Retrieving the Package

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His bespectacled eyes took in the sea for just a few more moments before he turned back towards the city itself. He began to walk, for standing still too long without purpose made him feel as though he was wasting time. “Well I think I’m all set up. A passport. A… you. And I’ve got base level magic, which should be something I can work on. So how do I start taking real jobs?”

Optix sprung from the necklace on Kameyama’s chest, “An excellent question, aaaaas usual. There are a few ways.” It spun around. “You could consider joining a guild, which provides a steady income of guilds. Alternatively there are postings in many cities for guildless adventurers such as yourself. There are also ranks to jobs. Currently you are able to take C-rank jobs alone or a B-rank job if accompanied by another.” In the distance, Optix caught sight of a small cat person working through the crowd, tugging on people’s pant legs or shirts in order to get their attention. Like a small solicitor, he spoke for a few moments, handed out a piece of paper, then worked to the next person. They seemed to be at random, but when he caught the eye of the little AI, Optix seemed to wave the little cat man over.

“How do I find other mages?” Kameyama stopped at a small vendor and purchased a few rations for the next few days. “A B-rank job sounds like a nice little challenge. How bad could it possibly be?” There was a small gust of wind and a moment of silence that seemed eerily telling.

“Nyyyexcuse me,” The aging mage was halted by someone tugging on the hem of his coat. A small cat man wearing goggles and dressed in objectively adorable travelers clothing stood at approximately two feet tall. He handed Kameyama a piece of paper, “Did I hear you mentioning you’re looking for a job? You’re a wizard right? We’re currently looking for someone willing to discover the location of our lost supplies. We werrrre expecting delivery weeks ago but there’s been nyooo trace of it. It contains something special that we can’t go without for very long. Won’t you please help us?”

Kameyama looked at the paper, which detailed the information known about the job. The reward for the recovery of the package seemed to pay well, but that wasn’t what was most important to him right now. The worried look on the small cat creature’s face was more telling. He knelt down to the small cat person and said, “Absolutely.” With a kind smile on his face.

————

It took days of walking to get to the road leading towards the little cat person village. They spent the days chatting about this and that, with Kameyama learning how to best utilize Optix and Optix spent the time learning how best to work with Kameyama and dialing in on how to more accurately gauge his overall health and mana levels. To call them fast friends wasn’t a far stretch, as once Kameyama got over the fact that he was talking to an AI, he treated her exactly like anyone else.

“So according to the information provided by the cat person, we know that this road is where they lost communication with the delivery person. Speaking of which, do they all look like that?” Kameyama wondered aloud, “I swear we’ve had traveling cat people in our village before that didn’t look like bipedal cats…”

Optix had taken to sitting on the side of the necklace strap, essentially resting on Kameyama’s shoulder. She whirled about for a moment and responded, “There are a few types. They tend to aggregate and live together for safety and companionship. You’ve probably seen one before, they travel rarely but tend to be very adventurous and curious when they do. But otherwise they’ll often stay in their own villages and have things delivered. For them to have send missionaries to search for something must mean that something big has gone missing.”

“Well, homebodies don’t leave home unless there’s something home needs,” Kameyama murmured quietly. “Is that what I think it is?” He stepped off of the road and towards a small blanket which seemed to be covering something, as though thrown haphazardly. Kneeling carefully over the blanket he pulled it down to reveal a deceased cat person. This one was of the more humanoid variety and had been left alone long enough to be rotting. He covered the body again and took a moment to press his hand against the ground.

He tucked the body completely in the cloth and tried to figure how best to return the delivery person to his village.“Peace upon your soul, rest for you have earned it.” He murmured.

"What should we do now?" Optix asked, the AI turning between looking up at Kameyama and back at the covered body.

He turned away and said, “Theft is one thing, but murder is another problem altogether. We must find these people and put a stop to this. Who knows who else they’ve hurt...”

“We’ve hurt a lot of people…” Said a voice from the forest, “And we’re about to hurt one more…”

WC: 870

“Ominous,” Kameyama said, turning to stand up. He could see a few men in the shadows behind the speaker, figuring that these were the bandits that had caused the initial death and the initial theft that brought him to this place. He slid one foot forward, taking a defensive stance as dirt kicked up from the ground beneath his boot.

