Start of a different routine, Part 7

Senshinzako

Having done some practice on my own, I returned to the kitchen to have myself a drink, while still carrying the Guiding Eyes with me*. On the way, I spotted Sowanar reading, and Nalfimiria meditating in the grass. Based on her posture, it was likely the recovery for Iscathnerin too. It seemed like she also had objects mid assimilation, however I couldn't spot what it was from a distance. Considering how wide her list for conjurations already was, it was difficult to imagine what it could have possibly been. Thinking on it, for the most experienced mage here to take time to help the others was somewhat strange, though considerate. She needed more time for guidance, and it would have taken far longer for her to gain ranks by that point compared to us. The extra hours granted by her lessened need for sleep wouldn't compensate for that factor for some time as well, if my memories about the subject were correct. Her commitment to aiding us was admirable, as I myself wasn't sure how I would have acted in her position. In the end there was far more she could teach us than that she could hope to learn. 

(*Guiding Eyes take constant concentration and essence from the mage using them while activated, but overall sustaining the connection wasn't difficult. So long as they remained near the person using them, it didn't really matter what you were doing while in Guidance. Thus why mages often have pouches specifically meant to carry the orbs, while they go about their days. Using potent magic while connected to one would reduce its effects, but other than that almost anything else was fair to try.) 

"Then again, if there is anything she has in excess compared to us, it is time. It's likely most elves are far less stressed about completing all their needed hours per day. Especially one who might be undergoing accelerated guidance." Reaching this conclusion, I tried keeping my thoughts elsewhere. Pondering on her potential virtues would offer me no benefit at that point, and I couldn't say with confidence that I wished to see her at her best at that point. My admiration for her as a senior and warrior only would have made it harder to stay focused while around her, in the end. As I entered the kitchen, I noticed the other two were there. Fasnilthar and Chiaisei were drinking water while chatting, and I tried passing by them without paying attention to their topic. It likely wasn't something I needed or wanted to hear, I determined. 

Fasnilthar apparently disagreed with my guess, however, based on her open attempts to drag me into the talk as I passed by. She took out an additional conjured cup from the nearby replicator, and offered me some from the jar they were drinking. It wasn't particularly cold, as it was one of the jars we didn't keep in the fridge, so she offered to adjust the temperature herself. No reason to keep all of our jars for this purpose constantly chilled, with how many in the group could manipulate heat. Even I could do it to an extent, seeing as I had some control over the base temperature of my conjurations. Only on making them colder, of course, as assimilating hotter materials tended to be much harder than simply doing the same to ice. 

—Must be handy. — I said, while testing the temperature. She got it down pretty perfectly, based on my description. 

—But of course. This is why even at low levels, tricks involving temperature are really great. You've got a potentially "handy" spell type yourself though, yeah? — Fasnilthar looked oddly happy while replying. I didn't get it, but after a moment or two of silence she started waving one of her hands in front of us, as if to say something. Chiaisei laughed a bit at that reaction. 

—Oh, sorry. Seeing how you react to having wordplay ignored can be more entertaining than it by itself at times. 

—Whatever, the goal is not being funny. Besides, you get it at least. Right Senshin? Just reflect on it for a moment, hmm? — I had no idea how the conversation came back to me, as Fasnilthar turned while seemingly accusing me of something. Unsure how or if to respond, I simply kept drinking and looking ahead. 

—Still no response… Sure. I'm talking about spirit reflection. That answer anything? 

—Not much. Besides, sustaining them would affect my ability t-. 

—Nope, they definitely wouldn't. You should be around the two thousand line for EBU, right? Your spirit essence should be able to handle this type of use no issues then. If it's simply to move stuff around, it shouldn't take even 5 of them to make the occasional use. Your natural recovery probably covers that, and convergence should cover for the cost pretty easily. — I was going to mention training, but Fasnilthar seemed to have expected that, answering my response before it was finished. 

—Well, maybe… Why say as if it was limited to me, though? You can conjure reflection as well. 

