Though I was surprized by the fact that Heinrich somehow managed to get himself blacklisted from the explorer’s guild, that wasn’t my main point of concern. I was more concerned with the fact that he really, really wouldn’t be having a good time with the other guilds.
Merchants, crafters, adventurers, mercenaries... you name it and they’d be suspicious of him and up their prices just because he was blacklisted from the explorer’s guild.
But, unlike me, Heinrich didn’t seem to see the matter as something of concern, and instead sipped from his tea and looked at me and continued talking.
“Yeah... I got blacklisted from the explorer’s guild but, believe me when I zay this, it was not my mistake.”
“Then whose mistake, was it?” I asked, not believing a word he said because people didn’t just get blacklisted from guilds all the time, over nothing.
Taking another sip of his tea, Heinrich looked out of a nearby window, and then turned towards me.
“Don’t you have to open you shop? If zo, I’ll just head out and we’ll talk later.” he said, and started getting up, but before he could get away, I grabbed his arm, and guided him back down.
“You are not leaving without telling me what you did.” I said with a stern tone, to which he just sighed to, and then started talking.
“Okay, okay... it might’ve been my mistake... partially.”
“Partially?”
“We’ll, I asked zome people to accompany me for a zhort expedition and... I learned that the difference between how humans and half-elves perceive time is much, much more different than I’d initially thought.”
“And how short of an expedition are we talking about?” I asked, actually curious about how badly he fucked up.
“3 months” he said something under his breath, which I couldn’t quite understand so I told him to say it louder.
“3 months”
“Louder.” I then repeated.
“3 MONTHS!” he then replied with a yell.
Then, I stood there, and started massaging my temples.
“Heinrich... I know that there are differences in how we perceive time like you said, but honestly, not understanding an entire season is a long amount of time is your problem, not a problem between how different races perceive time.” I said, to which he wanted to reply, but I didn’t let him and continued.
“Did you at least pay them for the 3 whole months?” I asked, to which he quickly replied to.
“Of course! I am not a zcammer of any zorts, I’d even zay I overpaid them for their zervice!” he replied. Then, I finished my cup and got up.
“What are you doing?” he asked, clearly confused.
“Like what you said, I have to actually open up shop today and can’t spend the entire morning talking to you, but we are not done yet! I expect you to come back tonight so we can continue to our conversation, and I will not be taking no for an answer.” I said, turning towards him.
“Okay, I will be back tonight.” he said, raising his hands like he had conceded.
“But before I go... what do you do all day here?” he then asked.
“What do you mean? I am a beginner alchemist, so alchemy. If you want me to be more specific, I usually make and sell medical and healing products I make in my workstation down the stairs.” I replied, to which Heinrich flashed a smile to.
“Then, won’t you come with me? I’ve contracted a team of adventurers other than the explorer I talked about, but we don’t have anyone too well versed in healing, zo you’d be perfect for the job! And it’s going to be a zhort expedition anyways, zo you won’t be away from your home for too long!” he said, and from his tone and body language it was clear that he was hoping that I’d accept.
“...Heinrich, you just told me your definition of ‘short’ is 3 months, I don’t have the time to waste on that, and even if I did, going to a place with potentially a monster town led by a dryad, or dryads, seems like a bad idea.”
“But it won’t be! Any dryads there wouldn’t be that ztrong, and we’d zense it before we even came anywhere close to the potential town, the dryad, or the spirit tree!” he then continued to try and convince me to come with him.
And while I could’ve really used a vacation... I wouldn’t exactly call walking through a forest, and then through mountains for 3 months as vacation, and even if I were crazy enough to call that a vacation, I couldn’t come for other reasons.
“Heinrich, you know that I am renting this building out, right? So, if I left this place for longer than a few weeks or a month, the mayor would just place a new renter here, and I really don’t want to lose the place I’ve lived in and improved for the past few years.” I said, hoping to finish this conversation and actually open up shop, but before I could walk downstairs Heinrich started talking once again.
“Then... how about I buy this place for you? It probably doesn’t cost that much, right?” he asked with a questioning tone while putting a hand on his chin.
“Haahhh... Heinrich, while I know that you are rich, and you mean good when you offered to buy this building, I cannot in good conscience let you buy an entire building, just so I can come with you on an expedition. And you haven’t even convinced me to come, and why would I?” I asked him, wondering what he was going to say now.
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“Couldn’t you use a zpirit tree as material for alchemy?” he asked me and then continued.
“I am zure we could convince the zpirits living there to let us take a few branches, and maybe even some zap from the tree itself, and even if neither the tree nor the black zite are real, then it’d be just a normal adventure, no? Actually, no, it wouldn’t be like a normal adventure, it’d be more like a camping trip! A very, very long camping trip!” he said enthusiastically, trying to convince me to come with him.
While he wasn’t being too convincing... it seemed, he wanted me to come, even if it was to just accompany him.
“Hmm... maybe, I’ll decide later but, are you sure about wanting to buy an entire house, just for me?” I asked him, wanting to think over his proposition a bit more before giving an answer.
“Yup, that I am! How much is this house even worth by the way?” he asked, to which... I couldn’t answer because I didn’t know the answer to, never asked the mayor or any of the workers in his manor about the actual price of the property.
“Oh? Then do you want me to go and ask them?” he then said which would be... a good idea, but the mayor wouldn’t sell this place before I left, so I needed to come with him if we wanted to do this.
“No, we need to go together to ask, and before going we need to schedule a meeting with someone from the manor beforehand, and we’ll probably not get the mayor, just so you know. While this place might not be that big, he still has a lot on his plate to entertain every commoner that has some job with the government.”
