A Triumphant Return

We arrived back at Frontier Town the morning after our investigation of the ruins was concluded. If it hadn't been for the majority of our party insisting we take the return trip at a comfortable pace after our harrowing encounter with the Ogres, we likely would have made it back to the Adventurers' Guild around midnight. The xenos, abhumans, and even Priestess claimed it would be for the best if we didn't return as quickly as possible, although that was likely because they still had not become accustomed to my aide's driving yet. Only Goblin Slayer remained silent on the matter, the reason being that he had fainted somewhere in the middle of the ride back home.

Even I found myself agreeing to their demands once I considered the all too likely possibility that Jurgen might unintentionally run over some hapless peasant due to the low visibility of the dirt roads we were traveling on. Orkish vehicles lacked many of the standard luxuries found on Imperial transports which your average guardsman easily takes for granted. Airbags, functioning suspension, cushioned interiors, and headlights were some of the more immediate features that came to my mind.

The night passed by in relative peace, although there were a few dodgy moments when I caught the Eldar woman we picked up looking at me with lustful eyes while we took the first shift of nightwatch and my hands wandered down to the laspistol hanging from my waist on pure instinct, but thankfully the xenos didn't do anything that would have caused her to lose her head. I hardly slept that night knowing she might pounce on me the first chance that presented itself, even with Jurgen nearby to act as a deterrent, but I didn't let my weariness show the following morning. I was no stranger to sleepless nights thanks to my time in the Imperial Guard. Serving in a forward artillery unit sounds perfectly fine until you realize just how hard it is to sleep through a fourteen hour long barrage of Earthshakers firing at the enemy from a safe distance away. Those teeth-shakingly loud nights were well worth the relative safety of serving away from the front lines though.

Our return to Frontier Town itself was met with little fanfare, although we did have to go through the usual routine of verifying our identities with the local guards who were still getting used to the idea of our 'horseless carriage' being in the possession of adventurers and not some sort of daemon lord or whatever excuse they gave us to inspect our vehicle for any contraband that day. The xenos and abhumans parted ways with us before the inspection was completed, claiming they needed to report to someone in the nearest major town that their mission was completed before another kingdom sent any scouts or even an army of their own, thinking there were still several hundred goblins at their doorstep. I was all too glad to be rid of the xenos as we said our goodbyes, although the ones I gave to the abhumans were a little more genuine.

I was going to miss those two. Lizard Priest, while the most eccentric of the odd trio, was perhaps the only melee fighter I have met who wasn't completely deranged and an excellent conversationalist too. Kind, courteous, and always willing to break up any arguments that cropped up between the xenos and Squat, I wouldn't have minded going on a few more adventures with him. As it turned out, he also enjoyed my company and promised to return to Frontier Town once he informed his people of his success and found someone to deliver the Ogre head he stored in the Trukk. He said it was about offering his ancestors proof of his deeds or something like that, but I hardly paid much attention to his reasoning once I verified he wasn't secretly part of some offshoot of a Khornate cult as his constant lust for battle suggested.

As for Dwarf Shaman, I was as sad to see him go but not nearly as much as I was to see that gourd of dwarven fire wine leave with him. Thankfully he was the kind of person who treasured his companions more than material possessions despite his claims of adventuring for riches and women, a sentiment I could understand if I weren't already spoken for, and shared a round of drinks with us before departing. Something told me that I would be seeing him and Scaly quite often in the coming weeks.

Once the rest of my original party watched them depart with their trophies and a few extra supplies we offered them to ease their journey, the rest of us returned to the Adventurers' Guild to make our report. Guild Girl was initially horrified to learn that we found not one but two Ogres during our quest, as were the rest of the Guild staff and the few adventurers who overheard her initial surprised reaction. Plans were being made to call for some newly formed Hero Party or something before I informed them that the beasts were already slain and provided proof of their defeat. The entire Guild hall fell silent when Jurgen placed four ploin-sized eyes on the counter as proof of the Ogres' demise, to which we were subsequently ushered into one of the back rooms while the Guild staff started to quiet the calls to declare a national emergency and found some poor sod to clean up the gore we left behind.

Guild Girl kept us company in the time it took for her coworkers to calm everyone down and explained to us how incredible of a feat we had accomplished, as if letting my aide and Priestess do most of the work could be considered impressive. To make her half-hour long explanation much more concise, it turned out that a single Ogre was as strong as a Gold Ranked adventurer, which numbered somewhere around a dozen in our kingdom and those surrounding us. A group of Silver Ranked adventurers like the majority of our initial party was composed of, let alone the few Porcelains accompanying them, should have been easy prey for such a beast, let alone two. Guild Girl also mentioned something about the particular Ogres we slayed being a notorious pair called the 'Oni Twins in league with some greater Chaos Daemon, which caused me some alarm with the revelation that the forces of Chaos were active on the planet.

