I woke up late in the morning the day after I returned to the Adventurers Guild, following my harrowing encounter with the miniature Ork WAAAGH! two days earlier. Without any tasks that required my immediate attention or any other business that I couldn't eventually let Jurgen take care of on my behalf, I proceeded to make my way down to the main dining area of the Adventurers Guild and enjoy what was quickly becoming one of the better perks of my stay on this backwater planet. Padfoot Waitress, long since accustomed to my late arrivals in the short time I've stayed at the Guild, gave me a cheerful nod as soon as she saw me and rushed back into the kitchen to bring out my breakfast. I barely had enough time to find a place to sit at my usual spot, in the corner farthest from the quest counter, before the abhuman girl returned with yet another tantalizing-looking slab of meat and a mug filled to the brim with amasec.

"Here you go, Commissar Cain, the usual." She announced, proudly puffing out the ample mounds of her chest as she laid down the delectable steak and passable amasec that the Guild regularly provided.

"Thank you. It's a shame I won't be able to stay here forever. I'm starting to get too used to the fast service and delicious food you serve, Padfoot Waitress." I told her, half in jest and half out of the unavoidable certainty that I would be going back to a diet of ration bars, soylens viridians, and cheap recaff once I returned to the Imperium.

The abhuman's shoulders slumped after hearing what I had to say, and while she did her best to maintain her usual cheery attitude, it was obvious that she wasn't looking forward to the day that Jurgen and I would have to depart from this world.

"Oh, that's right. Do you know how much longer the two of you will be staying with us?" She asked.

"I wish I knew. The people of the Imperium need me, and I would be shirking my duties if I spent anymore time relaxing on this planet than I had to." I said, playing up my reputation as a hardened warrior for everything it was worth. "With that said, I personally wouldn't mind enjoying this little vacation of mine a little longer than I must."

While I wasn't being entirely genuine with that last part, as there are only so many greenskins one person can tolerate, my stay on this feudal world had been quite enjoyable and, above all, safe compared to some of my other misadventures. While it was true that the Ork infestation was one of the worst I had seen, the vast majority of greenskins on this planet appeared to be snotlings that a boy in cheap armor could purge by the dozens. There were real Orks on this planet but, not only were they few in number, they had taken care of themselves thanks to that one weirdboy frying most of his boyz. If any of the savage brutes did manage to survive, then I doubt they would ever be able to rally their numbers to the point that a few adventurers wouldn't be able to handle them.

I only say that because Witch and Heavy Warrior informed me that they had taken care of two Orks on their own. I found it quite surprising that they were able to overpower the xenos without any real firepower, but considering that adventurers appeared to be the equivalent of the Imperium's Adeptus Astartes for this planet, I suppose I should have expected as much.

"Were you able to talk to Jurgen yet, Padfoot Waitress?" I asked her after a moment's thought. "I'm fairly sure he had something he wanted to get you."

The girl quickly perked up at the mere mention of the prize my aide collected from Frontier Town Governor's wine cellar. While I am personally unsure of when he managed to procure a bottle for himself, as I am certain I would have noticed him while I was sampling the wide variety of amasec our generous host and his ancestors had accrued over several generations, I wasn't terribly surprised that Jurgen somehow managed to collect his own supply of drinks. My aide always had a talent for requisitioning supplies that should have been quite difficult, if not outright impossible, to get ahold of. I don't know how he always managed to keep us so luxuriously equipped, but I never once took this particular ability of his for granted for obvious reasons, nor did I look into how exactly he obtained them in case his methods were as dubious as I thought they were.

"Oh yes! He already gave me the bottle of wine he was presented as an additional reward for your special request, Commissar Cain." She said a bit too excitedly, even for a connoisseur of fine amasec like myself.

Not only that, but the girl was sporting a noticeable blush too. If I didn't know better, I would have thought Padfoot Waitress had fallen for my trusty aide in the short time they had been able to speak with one another. I quickly threw that idea to the side, however, as the very thought of my malodorous aide charming a fine young woman like Padfoot Waitress was nothing short of insane.

I have seen and survived my fair share of impossible circumstances, but Jurgen finding a woman that was at least seventy years younger than him who could tolerate his unnatural stench? There were some things that were too outrageous to ever happen.

