– Day 10 –

Preparations – Part 1

*Grrack pant pant Grrrrrack*

What could those sounds possibly be? That would be the sound of Risk throwing up his breakfast outside the Tolian Mercenary guild.

What could those sounds possibly be? That would be the sound of Risk throwing up his breakfast outside the Tolian Mercenary guild.

Why is he being sick? I warped him without prior warning of course. Warping by itself is quite arduous, but the effect is much worse when you take people with you. As I evilly gave him no warning, this is the result. I’m sure he’ll get me back later for it

“You rotten bastard.”

“Love it, compliment me more~”

“Argh. Why didn’t you warn me you were going to do that!?”

“Where would be the fun in that?”

“Fun? Nothing about this is fun! ..I’m starting to see this other side of you Aburi.”

“Glorious isn’t it?”

He smirks crookedly.

“Don’t think I won’t return the favour–”

“Oh, I’m fully aware that I have a two-fold return coming my way.”

He laughs while sighing

*blink*

“Here”

I hand him the full waterskin I refilled the other day. It’s the least I can do.

We head inside–

“VISITORS ENTERING!”

–Argh, I forgot about loud-mouth! Owww; my poor little pointy ears..is this instant karma?

We head inside and find Edward in the small building like last time. I let Risk do the talking here as he has people in mind for the task, plus he knows Edward better than me, so it makes more sense to let him take the lead in negotiations.

“About the term. Aburi, how long do you want to employ them for?”

“Hmm…2 years to start”

Risk looks at me with wide eyes while tilting his head back towards Edward, who already has coins for eyes.

“Simon, SIMON!”

The pipsqueak from before arrives at the doorway. I don’t think I’d ever tire of this bit.

“Sir?”

Risk gives a list of names I can’t be bothered to remember and Simon runs off with an ‘Aye Sir!’

“Here”

I hand Edward 25 gold coins as a gift to which Risk visibly slaps his head, in disapproval I assume, but you have only half the picture, my dear friend.

I next take out the requisition order and show it to Edward.

“No one must know we hired these men. I trust this method of payment speaks as to why?”

Suddenly my plan gets through to Risk, he doesn’t make a sound but looks me dead in the eye. After all, cleverly and without telling a word of a lie, I’ve convinced Edward that these men are to be hired in the service of the crown. If he speaks of them, he’ll likely be executed. Of course, that’s not true at all, but it was my intention to mislead him to this very conclusion. The only way someone with no reason to stay quiet would is if they understand a particularly slow and horrid death awaits them if they don’t. I must say, I’m feeling rather scrumptiously evil today!

Simon looks to have assembled all 8 of the men in the courtyard. They look to be heckling each other while waiting to meet their new employer. A rather plain looking bunch..which is actually perfect for this job. Risk certainly knows his stuff. I’m about to start talking when Risk stops me–

“Torrent, a barrier.”

Risk pushes Edward back into his room as the centre man steps forward–

“[Arto Velus Taka]”

*Hiiiiss*

A large black circle appears and centres under... erm ‘Torrent’ was it? And slowly expands before a clear bubble rises up and encompasses us while a second dark opaque bubble slowly encompasses the first.

[Vacuum Barrier learned]

Oh? Must be void magic. Handy; thank you very much!

“Okay Aburi, go ahead.”

“Thanks, Risk–”

I proceed to explain what I want and expect of these men during their employment with me and how stealth should be their top concern. They should never approach any of my group unless the information is of dire importance or the rest of the unit is dead. Instead, they are to hang a white cloth outside any of the rented rooms windows and any other colour if your cover is blown. They should never assist us unless someone in my party is imminently about to die and they can prevent it. Their priority should always be to remain hidden and gather information, not to intervene or protect–

“Fuck me, is this guy serious?”

Risk sighs exaggeratedly and steps in

“This ‘guy’ has employed you for the next two years and yes. As crazy as it might be, he’s serious, and you’ll…the rest of you anyway, will understand why it has to be like this eventually.”

Cryptically done Risk, I like it.

From memory, typically, a night at the inn is ten copper and meals are included, so if 4 to a room with one room for operations… Erm, carry the one.. Say 36 gold for two years?

*blink*

I show Risk the gold, which he takes and hands to Torrent. I guess I know who’s going to be the leader of this troupe then.

“3 Inn rooms, split into three groups and rent the rooms at different times. Avoid socialising with each other while in public and at the Inn to avoid being seen as a group. How you work is up to you, but personally, I’d recommend two groups of 4, one for the day and one for the night. To break it down further, I’d have 2 to a task like watching the house or following someone.”

“Fine. Anything else”

*blink*

“8 gold for expenses, one each. Ale, women, I don’t care what you spend it on but only spend it on your downtime and do not frequently visit the same place with the same people…no matter how sweet the girl is”

–Pause for laughter and cheer? Right on cue.

“If you can do this to my expectations, I’ll keep the money coming; if you can’t, well, expect the mission to change into something more dangerous and deadly.”

