Kay got bored of waiting around for some higher ranked member of the Tumbling Rapids Guard like three iterations ago. First they had to wait for a Sergeant, then a Lieutenant, then a different Lieutenant, and now a captain. So… actually Kay got bored of the whole situation the first time, but he wasn’t sure anyone could blame him for it. It took the Sergeant a whole fifteen minutes to show up!

Finally! He thought when he heard footsteps coming down the hall. It’s been hours since we got to the city! I just want to go home and bathe!

The metal door opened with a squeal, and in stepped Captain Armis. He nodded at Kay and sat down across the table from him. “Hello, Kay.”

“Hi Captain Armis. How are you?”

He grunted a laugh. “I could be better. But lets cut to the important parts so you can get out of here faster, yeah?”

Kay nodded enthusiastically. He was still covered in muck and dirt. Because of his magic, there was no blood on him, but he couldn’t magic away mud and smoke damage.

“The Guard has been bumping you from person to person because no one wants to lose their job.”

“Why would they?”

Captain Armis sighed. “Basically, more political bullshit. The City Councilmembers that support Nelamian interests here push for Graceful Success to be given a direct comission from the City Council to hunt down the blood mage. That makes it… well they’ll throw a fit if we pay you the bounty money that you’re due and try and ruin the career of whoever gives you your payment.”

“Yeah, that sounds like political bullshit.”

Armis scratched his cheek. “Yeah, to be honest I’m getting really tired of it. Anyways, that part of the Council can’t touch me, not in a way that destroys my career at least, so I’ll personally get you sorted out and paid.” He went to the door and held it open. “C’mon, we’ll get it done and get you out of here.”

Kay followed him through the building. “What happened to the monster body I had with me? And the two people from the village that were my witnesses?”

“The monster corpse is being guarded outside, they’ll release it to you when you leave. The men from Grazing Fields got released already. Taking their statements and verifying them with a truth-teller doesn’t have the same kind of political danger to it, so someone took care of it hours ago.

Kay scowled but didn’t say anything. He also didn’t mention that he either had forgotten or never learned the name of the village he’d just saved.

They got to an office and Captain Armis started asking Kay questions about what happened. It took only a few minutes for them to finish the report that was necessary, and then the Captain started filling out a few more forms.

“I just need to get these three completed, I’ll sign, then you sign, then we’ll head over to the paymaster and get you out of here.” He tapped his quill in the ink pot and read over the three forms. “Right… these are fine, so sign-”

The door to the office burst open and a human man in fancy robes stormed into the office. “You will sign this right now!” He shouted as he slammed a piece of paper onto the desk in front of Kay.

Kay jerked back, his hand automatically going to where his punch dagger was stored on his belt. It wasn’t there, it was with a guard near the front of the building, and his left hand started undoing the cap to his enchanted canteen.

“Councilmember Danyees,” Captain Armis drawled, “It’s very rude to just burst into my office without knocking. We’re busy at the moment, so if you could please wait outside?”

“You’re going against the will of the Council is what you’re doing!” A couple more people filed in behind him as the Councilmember shouted. “The duty of hunting down the Blood Mage was given to Graceful Success!” The man turned to Kay. “Sign this paper, turning over the body and responsibility for it to the Graceful Success members!”

Kay stared up at him. “…No?”

“No? No!? I order you to sign the paperwork!”

Kay glanced over at the Captain, who didn’t move. But the look in his eye…

“I’m sorry,” Kay said, turning back to Danyees, “But I don’t have to take orders from you.”

“This is my city!” Danyees shouted angrily. “Do as I say!”

“Has there been a council edict changing the laws regarding the payment of bounties?” Captain Armis asked, “Because if there hasn’t, Kay here is well within his rights to claim the bounty for a criminal that he killed.”

“That may be so,” another human man stepped forward, he clothes all some shade of blue, “But my Graceful Success was tasked with dealing with the Blood Mage, making it our responsibility.”

Danyees puffed up like a strutting pigeon, “Guildmaster Carter has the right of it! Sign the paperwork!”

Kay glanced between the two men, and tried to hide a scowl when he saw that one of the people trailing behind these two was Coultron. The idiot was smirking at him over the shoulder of the man who was apparently his boss. “That doesn’t really make any sense.”

“What?” Danyees barked.

“I mean, if this were a job to say, retrieve a specific item instead of hunting down a criminal, and I found it first, I wouldn’t be expected to turn it over to you then. I found and defeated the Blood Mage before you could, and now I’m turning in the body. The fact that I completed the job you were hired for before you could isn’t my problem.”

Both men frowned deeply at him. The Councilmember started muttering imperatives and the Graceful Success Guildmaster stared angrily, his face growing ugly.

Kay grabbed the paper that had been slammed down in front of him and held it out towards the Council member. “I’m going to formally turn over the body of the Blood Mage to the City Guard. After that, what happens to the body is up to the city. If you want it to be turned over to Graceful Success after that, I’m sure you can arrange it.”

Danyees snarled at him and snatched the paper. He stormed out of the room, pushing people out of his way as he stomped out.

Carter followed behind him, staring creepily at Kay as he slowly left the office. Kay also saw Coultron’s purple, rage filled face as the door got slammed behind the group.

“… I think you’ve made an enemy there.” Captain Armis said quietly as they both looked in the direction the group had left.

