“Looking for something,” Sophia says behind me.
“Uh, n-no not at all.”
She looks at me skeptically as the rest of the adventurers go through the cavern. This feels like a home intrusion as they look through the very little stuff I own. “Are You satisfied?” I asked.
They scrounged through everything and found nothing obvious, but then fate decided to pull a horrible trick on me when Sophia ended up kicking the skeleton that I found in the cave. Well shit.
“I knew it, murderer!” Sophia says, pulling out her sword, preparing to strike me down. Only for Beau to jump down from the ceiling and crush her underneath her body.
I pull out the dagger and blitz Johnathan, smashing him the temple with the pommel and giving him an uppercut. “ Beau, don't kill them!” She looked at me as she had now had both of the armored men pinned to the ground, jaws inches away from their throats. She snorts in contempt at them as she backs her heads off and grips their heads with her talons slamming them into the ground, cracking the stone below them. Well, I guess head trauma and a concussion doesn’t qualify as killing.
I rush to everyone's sides to see if they still have a pulse. I press my fingers to the sides of their necks and thank God they aren’t dead. I know they would have tried killing me, but this was due to a misunderstanding where I could see where they were coming from. Plus, I don’t think I could take a life unless I absolutely needed to because I am not some sort of sociopath that murders those he considers nuisances.
I rounded up everyone and used the remaining rope inside my bag to hogtie everyone and strip them down to what kept them decent -- don’t want someone with a hidden dagger to blindside me like how I did to Johnathan-- and until they managed to wake up I had some stew with Beau.
A few hours later the adventuring party woke up to see me having a second helping of venison stew and Beau standing behind them. Sophia was the first to notice that they were stripped down almost to their skivvies. “Y-you bastard what did you do to me!?”
I raised my eyebrows nonchalantly, “If you think I defiled you whatsoever you are mistaken Sophia, I am no rapist.” She tried to struggle out of the bindings only to feel Beau place her right leg on her back, which made her think otherwise about trying to escape. “ Hey, I just might want to let you know that I didn’t kill the first time around, I just want to talk.”
“You call this ‘just talking’” Johnathan says.
“It is a safety precaution for me in case you try to kill me, and if I wanted to kill you I would have given you more than a love tap on the side of the head.”
“Then why in the world would there be a skeleton here?” One of the now unarmored men said. I can’t tell them apart because they are identical twins. “ I found the body here when I came to this cave and had the equipment I am wearing now, and only a foolish murderer wouldn’t throw out the body. I was also worried more for my survival rather than disposing of that body.”
That and I kind of forgot about it, because I had more pressing matters at the time. “ Besides there is not much I can get out of you besides holding you for ransom.” They all looked at me in shock.
“Wait, wait I never said I was going to hold you for ransom. I didn’t want to fight in the first place. I planned on asking you for directions if you didn’t try to kill me as soon as you saw me, and I have no problem letting you go as long as you can somehow assure me that you can keep a secret about Beau.”
“Who’s Beau?” Johnathan asks. I turn him around and point to the three-headed dragon pressing her front legs on his girlfriend’s back. He stares at her in awe and wonder, only for Beau’s right head to return to look with a withering gaze.
He unconsciously mutters out, “She’s beautiful.” The dragon annoyed by his stare turned her head away.
“Where did you find a Griffin like that?” Johnathan asked me. I looked at him in confusion, he has got to be messing with me right?
“Yes it is a real beauty, how long have you had her?” One of the twins asked. All of Beau’s nostrils flared; she really doesn’t like being called an object, so I went over to them petting her heads rubbing them affectionately. “I have had her ever since she was an egg.” These people actually believe she’s a griffin!? Maybe dragons aren’t so common that people don’t know what they look like.
Johnathan's eyes go wide like one of those fangirls that meet their favorite pop star. “Are you saying that you are a Griffin Knight?”
“Uh, yess?”
His eyes light even more, oh no. “ I knew that you were someone important! Especially when you knocked me out with such precision.”
“I am sorry my Lord, we did not know that you were one of the country's Griffin Knights. I sincerely apologize for my party and I’s actions.”
Hold on a second, shouldn't his ‘lie detector’ device be going off? Speaking of which, I didn’t find anything on them besides their gear. So that means his ‘lie detector’ is bullshit. I say with a smile, “ Yes I am currently on a discrete mission, understand?” Johnathan and his party bob their heads, well as much as they could, they’re still hogtied.
“Mr. Fairheart I will let you and your companions go as long as you manage to take me to the nearest town okay, and what you all know needs to stay between you, your party members, and I. If I were to be compromised something really terrible could happen… especially to the likes of your party.”
They all unanimously shivered.
“Yes sir. I promise that I, Johnathan Fairheart, sixth of his name, swear to uphold what has been told to me in secret and I will not disclose this to anyone.”
Sophia looks up to me in a bit of shame saying, “ And I, Sophia Lockwood promise to uphold this vow, and apologize for the transgressions that happened before.”
The twins also looked at me with solemn faces saying, “ We Otis and Marcus Fairheart swear to uphold this vow and apologize for the transgressions from before.” Then I felt something connecting us all together as if they had signed a contract with me.
“Now that I know that I can count on you not betraying my sign of goodwill I shall be free and you will take me to the nearest town”. Johnathan once again tried to nod his head only for it to hit the stone floor again.
I quickly untied their bindings and returned their equipment to them. As they were placing their stuff back on I turned to Beau who was still giving off a feeling of hostility towards the group, especially towards Sophia given how both her middle and left head kept giving her ugly glares, which is probably why she was changing into her gear as far away from them as possible. I stride up to her and hug her middle neck, “I have to go for now Beau, I promise I’ll return okay.”
I then point to the stew, “There is still food in the pot. If you get hungry, I will be back soon.” I could feel her heads slowly wrapping around my body and could feel the sadness coming off from her as I gently tried to break free. I let her keep the embrace up for probably more than it needed to but I am technically her father figure, so I understand that she would have some attachment issues.
I gave her one last final pat before I went off with Johnathan and his adventuring group. It's kinda crazy that I have only known Beau for three days yet I feel so attached to her. Then again my three days have been her whole life. I sighed as I left the cave wondering what would be in store for me once I got to town.
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