"This is not good, they are no good! In a day we made a grand total of 50 Cupra and already had to borrow 20 of them, because they spent all their money on the feast! Can you imagine it? At this rate, we will go back to ground zero after being done with lost animals!"
Such was Nila's impression after having a hearty meal at the tavern. We returned back to the hotel late at night, the old lady scolded us a good deal, however, she was focused more on me, as Nila's grimace of cold malice put even me on toes. She was now walking back and forth, occasionally stopping to ponder for a minute or two, but then her walk and monologue started with a loud click of her tongue. I had never seen her this pissed, not even after she learned about my crimes, she really did care about finance and the time we wasted in search of lost animals.
I could not agree with her more, since I did not like that pair from the very start, especially Faust with his pesky attitude of goodwill and positive beliefs. There must have been some kind of pitfall to his thoughts, and I was not thinking of his drinking, feasting or even womanising habits, but something deeper within his mind that would be a problem for us in the long run. Those who call themselves heroes are more often than not prone to become a villain. I saw it many times in the gang back at my home, some of the members were trying to be of use to our "family" which resulted in the path of destruction that was building up behind their shadows. Even those who betrayed the family to put an end to its misdeeds, only made their family members suffer along with the common folk who were caught in the crossfire. That's why I never liked heroes and their fans, neither of them ever looked back on the collateral damage.
"What do you think, Dusk? Should we ditch them after we are done with searching for lost animals?" Suddenly turned to me Nila, her expression loosened up, although I still could feel a sign of irritation in her green eyes. I pondered for a moment, then leaned back on the bed and said, "Why should we commit to these animal rescue tasks? If you do not want to work with them anymore, then we can just refuse further searches."
"We are able to earn a sizable penny, considering how little work we are actually putting in. There is no need to refuse this ordeal, perhaps, we will be able to negotiate their spending habits for the time being."
I crossed my arms in disbelief, "A sizable penny! We would be done with those tasks much earlier if that idiot Faust did not stop at every corner to help someone. We wasted so much time on carrying and repairing stuff for strangers!"
Nila tilted her head and said, "Is it a bad thing that we helped people in need?", to which I bitterly replied, "It's just a way to show off, I see nothing good in this."
Faust was a well-known lad around the town and judging by our today's ordeal, people knew him through his tendency to help others. Their foolish smiles upon seeing the problem fixed were not worth a penny, as tomorrow the same problem could occur, what would they do in a scenario where Faust would be no longer around? Moreover, Faust himself was doing it a lot for strangers, but was it truly the way he acted throughout his whole life? I was quite sure that he had his good and bad days, meaning that he was not able to help others 100% of his time, so what was the point of helping those around now if you would not be able to do the same for the rest of your life? If you want to be a good person, then you should make sure to be like that throughout your whole life, not just through moments of goodwill. Otherwise, his deeds would simply be hypocritical…
Nila tapped her foot in thought, then sighed and dived into her bed. Despite her light weight, the room rocked a little from the impact, but no knocks followed from the old woman downstairs. She took out the book from her suitcase and ruffled some of the pages.
"Anyway, I believe we would still benefit from completing lost pet requests, but after that I do not mind cutting ties with those two humans."
"Why do you insist on completing these tasks anyway?"
"Because I can teach you magic in practice, you also do look like you are having fun in their company."
"As hell I do!" I cried out and turned away from her, burying my face in a pillow. What kind of fun would I have with the likes of them? I didn't even want to collect those damn cats. If anything, Nila seemed to be more tolerant of those two… perhaps, I should give them a nudge to abandon us on their own accord?
"I will tell Faust and Riaz that my goal is to slay the goddess, we will see how they like that."
Suddenly, the rustling of pages halted, not even a remembrance of noise was present in the room. I raised my brow and turned to her and, to my surprise, she was glaring at me with emotionless, but somehow threatening gaze, she said, "I never asked the reasons for why you want to do it, as I do not really care, but I ask you to never express it in front of a priest, especially a higher ranking one. It will not end well for you, Dusk."
I frowned at her words and turned to the wall once again. I felt like it would be a mistake to take her words lightly, but I did not want to make it seem like I obeyed them, thus I only said, "Whatever, it's time to sleep anyway."
"Won't you study for at least a few minutes?" she asked through the returned rustling of pages, to which I mumbled, "I would recommend you to sleep right away as well, I will not be waking you up tomorrow."
"How hurtful." she said and, in spite of my warning, did not close the book. I closed my eye and fell asleep, awaiting the next day with a slight curiosity present within my mind.
We spent two more days on the search quest, along with mundane tasks that Faust took upon us from time to time. Nothing was different from the very first day we worked with that unlikely duo. Nila continued terrorising me with the church via bribing me with magic lessons, she also got lost quite often, and we had to spend hours to find her sitting by the road, hugging her knees like a scolded child. Faust continued celebrating each day with a feast and new ladies by our table. Moreover, the money we lent those two were quickly wasted on some exotic tea Riaz saw at the fair. Needless to say, Nila's brow twitched every time they begged for more. But she never told them off, and neither did I, as I had a stash that I collected while pickpocketing strangers down the street. Naturally, none of them ever noticed my skilful hands at work.
On the 5th day, it was finally time to part our ways. We did not earn much from our stay in Wohr, at least that was the case for Nila, but I could be generous enough to let her in onto my savings. After we collected our belongings, a rapier, a wand and Nila's suitcase from the hotel, we moved to the city gates to head North from here. Naturally, Riaz and Faust were waiting there, since they promised to see us off on our journey. Once we actually saw those two waving at us in the distance, Nila raised her brow, and I frowned while being on guard. There were not just two of them, but three! Some kind of merchant was leaning against the carriage and waving to us along with them.
Upon coming closer, Faust exclaimed, "Hey, you there! We have fantastic news!"
I exchanged doubtful glances with Nila, then I noticed Riaz's mischievous smile which he hid by gazing at the sky, as if he was out of the loop about this news. Before Faust was able to explain his statement, the merchant was the one who spoke first.
"I am so grateful to you two for agreeing to accompany me to the city of Ultur. The North-eastern road became a tad bit too dangerous to cross it alone, but a mage and scout along with a good warrior and a priest will surely make its crossage a breeze!"
Neither of us could believe what we just heard. Nila gave off a heavy sigh and said, "You two are really obnoxious." Then she turned to me and asked with slight confusion in her tone, "Why are you smiling, Dusk?"
"Me? I am not smiling, goddamn it!" I exclaimed and turned away from her. As hell, I would be happy about the continuation of our work together!