No Rest For The Weary

Job Details:

Job Sign-Up: Page 20, Post Number 480

-Silver Wolf Guild Hall, Leona's room, 6:00 A.M.-

Leona lay wide awake on her bed staring at the ceiling. She could no longer sleep. She wanted to sleep, but doing so was impossible. Deciding to bow to the inevitable, Leona rolled left to get where she could sit up but accidentally rolled too far to the left and rolled off of the bed completely, landing on her back with a loud THUMP.

"Ow." Leona said to no one in particular as she stared at the ceiling while her back ached from the fall. One would expect a person named "Leona" to possess the reflexes of her big cat namesake, but right now Leona just did not have them. The blonde sat up and took a few moments before standing up and straightening out her green, white, and gold skirt.

Last night the Wizard Saint had spent several hours taking care of the paperwork that had built up during her absence the other day when she had put in long hours doing courier work for Mr. Bank and Dr. Reid. The endeavor had left her exhausted, but the work had paid very well. Now she was looking forward to a slow day at the guild hall where she drank coffee and read through her book of magical ingredients to finally choose ingredients to harvest for a new knife she was planning to make at some point in the future.

However, fate had other plans.

Leona heard knocking on the door and heard the sound of paper scraping against the wooden floor. Leona spotted a manila envelope lying on the floor and walked over to the door to get it. She picked it up and walked over to her right boot to get Ses Revanche. She pulled it out of the boot and gripped the weapon, then carefully opened the manila envelope using the knife as a letter opener. Once it was open Leona set Ses Revanche down on top of the bed and peered inside.

Inside was a neatly folded letter written on plain white stationery. Leona gently pulled it out of the envelope and set the empty envelope on her bed. She carefully opened the letter to find it written in neat cursive handwriting that was so good that it looked like it had been made by a machine.

"Dear Leona:

It's Dr. Reid... again. I know that you just finished helping me only a few days ago and that my constant requests for help are starting to get old, but I need your help with something else. Come to my laboratory as soon as you can, but you don't have to be in any big hurry. Today you won't need a password... just speak to me through the intercom and I'll let you in!" Dr. Reid wrote to Leona.

Leona set the letter down on her bed and sighed.

So much for her slow day at the guild hall.

Leona needed to get a shower before she went to Motor City, so the Wizard Saint went to make preparations to do just that. Besides, Dr. Reid said that there was no need to be in a big hurry to get to Motor City. As long as she did not take too long to get to the laboratory she did not see a problem with taking a shower first.

-Motor City, three hours later, outside the laboratory-

Leona had taken a forty-minute shower and had put on her blue, white, and gold outfit for a change. She wore bike shorts underneath her skirt and did not carry any weapons except for Ses Revanche in her right boot. If past experience was any indicator, she would not need any weapons for this job. She walked up to the intercom grille and pressed the button.

"Yes? Who is it?" Dr. Reid asked.

"It's me, Leona." Leona answered.

"Great! I'll let you in shortly!" The doctor informed her. Leona took a step back and waited for the door to open. In less than a minute the door was open and Dr. Reid was standing there. She was wearing a pink t-shirt and clean khaki shorts, but her boots were still a little dirty from the drops of oil that had fallen on them.

"Hey Leona! It's great to see you again!" Dr. Reid greeted Leona warmly. Leona walked up to the door and the doctor stepped aside to let her in. As soon as the Wizard Saint was inside the door was shut behind her.

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-Inside the doctor's laboratory, the mini-kitchen, three minutes later-

Leona stood inside the mini-kitchen with her back to the counter while Dr. Reid stood with her back to the table and sipped from her mug of coffee. The mood was one of amiable silence. Dr. Reid took a sip from her cup of coffee and lowered it away from her lips so that she could talk to the Wizard Saint without her voice echoing in the mug.

"Hey Leona, I know that you're getting tired of being constantly called here, but I need your help again." Dr. Reid reiterated what she had said in the letter.

"It's no problem, Doctor. What did you need?" Leona asked the long-haired blonde. Dr. Reid set down her mug and sighed.

"I'll be honest with you, Leona. I need help with the Atlas." Dr. Reid admitted. Leona had a feeling that the doctor was not going to request help with fixing the Atlas since Leona did not know how to do so. Since Dr. Reid had not yet spoken, the Wizard Saint chose to take advantage of the silence to ask a question.

"What kind of help are you talking about? Help fixing it?" Leona inquired. The doctor shook her head.

"No, Leona. I can handle that part myself." Dr. Reid answered.

"Do you need additional funding?" Leona asked if money was what the doctor needed. If that was what was required, Leona had plenty to spare. Again Dr. Reid shook her head.

"I don't need money either." Dr. Reid answered. Leona decided to take one last guess at what the doctor needed.

"Do you need something special for the repairs?" Leona asked Dr. Reid. This time the doctor nodded.

"Yes, Leona. I find myself needing another special part, but I can't leave the lab to get it. That's why I called you here. I need you to go get it for me." Dr. Reid finally told Leona what she needed help with. Leona made eye contact with the doctor.

"I hate to keep using you to go fetch parts for my projects. I spend most of my time in my laboratory, so I need someone to trust to run errands for me. I know that I can trust you to help me out." Dr. Reid explained why she kept using the Wizard Saint for mundane errands. Leona was not particularly bothered by the errand since it was easy work and today she wanted easy work. Still, she appreciated the trust that Dr. Reid placed in her.

"OK, I'll get it for you. Where do I need to go?" Leona inquired. Dr. Reid walked into the garage for a minute or two and returned with a sheet of paper that she handed to the Wizard Saint. Leona took it into her right hand and looked at it, then looked at the doctor.

"Take this paper to Dr. Jacobson and give it to her. Tell her that I sent you to order a part on my behalf. When she reads it she'll know exactly what I need." Dr. Reid instructed Leona on what to do with it. Leona put the paper in her left hand and put her left hand down at her side.

"OK, but I have a question for you. What if Dr. Jacobson doesn't have the part you need?" Leona asked Dr. Reid what to do on the off chance that Dr. Jacobson did not have what she needed.

"If she doesn't have the part, just return to me and let me know." Dr. Reid replied simply. Leona nodded. Those instructions told her everything she needed to know to get the job done.

