Legend's Echo Chapter 08

Echo? Only The Legend knew her by that name, so had he sent this Lia woman? It made sense that he might send someone out to keep an eye on her, and the woman was unassuming enough that she wouldn’t draw a ton of attention. Rather smart, and would keep things low key. Robin nodded at the woman, then resumed her meal before it could get cold.

Lia laughed at this, then called out something in the southern tongue. A moment later, a plate that was absolutely loaded with fresh cuts of peaches and mangos, along with a dozen strawberries was set between them, and Lia gestured towards it.

“Feel free to indulge. I asked for enough to be shared.”

Robin could kiss the woman for that, and happily snatched several of the strawberries from the platter. Sure, the ones grown in the north tended to be available most of the year, but the ones grown down south were just sweeter in her experience. One bite was enough to tell her that these weren’t the good ones, but they were still strawberries.

“Yeah, the southern ones haven’t come in yet,” Lisa said, popping one into her own mouth. “The northern variety always needs a touch of sugar to taste right.”

Robin pondered that for a moment. “I’ve never been able to afford sugar. Hells, I can barely afford the strawberries for the few months they’re in season.”

“Ah,” Lia said, accepting her own steaming bowl of creamed beef and mushrooms. “Well, that won’t be much of a problem once you get into Silver rankings. Solo pay is much better than group pay since you don’t have to split it with anyone.”

“What about The Legend? Won’t he take a cut?”

Lia paused, her spoon almost to her lips. Then she let out a snickering laugh that soon turned into something full bellied. The entire tavern was watching them now and it was enough to make Robin wish she could retreat into the shadows. This woman was far too boisterous for her tastes, and didn’t appreciate that she seemed to be laughing at her for some reason.

Tapping her spoon on the rim of the bowl, Robin waited rather patiently for Lia to get herself under control. Well, as patiently as she felt was proper, which was slipping by the moment. Eventually, Lia stopped laughing, wiping her eyes as she did.

“Finally done?” Robin bit out.

Lia nodded, still grinning. “Yeah. You just caught me a bit off guard.”

And the woman was digging into her food leaving Robin with little recourse other than to resume eating her own dish before it got too cold to enjoy. Aside from the bartender keeping their drinks topped off—an oddity of its own given how he demanded payment up front initially—nothing more was said, but it didn’t escape Robin’s notice that Lia was watching her closely. Whatever it was, she was all but certain that Lia would explain it if it was important.

At least the fruit was good, especially the mangos which were in peak season and local on top of it. Robin rarely bought them due to how much trouble it was to peel and eat them, but when someone else did it for her? Who was she to complain?

“I hope you enjoyed that,” Lia said after a moment. “I try to come here whenever I get a chance to return to the city.”

The barkeep huffed as he set a new bowl on the counter in front of the mysterious woman. “She’s a regular, and a pain in all our asses. The kitchen is already panicking about all the orders to come.”

“Hey, you try living off field rations and hunting game for months on end,” Lia stated, then started to practically inhale a new dish of rice and some sort of breaded and fried meat. “This tastes divine when compared to hard biscuits and pemmican.”

“Not a high bar to clear,” Robin said before she caught herself.

Lia laughed. “Fair enough.”

She then pulled a folded bit of parchment from her pouch and slid it across the bar to Robin.

“What’s this?”

“The mission you’re going to be tackling in two days.”

Robin nearly jumped, then grabbed the paper and opened it, her eyes darting across the neatly handwritten note. “A Goblin den? How is this Silver ranked?”

“A combination of factors,” Lia said, now working on some meat and vegetable skewers. “For one, there are at least thirty of them, and they’re close to a populated area. Two, there’s a confirmed Caster among them, making the danger factor just a bit much for a low ranking Bronze team.”

“Technically I’m at the bottom of Bronze,” Robin muttered.

Lia rolled her eyes. “And you’re Gold rank for a healer. There’s no sign of any Bruisers or Redcaps, so you should be fine, and The Legend will be waiting outside as insurance.”

Robin nodded along, reading the information only to pause on the payment section. Her mind immediately started to divide it among others before she could stop herself, then remembered that she was tackling this one solo and the entire amount would be hers. It wasn’t quite what she usually made from a Gold ranked mission with a team, but neither was it far off.

That still meant tackling missions meant for a team all by herself. Robin read it over again, and found herself doing the calculations and muttering out her preparations before a question rose to the forefront and she couldn’t help but give it voice.

“Will my weapon even be ready by then?”

“Absolutely,” Lia said. “Carlson does good work and he’ll probably have it ready for pickup first thing in the morning. You’ll need some armor too, but nothing too heavy until you’ve bulked up a bit.”

Given Robin already wore some light armor under her robes, that wasn’t too much to ask. She could only hope that the Legend would be footing the bill given how her monetary prospects were currently looking, even with the more lucrative appeal of solo work. How much of that would actually make it into her pocket, especially if the Legend ended up helping with those missions?

Then there was the woman who was sitting next to her. Would she also be helping with those missions? Was that a third split to be added to her payouts? At that point she might as well accept the demerits and work her way back up the rankings until she hit Gold once again. It was all such a headache, and a part of her was almost wishing she hadn’t jumped in to help those soldiers.

Robin was quick to smother that overly selfish thought, not that it really helped.

“Will we have time for all of that?” Robin asked.

Lia waved a hand, and it took Robin a moment to realize she was signalling for yet another dish to be delivered. Was the woman’s stomach bottomless or had she truly gone that long without a decent meal?

“A few hours at most. I know a few armor workers that will have ready made pieces you can use for the time being. Eventually you’ll get your own set of enchanted steel, but that’s months off, Echo.”

There was that title again, the one that The Legend had called her. Why would Lia be calling her that when it was The Legend that declared her as such? Sure, it wasn’t something granted idly, if anything it carried a heavy weight behind it, but for someone else to call her such? It didn’t make much sense.

“I don’t know if heavy armor will ever be for me,” Robin said, looking away. The fruit tray was now empty, and as much as she wanted a few more strawberries, she didn’t dare to impose on the gluttonous woman. “I’ve been wearing robes with hardened leather hidden away, but that sounds stifling.”

“It’s rough at first, I won’t lie to you,” Lia said, her voice nearly a whisper as she offered up a soft smile. “After the first few months you’ll come to appreciate the respect and anonymity it brings.”

“I thought armor was for protection,” Robin said with a frown.

At least, that was why she had always worn it. Though, a helmet would keep people from recognizing her face. Robin was fairly certain that The Legend could walk down the street unrecognized if he wanted to do so. Actually, that made a lot of sense when thinking about it.

“Didn’t do much good against dragonfire,” Lia muttered. “Enchanted armor is great for durability, but it doesn’t do much when effects slip through.”

“You wear armor?”

“You really haven’t figured it out?” Lia asked, setting her spoon down in the now empty bowl. Robin had stopped counting after her fourth dish. Lia’s gaze was intense as she stared the healer down. “I mean, it should be obvious.”

“Sorry?”

At Robin’s lack of comprehension, Lia sighed. “Is it really so hard to connect the dots? Sure, the armor does its job, but I’m not exactly being subtle here.”

“I’ve never seen you in armor, though.”

Lia’s head dropped to the counter with a thud, making the dishes jump slightly. The woman lifted her head a moment later, shaking it as she did. She muttered something in the southern tongue and got to her feet.

“Come along, Echo,” Lia said in a commanding tone, all the levity now gone. “There’s still daylight and we may as well get your armor squared away.”

Robin moved to follow, all while trying to figure out why Lia continued to mutter in the southern tongue as she pushed through the doors and back out into the early afternoon light.