Leon was unsure what to make of the hand slamming down on the table he was eating at. He was supposed to be training his students—or student rather—in a little under an hour, and had decided to have some food at the guildhall for the first time. In terms of the food he remembered back in the Noble Quarter, it was nothing special; compared to the food he regularly had now, however, it was heavenly.

  It had been easy to find a table to eat at alone so early in the morning, his reputation certainly helping to keep others from crowding around. It was with some trepidation then, that he looked up at whoever was interrupting him, praying they were not here to berate him for hoarding a table.

  So it was that he was quite happy to see the Katiine, Syra, looking down at him with a curious glint in her eyes. He put down his utensils and gave her his full attention.

  “I hear you’ve been training my partner.” She asked the question obviously already aware of the answer, but he responded nonetheless.

  “I have,” he confirmed, keeping the rising excitement that he felt out of his voice.

  Rayne was a fine student, eager to become stronger and willing to follow his commands. He was also extremely unpolished, and had middling talent with the sword. Syra would make for a much more rewarding pupil.

  She regarded him coolly before pulling a mission letter out from behind her back and sliding it in front of him. “Three-way split. Interested?” she asked.

  Hiding the disappointment he felt, he looked over the mission. It was a subjugation mission for a small group of goblins—a bronze-tier mission despite the small numbers due to the presence of a goblin shaman. It was strange to see a mage among such a small group. From what he had read, they typically stayed in much larger war parties that would require silver-tier adventurers to clear out.

  It was a good job, which begged the question why he was being asked to join. They were quite close from what I remember. Is this a trick to con me out of more coin? Rayne should be getting more value out of my training than he would from scamming me once. Does that mean she is orchestrating this without his knowledge?

  He eyed the Katiine warily. “I am,” he answered cautiously, trying to gauge her reaction. Her face gave nothing away, and so he pressed on. “Even split?” he asked.

  She nodded in response. “Job’s not really for the coin anyway. Just making sure you’re good enough to teach my partner.”

  Normally, he would take offense at the notion that he would need to be tested, but the reality was that he was being presented with a good mission. Shelving his pride, he stood up, bringing his hand forward to shake with Syra. She eyed his hand before a small smirk came onto her face and she shook it.

  “Grab Rayne when he shows and bring him to the east gate. Don’t keep me waiting too long.”

  With that she left, leaving Leon wearing a strained smile.

  It had been a long time since he’d had a proper mission, and never had he gone on one with a proper team. An eye would be kept on her for the mission, but with any luck, this was the start of things looking up for him. He could hardly allow the chance to pass him by.

  ~

  It had taken little effort to convince Rayne to skip training for the day, the man being all too enthusiastic not to be put through the exercises. Leon did not fault him for it, even as he planned a much more rigorous workout for afterwards. A proper foundation was not built on skipped training after all.

  They walked to the east gate in an uncomfortable silence, or at least uncomfortable for himself. He had no idea what to talk about with Rayne; their relationship was a strictly professional one where the only words spoken between them were training instructions or combat critiques. Everytime he thought of saying something else, any small attempt at building some sort of camaraderie or friendship, he would freeze up. There was that nagging feeling that it would be unwelcome, that pushing past the facade of a friendly acquaintance would result in animosity.

  Their past interactions had never been friendly—he had had to bribe the man to convince him to help save his life after all. But since no one else in the guild would even approach him, Rayne was practically like a brother to him in comparison. Of course, Leon knew the truth. Rayne had only come to him out of desperation. He needed training and Leon needed someone to legitimize his abilities as an instructor. It was a purely transactional relationship. He could work with that.

  To some, this might seem sad, but Leon had never seen the value in friendships—in relationships themselves, really—past personal gain. When he was young, he had socialized with other nobles whose estates bordered their own. Back then, the goal had never been to befriend them, but instead to build some masquerade of friendship. High society was all about who you knew. To not socialize was to miss out on potential trade deals or suitors for one’s children, to weaken your own position. His mother had ensured he understood the game that was politics, about how he must maintain his image lest a moment of enjoyment be mistaken for childish immaturity, and his value as a noble diminish.

  He had always been fine with those rules growing up. A day of stoicism was rewarded with an afternoon training session with the knights. Should he require genuine conversation, he could seek out his nanny or even his mother and father on occasion. It was not until he was completely isolated in the guild that he realized how much he missed even the fake conversation provided by nobles wearing the same mask as himself. The time he had spent with Issa had only revealed the truth of his yearning, the depths of his loneliness.

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  But he would not find that companionship with Rayne, theirs was just to be another relationship of convenience. So long as he could train him, and he could provide more students, then they would be joint; if they could do missions together, all the better. He knew in his heart that Rayne did not like him, and so he would let the other man dictate their level of friendliness. He would be receptive to any olive branch, but would not fool himself into thinking offering his own would be welcome.

  So it was that they walked in silence all the way to the gate. It did not take long to spot the ginger tips of their Katiine companion’s cat ears over the heads of the throng of people entering and leaving the city. In his steel chest plate with the greatsword swung over his back, he cut an imposing figure, so it was quite easy to reach Syra as the crowds parted around them with respect, or perhaps just caution of the blade. Finally, they reached the edge of the crowd and could see her leaning against the wall, a bored look on her face as she stared at the ground. As they were about to reach her, he saw her ears twitch towards them before she turned to regard them, her mouth quirking into a small smile.