“Hmm... then when can we go?” he then asked.
“We should be able to make a reservation today, if I close up shop early that is, though I don’t know when there is going to be an open spot that we can take, but it shouldn’t take longer than a week at most to finalize a deal with the mayor or some other middleman.” I replied.
“Zweet! Then can you close up zhop early tonight so we can make a reservation?”
“Yup, should be able to.” I said, to which he just gave an okay sign and started collecting his stuff, preparing to leave.
But stopping me before I could go downstairs once again, he asked something else.
“Oh, would you mind meeting the rest of the team tonight?”
“Hmm... eh, why not? If we finish up early that is.” I replied and finally went downstairs to open up shop.
Heinrich came back after I was done working, and we moved to the manor and made a reservation for a few days with someone that was authorized to finalize a deal to sell the house.
Then Heinrich led me to a tavern where he said he’d be meeting up with the rest of the guys he contracted, but after we entered, he led me to a table with a... drunken man.
“Heinrich why are you bringing me to a table with a... drunken vagabond?” I asked Heinrich quietly, but before he could respond, the man on the table responded.
“Aww, thank you lady! That might’ve been just the kindest thing someone said to me whole day!” the... surprisingly not drunken man said, putting his hands above his heart as if what I said was something heartwarming.
“Heinrich... who is this man?” I asked Heinrich, to which he quickly responded to.
“This—” he said pointing at the very not drunken vagabond with his hand.
“—is Lazarus, one of the 3 adventurers I contracted. He used to fill the position of the ranged support and detection for his team, but due to the explorer I hired, he will only be providing ranged support in case we are attacked by beasts.” he said, and Lazarus started talking right after he was done.
“And this Lazarus here is quite good at using swords and daggers as well, so, if need be, I can change between ranged support to close quarters combat quickly, though I doubt we’d need to worry about that in a forest if we are being careful.” the man added.
“And why does he look so... drunk?” I asked, pointing at Lazarus. But before Heinrich could answer, Lazarus started talking.
“These spots—” he said pointing at his reddened cheeks and nose.
“—are from birth. A lot of blood flows there or something and it gets red, why does it do that? No clue, but you don’t have to worry about me being constantly drunk or something.” he finished, then I and Heinrich sat down, and I gave a good look at Lazarus.
He had red spots on his cheeks and nose, black eyes and a long black hair that extended to his chest. His get up could be best described as... rugged. He didn’t seem to care much about his outer appearance, or it could be just that he was trying to trick people into a false sense of security with his looks? ... No, that couldn’t be, right?
“So... where are the other guys? And how many of them did you make a contract with?” I turned towards Heinrich and asked.
“I made contract with 3 adventurers, I’d like to have made more but... apparently being blacklisted from the explorer’s guild is a big turn off for adventurers, don’t know why.”
“And who are the other 2 you contracted? And where is the explorer?”
“Elise said she wouldn’t be able to come today, but don’t worry, I’ve made a contract with her, and she should be here a few days before we set off, and the other two...” Heinrich then turned towards Lazarus who was just listening to our conversation, then he picked where Heinrich left off.
“The other two are Xavier and Xylene, and they should be here soon, but while we wait for them, why don’t we have a formal introduction lady...?” he said, extending a hand towards me.
“Caroline—” I said grabbing his hand with one of mine, and then continued.
“Herbalist, rank F, former adventurer, like you, I can use daggers quite well, but nothing else. I’ll be acting as our group’s on-site healer, if you feel bad, or are injured, I should be able to whip up something quite quickly, or just give you a potion.” I finished, and Lazarus opened his mouth, ready to speak, but before he could, I heard a rough voice coming from the side.
“Xavier, Shieldsmen, rank E, former farmer, I use a tower shield and a great sword, but I usually just stick to the shield and let the others do the fighting.” and when I turned towards the voice, to my surprise I saw an absolute unit of a man.
He was easily 190 cm, he had olive skin and a weird accent, rough black hair, brown eyes, and wore a brigandine armour and, while he didn’t have the aforementioned tower shield and the great sword, I could see him carrying them very, very easily.
Then my eyes shifted to someone else on his side and the only thing I could say was... small.
The women, who I assumed to be Xylene, was at max 160 cm, had hazel eyes and short brown hair that didn’t pass her neck, and was standing next to the absolute unit of a man looking quite... grumpy.
Then we all waited for a moment for her to introduce herself but...
“C’mon sweetie, introduce yourself.” Xavier said softly and tapped the short women’s shoulder.
But the women just shrugged him off, and sat at the corner of the table, still looking quite grumpy.
But before I could ask what was going on with them, Xavier started introducing her.
“She is Xylene, my wife, swordsmen, rank F, and she uses 2 swords while fighting and likes to charge forwards towards enemies, she’s got a... bit of bloodlust in her, but she’s a sweetheart once you get to know her.” Xavier said, and from the corner of my eyes I could see Lazarus making an X sign with his hands secretly.
But he seemingly wasn’t as sneaky as he thought as everybody saw his hand signs towards me, and Xavier slapped him in the back as he passed, sitting next to his wife.
Then, Lazarus formally introduced himself.
“Lazarus, Rouge, Rank, F, like what I said I can use a bow, swords, and daggers, I’ll also be the cook for the journey.”
Then I looked over everyone that I met tonight, from the... vagabond, who was going to be the cook, to the literal giant, to lastly the small ball of anger and the only think I could think of was... that this expedition or whatever was going to be a shit show.