The strange man and woman have left the crowd, perhaps hiding themselves within the area; Ajax is pissed that he’s going to have to look around the area for them, he’s still convinced that they’re up to something more than just inciting a lynching.
I’m going to have to search every nook and cranny for them. Hmm… What do they smell like again? Oh yeah.
Ajax looks at his right hand. He remembers his first encounter with those two in the first place.
Several minutes earlier.
Ajax walks through the crowds within Maz square, clearing a path for Prisca, the healer, to follow him. His nose picks up the traces of someone bleeding who has also vomited.
He has been careful not to draw attention to Prisca through his actions. He's made sure not to interact with her patients, and he's been careful about how close he is to her around other demihumans. The last thing he wants is for her patients to distrust her for associating with a human. Even right now, Prisca follows a few meters behind him.
From Ajax and Shaula's speculation, Prisca, Cel, Sito must be part of an underground organization and / or religion; that old draconid man is either their leader or a man of importance to them. The three don't want to reveal themselves to the guards or show their connection to the old man either.
It’s a church of some kind, right? I read that churches that don’t worship Osva are illegal. Even churches that worship Osva while believing in heretical doctrines are purged whenever they’re discovered. I can't remember what the three of them said about their group though…
Ajax pauses and moves into a nearby crowd. He’s successfully let her to the patient. Prisca can smell her patient now and walks through the crowd towards them without needing any more assistance from Ajax.
The person of interest is a middle aged beastkin man with ginger hair lying on the ground clutching his stomach. The crowd that Ajax is in is watching the man. There is a young human woman with light brown hair standing over him, berating him as he bleeds from his nose. He's vomited already.
The woman speaks racist insults at the man that would provoke the demihumans in the crowd to confront her. However, the crowd here is mainly human and they’re watching the scene, murmuring to themselves without getting close to her.
This seems to be because a man near the brunette is standing imposingly. Ajax notices him looking around and staring at the few demihumans within the crowd who might be thinking of getting closer to the brunette woman or the ginger haired demihuman.
Is there… something the man is doing? He's just standing there, isn't he? Why do they all look so afraid of him? Just because he’s a bit big?
Ajax sees the demihumans within a certain radius look almost frozen in fear, trying not to look over at him directly, but at the same time making sure to keep him in their periphery. He can actually hear their skin form goosebumps, their heart rates skyrocketing. The humans who are watching the scene aren’t so afraid of him, but they still look intimidated by the man.
The woman finishes berating the demihuman man and kicks him in his belly once. She is quite satisfied with the extent of his suffering. She finally notices the crowd gathered around her. She stands confidently and puffs out her chest.
"This beastie mongrel tried to steal from me! All my brother did was get my stuff back!" She holds a blue coin pouch in her hand with a smile on her face. The crowd claps. Ajax wonders if she's telling the truth exactly. He's not as confident as Shaula is at discerning liars, though it’s not like she can tell just by their heart rates either.
That blonde guy is her brother then…
Even if the beastkin man did (allegedly) try to steal from her, Ajax doesn’t feel good about her and her brother hurting the man, humiliating him in public, and then shouting racist insults at him. They could have easily stopped at the first two; it’s not like Ajax can blame them for dealing with someone who tried to steal from them.
Maybe he would have held back a little, but that’s because he has the money to spare.
Prisca, standing to the front of the crowd, wants to approach the man in order to heal him, but stands in deep fear of the imposing blonde man. The man stares at her as she is a demihuman within this crowd of human supremacists, but seeing that she is fearful towards him, he doesn’t do anything or approach her.
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Ajax watches the brunette woman continue speaking.
“Do you people want to wait for the city guards to do anything about this? For those fat shitheads to get off their asses and clean up this city?” The woman asks. “Crime has only continued to go up within Tritol. What the fuck have those pricks done about it?”
Some of the human supremacists within the crowd start to holler in affirmation of her words. Ajax is somewhat perplexed. He really thought that human supremacists loved the city guards. After all, they were the ones responsible for all the racist shit that happened today, at least in Ajax’s eyes.
