CHAPTER 41 At No Point Did I Break Jack’s Nose

CHAPTER 41

At No Point Did I Break Jack’s Nose

Rufus

I was a calm beastman, usually.

The only thing that got me excited was a romance novel or a Minstrel Bronwynn concert, so I wasn’t in the practice of needing to hold back my temper. After today, I felt that I’d been tried and tested, and had come out admirably.

At no point did I break Jack’s nose. And while the man was a competent attendant and an excellent spy, he was also directly responsible for Bronwynn sitting in a window watching me being led into danger.

Bronwynn, who was excellent at jumping out of windows.

Jack had put a civilian in danger. Sure, she wasn’t from the Dark Enchanted Forest, and she wasn’t my responsibility. But by the gods, I was the leader of her fan club, and it was my duty to … I don’t know. Prevent her from breaking her fingers going up against a bunch of assassins late on a weeknight.

“This way, Commander General,” the young man wearing a casual white tunic and button-up trousers said, opening the door to the Assassin’s Guild. His companion remained outside, leaning against the wall of the building. We walked down a short hallway that ended in a reception room where an elf woman leaned back in a chair behind a desk; her feet were up on it and crossed over nonchalantly. A piece of paper lay on her face, blotting out the light. When the door closed behind us with an audible click , I realized how otherwise quiet the entire place had been up until that point.

“Aren’t you supposed to—” The elf lifted the sheet of paper with one hand before stopping when she saw the two of us. A huge smile bloomed on her face as she promptly dropped her feet to the floor and stood up. “Well, hello!”

“It is nice to meet you. I am Commander General Rufus Triever.” I noticed with interest that the woman looked like a Barbarian class. Her light brown arms were as thick as my legs, and her long brown hair trailed to her hips. Tufts of fur stuck out of her lightweight chest plate. She came up to my chin.

Her smile got bigger as she reached out a hand and I shook it.

“Eva Lina, at your service. You’re early, and things aren’t ready yet, but I’m sure we can find something to do in the meantime.”

All of the hair rose on my arm, and I had a feeling that whatever Eva Lina wanted to do … I wouldn’t like it one bit.

I didn’t drop her hand like a hot salamander, as much as I wanted to. Instead, I finished the handshake then politely released it in a casual manner. The hardest part, actually, was not wiping my hand on my pants when we were done. I hid my unease behind a confident smile and my passive skills. “It is good to meet you, Miss Eva. You needn’t concern yourself; I was the one who arrived early. I can wait until the appointed time.”

“You’re no fun.” Eva pouted, putting her now free hand on her stuck-out hip. She thumped herself back down in her seat and put her feet back up on the table.

The human who brought me inside let out a quiet sigh. He stood in front of the desk, grimacing at the pile of documents haphazardly fallen on its otherwise clean surface. For some reason, I had a feeling Miss Eva wasn’t sitting at her own desk. I felt for the poor man.

“Jimothy, go tell Susan that our guest is here early.” Eva leveraged the chair backward, from four legs on the floor to precariously balancing on only the back two. She linked her hands behind her head.

“Right away,” cough , “Miss Eva.” Jimothy straightened and nodded at me before leaving through a door on the other wall that led deeper into the guild.

I stood there for some time, but instead of letting the quiet go on comfortably, I said, “So, how is it working for the Assassin Guild?”

Eva’s mouth quirked into a small half smile as she eyed me. “It’s not so bad, actually.”

“I imagine it helps that you have underlings like Jimothy who can file all the paperwork.” I nodded. “Most of my staff are field workers, so I end up having to write the reports myself.”

The elf looked at me with a bit more interest. “How many people do you have?”

“Twenty army personnel trained to mediate the Dark Horde, and another twenty to manage the civilian residents.” I crossed my arms, hiding my hands and popping my claws as I did so. “All trained personally by myself, of course.”

“Of course.” The words were dry. “I’ve had to retrain a bunch of people in a short time, and I think that your way is better; if you can teach them from the beginning, then you don’t have to beat out the bad habits.”

“I’m not in the habit of beating people,” I retorted. “So I wouldn’t know.”

Before she could say more, I asked, “Who’s Susan? ”

All my research read that physical discipline was an unmitigated disaster which bred hostility and fear with no real positive outcome … unless you counted the inevitable stab in the back as a good thing.

The Dark Enchanted Forest assassins were trained with proper combat scenarios, educated through study and debate, and granted excellent resources for survival. Skills were all well and good, but training to be skilled when you were in Veralyn’s Enchanted Restraint Manacles and didn’t have access to your stats made for highly trained combat units that were more than just a class title.

Short of getting eaten or molten ash vaned, death would just be a minor inconvenience. We didn’t want to lose people or have to train more. Also, because they were so well trained, we didn’t need a hundred of them to try and get the job done. If His Viciousness ever decided to actually use one of his assassins … one would be enough.

Eva thumped the chair back on the floor, plopping her legs down. She leaned forward and rested her elbows on the table. The elf was rather fidgety. “Susan is the one who handled Marquess Chadwick’s requests and will be able to answer your questions.”

My eyebrow shot up at that. “Have the Servalt authorities already had a chance to investigate her?”

I’d have assumed Pjori would’ve let me know that bit of information and what they’d found, even if Jack chose not to.

“Those idiots?” Eva let out a harsh but genuine chuckle. “The knights raided this place under the duke’s authority, and they found nothing .”

“Oh?” I smiled a little at that, and for the first time since I’d had my suspicions about the elf, I let my guard relax slightly.

Eva’s lips tugged back into a half smile, her fingers tapping across the desk. “They were very rude.”

There was a knock at the door, and Jimothy came back with a fluffy white catkin. Susan wore a blue tunic and black tights, and stared up at him with big blue eyes that were just a shade lighter than her tunic. She had a pair of tiny half-moon eyeglasses perched on her pink nose.

“I’m here, boss,” the catkin spoke, rolling her R s. Susan looked me up and down, and I could tell she was still unsure of me when she said, “Alright, Commander General. What would you like to know?”