Chapter 7: Seven

For the second day in a row, Janilari found herself waiting near the alley where the group of adventurers was settling their differences, in which she believed was a whole lot of arguing.

Back in the tavern, in an attempt to keep her little lie going, Rida said the team that she had "allowed" the demoness to help them become a successful adventuring company, by putting  Janilari in charge of their training and all that. She recited some excuse about trusting the demon's experience in the matter, and claimed that if they wanted to succeed they would need her tutelage.

Of course, the rest of the adventurers resisted the idea immediately, hence their current arguing session in the alley.

Janilari sighed, bored out of her mind. The time spent arguing, she thought, could have been spent doing some progress instead. While she had until the end of times, Rida did not!

She was, of course, very tempted to repeat her trick from yesterday and pay an extracorporeal visit to the alley, to coincidentally hear their conversation. She was very close to doing so, actually, but then something more interesting caught her attention.

A group of travelers had entered the town, some distance down the road. Humans crowded around them, and some girls near the demon whispered at each other and sprinted to join the mob.

Janilari followed them, walking slowly, trying to gain a glimpse of the visitors. As they got closer it was easy to do so: they towered above the crowd, mounting over horses that doubled the size of the ones Maesron owned. When she saw their equipment, and the way they saluted the multitude around them, it was clear who they were.

It was another group of adventurers.

There were seven of them. The three on the back wore long, pristine robes: one red, one black, one white, all of them charged with jewelry as was customary for human mages.

The three in the middle wore armor similar to Maesron's, but gilded with intricate designs of gold and silver, possibly to provide magical protection that steel just couldn't. They had swords, spears and one of them, a bow, and all their weapons were shining with the sunlight, a white glow almost blinding to human eyes.

And finally, the knight that lead the group wore a full suit of armor with a unique design. There was something strange about the texture, and as they got closer Janilari saw that it was made of small, black dragon scales. It was the closest the demon ever was to a real dragon.

The knight with the dragon armor greeted the crowd by raising his bright red sword, and saluting with his free hand. As the group passed in front of Janilari, the leader of the adventurers, by mere chance, glanced at the demon. For a couple of seconds he stared at her from beneath his helmet.

And then, he specifically saluted her with a nod. Janilari was immediately startled by the screech of the girls from earlier, who apparently thought the gesture was directed at them.

The demoness tilted her head as the group rode past, and she contemplated the display of popularity and devotion from the town folk. Needless to say, the difference between them and Rida's company was as night and day. While the adventures finally were left alone by the crowd, they left their horses in the town's stable and entered Ayila's and Galdio's inn.

Janilari didn't even consider any other move. She followed them right back to the tavern.

*

In her limited time in this particular human town, she had never seen anyone aside from the owners and Rida's party even enter the inn. Right now, however, the entrance was crowded, humans of all ages looking inside through the windows, but none daring to enter.

She debated making an entrance by forcing the crowd aside, but Rida definitely wouldn't like that. So instead, she used her charming nature and a bit of strategic violence (like stepping on the foot of someone who was just in the way) to make her way to the door.

An older human with grey hair warned her, said something about "better leaving them alone". She patted him on the head and ignored the rest of the crowd to somehow open the door and finally enter.

As she closed the door and looked back at the crowd, she giggled at the small, new experience. Then she turned back to the inside of the tavern, and found the shining weapons from earlier all pointing down at her.

"Please, that's not necessary." Said the leader of the group, who was sitting in the same seat Maesron normally used. A nervous-looking Ayila was pouring wine into his cup.

At his words, the three who had their weapons pointed at her retreated instantly, but unlike the mages of the party they didn't take a seat. As Ayila almost fled the room, the leader took his helmet off. Taking the cup of wine, he gestured at Janilari.

"Would you care to join us, darling? What's your name?"

Janilari bit her lip to stifle a laugh. She couldn't help it. Some of her previous summoners acted like this knight, carrying themselves with a weird sense of importance. A strange human custom, she assumed, but still hilarious.

"I'm... Jani." She snorted. Better to choose a more human name, she reasoned. "And who are you?"

The knight froze for a second, the cup of wine stopping at his lips. "You- That's funny. You are funny."

The demoness frowned. "... Thanks? What's funny?"

"You are in the presence of Prince Ardiane, the greatest warrior that ever existed!" Announced one of the armored adventurers, the one carrying a longsword. "Show some respect!"

"... What? Princeardiane? Why the long-ass name? And which one of you is it?"

That really seemed to rile up the soldier with the longsword, but before he could do anything the leader interrupted.

"Easy, Grendor." He said in a calm, warning tone. "Have a sense of humor. My apologies, Lady Jani. After months in the wildlands, most seem to forget their manners. And if you find Princeardiane too long, you can just call me Ardiane."

