Rayleigh locked the door behind her after Geniveria finished hobbling inside. Naclyd had taken one look at her face before giving her a key to one of his soundproofed rooms.
Without turning around she began to speak with false calmness, “Why do you two not get along?”
Geniveria and Nikeol looked at each other, in one smooth motion they both pointed at the other.
“She started it,” They both said at the same time and they both glared at each other as they realized they said the same thing.
Rayleigh took a deep breath and counted to five, “I don’t care who started it, I don’t care if whatever started it was childish because the two of you are certainly acting childish right now. All I want to know is why.”
“We’re like fire and water I guess,” Geniveria shrugged, “I feel like we hated each other from the start.”
Nikeol nodded, “Agreed. For once.”
“That’s not good enough!” Rayleigh shouted, she slammed her hand on the wall. It didn’t dent or break but the walls definitely shook. Geniveria stared longingly at the locked door and began looking for other possible exits as discreetly as possible.
Nikeol just rubbed her temples, “Look, to be completely candid with you Rayleigh, I don’t think the two of us even remember why.”
Geniveria paused and began racking her own head for anything and found it was surprisingly true. She didn’t remember why the two of them started constantly arguing.
“By the gods, are you two serious?” Rayleigh threw her hands up, “Then why? If you don’t remember why you two hate each other, why do you keep arguing?”
At the two’s reluctant shrugs, she let out an aggravated sigh. Her expression darkened, “Okay, so what’s stopping you two from being at the very least cordial with each other?” Rayleigh said slowly.
“Other than Nikeol being insufferable, nothing. If she were to be less insufferable I’d be completely willing to give a fresh start on our relationship.”
Nikeol gave Geniveria the side eye, “Big words. I’m quite impressed, did you—“
“Nikeol,” Rayleigh growled out.
“Do you see what I mean,” Geniveria said plainly with a neutral look on her face.
“The two of you need to stop,” Rayleigh said annoyed, she was no longer willing to hold her punches, “The both of you rile each other up with petty arguments that do nothing but make you two dislike the other more! We’ll die on the higher-rated missions if you two keep going like this!”
Before either of the two girls could interrupt, Rayleigh kept going. She turned to Nikeol, “Nikeol, you healed some of Geniveria’s injuries which allowed her to wake up just fast enough for her to make a difference.” Nikeol looked away, “Geniveria,” Geniveria jumped at the sudden mention of her name, “You helped me carry Nikeol while I carried Kenhilt all the way back to town.” Geniveria very reluctantly nodded at that statement.
“If the two of you hate each other then why are you two willing to help each other?”
“W-we…” Nikeol started before she fell silent.
Feeling the silence was too awkward, Geniveria stepped in, “We don’t hate each other enough for that?”
“But doesn’t that mean that you two don’t hate each other? If you both hated each other, you’d both be willing to let the other die.”
Geniveria fell silent just like Nikeol did.
“I think you notice my point,” Rayleigh sighed and rubbed her temples, “I’m telling you two to suddenly start acting like the best of friends. I just want you two to be willing to work together and not provoke the other.” She stared at the two girls, “Is that fine with you two? Because I’ll just dissolve the fireteam otherwise, we can’t succeed if you two are constantly fighting. I doubt our clients would like that.”
The two looked nervous and Nikeol was about to speak up when Rayleigh shot her a dark look.
“If that isn’t a ‘Yes we’ll stop aggravating each other’ I’d suggest you zip it or find another team.”
Nikeol awkwardly looked at Geniveria. Geniveria awkwardly looked at Nikeol.
Geniveria slowly reached out a hand. Nikeol slowly reached out to accept it.
They still didn’t like each other but they would at least be willing to keep each other alive, and that was enough for now.
“We’re all in agreement that we need to work on combat correct?” Rayleigh asked once more.
Geniveria stopped cleaning her sniper rifle, “Yeah, I don’t like how half of us got beaten by horses, even if they were stronger than normal,” Geniveria agreed.
After their ‘small’ talk earlier they moved into their room to plan out their next course of action.
Nikeol sat on her soft bed with her arms crossed and her eyes closed in deep thought.
Nikeol opened her eyes, “Who would we ask though? We can go to that questor bar that Agapi told us about but we can’t just go around asking random questors to train us,” Nikeol pointed out.
“What about that blacksmith? Didn’t Agapi say he used to be a questor?” Geniveria asked with a tilt of her head.
“Rylian?”
