Chapter 121
A Deal Disliked
After a long walk from the outskirts of the city, Erin, Ryle and Arkay finally got back to their group’s hotel room. During the walk, none of them had said a single word, as there was a sour mood hanging over them from what they had just gotten themselves into. Not only had they pretty much failed their mission, but they were now under the threat of Rayleen, who was blackmailing them into doing work for her.
While they were relieved that they wouldn’t have to commit some sort of a crime that they would have regret for the rest of their lives, such as assassinate some innocent person the warlord didn’t like, the job they got wasn’t something to be desired. Even if Ryle and Arkay didn’t have the same knowledge that Erin possessed, they could guess that the monster they were being ordered to slay was not going to be an easy prey. On the other hand, Erin fully knew what they were up against and dreaded the battle ahead. Even the dragon they had faced back in Laughing Ogre’s games wasn’t as big of a threat as the Reaper Maggot.
Still, with their backs against the wall, they didn’t really have much a choice in the matter. All they could do was prepare as well as they could and hope it would be enough.
With a heavy heart, Erin grabbed the doorknob and opened the door. She was still trying to come up with a good explanation for what had happened for the others.
“We’re back-”
“WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU GUYS BEEN!?” Lexton yelled in a mixture of anger and worry, cutting off the redhead. “Do you have ANY idea how worried we’ve been!? We thought something bad might have happened to you all!”
“Hey, no need to go at them like a wild animal, Lex! They just got back!” Durge said in an effort to calm down the kobold, before turning towards the friends who had just arrived. “Although, we were worried about you guys. Considering who you were going up against, I wouldn’t have been surprised if she had an entire army waiting to ambush you all or something. Glad to see that our worries were not warranted.”
While a bit taken aback by the sudden outburst from Lexton, Erin was glad to see that the people left behind had been concerned about them. She looked over to where Zeldana was sitting on the floor, looking like she didn’t care at all, but the redhead could notice the elf let out a tiny sigh of relief upon seeing the three of them were alright.
“Anyways, now that we have confirmed that nothing bad happened to you guys, I suppose we might as well get down to business,” Durge said, breaking Erin out of her thoughts. “So, what did you find out? Were you able to figure out why Rayleen is here or where her base of operations is?”
“That… We were able to find out why she was here,” the redhead said with a heavy sigh, which confused the ones who hadn’t been with her. “Turns out that the reason she was hanging around these parts was because she wanted to meet us.”
“Us? She wanted to meet us?” Lexton asked, getting a nod in response from Erin. “What exactly do you mean by that?”
“Exactly what I just said. She wanted to get into contact with us and even tested us a bit,” the redhead replied. “And now we have to do a job for her or else we’re dead.”
The silence that followed the redhead’s reply was so absolute that you could hear the sound of a pin dropping on the floor. Both Lexton and Durge had shocked expressions on their faces as they stared at Erin with wide eyes. The kobold was also pale in the face with his normally red scales having turned close to white. Zeldana was also surprised by the news, although her reaction was nowhere near as severe as Durge or Lexton. Her eyes were just a bit wide, as she hadn’t expected such an answer.
“...Okay, I did not expect anything like that,” Lexton said in a shaky voice, as he sat on the floor, no longer trusting his legs to hold him up. “I mean, I suppose I shouldn’t be too surprised. After all, why else would someone like Rayleen want to get into contact with us? This might be better than any alternative that could have happened. It still leaves me with one question, though.”
“What’s that, Lex?” Erin asked.
“WHAT THE ABSOLUTE SHIT, ERIN!?” the kobold yelled as loudly as he could, surprising everybody with how loud he could be. “Why the hell would you go and accept a job from one of the warlords!? God only knows what kind of a horrible crime against everything that’s good in this world she want us to commit!”
“Hey, it’s not like we had a choice!” Ryle shouted, joining the conversation. “She had us captured, so we couldn’t really just tell her to piss off with her job offer! If we did that, I doubt we would have come back alive!”
“You got captured?” Durge asked. “Did she have her forces waiting in ambush or something?”
“Well… Uhh…” the blonde struggled to explain what had happened, not wanting to admit they were all beaten by a single opponent.
“If only that had been the case. She actually beat us all on her own,” Erin answered to Durge’s question. “We thought that we would have the upper hand, since she was all on her own, but it ended up being a completely one-sided defeat, where she washed over us. We even used our best moves on her, but it didn’t help at all. It was like a bunch of infants trying to take on an adult.”
