If a ray of light were a man, it would be him. His presence alone comforted and made you fear him at the same time. He held his head high, proud of his power, and knew he was strong, but no trace of arrogance could be found on his face.
He bore a confident, big smile that went from ear to ear. His eyes were wide—as if you could see fire in them as they glowed their yellow hue. His hair was like orange flames, longer and tied up in the back, but letting the rest of it drape down into a mullet behind him, along with long bangs over his forehead and between his eyes. He wore a red cloak-like poncho with white flame cutouts at the coattails down to his thighs. Underneath him was silver armor, like that of a true knight, complemented with light gray belted boots. And the back of the poncho had a white dragon logo embroidered on it, symbolic of his Guild.
He stood a few feet behind the officer who had fired two rounds at me.
"Officer, please lower your weapon, and kindly uncuff my acquaintance if you would." Not a question, a demand. But with authority sown into each word. How the tables had turned.
He flashed an authorization scroll to him, and the officer turned to read it briefly. His eyes widened as if he'd made a huge mistake.
"Right—right away, sir!" he nervously but hastily obliged.
In an instant, they uncuffed me, and all the other officers put away their weapons.
"Thank you for your cooperation, officers! Now, if you wouldn't mind—this area needs to be cleaned up and citizens cared for. Especially the ones who were injured, if any. I'm sure you would agree that is top priority right now." A hidden slight in those last words telling them how to do their jobs. A true knight after the Kingdom's own code.
"Yes, sir!"
The World Magistral Army saluted all at once to him, then got to work around the plaza, leaving us finally. Even without the scroll he showed them, and though only a knight of one of the Four Kingdoms, he outranked every officer here—myself included.
By now, he was brimming as he stood, arms folded and chest out. "You would be wise to be more careful next time, Greed," Ryo said to me out of relief. He had come just in time.
His full name was Ryoku, but I called him Ryo for short. He also didn't care for formalities and wasn't afraid to call me by name. It was nice to hear anything else aside from Captain.
"Couldn't be helped. There was a Grade 3, so I extinguished it." I shrugged as I put my jacket on, snatching it away from him.
"That's not what I mean… It looked as if you were intimidating those officers. If I had not come in time to release you, who knows how that would have drawn out?" Ryo replied, fully aware of the situation and what had happened prior.
I didn't speak yet. I continued to fix myself, dusting myself off from the fight I had just had moments ago. Then, I put my hands in my pockets. I finally said, "I don't know what happened there." And didn't say anything else, implying to him I didn't want to talk about it anymore.
His orange, flamelike eyebrows lifted and gave me a look of concern from that of a caring friend.
"OH, THANK THE KEEPER! YOU'RE OKAY, I'M SO GLAD! YAY!" a happy Ophelia said, popping from the ground out of nowhere, wrapping her arms from behind me over my shoulders. She was suspended in the air for a bit before lowering down.
"Ophelia, babe… Don't be so smothering," I said calmly as she rubbed her head against mine.
She gasped. "You called me babe?? We're not even dating! Oooo! We got a smooth talker here, hehe. I know what that means…" She looked at me with a seductive eye and pocketed this for later…
"Yo, Ryo!" Havoc waved, casually walking toward the rest of us, one hand in his pocket. He made his way toward Ryoku and gave him a forearm handshake.
"Oh, and hey, Cap, glad you're okay," he finally added, sarcastically disregarding me.
"Thanks, Havoc, I'm glad you care SO much. I am so LUCKY I have a friend like you. Thank you!" I mocked, snarking at him.
He gave an amused, hissed laugh. Short and weaselly. He closed his eyes in a cheery manner and then stuck out a tongue.
"No, but for real. I was around the corner, ready to let loose if you signaled. Glad I didn't have to. I didn't feel like transforming today…" he said, scratching his head after.
"Oh yeah, I'm glad you didn't have to lift a finger today either," I continued to tease.
Ryo burst into laughter. A bit much, but that's just how he was. Everything he did was over the top and intentional.
"Anyway, I'm hungry. Let's head to the rendezvous now, please," I suggested.
We all obliged and headed off, bantering as the sky turned orange and the day drew to a close.
***
The sound of chefs cooking and chatter from the small crowd filled the air. The smell of homemade-like food seeped into our noses. Stir-fried noodles were being served as the chefs put together the finishing touches.
My stomach growled, but a look of disappointment was all that I wore on my face.
"I thought you were hungry. Why do you look like that?" Havoc joked.
This noodle house was on the other side of town from the plaza we were last at. It was the best noodle house in town. This was the rendezvous we had set. We always enjoyed a meal together as a team after any mission we completed together.