Unless…

"Do you mind if I ask you a little something about yourself?" I inquired, breaking the rosy faced girl out of whatever fantasy she was enjoying with that simple little question.

"S-sure, what would you like to know?" She quickly stammered in an attempt to hide her momentary surprise.

"How good is your sense of smell?" I inquired, still doubting whether or not it was worth pressing this matter any further.

"Oh, uh… that, huh?" She said with a nervous laugh, my palms tingling as the answer became blindingly obvious.

"You can't smell, can you?" I asked her, seeing no other reason as to why she had been able to stand hanging around my aide so often.

"Yeah." She awkwardly laughed. "Most padfoots have better senses than most people, but I guess I'm a bit of an exception. How were you able to figure it out?"

"Let's just call it 'intuition' and leave it at that." I said, finally taking a long overdue sip from the mug of amasec she had brought me.

"Well, I guess I'll let you go back to work then." I told her, focusing my attention on the splendid morsel of food on my plate that was almost as good as what Lord General Zyvan's personal chef could produce.

"Oh, and one last thing." I continued, figuring I could at least try to help her and my aide out as best as I could. "If you're looking for Jurgen, he will probably be working on the Trukk he brought back for most of the day."

"He already told me where I can find him, Commissar Cain, but thanks for telling me." The girl said with a whimsical smile and placing both of her hands across her almost overflowing chest like a maiden in love. "I already made plans to visit him on my break."

"Oh, that's good. My aide could certainly use the company you could provide him, and I know he must think about you a lot if he gave you that bottle of amasec." I said, giving her a conspiratorial wink.

"W-w-what?" Padfoot Waitress sputtered out in a panicked frenzy, her cheeks turning beet red in embarrassment.

"I'm rooting for you both." I said, raising my mug to her. "If you ever need some help with him, just let me know. After everything Jurgen has done for me, helping the both of you get to know each other is the least I can do."

"T-thanks!" She finally squealed out after managing to collect herself for a moment.

Padfoot Waitress rushed back to the kitchen afterwards, providing me an exquisite view of her posterior and tail as they swayed back and forth with every step, not that I was able to enjoy the former seriously as the girl already had eyes on my aide despite his putrid aroma. Even if she wasn't my only hope of one day cleaning up Jurgen to the point that I could breathe through my nose while sharing the same transport as him, I wouldn't have given her any more thought as the tantalizing scent of my meal had finally managed to overpower my will. I was about to finally take a bite out of the steak she laid out before me but the shy, almost whispery voice of a nervous juvie I had met before stopped me before I could even cut into my tender morsel of meat.

"Commissar Cain, you're back." A certain blonde, timid looking young girl called out to me.

"Ah, Priestess. It's good to see you again." I greeted, somewhat surprised to see the rookie adventurer again.

I thought she would have abandoned this line of work considering what happened to the other members of her party, but I guess the child had more nerve than I thought. Hopefully she wasn't so desensitized to danger that she would rush head first to her death like so many other brave souls I have served with over the decades.

"Have you been able to go on any other adventures since… the cave?" I asked, hesitant to approach such a tender subject with such a frail looking juvie, especially given how recently it had occurred.

Priestess paled for a moment before answering, proving her bravery wasn't nearly as foolhardy as I feared it might be. "Yes, I have been on a couple of adventures with Goblin Slayer."

"Goblin Slayer!?" I exclaimed in shock, awkwardly coughing after realizing I was making a scene.

"I must say, I'm surprised someone as stubborn and Grox-headed as him was willing to take on a rookie like yourself. Most veterans I've met wouldn't take the risk, not that I would say Goblin Slayer is like most adventurers…" I trailed off, doing my best not to groan after having worked with him on two separate occasions, neither of which were done voluntarily.

"Yes, he is like that." The blonde glumly agreed.

I thought that would be the end of it, but a fire seemed to light up in her eyes and her timidity suddenly vanished as an unusual furor coursed through her entire body.

"But just because he is stubborn, prefers to be alone, and is very impatient doesn't mean he isn't a good person!" She argued, despite providing plenty of evidence towards the contrary.

Seeing as she was alone and the man in question was nowhere in sight, left me with only one obvious conclusion as to why Priestess was talking to me right now instead of adventuring with her new companion.