She also spent the vast majority of her time trying to explain that, no, Ogres were not some evolved strain of Ork or goblin to Goblin Slayer before ultimately dropping the matter entirely once it became clear to everyone in the room that nothing could convince him otherwise. Watching her becoming increasingly frustrated with Goblin Slayer was quite amusing, especially when my aide started supporting the dense adventurer's assertions by telling her the Ogres were just as arrogant and incapable of working together effectively as goblins.

Once the situation in the Guild Hall was resolved, I insisted Goblin Slayer return to the farm he was lodging at and spend some time recuperating before our next adventure. I stressed how important it was for the boy to get some proper rest, something I could immediately tell Guild Girl approved of, before also hinting that it would be better for him to give his own accounts of our adventure to Cow Girl before any rumors about our journey reached her. Guild Girl was less receptive to my later reasoning, but tactfully encouraged Goblin Slayer to go home anyways while she processed the accounts of our adventure.

Without the dense idiot around to insist it was a pair of enormous mutant goblins we fought and not Ogres, Priestess and I allowed Jurgen to file a report on our behalf while only making occasional corrections to his account of events. Priestess was initially reluctant to allow my aide to handle the majority of our paperwork, but after I insisted he had decades of experience with this and seeing his own neat penmanship, something that contrasted greatly with his typically disheveled appearance, she conceded to let him do our work for us. We did make a few minor corrections to the number of special goblin types we encountered in the ruins and how long we spent in there, as dead goblins were all the same to Jurgen and he was a horrible judge of time if it didn't relate to any appointments or schedules we needed to keep.

By the time everything was wrapped up, it was already past dusk and Priestess was preparing to head back to the temple she typically resided in when I even surprised myself with the offer I made her. Jurgen and I had been renting a pair of rooms ever since we joined the Adventurers' Guild with my aide somehow managing to acquire us the most spacious adjoining rooms possible, an uncanny talent of his that I never once questioned or dared to look into in fear of losing the ability to enjoy whatever splendid residencies he could acquire for us. One of those rooms were more than enough to house Jurgen and I while the other had been converted into a office and storage room for whatever equipment that we didn't feel we should keep in the Trukk where an all too curious thief could break in and take something irreplaceable to us.

Anyways, we had more than enough room between the two of us and I felt somewhat guilty seeing Priestess work so hard yet have no place to call her own for a while now. Sure, the girl was raised in a temple but I could hardly call the orphanage that took care of her as a child and continued to offer her a free bed a proper home. I knew she sent a sizeable portion of her rewards from our quests to the temple not out of duty, but a genuine desire to help people, so I figured I could at least try to do the same for Priestess because the girl absolutely deserved it and it would come at no cost to me.

The young blonde was initially surprised by my offer, and soon broke down into tears once I finally convinced her that housing her alongside my aide would be no burden to either of us. Priestess tearfully accepted, a sight that I have no doubt bolstered my reputation amongst my colleagues in the Guild and swooned the hearts of more than a few of the ladies watching us before ordering a few rounds for everyone present.

I was still raking in a small fortune thanks to my agreement to assist the Adventurers' Guild in establishing a training regimen and facility to go along with it, and even after allowing most of the bars' patrons that night to drink themselves into unconsciousness, I had barely spent half of the profits I made that day. Even so, there was more than enough alcohol served to give most of us a hangover we wouldn't recover from until late in the afternoon the following day.

Priestess barely kept herself from joining them, something that greatly surprised me not because she was as much of a lightweight as I expected her to be but because a pure woman of the cloth like her wasn't above getting drunk. She did need my assistance in reaching our room, but thankfully the kid was light enough for me to carry her up to her new lodgings and tuck her into the bed I had claimed for myself until that point.

I had some minor difficulties convincing Jurgen to keep his own putrid, crumb infested bed while I slept on the lone couch inside our shared room, but once I humored him and showed how far my shins were hanging off of a bed that wasn't made for someone two meters tall, he grumbled as he allowed me to 'suffer' one night of 'disgraceful' slumber after he promised to acquire another bed from the Guild staff the next day. If it hadn't been so late into the night that most of the staff were already asleep, I would have asked them if one such bed was available myself, but it was all I could do to stop my aide from bothering the first unfortunate staff member he could wake up until they gave in to his demands.

