"What do you think about it?" Gohlm asked after they'd made it out of the building, finally managing to peel themselves off of the congratulations and the jokes. If it were any rowdier, it might've just fell short of the more tame nights in the city, Theia only knew what Thrand's tavern might look like tonight; were they really planning on attending that actually? Barely noticing his silent musings, Gale answered with a shrug, "It pays well, I think we're well up for the task"
He sighed, "That is the most important thing on our plates, if only we were born noble"
"Then we'd be suffering from boredom" Gale joked as Gohlm shook his head, "Still, all that for an escort request? Wonder who it is…."
"Those serpents up in government? You know we don't ask enough why there's still nobles that high up, the seven kings no longer exist, that sounds like grounds to change the rest of things, right?"
"Hrmm, it's working fine isn't it?" He questioned, earning a dejected moan, "Gohlm, you have to start looking a little further ahead than the now sometimes. Nobles are nobles, they're not like you and me, seriously, there's not a single qualified citizen over there and we wonder why living here is so damn expensive"
"I can't refute that" He nodded, wincing again as he moved his shoulder, whatever spell Val had put after he'd taken the fall had been wearing off over the past few hours, gradual but now it was hardly enough to fight back the annoying throbs—something he couldn't hope to hide the severity off now as Gale gave him a sidelong glance, "Speaking of thinking ahead, a physician comes first, you're not going to get us both killed because you refused to have that checked out are you?"
"By us you mean me?"
"Of course!" Gohlm nodded rather coolly at the rapid response, "Spectacular, my dragon partner can't even keep me safe"
He felt a hand roughly pat his back causing him to yelp, "That's a funny one, Gohlm, has anyone ever told you how much of a fine jester you'd have been over a hundred years ago?"
𖤓
"HAAA!!" He shifted right, skidding across the ground in a plume of dust and spiteful grunts, a faint haze lofted through the air and dispersed at the swing of a mace where his eyes narrowed, ready to meet the second attack with a hardened fist but his opponent dodged—expected no less, the other was well aware that he used magic, a single blow might very well have been devastating; best to avoid it at all costs. Sidestepping the desperate punch with a grin, he swung again, bringing the mace up from his rear as he shouted, "Sloppy, tin bucket, make this more fun!!"
The corners of his lips lifted behind the helm as Thrand swung, too invested into the action, momentum carrying him forward and making it impossible to reel back now. Faints weren't difficult to notice but they certainly weren't easy either, for a seasoned veteran discerning that careful ruse was natural—a second gear spinning in the back of their heads. Such an analysis was made easier when one took into account how quickly they could respond or pull themselves out of a prior action, Gohlm had thrown a punch, his side was open but his legs were free and the momentum was far from enough to carry him forward without any hope of pulling his arms back to catch him but that was negligible. Humans had amongst the slowest reaction times there was, even behind himself, a dwarf. The best of the best of them could only outmatch someone of himself completely untrained in the manners of combat and although the gap could be bridged with mana—with magic, he knew how augmenters operated, the precision required to enhance an individuals strengths through mana but they could only choose one or the other.
For explosive power, you sacrificed speed, for faster perception, you couldn't enhance the rest of your body in tandem; too precise, too much risk of getting things wrong and maiming yourself instead. Gohlm had chosen strength, he could enhance his reactions but by the time he'd noticed what was going on, he'd long have been hit. The momentum of his attack left himself vulnerable but so was Gohlm, in that situation it was a matter of speed, of reaction. Such capabilities that no matter how trained, a human could never hope to match. "Hm?!" Thrand's eyes widened as a knee slammed into his midsection before his attack had made contact, causing him to wince but his surprise hadn't ended yet. Faster than before, faster than he'd ever seen, the towering armored tank of a man, pulled his arm back and caught the mace by its shaft.
'Impossible' it had to be, what kind of lunatic had that kind of precision as an augmenter? Fighting through the pain, he let the mace slip from his grasp, the knee that had collided with him threatening to send him reeling back but he steadied, refused to let it. It was Gohlm's turn to express a bit of shock, lost behind the shadows of the helm as Thrand's now free body moved, darting between the small space left between them and reeling in a punch so fast it might've as well have been a blur, "Guh!" Gohlm grunted, slid back from the force of it in a plume of dark dust and a cough as he fell to the ground, one knee on the surface.
"YES!! HAHA, TENMA, DID YER SEE THAT?!" He bellowed, panting and resisting the urge to keel at the pain throbbing from his midsection, "Truly, might lies in execution!! Not in one's physical aptitude!"
There was a groan not far from them that sighed whilst tossing the sweating dwarf a coin, "C'mon, Gohlm, now look—he'll never shut up about this, say you threw the fight, please, I'd believe ya" the silver headed woman spoke, a pair of rabbit ears drooped over and dejected as much as she was. At the mention of that, Thrand seemed to scoff, stuffing the coin where it belonged and holding back a wince as he crossed his arms, "The young lad fought valiantly, a shame he'd met an opponent such as I"
"Make him stoppp!" Tenma grumbled, making a fit to cover her ears as Gohlm moaned, plopping onto the ground and placing a hand on where he'd been hit, "Apologies but he really got me, I was sure that hit would've done it"
"He admits it!"