“...Erin, did you really have to put it like THAT?” Ryle asked in a depressed tone. “It’s bad enough that we got our asses beat, but did you really have to make it all the more embarrassing with the way you described it?”
“Look, I don’t like what happened to us any more than you do, okay? I just feel like it would be for the best to be brutally honest right now,” the redhead explained. “Fact of the matter is that we completely underestimated Rayleen due to what happened with Gotzmeyer. She is on a completely different league when compared to him and I can only imagine some of our future opponents will be as well. We can’t allow ourselves to make the same mistake again or we might end up dead the next time.”
“I get that, but still… Couldn’t you have softened it at least a bit?” the blonde asked.
“Whatever the case, the most important thing is that you guys got back alive. As long as you live, you can learn from your mistakes for the sake of the future. And considering what could have happened, her forcing us to take on a job for her doesn’t seem too bad,” Durge said. “Still, I do have to worry about this a bit. We are talking about a warlord, after all. I can’t imagine her giving us any kind of work that’s nice and easy. Did she tell you what she wanted?”
“Well… The thing is that she apparently wants us to go after Golorath. Turns out that she isn’t exactly a loyal person,” Erin answered, earning surprised looks from the ones who didn’t already know this. “However, before doing any of that, she wants us to do something else in order to prove ourselves to her.”
“Great… Not only are we getting ordered around by her, but she’s also going to be very demanding,” Lexton said with a frustrated sigh. “So? What does she want us to do?”
“There’s a beast that lives in the huge crater at the edge of the city. She wants us to go and kill it,” the redhead replied.
Once again, it seemed like Erin was the only one who knew the true terror of the Reaper Maggot, as Durge and Zeldana looked concerned, but not outright scared. Judging by this reaction, she assumed that they weren’t aware of the monster who lived nearby.
However, when looking at Lexton, the redhead found out that she wasn’t the only one aware of the monstrous creature that they were ordered to kill. The kobold had an expression of sheer terror, like he had just seen his worst nightmare come to life right in front of him.
“Lex?” Ryle called out to the kobold. “Are you okay?”
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“...Do you have any idea what we’ve just been ordered to do?” Lexton asked in a low voice. “Of the sheer danger that we are going to have to face? Do you know anything at all about that monster?”
“I know about it,” Erin replied, surprising everybody else in the room. “I am fully aware of just how dangerous of a foe we are dealing with.”
“Really? You are? That’s great! Because I now have to wonder why the hell you would go accepting a job, where we have to face a monster even more dangerous than the FREAKING DRAGON WE WERE BARELY ABLE TO KILL!?” the kobold yelled. “Out of all the things! All! Of! The freaking! THINGS! Rayleen told you to go and kill the goddamn REAPER MAGGOT!? A MONSTER THAT NO ONE HAS BEEN ABLE TO KILL DESPITE DECADES OF ATTEMPTS!? ARE YOU SERIOUS!?”
“Hey, please don’t get mad at Erin, Lex!” Arkay pleaded. “I know that this seems bad and all, but we didn’t have a choice, remember!? It was either this or we would have all ended up dead!”
“Yeah! Chill out a bit, okay!?” Ryle said. “Besides, you said this thing is called a Reaper Maggot? I’m sure we can handle it! I mean, how dangerous can a worm really be? Come on!”
“Oh, you sweetly naive freaking moron… How I envy your lack of knowledge right now,” Lexton said as he stared down at the floor like he was expecting the end of the world. “None of you have any idea just how dangerous of a creature we are dealing with here, do you? This thing isn’t just some average beast that you might run into due to bad luck. We are talking about an apex predator that has made that nearby area its own kingdom.”
“Okay, so we’re not dealing with your average pest problem here. Gotcha,” the blonde said with a slightly nervous tone, as the kobold’s description of the monster was not filling her with confidence. “But there are always beasts that are more difficult to handle than what you’d normally come across, right? I mean, there are dragons and other gigantic beasts, like spiders and scorpions. Don’t you think that compared to the dragon we took down that a single worm, no matter how big it might be, isn’t much of a threat?”
“You mean the dragon that was one the lowest end of the pecking order when it comes to dragons? The dragon that nearly wiped us all out and took us a crap ton of luck to kill? Is it that dragon that you’re referring to?” Lexton asked sarcastically. “This isn’t my first time in this city, okay? Spend enough time here and you’ll learn sooner or later just how horrible of a monster that damn worm is.”
“And… just how dangerous is it?” Arkay asked as his face was beginning to turn pale.
