Origin ARS 6 Page 3

  "There is another job we can take that goes to Primrose. PSA fifty-three," said Scott.

  Rhea checked it over then nodded. "A flower delivery. Let me check my city map." She did so and made a few calculating noises. After a moment passed she nodded once more. "The flower shop and the grill are within five blocks of each other. We could probably get in and out with both packages within about a half hour."

  "Shouldn't take that long to get to Primrose Acres by train once we get to the train station, and the flower delivery just says to get there by sundown," said Scott.

  "I say accept it," said Rhea.

  Scott did so, then they started looking through the apps once more. Herbert climbed up onto Scott's other shoulder and looked at what they were doing. After a moment he started to chitter.

  "He says that he thinks he sees a good job," said Ero.

  "You can read, Herbert?" asked Scott.

  "Of course," said Ero, translating for the tiny Grassrat. "It is one of his miscellaneous skills. Common language: Written and Spoken."

  "Oh, does that mean you'll be able to speak to us without a fairy translator soon?" asked Scott.

  Herbert chittered then smiled as only a rodent could smile. He then turned sharply on Scott's shoulder and flared his cape for effect. Ero laughed and translated what he said. "Of course, who do you think I am?"

  Scott laughed as well then checked the mission Herbert had chosen. It was a short-term subjugation mission that took place, once again, in Primrose Acres.

  [Public Service Announcement #93]

  Caterwauling Cats

  Mrs. Kilman of the Primrose Dance Studio has requested help in reducing the feral cat population outside of her studio. The wildland cats cry and sing off-key at all hours of the night, and frighten her students during the day. The cats seemingly hate anyone who dances and attack any dancer that they see on sight!

  Mission Requirements: Bring in at least forty [Wildland Cat Paws] gathered in the Primrose Acres area. Do so before sundown to cut down on the number of caterwauling cats.

  Success: Gather at least forty wildland cat paws by sundown and turn them in to the local militia headquarters.

  Failure: Fail to turn in forty wildland cat paws by 6:17 PM

  Rewards: 6 copper Fayth per paw gathered and turned in by sundown. Increased respect from both Mrs. Kilman and the Primrose Acres Militia.

  Penalty: Failure to complete the assignment on time will result in the loss of respect from both Mrs. Kilman and the Primrose Acres Militia.

  [--]

  "Which one was it?" asked Rhea. Scott told her and she checked it out. Her first response was a grin. "I can see why Herbert would be interested."

  "Yeah, kick some feline ass and crush a few critters that hate people who dance at the same time," said Scott.

  Herbert chittered happily, and it needed no translation. His reasons for suggesting the mission were quite transparent and he would not deny them.

  "That should be an easy job for us," said Rhea. She counseled acceptance of the gig. Scott accepted it readily.

  They chose to look for their fourth job while heading toward the bus stop. They did not need to be in the building to acquire new jobs, and they would not be taking anything else that started from Valkovia this time.

  While they waited for the bus, Ero found an interesting mission. Scott smiled softly then looked it over in greater detail.

  [Public Service Announcement #137]

  A Seat for Baby

  Hi! My wife and I just had a baby, and we have not had a chance to get to town in order to buy a proper car seat for our newborn bundle of joy. Can you please pick one up, preferably a blue one since our little wonder is a boy. We'll fully reimburse you, plus ten percent, though... we do have a certain budget to keep. If we could get it within the next two days that would be wonderful!

  ~ Proud Papa in White Oak

  Mission Requirements: Purchase a [Blue Baby Seat] for a little boy. The value of the seat cannot exceed one gold coin.

  Success: Purchase a baby seat and deliver it to [Proud Papa] at his farm near White Oak within the next two days. Do not charge him more than 11,000 copper Fayth for the task.

  Failure: Fail to deliver a blue baby seat before time expires. Charge more than the budget outlined for the car seat.

  Rewards: Reimbursement of the purchase price for the car seat plus ten percent, up to 11,000 copper Fayth. Increase in respect from Proud Papa and the people of White Oak.

