Chương 43: Chapter 42 - Some Timely Advice

For what it's worth the battle seemed to set the refugee's minds more at ease than Elias would have expected, despite the small hill of corpses that had been collected for an exhausted Astra to immolate. I guess after all the brutality they experienced at the hands of the bandits, seeing the strength of their homeland's soldiers must be pretty comforting. Maybe restoring a little lost faith in the rule of law for them. Astra was thrilled that Eli and Tia had not only caught her performance but were impressed by it.

Tia chittered away at her happily as the trio helped the rest of the patrol stack the corpses, and the humoring smile she gave Tia as Eli translated the little wyvern's excited play by play re-enactment warmed his heart. Astra was over the moon when Tia asked for help with teaching her fire magic, the topic apparently near and dear to Astra's heart, and she promised as soon as Tia had some fundamentals and Mira approved Astra would be more than happy to tutor her.

The skirmish may have only lasted a little over twenty minutes, but while it had taken a toll on the soldiers with many patrol members sporting battered blood stained armor, the final kill count seemed to instill a sense of pride in the group that had been missing since their capture at the hands of the bandits. Mira jotted a few notes as Astra torched the pile of bodies as the patrol prepared to depart, continuing down the forest path following the Arinel river along the foothills."

237 goblins and 3 hobgoblins, a good thing too."" With these numbers, more Hobs would have spawned or evolved soon, maybe even a king or queen, and given a few more months it may have spawned a monster tide soon and the village is only a couple days away."" A tide like that would have crushed Springdale and assaulted Emerald Grove within a week of marching, fortunate we were here."

Mira looked into the forest's depths for a long moment before turning a worried look onto an exhausted Astra as she finished turning the pile to ash." With your permission my Lady, I will send a messenger to the Duke when we arrive at Emerald Grove. It is not like the beastfolk of the Reach to allow such a danger to grow so close to their borders, this fact combined with the brazen actions of the bandit's running a slaving ring unmolested?" Mira shook her head, " Something much larger must be a foot."

Mira fixed Astra with a serious expression, " Starting now my Lady you will go nowhere without a security detail." She held up a hand in a warding gesture, " I know part of the task your Father assigned to you was to command this expedition uncontested until its return, and I am loathe to go against either your wishes or his, but I must insist that you assign first squad as your permanent detail until further notice."

Mira softened and leaned forward, " After all that has happened my Lady, I refuse to put myself in a situation where I would have to carry grave news to your grandfather. It would be a dereliction of my duty to do any less, I would prefer to not have to make it an order from your master." Astra heaved a deep sigh before waving off her concerns, " No matter Mira, your advice is sound as always, consider it done." Tia chimed in with a trill and a small snuffle as well, I will protect sister-astra too!

Mira smiled at the wyvern, " Well! I shall rest easy then little one. The watchful eye of a trusted friend is no small thing. Your efforts will be appreciated." Astra laughed once Eli filled her in and scratched the little wyvern under her chin, " You have my gratitude Lady Tiamat, I'll make sure to provide plenty of inkfruit in thanks."

The patrol resumed its course, making up what lost time they could, traveling many more miles before the sun began to set. As was starting to become his routine, Eli helped Coop and the gang with dinner preparations once the patrol turned off into a clearing by the river to settle in for the night. Tia was less than helpful in Eli's opinion, but Cooper being who he was reassured Eli that the position of taste tester was a valued and noble one.

Cooper gestured magnanimously, sketching a bow while twirling his knife at the little schemer. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there." We certainly need to ensure that our meal is of a sufficient quality to please the refined palates of the noble Ladies accompanying our humble little troop. If Lady Tia would be gracious enough to extend her services in pursuit of this noble goal, I would be more thrilled to receive her assistance!"

Eli rolled his eyes as Tia gave a tiny smug roar of victory before muttering, " Traitor" to Coop with a smile on his face. She's going to have an ego the size of Mount Everest if they keep it up with this 'Lady' business.

Eli had stumbled upon the trick of separating his surface thoughts from the ones shared with Tia after his embarrassing slip-up earlier, the last thing he needed was her asking Astra why Eli liked looking at her butt so often or some other ridiculous thing where Mira could overhear, he might actually die of embarrassment. Ah whatever it's adorable, and a dragon deserves a noble title don't they?

