The C Ranked Adventurer from the South

I slept in the next morning, everything had been so exhausting the past few weeks I just needed the rest. While I was no longer under the thumb of Skadi or any other bandit, there was someone above all of them that had an interest in keeping me alive and free. If the black armored man was just another bandit, he wouldn't have told Wassa that she could never go after me but he implied that his word would hold even after she became the Bandit Queen.

When I entered the main hall for a late breakfast I saw someone I didn't expect sitting at my usual table. Thelora was causally finishing her meal as I approached.

"I didn't think I'd see you again. Does Wassa need something?" I said.

"Oh I'm not here for her. The business between the two of us is finished." She replied.

"Then who are you here for?" I asked.

She teased me with a silent seductive smile before answering. "I'm here for myself, a girls gotta eat."

"You have to be an adventurer to enjoy the meals here. Does that mean you're signing up?" I said.

"I already did." She pulled out her Union token and showed it to me. I frowned at her details that were etched into the edge. Not only was she a C ranked adventurer but she had been the entire time I had known her.

"I'm just waiting for them to verify with the Union Hall in the south. Once that's through I'll be a freelancer until a guild catches my eye." She said.

"Well as a fellow freelancer I hope to work with you in the future." I replied.

After my food arrived we made small talk for a while. I could tell there was more that she wanted to tell me but I didn't press her. Once I was finished eating I invited her to the training courtyard. There we spent a few hours sparring. Her speed was greater than a normal person at the Intermediate stage of basic aura. This helped me improve the speed at which I moved my Osgar Lineage to block her attacks.

Since lately I had been training so often at the Union, it had become common knowledge that I was friends with one of the most desirable adventurers, having trained so much with Lariss. Now I was with a mysterious attractive newcomer that had decent skills. It wasn't too hard to interpret the looks I got; jealousy, envy, anger, and even a bit of desire from a few of the women.

Thelora also noticed it all and would lightly tease me, telling me to watch my back. I teased that she was free to pursue any of the men watching her. Her response was to gently caress my face which only intensified the looks I was receiving.

When we broke for lunch there ended up being another surprise person waiting for us in the main hall.

"Hello Thelora, my name is Borhildr and I'm going to be your representative." She sat next to Thelora as I tried to hide my agitation.

"What a coincidence, aren't you the representative of a friend of mine? Her name is Lariss." Thelora said.

"That is a coincidence. That must mean the three of you plan to go on quests together." Borhildr said innocently. Neither Thelora nor I were buying it.

"I think that's the plan. What do you say Wilmaer, are you up for a quest?" Thelora said.

"I was planning on talking to Raginhard about that tomorrow." I said.

"Well now there's no need. That troll hunting quest is still available. Well a party did take it but word came in yesterday that they had to abandon it due to heavy losses." Borhildr took on a fake look of sorrow.

"If that's the case, maybe we should look for something else?" I replied.

"Oh there won't be an issue for your group. That party was mostly D rankers. We have at least two C rankers and with you already at that level things should be much easier. Especially if you take some of the other freelancers under my care. I think a group of five of you would be more than sufficient for a few trolls." She said.

She was a crafty one. It was more than likely that she saw the two of us training and pulled some strings to become Thelora's representative. Now she had a good quest lined up that I had no reason to reject.

"I'll let Lariss know. We'll need a few days to recover from our recent training." I said.

"Fantastic. I'll let the others know. How does three days sound?" She replied.

"That will work. We'll meet here in three days to set out." I said.

After she left I glared at Thelora who had a mischievous face.

"I'm guessing you know I don't like her." I said.

"Oh that was obvious even without any prior knowledge. It's also obvious that she really likes you. And if it isn't obvious by now, I like to watch you squirm." Thelora said.

"Well don't get too attached, she isn't in any of my future plans." I said.

"And what are your future plans?" She asked.

"Come on, I'll tell you on the way to share the good news with Lariss." I said.

After we left the Union hall Thelora took a casual pace that I matched as I explained my intention to form my own guild, to which she seemed mildly interested. When we arrived at Lariss' place Thelora kept walking and I followed her.

"I'm a little surprised you haven't asked me anything about last night. I was expecting you to ask the moment you saw me in the Union." Thelora said.

"I was waiting for you to say something on your own." I replied.

"You're either too trusting or too naive." Thelora said.

"Well, is there anything I need to know?" I asked.

"Just need to know? Are you really not that curious?" She said.

"Of course I am. You started working for Skadi during the first confrontations back in the fall but it seems you were actually working for Wassa the whole time. Why did it take so long to kill her? What did Wassa do for you to make you owe her? How much did you really know going into the tasks?

"Why was I such a focus for everyone? Who was the black armored man and what authority does he have over the Bandit Queen? I'm full of questions. I'm just hoping you'll trust me enough to give me the answers on your own." I said.

"Trying to build my trust by letting me bring it up. I can respect that." I just gave her a knowing smile before she continued.

"A lot of your questions have to do with the big one that you didn't specifically ask, who's really in charge of the Bandit Queen? While I wasn't told anything, I was able to figure a few things out. During the Years of Sorrow Duchess Torgeir decided she could take care of the neverending issue of banditry if she controlled it from the shadows." She said.

"You're saying the Bandit Queen answers to the Duchess. That would mean…." I said.

"She's the one that wanted you kept alive. You seem to be attracting some powerful gazes. Not only that, this whole succession war was her way of thinning them out and removing a few that were slipping out of line, like Torfredr. Currently there are less than half the number of bandits in the north than there were a year ago and the Duchess barely had to do a thing." She said.

Great yet another person that has their eye on me. Hopefully she didn't know my full background yet but that would only be a matter of time since I had two Grand Lineages and her family had another. If I proved useful to the north I wouldn't have to worry about her turning me over.

"The reason you were singled out was because you pissed Wassa off. You killed one of her favorite toys. It was her idea for me to suggest to Skadi that you would be useful. I have a feeling that she wanted you dead, hence why I kept getting bad intelligence that made our tasks harder." She said.

"I guess I ruined that for her also." I said.

"Haha the longer you survived the angrier she got. I found it hilarious." She said.

"Of course you did. Did she really send multiple people to kill me? I only had to take care of the one group on my way to the Forest of Gosigronn." I asked.

"No, she used you as an excuse to get rid of some of her supporters that the Duchess wanted removed. After they were secretly killed she just said she sent them after you." She said.

"Great, that's going to cause more problems. While Wassa can't come after me, can other bandits come after me for revenge or in hopes to impress her?" I asked.

"Possibly, I'll try to keep an ear out for you but I doubt any of my connections will be of much use for long. Now that my business with Wassa is finished I doubt she wants me sticking my nose in her domain." She said.

"Thank you for your trust in me." I said.

"You're welcome. Truth be told I wasn't sure where I was going to end up after I was done with the bandits. But you've made the past few weeks interesting enough for me to stick around the north for the time being." She said.

"Well I'll try not to let your life get too boring." I replied.

She answered most of my questions but didn't answer why she owed Wassa. That type of trust was going to take time.

**End of the Bandit Queen Succession Arc**