A Drink Order Pt. 2

Job Details:

Job Sign-Up: Page 20, Post Number 494

-Capital Crocus outskirts, mid-afternoon-

Wearing her green, white and gold outfit and Argent Gloves, Leona landed on the outskirts of Capital Crocus and dismounted the Winged Lion before dispelling it. The Wizard Saint felt the wind pick up and rustle her hair while the metal plates of her Argent Gloves shimmered in the mid-day sun. She had traveled to Capital Crocus to find and visit a specialty wine shop called Chateau DuVine, where she hoped to find and purchase a rare vintage of wine from Pergrande. The point of purchasing the wine was not for personal consumption or to start a rare wine collection, but instead to use as a bartering tool to trade for a rare tome that could help her translate the ancient Muserian language that was inscribed on the Muserian Focusing Stone. First she had to find Chateau DuVine in order to peruse its wares.

Leona straightened out her wrinkled skirt and had barely taken ten steps towards the city limits when she heard screaming coming from behind her. Leona spun around and saw two young women being chased by a gang of eight burly men in white tank tops and tan pants wielding lengths of rope and wooden clubs. She broke into a run and hurried towards the young women before it was too late to help them.

"HELP US!" One of them, a brown-haired young woman wearing a pink sundress with a torn left shoulder, pleaded to the Wizard Saint.

"I'll handle them. Get to the city and get the town guard or the Rune Knights!" Leona firmly instructed them. The other young woman, a blonde wearing a purple t-shirt with blue jean shorts, nodded and took the brunette by the hand and led her towards the city. Leona stepped between them and the gang to buy them some time to get to safety. The gang screeched to a halt and sized up the blonde who had the temerity to step in their way.

"Damn it, get outta our way!" The leader, a burly man with close-cropped black hair, ordered Leona. The Wizard Saint refused to budge.

"If you don't move right now, we're gonna take you to market instead!" Another man threatened. Leona got the meaning of that phrase without having to think too hard on it. These men were slavers who had been pursuing the young women for some distance and wanted something to show for their efforts now that their primary quarry had gotten away. A current Wizard Saint would make for a prize that could fetch enough Jewels to build the sultan's palace... if they could capture her. Leona would not be captured by this bunch of goons.

"You're welcome to try." Leona remarked dryly. The men laughed and began to surround her in a circular formation while casually brandishing their weapons for intimidation. Leona was not concerned at all. The would-be slavers were ordinary men who did not have any magic or magic weapons. They would be easy to defeat, but the Wizard Saint did not rush blindly into battle.

Leona had learned from her humiliation during her trek with Luna Mira to find the obsidian dragon in the mountains. She had underestimated a quartet of enemy Lightning mages and had paid for it in humiliation when she was paralyzed by a Lightning spell delivered at point-blank range. They had picked her up by the wrists and ankles and were about to throw her over the edge of the mountain when Luna intervened to save her. The humbled Leona had learned from that experience: she would not blindly charge enemies and would think before making her move.

Instead of trying to fight while surrounded, she would break through the encirclement and fight from far beyond their reach. She would not be humiliated this time. She would fight with focus and show them the power of a Wizard Saint.

[Post Word Count: 648]
[Total Word Count: 648/1,500]

Leona stood her ground as the slavers slowly edged towards her with weapons and rope at the ready. They were almost within range of her Storm Impact spell and would be in range in about five more steps. Leona clenched her right hand into a fist.

"You shoulda gotten out of our way, girl. It's too late to run now!" One of the men threatened her.

"Who said I'm running?" Leona asked him. She then focused magic into her right fist, dropped to a knee and punched the ground. A dome of wind emanated from her position and staggered the eight men, giving her enough time to aim herself at a gap between two of them and use a Zephyr Dash to escape the encirclement. She dashed towards the town and ended up 100 meters away from the gang. She turned around and had a chance to hammer them with long-distance spells before they closed in again.

Leona saw that three of the men had recovered and were now charging towards her. She raised her right hand and pointed the palm at them, then led off with a Wind Blast that knocked the aggressors off of their feet. The rest had recovered and now stampeded past their downed colleagues with the intention of overwhelming her with numbers. Leona stood her ground and pointed her right index finger at their leader, forming a small silver marble of magic on her fingertip. Once it was ready she aimed and fired the Wind Bullet, hitting him in the chest and sending him hurtling past his fellows and straight into one of the downed men who was starting to stand up, knocking them both out.

That display of power made them stop in place and take notice of their target.

"How did she do that?" One of the bewildered men asked aloud.

"She's a mage, you idiot!" Another one answered in a voice that rang with scorn at his colleague's ignorance. Leona was mildly amused by that, but she had not won the fight yet. She needed to stay focused so that she did not slip up and get humiliated again by opponents she should have easily beaten.

"Wait a minute... that outfit. Those gloves. I've seen them both before in a magazine." Another man announced as he looked over her again.

"Is she... is she a Wizard Saint?" A fourth slaver asked. Leona gave a smile. The men looked her over one last time and a terrified look crossed their faces.

"IT'S LEONA JARNEFELDT!" One of them shouted her name. Leona's smile grew wider. It took them long enough to recognize who she was.

"WE CAN'T FIGHT A WIZARD SAINT! RUN FOR IT OR SHE'LL KILL US ALL!" Another cried out. The gang abruptly turned around and began to run when a large force of over three dozen town guardsmen rushed past Leona and cut off the retreat of the slavers by encircling them. With their escape cut off and trapped between a Wizard Saint and a large contingent of town guardsmen, the slavers knew that they did not have a chance and surrendered without further resistance. Leona calmly watched as the slavers were rounded up and taken into custody without incident. Soon an older brown-haired man in an immaculate blue uniform approached the Wizard Saint and spoke to her.

