“No thanks,” she mockingly dismissed as she snatched the listing that said “BEAST-SLAYER WANTED” off the board, and spun on her heel with the intent of inquiring about it at the bar. She could feel his rising anger, and it brought her great satisfaction. When the resentful words “Stupid cunt.” resounded from behind her, it was as if sweet music to her ears.

What wasn’t as though music to her ears, however, was the distinct sound of the boy’s companions rambunctiously making their order of two pitchers of ale, demanding, “Put it on Mr. Halxian’s tab!”

The barkeep nodded along with a rather noticeably fake smile, which soon faded to a more genuine one when he turned his gaze towards her, noticing the parchment in her hand.

“Had you pegged for a beast-slayer!” remarked the four-and-a-half-fingered man, idly cleaning a mug as he began to explain the situation. “So about the contract… I don’t know what it is, I’m pretty sure neither do the folks payrolling this. It’s been scaring folks away from one of the nearby fields, destroying crops, killing what little livestock we have, what have you. The important detail is that every time it shows up the Fog rolls in, so we know it’s got an Azoth. Show it to me and you get your payout, two-hundred gelt plus hazard pay based on the gem’s grade.”

Zelsys raised an eyebrow, “You don’t want the Azoth?”

“I’m just a middleman,” twinkled the man. “They paid for extermination, not extermination plus resource-gathering.”

Mildly unpleasant background noise soon became the impossible to ignore gurgle-screeching of a raging rot-bear. The two thugs began loudly discussing which table to sit at, only for Halxian to take the opportunity to patch up his bruised ego by picking on what he thought to be easy targets. His victims of choice were three Ikesians that were sitting around a table out of the way, keeping to themselves and quietly drinking.

She turned her attention towards that table, fully wishing for either of the three to rebuke the young man and his cronies. The young man blustered at them, “Hey, you three, Ikes. Go find a different table.”

All three gave the young man a brief look, then returned to drinking. Makhus clenched his hand around his mug, eliciting a creak from the metal and laughter from Halxian. “You can’t intimidate me, snowman. I’m a Fog-breather. Unless you want me to re-enact the end of the war on you three, you’ll get up and vanish like your precious Sage of Fog. Understood?!”

The barkeep blinked a few times, visibly frustrated. “I’ll deal with it, just a moment,” he sighed, but Zelsys stopped him with a look and a shake of her head.

She casually approached Halxian and his comrades from behind, and by some miracle, he didn’t notice - or perhaps, he chose to ignore her. What he couldn’t ignore was her bluntly stating, “How about you vanish instead?”

Instantaneously, the young man whipped around, staring defiantly up at her, his eyes filled with a cocktail of self-confidence and resentment.