"He left you behind today, didn't he?" I asked her, as this seemed exactly like something that goblin obsessed fool would do.

"Yeah, he did." Priestess admitted, her shoulders slumping down at the mere mention of her abandonment. "He told me he would leave without me if I didn't arrive early enough, but I was too slow and didn't listen to him! I didn't think he would actually-"

I placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder before she could batter herself any more than she likely already had. "Don't take it personally. This kind of work tends to attract the kind of person who cares less about appearances and more about results." I said, the irony not being lost on me in the slightest. "With that said, I'm sure it wouldn't hurt if the both of us had a few words with him when he returns."

"Actually, that's kind of what I wanted to talk to you about." Priestess sheepishly said.

"I was hoping that maybe we could possibly go on a quest together sometime in the future." She said, her voice progressively growing softer until she was barely whispering loud enough for me to hear her.

Now, as much as I wanted to avoid the potential dangers the inclusion of an inexperienced juvie could bring me, I did not immediately decline her offer. Instead, I took a bite out of my meal in order to give myself an excuse to think things over for a bit.

On one hand, Jurgen and I had faced down everything from Daemon Princes to Tyranid swarms and Genestealer Cults without any other reinforcements, and on the few occasions we did have some additional help that did not come from an Inquisitor, they rarely tended to survive longer than a few hours. The help we had also didn't come in the form of a skittish juvie that looked like she would lose a fist fight against a Tau foot soldier, which was another mark against Priestess. With that said, I'd rarely had the opportunity to work with a psyker or medicae before, nor was I going to refuse the always-useful first aid resources even an inexperienced young girl could offer. I didn't know whether or not the 'miracles' or whatever her powers were called would work in close proximity to Jurgen, but considering how she did not have any adverse effects after spending some time up close with him like most psyker who came in close contact with him, aside from the usual symptoms that those of us with a working sense of smell could attest to, I believed she would be fine.

"Perhaps Jurgen and I would be able to accompany you on an adventure sometime soon." I mused out loud.

After my run in with the Orks, I didn't have any plans on leaving the Adventurers Guild until someone from the Imperium or some noble came to pick me up, not that I would mention that to anyone other than Jurgen. The only exception to this would be if some unmentionable threat would endanger my life if I didn't personally do something to stop them or if my supply of tanna tea was running low, neither of which seemed particularly likely at the time.

"Really?" Priestess said as she stared at me with puppylike eyes, oblivious to how I was stringing her along. "But I'm just a rookie, not a Silver Ranked adventurer like Goblin Slayer or an experienced soldier like you."

I laughed at the girl's honest, if somewhat self-deprecating, attempt to talk me out of a decision I didn't have any particular plans on going through with. "We all had to start somewhere, Priestess." I told her. "Besides, it's my job to make sure men and women like you are able to reach their full potential. That is one of the reasons the Guild hired me to draft plans for a training center."

"Oh, wow." She murmured in admiration.

I could tell that there was something else that she wanted to ask me, no doubt trying to work up the courage to say whatever it was she desired from me. I took that as my cue to take another bite out of the meal Padfoot Waitress set out for me, a mistake that nearly cost me my life when a pair of rookie adventurers decided to make their presence known by shouting at me, nearly making me choke on the bite-sized chunk of meat I had been trying to enjoy.

"Did you say you can train us?" An idiot eerily similar to the one idiot swordsman whose mangled remains I stumbled across a week prior.

"Commissar!? Are you okay!?" Priestess asked, paying far more attention to my own suffering than any potential service I could do for her, unlike the other two rookies who assaulted me.

"I'm fine… it'll take more than this to kill me…" I sputtered out in between gasps for air once I finally managed to clear my throat.

"So what do you two frakhe *ahem* rookies, want from me?" I asked them as cordially as possible, barely stopping myself from speaking my mind.

The Idiot Rookie Warrior was quick to answer. If only he had been quick enough to think about his answer before saying anything…

"We want- ACK!?"

…unlike the juvie girl who appeared to be his partner.

"We're really sorry to disturb you, aren't we, Rookie Warrior?" His priestly dressed partner said, pulling on his ear hard enough to make the boy cry out in pain.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch! Yes, Apprentice Cleric, I'm sorry! Just please let go of me already!" He pleaded, his partner only relenting once I gave her a satisfactory nod.

