The defeat of the demon lord in God’s side project was an extremely historic moment for every single inhabitant of the land. The ensuing celebrations that occurred and the many different awards showered onto the heroes were too numerous to count, but it is safe to say that the people were grateful.
The heroes got a long slew of benefits from this victory along with all of their others. They were given noble title upon noble title and held as much political power as a medium sized fiefdom. They were in constant contact with nobles and were given the highest treatment whenever they met with someone from the upper crust.
One of these benefits, while not officially stated, was never having to pay at any inn or tavern they went to. Making the people who saved the world pay for their beer was seen as rude, so the heroes never had to pay for a drink wherever they went as long as people knew who they were. Barkeeps would come to regret this social precedent, as the strength of the heroes tended to give them an increased resistance to intoxicants, including alcohol. A barrel to a hero, especially some of the beefier ones, held the same power as a shot of tequila.
There existed a very specific exception to this immunity, and that was the very specific brew which resulted in the destruction of Gar three months prior. The brew was given the very appropriate title of “Gar’s Ruination”, although attendants of that fateful party tended to simply call it “the good shit”. Understanding this fact would make the drink extremely desirable to the heroes who wanted to enjoy the pleasures of drink without having to drink a tavern dry.
This specific fact was the very reason why Hayato, one of the men who had saved the entirety of the world, was currently being flogged.
JB, at this sight, cringed like she had smelled something extremely foul.
To understand this reaction, historical context is rather important. John Brown died in 1859, and America’s relationship with Asia during this time was complex. Asian immigration to the United States did exist during John Brown’s lifetime, with specific points of importance being the California Gold Rush. Chinese immigrants would participate in the rush with the hope of returning home with their newly acquired riches. Aside from this, their cheap labor was heavily sought after to work in mines and to help build the transcontinental railroad. After John Brown’s death and the Civil War, southern plantation owners sometimes sought the cheap Chinese labor to replace the free labor of the slaves.
John Brown was an aggressive abolitionist, but because of the time period he existed in, his views towards Asia were skewed in ways that are rather unsavory. God was very aware of this, and had put filters in JB’s internal monologue and speech to make watching them less culturally taxing. Upon first seeing Hayato, a Japanese twenty year old, JB’s mind ran directly into the word Chinese and several other thoughts which shouldn’t be put on paper without a very clear sensitivity warning.
God’s built in filter, which was secretly added when JB had leveled up, was hard at work clearing out much of these thoughts and statements for the purpose of taste.
The other reason JB cringed is because the man whose ass was in the process of being flogged was smiling. This was not out of any form of actual happiness or something masochistic. It was merely that his mind was not exactly located on the same plane as his current body. Having drunk an amount of Gar’s Ruin that would kill a normal man twice over, by which is to say three full mugs of the stuff, his mind was so far gone that it would be fair to say he had left this plane of reality and left his body to simply take the beating. Being slapped on the ass repeatedly with an extremely barbaric looking paddle was not really going to leave any permanent effects on his psyche. Whatever was left of his brain was more enjoying the experience of getting to take his pants off his pants in public. Many couldn’t exactly remove their gaze from Hayato’s face during this rather comical scene, as he was also a good looking man.
“Heh… back massage” He said rather lazily as the guard once again slapped him with the paddle.
Are the other heroes like this?
JB very much didn’t relish that thought and went on simply watching as this holy warrior chosen by God got some just desserts. After a while of admiring the crowd, JB’s eyes locked directly with that of Hayato. After a second, Hayato’s eyes jumped from her face to the rifle on her back.
“Is that a fucking gun?” He exclaimed, partially snapping out of his drunken stupor from sheer surprise.
JB took this small moment as a sign to leave and return back to the carriage. Once again shifting through the crowds, she finally got back to the area where she had jumped off to find the carriage gone.
She was now alone in the city of Gar, without anyone to help her out.
JB was determined to not be a negative person, so they decided to look at the upsides of this. Not only had Eric given her the cash at the gate as a way of thanking her for protecting them on the road, but she no longer had to put up with the slaver and his insistence that he was one of the good ones. She would be missing out on the profit of selling those parts of the iron bear which the trio of adventurers had promised to split with her. Her job right now was to head to the adventurers guild and acquire more information on her target before she actually fired a shot at him.
JB didn’t exactly have full context on the power level of the other warriors including the man she just saw being flogged. Her fate-bound build path put her at a disadvantage in a physical fight no matter how many levels she got. She would simply have to do the work herself and hope that everything went alright.
It was more apparent now than ever that JB was not good with directions so they surveyed the streets and spotted a vendor booth across the road selling what looked like apples. That was because they were apples.
Making their way across the newly paved cobbled streets, they narrowly dodged past a carriage and happily ignored the several obscenities that the rider shouted at them, and stood face to face with the vendor and his wooden booth.
Apple vending was a rather complex profession all things considered. The fact that he was a vendor, and had the musculature of a steroid filled horse in human form, caused him to be mistaken for an information kiosk. This was despite the fact that the sign above his head screamed “APPLES!” in bold font surrounded by crudely painted imitations of the fruit. This was his third attempt at a sign, and the misconception had gotten bad enough he was debating whether or not to purchase an apple costume and wear it as one final attempt to get people to use his shop correctly.
JB, looking about as quizzical as the normal tourist, was not helping with this whatsoever.
“Sir, could you please point me in the right direction of the adventurer’s guild?” JB asked in the most saccharine voice possible.
“Only if you buy an apple.” The man looked extremely pleased at his pedantic extortion of this small girl.
