Chapter 132: Chapter One Hundred Thirty Two

Between the ravens and Callie's ability to track their scan ring, we  were able to get eyes on the new group we wanted to trade with pretty  quickly. As before, Jessie was able to describe them to us when she  found them, and Celine knew exactly who they are, her noble Job clearly  giving her an advantage in statecraft and cultivating sources that the  rest of us just couldn't measure up to. Jessie, eyes glowing with life  energy, was happy to pass on the information on this new team to our  main information specialist, and I had to note yet again how useful this  building was in conjunction with her ability.

Jessie was  facing out into the night air, a habit she had developed when she sent  out her ravens, despite being able to see through their eyes regardless  of what direction she faced. Her brow was furrowed as she focused in on a  target none of us could see. "The group Callie asked me to target is  six people. Four men and two women. They're all dressed in dark  serviceable combat gear and they're fighting much more in sync than most  of the teams I've seen in action. They're fighting a horde of goblins  right now, and the group seems to be mowing through them with superior  tactics more than brute force."

That meant they were  probably H rankers for the most part, which meant we had a much better  chance of interacting with the peacefully. Backstabbing was pretty  unlikely from anyone with one sixth of our impact, regardless what kind  of training they were employing. Even if they were hyper focused on one  stat and had a series of stacking skills that made them strong enough to  punch up ranks, Callie and Cark were both pretty damn powerful, and my  Might was no joke either. Not that I expected it to come to that.

We  all turned to Celine, who looked as impassive as always. When she  noticed our attention. "That's probably Raleigh's Raiders. They're a  school club offshoot of a much larger mercenary company with postings  all over the planet. They tend to be on the weaker side due to renown  dilution from sharing the spotlight, but it is a consistent way to gain  stats over time through accumulation. It has more in common with the way  people cultivate in the Empire as a social class than individual  training, but it works."

Jessie nodded slowly. "I could  see that. They move like an army. The goblins have them massively  outnumbered, but they're just dismantling them in the most efficient way  possible. Two of them seem to be staying out of it though. I think  they're G rankers. I guess they're letting the others get some training  in on weaker enemies. Still, it's impressive how in tune they are, they  must have trained really hard to get this good. Do you want me to make a  map to where they are right now?"

Callie shook her head.  "No. We're waiting for them to find their next material. I want to check  something." She gave me an excited smile, which I returned. Callie  enjoyed researching my power as much as I did, and we were both eager to  see the result of this wish. If it worked the way we thought we would  be able to completely change the way we went about the rest of the hunt.  She returned her gaze to Jessie. "Just stick to them for now and keep  us updated on what they do. We can move in once we know they've found  something we can use."

Surprisingly Cark actually  interjected, despite usually staying out of plans. "I've seen Raleigh's  Raiders work by the way, you're going to want to keep your distance,  bird or not. They train their people to notice every detail, so don't  get too close. Their Perception may not be very high, but they'll  definitely be cranking it to the max." Jessie nodded and got back to  focusing on the recon she was doing. Cark turned to Callie. "I can go  with you guys to make contact if you want. I have a bit of a rep in  bounty hunter circles in my area, and the Raiders have worked in my  neighborhood before."

It sometimes slipped my mind that  Cark was this badass bounty hunter who managed to hit G rank with zero  support from any larger organization. It hadn't come up out here, but I  could see how it would probably come in handy now. Callie clearly felt  the same because she gave a grateful nod. "Of course, we'd appreciate  that. Anything to stack the deck in our favor. Every object on the list  we don't have to fight for is time we save for the harder things we  can't find to trade." She was right, and if they had more than one thin  on our list it would save even more time.

Cark didn't seem  to take it to heart, he felt he owed us more than he could pay back,  and this was apparently the leasr he felt he could do. Still, I would  remember this and try to help him out in the future too. Even when we'd  saved his sister he'd gone out of his was to stay and help us instead of  just taking off, he was good people. Speaking of his sister, I looked  around quizically. "Where is Cass by the way, I haven't seen her at all  today?" Granted it was night now, but I hadn't actually seen her in a  while.

He just snickered. "Asleep. She went out exploring  in the forest today. Apparently Zeke's protection extends past the  building and she wanted to go look around the forest. Since she's safer  with him that she would be in a literal bomb shelter made of the most  durable metal on this whole planet I didn't see a reason to stop her,  despite your Uncle's pleading gaze. Poor bastard. Better him than me  though. I love my sister but she can be a menace when you let her run  amok."

