Throne of Magical Arcana - Strangers as Companions

The bard’s singing, although in that small border town, was actually pretty beautiful and alluring. Thus, when Lucien came to sit down on the other side of their table, the half-elf girl with light brown hair was a bit surprised and her back straightened up immediately.
    

When Lucien explained his intention, the elder elf-looking lady was amused, “You want to hire us?”
    

Her fair hand was gently knocking on the wooden table in a fixed rhythm.
    

Looking at Lucien sitting in front of her, the sophisticated lady also took him as a young noble lord who had read too many adventure novels and was acting on the impulse to explore the continent.
    

“Yes,” Lucien nodded calmly, “I want to go to Korsor. I wonder if you three are willing to be my guards.”
    

The lady did not answer Lucien directly, instead, she started her introduction, “I’m Joanna, Greatsword Warrior. This is my husband Simon, Sword and shield Warrior. Both of us have the same power of a high level knight squire. This is my younger sister Betty, a well-trained archer. Her rank’s a bit lower than ours, but not by much. So, as you can see, my distinguished client, we’re a bit pricy, but our reputation is pretty good.”
    

“I heard that from the owner already,” said Lucien. “That’s why I came to you directly.”
    

“Haha, Hansen really promotes us very well.” Joanna laughed aloud.
    

Lucien could tell that a bunch of the adventurers and mercenaries sitting nearby looked a bit irritated when Joanna was talking. However, they could not deny that they were very good guards and the arrangement of their team was very reasonable — two for the melee, and one for the ranged attacks.
    

“Joanna… Let’s take the job! I’m planning on going to Korsor myself anyway.” Betty looked pretty excited, “I heard that the talented musician named Burt from the duchy is gonna host a concert in Korsor these days!”
    

Joanna rolled her eyes toward her younger sister. Betty simply could never tell when she was supposed to talk, and when she must not. Betty stuck out her tongue toward Joanna for a second and then shut her mouth up tightly. However, her eyes were looking at Lucien, and her pointy ears slightly trembled.
    

“How much do you want, Joanna?” asked Lucien directly. He did not really care about the price since he still had eight-five Thales with him after the two-month travel.
    

“Umm…” Joanna squinted her eyes a bit when she was considering the price.
    

“One Nar for each of us a day.” Smiling, Simon represented his wife and stated the price to Lucien.
    

Staring at her husband, Joanna was a bit choked.
    

“Simon!” she complained. This price was way lower than what she had thought.
    

“We shouldn’t charge our client more just because the client’s wealthy.” Simon grinned to Joanna, “It’s about our reputation.”
    

“Also, my client,” Simon turned to Lucien, “I have a couple of requests.”
    

“Yes?” Lucien nodded.
    

“You need to pay us on a daily basis.” Simon paused a bit, glanced at Betty, and continued, “And give Betty’s pay to me. She has no idea how to save, and we’re saving for her future knight training in her name.”
    

In some of the countries in the south-central part of the continent, knight training was not free, as it was in Aalto. Many nobles struggling with their financial problems actually were making money out of it, giving knight training, which was not necessarily a bad thing altogether, since more commoners could get a chance at being a knight squire or even reaching a higher social status.
    

Betty pouted out of dissatisfaction, but she could not deny what Simon just said.
    

“No problem,” agreed Lucien., “Let’s get the contract done then.”
    

All the adventurers and mercenaries registered with the Adventurers’ Association needed to sign a contract with their clients.
    

Handing Hansen his own identification and documents, Lucien took a glance at the content and then signed the contract provided by the tavern owner.
    

“Thank you, sir.” Lucien politely nodded toward Hansen.
    

The moment Hansen looked at Lucien’s identification, he became very surprised, but he instantly hid the different look on his face.
    

“My pleasure, Mr. Evans.” Hansen then carefully checked Lucien’s documents. The fact that he had a great musician here visiting his tavern was definitely something he could brag in the future in front of his guests and offsprings.
    

