Dungeons and Dalliances

6.14 – Liaise

Level six?

Natalie looked at the grizzled man donning a gray-speckled beard in a new light. Levels were progressively more difficult to advance in—and came with progressively stronger rewards, in terms of skills and stat bonuses. Considering his level, Natalie wondered whether a level six [Hunter] could have handled the goblin problem by himself.

She thought it unlikely. [Hunter] was one of those classes that rode a strange line between possibly a combat class and not. Even a level ten [Blacksmith] couldn't do much against an incursion of goblins—well, generally speaking. They were crafters. Likewise, [Hunters] had a skill set suited to tracking and killing regular animals, not monsters.

Not that [Hunter] was his true class. Though maybe it was; Natalie didn't know. But generalizing one's class to hide its exact details was common practice. For example, Natalie herself did it constantly: she simply called herself a [Paladin]. Varten could be a [Hunter], but more likely, he was some variation of the class, probably one that more obviously defined him as a civilian.

With the Baron having passed over the spotlight, Varten gave a serious nod and took the floor. "I've narrowed the location of their base down to a subsection of the Duskwood," he said in a gruff voice. "You'll need to do some searching yourselves, but if I'm correct, we have the general area identified. Considering how many of them there are, and all the supplies they've been collecting, it's unlikely they can be all that hidden."

That was convenient. In most monster harassment cases, the actual tracking down of the beast or beasts could be the most annoying part of the quest. It sounded like Varten hadn't been able to locate exactly where the goblins were hiding, but he'd narrowed it down enough that the five of them could set out and, with some luck, trek through the forest until they found the base themselves.

"But we have a raid to handle before that?" Jordan asked.

"Yes," the Baron said. "If the trend keeps, we expect the southern outskirts to be hit, though where exactly, we aren't sure. You'll be on standby. With luck, you can thin their numbers for when you find their nest." He shrugged. "Or, however you wish to handle the problem. I'm sure Tenet students would know best."

Natalie thought the Baron's plan was solid enough. If they had a strong reason to believe the goblins would be attacking innocents on the outskirts of the city tonight, then it was more important they were there to intercept them than to immediately set out and find their base. It sounded like that could be a multi-day endeavor, depending on how lucky or unlucky they were.

There wasn't much else to say about the mission. After hashing out the details and a few questions where necessary, the Baron wrapped the meeting up.

"Oh," the Baron said. "And I almost forgot. This is my daughter, Alaina." He gestured to the woman at his left. "She volunteered to help get you five settled. Insisted upon it, in fact."

At her name being brought up, Alaina—the woman in the blue dress, who had trailed in alongside the Baron and Varten—gave a quick curtsy. She smiled brightly at them, cheeks dimpling. "It's the least I could do for our city's heroes." Her eyes flicked from person to person, before lingering on Natalie. "I'll be showing you to your inn. It's somewhere you'll be able to respond quickly to the raid. In the meantime, please don't hesitate to ask for anything. Your comfort is my highest priority." She fluttered her lashes at Natalie. "Use me entirely as you see fit."

The Baron gave his daughter a fond smile and nodded in approval. Natalie shifted in her seat, glancing at Jordan, wondering whether she'd imagined the obviously flirtatious tone. Jordan's slightly raised eyebrows suggested she hadn't.

Seeing how neither the Baron nor Varten seemed to notice, though, Natalie thought maybe it was in her head. Probably, the Baron's daughter was just trying to ingratiate herself to Elizabeth Beaumon.

But then why was her attention lingering on Natalie and not Liz, then? Natalie gave a tentative smile back, and the woman all but beamed at her.

Huh.

As Alaina suggested she would, the five of them were led through the manor and out into the streets, where another carriage escorted them to the inn they would be staying at. Natalie found herself much more enthralled by the smalltalk Alaina provided, unlike Tristan's endless chatter. Though Natalie couldn't fully make up her mind on whether it was flirting or simply the woman being overly polite. Or perhaps, even, she was simply interested in the group of visiting delvers. Even a Baron's daughter probably didn't see many Tenet squads coming through the city.

Natalie got her answer in a roundabout way—or at least through the input of her teammates—once they had unpacked into their respective rooms and met up inside Natalie's.

"Okay," Jordan said. "We're all thinking it, but it needs to be said."

Sofia, Liz, and even Ana nodded along, as if knowing exactly what Jordan meant.

To Natalie, though, the statement seemed to have come from nowhere. Blinking, she asked, "Huh?"

Jordan folded her arms and gave Natalie a serious look. She held it for several seconds. "Natalie," she said firmly. "Don't fuck the Baron's daughter."

"W-What?"

"Keep it in your pants for the first time in your life," Sofia added flatly, not an ounce of sympathy on her face. "We're here on business. Don't fuck the Baron's daughter. Do you have any idea how unprofessional that would be?"

"I wasn't planning on it," Natalie protested, glancing between all of her teammates. "Where did this come from?"

"Where did this come from?" Sofia repeated. "You two were giving fuck-me eyes the whole ride over. You had company, you know?" She huffed. "Okay, well, it was mostly her to you." An annoyed expression appeared on her face. "Not an ounce of shame, apparently," she grumbled.

Natalie digested that. 'Fuck-me eyes'? So Natalie hadn't been imagining that. "Was she?" she asked.

"Don't sound pleased by it," Sofia growled. "I'm serious. She's the daughter of the leader of this city. And we're here on a quest. I'd prefer if we finished our first mission without someone complaining to Tenet about how our tank ravished his daughter."

Liz cleared her throat. The frank wording had made her cheeks color. "That would be pretty bad, Nat," Liz added. "You know how seriously Tenet takes their reputation. If their students went and, um, liaised with important figures during official quests, Tenet wouldn't be happy. Quests are as much about how we carry ourselves as anything. They want to know they can trust us. That's how we'll get more important assignments in the future."

"I know," Natalie said defensively. Quests weren't just about killing monsters, even when that was the letter of the mission. "And again, I wasn't planning on it."

"Weren't you?"

"I mean—no? Not really."

"Very convincing," Sofia said.

Jordan seemed more amused by the situation than Sofia, but even she held Natalie's eyes with a serious expression. "For real, Nat. Keep it in your pants. She's pretty, but it won't be worth the trouble. For you, much less all of us."

Wouldn't it, though?

Natalie coughed.

No, of course it wouldn't. She was the literal baron's daughter. Tenet would be furious.

If she got caught.

No. Definitely not worth it.

"Right," Natalie said. "Won't happen. So relax." She shrugged it off. "Pretty sure she was just flirting, anyways, not trying to jump into bed with me. There's no harm in flirting, is there?"

Jordan looked at her doubtfully. "If you keep it to just that, that's fine. But can you?"

"Sure."

Jordan sighed. "We're serious, Nat."

"I know."

After a few seconds of silence, Sofia huffed. "Anyway," she said, sounding exasperated. "It seems like this an adventuring inn. There's even a training yard out back. Didn't we want to see how much your buff affected Liz?"

"There were some people looking at us, when we came in," Jordan commented. "Think they knew we were coming. Seemed like they wanted to talk. We might have a bit of an audience."

That was to be expected. Tenet students were, after all, not something people saw every day.

"Might as well go warm up," Natalie said. "All we're doing is waiting until we get news of the raid."