“Well, that wasn’t nearly as insightful as I had hoped,” Finn sighed and massaged the bridge of his nose. “At the very least, everything she said was what she believed to be the truth, though that just makes it all the more frustrating.”

It was an open secret that Finn knew of a spell that could detect lies, and she had seen him activate it before they entered the room. And she agreed with his frustrations.

“So, how the fuck do we deal with a hyperactive eight-year-old who has spontaneous bouts of murder if we can’t kill her?” On one hand, Thea was glad she wasn’t the only one who had to suffer through the insanity of Briar, but on the other hand, she didn’t want to deal with her anymore.

“Thea, one of the most important things I learned after becoming guild master at this branch, is that I can’t step in and deal with most problems on my own anymore. My place is to guide everyone to be the best they can be.” Something about how he had started talking was sending alarms to every part of Thea’s body. “So, while we could simply imprison her, we don’t have a good enough grasp of what she can do. Hell, she might be able to escape like it’s nothing. Because of that, for the foreseeable future, she will be accompanying your team out on quests.”

Thea’s gut feeling was proved correct with that last statement. “But sir-”

“No excuses. Besides, I have an idea on what she might be, but I can’t be sure without proof. I want a full report everytime you come back.” With that, Finn walked off, leaving Thea to stare after him in open-mouthed shock. By the time her brain started up again, Finn was gone. There was no arguing this decision, no matter how stupid it seemed, apparently. Now she had to go tell her party.

“Fuck.”

----------------------------------------

“I just don’t get it. Yeah, she’s not a normal child, but even so, she’s just a fuggin’ child.” It was, surprisingly, Havel who had raised the concerns. “Besides, are we just supposed to babysit her when we’re out? We don’t need a distraction when taking on beasts.”

“I agree with every part of that, but it’s not up to me. The guild leader was the one who arranged this, not me.” And it was true. Thea still didn’t see why Finn wanted her to take Briar with them. She had even searched through the guild’s library, reading through everything that seemed even slightly related to the oddities of Briar, but the closest she had come were the spirits.

Spirits were beings of pure mana, usually invisible to the naked eye. Hundreds of years ago, they had been used as a consumable form of energy in most of the kingdoms, with the exception of the dwarven nation.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

Dwarves, as part of their nature, were very close with the world, and respected everything in it, never taking, only asking. At least, that was how they put it. And when they asked, they had been denied the spirits. It was still a touchy subject when it came up, as they believed that all the other races had gone against the world to harness spirits.

With spirits being drained and dying en masse, they had begun to develop a protective measure, making it impossible for people to have negative thoughts to them, or contemplate harming them.

After they had been released from their position as nothing better than living batteries, they had vanished into the remote and inhospitable parts of the world.

However, the difference between Briar and the spirits was that Briar had a physical form. Spirits, as an inherent effect of being made of pure mana, were completely intangible. Nothing in the physical world could interact with them. And Thea had personally carried Briar - twice now.

So, with no idea why Finn had made her do this, she was left to tell her party without any other information. And…almost none of them had taken to their new job with joy. Jorreck had stayed quiet, having been there when Finn made the declaration, but he wasn’t helping Thea try and win over everyone else.

Ciella was staying quiet, just watching everything that was happening. Even after a year of working together, Thea still struggled to get a good read on her. All she really knew about her was that she had a few sadistic tendencies which had gotten her kicked out of her previous parties.

“What if we just drop Briar off at an orphanage before we leave on a mission? We could say that she was killed, and he would never be the wiser.” Yval, while it seemed like she was just looking out for the girl, was probably planning to go back to said orphanage later down the road and adopting her. And who knew what she’d do after that.

“Again, the guild master demanded this of us. While I don’t understand it, he probably has his own reasons for it. Besides, you know what she did to Aaron. I think she could at least handle some of the beasts out in the forest.” Why did Finn make her argue for this? She agreed with all of her party members, but she couldn’t follow through with any of their suggestions.

“Look. I get it. I even agree with all of you. But, I just can’t not take her. The guild master asked this of us for a reason. While I don’t know the reason, he’s never led us wrong before. So, I think we should take on easy missions for a while. Just so we can prove something to Finn, and he can allow us to leave her behind.” As leader, Thea had gotten good at finding compromises to many arguments. And this seemed like the right compromise to make.

Apparently, it was. There were still a few muttered curses directed at the guild master, but the arguing had ceased. Deciding that now was a good time to speak, Jorreck cautiously raised his hand to get their attention. When everyone looked at him, he started speaking.

“So, if you guys are up to it, we can go clear out a goblin den tomorrow. It’s easy enough for us, so it shouldn’t pose a problem when it comes to protecting Briar. And before you turn it down, keep in mind that I may or may not have already accepted the job.” Everyone stared at him for a few beats, before Malik laughed, groaned, and waved the waitress down for another drink.

Thea just shot him a grateful look. He knew how the conversation would wind up before it even happened. They just had to convince Briar to come with them at this point.