Minimizing all his prompts with a mental version of an Alt + Tab, Alex got to his feet. He had hoped that by putting all his items in his inventory the woman wouldn’t realize it was Alex who had hit her and if she did, maybe him towering over her would dissuade her from attacking. It was a shaky foundation, but the alternative was continuously hitting her every time she woke or worse, killing her. He had a brief consideration of throwing her into his inventory after she died, but he deemed that to be the absolute last resort. No matter how scared he was, he didn’t have anywhere near enough information to do anything but talk, especially now that he could. If she attacked him, however, he’d be ready.
Putting his hand behind his back, ready to summon his improvised weapon at a moment's notice, Alex cleared his throat to get the woman’s attention. He failed. She rolled from her back to stomach getting on her hands and knees. With a deep groan she moved a hand to her head, then seeming to realize the injury, she moved the other to her jaw. Alex winced as another tooth fell out and figured he needed to make himself known before he lost the nerve to.
“Umm, excuse me ma’am are you alright.”
Her head shot up at the sound of his voice and the motion was so sudden Alex took a step back in surprise. Immediately fear covered her face, and he had to hold back a chuckle from how comical it looked with her protruding bottom lip and angled jaw. She quickly began to talk, but it came out as a garbled mess, her mouth unable to make the proper sounds. Still frantic, she reached into an inventory of her own and pulled something out too fast for him to do anything. Alex regretted not hitting her again as she downed some liquid, then winced in pain as her jaw began to repair itself.
‘Shit.’ Alex’s fight or flight reflexes screamed for him to do something, but he used all two of his willpower to resist running away screaming.
“Look please don’t claim the bounty, I have a family, we need that money.”
For a moment, Alex though his intimidation tactic had worked. Even if he’d managed to knock her out for all of three minutes, he didn’t think he’d win against her in a fight, especially not with the speed she had just moved. Then her words registered.
“Bounty? What bounty?” The words left his lips before he could stop them, and he instantly regretted it.
‘Way to give up your leverage idiot,’ Alex thought, as the woman began to speak again, her voice going from pleading to pissed. Luckily for Alex the anger was directed at herself and not him.
“Way to go Anise, you got knocked out by the most clueless guy in the city.” She raised her voice as she continued, “So where are you from, and how’d you manage to get all the way to the capital without knowing about the bounty? Based on the fact you’re human it can’t be the north, and you don’t have an accent so the south and west are out.” She stared at Alex expectantly and his mind raced for an answer. Just as the silence was reaching an uncomfortable length, Alex thought of the most common line in all the fantasy books he’d read.
“Just from a remote village, I wanted to come to the capital to make something out of myself.”
She continued to stare and for a moment Alex was sure her icy blue eyes could see right through him. Instead of calling him a liar as he suspected she would, she just groaned, this one of frustration.
“A fucking bumpkin! That’ll teach me not to drink. The bounty was something implemented by the King a few years back.” She was now openly glaring, all traces of her more diminutive personality gone. “The idea was that anyone who wants to be a city guard must be strong enough to protect themselves when in uniform, so he created a challenge of sorts. If a person is able to incapacitate an active guard in a non-lethal way, they are entitled to one year of the guard’s salary.”
“What about criminals?” Alex asked as he found the obvious flaw in the system.
“That’s not really an issue.” Her tone was a bit too nonchalant for Alex. “When this whole system started a bunch of criminal organizations tried to take out the whole of the city guard with the excuse, they were testing them. They killed some along the way and the King showed up personally to make an example out of them. After the show of force he released an official terms and conditions for the challenge, and it’s been pretty civil for the last few years.”
That still seemed highly flawed to Alex, but since the woman, Anise he assumed, was so talkative, he moved on to his next question. “And now I’m entitled to a year of your salary?” She nodded. “Then what happens to you if I decide to take it?” Her eyes turned predatory for a second and Alex regretted asking, but she just looked up at the sky muttering something before answering.
“Then I have to essentially borrow the money from the King. Then I would need to continue working for two years to break even. I could quit, but that means the loan accrues interest, and then there’s no way I’d ever be able to pay it off.”
It was Alex’s turn to stare. “Why would anyone ever take the job? You’re supposed to put your life at risk only to become what, an indentured servant?”