"Lie a little, will you? You don't want to hear him when he's confident, he can really talk all day" Thrand couldn't help a grin, "That's a compliment I say"
"The talkative bit?"
"One's confidence, it's all we need after all" She made a grunt as though wanting to say something but couldn't find a joke that would avoid having to disagree with that, in the end she relented, sighing as she glanced off to Gohlm, "Where'd you even learn to move like that? I've seen augmenters, the best of them aren't human"
Gohlm chuckled, "Because they're superhuman, they can sacrifice being able to augment one thing and abandon the others"
"And you? Yer able to do it all, feed the muscles with mana, feed yer eyes, feed yer brain and bones; all that whilst in combat?" Thrand shook his head through a scoff, plopping onto the ground with a huff, unable to hold it back anymore, "Yer one scary lad, Gohlm, one scarily talented lad"
Gohlm grinned, "If I'd known you were such a hard hitter, I would've prepared for that better, could've won that one"
Hearing that, Tenma laughed, slapping the ground whilst nodding her head with a grin, "That's more like it! Teach some of that stuff to me too someday"
Thrand scoffed, "Yer use guns, stick to what ya know!"
"An adventurer expands their skills~" Thrand grumbled at being unable to disagree with that as a sudden gust of wind followed by distant roars drew their attention elsewhere, towards the distant canyons, "I heard the last group sent here didn't fair so well"
Thrand chuckled for a moment, "Yer should always send the best at it first"
Gohlm raised a brow, jokingly asking as he did "And that would be?"
"Us" Tenma smiled, falling onto their bag of supplies and resting there, "What challenge can't we handle?"
𖤓
Emerald light enveloped his back, familiarly cool as he felt its touch run along his back, along the bruise, soothing it as much as Val's attempt had although this time there was far from the feeling of suppression, more of relief—as though eradicating it entirely; the bruise was healing. "Healing magic, a true wonder…" Gohlm complimented, the man's face practically expressionless, "Indeed, understanding the injury has helped dramatically, allows one to heal the issue more specifically—more efficiently, human studies are truly fascinating"
"Science…?" Gohlm muttered, earning a nod, "And here I thought magic solved it all" he chuckled, feeling the man's scarlet eyes run a cold gaze over him, indifferent, "Bravado,. Mr Gohlm although there's likely merit to it, perhaps it can—one simply has to harness it better. I admire our peace for that, we've learned"
He nodded, it was true enough. Humans could possess mana, a rare few could use it with as much skill as a mage. For that very reason, mana, magic, humans had rarely found themselves capable enough to use it in the ways their enemies did and so too birthed the deeper complexities of our world, of magic too; the birth of artificers…of science. He felt like asking how exactly that worked and thought better of it, Tenma's explanations on cannons had been of no real assistance, he doubted medical knowledge was any different and truthfully, though the vampire in front of him seemed indifferent he feared showing too much interest might very well spiral into lesson he was surely out of his depth to understand. So, when the emerald light receded and the doc stood back for a moment, he stood; stretching his back as though to check the limitations before putting on the vest, the rest of the upper half of his armour and the cape.
It seemed a full recovery.
"Thank you" Gohlm mentioned, earning a dismissive shake of their head, "Common practice among others such as yourself"
"Adventurers?"
"Who else?" The man turned, perhaps expecting him to leave now, "Count yourself fortunate, Mr Gohlm. This time it was something manageable, there is no guarantee of that in the future"
"Be careful, take care in battle; that's what you're saying, right?" He joked, the man's face still expressionless—a little unsettling he had to say, was this what his helm seemed like to others? Expressionless, cold, distant? No, it couldn't have been the same, there was personality behind the helm, the man man's face however was as dull as a blank piece of paper.
"More accurately, I'd ask you for how long you intended to persist" Gohlm paused, "Persist…?"
Not taking the conversation to mind and answering it as though indulging a passing thought, he spoke bluntly, "Adventurers seem to forget that their mortal, flesh and blood, through excessive repeated torture—the body deteriorates, fails to keep up. Naturally, you slow down, you move less nimbly as you used to, endure much shorter than your younger self could've managed. Slow for some, inevitable for others"
"You're insinuating I fall into the latter?" the man paused, scarlet irises glancing back at him, "I'll refrain from answering, Mr Gohlm, it's a sensitive topic amongst your brethren as I've come to realize…what will say is, think carefully on your decisions from now on, I feel it my duty to advise upon ones decisions regarding their health. You're human, Mr Gohlm, age clasps her hands around you first" he said, glancing away from him as Gohlm stared, a heavy silence before he'd turned around to leave, stopping just short of the door and glancing back without fully turning, "…Thank you, again"
The door opened, creaking shut with a soft thud.