“This is the Order of Templars! Throw down your weapons and go quietly, all of you!” Mari shouted as she swept into the alley like a swashbuckler.
The rumble with the slave trader’s gang of adventurers was over.
I immediately threw my hands up in the air and declared I wouldn’t resist. Nishka was much more laidback about it. All she did was lazily stop whacking the thugs with the blunt edge of her machete.
“You’re a little late. We got tired of waitin’ for ya, so we just started whalin’ on ’em.”
“I had to get the Templars stationed at the chapel and then go get the guards as backup. That took time!”
Mari was accompanied not only by what appeared to be several fellow Templars, but soldiers wearing yellow capes. The sentries guarding the gates into Bulka also wore yellow capes, so I guessed these were the earl of Bulka’s soldiers.
“The Order of Templars and earl martial of Bulka have agreed to take joint oversight of Nupchakan’s slave-trading operation,” Mari declared. “They’re going to take you lot away. Resist and you shall be cut down where you stand.”
The sight of Mari tying the naked mercenaries up with rope, sunlight glinting off her glasses, struck me as both incredibly chivalrous and badass as hell. Maybe it would’ve been a bit more dashing if she hadn’t been muttering stuff like, “Dickhead!” while tying them up, but hey. Who could blame her?
“Feel better now, Shooter?” Mari ribbed. “All the guys in this world have deformed penises, just like you. Look at that one—it’s like a balloon animal trying to hump a Coke can.”
“Yeah, yeah. Just get these guys out of here, please.”
“We can leave that up to my colleagues here. I think some others are headed to the trade house with Yoi. With her witness testimony, that should be the end of Lutbayasky.”
“What’s going to happen to him?”
“Torture, probably. In time, he’ll confess, admit to his crime, they’ll put him into slavery, and thus karmic justice shall be served,” Mari said to me with a wicked grin.
Yeesh. Like she always said, this world was not a kind one. No lawyers. Normalized torture. What if you were brought in on a false charge? I couldn’t imagine anything worse happening, but…well, this was that unconscionable garbage-human Lutbayasky we were talking about, not some doe-eyed innocent. Even something this vicious still felt like mercy to me.
My revenge was complete.
Yoi finished transferring the slave ownership contract to Nishka without further issues, and so we began preparing for our return to the village in earnest. We were going home, but it wasn’t going to be any ordinary homecoming.
The village outside Apegut Forest was recruiting hunters to replace those who had perished in the fight with the wyvern, and it was simultaneously in the middle of seeking new settlers to hasten the growth of the settlement. The adventurer’s guild was also in negotiations with the village chief’s stepson, Gimul, to open a guild branch in the village, and they were discussing the idea of stationing adventurers in the village permanently.
Gimul’s original orders for me were to give a letter of recommendation to that first adventurer’s guild branch we had visited, but so much had happened and I still hadn’t managed to drop the letter off yet.
We sent my belongings and the baby basilisk to the Sound of Joy Inn, and Nishka and I headed to the guild, chatting about nothing in particular.
“You said there was a community of people from the village here. Did you ever manage to meet up with them?”
“Sure, there are people from the village here, but they’re probably all goblins. Some apemen have a bizarre obsession with towns.”
“Is that so?”
“Yep. If they stay in their villages or surrounding settlements, they just get used for hard labor. But skilled goblins want to better their fortunes same as anybody, so they always want to head into town.”
Now that she mentioned it, I was pretty sure Wak’wakgoro had said something similar. Once a goblin became a veteran hunter like Wak’wakgoro, no doubt they thought it would be way easier to make a living as an adventurer in town. I wondered how it actually went for them? I didn’t get the feeling Wak’wakgoro had any real positive feelings for towns or the goblins who left for them. Why was that?
It sounded like Nishka nursed a similar kind of disdain when she talked about them.
“Now that you’re here, have you ever thought about just staying in town, Nishka?”
“Why would I do that? I’m only here ’cause I gotta be.”
“But what about all the places in town where you can get those drinks you like so much?”
“Yeah, yeah, there’s lots of good drinkin’ here. They’ve got beer, and brandy, and it’s all so—oooh, it’s so yummy. Their whisky and wine are pretty gross, though. Still,” Nishka broke off. She proudly puffed up her bountiful bosom and continued, “Can you imagine how boring that’d get after a while? I’m a hunter, and a hunter needs somethin’ to hunt. And I don’t hunt drinks—I hunt wyverns. Sometimes I have to go after deer or bears to make a living, but still.”
“That’s such a Scalesplitter thing to say.”
“Aww, you think so? If you get a crush on me, you’re gonna wind up gettin’ hurt. ’Cause those feelings are gonna make you go out on wyvern hunts with me,” Nishka laughed heartily, her ludicrously gargantuan breasts bouncing with each “ha!”
“If you think about it, now that I’m your slave, wouldn’t I have to go with you on all your wyvern hunts from now on anyway? Regardless of my feelings for you?”
“Don’t be stupid. You’re a married man.” She paused thoughtfully. “Actually, I wonder how that works now. The law says I’m obligated to take care of you, don’t it?”
“Thank you so much, Nishka. I’m beyond indebted to you. My wife and I throw ourselves upon your gargantuan, soft, bouncing, uh…generosity.”
“Hmph. I’ll talk to Wak’wakgoro once we get back to the village.”
In the course of our conversation, we reached the guild.
Nishka went up to the guild’s reception desk and waved to one of the girls. I guess they knew each other? The girl seemed to recognize Nishka, too. She looked pleasantly surprised and bowed her head.
Nishka walked straight over to her. “Hey, how’ve ya been? I’ve been helpin’ out over at the branch office, so I haven’t been able to make it over here for a couple days.”
“I was worried about you, Nishka! Were you able to meet up with your naked warrior friend?”
“Yup! This is him.”
“Oh?”
Nishka was grinning, but the girl had a funny look on her face.
“What’s up? You know his deal, right?”
“Oh yeaaah! Now I remember. He came in with Mr. Gimul before, didn’t he? So much of his skin is covered up now, I didn’t even recognize him!”