Chapter 22: Isekai Life & How I Spent My Vacation

Immediately as the cloaked figures drew steel, Voss had his longsword in hand and his shield at the ready. Surprisingly, Calliope drew her own weapon- an ornate dagger from a sheath just inside her sleeve.

The cloaked figure chuckled. “Little girl, you don’t thin-”

So I threw a trio of darts at him to shut him up.

Calliope chanted and gestured, just barely casting a Shield spell in time to deflect the enraged stranger’s counterattack. Meanwhile behind me I heard Voss and the other three strangers clash, steel striking off of steel, and the fleshy sound of someone’s blow striking home.

I turned- hopefully Calliope could finish off that guy somehow, I certainly didn’t want to be the guy who made ranged attacks into melee. Voss was holding off two of the strangers in the narrow confines of the shop, while a four was trying to scramble over the counter to get me and Calliope. Instead, I threw darts in his face, and he fell backwards screaming, smashing into a shelf of fine porcelain teapots on the way down.

Behind me, I heard again the now-familiar sound of a blade striking home, and the gurgling of someone choking on their own blood. Voss also began fighting back, hard, smashing one of the strangers with his shield and slashing the other across the belly with his longsword, the follow-through of his blow smashing into a shelf full of pots and bowls.

I hesitated, not sure what to do, only to heard a feminine voice behind me chant, and a glowing magical bolt sail between Voss and I, curve in midair and strike the stranger right under his hood, distracting him long enough for Voss to run him through.

And just like that, it was over.

We were all puffing, taking a moment to let the rush of battle wear off, when Calliope complained, “Oh, damn it, I’m just covered in blood!”

She was drenched pretty thoroughly. Hell, the talking stranger was still writhing weakly on the floor as his neck shot little spurts of blood into the air with every failing heartbeat.

Frowning and cursing, she pull her dagger free from his neck and wiped it clean on a sleeve before returning it to it’s sheath.

“Well, next time, don’t go for the throat?” Voss offered.

Calliope gave him a dirty look. “I’ve never had to go for the throat before! Why are we getting attacked by people suddenly? Why are you going through their pockets?”

Voss shrugged. “Clues. Also, money. It’s not like they can spend it now.”

“This is what adventuring is all about, Calliope,” I added, “Sometimes you get ambushed.”

“And sometimes you get hurt, too,” Voss shot me a glare of his own. “Why didn’t you put these guys to sleep with the Hex of Something-Or-Other?”

“Uh, sorry,” I shrugged, “It all happened so fast ... but at least, I’ve got it for later if there are more of them.”

“Huh ... okay. Yeah, there might be more of them. Look.”

Voss pulled back the hood on one of the dead and/or dying strangers, revealing the orange-tinted skin, pointed ears and snoutlike nose of a hobgoblin.

“Whoever they are, they’re paying for hobgoblin enforcers. That’s not cheap.”

I rubbed my chin in thought. “And it’s not one of the established Thieves’ Guilds, they’re cut along racial lines, wouldn’t make sense for either of them to ... outsource.”

“Got it!” Calliope shouted.

During my exchange with Voss, she had slipped behind the counter, and then was standing there triumphantly with a bound leather ledger in her hands.

“What’s that?” Voss inquired.

“‘The books’, as it were,” she replied, “Or at least one book. Might provide us with a clue about who is ordering those distinctive clay jars you’re so obsessed with.”

Voss nodded and rose. “Good job,” I replied to Calliope.

“What’s our play here, Theo?” Voss asked, “Do we wait for the guards, or bolt? They’ve got to be on their way.”

I glanced out the front window of the shop. It was clear- the talkative hobgoblin had crashed into the window display on the way down- and I could see that our fight was loud enough that the street had cleared out, though I could also make out a trio of hooded figures in an alley across the road.

“We don’t know who these guys are working for. Hell, the city guard could be in on it, too,” I said after a moment, “There’s three more hobgoblins keeping an eye out in front of the shop. Let’s slip out the back and try to make it back to the Lazy Ox.”

“There’s probably going to be more of them, and I’m out of spells,” Calliopse said, frowning, “You sure we shouldn’t just ... wait for the city guard and take it from there?”

I wasn’t eager to maybe become a cop-killer. “Calliope, if you want to be an adventurer so bad, you’ll have to get used to operating on the fringes of the law,” I replied, “Anyway, just keep your dagger handy and your head down, and we’ll try to make it through.”

Voss straightened with a groan. “Well, just make sure you’ve got that spell handy. I can’t take too many more hits like this before we meet up with Ashryn.”

We headed through the back of the shop- a small workshop for painting and glazing the pottery that was manufactured elsewhere, I think- and stacked up on the rear exit. “Hold on,” I said, drawing out my hand mirror. I lowered myself to the floor, angled the mirror, and tried to peer out under the gap between the threshold and the door.