“All those cowards ever do is allow pickpockets, murderers and rapists keep running around while expecting everyone around them to lick their boots… They’re a corrupt force with no intelligence, but they do get the magic weapons, don’t they?” The crowd laughs and jeers. Ajax listens for any guards around the area.
It looks like a couple are watching her speak, but not getting closer to the woman boldly insulting them.
“They’re not even worthy of wielding those weapons! My brother here is stronger and more dedicated to humanity than any of them!” The woman points to her blonde brother. He looks annoyed, but the crowd loves the woman’s charm.
Ajax wonders where she intends to go with this. However, while the woman continues her speech, Prisca approaches him within the crowd. Her face is downcast. He did notice that she didn’t approach the beastkin man to heal him, but he thought she was just waiting for the right opportunity.
Why did she decide to walk up to him and make the connection between the two of them so obvious? She speaks softly into his ears.
“Ajax. I-I think we need to leave here. There’s no point. Sniff out the next person that I can h-heal.” Her voice trembles while she asks him to locate the next person in need of help.
Ajax is surprised.
“What happened?” He watches her reaction carefully. He notices for a moment her eyes dart towards the blonde human.
“That… That man there. He’s powerful. H-He has a fear aura active right now.”
“...What’s that? Oh… Is that why some of the people in the crowd are afraid?” Ajax has never heard of a fear aura before. If Shaula had read about something like that, she likely would have mentioned it.
“I’m not surprised you don’t know what it is, I doubt anyone can tell that he’s using the spell. Haha, they probably just think they’re naturally afraid of him.”
Prisca and Ajax watch the audience carefully. He notices that most of the ones in the audience who look afraid have already walked elsewhere. The demihumans who remain seem not only afraid, but confused.
Are they confused as to why they’re so afraid…?
“All that man has to do is mark a target to cast ‘fear’ on and that person will become afraid of him. He only needs to look at someone and they… Well, you get the gist, it’s a powerful spell to say the least.”
Prisca pauses hearing the crowd cheer again. She continues to speak directly into his ear.
“The problem is that… if he can cast a fear aura, the man must be a powerful magic user, not someone we can afford to fight right now. It would be a waste of time and effort. Let’s just go find people we can still help.”
Ajax somewhat agrees with Prisca’s sentiment. They have the beastkin man in their grasp and they’re giving a speech about… something, he’s still not sure where the woman is going with her oratory. He tunes back into the brunette woman’s speech.
“...claim to be justice itself. But, they’re just pathetic. I, for one, don’t want them to enact justice against this pickpocket here. No… what I say is that we should claim our own justice. This man here…” The woman grabs the demihuman man by his hair, lifting up his head towards the crowd. “This one is going to be handled by us as we see fit. As is our birthright.”
The demihuman man’s nose bleeds and his eyes look unfocused. Ajax assumes he’s concussed. Yet, the now mostly human crowd disregards his condition entirely and erupts into cheers and applause. Ajax and Prisca’s faces turn towards each other in worry as the brunette woman continues.
“My brother will carry this man with us out of the square past the watch of those pathetic excuses for city protectors. Then, we will treat him as he deserves to be treated, as any demihuman who goes against their master race deserves to be treated. Pain… is quite a good teacher.”
She smiles maliciously and at least some of the crowd look like they’ll follow her out of the square. Though, Ajax doesn’t know where they’ll be leaving for.
Prisca grits her teeth in frustration. Ajax decides to consider his options.
Would now be a reasonable opportunity to show off a little? When that guy’s life is at stake?
“...Prisca, you still want to help that man, right?” Ajax asks. He looks her directly in her eyes this time.
Prisca tries to look away. However, realizing that her resolve cannot be so shallow, she takes a few deep breaths to get her back to where she needs to be mentally. She stares back into Ajax’s unwavering pupils.
“Yes.”