Level six?

  Natalie looked at the grizzled man donning a gray-speckled beard in a new light. Levels were progressively more difficult to advan—and came with progressively stronger rewards, in terms of skills and stat bonuses. sidering his level, Natalie wondered whether a level six [Hunter] could have hahe goblin problem by himself.

  She thought it unlikely. [Hunter] was one of those csses that rode a strange liween possibly a bat css and not. Even a level ten [Bcksmith] couldn't do much against an incursion of goblins—well, generally speaking. They were crafters. Likewise, [Hunters] had a skill set suited to trag and killing regur animals, not monsters.

  Not that [Hunter] was his true css. Though maybe it was; Natalie didn't know. But generalizing one's css to hide its exact details was on practice. For example, Natalie herself did it stantly: she simply called herself a [Padin]. Varten could be a [Hunter], but more likely, he was some variation of the css, probably ohat more obviously defined him as a civilian.

  With the Baron having passed over the spotlight, Varten gave a serious nod and took the floor. "I've narrowed the location of their base down to a subse of the Duskwood," he said in a gruff voice. "You'll o do some searg yourselves, but if I'm correct, we have the general area identified. sidering how many of them there are, and all the supplies they've been colleg, it's uhey be all that hidden."

  That was ve. In most monster harassment cases, the actual trag down of the beast or beasts could be the most annoying part of the quest. It sounded like Varten hadn't been able to locate exactly where the goblins were hiding, but he'd narrowed it down enough that the five of them could set out and, with some luck, trek through the forest until they found the base themselves.

  "But we have a raid to handle before that?" Jordan asked.

  "Yes," the Baron said. "If the trend keeps, we expect the southern outskirts to be hit, though where exactly, we aren't sure. You'll be on standby. With luck, you thin their numbers for when you find their ." He shrugged. "Or, however you wish to hahe problem. I'm sure Teudents would know best."

  Natalie thought the Baron's pn was solid enough. If they had a strong reason to believe the goblins would be attag is oskirts of the city tonight, then it was more important they were there to intercept them than to immediately set out and find their base. It sounded like that could be a multi-day endeavor, depending on how lucky or unlucky they were.

  There wasn't much else to say about the mission. After hashing out the details and a few questions where necessary, the Baron ed the meeting up.

  "Oh," the Baron said. "And I almost fot. This is my daughter, Aina." He gestured to the woman at his left. "She volunteered to help get you five settled. Insisted upon it, in fact."

  At her name being brought up, Aina—the woman in the blue dress, who had trailed in alongside the Baron and Varten—gave a quick curtsy. She smiled brightly at them, cheeks dimpling. "It's the least I could do for our city's heroes." Her eyes flicked from person to person, before lingering on Natalie. "I'll be showing you to your inn. It's somewhere you'll be able to respond quickly to the raid. In the meantime, please don't hesitate to ask for anything. Your fort is my highest priority." She fluttered her shes at Natalie. "Use me entirely as you see fit."

  The Baron gave his daughter a fond smile and nodded in approval. Natalie shifted in her seat, gng at Jordan, w whether she'd imagihe obviously flirtatious tone. Jordan's slightly raised eyebrows suggested she hadn't.

  Seeing how her the Baron nor Varten seemed to notice, though, Natalie thought maybe it was in her head. Probably, the Baron's daughter was just trying to ingratiate herself to Elizabeth Beaumon.

  But then why was her attention lingering on Natalie and not Liz, then? Natalie gave a tentative smile back, and the woman all but beamed at her.

  Huh.

  As Aina suggested she would, the five of them were led through the manor and out into the streets, where another carriage escorted them to the inn they would be staying at. Natalie found herself much more enthralled by the smalltalk Aina provided, uristan's endless chatter. Though Natalie couldn't fully make up her mind oher it was flirting or simply the woman being overly polite. Or perhaps, even, she was simply ied in the group of visiting delvers. Even a Baron's daughter probably didn't see ma squads ing through the city.

  Natalie got her answer in a roundabout way—or at least through the input of her teammates—ohey had unpacked into their respective rooms a up ialie's.

  "Okay," Jordan said. "We're all thinking it, but it o be said."

  Sofia, Liz, and even Ana nodded along, as if knowily what Jorda.

  To Natalie, though, the statement seemed to have e from nowhere. Blinking, she asked, "Huh?"

  Jordan folded her arms and gave Natalie a serious look. She held it for several seds. "Natalie," she said firmly. "Don't fuck the Baron's daughter."

  "W-What?"

  "Keep it in your pants for the first time in your life," Sofia added ftly, not an ounce of sympathy on her face. "We're here on business. Don't fuck the Baron's daughter. Do you have any idea how unprofessional that would be?"

  "I wasn't pnning on it," Natalie protested, gng between all of her teammates. "Where did this e from?"

  "Where did this e from?" Sofia repeated. "You twiving fuck-me eyes the whole ride over. You had pany, you know?" She huffed. "Okay, well, it was mostly her to you." An annoyed expression appeared on her face. "Not an ounce of shame, apparently," she grumbled.

  Natalie digested that. 'Fuck-me eyes'? So Natalie hadn't been imagining that. "Was she?" she asked.

  "Don't sound pleased by it," Sofia growled. "I'm serious. She's the daughter of the leader of this city. And we're here on a quest. I'd prefer if we finished our first mission without someone pining to Te about how our tank ravished his daughter."

  Liz cleared her throat. The frank w had made her cheeks color. "That would be pretty bad, Nat," Liz added. "You know how seriously Teakes their reputation. If their students went and, um, liaised with important figures during official quests, Te wouldn't be happy. Quests are as much about how we carry ourselves as anything. They want to know they trust us. That's how we'll get more important assigs iure."

  "I know," Natalie said defensively. Quests weren't just about killing monsters, evehat was the letter of the mission. "And again, I wasn't pnning on it."

  "Weren't you?"

  "I mean—no? Not really."

  "Very ving," Sofia said.

  Jordan seemed more amused by the situation than Sofia, but even she held Natalie's eyes with a serious expression. "For real, Nat. Keep it in your pants. She's pretty, but it won't be worth the trouble. For you, much less all of us."

  Wouldn't it, though?

  Natalie coughed.

  No, of course it wouldn't. She was the literal baron's daughter. Te would be furious.

  If she got caught.

  No. Definitely not worth it.

  "Right," Natalie said. "Won't happen. So rex." She shrugged it off. "Pretty sure she was just flirting, anyways, n to jump into bed with me. There's no harm in flirting, is there?"

  Jordan looked at her doubtfully. "If you keep it to just that, that's fine. But you?"

  "Sure."

  Jordan sighed. "We're serious, Nat."

  "I know."

  After a few seds of silence, Sofia huffed. "Anyway," she said, sounding exasperated. "It seems like this an adventuring inn. There's even a training yard out back. Didn't we want to see how much your buff affected Liz?"

  "There were some people looking at us, when we came in," Jordan ented. "Think they kneere ing. Seemed like they wao talk. We might have a bit of an audience."

  That was to be expected. Teudents were, after all, not something people saw every day.

  "Might as well go warm up," Natalie said. "All we're doing is waiting until we get news of the raid."