Our attention was now centered on the young representative of the Angea Household as she requested it. Although I remained unconvinced of her desire not to deceive us, it would not be totally pointless to hear her out. I am sure that the other two were in agreement as they didn't offer any form of resistance or complaint.
"As a member of the Angea family, I am well endowed financially, so I can afford your services.", she starts.
With a swift motion, the shorter woman would grab the flowing sides of her dress and raise the flounce above the ground. It was known as a common curtsey where I am from. Even though her head was slightly lowered before us. I could still sense the devious nature of this young woman hoping to rope us into whatever scheme that she had concocted.
At first, I was thrown aback at the action, but I soon accepted it as her form of sincerity. It was not often in my previous life that someone showed me respect in that manner. It was not ingrained in the DNA of the South unless the individual had an affinity for cowgirls, so I really didn't know how to react to that, to be honest. Detecting my shrewd awkwardness the sound of Claire snickering came to life.
"You still didn't mention anything with our time.", I say, in order to alleviate the ensuing silence.
"Let's put it like this…I am looking for a group of individuals to serve as my personal retainers… at least for the time being. Although I have no proof of it just yet... I have come to believe that my mother and house are in danger. As well as the citizens of Astana. To combat that I require strength."
I couldn't help but tilt my head at the words of the young woman. Looking at my comrades, I believe we all came to a somewhat similar conclusion Q was the first to speak up on the matter.
"Strength, you say? Heh. You barely know us. We just met and yet you stand there pretending to know how strong we are. Look, we don't care about any of that. That ain't none of our business to be real with you."
"But I can-"
"We heard you the first time that you said that. You can pay, but I am not sure that we should be getting involved with you. Doesn't seem to be much benefit to it.", Bonner says.
I agree with Bonner's sentiment. We do not owe the citizens, her house, or Claire, herself anything. The fates of these groups would not affect us all that much. Seeing that we were not being swayed by her proposition, Claire began to speak once more. Her voice still manages to remain confident despite her previous failures.
"Perhaps it is not money that you want… name your prices. Tell me in what way that you will benefit from our union."
Now that she has asked us, I began thinking about what we could request in specific. Naturally, money is a huge factor, but there are other things that I believe could be equally useful to us. As I stood there I would twirl the ends of my mustache and pace as I stood in front of a crowd presenting my thesis.
"For one, That spell that you used. The one that you used to hide your real appearance from us. What we require is knowledge. Much like my friend has stated, we do not have a dog in this fight, and I am not eager to stick our noses in one. So if you truly require our services and expect us to become mercenaries, then it is only fair that you must provide us with the knowledge that we need."
Without hesitation, Claire's face stretched once more to her more devious expression. Frankly, the sudden transition shook me instantly. It was quite unnerving to see it pop up once more. I had thought that I had made a mistake and leaked something that I probably shouldn't have.
However, in this scenario, I believe that it couldn't be helped. In order to better facilitate proper terms of negotiation between two parties, one must unearth certain information in order to obtain an upper hand or a better footing. That is what I believe at the very least. Without much thought, it appears that I subconsciously implied that we lacked magical knowledge. That revelation seemed to please Claire as it gave her a better footing on her own side.
"It appears that you three do not know much about magic, so that means two things. Either I have the wrong people or… you three must be exceptionally strong without it. Haha! Bonner, you said that you do not see a benefit in aligning yourself with me, right? The business of Astana's citizens isn't your dog in the fight, Mark. How about this… I can pull a few strings and I could help you expand your knowledge on magic. My family has access to not only magical preffessors but books on the topic within our family library as well as the main library here in Astana. If you three help me with my desire to save my house, then I can help you grow even stronger via my connections. "
"Hah. Is that so?", Q scoffs.
The young woman would nod her head confidently and place her hand onto her chest. Her posture was firm. My eyes would shift to Bonner, but all that I would find was the elven bastard standing there aloofly. I am willing to guess that he was on board from the beginning.
"Yes, I can also offer lodging and food as well, and if that is not to convince you, then I will add monetary compensation on top of the other things that I have offered."
Claire appeared to be doing everything that she could to bring us on board. Connections, money, housing, food, those were all the fundamental things that we required coming into this world. It was one thing that was irrelevant to us at first, but took precedent. Still I viewed this as a deal that was perhaps too good to be true, but even still she appeared to be incredibly serious at the moment. My thoughts began to race around my skull as I attempted to think of any downsides to the offer that fell upon our laps. I could see it on their faces that Bonner and Q were on board.
Thus, it fell to me to look for any hiccups that may arise from this partnership, and only one popped up. It was the danger that awaited us from the threat that Claire vaguely mentioned. Without proper information on it, I could not properly weigh if it was really a threat to us, so I too chose the best course of action.