As I finally let sleep overtake me after a mildly entertaining day, I couldn't help but to feel as if maybe I could end up enjoying myself on this planet after all, once the burning suspicion that our quest had been completed too easily eventually passed. It wasn't anywhere close to the easy life I wanted from the Paradise World I had originally been intending to arrive on, but knowing my luck, it probably would have turned out to have been the center for some Slaaneshi cult or something.

Come to think of it, that might have been the Chaos God which the cult that attacked the transport trying to take me to my intended retirement destination belonged to. I didn't pay too much attention to what those madmen were saying or doing at the time beyond trying to survive their ill thought out attack, but I do recall they were wearing a little less clothing and armor than they should have until they sabotaged the Gellar Field and everything went FUBAR.

Maybe I did dodge a lasbolt by ending up here after all. Perhaps the Emperor does have enough spare time to spend on watching over his loyal servants beyond keeping the Imperium from falling apart at the seams.

Or maybe the worst has yet to come.


A Small Favor

With Cain nursing a hangover, Priestess still sleeping soundly after the previous night, and Goblin Slayer likely waiting for his gear to be repaired by the Adventurers' Guild's in-house blacksmith after leaving it behind for repairs, Jurgen had a morning all to himself for a change. Usually his morning routine consisted of attending to whatever the Commissar asked of him, whether directly prompted to carry out such duties or not. For the first time since arriving on the strange, strange planet the two life-long friends were stranded on, he found himself with nothing to do. There were no threats that demanded his vigilance to watch out for, no menial tasks or paperwork he or Cain needed to file away before the end of the day, and his daily search for tanna tea had already come to an end after learning the xenos who hired him for their last quest promised to bring them some tanna leaves as an additional reward.

It felt wrong to Jurgen, cooperating with xenos. He personally would have rather shot the archer and scout on sight and been done with the both of them, but as fate would have it, they were the only things capable of providing him with the ingredients to Cain's favorite beverage. If Cain hadn't explicitly told him to cooperate with the alien scum, and if he hadn't later learned they could be the only things that prevented the Commissar from waging war against an entire kingdom of Eldar for a taste of tanna once his own dwindling supply finally ran out, then he would have had nothing more to do with the xenos after working with them. Sadly, it was simply not meant to be.

So, without any tasks in need of his immediate attention, Jurgen lazily made his way down to the bar area of the Adventurers' Guild and waited until he found someone willing to take his order for breakfast. For some inexplicable reason, most of the staff and regular patrons made a point to avoid getting anywhere near him. It must have been the way he kept the meltagun slung onto his back, power pack fully charged and safety off should any of the xenos or psykers around him decide to attack for some inexplicable reason. You never could be too careful around either of those types.

It didn't take long for Jurgen to be noticed by someone bold enough to ignore the frightening weapon slung onto his back and incapable of being scared off by his repugnant odor. Padfoot Waitress, as cheery as ever, quickly made her way over to the table he typically shared with Cain and the other members of their party once she was able to spare him a moment.

"Hello, it's always nice to see you so early in the morning, Gunner." She greeted him, offering him a bashful smile.

Despite the warm welcome he received, Jurgen didn't waste time with pleasantries. "Two of the usual." He told her.

Padfoot Waitress had grown accustomed to his particularly direct, no nonsense manner of speaking and general approach to life, and where another hopeful young woman might have taken offense to his blunt response, she handled it in stride. "Of course, I'll have them out as soon as I can. It might be a while since we're a little busy today."

"Wait, make it three." Jurgen quickly corrected himself before the waitress could dart back into the kitchen. "Almost forgot we're giving Priestess a place to stay so she doesn't have to keep on going back to the temple orphanage every night. She'll probably want something too when she wakes up."

"Aww, how sweet." She cooed, quickly shaking her head as a blush started to creep up to her cheeks, not that Jurgen was paying attention. "Uhm… I'll let you know when they're ready. See you later, Gunner!"

The flustered girl ran back to the kitchen with a wave before she suffered anymore embarrassment as Jurgen watched her depart without a word. He had no idea why, but she always acted a little strange around him. Sure, everyone on this planet was a little odd in their own way, but few of them were uniquely kind to him as Padfoot Waitress was. It wasn't exactly an unpleasant feeling, having her act so close and comfortable with him, but that didn't take away from the fact that he was simply not used to women being friendly with him.

The only three who were able to do more than tolerate his presence without trying to kill him later were Inquisitor Amberley Vail, Colonel Kasteen from the Valhallan 597th, and that enginseer from Perlia. Out of the three of them, the first two had to be kind to him because he was the Commissar's aide, although there was something about him that interested Amberley which he could never quite remember her explanation for.

