The team of four made their way to the city of Runimus, and entered a restaurant that was the closest to the main Guard House. This was where Gustav asked them to meet, because free feast or not, he wanted to treat his friend with a big, four-course meal dinner tonight. He wanted to treat them well, because the journey in front of them may be even more perplexing than what they endured recently!
The restaurant was big, and unsurprisingly so considering that the guards picked to have their feast here. Other restaurants were also holding feasts across the city, and they did so without a worry in the world, because the city’s governing body would pay for all of the free food that the restaurants were about to give away tonight!
Anyway, the group entered, and met with the rest of the guards here, otherwise known as the survivors of today's battle. One would expect that a massive party would be held here, with drinks and music in order to celebrate the death of Iron Claw, but that was not the case. The guards were eating quietly, as if they were in the wedding of a third cousin, they were very quiet and formal about it. They didn't seem sad that they lost so many comrades today.
“Jesus… what a riot.” Tim remarked, sarcastically.
Being recognized as volunteers, the four of them were accepted in the prestigious restaurant, but they were led to a table where a bunch of other volunteers were sitting. Them, and the city guards were separated like goats from sheep, it was very humiliating the more one thought about it.
“Of course,” Arvena sighed, as she was being reminded just how racist almost every race of goblins were.
The tension from this fact went up to her nose, but she was seduced to be quiet once she saw a couple of roasted ducks on the table that they were about to sit on. The duck bought her silence, she sat down with all the enthusiasm in the world.
When her friends looked at her weirdly, she said. “What? It’s an acquired taste.”
Anyway, after they were done eating the various meat and minimal vegetables that were presented to them, the rest of the volunteers suddenly left the table all together. There had been seven more of them sitting here on the same table, but they suddenly left as if someone had ordered them to.
When Guard Master Zedim sat with the group afterwards, they immediately understood why the other volunteers left. They caught up.
No one had been drinking during this ‘celebration’ of sors, and yet Zedim offered the team tankards, and then he personally poured this expensive, house mead for them.
“Please drink up,” He said, “Gustav will be joining us shortly. I personally handled his resignation documents earlier on.”
This sort of hospitality had a fine line between it, and hostility, so the team were surely nervous now. They expected to be attacked on the spot if they said the wrong thing. Timothy was oblivious, though, he drank the mead right away.
“Mmm… that's strong.” He grunted.
Anyway, Gustav joined them a few minutes later, and judging from how relaxed he was, it was a sign that the team may not be in danger after all. He retired today, so he seemed more than relaxed, he felt liberated! The piles of gems in his bag surely helped him feel better, but regarding safety, guards were also very honored within the city. Plenty of rules protected them, so he didn’t bat an eyelid as he sat near the Guard Master!
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
“Okay, so now that we're all here, I’m going to make things quick for you. How many gems do you want?” Zedim asked.
“Huh?” Skendus grunted.
Noticing the confusion, Gustav then chimed in, and explained. “I explained to the Guard Master that more than half of the platoon are stuck in the nano-universe of Mare Draconum, and he wants to know where the portal is. Considering that we discovered the portal together, and that I resigned today, I have no obligation to tell the Guard Master anything, just as you guys have all the privilege in the world to walk out of here, and not tell him where the portal is.”
Gustav was being very bold here, it was agitating, but he did explain the rights that the team had, which was very helpful. Tim never expected such boldness from him, so he almost cracked up laughing, but he did his best to hold his laugh, no matter how difficult this was with a belly full of expensive mead.
“The Guard Master is offering us gems in exchange for information,” He further added.
“Please, tell me, I’m just trying to get my troops back. I understand that ex-guard Gustav feels very strongly that we see the guards as dispensable, but that's not the case, that’s not what I think about them. I did my best to keep everyone alive and well, but my hands were tied.” Zedim pleaded, he sounded sincere.
“Your guards refused to follow us, back in Mare Draconum, they didn't want to wiggle a toe unless there was a dragon to carry them. They're self-obsessed bastards, and you're better off leaving them to the dragons!” Arvena then expressed, loudly, and she was very honest, likely because she has been within a group of guards recently - She had plenty to say about them.
Furthermore, she lectured. “I come from a long bloodline of guards, we've been dissolving psidium mana ever since the dawn of time, but we nearly aren't as high strung, despite our achievements! We're beyond nobility and stupid formality, we get things done, sir, and that's a kind of standard that your guards will never reach!”
Arvena had a lot to say, and Zedim just listened. His heart was in the right place, so he was willing to tolerate this unorderly explosion of emotions, as long as he could figure out how to get his troops back.
“You may be right, I guess we need to change some of our ways.” He nodded along, and then he said. “Endless formalities is perhaps why it took so long to find and kill Iron Claw, but we'll see to it, big changes aren't made in a day. That aside, we can't just let over two-hundred troops get slaughtered, please let me help them, tell me where the portal is.”
Being the least emotional of the bunch, Skendus decided to take over the conversation afterwards. He had a couple of rewards in his mind, and wasn't going to budge about obtaining them.
“We hear your plea, Guard Master.” He nodded, and then he demanded. “We don’t want to hussle you, but we need some gems for the road, because we want to get back home. If you give us thirty gems each, and grant me access to ten books from the local sect of illusion, books of which ascend in complexity, then we will tell you where to find the portal, or, the pillars that summon the portal.”
Zedim accepted the terms immediately, he didn’t attempt to bargain. This was a humble price to ask for, once he considered how many lives were on the line.
The Guard Master left the restaurant, and came back with five bags of gems, and ten books about illusion. The books were a bit more difficult to get, on the count of the local sect's exclusivity regarding their books, but they wanted to get their mages back as well, so they obliged.
Skendus and the team got what they wanted, and as of tomorrow, they were free to leave the city. Once Zedim was told how the pillars worked, he insisted that anyone could open the portal, as long as the fire they summoned was hot enough, and this made sense, because countless other species had visited that nano-universe before. They couldn’t have all had dragons to their disposition.
With that said, the team didn't have to tag along on the rescue mission. They were as free as the seasonal birds, and wanted to dedicate their next few days to finally escape the God's Punishment Realm of mana, and they were very eager to do so, because they learned to hate everything that this realm represented. They were disgusted!