Chapter 159: Wolf in the Hen House

Noll looked like a werewolf and a chimera had hate-fucked a child into existence. He did, at least superficially, have a lot of werewolf-like qualities. His face was wolf-like with a muzzle and snout the same as a dog. He had thick dark fur all over his body with lighter gray and white highlights across his head and arms. His hands were tipped with razor-sharp claws and his legs had that odd double-knee look to them that was normally seen in canines or other similar animals. He also had a shaggy tail that poked out behind him. But those were just his dog qualities. Noll had a lot more variety going on in his composition than Jadis thought was reasonable for a werewolf.

His yellow eyes were vertically slit like a cat’s eyes while his ears stuck out to the sides and looked far more like they belonged on a cow than a wolf. From his forehead sprouted two large dark horns that swept back like an antelope’s. Starting between the horns and leading to his thick neck and large, hunched back was a mane of hair that looked almost like a natural mohawk. Combined with his man-like stature, Noll had a shockingly strange appearance that while alien to Jadis, also looked somehow familiar.

“Okay, Noll,” Syd replied to the beast-man’s introduction. “I’m Syd. Nice to meet you. Now how about answering what you’re doing in my fucking house?”

Noll calmly put the rest of his half-eaten meat pie into his mouth and chomped down on it, sending little crumbles to fall down onto the table. He gave Syd an assessing, sidelong glance before pushing his seat out from the table and getting to his feet. Once standing, Jadis could see that Noll was no small creature. That was obvious even while sitting since he had a powerful physique and shoulders as broad as a barn door. Standing, though, Jadis judged the man to be as tall as Aila, who was an imposing height for a human. Like Kerr with her horns, Noll’s more curved horns still gave him extra height that made him look even bigger. He also stood with a hunch, she noticed. Or maybe that was just how his body worked? His back and shoulders were so big that it looked like he had a large hump, giving off the impression he was hunched forward even when standing straight.

Another aspect Jadis could see more clearly now that he was standing were the beast-man’s clothes. He wore no shirt, his wide furred chest on full display, but he had on a pair of red pants held up by a wide leather belt with a prominent steel buckle. He also wore something that looked like an approximation of sandals, though his dog-like feet made for an unusual configuration.

“This isn’t your house,” Noll stated, causing Jadis’ eyebrows to shoot up at the audacious claim. “This is the guild hall of the mercenary company Fortune’s Favored. That you live here is secondary.”

“Yeah, and it’s still mine,” Syd took a few steps closer to the wolf-like man. She loomed over him, forcing Noll to tilt his head back to meet her eyes. “So either way you’re taking up space in my dining hall and eating my meat pies without an invitation. Tell me why I shouldn’t chuck you right out the door?”

“Dys,” Kerr whispered, catching Jadis’ attention. “Don’t fucking antagonize him.”

“Technically he’s not out of bounds,” Aila offered up quietly at the same time as Kerr, addressing Jay. “We’re a registered mercenary company. Our hall is open to clients seeking services and recruits looking for work. It’s in our charter.”

Jay, Dys, and all of her companions had fully entered the building by then. They were spread out behind Syd, letting her handle the confrontation with Noll on her own. The information that Kerr and Aila were delivering to her threw a wrench into her aggressive clash with the dark-furred man, though. Aila’s point was something Jadis hadn’t thought of, the details of her company’s charter mostly going over her head from all the legalese. If Aila was right, then she was actually being a giant ass to someone who had a legit reason to be in what was ostensibly a place of business.

Kerr’s reaction was far more concerning to Jadis, though.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Dys looked at Kerr, leaning closer to the archer. “Do you know him?”

“I know of

him,” Kerr replied back, her eyes not leaving the heavily muscled beast-man. “And he’s way, way over our levels.”

“Listen to the chiot,” Noll spoke up, his eyes not leaving Syd’s. “She’s got some sense under her horns.”

Syd continued to stare down Noll, not willing to be the first one to back down. But as the moment stretched on, Jadis felt more and more like she was being the unreasonable one. She really had just accosted a man who’d come to visit and done nothing other than sit at a table and eat food that had clearly been offered to him by Hans. And by the way the silent barman-turned-cook was giving Syd the stink eye, Jadis was fairly certain of his opinion of the whole situation.