The enginseer was the only one who treated him like a friend and lacked any real reason to suck up to him for the sake of maintaining a decent working relationship. It pained him a little bit to realize he couldn't remember her name any more. She probably died of old age back on Perlia since it was unlikely someone as personable as her got in good with cogboys capable of extending her life, so he supposed there wasn't much of anything to feel sorry about since there was no chance he could ever meet her again.

As he was reminiscing about the past and what exactly Padfoot Waitress' attitude towards him could possibly mean, one of the other girls who were unusually willing to speak with him approached. Guild Girl looked uneasy as she drew closer, wincing slightly before saying anything, a reaction Jurgen found far more inviting than unfettered kindness.

"Hello Gunner Jurgen, do you happen to know when Commissar Cain or Goblin Slayer might be available today?" She asked him, giving him a smile that wavered with every breath she took through her nose.

"Cain's going to be indisposed for a while after last night." He tactfully explained on his commissar's behalf to avoid any embarrassment on Cain's part. "And I think Goblin Slayer mentioned he wouldn't be coming in until his gear was worked on by Blacksmith."

"O-oh, oh my." She hummed, looking distraught enough for even Jurgen to notice something wasn't right.

"You need help with something?" He inquired, seeing an opportunity to kill some time until he could deliver the meals he ordered to the rest of his party in their shared room.

"Yes, n-no… well, if you wouldn't mind, I have a small favor I would like to ask you." Guild Girl eventually sighed, seeing no other high ranking adventure she could trust to be discreet with the job she was reluctant to offer him.


The favor Guild Girl asked of him sounded simple enough when she explained it to him. She would be interviewing a bunch of Steel Ranked adventurers for their promotion and he would be on standby should any of them prove to be dissatisfied with the results. Apparently it wasn't common to have another adventurer listen in on another Guild member's advancement interview, and that alone told Jurgen everything he needed to know.

Guild Girl was obviously expecting some trouble, and rather than ask an adventurer who might be more inclined to take the side of the accused, she wanted a neutral party, albeit one that would be heavily inclined to agree with whatever she said, acting as a deterrent to any objections the interviewees might raise. Whether or not he would have to resolve any such conflicts with a gentle word or by giving the coroner a bucket full of melted adventurer seemed to be entirely up to his discretion. Overall it was quite the interesting job, one that would go far in securing relations between the Adventurers' Guild and the Commissar if everything went well, and especially if his services did happen to be required.

There would be four adventurers up for promotion today, a party whose members had a history of working together from what Guild Girl told him, and as Jurgen walked past them into the room where the interviews would be taking place he could already tell which one of them he would need to keep his eyes on. The raggedly dressed monk, a warrior in armor looking almost as battered as he was, and an exhausted Eldar sorcerer all seemed to be relatively dependable fighters if it wasn't for how they were willing to work with a xenos. Their alliances were excusable considering how the alien didn't act nearly as high and mighty as the few of their kind he had been forced to cooperate with tended to be, and their general disarray suggested that they were no strangers to hard work much like himself.

The ratling accompanying them was a different story and stuck out sharply from his companions. Well, more so than the devious little halflings usually did on account of their small stature.

Unlike his haggard and filthily clothed companions, the abhuman not only wore noticeably higher class armor as if he were superior to his allies but acted like it too, maintaining a fair distance away from them once he caught sight of his interviewer. The ratling was dressed in fine, unblemished leather armor, carried an ornate looking dagger that seemed better suited to serving as a display piece than a weapon, and wore fur-lined boots more appropriate for the harsh cold of Valhalla than the temperate forests and plains surrounding Frontier Town. The little bastard also didn't look nearly as exhausted or beaten down as the rest of his party and Jurgen already had a few ideas as to why that would be, none of them good.

He had dealt with more than one corrupt quartermaster and racketeer siphoning funds to the detriment and deaths of their fellow Guardsmen in their regiment. These discoveries inevitably led to him killing some of them too after finding enough incriminating evidence to drive the scum to attempt murder to keep their schemes a secret regardless of whether he intended to report them to the Commissar or not.

Everyone pilfered from the warehouses every now and then. Jurgen hardly saw why there was any reason to kill anyone for finding out you were just like everyone else. Stealing so much that you managed to get someone killed because of it? If he wasn't here on Guild Girl's request he would have planted a lasbolt between the hedonistic little bugger's eyes right then and there, or gotten Cain to do it for him since he didn't have his lasgun with him and didn't feel that Guild Girl would appreciate him melting a hole through the wall behind the bastard.

