Shady Contacts

Jonas kept an eye on his surroundings. While it was a small town, he was fortunate to have found a part of it that conducted shady business. While he'd mentioned to the others about him doing day labor, he never mentioned what kind of 'day labor.' While he'd never done any job that was out and out illegal, aside from a few minor points, most of the jobs he'd done were in the gray area of things. Where while it wasn't exactly 'wrong,' it wasn't eactly 'right' either.

However, his skills in that world were transferrable to other worlds, at least for the most part, as he knew some of what might be needed. Which also had helped him get his foot in the door in this world.

As such, he was working on mostly cultivating a source of information, including what was known about the surrounding area. Although, his first plan on this had been in mind of trying to learn first who might be trying to assassinate the king, but that had flown out the door with the knowledge of the goblins coming out of the dungeon.

In truth, Jonas had forgotten all about them and hadn't given the goblins any thought since they'd left the dungoen. After all, he hadn't expected that there might be a need for him to go back to the dungeon at all after they'd 'cleared' it.

So, as he approached the warehouse where the smugglers were operating, he was wondering how he should approach this. After all, he'd been pushing for information about the city where the king lived, but now he'd be asking about the surrounding area. In his experience, changes in inquiries like that often meant the person was thinking of setting up shop in the area, possibly as a rival. Which, of course, could get him on the bad side of the people he was trying to work with here.

The approach had to give them a reason that made sense and was believable enough that it wouldn't be questioned or ignored. Doubt was acceptable, as with shady dealings, there wasn't always a way to verify the reasons without actually getting into the fine details, which was always time consuming and often pointless. The truth would often get a person killed because of how outlandish the truth could turn out to be sometimes.

However, he couldn't accept that the truth in this case wouldn't be that outlandish. First, though, he would need to see what these people knew about goblins. If they didn't know anything, then it wouldn't matter what he said about goblins. As it could sound like excuses or worse. Yet, if they knew what goblins were, then they might be more willing to consider to possibilities of what he knew was coming.

"Back again already?" the guard at the door asked. "You know the boss hasn't had time to look into what you asked him last time."

Jonas nodded. "I figured he hadn't," he replied. "I came because I learned something that he might like to know about. Something that could ruin his entire operation here."

The guard looked at Jonas steadily for a minute before knocking in a series of rapid patterns that Jonas merely pretended he couldn't follow. In truth, he'd already gotten the patterns and the order of them down in the event he felt he needed to go on the offensive with these people.

A moment after the guard finished, the door opened and the guard motioned for Jonas to enter. He knew there wasn't any point in saying anything further to the guard, especially since he wasn't someone who needed to know more than who could enter as well as how to signal someone was entering who had already gotten the approval of their boss.

As Jonas entered the warehouse, he didn't even wait for his eyes to adjust to the dim lighting. He immediately turned to head to where the 'boss' had his office, ignoring the workers who glanced at him as he entered. At this time of the day, the 'boss' would be there. Especially since they were supposed to move out the shipment they'd been accumulating since Jonas first became aware of this warehouse.

When he reached the office, he knocked on the door. The 'boss' was known to not like disruptions, especially when he was about to send a shipment out, but Jonas didn't have the luxury of waiting, and he also suspected that if the 'boss' knew what goblins were, he'd want to know as soon as possible as well.

"What is it?" a voice growled through the door.

Jonas didn't reply, he merely took that as reason to enter. He didn't say anything right away. Just waited for the 'boss' to finish what he was working on.

A minute after Jonas had entered, the man looked up at Jonas and scowled. "You're not stupid enough to think I've already gotten what you asked for, so what do you want?" he growled.

"Yes, I'm sure you haven't gotten the information I asked for, but I learned something that could make my plans irrelevant. However, before I tell you what that information is, do you know what goblins are?" Jonas replied.

"What? Are you listening to fairy tales now? Since when does a man like you believe in 'goblins?'" the boss asked, clearly trying to sound like he was making a joke, but Jonas could tell this man knew what goblins were, yet he had to play the game or he'd end up on the wrong side of a dagger to his chest. More than likely.

"I know what goblins are because before I had taken an interest in the king, I couldn't help but take on a task to rescue two girls who'd been kidnapped. When I rescued them, I learned that it was from a group of goblins. Goblins who I suspect were brought there through magic means," Jonas answered calmly. If the man didn't believe him, then he'd probably just have lost the ground he'd previously gained as well as whatever information he'd have been able to have gotten from this man.

"That so?" the man asked, regarding Jonas carefully. "If that's the case, what? They want revenge on you or something?"

Jonas shook his head. "No, as I said, I suspect they were brought there magically. The group I was with killed all of them, but there was a portal that we couldn't pass through or do anything to close it. So, the information I just got this morning would indicate that more goblins have come through that portal and are going to be coming out into this area first," hea answered.

The man nodded gravely. "When will they be coming to this town?" the man asked.

Jonas shook his head. "My information source wasn't clear on that. They could be here say tomorrow night or it might not be for a week or two. I really don't know, but I know I'm not going to stand by and let them destroy everything I'm working at, but I need information about the area around here," Jonas explained.

The man's eyes narrowed. "You understand I'll have to look into this myself, right?"

Jonas nodded. "Yes I understand this, as such, I thought I would at least let you know about it and we can talk another time. Once you've been able to look into the matter yourself, that is," Jonas said, starting tot urn to leave.

"Hold on a minute," the man said, standing up from his desk completely. "Did your source say where these goblins would be coming from?

"Yes, it'll be to the west of this village," Jonas answered without missing a beat, or stopping his movement to the door.

"I'l send some of my boys to check It out. Come back tomorrow and we'll talk then," the man said, turning his focus back to the papers in front of him.

Jonas left confident that the information about the goblins would pan out, so he merely left and again wondered what he could do until the next day. For one thing, he knew he shouldn't disturb that warehouse again without good reason, since if he bothered them, then he could again, end up on the wrong side of their blades.

As Jonas turned the corner around a building, causing the warehouse to go out of sight, a familiar voice stopped his movement. Someone he hadn't expected to be there, since he had thought he'd done a good enough job of convincing everyone that he was just going out to lok at getting supplies.

"So, what're you doing there?" Kim asked.

Jonas stopped , but didn't turn to look at Kim. "I was stroking a source of information," he replied, not caring if Kim didn't like it or not. "I asked about the area surrounding this village. I can't say anything more, since they didn't tell me anything, but they're checking to see if there are goblins out there."

Kim nodded. "As long as this doesn't come back to hurt the team, I couldn't care less about what you do," Kim replied, starting to walk next to Jonas. "But are you sure you can trust these people?"

Jonas gave Kim a crooked smile. "Of course I don't trust them. However, this is a good way to get information. I'm hoping to get them to help us with the challenge of stopping the assassination attempt on the king," Jonas said casually.

Kim shook her head, looking like she was either annoyed or just tired. It was hard to tell sometimes with her. She seemed to tend to keep that part of her under lock and key.

"I just hope you know what you're doing with these people," Kim remarked.