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Chapter 144: Chapter 137

"How long did he keep going at it?" Rin grinned, eyeing me.

"Oh, an hour at least, maybe more." Thorum chuckled. "Never in the same way, but for some reason, he always ended up with his face in the ground every single time."

"Well, he does always like to brag about how talented he is." Rin snickered.

"I\'m glad my genius is finally recognized by you." I raised my own mug up, before taking a drink. "Honestly, it\'s only rivaled by my handsomeness." I smirked.

"Boo." Rin blew me a raspberry.

"Aye, he has been getting a mite prideful these days, maybe we should have another training session?" Thorum laughed.

"Mayhaps it is appropriate to remind him and keep his ego grounded." Artoria added, surprisingly holding a mug of her own. I did not think she really enjoyed alcohol much...or maybe she just has specific tastes. I could imagine that this stuff was much closer to what she could remember form her era, and she was probably used to it from the first time I brought some around.

"Well, I would not say no to more people." Thorum rubbed his chin. "Your beauty and grace hide such prowess, Miss Pendragon. Just the thought of fighting you makes me shiver, as if my instincts are screaming that it is a bad idea."

Artoria looked very happy from his words. I think she was glad he didn\'t mention that she was....\'delicate\' or \'small\'. "You are Wilhelm\'s friend, you can call me by my name." She smiled at him, though not arguing with his words.

His dragon instincts were fairly good if he could tell that much.

"Another!" Jinn threw her hand up, slamming an empty mug onto the table, her fifth one so far. Maybe letting her drink so much alcohol so soon was a bad idea....

"Agreed!" Thorum followed suit, downing the last of his, mimicking her actions.

"Oh jeeze." Rin face palmed. "I didn\'t think she could even get drunk....can she get drunk, is she drunk?" Rin just shook her head.

Jinn just giggled. "Lighten up~"

"There is no harm, Rin." Artoria agreed. "We are among friends." Artoria followed suit with a smile herself. It was rare for her to indulge herself like this.

"Uggg, fine." Rin rolled her eyes, but smiled brightly as well. "Get me one with the next round."

"Woo!" Jinn cheered. "Waiter, another round!"

"Coming up!" A shout was heard behind the counter.

Honestly, at this point, half the tavern was stealing glances at us. Maybe because Jinn was very eye catching, maybe because they were very beautiful and exotic as far as looks went, or perhaps because of Thorum, and to a lesser extent me. But, for whatever reason, we were basically the center of attention here.

"I\'m curious, how did the two of you actually meet?" Rin asked as a woman came by, setting some fresh mugs on the table for us and taking our dishes away.

"Oh, that\'s actually kinda funny.." I scratched my cheek.

"Aye, it was a strange situation." Thorum nodded.

"You want to or...?"

"You go ahead, my friend, I\'m curious how it was from your perspective." He gestured for me to go on.

"Alright." I took a big drink, letting the honeyed taste pour down my throat. "Well, it started off with that mishap with my magic." I glanced around, Rin and Artoria nodded, but Jinn looked confused and Thorum was, contemplative. "My portal ability." I clarified. "First time using it, had a bit of an accident with my calculations."

"Oh, I see." Thorum nodded in understanding.

"Yeah...did the magical equivalent of hitting a tree when I used it for the first time."

"So this is nothing new then." Thorum grinned.

"Yeah yeah, laugh it up." I lightly hit his shoulder. "So, I had a bit of a tumble, head hurting, these guys find me and patch me up. The Storm cloaks." I paused again. "You know about the political situation in Skyrim at the moment?"

"I read it." Jinn interjected. "Stormcloaks, rebelling against the Empire, to summarize it."

"That works." I nodded. "Anyways, got found by the stormcloaks, they patched me up, but apparently the camp got raided by the empire, everyone gets tied up, including me because they had no idea who I was."

"Why would they tie you up too, you were unconscious and probably hurt?" Rin looked confused.

"It is admittedly the intelligent course of actions." Artoria clarified. "He could have been a combatant injured in previous battle. Honestly, there were an uncountable number of possibilities, it was the safe action to take when dealing with enemies."

"Aye, I don\'t fault them for treating me with caution when I was pulled into everything as well. I was crossing the border at a bad time, and they assumed I was with the Stormcloaks as well." Thorum took a drink of his mead. "I do not think it helped that I was a Nord as are the majority of the Storm cloaks"

"Anyways, I wake up, hands bound, a killer headache and we\'re on the back of a cart escorted by a bunch of armed guards." I started to weave the tale. "I look around and the first words out of my mouth are \'fuck me\'." I gestured over to Thorum. "I share a conversation with some Stormcloak guy, he gives me some information, and apparently, we\'re sitting right next to the guy who started the rebellion and murdered the king. Or something like that, I haven\'t really looked into it much."

"That sounds...super unlucky, like holy shit." Rin started at me incredulously.

Thorum let out a laugh. "It could have been. There have been tales of the Empire forgoing legal rights and sending prisoners straight to the block."

"I can guess you both escaped your binds?" Artoria looked....unamused by the insinuation.