Always acting with the professionalism expected of him as the Commissar's aide, Jurgen did not let his feelings show as he marched past the ratling and his party. He didn't bother mentioning anything to Guild Girl about his suspicions either. She was the one who brought him here to oversee the promotion process after all. There was no way she didn't know the ratling was at fault, and once another member of the Guild staff he was familiar with arrived, one who could apparently divine lies from truth, he had no doubts about the ratling's guilt.

"What is he doing here?" Inspector asked accusingly to Guild Girl as she walked into the room.

"You said we needed someone we can trust to ensure our talks with today's promotion candidates goes smoothly." Guild Girl calmly stated.

"Yes, I know that, but why him!?" She almost shouted in exasperation.

Guild Girl gave him a long, hard look as she thought of what to tell her colleague. "Gunner Jurgen has received excellent commendations from several Silver Ranked adventurers and Frontier Town Governor. Commissar Cain, the foreign noble who he attends to, has also vouched for his competency on several occasions."

Inspector quickly saw her colleague's excuses for what they were. "He was the only person available to do this, wasn't he?"

"Yes, he was also the only one I could find on such short notice." Guild Girl begrudgingly conceded. "But that doesn't mean we can't trust him to be here for us."

"And who's to say he won't side with any of the adventurers if they don't like what we have to say to them?"

Jurgen interrupted the ongoing argument between the two girls in an attempt to hurry them up and finish his job before Padfoot Waitress delivered his order. "If this is about the ratling stealing from the rest of his party, I won't let him do anything while you two do your work."

Inspector and Guild Girl shared a surprised look with each other before either of them fought through the surprise and broke the silence that cropped up between them. "You told him?" Inspector accused.

"I swear, I would never-" Guild Girl stammered until Jurgen came to her defense.

"She didn't tell me anything. It's obvious the frakker is stealing from the rest of his party just by looking at the difference in their gear." He said, earning a smug look from Guild Girl as Inspector sighed in defeat.

"Fine, have it your way. Let's just get this over with." She grumbled. "I would rather not smell like a sewer rat all day because we were in a room together for too long."

With everything settled between them, the interviewers and their volunteer muscle took up their positions within the room as the adventurers who were lined up for their promotions received news that could make or break their careers. The first to be interviewed was the hermit looking fellow, who was nervous but humbly accepted the fact that he would not be increasing his rank today. The warrior who was next was a little less gracious in receiving the same news as the holy man, but his interview ultimately ended without Jurgen needing to brandish his meltagun. Just nearing the man had been enough to drive him away with watery eyes.

The xenos, much to his surprise, was given a promotion. Apparently her spellcasting abilities and leadership qualities were enough to get her to Sapphire Rank or something. Jurgen hadn't really been paying too much attention to what Guild Girl or Inspector said as he was far more focused on making sure the Eldar wouldn't attempt any warp sorcery, to which he was happy to find out was unnecessary in the end. Following the xenos came the ratling whose interview he was all too eager to witness.

The cocky little abhuman had the nerve to swagger into the room and recline in the chair available to him, right up until he locked eyes with Jurgen.

"G-gunner…" The little half-man gasped in shock, his shoulders going slack as he recalled watching the old soldier melt a hole through a wall as if it were nothing to him.

Jurgen remained indifferent to the small outburst, and simply gestured to the chair available to the Steel Rank adventurer with a tilt of his head. The ratling's eyes darted between the chair and the exit before the sight of the repulsive man slowly adjusting his melta so it was resting in his hands and ready to be fired at a moment's notice convinced the abhuman to do as he was told.

"S-so, uh, this is it, huh? The advancement test." The little man said nervously. "I didn't think we'd have a Porcelain with us watching one of his betters show him how it's done, not that you need me to, Gunner."

Jurgen gave the ratling a noncommittal grunt, the abhuman letting out a sigh of relief as neither Guild member attempted to clear up the misunderstanding their interviewee convinced himself of as he kept on talking.

"Well, let's get started then. I'll bust through Sapphire, past Emerald, Ruby… What do you say we go right to Copper?" The ratling rambled on. "Might as well skip the small stuff and move on to what's important, right?"

"I couldn't have said it any better myself." Guild Girl replied, putting on a show as she sorted through the papers on the desk in front of her. "I must say, those look like some nice boots you're wearing."

"Oh, so you noticed?" The ratling smiled, propping up his small feet on top of the table as he reclined back into his chair. "They're pretty expensive, but the cost was well worth the comfort and feel for them. It's like walking on clouds even when I'm trudging through caves with the rest of my party. They really ought to get a pair someday when they can afford them."