—Through Laenixir. And those hands aren't very dextrous, or tender for that matter. Using them casually as of now likely would result in a lot of broken things around the house… Maybe even some of the walls. — It was an intriguing aspect about the effects of varying potency for similar spells. Similar rankings and a similar type of spell, but if for her destroying was far easier with it, to me having control over the spell would have been simpler. 

—Is that so… It'll have to wait, then. — I said, trying to put an end to the topic. 

—Same probably applies to earth casting… What about familiar spells, Chiaisei? You could assimilate a small monkey of sorts and create familars based on it as helpers. They would work as spies too, right? Yealmyrn really has the best answer for this question. — My attempt failed, as she simply brought over the question to the third member of the group. 

—Primate based familiars are probably useful as a whole. They have good horizontal and vertical traversability, and control over limbs would make it easier for them to utilize their embedded magic. Higher levels of intelligence among animals also would make them more effective while acting automatically. — I answered the suggestion as well, though it didn't seem to be what the others had been expecting. 

—That's… Not the type of question she is asking at all, in this case. Not that you're wrong, either way. 

—Yep. We're not talking about efficiency at this point, just convenience, stupid Senshin. — Something about Fasnilthar's already cheerful tone grew a little sillier as she said so. 

—Why train in an area just for convenience? Might as well take into account real use. — I said, increasingly convinced the topic was just nonsense. 

—Idiot, that was never the point. Just measuring the convenient options each of us have, you prick. 

—Whatever. This conversation is clearly useless. 

—Excuse me mister training spree, but this is useful, as in it is banter. Banter has no point other than just happening and passing time, so it is very much fulfilling its purpose. 

—If that's the point, I'll be leaving. — I said while getting up, but before I could try to leave the table, Fasnilthar grabbed me by the wrist. I was surprised by how sturdy her grip was as well, after briefly trying to pull her hand away. 

—Wrong, dummy. Banter is something friends do, and it helps with bonding. It's effectively the act of using each other's company as entertainment… There is more than one meaning to that previous sentence, but you get it. — She sounded more serious then, however the smile still had been planted in her face while explaining the concept. I didn't know what that other meaning was, though I saw no use in asking, even if it did cause a brief stop to her seriousness. 

—Why would that be of use when I'm not interested? — I stated as plainly as I could. Previous attempts to finish conversations with her always ended being stumped upon, thus I wished to make my intent the clearest it possibly could be at that point. 

—Because we live together right now? And will practically be spending all of our work hours together as well? There is no opting out of contact by this point. At the very least hearing the rest of us chatting will be a frequent occurrence for you. — Hearing her caused me to sway from my stance, all the more so because saying as much caused her to abandon the smile and happy tone for the moment. Recalling our time the previous day, it made me realize I was at quite a disadvantage when it came to arguments, against any of them, really. Especially on this topic, and against the more socially inclined between us. As I stood without reacting for a moment, Fasnilthar kept glancing at my face, before deciding to continue. 

—Besides, knowing how your coworkers think helps in this field, whether or not combat is needed. Communication, remember? We have tools to make it easier, and could always say anything during work out loud. But on some occasions, the extra thoughts or seconds needed to do that could cause some consequences, or may just straight up be impossible. Knowing how your friends think is really essential for those moments. If a unit of mages can't do that, it isn't functioning properly yet. — I didn't really need her to explain that type of moment in detail to know she might have a point. A delay of a second could cost multiple lives in a battlefield filled with mages, from what my studies indicated. If she had been correct about the speeding of decisions, there was nothing to say to deny her. And I had neither the experience nor any reading material in mind that could reject that point. Thus, I opted to strike back against the first issue I could think of in her argument. 

—Well… But those aren't the matters being discussed at all. Why not focus on that, then? 

—Why would that even be needed, stupid? I'm the same woman during work as I am right now. My thinking is still the same, so is my person. And though learning these things in training helps, our attention can't be fully devoted to each other during it. It's split with concentrating on spells and whatever situation is made up to set up the stage. — While saying this, I felt her grip growing lighter. It seemed as if she had said most of what she had in mind. 

—You say that, but… You didn't feel in any way like the one I met yesterday during the sparring sessions. Are you really that similar when-? 

