Having met back up with Lilia and Blitz after leaving the two of them alone to head into the deeper parts of the woods, Marcus began recounting his experiences since they had separated.
"So that is how I ended up with these two golden lion cubs. They are a bit low level for me to bother raising and I already have Blitz and Roxene, so I was wondering if you wanted to have them as your beast companions."
Lilia after hearing Marcus' story looked a bit sad as she stared at the two cubs that were currently tied up by Marcus' iron threads since it reminded her a bit of her own past abduction.
She almost wanted to tell Marcus to release them back into the forest, but she quickly realized that without their parents that was likely to be a death sentence.
She then looked pitifully at the two golden lion cubs for a bit before nodding her head towards Marcus agreeing to take the two cubs as her beast companions.
'Damn, looks like I upset her a bit. I thought I had gotten a bit better with being tactful, but I failed to realize how this might trudge up those memories for Lilia, especially since I just talked about it to Jarek.'
Marcus realizing his mistake pulled Lilia into a one-armed hug and said, "Lilia, I know you might feel bad for these two cubs, but at the end of the day this is a dungeon. The only law here is that the strong survive and the weak die. The lions attacked Roxene first but found themselves outmatched by us when we struck back. I understand how you could liken their situation to yours, but it is different. I want to make sure you understand that."
After giving Lilia a bit of a pep talk and comforting her for a couple minutes Marcus could see the pain that had resurfaced start to fade away again and decided to get Lilia's mind off it by asking her what she had been up to for the last three days.
"Well, I am glad you were able to rest the first day, and from what you told me you fight with the jumbo fanged squirrel was pretty intense. And you have made it to level twenty-one which is quite an achievement. Not too long and you will be as strong as a fledgling knight."
Marcus continued to throw complements at Lilia's achievements praising her for her efforts.
"Also thank you Blitz for keeping her safe. If not for you, there is no way I could have gone off on my own and not been worrying every second about Lilia."
Marcus then pattered Blitz a bit before pulling out a well-earned treat for him to eat.
"Now I am sure we are all tired so let's head out of here and rest up for a few days."
Their group then head down the tunnel leading towards the exit having a couple skirmishes with weak monsters on the way but finding no difficulty in making it back to the large area where a battalion of soldiers were station in case of an outbreak.
Passing through this area Marcus and Lilia moved hurriedly avoiding getting attention drawn to themselves, and once they had passed by the soldiers Marcus found a quite area and possessed Lilia's body.
He knew that people exiting the dungeon did not need to be checked but he would rather be safe than sorry.
Walking out of the dungeon Marcus came back into the large fortress that surrounded the entrance and made his way out.
Luckily, he did not run into any trouble and after unpossessing Lilia in a deserted alley the two of them began walking towards the inn they had rented a room at.
Arriving back at the Towering Bear Inn, the two of them walked in and rung the little bell at the front desk and the same man who helped them before came out and greeted them.
"Ha, good to see you again. If one of you did not show up soon, I was going to go up to your room and clear things out. So did you want to extent your stay or are you headed out."
"I think we will continue to stay here for the rest of our trip. Would it be possible to keep our rooms for another seven weeks?"
The man looked a bit surprised to see how long Marcus wanted to stay, but he was happy for the business and started calculating the price.
"For seven more weeks that will be twenty gold."
Marcus quickly handed over the twenty gold that was pretty much small change to him now and was about to head up to his room when the inn keeper noticed the two lion bubs on his back.
"I am afraid you will have to find somewhere else to put those two, they are not allowed in the room."
Nodding his head Marcus looked at Lilia and said, "I know you are tired so go ahead and go up to the room without me. I will leave these two with Blitz and he can look after and keep them in check."
Lilia who was pretty tired from the days of fighting in the dungeon agreed to Marcus' proposal and headed up to the room alone.
With their lodging now secured for the rest of their time in the city, Marcus headed out back to the area his carriage was stored and left Blitz there along with the two lion cubs.
'Now time to go and meet back up with Jarek and get whatever information I can out of him.'
Taking a casual walk over to the guild hall, Marcus walked in and found Jarek pretty easily.
He was currently surrounded by people who were listing to his story about fighting the couatl.
'He must be more popular than I thought. I suppose that is what happens when you make it to the higher ranks as an adventure.'
Marcus began walking over towards Jarek and a bunch of the other adventures started to notice him.
Most of them had not seen him before since he had only entered the guild hall once since coming to the city, and new arrivals were not all that common this time of year.
However, what garnered even more people's attention was when Jarek waved at Marcus showing that the two knew each other.
Marcus quickly moved through the crowd of curious people and sat down across from Jarek.
Once Marcus sat down with Jarek the two exchanged a couple of pleasantries before Jarek asked the group of curious adventures around them to leave so they could talk in peace.
"Thanks for meeting up with me again Irene. I realize now I never properly thanked you for your help. So, I already know you want to meet the city's finest beast master but is there anything else."
Marcus thought about it for a bit, and something quickly came to mind.
"Yeah, could you introduce me to the person that made your shield and spear. I happen to be a forgemaster myself and if they are in the city, I would love to meet them."
Jarek looked a bit surprised to hear that on top of being an adventure and baronetess Marcus was also a forgemaster.
"Okay, that should not be a problem. The one who made these is the best in the city and one of the best in the kingdom. He is actually the brother of the current royal forgemaster that works directly for the royal family."
Hearing this Marcus got a bit starry eyed, Thabon had mention the royal forgemaster before when Marcus had asked him about the other top forgemasters, and Thabon had spoken highly of his skill as just being a degree under his own.
'Thabon spoke quite highly of the current royal forgemaster so his brother must be pretty talented as well if the spear and shield he made for Jarek are anything to go by.'
Marcus and Jarek continued to talk for a bit more before Jarek's eyes went wide when he saw someone approaching.
Marcus quickly turned around to see who it was and saw that I was beautiful woman with long brown hair that looked to be in her early thirties.
As she approached Jarek looked to be sweating a bit and stood up and said, "Honey did you finished up the paperwork you were working on early?"
However, instead of a reply from the woman, he just received a resounding slap on the back of the head that had enough force behind it to sound like a sonic boom.
Jarek began holding his head which appeared to already be welting as the woman said to him, "How many times do I have to tell you to call me guild master when we are at work. Also, what is this I heard about you nearly dying in the dungeon. I know I told you to bring some support with you if you were serious about fighting that couatl. I do not care how strong you are, even you cannot handle everything yourself."
The woman who was obviously Jarek's wife continued to berate him for his reckless behavior for another minute before turning towards Marcus.
Her expression shifted suddenly from angry to polite, unnerving Marcus a bit as she said, "I believe you are the one that helped my idiot husband out when he found himself collapsed in the dungeon, you have my thanks."
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