Jaid poked around, not calling out since she didn’t want to spook whatever or whoever it was. Eventually, she traced the sword to a tree with an oddly wide base. When she went to poke at it with a stick, most of the tree vanished. “Rez, right?” Jaid knelt down to the sniffling Fiend who was hiding in the tree’s hollow. “Are you okay?”
Rezin started to wipe away his tears to little success. “Umm, Jaid, Umm, Hi, Umm, Sorry.” Obviously, this conversation wouldn’t go anywhere fast until he’d settled down, so Jaid sat next to him until he did.
“I, uhh, found a ram,” Rezin started his tale. “I lured it in with my Curse and managed to tase it. But then I couldn’t… I couldn’t do the next part. I couldn’t kill it. So when it got up, it headbutted me in the stomach and ran off. Now I don’t know what to do. I can’t kill anything myself, so there’s no way I’ll pass. I just… I’m worthless!”
His conundrum was obvious, and it was a tough one, something not easily overcome. Jaid should just offer him some consoling words and be on her way, but dammit, she just couldn’t. She briefly considered giving him her meat. It wouldn’t be hard at all for her to get more, but that wasn’t the right answer. It wouldn’t help him grow.
“Okay, I’ll help you, but you’re going to do the work.” Jaid didn’t wait for his response and grabbed his hand to drag him away. He was too noncommittal to give the luxury, or they’d be there all day as she tried to convince him. Sometimes a firm hand was best, something she’d learned from many failures in the past.
Jaid towed him to the clearing she’d camped out at. “Start digging,” she gave the order.
“Uhh, I don’t have a shovel.” An obvious and fair response, but Jaid needed to break that rationality. She shoved both hands into the ground and pulled up a sizable chunk of dirt.
“You’re a Fiend now,” Jaid reminded him, even though she hated being reminded of it herself. “You need to stop thinking of yourself as frail and incapable. Your body is now a tool, whether you’ve actually done this kind of work or not.”
Rezin followed her example, surprised at how easily the ground tore away. Clearly, he had never gotten his hands literally dirty since becoming a Fiend. His strength was still unknown to him. While he dug, Jaid wandered around the area and picked up any loose sticks she could find. She called Rezin out of his new hole once a sizable pit had been dug. “Well, if this fails, now I know I can dig nice holes to cry in.” He made an attempt at a joke.
“You don’t have a knife, I’m guessing?” Jaid asked and wasn’t surprised when he shook his head no. “Okay, I guess I’ll let you use my sword for this.” She stabbed the giant sword into the ground. Then, she took one of the sticks and whittled the tip into a spike along the blade’s edge. Rezin quickly picked up on her example and the pair worked through the pile. Even though Jaid had said he’d be doing all the work, she couldn’t help but notice her stack of spikes was quite a bit larger.
When they finished, Jaid had Rezin jump back into the pit and shove each spike down into the soil. While he was doing that, she went and collected some gourd shaped fruit she’d never seen before from the tree she’d passed earlier. Her best guess was that it must be a regional thing, but her phone told her it was edible, so she trusted it.
“This is a pitfall trap, right?” Rezin guessed accurately. “I’ve seen them in games a few times.”
“Yup, so you at least have an idea of how they work then, yeah?” Jaid cut open one of the fruits to release the overly pungent smell and threw it into the pit to serve as bait. “Normally, you’d cover the opening with sticks and leaves, but you should be able to use your Curse for that.”
Jaid had them hide back up in the tree where she’d slept, and Rezin applied his Curse to the entire area. It made the ground look solid as it had been before with a veritable cornucopia of fruit piled on top. It didn’t take long for a hungry ram to come scavenging. “That’s—” Jaid clapped a hand over Rezin’s mouth on the off chance his voice would scare it away. He rubbed his stomach to convey that it was the one who’d hurt him earlier.
It was surprising how well the trap worked when the fooled ram ran right up to the fruit without a care, subsequently plummeting straight down into the pit. There was a single deathcry to let them know their trapped had worked. “The rest is on you, but the hard part is done now. Good luck, Rezin.” Jaid flinched from the unexpected hug she received. Normally, a guy touching her without consent would set her off, but somehow she couldn’t be mad. The excited boy rushed to the pit, now just as confused as ever on how to retrieve the carcass.
After just a few more steps of work, Jaid was ready to present her meal. She’d cut the top inch off a stump to serve as a plate. Then, she scooped out the fruit from one of the gourds and cut it into bite-size cubes. The hollow gourd also served as a convenient cup that she filled with fresh water from a stream.
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“Ugh, finally someone showed up.” It was a less than friendly greeting when Jaid reached the top of the cliff. Finding it again had been rather easy since it was marked as a scenic overlook on their phone’s map. The question would be how many had the foresight to use it.