As they bantered back and forth over dinner prep, Eli decided to ask Cooper about something that had been rattling around in his mind for most of the afternoon." Say Coop? Mira said you had some kind of 'battle chef' class. If you don't mind me asking, why would you pick something like that?" His chopping paused for a second before resuming, and after a couple moments he wiped his hands, crossed his arms, and turned to Eli. He gave him an appraising look for a moment before answering."

Well friend, that is a mighty personal question. Any one can tell you're an outlander, provided there is more between their ears than just the wind, so I won't get upset with you."" You do need to understand that most folk in our lands would not be happy with such a question, few would answer, and more than a few might answer you with a swing or two with an eye to rearrange your face." He paused for a moment for his words to sink in, tapping a finger on a bicep before continuing."

I am not surprised that Lady Blackhall has the skill to ken such a thing, but I am surprised she would be willing to share it yeh without ma knowledge." He gave Eli a serious look, one he had never received from Cooper before and more than a little out of character for the man. Cooper nodded to himself for a moment with a firm expression."

A man would have to be daft to miss the trust the two Ladies extend to you," he raised his hands in a warding gesture, " and it is no place of mine to ask why that's so, but it is the kind of thing that would lead an unkind man to suspicion, and lend an unscrupulous man to scheming."

He leaned forward to continue in a lower voice, " I trust the Ladies with my life and would never betray their trust in return, given all they have done for me and mine, but not all men see the world the way mine eyes do, you understand?" Eli nodded with a serious expression, " Yes, I do." Cooper studied his expression, " Aye, I reckon you do. You don't truly have the eyes of a young man afterall, and there are scarce few things in this world that can make a feller hard like that."

He smirked before clapping a hand on Eli's shoulder, " I saw your stunt with that noose and the tree, the handiwork of a man who's seen a few things." Cooper turned to resume his work, " Eli."" In the future I would be careful with such questions, and you should know that very few would be able to see what Lady Blackhall can with her keen eyes, maybe run the questions by her 'fore you ask." He tossed a smile over his shoulder at Eli, " Nary worry yer head about it with me though lad.""

To answer your question, let me ask one in turn. Would you be happy with your life if all you ever spent your time doing was killing?"" Just one slaughter after another. No books, no lady friends, no music, just blood?" Eli recoiled, " No, hell no."" You would go crazy after a while, probably end up hurting a lot of people." Cooper nodded, " Aye. A lot of men forget what a class truly means, that it's a way of life." He continued after another pause to finish a fine dice of some vegetable."

True, the great System rewards a man for battle aplenty, but it also rewards you for living your class, breathing life into and making it your own." Rolling dough into a long log, Cooper picked up one end and began popping off segments for rolls onto a large flat pan." Many young men hear the stories about heroes and legends, and think they all want to fight in glorious battles so they pick things for their first class like [Blood-fisted Warrior] or [Student of the Blade], or other such rot.

They'll pick up the first few levels quickly, learn a few things, and get some handy skills, but they'll quickly discover that unlike their child classes they had as tikes they'll only level with battle." He shrugged, " They'll realize that man wasn't meant to do nothing but kill, and they'll be faced with a hard choice."" Start over with something new, resign themselves to only grow slowly, or learn to love the killing."" Too few pick the first, too many pick the second, and the ones who pick the last?""

Well too many lose their grip on the realm and end up swinging from the gallows." He pointed his knife at Eli, " I imagine quite a few of those you and the Lady put in the dirt the other day are in that last bucket." He waved his knife to show his opinion of these choices, " Me? I like what I do. I like feeding people, making them happy, spreading a little joy in the realm. It would please me to no end to never have to turn my knives on another man, and if I never did I would still grow along my path.

Want to know a secret?" He waved for Eli to lean in and whisper to him, " Feeding you and the little Lady for the first time, one whole level, just with you two. A little extra with our friends from the camp." He leaned back with a laugh, " When you get to where I am?"" Whoooo! That's no small feat, for dicing some cuts of meat and adding an inkfruit compote. You two must have loved it! That right there, that is my path." Eli joined him in laughter, " You're a smart man Coop, thanks for the advice."

Cooper smiled, " Kind of you to say so my friend, mighty kind."