—I am. That was me, and this is still me. Just different parts of me. Or what, are you a specialist in Fasnilthar already? We met a day ago, as you said, so that would be surprising. Speaking off, remember the talk we had at the HQ? — She said, while finally letting go of my empty hand. She was back to smiling again. Instead of answering through words, I simply nodded back. 

—The problems caused by your quietness and attitude don't all end with finding workmates, remember? There is more stuff to help with, and for now what I wanna ask is simple stuff, really. You don't need to try to talk with us a lot and stuff, but could you just hang out around the group from time to time? That doesn't get in the way of your recovery magic, as you've said yourself. 

—Why…? 

—So you can get better used to it, that's all. Or else if you keep biting back everytime I try to start a conversation I'm gonna hold a grudge, you hear me? Enough to make you question the safety of sparring together, Senshin. — Fasnilthar told me while smiling boldly. The casualness with which this woman would deliver the occasional threat was starting to get me worried. 

—In other words, take the time to sit around and listen for now. Whether we are normal examples of what a conversation typically looks like aside, it would be best if you got used to at least this much with each of us. There shouldn't be any lack of talking around us, at the very least. — Chiaisei said, after spending some time watching the one sided discussion between myself and Fasnilthar. Following her invitation, I sat around for some additional time while simply listening to the two of them chatting. Finarkzir would also occasionally comment on something, and that continued for some time. 

Fasnilthar also made sure to throw me the occasional question. Other than the topics they had been speaking about at random, in what appeared to be a part of banter as she had described, some things more specific to my routine as well. According to her, it sounded like an easier way of getting me involved in the conversation. We briefly discussed our daily training, as a result, from our usual methods to the schedule we followed in regards to guidance, or to keep in check our control over a particular magical field. Nothing too surprising for the most part, though it did offer me new information about Chiaisei's training routine. 

As the main styles Chiaisei practiced were centered on agility beyond nature, preparing for the application of her techniques required precise and fine control over her whole body. Missing a landing would destroy her legs at the speeds at which she runs, after all. This involved quite the variety of training categories in which she trained occasionally, ranging from gymnastics, to climbing, free running or simple acrobatics. She also had the habit of testing her speed against magical running trials with some frequency, and the speed of her clears appeared to be impressive for someone our age. With that out of the way, the rest of my morning had a bit more exercising, but for the most part, nothing else extremely noteworthy happened to me that day. With that said, I'll finish this section for good as of now. 

Fasnilthar

We each did either some more training or studying over the course of the morning, accompanied by the occasional chat, and the day went on until a bit after midday we had lunch. Over the morning, some of the items we had ordered the previous day arrived slowly, which would cause breaks, as all of us took some part in placing everything through the house. It's not like it was completely empty when we got there, but these additions made the place feel less bare, something that pleased me. The other big point of interest for me back then was an appointment at the guild nearing 15 'o clock. Namely, that's when our first assignment was being announced, and I offered myself to get the details for us. Or rather, the only other person I felt would be ready for that task, Nalfimiria, would be busy at that point. Chiaisei offered to accompany me, but I told her it wasn't necessary, as the trip also wouldn't take too long.

—Our first task should be simple enough for only one of us to need to hear the explanation for now. And since we're still ordering the house and other beginner things, it might be best to leave you all around here for today. Neither of you should have much trouble learning how we receive work, either way. — While I was giving her my reasoning, that seemed to have been the part that convinced her to stay. Some of the others found the interaction funny, but I didn't really get it. 

In the guild, there would be two steps to commencing the request. The first would be the delivery of the documents connected to it, after which they would give me a brief pause to look over information offered before having a meeting about the task. The second step, the mentioned meeting, usually involved a association representative and the involved parties with the work. Both of the steps usually would be carried out in one of the rooms around the lobby meant for that, so that the topic of discussion could remain in private, if there was any need to keep it as such. The meeting's third party may be the requestor, a different association connected to the issue, or the representative to someone who might fall in either of those categories. 