"So, what exactly would the two of you like me to do?" I asked them, smiling ever so slightly at the sight of Idiot Rookie Warrior nursing his injured ear.

"Guild Girl told us that you were willing to help out newly registered adventurers, so my partner and I thought it would be a good idea and see if you might be able to teach us a few things." Apprentice Cleric told me, shooting me an apologetic look after glaring at her partner. "It's okay if you're busy, we can just-"

"I wouldn't mind sharing a few tips and tricks with my fellow adventurers." I told her, taking a break to finish up the last of my amasec. "I wanted to take a break today anyways, but couldn't bring myself to go a day without doing something useful. Training three promising young adults like yourself sounds like a good enough compromise to me."

"Oh, really?" Apprentice Cleric said. "Thank you so much, Commissar!"

"Don't thank me yet." I told her. "I still need to finish my breakfast, not to mention securing an area for the three of you to train afterwards."

"Of course." She said, bowing to me in the same strange way the people of this planet did to show respect and subservience to others.

"We'll be waiting for you in the training area behind the Guild, Commissar." She said as she departed, dragging Idiot Rookie Warrior by the ear as they departed.

I would have asked her to take it easier on her partner, but considering he nearly killed me moments earlier, I figured it would be better to give her a few minutes to discipline him on my behalf. She seemed familiar with the process already, judging by her partner's whimpering as they left Priestess and I in peace.

"Oh, I guess you're going to be busy today…" The young blonde sighed, doing her best to hide in her own shadow as she did so.

"Yes. It looks like we will both have our work cut out for us." I told her.

"Both?" She asked, apparently failing to see what I was implying.

"Yes, both of us are going to be busy today. I expect to see you in the training area with the other two rookies, Priestess." I addressed her. "That is what you came here to ask me about, wasn't it?"

"N-no? I mean, yes!" She said, proudly puffing out her nonexistent chest in triumph after mumbling to herself. "Thank you so much, Commissar Cain!"

"I'm always happy to help, Priestess, especially when I can return a favor for someone that helped me in the past." I informed her.

"But I didn't do anything to help y-"

"Nonsense!" I interrupted her. "There's no telling what would have happened if you weren't willing to help Goblin Slayer escape that horde of goblins you pulled towards Jurgen and I."

"Don't be afraid to take credit for a job well done." I finished, putting a hand on the youth's head and straggling her long blonde hair from underneath her hat in an attempt to build up her embarrassingly fragile ego.

While it might not have been the best or most efficient means of doing so, my efforts did earn a childish giggle from the juvie all the same.

"Thank you, Commissar Cain. I won't disappoint you!" She declared, quickly rushing off towards the exit the other rookies left through.

Rather than dig into the rest of my meal, I instead decided to address the final possible distraction from my food before someone else could surprise me. I walked up to Guild Girl, who had apparently watched the entire scene between me and the rookies unfold from the quest counter, while she wore quite the embarrassed smile as I approached her.

"I'm sorry for asking you for a favor the day after returning from such a dangerous adventure." She bowed in apology.

"Oh please, there's no need to apologize for that." I said, still more focused on having nearly choked to death rather than her ruining any chance for some other noble recruiting me for an impossibly dangerous task for at least one more day. "I take it that you recommended all three of them should ask me for some advice?"

"No, just the Rookie Duo who registered while you were away yesterday." Guild Girl admitted. "I thought Priestess was going to ask you to form a party instead of asking you to train her. I'm just as surprised as you are that she wants some extra training after going questing with Goblin Slayer for two days straight."

"With a cheery attitude like hers, the only reason she probably asked me for help was because Goblin Slayer already left without her." I laughed, half in jest and half to hide the unease I felt from my tingling palms.

It didn't take a genius to see that if I did end up forming a party with Priestess, Goblin Slayer would inevitably be included too. From that point, it wouldn't be too hard to guess what kinds of xenos we would be hunting together. There would certainly be plenty of headaches involved in working together with them, most of which would no doubt come from Goblin Slayer when I would have to eventually address some of his problematic behavior, but overall things could be far worse I suppose. I could be stuck in a party with that pompous, spear-wielding idiot that Witch had somehow fallen for.