"OK, I can do that. I'll set out for Capital Crocus right away." Leona stated. Dr. Reid picked up her coffee cup and looked at the Wizard Saint.

"All right, Leona. Just be careful and don't get in too big a hurry. Dr. Jacobson's store doesn't close until late in the day, so you've got plenty of time to get there." Dr. Reid said to her. Leona nodded, then turned and walked out of the mini-kitchen with the paper in hand. Her destination was Parts N' More in Capital Crocus.

-Capital Crocus, outside Parts N' More, four hours later-

After a long flight from Motor City to Capital Crocus and a lengthy walk through the busy city, Leona now stood outside the parts store she had visited just a few days ago on a previous errand for Dr. Reid. She took a few moments to catch her breath before she went inside the parts store. Once she was ready she walked towards the glass doors and pushed the right one open with her right hand, then stepped inside Parts N' More to try and get the part that Dr. Reid needed to repair the Atlas.

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-Inside Parts N' More-

Leona walked into the store and found that it was surprisingly empty at this time of day. The Wizard Saint wondered where all the customers were but soon dropped the line of thought to carry out her work for Dr. Reid. The Wizard Saint slowly walked to the counter at the back of the store, where Dr. Jacobson was looking at her every step of the way. Dr. Jacobson was wearing a gray long-sleeved shirt and black knee-length skirt. When Leona reached the halfway point the brunette raised a hand in greeting.

"Hello, Wizard Saint! What brings you here today?" Dr. Jacobson asked Leona as the blonde approached the counter. Leona said nothing until she reached the counter, then handed the paper to the doctor.

"I'm here to order a part on behalf of Dr. Reid. She says that everything you need to know is on the paper that I just gave you." Leona replied in a businesslike tone. The bespectacled brunette held the paper in both hands and began to read over it. A minute later she lowered it and smiled at Leona.

"I can order this part for Loretta. Let me go do that now." Dr. Jacobson said to Leona. The Wizard Saint nodded and watched Dr. Jacobson walk towards the door behind her, then enter the room. While she waited Leona turned around and faced the front of the store because her attention was drawn towards all the products on the shelves. She saw various advertisements for various computer brands, various computer parts like processors and graphics cards, and other computer-related items she did not fully understand the purpose of.

"OK, I've ordered the part for Loretta. Go and tell her that it should be here in a week or so. The key word is should." Dr. Jacobson told Leona after emerging from the back of the store roughly four minutes later. The Wizard Saint turned around and blinked when she heard the estimate of how long it would take the part to get here.

A week or so for just one part?

Leona was not sure why it would take that long, but that was not her concern now. She had delivered the message to Dr. Jacobson and the part Dr. Reid needed had been ordered. Now Leona's concern was going back to Motor City and letting Dr. Reid know that her friend had ordered the part she needed.

"All right, I'll go tell Dr. Reid that the part's been ordered and should be here in a week or so." Leona repeated back to the doctor.

"All right then, Wizard Saint. I won't hold you up any longer. Have a good day!" Dr. Jacobson bade her. Leona waved goodbye with her right hand, then turned to leave the store. Now she had to report her success to Dr. Reid.

-Dr. Reid's laboratory, in the mini-kitchen, four hours later-

"So, how did it go? Was Bridgette able to order the part?" Dr. Reid asked Leona while holding a mug of coffee and standing in front of the table. Leona stood in front of the counter next to the door and nodded.

"Yes, Dr. Reid. Dr. Jacobson ordered the part and it should arrive at Parts N' More in a week or so." Leona reported. Dr. Reid nodded in approval.

"Great. I've got plenty of other projects to keep me busy in the meantime, so waiting a week to resume repairing the Atlas isn't gonna bother me." Dr. Reid informed Leona that time was no issue for her. Leona was glad to hear that. If the doctor was not worried about how long it would take for the part to get to Parts N' More, then Leona was not worried either.

"That's all I needed your help for today, Leona. If anything else comes up, I'll let you know!" Dr. Reid informed the Wizard Saint that her work for today was finished. Leona nodded.

"I'll head back to Silver Wolf Guild Hall then. See you later, Doctor!" Leona said. The doctor nodded and Leona saw herself out of the doctor's laboratory. This job had not taken as long as she thought it would, but she was not complaining. It was easy work and today she liked easy work.

-Silver Wolf Guild Hall, Leona's Room, four hours later-

Leona entered her room and had just sat down on the edge of her bed to take off her boots when she saw another manila envelope slide under her door. Curious as to who had sent it, Leona stood up and walked over to the envelope, then picked it up and walked over to her desk. She carefully pulled Ses Revanche from her right boot, used it to open the envelope, set the dagger on the desk, and carefully pulled out the letter contained within the envelope. She wondered who the letter was from and what they needed from her.

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Leona opened the letter and read it to learn that Mr. Bank was the one who had sent it to her. The handwriting was neat and the letter was to-the-point.

"Dear Wizard Saint:

I hate to contact you for yet another menial assignment, but I need your help with making a delivery of payment to one of my helpers. Since the sum involved is considerable, I chose to ask for your help with this matter. Come to my home in the Neutral Grounds at your earliest convenience and I'll tell you more." The letter read. Leona re-read it in case she had missed something on the first reading, but three sentences was all Mr. Bank had written to her. Her instructions were clear.

Leona set the letter down on her desk and prepared for another trip to the Neutral Grounds. The preparation would not take too long since she was only going to carry her knife and her backpack of supplies. She grabbed her backpack of supplies and put it on, put Ses Revanche in her right boot, and immediately left her room to head for the Neutral Grounds. As she shut her room door she wondered who the "helper" that she was going to deliver money to was.

-The Neutral Grounds, inside Mr. Bank's home, four hours later-

"Hello Wizard Saint. It's nice to see you again." Mr. Bank greeted Leona as the latter walked towards his desk. Once she got to where he could hear her she stopped just short of his desk and spoke to him.

"Hello, Mr. Bank. I understand that you need someone to transport payment to one of your helpers." Leona replied.

"Yes, Wizard Saint, I do. Like I said in my letter, the sum involved is large. In the millions. That's why I've asked you to carry it to the helper." Mr. Bank gave her a little more information on what her assignment was and why she had been asked to do such a mundane chore. When he mentioned that the sum involved was in the millions she immediately understood why the client had sent for her. It must have showed on her face because the client spoke to her.

