Major Aestir mixed his tea with a thin, long-handled spoon before taking a small sip.
Though you were supposed to drink quietly, he preferred to loudly slurp the substance purely because it annoyed the people around him.
He then downed half the cup like this in one go, before setting the cup down and pushing it towards the opposite side of the table.
The elf lifted the tea pot. He was one of eight elves in this group, and one of thirteen elves total within this restaurant. He reached over to refill Aestir’s cup as tradition dictated, allowing someone else to fill your cup was considered a method of showing trust. While the tradition was somewhat outdated, refusing would be a social faux pas.
Besides, I am resistant to most forms of poison and so am not in danger. Given that they outnumber us and the fact that elves were superior as individuals, the correct method of murder would be for the elf to pull out the sword on his waist and cut my head off.
Major Aester licked his eyeball to moisten it somewhat, something that most non-lizardoids found somewhat off-putting. He didn’t actually care, though he did try to restrain the lizard aspects of his brain that were analyzing the threats around him.
It was often considered the superior aspect of people’s brains, the emotionless survival mechanisms that lead to quick and correct decisions-
The elf refilled his cup for a second time and the major began loudly downing his tea, pretending to pass the cup back out of respect.
He recognized that he had six non-elf entities in his group dispersed through six tables, and that by sheer coincidence there just happened to be only elvish civilians in this restaurant. This place had been reserved for his entire group and they were patiently waiting for the human to get back. At the moment, a head-on fight with the elves would result in an immediate loss, though the main threat came from outside forces. The human had been accosted at multiple points and he had attracted interest in many parties who wanted him all to themselves-
The elf started to glare at the major as he pushed another cup forwards, but he continued with the motion anyway.
The tea was made with an imported strain of hardbark, nutritionally dense and somewhat magical; it was a very common drink. Horticulturists could modify plant strains to the point that individual streets within the same city could sell unrecognizably different variants of the same plant.
This one left a cool taste in the back of the throat and a slight tingling in the gums. Over time, it should improve blood flow if consumed regularly.
“I know you aren’t focused on what I’m saying, Aestir.” The elf sighed, “though it is imperative to keep someone beside the human at all times. Might I suggest-”
“Mhnm.” The major grunted before slurping again.
“Really, it is not a good idea for us to be-”
The major pushed his cup back at the elf.
“How are you even managing to hold all of this liquid? You realize I am still working on my second cup?” The elf muttered, though the tone led for the statement to be more of a demand for an explanation than a question.
He was clearly wondering what motive I had to be sitting here drinking half a gallon of tea loudly while he was trying to speak, and expected me to explain why we were eating in a restaurant across the street from where Mark was right now.
Then they heard gunshots from across the street. A normal person might have assumed a car backfired or some kid had wanded off a few lightbursts to startle someone.
One, two, three, four, five, six. The amount of ammunition that a revolver could hold. Fired in quick succession, originating from the building Mark had just entered.
Aestir remained seated as the elf shot to his feet and it gave the elf pause.
“Well, that did take a bit longer than I anticipated.” The major said before sipping his tea again.
He pushed the cup towards the standing elf, for a moment the major caught a look of frustration. So slight that few would even call it that and it was gone so fast you could have missed it with a blink. Elves in general liked to seem all knowing and in control of all situations.
If that was true Aestir would eat his hat… He would go and buy a hat and then eat it. His head shape meant that hats liked to fall off and so he lost them constantly.
He had lost his last hat to the wind this morning and it mildly upset him.
After a tense moment the elf sat back down and refilled the cup before handing it back.
Aestir did the same for the elf.
“So, you obviously wanted us to leave the human alone since you directed us here. There is gunfire originating from the building that the human was in. You are not worried in any way. Our restaurant has a giant window right here providing us front row seats.” The elf listed off the current facts as they seemed to enjoy doing. “Is this an experiment on temperament you are running, or is this some sort of adrenal response test?”
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“I have no idea what you are talking about.” Major Aestir said with a straight face.
“Then how did you anticipate this?” The elf inquired. “You anticipated these events; it is clear by the fact that you are not worried about the human. He is alone where anyone can grab him-”
“Oh that was not what I was anticipating, Fensive. Though it does somewhat line up with my plans.”
Fensive scratched at a pointed ear, combing it back slightly. A pointed gesture designed to give him a moment to think without reflecting anything but slight annoyance. As if the minor itch mattered more than you.
“You brought the deathworlder to this part of town and let her wander around. I kept silent because it did not seem to be a big enough problem to warrant conflict, but if you are stating that this wasn’t part of some plan-”
“There was no way that I could have known that someone would have attacked her and initiated combat.” Aestir held his hands up for a moment, feigning innocence.
“We don’t even know that’s what happened major. It could be that she was the one to attack someone.” The elf argued. “Why do you assume Zirrilit needed to defend herself? Do you have someone in there watching?”
The major slurped down more tea, then surveyed the team around him.
Of course I didn’t have someone watching him, intellectual types were specialized in information gathering and could form correct theories from seemingly nothing.
The tables had been stuck in their own conversations, but it had since dwindled into silence as they quietly listened into the conversation between himself and the elf.
They were the two highest ranks here, the major being the leading military member of the local facilities and the elf being a respected researcher who the local elves looked up to. Elven culture respected social standing more than the government’s hierarchy.