"I'll be sure to give the kids a couple of pointers and general advice before the day is over. I might be able to give them a few exercises to do in order to build up their strength since they look like they could use a bit of extra muscle, Priestess especially." I said, laying out my plans for the day in the hopes Guild Girl would approve of them.

"That would be wonderful!" Guild Girl said in agreement. "I'll try and send someone out so they can observe the four of you to see if some of your advice or training might be useful in that training facility you helped plan for us."

"Very well." I said, already imagining ways I could earn a few extra pieces of gold for my services. "I'll be out in a few minutes to start drilling the rookies. Be sure to tell Jurgen where he can find me when he comes back in. I don't want him scaring off anyone while he looks for me."

"Or better yet, see if you can't get Padfoot Waitress to take him out for an hour or two. My aide could certainly use a break and he seems to get along with her almost as well as me." I continued, secretly hoping the fine young woman who somehow defied all logic and found my malodorous aid attractive could also defy the odds once again and convince him to bathe long enough to weaken his persistent aroma.

Guild Girl gave me a knowing giggle before allowing me to return to my meal. The once-pleasantly warm slab of meat had grown cold in the time since it had been delivered, but I hardly cared as it was leagues above anything I purchased from anywhere in the Imperium for a similar price. I savored every last bite as always before leaving my table in the far corner of the Guild before marching my way towards the rookies who were waiting for me, all of whom were blissfully unaware of the training regimen I already had planned for the duo who had disturbed my meal.


After spending most of the day trying to put the rookie adventurers through a few standard drills used in the Imperium, I now know why the Guild was so eager to contract me to help plan their training facility. I knew from the very beginning that I shouldn't have expected anything too grand from them, as they were not only children but lacked the discipline the Imperial Guard drilled into its recruits from the very first day they picked up a lasgun, but nothing could have prepared me for just how ill prepared those rookies were. I wouldn't say they were bad but Inspector, who had chosen to watch the rookies train, quickly decided there wasn't anything to be learned and left before I even had a chance to speak with her.

The very first thing I subjected the rookie duo and Priestess to was a basic warm-up run around the perimeter of the Adventurers Guild's training grounds. I asked them to run fifteen full laps with their entire kit, intending it to be a nice, easy way for them to get started. Instead, I was shocked to see that none of them had the stamina to finish all fifteen laps before needing to relax their pace to a slow walk or, in the case of Idiot Rookie Warrior, collapsing face first on the ground.

The rest of the day went almost as poorly for the rookies, although Priestess did prove to be a step above the duo she accompanied most of the time. In terms of endurance, she alone knew how to push herself consistently without tiring herself out, unlike Rookie Warrior who collapsed from exhaustion several times. As much as I wanted to complain about the boy's lackluster performance, at least he tried to make something of himself, unlike his partner who gave up long before she could break into a sweat.

I saw similar results when I tested the rookies' strength, speed, footwork, and combat prowess. Their results throughout these areas were similar to when I inadvertently tested their endurance, the only exception being how skilled they were in a fight. Unsurprisingly, Idiot Rookie Warrior was the best in that area, but that was hardly surprising given his competition. That didn't stop me from knocking the sad excuse for a melee fighter flat on his arse with a training sword though. His constant whining didn't stop me from repeating the experience several more times either.

"Ouch, could you take it easy on me next time?" The young boy asked, picking himself off the ground for our final mock duel of the day.

"I could, but what would be the point of trying to teach you something if I don't take you seriously?" I asked him, barely holding back my laughter as the boy slumped over beside the girls who had been watching him previously.

Both Apprentice Cleric and Priestess had their own chance to fight against me, and since they were only supposed to provide support to their party rather than fighting off any would-be attackers, I only fought against each of the girls once. I initially wanted to spar against each of the rookies a few dozen times to help them learn the basics of an all-out melee, but I instead decided to focus my time on Rookie Warrior since he clearly needed all the help that he could get. The fact that he still wanted me to go easy on him despite having used a wooden sword to deflect his iron one only proved how desperate he was for any lessons my duels-turned beatings could impart in him.

"Anyways, I think that will be all the training I can do with you three today." I announced to the tired and mildly battered rookies who sighed with relief at my news.