Fortunately, Jadis had a way to back down without looking like the weak one.

“Alright,” Jay said loudly while stepping up behind her other self. “Maybe we got off on the wrong foot here. Chill out, Syd.”

Putting a hand on Syd’s shoulder, Jay pretended to settle her “sister” down, guiding her away from the burly beast-man and releasing some of the tension in the room.

“Sorry for being rude,” Jay addressed Noll, though maybe not in her most apologetic voice. “We just weren’t expecting… you to be here when we got back home. We were just fighting a manticore, too, so we’re still a little on edge I guess.”

“I can smell that,” Noll said, whuffing in a few deep breaths.

“Right…” Jay said awkwardly, not sure how to take the were-chimera standing there sniffing the air so loudly. “Anyway, if you’re here for business, we’re not really in the best position to talk about jobs right now—”

“Fine,” Noll interrupted while stepping back and retaking his seat at the table. “I’ll just finish my dinner then.”

“…Fine,” Jay echoed, tilting her head and gritting her teeth. “We’ll, ah, just wash up then and be right back and join you, okay?”

Noll waved a clawed hand dismissively before snatching up a flagon of ale Hans put on the table before him and taking a long gulp—an impressive feat considering the shape of his face.

“Fine,” Jay reiterated before turning to walk up the stairs.

The rest of her bodies followed behind along with her companions, including a confused but interested-looking Sabina. They all retreated up the stairs and out of easy earshot of Noll. Once they were all inside the bedroom, Jay removed her helmet and waved it in the general direction of the dining hall below.

“What the hell is that all about?” she demanded to know, her face a mix of agitation and uncertainty. “And why the fuck are you acting all timid?”

The last was directed at Kerr, who had also taken the opportunity to remove her helmet.

“I’m not being maldita timid,” Kerr shot back, flashing her fangs at Jay. “But if that’s the Noll I think he is, then we don’t want to fucking piss him off! He could tear your oversized head right the fuck off!”

“Yeah right. You really think we’d go down that easy to one guy?” Jay scoffed, but then was taken aback as Aila took a step forward, shaking her head.

“Jay, I know you don’t know about this kind of thing because of your background, so this is where you need to listen to us,” she said. “Did you see that buckle on his belt? There was a silver medallion on the front of it. That medallion is only given out by the Empire to people who pass CLR one hundred. He’s double your level, at a minimum.”

“Triple, if I’m right,” Kerr added. “Last I heard, Noll the Savage was level one hundred and fifty-six. He’s not some backwater nobody, he’s a fucking monstrously powerful merc!”

That was enough to make Jadis pause. Jadis knew that on Oros, a person had to reach a combined level rating of sixty to unlock their third and final class. At that point, they were generally considered to be an elite, the feat of reaching CLR sixty something not many accomplished. Even with how much more experience people got during demonic invasions, it was still a big deal to make it to such a high level. If the beast-man currently stuffing his face with meat pies was had reached a level that was more than double that vaunted number, than maybe he really was a bit outside of her power range.

“Okay,” Jay sighed, hands flopping to her sides. “He’s a big fucking deal. What are we supposed to do about him, then?”

“I would suggest we sit down and have dinner,” Eir spoke up. The elf gave Jay a reassuring smile. “I think you all might be overacting, just a tad. He’s not been unreasonable, in all honesty. Perhaps if we just share a meal with him and listen to what he has to say, then we’ll all be able to put a better perspective on the situation and move on from there?”

Eir’s suggestion was entirely reasonable. Almost embarrassingly so, Jadis realized. Nodding at the priestess, she agreed to the sensible course of action and started to unbuckle her armor. She didn’t see any reason why she should have to sit at the table while wearing a full set of plate.

“Where did you hear about this guy anyway?” Dys asked Kerr, giving her a questioning glance.

“There aren’t that many therions running around the Empire,” Kerr responded while unfastening some of the straps on her own leather armor. “I try to keep track of my kinsmen. The high-level ones, anyway. Don’t really give a fuck about the weaklings.”

“Hold the fuck on,” Jadis’ bodies froze, all three of her selves exclaiming at once.

