Unwillingly Summoned: Chapter 11 – Of Course, It’s a Job

It took nearly an hour of walking around before James’s temper cooled. He hadn’t wanted to go back to the inn so worked up. Nothing good could come from that. Best case scenario, he holed up in his room and nobody bothered him before he got a grip. Worst case scenario, he’d lose his cool with Lysnia or Enrica. Since he wasn’t mad at either of them, he decided not to risk the possibility. It wasn’t like they’d done anything to deserve his anger. He also knew that his anger wasn’t even entirely because of that kid. He was angry about the situation. Unfortunately, short of going back to the palace and yelling at the king and princess some more, there was nobody to take that anger out on. The sad fact was that he didn’t want to be stuck in this strange place forever and that’s exactly what was going to happen. He was stuck, in more ways than one.

Of course, once that realization set in, he just felt tired, lonely, and sad. He almost went looking for Maggie. At least, she would understand a little bit about what he was going through. He’d stood at a corner for almost five minutes trying to decide if he should. He didn’t go looking. There was no guarantee she was still at the palace or even in the city. If he found out she off somewhere in danger and fighting evil, his loneliness might inspire him to make a stupid choice. Instead, he trudged his way back to The Verdant Field. It wasn’t home. It couldn’t offer that kind of comfort. It was the closest thing he was going to get for a while. And he could get something hot and filling to eat there. They always had stew. He pushed open the door and wandered in, not really paying that much attention, which was how he almost knocked over a slim blonde woman.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled, mostly still lost in his own thoughts. “My fault.”

“Well,” said an annoyed voice, “at least you practice what you preach.”

That comment made him focus on the woman, who he recognized. She was giving him what was probably supposed to be a dirty look, but it didn’t have any real heat behind it. The burly tattooed guy was standing next to her, giving James a thoughtful look. He blinked at the two of them a few times while his brain tried to catch up with what was happening.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

“We’re waiting. He’s apologizing,” said Seiran, hiking a thumb over her shoulder.

James finally looked past her into the dining area. He blinked a few more times as he, once again, tried to understand what the hell was happening. Lysnia was standing there, bright pink to the tips of her ears, and rapidly twisting her hands together. Kneeling in front of her, forehead pressed to the floor like he was some kind of retainer out of a Japanese period piece, was Chrosan. James could hear the man talking, but it was quiet enough that he couldn’t make out the words. Enrica was standing behind the bar, mouth open a little, and a cloth hanging limply from one hand. He even spotted Thareni peeking out of the kitchen, her eyes as big as tea saucers as she watched the scene playing out.

“Holy shit,” whispered James. “I never thought he do it. And not like that.”

Seiran tried to give him another dirty look but ended up sighing instead.

“I will admit,” she said, “that Chrosan can be a moron at times. He’s even got a reputation for being a bit of a brute, which we haven’t worked very hard to squash. A reputation like that can be an asset. But, at the end of the day, he’s an honorable moron.”

“We had to talk him out of going to find a dragon to slay after this,” said the burly guy.

“Why would he want to slay a dragon?” asked James.

“So he could bring back the head as proof of his sincerity,” said Seiran.

Seeing that James didn’t understand, the woman continued.

“Dragon parts are valuable. She could probably live quite comfortably for several years by selling a dragon’s head.”

“Oh,” said James. “Yeah, that probably would have been a bit much. This is more of a buy her nice flowers kind of thing, I think.”

“So, where are my flowers?” asked Seiran.

“I didn’t back you into a corner and frighten you,” observed James.

“Well, you did startle me a little when you yelled at Chrosan. Is that enough to get me dinner?”

“No,” said James in an offhand manner.

“Hopeless,” muttered Seiran and the burly man gave her a sympathetic pat on the shoulder.

James wasn’t sure what that was all about, but his attention was mostly on Chrosan and Lysnia. The girl seemed to be about to reach peak embarrassment. She finally started talking in a rush.

“This isn’t necessary. I forgive you. Thank you for apologizing. You can stop now,” she said with a hint of panic creeping into her voice.

Chrosan lifted his head, maybe to judge whether she was being serious, before he finally stood.

“Thank you for forgiving me,” he said.

“Just—” Lysnia hesitated. “Just please don’t do it again. That really did scare me.”

“I swear it,” said Chrosan.

James heard the conviction in the kid’s words. It was no guarantee that he wouldn’t do something else stupid in some other inn, but it seemed unlikely that he’d do anything similar in The Verdant Field again. A tiny piece of him wanted to evaluate this whole thing through a jaundiced eye. After all, James had more or less set the apology as a pre-condition of talking about joining this adventuring party. Yet, the entire scene had a decided lack of calculation to it. A calculated approach would have ensured that James was there when the apology happened, rather than potentially hearing about it after the fact. A calculated apology likely wouldn’t have involved doing it in front of other people or included that extravagant forehead to the floor thing. No, James had the feeling that this had all been real and probably had very little to do with him. Chrosan nodded to Lysnia before he turned to Enrica.