“Last time I was here, there was a professional monster hunter group in the city. They specialize in hunting dangerous beasts that cause issues to the population and then sell the materials they gather from the bodies,” the kobold began to explain. “The had over ten members, all of them experienced hunters with the best equipment money could buy. Not only that, but they were undoubtedly good at what they were doing, as they had taken down several dragons similar to the one we faced. They all went down to kill the worm, but only one of them came back. He later died from the venom that the Reaper Maggot had used on him.”
“...How do you know those guys had killed dragons?” Ryle asked with a pale face. “Could have just been a lie they told in order to make themselves look better.”
“I saw their severed heads on display,” Lexton replied. “How else do you think I recognized the one we saw at the arena?”
Silence fell over the room once again as everybody processed the kobold’s story. Ryle, Arkay and Durge were looking pale and terrified, as they thought back on the dragon they had faced and began to put things into perspective. Lexton already looked like he had given up all hope, as he was the one who, outside of Erin, knew the most about the Reaper Maggot. The redhead herself wasn’t showing signs of panic, as she was already aware of the monster’s strength, but she still had a worried look on her face. The only one who seemed to be completely calm was Zeldana, who only seemed to be surprised.
“...Screw this!” Ryle suddenly shouted. “Why the hell should we go after a monster that is a bigger danger than a freaking dragon!? This is nothing more than a suicide mission! I say we gather our stuff and get the hell out of here!”
“What a coincidence. I was just thinking the exact same thing,” Lexton said. “If Rayleen is here on her own, then we just might be able to make a run for it. We might have to deal with some rather annoying pursuers at some point, but that’s about it. We should be able to handle it.”
“Now hang on a second! Don’t you think we should avoid underestimating her a second time!?” Erin asked. “The whole reason we are in this mess is because we stupidly thought that she wouldn’t notice us, yet all of her movements were in order to catch us! Wouldn’t it be correct to assume that she has considered the possibility of us trying to run away and not fulfill our end of the deal!?”
“I get what you’re saying, but I think it’s best for us to simply think of the best way for us get out of this alive! And fighting the Reaper Maggot is NOT the way to do that!” the kobold argued. “Besides, she is here on her own! Unless she is following us herself constantly, I don’t see how she would ever find out that we decided to skip town!”
“That’s explained easily. She left someone to watch over us,” Zeldana said, getting everybody’s attention. “Or at least that’s what it seems like. Otherwise, I don’t have any idea who the person hiding right behind the door is supposed to be.”
Before anyone could ask the elf what she was talking about, there was a loud sound outside the door, like someone falling on the floor, before scrambling on their feet and running away. Ryle managed to run up to the door and open it just in time to see someone disappear behind a corner.
“Goddammit!” the blonde cursed. “I’m gonna-!”
“No! Don’t chase him!” Erin shouted, stopping Ryle from going after the spy. “Even if you managed to catch him, there are probably multiple others ready to take his place! Not only that, but if Rayleen doesn’t hear from him, she could assume that we are not going to accomplish our task! The best thing we can do is simply let him go and figure out what to do next!”
Despite wanting to go after the spy, the blonde knew that the redhead was right. Without saying a word, she simply closed the door and joined the rest of the group in their conversation.
“So… Our options are to either go fight a monster more fearsome than anything we have ever seen before or risk our lives in trying to escape the wrath of Rayleen,” Durge summarized. “Those don’t seem like very good options to me…”
“Sometimes in life you gotta make a choice between two bad ones, instead of having a good one at all,” Zeldana said with a shrug. “We just have to choose the less crappy one.”
“Easier said than done! Both of our options are absolutely horrendous!” Lexton complained. “How are we supposed to choose either of them!?”
“You guys don’t have to,” Erin suddenly said, getting the attention of everybody else. “I’ll go face the Reaper Maggot on my own.”
The reason the redhead wanted to try killing the Reaper Maggot on her own was because she considered that the whole mess they were in now was her fault. In her mind, she should have been able to pick up on how weird everything had been when it came to Rayleen, thus avoiding them falling into her trap and being forced into such an unfavorable spot. Not only that, but as she was the one with technically the most experience with the Reaper Maggot, Erin felt like she had the best chance at beating it.
However, her friends were NOT onboard with her suggestion.
“WHAT!? What the hell do you think you’re saying, Erin!?” Ryle yelled angrily at the redhead. “How do you expect to take on a creature more dangerous than a dragon on your own!? Are you high or something!?”
