“Azel, can you make some smoked fish,” Sekh requested.

As of now, we’re at the creek where Sekh taught me how to fish. 

“Sure,” I answered. “Let’s catch about a dozen fish or so in total. We’ll eat three of them and I’ll smoke the rest.”

Sekh really is easy to please sometimes. Just after hearing my approval, she skipped off with her fishing pole in hand. Well, I intend to join her after I chop up some wood to use to cook the fish later on. 

I had only spent 6 copper coins on rations and other supplies since we left Amorium, so it’s only natural that we have to do some gathering as we travel. But even if travel ends up taking longer, it definitely makes the experience more enjoyable.

Sekh and I spent a few hours fishing at the creek. Although it would be more efficient to fish at separate locations, we decided to stay fairly close so that we could keep each other company during that time.

“So is this why you bought tomatoes?” Sekh asked.

Instead of doing a herb and lemon butter sauce, I had preemptively planned to make fish cooked in tomato sauce with onions and dill.

“Exactly,” I informed her. “I knew that you would want to have fish, so I thought about recipes as we were shopping for supplies.”

Without speaking, Sekh hugged me and kissed me on the cheek. A truly wonderful experience.

The remaining two days of travel to Jericho were unremarkable. However, I was glad to hear from other travelers that the roads to Jericho still remained safe. 

“I’m really starting to wonder why you keep coming back here,” Sekh told me with slight amusement when we neared the city of Jericho. “You always complain about Doux Zeno, but you somehow end up returning. It seems like you two just can't admit how fond you are of each other.”

“Calm down, it’s not like that,” I complained. “I'll be honest, I appreciate what he's done for me, especially all the skills he's taught me. And even though I find him annoying at times, he does always have something interesting going on.”

“Let’s see if those words hold up,” Sekh responded.

As we approached the castle in Jericho, we chanced upon a familiar face.

“Oh it’s you two,” John said with a smile. “Been a little while since I last saw you. How have you been?”

“We’ve been good,” I replied warmly. “How are you holding up?”

“I’m doing quite well,” John chuckled. “Seems like Doux Zeno didn’t have that many men with military experience since I already got promoted to an officer position.”

“How do the other soldiers feel about it though?” I asked with concern.

“They took to it surprisingly well,” John informed me. “From what I can tell, the soldiers here really respect competence. Also helps that most humans hold orcs in high regard on military matters. Anyways, are things going well, Sekh?”

“Yup,” Sekh replied cheerfully. “Me and Azel are all lovey-dovey now.”

I mean she’s right, but I don’t know how I feel about the phrasing. I’m also surprised how open she is with someone we only knew for more than a week.

“Well good for you,” John said with a laugh. “Azel seemed pretty lonely before so I think it’s a nice change of pace for him. Well you’re probably here to meet the Doux. I’ll take you to him right away.”

“Smooth one John,” I remarked. “Really did a hit and run on me.”

The three of us proceeded to walk to Zeno’s office, Sekh giggling at my apparent annoyance. John left us when we entered the office, leaving us alone with Zeno.

“That’s quite the nice mantle,” Zeno told me. “It’s a direwolf pelt correct?”

“It is,” I replied. “You want one?”

Zeno pondered my question for a bit before speaking. “I think three would be sufficient. But knowing how you are, you’ll be asking for payment. Am I right?”

“Obviously,” I told him. “Gifting it to you isn’t likely to pay off for me. How about 14 denarii for a large pelt and 10 for the smaller pelts?”

“Sounds fine,” Zeno responded. “I’ll take two large pelts and a small one in that case. But I assume you’re not here to just sell me pelts.”

“That’s correct. We’ll be travelling south to Damask, so I’m willing to hear you out if you need me to do something along the way.”

“Can you wait a while? I want to check through my documents to see if there’s anything for you. During that time you can go and bring me the pelts.”

Thus me and Sekh left the office to retrieve the direwolf pelts for our transaction. When we came back, Zeno had pretty much rearranged the configuration of the papers that occupied his desk. 

“So did you find anything?” I inquired.

“More or less,” Zeno replied. “Well I don’t have any task to assign to you on the way there. However, I do have information that the areas around Beroea and Damask are considerably more dangerous than in Jericho. The Douxes there will most likely be more informed about the matters and you can get paid by them.”