As for the information these papers offered us, the information in them was always presented regularly, to make understanding it easier. First there would be the formalities, with the text the guild would use to deliver a task. Beside its symbol will also be either the signature of a requestor or the space for a sigil of any different association involved. Then, the information I generally sought out first was the type of request in question, as well as the things connected to the type of request. There are 11 types of jobs the association usually assigns us and for the most part their titles describe themselves pretty clearly. There will also be a warning for the danger of a particular type of mission, in relation to other similar kinds, as well as giving us a previous warning into how deep into the wild world a task may take us. The fronts we served under determined the limit to how deep into the wild world we would be allowed to be deployed. You don't need to read it or anything, but I placed the list of the task types below. 

(In order of potential risk, they would be: Scouting; Rogue Suppression; Great Expulsion; Rescue (a rare type, usually only happening in emergencies); Escorting; Mediation (another rare one, that usually only the more experienced of us got a chance to take a part on); Expulsion (the difference of the types of expulsion is mainly how strong the magical creature we're dealing with is); Assistance (in other words, assist someone with studies, some form of exercise or other harmless things); Recovery (another rare one, I should add); Gathering; Bandit Suppression (these are basically an exclusive for human lands, though); and staying periods in the guild's City Front (in other words, wandering around the streets and assisting people better at doing this type of job in doing it.)

A fun fact for the readers who read this information or not, Scouting is considered the most dangerous type of job a pact warden can try. As a result, the association rarely ever sends units without a few adept level mages to try to handle their Scouting work. If a threat hasn't been measured yet, their assumption was always to be cautious around it. This was specially valid for mages, since sending in a unit without knowing the comparison of levels and fields would be putting the group in a lot of risk. Other fun facts is that Rescue requests are almost exclusively about assisting the sisterhood, since their forces are way better trained for this, and that Recovery missions are more or less the guild's method of having units cover for each other's small mess ups, in case one of our teams loses important stuff in the Wild World. Below is, once again, more of the information placed in this summary. I won't say it's optional, but we're gonna give most of that before a task anyways, so let's just say you should read the first exemples and decide if you want to finish the list based on them. 

(*Other information the guild provides in these documents includes: in case of a rogues or magical creatures being involved, information regarding their magical fields and level, if any is available; in the case involves magical creatures of any kind, the summarized version of their articles in the Compendium for Magical Species (The favorite book for anyone in this field who doesn't like reading a lot); the generalized targeted location for the task, and information regarding travel time towards it; in case some method of transport is included by the union, the description for it; the payment offered for its completion and likely compensation in case they got anything wrong; information regarding any magical construct they might lent us for the request; in the case of Gathering requests, information about the plants or materials we are supposed to look for; and lastly a summary of the situation leading to the problem.)

The motivation behind the job will also sometimes be placed there, as there is the occasional weird or questionable request that doesn't violate the guild's norms. An example would be that people are technically authorized to go into the wild world with supervision for leisurely activities, as that kind of request was something we can reject without much of a repercussion, since you know… It isn't uncommon for the kind of person that looks for these chances to have no idea how dangerous things can get in the Endless Wilds, or to ignore instructions until they understand what they meant directly. Basically, the last type of person you would want to need to protect in a potentially dangerous situation. 

Everything was organized neatly and in order, making it easy to tell apart which notes were the most important and where to find anything you might need. Also noteworthy, we have no obligation to take any mission thrown our way. If the task doesn't fit well with our worldviews or if the unit doesn't like the risk, we can reject the job. We needed to justify this, of course, and if the same reasoning got too recurring we would be warned for trying to skip out on our work too often. It would also lock us into standby pay for the period seeking for different tasks, and the additional days of waiting would be discounted from our rest periods. We could always offer ourselves for Assistance or City Front tasks to make up for a rejection, as those tended to be in excess (especially if you were willing to travel between countries for the sake of them), and be relatively easy. Those don't usually offer as much remuneration as the riskier things however it still covered living costs with a lot of leeway. In the old group having a trained apothecary, even if at the mid levels, also helped getting Assistance jobs. 

With that established, I headed to the guild sometime after eating. The walk would have been long, but there were multiple tram and bus lines that would take me straight there, so the trip didn't last. Having arrived, I waited a bit after consulting the secretaries there, before being taken to one of the smaller rooms meant to be used in private talks on matters concerning the union. There, the documents related to our task were delivered, and for a short time, I was given the chance to read through it. 