Electric energy danced subtly between his fingers, hopping from digit to digit playfully, almost restlessly. Almost as quickly as it had begun, the energy stopped as he released his combat stance and looked curiously behind the bandit that had spoken to him. “Normally I would consider those to be words of harmful intent but I think you’re about to have a bigger problem. Well. A bigger problem in a smaller package.” He purposely gestured to the Exceed a moment later than would have been helpful, attempting to help by confusing to assist in removing any chance of premonitory reaction. The bandit shriek was followed by an additional figure revealing herself and decking him across the face.

She was seemingly much younger than him, although Kameyama knew better than to trust youth at face value. He gave her a courteous nod, “A pleasure to meet you, Nessa. I believe we are partners, yes. My name is Raiji Kameyama. Kameyama, if you please. An honor to meet you as well, Sebastian, I don’t believe—”

His statement was interrupted by a shout. Looking over to the bandits remaining, he frowned. To Nessa’s question he responded, “Murderous and rude? That is wholly unacceptable. Please, allow me.” He took a step forward and seemed to burst into electricity, traveling like a bolt until he was right in their faces. As fast as he was, they had prepared to attack even as they spoke prior, and he reached them just as they revealed their weapons. Two daggers slashed out at him. Leaning backwards away from the attacks, it put him in the best position for his own counter-attack. Reaching for the focus on his side, he pulled a single card from the pouch.

With his back leg bent slightly and his front leg extended, digging slightly into the grass before him, he had a single card in his left hand, tucked underneath his right. He seemed to flick it as though haphazardly shuffling a deck, and released a torrent of electric cards that crackled and popped like fireworks in the faces of the bandits.

Allowing the fifty two distractions to do their job, he reached out and grabbed the faces of the bandits, slamming them down into the ground with little resistance. The hidden scars covering his arms lit with an eerie glow as the electric magic worked its way down through his hands and effectively neutralizing the two in sharp light blue shock of energy. There were quick, sharp grunts of pain before the two of them remained still, save jerks of movement caused by latent shocks of electric energy surging through their bodies.

The third and final bandit, still effectively blind from the deck of cards, attempted a wild haymaker on Kameyama as his back was turned.

“Behind you!” A cute, high-pitched voice from his chest called.

Kameyama dropped back down at the last moment, evading the haphazard attack, and kicked backward, catching the bandit in the chin with a kick that wouldn’t easily have been expected of one his age. With the bandit now blind and reeling, Kameyama grabbed the thug’s hand and spun him around, kicking the back of his knee to take him to a kneeling position. Grabbing his other hand, he put them both behind his back and released a small jet of energy that composed itself into a rope, securely tying the bandit’s hands behind his back. Blind, bound and potentially concussed, he made for a perfect interrogation suspect.

However, never forgetting manners, Kameyama turned back to his new allies. Wiping off his hands, he said, “As I was saying, I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure of meeting an Exceed before.”

“Aaaaand yoooour traveling companion iiiiiis…” A voice from his chest, the same that had spoken during combat, said.

“Ah, yes. I’m joined by Optix, a modified traveling AI companion. She’s not meant for active combat, but provides a lot of non-combat assistance.” He gestured towards the six pointed necklace hanging from his neck.

“Nice to meet you!” The AI said, taking the holographic form of a semi-transparent white ball with little arms and legs, “I like your hair, Madam Nessa! It’s quite lovely!”

Kameyama smiled appreciatively at his AI. The two had only recently become friends, but he was very proud of how she greeted new companions, “At any rate. Do you think we should attempt to gather information from him? I don’t believe his companions will be telling us anything anytime soon.”

WC: 822
TWC: 2500/7000

Kameyama smiled politely at the Exceed. The pair certainly seemed quite interesting. As he turned to the highwayman to see exactly how the two of them planned to interrogate this man. He folded his arms behind her, attempting to act as a silent muscle if necessary. Soon it would be obvious that it was completely unnecessary. He himself couldn’t help but be a little intimidated by Nessa at work.

