Early the next morning, Ryan headed out with Ellie and Maeve as usual.
Ellie still hadn't slept well the night before; she yawned, her face full of fatigue.
The little mutt Maeve was sulking, pouting and muttering under her breath now and then; all because Ryan had accidentally touched her rear, she hadn't spoken to him of her own accord all morning.
Only once they reached the tavern did she hook Ryan's wrist and start wheedling. "Master, I want stewed chicken."
Ryan shot Maeve a glance. "Still on about stewed chicken? Would you eat dragon meat too?"
"If there's any, I'll eat it." Maeve butted Ryan with her head, rubbing wolf hair onto his clothes.
Ryan still had fifteen silver on hand; he planned to eat well when they got back tonight, and just grab a quick breakfast to tide them over for now.
Under Maeve's pleading, Ryan still ended up ordering three bowls of stew and a few pieces of black bread.
As they ate, Evelyn came over, stood beside Ryan with her arms folded, and asked softly, "What do you plan to do today? If you've nothing on, you could go up and play with Mira like yesterday — I'll pay the same."
"Yes, yes!" Maeve nodded excitedly.
At the prospect of another fun-filled day of play, her grin nearly stretched to the back of her ears.
Ryan loved a paid day off, but living on the dole like this wasn't sustainable; dirt poor as he was, he urgently needed to earn money and improve their situation.
If possible, he wanted to rent another house; with three people in the place now, buying more slaves later would only make it more cramped.
"Maybe next time. Is there any commission today? I need to earn some money."
Evelyn narrowed her eyes at Ryan.
After a moment she said slowly, "Some mercenaries found a cave outside the city leading underground, with a fair number of goblins hidden inside. Viscount Pavel and the merchant guild are recruiting mercenaries to go down and clear out the goblin nest."
Maeve, her mouth stuffed with black bread, listened quietly alongside Ellie.
Ryan brushed the crumbs off his hands and asked, "How's the pay reckoned?"
"Forty silver a day."
Ryan looked at Ellie and Maeve beside him. The pay was generous enough; if they could stay underground a few extra days, his money troubles would be solved outright — he might even rent a decent house near the square.
"Is it dangerous? How many people are going down with us?"
"Fifty-odd in all, more counting slaves. The scouts have surveyed the path a few times, and word is it's not too dangerous. Viscount Pavel's son, young lord Witt, is going down too." That last part Evelyn deliberately lowered her voice for.
In the past she'd never have explained in such detail.
A fifty-strong party was no small force in Caridon; after all, the city plus the nearby villages had a total population of just over ten thousand.
In peacetime the city's mercenaries and soldiers together numbered three or four hundred at most.
And with the lord's son in the party, things should be fine.
"All right, count me in for this one."
Evelyn nodded. "Good. Finish eating and come with me — I'll take you over. They'll be setting off soon."
"Could I trouble you to prepare some supplies for me?" Ryan raised a brow slightly.
Evelyn nodded, turned into the back kitchen, and set the maids bustling.
Maeve asked eagerly from the side, "Master, Master! Does this mean I get stewed chicken when we're back?"
"Depends on your performance." Ryan nodded.
The girl seemed to have a powerful fixation on eating chicken; after seeing Ellie have it once, she now insisted on it too, bringing it up to Ryan every few days.
"Then I'll definitely perform well..."
Maeve lowered her head and started mumbling again, her voice as faint as a mosquito's; even leaning in, Ryan couldn't make out what she was saying.
Once Ryan finished breakfast, a maid brought out some supplies from the back kitchen.
The food was black bread and some cured meat, the rest heavy waterskins; rationed carefully, it would feed the three of them for three days.
"All right, grab your things and come with me. The cost comes out of your pay." Evelyn murmured something to the maid, then led Ryan out of the tavern.
The gathering point was just outside the square, which Ryan had passed on his way to the tavern.
A large crowd of mercenaries in all sorts of armor stood at the street corner, harassing the respectable women passing by.
At their head were several soldiers in plate armor and helmets, well-equipped and especially conspicuous.
Ryan also spotted many demi-human slaves in the party, but they were uniformly male, and their gear was all old junk.
"Wait here." Evelyn strode up to a noble in plate armor, said a few cold words, then raised a hand and pointed toward Ryan.
Before long she came back. "It's settled. Go down with the party. I'm heading back to the tavern."
She stood there with her hands behind her back, not leaving right away, as if there was something more she wanted to say.
"What is it? Something else?" Ryan stared at the fox ears atop Evelyn's head, paused, then said, "Evelyn, I want to touch your ears."
"Do you hear yourself?" Evelyn shot Ryan a glare and went on, "Watch your own safety down there. If you don't come back, Mira will be very sad."
The corner of Ryan's mouth curved up. "Oh? Will it be Mira who's sad, or you?"
"Mira, of course." Evelyn straightened Ryan's collar for him, then left without looking back.
Maeve bumped Ryan with her shoulder and muttered, "How come you want to touch everyone's ears? Such a lech..."
"Touching ears makes me a lech? Quit slandering me." Ryan handed his and Ellie's supplies to Maeve. "You can't do anything anyway, so you carry the food and drink for us."
Maeve suddenly gave a sleazy little laugh, took the supplies obediently, her grin nearly reaching the back of her ears.
The girl prized food like her life; she'd sooner lose her life than drop the food. The only thing to worry about was her sneaking bites.
This little glutton couldn't control her mouth; the fear was that with one lapse she'd eat all three of their supplies.
Ryan narrowed his eyes in warning. "If I catch you sneaking bites, you're dead."
Maeve patted her ample chest and vowed, "I won't. Master, you know me! Greedy as I am, I would absolutely never sneak bites!"
After saying this she swallowed hard...
Ryan narrowed his eyes. "It had better be so, or you'll suffer for it."
The words had barely left his mouth when an unfamiliar man's voice came from behind them. "Why are there female slaves here? You usually don't bring women underground."
Ryan turned to look and found it was the noble who'd just spoken with Evelyn...