“Milady, we found them.” Zenith says respectfully with a short bow.
“Finally! Where are they?” Catherine asks in a hurry, turning to her maid after leaving the fourth bar so far today. A hired runner is standing not too far away, having just delivered a message to her maid.
“They are at the Boar’s Head, next to the Adventu-”
“Wait. Why didn’t they just start by searching there first? We could have saved so much time!”
“Apologies, milady. The men we hired went to investigate any rumors they heard about the party that survived the Dungeon, but there is word of it all over the city, with several others now also claiming to be said party. To make matters worse, The Green Scarves was not a renowned party before this all happened, so many people do not even know their faces, nor even that it was them to begin with. There are so many versions of the story going around that don’t even have a proper count of the party’s numbers anymore. We're in luck that we knew to look for four people, or this might have taken much longer.”
“That fails to explain why we didn’t think to check the place that is right next to the Guild.” Catherine states, choosing to ignore the fact that she didn’t think of it either. Though, admittedly, her mind hasn’t been as sharp since those nightmares have been ruining her sleep, last night’s in particular is still weighing heavily on her mind and leaving her feeling sluggish…
Zenith herself, suppresses a blush of embarrassment and tries to keep herself looking professional and stoic, only letting her eyes wander a bit off to the side. Though this is mostly just for show and isn’t because she had failed to think that they might be there. Quite the contrary, she figured they would be there. Zenith simply wanted her master to get out of the hotel and spend some time walking around and getting some fresh air.
“Apologies, milady.”
Catherine turns slightly and looks to the bar that she had just left. The establishment is a place of higher quality than most people would normally frequent, but she had figured that it wasn’t too expensive of a place to go. Though, this is by her standards as a Noble, and she must admit that she had only seen a handful of the more well off and successful adventurers there.
This is why I needed Shane; he knew how to think like an adventurer. Of course they would be at a cheaper place. They like to save money after all…
Cursing the fog in her brain and her lack of sleep, Catherine pushes aside her complaints and thanks her maid, ordering her to call off the search.
The messenger is quickly paid, a handful of coppers changing hands, and then her maid is beside her again.
Letting out a tired breath despite her training telling her to always remain composed and dignified, Catherine sets off back towards the center of the city.
The walk is a long one, what with the port city being so large and heavily populated, and she finds herself wishing that she could splurge a little on a carriage. Regretfully, paying for one to fairy her around town in comfort is currently a luxury that is outside of her budget. She already had limited funds as is, and a large portion of her personal war chest has already gone into funding her efforts here, another portion being promised as bonuses on the bounty, and then some being set aside to pay for lodgings and food expenses.
Poor Caterine doesn’t even have the spare coin for buying that nice dress she saw the other day. She’ll just have to be patient and wait for her allowance, even if it is smaller than all her other siblings receive. One of the many downsides of being the youngest…
Still, Catherine’s boots are of a high quality, her family always having been ones for prioritizing utility over fashion. So, while most daughters of Nobility would have been walking around in high heels, showing off a scandalous amount of ankle no less, and complaining about sore feet, Catherine is rather comfortable in her tall boots as she walks down the sidewalk.
Along the way, she happens to smell something sweet and looks to find a bakery that caters to a higher class of clientele, delicate looking pastries and cakes decorating their displays like gems in a treasury. But one display by the window catches her attention as she is about to walk past, desperately resisting the urge to buy a tasty snack.
Cookies.
She stops in her tracks, her mind freezing up as she looks at the delicious looking things of varying flavors and decoration, her eyes stopping on the chocolate chips.
“You should have just given me a cookie…”
The words escape her lips without prompt, nothing but a whisper heard by no one but herself. Not even her maid hears it.
With a shake, Catherine fights off the memories of that dream, pushing away the half dead face of that monster in her mind as she pulls herself back into focus.
What was that dream? And what could cookies possibly have anything to do with it? Auhhh, I just need more sleep. I’m driving myself insane… Thinking that a monster like that could possibly be stopped with cookies of all things, uh, this is just ridiculous…
Catherine had been looking at the cookies for a bit too long now and her maid politely asks, “Milady, would you like for us to buy some? They have a special going on for buying a dozen.”
“Hmm? Oh, no, no, I’m quite alright. They would just go straight to my thighs anyways…” Catherine says as she looks down at her figure, pinching some of the fat on her rear through her robes while feeling a little uneasy.
Maybe it’s a good thing that I don’t have too much spending money. If my butt gets any bigger, I’ll have to buy new undergarments again. I just wish that some of this fat would go to my chest instead… That little monster had big ones…
Her maid is looking a little remorseful at not getting to buy the cookies, most likely having thought that she would have gotten one or two of the tasty treats for herself as well, but quickly returns to being professional and asks if everything is alright with her dejected master.