“That beast down there is a therion?” Jay asked incredulously.

“Of course he’s a fucking therion,” Kerr gave Jay a look like she was the biggest idiot on the planet. “What in the gods’ names did you think he was?”

“I don’t know, some kind of werewolf—beast—thing!” Jay waved her hands in messy circles. “Something I’ve never seen before! You’re a therion, aren’t you? You don’t have a damn dog face like him!”

“You’re not, like, mixed with a human or something, are you?” Syd asked, her fists propped on her hips. “I mean, that’s fine if you are, but I thought—”

“I’m not a fucking half-breed,” Kerr rolled her eyes. A second later, she looked towards Sabina and huffed, “No offense. I’m a purebred. So is Noll. That’s just what male therions look like.”

Oh.

Jadis processed that new information for a while, not entirely sure what to do with it. Now that she compared, both Kerr and Noll had the cow ears, horns, cat eyes, claws, and dog-like tails. It was just that Noll had far more exaggerated animalistic features, while Kerr looked more human. And Kerr wasn’t covered in fur.

Sexual dimorphism was a thing, wasn’t it? Jadis was no biologist, but she knew some animals displayed big differences between males and females of their species. Still, the idea that Kerr and Noll were essentially the same thing was utterly wild to her. They did not seem like they could be related.

Shaking her heads, Jadis snapped out of her contemplation of therion biology and moved to resume taking off her armor. Before she quite unbuckled her breastplates, she remembered that there was one extra person in the room who might not be comfortable with sudden Nephilim nudity.

“Oh, uh, Sabina,” Syd turned to the half-elf, giving her an abashed grin. “Sorry, you got all caught up in this. Did you want to use the bathroom first to freshen up? It’s right over here.”

Leading the smith towards the bathroom door, Sabina smiled and shook her head good naturedly.

“It’s fine! I’m part of your mercenary company now so if you’re having issues I think it’s only right that I should be around to hear them and maybe help but honestly I don’t have much to say about this one because I don’t know anything about Noll or high level mercenaries from any standpoint other than making armor for them and even then I don’t have any practical experience since no one buying my armor is high level since I don’t even have my second class yet and anyone above CLR sixty can afford way better work than mine but I get why you’re so flustered since it’s weird to walk into what you think of as your house and you see some stranger sitting there eating your food so I get it but I think you probably did overreact a little bit but that’s fine cause at least you didn’t start throwing punches.”

Sabina’s rambling speech cut off as they reached the door. Jadis opened it for her and the half-elf took a small step in. Then, she turned abruptly and looked up into Syd’s face.

“You only have the one bed up here?”

“Uh, yeah,” Syd admitted, nonplused by the sudden change in topic. “Is that a problem?”

“No, not really,” Sabina said with a happy smile, then turned and disappeared into the bathroom, door closing behind her.

“Okay then,” Syd said to no one in particular.

From there, Jadis moved as quickly as she could to get her armor off and into some normal clothes. Her companions did as well, with all of them taking turns to wash up and get clean with as much speed as they could. Jadis already felt like she had left Noll alone downstairs for far too long and didn’t want to leave him for much longer. Then again, considering how long she had delayed, the therion could very well be gone by the time she did return to the dining hall. When they all eventually got down the stairs, Jadis was somewhat surprised to find that Noll was still in the same seat eating meat pies and drinking ale, seemingly unbothered by how long they had taken.

Following Eir’s suggestion, Jadis took her seats on the floor while the others took their seats around the table. Jadis inwardly cursed that she hadn’t yet gotten around to commissioning some chairs that were appropriate to her size. She didn’t normally mind sitting on the floor, but doing so in front of Noll heated her cheeks a little. At least she had enough seats for Noll and Sabina to sit at the long table without forcing any of the others to give up their chairs.

As Hans brought out more plates piled high with meat pies, Jay turned to look at Noll and gave the gluttonous therion a forced smile.

“So, Noll,” she started while the others took their plates, “what brings you here to Weigrun, and more specifically to visit Fortune’s Favored?”

The grizzled mercenary took another deep draught from his wooden mug, then wiped some of the foam off of his nose before looking her in the eyes and answering.

“Prince Kestil sent me here to spy on you lot.”

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