“I think that we might have already been enemies.” Kay replied just as quietly, “Some of their beliefs make me sick, and those kinds of things aren’t something I can just ignore.”

The Captain gazed quietly at Kay’s face for a moment before nodding. “As a Captain of the City Guard, I can’t comment. As a private citizen… I agree.” He picked up the paperwork he’d been filling out before the commotion and handed it over. “Let’s get you paid and out of here, shall we?”

As they walked to the paymaster, Kay had a thought. “Captain?”

“Yeah?”

“Why don’t you have to worry about certain Councilmembers fucking with your career?”

“I’m too valuable.” He replied bluntly. “Tier fives aren’t easy to find and the city can’t afford to lose me.”

Kay looked over at Armis and remembered the head of the mace swinging right at his head, faster than he could see. He shuddered. “Douglas really saved my life.”

“Yup.”

Kay received his payment, a whopping five hundred gold. For taking out one criminal, that was a big payday. If the Blood Mage had managed to do more damage than wrecking two or three villages, the price would have gone up apparently, but Kay was cool with it. Being paid more because more people were hurt or dead didn’t sound like a good thing, less money or not.

Armis escorted him out of the building and helped him reclaim the body of the giant bird. They made their farewells, and Kay dragged the sled over to the Adventurer’s Guild. The news of the Blood Mage’s demise hadn’t spread yet, so Kay managed to turn in the quest and sell the bird’s body quickly and easily. The fifty silver payment for the job wasn’t much, but he’d expected to make more of a profit off of the bird, which he did in the form of five gold. The five hundred gold was a big windfall for him. At his level, adventuring jobs didn’t pay huge amounts. The only reason he’d been able to afford his one piece of enchanted gear, the blood storage flask, had been because he’d sold some of his Earth stuff to that merchant for what felt like crazy prices.

Kay finally made it back to the house he and Eleniah were living in right as it was actually getting dark. In better parts of the city enchanted lights were powering on, but in the less wealthy areas there were either hand lit lamps or nothing. Kay passed on such standing lamp being lit as he made it to the house.

Eleniah looked up from where she was chatting with Murunel as he dragged himself into the building, dirty and tired. “Kay!”

Kay stood there and took it as Eleniah started scolding him for being back so late and making her worry. He noticed Murunel waving at him from inside her glass prison where it was around Eleniah’s neck. Originally Kay had brought Murunel around with him as he went on jobs, but though some charades and yes or no questions, Murunel had gotten it across that it was actually more depressing for her to see things happen and not be able to affect them, so she mostly stayed behind and slept.

“Are you listening to me!?” Eleniah demanded, snapping Kay out of his sidetracked train of thought.

“Uh, no.” Kay swayed in place. “Sorry, I’m really tired.” He glanced down at himself. “And dirty. Can I bathe first and talk to you after?”

Eleniah glared at him, then drooped in place and sighed. “Are you okay?”

“I mean, dirty and tired, but I’m not hurt anywhere besides some bruises.” He started walking towards the bathing room. “My halberd broke though, and I’m pretty sure I’m almost out of mana.” He closed the door and started stripping. He yawned deeply as he started messing with the enchanted faucets, something Eleniah had paid top dollar for, to rent a house that had them. “Can we talk after I bathe? Today was nuts and I want to just soak and relax for a bit.”

“…Alright.” He heard her say through the door.

Kay slipped into the warm water and started to doze. His wrenched muscles from trying to tear himself free from the three controlled villagers appreciated the warm water too, and he started to drift off.

“I’m going to grab your armor and clothes, okay?” Eleniah called to him.

“Sure.” He muttered.

He heard her open the door and start to pick up the clothing and armor he’d dropped to the floor. It wasn’t the best way to treat his gear, but the exhaustion that had hit him as he made it into the house made him not care. At least he’d put his weapons away properly in the front room. Most people probably didn’t have weapon racks where on Earth there would have been shoe racks, but Torotia’s adventurers were a different breed.

“Kay, what’s with this pouch? Isn’t this the kind the Guard uses.” He heard the jangling of coins and Eleniah’s surprised gasp. “Kay, this is a lot of money! Where’s this from?”

“’It’s the bounty from the Blood Mage.’” Kay tried to say, but the warm water and the sense of safety were dragging him to dream land very quickly.

“What do you mean ‘Blood Mage’!? Kay? Kay!? Don’t fall asleep!”

But it was too late for that.

╩╦╩╦╩╦╩╦╩╦╩╦╩╦╩╦╩╦╩╦╩╦╩╦

Eleniah stared down at the naked, sleeping form of her student in the bath. She scowled down at him, but he obviously ignored her. She sighed after a few more moments of glaring and went back to picking up his stuff.

“You will tell me in the morning, damn it!” She muttered as she grabbed his pants. “I was worried about you!”

She walked everything out, then came back to make sure he wasn’t drowning. She looked down at him again, her face much softer this time.

After taking some time to check him over, in a worried teacher way, she leaned down and kissed his cheek. “Good job not dying.” She whispered.

She quietly stepped out, leaving the door open. She reminded herself to check back in on him a few more times, then wake him up enough so he could actually get clean. It wouldn’t do for him to survive some harrowing day as an adventurer then drown in the bath. That would be undignified for the person she knew he would eventually become.