"I see that you now understand why I chose you for this task." Mr. Bank said to her. Leona nodded.

"You can trust me to deliver the money without being tempted to take a little for myself." Leona replied frankly. Mr. Bank gave an amused chuckle.

"Exactly, my dear Wizard Saint. That and few people would be foolish enough to try and steal anything carried by a current Wizard Saint." Mr. Bank informed her that her response was correct. Leona was not too surprised to hear that, but she was glad that she had been right. She was also a little flattered to hear that Mr. Bank trusted her enough to carry millions of Jewels to someone.

The desk in front of her sunk into the ground and soon popped up again with a silver briefcase sitting on it.

"There's the case containing the Jewels I need you to carry. You'll be making the delivery to Dr. Harrison. I trust that you remember him from the last time you two met." Mr. Bank informed her of where she was going to take the Jewels. Leona nodded.

"I remember him." Leona said in the best neutral tone that she could muster. Again Mr. Bank gave an amused chuckle.

"Your voice gives you away, Wizard Saint. I can tell that you don't care for him." Mr. Bank commented.

"I might not care for the man's attitude, but I'll still make the delivery to him." Leona replied.

"Excellent. I knew that I could count on you. Now run along, my dear Wizard Saint." Mr. Bank expressed his approval of her before he instructed her to get going to Motor City. Leona walked over to the desk, grabbed the briefcase of Jewels with her left hand, and turned to leave when the client called to her.

"Do be careful, Wizard Saint. I communicated with Dr. Harrison a couple of days ago and he seemed to be in a foul mood. Well, a mood that was fouler than usual." Mr. Bank informed her. Leona took a deep breath before she spoke.

"Thanks for the warning, Mr. Bank." Leona thanked Mr. Bank for the heads-up before walking towards the elevator. She wondered what Mr. Bank meant when he claimed that Dr. Harrison's mood was "fouler than usual." The doctor had been very unpleasant to her when they had first met, so she was apprehensive about how much worse he could get. Depending on how the not-so-good doctor behaved, Leona might ask Mr. Bank for hazard pay after she made the delivery.

-Motor City, outside Dr. Harrison's laboratory, four hours later-

Having left the Neutral Grounds on foot and walked to the outskirts of Hargeon Town before summoning Winged Lion and flying to the outskirts of Motor City, Leona dispelled the summon upon arrival on the city outskirts and walked into Motor City with the briefcase of Jewels in her left hand. A few people made eye contact with the Wizard Saint but otherwise paid little attention to her as she walked down the streets of the busy city. After a fairly lengthy walk she reached Dr. Harrison's laboratory without incident and paused just outside the door to catch her breath... and to work up the courage to knock on the doctor's door.

Leona took a deep breath or two to prepare herself for the ordeal that she was about to go through. Once she was as ready as she was going to be, she reached out to the door and knocked on it with her right hand.

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Within moments of Leona knocking on the door the door opened wide to reveal a very angry Dr. Harrison standing on the other side.

His white dress shirt was stained with sweat and his brown dress pants were wrinkled. He looked at her with an angry face and leaned over, studying her for a moment before standing upright. He then folded his arms across his chest.

"Oh, it's you again! I should have known that a dimwit like you would come back to my laboratory one day!" He said irritably. Leona raised the briefcase in her left hand and presented it to him. He frowned at her.

"Don't just stand there like a simpleton! Come on in already!" He commanded her. He stepped aside and Leona obeyed. The moment she set foot in the laboratory he slammed the door behind her.

-Inside Dr. Harrison's home-

Leona stood inside the living room while Dr. Harrison looked at her with an angry expression on his face. He stepped close to her and glared at her.

"OK Dimwit, why did you come back here? Why are you interrupting my important work?" He asked her bluntly. Leona raised the briefcase again.

"Mr. Bank sent me to deliver your payment." Leona replied calmly, letting the insult pass without comment. He gave her what could have passed for a smile as she held the briefcase out to him and he took it without snatching it from her. He walked over to his wooden coffee table in the austere living room, set the briefcase down on its side, and opened it. He reached in with both hands and pulled out a large bag of Jewels. This time he actually smiled.

"My employer's a demanding man, but he pays well. Very well." Dr. Harrison commented calmly as he held up the bag of money. Leona kept quiet as he admired the bag of money for a few moments more, then turned to face her. He had just made eye contact when his facial expression soured again. Leona dreaded what he was going to say next.

"Inside this bag is more money than you can count, Dimwit. I bet you wish you had this much money to your name." Dr. Harrison taunted Leona by hefting the bag of Jewels and shaking it at her like someone waving a bone at a dog. Leona did not take the bait and ignored the insult.

"OK Dimwit, here's the deal. Before I send you away, let me get something for you to take back to my employer." Dr. Harrison told her in a calm voice. Leona remained quiet and the doctor walked through his home towards the hallway in the back of his home, then opened the door and shut it behind him. The Wizard Saint looked at the wall of diplomas, degrees, and certifications on the wall behind the doctor's recliner and wondered how long it took the doctor to earn them all. Leona's eyes wandered to the briefcase and she noticed that the bag of money had been set down inside the open case.

As if he knew that she was looking at the money, suddenly the laboratory door opened and he stuck his head out. He made eye contact with her.

"If I come back in there and find that you've touched any of my money, I'll make sure that you regret it." He threatened her with a vague but undoubtedly dire punishment if she dared to steal a single Jewel from him. Leona wordlessly watched the doctor pull his head back in and slam the laboratory door shut.

Almost seven minutes later the doctor returned holding a thick manila folder full of papers. He shoved them into her hands.

"OK Dimwit, take these back to my employer. But before you go, I'm going to make sure that you didn't steal anything while I was gone." Dr. Harrison told her. He walked over to the bag of money and opened it up, checking it for any missing Jewels. Once he checked it to his satisfaction he turned to Leona and walked over to her until he was within arm's reach.

"Take your backpack off." He said to her. Leona blinked.