  “So you two finally made it, eh.”

  Looking away awkwardly, he prepared to apologize, only being stopped when Rayne stepped forward.

  “Didn’t exactly give us much forewarning. Lucky, there’s so few goblins, or I might not’ve shown up at all,” Rayne teased.

  They were both smiling with such an easy air between them. Leon hated the pit he felt in his stomach as they conversed, the jealousy at knowing he could not do the same. Taking a deep breath to steady his mind, he entered into their conversation. “We should not underestimate our foe, lowly as they may be. A mage requires a more deft hand to deal with.”

  The two turned to look at him, and he could tell the easy nonchalance was instantly gone.

  “We’ll just ambush them. Take the mage out first and clean up the others.”

  Leon tried not to outwardly sigh at the plan Rayne provided. Luckily, the Katiine had no such issue and let out a long and exaggerated groan.

  “That’s your plan for everything. What if the mage is hidden, or the others are guarding it, huh? You got a plan for that?”

  Rayne shrugged. “Details. We can work that out when we get there. Did the commission say anything about the shaman’s abilities?”

  Syra looked like she was about to respond in the negative when Leon chose to step in.

  “Ahem.” Immediately, two sets of eyes turned his way. “Most goblin shamans use nature-based magic. The ones around Torid are known to prefer the raw strength of geomancy over other elemental-based magic. Goblin culture is all about strength, and for the ones around this area, they seem to have found that in throwing big rocks around.”

  They stared at him in silence.

  Pushing past the gnawing unease, he continued to recite what he had read. “Normally, shamans are given lofty positions in goblin tribes and have their own retinue of elite guards. This one is either part of a much larger tribe; in which case, we must tread carefully. Or it was unhappy serving under a chieftain and is attempting to form its own tribe. The mission report seems to imply the guild thinks it is the latter.”

  “And you know that… how?” Rayne asked, his face a mixture of surprise and confusion.

  Self-consciously coughing into a fist, Leon shrugged. “I have spent much time reading on the habits of goblins since my last engagement against their kind. How they organize their tribes, the roles of their shamans, even the intricacies of their customs, all were merely extensions of that research.”

  Syra smirked. “Already proving his value.” Leon preened a little at the praise, an act that caused her smirk to grow just a little before she continued. “I suppose if it’s part of a bigger tribe, we’ll need to bug out, huh.”

  Rayne nodded. “Unless we can lure it far enough away from the tribe. We’ll have to do reconnaissance on it before striking, maybe set some small traps to deter reinforcements. If it’s too much then yeah, we’ll have to turn tail.”

  Beside him, Leon saw a complicated expression flash through Syra’s eyes. Then she blinked and it was gone.

  “You can think about it on the road, let’s not burn too much sunlight,” she said, not meeting Rayne’s eye as she did.

  The three of them left through the gate towards the woods where the goblins had last been seen. Along the way, they naturally slid into a small triangular formation, Rayne and Syra discussing in the front while Leon fell behind. From what bits he could hear, it seemed to Leon that Rayne was inquiring on the specifics of how skills and magic operated, a field he was somewhat knowledgeable in. He held his tongue, though, having not been asked and afraid to enter the conversation rudely. Besides that, it seemed Syra was answering with a pleasantly surprising amount of insight.

  Skills were essentially just the combination of technique with mana. It was possible to cultivate skills on your own, but they required delicate handling to activate. Most adventurers just used skill books to shorten the process, like he had with his Flame Blade. Without the skill book left to him, the fire he had applied to his blade may have burst out of his control immediately.

  A base level skill would be learned from skill books, then the individual adventurer could attempt to cultivate more specific skills through their own training, or pay to get advanced skill books. An extremely basic skill such as Strong Arm essentially just gave a small boost to stats, but it was still a floor from which more advanced skills like Lunge or Power Slash were built upon. Really, with skill books, there was no need to try and cultivate your own skills unless you were trying to create one that did not yet exist. By the current era, he doubted that there might be any left to do so, however.

  Syra was explaining all that and more to her companion in front of him. The man took the knowledge in stride, asking further questions until he would come to an understanding. Not wishing to listen in on a conversation he was not only learned in, but not a part of, he allowed his mind to wander as they entered the forest once they had passed by the farms immediately past the city walls. The goal for the day was not to immediately bond with Syra, and by extension Rayne, but merely to prove himself an asset that they would wish to take on more missions.

  His heart told him that it would not be a difficult endeavor, that they in fact should feel blessed that someone of his stature was forced to work with them. His brain, however, was more cautious, cognizant of just how many times he had been burned by others since joining the guild. The two accompanying him were undoubtedly weaker, but any attempt to seize leadership would also lead to undue friction. He could afford to take some time in this campaign; once he had shown his own skill and taken both as students, they would naturally default to him as leader.

  A proper team, even if composed of people whom, a month ago, he would have barely acknowledged. He smiled at the prospect as they continued deeper into the woods.