To summarize based on the information I had read, there were three connected associations, the type of task was an Expulsion, being that two of the foes could use magic at a low stage of the initiate level. The other opponents were somewhat numerous, and due to species were strong enough to overpower a normal person individually, though not quite strong enough to handle a mage, especially not ones around our stages. The location was one of the satellite cities near Zainlastris, one of the nearest ones. The town was a walkable distance away, even if not close enough to where you would be able to spot it on street level while in Zainlastris. If you were at the top of an Earth Tower though, it's likely you would be capable of spotting the Earth Towers of that town. The place was small compared to a city, less than a fifth the size of Zainlastris and under a tenth of the city's population. The disparity in concentration can also be explained by the fact there were a lot of sheep in this particular town, and sheep take up a lot of space. 

One of the parties involved also caught my attention from the start. Namely, the symbol used to indicate a Wild Lord* was involved. That suggested talks had already happened between whoever found the issue and the dominant magic kin in that area, and that we already had approval to remove the ones causing the issue. Rather, more likely than not the Wild Lords were incentivizing us to proceed with the task by this point, based on context. When we have their approval, it simply is only listed on the notes: Local magical beasts likely won't interfere. If they were being symbolized within the associated parties, it meant conversations between them and the sisterhood were already over, and the current request was what all parties agreed on. 

(*That was typically the name the guild used to refer to magical creatures who mainly held control over a specified area. Since they didn't often walk into cities, most of the time they were represented by sisters during meetings). 

The other parties requiring assistance were the Sisterhood's Path of Union and the Guardsman of the town in question. The problem they asked us to deal with was a small community of Daokinyev that migrated to a forest near the place in question. In case you couldn't recognize the name, Daokinyev are a semi-magical and semi-social species that inhabit the wild world. Their population is spread all over most forested zones of the continents, and they tend to live in settlements of varying size, ranging from 50.000 to 600.000 in the extreme cases. As a harvester, their kind are among those responsible for managing and spreading the bounty of the Earth Towers placed around the wild world, and often they made their settlements around and in some cases hanging from the Earth Towers. There were multiple major settlements of the creatures around the south of Rasdwinvhyr, and it seemed these ones had been tasked with creating an outpost to facilitate their interaction with humans, as a punishment for some scuffle their leader was involved in, apparently. 

As semi-magical, it meant they could only develop inherit magic conditionally or partially. In this case, their bodies would also go through slight shifts if those processes would be triggered, alongside the growth of more potent corporeal magic. The two mages among the opponent belonged to those of them that had seen these changes, which alongside the usage of magic placed both at a much higher potential threat range than the rest of the group. Both only had one greater area unlocked, being Favighea and Yealmyrn, and both were somewhat focused on infusing, just that one was dedicated to elemental infusing types while the other in link support spells. Something else that immediately caught my attention in the explanation was the mention of some of the details of the task and what they implied. 

Remember the scuffle I brought up? Well, it was caused by the leader of this group, the one that practices Favighea among the spell casters. The short of it was, he was one of the younger sons of one of the chieftains inside their settlement and he kind of got caught up in a complicated incident back at his home. Basically, he chose to support an activist group that accidentally caused a fire while they were trying to raise support for their ideas. Needless to say, people who live in forests tend to have harsh opinions of fires, so even though it didn't spread, all involved got some punishment. The son of this chief in particular especially so, for recklessly getting involved in the issue without much knowledge of the group he was dealing with or how to properly manage it, seeing as those who were picked for transformation were expected to know how to lead. 

In his case, the chosen punishment was to be done through labor in leadership. He was given the task of establishing an outpost of their kind in social space inside of Rasdwinvhyr, to facilitate communication and exchanges between their settlement and the queendom. That worked inside the rules for their coexistence in the country, and as Rasdwinvhyr already had outposts close to the forest they inhabited, this would have been a fair trade, seeing as it would make contact easier for both sides. Apparently, talks of this being done had started before this situation began as well, and initially the folk on our side were welcoming to the idea the son of a chief would be the one sent. Basically, his task was to help in the process of creating an embassy. 