Jinn, as if sobering up for a moment seemed angry, a look I hadn\'t ever seen on her face before. "Maybe we should go pay a visit to the Empire." She gave a very innocent smile.

"You\'re sweet." I kissed her cheek.

"Hehe~" She giggled, as if forgetting her previous words, and went back to drinking.

Thorum gave his big goofy smile, shooting me a thumbs up. "I am still waiting to learn this powerful magic of yours, my friend."

"Oh, fuck off." I waved my hand at him.

"Magic, what magic?" Rin perked up.

"This idiot keeps spouting some nonsense about my natural charm being some sort of magic." I rolled my eyes.

"Well, I think it would make more sense." Rin snorted.

"Indeed my friend. I believe you should share your secrets." Thorum joined in.

"Oh screw you both." I huffed. "I can\'t help it if I can just charm the panties off the ladies" I wiggled my eyebrows.

"Oh, can you now?" Artoria raised an eyebrow.

"Erm...." I cleared my throat.

"Please, do go on." Rin had a wide grin on her face.

"Yes, Will, please elaborate." Thorum also chimed in.

"I\'m not wearing panties!" Jinn declared.

We all turned to her, who just started going into a giggle fit. Drunk Jinn is precious, and I want to cherish her forever.

I dipped my finger into my drink, using the liquid to draw a few runes onto the table, creating a simplistic and unsteady bounded field, something that can be wiped away quite easily. Its only purpose was to muffle our conversation to anyone outside of our table.

"Anyways, we were tied up, right?" My ability to change the subject was masterful as always.

"Smooth." Rin deadpanned. "But I am curious, go on."

Well, I was mostly joking, and Artoria knew that if her smile was anything to go by.

"I don\'t particularly like the Stormcloaks, but they were good to have at my back. I was able to communicate with some looks to one of them that I could use magic, Thorum picked up on it easily as well. So, I burst a wheel of the cart with a botched Reinforcement, and in the sudden confusion we staged a break out."

"A botched reinforcement? That\'s pretty smart and something I\'ll need to remember." Rin muttered.

"I remember." Thorum took a drink. "The ones guarding us, the majority of them were green. Probably never seeing a true battle before, just there to bask in the \'glory\' of defeating a group of stormcloaks. They were disorganized in the mess and panicked."

"There was no commander to take charge?" Artoria looked at me in surprise.

"Now that I think about it....there was a woman on a horse giving orders, and there was another prisoner with us, a horse thief who tried to make a run for it before we moved, but after I blew the cart up. She went after him since he bolted into the nearby forest."

Artoria furrowed her brow, looking a little annoyed. "She should have sent out some of her men, not go herself. She left them without a clear chain of command, and chaos ensued without anyone to rally them."

"I won\'t say anything in her defense." I held my arms up.,

"Aye, in hindsight, it was a bad idea on their part, but I will not lose any sleep over their decisions." Thorum added.

"So, you guys fought, anything interesting happen?" Rin asked.

"About what you would expect." I shrugged. "I was a bit....weaker back then, but they still didn\'t have any mages, so I could have free rein with my own magic. Really, the most annoying thing was a couple archers."

Suddenly Thorum broke out in laugher. "I remember! You threw a dagger at one of them, but it only clonked him in the head and he fell over!"

I snorted, laughing myself a I recalled what happened. "I completely forgot about that. I never had much a talent for throwing knives or the like." I let out a small sigh, as the image of it was still fresh in my mind now. "Afterwards, we went our separate ways, only meeting back up again when I went to Whiterun."

"Oh, oh! Tell them how you met Meridia!" Jinn looked excited at the idea.

"She told you?" I was mildly surprised.

"Uh huh." Jinn nodded.

"I\'m curious now." Artoria spoke.

"There is definitely a story here and I have to know." Rin looked at me.

Thorum sat up a little straighter. "You never did tell me the full story of how you met, only that you met her at her temple."

"It\'s not that interesting." I waived it off. "I just met her after clearing her temple of some necromancer. We clicked and the rest is history."

"Li-ar~" Jinn poked me. "Tell the truth, mister" She continued to poke me.

"You\'re really going to make me say it?" I groaned.

"Oh god I really want to hear this now." Rin looked rather gleeful.

"She asked me what I wanted as my reward after defeating the necromancer and cleansing her temple" I sighed.

"You didn\'t." Rin broke out in laughs.

"I did."

"I don\'t know if I should laugh or admire your bravery." Thorum seemed a bit speechless.

"Why not both?" Rin shared a look with him.

"Aye, both sounds good."

"Hate you, hate you both."

"I don\'t understand." Artoria spoke up.

Damn you and your adorable naivety.

"Say it." Jinn leaned in, poking me further.

"I asked her to be my woman." I dropped my head to the table.

"He\'s blushing!" Rin cried in laughter.

"Oh, I see." Artoria turned a little pink. "How bold."

"Truly you are an inspiration." Thorum toasted, holding back his own bellowing laughter with a drink.

"I think it\'s cute." Jinn cooed

"Yeah, yeah." I sighed. "Let\'s change the subject, what\'s going on with you, Thorum?"