“How do I know someone attacked Zirrilit? Well, you see... Deathworlders tend to not have gods looking over them, so most religious people look down on them as godless savages. Their blessings are centered around violence and so people believe they are violent. In general they have hard times finding work outside of the military and so… Well, I actually love working with them. But in general you don’t actually have to be watching inside of the restaurant to guess that someone initiated combat with her.”
“I am aware of current social-political problems, I watch the news too. And the mocking voice is not productive to the situation. This is exactly why we should have had guards near him. Are you planning on sitting here, or is there a master plan behind this?” Fensive leaned forwards, ready to leap up over the table and towards the door.
He thought this was planned, and that there were safeguards in place. Aestir noted.
“Well. I guess if you need to know, there is a plan in place.” The major admitted and the elf relaxed, leaning back slightly.
“And it is..?”
“How do elves usually do it when fighting deathworlders? The safest way is to reduce their hit rate while increasing your own ability to avoid their attacks right? That is what you are taught in your schools, but I was teaching the class and one of my students tried it I would fail them.”
“Why would you- No. Tell me your plan and stop monologuing.”
“Well. Step one was to leave the human in the tailor shop. Step two was to make Zirrilit uncomfortable. See, all of the other customers started staring at her and the servers started giving her the evil eye. That made her choose to wander off to find Mark…”
The major stopped and began drinking again, continuing the same sip for almost half a minute as the elf rapidly became more and more annoyed at the delay of the information he needed.
“Yes… You see, Zirrilit would then enter the tailor shop with Mark. The same tailor shop that your niece frequents. A fight would then initiate as people react in a hostile manner, he would deal with it, then come to the conclusion that you were testing him again. If you look out the window your niece just teleported into the middle of the street and a car swerved to not hit her- Because she made the decision to rely on your training instead of… You know… Getting the guards who would swarm them with numbers and anti deathworlder equipment.”
“You can’t be serious.” The elf grunted, he stood to stare at the young elf who had just caused a traffic violation.
“No, your class scenarios tend to focus on an individual or a small group. But in real life you could just call in backup and we could throw a few hundred people at a problem. That’s because your species is much dumber than most people know. Being good at school work and tests does not mean that you are a smart individual.”
“Well, if you are going to just sit here insulting me then I am going to leave. I will simply defuse the situation, tell Mark that you are framing us and manipulating him and this plan will fail.”
“Well, you are only good for memorization though. That isn’t an insult, because you generally aren’t tasked with actual scientific thought or identification, just gathering raw data. That is why you couldn’t tell that your drinks were poisoned. All I had to do was grow a new strain, honestly I didn’t even need help. You couldn’t identify it as poison because you have never sampled it before and memorized it as a poison. I put it into all of the elves' drinks in this restaurant just in case you were allied with those customers over there.”
The lizard person sipped his cup loudly, he had been waiting for them to down a sizeable enough amount of tea to be life threatening.
“Now, since you are a much more k-selective species, you will likely take no chances and do nothing that might risk sacrificing yourself-”
“You wouldn’t-”
“Well the reason it improves bloodflow so well is because it is a blood thinner and since I know you won’t allow obvious risk to yourselves-”
Before he had even finished his sentence they had already teleported away in a bright fluorescent purple flash.
“-so you would… most definitely… Go to the hospital immediately…”
Major Aestir paused for a moment. He was enjoying his braggart monologue, and they just up and left in the middle of it.
He snapped out of it quickly and stood, nodding to the remaining retinue.
“Make fast. We have about two-thirty before they’re back.” He snapped at the table across from him.
“On it, sir!”
He turned and stared out the window as the bright yellow member of his retinue ran past him to secure the streets.
Sirens betrayed the guard’s vehicles before he saw the lights. They were locking down the road with simple barricades and training their weapons on the shop.
“Do we have their coms in hand, Radio?”
Radio, the dark-furred communication’s specialist, nodded.
“They are ready to break in, prepared for one deathworlder and one armed gunman.”
“Understood,” The major nodded, “Order the guards to stand down. I want a melee squad entering the building with me for extraction in twenty seconds. Go.”
The major ran across the street with four figures in tow, passing dozens of guards aiming at the building from behind their brightly colored red and yellow cars.
“Stand down, secure the street. We will be going in.” The major ordered to the guard captain without even pausing to ensure it happened.
Ordinarily, the major would have gotten an instant failure in his book. Supervision is the most important part of ensuring idiots actually listened to you.
But he was on a tight schedule, and speed mattered more than anything.
He watched as the thick, unarmed specialist kicked through the door, his greenish skin making him appear akin to an orc.
Though, a normal orc would outweigh him quite a bit. He was a cultivator who was more experienced in alchemy and trained in the arts.
A mage followed so close behind him they could have been hugging, with a rifleman and healing specialist next. The goal was for the entire group to move through the door simultaneously to avoid people training a weapon on the entryway.
The major waited for a moment, listening for added gunfire or screaming, before entering the building himself.
The human was in shock, standing in the corner coated in orc blood. Zirrilit was standing confused in the middle of the room over the source of the blood, and the shopkeeper was huddled behind his counter.
“Radio, grab the cameras. Get medical on the human and run an in depth scan before worrying about the orc.”
He turned towards the human and couldn’t help but wonder how can the human still be so emotionally distraught about death, considering how many people had died in his presence so far? How many people did the average human have to kill before it stopped causing emotional issues?
Though it did appear that he at least hadn’t puked this time, whoever decided that humans should throw up as a reaction to stress should be fired.