Rosemary alone

“I say you take Julia back to the girls, you can come back for me afterwards. I should be fine though,” I said.

Brenda nodded. “I agree.”

“Girls! I am not a baby,” Julia said.

I nodded. “I know. But it is important for well, our lord that you are safe.” I paused at the awkward feeling to call him our lord but we were in public and couldn’t afford to attract unwanted attention.

“You are our lords new favorite, you should value yourself more,” Julia said with a pout.

“Sister, it is mt job to protect you, but if you are worried, the sooner you get back, the sooner Brenda can back me up,” I said.

She jumped up. “I’ll show you the speed that got me the best in sprinting at the ranger’s guild. You ready?”

I smiled as I watched both of them dash off. The receptionist came to get me, he said Henry was ready to meet me. Well, here we go, I thought.

I sat down in the rather large room. I hadn’t heard anything about Julia’s family being nobles. Perhaps they neglected to mention it? Though a ranger was a strange profession for a noble daughter. Hmm… gonna guess wealthy merchant instead. I took a sip of the tea.

“I bet your wondering how I found you, or perhaps you anticipated this?” he asked.

Oh perfect. “Humor me, how?” I asked.

“Spent a pretty coin but found out you hired a group of low ranking adventurers to camp in the Ilex forest. I figured you were planning something. I know you told me to stay out of it, but I am not a very hands off sort of person. So, what have you discovered.”

This was so frustrating, there was like fifteen different ways I could see this working out. And I can’t use divination magic. Like, did my past self warn him because he could ruin her plans and he was my ally, or did she want me to waste time on him to help her. I had no real way of knowing. With the variable of him finding Julia, I couldn’t risk it.

“Well, unfortunately your good intentions are not exactly helpful. I shall ask you to return home and wait for my letter, it should only be another month. Okay?” I asked.

“No, not okay! You know something. I am the client. Give me the information!” he demanded.

“I am under no obligation. And if you are going to be like that, I am giving up on the quest. I shall inform the guild,” I said as I stood up.

“I will bring down the **** of the count and my entire business if you walk away. My sister is precious to me, I will not let you abandon the quest like this,” he said.

I grabbed some dust from my pouch. “Stun,” I said as lightly touched his chest. He fell down as he was shaking. I leaned over him. “I am one of the strongest mages in the country, this is why you hired me. So don’t threaten me. You are now going to wait here as I go fill out a complaint. Read it before you leave this room. You will regret not understanding it. Unless your business can outgun the guild?”

What a hassle, my limited spell components too. Well, I can buy more before heading back I suppose. I returned to the counter. “The man attacked me. He was upset that I informed him that his sister had been located but she was happily married. This is a case of a brother abusing the guild against the sister’s wishes. I suggest closing the guest. I would also like to guard against retaliation from him. Oh and I stunned him. So he is upstairs on the ground. He should be fine though.”

“Oh my,” the guy said. “Honestly he has been giving us all the creeps. You can go home, I will fill out the paperwork.”

“Thanks. Oh can I withdraw my funds before you close for the day?”

“Course,” he said as he pulled up my current information. “Oh, afraid you don’t have any funds. You withdrew them all about seventeen days ago,” he said.

I **** a smile. That bitch. “Oh right. My bad. Okay, thanks. I’ll be going.”

No money! No spell components! Asssssss!