“Our biggest threat is… a child?” Lillia asked, squinting at Rodrick as if trying to tell if he was joking or not.
“No,” Rodrick replied. “My biggest threat is a child.”
“Have you considered that you might just not want kids?” Reya asked. “There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s scary.”
“And a big responsibility,” Anna said.
“Really?” Rodrick asked, glaring at her. “You too? I’m trying to be serious!”
“Sorry,” Anna said with a sheepish grin. “They are, though.”
“So they are.” Rodrick rolled his eyes. “And this one is especially so. Several of the little bits and bobs I’ve stuck on old records just in case someone came looking for me have gone off. It’s been a while since that happened.”
“Bits and — what now?” Arwin’s brow furrowed. “You can do something like that? How does that fit into your class? You never said you could set traps.”
Rodrick coughed into his fist. “I absorbed the entirety of the Secret Eye’s knowledge, Arwin. Everything they had. Do you really think I didn’t get some Titles from that? I’m no mage, but I’m not incapable.”
Arwin’s eyes snapped over to Reya and he fought to keep his expression neutral.
Wait. Seriously? When did Reya have a run-in with the Guild?
“How?” Lillia asked. “I thought you grew up in Milten.”
“I did.” Reya’s cheeks somehow turned even brighter. They were rapidly approaching the color of Olive’s hair. “But the Guild occasionally sends representatives to outer cities. To check up on stuff, you know?”
“You robbed him,” Olive said flatly.
“I did not rob him. I was part of a very carefully executed heist. He was carrying a bag of gold the size of a baby’s head around on his waist! That’s practically asking for someone to take it.”
“So you got caught trying to lift a huge amount of gold from a Guild representative,” Rodrick said through a laugh. “That’s a good way to get them pissed at you.”
“I didn’t get caught. I got the money. Unfortunately, he saw what I looked like.”
“You really did manage to make everyone hate you,” Olive said with an awed whistle. “That’s some talent. You ticked off the Adventurer’s Guild and they aren’t even in Milten.”
“You shouldn’t be proud of that,” Lillia said, trying to fight a laugh away. “But the earlier sentiment was right. Olive is literally the only one here that the Guild doesn’t dislike.”
“Yet?” Olive exclaimed. “What do you think I’m going to do?”
“You’re hanging around us. We’re bound to be a positive influence at some point.”
Olive rolled her eyes and Arwin chuckled. It really was ludicrous that they’d all managed to step on the Guild’s toes one way or another. Even Elias and Maeve would be at odds with the Adventurer’s Guild because of their identity as monsters.
He didn’t want to think of what would happen if the Guild figured out who he and Lillia really were before they were ready to take them on. That just couldn’t be allowed to happen. Fortunately, he wasn’t actually participating. He’d just have to take steps to ensure that nobody figured out Elias and Maeve’s true identities.
A pleasant-faced man with the beginnings of blond stubble running along his handsome features sat in an empty tavern, looking into a wine glass full of milk as if it held the secrets to the future within it.
The tables all around him were shattered and strewn across the ground. Old stains and broken glass covered the ground. There wasn’t a single piece of furniture that was intact other than the table before him and the chair he sat on.
The man’s eyes flicked up as a footfall echoed through the silence. He lowered his glass of milk, setting it down on the table, as a figure dressed in black robes stepped out from behind him and moved to stand at the other end of the table like a spiteful ghost. The figure’s face was completely indistinguishable within the shadows that clung to his cloak like water.
“It is done,” the cloaked man said.
“Do you have to be so melodramatic about it?” the handsome man took a sip from his wine glass.
There was a metallic thud as the other man set a stiletto upon the table between them.
“Of course you do.” He set the glass down and picked the dagger up, examining it. There was still blood on the thin weapon’s blade. “I’d invite you to join me for a drink.”