Chapter Four Hundred and Fifty-Three — Social Fu
Chapter Four Hundred and Fifty-Three — Social Fu My friends and I took over a table in a corner of the Hop On Inn, the three of us sitting across from the grenoil we'd... encouraged to follow us."That's so ambitious!" I said with a gasp. "You must be very brave to want to do something like that."The grenoil squirmed in his seat a little. "It's not that impossible," he said. Reaching over, he grabbed the pint of cool beer that Calamity had ordered for him at the counter and took a swallow.His name was Emile, and after I told Calamity not to scare him so much and helped him carry his things, he really opened up. His dream was to become a sort of trader, bringing goods to delvers and people in outposts away from major cities for a tidy markup.I felt a little dirty, using all of my friend-making skills to schmooze up to Emile, but it was for a good cause. I said sorry on Calamity's behalf, then insisted that he looked tired and road-weary before dragging him to the inn.I didn't even have time to catch up with the innkeeper, not if I wanted to get to the bottom of what Emile knew."It, ah, it is kind of brave," Awen said. She'd been helping me in her own way, encouraging Emile by asking questions and sometimes repeating what he said back to him. It was working surprisingly well. "Delvers can be hard to work with, I think.""Oh, they can be," Emile agreed. "But I've been working around them for years now. They need certain things, and they always ask for them too late.""Too late?" I asked.He nodded seriously. "Do you have any idea how often a delver team will ask for six hundred metres of strong, fire-proof rope the day before they need it? It happened to me twice! Twice! And they expected me to deliver it right then and there, as if I could just vomit it up for them. It's impossible to explain to them that their impossible demands are impossible too. It's very frustrating. But the gold... it's good gold. Some of them don't have an idea of what anything is worth. They make up for those that count off every copper and weigh every silver.""I'm sure you do well," I said encouragingly. "You just need to put in a bit of work, and make the right friends. We do a lot of adventuring for the Exploration guild, I think that could also be an untapped market for you."Emile hadn't exactly shared his dream with me the conventional way. I'd gotten it out of him with a quick use of Friendmaking, and then I just pushed the conversation that way. After that, it was easy to keep him going. He was on his second beer, and was a lot more chatty and agreeable than when we'd started."Yeah, that could be nice," he said. "But I'm not quite ready yet. There's still so much to look into. Distributors, hiring runners, setting up some sort of transportation system. I'm years away from having a proper business.""Mhm!" I said with a nod. "Still, I'm very impressed that you're working on it already. But, ah... well, would you mind if I asked you a question? It's about your current client."Elmie hesitated. "I don't know. Keeping my client's information to myself is important, you know.""I get it," I said. "Well... maybe answer this, did your clients ask about bun food because they had a bun with them?""That's... possible," he said evasively."A bun woman? About... hmm, a few years older than me. Like, a young adult? Brown hair and ears? Glasses?""Yeah," he said."Did they mention her name?" I asked.Emile shifted in his seat. "I really shouldn't say," he said. "This client is... hard to work with, but they pay well.""I get it," I said. "But we're really desperately looking for our friend. Her name is Booksie, and she was kidnapped, right out of her shop too. It's her dream store. A little bookstore right in the middle of Port Royal. She'd been working for years and years to get it going, and it's only been working well recently. Though she did have trouble with some of the gangs before they were taken over by Cholondee."Emile's face scrunched up in sympathy. He held his beer in both hands, and didn't meet my gaze. "Well... look, my clients have a little compound up the road towards Port Royal. I pop over there to supply them. It's something like an outpost, but smaller. When I went there this morning to get a list of what they needed, they had this bun woman.""Yeah?" I asked.If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it."She looked a bit rough? Hair a mess, and she was in a roughed-up nightgown. She didn't look happy to be there, and had a few guards around her. Anyway. They said they needed supplies to keep a bun fed, and so I added that to the shipping list."I held back a gasp. That had to be Booksie. And if it wasn't... well, it sounded like someone that needed help anyway. "That might be our friend," I said. "She was kidnapped from her store this morning. Or late last night, maybe.""Would that be long enough to get from Port Royal to this outpost?" Calamity asked."It's an hour up the road if you jog the entire way," Emile said. "It's another six hours at a quick pace to Port Royal. Keep in mind, my class lets me move quickly on the roads, especially on delivery. You could make it from Port Royal to the outpost in a morning if you were quick.""Thanks, Emile," I said. "Could you let us know where that outpost is?""Oh, sure," he replied easily. Then he gave some vague instructions on how to find it. It was mostly just off the road leading to Port Royal, some ways past the dungeon we were just at.I fished around in my pouches, and found a small coin which I placed on the table. It should be enough to pay for a light meal, or another round. "We have to head out. I, uh, think that maybe you should stay in Rockstack. That might be for the best.""Oh," he said. He eyed the three of us, paying particular attention to the weapons my friends had. "Right. I can do that."I smiled one last time