Catherine simply responds, “Everything is fine, I’m just ruminating on the unfairness of life… come along, let’s go.”
Zenith allows herself one last longing look at the cookies before turning to follow her master, remaining professionally by her side and three steps behind, matching her pace, footstep for footstep like she is her master’s own shadow.
The rest of the trip to the center of the city is one with little fan fair or excitement. Any would be pickpockets are quickly warded off with just a look by Zenith, each given a silent warning that they should mind their hands and fingers, lest they end up losing them. Catherine herself doesn’t even realize that she has been marked as a potential target by over a dozen individuals just within the past two hours, and if Zenith does her job properly, she never will know.
For a past street-rat, retired adventurer, and now, trained maid of the Raingarden family, Zenith will see to it that her new master is well taken care of and protected. She just hopes that there will be plenty of treats in the future for her efforts.
…
When they finally arrive at the Boar’s Head Tavern, it is already nearing the end of the lunch rush. Regardless, the place is still packed, and the voices of noisy patrons can be heard clearly from the street, the songs of a singing bard being nearly drowned out by the sheer din of people talking over each other.
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Catherine hesitates to even step into the place, having never been to such a low-quality establishment before.
Still, her personal quest is leading her here, and as someone who has chosen to become an adventurer herself, it is important that she grow used to these types of establishments. After all, she doesn’t expect her family to continue taking care of her forever… It also helps that something smells really good inside this place. Whatever it is they are eating, it already has her empty stomach rumbling in a rather unladylike manner. Her stomach, which has been horribly upset by stress for the past week is seemingly craving whatever is inside this place.
She hasn’t had lunch yet, so she might as well investigate…
Walking inside, the noise level only becomes louder, the music being only a little bit more legible as it seems that the bard is using an enchanted mic to better project their singing. It isn’t helping. Catherine thinks she recognizes the song. It might be a cover from a popular artist, but the bard apparently isn’t the best at his job.
Trying to ignore the pounding in her ears from all the noise and the tasty smell of food in the air, Catherine and her maid wade through the crowd and try to find their targets. It doesn’t help that Catherine was never able to get a proper description of what The Green Scarves and their guide looked like, only learning that they are two men and two women. Luckily, she doesn’t need to look for too long as Zenith quickly gets her attention and points to a table by the wall, singling out the party that her messenger had described to her earlier.
Just like the name of the party implies, they are indeed all wearing green scarves, though the color is faded with age, and were most likely colored with cheap dyes. At least two of them are wearing them, no wait, there's the third member, sitting at a nearby table and talking loudly with some other patrons with a fresh drink in his hands, easily spotted due to his matching green scarf that marks him as a member of the party. The girl with them must be the guide.
As Catherine walks over, she quickly looks each of them over and dedicates their faces to memory. All of them are dressed in simple leather armor, like most adventurers, and don’t appear to be too particularly talented or outstanding in any ways that would make them especially stand out from the crowd.
Their rogue, with his short cut hair, goatee, and narrow face, looks like your typical rouge, equipped with a plethora of throwing knives and daggers. The swordsman, whom Catherine is assuming is the leader by how he is presenting himself, sitting at the center of the party, looks like your typical example of a swordsman with his slightly thicker leather armor, gloves with metal plates riveted on the back sides, and a single longsword hanging from his waste. His face, while average looking, is at least more on the attractive side than most and he clearly works to keep himself looking clean and presentable, what with his freshly shaved face, his hair tied back into a neat ponytail, and his smile that shows that he apparently knows how to brush his teeth, unlike some people…
Aside from the men, the female member of the party is something of an outlier. She is massive, muscular, and if someone had told Catherine that the woman had Giant’s blood in her veins, she would not have doubted them for a second. Her leather armor only covers so much of her body, leaving her arms and a good portion of her chest and cleavage shamelessly on display for anyone to see. And she has plenty of it to show… Yet again, Catherine is finding herself to be a little jealous.
With short dusty brown, almost red hair, the woman’s presence just screams warrior, and her big battleaxe certainly helps the image. If it wasn’t for the fact that she has a very friendly looking face, Catherine would probably be rather intimidated by her, but honestly, she looks like a good person from how she laughs while talking with the shorter girl sitting beside her.
