Clad signed for Jill to start the attack, which she flawlessly does, instantly taking down two of the five men, showing her experience in the job.
!?
"What the!?" One of the men shouted as Clad and Hendrick rapidly took care of the other three using their weapons.
"Let's make this quick," Hendrick said as he went down the fenced pair of stairs that led to an underground area, followed by Clad and Jill. As they went down the stairs, the trio saw a well-lit stone room with seven people sitting on chairs and talking around a metallic table.
"Alright, I'll go kill them," Hendrick said as he jumped off the fence and landed on the ground below, catching their attention as he quickly drew his dagger before running at the men.
"An intruder!?"
"Get him!" Another one of the men shouted.
The men ran at Hendrick as he calmly rotated his weapon forward. He swung at the first, then the second, before seeing the third as he showed his palm to him, revealing a blindingly bright light.
[FLASHING LIGHT]!
The man shouted as Hendrick's half-feline eyes rapidly closed by reflex due to the sudden exposure to light.
"Ah fuck, my eyes!" He shouted as the man quickly took advantage of the situation, running at him while he was covering his eyes, before getting saved by Clad, as he landed in between the two and blocked the incoming attack.
"Are you alright?" he asked him.
"Ugh, I'm doing fine, just kill them," Hendrick replied as his eyes recovered from the spell.
Clad made quick work of the mage before making his way to another man. The suited man didn't let himself die so easily as he pulled out a knife in an attempt to counterattack, but Clad quickly parried the blade with little to no effort before killing him.
The remaining two men, seeing their overwhelming power, attempted to run away, but unfortunately got impaled by Jill, as her limbs elongated into tentacle-like forms, ending their lives painlessly.
"Hendrick, call group Q's mages so they can pick this up," Clad said nonchalantly.
"Don't give me orders!" he replied with irritation in his voice. His rebellious response annoyed Clad; he didn't really want to be with him either, and he just wanted to go back.
"Can you PLEASE call group Q's mages for us?" He asked, snickering in the process, making Jill silently laugh and smile, which Clad noticed and couldn't stop himself from saying his thoughts out loud.
"Whoa, it's the first time I've seen you laugh or have a genuine smile on your face since I joined the Union 3 years ago."
"..."
"..what?" She asked with a mixture of anger and confusion, but Clad simply replied with a kind smile on his face.
"I think you have a really beautiful smile, you should smile more!"
The room went silent for a few seconds. Jill was quite shocked at what he just said, as she was known as a woman people feared to talk with because of not only her noble origin, but the aura she gave off scared the majority of people away, stopping them from talking to her, but his compliment made her blush out of embarrassment and an unknown feeling in her heart.
"Don't want to interrupt your flirting, but they are coming in 3 hours."
"Alright, thanks, Hendrick."
"Hmph, you're welcome."
Clad upon hearing that story, is quite surprised he said such a thing, as he doesn't remember ever saying that at all, but guessed he forgot about it because Jill isn't the type of woman to make stuff up.
"Although your request is pretty out of nowhere." He truthfully added.
"So, is it yes or no?" Jill coldly replied.
"..."
"..Yes?"
"Then let's go," Jill says as she asks him when they will be going to start, which he says:
"Probably in about an hour or so."
Jill thinks it would be better to start immediately because she wants to visit multiple places in the city, which Clad agrees to as he gets up to leave. He is interrupted by a middle-aged woman.
"Hello, young child, you seem to be in need of new clothes!"
Clad, confused by her approach, firmly declines, but Jill hints that his shirt is damaged, so he decides that he might as well get new clothes. He insists on refusing, saying that the damage is minimal and he could sew it back together. But Jill asks him to get new ones since the ones he's wearing aren't meant to be used everywhere and only in the elven kingdom.
...
"Fine.."
"But I want it custom."
...?
"Uhh, sure." The woman replied.
The three proceed to go to her store that is full of fancy clothing for adventurers, surprising Jill with all the well-designed clothes that are present
"Whoa.." she silently said as the woman approached
"Custom clothing would usually be 5 gold, but since you guys were the ones that saved us ill do it for free!"
"Thanks," Clad replied.
After the lady finished making his clothes, she showed them and he liked them. The design was quite simple, a black eastern clothing with a pink line and a silver design of flames at the bottom, black pants, black shoes, silver plates for the lower arms and wrist, and a white jacket equipped with silver-plated shoulder armor. But Clad wanted something to be added, a symbol on the back. Clad drew the symbol for her, and she added it, completing the white jacket on top. They thanked her, then went on their way.