"TAKE OFF YOUR BACKPACK NOW!" He shouted, jamming his right index finger into her right cheek so hard that she felt his fingernail push into her skin. The startled Wizard Saint complied and took off her backpack. He snatched it from her, unzipped it, and turned it upside down. All of her supplies fell out of the backpack and landed on the floor.

Leona leaned down to pick them up when she received a shove so hard that nearly sent her stumbling back to the wall behind her. She clutched the manila folder in her hands and looked at the doctor with an expression of surprise.

"STAY RIGHT THERE AND DON'T MOVE AGAIN!" He shouted at her. Leona obeyed and watched the doctor search through her desert cloak in search of any money she might have hidden in it. He then checked all of the pockets of the backpack and took his time about it. Once he was satisfied that she had not stolen any of his money he unceremoniously dropped the backpack onto the floor on top of the contents he had dumped out of it.

"OK Dimwit, you have more brains than I thought you had since you didn't steal any of my money while I was in my laboratory, so I'll let you go so that you can get out of my hair. Now run along like a good little girl and take my findings back to my employer." He said in the most condescending voice he could muster before walking over to the case and taking the bag of money. Leona went to her knees and set the manila folder aside before starting to picking up all of her supplies and belongings that had been dumped onto the floor. Dr. Harrison walked over to her and dropped the empty briefcase on the floor next to her, causing her to jump.

"Get your trash off of my floor already! I don't have all day to stand here watching you!" He shouted at her. Leona felt her loathing for Dr. Harrison grow with each passing moment she spent picking up her belongings. She could not wait to get out of here and get back to the Neutral Grounds.

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-The Neutral Grounds, Mr. Bank's home, six hours later-

Having finally reached Mr. Bank's office with the silver briefcase in hand after walking all the way from Motor City because she had been too angry to think straight after her encounter with Dr. Harrison, Leona stood in front of the desk in Mr. Bank's office. When she had left Dr. Harrison's home she had put the results the not-so-good doctor wanted her to deliver to Mr. Bank inside the briefcase so that she did not have to carry the manila folder in her left hand or cram it into her backpack and risk bending the papers. Now she took a break after her long walk and waited for the static image to speak to her. In the meantime she could not help but to think about how poorly Dr. Harrison had treated her while she was in his home.

The Wizard Saint was still angry about the rough treatment she had received at the doctor's hands. She had been repeatedly insulted and she had been repeatedly talked down to. The worst insult was the insinuation that she would steal his money when he was not looking. While she thought about it Leona felt the humiliation of the experience all over again.

"Hello Wizard Saint! I didn't see you standing there!" Mr. Bank greeted Leona somewhat warmly. Shoving the unpleasant memories out of her mind, the Wizard Saint put on her best neutral face and looked at the unblinking visage on the monitor.

"Hello, Mr. Bank." Leona greeted the client in a weary voice. He must have been able to tell what really happened from the sound of her voice because he was quick to comment.

"I can tell that Dr. Harrison didn't treat you very well." Mr. Bank said bluntly. Leona was hoping that her fatigue from the trip could cover up what had really happened, but he had deduced the true source of her unhappiness.

"He didn't treat me very well at all." Leona replied frankly. She did not even bother with trying to hide her problem any longer.

"What did he do to you?" Mr. Bank asked in a tone that was free of sarcasm. Leona briefly pondered the wisdom of telling him her problems with his helper, but then she decided to go for it.

"He kept calling me Dimwit and he kept talking down to me like I was a child." Leona started listing the ill treatment she had received at Dr. Harrison's hands. The client listened without comment. Those two things sounded petty, so Leona decided to follow up with a worse part of the mistreatment while she still had Mr. Bank's attention.

"I can handle those small things. What I can't handle is his insinuations that I was a thief waiting for the opportunity to steal some of the money I had delivered to him." Leona listed one of the worse parts of the mistreatment she had endured. She could tolerate being called names and being talked down to, but she had little tolerance for indirect accusations that she was a thief. She had her own money and had plenty of it. She did not need to steal from anyone to have money.

"He called you a thief?" Mr. Bank asked plainly. Leona shook her head.

"He didn't outright call me one, but he repeatedly insinuated that I'd steal his money if given half a chance. He also shook the bag of money at me and claimed that I wished I had that much money to my name, suggesting that I was so poor that I'd resort to stealing to get money. And when he went to his laboratory to get some results for me to deliver to you he warned me not to touch any of his money while he was in his laboratory or he'd make me regret it." Leona set the record straight before elaborating on the incident. While she did not like Dr. Harrison, she would not lie or exaggerate to get him in trouble with Mr. Bank.

"Did he now?" Mr. Bank asked in a tone of mild displeasure. Again Leona nodded.

"He did. The worst part was when he ordered me to take off my backpack because he thought I had stolen some money from him and hid it in there." Leona informed him of the worst part of the ordeal.

"And did you take your backpack off?" Mr. Bank asked.

"I did." Leona admitted.

"Why did you do that?" The client inquired in a tone of slight disappointment. Whether that disappointment was aimed at her or at Dr. Harrison was hard to tell, but it was clear that Mr. Bank was disappointed with one of them, perhaps even both of them.

"I try my best not to burn bridges, Mr. Bank. There's a good chance that I'll run into him again at some point." Leona answered frankly.

"Hmm... that's true." Mr. Bank conceded.

"And you yourself told me that I'd have to learn to work with difficult people." Leona added further.

"That's also true." Mr. Bank conceded another point to her. There was silence for a few moments before Mr. Bank spoke again.

"Tell me something. And be honest. Did Dr. Harrison do anything else to you beyond call you names and talk down to you?" Mr. Bank asked Leona and told her to be honest. The Wizard Saint nodded.

"When he told me to take off my backpack and I took it off, he snatched it from me and unzipped it, then dumped the contents out on his floor." Leona started to describe what was arguably the worst of the mistreatment.

"Go on." Mr. Bank bade her.

"When I bent down to pick up my belongings, he shoved me back so hard that I almost fell against the wall. He told me to not move again until he was finished with his search. He then dragged out the search just to make a point of who was in charge." Leona finished the story. Mr. Bank was silent for several moments. Leona did not like that at all.

"That's troubling. I knew that Dr. Harrison could be difficult, but I didn't know that he'd actually put his hands on you." Mr. Bank commented.

