Prologue: What Nishka’s Up To

Prologue:
What Nishka’s Up To

 

THE RECEPTIONIST at the adventurer’s guild said she’d treat me to a meal because I didn’t have a copper coin to my name. I could be as suspicious as I wanted about her motives, but with that idiot Shooter missing and me sitting around starving to death, I couldn’t really refuse.

“You were strong enough to take down a wyvern all by yourself, Nishka. If you knock out a couple of quests, I bet you could get in good with the top-level adventurers in a snap!”

This was after I wrapped up the job recruiting candidates for that urgent ogre-hunting quest. I went to get my pittance of copper coins from the girl working the reception counter, then she took me out to a tavern. A fashionable one, too, so it was perfect for someone like me. Not perfect for my wallet, I’ll admit—if I hadn’t had someone else paying for me, they wouldn’t have let me within spitting distance of a ritzy place like that.

“C’mon, I told you I’m looking for a pal of mine. I’m all in on that. I’m out of the whole adventuring scene right now.”

“Oh, really? I heard you can do wind magic, and that you’re a top-notch talent with a bow. But then, adventurers and hunters just love to talk themselves up, so maybe I should pin a little asterisk on that one, eh?” she chortled.

“Hmph. You’ve got some guts, saying that to me. What do you think this is, hanging around my neck?” I snapped, rooting around my boobs and yanking out the wyvern scale.

“Oh, no, I didn’t mean you, miss. People have been talking about a mighty warrior from a tribe that reveres nudity. I just don’t believe a person like that really exists. Warrior nudist tribes? Sounds like something from a goofy book.”

“Hmph! He’s real enough to take someone out with nothing but a stick. Remember those adventurers from the guild? He pounded them to a pulp, ground ’em up, and then walloped them some more. You wouldn’t be so wishy-washy about it if you’d ever seen him.”

“Wellll, I just don’t know. He seems strong, but that still sounds a little like exaggeration.”

“Yeah, well, whatever,” I muttered and brought my mug to my lips.

The stone-faced receptionist didn’t even react. Forget her. I had a beer with pickled cherries! Out in the sticks, all we got to drink was some cheap whisky or wine, but the townie stuff was tops!

Maybe all this glitz was what Shooter wanted: a slice of city life, instead of living in some poverty-stricken village. Or maybe he didn’t want a mousey wife like Cassandra and had just been waiting for the perfect opportunity to run off. If that was true, I’m not sure I could ever forgive him. I’d bent over backwards to help him out. Those thoughts alone pissed me off, making me feel all gross and betrayed.

I was on the verge of really losing it, so I chugged my entire beer in one go. “Ahhh! That was delicious! All right, down to business. With the pay I’m gettin’ now, I don’t mind standing on street corners recruitin’ adventurers or whatever. Shooter already footed the bill for the inn, so I can stay in town a while longer. But sooner or later, my funding is gonna run out if I’m just pulling in pocket money. I need info on that jerk.”

“You mean Shooter?”

I slammed my empty mug back down on the table and leaned toward her. “Yeah.”

“Well, if you want to gather information from adventurers, you may need to buy them drinks to get them to talk. Lots of them come through taverns like this, or hang around with the mercenaries in this neighborhood.”

“I thought the people in here looked like a rough bunch. You’re sayin’ they’re all adventurers?”

“I mean, like I said, some are mercenaries, and there are laborers here, too, but all the folks in a tavern packing weapons tend to be adventurers, yes. Look, that one’s wearing chainmail. Definitely an adventurer.”

The tavern was called The Arbor of Earth’s Solace. A name to remember. Next time I made a bunch of money, I’d be sure to do some recon here.

I watched the scene, the sloppy expressions on the adventurers’ faces pulling into grins by degrees with every new mug of ale. Jeez, just how much money was I gonna need to buy rounds for these guys?

“I’ll show you how it’s done, then you’ll be good to gather information on your own.” The girl smiled brightly at me and pointed out a man laughing boisterously at the far side of the tavern.

Hmm. I mean, he looked like he could hold his liquor, but at a glance, he looked pretty average as far as adventurers go. Not too intimidating either, but a bunch of other adventurers clustered around him. I guess he had the air of a leader.

“Come with me,” said the receptionist. “That guy loves women.”

“Uh, sure. I’ve got no problem buttering a guy up, but there are limits to how far I’ll go. Got it?”

“He’s actually a big wimp at heart, so he’s always getting duped by women. You’ll handle him just fine, Nishka.”

Not super comforting, but I followed her over to the adventurers’ leader anyway.

“Wow, I haven’t seen you in so long!” the receptionist cried. “I was just thinking how you haven’t been to the guild lately, and now here you are, spending big in the tavern! What, did you decide to leave the adventuring life behind?”

“Don’t be silly!” the leader roared. “I was just thinking how much I’ve missed you too, my wee wittle dove. What about your friend there? Did she just start working at the guild?”

The leader guy was a fat, middle-aged man with a beard, and he went completely googly-eyed at the receptionist’s totally fake smile. Once he got a look at my boobs and butt, his plump little face just lit up with delight.

Another perv, just like that jerk, Shooter.

“Of course not! Nishka’s an incredible hunter who recently decided to start adventuring! She said she’s looking for some new friends, and I thought maybe you would be able to help her with that, hm?”

“Oh really? Well, I consider myself a kindly gentleman. If you have any questions, you just come see me and I’ll be happy to help.”

I saw his hand creeping toward my butt to give it a stroke and—nah, nope, gotta have some standards here—I smacked his hand. Ugh, was acting like this really supposed to get me any info? Cringing deep inside, I pulled together a smile and said hello.

After a lot of work, I got the adventurers to promise they’d tell me if they heard anything. They even invited me on their next ogre hunt for my trouble…but they didn’t have any information on Shooter.

“Want to try on your own next, Nishka?”

“I-I don’t think I’m ready yet.”

“What, are you scared?”

“No, what? Come on, I’m Nishka the Scalesplitter! I’m not some scared, delicate little human!”

So those were my next few nights, getting lessons from the receptionist and working our way through the taverns. Took me three days, but I got the hang of it.

The day before I was supposed to go on the ogre-hunting quest with that beardy middle-aged guy, I managed to get the drunks talking easy-peasy, and I finally got to make my pitch.

“Identifying features on this guy? Sure, listen up. He’s dimwitted and buck naked. In the backwater I call home, they said he came from a tribe that was wiped out a long, long time ago who all revered nudity. You hear anything about a guy like that, come right to me. Hey, next one’s on me. Drink up!”

I worked my way around the room like that, sometimes slipping my spiel in at the end if I had to: “And tell your friends that Nishka the Scalesplitter is looking for a warrior called Shooter from a tribe of naked people.”

Oh, I bet Shooter would’ve loved knowing all the trouble I had to go through for him. That buck-ass little perv was gonna pay for this in blood when I found him!