“Yes, him.”
Rayleigh tapped her fingers on her bedside cabinet, “That might work. But how would we ask him?”
Nikeol nodded in agreement, “If he was high-ranking enough that our guild advisor recommended him to us, then we’d need to go about this properly.”
Geniveria gave Nikeol a deadpan stare but bit her tongue instead of mentioning how Nikeol acted in front of him the first time they met so that an argument wouldn’t occur.
“We could just ask him, he doesn’t seem to be the kind that doesn’t mind casualness.” Geniveria said with a shrug, “Personally I think he’d rather it be casual.”
“I don’t think that would—“
“Sure. But I’m quite busy so I recommend that we go to someone I know for help.” Rylian said casually as he wiped his display cases with a rag.
Geniveria shot Rayleigh and Nikeol a smug look, the two of which looked catatonic before it was wiped a few seconds later.
Rayleigh quickly got over how suddenly Rylian accepted, “Who?”
“Her name’s Eclipse. She’s close to my rank.” Rylian said casually before he muttered something unintelligible. He shook his head, “I would’ve asked Ceol but he’s literally the only bartender at his bar. We’ll help whip you all into shape.”
“Are you sure you have the time for that?” Nikeol asked as she eyed some of his wares, no longer feeling catatonic. The first time that she came in here, she was skeptical of his skills, and admittedly still was but she’ll give him the benefit of the doubt for now.
Rylian rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck, “That’s why I’m going ask Eclipse for help. She’s more free than I am so she’ll help even if I’m there. She’ll probably be a better trainer for you,” He pointed at Genivera, “And you,” He pointed at Nikeol, “I’m not much of a sharpshooter or a mage. I’m an up-close kind of guy.”
“I believe that I can train you perfectly fine though,” he pointed at Rayleigh, “I can do swords.”
Nikeol nodded. Rylian definitely didn’t seem like a mage type, “Then how will we get in contact with her if we have any questions?”
Rylian sighed and leaned on his countertop, “Okay, first lesson. Find the nearest questor hangout wherever you go. You can get the lay of the land much easier from someone familiar with it. And no half-decent questor will ignore your questions. We’ve gotta stick together after all.”
“I see,” Nikeol supposed it made sense. The Archeo-Defense Guild employees were all extremely helpful, almost overly helpful, and overbearing at times. Like they felt you were made of glass and would shatter if you were left to your own devices.
The questors, however, felt much more unhinged. They were willing to get into the weirdest situations and then laugh off the results even if they got hurt. It wasn’t like they enjoyed the pain, at least for most of them, but they just didn’t mind it if they accomplished something.
She still remembered the first time she reluctantly walked into the Guild Building and the first thing she saw was three adventurers piled on top of each other as they smacked each other with tennis rackets.
Literally, what in the actual Scheiße! They weren’t even arguing just doing it because they thought it was funny.
But compared to the ones they saw loitering in the Guild Building, Rylian was much more subdued. He still felt strange as he was high-ranking enough that he could just retire without having to work at all, but he still decided to be a blacksmith of all things. He could’ve been anything, even a Foniks royal guard at his rank, but he chose to be a blacksmith in a frontier town.
A frontier town literally named Ukjent.
But she supposed it was to their current benefit if they had someone on par with a royal guard training them.
Things were finally looking up.
Ruined Questor Compendium:
“Ten days. That’s how long we have to hold out until the 382nd Motorized Cavalier Company comes to relieve us.
We don’t have that much time.
Even with Ardnassac reinforcing the metal walls with his magic, it can only buy us a few more days at most.
The militia is equipped with nothing more than a few poorly-made flintlocks and cheap swords. They don’t even have basic elemental rifles. They won’t be able to hold back the horde.
The walls will surely be broken or scaled by week’s end even with our help.
Morale is low but has improved after Guihem and I managed to evacuate most of the younger civilian population.
But half of the town’s population is stuck here. I just hope that my fireteam can buy enough time to save some of them.
If anyone finds this. Tell my family I died fighting.”
-Raseac Varon, Fallen Hero
Rylian’s Questor Compendium:
“Watch your back. Being a questor is dangerous work. Our lives are filled with constant danger from both outside and inner forces. Most members of the governments hate us for being out of their control, we fight monsters on the daily and sometimes we’re faced with betrayal from who we thought were our close allies. Select your fireteam carefully and only take risks if you’re willing to pay the price.”
-Rylian Quinn, Retired Questor
