Chapter 5: Thinking on past actions

"Lord Elathana, this is the Ruby River Party, here to ask for weapons and potions," the herald spoke. Filarion nodded, and regarded the ruffians coolly.

They were big and burly. With shaggy hair, blood shot eyes, and stank of booze. Filarion scrunched up his nose at that. These were his usual clients. Now that he thought of it, they really could turn into bandits. Johnny wouldn't like that.

"What are your adventuring aspirations?" Filarion asked. The leader, a dumb looking orc as big as a bolder, blinked at him.

"Adventuring? Lord, we are taking the roads," the orc said, as if it were obvious.

"Next," Filarion said, and the help rushed to get the party out of the meeting room.

"Wait, we can pay," the healer of the party yelled. He looked just as rough as the rest of his comrades, but there was a glim of something sadistic in his eyes.

"The Elathana family is not in the business of making more bandits for the roads," Filarion snarled, and that was that. The party was dragged away, and Feneria came to the throne.

"We are so in that business," Feneria whispered in his ear. From the corner of his eye, Filarion could see Filion nod from his spot next to the throne.

"Not anymore," Filarion said, and then waved his sister away. Feneria was not so easily dismissed.

"Is this because of Johnny? This business has stood for more than 5,000 years!" Feneria snapped, and Filarion glared at her.

"His parents were killed by bandits. Those bandits probably got their weapons from our family," Filarion told her, bitterness dripping from his voice. How was Johnny going to ever forgive something like that? What could Filarion do to atone?

"That doesn't matter! Filarion, we need the money to stay safe," Feneria snapped, and Filarion's eyebrows rose.

"From what? Who would attack the Elathana family?" Filarion asked, and then snorted. "We have more than enough money to get our business cleaned up. We wouldn't need to let lose any of the help. Just, we need to do this change, ok? Trust me."

"You are a fool in love," Feneria snarled, and rushed out of the room. Filarion didn't mind. She would turn around. The next party came, and they looked promising.

Unlike the bandits in the making of before, these just looked scrawny and scared. Still, Filarion wanted to put them to the test.

"What are your adventuring aspirations?" Filarion asked again, and the leader, the archer of the group, stepped forward.

"We want to do F ranked quests, until we are better trained to get better ones. We really would like to be adventurers, my lord," the archer gave him a cute boyish smile, which melted Filarion's heart. The entire party looked like puppies left out in a box in the rain. He simply felt they had a good vibe.

"Prisila, give them the best potions on credit. Also, get Feneria to hand them over beginning weapons, with the promise they will get better ones, as they learn to wield the ones, we hand out in the first place. On one condition," Filarion leveled the party with a stern look. "You will never resort to banditry, and you will tell everyone that you got your equipment from the Elathana family. Also, we will become your official suppliers, going forward."

The archer was smiling brightly, and he looked to the healer and the berserker. The entire party was vibrating with joy. Filarion felt a warmth in his belly at the thought he was doing some good.

"Yes, my lord. We agree. Thank you for your generosity," the archer bowed, and then the help came to get the three out of the room. The next party that came looked too poor by far.

Farmer stock, honest workers. Something that Filarion would have sent off without consideration before. Now, he wondered.

"Have you been trained?" Filarion asked, the tank of the party shook his head.

"No, my lord, but we can learn," the man said, and then looked to his two compatriots. They both nodded, small smiles tugging at their lips.

"What are your adventuring aspirations?" Filarion asked, and the leader scratched the back of his head.

"Adventuring? Like dungeon delving and stuff? We just want to protect our flock from wolves, my lord. Nothing like adventuring, sorry," the farmer said, and Filarion blinked at him.

"Can't you just hire adventurers to kill off the wolves that are giving you trouble?" Filarion asked. Surely, that was the standard procedure?

"Wolves are needed for the health of the forest. They keep the deer population down, so the deer won't eat up everything green in the forest. It just so happens that sheep are easier to kill than deer, so the wolves had gotten brazen, as of late," the tank said, and Filarion nodded.

These people wanted to just live their lives as farmers. There was nothing wrong with that, Filarion decided. He looked to Filion.

"How would you like a two-month vacation?" Filarion asked his younger brother. Filion frowned at him.

"To train a bunch of farmers?" Filion asked. The three members of the party shrunk on themselves.

"Precisely. We will supply them with weapons, they will pay them, you will train them. Sounds good to me," Filarion gave his brother a pleading look. Filion nodded finally.

"You are the head of the family, I won't go against you," Filion didn't look pleased, but he didn't look insulted either. Filarion took that as a win.

"I do have one condition though," Filarion said, and the three stiffened. "You tell everyone that it was the Elathana family that supplied you with weapons, and gave you a teacher."

The tank bowed then.

"We will. You do good, my lord. I am sure you will be rewarded," the help came to get the party out of the room. The next party were a group of bandits, that didn't even hide the fact. Filarion sent them off, when they began to speak about splitting the loot from merchant's caravans.

By the end of the day, Filarion had twenty new clients, and he went back to his room with a smile. Now came the hard part. A revision of all of his current clients, and the great cleansing of the Elathana family business.