The thought of a small child  forcing Zeke to follow her around the woods and protect her from  literally everything was admittedly hilarious. Still, I couldn't imagine  Zeke agreeing if he actually didn't want to go. He'd promised to  protect Cass, but that didn't mean he had to obey her every whim. He  could have locked her in a room or something. Granted it would have been  a dick move given her recent imprisonment, but it was on the table.  Clearly he thought she needed to get out and do stuff and wasn't willing  to prevent something that might make her feel better.

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Cark  seemed to get this too, and despite the teasing mockery in his tone I  could easily see the gratitude in his eyes. Zeke was actively doing his  best to help Cassidy get over her imprisonment. I hesitated a bit before  asking. "How is she doing? Really I mean. I know she's been acting like  she doesn't care, but she can't possibly be as unaffected as she's been  trying to let on. Does she need anything?" I felt responsible for Cass  given my part in rescuing her, but more than that I LIKED the little  girl. She was fun and had an attitude and she gave everyone in the group  something to focus on.

He  just sighed. "She's been...inconsistent. Sometimes she acts like she  doesn't care. Sometimes she forgets and gets a bit quiet. The worst is  at night. The dreams have been pretty bad. She won't talk about them but  she cries in her sleep all the time. It's getting better though. I  think being out here is helping. It's so markedly different from either  home, where she was taken from, or the place they held her. The new  environment is giving her something to focus on other than what  happened."

That  was good. She would probably need therapy in the long run, but if  avoiding the places that made her feel unsafe was helping I was glad. If  it had been necessary we could have sent her back. Having Cark around  was damn useful, but his sister's mental health was more important. "Is  there anything I can do for her that might help? Some kind of food or  something she likes? I can try to track down ingredients." I'd been  spending too much time with my girlfriend, because the only thing I  could think of to try to cheer Cass up was to feed her.

The  question got a genuine laugh of surprise out of my teammate. "She never  turns down free food. If you want to make her something she would like  pancakes would be the easiest. She eats them every time she gets sick.  She puts strawberry jelly on them instead of syrup. I can promise as  long as you don't burn them she'd love whatever kind of pancakes you  make." I smiled at that, and decided to check the pantry for the  ingredients for pancakes. I was pretty sure Zeke had brought more than  was lying around in there, and I could probably convince him to hand the  stuff over if I cooked for him.

Seeing  that I was putting thought into this he smiled, clapping me on the  shoulder. "Thanks Shane, really. It means a lot that you've all been  here helping with this." He laughed ruefully. "I stayed to help you our  and pay back some of the debt I owe you, but I ended up owing even more.  Not just you, Jessie has been spending tons of time with Cass when she  can. That girl is a ray of sunshine, and even my sarcastic brat of a  sister can't stay upset around her. She's been helping keep Cass's mind  off of everything. Benny has been spending time with her whenever  possible too. Plus Callie is basically her hero, your girlfriend has  made quite the impression."

I  grinned widely. "You're a friend, you don't owe us anything. But yeah,  she tends to do that. Back in Velan Nightstrike was a household name.  Callie is the real deal, no doubt about it. Even I was a fan before we  met. I'm glad everyone is helping out. Benny spent lots of time with his  little sister growing up, so he's pretty good with kids, and like you  said Jessie is just the sweetest person ever. Cass is going to be ok. We  made sure there were no side effects, and other than that this is  something she needs to work through, even if that takes a while."

While  it would be theoretically possible to just wipe her memory of it ever  happening, I thought that would be a mistake. Losing weeks of your life  as a child would be massively unnerving. It would have a profound effect  on her, and I still felt uncomfortable messing with the brains of  people who didn't knowingly consent. Cass was nine years old, she  absolutely wasn't capable of making long term decisions about wiping her  own memories.

If she came to me  when she was older and wished to get rid of the memories I would be fine  helping her out, but for now helping her work through things naturally  seemed like the right thing to do. I was pretty sure Cark was of the  same opinion, because he hadn't even brought up a memory wipe. We would  be there for both of them as best we could be and hopefully she would  get through this ok.

Our  conversation was cut off as Jessie made an excited sound. "Guys!"  Everyone turned to look at our healer, who was grinning ear to ear.  "They just found something. Some kind of glowing gold mushroom." She  raced over to snatch the list from Callie. "I don't know much about this  identification stuff, but I'm almost positive that this thing is a  Midas Toadstool! We hit the jackpot!" I gave Callie a wide grin of  triumph as that sunk in. I'd known the Wish would work, they always did,  but still it was amazing to see it come through. We had a way forward,  and it was a good one.

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