“Oh fuck you!” Anise shouted, and Alex cringed back at the sudden outburst. “As soon as I signed up the king instantly bought a house for my family in the legion district. We’d have never been able to afford that, and if I stay on for five years, I own it in full, without ever paying a copper. That doesn’t even mention the free class upgrade after two years, base salary, stat potions, gear. Not everyone can come from some rich farming family and just leave home on a whim so why don’t you hop off your high horse before you start to judge me.”
Regret bubbled up as Alex remembered this woman could likely kill him… or could she. The thought made him wonder. If she was set to lose all this and hadn’t attacked, it was more likely she couldn’t kill him. Putting his hands up in what he hoped was the universal sign of surrender he continued.
“Sorry, look I’m just a bit confused. The system seems pretty fucked, and I’m just trying to understand better.” Alex tried for a weak smile, but Anise just continued to glare from where she sat. Due to his lack of knowledge Alex was bound to upset the woman with his ignorance again so he took a gamble. “You can’t attack me, so there’s no point in just glaring at me.” He tried to act as if he knew the statement to be true, but the slight waver in his voice gave away his doubt.
“Unfortunately, no.” Anise said as if answering a question. “Part of the oath we agree to when taking the job states the rules and conditions for our side of the challenge. No attacking a perceived challenge winner comes up multiple times”
Alex hesitated for a moment before taking a seat on the cool ground so they could be eye level. “So how much money is it? And not trying to judge or anything but if you knew all this why did you get drunk in uniform.”
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“Thirty-five hundred gold.” The words were ground out through clenched teeth as if she tried to stop herself from answering. “The second one is personal, the contract doesn’t make me answer it.”
Alex has no context to understand the economy besides what she had told him, but he guessed it was a sizable amount, especially with the way Anise spoke of it.
“Is there anyway other way yo–” Alex’s words cut off with a start as he jumped to his feet. He could hear people running towards them. Before a warning could leave his lips, there was a blur of movement and Anise was ahead of him. Alex was suddenly very sure he did not want the bounty, King’s rules or not.
“Fuck, just stay back. Don’t go anywhere, then I’d just have to chase you.”
Alex very much did want to run, but reasoned, if he didn’t solve the bounty issue now, she might be forced to hunt him down by her oath or whatever. Plus, even if he didn’t want the money that didn’t mean he couldn’t get something out of it. Instead of responding Alex shrunk back against a nearby wall and tried to make himself as small as possible. Hopefully being a guard actually meant something, because the odds were not in her favor as two sets of steps approached them.
“Oh hey there lass. You was looking right pissed so me and the boys came to make sure you were alright, didn't we.” Alex couldn’t see the man’s face, but his Cockney accent rang out clear in the dark alley. There was two set of laughter so exaggeratedly cliché, Alex had to wonder if he was on some type poorly scripted of show rather than a deadly tutorial.
“Thank you citizens for your kindness,” Anise bit out. “As you can see I’m fine, please leave, or I will consider this a hostile act. You have been warned.” At her final words Alex would have sworn he heard the faintest echoes of a gong being struck had the alley not been so quiet. Anise took what was likely a fighting stance, feet spread, but arms still lax at her side, though the men didn’t seem concerned as their footsteps continued steadily. When they were finally in view Alex had to bite his tongue to stop himself from guffawing.
He had heard only two sets of steps, but there were three men in total, one leading the pack and the other two a half step behind him on either side. The lackeys, as Alex instantly labeled them in his head, were two normal looking humans. One had the same caucasian skin as Anise, while the other had a darker skin tone much like himself. The man with darker skin had silver hair, but it could have just been dyed. The man in the center, the one who’d likely spoken, was definitely not human. The first indicator was their size. The person’s head was at about the six-foot mark, but that was only because they floated almost five feet of the ground. Alex noticed the slight distortion of a fast-moving object behind their back and figured the person had wings. They were clearly overweight for their size but wore bright-colored form fitting clothes that showed off too many curves. In their hands was a straight gray stick of wood which they held open palmed at the moment.
“Woah, touchy ain’t we. Listen we just saw ya stumbling out the near and far over there looking for a lay. Figured if anyone, old Billy here could help ya. Then you can take a quick kip and be on your way.” He gave a lecherous grin that looked all types of wrong on his small round face.
Anise didn’t grace the small man with a response instead a flash of light erupted in the alley. As Alex’s pupils failed to readjust to the sudden change in luminosity, Anise rushed forward pulling a two-handed bastard sword from nowhere. The man in the center erected some type of barrier which managed to hold against her strike. However, it failed to stand up against her momentum as the sphere of energy slammed into the ground, the man still encompassed inside. Rather than focusing on the leader, she changed the blade's angle and continued the blow into another’s man neck.
