Not so normal jobs
I was the first to wake up and go down to the ground floor, since the others were still asleep I decided to prepare breakfast for everyone, I checked all the supplies we had brought, I lit the kitchen fire, heated water to make tea, and coffee, I got down to work, whistled a song while cooking, then I could hear light footsteps coming down the stairs, it was Ariadna already fully equipped, she came over curious and greeted me happily when she saw me then she sat down at the table, I returned the greeting with a smile while I finished preparing a tea.
We were about to talk when a loud greeting interrupted us, Liath and Dub went downstairs together, their steps were practically imperceptible, more than their training it was a racial characteristic of the Sith cats to be naturally stealthy, I served everyone tea while they waited for me to finish cooking, without the comforts of my previous life like gas stoves or microwave ovens, cooking a good meal took time, although the house that the supervisor Sancor had given us was very well equipped for the standards of this world, it had a large wood-burning oven, built with ceramic and cast iron, as well as a small wood-burning boiler to provide hot water for the bathrooms.
Finish off with a high-calorie breakfast, with plenty of bacon, scrambled eggs, and coffee, to lift everyone's spirits, coffee was a luxury product north of the central mountain range but I had brought with me a good amount of beans, anticipating that it would be difficult for me to get them when everything was ready I loaded it on a large wooden tray and placed it in the middle of the dining room table, "sorry for the delay, here you are, serve yourself at ease", I said.
Liath and Dub immediately helped themselves to large portions and began to eat, but Ariadna stared at the food, "hey rookie, when we went to Aube I remember your meals were simpler", said Ariadna thoughtfully, "I wanted to take advantage of the fact that we have a well-equipped kitchen", I replied, then Ariadna began to stare at the kitchen while holding her chin with her right hand, I could see that she was extremely concentrated, "something wrong?", I asked curiously, "I think I want to try something next time", I answer determinedly.
We say goodbye to Liath and Dub, reminding them to be careful, then we head to the Guild, as soon as we left the military district and they began to follow us again, we made a brief pass through the orphanage to say hello and verify that everything was fine, Ariadna hugged Mrs. Edena for a few minutes before saying goodbye, finally after almost an hour of walking we arrived at the Guild, after a friendly exchange of greetings with other mercenaries and the employees were finally received by supervisor Sancor and Miss Cilia, "Good morning young people", the Sancor supervisor greeted us happily, "how are you doing with your new tenants?", asked Miss Cilia, Ariadna stared at me and nodded, "they've calmed down, for now, let's hope they don't cause problems", I replied.
"I see so you have earned your trust?", asked supervisor Sancor, "rather, we teach them to respect us", Ariadna replied, "wow I hope they weren't too hard on them", said Miss Cilia, "we have not gone to such extremes so there is nothing to worry about, we have also made them aware of the situation without giving many details", I replied, "good to know, we have prepared some simple missions for both of you, I think the most prudent thing is for at least one of you to keep an eye on them", said supervisor Sancor.
"With that in mind we have prepared some missions within the city for Ariadna", said Miss Cilia, "as she is well known by the city guard, it will not be suspected that she helps them in some tasks", added the supervisor Sancor, "as for you, Monsieur Greenhill, we have prepared a simple assignment for you out of town, take advantage of it to locate possible survivors among the other beastmen", said Miss Cilia.
"Under the excuse of checking a possible bandit hideout, Monsieur Greenhill will be in charge of looking for the remaining beastmen outside the city", said Supervisor Sancor, "well then I will question the two of you about the details of your meeting points outside", I replied, "Then I'll take care of watching them", said Ariadna, "that is correct, as long as we will continue to subtly gather as much information as possible", said Miss Cilia.
"Well young people you know what to do, for today, relax and make the appropriate preparations, tomorrow you will start with the distractions", said supervisor Sancor, after finishing all the details we left the Guild, "how should we prepare", asked Ariadna, "I was actually thinking of looking for a good potter", I answered, "why do you need a potter?", asked curious Ariadna, "I need flasks for potions and my combat mixes", I answered.
"Ah for those weird things!", exclaimed Ariadna, "Yes, some are difficult to manufacture if you don't have the right tools, that is why it is better if I hire an expert craftsman", answer, "let's go find one then", said Ariadna, "if you want you can go to the orphanage, you don't need to accompany me", I said curiously, "No, I must depend less on Mom", Ariadna said decisively despite having lowered her head sadly.
"Cheer up mate!", I said to cheer her up while I tapped her on the shoulder, "Yes", Ariadna replied timidly making a slight smile, her determination was truly surprising, Mrs. Edena has probably been encouraging her to be more independent, little by little I was gaining more security and self-confidence, we traveled the eastern quadrant, the cross streets to the main street were where the workshops of artisans of various kinds were located.
After about an hour of wandering through the different workshops and asking directions, we arrived at a large pottery workshop, I asked to speak to the manager, while I explained in detail what I needed Ariadna walked around the workshop watching the different potters do their work with great curiosity, I explained in detail to the manager each of the types of ceramic containers you needed, even gave him some empty containers as a sample.
I placed a large order which took the manager a bit by surprise and paid a good sum in advance which showed him that he was serious, we closed the deal with a great handshake, then I saw that Ariadna had been invited by a group of women who worked in a workshop and was shaping the clay with her hands, It was a lot of fun to watch, the surprised expression she made when molding a piece of clay with the help of a potter's wheel was charming.
Apparently, she had a lot of fun because she kept talking about how amazing working clay was, then we went to the market where I bought a lot of medicinal herbs to prepare potions and healing ointments, in addition to replenishing the herbs I had already used, then we went to the Alchemists Guild, I had to order several preparations to later use them in the jars I had ordered, when we finally finished all the orders and preparations we went back to the cafe to buy sweets for the children.
"Hey rookie you do have a lot of money", Ariadna said with surprise, "well, I never spend more than necessary, and I've been preparing for my trip for 5 years", I answered, "but it surprises me anyway to see that you have such a quantity", Ariadna said again with surprise, "well, I spent the summer working, the only expenses I had were the inn and occasionally things related to alchemy or magic, during the winter I would go back to my village and spend no money, I only bought some gifts for my family, also they paid me very well for being a guide in the city of Ciliana", I answered.
"How come you didn't work in winter?", asked curious Ariadna, "here the weather is very warm, but south of the central mountain range during winter snowfalls and the ground freezes, there is practically nothing to do in winter", I answered, "does snowfall and the ground freezes?", asked very curious Ariadna, "have you never seen snow up close?" I asked curiously, "I have not only seen her in the distance in the mountains", Ariadna said sadly, lowering her head, "mmm well there is still a long time to go until winter, maybe we can go to a mountain and I can show you the snow", I said confidently to cheer her up.
Then suddenly Ariadna took my arm tightly, "Are you serious?", he said almost screaming and looking me straight in the eye, his gaze had a brightness and expectation similar to that of a small child who was promised to be taken to an amusement park, I was taken by surprise by his reaction to the point that I took a step back, totally captivated by his look I could feel that I was blushing, "hey yeah when we're done with this maybe we should take a break and go to the mountains", I said awkwardly, looking away.
"What's up rookie is the first time you don't look me in the eye when you talk to me", said Ariadna with a suspicious look, I cleared my throat to try to answer firmly, "nothing just took me by surprise", I said while doing my best to maintain my composure, those kinds of surprise attacks are unfair after all; we finally made it to the orphanage with our big load of sweets, we were received in a noisy way by the children, I happily greeted everyone present and Ariadna ran very joyfully to hug Mrs. Edena.