before leaving the Inn with my friends. "We have to rescue her," I said."Think it's worth getting reinforcements first?" Calamity asked. "Sounds like there'll be quite a few of them at this outpost.""Jean-Pierre," I said. "He seems pretty strong, and he has a bunch of recruits with him too. Some of them look pretty tough!""That could work," Awen said. "Fighting kidnappers isn't ..." she paused, glancing down at herself. Mumbling under her breath, she started counting things off on her fingers, but seemed to give up when she'd used an entire hand. "... Actually, it is pretty common for us-I mean, the Exploration guild-to fight kidnappers. The recruits could probably use the training."It was a pretty fantastic idea, I thought."Jean-Pierre and the others are probably heading our way," I said. "We can meet them on the road, turn around, rescue Booksie, and be back to Port Royal before the city is drowned in dragon lightning!"It was a plan!But first... I sent my friends ahead of me and darted over to the general store. The grenoil at the counter eyed me warily. That look grew to outright suspicion when I found a spade on a rack to one side and placed it on the counter."What's zis for?" he asked."It's a spade?" I said. "It's mostly for digging.""And who will you be burying with it?" he asked.I blinked. "Oh! You think this is to bury Emile! Because we threatened him earlier? No, he's fine. He's at the inn right now. This is for threatening someone else."He sold me the spade, but I noticed that he charged a bit more than the price on the tag and he didn't stop giving me a look until I was out of the door and bouncing off after my friends.It only took a minute or two to catch up, and soon all three of us were running down the road, moving fast enough that the air rushing past felt like a strong wind.Rockstack fell behind, and soon enough we were almost at the dungeon again. Jean-Pierre and the others were all on the road just off the little side-path leading to the dungeon itself. He saw us coming and frowned as we ran over. "I didn't expect to see you again so soon," he said.I gasped for air for a moment, then nodded as I caught my breath. "We have a lead," I said. Then I had to explain about running into Emile in Rockstack, and about how Booksie-or a bun that fit her description-was just down the road from us."Huh," he said. "Zat's unexpected. But it's not ze most outlandish zing I've ever heard either. Why didn't you go to Mathilde with zis?""We don't have the time," I said, and if a bit of tension slipped into my voice, no one commented on it. "If it is Booksie, she could be moved to a new location at any moment. It's better for us to act while this lead is hot." I took a deep breath. "But we don't know what we'll find. We could really use your help."Jeanne-Pierre rubbed his chin. "Give me a minute to consider," he said.
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Chapter Four Hundred and Fifty-Four — Broccoli Wants You!
Chapter Four Hundred and Fifty-Four — Broccoli Wants You! Jean-Pierre actually took a long time to make up his mind. Finally though, he nodded. "I want to go on ze record first and say zat zis is a very bad idea.""Which part?" I asked."Ze part where we'll be basically attacking a camp with unknown allegiances, in unknown terrain, with people with far too little experience and equipment, during ze middle of ze day, to try and save someone who might not even be present," he said."Oh... that part," I replied. I chewed on a knuckle. If it came to it, I think my friends and I could try to rescue Booksie on our own. We had very little idea what we were up against, though. We knew it was a dozen or so baddies, but that was about it.Could we rush back to Port Royal, get some help, then come back with that help, return to Booksie, and rescue her in time to stop a disaster?That would add several hours to the time that Booksie-or whoever it was-spent in captivity. By then, she could even have been moved further away.Jean-Pierre took a deep breath. "I'm in," he said.I felt a weight lifting itself off my shoulders. "Thank you!" I said."But I can't speak for ze recruits-zis is beyond what zey signed up for. Zey'll have to make zeir own decisions," he said before turning to the recruits in question. "You all heard what the captain had to say?" he asked.Hannah raised a hand. "Someone was kidnapped and you suspect they're being held nearby?""Yes," I said. "My friend, Booksie. She's also the fiance of one of the dragons living over in Port Royal."Harrison hissed a word that wasn't fit for polite company."Sir Tissue is right," I said. "We can't demand that you help us. This might be dangerous. There's a chance that the kidnappers will surrender Booksie without a fight, but they might fight extra hard because they'll know that a dragon will be chasing them down soon. I can't demand that you help, but I would appreciate it."Jean-Pierre rubbed at his chin. "As would I. I want to say zat zis is exactly ze kind of messy situation zat crops up once you're at ze higher echelons of ze guild, but none of you are members yet, and zis is far beyond ze bounds of a test. I would consider it a personal favour if you were to assist, but if you chose not to, I won't let zat choice impact your results for ze evaluation.""That's fair of you," Guy said. "I'm in, however.""As am I," Harrison added.Hannah was nodding fast, a smile firmly in place. "This is what I joined the guild for!" she said.Next to her, Davis sighed. "I'll come along too, to keep Hannah here safe."Jake and Kerri glanced at each other, then they shrugged. "I'll make for a good story later," Kerri said.I smiled from ear to ear. "Thank you," I said. "Really. I appreciate it. Now... Jean-Pierre, you probably know more about this kind of situation than we do.""Do you know where this camp is, exactly?" he asked."We have rough directions," I said."I can