Joanna accepted the three Nar paid in advance and then left her fingerprint on the paper.
    

“You’re very generous, sir.” Joanna smiled sweetly, “Can I call you Mr. Evans?”
    

In contrast, Lucien’s three guards weren’t really hyped up due to Lucien’s identity, since all of them were illiterate.
    

“Sure.” Lucien nodded slightly.
    

“Another Mr. Evans!” Betty grinned, “You know there’s a talented, young and handsome musician in Aalto whose surname is Evans as well! I heard that he’s traveling across the continent for his music right now. I wonder if he would come here to Djibouti!”
    

“Dream on! A great musician visiting this remote and poor country?” Joanna said directly to her, “Just get your feet on the ground and awaken your Blessing. When you join the Violet Knights, we can all move to Aalto.”
    

Lucien laughed, “How do you know this Mr. Evans is good looking, Miss Betty?”
    

“All the bards say that!” answered Betty cheerfully.
    

…
    

Outside the tavern, when Lucien was about to get on the coach, a young man quickly walked toward him.
    

“Wait! Please wait!” The young man was waving his hand.
    

The man in a white robe was in his twenties. He had blond hair, and on his angular face there was a pair of blue eyes.
    

“Hi, Mr. Evans! Can I join you folks?” He grinned, “I’m also heading for Korsor, and I’m willing to afford one third of the guards’ pay.”
    

It was not the first time someone else wanted to join Lucien, and he was always very cautious about this.
    

“You don’t look short of money. Why you want to join me?” asked Lucien directly.
    

Joanna, Simon and Betty did not care. They would not make any extra either way.
    

“Hansen told me that you just got the best guards in the tavern.” The young man shrugged, “As for the rest of the adventurers and mercenaries… They looked more like robbers to me.”
    

“That’s really true.” Betty laughed.
    

The young man took out his identification and documents and handed them to Lucien.
    

“The Musicians’ Association… Burt Wise…” reading the document silently, Lucien learned that the young man was also a musician, and thus he lowered his guard a bit.
    

“Why are you heading for Korsor, then?” Lucien, however, knew that one could never be too cautious on this continent.
    

“I’m visiting the Musicians’ Association there,” Burt answered, “to, um, to study.”
    

“All right.” Lucien gave the documents back to him, “Mr. Wise. Welcome. We’re companions now. One thing I need to remind you is that I’m sort of bothered by psychasthenia, so please be as quiet as possible. I need sleep.”
    

“For sure.” Wise nodded.
    

“Are you a musician, Mr. Wise?” Betty, on the other side, got excited.
    

“I’m still learning.” Wise remained rather polite.
    

“That’s great! Do you know For Silvia? How do you feel about it?” Betty’s eyes were shining with excitement. She kept talking and talking until the coach started to leave.
    

Wise got on the coach and smiled to Lucien, “Very passionate girl. I actually don’t really know much about music, though.”
    

“Me neither.” Lucien also smiled, and then he closed his eyes, ready to start to analyze his magic structures.
    

However, at this time, another traveler asked to join them. This was an ordinary lady holding a baby in her arms.
    

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Evans. My name’s Lena, and I’m heading for the town named Fog, located between Dragon Tooth and Korsor,” the lady said to Lucien gently. “Can I join you? I can afford my own expense.”
    

Seeing that the lady was with a baby, Lucien agreed. The coach was quite spacious anyway.
    

Then, the coach finally started moving. Simon was in the front, and the coach was followed by Joanna and Betty on each side.
    

As soon as they left the town, a short but stout man caught up with them.
    

“Chris, why are you here?” asked Joanna, completely alert.
    

“I’m also going back to Korsor! That’s it!” answered Chris aloud, “When you guys save enough money, you can send Betty to me for knight training. You know, I’ve trained a knight before!”
    

As Chris was bragging, his eyes were peeking at the coach. However, the people in the coach remained very silent.
    

In the hot sunlight, the coach was smoothly heading for Korsor, raising a trail of dust after it.