“Five gold and three large crystals for transport, ten gold for assisting us in combat and with healing, two gold and three medium crystals for letting us handle the bounties, and one last gold for what I am hoping is a new friendship.” Pol explained as he counted out the gold coins in front of Jack. The lizardman never looking away from Jacks face trying to gauge any reactions he could from the currently stoic human.

Jack slid the coins over to himself with a polite “thank you.” In his past he would just pocket the money right away, but he wanted to pretend he didn’t know what the group was. That, and he wanted to show a bit of power right away.

“I hope you don’t mind me counting them. I saw you count them in front of me and the number is small, but it is just for my peace of mind and out of habit.” The coins slid across his fingers one by one as he counted aloud. He inspected the milled edge of each coin followed by running his thumb over the faces of whatever noble adorned the front of each. He paused, feeling one was a bit lighter than the others and glanced at Pol before putting it in the pile. He knew it was lighter, but he made a point to overlook it.

For friendship.

Pol’s reptilian eyes followed every movement Jack made. He knew the game as well and knew the number of the count was meaningless in the end. It was all about how Jack counted. He watched the person from another world examine the coins like an experienced merchant then raised an eyebrow as he paused on the Tilverian gold. The duchy fell due to massive financial issues a few years ago but this newcomer should have no knowledge of that. No, he caught the lighter coin on weight alone. He was expecting the human to hand the coin back only to watch it be added to the pile. Pol couldn’t help but smile a bit wider putting the pieces together. This human knew the games people like Pol played.

“I am glad you are willing to accept them.” Pol gave a small nod as the honeyed words hissed from his lips. “I can see you have experience with coinage. I know you said you were from another world, do you use coins there too?”

Jack calmly shook his head as he sipped his soda. “No, we left coins behind years ago. Some are still used in certain professions and ways to collect gold and other precious metals, but overall they are unused.”

“Hm.” The reptile’s eyes wandered over Jack who had changed into a long sleeve shirt and jeans. The pieces just fell too well together so he had to be sure. He took out one more gold coin and slid it over to Jack. “For your discretion.”

He calmly nodded and took the coin and put it away, not even glancing at it. Jack knew what it was for.

Pol watched the coin vanish then let out a deep breath.

The man who helped them didn’t just know, he was experienced in such affairs.

“Greetings to another that knows the shadow’s embrace.” Pol calmly said leaning back before sliding up his right sleeve revealing long scars with long claw marks carefully painted onto his scales with a paint that would dye them.

Jack nodded and slid up his sleeve revealing the chained dog and the marks. “This is not the group I was last with, but the first.” Jack quickly explained. “I have left the shadows years ago with the blessing of the oyabun I served.” He leaned back eyeing up the lizardkin. “I hope the bandits are not a sign.”

Pol calmly shook his head. “No, they were local bandits more known for kegs than plans. They saw our carts and attacked with no knowledge of who we were. I had dinner with the local lord’s assistants a few weeks ago. My boss even has a few art pieces in the lord’s gallery.”

Both men nodded knowing very well what such things meant. Jack let out a deep sigh knowing very well what he had just stumbled into, but decided it had great potential. Here was an opportunity to make connections in this new world and begin to earn gold for supplies and more. Possibly even a new source of gems, but that was a minor consideration. He and John were going to spend the rest of their lives in this dimension so they needed to start growing roots.

Sure, there were some delver teams that spent their whole lives tied to their ship. The ships did provide them with everything they needed as long as they kept the gems flowing after all, but that was not what Jack wanted at all. They came to a new world full of chances to live his life and do things he once could only dream of. There was no chance he was going to sit in a metal box and only come out to make sure he made enough to keep on living a comfy life inside his box.

He did that in the last world. He hated it.

Now he had to thread a line. He didn’t want to join them, he wouldn’t be allowed to anyway, but he wanted to work with them. Sure, it felt wrong to work for what was probably the local mafia, but the people looked happy and well fed, they were working alongside the local leadership, and the local bandits hated them. To him it was probably one of those “hidden agreements” his boss once told him about were common in the old eras, and that were becoming more and more popular as methods for governments to try to get a handle on the megacorps.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

Still, that whole messy hellscape was in his past. Now he had the chance to forge a new, better future for himself! Why not use his knowledge and skills to help? They were one of the major reasons he had not only gotten the job, but put on a two-person team. He was to be the brains and social know-how with John being the brawn and wilderness know-how.