scout ahead," Calamity suggested. "As long as everyone here keeps to the road and walks slowly, I can make it to the camp, circle around it from afar, then get back to you all.""That's dangerous," I said. He'd be alone, near the baddies, and we didn't know if they'd installed traps and such around their camp.Calamity shook his head. "I'm a hunter. This is hunting. Different prey than usual, but not so different that my skills won't help. Let me handle this one, Captain. N'ya don't have to worry about me."I'd probably worry anyway, but Calamity was probably right, this was something he was suited to do."Alright. Should we head out now?""Everyone, we're dropping any gear we don't need alongside ze road. We can cover it up and come back for it later," Jean-Pierre said. "We want to move light and fast and be ready to fight at a moment's notice."That seemed like a good idea. Everyone stashed their stuff onto a tarp that Hannah had in her overstuffed backpack, then it was pushed under a bush where it would be harder to spot. Someone tied some ribbons in a nearby tree, so we'd still know where the stuff was on the return trip.Then we started heading out. Calamity jogged out ahead, then slipping into the forest and basically disappeared from sight.We continued after him, though we kept to the road. "Alright," I said. "I think... Jean-Pierre, did you want to take charge of the, ah, attack?"Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel."I'd rather not," he said. "I don't have any leadership skills.""Oh," I replied. Which meant... yeah, it was my job. "Okay then. Jean-Pierre, who would you say is the best scout in the group, after yourself and Calamity?"Jean-Pierre glanced back. "Davis and Hannah are both closer to rogues zan most. But zey're not used to forests and swamps. With zat in mind, I suspect Harrison is ze most experienced after Calamity.""Alright. So, once we get to the camp, I'd like for you to go..." I paused as I considered things. The road would be... more or less to the right of us if we went off-road to hit that camp from the side. "Go right, not too far, but a little ways. Harrison, do you mind going left?""Fine by me," he replied."Awen, you and Kerri and Guywill provide ranged fire, I think. Guy's blunderbuss is, uh, loud, so don't fire that until they know we're there. And only if they're very dangerous and hostile! Ideally, we can win without anyone getting hurt."Jean-Pierre nodded. "If we injure zem and it turns out we were wrong and zey're innocent, zen we could land ourselves in severe trouble with ze law. I would advise caution before using heavy force."I wasn't thinking of the legal stuff, more the... common decency stuff, but that was a fair point. "Yeah, since we're acting to save an innocent, we probably have significant leeway, but I'd rather not test that, let's try not to hurt anyone too much. That being said, if your life is in danger, do whatever you need to defend yourself."I got a bunch of half-hearted nods. That was good enough."And the rest of us?" Jake asked."Hannah, Davis, Jake and I will be the melee group," I said. "Hannah, Davis, you have a bit less experience in a fight, right, so, uh, keep the flanks safe.""Got it, captain," Hannah said."Can do," Davis replied.I nodded seriously. "Alright everyone, you have your roles. Our mission is to save Booksie, a bun woman of about my size, with brown eyes, brown hair, and brown ears. She ought to be the only bun woman in the camp. The enemy is about a dozen ne'er-do-wells. We will fight them only if they obstruct our rescue." I glanced across my impromptu troops. "If you understand, say 'Yes!'""Yes!" they all chorused back to me."Okay! I think that's probably not the most complicated plan I've come up with, but it's something. Let's do our best, everyone." It wasn't a great plan, but I'd be at the front. If anyone on our side got hurt, it would be me before anyone else.Congratulations! Chivalry is now Rank E!Oh! That was exciting! Had I done something chivalrous? Or had I thought something knightly? In either case, I was pretty happy with the result. It wasn't a huge boost, but if we were going to be in any sort of scuffle, then I'd take the bump!Would saving Booksie count as a chivalrous action? She was technically a princess, and saving those was entirely in-line with what a knight would do."Broc?" Awen said.I jumped. "Huh?" I asked."Are you okay? You were staring and giggling?""Oh, uh, just thinking," I said. It wasn't the time to look silly, not when I had so many people to lead and help.We moved just a bit further down the road when Calamity popped out of the woods and jogged over. We all came to a stop, then Calamity gestured to the side, a finger over his mouth.When we were all in the woods, Calamity gestured us closer. "Took longer to circle the camp than I thought it would," he said, voice pitched low. We could all hear, I think, but he wasn't making any effort to speak up."What's it look like? Is it close?""It's going to be interesting, I'll say that much," Calamity said. "Looks like a proper bandit camp, Captain. Half a dozen small tents, a big pavilion tent, and a cave.""A... cave?""You know, a hole in the ground?" Calamity asked. "They've got one.""Is it a big one?"He shook his head. "Not from what I can tell. Especially not with the area being so swampy. There's a small ridge back there. Hard to see with all the brush. The camp's nestled into it. There's a creek that runs by too, right in the middle of the camp. Barely a trickle, but I bet it's enough for them. Then the cave, it's dug into the ridge.""It won't be deep," Jean-Pierre said. "Not unless it's filled with water. Still, a natural or unnatural cave will give zem a strongpoint zat will be hard for us to attack."That would make things a lot more complicated. But I was sure we could manage it!
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