I’ve already found another set of beads during one of my other expeditions. Finding one here was surprising, even to me. I’ve had both of them compared, and they seem to be too similar not to match. Surprisingly, however, when I had a metallurgist examine them, he could not chip off even a small amount of the material.

Perhaps after I’m done uncovering the secrets of Eihk-Huellaster, I can move onto studying these instead. Till then, I’ll put them in a safe location for the time being.

­-From Professor Shokolov’s Journal, 3rd Entry

AxEl stood among a group of people he’d grown familiar to. His dealers were those sorts of people who wanted to earn some quick money. He handed out the Prophecy that BannIh had created as quickly as possible, not sparing a glance for either of them.

“And be careful. We don’t want to catch the eye of that Questor,” AxEl said after distributing it to everyone there. Everyone left after that, all except one person.

The man was older than AxEl, so he had difficulty thinking of himself as his superior. He was shorter, however, and balding under his cap.

“What are you waiting for?” AxEl asked the man.

“Wanted to know if there was space for another in…this,” he said as he gestured around himself.

“You think you know someone who would make a good dealer?” AxEl asked.

“Yeah. A kid I met around the town. House looks like it’s been abandoned for years. The boy’s all skin and bones, so I was hoping you could give him a job,” the man said.

AxEl felt his heart tighten a bit. “What do you know about this kid?” AxEl asked.

“Nothing much. Just that he needs the money. Quick with his hands. Caught him trying to steal a bag from me.”

“If you’re so worried about him, take your cut of the money and give it to him instead, then,” AxEl said, moving towards the man.

“I didn’t mean it like that.”

I know. “We can’t be risking those kinds of people in the business. Maybe later once the Questor’s gone, but now is not the time. I’ll ask Nook to up your pay if you’re so concerned, but you better work for it,” AxEl added.

The man seemed surprised at that and nodded before leaving as well. AxEl relaxed his posture after that, placing his hands on the railing of the bridge he was on. Keeping up the act like that was becoming easier by the day, but something about that fact unnerved AxEl.

As soon as he found himself free from his duties, another message came to his phone, informing him of a bulk shipment being delivered.

****

AxEl stood over a few cardboard boxes in his, er, The professor’s house. He opened them and saw the Firewire he had ordered just as planned. He hated giving over money to DoxEn, but it was something that he was forced to do now that he was being attacked by the man.

Buying weapons from the same person trying to fight me with them. I bet my social studies teacher would be proud, AxEl chuckled to himself. He divvied up the Firewire into bunches for each dealer. The smell was irritating, but it was better than letting it out. He brought out a bag for carrying, and then set up the time for meeting up with a few of the dealers.

****

Lex sat on the grass, rubbing his head. The other folk weren’t good conversationalists, so Lex kept to himself. Boring lot, aren’t they? He thought to himself, skipping a stone across the river.

It jumped off the water seven times before diving into it. Lex smiled to himself and picked up another. This time it did eight skips before sinking. As he was going to pick up a third stone, someone else threw it from behind him, skipping ten times and outperforming Lex.

He looked behind himself and saw another one of the dealers holding a rock. “At least someone here’s a good challenge,” Lex said before they began their impromptu competition.

AxEl arrived on the scene and found himself surprised. A man was sitting on one of the rocks, keeping score of the five people skipping stones in front of him. AxEl recognized only Lex out of all of them, but that was enough for him to paint a picture of what had happened.

He cleared his throat loud enough for everyone to hear. Lex turned around and smiled in his direction, his jovial demeanor something that AxEl didn’t appreciate.

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“You all know why I’ve brought you here, right?” He asked. The others dropped the rocks in their hands and walked over.

“Yes, boss,” “yeah” and a few other similar responses greeted him.

“I don’t think I need to say anything further then. Come on,” AxEl said as he dropped the duffel bag in front of him. Lex strode up to the front of the group and zipped it down, revealing a few packets of Firewire packed into it.

He held one up and looked confusingly at AxEl.

“This is protection?” Lex said to him. AxEl propped up an eyebrow. Lex stood up and pulled him to the side while the others stood and stared at the stash in front of them.

“What, did you expect me to bring guns?” AxEl asked.

“That’s what most people think when you say ‘protection’, boss,” Lex answered. “No problem. Just be firm and tell them to take it or leave it, and I’m sure most of ‘em will take it,” he added.

AxEl felt weird about taking advice from one of his underlings, but decided to try it.

“Take only as much as you need. If you take too much and get caught, it’s not my problem,” AxEl said to them. They looked confused and one of them picked something out of his pocket.

It was some Prophecy pills in a packet that he threw onto the ground in front of him.

