Inari’s Gift

The following day, Cera decided she ought to visit the bank and drop off money again.  She was in a bit of a hurry to get back to experimenting with magic, however, so she took the alleyways instead of the main roads.

Around halfway to the bank, her enhanced hearing picked up voices ahead of her, at the same time as she caught the glint of a mirror by the edge of a large crate.  Throwing up her shields, she continued as if she hadn’t noticed anything.  A moment later, she was able to make out a harsh, loud attempt at whispering.

“Stop, you’ll get us all killed!” was uttered from behind the obstacle.

With a sigh, she stopped in place and created a few ice spikes, loudly stating that she knew someone was there.  After a short delay, several people stepped into view, four of the six holding empty hands up, and the fifth holding the sixth’s hand to keep it from going to their weapon.

As he dragged the other man, the fifth person stated, “We’ve had some changes in members since we last met, but none of us who were there forgot you, we want no trouble with you.  I’m pretty sure all of us prefer being alive.”

With his last words, the man turned his head to glare at the other he was restraining.

Cera sighed, then asked, “Why don’t you earn money properly instead of rob people?  Surely you have some kind of useful skills.  Hell, you could act as guards or mercenaries, couldn’t you?”

Two of the men shook their heads before one of them spoke up, “Gotta have money to register, and none of us can make enough money doing simple labor to afford that.  Greggory here was almost able to afford it before our old boss got ambushed and we got forced into a new gang that demanded we hand over everything or die.”

Shaking her head, Cera inquired, “How much does that cost, and why can’t you afford it legally?”

She paused for a moment, then felt stupid, as she was only able to live decently because she’d managed to join guilds that had entry requirements, and before that, she’d barely been able to make anything.

With another sigh, she corrected herself, “Nevermind, I forgot I got lucky, plus get paid more as a mage.  I’ll offer you a deal.  If the cost is low enough, I’ll give you enough to cover it, but if I do and see you again, I’ll kill you.”

The two who’d shaken their heads, and, surprisingly, the restrained one, all looked thoughtful at her statement, the other ones looking conflicted about it.  They glanced at each other for a moment before one of the formerly silent ones spoke up.

“I’m sure we’d all take your offer, but some of us have friends or family being held hostage by the new boss.  If there was a way to solve that, I, at least, would love to accept.  The fee for the adventurers’ guild is just below five steel coins,” he stated hesitantly.

Cera nodded, then questioned him, “Have you considered trying to get the city guard involved in the hostage situation?  Or would they simply imprison you for being thieves, despite the reason behind it?”

“It’s too risky, the guards are very obvious, plus the chance of them arresting us is too high, if we get arrested, no one will provide for our families,” he continued.

After a deep sigh, Cera paused to think for a few moments.  Eventually she decided that with her power, she ought to try to improve the world, and to take action.

“Very well, I’ve made my decision.  If you promise to help others in your situation, I’ll deal with the issue for you.  Bring me to your new boss,” she stated, irritation coloring her voice, as she was upset with the situation even if she’d decided to take action.

All six men looked shocked, but eventually one nodded, gestured to the others, and began walking away, taking a glance back to make sure she followed.

As the others hesitated, Cera remarked, “Look, you can bring me in together and say you caught me.  Technically true, as you caught me by surprise with your situation.  That should let you get through any guards if you are personally bringing a potential asset, right?”

Shortly afterward, the group seemed to agree, everyone taking up positions around her, though even the man who’d been restrained before kept his hands well away from his weapon.  Surprisingly, they lead her into a more wealthy area of town, sticking out pretty badly given their clothing, but continuing despite it.  Eventually, they took to the alleys once again before arriving at the back of a small store.

They swiftly entered a basement, then went through a hidden tunnel, eventually going back up into a fairly heavily decorated home.  Several guards stopped them, but Cera’s idea convinced them to join the group and bring them to the leader.  The additions to the group were somewhat problematic, and Cera went on high alert as they walked behind her, but it wasn’t beyond what she was confident in handling.

A few moments later, the additional guards reached six, making the hallway they were going down quite crowded.  Eventually, they made it to a well-guarded room, four more people standing outside, and as the door opened, yet another four inside guarding a woman sitting at a desk who scowled when she saw the thieves.

Before her ire could explode, they quickly interrupted and explained Cera’s excuse, causing the woman to relax, and they then stepped to the side, leaving Cera exposed, but bringing themselves out of the line of fire.

Cera promptly frowned and shook her head at the woman before speaking, “In your position, you shouldn’t be acting like this.  Controlling a gang in your position?  Shameful.  I demand that you stop immediately, and let them go.  If not, well, we can always see who can convince the other.”