"Well done, Miss Jarnefeldt. Thanks to you we've caught some slavers who have been staking out the main path to Capital Crocus and ambushing travelers. They've been giving us the slip for over a month, but this time we've got them." The officer informed her of the good deed she had accomplished. The two young women she had rescued stood just behind him and were in awe of the Wizard Saint of Courage. Leona was glad that she had slowed down to think before she leaped into action. As a result she had won the fight against a numerically superior opponent and did not humiliate herself by doing anything stupid like trying to take them all on at once in hand-to-hand combat and getting captured for her trouble.

"I'm glad I could help." Leona answered calmly.

"Is there anything we can do for you, Miss Jarnefeldt?" The officer asked.

"Come to think of it, there is one thing. do you know where a specialty wine shop named Chateau DuVine is?" Leona asked him. The two young women stepped forward and spoke to her.

"Yeah! My uncle's the owner!" The brunette in the torn pink sundress answered.

"C'mon! We'll take you right to it!" The blonde urged Leona. The officer excused himself to handle police business and Leona followed the two young women into Capital Crocus. Soon she would be at Chateau DuVine and if luck was with her the Wizard Saint would be purchasing the bottle of Maison D'Everett that she needed to barter with Kemal in the Tri-Council City.

[Post Word Count: 817]
[Total Word Count: 1,465/1,500]

-Capital Crocus, inside Chateau DuVine-

Guided by the two young women she had rescued from the slavers, Leona had traveled through the large city of Capital Crocus until she ended up inside a clean and well-organized specialty wine shop. Leona was impressed by the immaculate wooden floors and carefully arranged shelves of product with convenient signs naming the region from which they had originated. Leona's green eyes moved around the shop and she saw wines imported from Midi, Shirotsume, Sakuramori, even a small section devoted to palm wine from Desierto. However, she did not see any display dedicated to Pergrande.

"What do you think of our uncle's shop?" The brunette asked Leona.

"I'm impressed with the selection and how organized everything is." Leona answered truthfully.

"Follow me to the counter and I'll get Uncle Alfred for you!" The blonde offered. Leona obliged and followed the young woman to a dark, polished wooden counter with an old-fashioned brass cash register sitting in the center and a display of more bottles of wine sitting in neatly arranged rows with the front labels facing outward sitting in an alcove behind the counter. She patiently stood in front of the counter while the blonde disappeared to get her uncle.

"Thanks again for rescuing us from those awful men. We didn't think we'd make it back to Capital Crocus, let alone have an honest-to-Ishgar Wizard Saint save us!" The brunette said, engaged the Wizard Saint in conversation. Leona turned to face her.

"It's no problem. I'm glad I could help." Leona assured her. Moments later the sound of footsteps on wood reached her ears and Leona turned to face a middle-aged brown-haired man dressed in a white dress shirt with a black vest and black pants with red tie. He wore matching black dress shoes and white gloves. He looked the part of the owner of a high-end specialty wine shop.

"Hello and welcome to Chateau DuVine, Miss Jarnefeldt. I am Albert DuVine, the owner of this establishment. My niece Candice has informed me that you have need of something from my shop." The man politely introduced himself before getting down to business.

"Yes sir. I'm looking to buy a special wine from Pergrande called Maison D'Everett." Leona answered. The man looked at her for a moment before speaking.

"I am sorry, Miss Jarnefeldt. While I do have it in stock, I cannot sell you that wine. You see, it is a rare wine from a year that was marked by a flood that ruined the fields, all except the field that the grapes used in the wine came from. As a result only one hundred bottles of it were made. The typical selling price is in the mid six figures." He politely informed her with regret on his voice. Leona kept a straight face but was feeling sharp disappointment that her errand had come to nothing. The man then smiled a little.

"However, I can inform you about the auction that will be held in three days' time. It will be held at the Capital Crocus Auction House. You may bid for the bottle of Maison D'Everett there and the event will be well-attended by the elite of Capital Crocus. Should you still be interested in the wine, I have two pieces of advice for you, Miss Jarnefeldt." He said to her.

"What might that be, sir?" Leona asked.

"First, I suggest that you go and buy a formal dress for the event. While you are a Wizard Saint of some renown, your current attire will simply not do." He gave the first piece of advice.

"Second, the bidding will be fierce and the bids will be high. I suggest that you bring plenty of Jewels with which to bid. I also suggest that you be prepared for some... uncivilized language to be directed toward you should you take the lead. Keeping your cool will be important if you want to win the auction." He warned her. Leona remained calm and took the advice into consideration. She would have to return to Capital Crocus to buy a good formal dress before the auction. She would also have to learn to keep her cool when being insulted.

"Thank you, sir." Leona thanked Alfred for the advice.

"I must thank you for rescuing my nieces earlier today. They are the only family I have left and I do not want to lose them. You have done me a great service and I wish you well in all your future endeavors." He thanked her with a small bow at the end of his statement. Armed with important advice, Leona turned and left the shop to go back to Silver Wolf Guild Hall and prepare for the auction of one of one hundred bottles of Maison D'Everett. She would be mingling with the Capital Crocus elite, so she would have to get a high-class dress and learn the manners used in high society. There was no margin for error and she did not want to look like a desert bumpkin at the auction.

[Post Word Count: 845]
[Total Word Count: 2,310/1,500]