"Really, I'm impressed!" Guild Girl told him, feigning amazement at his unwitting self-incrimination and earning a snicker from Jurgen in the process.

"I know, it takes a real man to know a little bit about fashion." He continued, oblivious to how thoroughly he was being led by the nose. "I can tell you all about them sometime after I get my promotion. Maybe over a couple of drinks?"

"That sounds lovely, but I have a better idea." Guild Girl said, the ratling's expression turning lecherous as Jurgen struggled not to wheeze out a laugh at how stupid the abhuman was. "Why don't you tell me why you're the only member of your party doing so well when all you have been taking the same quests for the past two months?"

Whatever fanciful ideas had been swimming through the little man's head had been cut abruptly short and replaced by terror at the unexpected question. Jurgen took a step closer and leveled the barrel of his meltagun at the ratling's back, motioning Inspector to move out from behind him with a tilt of his head in case the abhuman tried anything as he started to panic.

"Tha-that… well, you know how it is…" The ratling stammered, stalling for time from what Jurgen could tell. "My folks have been hearing about how hard things have been lately and decided to help me out a little bit. They sent me couple of care packages from home and-"

"A lie." Inspector interrupted.

"H-huh?"

"I swear on the name of the Supreme God. What he just said was a lie." She said, clutching onto a medallion that looked like a pair of scales with a sword in between them.

"You've been keeping some treasures you've found from the rest of your party, haven't you?" Jurgen accused, the ratling flinching at the harshness of his tone as the guardsman came to the obvious conclusion.

"I have done no such thing!" The little thief frantically

"Another lie." Inspector calmly announced.

The ratling looked deflated as his claims were refuted once again. Jurgen didn't bother hiding his sneer he let out at the thief's shameful display.

"Let's see, what is the punishment for falsifying your rewards and stealing from your party members?" Guild Girl asked herself as she rifled through the papers on her desk theatrically before finding the one she was looking for. "Ah, here it is. For a first offense the punishment is immediate demotion to Porcelain Rank and banishment from the establishment the offense took place at. A fair reward for thievery, wouldn't you agree, Rhea Scout?"

"F-fair!? That's not fair!" The ratling, rhea… whatever kind of abhuman the thieving midget was cried out.

The ratling's eyes darted around the room, looking for salvation until they fell upon Jurgen, hoping he would be the scout's unlikely savior. "C-come on, you're a fellow adventurer like me, right?" He pleaded.

"Yeah, you're right. I'm an adventurer a lot like you." Jurgen agreed, watching hope well up deep within the rhea who thought he had found a merciful judge.

"I'm also a lot like those guys you stole from." He continued, crushing the rhea with his words, brandishing his melta menacingly in the little man's direction. "You know, if you had done this back in the Imperial Guard where I am from then Commissar Cain would have personally flogged you within an inch of your life, thrown you in the brig until you recovered, and arranged your public execution for robbing the men and women you served alongside. He's really protective of those he works with, unlike some people."

"If you ask me, I think you're getting off pretty easy." Jurgen finished, as not only the Rhea but the two girls sharing the room with him looked aghast at the punishment he described, before thoughtfully adding, "If you're upset with your punishment, I'm pretty sure I can ask Cain to arrange something similar if he's in the mood for it. He should be getting out of bed any moment too, so I can go ahead and ask him right now if you can wait a moment."

The ratling bolted out of the room and ran away as fast as his legs could take him before he could see if Jurgen's threat was genuine. Inspector and Guild Girl watched him leave town as quickly as possible, neither one of them saying a word as they watched the thief depart with his tail between his legs.

"Think we should do something about him?" Jurgen inquired as he walked up behind the two girls who recoiled away from the unexpected arrival of his stench. "I can't imagine it's a good idea to let someone like that walk away freely."

"I'm sure we'll be fine. His party told us that he wasn't the kind of person to hold a grudge." Guild Girl declined as respectfully as possible.

"Did they say that about him stealing from them too?" Jurgen countered.

"...we'll be sure to inform the surrounding Guild houses to watch out for him if he arrives." Inspector told him after a brief moment of consideration. "Now, unless there is anything else Guild Girl asked you to do for her, I think that is everything we needed you for. We can handle the rest. Thank you for your assistance."

"If you insist, ma'am." Jurgen shrugged as he returned back to the bar, leaving the two girls to do whatever paperwork they needed to file in regards to Rhea Scout's demotion in peace.

