What had Alfonso been thinking? It seemed like he decided we should start our adventuring here on a whim. There was hardly any work to do in my homeland. Also, I needed to vacate myself from it. I looked up from my bowl of porridge and spoke to him, “Alfonso, can I ask once again why to start here?” I said.
“Because adventures start on simple tasks. Your parents and mine met here in Rockforge. So, what’s wrong with going to the hall and taking a few jobs?” Alfonso said with his usual bravado. “Also, some of our group are not experienced with their powers yet. So, I will rely on you to help them out. You know this terrain better than anyone.”
We had been sitting in Rockforge’s guildhall for some time when a female inquisitor walked in. Her entrance caused the entire room to stare. Her black-fitted uniform and that pointy mask stood out in a room full of would-be adventurers. She marched with military precision straight to the adventurers' guild clerk.
"That woman," Alfonso began, but then stopped himself.
"What?" I inquired, but Alfonso looked to be staring awestruck at this inquisitor. Could it be that he found her attractive? He had not given me as much as a momentary stare. I know well that dwarven women are not the most beautiful in the eyes of humans. But Alfonso did not seem like the type to care about that kind of stuff.
My head turned back to the women as I shook off the thoughts of romance. Those could wait, after all. She had taken out a military stamp and stamped different postings with fury. Then she hung a different listing up on the notice board. The women turned, now overlooking the adventurers. Who had all paused their breakfast to watch this woman.
"Adventurers," the woman began. "As you will notice, I have stamped a few postings for removal. In doing so, I have also set up an open contract for monster hunting. The details of these are noted on the posting. I would like to bring special attention to a fact about this posting. I am offering double payment for each monster killed. Of course, this is only within the conditions of the contract.”
As the woman left, Alfonso turned back to us. "Alright, I am not sure exactly what that woman is playing at. But, we could use the extra capital. Since we are trying to make it on our own." He directed the last part to the other human in our group.
"I don't get why I can't at least have a single room," Clive said. Clive had been the addition to the group I did not understand. He seemed to be a ruffian, but his affinity for nature gave him some healing properties. But, his temperament sometimes gave me the desire to drive my fist through his face. Alfonso did vouch for him, so I would hold the verdict for now on him.
"Enough Clive, you know as well as we do we are on a budget," Alfonso barked back.
"No, you are right Alfonso, if we can make a bit more money I can have that bath!" Annabelle said.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Annabelle was the other woman in our group. She was almost as strong in combat situations as Alfonso. With her golden blond hair that dropped past her shoulder, she also wasn't hard on the male gaze. More than a few drunk adventurers had bought her drinks. Although, I had yet to see her go back to any of their rooms.
My party and I were the first to examine the new contract. “Strange,” I said half to myself.
“What is it?” replied Annabella.
“If I am right, these monster hunts are all around my village.”
“That can’t be right,” Alfonso said. “I thought you said your village prided itself on killing its own monsters?”
“Maybe the inquisitor wants to help them,” Clive stated. “Who cares where it is? You said we had to do it to make money.”
“Yeah, but my village is a neutral state, like most dwarven territories. If adventurers go in and they mistake them for soldiers…” I paused at the realization. “They are trying to get a reason to kill my people!”
“Shhh,” Alfonso put a hand over my mouth. “Nerma we won’t let them get away with this. But this is not the place or time for accusations.” He let me go as he looked around at the rest of the party. The others also had serious faces on. “If we are going to stop them, we have to play along. That way, we can have a reason to spy on them and to be there when it all goes down. Nerma, you should also go ahead of us and warn your people. Start with your parents. They should listen to them.” I shook my head in agreement. I headed out of the guildhall, only letting myself break out into a sprint after the doors closed behind me.
Our village wasn’t far. It only took me a few hours to reach it on foot at a quick pace. My family home lay within the main sprawl of houses in our caverns. It was a simple home built like all the others into the side of the cavern. I entered and cried out, “Mom, Dad! Where are you? We need to talk!”
“What is it dear,” my mother replied.
“They have sent more soldiers, and they posted monster hunt bounties within our territories! We need to warn people about what is happening! Now!” I said while trying to rush my mom out of her house.
“Slow down Nerma. There is nothing to stress about for now. We have fought them off before. What will be the difference now? Besides they have already begun striking out at us. A few of their demonic affinity users managed to kill some of our people while they were out gathering.”
“Mother! We can't let this go! Please let me help and won't you warn the village elders of what's happening?”
“Nerma! You need to calm yourself. Our lineage has been warriors longer than either of us could imagine. This is no way for a Mountainborn to act!”
“Please mother listen to me. If we start fighting with the Rockforge adventurers we won’t be able to keep them neutral. Besides you know how our people are when adventurers stray into our territories.”
“This is not a cause for alarm for my child. I know you like to worry about these things, but no one has been able to siege our village since its creation. It would be a fool's errand to try. For the adventurers, I will just send word to the Rockforge guild society to remove any posting the Nucrestrian armies may have placed. Your father and I do outrank any adventurer in Rockforge, including their guild master.”
“Mother at least warn our people, and let my friends and I help in any way we can!”
“It shall be done, but first you need to relax and have some ale with me. For this kind of stress, you will lose all your wits.”