Phon Drazah was waiting at the top, lying lazily in a portable hammock while scrolling through her phone. “Probably weren’t expecting me, yeah? Well, I wasn’t expecting me either.” She didn’t bother to look up from her phone. In fact, she didn’t have her eyes open at all. “Drim was actually supposed to be the one waiting, but he’d eat anything and pass everyone, so he’d have been a terrible judge.”
“Anyways, let’s get on with it.” Phon was suddenly next to Jaid and inspecting her plate. “Yeah… I’m not eating that.” She turned her nose up at the meal. “After living with Drim, I swore I’d never eat bland dead things again.” She did grab a chunk of fruit and pop it in her mouth, though. “So, I’m not the best judge for this either…”
“Say, you like to eat and seem like a stickler for the rules. So you’d be perfect.” Phon now had a devilish grin, eager to shirk responsibility. “I’d definitely love to stick around and eat stuff that may ruin my digestive system, but an important job just came in.” Jaid’s face must not have hid her skepticism, because Phon’s phone was shoved at her a second later. “If you don’t believe me, take a look.”
Find and deliver secret documents, Jaid read to herself. “Well it’s certainly suited for you, but I don’t see the importance or urgency.”
“Check the requestor,” Phon sassed back.
“Merigauld Viscelli, Central Peace Representative,” Jaid couldn’t believe the words coming out of her mouth. “The Fiends For Hire, err, we’re doing jobs for the CP now?” She vocalized her own internal confusion and disbelief.
“Nah, it’s for her personally. It’s not CP sanctioned or anything.” Phon clarified. “She wants us to sneak into the private residence of one of her Vice-Reps and bring her documents she suspects are hidden there. Apparently, this home is unlisted too. The political intrigue deepens.”
This was quite the conundrum. Even if she did report this, no action could be taken against the Rep without Jaid being exposed as a mole. Yet at the same time her loyalty to the CP was in question if she didn’t report it. Maybe this was why Phon had shown it to her, to lay a trap? Perhaps, but it was more likely just her eccentric personality.
“So what, you’re going to get it then meet her in a shady alley or something?” Jaid tried to play it cool but was urgently prying for more information.
“Nah, I’ll just take it right to her office at the CP,” Phon stated as if that was a normal thing to do. “Heard there’s a hidden cafeteria down there that serves some pretty great food. Will probably get lunch—well dinner at this rate—while I’m there.”
Jaid immediately knew the cafeteria she was talking about, having eaten there several times herself, but that wasn’t the important part. You can’t just break in there and expect them to serve you like a regular customer, she wanted to scream aloud, but that’d give away too much, so screaming in her head would have to suffice. “Umm, good luck, I guess. Bring me back something tasty if you can.”
“Eh, sure, why not,” Phon accepted to Jaid’s surprise. “Payment for taking care of this task for me. Just pass or fail them to your best judgment. If you’re ever really unsure, give Nachi a call. Oh, I suppose I should pass you first. Go ahead and shove the slop into your slop hole.” Phon motioned her head to the still otherwise untouched meal. Jaid took a bite of everything, and then Phon gave a simple nod before teleporting away.
Only for her to be back a second later. “Ah, I can leave the hammock if you want or take it with me now. You may be here a while, so it’s up to you. But if I leave it, it’s on you to break it down and bring it back. Can leave it with Mallea.” Phon focused on the weirdest details sometimes, Jaid couldn’t help but think. Still, she accepted the offer since she’d prefer to lay in it and maybe get a break for a while.
Jaid slumped into the hammock, swaying for a moment and closing her eyes. It took every ounce of restraint to not immediately open the CP reports app on her phone, but she needed to make sure Phon was gone for good and wouldn’t pop back up again. After a few unrelaxing minutes later, Jaid opened the app but was now stuck on the submission field.
What could she submit? What should she submit? Was Mrs. Viscelli a traitor for doing this? No, at least not in her allegiance to the Central Peace. Somehow, Regend didn’t recognize the Fiends For Hire as criminals, so hiring them was perfectly legal for her. Disputes between Reps and Vice-Reps were considered a national issue and not a CP issue, so it wasn’t the CPs responsibility to take action. If she was going to report the crime, it’d have to be directly to Regend law enforcement. That wasn’t her fight, though, so ultimately Jaid didn’t mention a word about Merigauld Viscelli.
『Phon Drazah will be at the restricted cafeteria today. Recommend observation and compliance from dining staff.』 That was all the information Jaid ultimately ended up submitting. Since Phon’s intentions hadn’t sounded malicious, engagement could only lead to worsening relations. Right now, the CP and the For Hire’s were at a stalemate in a sense. Neither group could presently attack the other without some form of retribution.
The fact that the Drazahs knew the location of their headquarters really was just the worst. From what Jaid knew about Phon, given reason, she’d literally burn down their entire headquarters. Fortunately, her more sane and rational brother would never allow that. In a way, his existence was the sole restraint keeping a new tyrant from being unleashed. Jaid was certain now that if action was ever to be taken against Drim, there had to be a reliable way to capture or kill Phon first.