The Free Bird rcenaries, while not birds, were at least free. They weren’t bothered by who commissioned them. If they liked them and if the money was good, they would do it. As of late, not many who fit those two criteria have wanted their services.
They didn’t exactly have room to say no. Dima’s drinking habit wasn’t a light burden on their wallet. Damas had to eat. The others also had expenses.
"Big birdie," Lily answered.
"Grown man, in fact. He may be injured, so we’ll have to take transport into consideration."
"Vorad thugs an Torak, right?" Hugo asked.
"Mhm. It also ans crossing the border," Mole said.
"This won’t be an easy commission, Captain," Dima said, squinting.
"Hah! When have we ever done easy?" Squawks shot back. He would have been a lot more inspiring if he hadn’t been sweating and struggling to break free from Lily’s hold. But he still had a point. There were just two problems.
"Is this one off the books, Captain?" Damas asked while eating Dima’s hangover soup. Activities outside the country, unless sanctioned or commissioned by the Kingdom, needed to be done secretly. That ca with its own set of difficulties.
"Yesrhg." Squawks did his best to answer while fighting Lily.
"But is this all the paynt?" Mole asked, holding one of the arrows. The other problem was the paynt.
Going against the Torak Syndicate on their ho ground without support from the Kingdom was going to be difficult. Difficult commissions ant they needed a lot of money.
The arrows might be good, but they weren’t even finished. It was just the shafts. It was far from enough as paynt for an extraction mission in Vorad.
Hugo held out a hand to inspect it. Mole passed it to the others first.
Squawks and Lily let them look at it first with expectant and annoyingly smug grins.
Mole noticed their expressions and raised an eyebrow.
What had these two troublemakers stumbled upon this ti?
Mole scratched his back with the arrow in his hand as the other two tried to take the one in Hugo’s hand away before he stuffed it in his pants.
"It’s more than enough," Squawks said, panting slightly. Lily had finally let him go now that she didn’t need to hold onto him.
Lily nodded.
"Two bottles to anyone who can guess where it’s from," Lily said, crossing her arms confidently.
Mole raised an eyebrow but didn’t stop scratching his back with it.
"Tiabe?" He asked.
"Duh." Lily gave him a blank look and rolled her eyes. "You’re going to need to be more specific." They had returned from Tiabe with a commission from the people of Tiabe. Of course, the arrows were from Tiabe. A rat on the street could have guessed that.
If they wanted the bottles, they would have to use those dried up nuts inside their skulls.
Dima, Damas, and Hugo glanced at Lily.
Seeing her that confident, they knew that they wouldn’t get the answer right. So, they continued wrestling.
Mole put the arrow on the table and kicked Dima off of Hugo, who was in the middle before poking and tickling Hugo to get him to let go of the arrow.
"Idiots," Lily sighed.
However, Dima suddenly looked up and turned to Lily with a sharp look.
"Two bottles of...?" He asked.
Lily raised an eyebrow and nodded sideways.
"The half-decent stuff from the inn down the street."
"It’s from the center of Tiabe," He answered imdiately.
Lily stiffened and just stared at him. The others slowly processed what he said. They stopped wrestling and turned to look at Lily.
"Bastard," Lily cursed and clicked her tongue. Of course, Dima would get it right as soon as good liquor was involved.
"If you used that brain of yours properly..." Lily lanted.
"Wait, he’s right?!" Hugo exclaid in shock.
Lily nodded with a dark expression.
The wrestlers turned to the smug Dima, who crossed his arms proudly.
"Only arrows made of wood from the center of the forest would be a worthy paynt for a commission like this. It’s the only answer that would have Lily acting like that."
Hugo quickly pulled the arrow out of his pants and handed it to Mole, who had already started wiping the arrow he used to scratch his back.
Idiots! How could they have treated such precious arrows like that?!
"How?" Damas asked with a tilt of his head as he pushed Hugo off of him and sat up.
"I thought it was impossible to get even a blade of grass from the center of Tiabe."
Now, it was Squawks’ turn to cross his arms proudly.
"Your Captain is just that good. Feel free to give all your money. Ha! Ha! Ha!"
Hugo, Mole, Dima, and Damas ignored him and turned to Lily.
"We’re not sure ourselves, but there’s a guy living in the center of Tiabe. It seems like he’s unbothered by the monster kings, and the things that carry his sll or whatever, are also free from the monster kings." She had no idea how he did it. As far as she knew, no one in the history of Tiabe had managed to live in the center of Tiabe unless they were a monster king themselves.
But Nick, an average guy, was doing it like he was taking a vacation.
"That..."
"...Sounds..."
"...Pretty..."
"...Unbelievable."
"Well, it’s the truth. I will have to ask in advance, but when we’re done, you can probably tag along to visit. He seems like a decent guy."
"Oho?" Mole said with a smirk.
"A decent guy, you say?" Hugo asked with a teasing smile.
"Don’t forget that it’s Lily’s definition of decent," Dima reminded them.
"That ans she already likes him, doesn’t it?" Damas asked with the sa expression as Hugo. They all crowded around Lily and pressed her for details.
She glared at them.
It was not the cute, pouting glare that she would have given them when she first joined their rcenary group.
It was the kind of glare that sent shivers down their spine.
A few monts later, the four of them were curled up on the ground, protecting the only thing that could rival the arrows.
Lily dusted off her hands and walked off. She shot Squawks a look.
"We leave tomorrow evening. Be sure to be ready," He said like a proper captain.
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