"So where is Taggart anyway…" I hesitantly asked, my words growing quieter as they turned to mumbling. "He didn't uh…"
The dwarf just laughed again. "He hardly even made it back, He's asleep upstairs, serves him right."
Chills went down my arms. "I-I have healing magic, if he's badly wounded I could–"
The man raised his hand cutting me off. "Oh no he's fine, just a bit uh… Intoxicated…"
I let out a sigh of relief. 'Ok, so they aren't bad people then? See… They're normal, I'm fine.'
"You seem awfully worried." One of the other men said.
He had the ears of a wolf and the fangs to match, with claws and fur on his left arm.
I chuckled, a bit embarrassed to admit the reason. "I guess when you work alone it means a lot to have someone cheering you on. Even if he is a stranger." I paused, looking to the side. "Besides, it's a bit ironic, but the mana regeneration from the booze he gave me very well might have saved my life more than once today…"
The dwarf laughed, calling over the waitress. She was tall and slender with legs that looked like they could dish out skull-crushing kicks. Her fur was orange and black, and her face was that of a fox. Unlike the wolf man, it was clear her beast blood was strong.
"Bring out another meal Please darling."
"You got it, boss." She said with a smile before giving a seductive glance to the wolf man making him more than a bit uncomfortable.
It took me a moment to realize what was even happening. "Oh no I couldn't accept–"
He raised an eyebrow. "Oh. no. Don't worry about it. I'm putting it all on Tagarts tab, his punishment for overdrinking."
Before I knew it I was getting served a hot meal and being introduced to everyone. The dwarf was a warrior, and because he was a dwarf, his grip and arm strength were enough that he could wield that giant shield with one hand, carrying a greatsword in the other. Basically, he is what every 13-year-old knight dreamed of being. His name… As odd as it may have been… Was Theodore, or Ted.
The wolfman was actually a half-elf, which explained his especially weak blood. He only had the beast traits in one arm after all. Well, minus the ears, but he didn't even have a tail. Anyway, his name was Roaren. He was the party's assassin but also knew up to tier 3 earth magic and tier 4 air magic. The highest-tier spell I knew was fire breath, which was only tier two, so needless to say I was impressed.
Last was the party's mysterious mage. He was a tier 5 fire mage. He was a blue troll, kept to himself, he covered his body with bandages, and from what I could tell they were attempting to cover his old burn scars. For a troll to learn fire magic was odd on its own, after all, fire was the enemy of all trolls. For one who was terribly scarred by it though, and for it to be the only school of magic they learned, that was even stranger.
I decided not to pry. I did get his name out of him though, eventually. It was Dabai.
I was a bit more than nervous… Even after they were all introduced and we started talking, the nerves didn't go away. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to say, or what people actually talked about in a situation like that. It took everything I had to stop myself from fidgeting. I was perfectly content just letting them do all the talking, but every time they asked me about something it became rather hard to answer. My nerves were so bad they completely overcame the effects of the venom in the webbing, something I didn't even know was possible.
"Hey, I saw you turning in those monsters. Did you gather that many different materials on your own? That's impressive. Wargs are one thing, but spiders too, even gathering flowers takes a certain amount of skill to ensure the quality. But most people won't go anywhere near a spider corpse, they'll just turn the whole thing over to the guild for processing."
"O-oh, the harvesting you mean? It's pretty easy once you get the hang of it… Although I had a pretty good teacher so that helps… I have low-level poison and acid resistance, so it only burns a little to harvest the glans from the spiders, everything else is pretty easy once you learn how. It is kinda gross, but you just have to make sure not to touch the acid itself or you could burn your fingers off. I understand why most people wouldn't want to deal with that. To harvest the highest amount of webbing you have to cut open the spider's abdomen to reach inside and then you–" I paused and looked at his dumbstruck face, embarrassed at myself. "S-Sorry…" I muttered. 'No only did I start rambling, but about gutting monsters of all things… And he's still eating!'
I had expected him to look disgusted. There was a reason most people only harvested a few parts from monsters or paid a specialist to harvest the parts for them. It was usually considered dirty work, and most people, especially those in a party, thought they were above such things.
"No, not at all." He chuckled. "I'm the one that asked after all. I didn't expect you to be so passionate about it. Most men don't like to get their hands so dirty. Well, they'll clean and gut anything, but reaching inside a spider's carcass with the risk of losing your fingers… That's a bit different."
It was good to see he was unaffected. It gave me a lot of relief… As I looked over to see Roaren discreetly clearing his throat and setting down his food though, I couldn't help but still feel a little bad.
'Wait, what were we talking about? Oh right.' "Don't get me wrong… I don't like it either, but the guild takes a cut of the materials if they process it so…"
They silently nodded, understanding well. Money was something everyone needed.