120 Ren

Sneaking into Broken Sellsword's Canyon was relatively easy thanks to Shanks and his merchant caravan. The troll had procured all the necessary documents in advance and he knew all the right people to grease.

Case in point, when it was our turn to be inspected by the dwarven guards in their orange tabards embroidered with the broken sword insignia, Shanks smooth-talked his way into getting four unlisted members of his caravan a pass into the city.

\"Always appreciate doing business with you, Smithers,\" Shanks said, his voice an octave higher than his fallen brother.

One hand was raised to high-five the dwarf while the other hand was dropping a few Leprechauns onto the dwarf's open palm.

\"These friends of yours better not cause any trouble, Shanks,\" the dwarf answered gruffly.

\"They'll answer to me if they do,\" shanks growled right before he glanced toward me and winked.

A while later we parted with Shanks and his group with a promise to meet up later. They were heading over to the market district straight away but we had other business to do first before we went to the auction house.

Ashley wanted to visit the Shieldmaiden's Tower first to pay her respect and get aid from the shieldmaidens there while I wanted to visit and inspect the vilest place in this entire city in case Ty had been taken there. Luckily, both could be found in the same place.

With Idunn's golden glow lighting our way, we walked the main cobbled street of Broken Sellsword's Canyon in the direction of a very busy district west of the central way and eventually arrived at our destination, the Slave Quarter.

Looking out at the mass of bodies packed tight in cages stacked over one another, I secretly wished I wouldn't find Ty here. It was just too depressing to imagine my mundane giant of a friend stuck in one of these cages.

\"Luca… why don't you go ahead with Ashley to the tower,\" I said, thinking how Luca's skin was probably crawling just standing at the entrance of this decadent place. I know mine did. \"Aura and I can handle this?\"

Luca gazed back at me with a hesitant look.

\"A-are you sure?\" he asked.

I patted his shoulder and nodded. \"Yeah, we got this.\"

'Good, because I don't… Great Mab, the smell, I'll never get used to it,\" Ashley interjected, covering her nose with the side of her hood with one hand while the other grabbed onto Luca's arm. \"Let's go young Dapper… I'll introduce you to some pretty dryads.\"

Luca spared me one final glance while Ashley dragged her further down the main path, his face unable to hide the relief on his face.

\"You're a good brother, Dean,\" Aura said, smiling at me in that way that gave me the good kind of goosebumps.

Aura and I spent a good hour browsing through the wares of slaves owned by the slave merchants looking for one lanky buzz-cut human who might have been Ty. It was hard to tell faces when they were covered in grime.

There were a few clean slaves though, but these were usually the pleasure slaves who were meant to look pretty for prospective buyers. I stirred clear of them because I didn't think Ty had what it took to be one. Plus, I didn't want Aura seeing me ogle boobs.

Finally, when I began to think this whole thing was an exercise in futility, Aura, who'd never loss focus, managed to strike a conversation with a bald-headed dwarven slaver named Ex. short for Extremities, a moniker he gained because apparently his private extremities were very well endowed, or so he claimed.

Aura managed to charm the gray-eyed dwarf into giving us some interesting information.

\"As I was saying,\" Ex continued, purposefully flexing his biceps for Aura, \"There's a rumor going around that a foreign slaver company dropped by these parts a few days ago to hawk some special product to the rich people up in the central district. Might have been the kind of special you're looking for, sweet cheeks.\"

Sweetcheeks? I repeated in my brain. I had half a mind to smack the dwarf upside down for being disrespectful, but Aura held me back with a glance.

She turned her focus back on the dwarf. \"You wouldn't happen to know where these slavers went, would you, Ex~~x?\"

Aura said his name like it was rolling off her tongue. I thought it sounded kind of awkward but the dwarf seemed to lap it up.

Ex grinned toothily back at her. \"Rings of Fortune Auction House… proprietors some uptight vixen named—\"

\"—Kallista,\" Aura finished.

Damn, more and more it seemed like all roads pointed toward our salamander benefactor. And here I was just thinking that some fairies could be trustworthy after all.

