I decided to escape and ignore the six new additions. The workspace was jus barely not meant for ten people. most of the day after Martin and co arrived was spent on teaching them how to use tools we barely knew how to use. There wasn’t much to teach though and the next day we were back in business.

It took a while to establish proper shifts and rosters for our workload. This was mainly because no matter how good Mr Cedars ideas or information was, we didn’t know what we were doing. We were just following recipes and then putting the result in containers.

Eventually though a roster was set in place, and I finally was set free. There were two others that had a day off on the same day as me. for the sake of efficiency, we decided it best to only have seven people on instead of nine.

We were nearly finished the order, which according to the pharmacist’s guild should have been completed earlier. We were going to go until the deadline they themselves set. I was beginning to understand slightly why Mark didn’t like them.

I decided to finally be a mercenary again after so long and headed to the tavern. The sight of Mr Hildegard was refreshing, but he didn’t seem happy.

The man ushered me into a back room and his eyes began to water.

“Kiddo, what on earth did you do to bring back that demon? I know you brought back Mark, but bringing back that old fucker is a miracle.”

I was too taken aback to stop myself from speaking.

“By demon do you mean Martin?”

“Wait what?”

“What?”

“I thee yee we a lad.”

Understanding that was a miracle on my part, but I didn’t hold it against Mr Hildegard.

“Welp, that’s a good thing isn’t it, I don’t particularly want people knowing who I am.”

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“That might be a bit hard, you have connections to Martin Manhunter, there are very few who can get him to move in the region.”

“Yes, good point, please explain why you are calling martin a manhunter.”

Mr Hildegard looked up at the ceiling for a while before coming up with a response.

“He was the baron before the late baron’s knight. There were a few territorial struggles at the time, and I think there was even a duchy that was destroyed by order of the emperor. Anyway, that generations baron and Martin signed up as mercenaries under some weird law and entered the battle.”

“And there I got quite the reputation for showing up behind people killing them and then leaving.”

Martin was behind Mr Hildegard, and he towered over the man.

“Yes, but the mai… I don’t suppose you will let me go change my pants.”

“No, you have a conversation to finish.”

“Yes sir.”

I had never seen Mr Hildegard like that before, nor Had I seen someone just appear behind another.

“The great and glorious man behind me managed to attain the wonderful moniker of manhunter by relentlessly finding and eliminating everyone that was on his list and there are no known survivors.”

I kept silent, it was probably best for all three of us.

“You know you can breathe when you speak right?”

This time but for a different reason I kept silent. Sarcasm wasn’t exactly a great idea when Mr Hildegard looked like he was about to break into tears.

Martin looked at me before looking back down at Mr Hildegard.

“I thought I wouldn’t have to, but I might as well give you a few warnings. Don’t tell the kiddo any more about that time than this, it’s best that she doesn’t know. On the same note keep your mouth closed about the starry eye, I know that you seek to do good, but that will only lead to more dead bodies.”

I was not pleased with this, at all, but I couldn’t voice my complaints. I had been beaten by Mr Cedar too many times to try and face someone possibly stronger than even Mark. He had until recently been in charge of the wine cellar, but that didn’t change much.

“I don’t suppose dead bodies has anything to do with the pile out the back of the manor?”

“No, that’s a different matter… your coming of age should have been closer to the end of the year… something brought it closer…. Did you head back there?”

For a man that supposedly so strong he couldn’t keep his composure. Amongst all the mumble I did hear his question though.

“No, but I am feeling like I should.”

“DON’T, I say this for your sake, I cannot have his line end like this.”

At first, I was insulted, but now I just felt bad. It didn’t matter what he was, making an old man cry felt like shit.

With a sigh I relented.

“Fine.”

I walked right on out of that back room. I wasn’t going to push him, but I wasn’t going to accept that kind of control. No one shall stop me from finding out what I want to know, no one.