“Well thanks for the information,” I responded. “Here are the pelts, you can inspect them then pay if you want them.” 

I laid the pelts on the floor, since Zeno’s desk was nearly clogged at this point. Zeno then bent down and examined the pelts.

“The quality is certainly befitting of the price,” Zeno remarked as he felt the leather. “I’ll just pay you out of my pockets. No need for you to go through my treasurer.”

“Much appreciated,” I said in response.

“Oh and I apologize for botching the Myalo situation,” Zeno added as he looked at Sekh. “I hope my mistake did not affect you too much.”

“No it was fine,” Sekh replied. “I’m really glad that you pardoned my former coworkers, though. Even if they joined a cult dedicated to Ahriman, I still think that they can turn their lives around.”

“Well it was nice meeting you,” I ended. “We’ll be on our way to Damask now.”

"Take care," he said as I left. "And if you ever need work, I'm still shorthanded on staff up here."

“Sekh,” I began to talk after we left the castle. “Is it alright if you go check the Labor Bureau for possible jobs while I go to sell these pelts.”

“Yeah no problem,” Sekh replied. “Are you planning to stay here for today?”

“Unfortunately not,” I told her as I stretched my back. “We should still have a few hours to travel after we finish up business today. Plus I like being alone with you.”

“That’s cute,” Sekh giggled. “Well I don’t mind in any case.”

Sekh and I soon split ways to do our separate tasks. Compared to the Doux, the merchants in Jericho are a bit more stingy with their money. As a result, I went through three merchants before I could find someone willing to buy the pelts for a good price. After some excessive haggling, I was able to get 8 denarii for each small pelt. While I was in the marketplace, I also bought some supplies which included some grain, alcohol, and hide sheets. I spent about 38 nummi on said supplies, which puts my finances at 18 solidi, 70 denarii, and 17 nummi. 

For now our finances should be doing quite well, but I doubt this amount will be sufficient for my needs. Even though I believe that a family of commoners in Jericho could live on this amount for around two years, I think it would be wiser to use it to invest in the long term. Well if worst comes to worst, I can sell off my armor for possibly more than double that amount. 

When I came to the Labor Bureau, I found Sekh sitting on a couch as she waited for me.

“Any decent jobs?” I asked the very comfortable looking cat girl.

“Not really,” Sekh complained. “All the hunting jobs require us to report back to Jericho. I found a delivery job, but you’ll have to show your card since I don’t have enough credibility on my account. Unless you want to join a caravan to Beroea.”

“The caravan job sounds like a horrible idea,” I said with a grimace. “I’ll talk to the clerk about the job.”

When I approached the counter, I was met by the same elven man who gave me the ratman job when I first came to the city.

“I’d like to know about a delivery job that has been posted,” I informed the young man. “Here’s my card, hopefully my records are up to date.”

Paper records really are a pain. Normally the better maintained divisions of the Bureau use pigeons for monthly updates to a central hub. Said central hubs usually have an army of scribes who copy the information and relay it to the divisions that it oversees. 

“It seems you’re more than qualified for this job,” the elf told me as he handed me a slip of paper. “You’re to meet the client at this address. You can find it in the city, correct?”

After briefly scanning the slip, I gave him an answer. “Just to be sure, this address is in the northeastern district right?”

“Yes it is,” the clerk informed me.

I gave the elf a nod and strolled off to meet Sekh.

“Alright, let’s go pick up this package,” I told her.

Instead of immediately hopping off the couch, Sekh savored the furniture piece for a bit before leaving. “Azel, if we ever settle down somewhere we should get a couch like that.”

“So what do you think about sex on a couch?” I joked. 

“Ask that after we bang first,” Sekh said as she tickled my side with her tail.

It took us around thirty minutes to find the designated location, which is a small shop in the merchant’s quarter of the city. A small bell rang as I opened the door of the store. 

“We’re here for a delivery job from the Labor Bureau,” I announced to the young woman at the counter.

“Mom!” the young girl shouted. “There’s someone here for the delivery you posted.”

Within moments, a middle aged woman came out from the backroom.

“You two are mercenaries?” the woman inquired as she examined me and Sekh.

I was originally going to give a bit of a snarky reply, but I thought better of angering my customer. “Yes we are. I’d also like to add that we met the credibility requirement that came along with this job.”

