Tales of the Implock - Chapter 066

∼ First Commission ∼

On the winds, gliding under the warm rays of the morning sun, a red bird made its way in search of food. The day had just broken, the sun shining its light on the beautiful winged creature as it cast a small shadow across the canopy of trees, the bird chirping in tune with its brethren. The sound of birdsong added to the calm of the forest. A morning without worry.

As the little bird flitted along with the pleasant breeze, it caught the eye of another one of its kind. A female. Maybe a potential mate?

However, its posturing calls were cut short before they had the chance to begin as the bird burst into purple flames. The red bird was incinerated to its little frail bones, thudding onto the ground as little more than charred flesh.

Cackling laughter filled the small forest. Along the trail, trodding along the human-made path open to the blue sky, one robed demon and human guide made their way atop brown steeds.

All Ignatius, the human guide, could do as they rode past the charred remains of the bird was look askance at the robed warlock who was seemingly having the time of their life. There is seriously something wrong with this gnome; he thought. Surely, not all warlocks were this... touched.

But Nyx did not care what the human thought of his little pastime, occupied with calming the agitated steed that was all too big for the small demon. The stupid creature kept getting scared whenever he would suddenly fire off his magic, and to begin with he had little to no riding experience.

"Stupid horsey! This way!" He cursed, trying to stop it from veering off course and outright bucking him off.

Ignatius sighed at the sight. "I told you to get the pony,"

"Shut up human!"

"I have a name." He gritted his teeth.

Nyx finally wrestled the horse back under control, managing to spare the human a glance. His look saying as if that was the first time he had ever heard that.

He just looked at the gnome for one long moment before droning out his name. "Ignatius,"

"Ig-na... Ig-y" Nyx tried slowly. "-Iggy,"

Ignatius suddenly straightened atop his steed. "See, how hard was tha- wait, what?"

"Iggy!" Nyx smiled triumphantly, believing himself to have conquered the human's weird name.

But he shook his head fervently. "No-no, it's Ig-na-tius."

"Iggy!" Nyx insisted, not even sparing him another moment to correct.

The human's glare could've burned a hole in Nyx if he wasn't so naturally resistant to fire.

Retreating into himself, Nyx looked over his notifications from over the last week of training.

Closing the prompts, Nyx was happy the monotonous exercise of expanding his mana reservoir was paying off. Although he was still quite a bit off with the absorbent costs of his new spells and summoning of a familiar, having come quickly to power despite having had little time to develop properly as a mage. But he was getting there, and now with free reign to explore this world, kill dumb human baddies, and slaughter some foul beasties, he make full use of his time.

So, since signing the commission at The Mercenary Guild, the duo had gone to rent out some mounts by the subsidiary stables as they were to head out of town, to a homestead that had requested help with a problem of monstrous nature.

It was a day-long journey, and as feverish as Nyx was to indulge in some of his more violent tendencies, he quickly became restless along the monotonous and unexcited road. This stretch of land surrounding Boreas truly was boring. They should really add some more monsters or bandits. Would make it much more interesting. Trust him. Nyx knew what he was talking about.

Anyhow, a day's time and many unfortunate forest critters later, they arrived at the homestead at the crack of dawn. It was a small farmland tended to by a handful of serfs with cattle and other husbandry grazing about pastures.

They pulled up to the homestead, a series of finely-kept buildings shaped in a form similar to that of a horseshoe. This homestead didn't belong to any minor nobility, but they seemed to be rather well off. Which made sense since the request for help made with The Mercenary Guild hadn't been made on behalf of the crown but with their own coin. Which made this request, a commission.

It was one way to make certain that help was sent immediately, and not just until some mercenaries decided on their own to take it up. With commissions, if there were no mercenary volunteers, such as Nyx and Ignatius, it would just be assigned mercenaries who were sitting on reserve or those who simply had yet to meet a certain quota of annual task completions. Each mercenary, as a condition of being a member of The Mercenary Guild, had to complete at least a certain amount of annual tasks. Additionally, all mercenaries under the rank of Master, were by law - subject to be conscripted to defend Argon if it were ever in dire need.

Getting off their horses, Nyx somehow having a little trouble untangling himself from the reins, they were met with a middle-aged, balding man in fine clothes who came out of the main building through a set of double doors.

"Hello, welcome to the Metid Homestead." He called out. Ignatius didn't respond as he merely waited for the man to come closer.