After a moment of shock at her acting like that, Cera heard the guards behind her drawing their weapons, while those in front of her did the same.  With a smirk, Cera flared her shields, causing them to become visible momentarily even as she drew on the moisture in the air to summon multiple ice spikes, seven of them forming and pointing at different targets.  At the same time, she summoned her foxfire, and several magical balls of fire.

“Stand down, or I’ll make sure you can’t threaten me again,” she demanded of the guards.

Three of the men lunged at her, even as the others hesitated.  Cera only felt bad for a moment as she directed her flames towards them.  They made the choice, even when she was offering a way out for everyone.

Predictably, they didn’t find being set on fire terribly easy to ignore, and their screams filled the room along with the smell of burnt flesh.  As they hit the floor, Cera waited a second for the flames to spread across the fancy carpet, then extinguished them with a thought, leaving the maimed, but still living guards as a warning.

“Provided everyone makes the right choices, I can also heal,” she calmly stated, focusing on the woman in charge yet again.

To her annoyance, there was a faint click before the desk was hurled toward her, her eyes catching some sort of contraption on the floor, then a crossbow bolt slammed into her shield, actually punching through the first layer before being stopped and slowly falling to the floor.

With a deep sigh, she glared at the woman after successfully dodging the desk and stopping the bolt, then asked, “Are you going to make me kill you and hunt all your servants down, or are you going to stop?”

Seeing Cera simply ignore her hidden weapon and avoid her distraction, the woman began to look panicked, backing into the corner as she shouted for her guards to attack.  As she’d hoped, her demonstration was effective, however, and the guards simply stepped back instead, though they kept their weapons ready, likely in hopes that they could defend themselves if she attacked them.

Smirking at the leader, Cera repeated herself, “So then, time for you to release everyone, and leave them alone.  I can always come back to finish things more permanently if anyone claims you’ve threatened them.  Perhaps you can even pay them for their trouble.”

After a wild glance at each of the people in the room who were avoiding Cera, or clearly supporting her, in the case of the initial group who’d brought her, the woman eventually gave in, though she was glaring at Cera intensely enough that it seemed like she was trying to set on her fire as she’d done to the guards.

“Fine, but you don’t interfere with any of my legal businesses, you goddamn mage!” she spat out before continuing, “I’ll pay for you to leave me alone, follow me.”

Remaining highly alert for ambushes, Cera followed the woman out of the room and into the basement, going to a different area than the tunnel.  After some fiddling with a support beam, part of it opened up, revealing it was just a facade, and a safe was swiftly opened.  Stacks of copper, brass, silver, and even electrum and gold were revealed, though the woman moved to block her vision.

To Cera’s surprise, there were no further attacks or attempts to oppose her, the woman simply pulled out a stack of copper and started back upstairs, where the others had remained.  Not long after, she was handing each person a single copper, scowling fiercely at each as she did so.  As she was busy with the healthy people, Cera stopped by the guards she’d burned and took a few moments to heal each, remarking that she hoped they’d learned their lesson.

Too quiet for the woman to hear, Cera caught one of the unharmed guards remarking to the man beside him that this was the most money he’d had at once in his whole life before he swiftly retreated from the room.

With a nod as everyone left, Cera stated, “As you requested, and as I intended to begin with, I will not interfere with anything you do as long as you don’t continue illegal actions.  Nor will I send the guards after you, since this has been resolved.  That said, if any of them claim you’ve threatened them, their friends, or their families, we will be in conflict once again.”

The woman continued scowling at her before waving her away.  As Cera had hoped against, she heard movement behind her and turned just in time to see a dagger slam into her defenses.  With a deep sigh, she flicked a ball of fire at the woman’s face, then extinguished it an instant later, having given it just enough time and power to burn the woman’s eyebrows and hair.

“Don’t try anything stupid again, or I’ll kill you, much as I’d prefer not to.  It’d be troublesome to deal with the consequences, after all,” Cera snarled before slapping the woman in the face and turning back around again to leave.

This time, nothing followed except a sob as the woman felt her scorched hair.

As she’d hoped, when she returned to the basement, the original group of thieves were waiting for her, each of whom bowed to her before individually thanking her.  After a quick check that each would be okay as long as the woman didn’t retaliate, Cera began to leave, stating that they could leave a message for her at either the mages’ or healers’ guilds, and giving her name.

They all thanked her again and one stated that he’d check up on everyone and send her a message telling her how things were going, and that they’d all agreed to stay in a group when they joined the adventurers’ guild, or mercenaries, they hadn’t decided yet.

Cera turned to nod to them, then headed for the tunnel, hearing them quickly follow behind her, though she wasn’t terribly worried at this point.  As expected, they didn’t try anything, and quickly spit off from her as she moved into the main street.

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