...
That's easy for you to say, but I tend not to trust anyone that I've just begun to work with anyway. It doesn't matter how many reasons anyone gives me not to, I just find trust to be a useless and potentially harmful quality.
...
Save it! You're not telling me anything I haven't heard before. The fact is that the pain of having your trust shattered is an avoidable experience. There isn't even a practical benefit to trust that I couldn't do without!
...
Well, trust is a funny thing. It's not an ironclad state between two people. You could conceivably trust someone who's never committed a crime in their life never to steal from you, but you wouldn't necessarily trust that same person to keep a secret or handle something extremely delicate. It's not exactly accurate to say that I never trust anyone, come to think of it, but I try to remain aware of what my people are up to at all times and stay out of their way. But I always kept everyone at arm's length, especially at first.
...
Well, I had gotten close, but with none more so than Saayuko. She had made for a faithful friend, not just because she was useful, but because she was sharp, consistent, and everyone else loved her. It was almost disappointing to see that she was actually good with people. And here I thought we'd had so much in common!
...
You'd think so, because for some reason, everyone always did. The guild's favorite joke has always been to call her their mother and me their father. It was always meant in an endearing way, but I never appreciated the comparison back then.
...
What was even worse, even Bene had an easier time ingratiating himself with the rest of the guild that I had. I had to put a lot of pressure on him to keep him on the straight and narrow, but by the end of his first month, he was already just as much a member of the Phoenix Blade as anyone else on the compound. He managed to turn some of our excess supplies into potions that allowed us to turn a hefty profit and kept us well supplied on our missions. I was always on the lookout for any possible wrongdoing on his part, but if he was cutting any dangerous corners in his job at the time, he never let me catch him.
...
Well, around that point in time, we weren't up to much. We had just been focusing on building out our space. We managed to add an extra floor to the warehouse, which gave us all more room to spread out. Those renovations ate up a lot of our time, and when that was out of the way, we began to focus once more recruitment. We were already pulling in a lot of customers whose needs were varied, but I wanted workshops that could meet the needs of any adventurer. We had just finished installing a forge and were in the process of looking for someone to work it when Saayuko brought in our two newest recruits, neither of who were smiths.
...
There was Zarabanda, another man from somewhere off in the isles. You know, one of the living parts of Midania. I'm not really sure which part, to be honest. He never seemed to say where specifically, but to be fair, I never thought to ask. He was a nice guy, though, and he was good with a bow, so I sent him out to hunt whenever he wasn't on a contract. That way, Saayuko could focus more on acquiring our plants and minerals. He got along well with everybody, especially Saayuko, Takaa, and the other recent recruit.
...
Eione Astersong, was a little different from Zara. Both were mysterious, yes, but where the latter seemed to have a big heart, Eione was an enigma of a more unsettling sort. She seemed nice, sure, but I could never work out what motivated her. She always seemed curious, but nothing ever seemed to satisfy her. I found out early on that I needed to keep her mind diverted with puzzling tasks, which suited her fine. She was particularly useful in collaborating with Oogura and Bene using her magical skills.
...
Yes, they are both Adjutants now. Coincidence seemed to bring me close to the Avatars and their inner circle plenty more times than you'd believe. It also turns out Takaa is acquainted with the Archknight--
...
You know, the one we have now. Not to mention I hear he's been dating that new Intalan Avatar these past couple of years. The first bit of business Takaa ever did with us was actually on Sir Maloran's behalf, although that was before he got that title. We managed to cross paths with them many times, which also included the very next mission we picked up after Zara and Eione joined up. What a hilarious mess that was!
...
Well, the Archknight has never had trouble making enemies and one of them actually paid me to go after him and his wife.
...
If I had known, I would have told me people and the whole mess could have been avoided a lot sooner.
...
Alright, here it is! This man came in, anonymously and hired us to break into his house and grab some black gemstone and rough up anyone who got in our way for good measure. Not exactly my most savory mission, but it had been a while and we could have used the payday.
...
Well, I took Saayuko, Zara, Eione, and Oogura with me and the mission basically ended once we saw who we were dealing with. They had Eione's brother with them and once they saw each other everything fell apart. Eione knew one avatar, Zara knew another, and I knew full well what could happen if we pissed them off. So, we talked things through only to find out that we had been thrown at them as cannon fodder. I wasn't pleased to have been used for something I wasn't expected to survive, so we threw the contract away.
...
There wasn't anything I could do about it. We tracked the man who'd offered me the contract, but he was dead before we got to him. We weren't the only ones being used, it turned out.
...
That was just another part in a lesson that I was too stubborn to learn. Trust can't come too easily, or you're going to get burned.
Next Chapter
Next Chapter
No comments:
Post a Comment