"Dr. Harrison didn't actually hurt me when he shoved me. He just gave me a very unpleasant surprise because I wasn't expecting him to shove me." Leona explained further.

"Be that as it may, he should still know better than to put his hands on a current Wizard Saint." Mr. Bank remarked in a tone of disappointment. Leona was not sure, but it sounded like this time he was disappointed in Dr. Harrison alone.

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"It's fortunate that Dr. Harrison didn't hurt you during his outburst." Mr. Bank commented after a minute or two of silence.

"Why's that?" Leona asked Mr. Bank.

"First, he committed assault when he shoved you. Second, if you felt like doing so, you could have easily hurt him a lot worse than he hurt you." Mr. Bank informed her.

"Those are good points." Leona conceded to Mr. Bank. He gave a brief chuckle.

"I'm thankful that you exercised restraint and didn't retaliate despite what he said and did to you." Mr. Bank thanked Leona for not retaliating for all the abuse Dr. Harrison had put her through. Leona felt insulted by Mr. Bank's insinuation that violence was the primary means by which she resolved problems with other people. Her indignation must have shown on her face because the client was quick to offer an explanation for his remark.

"I can tell that you're more than a little insulted by what I just said. Allow me to explain what I mean." Mr. Bank quickly added.

"Certainly." Leona said calmly. She was willing to give Mr. Bank a chance to explain his remark before she got angry with him.

"What I meant by my statement was that Dr. Harrison's such a difficult man to deal with that most of my other helpers have sworn off working with the man. More than one of them has vowed to punch him in the face if they ever had to deal with him again. Furthermore, most of my couriers won't deliver anything to him without considerable financial compensation in exchange." Mr. Bank explained why he had said what he did, implying that Leona was one of the few hired helpers of Mr. Bank who had the patience required to deal with the thoroughly unpleasant doctor. When he put it that way his remark suddenly did not sound as insulting as it had first sounded. As a result Leona felt any indignation she had towards Mr. Bank quickly disappear.

"When you put it that way, what you said makes sense." Leona calmly informed him. Mr. Bank chuckled again.

"I'm glad that you understand what I mean, Wizard Saint. Now, I notice that you're holding the briefcase I gave you. Did you have something for me?" Mr. Bank said to her before asking if she had anything for him in the silver briefcase in her left hand. Leona nodded.

"I have a manila folder containing some results from Dr. Harrison inside the briefcase. He claimed that you'd be interested in them. I'll give the briefcase to you now." Leona replied. She walked over to the desk and set the briefcase on top of it, then stepped back and watched the desk descend into the floor. Moments later it returned to its original place. Leona heard the sounds of the briefcase being opened and the papers in the manila folder being gently skimmed through over the speakers.

"Thank you, Wizard Saint. I'll read the results later." Mr. Bank told her before setting aside the manila folder full of papers. Leona waited quietly and patiently to be assigned another task or to be dismissed.

"That's all I need from you today, Wizard Saint. You may go now. I'll send for you if I require your services again." Mr. Bank dismissed Leona.

"All right then. I'll see you later, Mr. Bank." Leona said. She turned to leave and only took thirteen steps towards the elevator when she heard Mr. Bank speak again.

"Thank you for how you handled the situation with Dr. Harrison." Mr. Bank sincerely thanked her for not punching Dr. Harrison out after all the mistreatment she had endured at his hands. Leona turned around and faced the unblinking image on the monitor before speaking.

"I'm glad that I could help, Mr. Bank." Leona replied to him, phrasing her response in the most neutral way she could. She then turned to leave the office and walked to the elevator. She got on and it descended to the ground floor, then left Mr. Bank's home to head back to Silver Wolf Guild Hall.

-Silver Wolf Guild Hall, Leona's room, five hours later-

Having finally reached Silver Wolf Guild Hall after a long hike from the Neutral Grounds, Leona walked into her room and shut the door behind her. She wanted to fall on her bed and go to sleep for awhile before she had to wake up and do paperwork or do another job. But first she needed to change her outfit. She took off her backpack and set it on the floor in front of her wardrobe.

Leona took off her outfit top, carefully draped it on the back of her chair, and grabbed her blue tank top from her wardrobe because it was was the closest tank top at hand. She then closed the wardrobe and put the tank top on. Once she did that she walked over to the bed and sat down to take off her boots. She took them off and sat on the edge of her bed for a moment before swinging her feet around to the foot of the bed, then lying down.

The back of Leona's head touched the pillow and she stared at the ceiling. Despite how tired she felt she was just not able to go to sleep. If she could not get to sleep soon, she would either get up and go get some coffee from the guild cafe before study the book on magical ingredients Dr. Reid had given her some time ago or she would go to the guild library and find something to study there. Trying to study for any appreciable length of time was a good way to make herself tired and/or bored enough to go to sleep.

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-The guild library, sixteen minutes later-

Leona was able to lie on her bed all of twelve minutes before giving up on going to sleep and heading towards the guild library with her notebook that contained her meager research on magical ingredients in hand. She was going to find out where she could find some mandrake root for a knife with sound-based magical abilities she was looking into making. The guild library was certain to have a book or two that could tell her where to find mandrake root.

She knew from personal experience that Spooky Forest was one possible location, but the last time she had been there over two years ago all the mandrake root was gone. She was not sure if it had grown back in the meantime, but she was not going to bet the bank on any being there. She would need to search for another place where she could find the elusive ingredient.

Having combed the shelves of the guild library, Leona found a book on magical ingredients and took it with her to a table in the far left corner of the library. Leona sat the old tome with a faded green cover on the table just to the left of her notebook and pen and carefully opened the musty old book. She went into a coughing fit as a cloud of dust floated up from the book and hit her in the face. Thankfully it faded after a few seconds and the Wizard Saint was now free to start her research without having to struggle to breathe.

Leona sat down at the table and began carefully reading through the table of contents. She skimmed through it until she found mandrake root listed on Page Number 357. Leona carefully turned the pages of the old book until she found Page Number 357. She stopped on the page and skimmed it until she found what she was looking for.

According to the book, mandrake root was most often found in forests. She read further and was rewarded with a couple of locations that were said to be home to the elusive root. One of them was Spooky Forest, a fact she already knew. She jotted it down anyway to have a reminder of that location.