He left just in time too, as he was barely able to reclaim his seat when Padfoot Waitress walked out with three steaming hot plates of food which he helped her take up to his room. The interview was a pleasant little distraction to start his day with, but now he had more important duties to attend to, namely finding out if an antidote really could cure the Commissar's hangover.

As it eventually turned out, that old adventurer's joke had some truth to it after all.


Properly Paranoid

"How long do we have to wait until we can finally go on some adventures of our own? Our mission is finished. There shouldn't be any reason we have to wait for a response to know we're done here." High Elf Archer complained to no one in particular.

"Aye, while I want to agree with you, that pointy eared fellow seemed mighty spooked for some reason when I gave him our report with Message." Dwarf Shaman agreed.

If it hadn't been for the three day wait he and the others had already endured in the relative luxury and entertainment on offer in Water Town, he might have been just as disgruntled as at least one of his elven companions. As it stood though, he was somewhat glad he had the chance to enjoy the local sights, music, and women now that he was on his own time. Sure, he did have to stay close enough to his party to assemble them all once he received a request to hold another magically transmitted meeting with his employers, but that was something they planned on doing anyway.

Despite having only been together for little more than a month, the other two members of his original party had grown on him. He might not have grown as close to High Elf Archer as he did with Lizard Priest, although he did enjoy the occasional bit of banter and swapping of insults between them and he was sure she felt the same despite what both of them claimed when asked. He was fairly certain he might be able to get Half-Elf Scout, an unexpected addition to their party, to warm up to him too but not any time in the near future. The girl had a stick up her ass that made her almost as stiff as Goblin Slayer. Of course, that was exactly what a dwarf expected from an elf. After traveling with High Elf Archer for so long, he almost forgot she was quite the energetic exception.

High Elf Archer would have said the same about the way dwarves typically acted when they weren't allowed to indulge themselves with food and alcohol, not that she held such behaviors against her dwarven companion. Despite his loutish behavior and the way he could always manage to strike one of her nerves, he was a fun person to be around, not that she would ever be caught admitting it. Lizard Priest was also a pleasant companion to work with, and as jarring as his brutish appearance and sagely attitude contrasted with each other, she wasn't inclined to stop adventuring with him or Dwarf Shaman any time soon. She hoped she could talk her kinswoman into joining them, but wasn't sure if she would be able to associate with her much longer given how angry her father had sounded when mentioning her involvement in their quest.

As for the boisterous bruiser beloved by both of his companions, he was simply enjoying himself the same way he had since he learned he would be working with him. He cared little for the bickering that went on between Dwarf Shaman and High Elf Archer, always quick to put a stop to it before those two could get out of hand, but that didn't make him think any less of them. Quite the opposite, in fact, as it took a certain strength of will to work alongside someone you would consider a rival. As lizardman tribes were well-known to respect strong individuals within their clans and the visitors they stumbled upon, he found a battle of wits no less satisfying to watch than the spells and arrows they slung during their quest together. Even without seeing them fight, he had been able to tell from their first meeting that they were both good people to form a party with and hoped he could be proven right again on their next adventure together. With some luck, Half-Elf Scout would join them once she managed to set aside her prejudices.

Last but not least, the newest member of their party was at a crossroads she never expected to find herself at. As the leader of the forest elves so kindly explained in humiliating detail before the party she had been sent to check up on, she was only meant to see how their progress was coming along, NOT join them on their mission to inspect the ruins settled between the borders of several kingdoms and risk causing an international incident. To say she was feeling down about the hotheaded decision she made to go above and beyond the call of duty was a gross understatement, as exile from her homeland was an all too real possibility for her. Returning home wasn't a prospect she was looking forward to, but the other options were even less appealing, save for one. Out of all the alternatives available to her should she no longer be able to act as one of her lord's agents, there was a certain human with an almost unnatural charm who she wouldn't have minded getting to know a little more closely if she could.

Of course, that was only if she couldn't continue watching over High Elf Archer should she continue adventuring like she said she wanted to, of course. Duty always triumphed over personal matters… so long as she was still employed.


It was late in the evening when the unlikely quartet finally received the reply they had been waiting for. Feeling that such important national matters were best discussed in secret rather than the streets where anyone could overhear them, they proceeded to hold their conversation using Message in the privacy of their room in the local Adventurers' Guild branch.

Overall, the contents of their discussion went as expected. The Silver Ranked adventurers were congratulated on a job well done and Half-Elf Scout reprimanded for her unwarranted assistance, heard their kingdoms collective progress of cleaning up the ruins before they had an army of undead goblins to deal with, and their request to continue adventuring with the humans they worked with to complete their mission was accepted. Everything went fine until one of the officials they were talking to asked them to clarify the identity of one of the adventurers they worked with.