“Erin, I get that you’re skilled and all, but don’t you think you’re being a bit too cocky?” Durge asked with a raised eyebrow. “You cannot be seriously thinking that facing such a monster by yourself is a good idea!”
“Trust me guys, I don’t want to do this any more than you do,” the redhead replied. “Unlike most of you, I actually know what the Reaper Maggot can do, so I know just how deadly of a monster it truly is. In all honesty, I’d prefer if I didn’t have to face that thing at all.”
“How do you know about it so much?” Lexton asked. “And if you’re aware of how much of a fool’s errand this is, why would you ever insist on going at it on your own?”
“I used to know… some people who used to travel the world a lot. Through them I learned about the Reaper Maggot and its abilities,” Erin tried to explain while hiding the truth, hoping that it sounded believable enough. “As for why I want to face it on my own, I don’t want to drag any of you into this. I should have been able to tell that there was something strange with the way Rayleen was acting and-”
The redhead’s explanation was cut short, as Ryle grabbed her by the front of her shirt and slammed her against the wall. The blonde glared at her with barely restrained fury as she was gritting her teeth.
“Let me guess. You’re going to tell us about how YOU should have been able to tell that we were walking into a trap and YOU are the one ultimately responsible for this crap situation, right!?” Ryle asked angrily. “When the hell did you become our freaking mom!? Last time I checked, we all knew about Rayleen’s strange behavior and I was chasing her with you, along with Arnie! Who the hell are you to take on all the responsibility!?”
“B-But I felt like something strange was going on!” Erin tried to argue. “If only I had- OOF!”
This time the redhead was cut off by a punch to the gut that knocked the air out of her lungs. Ryle continued to glare at her, while Erin was on her knees, gasping for air.
“You know, I like you, okay? I think you’re a real good friend and I would have never followed after you otherwise,” the blonde said while barely containing her anger. “But there is one thing about you that I seriously! Do you know what that is!? It’s how you stupidly think that you can carry everything on your shoulders! Who the hell are you to do everything for us!? Are we just children in your eyes or something in your eyes!?”
“N-NO!” the redhead cried out desperately. “I just think that I’m the one who should-!”
“SHUT UP! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW INSULTING THAT IS!?” Ryle screamed furiously. “Do you think that WE cannot take any responsibility for what happens!? Do you think WE are unable to do the things you think you need to do!? DO YOU THINK WE DON’T CARE ABOUT YOU THE SAME WAY YOU CARE ABOUT US!?”
Erin was left completely speechless. She looked around at the others and could tell by their faces that they all agreed with Ryle.
“Erin, we are all in this together. And we want all of us to get through this without being harmed. That includes you as well,” Durge said with a hint of disappointment in his voice, that stabbed the redhead in the heart. She felt like she was being scolded by her father. “You should be able to trust all of us to put as much effort as you do into our work. Don’t think of us as something you need to protect. Instead, expect us to protect you in return.”
“Honestly, you seem like such a smart person and then you go do something dumb like this?” Lexton asked with a sigh. “Sometimes I wonder if you’re a bigger idiot than Ryle…”
“HEY!” the blonde yelled.
“Besides, your whole idea is completely illogical. Do you really think that Rayleen would even agree to such a deal? If she really wants that damn worm dead, I doubt she’d be happy to hear that the chances of that happening have become worse!” the kobold continued. “But what I’m most angry is that you think any of us would be happy to send you out as a sacrifice to save our own asses! Do you think that little of us!?”
“To be fair, you kind of give off that type of vibe,” Ryle said with a shrug.
“Shut it, moron!” Lexton yelled at the blonde.
“Erin, can’t you trust us?” Arkay asked as he walked up to the redhead. “Do you really think we all followed you, thinking that we can just blame you for everything? We want to help you, too! That’s why I wanted to go along with you!”
“I’ve seen quite a few people try to do that lone wolf crap in my life. Believe me when I say that it never works out well,” Zeldana said. “I’ve come too far to let you just cut me off like this now, okay? So whether you go after the Reaper Maggot or not, I’m coming along.”
Erin felt like her heart was breaking as tears fell from her eye. She didn’t have any words to say, as she instead pulled Arkay into a tight hug, which was soon joined by Ryle. The others stood to the side with smiles on their faces, happy that they had gotten through to Erin.
The redhead might have been carrying a lot on her, but she wasn’t carrying it all alone.
image [https://i.ibb.co/52YXKK9/Ch-121-Pic-1.jpg]