Chapter 291 - The Companions In Neo Saarthal

"I am glad to meet you again this soon, Vilkas. Please take a seat."

"Thane Jon, we are thankful…"

"Please, call me Jon."

"... Fine. We are thankful for letting us taking part in this opportunity. Winterhold seems to be a lot different than the wasteland we heard about."

"It is all thanks to the people and the hard workers. I am only here to motivate them with any means necessary."

"Well said."

Vilkas of the Companions came to Neo Saarthal to show the Companion's support in rebuilding the ancient town. With him, there was his brother Farkas and Aela as well as some Companion whelps.

"But I hope we didn't come here for only show and publicity. We came for work else we'll be heading back." Vilkas said.

"You don't need to worry. These are the jobs that we can't cover."

I handed him a bundle of paper.

"Oh! That's a lot, let's see… 'Trolls attacking the Quarry', that sounds like Farkas. 'Investigate the disappearance of some citizens', yep, that's for me. 'Running low on food and need a good hunter', you're in luck, Aela is the best. 'Guard some caravans', 'Transport fast orders', 'Collect furs', 'Drive away the wild animals', 'Chase trespassers' that will be the Whelps' job." Vilkas started going through the papers.

He is the smartest of the Companion's new generation so he was naturally the leader of this expedition.

"You're in luck, Jon. We can do all that." He said. "So, how will be the prices?"

I silently took out another paper.

"A chart for every mission and its reward? Rated with the difficulty and price… smart! Let's see… the prices are indeed fair." Vilkas said and nodded with satisfaction.

"Good. Do this for me and there will be extras. The [Dare Armory] of my brother Wulfur is offering you some gifts on top of that."

"Wulfur is? Now I am excited." Farkas seemed to be happy about it, I heard he and Wulf are becoming friends.

Everyone will be excited if they heard that Wulfur is making them Armor. Wulfur may be young but he is very famous among the Blacksmiths in Skyrim right now. He was even invited to a Blacksmithing Tournament in Orsinium, the Orcish Kingdom between the Reach and Cyrodiil.

"We will do these jobs as soon as possible then." Vilkas said.

"Please, don't rush it and be safe. Winterhold is an unfriendly land." I gave a last piece of advice before they set off.

Aela never even talked to me, she kept looking away during the meeting.

"How cold of her!" I shook my head and returned back to my work.

Neo Saarthal was looking good. In the game, its location can be said to have taken location after the small mountain passage west to Winterhold and through the slope north to the old city.

The old city was a natural fortress but now it is a mass grave for the victims of the [Night of Tears]. As the one who is responsible for this hold, I made sure that the tomb stays sealed until the day it is necessary to be opened.

Aside from the location, Neo Saarthal was protected from the North and South by mountains and from the West by Winterhold town which is also very fortified. Neo Saarthal's role is to protect the west and secure any fleeing worshipers of Talos who come running away from the Thalmor.

I may have left the Thalmor with a threat so they don't bother coming to Winterhold but that is temporary. They may come one day for whatever reason they desire and will cause trouble and Neo Saarthal is there to prevent that.

This, of course, doesn't mean that they are not acting already. [Team 0] is working hard day and night to root out the Thalmor spies and prevent any Thalmor teams from infiltrating Winterhold's borders. Thankfully, the Moonblade Clan is offering us a very good help and my father-in-law, Sigurd Moonblade, is taking upon himself the role of putting the Thalmor to the blade.

We managed to rescue a big number of Nords and invited them to Winterhold, which is now the best place for Dunmer and Nord refugees. With some social managing, the Dunmer and the Nord mix really well.

In the end, we are building a massive Defense Wall with the Stones from the quarry and the Roman Cement. We are also installing Magic Cannons on the walls. The [Anti-Air Ballistas] were fully designed too, Wulfur and Bjorna are working on it right now by using the Dwarven Metals we brought from Solstheim. The [Tesla Towers] too were installed on the wall with 'Magicka Reactors' inside them and primitive [Enemy Identifying Device] made by using the 'Binary Coded Enchantments'.

The wall will cover the west side and I made an avalanche using the [Skeleton Key] to break down the foundations of some parts of the mountains and tightened the defenses even further.

The plans were all laid down in front of me and I nodded to myself happily. I hope I didn't miss out anything to the chance.

As time passed, the Companions started returning to me after they finished up their work.

Vilkas came first after he finished his investigation, he found the lost citizens that seemed to have been working trying to escape to Dawnstar and sell some secrets to any faction they find.

Farkas came after Vilkas with seven troll heads.

The whelps came after their jobs were complete.

The last one was Aela. She came at sunset when the day's work was over.

"Seems like you have taken your time." I said as I was putting away everything on my desk on the shelves around.

"No, I was done before all of them. I just came last."

"Oh! Playing hard to get, ain'tcha?"

"Hard to what?" Her tone was blunt as if she was not interested.

"Come on! It has been two weeks already."

"And?"

"... Okay, take your reward and screw off."

"..."

Aela frowned at me.

"I am not your sow and you can order me around." She said and seemed a bit hostile.

"I know I know, knock it off."

"We had our thing once but I don't like your kind."

"My kind? There are more Jon Dares out there and I don't know about?" I was shocked, utterly shocked.

"Yes, all of you lords, maybe you are a good fighter but that doesn't make you different. We Companions wake up every day knowing that we could die, and having to earn our life by clawing for every breath. I don't know how you cozy lords manage to drag yourselves out of bed every day. Why bother if you're not living?"

The words she said made me open my eyes wide open and ponder for a while.

Why bother if I am not living!

She was…

Correct!

I am not an adventurer junky like Aela who loves to live in the wild. I am a student of the Arcane Arts who caves in his room for months to study things that may all be worthless in the end.

I looked at her with a smile.

She is correct but she is wrong about me.

I have a fair share of adventures under my belt that can put her to shame but I will not brag about it. Let's just show her.

"I'll show you something good."

Before she could say no, I dragged her out of the room to the balcony. I then held her waist and cast [Teleport].

My destination? 4000 meters… above!