Mastery Is Earned

By the time the laborers finished unloading all the ore from the wagons, it was still early afternoon. Raymond and Henk had been busy elsewhere at noon, so everyone had eaten little more than a quick bite.

Dinner was still some time away. Apart from the ore, none of the other goods were anything special, so Raymond and Henk saw no need to deal with them immediately. Instead, they took Teddy, Derek, and the others to a tavern.

The tavern stood in the heart of the lower district. Merchants and others often came here to hire people, so most of its patrons were mercenaries or dangerous sorts trying to make a living.

The moment Raymond’s group entered, gazes swept toward them from throughout the room. He noticed that many lingered especially long on Henk.

“Hmph. A half-orc.”

“At least this one has enough sense to stay with humans.”

Quiet remarks drifted from all around the tavern. Raymond raised an eyebrow, glanced at Henk, and asked under his breath, “Should we go somewhere else?”

Henk remained where he was and slowly met the eyes of every mercenary staring at him. One by one, those who had been whispering lowered their heads and closed their mouths. Only then did Henk bare his canines. “No. This place is fine.”

The group deliberately chose a table in the farthest corner, with several empty tables around it.

Derek and his men watched Raymond expectantly, curious about the profitable job he had mentioned. Teddy was not nearly as lively as before. He sat in his chair with a dark expression and said nothing, as though Raymond’s rebuke really had hurt him. Raymond did not care. Teddy’s habit of speaking without thinking really could cause serious trouble.

Raymond cleared his throat and lowered his voice. “Someone offered me a job. The pay is very good, but it’s dangerous. I haven’t accepted yet. I wanted to know whether any of you are interested.”

“How much?” Henk asked.

“How dangerous?” Teddy asked suddenly.

“Who offered it?” Derek asked cautiously.

Raymond leaned toward them and lowered his voice further. “One question at a time. Brightwater’s City Watch Commander offered me the job. A group of fishfolk attacked the city lord’s son’s merchant ship on Deepwater Lake and took the cargo to a reed island. Our main task is to recover it. If we can kill their leader as well, there’s an additional bounty.”

“As for how strong it is, apparently it isn’t anything extraordinary. Mercenaries have fought it before, and it wasn’t difficult to handle. It’s cunning, though. It likes to ambush people from the water, and if it can’t win, it dives back in and escapes.” Raymond held up an open hand. “As for the bounty...”

“Fifty silver coins?” Derek’s voice trembled. If Raymond’s information was true and even the fishfolk leader was not difficult to handle, they might have a chance of recovering the cargo with the right plan. A Greater Goblin was worth only five silver, while this job paid ten times as much. It was worth taking.

“No, no.” Raymond shook his head.

“Five silver?” Derek sounded disappointed. He had not expected a raid on an island occupied by fishfolk to pay so little. Then again, if there was not much cargo and they did not have to fight every fishfolk there, the job might still be worth considering.

“No. Recovering the cargo alone pays five gold coins,” Raymond said. “If we can kill the fishfolk leader too, we get another three.”

“How much?”

“What?”

“Five?”

“Gold coins?”

Derek’s men and Teddy all raised their voices at once. Several even shot to their feet in excitement. They quickly realized what they had done, sat back down, and looked warily around the room.

A few patrons glanced their way, then turned back to their drinks. The tavern was noisy, and Raymond had kept his voice low until now. Even if someone had heard the outbursts, they would not necessarily know what the group was discussing.

“Boss, I’m in!” Derek immediately declared, eager to please Raymond. His three men stared at Raymond with equal enthusiasm, afraid he might leave them out of such a lucrative job.

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“How do we split the money?” Teddy asked abruptly. At once, Derek and the others turned their attention back to Raymond.

It was an important question. If they did not settle the division in advance, things could turn ugly once the job was done. Raymond’s role was crucial, however. There were plenty of people willing to do the work, but securing the job in the first place required real ability. The final decision on how to divide the reward naturally belonged to him.

Raymond glanced at Teddy and nodded. “We shouldn’t decide the shares yet. We may not even have enough people. My thought is to split into two teams and operate separately, but I haven’t seen the island for myself. Until I know what it’s like, I can’t settle the details. If any of you have ideas, speak up.”

One of Derek’s younger mercenaries asked, “Then how many more people do you plan to find?”

“I haven’t decided. We’ll see if anyone suitable turns up.” Raymond looked around the tavern. “Ideally, we find people who have fought the local fishfolk before. They may be able to tell us more as well.”

Derek and his men did not answer immediately. They lowered their heads and began whispering among themselves, apparently discussing what they should do.