To accomplish this much, he was also given a small taskforce, including the second spellcaster I mentioned. Thing is, he didn't follow the procedures for this kind of contact very closely, in part out of haste to find safe grounds to lodge those accompanying him. This led to some miscommunication, which then led to his group arriving some Vraistrij away from a town ahead of the schedule he misunderstood. Then, some of the locals spotted them before they finished confirming their arrival officially, and a panic began, as the people living in the town had yet to be warned of the situation. 

The panic made negotiations difficult, all the more so because the Daokinyev made camp much closer than they had been given permission. They didn't really have much of an option to back away though, as there weren't many choices for territory around, with how impatient the magical beasts around were feeling. This was the part where both the sisterhood and the human officials advised this leader to take a break from the task, until things calm down, but here comes the bomb. The guy claimed he couldn't return home alive without completing his task, and they didn't have the supplies to sustain themselves for very long in the wilds. The sisters involved insisted he must have misunderstood things, however this didn't go through. If given space to plant, they could manage, though even then they would need to hunt a little to remain like that for a few months. This made a lot of local magical beasts all the more impatient, and the Wild Lords showed no inclination to protect them, making the potential for a small massacre very high. The sisterhood offered aid, however the many times mentioned leader was really stubborn about it, both in regards to being placed elsewhere as well as having the mess he made when counting supplies being fixed by others. 

Which then led to a slightly suicidal offhand comment he made during the negotiations. "I am the only one in this group bound to this task for life." In other words, in lack of an option both he and those helping him could work with, killing him still would be enough to justify the rest returning in failure. All things indicated the casualness with which he placed his head on offer and the insistence of penitence without outside assistance were connected, but either way, that's where we came in. 

We would be sent alongside Nalfimiria, acting as a representative of the sisterhood, to ask for his final reply to the sisterhood's offer. If he didn't accept any of the final propositions, our job was either to force him to reallocate alone or to kill him, before forcing the rest of his group to move away. Normally, the terms used on the papers wouldn't be this ruthless, however they likely got as much because the Wild Lords involved were already running low on patience, and the magic kin they were holding back all the more so. The one message they sent directly was: "If neither solution is met, we will act on the rights of the Wild World", which was codeword for, if you can't make him back down and refuse to kill one of them, it's possible none will survive. Vindictive magical creatures aren't anything if not ruthless, by experience. 

A pretty inconvenient pile of little mess ups, partially caused by the fact this leader was barely 15, based on my observations. If there was one thing I found strange it was how indecisive the sisterhood was acting like, though. It wasn't strange for them to force their help onto people in this kind of situation, and I doubt the Wild Lords would even need to worry themselves if the Path Tracers chose to take care of this deal. If the sisterhood was acting aggressively, neither party could exactly stop them either. The panicked civilians probably would calm down if they knew the emblem bearers were acting to solve the issue directly, though strangely there was very little mention of the Path Tracers taking part in calming down the population of the town. Odd, however there had to be a motivation behind that present passivity. 

"Weird that this story hasn't reached the news in the country yet. I guess the number of Daokinyev isn't really something to worry about, even if they were openly hostile, but normally this type of panic would at least have merited some coverage." Rasdwinvhyr's government also had been somewhat passive over the situation, from the looks of things. I mean, we were basically being hired by the government in this case, so technically we were the response, but you get me. It was likely their main focus had been to keep the news from spreading, though if they had reacted to the scheduling mistakes sooner the situation likely wouldn't have reached this point in the first place. It didn't seem like they had devoted the best possible personnel to keep watch over the situation, at the very least. 

Having reached all the conclusions I could from the papers, I waited for a while longer after having confirmed with the attendant in the room that I was ready. Following that, the beginning of the meeting started. The first person to enter was the guild analyst that would be speaking for the team who assigned the case to us, as was our habit. Following him came a member of the city guard, likely a low patent officer serving in that town, and a sister of union, who carried both the function of speaking for the sisterhood and the Wild Lords in this case. The guard was a mage as well, and for the most part the collective around the room had some contradictions in the rankings of each messenger. 