"You two wouldn't happen to be from the Guild?" The man asked, but his voice carried a note of hesitancy.

Ignatius handed over his reins to an older man who came out from the stables. "Ignatius Barclay and Nyxel Brasshand," He introduced, gesturing dismissively to Nyx. "Mercenaries here to help with a commission that was put in with the Guild."

The man in fine clothes came up short when Ignatius confirmed his speculation, glancing down at the gnome in robes then back up to Ignatius, skepticism entering his eyes.

"I'm sorry... But are there any more coming?" He was clearly worried that he had spent his money to send out an urgent request, only to be sent people incapable. Especially with how he looked at Nyx, he clearly doubted their ability to solve his problem.

"You-" As the demon almost began growling at the indignant human, Ignatius stepped in between them.

"I can assure you. We're more than fit to help you with your monster troubles. I'm a Silver division, and he's a mage." He mediated with professional ease, though a slightly displeased glare made its way onto his own face.

Nyx, however, had already shifted his demeanor the moment the human's skepticism turned into shock and panic, smiling as he felt his ego inflate.

"Oh, Sir Magi! My deepest apologies, I truly meant no offense." He said, awkwardly bowing. "I'm Thomas Metid, Lord of this Homestead. I must thank you both for your hasty arrivals."

A human seeing the errors of their ways, that was a first; Nyx thought. Nyx did also note that Iggy had called him a mage, not a warlock. But even the demon understood now how feared they were. So it was probably unnecessary to make their employer fret. But to be honest, he kind of liked that fear.

"No matter! The monster, where is it?" Nyx said imperiously, feeding off of the man's deference and fear, expecting wholeheartedly that the human would point them in a direction and they'd be off to slaying some monsters. Unfortunately for Nyx, it wasn't as simple as that.

Thomas was slightly taken aback at the gnome mage's unusual bearing, looking at Ignatius who just shook his head. Offered to some tea and food inside the homestead, the Lord explained the nature of their problems.

"As I've reported to the Guild; A whole quarter of our livestock and two serfs have gone missing since the monster first appeared."

Ignatius pulled out a handbook, opening to a page of scribbles and notes. "The report says the monster in question is a druggle. However, that's only based on speculation and vague sightings. Correct?"

"What's a druggle?" Nyx interjected curiously, making Thomas pause confusedly that he didn't already know. But Ignatius just waved him off and gestured to the man to continue.

"Yes... unfortunately," He started slowly, dragging his eyes from Nyx back to Ignatius. "I haven't managed to catch the foul creature in the act. And only a couple of the serfs by the fields say to have seen a glimpse of it in the forest. I myself am not learned in bestial knowledge, but we have an old man in our employ who knows a thing or two about monsters since he has lived on the outskirts most of his life. He's almost certain it's a druggle."

The mercenary snapped close to his handbook, getting to his feet. "I see, can we speak with this man?"

Later, Ignatius and Nyx were introduced to the crotchety old man who was working by the stables, the very same man who had taken their horses. Nyx wasn't interacting as much as he was more-so learning for the most part. How a mercenary prepared and gathered information on a job. Though, the demon found it mostly uninteresting.

There was, however, a small four-legged creature that took most of the demon's attention. It would keep barking at him. If he remembered correctly, Iggy said it was a dog. An interesting little creature since it had the nerve to bark incessantly at Nyx.

Finally, they were taken to the pastures and left to do their work. There, they found large furrows in the ground all over the enclosure alongside blood-stained dirt wherever the monster had struck. Ignatius was crouching by one such spot. "That's odd." He muttered to himself.

Not one to be left out, Nyx couldn't help but ask. "Why?"

He looked back at the demon, almost as if he had briefly forgotten he was there. Scowling as he remembered his duty as a guide. "These tracks... They're all over. Probably where each animal was taken. However, none of them have a trial. They just... start and stop right in the same place. There are no other tracks leading anywhere. It's very odd."

"Is it not a drug-gel, then?" Nyx asked, finding the name of the monster a bit odd.

He just shrugged. "Not sure. The claw marks should match if I remember correctly." Ignatius trailed his hand along a bloody furrow in the ground. "Haven't ever hunted one before though."

Getting back to his full height, he dusted off his hands on his pants. "Let's head into the forest and see if we can find the damn thing. He said, to which Nyx was all too happy to follow.

But he paused suddenly, turning back to glance at Nyx. "By the way, have you ever hunted prey before? Do you know how to track?

Nyx smiled predatorily.