Chapter 2 - An offer

I woke the next morning to a commotion. There was a noise so loud that it shook my room, which I swear sounded like someone laughing, followed by Myra berating someone. The little halfling was normally very calm, there wasn’t much that could get her riled up, but someone had managed it. I quickly threw on my armor, grabbed my glaive, and went to investigate. Just in case Myra needed some help.

When I arrived back at the ground floor I found the diminutive halfling standing next to a pale, delicate-looking wisp of a woman, who was curled up and flinching at nearly every word. There was another woman sitting at the table, a tall, statuesque woman with brilliant turquoise hair.

“I’m very sorry about my friend here, she didn’t mean any harm and just got excited. We’ll pay for any damage,” the taller woman said, placing several gold coins on the table. Myra paused for a minute, her eyes going wide. A single gold coin could pay rent for a year, and this woman was throwing it around like it was nothing. “Can you please forgive my friend? She didn’t mean it. We’re just here to meet someone, and she promises not to do it again, right Bella?”

The pale woman perked up and immediately started nodding. I wasn’t sure why she wasn’t actually saying anything, but I had some ideas. Myra took a single gold coin from the table, and nodded at the pair. “This’ll be enough to replace the upstairs windows, and a rush order to replace my good glasses. Just behave yourselves going forward.”

The pale woman continued nodding, while the turquoise-haired one just smiled. “We appreciate your understanding. Once we conduct our business we’ll get out of your hair.”

Myra just huffed, then turned to return to her bar. Half way back she caught sight of me, and waved. “I apologize for the disturbance this morning, I’ll get your breakfast in a few minutes.” Out of the corner of my eye it looked like the pale woman’s eyes went wide, and she wanted to say something; Before she could, the other woman just placed a hand over her mouth.

I turned my head, trying to make sense of what I just saw, but the pair had already turned back to their own table and were discussing something quietly between themselves. I stared at them for another few seconds, before shaking my head and heading to my favorite seat at the bar. It was usually fairly quiet in the mornings, the night crowd had gone home, and the day crowd hadn’t arrived yet. Since Myra liked to keep a calm and quiet atmosphere, she didn’t tolerate the repeat drunks that other taverns did, which meant less day drinkers, and fights. She must have really believed that the pair didn’t mean to create a disturbance, otherwise she would have had one of the ogre bouncers throw them out. Gold or not.

I received my breakfast, a plate of mushroom pancakes, eggs and ham, from one of the barmaids, along with a smaller plate that consisted exclusively of sausages for George. I knew better than to start breakfast before feeding George, that was the best way to get a pair of spider fangs in the leg. George was trained, but not completely housebroken.

As I placed George’s breakfast down, a stylish pair of boots stepped into my line of view. They were made of some sort of fine, etched leather, something way outside my price-range. I stood cautiously, and took a look at the woman that approached me. It was the turquoise-haired woman from earlier. I didn’t notice before but her entire outfit looked expensive, not something you could easily get in a moderately-sized town like this. She smiled, and as she did her eyes glimmered for a moment, almost like they were lit by an inner light. “Good morning,” she said. “I’m Kassandra, my friend and I would like to speak with you for a few minutes, if that’s alright.”

“Are you recruiting for an Adventuring team?” I asked, eyes narrowed. People didn’t typically come looking for me, as much as I wished they would, and I didn’t owe anyone money… so I wasn’t quite sure what this could be about.

She laughed, a low but musical sound, “Unfortunately no, but we came a long way just to meet you. I promise, it’ll be worth your time.”

“Fine,” I said, picking up my plate and following Kassandra to the table. I didn’t bother picking up George’s plate, that was a good way to lose some fingers, and I was going to be in the same room, so I let him be. As we approached the table I noticed the pale woman was practically bouncing in her seat, her pale white eyes locked on me as we approached the table.

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“This is Bella,” Kassandra said, before taking a seat on one side of the table.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Talia.” I gently placed my breakfast on the table and sat opposite of the two women. “So, what can I do for you today?”

Bella looked like she was about to say something, when Kassandra put a hand on the other woman’s shoulder. I raised an eyebrow at the interaction, but didn’t say anything.

“Bella here suggested that we come find you, even convinced our boss that it would be worth it. We have a job offer for you,” Kassandra said.

“I thought you said you weren’t recruiting for an adventuring team…” I said, then it clicked, “Oh no, not interested. I want to work as an adventurer, not in a dungeon. I’m sorry to say, you wasted your time coming here.”

I started to stand up, but Kassandra caught my arm. I felt a light, calming feeling flow into me. It died before it made it to my shoulder, but the attempt caused me to narrow my eyes. Kassandra, on the other hand, just smiled wider. “Please, just listen to our offer first, you can reject us afterwards.”

I probably would have stepped away if it wasn’t for the fact that Bella looked like she was about to cry. Why, I had no idea, but it made me feel a little bad for not hearing them out, so I sat back down.

“Now, as you probably guessed, we’re from a dungeon. ‘The Wailing Manor’ to be precise. We’re in the middle of preparations for a new type of dungeon raid, and Bella suggested you for one of the floor bosses.”

I glanced over at the smaller woman, who was bobbing her head up and down as fast as she could. “Why me? No, scratch that, how do you even know about me? I’m a nobody that’s only participated in Class-D dungeons.”

Kassandra giggled, “Bella is kind of a connoisseur when it comes to dungeon broadcasts. She watches everything from the amateur circuit to the pros.”

“You’re exceptional.” I barely caught what Bella said, her voice came out as a whisper.

“I wasn’t convinced before, but Bella pulled up all your runs. Thirty-two in the last two years, you acted nearly flawlessly, yet no one will hire you,” Kassandra added.

“If you’ve done research on me, you must have come across the fact that I don’t want to work in dungeons. Which brings me back to my original question, why me?”

Kassandra glanced around the room, which was pretty much empty except for us and the bar staff, then leaned in closer. “The new type of raid, it’s dungeon vs dungeon. No adventurers involved. So we need someone to help organize our troops. It’s like a combination of adventurer and floor boss, best of both worlds!”

That last part caught me off guard, “Floor boss? You’re crazy. I don’t have any martial or magical abilities, there’s no way I could go toe to toe with a group of adventurers.”

“No, you’re more than qualified!” Bella’s voice raised slightly, so Kassandra once again placed a hand on her shoulder until the pale woman calmed down. “In the minor leagues you only face combat-based bosses, but in the pros there are a lot more boss fights with trap or strategy-based mechanics.”

I stared at the diminutive woman for a moment. “How much do you really know about me?”

“A lot,” she replied with a smile. “You specialize in strategy and tactics, but are proficient in traps and beast-taming. Very few of your adventuring groups followed your advice, but a lot of them blamed any setback on your lack of martial and magical skills. If you had a few more tames you could probably clear dungeons yourself… it’s too bad that’s against the rules. Oh, and since you have a humanoid form, you were born from a matriarch, and not from a broodmother.” I flinched a little at that last part. No one around here knew about my background, and I didn’t really want to share. I honestly didn’t expect someone to know that just based upon my transformation.

Kassandra must have noticed I was feeling awkward, so she cut in. “Look, I know this isn’t your kettle of fish, but we came here from the capital to try and recruit you. How about you just come with us and take a look, talk with the boss. We’ll pay for gate travel, and even pay for your time if you decide to back out, so how about it?”

It sounded truly insane. On the other hand, if what they said was true I could put my skills to use conquering dungeons. It wasn’t exactly the way I pictured it, but…

“Fine,” I replied grudgingly, “Let's go talk to this boss of yours.”