as a foreign spy, so it’s taking me a while to learn anything useful.”
DM acknowledged, reverted the ‘I have a report to make’ signal with his tentacle, and then abruptly terminated the charm. This seemed very important, but for the moment DM needed to concentrate on both Bandit and Lupy. Just what was Bandit walking into by heading north right now?
Thankfully, Kat, Shiba, and Vulp weren’t up to anything concerning at the moment. Olivia had a couple of adventurer parties wandering around the upper floors of the dungeon, but they were beginners and didn’t require much attention for the time being.
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Lupy agreed to hear Anne out and followed her to a particular baker’s shop. It was closed for the day, but the pair walked in anyway, receiving a nod from a clerk as they proceeded through a drape-covered doorway to a backroom. A few men sat at a table drinking and playing a game of some sort involving pegs in a wooden block.
“Anne, who’s the girl?” one of them asked.
“Just someone I wanted to chat with,” she answered.
Another man put his mug down, made eye contact with Lupy, and asked, “Hey, girl, do you know why thieves like to rob bakers?”
Lupy looked at Anne, looked back at the man, and shook her head.
“Because they knead the dough!”
Anne’s face contorted in disgust as Lupy just squinted her eyes in confusion.
Another man chimed in, “Bah, don’t listen to him, he’s full of crap. There’s muffin to steal.”
Anne grabbed Lupy’s hand and yanked her out of the room, more for her own sanity than Lupy’s by the look of it. They passed through another door and Anne slammed it behind them. “Sorry about that.”
“About what?”
“Some day when you’re older, you’ll look at this moment and think to yourself, oh, that’s what she meant.”
“Okay…”
“A—Anyway, now that we’re alone, would you mind telling me your name? I promise I won’t share it outside this shop without your permission.”
“Lupy.”
“Once again, it’s nice to meet you Lupy. Let me start by telling you why I want to offer you work. Then I’ll tell you what the work is.”
“Okay.” Lupy was actually excited at the prospect of having something to do, although even she recognized the circumstances of this employer were suspect.
“Your, uh, run-in with those thugs on the other side of town demonstrated that you are quite a bit stronger than you look. At a glance, you’re just a young girl and perhaps a budding adventurer, but in actuality you fight well. Probably not at the level of a knight, but still, it’s impressive.”
“Uh huh.”
“My friends and I are members of what I would call a community group.”
“A community group?”
“Yes. Basically, we band together to protect our families and neighbors from outside threats.”
“That makes sense. Were those guys outside your friends too?” Lupy gestured towards the door.
“I’ll… reluctantly agree to that.”
Lupy looked confused but didn’t say anything else so Anne continued.
“I’ll be up front about this. We’re sometimes forced to bend or even break the law.”
“The law is dumb.”
“What?” Clearly, Anne wasn’t expecting that statement.
“Men attacked me and now it’s my fault?”
“What do you mean?”
Lupy summarized her conversations with Kat and the rest of the girls regarding her current situation. Anne nodded along.
“That’s… a bit of an extreme viewpoint but I understand.”
“Why did you want me?” said Lupy.
“You’re an adventurer, right?”
“Yes, me and my friends.”
“Where were they when you were attacked?”
Lupy provided a vague description of her situation with her adventurer friends only being available to adventure part time. Lupy explained that she only ever encountered the thugs because she was wandering around with nothing to do.
“That’s perfect, then.”
“How is it perfect!?” Lupy didn’t appreciate being told the problem that’s been eating away at her is somehow perfect.
“I’m offering you work, right? I don’t mind that you’re only available part time. In fact, it’s better that you’ll only be helping out part time.”
“Why?”
Anne proceeded to explain her vision for Lupy. Although her organization did get involved in some aggressive operations outside their own territory, when warranted, Lupy wasn’t needed for that. Instead, Anne was hoping to enlist Lupy’s help providing a bit of undercover muscle protecting the defenseless in their part of town. The city guard was apparently insufficient so the locals were filling in the gaps themselves.
Lupy couldn’t think of any reason why it would be wrong to help defend stores, houses, and the like from shoplifters or rival organizations. It’s not like she’d be sent out on missions to attack people. Lupy knew she’d need to be careful not to overdo it and kill someone unnecessarily.
“One more reason why you should accept my offer… Those thugs you took care of were members of a different organization. They were the lowest of the low, but it’s possible you could face retribution for taking them out.”
“But they attacked me.”
“I know, but that’s not what matters to them. Probably nobody will care about those idiots enough to actually do anything. Just be careful not to reveal yourself to the city guard.”
“Okay.”
The door opened abruptly and a human man, perhaps a little older than Anne, walked in. “I heard you brought in someone new?”
“Yes, this is Lupy. Let me tell you about her so you can test out her skills.”