The radiating heat caused him to take a half-step back but he stepped forward to receive the map from Nessa as she continued her interrogation. He opened it up and attempted to decipher it as she questioned him about numbers. Peering through the lower half of his bifocals, he began to mark out where they were against where they needed to be, when Nessa once again impressed him with another skill that he had never seen before.

With a glowing rune, she seemed to easily summon a somehow larger than life, yet human sized woman in full armor and wings. A verifiable angel. His eyes were wide with a mixture of amazement and disbelief. When she was introduced to him, it took him a moment to realize that this was one of the summon creatures that he had heard about but never experienced. He nodded his head with respect and said, “Tiphanae, it is an honor.” He gestured to the defeated thugs, “I am sure they are in trusted hands.” As they turned towards the mission at hand, Kameyama gestured with one hand towards the direction he had discerned they should head, one that would get them to their direction and seemed mostly clear and free of fallen trees and other distractions.

“They're calling in Rune Knights? Just like that?” He whispered in a low questioning voice. At his chest, the little robot was whirling a search while the events occurred. Having come from a far village in the outskirts of anywhere, living a simple life, the Rune Knights were something that he had only heard vaguely of, as something you shouldn’t need business with. In his ear, Optix murmured a bit of information on the Rune Knights and how they operated. Apparently the two of them had ties with the local police, in a sense, or Nessa had chosen to turn this lot in rather than finish them off. Of the group of them, likely only one would have any lasting injuries. For her nobility and choosing to do what was right rather than what would have been easy, she immediately gained considerable respect from Kameyama.

To Nessa he said, “Forgive my bluntness, but I’m getting the sense that you’re considerably stronger than I am, but I would assume that forty men of that strength coming in wildly and crowding about might well be capable of overwhelming anyone, especially if there are those of greater strength among them. Therefore I’d like to propose a plan. My magic, compared to yours, would perhaps be less powerful and more along the lines of distracting. Lots of flashing and electricity. If I make myself known from the southern side, effectively drawing them towards me, it would make it easier for you to make a bigger splash from the northern side and properly take the weaker opponents out of the picture. Once that’s done, we’ll most certainly have the attention of the stronger generals, as he called them, and we can divide and conquer them as well. It would cause less unnecessary loss of life and allow the opponents that we will be facing less time to arm themselves. Furthermore, the less of their belongings that are damaged, the greater chance we have of recapturing the shipments that were stolen from our gracious job providers.” As they passed through the woods, he lifted a tree branch out of her way, partially out of politeness and partially to ensure neither of them bumped into it and caused unnecessary noise.

In the area they managed to find themselves they could see the outskirts of the camp, roughly another twenty five minutes away. Far enough that patrols would be only semi-regular rather than often. Turning to her for her input before they proceeded, he asked, “What do you say?”

WC: 727
TWC: 4151

For his part, Kameyama winced an apology to Sebastian, “My apologies, Sebastian. I assumed that you would, as younger ones say, do your own thing.” He tried to smile it off, but found that Sebastian was assuaged instead by Nessa’s promising of a feat of battle. Pleased that she was in agreement with his plan, he nodded and they continued on a little further before it was time to split up.

As the four split off to two and two, he returned her wishing of good luck with a two fingered salute, tip of his index finger touching his forehead and casting it off towards her. He had no doubt that she would be able to carry herself with aplomb and finish off her part of the deal. It was instead his duty to carry on his own part.

As he swung around to the southern side of the encampment, he spotted a few lookouts facing away from him. They seemed to be looking toward the interior of the camp, which seemed a bit foolish given their assignments. As he looked on, they passed playing cards between each other with a bored expression on their faces. Every once and again they would halfheartedly look to the side or somewhat behind them, but they were clearly mentally checked out of the job. Their interest in their duties was so poor that Kameyama was able to sneak up to the other side of them. The tree upon which they were leaning was thick and insulated. He couldn’t shock them through it. Instead he timed his movements carefully and jumped around to face them. Just as he saw a look of shock on one of their faces, he pressed his hands against both of their mouths. A burst of energy against each of them saw them lose consciousness without any real struggle. With any luck that turned forty into thirty eight. Not a huge improvement.