On our commute there, I checked in "mission complete" on my authorization scroll. Regardless of deadline, if you completed a mission, you could collect your reward at any time. The only purpose for deadlines on missions was curfew, especially if you were not in a town or village under your Kingdom jurisdiction—like this place. The only ones it mattered to were the W.M.A., aka the World Magistral Army, who governed all land.
Authorization scrolls had multiple purposes too: they granted you access to certain areas outside your resident Kingdom jurisdiction, provided mission details, and once a mission was completed, you could check it in through the scroll and it summoned your compensation—typically reward money or reward items. It was one of the types of magic items universally used by many mages.
**Moments earlier**
Around this time, Ryo was speaking, and we were going over the rewards from the mission. "Ah, yes, remember to account for the miscellaneous charges. Here's the list:
Plaza damage that was made during the fight: 2000 eterna.20 floors worth of broken windows from the skyscraper you jumped off: 1800 eterna.An injured pedestrian from debris when landing from the skyscraper: 500 eterna—"
"What? Was it that lady who was there? She just got a 'little' dirty from the monster splatter… but other than that, she was fine!" I interrupted.
Ryo replied, "Nope. This was another pedestrian who was there. Male, and I believe he was behind a tree…"
"Oh, come on! I didn't even see that guy!"
"However, that young lady you saved pressed charges, so that's a 150 eterna fee…"
"Are you fucking kidding?! What? Is that for a damn therapist!? Ungrateful bitch."
Havoc and Ophelia butt in with snickering laughter at my misfortune in that moment. I whipped my head and scowled at them from behind.
"And then you have the fine from the World Magistral Army for resisting arrest," he paused for a good while before finishing, "500 eterna."
"Well, that's not bad. I was expecting more. I've always wanted to donate my money to the World Magistral Army like the good Samaritan I am—SAID NO ONE FUCKING EVER. ARE YOU GODAMN KIDDING ME, RYO?"
Havoc and Ophelia now hysterically laughed in the background.
"Well, my authorization scroll is actually a permit that takes any Kingdom allies outside Kingdom laws under its safeguard, regardless of unrelated missions, even from the World Magistral Army—excluding Generals and above… but it does not cover fines or fees the W.M.A. decides to place on you. Prime example, you intimidating those officers before I came. Regardless of whether you meant to or not, they still saw it as a resistance to arrest," Ryo explained academically.
I got tired of explaining myself. It was a drag. So I kept quiet, hands in my pockets, and wore a frown on my face as we strolled along.
Ryo, patient with me as always, let me be for a few seconds before throwing an arm around me.
"Well, enough of that! How about we count up that reward money you earned!"
We summoned the reward money from the scroll, and by magic, it appeared in a tray, already stacked and banded.
Five thousand eterna was the reward. Nervous sweat ran down Ryo's face.
"What's with that face?" I noticed.
"Well… um…"
I started counting the money and segregated the expenses.
Five thousand eterna… Minus two thousand for the damage. Eighteen hundred for the windows. Five hundred for random injured dude. One hundred fifty for the annoying girl I saved. Five hundred for W.M.A. Which left me with…
"Fifty fucking eterna…"
I slumped and basically shattered from the sound of it.
Havoc and Ophelia continued their laughter. They wheezed, patting each other on the back as if to help each other up, unable to keep composure. Ryo, trying to make me feel better after counting the profit, patted me on the back nervously as we continued on to the rendezvous, with me slumped over and depressed.
**Back to present**
The four of us stood in front of the noodle house, salivating. The sound and smell of food invaded our senses. My face was gloomy as ever, but I was so hungry I probably could've fallen over too.
Fifty eterna was all I had. I could probably buy us all a meal with that, but afterward we'd be ass broke. And I didn't bring any extra money. We used up what we needed before coming to this town. I couldn't even remember for what.
"Fuck it," I said and barged into the noodle house first, with Ophelia and Havoc following, Ryo behind us.
"Here's my e-card. Please keep it on file until my group and I are finished. Whatever we get, please put it all on this," Ryo said to the hostess.
The noodle house was open all night. We filled ourselves with good food, alcohol, and laughs—leaving every important topic at the door and for the next day.
My only wish was that the others were here as well… But we'll eat a meal together when we get back to the Valley Kingdom.
"You know, for someone named 'Greed,' you sure eat more than you collect eterna!" a drunken Ophelia preached, nearly including the table next to us in our conversation as we shared a laugh.
We simply enjoyed the rest of the night carefree, and the tab was more than fifty eterna. I went on to the next day without realizing Ryo paid for all of us that night.