The second location was Lycan Woods. That was new information to Leona, so she jotted that location down in her notebook. She also noted the warning that Lycan Woods was home to dangerous werewolves that would make harvesting the root difficult. She already knew about the werewolves due to personal experience, but she jotted the warning down as a reminder.

Leona continued to read the book for any more locations but could not find any. The Wizard Saint frowned a little and gently closed the book, then gently opened it to the front to look at the table of contents a second time. She looked through them again for anything she might have missed the first time and frowned when she found nothing that could help her. However, she saw the date the book was published and winced. The book had been published over fifty-one years ago!

Seeing that she was using an old source that might be inaccurate, Leona gently closed the book and stood up from the table to go put it back on the shelf where she had found it. Once she had put it back Leona then walked back to her table, grabbed her notebook and pen, and started walking back towards her room. She was going there to think over her options for places where she could find more modern and up-to-date books to buy for her research.

-Leona's room, ten minutes later-

Leona was now back in her room with little to show for her effort other than two possible locations of mandrake root, one of which she had already known about. That information might not be accurate anymore since the book she had gotten it from was rather old, but she did not scratch out what she had written down. Instead she kept it to have at least one reference in case the search for more modern sources of information turned up nothing.

Leona recalled that she had two viable options for finding books. One of them was The Scholar's Resource in Capital Crocus Mall. The other was Jobaasa's Rare Tomes. Both of them were located in Capital Crocus, so it was possible to visit both stores in a single day if she wanted.

Leona sat her notebook and pen on top of her desk, then walked over to her bed and sat on the edge. She swung her feet over to the foot of her bed and reclined until the back of her head touched her pillow. She would try to sleep again before she took any steps towards acquiring research materials. While she had plenty of money, Leona did not want to make any impulse purchases without thinking the matter through first.

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[Total Word Count: 7,328/11,000]

-Leona's room, twenty minutes later-

Unable to truly rest because she was thinking about an important matter, Leona lay on her bed staring at the ceiling while trying to figure out whether she should even bother going to Capital Crocus to look for books on magical ingredients. It felt like she was wasting time on a personal project that had limited practical value when she should be doing something with more immediate rewards like learning how to use a computer or learning a foreign language. Those would be more worthwhile endeavors to pursue, endeavors that the Guild Mistress of Silver Wolf should have begun pursuing long ago. Instead she had started and stopped multiple personal projects with little to show for them other than wasted time and wasted money.

She was going to study for a GED test and she had not even opened the books she had bought to help her study for the test.

She was going to learn how to use and repair computers with books she had bought, but she had not opened them either.

Those examples were but two of the personal projects she had put on the backburner with the intention to finish them, but she had never gotten around to finishing them. Leona stared at the ceiling as the self-criticism started again. She had heard it all before, but the points her inner critic raised were as valid as ever.

She was only Guild Mistress of Silver Wolf because she was in the right place at the right time.

She was not smart enough to properly lead Silver Wolf.

Unable to lay and stare at the ceiling any longer, Leona sat up and swung her feet over to the edge of the bed. Her inner critic was hitting on all the points that made the Wizard Saint doubt herself. She needed to do something to take her mind off of her faults before she began dwelling on them. But what could she do?

Leona stood up and her bare feet touched the wooden floor. She had to do something, but she had no idea what that something was. Studying another subject was out of the question because her focus had been drained after less than twenty minutes of researching where to find mandrake root. That was really pathetic. As the Guild Mistress of Silver Wolf and as a Wizard Saint, she should be able to do better than that.

How was Leona supposed to complete any of her personal projects if her focus could be drained in less than twenty minutes?

Leona frowned. She silently left her room and made a beeline for the guild cafe without even bothering to put on her boots.

-Inside the guild cafe, seven minutes later-

Sitting at a table against the back wall of the cafe, the Wizard Saint sat drinking a cup of coffee in glum silence while trying to figure out what she was going to do from here. She had bought herself a brief respite from her inner critic, but that respite would not last long. Leona needed to come up with something to do before it returned and drove Leona's self-confidence even further into the dirt.

The Wizard Saint took another sip of coffee and tried to think of something she could do that was actually useful to her and to the guild.

Right now virtually all of her jobs took place in Fiore, so she could safely defer learning another language.

That was just an excuse to get out of trying to learn one.

She did not interact with computers very often, so she could safely defer learning how to operate or repair one.

That was an excuse to avoid sitting down and seriously learning how to use technology.

Leona frowned when those negative thoughts crossed her mind. Her respite had lasted a far shorter time than she had wanted it to. Her inner critic was back with more cynical remarks criticizing her inability to focus on a subject long enough to gain a good understanding of it.

The Wizard Saint sipped on the coffee and tried to shake off the negative thoughts before they consumed her. She shoved them aside for a few moments to find something small and not very challenging that she could do to achieve a small success. She could use that small success to boost her self-confidence and build momentum to work towards a bigger success.

Leona was about to congratulate herself on thinking up a solution to her problem when she realized that she had not really solved the problem at all. In order to succeed at something she needed to start it first. What small task could she do to get the ball rolling?

Leona took another sip of her coffee and began to think about the matter a little more before she ran off to start yet another project that might or might not be completed.

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[Total Word Count: 8,150/11,000]

-Leona's Room, forty minutes later-

Leona had carefully thought the matter through and decided to hold off on buying any more books for the time being. She had a list of projects that she needed to finish before she took on another one. In fact she had so many that she had forgotten all of the projects she had started and stopped over the past several months or so.

She had also given some thought to the simple task that she could do to boost her confidence in her ability to start and finish a project. After a good deal of thought she decided that learning how to use her iLac would be a good start. That was something she could do that would have immediate returns, namely teaching her how to better use that piece of modern technology.

At least that was the plan before an envelope was slid under her door. Leona saw the plain white envelope slide along the floor towards her desk before stopping just short of it. The weary Wizard Saint sat up, got off of the bed, and walked over to it to pick it up.

Leona picked it up and walked over to her desk, then opened the envelope. It contained a neatly folded note. The Wizard Saint carefully removed the note from the envelope, opened the note, and read its contents.