  Penalty: Proud Papa will lose respect for you and become sad.

  [--]

  Scott reached out and offered a finger to Ero. The fairy girl hugged his finger tightly and giggled a little. Rhea thought it was a good mission as well, so they accepted it. While they rode the bus over to the flower shop, Rhea checked through the prices for a baby seat online. A low whistle escaped her lips as she noted the cost for most of the decent looking ones.

  "Expensive?" asked Ero, hesitantly.

  "A little. We can get a medium priced one for about thirty-seven silver on premium sale, even less with our discount, and have it delivered to the farm," said Rhea.

  "Won't the delivery fees eat up our reward?" asked Scott, curiously.

  "Not really. We are VIP customers, remember? We get a discount that varies a little by store, but will reduce the cost by at least ten percent."

  "I see... So, are we charging Proud Papa full price?" asked Scott.

  "Can't really do that and not fail the mission. We can only charge what we paid, plus ten percent," said Rhea. She smiled after she said it, however. "What we can do is order it online and have it shipped to their farm. It'll arrive by tomorrow afternoon at the latest. The delivery fee they charge us will raise the price a little, but won't go over the budget."

  "Ah, I see. So we have it delivered to them and they just pay us a little more since the total cost would be higher than what we would have had to pay if we went into the store in person."

  "Yep. I'll make it a rush delivery." she fiddled with her Crysta-Com for a moment then nodded. "With one day rush guaranteed, we can get it to them for forty-five hundred copper... If they'd tried to buy it themselves they would have had to pay full price and then some since I doubt they are VIP customers. The sale was for VIPs only."

  "What would they have had to pay originally? Can we send a note with the package to show them how much they saved for working with us?" asked Scott, a bit of mercenary marketeering had arisen within his heart upon realizing what they could do.

  "Original price for Non-VIPS was forty-two silver. It would have been forty-five or so with delivery fees. We get a further ten percent discount, so the thirty-seven hundred copper cost, dropped to thirty-three hundred thirty copper. Total cost of purchase and delivery thirty-six hundred sixty copper."

  "Not bad... were there any more expensive ones within the budget?" asked Scott. By working the delivery system they would gain an extra thirty-six copper for the deal.

  Rhea shook her head. "If we had more time to comparison shop, we could probably find one. But most of the affordable blue colored ones are within the same price range or less expensive. The ones in the next tier up are a little over one and a half gold, and I don't see one on sale."

  "Alright. We do have other jobs, so we can't spend as much time shopping today, I suppose. Besides that, if we take too long we'll have to hand deliver it and possibly not earn as much," said Scott by way of agreement.

  "Done deal. Ero's assignment choice is already complete then. I also included a small note in the package delivery citing how we used our connection to save them about five silver overall and got the best quality item we could find within their price range," said Rhea.

  Ero clapped her hands happily. "Yeah! That's great. I bet they'll be fairy happy with that car seat, Rhea."

  The elf smiled at the little fairy then nodded. "I think so too. It should arrive at their farm by tomorrow."

  Another few minutes passed and they arrived at the flower shop. The
delivery was ready, and the bored shop girl merely annotated that they had picked up the delivery on time. The same sort of reception occurred at the Downtown Bar & Grill. However, two cases of barbecue turned out to be fairly bulky. Each case held one hundred barbecue sandwiches!

  It was no wonder that the penalty for failing to deliver them was so high. Scott was sorely tempted to try one of the sandwiches once he discovered that they had coleslaw on them, and that the barbecue was finely shredded like the kind that he enjoyed back home in North Carolina. That was one of the few things that he missed about Earth, North Carolina style barbecue.

  Rhea took the flowers and Scott lugged around the cases of barbecue. He had to hold them low and prop his chin on top of the topmost box in order to see. They were not heavy to him in any way, but their bulky nature did cause a few minor issues now and then.

  They caught the next bus, and rode until they reached the train station. It would take another few minutes for the train to arrive, but that was no problem. Scott sat down on a bench and parked the care package next to him.