“Look, I just did this because I needed the money. I’m not getting involved with…all of this,” he said, before placing his hands in his pockets and leaving.

It was painful enough spending so much money buying the Firewire, and now he was just going to leave? AxEl felt his hands clenching up beside him in anger.

AxEl glared at the man as he walked away, then turned his attention to the remaining members. “You want to leave? Go ahead. Don’t come crawling back when the going gets good, though,” AxEl said to the remaining dealers. With nothing more to add, he turned and began walking.

He risked one last glance over at Lex and saw him give an approving nod.

****

“I don’t care how many of you leave. But leave and try to get on the police’s good side, and that won’t end well for either of us,” AxEl put extra emphasis on the last part as he delivered the last batch of Firewire for the day.

The persona was beginning to grate on him, so he didn’t waste time for any of his dealers questions. He just brushed them aside and took to the last thing on his list for the day.

The bag weighed heavily on him, despite its lightness. Hopefully, none of those idiots just smokes the whole batch, he thought to himself. He stomped all the way to BannIh’s house to get one last thing in order before getting his schedule to something normal once more.

Once there, he banged on the door hard enough that he thought he might break it off the hinges. BannIh answered the door, not looking any worse for wear.

“You could have informed me ahead of time, master AxEl,” BannIh said.

“Forgot to,” he said as he pushed the professor aside and sat on one of the sofas available. It felt nice to relax his bones after the tiring day that he had been through.

BannIh looked a bit confused but regained his composure almost immediately. “Anything I can bring you, master AxEl?” he asked.

“Maybe a better title?” AxEl shot back. BannIh chuckled, amused at his expense. He was about to leave the young master to his own musings, when he spoke again.

“BannIh. Do you know of anyone else willing to work for us?” AxEl asked the man. BannIh twirled his mustache, thinking.

“What kind of workers would you be looking for?” he asked AxEl.

“More chemists. And anything else you think we might need,” AxEl replied, breaking the façade a bit. BannIh looked at him in a new light for a moment, before turning away to avoid his glare.

“I may know a few people for that position.”

“Good. Thank you, professor,” AxEl answered. Before he broke any further, AxEl stepped off from the couch and left BannIh’s house. He collapsed on his own bed, feeling foreign in his own house and forgetting his usual ritual.

****

The next day, AxEl received no calls on his phone. He woke up on his own in the early morning, around the time he would usually receive messages from his dealers, from the chemists and from anyone else who was going to bother him with more work.

He waited around in the morning, dreading the call, until finally being called down for breakfast. FenEl stood in the kitchen, fixing up some of her familiar dishes. AxEl was actually looking forward to eating them, that was until he was hit on the head with a wooden spoon.

It wasn’t painful, though it still surprised him. “Stay out that late again and I’ll hit you harder than that!” his mom said. AxEl chuckled, but FenEl looked unamused. He looked away after that, ashamed.

“Yes, mom,” he answered, and FenEl went back to cooking. AxEl shuffled around on his seat for a moment before bringing some money out of his pocket and placing it on the counter.

FenEl looked back and saw the money there and stopped stirring the pot on the stove. “What’s that, AxEl? Where did you get it?” She asked, looking serious.

“It’s some of my pay I’ve been earning from the job,” AxEl said, trying to look convincing.

FenEl looked suspicious of his act, so she stepped up to the neat stack of bills and flipped through them. “You earned…a lot,” she said, raising an eyebrow in his direction.

“Where exactly are you working?” She asked him immediately afterwards.

“Uh, somewhere online. They ask me to write articles and I, uh, I get paid for them afterwards.”

There was a pause for a few moments as FenEl looked at her son, but before long the food needed tending to so she went back. AxEl heard her sigh as she spoke once more.

“Tell me when you’re going to go get a job. Despite that, I’m proud,” she said as she smiled in his direction.

“Don’t spend it all in one place,” she added as she brought out plates for both of them. Before AxEl began to eat his, he pushed the small stack towards his mother.

“But this is for you. So you don’t need to work as much,” AxEl said.

“AxEl, that’s sweet of you. But you shouldn’t worry about the expenses, I’m here to handle those. You just enjoy what you’ve gotten, and keep up the good work, okay?” She said and placed a hand over his.

AxEl looked downward for a moment and contemplated. But it is for you. If it’s not, then I’ve done all of this for nothing!

“Please, mom, I know about the bills. I want you to take the money and give yourself a break,” AxEl pleaded with his mother.

FenEl looked torn between the money and her son but conceded after taking one last look at AxEl.

“As long as you’re not doing this just for me. You’re young, take some time to enjoy it, okay?” She asked. AxEl nodded and they both dug into their food afterwards.