Meetings

A few hours more hours on the road than he liked, and Keldan was finally at the territory he had been aiming for. Others had taken the quest in the past, but they had all come back in pretty bad shape due to a lack of preparedness on their part; Keldan had come to this place primarily with the minotaur in mind, and the posted reward for dealing with the issue would be a decent compensation as well, but he was mostly there to see if the minotaur was female and determine if her bosom was suitable for his tastes.

Looking about as he traveled down the road, Keldan saw signs of destruction, but they seemed to be much more precise and careful than that of some rampaging monster, not quite looking intentionally destroyed but definitely close to that. The area around the structures and vehicles that were damaged was showing little to no damage. The first thing he had to do was head to the lord’s manor to get whatever details they could provide, although Keldan wasn’t expecting much on account of nobility usually being tight-lipped about everything other than what they personally consider important or relevant to the subject at hand.

Keldan had a few dealings with nobles in the past, and that’s how almost all of them were; sometimes, you got the sort that were more cordial, but he had yet to encounter any of those personally; practically all his interactions with nobles had been through butlers, maids, and other courtiers, and he was fine with that. None of the maids or female courtiers quite met his tastes, a few came close, but that just meant he wasn’t going to try making off with any of them. And from what Keldan had been hearing about the lord and his son, this meeting would be on the more unpleasant side of things.

The lord’s manor looks extravagantly ostentatious; with lavish gardens encircling the manor for a good thirty feet in all directions, a facade that looked like someone had mixed gold and silver into the wash of the wall, windows that looked like they had been cut from magically reinforced gemstones, and what appeared to be decorative crenels that seemed to be covered in gold and gemstone powder, the whole thing looked gaudy as all get out and probably had what wasn’t sunk into making the whole thing look as if it was overcompensating for not being a royal castle was put into embedding the most expensive wards the lord could buy. In all likelihood, the best-case scenario was the lord putting thirty percent of their resources into the region they rule, and this was far from the best-case scenario. From what Keldan had seen, the lord’s territory was operating on the bare minimum the lord could get away with, so maybe five or six percent of the lord’s resources were going into their territory while the rest went into the lord using their home, inside and out, to make a statement or put on appearances. Keldan had literally handed some of his rations to people begging on the side of the road for food on his way to the manor.

The guards at the gate were also dressed in immaculately gaudy armor, likely the most expensive material the lord could buy without dipping too much into their own funds for making their home look as extravagant as possible. Thankfully, Keldan could only make out six or seven guards; chances were the total number of guards at the estate didn’t exceed a dozen or so. Nobles of this sort were prone to pinching every cent they could while making it all look as impressive as possible. Chances were that even though their equipment was pricy, the guard themselves were nowhere near the level of being dangerous their equipment suggested.

All the guards seemed to be men, Keldan didn’t really care because what they do with their hirelings is their prerogative. As he approached, Keldan was stopped by the guards asking the reason for his visit. “Halt,” said the guard on the right of the gate, a peachy-colored man with a snake-like mustache, holding a halberd in his right hand in an upright position, “state your reason for the visit,” he and his partner were clearly eying Kelvan and his slightly above standard armor and gear. Keldan’s war hammer and javelins only looked a little above basic because of how well he maintained them, and he had actually made the war hammer himself and was improving on it every time he had access to a proper forge; his chainmail shirt was also kept in better condition than most adventurers were known to do with their equipment.

“I’m here about the ‘Rampager,’ could you call for the appropriate individual to discuss the issue with,” said Keldan; he knew he had to watch his wording and so decided not to make it look like he was demanding anyone in particular, “I’m fine with discussing it here at the gate if that is preferred, but the least you could do is pass my message along.”

The two guards looked at each other for a moment, before the guard on the left, a lighter-skinned man who looked like his armor was a bit too big for him, opened the gate enough to squeeze through and shut it after passing through, making far more noise in his armor than Keldan thought possible. When that guard was halfway to the manor doors, a new man that looked a bit more muscled with a more suntanned look came up and took a position watching Keldan from the other side of the gate on the side the other guard had slipped through, his spear looked a bit longer than most typical spears, and its point seemed to be of higher quality than what was usually seen outside the manor grounds.

Five or six minutes after the guard had entered the manor, they returned with an ostentatiously dressed man in a style that would be more at home in the royal quarter of the capital than this abused land; the man’s attire was composed of what appeared to be a high-quality suit that had been dyed a light shade of purple with gold and silver threads to highlight things, shoes that probably cost more than Keldan’s entire kit, and the most pompous purple hat adorned with the plumage of at least 4 rare birds in the most snobbish arrangement Keldan had ever seen. This was either the lord or his son. Keldan spotted a feminine figure peeking out from a window on the highest floor of the manor for a moment as the man approached before they slipped from his view.

As the two approached, the replacement guard left to take care of their prior duties as the gate was brought open by the guard gesturing for the man to continue before closing the gate behind the pair and returning to his post. Keldan could tell this was mostly for show; the ostentatious attire was far too much for a simple meeting. Keldan could tell this was mostly for show, and why some nobles insisted on this dance was beyond him. Some nobles were just too hung up on pomp and ceremony.

The man himself looked to be in his mid to late forties, likely the lord himself, especially since Keldan had heard the lord’s son was just a few years older than himself. “Ah, yes, you must be the latest sellsword here to take charge of the problem,” said the man in an overly arrogant voice; he clearly was thinking Keldan was beneath him but still thought it best to put in an appearance for himself, “if you manage to take care of the issue and stop that horrible beast from rampaging through the territory, I will be most appreciative.”