Teddy kept his head lowered and remained silent. Ever since Raymond had reprimanded him, he had said far less. Perhaps the lesson had finally sunk in, or perhaps he was simply weighing the risks and rewards of the operation.

Raymond did not interrupt the silence. This was not a decision anyone should make on the spot. They needed time to think.

Henk had insisted on taking the job the moment he heard about it. The reward was no small sum. Raymond would not stand in the way of his desire to earn money, but he still wanted to gather more information about the fishfolk leader first.

According to Edgar, mercenaries in Brightwater had fought it before. Besides recruiting more people, Raymond had come here hoping to learn something from them.

Bang!

The door flew open, and three people in assorted armor and strange ornaments entered the tavern. All three were exceptionally tall, their bodies blocking the evening sun outside and making them look even more imposing.

“Tch. Half-orcs.”

A few voices muttered around the room. Only then did Raymond realize that all three newcomers were half-orcs.

The first was a tall man in leather armor with an axe strapped across his back. Apart from his size and pointed canines, he looked little different from an ordinary human.

The other two, a man and a woman, had orcish features almost as pronounced as Henk’s. Their faces were flat and their jaws protruded. The woman was smaller than the others, but she still stood over six feet tall, roughly the same height as Raymond.

She had a shortsword at her waist and a bow across her back. She wore only light fur clothing, leaving her midriff bare and revealing the defined muscles of her abdomen. If one overlooked her face, she had a remarkably alluring figure.

“Oh, what a pretty half-orc. Why don’t you find yourself a human man and water down that orc blood of yours? Ha ha ha!” Obscene mockery rang out from one corner of the tavern.

Raymond looked over. Several thoroughly drunk mercenaries were openly raking their eyes over the half-orc woman.

“What do you say, half-orc? Want to find out how wild a human can be? Maybe you need a strong man to tame you! Ha ha ha...”

All three half-orcs stopped and stared. They exchanged a look, then glanced at the drunken mercenaries without responding. Ignoring the varied looks around the tavern, they sat at an empty table.

“Half-orc bastards come onto our turf and dare turn their noses up at us?” Enraged at being ignored, one of the mercenaries staggered toward their table.

Raymond glanced at Henk. The half-orc had clenched one fist, and a muscle twitched in his face. One hand rested on his hand-and-a-half sword. He looked close to losing his restraint.

“You bastards never do honest work. All you do is hurt people. Half-orcs like you have no place in Brightwater!” the mercenary shouted as he passed Raymond’s table.

Raymond looked at Henk, who seemed on the verge of acting, and sighed. He shot to his feet and tapped the drunken mercenary on the shoulder. “Could you shut your mouth and just drink?”

“You?” The mercenary peered blearily at Raymond, then at the others around his table. When he saw Henk, understanding dawned on his face. “So that’s it. You’ve been running around with half-orcs. What, spend enough time with them and start thinking you’re one too? Maybe you should let your mother—”

Before he could finish, he grabbed Raymond by the collar and snatched a bottle from the table with his other hand, swinging it at Raymond. Raymond knocked the blow aside with his forearm and drove a punch into the man’s lower ribs.

The mercenary was drunk and had not expected Raymond to fight back. The punch made his eyes bulge and robbed him of breath. Raymond gave him no time to recover. He kicked him hard in the stomach, sending him flying backward to crash onto the floor.

“Damn it, the little bastard actually hit him!” The fallen man’s companions leaped up, drew their weapons, and charged Raymond. “Brothers! Kill the bastard who runs with half-orcs!”

Henk was already on his feet beside Raymond. The sight of his massive frame brought the charging mercenaries to an uncertain halt. They stared at him, then at one another, and not one dared take another step.

“Don’t.” Raymond stopped Henk from drawing his sword and picked up a nearby stool. Henk understood at once and armed himself with a stool as well.

Derek and his men were still hesitating. When they saw that Raymond and Henk had seized the advantage, they rose too, grabbing stools and bottles. The three half-orcs had already moved to Raymond’s side and were watching the other patrons warily.

As for Teddy... he was nowhere to be seen. The instant the confrontation began, he had slipped away while no one was looking.

Raymond’s side held the advantage in numbers, presence, and the fact that they were clearly in the right. After a brief hesitation, the mercenaries helped their fallen companion to his feet and slunk out of the tavern. The man continued shouting defiance, but his feet carried him toward the door in a hurry.

The patrons who had been hoping to see a good fight sighed in disappointment when the confrontation ended so quickly, then turned their attention away from Raymond’s group.