"I was thinking of heading out, seeing some of Skyrim for a bit." He calmed down, seemingly adopting a somewhat serious expression.

"You\'re not worried about a dragon attack?" I asked. I wouldn\'t have stuck around like he had, but his sense was duty was admirable if nothing else.

"I am, but I can\'t just sit here forever." He admitted. "Ddraig\'s words spoke true to my heart. At the very least, I wish to step out of the city for a few days." He let out a sigh. "I had spoken to the Jarl, he did give his blessing."

The jarl agreed huh? Well, from a pragmatic view, it would be smart of him to not run afoul the Dragonborn when he\'s already being so helpful and listening to the Jarl\'s commands. "Any idea on where you want to go?"

"I have not thought that far ahead." He scratched his head. "The college would be an interesting place to visit. I would not mind seeing where you have studied and maybe learn a thing or two myself."

"The college is great." Rin beamed. "They\'ll happily accept you. I heard some things about this \'Dragonborn\' you\'re supposed to be able to pick up magic really easily. I\'m curious how that works, is it some kind of enhanced spiritual wisdom? Or maybe a magical phenomenon similar to Mystic Eyes that breaks down any magic knowledge you learn to better assimilate it?"

"I understood....some of those words." Thorum chuckled.

"I would not fret, she sometimes speaks in such riddles." Artoria gave a light smile. "I find it appropriate to just nod along whenever she addresses me in such a way."

"Saber!"

"Aye, I will take your advice to heart." The shared a small chuckle between them at Rin\'s expense. "But the College does sound enticing, I will have to visit sometime."

"I also work there." Jinn opened her eyes, having been resting on my shoulder for awhile now.

"Oh, Miss Jinn, what job do you have at the college?" Thorum asked.

Jinn perked up; she did so love to talk about the books there. "I\'m the assistant Librarian! If you need anything found, any knowledge, I can find it for you." She puffed up her chest.

"I will be in your care then, Miss Jinn." Thorum nodded at her with a smile.

"She\'s right, and the Archmage would set you up with anything you really wanted. I have it on good authority that they recent received a sizable donation, more supplies should be rolling in from outside Skyrim soon."

"Hoh, a sizable donation?" Thorum looked at me. "The person who donated it sounds very generous and honorable."

"Hopefully prices will be kept down a certain extent from this." I didn\'t elaborate, but he could read between the lines. "But....if you want something to do in the immediate time frame...." I shared a look around the table. Rin and Artoria were clued in on what I was talking about, and they gave me their silent approval. "We had a little excursion planned in a little bit, shouldn\'t take more than a day, could give you a chance to stretch your legs."

"Sure, what do you need?" Thorum said without hesitation.

"You\'re not even going to ask?"

He shrugged. "If you require my aid, I will lend it."

"You are a good man, Thorum." Artoria nodded approvingly. "We seek one of those fabled Elder Scrolls, do you wish to join us in this quest?"

"An Elder Scroll!?" Thorum looked shocked. "I have only heard tales" He rubbed his chin. "To seek one out, I would regret it for the rest of my life if I did not accompany you on such a mission."

"Sweet, one more person to help kill giant spiders while I stand back." Rin approved in her own way.

Thorum didn\'t take offense. "I shall slay any spiders that approach you, Miss Tohsaka"

"You can call me Rin." She grumbled, but she didn\'t like displeased by his attitude at all.

"What about you?" I poked my blue genie. "Do you want to take some time to sober up and come?"

"Sleepy." She yawned.

"I\'ll take that as a no." Well, I don\'t think she would have wanted to come anyways, she\'s much more at home surrounded by books than out in the thick of it. "Well, we can drop her off at home, and pick up any supplies we need there. As I said, It shouldn\'t be more than a day if everything goes well, two at the most."

"Good, I look forward to seeing your battle prowess, Thorum." Artoria nodded. "I have head stories of the Dragonborn, and I am curious to see it in person."

Artoria approved as well, that\'s always good.

"Miss – Artoria." He corrected himself. "I do look forward to wielding my blade at your side. Wilhelm has told me tale of your knighthood, I will see it firsthand."

"Oi, don\'t forget me." Rin huffed.

"Of course, Rin." Thorum smiled. "I am expecting to see your magical talent in action."

Jeeze, I don\'t think he\'s even doing that on purpose, buttering them up in all the right ways. Really, he\'s just a genuinely nice guy, always trying to make people around him happy.

I put my arm around Jinn, her giving a happy grunt at my action. "Alright, let\'s drop Jinn off and then head out." I pulled her up into my arms, picking her up off the chair.

"Weee~" She kicked her legs in my arms happily.

Damn, she really is a lightweight. Though, I can\'t really blame her, like one of the few times she ever even drank anything and she downed half a dozen mugs of Mead.

Well, I was looking forward to this little adventure. It will be my first time doing this whole thing in a party. Perhaps I should take on a more traditional mage role?

I won\'t deny that a younger me is absolutely gleeful at the idea of forming a party and exploring a dungeon.

***

Should be two chapters tomorrow to make up for missing Friday.

Happy Easter to everyone.

If you want to read 6 chapters ahead, visit my /astoryforone