  Rhea had to wander over to the lady's room to answer a call of nature, and Ero chose to accompany her in the fashion of women all over the multiverse. That left Scott and Herbert to guard the flowers and the barbecue.

  Herbert sniffed at the boxes a little then released a small rodent sigh then chittered once. Scott figured that he had probably said the Grassrat equivalent of "Dude." He nodded his head then said. "I know."

  Scott glanced over to his rodent friend. "Ready to kick some feline ass?"

  Herbert stood up on his hind legs and crossed his forelegs over his chest. A gentle breeze chose that moment to blow causing his cape to flutter heroically to emphasize his pose.

  "I'll take that as a yes," said Scott with a smile.

  "Oh, hell yeah? Is that barbecue?" called out a vaguely familiar voice.

  Scott and Herbert turned to see three people had gathered nearby. He recognized one of them immediately and soon, the other two seemed familiar as well. "Random elf girl?" Scott asked the red-headed elf.

  "What do you mean Random Elf Girl!" snapped Redhead. She was the common elf who had appeared before Scott and the others at dinner a short while back. She had tried to cause a scene.

  "How rude," said a man with beady eyes. He was the beady eyed man who had been sitting at the random elf girl's table before.

  The other man, demoted from Firstguy to Secondguy since he was the second guy to talk this time, snorted. "You should apologize for that."

  "True enough," said Scott. He turned to the elf girl and said, "I'm sorry. What was your name?"

  "As if I'd give my name to someone so rude!" she said in a scoffing tone of voice.

  "Then what do I call you other than random elf girl?" he asked her curiously. He had seen the trio sniffing around near their worksite and hotel room a few times, but had decided to let it go. This seemed a bit much though, and he wanted answers.

  "You bastard. How dare you talk to her like that." snapped Secondguy.

  Scott looked at him curiously for a moment, then quietly began circulating his magical energy. This confrontation had probably been coming for a while, though he was surprised that they planned to try something in a busy train station of all places.

  "Oi? Whatcha lookin' at? Do you like what you see?" asked Beadyeyes in an angry and suggestive tone of voice.

  "No. I see it far too often," said Scott without a hint of hesitation. "What do you three stalkers want from me, anyway?"

  "Stalkers! What are you talking about? We're just three people who want to take the train," said Secondguy.

  "Fine. Go right ahead," said Scott with a smile. He did not buy what they were selling for a moment, but it did not matter. They were not likely to actually do anything in a public place.

  "Like we need your permission," said Secondguy.

  Scott shrugged at the man then looked away like he was nothing. The complete dismissal caused Secondguy's face to turn red.

  "Look at this bastard. He calls us stalkers, insults my woman..," said Secondguy. Redhead interrupted, "Not your woman." but Secondguy continued on without missing a beat. "He even takes up space on a public bench with boxes. What a jerk."

  Scott and Herbert sat quietly while awaiting the train. The idiot trio continued to harass and annoy, but they did not make any openly hostile movements toward them. It was obvious to Scott that they wanted him to make the first move. He denied them the opportunity to claim self-defense.

  Rhea and Ero arrived just in time for the train to come thundering into the station. It was similar to the lightning spewing vehicle that the law enforcers used in town. Electricity skirled underneath the train and magical forces kept it aloft. The train itself looked more like something fit for the military than for civilian use.

  Scott looked it over casually and tried to hide his surprise when he saw the twin-gun turrets mounted on top of each train car. It seemed to be heavily armed and armored. For a moment he wondered and just how dangerous the world outside of town really was.

  Rhea glanced at the common elf and then at the two idiots with her before looking down at Scott. "Hey, looks like the train's here."

  "Yep," said Scott lightly, before picking up the precious barbecue cargo. "Let's get on board."

  The three idiots followed them, naturally, but did not board the train. They merely stared at Scott and the others with cruel expressions as the foursome boarded the public transit.

  After the foursome found a seat in the passenger car, Rhea snorted. "Those idiots are so obvious."