"With that said, there are a few more things I want to address before I let you go." I continued on to the sound of the Rookie Duo's gasps and nervous rattling of Priestess' staff.

"First of all, I recommend that all of you make an effort into obtaining and learning how to use another weapon than the one you are already carrying, if you don't already have one." I rattled off in no particular order.

"Isn't Rookie Warrior the only one who needs to have another weapon on him if his opponent disarms him again?" Apprentice Cleric asked, giggling as she recalled the many times I had managed to make her partner lose his grip on his weapon during our duels.

Priestess looked like she wanted to agree with her fellow holy woman, but whether it was through her own personal experience on the quest we took together, something Goblin Slayer told her, or her own desire to never end up in a similar situation to her former party members, she kept her mouth shut and waited for me to answer.

"Perhaps." I told her. "But do you really want to have no means of defending yourself should you get separated from the rest of your party, or if they get incapacitated in any way?"

Apprentice Cleric flinched at my answer, but refused to back down. "W-well, that's what my miracles are for." She said.

"Miracle. Your one and only miracle." I corrected, remembering how she had told me she could only use one per day. "Now, I don't know about you, but I would prefer not to have my life and those of my companions relying solely on one single attack that might or might not work, especially if I am facing more than one opponent. Wouldn't you agree?"

"O-okay, maybe you have a point…" She conceded with a shudder, likely remembering one such close call she had survived in the past.

"Good." I said. "Next, I know I have already made this clear, but I would strongly recommend you all start trying to build up your stamina and endurance so you are capable of running for your lives should you ever find the need to do so."

"That doesn't sound like something an adventurer would do." Idiot Rookie Warrior shouted.

"No, but it is what a survivor would do." I fired back. "That brings me to my next point: nothing should matter to you more than your life. Never forget that no matter how rich or powerful a certain artifact, treasure, or ancient weapon would make you; none of them will be of any use to you if you're dead."

"That's a little bleak." Apprentice Cleric meekly stated.

"That's the truth." I bluntly told her.

"Last of all," I continued, "I strongly recommend that the three of you invest in some armor. I know it might not sound like the most 'heroic' thing to do, but I would like to say the same about being stabbed through the heart because you were too stubborn to wear some chainmail underneath your clothes."

I could already tell from the stupid look in Rookie Warrior's eyes that he was going to comment on my own defense, but I was a step ahead of him and unbuttoned my commissarial greatcoat to reveal the old carapace armor I had 'borrowed' back on Gravalax and 'forgot' to return.

"You'd be surprised by how much armor you can stuff underneath your regular clothes without anyone knowing you're wearing any protection underneath them." I lectured, enjoying the way Idiot Rookie Warrior slowly deflated at the sight of my armor.

"You'd also be surprised by how durable something so simple can be too." I stated, and to prove my point, I picked up a simple hunting knife from a nearby weapon rack and stabbed it straight into one of the armor plates covering my chest.

The two girls let out a shriek at what I had done, the boy not doing much better as he looked like he was ready to faint, but to stop them from worrying I twirled the bloodless knife blade around in my hand and patted the spot where I tried to stab myself. The knife didn't even leave a scratch, and regardless of whether or not the rookies noticed it, the astonished expressions they gave me reassured me that they wouldn't forget about how useful armor could be for them.

"Well, it looks like it's already time for supper. I don't know about you, but I could definitely go for a few rounds of amasec." I told them as I headed off towards the Adventurers Guild's bar.

"We would love to join you, Commissar, but I'm afraid we don't have enough funds to spare for a few drinks." Apprentice Cleric said while shooting a dirty look at her companion, who at least had the brains to look apologetic about whatever he had done to cripple their finances.

"Looks like I'll be buying drinks for everyone then." I announced. "My treat."

"You don't have to-"

Rookie Warrior tried to decline my offer, but his partner quickly hushed him before he could finish. "We'll gratefully accept your offer!" She exclaimed before dragging her companion back to the inside of the Guild.

I couldn't help but to laugh at the sight of those two bickering against each other as they went into the Guild, the sight coming off almost as comical as it was embarrassing to watch. I would have gone to join them, but before I could take the first step I felt something, or rather, someone tugging at the sleeve of my greatcoat trying to grab my attention.

It was Priestess, as it could hardly be anyone else since it was only the two of us left in the Guild's training area, but I was still somewhat surprised to see the timid girl having the courage to try and stop me like that.

