The mercenaries had taken almost half the day only to make it from the horizon to Greypeak. I had spent that time with Circe, Master and my sister. Yuuna was showing some serious interest in witchcraft and was considering to dump her [Hunter] Class. The fiery shadows she could conjure with her variation on [Owl’s Shadow] were a big help with brewing. She could save a lot of time on collecting firewood.

Over the afternoon a weird feeling was taking hold in the back of my head. It was as if I was being watched but no matter what I did I was unable to pinpoint a surveyor. An hour before dusk, Leon paid us a visit to tell of the mercenaries’ arrival. Circe and I decided to leave for the town and get a read on them while Yuuna made for our tower. I might have been lacking a little in patience and took off to speed through the air.

My first impression of the men was: soldiers. They moved as a team, completely in sync as if they had trained for years. My arrival was spotted by a slim and effeminate man holding a bow. An arrow was pointed at me before I even realized. I had my shadows ready to shift out of the way if he fired but Pete talked him down. The conversation was rather reasonable for people that likely had the capability to fight me, maybe even in a one-on-one. The only truly noticeable thing was the shy almost boyish scout. Standing in front of him I quickly realized he was the source of the feeling I had most of the afternoon.

I took the risk to fire off a [Hidden Identify] at all of them, starting with muscle and fat as well as the archer. Those were the least likely to have higher mental Attributes than me. In order, they were Kranos, [Axe Berserker], Jasper, [Meat Wall], and Cerberos, [Eagle Archer]. That last one seemed very interesting. I wanted to talk to him and ask why he would choose that particular bird.

Of course, I tried the other two as well. The leader first. He had already introduced himself as Joachim by that point and his Class was [Trick Warrior]. Either that was not as magical a Class as it sounded or he could keep his composure despite being identified. The last one was Ludwig and his Class was [Eldritch Scout]. Now there was an interesting person. I needed to have a chat with him. How would you even get something like that? Depending on what it did I might even consider it instead of [Witch].

Circe had been a good help in convincing the mercenaries, the ‘Plains Brigade’, of my peaceful intent and now we were sitting in the dining hall and the bottom floor of her parents’ house. Or was it Thomas’ house, now that he was [Village Head]?

We kept up small talk with him and Thomas while Joanne and Leon were finishing up dinner for the humans. I had given them some of my tea to brew for everyone. Soon, the group of five men joined us as well. Circe pulled her nose from the smell. I was really glad my Skill worsened that particular sense.

Since dinner would still take a while, the mercenaries started to take a bath Joanne had apparently drawn behind the house. I later found out that it was simply a large barrel of heated water and some primitive soap.

Ludwig and Joachim were the first to come back. They still wore most of their gear but the layer underneath looked fresh at least. The men settled down at the set table and were served a cup of my favourite berry blend. I already was on my second bowl.

Joachim smelled the tea before carefully sipping it. His eyebrows pulled up and he blinked at Joanne.

“How… wonderful!”, he said, “Is this actual tea?”

“It is”, Joanne smiled.

“Where did you get it? I mean, even for us this is really hard to find. The nobles buy everything up the dwarves export. I can just about afford the old stuff. What’s it called? Green tea?”

The woman looked glanced at me which obviously did not escape the scout’s notice.

“You would be surprised how easy it is”, she smirked.

Ludwig narrowed his eyes at me.

“It’s you, right? With your wings, it would be pretty easy to get there within a reasonable time frame.”

Joanne looked at me apologetically. I gave her a soft nod.

“It is. My favourite blend.”

“I’ve tried everything Lord Ekos could get his hands on”, Ludwig said, “And this is the first time I got my hands on this particular one.”

“Are you his taster, or what?”

“No. My sister is married to his son.”

“I see. Well, this blend is one of a few new sorts developed about a year ago. I’m not surprised it’s not being exported yet.”

“There were a few new products around that time. Citrus and spice, if I remember right?”

“Oh. Well, that might be my fault then. I get paid mostly in this one.”

“You get paid?”, Joachim jumped in.

“Yes.”

“By dwarves?”

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“Yes?”

I tilted my head.

“How?”

“I’m a citizen? Oh. Is that an issue?”

I smirked at the stunned faces all around. Only Circe and Mira knew the depth of my involvement with the fluffy-eared fair-folk.

“It would’ve made things a lot easier”, Herbert said.

“That it would’ve”, Joachim nodded.

“How so?”, I asked.