With a kick Anise dislodged the dying man from her blade as the one to her right struck out with a dagger. Blocking the attack with her larger weapon Anise took two steps back, sword tip to the sky, ready to strike. The man in the middle, having recovered somewhat, fired off two strikes of energy, but Anise was ready. She took another step back while simultaneously bringing her blade down. The first strike of what looked to be electricity traveled up her blade but vanished as it reached her cross guard. The second shot followed a similar path but instead of dissipating it launched back at the mage as Anise stabbed in his direction.
The dagger wielder, recognizing the hopelessness of their goal, turned to flee and him being skewered was the first thing Alex saw as his vision returned. The mage was still alive and this time his shots were of fire. But Anise didn’t hesitate as she used the man still on her blade to block the attack. It was clear her strike hadn’t ended the man’s life when he started to scream his wound cauterizing before he crumpled, the fire consuming him. Alex wanted to close his eyes or turn and run, but the horror of the situation mixed with the conformation that he really was somewhere else forced him to stare. He really hoped Anise couldn’t attack him because if she was ever free of her oath and felt like he’d wronged her, he was in trouble.
Abandoning her sword Anise pulled out the most colorful looking flintlock Alex had ever seen and fired eight shots into the mage. He’d started floating again as his accomplice burned but paused in midair and began to spasm as the shots hit, then broke his barrier.
For a moment Anise stood there breath steady as she scanned the downed men, making sure all were dead, before letting out a sigh and moving to retrieve her sword. Alex added another item to his newly formed list of sounds he’ll never forget, as flesh and bone cracked and shattered in her efforts. That, it seemed, was the final straw as Alex threw up the bulgogi, tteokbokki, and a large amount of alcohol straight onto the alley floor. He heaved again as Anise chopped off and took something from what was left of the charred man’s hands, but at that point Alex’s stomach was empty. She did the same to the other two men, but for the mage it was his head, that scene much gorier as she removed a necklace.
She wiped the blood off her blade and Alex noticed somehow none of the fluids had reached her, she was still completely spotless not even having broken a sweat. His heart began to race faster as she looked at him; even her blade disappearing didn’t ease his terror as he knew it could still be in his neck within a second. It was Anise’s turn to put her hands up as she spoke.
“Look you already know I can’t hurt you; I need to call some people then we can go and figure this out.”
Alex didn’t know that. He was suddenly very aware that he didn’t know much of anything. He didn’t know where he was, what was happening, why any of it was happening. His rampant thoughts cut off as Anise appeared in front of him snapping to get his attention. That was when he realized he did know something, currently he was helpless and Anise and probably thousands of other people could end him with little more than a thought. In some extremely disturbing way Alex found comfort in that, and he managed to take in a deep breath.
He opened his mouth to speak, but the taste of stomach acid made him spit. Anise handed him what could only be described as a water skin and after a moment of hesitation he took it, waterfalling the liquid, gargling, then spitting again. Mouth as clean as he was going to get it, he took a few gulps of the surprisingly cool water, only stopping when he realized the skin should be empty, but it wasn’t. Chalking it up to one of the least odd things he’d seen in the last 10 minutes, Alex looked at the woman who owed him a year’s worth of her salary.
“What about them?” Alex asked, pointing, but making sure not to look, at the corpses.
“That’s why I need to make a call. Those men will be cleaned up by the city. They tried to claim the bounty under the guise of being helpful. I did my part, legally speaking. They were warned but continued anyway. It’s pretty cut and dry on the city’s part. I’m pretty sure that bartender, or someone he works for had me slipped some concoction, that’s why I went down so fast when you hit me. Luckily for both of us, when I woke from your hit the debuff was gone. So, it seems I owe you a debt, on top of the year’s salary.” She chuckled at the end, but Alex still wasn’t ready to laugh.
Anise put out a hand and Alex shook it with his own trembling one. Then she continued to speak, though it wasn't to him this time.
“I have three civs down on a failed challenge. Location marked. Need a seer and cleaning team.” If there was a response Alex couldn’t hear it, but Anise seemed satisfied.
Pulling the three items back out of her pocket she began to fiddle with them. A look of something between annoyance, and dissatisfaction appeared on her face making Alex unconsciously flinch. If Anise saw she didn’t say anything, and the pair sat in silence while they waited for the cleaning crew.