Aura and I left Ex in front of his cages with her promising to drop by again if she ever got the chance. On our way to the Shieldmaiden's Tower, I had to ask, \"You're not really planning on dropping by again, are you?\"

She glanced at me, and the first time since we met, she actually rolled her eyes at me. \"What do you think, Dean?\"

We walked up the tower steps, and as we were about to knock on the front door, it opened inwardly all on its own. On the other side of it were Luca, Ashley, and standing between them was a dwarf whose golden hair was tied in a bun like Varda's. Only, she looked older and far more mature compared to Varda's child-like features.  

Aura inclined her head. I hastily followed suit.

\"Greetings princess,\" the Shieldmaiden's Mother Superior nodded toward aura. Then she nodded toward me. \"And you, Five-Hundred Man Commander Dapper…\"

I glanced back at her with surprise.

\"You know who we are?\" I asked.

She patted Luca's arm. \"I've heard a bit more about you from Luca here, although I must confess that your accolades in the previous war have caught my interest long before meeting you here on my doorstep.\"

\"Huh… okay,\" I frowned, uncertain if catching the shieldmaiden's attention was a good thing or bad one.

She walked closer to me, her short legs quickly bridging the short distance between until she was close enough to touch the hem of my cloak. And from her vantage point just above my belly button, she looked up into my eyes and gazing into her amber ones, I think I saw a hint of recognition.

\"Interesting, interesting,\" she breathed. \"You have quite the gift, child of man… I wonder if you have been using it well?\"

This whole situation felt like I was being interrogated by a nun, and for some reason, I couldn't help but answer her as honestly as I could.

\"I try,\" I said.

\"That's all we can ask ourselves to do,\" she replied, patting me on the arm in a motherly way. \"Perhaps you can strive a little harder…\"

Her other hand came up and it wasn't empty. She'd been clutching a scroll.

\"What is that?\" I asked as I reached out for it.

The Mother Superior pulled the hand away before I could grab the scroll.

\"Let's call it a renter's agreement,\" she said smiling. \"You are aware your tower belonged to the shieldmaidens?\"

I frowned. This was a shakedown. \"Abandoned, you mean…\"

\"Only temporarily,\" she conceded, her smile never wavering. \"Don't worry, Commander. We don't ask for much… just a welcome door to any shieldmaidens who drop by and just a tiny donation for the needy.\"

I frowned even more. A shakedown was a shakedown no matter how lenient it was.

\"Besides,\" the Mother Superior glanced back at Luca, \"Your friends have returned to you with something more valuable than any of my meager requests\"

Luca raised the bag of holding he'd taken from Edo and pulled out a mana potion from inside it.

As their demand had increased after the last war, and with most mana pools hibernating before the arrival of Winter Solstice, having a few bottles of mana potions were likened to a small chest of Leprechauns.

I realized that she could have asked Luca to pay for the potions if it was just money she wanted. No, there was something else, something deeper, and I understood what that was. By officially recognizing that we had received the tower from the shieldmaidens, we were in effect creating a connection with them. In this world, the proper connections mattered more than any chest of gold.

Why she wanted a connection with me probably had something to do with my fairy gift and the legend of these sense knights I'd heard about before. I guess. Still, it wasn't such a bad deal for our unit to be recognized as friends of the shieldmaidens, as if having one on the team wasn't a dead giveaway already.

The mother superior offered me back the scroll. My hand hovered around it, but before I could accept the scroll, there was one last thing to ask of her.

\"You've probably heard this already, but I have a missing friend—\"

\"—Although we do not normally deal with slavery,\" she spared a glance at Ashley, \"We can help you acquire information regarding your missing friend.\"

Finally, I took the scroll from her hands. \"Thanks… and I accept, um, your conditions.\"

\"Wise choice,\" she chuckled, elbowing me in the gut as she began to turn away. \"Perhaps there is hope for you yet.\"

The mother superior gave Ashley her blessing and then waved goodbye to the rest of us, before disappearing into the hallway beyond, her footsteps echoing on the stone stairs.

\"So, you guys find any clues?\" Luca asked.

\"A bit, yes,\" Aura responded.

I tossed Luca the scroll and instructed him to drop it into the bag of holding. Then I turned around and proceeded down the steps.

\"I think it's time we said hi to Kallista,\" I said.