“Dwarven citizens are always welcome in Eterios. As guests or refugees.”

“So you can drag out their secrets?”, I said.

“Not wrong”, Joachim cringed.

“It’s more that dwarves come down harsh on anyone mistreating one of theirs”, Ludwig said, “The little ones are brutally social like that.”

“Well, my family has not gained citizenship of the Dwarven Hills. I believe there’s still good reason for you guys to be here.”

Cerberos walked in at that moment.

“Your family?”, he asked, “What did I miss?”

“The owl’s a dwarven citizen.”

“The fuck?”

Joachim blinked.

“You actually cursed. Freaky.”

“I’m sorry, but what? How? It’s two years old?”

“She!”, Circe said.

The man rolled his eyes.

“Fine. Still, my point stands.”

“I’ve been around…”, I said, “I’m a really fast flier.”

“Right. So we can leave again?”, he turned to his leader.

“Let’s take it slow.”

“Indeed!”, Joanne said, coming in with the food, “Please enjoy our hospitality!”

Leon followed her with more bowls. There were rests of soup and meat from the festival that had been kept somewhat preserved. I did not pay attention as to how but I know they did not use magic. I would have felt that.

“Food!”, Joachim celebrated, “And it smells wonderful!”

“Why thank you!”, Joanne winked.

While she brought in the rest, Jasper and Kranos joined as well. They were quickly caught up on the state of things and then everyone dug in. There was some comfortable silence while the humans ate and I enjoyed my tea. In between sips, I let my gaze wander and scanned the mercenaries for unnatural aspects.

It was pretty obvious in hindsight but Ludwig had a bunch of alienis and praecantatio around his body. Not a lot of raw vis or essence but clearly noticeable in comparison to ‘normal’ humans. He also had some sensus but that was much more subdued.

Joachim was mostly sensus and telum. The latter was an aspect I had not seen a lot as it was the essence of weapons. Usually, it was simply bound in those and not usable vis a person carried on their soul.

The same aspect was pretty much everything Kranos had. There was a little sano, or healing, as well but he was mostly offensive power.

Jasper had corpus and victus as well as tutamen. Body, life and armour. That practically screamed ‘tank’ at me. I was confident he could take a real beating before going down. It would be interesting to see if I could even hurt him with purely physical attacks.

Last but not least, Cerberos. The archer had an abundance of sensus with a slight hint of aer. It made a lot of sense for an archer. Still, I was curious what his Class Skills were. Did he have something like [Eagle Sight] or [Fly Like an Eagle] to improve his accuracy?

Eventually, everyone started to get full and the conversation was picked up again.

“This is truly wonderful, Mrs Helio”, Jasper praised.

“It absolutely is!”, Kranos said, “I love the spicy meat!”

“What did you do with it?”, Jasper asked.

“Oh, are you interested in cooking?”

The man nodded.

“It’s not like the physique gives it away”, Leon said.

He received a flick on the forehead for that comment.

“Behave yourself, Leon!”, Joanne said, “I am terribly sorry, Jasper.”

The man shrugged.

“Not like it’s wrong…”

“To get back to the topic, the spices are all locally sourced. Mira, our [Witch] grows some of them near her hut and the rest can be picked in the forest.”

“I see… I would love to get a recipe if that’s possible.”

“Certainly. I can teach you tomorrow.”

Jasper smiled softly at her. Kranos bumped his shoulder.

“Good for you, eh?”, he winked.

The men shared a look. Joanne broke the moment by clearing her throat.

“I will not tell you what to do”, she said, “but please be a bit considerate of your surroundings.”

“Of course, Ma’am”, Kranos grinned.

“Good. Well, it is getting late. Why don’t we all get some rest and get to talking tomorrow? How does that sound?”

Exhausted nods went around the table like a lazy wave. I still had some energy but I also had not eaten dinner yet. I would close off the day with a little hunt.

“Sounds good”, Thomas said, “How about an hour after dawn? Can everyone make it by then?”

A few glances were exchanged before Joachim agreed to the proposal.

“Do I have to come?”, Circe asked.

“Might as well”, her brother said.

“I’ll see that I bring Mum or Yuuna at least”, I said.

“That would be great”

“Very well then!”, Joanne clapped her hands, “If some of you could help me do the dishes, I would be very grateful.”

Circe and Leon groaned but before they could be solicited by their mother, Jasper and Joachim were already on their way to the kitchen. The woman winked at her kids.

“Looks like you managed to dodge your responsibilities this time”, she said.