"Dear Wizard Saint:

It's me, Dr. Reid. I need you to come to my laboratory as soon as you can. There's something important that I'd like to discuss with you." Dr. Reid requested. Leona set the letter down on her desk and prepared to change into something better than a tank top before she went to Motor City. She would wear the outfit top that went with her skirt so that she had a somewhat professional appearance.

-Motor City, inside Dr. Reid's laboratory, five hours later-

Standing inside the mini-kitchen with her back to the door while facing the doctor who was sitting at the small square table with a mug of coffee and a clipboard with papers, Leona was feeling more than a bit tired because she had not really had much of a chance to rest. Her inner critic had kept reminding her of her inability to finish projects she had started. Furthermore, Leona kept replaying the incident at Dr. Harrison's home in her head and felt a strong sense of resentment towards the doctor for his rough treatment of her. She also felt anger at herself for letting him get away with it.

How could she let herself be treated like that?

Was she so obsessed with maintaining a good image that she would let herself be talked down to, insulted, and literally shoved around?

"Uh, Leona, you look sorta distant. Are you OK?" Dr. Reid asked the Wizard Saint. Leona blinked and shoved the intrusive thoughts out of her mind so that she could focus on what Dr. Reid had called her here to talk about.

"Not really. I've felt better." Leona candidly replied, keeping the sources of her problems to herself. The long-haired blonde smiled and stood up from the table, leaving her clipboard sitting to the right of her mug. She walked up to the counter and brought out a plain white coffee mug, then walked over to the coffeemaker in the far left corner of the kitchen and filled it with coffee. Finally the doctor walked over to Leona and handed the mug to her.

"Thanks, Doctor." Leona thanked the doctor while accepting the gift of coffee. Dr. Reid stood a short distance from the Wizard Saint and watched Leona take a sip of Motor City Nitro. The strong coffee lifted the Wizard Saint's mood enough for her to feel a small twinge of hope that things would get better for her.

"I called you here to tell you about the Atlas Project." Dr. Reid cut to the chase. Leona lowered her coffee mug away from her lips and looked at the doctor with interest.

"I hate to tell you this, but the repairs are gonna take a lot longer than I anticipated." Dr. Reid admitted to Leona. Leona did not panic when she heard that information.

"About how much longer would you estimate they'll take, Doctor?" Leona asked Dr. Reid. The doctor's eyes wandered to the floor before she took a deep breath and made eye contact with Leona.

"It'll take several months. At least eight, if not more." Dr. Reid gave the answer. Leona frowned.

"Yeah. It's gonna take that long. The repair work that needs to be done isn't something that you can just do overnight. And you can't rush it either, not unless you want to run the risk of big trouble somewhere down the road because you wired something incorrectly or used the wrong part." Dr. Reid gave an in-depth answer to the question. Leona recovered her composure and spoke to the doctor.

"Is there anything that I can do to help?" Leona asked. Dr. Reid shook her head.

"No, Leona." Dr. Reid answered tersely. Leona should have seen that answer coming from a mile away.

"All right then." Leona said calmly, accepting the doctor's judgment. There was no point in arguing with the doctor's judgment on the matter. If there was nothing that Leona could do to help, then there was nothing that she could do to help.

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[Total Word Count: 9,050/11,000]

-Motor City, Dr. Reid's laboratory-

Having been told that there was nothing that she could do to help Dr. Reid with repairs to the Atlas Project, Leona stood in the kitchen facing the doctor while sipping from her half-empty mug of coffee. The Wizard Saint was going to finish the mug and leave to head back to Silver Wolf Guild Hall and try to sleep. However, she doubted that she was going to get any sleep, not with her inner critic constantly pointing out her shortcomings.

Not wanting to be here any longer than she had to, Leona quickly finished off her coffee and set the mug on the counter.

"If there's nothing else you need me for, I'll be going now." Leona informed the doctor. Dr. Reid nodded.

"OK, Leona. See you later. And I'm sorry that I couldn't give you any good news." Dr. Reid said. Leona let herself out of the laboratory to begin the long trip back to Silver Wolf Guild Hall. It was going to be a long trip back and she had better get going while she still had the energy to move under her own power.

-Silver Wolf Guild Hall, Leona's Room, five hours later-

Leona entered her room and shut the door behind her. She looked around her room and noticed that her backpack was right where she had left it. She was so tired that she had forgotten to even take her backpack with her. It was a good thing that she did not run into any trouble on the way back to the guild hall or get into another situation where she would need the supplies she kept in her backpack.

Leona walked over to her bed, sat down on it, took off her boots, and did not even bother changing out of her outfit top before flopping backwards onto the bed. As she had predicted back at Dr. Reid's laboratory her inner critic was not going to let her rest. Leona tried to tune out the self-criticism, but it was nagging her about her inability to start even a simple project like learning how to use her iLac.

The Wizard Saint then sat up and swung her feet around to the foot of the bed. She reclined on the bed and began to stare at the ceiling. She should at least be trying to learn to use her iLac, but she was too tired to make the effort.

There was her problem, the inner critic said.

She was always "too tired" to make the effort to learn any subject that required study.

She always had an excuse at the ready when the time came to study something.

Leona continued to stare at the ceiling and tried her best to tune out the voice. For several minutes it seemed like her effort was doomed to failure, but by some minor miracle she managed to drift off to sleep. Maybe when she woke up she could finally do something to silence her inner critic, if only for a little while.

-The guild library, six hours later-

After roughly six hours of sleep Leona was back in the guild library with her notebook and pen. She was here to make another attempt to find magical ingredients to use for a new knife. Unlike her last research effort, where she focused exclusively on mandrake root, this time she would look for a new ingredient, one that might have another effect she could benefit from putting on a knife.

Leona went back to "her" table in the far left corner of the library and set down her pen and notebook, then began to carefully comb the library for books she could use. Unlike last time where she was in a hurry to find what she wanted to know, this time she would take it slowly. Right now she had no pressing responsibilities to take care of, so she would slow down and try to do proper research on magical ingredients and their effects.

After thirty-five minutes of carefully combing the section of library she was in Leona returned to the table with three books that she was going to carefully read through and note any interesting ingredients with effects that might be of use.

