Help him help you

You press the point forward, slowly rising out of the chair to move closer to him

"That's a lot of confidence in your ability for someone claiming to not be interested."

He smiled in response "I never said I wasn't interested. I just said I'm not helping you to try and get in your pants."

"But you refuse to pay for it."

He nods gently. His eyes wander over your body as you're close enough to touch "Call me old fashioned, but your partner not really wanting to be there takes alot of the fun out of the whole experience."

"What fairytale storybook did you fall out of?" You ask incredulously "Some sappy handsome knight who helps young women out of the goodness of his heart?"

He smiles from ear to ear as he grabs an apple "So, you think I'm handsome? I'll take that as a win."

"For a human" you ply on "but I only have a sense of you under all those heavy clothes and armor. Maybe you can show me more later."

Before you can get an answer, you panic as you hear the familiar voice of Jiaghan immediately behind you.

"Hey guys. Did I miss an important secret or something?" The question and tone suggests that she suspects what you're up to, but before you can try to provide a cover, the human does for you.

"No, not at all. Liz here was saying she couldn't take hospitality from some guy she just met, so I waited until you were both here. Tell you a little bit about myself, share some breakfast, and maybe find out what those two guys were chasing you for, and see what I can do to help."

"You already helped" You pipe in, hoping you can be rid of this interloper.

"Temporarily, sure. They didn't seem like the type of guys who give up a chase."

"Not until you came along" Jiaghan said with a laugh "Thanks for that, by the way. We owe you alot. I am curious who you are. Never met or heard of anyone like you in the Matchsticks."

"I'm sorry to hear that. Hopefully me and my brothers can be a positive and permanent change. I am Benjamin Motier, Brother of the Knights of Delanius. Ben is fine though"

"Missionaries don't make their way into our neighborhood, Benjamin. We're too poor. " You reply bitingly "That name means nothing"

Jiaghan spoke up before the knight could respond "Delanius is the God of Chaos, Anarhy, and the Sea."

"Freedom, actually" Benjamin spoke up politely "So long as people are given the freedom and dignity that all the sentient beings deserve, we don't care much for what system of governance takes root. Delanius is the Liberator of Souls, and the Brotherhood seeks to liberate the living, in his image."

"Wow" Jiaghan lets out loudly. She turns to look at you, seeing if you're joined in her esteemed opinion, and found little. The Knight on the other hand couldn't help but smile gently at the response. Your young compatriot continued "So, what are you doing around here?"

"And what took you so long?"

Ignoring your question, he explains "My brothers found evidence of trafficking in persons. It's severe, and there's reason to think it traces back here. Given your experiences yesterday, it seemed like we would be able to help each other."

"trafficking in persons? You mean, **** trading?" Jiaghan asked, leaning forward. "Have you heard of them taking dwarves?"

"They take all kinds, unfortunately" Benjamin responded "If they can find a profit, they'll stoop to just about anything. It's often trading in slaves, but there's any number of ways they try to dress it up so they can get away with it in areas where slavery is off limits. Some groups have even dealt in child soldiery. I'll spare you the details of what happened there. Either way, the people engaging in this are monsters that have to be removed for the benefit of others."

"We gotta help him" Jiaghan turned to you "If Halgen was taken as a ****, we need to free him!"

"Someone you know? A friend of yours?"

You try to slow things down, to little avail "A dwarven friend. He actually was doing reasonably for the Matchsticks, had a job as a blacksmith. He was taking Jiaghan here to be an apprentice. He went missing without a trace. That happens alot around here, especially when people can't pay their debts."

"Well, Liz, I hear your uncertainty, and I understand. He might have gotten taken, but there's plenty of other possibilities, none of them good. I can't be looking out for just one case here, until we find something definitive. In the meantime, it sounds like if I travel with the two of you, trouble will find us on its own. I'm sure we can work out the debt problem you're under, one way or the other. If you'll have me."