“These sort of things have their own expenses,” said Keldan in a matter-of-fact voice, “as do I; my services are not free; you need to offer me some sort of compensation to make it worth my while. I will see what I can do, but I will require a down payment as a show of your conviction for this cause. I’m not so foolish or stupid to take you at your word; I require proof of your claims, both in the task and the crisis.”

“Ah, an Adventurer then,” said the man; I see you didn’t offer a proper introduction.”

“Only because you omitted your own,” said Keldan, “I know it is presumptuous for a guest to introduce themself in the presence of a lord; I was taught at least that much on the principles of decorum.”

“Well, at least you have proper manners,” said the man, “that was a little test I have to see how…civil the guests who come knocking are. I am Lord Gustav ro von Markilma.”

Keldan mentally rolled his eyes before saying, “I go by the name Keldan, no last name to speak of,” it was best he did not share that he has a last name; his mother having that distinction had brought her trouble when she was carrying him around, and Keldan didn’t want to potentially cause problems for her now, “I am a warrior that has been traveling around with his own dream.” Such statements were common among adventurers in presence of nobility.

“Good to hear,” the lord said dismissively, “the Rampager started causing us issues half a year ago.”

“I heard that it was a few months more than that,” said Keldan politely.

“Well, you know how rumors can get sometimes,” said the lord dismissively, “current reports sighted the rampager in the caverns a short way south of the manor; the rampager really started kicking it up a month or so ago; I still have no idea how or why that happened.”

“I will look into it,” said Keldan, “but I still require my down payment.”

The lord huffed indignantly before reaching into his coin purse at the back of his waist and handing Keldan 1 gold coin, “I trust this will cover your immediate expenses.”

“Of course, my lord,” said Keldan in a flat tone, “I will get to work right away.” With that, he turned towards the south and began his march, he heard the gate open and the lord mumbling indignities under his breath as the man retreated to his manor.

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Nearly forty minutes later, a ‘short way’ was a conservative estimate at best, Keldan finally came upon the caverns mentioned. He could see at least 4 different entrances, there were possibly more, and it was possible they were all connected in some way. The chance of the place being its own sort of maze was really high, Keldan had heard minotaurs felt more comfortable in mazes, but that was mostly hearsay and the like.

As he approached one of the caverns, he heard the sound of heavy-hooved feet to his right. He looked over to his right to see it was indeed a female minotaur, and she was indeed well-endowed; the figure’s color was difficult to make out in the dimming light of early twilight, but he could at least make out her figure, that’s how he knew she was one with a gifted bosom. Of course, the large hammer in her hands, likely a wooden maul, lent itself well to the intimidation she seemed to be using to either frighten or provoke her opponent.

“I’m here to talk before we get into a scuffle,” said Keldan, “I want to avoid a needless conflict; while it might have a point, that doesn’t mean it is needed or necessary.”

An indignant snort came from the minotaur before she said, in a very gruff but clearly feminine voice, “Well, at least you aren’t keen on a scuffle right out of the gate; what were you told?”

“Not a whole lot,” said Keldan; it took a bit more of getting through the lord’s preening than I cared for just to get the barest of information leading to this location. Care to help fill in some of the blanks?”

The minotaur put her weapon away upon her back as she stepped closer, Keldan could better make out her chestnut red fur; he was right about her ample bosom; to him, it looked like MM-Cup to him, well within his preferences. “That lord’s little shit of a son stole my spare bosom support a few weeks ago, and my primary one over half a year ago. I just wanted to settle down in the area, and not cause anyone any trouble, and that poor excuse for a noble child thought it would be amusing to steal my clothes. He almost stole some of my other undergarments, but I managed to put a stop to that before he got the chance to get near them.”

“Well, I promised the lord I would stop your rampaging, but I never said how,” said Keldan with a wink, “this also means the lord knew the reasons for everything but intentionally left out the information; typical entitled noble behavior. So, what we’re going to do is this, I’m going to bring you to the lord’s manor, and we’ll call them out on their lies of omission; it would help if you could provide proof.”

“Easy enough,” said the minotaur, “none of those smaller races have the figure for my bust guard, and I marked them with my name in the minotaur language; anyone unfamiliar with the minotaur language would not be able to make sense of all that.”

“The real problem would getting them to reveal they have them, the word of a single individual, especially one of the ‘monster’ races, won’t go far without a bit of work on the inside; something we are sorely missing access to.”

“Maybe we could,” said the minotaur, “I noticed the lord has a daughter he likes to keep hidden, you can see her on the higher levels of his estate, but he deliberately keeps her from going outside. I don’t know how much help that is.”

“It’s plenty helpful,” said Keldan, “if she wants her own freedom, then we just have to convince her to help us out and then come with us; if she doesn’t meet my criteria for a traveling companion, we’ll drop her off in a town somewhere with a little for a few days’ worth of expenses and call it a day; if she does meet my criteria, then she’ll be traveling with us.”

“Us? You intend to travel with me?”

“Of course,” said Keldan with a smirk, “you meet my criteria for a traveling companion, and it will give us the added bonus of you no longer being in this territory.”

“I can live with that,” said the minotaur with a smirk, “my name is Helen.”

“Keldan Halmer,” said Keldan, offering a friendly smirk.