“That’s good,” the woman sighed in relief. “I heard that the roads to the south are fairly dangerous, but this is an important delivery for my business. I need you to deliver a few flasks of perfume to a customer in Synon. Don’t worry I’ll be paying you beforehand. Just know that I have informed my client to file a complaint to the Bureau if the delivery is not made in a week and half from today.”

“Oh so you’re using pigeons to message each other?” I asked curiously. 

“That’s correct,” the woman replied. “The Doux has been reestablishing the messaging system recently and the prices of service have gone down. Though Synon is the farthest south that the post system extends as of now.”

I guess I never noticed this issue before, since I had no interest in contacting anyone. Well it might be useful later down the line. 

“Well there’s no need to worry about us,” I reassured the merchant. “Both of us served during the war against Ahriman and my companion was even a scout. We’ll get there in no time.”

“Thank you very much,” the woman replied as she handed over a pouch of coins.

Inside the pouch was a total of 3o nummi. A fair amount for around five days of travel. 

Sekh and I promptly left the store and began to head south to the city of Synon. That particular city serves as a sort of agricultural center because its surrounding territories are considerably packed with various orchards. 

Sekh and I left Jericho during the afternoon. To head to Synon, which is southwest of Jericho, we would follow the Skamander river for a few days then head westwards. 

We spent the night near the river. I really would like to sleep together with Sekh, but the countryside in Stygia is too dangerous to neglect keeping watch. 

It was around the morning on the next day when we reached the site of the first major battle against Ahriman.

“Ah I remember this place,” I told Sekh as we approached a small memorial by the Skamander river. 

The memorial was a simple pile of stones, which was erected atop the massive funeral pyre that was built after the battle. In addition to the mound of stones, a number of weapons were planted into the ground and between the gaps in the stone. 

“I heard about the battle by the Skamander,” Sekh remarked. “You fought here right?”

“I did,” I replied, my voice slightly tinged with bitterness. “I was part of the cavalry wing on the Iasor right during the battle. In fact, I was the one who killed the enemy general when he led his horsemen in an attempt to break through our right wing.”

“You don’t exactly seem happy about it,” Sekh observed. “Did you get one upped by the hero of the sword?”

“Exactly,” I laughed. “After I killed the enemy general, I was able to rally our cavalrymen to break the enemy’s left wing. But during that time, Mikhael had smashed the Stygian center with the help of some battlemages. Honestly, I do think that Mikhael’s achievement was a bit more important in the grand scheme of things. But the Iasor leadership was lavishing most of their praise on Mikhael at the end of the battle. I guess a magical light show really does stand out more than a normal cavalry battle.”

As we followed the river downwards, Sekh’s tail  gently caressed my side. 

“But I think I’m being a bit unfair,” I admitted. “I make it sound like everyone shit on me when that wasn’t the truth. It was probably better to say that a third of everyone shit on me, another third didn’t care, and the last portion actually commended my effort.”

“I heard about that,” Sekh said with a smile. “Zeno told me that a number of the more experienced members of the Iasor military were actually eyeing you quite a bit.”

“Yeah I knew about that,” I replied. “But the issue was that some of those fuckers thought that I came as part of a package deal with Mikhael. Can you believe that? Being sidelined to the point that you’re pretty much an accessory to another person.”

“Sounds like my situation,” Sekh quipped. 

“Ah, sorry about that,” I told her apologetically. “If you’d like, I can try to let you negotiate more.”

“It’s not an issue for me,” Sekh told me gently. “I don’t really mind. But I think our relationship is hardly similar to your relationship with the hero of the sword.”

“I guess,” I said as I scratched the back of my head. “But if you ever feel sidelined just let me know, I’ll try my best to rectify it.”

“It’s fine,” Sekh reassured me. “Sometimes I just have to stand on the side. Unlike you, I’m not an incredible warrior or someone with numerous personal connections. As long as a few people acknowledge my worth, I’m happy enough.”

“I see,” I replied. “Very interesting.”

Perhaps I would have been happier if I had Sekh’s mindset. But I think the very circumstances of our lives shaped the way that we became. 

Yet in spite of everything that happened, I’d never give up my life for another. Is it because I enjoy what I have? No. But I’m uncertain on whether I can succeed in another life. At least with what I have now, I believe that I can gain a place in the world. And maybe I can right some of the wrongs that have happened. Not just my own, but those that forever plague the world we live in.