As this was a low level request, it was expected almost anyone with the required training could explain the situation, however as the matter could easily blow out of its proportion, both the association and the guards chose people somewhat above ground level to direct this conversation. The sisterhood doesn't have a hierarchy, but seeing as the one they sent was a dwarf, it indicated they weren't handling this through the inexperienced either. Could also have been a magic beast using a dwarven shape, but that wouldn't change the implication a whole lot. This resulted in me being the youngest person in the room, by a margin of half a decade at least. A bit ironic considering technically I was the person they were there to speak to. 

We then exchanged greetings, in a rare display of me acting with politeness and formality. Maybe this doesn't come as something expected, but even I knew how to talk business occasionally. To aid in that I was also wearing the clothes in my wardrobe best fit for formal talk. The association didn't have a dress code for pact wardens or anything, yet it was still advised to try to look more serious for this kind of talk. Post the greetings, they each took their seats, before starting the talk verifying if I had understood the situation well. I talked of what it looked like the job was, from the perspective of someone who just read the documents, and asked if there had been any changes since the point in which it was written. For the most part, it was really recent, though it didn't clearly specify how we were expected to solve the issue, even if to me the fact the suicidal comments by the Daokinyev leader made me think we likely would be sent to kill him. I had a general rule not to state what wasn't explicit right from the start, however, so instead I tried bringing the conversation into what exactly was expected of us. 

—In a sense, the job implies delivering the final ultimatum to the situation. All parties pressuring for it hope for the troubles to resolve themselves with your involvement, regardless of how it ends. — The analyst was the first to answer my question. 

—We've already made it clear the final offers have been made. Hence, the idea is to send your group to verify their response, and if it gets a negative to force a solution. Though sorry if this insults you lass, part of the reason this unit was selected was the presence of a Will Seeker within it. We're expecting sister Nalfimiria to handle the final negotiations and to command the response, whatever she deems needed. — The dwarven sister spoke next. It seemed each party mainly sought to speak for the parts they represented. 

—No need to worry about that. Sister Nalfimiria likely would be leading us regardless. But if she is being counted on to make the decision, shouldn't her presence here be required? 

—The girl in question is being briefed at the temples right about now. I think she said the ideal solution might require some assistance from the bigger shots in our orders. 

—That should make it easier to brief for the rest of us. Hopefully we can pull off whatever solution she may find. Are their location and numbers already known? — After I asked as much, the analyst brought me a map showing the location of the encampment and the spot the talks had been happening around. 

—Over here…? Wow, I knew they were close to the town, but I thought it must have been further away. Is this why people are so worried? 

—Well, their original intent was to use the outpost as something akin to an embassy. Being near human areas would be a necessity, though in this case the approximation wasn't supposed to happen so suddenly. — The analyst responded, to my somewhat more natural reaction. 

—This should be inside the city guard's authority zone, shouldn't it? — I turned the question to the guardswoman present, who until then had been the most quiet part of the conversation. 

—It is, but the restriction to bringing an emblem bearer along aside, we aren't really trained to deal with this type of matter. And as the knights wouldn't deploy a team for a situation of this scale, the pact wardens felt like a clearer answer. The fact a Champion is present within your unit greatly inspired trust in it among my colleagues as well. — Hearing her, I remembered how significant it could be to have teammates of different associations. Having easy contacts that can reach all around this business was a really handy perk. 

—The proximity to the town, and therefore to a city is also part of what got the magickin panicking, lass. At this kind of distance, it wouldn't be unusual for civilians to be strolling around those woods. If the Daokinyev are spotted more times, keeping the situation quiet would be impossible. And if a person is wounded through the situation, or if the turmoil grows too big, it could be brought into question whether the magical beasts of that territory had been enforcing their borders with the proper amount of caution. All of which is trouble none of us are seeking to test. Humans already distance themselves far too much from the wild world as is, so best not to stock those fears further. — The sister explained some of the issues from both her end and the Wild Lords. 

