Pre Author: Awkward Accidental Post Earlier. But yeah I'm having trouble with the story flow of the main storyline. I have a decent plot line...for a chapter.....but I'm having trouble with a specific segway. Making reasons "reasonable" when characters are inherently flawed is hard.

So I wasn't busy and wanted to write something so I figured why not write a small side story. The overall context will be lacking in a lot of detail and read mostly as a quick read, but that's the point of the side-mission I guess.

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In hindsight hunting down her target into the middle of butt-fuck nowhere wasn't the best idea she ever had, but certainly not the worst. Some higher-tier planning could have avoided her current situation of trekking through the wilderness of Kazdel, in the middle of the cold night. In all honesty, she should have avoided accepting the damn shitty contract from that grieving widow.

On paper, it seemed laughably easy: "Go kill this man, and bring me his head." A simple request that any gutter rat could accomplish, let alone any mercenary worth their salt. Regrettably, she realized too late the meaning of "bring me his head".

The bounty register had given her a breakdown on how to redeem bounties; a showcase of identifiable memorabilia, the bounty's head, or photographic proof of the bounty's death. Her current funds were insufficient to order an imported camera, so she was stuck with either option one or two. Then her client specified the need to have the grave robber's head, to "give the man a taste of desecration."

Vindictive widow aside, all she needed to do was kill the man, collect the head, and cash in the bounty.

Unfortunately, she didn't take into account the logistics of carrying ahead under the blazing Kazdel sun. The action of severing the head from the main body was simple, her knife easily slicing through stubborn neck muscle and separating bone. It was the process of packing the large head that gave her trouble, especially since she lacked any meaningful storage device. Thus, here she was traveling through the countryside with a decaying head sitting in her burlap sack.

It had only been two days and the flies were beginning to trail around her as if she was some insect conductor. Overall, the pay wasn't worth the hassle.

The only thing that soothed her shriveled blackened heart, were the goodies the grave robber or "Kazar" had hidden on his body. Her target was well known enough at the underground market, so finding out his name along with his attire was easy. Now, she held some semblance of hope the man would be carrying something more than junk and it seemed she struck iron.

Aside from standard documentation that allowed the man into the underground selling rings, she was able to pilfer a small amount of LMD, some bloodstained medallions of varying worth, a singular grenade, more hunting knives to add to her collection, and a very heinous short dagger. The grenade by itself was worth more than the poison she wasted, but it was the dagger that made her raise an eyebrow. It was a dagger made of black raw Originium, something that any sane person would balk at. Hell, she was lucky the damn thing fell out of the man's hand because she would instantly become infected upon skin contact.

The idea of becoming infected didn't necessarily phase her, since her race was predominantly known to contract Oripathy easier than most. But she didn't want to bite the dust just yet. She was under no illusion that she wouldn't contract Oripathy, as the amount of Originium based weapons entering the battlefield would ensure eventual infection. Yet, the idea of contracting Orpathy from accidentally touching a diseased dagger sounded lame in her books.

Still, the blade was happily stashed away. She doubted it would see on-field use, the thing looked too frail, and utilization of the plague-ridden blade would attract the wrong kind of attention. It was one thing to use processed Originuim based weaponry, it was an entirely different matter to weaponize raw Originium...sorta.

A glance at the rising ball of heat made her grimace at the notion of running under it again, but she was nearing the outpost. Very soon she would be rid of her passenger.

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8,000 LMD richer she waltzed out of the bounty outpost, intent on renting a room for the night and sleeping like a log. Aside from squatting in ransacked towns, the outposts were some of the only places offering decent resting spots for mercenaries. Apparently, the outposts were deemed "neutral", a fancy word for a place paid for by some out-of-country power who wanted to exploit Kazdel and prolong the war.

Was she ashamed of actively utilizing an area that wanted to promote conflict? Fuck, no.

These were the only places offering a, somewhat, civilized system of bounty exchange in the country. Unless she wanted to dip her toes in grave robbing again or act as some disposable goofer for a roaming squad, she would continue earning LMD off this place.

Nearing her assigned bedroom, she figured it was time to hit the sheets.

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"What do you mean you don't have any beginner jobs? Did the entire board get stolen last night?"

The collar-throat just looked at her impassively and gave a shrug, gesturing toward the bulletin behind him, which was devoid of requests.

"Something like that. I haven't seen your face around here much, but you should know these requests typically are taken off at the crack of dawn. Too many softies around." He intoned out in a nasally voice.

She could feel her eyebrow twitch at the subtle jab at her, but didn't have the time to mess around with the laid-back paper pusher. Her current funds would only reach so far, so taking up another request was crucial for her well-being.

Gritting her teeth she spoke back to the annoying man, " Are you sure there isn't anything that just came in?"

Stressing the last part she hoped for the man to be the sleazy dirtbag he sounded like. Low and behold, she seemed to strike gold when he turned up his palm. Without breaking eye contact she slammed down a wrinkled 50 LMD note on the sweaty palm.

The man raised an eyebrow.

She stared back.

The staring contest went on for five minutes before the man let out a sigh, pocketed the note, and took out a flyer from behind the desk he called home.

"Here, don't bother asking for another. There are multiple people like you coming here so it's my job to distribute the job offers as evenly as possible." Left unsaid was his apparent job to take bribes.