"Well, that's easier, you should just introduce yourself like that." Advised the demon. By the way he shook, apparently the Grendor guy didn't like that either! "And who are your friends?" She looked around, and found the three mages staring directly at her.

"Don't worry about them." Dismissed Ardiane. "They don't drink, so I'm all alone here." He gestured at his cup. "Won't you like to share some?"

Janilari looked at the cup and grimaced remembering the last time she consumed human food. "No, thank you." She refused. The party of adventurers all looked at her and then at Ardiane, who now had a tight smile.

"You know, refusing just like that might send someone the wrong message..." He replied. "But surely, you didn't mean to disrespect your prince..."

The demoness saw Grendor and the other soldiers tighten their grip on their weapons. She frowned. "Since when do I have a 'prince'!?"

At once the soldiers advanced a step on her, while Ardiane stood up with a jump.

"Are you trying to make fun of me, girl?" Asked the knight in the dragon armor, his tone suddenly hostile. The demoness blinked.

"Woah, let's calm down here." She raised her hands. Rida would be pissed if she knew she got into a fight. "I think we got into some kind of misunderstanding..."

"I believe we did." Replied Ardiane.

"I just wanted to figure out what the whole commotion was for!" She exclaimed, gesturing at the crowd behind her. "I figure you had to be a very successful party of adventurers to gain so much attention. Tell me, if, hypothetically, you had to share a piece of advice with a very... Small, and... Pathetic... adventuring company... What would you say?"

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The knight stared at her as if she was crazy (So rude!) and then glanced at the mages, who seemed to avoid his gaze as if their lives depended on it. Then he stared back at her.

"You have a company." He said flatly.

"... Well, you could say that."

"And you are here for advice."

"Yeah!" She beamed. Finally she was getting somewhere! "How did you become so famous and successful? What's the trick?"

Ardiane chuckled. "I didn't know I was talking with a crazy person. Take her out."

"Wait, what?"

She had to ignore the instinct of fighting back when two armored soldiers grabbed her by the shoulders, opened the door behind her, and pushed her into the crowd. Some of the town folk laughed at the scene before the door closed in front of her.

"That was so rude!" She shouted at the adventurers, incredulously.

"I warned you." Said the old guy from earlier. She rolled her eyes.

"Those guys in there are jerks! You are all wasting your time!" She shouted instead at the crowd, but the town folk just laughed or muttered their dissent. Crossing her arms, she cursed under her breath and sulked back to Rida.

*

When she got back to her original spot near the alley, Rida's group had stopped arguing, and they seemed to be looking for her. Janilari crossed her arms tighter, to better signal her annoyance.

The adventuring team didn't seem exactly pleased, either. They all looked at her, Maesron and Brunai cautiously, and Pendi with a downright hostile look. Huddinli just looked indifferent himself.

"Where were you? What did you do?" Asked Rida as soon as she saw her. The demoness frowned.

"Are you not going to ask why I'm upset?" She pouted.

"... What are you talking about."

Janilari uncrossed her arms and sighed. It was worth the try.

"I was talking with those guys!" She signaled wildly at the inn. "But they pushed me out! Can you believe how rude they were?"

"Wait. Who is in there?" Asked Huddinli.

"Some guy with this... Dragon armor and his assholes friends." She pouted again. "But anyway, have you sorted things out already? Can we start?"

The adventurers looked at each other in horror. That happened very often, Janilari noted.

"Are you talking about Prince Ardiane?" Asked Brunai, wide-eyed.

"Why is he even here?" Growled Pendi, her look of hatred now directed at the inn.

"Uhh... Surely he's just in some kind of quest..." Hesitated Maesron, looking at the foxgirl. Rida scoffed.

"Either way, he will regret it if he gets near to us."

"... He already did." Pointed Huddinli, staring at the inn.

The adventurers fell into silence, their demeanor now totally shifted after learning about the presence of the other company.

"So we all agree that he is a jerk." Said Janilari. They all looked at her while Rida took a hand to her face. "What!?"

"Forget it." The mage said. "Let's focus on us, guys?" Rida moved to the side of the demoness, facing the rest of the company. "We have a mission to complete, and before that, Janilari is going to... Uh..."

"Help." Supplied the demoness. The mage subtly glared at her.

"Right. Meanwhile, forget about Prince fucking Ardiane."

Slowly Pendi went from glaring at the inn with absolute hatred, to looking at the demon... With the same amount of loathing.

"And how is she going to help?" Asked the foxgirl.

"Right." Agreed Brunai. "How do you plan on making us a successful company?"

"Without breaking our policies!" Added Maesron.

Janilari stared at each one of them, and gifted them a bright smile.

"I have no idea."

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