Valentine got up early the next morning. While the note did not say a specific time, the group as a whole figured that it wouldn’t be very important. If whoever left the note had a specific time in mind, then they would have listed it. The same was surmised of the exact location of the meeting. While ‘the river’ isn’t very descriptive it doesn’t matter if they are near it. So, they decided to go to the closest fishing spot early in the morning and wait there. If by noon they had not met anyone they would head back to the library.

Valentine grabbed the bag he had packed the day before as well as the bronze sword he had grown accustomed to using. The bag only had a few things in it, some bandages and meat jerky he would eat for lunch. With his items Valentine headed for the entrance of the tunnel, where he met Kaedric and Professor Roxanne.

“Got everything?” Professor Roxanne questioned.

“Yes, not that there was much to pack.” Valentine nodded as he spoke

“Good, then lets head out.” Professor Roxanne began walking through the tunnel, followed by Kaedric and Valentine.

As they walked Valentine recalled the plan they had decided upon last night. When the three exit the wall they would do their usual morning patrol around the wall. Then they would began walking to the river, specifically the spot that they usually fished. Once there they would wait for contact. If contact is not made by noon then they would head back to the library. If contact is made but it is an act of aggression they would fight back before heading back to the library. If worst comes to worst they would fire off a bright red flare to signify the loss of their lives, meaning the library should seal all access and ignore all contact.

If contact is made and it is peaceful however, then the kindness should be reciprocated. It is to be assumed that whatever initiates contact has some way to intelligently communicate, whether that be written like the note or verbal. The only case that non-aggression should be responded with heightened guard and assumption of foul play is if the contacting force is goblins. This is because of the previous attacks.

While recounting the plan in his head Valentine had walked with Kaedric and Professor Roxanne all the way to the fishing spot. However much to his surprise and the surprise of his group, there were already people at the river.

The group at the river was made up 4 individuals. One female with golden hair and green eyes, and noticeably pointy ears. The other three were males, one very tall and muscular with no hair and normal ears. One short blonde male with pointy ears, his face covered by a mask. And the final male tall with pointy ears, blonde hair, and similarly green eyes as the female.

“Shinupk! Jal ‘al ver te valup.” The female member of the group was the first to speak. She seemed excited to meet the group in front of her. Though despite how exited she was, Valentine had absolutely no clue what she was saying, looking at his own group he was sure they did not either. Her excitement however was cut short by the tall muscular man in with no hair.

“Feq ell, cour defel ‘al ver zam!” As he yelled he stepped in front of the woman raising one hand in her protection and another raising a sword. Valentine reflexively put his hand on the hilt of his sword, unsure of whether any of them would attack first.

Professor Roxanne was the first to step forward, walking in front of Valentine, she took his sword and threw it forward onto the ground. “Hello, we come in peace. I am Roxanne.” As she spoke and threw the sword away the tall blonde man smiled and stepped in front of the bald man, taking his sword and throwing it next to Valentine’s. This noticeably shocked the bald man but he did not have the chance to speak.

“Walz al ‘ver turk een fex xand” The tall blonde man spoke as he waved his arm left to right, hovering over Valentine, then Kaedric, and finally Professor Roxanne. As soon as he finished his words Valentine felt a wave nausea rush over him, similar to what he felt when he first read the note, however much more powerful.

As Valentine felt the nausea he almost instinctively slammed his hand into the ground “Protect me... Rock Wall!” Almost instantly a rock dome rose from the ground and surrounded Valentine, Kaedric, and Professor Roxanne. As soon as the rock dome was finished being made Valentine fully collapsed to his knees from the nausea, looking over the other two were in a similar state.

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“I knew it! They are obviously savages, we have to get rid of them before they attack us.” A man began yelling; however, his voice was muffled and didn’t sound like anyone Valentine knew.

“Dorred, as I said before, we will not be attacking them. They obviously did this as a defense when they felt the aftereffects of my spell thinking it was an attack.” Another man spoke, this one much calm. Valentine thought for a moment, and recognized the voice as the one who had cast the nausea spell before.

“Brother Quinzel, why would you cast a spell on them? Now they think we are attacking them!” This time it was a female voice. Apparently, she is sister to the tall blonde Valentine thought.