It was best for the latter not to seem soft handed on their end of the pact, as it was in that grounds that the current borders between social and wild world were formed. If they couldn't keep invasive species from reaching the borders of populated areas, people could try pushing the borders of intermingled zones a bit further, on the front of safety. It was unlikely a single accident of this sort would result in changes to the edges of the pact, but giving such initiatives any cause for concern was something Wild Lords preferred to avoid. Hence why solutions as extreme as "extermination" came far more casually out of their mouths. As power set rules in the wild world, they didn't spare its usage on those breaking those rules. Areas close to human cities were a great breeding ground for the prey of many predatorial magical beasts, and all, so losing influence over them offered the risk of this source of food losing its balance. 

Either quieting down the panic or beginning negotiations once more would also be roles of the Path of Union, therefore it was in their goal to make sure the trust in the current rules for the pact was sustained. Especially since fringe cases like this were hardly representative of what the operation of the wild world usually ran like. And bringing this situation into question would also be pretty dangerous for Rasdwinvhyr's government. After all, Zainthruden, the most northern city in the country, was entirely inside the territory of the dragons living on the Primordial Throne mountain range, so the fears in regards to changing borders went both ways. The mining capacity of the city also depended entirely on the cooperation of the Dragon Lords inhabiting that region, therefore reducing the areas shared as common sovereignty in the queendom carried with it the risk of Rasdwinvhyr losing access to some of its mines. If the situation grew out of proportion, this could also affect the mining rights of Wikninsatir, greatly weakening the already dwindling supply of ore being mined in Galecirnan as a whole. Just the potential for this massive mess probably already kept the officials on all sides from sleeping, as soon as the trouble started. 

—Yeah, this isn't the type of thing that you would want to escalate. I hope we have the ability to silence it nicely. I'm surprised by how passive the sisterhood has been so far, actually. 

—Can't really blame ya for thinking that, lass… Let's just say we have reason for being confident at the moment. Our game is really solid about now. It would take one hell of a quake to leave us empty handed at our fight about now, and this really ain't it. Share in some of this confidence as well, lass. It'll do good for ya. — Maybe it was just a show of that confidence, but the tone of the sister grew less formal as she explained her perspective. 

—I'll try. As for numbers? — I asked, realizing the surprise for the location kept the topic from proceeding on that end. 

—We've registered around 30 of them. They're armed with improvised weaponry, mostly, and seem to be divided between those building the initial camp and foraging for food. The fact the final message is being expected means most will be around that camp when you arrive, but it shouldn't prove to be too much trouble for you. They have walls, though they're not sturdy enough to have any use either. — The guard spoke, while also delivering a small report on their findings in regards to this. 

"... Yeah, even at an ambush, they shouldn't be too threatening. They don't seem to have the tools to build complex traps either. Not that it would be the sanest idea to greet a messenger with pitfalls either. Especially not a messenger that can jump out of them as easily as Nalfimiria." Even at the worst case, it looked like getting wounded in this fight would be unlikely, if it did develop into a brawl. With nothing but clubs and wooden spears for most of their fighters, not even I would need to worry over their attacks once my light veil and hardening were up, as little investment into durability as I had been making by that point, so Sowanar and Nalfimiria likely would be treating them as a joke. 

—I see… Are the mages with them knowledgeable enough to understand the odds? 

—Based on my understanding of things, yes. This should facilitate the negotiation talks, as I doubt the mages would want to endanger their helpers. It seems that despite all of his mistakes the leader in question deeply cares about the safety of his subordinates. 

—Hearing that will make me feel worse if we do end up needing to kill the guy, but it's good to know. — I said, after hearing what the analyst had to say about the situation. It looked like the other two agreed as well. 

From there, other details of the request were also arranged. Our method of transport and accommodations, the expected sum for each of us due to the task, some of the fees to cover supplies and the agreements for house care services during our leave. For the most part the assistance would be unnecessary in this case, but still I listened and made a copy of each proposal on my text recorder, so that this could be discussed between the rest of the gang as well. This continued a little further, until it was decided all that was needed had been said. I couldn't really agree to the job for the whole group, yet I still left the meeting room with them under the implication this would go through. It didn't look to me like the others would have any opposition to going through this request, but it was something of a formality on this job to never accept a mission without a unit's full agreement.