As Zycor and Mylon entered the merchants guild, Zycor and the receptionist's eyes met, at which point the latter asked one of the guards to inform Dreiford that Zycor had arrived. As the duo approached the reception desk, the receptionist smiled and cheerfully commented, “Welcome back, young lad. I see you have brought a friend with you this time.”
Mylon put his right hand on his chest and gave a slight bow as he politely introduced himself, “You may call me Mylon ma’am, it’s a pleasure.”
Looking Mylon up and down, the receptionist noticed his weapons and began to courteously explain, “My, how polite you are! The pleasure is mine! However, sir, I must ask that you leave your weapons here, it’s the guilds policy.”
Mylon nodded, and removed his sword and shield. As he finished de-arming, the guard came back to inform Zycor and Mylon that Dreiford would see them.
Upon entering Dreifords office, both Zycor and Mylon were met with a warm welcome. “Why, if it isn’t my favorite boy and his friend!” Dreiford enthusiastically exclaimed.
He had a few bandages covering his face and his left arm was in a cast. Dreiford, curious about the creature wrapped around the back of Zycor’s neck, asked, “What brings you out here? And, what’s that around your neck?”
Zycor nonchalantly responded, “This is my new pet, his name is Novos. As for why we are here, I wanted to know why those Velathrian scumbags were attacking you like that.”
Dreiford let out a hefty sigh, “Ah yes, I was hoping you would have forgotten about that.”
Dreiford paused as he began to fidget with a look of guilt on his face. Mylon, noticing this, narrowed his eyes and aggressively demanded, “What did you do.”
Flinching at the harshness of Mylon’s voice, Dreiford looked at Zycor as he guiltily admitted, “Zycor my boy, I must apologize. They were here looking for you, because of some information I had given to an associate of mine. Unfortunately, he was working with Velathria to hunt you down for some reason. So when I heard about this, I of course tried to conceal you from them. Though, as you saw, they did not believe me.”
Mylon slammed his hands on Dreifords desk as he hissed through gritted teeth, “It’s amazing how you didn’t choke on all that bullshit that just came out of your mouth. You could grow a field of crops with that amount. Now how about you knock it off, and tell us what really happened!”
“I did tell you what happened, honest!” Dreiford responded, trying to defend himself.
Mylon retorted, “Oh please, I have to deal with a half orc who lies about stuff all the time, I had to get good at detecting them in order to keep us somewhat out of trouble. What makes you think you can lie better? Velathria is around a two month journey give or take depending on how you travel. Velathria receiving word about the incident with Zycor and the rest of the party may have been able to reach them quickly with the help of magic, but sending back up would have taken vastly longer. Considering those soldiers got here so quickly, I can only assume they were tipped off over two months prior! I am cool most of the time, but when someone puts a friend in danger, there is gonna be hell to pay!”
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Stunned with shock and the feeling of defeat, Dreifords guilt fully consumed him. Dreiford gave up on trying to save face and spilled everything, “I am, again, sorry. Sorry for lying, but also sorry for what I have done.” He looked at Zycor and, despite the immense amount of regret, continued, “I was the one who gave them the information about you. They were offering a large sum of money for any information regarding you, so I told them you were staying here. They told me it was so they could contact you about some of your family members that survived the raid on your village. I didn’t know that you had been through something like that, so I informed them about your whereabouts, hoping they would be able to help you. But when they showed up, they were armed to the teeth and demanded I bring them to you. I realized I had been played for a fool. And, well, you saw the rest. I cannot believe that, despite my line of work, someone was able to play me to such a degree. I am truly sorry that my incompetence has put you in so much danger, my boy.”
Zycor stood in silence, shocked to his very core. And yet, there was more than just shock. As what Dreiford said sank in more, Zycors anger began to rise. Sure, it made him sad to hear Dreiford was the reason they showed up, but he was only trying to help. What pissed him off is the fact they were trying to gather information under the pretense of reuniting him with his family. A family that, due to their own actions, didn’t exist. “Those… BASTARDS! I swear, when I get my hands on them I will slaughter them all!” Zweicor screamed from within.
Zycor may have remained silent, but his rage and anger could be felt by both Mylon and Dreiford. Lightning began to dully spark around Zycors body as he clenched his fist. Novos woke up as if reacting to Zycors emotions as he began emitting his own lightning and growling. Mylon tried to calm Zycor down as he stated, “Hey buddy, there is a time and a place for everything, but this is neither friend. You heard him, it’s not Dreiford or this place that you should be directing your rage towards.”
His left eye slightly twitched as Zycor began to relax his fists and the electricity dissipated. Novos was still growling and emitting some electricity, but when Zycor began to pet his head, Novos began to calm down. Zycor looked at Mylon and nodded as he admitted, “You are right.”
He looked to Dreiford and, with an exhale, softly responded, “I forgive you, uncle Dreiford. You were only trying to help. You even got hurt trying to make things right, so thank you.”
Zycor turned around and began to leave Dreifords office. Dreiford worriedly asked, “I-is it really ok? My actions nearly cost you everything that you worked so hard to obtain. Are you really ok with this?”
Without turning around or stopping, Zycor responded, “Yes, you’re family after all.”
Upon finishing his statement, Zycor closed the door behind him. “Ah jeez,” Mylon began, “I can't believe he up and left without me. Hey, wait up!”
Mylon hurried out of the office and after Zycor, leaving Dreiford sitting alone in his office. As he sat contemplating everything that just happened, a single tear rolled down his face as he quietly murmured, “Thank you.”
The walk back to the guild hall was a quiet one. Despite his best efforts, Mylon was unable to take Zycors mind off of what he had just learned. As they reached the adventurers guild around noon, Zycor stopped. Zycor turned to Mylon and adamantly stated, “What was just discussed stays between us. I don’t want mom or anyone else finding out about it. Not yet at least.”
Mylon, frustratedly replied, “Are you kidding me? That is some really important information you know!? And you want me to just not say anything?!”
Without breaking eye contact, Zycor with a pained look in his eyes pleaded, “Please, Mylon. They don’t need to worry about this right now.”
Mylon's face contorted with frustration as he violently scratched his head. He finally yelled, “Ah fine, screw it! If that’s what you want, fine. But I take no responsibility for what comes of it.”
As Zycor thanked him, they began to enter the guild hall while Mylon complained, “You know, you finally showing emotion makes it vastly more difficult to say no to you.”