Inari’s Gift

Since she didn’t have to teach anyone today, Cera decided to visit Ann at the mages’ guild early, then go to the healers’ guild for the rest of the day.  Things didn’t exactly go as planned, however.

As she was heading to her first destination, Cera spotted several groups of three warriors stopping everyone on the street.  Most only got a momentary glance before being released, but anyone with orange or red hair was inspected and questioned.  And naturally, changing her path would mark her as especially suspicious, so she had to walk right into the trap.

As they stopped her, however, the apparent leader took one look at her neck and pointed out the healers’ guild sigil, the other two nodding as they focused on it as well.

Latching onto the potential easy way out, Cera quickly asked, “Do you need anything of me today?  I have a quick chore to take care of before I return to the healers’ guild to get back to work.”

As she’d hoped, the leader remained focused on the token and responded, “We’ve received a report of a monster with red hair pretending to be a human.  Your hair is an especially accurate match to our description.  But there’s no way a monster would spend their time healing people.  Can you prove that you are indeed a member of the healers’ guild?”

Cera nodded, then answered, “There are two options I can see: I can either heal someone here, or you can have someone follow me while I handle my business before I go to the hospital and get to work, which would be ironclad proof, wouldn’t it?  It would take up a fair bit of someone’s time, however.”

The men took a moment to discuss among themselves before finally deciding that they wanted to be extra-careful.  Wary of a trick, one of the men would cut themselves slightly and let her heal the wound.  If she succeeded, the entire group would follow her, after calling for replacements, which they’d have to wait for.

Cera was quite irritated at this, as it would take quite a bit of time, but she certainly didn’t want to seem more suspicious than she already was with her hair being a perfect match.  She was lucky enough that none of them could see through her illusion, and they didn’t have anyone using truth magic to question her.  Then again, it’d be a huge waste of resources to do that to everyone on the road, so it wasn’t too surprising.

After the quick demonstration, one of the men was sent with a request for another group to take over, and they waited for a while until the other group showed up.  At that point, Cera could finally head to the mages’ guild, templars trailing behind.

As they arrived, Cera was surprised to see one of the thieves she’d helped leaving the building.  The man took a single look at her and the templars, then wisely remained silent and didn’t show any indication of knowing her, simply moving on with a hurried walk.

Since she was here, Cera decided to tell the men following her that they could also confirm with the guild that she was a member in good standing, though she needed privacy afterward.  As she thought, the templars took her offer and entered the building with her.

Because she had non-members with her, she simply used the golem to transmit a ‘nonstandard event’ and waited, Ann showing up a few moments later.  While the woman looked surprised, raising an eyebrow at Cera’s escort, she readily spoke to them, verifying that Cera was not just in good standing, but actively aiding the guild in improving the defensive abilities of mages across the kingdom.

While she probably should have kept it private, the woman also openly stated that Cera’s book on improved shielding had reached all mages’ guilds in the kingdom now, and that her earnings were going to significantly increase next time she bothered to pick them up.

Cera nodded, surprised, since she had forgotten about that, then told the guards she needed to speak to Ann in private for a few minutes.  Fortunately, they had no issues with that, and seemed to have relaxed considerably after Ann’s statement.

Ann led the way into one of the private rooms before activating an enchantment that cut off all exterior noise, then looked at her, clearly expecting an explanation.  Cera promptly described her encounter with them, then immediately continued into her encounter with the assassin and the aftermath.

With a deep sigh, Ann remarked that she had probably made a reasonably good decision there, and that the woman had probably seen the amount of money and decided to risk fleeing the city with it instead, bringing up that the assassin had no way of knowing if they’d be allowed to leave alive after bringing the money to her.

Cera could understand that, though she hadn’t thought of it before, but it still irritated her that the woman had just vanished.  On the plus side, at least the noble wasn’t a problem anymore.  Once finished with that topic, Ann remarked that she’d just been visited by a man wanting to leave a message for her, who’d stated that ‘his crew’ had all joined the mercenaries guild as a group and were going to abide by her request to try to help others in situations like they’d been in.

This brought a smile to her face, as she was glad they’d actually done as she’d suggested, so at least something good had come from the trouble she’d put herself through.  With that, her business here was concluded, so she thanked Ann, and they left the private room, Cera continuing out of the building to rejoin her undesired escort.

With the men following her, the crowds parted and remained a non-issue the entire way to the hospital, so they made good time.  Upon arrival, the woman at the front desk frowned at the sight of the templars, and Cera had to discuss things with her for a bit.  In the end, the woman went to speak with the head of this building, who decided that the leader of the templars could come visit him with Cera, but the other two would have to wait in the entry hall.

As they made it to the office, the head nodded to Cera before informing her that her guide to using biological manipulation to assist in healing had spread across the kingdom, and a price had been decided between the locations–eight silver, plus reasonable assistance as needed for releasing it within the kingdom, or four electrum and the assistance if she let it spread beyond.  If she refused, all copies would be destroyed, except the ones at this location, as the healers had already begun learning from it since she’d said she’d help them.

Naturally, she didn’t mind helping as many people as possible, and immediately agreed to the four electrum deal.  To her surprise, though, the man only gave her five silver, stating that he wasn’t authorized to give any more than that, and that she’d have to either visit the guild in the capital, or contact them personally to get the rest.

After she admitted she was planning to go to the capital already, and would go to them when she made it there, he nodded, then told her that they’d found a patient willing to go through with her experimental regeneration attempt with her students.  Furthermore, the man was willing to do it for free if actually healed, though he was demanding five copper for his time if it didn’t succeed.

Cera, naturally, just shrugged off the cost.  She was confident in her skills, after all, and had proven the ability to regrow bone.  Her only worry was the nerves, and she specifically asked about that.  Since the head of the guild didn’t have an answer for her, she figured she should probably bring some money with her just in case when they handled that.

Unsurprisingly, the leader of the group of templars didn’t even bother asking anything, seeing her interaction with the head of the guild.  There was no way they’d have done that just to fool him, after all, and no one in poor standing would have access to the head of the guild.  He promptly apologized for taking up so much of her time, wrote a quick note after requesting some supplies, and left to rejoin his group and head back into the city, completely unaware that he’d been with the so-called ‘monster’ the entire time.

To ensure that she hadn’t lied before, Cera spent the next several hours aiding the patients who were doing the worst, though there were some even she couldn’t do much for this time.  Fortunately, they were relatively stable, and other healers were also attending them, so they should live.  She also made sure she left with plenty of time before the bank closed, then swiftly headed there, a strong telekinetic grip on her coin pouch, as well as a shield around it to prevent anyone from cutting it easily.

Fortunately, her precautions hadn’t been needed, though getting through the main roads was a bit slow, given the templars stopping people all over the place.  Fortunately, the note she’d been given let her pass each group that stopped her without incident, so she made it on time, depositing the five silver and nearly doubling her savings in one go.

After so much excitement, Cera decided she wasn’t going to do anything else for the day and simply returned home, having a small meal before collapsing on her bed with a brush and grooming her tail to relax.

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