Long, brown, curly hair that hangs a good way down her back, nothing but a chest guard over her short robes to protect her vitals, and a face that screams book worm, this is probably the Guide that Catherine had read about in the reports. She has cute brown eyes and a nose to match, her mouth seemingly always stuck in an awkward attempt at smiling naturally like she isn’t used to social events but is still trying to fit in. With the sprinkling of freckles on her face and a modest body, she is leaning more towards a cute academic type of look than anything else and even further, just from where Catherine is standing, she can tell that the girl is in some serious need of physical training. She looks like she can hardly lift the very books that she most likely reads throughout the night by candlelight. Again, a bookworm, but an admittedly cute one… Catherine could easily see her getting bullied at school and then getting saved by some handsome boy. That could make for a fun romance story~
It takes Catherine only three seconds to look the four of them over and to form her opinions of their character, committing each of their faces to memory and noting different ways that she could potentially get them to lower their guards around her. Her training as a Noble shining through even with her mind being heavy from a lack of good sleep.
The party notices her quickly as she gets nearer, their leader and the giant woman being the first to notice her. No, wait, the rouge most likely did. Even though his eyes aren’t currently scanning over her clothes and assessing her like the others, he has noticeably stopped interacting as fervently in his conversation at the other table, his demeanor shifting slighting as if he is ready to turn and leave his chair at a moment's notice, one hand now resting casually on his thigh, a bit too close to one of his throwing knives.
Zenith subtly shifts to Catherine’s other side without a word or even a glance in his direction, infixing herself between them with the grace that only a maid can have without making it overtly obvious that it is a defensive action.
It takes a few of seconds for the guide to realize that everyone's attention has shifted, seeming surprised when she looks up and finds someone who is clearly a young Noble woman standing before their table.
Even if Catherine is currently wearing robes intended for combat, her appearance and the way she is holding herself is impossible to misinterpret. Her gear, even if it isn’t of the highest quality, is still expensive enough to suggest that she has no business being in a cheap place like this. Not to mention the maid of course, but that is just icing on the cake at this point. Anyone who looks at Catherine is clearly seeing a Noble.
Catherine introduces herself first, the adventurers knowing better than to speak first to a Noble and remaining silent despite most likely having questions.
“Good day to you all, I assume that you are The Green Scarves, correct?”
Eyes move to the swordsman, quickly confirming her suspicion that he is the party’s leader. With a slight look to his party mates that Catherine doesn’t miss, he quickly shifts his demeaner and gives a professional smile to her, having clearly some experience working with Nobles, and then places a hand over his heart, bowing his head slightly.
“Yes, milady, that would be us. Might I assume that you have heard of us somewhere? The stories perhaps?”
Catherine nods politely, a smile held on her face despite the fact that she wants nothing more than to scowl. Years of Noble training yet again coming in use.
“I have heard of your party, yes. Though, not by the stories spreading through town like a wildfire… I had the privilege of reading the reports from your debriefings.” Catherine states without dropping her cheerful façade for even a second, even though she personally wants to strangle these people. Not only had they wasted half her day on trying to track them down – Ignoring the fact that Catherine herself had failed to think to check the most obvious place that they might be. – but they had also helped that little monster escape further into the Dungeon.
Yes, the report clearly states that they were just being used and tricked by the creature, but to Catherine, this doesn’t excuse the fact that it is because of these people that that thing might manage to escape justice! That her revenge might go unfulfilled!
Catherine takes a quick breath and forces down her anger, her well trained face not showing an ounce of her raging emotions.
The adventurers are quiet now, sharing looks with each other as they silently communicate in a way that only people who have known each other their entire lives can. The guide seems to look panicked and is desperately fighting to keep it from showing, but Catherine easily catches it.
Eventually, the leader of their group nods and then without a word raises his hand to flag down a passing waitress. Catherine remains silent as she waits.
“How can I help ya folks? Need a top-off on your drinks?”
“We would like a private room, please.” The leader asks, his eyes not leaving Catherine and her maid for more than a glance towards the pretty waitress that is showing off way too much cleavage and thigh.
How can she walk around in an outfit like that? Just the thought of showing off my ankles would leave me blushing… And that skirt, if she bends over too far, wouldn’t people be able to see-? No, no, let’s not worry about that! Shameful… Focus Catherine, focus. What are these people eating anyways? It smells so good and- Ah! No, no, no, focus!
“That will be fifty coppers to reserve a room, hun. Moneys paid up front and your privacy is guaranteed by enchantments in the walls.”
He nods, reaching for a purse inside his shirt, but Catherine quickly interrupts, pulling her eyes away from the tasty looking food on the guide’s plate, and says, “I’ll cover the cost, please don’t concern yourself with it.”
Without a word, Zenith steps forward and presents a silver coin to the waitress, who takes it with a smile and tucks the coin into her cleavage.
“Thank you~ Would you like for me to get your change now, or after ordering some food and drink?”
Zenith responds for Catherine, “Bring some menus, please. Milady hasn’t eaten lunch yet.”
Catherine fights down a little blush and forces herself to continue looking composed and noble as her stomach rumbles. She probably should have eaten before coming here, curse her currently sleep deprived state…