Before entering the room I pulled up my hood, took a deep breath, and pushed the door open. Even though a part of me was hoping that they would all be beautiful maidens I wasn't so detached from reality to think that was a real possibility. Though my logical side won the bet, my fantasy of good looking females in the party was slightly satisfied.
There were mostly men, 2 warriors, 1 assassin, and 2 rangers; while on the female side of things were 2 mages and 1 priestess. A priestess could do minor healing but was more adept at blessing the group and dispelling negative effects on the mind and body. One of the mages was wearing all green, so I would have to guess earth or plant element, while the other wore bright red mage robes so probably fire element for her.
Sett stepped up beside me, "Hello everyone, this is Ali, a freshly recruited healer to the guild and will be keeping you alive should you encounter any accidents."
A man in his late twenties with chainmail stood up and nodded in my direction as a way of greeting, he did eye the two iron maidens behind me, "We did agree to a healer but we didn't ask for extra muscle." He turned and questioned Sett.
She had a huge smile when he brought this up, She pulled up my hood revealing my face to the group, "This ice-cold beauty here is a master in puppet crafting, so a little extra muscle without taking any of your cut, pretty sweet deal getting three for the price of one. One of them is beautiful enough for me to get married and retire."
I pulled my hood back down, from the neck up I was basically a girl, even my voice betrayed me by being smooth and slightly higher in pitch. If I talked to these people they would think I was a girl anyway so I guess I should have fun with them, "Only one beauty? Hex1! Hex2!" my puppets came to attention. "Remove your helmets and masks." They simultaneously lifted their helmets followed by the masks revealing their beautiful faces, the room had a look of shock especially Sett.
She leaned over and whispered into my ear, "Wow aren't you prepared for nights when you're not at home, I do have to ask though. Are your puppets the umm you know the previously living kind?"
I only had a single thought in mind 'Time for some payback' I turned toward her and whispered into her ear in response, "Do you want me to show you how skilled I am with my hands? We have a few minutes to play, or do you want to be my puppet and take orders like a good little second wife?"
My back shielded us from the view of the group, maybe I shouldn't have provoked her again though because Sett now had a near manic look in her eye like she wanted to play around. Well at least we get along, I think. I blew into her face and turned back around before ordering my puppets to put their gear back on. I readjusted my hood and sat on a chair that had me facing the entrance, Sett took the chair to my right.
"Before we begin there was a call down from the upper district they are assigning a four-man squad to your party, all of them are granite and all of them are melee fighters besides the one archer. They are to observe and if the opportunity arises let them be blooded, if they are able, they will be here in a few minutes. Once they arrive we will go over the mission briefly to get them used to such things, and before you all refuse the guild will be increasing the pay by half for the additional escort mission."
During her big reveal, most of the team showed either annoyance or indifference, the money helped lessen the tension but in the end, no one disagreed with the final decision. We didn't have to wait long before a knock came from the door, a short woman came in with four young girls behind her.
The short woman looked stern and intense, the girls behind her were around my age if not younger, the fact that they were here meant they came from an academy in the upper district. I had attended one myself and they pounded knowledge into you from dawn to dusk, though I attended an academy I had tutors and trainers from an early age that gave me the advantage which allowed me to graduate early, which led to celebrations in the woods and my encounter with that overgrown lizard.
The girls here were too young to have graduated plus the instructor with them showed they were still under the academy's tutelage, I had heard there was a new academy opening that only trained female adventurers maybe this was them trying to get an edge over the other academies.
Among the group of four girls was an archer, while the other three were warriors though each had a rather odd weapon. Spiked gauntlets, a claymore, and surprisingly a chain with a small spiked ball on one end. I wasn't too interested in them so while the introductions were underway I took a moment to meditate and calm myself.
After doing a quick circulation of my cultivation I came back to the meeting, they were just finishing up with the briefing and were preparing to leave, "Ok, so Mina will be riding with you to the nest, alright everyone let's get you on the way those goblins won't kill themselves. Well, they will but not very quickly."
'Who the hell is Mina?' I thought. Then I noticed my shadow, it was the archer from the additional guests. She had her hood up so I couldn't make out what she looked like, but there were two points poking outward from her hood, so an elf probably.
As I was leaving I checked my account curious as to how much my mount cost, I stopped in my tracks when I saw a quarter of a million credits charged from my account. I took a deep breath, 'What the hell kind of mount costs this much! I could pay half of a new shuttle for that much.'
I started walking again, with my new shadow still behind me, Sett was walking beside me and saw I had checked my account and leaned over, "What's wrong Ali? Also, why are you walking around with a cane?"
"Nothing is wrong, just surprising and it was the last thing my father gave me." She seemed a bit sorry for asking before she linked her arm with mine and walked with me to the entrance of the guild. Once we exited I looked about for my wolves and seeing what was standing behind them was amazing and I understood how I lost a huge chunk of change.