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There was silence between us for a few seconds while I stared at Santon suspiciously. "What kind of favor?"
"Oh, nothing much, just two jobs that are in the nearby regions. Easy, right?" he said as he took two folders from his suitcase and slid them over to me.
I took the folders and started reading through the first one. The first thing that stood out to me was the date the job was posted. To confirm if that was the only problem, I looked through the other folder and found the same thing.
The first job was posted more than two years ago, while the second job was closing in on four years. It was highly unusual for mercenary jobs to be kept active for that long. Wanting to find other red flags, I read the job carefully.
The first job that was more than two years old was recovering a family heirloom from harpies, which sounded easy enough, with a pay reflecting how easy it sounded. But after the cover page of the job, there were addendum notes that had more information. This was all the information collected from previous mercenaries who were desperate or stupid enough to take the job.
The geography of the place where the harpies were nesting is in towering rock formations with steep overhangs that leave climbers vulnerable to harpy attacks. And speaking about harpies, depending on the mating season, there may be anywhere from thirty to more than sixty harpies in the area.
Worst of all, they only know that the heirloom, a shiny jewel-encrusted dagger in this case, was in one of the harpies' nests, but do not know which one. And all the mercenaries who attempted this job either failed or noped-out the moment they saw what they were up against.
The second job was a few fiefdoms away. What had been a minor undead extermination job in an ancient abandoned graveyard, because the local lord wanted to cultivate the land for farming, turned into a major undead extermination job because when the previous mercenaries were halfway through culling the undead on the surface, they fell into a previously undiscovered catacomb that was home to a Death Knight.
Said Death Knight killed the majority of the mercenaries and raised them as undead, causing the mercenaries to flee. When this was reported to the local lord, he sent scouts to keep watch over the newly discovered catacombs, and a few months later, there was no activity. So the local lord decided to let sleeping dogs lie.
Both jobs escalated in difficulty due to unforeseen circumstances, but that was not the problem. The problem was that the two lords who posted the job were cheap bastards.
They knew that the increase in difficulty would demand a higher reward, and the Steward's Guild had informed them as such. But, no, they did not want to increase the reward, and due to some guild rules, they could not easily cancel the job unless the client did the canceling, and the clients insisted to keep the job active in the off chance some sucker, namely myself, takes up the job on for the original price.
"Was there seriously nobody to perform this job? And can I not do the harpy job? I would very much like to not fall to my death." I asked.
"Not if you want to have the very expensive services of a professional beast trainer, that's the deal." Santon said.
I pondered the offer and asked, "I understand the problem of the job not paying enough for the danger faced. But why would you send me on these two jobs when I am sure you have much more lucrative jobs to offer me?"
After looking at me for a moment, Santon released a sigh. "That is because, like all managers in my position, we are assigned a region, and in each region, there are jobs like these two, untouched and unfulfilled. And while I inherited these two jobs from my predecessor, as long as the number of these untouched jobs does not increase, I will be fine, but if these two jobs are to be completed, it would reflect positively on my report, showing my ability to find the right people to get things done. And it will also reflect positively on you as a dependable problem solver."
Great, he is using me to boost his stats when he reports to his boss. But still… if a professional trainer were as elusive and expensive as he and my Dad say it is, maybe it would be worth it. "Before I agree to this, completing these jobs would get me the services of a trainer for the duration until my hippogriffs are fully grown? That means at least three years of service from the professional trainer."
Santon nodded, "It is a big commitment, but it can be done. I've got a few people I can trade favors with."
After pondering whether I should accept or not, I eventually came to the conclusion that I had no choice, or at least no cheaper choice. "Fine, I will take the jobs."
"Excellent!" Santon said as he began processing the paperwork for my acceptance of the jobs.
***
A week or so later, I was in a tree looking out of a spyglass at slim mountain peaks that looked like pillars sticking out of the land, and on those mountains, going more than a hundred meters tall, were harpy nests that were either on their peaks or on ledges.
I have been watching these harpies for the past two days, watching their habits, and I have learned that, like most animals, they sleep at night, confident that they are out of reach of most predators in their mountain.
That is why I will start my climb tonight. If I climb during the day, I will no doubt get swarmed and likely fall, but if I make my way to the peak and stand my ground, firm on my two feet, I will stand a better chance even if I am outnumbered.
So in the meantime, I double-checked my weapons, armor, and climbing equipment. I even made carabiners and rock climbing pegs for this job. So I am as prepared as I could be.