章 17: The Commission

Next day, I woke up without any idea of how long I had slept. Looking around ,Tess was laying in the same position as last night, while Aria was still asleep.

Made sense, after our talk last night, we had begun compiling up all the resources at hand. Turns out Aria and her knights had started at forty strong when they left Thyrox, but had begun losing after facing one attack after another.

In the end, only four of them remained after one of the knights had been foolish enough to see his reflection in the desert.

The entire situation had been tragic, no doubt. But I had been hoping we would be able to use those left out supplies meant for the entire troop. Turns out, the spatial storage containing those supplies was kept by Vexis, leaving the two Nyriths behind with their personal storages.

The end result wasn't ideal, combining their supplies with mine and rationing our food and water to maximum only gave us twenty seven days. The situation was highly problematic, considering we didn't even knew where we were or how long it would take us to get to civilization.

But worrying wasn't going to solve anything, so psyching myself up, I began taking out today's breakfast or dinner. There weren't any windows in the room, so we had no way of telling the time.

I was taking out some rations for myself when I heard a raspy voice.

"Mind bringing some of that food here."

I raised my head to see Tess lying in the same position as before, only this time-conscious.

"Hey, how is your leg." I brought her some food and sat down beside her. She had momentarily woken up last night, conscious enough to understand our current situation.

"It still hurts and probably will for some days." I helped her sit up with her back towards the wall.

"You just have to wait until we reach Thyrox. The healers there should be able to help you regrow another leg."

"I know." Tess slowly took a bite out of the bread. "Life sure has a way of kicking you down; last month, I was dining in the Pearl Palace, sitting down with my squad, commander Vexis, and not to mention so many prestigious members of the Nyrith's household. Now, I am sitting in a weird teleporting room eating dry bread, one leg short."

"Life is unpredictable," I spoke while chewing on my piece of bread.

None of us speak after that, chewing our bread in silence. It wasn't until several minutes that I asked "So, how do you know Aria."

Tess snapped in my direction. "That's Lady Aria to you." Before softening her gaze. "Whatever, now isn't the time for honorifics anyway."

"Aria is a distant cousin of mine; my father is a cousin of Lady Mira, Aria's mother, and Lady of House Nyrith. We have known each other our entire lives, I was even raised to be her personal guard and assistant once she graduates from the Academy."

Another moment of silence ensued; this time, it was Tess who spoke first.

"Zane, you are a hunter, right? Any chance you take commissions?"

"Uhm, I guess."

Tess slowly nodded.

"Good, let me give you a commission. It might be a bit forward, considering we don't know each other very well, but I hope you will accept."

I was taken aback for a second. "What do you mean?"

"I am not sure if I'll be able to make the journey back with this leg of mine.

"If a situation comes where you need to sacrifice me to save Aria, do it. That girl may show a tough exterior, but I understand her well enough to know that she will never abandon me. Make that decision for her. In return, I'll give you this."

She removed her glove and pulled out a ring with a green gem embedded on top.

"This ring was awarded to my father by Lady Mira herself as a way to reward him for his loyalty towards the Nyrith Household. It may not look like much, but it can be sold for a very high price if you approach the right people."

Once again, I was stumped for words. "This…I…"

"Please accept; you are the only person I can ask of this." She slightly lowered her head, attempting to do a makeshift bow.

Looking at her like this, she is so devoted. I had no other choice.

"Fine, I accept," I spoke. "Also, I don't want the ring; you can keep that on you."

Saying so, I took the last bite of my bread and got up from my seat.

Crazy suicidal woman. What kind of person would want to trade their life for another, no matter how precious they were to them?