She set the books down in a neat stack and picked out the top one, which was a tome with a worn brown cover and dog-eared pages. She set it in front of the stack and gently opened it, then pulled out the wooden chair and sat down in it. Leona then carefully moved the chair up. Once she was settled she began to read the book, vowing to take her time while reading instead of trying to hurry through it or developing tunnel vision and looking for one particular ingredient while ignoring others with potentially useful properties.

-Two hours later-

Leona finished reading the first book and gently closed it, then set it off to the left. The book had earned a mixed review from Leona. On one hand, it did not list where she could find any of the ingredients; it assumed that she already had what she was looking for on hand. On the other hand, it had plenty of information about magical ingredients and she had found a few useful ingredients that might be worth considering. One of them was wolfsbane.

Wolfsbane was harmful to normal wolves, but she had read that it was also harmful to werewolves. While her Silver Longsword was already harmful to both types of wolf, if she wanted to make a special anti-wolf weapon she would need wolfsbane. Leona did not think that very practical since she did not encounter them very often, but she had still written the information down for future reference.

Another interesting ingredient was garlic. When its juice was mixed with holy water it could be used to make an anti-vampire weapon that could harm the legendary creatures of the night. Again, Leona did not encounter them often enough to make a weapon just for use against them, but she had written the information down because it might come in handy one day.

Leona looked at the book she had just read from and noted its title. The book was named A Reference For Magical Ingredients. She wrote down the name of the book above the notes for wolfsbane and garlic so that she could easily find the book again if she needed to do more research from it. Leona then moved on to the second book in the stack and turned to a new page in her notebook.

Before she got started reading it, she decided to find the title of the second book and write it down before making any notes. She gently opened it and found the title page. The book's title was A Liste Of Magickal Ingredients For Use In Making Potions And Weapons. Leona wrote the title down at the top of the page of her notebook and set the pen aside, then began to read the book for any ingredients that might prove useful in making a weapon or a potion.

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-Three hours later-

Leona rubbed her eyes as she finally closed A Liste Of Magickal Ingredients For Use In Making Potions And Weapons after roughly three hours of reading. It was a tough book to read because it was approximately 800 pages long. However, it had lived up to its name and listed several useful ingredients for potions and weapons, but she had written down only one because she was losing focus and did not need to make mistakes when writing down the ingredients.

One of the useful potions was for a formula which could be applied to any edged weapon to grant it a temporary boost in power against vampires. In order to make it she had to crush seven cloves of garlic and let the resulting juice age for fourteen days in a container. After that she had to mix the aged garlic juice with crushed rosemary leaves and holy water and let that combination sit for fourteen days. The next step was to stir the resulting mixture for seven minutes and let it sit for an additional fourteen days. The final step was to apply the finished mixture to the weapon meant to be used against vampires.

Leona had written those instructions down and had also made certain to write down the warning that once the formula was applied the anti-vampire effect only lasted for seven hours. Once seven hours had passed the effect wore off and the weapon lost its power boost. Despite the short duration and the considerable time that went into making the formula, Leona considered the formula a cost-effective alternative to making a dedicated anti-vampire weapon that might not see much use.

Leona would have to re-read A Liste Of Magickal Ingredients For Use In Making Potions And Weapons later and see if there was anything useful that she had overlooked on her first reading.

Right now she was too tired to focus on reading the third book she had taken off the shelves and she needed to be able to focus in order to get the most out of reading anything. The third book could wait. Leona made a note of the book's title so that she could find it again and read it another time. The book in question was titled The Potion Maker's Guide To Ingredients and it was a thick book with a mint green cover.

Leona stood up from her seat, neatly stacked all three books, and took the stack to the circulation desk. Once that was done she pushed her chair back in, picked up her notebook and pen, and left the library to go back to her room. She felt that she had done enough research for one day.

-Leona's Room, ten minutes later-

Having changed from her blue, white, and gold outfit top back to her blue tank top, Leona was reclining on the bed and staring at the ceiling. For once her inner critic was silent. While Leona was far from finished with her research, she had made a bit of progress by finding a couple of viable ingredients that were not mandrake root. She had also taken a modest step towards improving her research skills by taking the time to write down the titles of books she used for reference so that if she needed to consult a particular book again she would not have to spend a lot of time trying to remember its title.

Leona took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. She still had a long ways to go before she could consider herself a decent researcher. For one thing she still had the problem of losing focus too easily. She should have been able to sit and study for longer than five hours, but sitting still and studying something for five hours was likely a personal record for her. Leona felt a brief twinge of pride in herself for managing to study for that long before losing focus.

Leona continued to stare at the ceiling until she could go to sleep, but right now it was not happening. Her mind began to fill not with thoughts of her shortcomings, but with thoughts of what she could do once she actually applied herself to researching a topic. Today she had learned about two useful ingredients for weapons and had learned one recipe for a formula that could be used to grant edged weapons a boost in power against vampires.

That was a good start, but Leona would need to do more research. She would need to do research on other possible uses for garlic and wolfsbane before she used them exclusively for weapons. She would also need do research on where to find safe and reliable sources of those ingredients. Once she had researched other possible uses and sources of garlic and wolfsbane Leona would need to determine whether the process of making anything with them would be worth the effort.

The anti-vampire formula that could be applied to weapons was a prime example. It used garlic and rosemary, both of which were fairly common ingredients, but the real issue was finding a reliable source of genuine holy water, which was the third ingredient. Fortunately Leona already had a potential source for genuine holy water... perhaps the Order of Lightbringers could help her there.

Besides the matter of procuring ingredients, there was also the matter of preparation time for what she wanted to make out of them. There were four stages in making the anti-vampire formula and the first three stages required fourteen days apiece to complete. That would make things difficult if Leona was hired to do some vampire hunting and the formula was not ready. The issue of preparation time led to another problem she needed to do research on... how long finished formulas kept their potency before weakening to the point of uselessness.

Starting to feel overwhelmed by all the potential problems she needed to account for when making a formula, Leona took another deep breath and quietly exhaled. She set all thoughts of research aside for the time being. She would do more research on magical ingredients later.

Right now she really needed to sleep. Leona stared at the ceiling and closed her eyes after roughly twenty-five minutes of staring. Once she closed her eyes it did not take long for her to go to sleep.

[Post Word Count: 1,060]
[Total Word Count: 11,300/11,000]