Cheers go up, and I turn to Risk who just shrugs at me. What? I think that went rather well…

I commit the men’s faces to memory as Torrent closes the barrier. Surprisingly, Edward isn’t waiting right outside but is inside his little building. Either he knew that eavesdropping was impossible or he thinks it better not to know. Regardless, he’s sat at his desk with a bill of sale for me to sign… That’s an eye-popping number right there. 880 Gold at 55 Gold per man per year. They better be bloody worth it… I sign the three sheets and hand him back the third–

“No. Best you hold onto that.”

Huh? Oh, so there’s no record of the transaction…wait, how will he get–

“Have someone deliver the payment to here however you like.”

Ah, I see.

“I will have several couriers dispatched at varying times with varying amounts over the next week or 2. Is that acceptable?”

He greedily nods in affirmation. Eph, get me out of here.

*blink*

“Ready?”

“Again!? Can’t we just–”

*Zip*

HP: 330 / 330 MP: 612 / 670

“–walk; *Ugh*… you, you’re a real bastard! *Awgh*”

“Hmm, you alright? …Need more water? Here. It’s better if you don’t know it’s coming, right?”

“…”

Oh, he’s not pleased… I guess I better stop doing that before I get punched. I’ll give him plenty of warning next time.. Not that it will help much though.

We’ve warped to the magistrates building. I intend on having Graham send the money promised to Edward in small increments. By doing this, it’ll make everything less suspicious and slightly harder to track. I leave Risk resting on the bench and go find Graham on the second floor.

“880 gold!?”

I’m going to go deaf at this rate. Can’t really blame the reaction though as I thought the same when I saw the figure.

“Yes, well, I can’t explain what I purchased or why. You’ll just have to trust me that it’s needed for me to complete the current task.”

“Aburi, speak plainly!”

I raise my arms and indicate our location.

“…I can hardly–”

He sighs and scratches his brow before handing me a quill. A quill? How quaint.

“Write what you need to be done here. I’ll see to it but Aburi, I won’t be able to do this a second time. I trust you understand what I mean.”

I nod and write the instructions down. I’m skating on thin ice it seems.

“Thank you Graham; time will prove your trust in me here.”

“I certainly hope so…for both our sakes.”

I turn to leave only to hear Graham muttering to himself, ‘880 gold…what could possibly..’. Sorry, Graham, information is knowledge, knowledge is power after all. You’ll be glad you trusted me eventually.

I return to the sickly Risk outside who is laying along the bench with a hand resting over his head and the other nursing the waterskin. Poor guy… I feel a little bad…only a little though.

“Ready?”

“No!”

“We have a lot to do today. We don’t have time to leisurely stroll about the town Risk, or I honestly would take pity on you.”

“Ugh!”

He starts to pine while shaking his head.

“Okay, okay –”

“Ready?”

“y-No…Aaaa! Y-yes, do it–”

*Zip*

HP: 330 / 330 MP: 502 / 670

“now! –*Grrack*”

Yep, he’s hurled again. It’s not like I can’t understand his pain. To best describe the feeling, try turning your head to the left then quickly to the right and back again while spinning your eyes. Now imagine doing this while riding the fastest whirling roller-coaster you’ve ever been on. Pretty bad right? Well, the effect is lessened on the caster, so I just feel a little queasy each time.

This time we’ve come to the centre of the city, just north of Sarah’s bookstall; Ah crap, I forgot to tell the others about Sarah… Well, I’m sure it’ll be fine. Anyway, on this side of the street is an armourer and on the other side is a weapon-smith. I saw these shops while taking Sarah to the magic store to sell that book and took note.

Risk’s compositional magic is handy, but unless he is continually maintaining the flow of mana into the weapon while holding it, it gradually degrades and vanishes after an hour. There is another flaw as well in that only the weapon Risk is holding is enhanced by ethereal magic, which is what makes the weapon genuinely worth having over a forged one.

Basically, ethereal magic allows an object or in this case, his weapon, to pass through solid objects by the casters will. If the defender uses say, a tower shield, ethereal magic isn’t all that useful as a weapon won’t fully re-materialise unless the whole thing isn’t obstructed but against say, a spear user? Well, the blade de-materialises to pass through a block, re-materialises and Risk stabs the poor person in the gut. Kind of underhanded but definitely efficient. Alls fair in both love and war and all that. As to how I know this, he may have used it against Bella one too many times, and I took note.

I give Risk a few more minutes to recover his usual composure before we proceed inside the weapon-smith. We’ve come to the weaponsmith first because I’m looking for a suitable spear and shield, and oddly the weapon-smith makes the weapons and shields.

“Ah customers, are you looking for something in particular?”

An old short, balding man peering through half-cut glasses hoarsely asks.

“2 tower shields, two spears and two short bows. One of each is for training purposes, The other for actual battle. I also need a few daggers.”

His eyes light up. Not really hard to see why. A thick and dense layer of dust sits on pretty much every piece in here. It’s clear he doesn’t see a lot of business and thanks to [Appraisers Eye], it’s trivial to understand the problem. The wares being sold here are all junk.

“This way please, this way.”