"Is there something else that you need, Priestess?" I asked her.

"Oh, uhm, yes!" She said frantically, pausing for a moment to puff out her chest and build up the confidence to say whatever it was that she had on her mind.

"Thank you for taking the time to help us out today." She bowed.

"Don't worry about it. It is my job to help organize and train thousands of troops at a time, after all. Giving a few rookie adventurers some advice is a lot easier than getting a bunch of cocky idiots with lasguns to behave themselves while on leave." I joked.

"Even so, I wanted to thank you for helping me once again." The shy blonde told me. "I was also wondering-"

Whatever it was she was about to ask me, I couldn't even begin to guess nor would I have been able to, as at that very moment we were both assaulted from behind by my aide's distinctive aroma. Priestess was caught so off guard by Jurgen's stench that she entered a coughing fit, while I did my best to maintain a straight face as I addressed my trust aide.

"Ah, Jurgen, I was wondering how you were doing. Did you finish working on the Trukk?" I asked him.

"Yes I did, sir. Sorry I took so long, I managed to talk the blacksmith here into selling us some seatbelts and crash webbing to make the inside a little more comfortable." Jurgen told me.

"Great work as always, Jurgen. I knew I could count on you." I gladly replied, praising my aide for going above and beyond expectations once again.

"I also talked to Goblin Slayer a little bit while I was working on the Trukk." He continued.

My palms started to tingle at the mere mention of that Silver Ranked adventurer, and although I was certain as to the reason why, I still wanted to hear what Jurgen had discussed and almost certainly agreed to without me.

"Did you ask him if we could accompany him on another goblin slaying quest?" I asked, already resigned to facing down yet another horde of the Slaanesh-worshiping greenskins.

"I did, sir. He said he would like to know if we can use the Trukk we took from the goblins to help him reach his destination a few days quicker and help out another group of rookies that he thinks are unprepared for a goblin hunt." Jurgen informed me.

"If you put it like that, I suppose we can join him for another quest." I mused, despite knowing that there would be no way to back out without harming my growing reputation within the Guild.

"Oh, really? I guess I didn't have to invite you on a quest some time after all." Priestess sheepishly mumbled, the faintest traces of a smile escaping her lips. "I'm happy to be able to work with you again."

And with that, I truly had no way out from this goblin slaying quest. The only thing I could do was hope it would be over quickly and without any complications, something that I knew would never happen so long as I was involved.


Special thanks to Tireless Traveler for beta reading this chapter!


Author's Corner:

Ciaphas Cain, HERO OF THE IMPERIUM, has accepted yet another goblin slaying quest. It's about damn time, isn't it? Here's to seeing how GS's approach to a certain arboreal goblin's den changes with one of the few benevolent Commissars in existence.


Comments:

Sir Omega: While I honestly expected that Cain would 'take over' part of the WAAAGH lite and make them fight the rest then kill the survivors, having them die together with their wierdboy mini Warboss because of Warp shenanigans works as well for me.

I had been entertaining that possibility for a while, but decided against it despite the few laughs it could provide. There's only so much Ork nonsense one can put up with before it becomes annoying. Writing half a chapter in pure Orkish was proof enough of that…

"RandomGuest": Hehe. Now they go a Trukk... vrom vrom.

The right man in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world, to say nothing of what said man can do with a vehicle that can turn a day long trip into an hour long one. Considering how many times Goblin Slayer has showed up a little too late to do anything but purge a nest before it claimed any more lives, I'm eager to show what I would think GS would do if he did manage to arrive in time to save the day in addition to Cain's insane luck backing him up.

RandomSovietFarmer: Just find this and already burn right through it and wishing for more! Wonder if our beloved Commissar Ciaphas Cain will use magic ring and scrolls if he find out about it uses…

Considering the number of times Cain has obtained a McGuffin of immense power which has nearly killed him or could easily do so without Jurgen at his side, I believe he would more than likely pawn such a Chaotic device to either his aide or Goblin Slayer for 'safe keeping' since his laspistol, chainsword, or Jurgen's meltagun are more than enough to vanquish most threats to his well being.


As always, thanks for sticking with this story for as long as you have. I hope to see you all again in the future!