“That hole is my fault. I should pay for it,” he said. “I should have come by the next day to pay for it.”

He reached for his pouch when Enrica seemed to come to her senses. She smiled and pointed at James.

“He’s the one who ended up paying for it. You’ll have to square up with him.”

Chrosan turned to where she was pointing, saw James, and actually looked embarrassed. He trudged over to where James was standing. He didn’t quite meet James’s eyes.

“What do I owe you?” he asked in a meek voice.

James considered the young man, glanced at the burly guy and Seiran, who was pouting for some reason, and then he shrugged.

“Come back tomorrow,” said James. “We’ll settle up while we talk about whether or not I’m going to join your party.”

Chrosan brightened up a lot at those words.

“Really?” he asked.

“Yeah, really,” said James, already regretting the choice.

“Great!” thundered the young man, once more cheery confidence incarnate. “We’ll see you tomorrow!”

The three started to head toward the door but James called after them.

“Hey!”

All three looked back, and Seiran looked happier all of a sudden. James looked at the burly guy.

“I didn’t catch your name.”

“Sig.”

“Just Sig?”

The burly man shrugged and said, “It’s all I’ve ever needed.”

“I guess that’s fair. I’m James.”

Sig and Chrosan frowned slightly at the clearly unfamiliar name, but they both nodded. Seiran looked exasperated. James heard her mutter something about hopeless as they left the inn. He dismissed them from his thoughts. They were now a tomorrow problem, instead of a today problem. He turned back toward the dining area and came up short. Lysnia was giving him that same starstruck look, only she had it ramped up to fourteen. Thareni gave him a little wave before she disappeared back into the kitchen. Enrica had an intense look on her face as she regarded him. All in all, it made James want to scratch an itch on the inside of his skull where he could never, ever reach it.

“So, I heard you tore a strip off Chrosan right out in the middle of the street,” said Enrica.

Before he could respond to that, Lysnia rushed over to him and got way inside his personal space. She was almost leaning on his chest and staring up at him.

“Hi,” he said as he leaned back a little.

“Did you really yell at him right out in the street for not apologizing to me?” she demanded.

“Well, that’s not all that happened but yeah. I guess that’s true.”

“I couldn’t believe it when he came in here and started to apologize like that. My heart was racing so fast that I thought it was going to stop.”

James had no clue what he was supposed to say in this situation. So, he just patted Lysnia on the top of her head.

“Well, I’m glad it didn’t stop. I find that having a beating heart is very important to staying alive.”

Lysnia giggled at that and then threw her arms around him. She squeezed hard enough that he was a little shocked at her strength.

“Thank you so much for watching out for me. You’re the best!”

Thankfully, before he needed to think of some other inane response, Lysnia rushed off to the kitchen. James walked over to the bar where he could feel Enrica watching him.

“What?” he asked.

“You better be careful with Lysnia. You don’t want to confuse her.”

“I’m leaning hard into the big brother thing,” he said.

Enrica made a noncommittal noise that forced James to look at her. She studied him for a few moments before she finally spoke again.

“It’s a thin line between affection and romantic love. That big brother thing might work for a while, but she’s going to grow out of that faster than you can imagine. Honestly, I’m surprised it worked at all. You need to prepare yourself to have an unpleasant conversation, whether you want it or not.”

“Yeah?”

“She’s not what you’re looking for. I’m not sure what it is that you are looking for, but she’s definitely not it.”

“I guess that’s true enough. I’ll be gentle but firm if it ever comes to that unpleasant conversation. I won’t give her false hope.”

“I’d appreciate that. Her and Thareni are good girls. I’d take it personally if someone played games with their hearts.”

That last bit was loaded with all kinds of unspoken and dire threats. James took those threats seriously. While Enrica might not have the kind of personal strength to kill someone, he didn’t believe for a second that she couldn’t have someone killed with a single conversation. Given the number of people who came through the inn, he was willing to bet that she was friendly with at least one or two highly-proficient killers who wouldn’t mind doing her a solid.

“It won’t be me,” said James, and he meant it.

“Good. So, what’s this about joining the Black Scales.”

“Ugh. He of the square jaw wants me to join them. The other two seem okay with it.”

“You should do it,” said Enrica firmly.

James eyed her and asked, “Why?”

“Why? Because it’s good money. Way better money than I could ever hope to pay anyone.”

James froze. In all of the chaos, he hadn’t really put two and two together.

“Wait,” he said. “Adventuring is a job?”

“Of course, it’s a job. Only an idiot would hunt monsters for free.”