As the night gave way to day the residents of Ithaca were treated to a pitiful amount of sunlight. A storm front had taken an unexpected turn and now the sky was plastered with a dark gray despite it being the height of afternoon. It seemed like the kind of Saturday people would go for a good coffee and a place to curl up with a book, but The Dusty Tome was characteristically empty.

“Ooooh, what’s this feeling? My heart’s not doing to well. I don’t want to think about the state of the store’s accounts at all.” complained Levi.

To his left was the golem-boy Hugo, dutifully going through an inventory list to find anything of interest to the public the shop could discount. “Let me worry about the finances Master, you don’t have the head for it. I would think you’d be more worried about the hostiles you encountered last night or your new girlfriend.”

“She’s not my girlfriend.”

“According to my databanks, human males are very pliable when coming into contact with attractive females. Taking my previous observations of your mental processing power and extrapolating them outwards, it stands you would be unable to resist her charms.”

“What does that mean?! Don’t try to write me off like that! Observations of my processing power… you’re calling me an idiot! I’m not dumb enough to miss that!”

“I see. You must have leveled up your mental ability master. Accounting for this change, the extrapolated results remain the same.”

“Hmph. Hugo, humans can’t be defined just by numbers. We have an incomprehensible and unassessable spirit.”

“Trying to sound ‘cool’ like that…it doesn’t suit you.”

Hugo turned his attention to the store PC, pulling up a map he had marked up. It was a layout of the town with notations all over the place. It looked like utility information, specifically electric, and there were two locations marked off.

The alleyway next to the café and Dryden Road.

“You’ve had two encounters with that aberration, one encounter with an assailant, and I found power surges throughout the town corresponding incidents. Tell me Master Levi, what’s your strategy for addressing this?”

“I wasn’t going to do anything. I’ve done my time on this job already.”

“Dismissive as always. I predict you’re going to find your next activity to try then?”

“…”

It wasn’t a bad idea. Life was full of stupid entanglements; and if Levi knew one thing, it was how much of your life you could throw away on these side-ventures. He had tried running a store, tried fighting that black creature, and tried going up against Adrian. It made no sense for him to keep on repeating these things, might as well pack up and do something else in a different town.

Further consideration of Levi’s future was interrupted by the shop bell. A customer! It had been too long since anyone with money to spend had stepped through the doors to The Dusty Tome. Levi looked up, might as well greet the newcomer seeing as how they were the only non-employee present.

Scratch that, it was two customers!

Scratch that…

Two figures approached the front desk. One was a young man with a scowling face and angry eyes, the other a little girl with a heavy head of strawberry blonde hair. Even by normal standards they were a mismatched pair, but Levi knew their true characteristics were even more insane: those of a knight of The Congregation and a witch.

Oscar and Beth made it but a few scant steps inside before the little girl’s complaints could be heard.

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“Bathroom! Bathroom! Bathroooooooom! Mr. Oscar I need to go now!”

“Fine! Let’s just ask an employee and-“ Oscar stopped short once he caught sight of Levi. There was no chance The Congregation wasn’t keeping tabs on his location, so it stood to reason Oscar had been so preoccupied he had failed to realize the identity of the shop he had entered.

Levi didn’t even bother speaking. He simply thumbed towards the restroom door and Beth bolted to it desperately. As the door opened and slammed shut desperately, Oscar approached the front desk.

“I have some information for you. I wanted to call, but might as well get it out of the way now.” He eyed Hugo with suspicion, cautious that the boy was a non-denizen of the magical world.

“I’m nothing more than Master Levi’s shop golem. No need to worry about speaking about magic in my company.”

“That’s good. Less work for me.” said Oscar. He reached into his jacket pocket and produced a collection of papers. Sliding them on the desk, Levi recognized the face of Adrian, the man he had fought against the night before.

“I ran some checks based on the movement of people of interest to The Congregation, it was confirmed that this man’s in town. Adrian Malchus, this guy’s a piece of work. He’s a mercenary that we’ve spotted all over recently; he’s played a part in some pretty big jobs. Even I would have trouble contesting him one on one; it’s a miracle he didn’t finish you off.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not worried. I’ve got no plans to see him again. Think you could clean this mercenary mess up for me sir knight?”

“Listen jackass, your story about that monster and this merc was piss poor, but if it’s true then you’re part of something now. This guy has tons of known associates, so I doubt you’re getting out of it so easily.”

There was a sound of flushing and running water, and then the door to the bathroom opened. Beth skipped out, now relieved of whatever was burdening her.

“Hey!” cried Levi. “That was way too quick! You didn’t just go number one did you?!”

“Number one? I peed.”

“But you flushed?!”

“Ummm yeah! It was all yellow so I flushed before and after.”

Levi threw his face into his hands in despair. Beth was a little girl, isolated from the torturous adult consideration of utilities, but Levi knew all too well the burden that was the shop’s inefficient 3.5 gallon per flush toilet. Holy shit, what was the quarterly sewer and water bill going to look like?

“Listen!” he cried. “I can’t afford to up the water bill like that! I know your sister might not have taught you, but if it’s yellow you let it mellow! Flushing is for number twos only, got that?!”

“Yes! Flushing for number two only, got it!” Beth replied enthusiastically.

“Shut upppppp!” screamed Oscar. “How’s she supposed to integrate with society if you teach her crap like that? Beth, flush every time you go! Don’t listen to this guy I’m begging you!”

“The only crap here is the one that didn’t happen in that bathroom just now. Hugo, what’s the cost to us for two flushes?”

“Factoring in toilet inefficiency, 3.75 cents.” replied the golem.

“You heard him. Pay up for your charge, Oscar.”

“I’m not giving you money for that!”

Beth looked up at the two men. “If you have money can we get ice cream?”

Levi also looked at Oscar with a puppy dog look. “Please Oscar? Can we get ice cream?”

Hugo did his best imitation of begging, but it fell flat between his blank expression and emotionless tone. “I request you take Master Levi for ice cream to save me from his personality.”

“What the hell! Fine! If it gets you off my back let’s go!”

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Noelle slept for a long while. Even though it had been the early AM when she arrived back at her place, waking up at 11 in the morning was an excess of sleep in her mind. It was the type of rest reserved for the lazy, and was a huge blow to her strict 8am exercise routine. Oh well, it wasn’t as if she had anything to do. Work was her sole responsibility in this new town. If she went for a run at noon instead of 8 it shouldn’t make a difference.

And so, she dragged herself outdoors to take advantage of the spring weather. The cast kept her arm locked in a semi-awkward position, and she found her endurance draining more quickly than usual because of it. Whenever she zoned out it would brush against her side, the hard material leaving a faint scratch as the motion repeated over and over during the run.

Once the run was over she returned to her apartment. There was little to do there, but it was home. With no cable or internet set up she resigned herself to a day of watching videos in bed using her phone’s data. Maybe she’d het takeout later.

But first, a nap.

She was awoken by a loud rap against her door. It was harsh and quick, leaving a not so friendly impression of the person on the other side. Noelle stumbled to her feet. Who could it be, the landlord? It hadn’t even been a month since she’d been there, so a rent collection was out. What did that jackass want?

Now disgruntled, Noelle cracked the door open, making sure to keep a practiced grimace on her face. To her surprise, the person on the other end wore a similar glare despite her younger age.

The young witch girl Lorelei stood on the porch with a plastic bag in hand, staring upwards at Noelle through the crack in the door.

“What’s that look for? I told you I was coming, didn’t I?”