"This… Commissar Cain fellow, are you sure didn't mishear the title he was given?" A nervous looking elven aristocrat asked.

"No, we didn't. The bards, Adventurers' Guild, even his party members all told us he is a 'Hero of the Imperium." High Elf Archer replied. "Why is his title so important? Is there something you need a hero for?"

"N-no." The elven aristocrat nervously told her. "It's just-"

Before the aristocrat could finish, he was interrupted by one of his dwarven counterparts. "Something you're better off not worrying about, something we all agreed would be for the best until we can confirm whether or not this adventurer is from the same Imperium we fear he might be a part of."

"Oh, and what is that supposed to mean?" Dwarf Shaman questioned.

"That means we have another request for you." Another noble spoke out, this one a human. "Until we are able to verify the temperament of this 'hero' and the nation he swears allegiance to, we would like you all to observe him for the time being."

"Observe? That sounds a lot more like spying to me." High Elf Archer commented. "And why us? I thought you have people for this kind of stuff."

"Call it what you will, elf. It doesn't change the matter at hand." The same dwarven diplomat from earlier spoke up, causing a poisonous murmur to arise between the elven nobles who heard him. "Either you do the job we have for you or we can find someone else who will."

A different elven noble spoke up to explain what they wanted in a more diplomatic manner after noticing the adventurers growing apprehension. "Ahem. After discussing how to proceed, we have concluded it would be best to have Commissar Cain be observed by someone he has worked with before. If the man truly is a war hero of the empire he claims to hail from, then he likely has experience rooting out potential spies and assassins after his life and those of his closest allies. As none of you have experience in this kind of work, he likely would not suspect you of any foul play… not that we are asking you to do anything unsavory."

"All we need is someone to watch over this man until we know he can be trusted. Nothing more, nothing less." A chieftain of the lizardmen tribes spoke up.

"Unless you are saying you are incapable of something as simple as this?" The dwarven diplomat challenged with a devilish smile.

All four adventurers looked amongst themselves and, seeing no better alternative and curious as to why exactly one of their previous partners had their countrymen so spooked, delivered their unanimous answer.

"We'll accept your request."


A Worthy Foe

They expected to find an army of mortals within the ruins. There was supposed to be a slaughter and plenty of blood and skulls to offer to their master.

Instead, there had only been a handful of offerings to be made, as their prey had already been massacred before their arrival.

Ordinarily, they would have been furious to discover their efforts to earn a response from the locals had been intercepted by another, lesser power. They were beyond enraged at first, until they discovered the tracks leading away from the ruins.

To most of them, these tracks meant nothing and were ignored, for they were too far gone to remember what they meant. Only their leader could recall what they meant, and with what little power he was able to command his allies with, gave them a simple order they couldn't possibly screw up.

"Brothers. Follow me."

None of the others said a word. They simply followed their leader as he slowly traveled along the trail laid out before him. None of them knew where they were going nor did they care, for there was plenty of blood to be spilled along the path their journey took them down. The few villages that served as a mildly satisfying distraction did not deter their leader from abandoning his goal, however, even if calling it a goal was incredibly generous.

Something killed those greenskins and Ogres. The leader intended to find out what it was and challenge the worthy foe who had stolen their prey. His hopes were not high, but he knew it was his greatest chance to find a worthy opponent.


Special thanks to Tireless Traveler & Doc43Souls for beta reading this chapter!


Author's Corner:

As Cain's legend grows, not all who hear of the HERO OF THE IMPERIUM are happy to know of his arrival. Not only are some of the powers active within the Four Cornered World unhappy to know something they are incapable of fighting against might have found them, but day to day life still continues as usual regardless of what secrets are exposed and which threats continue to lurk undetected for the time being.


Comments:

jarjarhead: more plz, the ocean tp scroll that gs have was saved. I wonder where they will have the opportunity to use it. hmmm. I guess gs's dialogue has less impact because he had lesser contribution on the ogre's demise.

das all, keep safe!

Glad to see you picked up on the Scroll bit. Given how Ogres would be a very inconsequential threat in the W40K universe, it felt wrong to have Goblin Slayer pull out his trump card on them when he has Cain and Jurgen with him. That's not to say his scroll won't be collecting dust forever though.

A "Guest": skull taker berserkers

Commissar has enough experience with those guys to have a whole parade of flags rising at this words.

It's hard to rally an army against a threat if you don't know they exist. Imagine what would have happened if our heroes happened to stumble on them instead of a ruin full of goblins?


As always, thanks for reading and I hope to see you all again in the future!