As he began registering the words spoken by the group Valentine finally realized he could actually understand them now. And as he realized that, he also realized his nausea was fading quickly. Valentine fully stood up, feeling much better, as he looked over he also saw Professor Roxanne and Kaedric also standing.

“Fuck me that felt awful. Also do both of you also understand them now?” Kaedric’s usual crass mouth confirmed to Valentine that the spell before seemed to be a translation one.

“Yes Kaedric, I think that the tall blonde one cast a spell that makes us understand them. That probably means that they understand your foul language as well, so stop with it, it's rude.” Professor Roxanne gave Kaedric a stern look and nodded at Valentine.

Valentine understood that Professor Roxanne wanted to for him to do away with the rock wall spell. Agreeing with her he broke the spell and the mound of dirt and rock surrounding them went away. In front of them was still the same group. This time however the tall blonde man was in the front, followed by the female, and the bald and short males were in the back.

“Hello, as I said before, I am Roxanne. Though this time you will understand better due to your spell, am I correct?” Professor Roxanne walked forward and outstretched her arm for a handshake with the tall blonde male.

“Correct, I am Quinzel, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” Walking forward Quinzel grabbed Professor Roxanne’s hand, however not for a handshake. Instead, like he was a knight straight out of a fairytale, he bowed to her and pressed his lips into her hand.

“Interesting, I am to assume that this is a polite way of greeting someone for your people?” Professor Roxanne didn’t bat an eye to the old timey greeting, instead using the moment as a way to gain information.

“Yes, it is customary to greet a young woman such as yourself in a manner like this.” Quinzel spoke again, standing back up from his bow and looking directly into Professor Roxanne’s eyes.

“Can we skip the pleasantries? Why’d you give us some mysterious note?” Kaedric’s straightforward question seemed to cause the female member of the party to be taken aback.

“What reason does a lord need to summon their subjects? You simply respond when called without questions.” The female spoke up, slightly annoyed by Kaedric’s question, however almost immediately regaining her former chipper attitude. It seemed to Valentine she was an easy to please person.

“So you are the lord of this area? What is this territory called? We got lost around here 3 months ago so we were unaware of our trespassing on your land.” Valentine finally spoke up. He tried to follow the flow of the conversation set by Professor Roxanne unlike Kaedric who just asked the burning question outright without gathering information first.

“You ask a question of your lord without properly greeting first? It seems these people are much more uncivilized than I had thought before, and I had such high hopes.” The woman spoke again, seemingly as exasperated with Valentine as she was with Kaedric.

Valentine not wanting to ruin the flow that Professor Roxanne had set up thought quickly about how to fix the situation he had created. Quickly he thought about the greeting Quinzel had done before to Professor Roxanne. If that is how people of this region give proper greetings to young ladies then that is what he should do. As the female of the group looked even younger than Professor Roxanne, he thought that this should be and adequate greeting. Walking forward Valentine offered his palm for the young lady’s hand and bowed slightly.

Taken aback slightly the young lady placed her hand onto Valentine’s, lightly grasping her hand in his palm Valentine recreated the steps taken by Quinzel. Placing his lips on the young lady’s hand and bowing slightly.

“I am Valentine, how may I address the young lady?” Valentine finished off the act with his best noble speech, trying hard not to die inside from the unnatural act.

“Zylphia Von Brecket, that is my name.” Zylphia’s voice was slightly shaking as she relayed her name to Valentine. All he could think about was the tremble in her speech and her initial surprise. Had he done something wrong? Was he not supposed to great her like this?

Releasing her hand and stepping back Valentine looked at the group in front of him once more. Quinzel looked like he was holding in laughter, Zylphia was beat red and frozen still, the tall bald man was also red, but with obvious anger, and the short blonde man was readying his 2 knives expressionless with the mask. Noticing the two men with weapons drawn Valentine took a large step back, regretting making such a stupid mistake as to anger them.

Before the two men could make an attack on Valentine however Quinzel stepped in front of them, bursting out into a laugh. “When the female presents their hand first it is a simple courtesy greeting among nobles. However, when initiated by the male, it is a sign of attempted courtship. That is why they are like that, obviously you did not know that so I will ask them to forgive you this time.”

“Courtship?” As soon as the words left Valentine’s mouth he felt the blood rush to his cheeks. While he had always been popular with women around him because of his height and looks, he wasn’t all that interested in romance. But he just initiated an attempt at a relationship with a woman he just learned the name of.