by Dakota Krout
After that little debacle, Jaxon had a steady stream of people coming to his table. While most of them let loose unflattering insults, they all paid and muttered that they would do it again. What an oddly unappreciative group! As the afternoon wore on toward evening, Jaxon closed down his ‘shop’. He had earned enough - he hoped - for everything he would need. Jaxon collapsed his table, folding it over and over again until it fit into his bag. Sometimes it was nice to be reminded that he was in a game world.
No skill increases arrived from his day of work, but that was expected. Jaxon wasn’t doing anything new or novel, so why would he be rewarded for doing it? Deciding to make it an early night, he went over to the temporary camp site that his guild had set up, rented a bedroll, and proceeded to sleep soundly through the night.
The following morning Jaxon awoke to a commotion. The various guilds and the army formed up and began marching toward Wolfman territory. Well, shoot. There went the majority of his potential clients. Who else could he offer to help? Jaxon ate a light breakfast and wandered over to the Pathfinder’s Hall. Glancing around, he found his next targets. “Look! Over there! Damaged people!”
Jaxon raced over to a group of ragtag individuals that had somehow gotten injured between the war and this morning. Jaxon zeroed in on a man who was whimpering, his arms and legs pointed in directions they should not be. “Hello there, broken man, would you like me to set those bones for you?”
“Are you a doctor?” The man was in pain, and the wait time to see even a medic here was quite long.
“You knew what, I actually am a doctor!” This is something Jaxon would never lie about, he could dust off his chiropractic degree if he needed to verify this. The Monk was sure he could get it uploaded. “There is a cost associated with this work. Would you like to start right away?”
“Yes, please!” The injured man gasped as his excitement at skipping the line made him jolt his arms accidentally. His legs were in worse condition though, had he fallen off a cliff or been wailed on by some monster?
“Done!” Jaxon announced a few minutes later, ignoring the screams of pain resounding through the area. Was it his fault there was no available pain medication? “Those should heal straight and proper! If you have a healing potion, I’d recommend drinking it; that should get you going again! If you don’t have one available, I do have a spare that I’ll be happy to sell to you for a slight upcharge. I’ll need to go get another one, so the premium is justified.”
It didn’t seem that the man had a potion, and no one else was offering, so Jaxon pulled his out and had him drink it down. Jaxon gave it ten seconds to take effect, then motioned for the man to try moving his arms. “All better? Excellent, the total bill will be-”
“Are you kidding me? You just tortured me, why would I pay you for that!” The man finished his sentence by screaming, though the Monk was not sure how he managed it. From the abuse this person put his vocal chords through while Jaxon set his bones, he really should have lost his voice by… oh right, the healing potion.
“Well, you did agree to pay me, and if you refuse at this point I will need to undo the work that I have done. Including extra for the potion, naturally.” Jaxon was sick of people’s attitudes! Why shouldn’t he be paid for healing this man? He would have languished here in pain for hours without Jaxon’s help!
“I… I! Fine!” the man threw a few coins at Jaxon as hard as he could. Thankfully his arms were still sore, or he may have even hurt the Monk! This kind of attack was entirely unwarranted and uncalled for, and Jaxon growled a low threat at the man.
Skill increase: Intimidation (Journeyman III).
This skill was silly. It increases for just… no reason at all. Jaxon thanked the man for his patronage and moved down the line. For some reason, the other people were insistent upon waiting for the healers. Perhaps their rates were lower than his?
“You there!” Jaxon heard a voice rasp at him.
He turned around to see a few guild officers staring at him, several warriors accompanying them. “Oh? Are officers still around? I thought the guild had mobilized? Are you here for some chiropractic care? I suppose I could give a group discount; that one would be easy enough to explain if needed.”
“That is unnecessary! Maggot, you are speaking to a guild officer! Atten-tion!” The man barked the order gleefully. His expectant look faded after a moment when Jaxon stared at him without moving anything but his fingers. “Ah. Aren’t you part of the Wanderers’ Guild? This is easier then, grab him-”
“I’m part of the guild. Why do you ask?” Were they here to give him a medal? They seemed like the kind of people that would put a lot of importance on shiny bits of metal.
“Then why aren’t you responding properly?” The man’s brow furrowed. “What squad are you in? Squad name. Now.”
“Oh boy, that’s a head scratcher right there. It… name… hmm. I think we are the Special Forces, or something similar? I heard us called the Hail-Mary squad by Aten?” The look the man gave him was… unamused, to put it lightly. “Does that help?”
The Officer’s mouth did that strange out-of-sync thing. “We’re going to march you out into the woods and cut you open. If we see you back here before the main forces of the guild are back, we’ll keep doing it. You need to leave the area until Aten is able to return and control you properly.”
That was some serious hostility! Jaxon thought ‘intimidate’ and activated his skill. “You dare threaten me in front of a crowd? Who do you think you are, maggot?”
Swords and various weaponry appeared in the hands of the entire group, and Jaxon knew that they were getting serious. Currently they were pale and shaking, but to their credit their weapons were pointed unerringly at him. “Y-you… you’d better get out of here!”
“I have business to attend to. I’ll be leaving as soon as I’ve met with a merchant, and outfitted myself for-”
“The merchants are gone!” His voice cracked! Jaxon did his best not to laugh at what was apparently a teen playing at being a powerful man.
“Ha! Where’s the fire and condescension that was in your voice a few minutes ago, brat?” Jaxon showed some teeth in his smile as the young man figured out what to say next.
“You get out of here, or we’re going to-”
“Oh, just stop. You aren’t going to do anything to me. I could walk through all of you without breaking a sweat. What are you, twelve? Didn’t we just fight in a war? How are you shaking so badly against a mere human when you had Wolfmen attacking you two days ago?” Jaxon tried to lock eyes with everyone in the group facing him. It wasn’t this young man’s fault that he was weak-willed and pathetic. Though Jaxon did wonder what the man-child had done with his life if a single person could intimidate his whole group of lackeys; especially to the extent that they may need to change their underclothes soon.
The only response to his words was a firming of faces, a tighter grip on weapons, and a step forward in preparation to attack. Good. They were able to grow in the face of adversity. Even though Jaxon really believed that these people still needed to ask permission to go to the bathroom in real life, at least right now they were acting like adults. “Excellent reactions! Guess I’ll be off then. See you all in a week or so!”
“As if we’d just trust that you’ll actually leave.” The leader snorted at him.
“I am disturbed by your lack of faith.”
“Men, form up. We’ll escort this torturer out of our territory!”
They stepped forward together, responding with a resounding, “Sir!”
Rexus: A Completionist Chronicles Side Story
COMING SOON
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