The old man leads us through the shop and up some stairs to a small room with a table. He gestures for us to take a seat?

“I’ll bring a few pieces here for viewing. I’ll be right back.”

The room is rather dark and small with the only visible light peering in through a tiny wooden square window in the top right of the room. The rectangular table is much too big for the room and with a chair pulled out, you can’t get past it to the next. I believe an estate agent would call this a ‘comfortable space’…

We eventually take seats and a few moments later, a small girl around 11 walks in with some glasses of something purple and hands us one each. I’m about to sip it when Risk forces me to kiss his hand as he places it over the cup…seriously?

He takes a sip of his and then hands it to me. ‘You can never be too careful’, is that what you’re getting at?

Luckily it’s just grape juice. The girl slips back out of the room with a slight bow. Must be the old man’s granddaughter…

Some considerable time later and the old man finally returns, standing in the doorway holding a large box. I notice a number of other boxes stacked beside him, so I’m guessing he wants to show them individually…*sigh* this may take a while.

By the time we get to the 12th item, I’m thinking it’s time to leave. I wouldn’t use anything he’s shown us even for training with; the quality is just too poor. The old man, clearly realising I’ve lost patience with him, asks that I let him show us one more item. I decided it would be too rude not to indulge him, so he disappears back into the hallway to the sounds of metal crashing about and returns with a two arm's length purple box that he places on the table. Hmm well, he looks certain I’ll want this. I might be a little curious…

I open the box to immediately have [Appraisers Eye] go ballistic at me:

Ornate Dragon-silver Spear

Rarity: Rare

Manufactured by: TH

Cost to produce: [Unknown]

Materials: [Unknown due to lack of craft knowledge]

Special:

Can store up to 2000 of the users MP.

[Shockwave], 200 MP of stored mana used to create a wave of air pressure.

[Impact Thrust], 400 MP of stored mana used to create a punching wave of air pressure.

[Passive], AGI, STR increased by +12 while holding

Cost to buy: 200 to 300 Gold Kings

I am a little interested…

“It’s certainly a nice piece. What are you asking for it?”

“What would you pay?”

Oh, I am so not playing this game.

“I have no idea its value. I ask what price are you willing to let it go for?”

The man ponders for a bit before answering.

“1…200 Gold.”

I sense hesitation. I can probably get it for 150 if I really push.

“That’s not out of reach, but I’ll see what else you have of this quality before negotiating further.”

The old man smiles triumphantly and heads off to get another item. He seems like he has an idea for what I’m looking for as he’s waving his index finger in the air before picking up another box, larger this time, a bow maybe?

Ornate Elf Wood Short Bow

Rarity: Rare

Manufactured by: LFH

Cost to produce: [Unknown]

Materials: [Unknown due to lack of craft knowledge]

Special:

Can store up to 1200 of the users MP.

[Magic Arrow], 1MP of stored mana can produce an elemental magic arrow of the user's affinity

[Siren Shot], 200 MP of stored mana can create a magical arrow that will inflict [Charm] on a lesser creature

[Passive], AGI, PER increased by +14 while holding

Cost to buy: 200 to 400 Gold Kings

“This is also good, how much?”

He scratches his beard for a moment.

“100 Gold Kings”

He answered too quickly.

“I think 80 is fairer.”

“Are you buying both?”

“Likely but I still want to haggle the spear down, and we’re only halfway old timer.”

He laughs and nods affirming; it’s acceptable. He gets up again and heads off for another item.

“Are these really worth that much?”

I nod with greedy eyes to infer their worth a hell of a lot more. I guess without [Appraisers Eye], I wouldn’t know either.

Next up, a tower shield of so-so quality but not unique. I put it in the maybe category, and he goes for another. Eventually, we have all the required training items, the main spear and the main bow. The problem lays with the tower shield.

“Its a shame. The quality isn’t bad, but it doesn’t suit my needs.”

The old man sighs and shrugs.

“I’m afraid I don’t have anything better than the one you have right there.”

“Do you know anyone who might have something?”

He ponders a moment while scratching his thin chin.

“Hmm, you could try the armourer over the road. They used to sell weapons and armour, but the weapon-smith passed away, so they only sell armour now. They might have something from back then but probably not. The only other place I know would be the adventurers market every 3rd month..which is still two months away.”

“Adventures market?”

“Yeah.. I guess you’re new to the capital. You may have not noticed, but there aren’t too many adventurers about these days, but you’ll always find lots of ’em at that market searching for the best deals, so it got named after them.”

I’ll have to check that out.. providing Sinki isn’t infested with demons by then that is.

“Then I’ll try the armourer first. Many thanks for your help.”

I show the old man the requisition order and sign the receipt for 305 Gold before shaking on the deal.

*blink*

Inventory: 54 / 99

– Ornate Dragon-silver Spear x1 –

– Folded-Steel Spear x1 –

– Folded-Steel Tower Shield x1 –

– Folded-Steel Dagger x4 –

– Ornate Elf Wood Short Bow x1 –

– Redwood Short Bow x1 –

– Basic Arrow x200 –

– True-Flight Arrow x400 –