"If you are going out of your way to invite us as outsiders without knowing us, then I can assume that there is something larger at play. For now though…", I would extend my hand towards the smaller elven woman, and showcased my own smirk to her.
"You can count on us to join in your service. Hold up your end of the bargain, and I will hold up ours. Our strength is yours. Be grateful, Claire."
My words seemed to have alleviated the concern of the young woman. The sound of a single clap could be heard exploding throughout the lifeless bar. At first I thought it was the doing of Claire, but I soon found myself assuming incorrectly. All eyes went on the older gentleman that stood behind the bar as we were conversing. For the first time in this encounter the older man had decided that it was the proper moment for him to speak.
"That is good to know. Congratulations, Gentlemen. Lady Claire."
His voice was actually quite lively compared to his sulken wrinkles and aged hair. It honestly took me off guard, but his face was stretched with a smile on it. I will not lie, but the old guy was kind of creepy. I would not like to see him smile again if I could help it, but I guess I was forced to accept his gesture of goodwill. He would maneuver from behind the bar and join the rest of the group in the middle of the room.
As he moved closer, I could gauge his weathered figure. The man looked like nothing, but skin and bones. The guy could use a sandwich if I am being honest. Despite his ancient appearance, the hairs on my arms stood on end. From my experience from watching anime, I knew that old bastards like this guy are deceptively strong. It would be ideal not to underestimate him. He would be the second tallest individual here, tight after myself, but his elegant stance far exceeded my own. Claire would gesture to the older male as she addressed us,
"This here is Horace. This man has served Astana faithfully for four generations of leadership. This is his establishment. It will serve as our base of operations. Please properly introduce yourselves."
"You know of our names, but for the record, Miss Claire Von Angea, I am Mark Drago. These two here are my brothers from different mothers; Bonner Drago and Q Drago, respectively. We undertook the namesake of our fallen friend to honor him. From this moment on, per contractual reasons we have agreed to be your faithful and loyal retainers to help combat your problems."
I would offer a handshake to the two individuals, but they appeared quite rather confused at the gesture. They were acting as if they did not know what to do during that situation. After a moment of awkwardness. I would just retract my hand, and pretend that it didn't happen. To better move on from the situation, Horace would speak once more,
"Horace. Horace Mallard. Horace is fine though. It will be my pleasure to work with you gentlemen. I appreciate you three for lending your strength and youth to Lady Claire's cause."
"Think nothing of it. Perhaps it was fate that brought us together. Let's fight the good fight together, Horace. We will likely be seeing more of each other in the future."
As I spoke to him, the older male would gesture to Claire to speak to one another privately. For a brief moment they would step away from the three of us and headed towards the bar counter together. I would attempt to listen in to their conversation, but I found the strangest occurrence. It was as if their conversation was muted to even my advanced Kitsune hearing. I knew that they were conversing.
Hell, I could even see their lips moving, but no sound escaped from either of them. I was struck with a heightened sense of curiosity. It must be the work of more magic in play. Magic that could nullify sound beyond a certain distance. Something like that is extremely useful, and I must get my hands on it. Perhaps this union would be more beneficial to us than I originally thought.
"Bonner?"
"What?"
I would turn to face the male, but it took a moment for him to look back at me. I don't know what the hell he has been up to in that small time frame, but it looks like he hasn't been paying attention. He was looking at me similar to a deer in headlights.
"Are you capable of hearing their conversation?", I asked him.
"Should I be listening to them talk now?"
The sound of Q's dry chuckle occurred as I just looked at the male as if he said something stupid. Which he really just did. It was just as I feared. Bonner was having one of his moments. Something so important just flew over his head.
"Bonner..Bonner..Bishop. C'mon now. No shit. You have super hearing, bud. Better hearing than both of us. Use it to our advantage."
"Calm down, now, Mark. How am I supposed to know that I was supposed to listen in on their conversation? I'd be invading their privacy. You wouldn't want anyone listening to ours."
"Oh brother.", I mumble, face palming at the absurd remark of the elven male. Q's amusement continued as I could hear his chuckling in the background. No doubt he was clued in before I had realized.
"You're right, Bonner. It's not like she listened in our conversation when we were getting here. Haha. Oh wait- She did. Looked at my ass and called me by my name. Yet, you're worried about her privacy. Mister Bonner, this is a fantasy world, so you listen to me with your super hearing. Be fucking useful, alright. "
"You're getting ahead of yourself, Mark. Okay, you don't get to talk to me like that. Don't you know who my father is. Military is in my veins."
"I'll punch your ass through that wall like Superman, and bleed the military out of you. That shit don't mean anything around here."
Our conversation seemed to go on longer than originally anticipated as before I realized it, Claire and Horace were in the process of making their way over. It was too late, so I guess we would have to wait for them to address us themselves.