As he continued inward he could clearly see a truck being loaded up with goods. He tapped Optix a few times then held her up to his eye, like one would a monocle. She seemed to turn translucent and magnify his sight. He could see labeled on the boxes was something similar to the handwriting of the cat people. They were likely transferring the items for sale. Among them were other goods and likely stolen supplies. This seemed to be the perfect time to raid them, as long as they did little harm to the truck, it would leave most of the supplies in tact. Fortunate.

As he slipped past the trees he figured it was a fair chance to try one of his newer techniques. This spell was an evolution of something he’d used earlier, but since it was potentially dangerous, he hadn’t wanted to use it on people. A few trees would likely be fine, however. As he moved, he placed the glowing playing cards against the trees like stickers, approximately one card per three trees. When he reached the camp itself, he found a few temporary buildings and did the same, aiming for structural points.

Finally, he had prepared himself for his grand reveal. Perhaps he hadn’t thought this next part through, but since his job was to draw attention, he couldn’t see a better way to do it than to do it. Stepping out into the open he created an affectation to his voice, “‘Scuse me gentlemen. Ya’ll seen a dog around here, ‘bout waist height, all brown and black, one eye a bit lazy? Dumb as shit but lovable as the day is long.”

As soon as he made himself known there was a gathering of men standing and heading towards him. Weapons were drawn and he found himself getting cornered.

“Whoa there now fellas ain’t no reason to get physical, ‘M just lookin’ for my dog, like I said.”

The men continued to advance until one man stepped up through them and said, “You idiots gonna kill a man who just wandered in by mistake? He’s looking for his dog, we’re not gonna waste him for that.” Turning to Kameyama he said, “We haven’t seen any dogs, unfortunately, now we’re running a private operation here so if you’d turn back and—“

“Private operation, I’ll say!” Kameyama said, walking past them. The men were so shocked at the audacity of his movements they didn’t even attack him. “Ya’ll lookin’ at doin’ some kinda lawn sale in the future? Me and my cousins just love a bargain. Tell you what if you give us first dibs at your wares we’ll pay a pretty price. Better’n what you’ll get in the city, I give you fair shake on that.”

“Not really for private sale, friend,” the man said, gritting his teeth, “Now I really will have to ask you to leave the area or I’m afraid I will let my men get physical here.” Even as he spoke, others were leaving their assignments and coming from the woodwork to surround him.

“Well as’n I said, ain’t no reason to get all huffity. Just tryin’ to help each other out as I said. Y’sure y’ain’t seen my dog? Like I said he’s ‘bout waist height and answers to the name of—” He dropped the affectation, his voice returning to its natural tone and timbre, “Boom.”

Just as he said it, the cards exploded into a burst of light and electricity, sending trees falling into the camp and blowing some of the buildings to the ground. The men around him scattered and jumped in surprise before turning their attention on him. “Sunnova—!” The fires were controlled and the explosions contained. There would be no forest fire or anything of that nature here. Just a huge distraction, as he and Nessa planned.

“I’m really surprised they let me get this far in,” Kameyama remarked as the battle commenced, “This is not a professional operation.” The man whom he’d spoken with stepped towards him only to be met with a shocking grasp straight from Kameyama’s wrist. The impulse blast was a bit stronger than he’d expected but did nothing to slow the man down. “Well damn,” Kameyama remarked, his entire body igniting in electricity. He burst forward with a dynamic punch to the man’s jaw as he passed him, leaving a blur of lightning in his wake. Turning again, just as the man recovered, he repeated the attack with another shocking punch to the general.

“Come on, chief!” Kameyama taunted, “I’d say you’re a bit too slow!” He turned to punch once more, but his lightning burst ran out half way and he met the general with a regular punch, which was deflected by the aggravated assailant, who then struck Kameyama several times in the chest. A final kick sent Kameyama sliding into the dirt.

“What was that about being too slow, old man?!” The general responded, bearing down on the mage.

Rolling backwards into a standing position, Kameyama grasped at his lucky pouch, pulling out two six sided dice. “I’m getting on in years,” He admitted, “But I think I’ve got a few lucky days left.” He threw the dice to the ground as they each landed on sixes, sending a flurry of electric bolts in all directions, including two at the general.

Giving a brief glance at his ally in this fight, he was curious as to how she was cleaning up.

WC: 1271
TWC: 6233