The human’s eyes locked onto the reptilian’s own as he relaxed and allowed himself to smile. It was time to work. “So. Now that everything is in the clear I assume you want us to do more work for your group. However, we are not available to join you as we already have prior commitments. That being said, I am okay with taking some jobs here and there as more of a freelancer and friend of your group.” He calmly said as he held out a hand. “I will not ask for your group’s name just yet, as we have just met. Due to the nature of your lives I know doing such would pose to be a risk for both you and me.” He pointed out. “I do not know if this kind of terminology would be the same here, but I seek to be more of a close friend than a family member.”

Pol chuckled a little as his tail slid slowly side to side. “Friends are both common and hard to find in our line of work. It depends on why.”

They stared at each other for a while, waiting at first to see what the other would do before Jack finally gave a wide grin.

“Your family is a door. A door not open to many and one that very few even know how to see it. To me, I am in a new world wanting to see and do as much as I can. Why would I not want to keep such a special door open to at least look through later? It could even hold new friends that I would never have met otherwise.”

Pol nodded and held out his hand. “When we get to the city I will introduce you to our dragon. I think she will love to meet you.”

“A dragon eh? I might want to keep one of these coins to add to her hoard.” Jack joked as their hands met and shook. John had already given him the clear to make these kind of deals so he knew he didn’t need to check. Besides, he liked Pol.

“She prefers her halls filled with good company rather than good coin.” Pol leaned back and sipped his water with a shudder. “Ohhh so pure and warm.” He muttered out as he held his hug with both hands. “Just follow our caravan and we will get to the city in two days. Please let us know of anyone that recovers enough to be able to help us back on the carts. No matter how much they hiss and whine.”

With that Pol left the ship and returned to his caravan to finish the preparations to get back underway. Jack walked the hall looking into the spare rooms seeing the men and women laughing and sharing stories of their wounds and the actions that they took in the fight. He briefly looked into John’s room only to see the massive gnoll woman laying on John’s bed happily eating some meat as John told the story of the latrine explosion, motioning to the picture of a massive wet crater to help illustrate the tale once more. A part of Jack hoped she would stick around, it was nice to see John relax around someone.

Soon he was in the cargo bay where the rest of the injured lay about. The med center was to be kept clear in case they had to bring someone in for an emergency. He looked around and finally found who he was looking for leaning over a young lizard woman who had a bandage over a very unfortunate part of her chest. Jack walked up to Nelva and paused before gently patting her back. He grinned at her small jump and ribbit before she looked up at him to see what he wanted. One motion was all it took for her to nod and follow him to his room.

“So, we will be working more with these people.” Jack said as he sat down on the bed letting her have his chair. “And since you are with us I wanted to let you know that, as well as what that entails. Do you know what kind of group they are?” He asked calmly.

Her eyes narrowed as her breath sped up just a little. She was no tadpole. She had moved daggers, tools, and more to heal wounds. Tools and other items that would only belong to one whose world was the underworld. The markings alone were a big give-

Her eyes shot open as she looked down to his exposed arms. Her eyes tracing his arms now knowing fully well what they were from. The men and women outside had markings of their own that were nowhere near as elegant or beautiful, but the markings were close enough. Her eyes looked up to his own before she looked to the hall.

She had to be careful now. This was not just teaming up with some random adventurers. This was dealing with some people who had already dwelt in the world of shadows. Sure, she wanted to learn as much as she could, but was this worth the risk?

CLICK.

However, the people she had been helping had seemed just like people to her. More than a fair share of lizard and other reptile-folk with other more rare species amongst them. She herself knew what it was like to be an outcast due to where she was from, so she could see how they would fall to such work.

CLICK

She knew she could find another group in the city, but this was her big chance! A chance to learn what many scholars tried for decades to even get a glimpse of! There was also the matter of Jack. If he was going this route it was hard to not think it would be safe for her too.

“Nelva. Your cut for helping to heal and for whatever help you give on the way to the city. Whether you stay with us or leave is up to you and you can keep the gold either way.”

Gold?

Her eyes finally looked at the table to see two fine gold Ilut gold coins gleaming. Her eyes widened looking between him and the gold as her breath grew so fast and deep every breath brought out another croak. That was more than her whole village made in a month!

Her eyes shot to Jack’s warm gaze and all she could manage was a single nod.