Snatching the flyer away, she gave it a quick glance.

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Escort Parcel #33456 to the stationary village of Ta, along the Eastern Border Of Kazdel, at the Manor of Zheng Wan. Please reference the accompanying map.

Completion requirements: Parcel must be intact and delivered personally to Zheng Wen.

Reward: 20,000 LMD

Note: A Singular Personnel is all that is required.
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Staring blankly at the flyer, her mind calculated the amount of distance required to travel from her current position in Southern Kazdel to some wilderness village that technically was a part of Yen. The "technicality" stems from the fact, the government of Yen tended to leave such border villages alone as it created too much trouble for officials to travel.

In essence, it was a simple protect the caravan mission, where the parcel in question was likely a delivery from the black market. She may have just started out as a mercenary but the drunken bitching of various Sarkez at the bar made her know these requests were a coin flip. Sometimes nothing would happen when protecting the caravan, whilst other times the entire caravan could be wiped out.

" Why is an escort mission recommended a single person for the mission? And, do you really expect me to travel halfway across the country for only 20k LMD?"

The price was disproportionate to the amount of trouble it required. Travelling meant, garnering supplies of dried food, packing a tent, arms, and general annoyances, all in an effort to protect the parcel. Resources would be spent merely moving such long distances, and time would be wasted. She was more liable to just throwing the flyer at the counterman's face, wait another day and get a different job. The amount of money offered was decent for a singular job, but she could easily complete three low-tier jobs in Southern Kazdel to reach the same amount.

" Some big wig ordered something and wants it delivered discreetly. Don't worry about transportation it's covered by the request giver in this case.
You would essentially be traveling within a large caravan, acting as the sole guard of the one merchant whose carrying the parcel. Other merchants and mercenaries will be a part of the caravan, but they have their own missions. You only need to protect the singular merchant, regardless of the status of the caravan.

Here take a look at this "

He handed her a small map, which showed a few outlined outposts, with a red line going through them.

"See this? This is the route the caravan is supposed to travel. It will stop through multiple outposts on the way, so you can easily re-supply any used resources. Overall, you get paid to sit in a wagon and don't have to worry about expenses." the man drawled out.

She looked down on the job flyer once more, mind weighing the pros and cons of accepting the request. The offered ride made the mission simpler, but the prospect of the entire caravan or an outpost exploding in a burning fire wasn't off the table...

Still, she needed the funds at the moment, so accepting the mission should be too bad. Right?

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Stationary Village of Ta

An obscenely fat man, with the face of a boar, sat at a dining table and gorged on his 4th lunch of the day. His accompanying tablemate merely watched on whilst drinking tea, feline ears twitching each time the boar man crunched on a bone.

Only when the feline man was sure his dinner partner wasn't going to choke, he asked a question.

"Were the requests sent out, Lord Zheng?"

Before he answered Zheng Wan washed down his throat with a pint of rice wine. Only once satiated did he answer.

"Hhihi, *burp*. Yes martial master Chang, the requests were sent out. One request was sent to each of the furthest outposts Kazdel has to offer. All together three requests were sent out; one for the north, south, and west. The details of the mission were as discussed, one mercenary would escort a package and make their way to this village.*Burp* Will you make good on your promise?"

Chang nodded his head.

"Yes, as promised in exchange for helping my school initiate their exams, we will move into the local area and protect this village from harm."

"Hihihi, WONDERFUL!" Grabbing his jar of rice wine, Zheng joyfully exclaimed out. "Let us drink and celebrate!"

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Chang merely look on as his rich dinner mate slowly drank himself into a stupor. Calmy sipping his tea, he thought back toward's his reason for putting up with Zheng Wan. His school was an upcoming martial arts sect that was designed to make seasoned underground fighters. Currently, three of his student were reaching the point in their training where they needed to steel their hearts and spill their first blood.

However, he didn't want their first blood to be a random street urchin. His students were supposed to become underground fighters, how would they learn true combat if they killed a defenseless chick?

Thus, in an attempt to make sure his students had a fair chance, he partnered with the wealthy landowner Zheng Wan. The man would send out a faux request for package delivery, and as the mercenaries made their way toward Yen, his students would embark to intercept them.

One mercenary per student.

The perfect test for aspiring martial artists. They would pit their honed skills against the slippery antics of the Sarkez.

He was aware the mercenaries would travel via caravan, but upon the halfway mark the caravan would "mysteriously" become emptier and emptier. By the time they enter the outer border of Yen, only the paid merchant and the sole mercenary would be left.

Zheng continued making slobbering noises at the end of the table but Change casually ignored the boar. He was only anticipating the day his students would succeed.

If they didn't? Well, there were always other students to train.

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Authors note: Hopefully I displayed W's lack a daisy attitude correctly. Based on Memoirs she was way worst than her current days in Rhode Isle, so I wanted to write a childish character who only cares about herself.

Yen is actually fairly huge and on the map of Terra is next to Kazdel....sorta. Some liberties are being taken but making a stationary wilderness village is not that farfetched

So yeah thoughts on the creation of a short story alongside the main one?

Edit: Just pulled Kalsit in a single ticket, along with akafuyu for the fifth time. So all together from single pulls I've gotten 2 Event Skadis and 1 Kalsit...W