  "The turd trio back there?" asked Scott rhetorically. He was merely carrying the conversation forward.

  "Exactly. I bet they can't ride the train because they have a warrant. We should check on that on the way to doing our jobs," said Rhea.

  Scott agreed readily then pulled out his Crysta-com. The train pulled away a few minutes later, but in the meantime he had already found something on the second guy who had talked. "Clarence James? Dude's name is Clarence? Wanted for strong arm robbery, and communicating threats to the elderly."

  "Oh, no way," said Rhea with a laugh. She finished a search of her own and discovered the identity of the random elf girl. "The red headed girl is Barbara Banks. Wanted for... promiscuous solicitation and petty theft."

  "She's a busty hooker who works a side job as a pickpocket?" asked Scott. What a cliché.

  "Seems so... Though, I could have done without mention of the busty part," said Rhea. She fought down the urge to pout at Scott for noticing the bustiness of other elves, and kept searching the public warrant database but gave up after a few minutes. "I don't see the guy with beady eyes."

  "Maybe he just likes to hang out with those two?" asked Ero. "Also, what the heck is that?" She pointed at a warrant notice for a man who had the head of a catfish. She had been looking at the warrant notices curiously as they scrolled by.

  "Disturbing is what that is," said Scott. The guy had an actual catfish for a head. His face did not look like a catfish, his entire head was a catfish sitting atop a normal human neck.

  "Catfish Jack? Wanted for petty theft. Oh he stole crickets and worms from Dave's Bait and Switch angler shop near the city pond," said Ero. "I wonder what he did with the crickets and worms?" she asked curiously.

  Scott snidely said. "Well, maybe he had to feed his catfish head."

  Rhea groaned at Scott for his lame attempt at humor, but then they all began to laugh a little. It was entirely possible that Scott was right. Who really knew what a guy with a catfish head wanted out of life?

  Chapter 2

  The sun had approached the mid-point in the sky, and most people had begun to take their midday meal by the time that the foursome had finished their simple business in the town of Primrose Acres. A small town with only a few hundred residents, it was the perfect stopping point between Valkovia and White Oak.

  Scott counted out the coins gathered from delivering the barbecue and the flowers on
time then shared it between the four members of the group. The flower delivery had only been worth fifteen copper, but it was a simple job. The social experience was just as important as the money. The total take from those two jobs was one hundred thirty-five copper. While they had wanted to always split group earnings in half, part for the bank and part for their pockets, everyone agreed that it would be best to split eighty coins among the four of them and deposit the rest.

  They stopped at a local restaurant, Dancing Daisies to get a quick bite to eat before they went to meet with Mrs. Kilman about her cat problem. Their meal was simple, but cost them the better part of their flower delivery money. Such was life.

  "So, things have gone well so far," said Scott, before he took a drink of the odd tasting apple juice that he had ordered. He had never been a big drinker of alcohol, and did not think it would be a good idea to drink any before going on a combat mission even if he had been.

  "These sorts of jobs normally do. Unless there is some sort of skirmish between forces, or a bandit raid, delivery jobs are almost ridiculously easy to complete," said Rhea.

  Ero used a spoon like a shovel, and lifted a cube of sugar up and over the side of her tea cup. She then hopped up and gently stood on the rim of it while she stirred it.

  Rhea noticed her antics then smiled. "You would drink that easier with a fairy glass or taking the proper size."

  The fairy giggled a little, but said nothing. She was enjoying herself. However, she was not the only one to enjoy herself, Herbert spent his lunch dining on a salad with a side order of exotic cheese. He was not one to skimp on food.

  Neither of them ate a heavy meal. They did not want to stuff themselves before a fight. That would make them sluggish.

  "So, do you know anything about the cats around here?" Scott asked Rhea.

  She tapped her chin for a moment then shrugged. "They are a fairly common species. They run in prides, but the ones near this area are usually low level. There won't be many places within three day's walk that would have monsters that are too much for us to handle."