JB, being polite, dropped the requisite number of coins in the man’s palm. This caught him by surprise, as most people simply moved on after he did this type of thing. He handed her a mostly fresh apple and drew up the map of the city he’d etched into his mind.
“Follow this street until you see the potion shop, then turn right and keep going straight. The potion shop and the adventurer’s guild are hard to miss.” He beamed at her, and she quickly took off. At least for a little bit, the apple vendor reconsidered the need to buy an apple costume.
That was until an old lady, who looked like the creation of an extremely shitty necromancer, came up to his booth and asked him where she could find the nearest place to empty her bowels.
The adventurer’s guild JB found herself at was an impressive building compared to the guild she had last visited. It was also one of the few buildings which survived the party almost entirely unscathed. The adventurer’s guilds branches were some of the strongest buildings out there, as they often held large amounts of money and valuable relics. If one were to look up the word sturdy in the dictionary, they would find
1.
a: firmly built or constituted
b: hardy
c: sound in design or execution.
2.
a: marked by or reflecting physical strength of vigor.
b: firm, resolute
c: rugged, stable
One would not find an image of an adventurer’s guild, because the most respected dictionary provider had given the association an extremely firm “no” when they had requested for it.
Entering the building, she found it was even more packed than the other one. She quickly made her way over to the quest wall after wading through several taller adventurers. There was an odd multitude of quests, from collecting materials for the nearby potion shop or helping to fix the monster problem that the lack of funding had created. The different quests lacked rankings on the difficulty, but they had suggested level requirements for takers of them.
Much of these required the quest taker to leave the city, and JB was adamant on staying within the walls to be closer to her target. However, one specific quest caught her eye. It was a quest to work at a local tavern and fill a temporary vacancy until the person who actually held the position was healthy enough to work again. The pay looked fair, and the quest even said it would give housing to adventurers who were just passing by. That was perfect for JB’s current situation as she got a feel of Gar. She grabbed the paper off of the wall and made her way towards the front, taking bites of her apple the entire time. After presenting the clerk her guild card and the paper, he wrote up a note and handed it back to her with a smile that screamed “I want to eat, but you idiots are keeping me here”.
JB left the guild with a skip in her step before coming to the realization that she had forgotten to ask where this tavern was. The paper had a street name, but JB didn’t have the context to know where that street was. Part of them debated going back and purchasing another apple for directions, but relented and went over to ask someone else.
On a nearby street corner, JB spotted a man with a lengthy beard. He was wearing a dark blue cloak that covered the majority of his body, but the rest of his face looked extremely friendly. The wispy white hairs danced down from his chin all the way to his collarbone, and the rest of his hair had been groomed back in large strands. The idea that those of age were wiser was something that JB had finely ingrained into them in their previous life, so this older man made a very obvious choice to ask for directions.
She made her way over to him and stared him in the face with a beaming smile.
“Sir, could you give me directions to the… Square Mug Tavern?” She asked as sweetly as possible. The man looked extremely pleased as he rubbed his chin and thought of a list of directions.
“Of course Miss. If you head down this road, there’s a large building with a red chimney on top. Once you hit that building, go into the back alley on your left. It should get you to the tavern in no time at all.” He smiled even wider than her. As she nodded and repeated the directions under her breath, she saw the man start to whisper to himself. It was probably unimportant, so she followed his directions.
On her way to the house with the red chimney, she spotted one of Gar’s iconic street brawls which she paused to watch. The two brawlers, one man and one woman, were bruised and bloody. On the sidelines stood several different citizens, all watching closely for any potential foul moves that might invalidate the legitimacy of the fight.
“All of this, just to decide who pays the bill.” muttered a nearby spectator.
JB continued on her way until she finally spotted the building with the large red chimney and turned left. The back alley looked fairly decrepit, possibly because it had been ignored by the geomancers three months ago. Undeterred she stepped inside and began to walk towards the Tavern.
As she crossed the threshold and left the bright streets of Gar, she felt a tingle crawl up and down her spine. After a few paces into the dark, she pivoted back towards the entrance to find the same older gentleman blocking the exit with a wide grin on his face. Deeper into the alley, two other men appeared with small blades in hand. One of them was also wearing what looked like an oversized backpack.
“Sorry Miss, but I’m going to have to ask that you come with us quietly.” The older man said, flipping open his cloak. All over his body were varying weapons, and his right hand reached for an odd looking club which he pointed at JB.
JB reached behind her to grab her rifle, but stopped mid way through the action.
I can’t do this safely.
God’s current build for JB was for destruction. It was not built with the prospect of civilian casualties in mind. The shot of the .44 Sharp was so powerful that it would not only destroy its foe, but destroy anyone or anything surrounding that foe for a fairly long distance. After killing three iron bears, the firepower had only grown. If she killed these three attackers, she would probably kill many other innocent residents of Gar.
At this moment, JB had a conflict of conscience. Their need to carry out the mission of God unimpeded, and the Christian morals that they believed in so fiercely.
“I surrender.” She said as she took the rifle off her back and placed it on the ground. “Don’t touch the weapon with your bare hands please, if you don’t want to be hurt.”
JB went with the latter.
The man took her word and silently ordered one of the other men, whose faces were obscured by crude wooden masks, to pull out some of the cloth they had planned to use to tie up their prey. The older man picked up the rifle with the cloth, and wrapped it up tightly. The man without the bag frisked the rest of her body, stealing her coins and adventurer’s card.
After some practiced knot tying from one of the masked men, JB was picked up and tossed into the comically large bag.
And into darkness she fell.
Thanks for the chapter. Enjoying the story!
I read on both RR and here so no biggie provided you link it over there ... But why not post on both sites? I'd think you'd get more engagement that way.