The Braves

Following their brief outing watching the arm wrestling tournament, the crowd scattered and thinned. Leo and Arte stood for a bit longer, watching the sunset.

“Arte… I never looked it up because I wanted the satisfaction, but can she be beaten…?” Leo asks.

“Nope. Even people who hacked the game couldn’t beat her. She was designed to win.” She explained. “As someone who challenges everything headfirst, I can understand your frustration.”

“Why are we still here! Just to suffer!” He shouts.

After shouting that into the horizon, he takes a deep breath.

“Ah… That felt good.” He says. “Who knew it feels good to let go of a long-standing grudge?”

“I told you this years ago. But you decided to repress the memory.” She sighs. “Anyway, we have more important business, like getting our IDs. Remember?”

“Right. Let's get on that before the guards arrest us or something.” He says.

After finishing the event in the town square, they head through the double doors of the Brave Organization. The building was full of people, quickly dashing about. The place smelled like a gym locker room in the middle of summer. The floors were smoothly polished white tiles. The walls and ceilings were tall, and a winding staircase existed off to the side for access to the second floor. At the back of the building was a wide desk where several people dressed in matching outfits waited. Behind the desk were a set of tables with various papers littered. Other receptionists appeared to be communicating over the table.

“Let's hit the reception.” He says.

They head over, slipping by several people wildly moving about. Arte eyes the giant wall to the right, covered in sheets of paper. Every moment, another is posted by a receptionist, and someone grabs one before running out in a hurry. The closest receptionist to the pair welcomes them.

“Welcome to the Brave Organization, home of the Braves. How can I help you today?” She asks.

She was dressed in a burgundy jacket and hat and had long white hair with red eyes.

“We’re here to get some IDs,” Arte explained.

“Okay, that will require registering at our organization. Is that alright?” She asks.

“Yup,” Leo says.

“Alright, what are your names and ages?” She asks.

“Leo Loveless, age twenty-three.” He explains.

“Astarte ‘Arte’ Firia. Age twenty-three.” She adds.

“Hometown?”

“Tryenni.” She states. “We grew up together there.”

“Oh my goodness… You’ve both come such a long way. I’m glad you were able to make it out. We only just got word of what happened a few minutes ago from the neighboring town.” She explains. “If there’s anything you need, just let us know.”

“We’ll be fine. Please save it for someone worse off than us.” Leo smiled.

“R-right.” The woman blushes. “Give me a moment while I process this information for you.”

After having written the info down on a sheet, she then took the info to the back, with the other receptionists.

“Do you think this chaos is because of Treyenni getting destroyed?” He asks.

“Could be. I only assumed it was destroyed because it happens way earlier than the hero arriving at Sky’s place. The chaos would be justified, because a village disappearing over night is unheard of. And because Siladhi lacks it’s own capital or king, support only comes from other small villages nearby. Most of the requests are probably to gather info about Treyenni.” She explained.

“My question is, if we have the necklace, then what happened to the hero?” Leo questioned.

Arte sighed and clutched her arm.

“There’s a high chance he’s already…” She began.

“Damn.”

“Considering how he was treated in that village by everyone, his stumbling upon the ruins and being granted his status as a hero was what turned his life around. But now, we took that chance from him.” She continued.

Leo pulls her close and rubs her shoulder.

“He’s more tenacious than you think. He wasn’t made the hero for nothing. I believe he’s still out there, giving it his all.” Leo states.

“Thanks, Leo.” She says.

The receptionist returned with a pair of metal slates. The slates contained the information given to her by them, including their eye color and hair color.

“If you both could press your thumbs on these.” She states.

Leo and Arte press their thumbs to the blank space in the corner of the ID. They feel a tug of their anima into the card, causing an image to form on the card of their faces.

“Congratulations, and welcome to the Brave Organization.” She states. “Please keep in mind to only take on tasks that you feel confident in. The Brave Organization is not responsible or liable for any injuries sustained while performing tasks. Thank you.”

The Brave Organization acts as a middleman between citizens that need tasks completed and others who fulfill them. A citizen pays a few to have a request listed, not only increasing it’s visibility, but the completion rate for posted requests is 90%.

After getting their IDs, they walk over to the Task Chart, a large bulletin board covered from head to toe in requests.

“So I guess we’re taking the request from before?” Leo asks.

“You guessed it. That task has a time limit.” She says.

“Why did it have a time limit again?”

While scanning the board, she answers:

“Because the client will die tonight.”

“Rewind that,” Leo says, while rolling his arms over one another. “Tonight, tonight? We need to get moving, put the pedal to the metal!”

“It’s okay. It doesn’t happen for a few more hours. We need this first.” She grabs a sheet of paper from the wall and hands it to Leo.

“Please help me prove my innocence? I think I remember this one.” He states.

“Which means you’re gonna be crucial to this mission.” She says.

He grins.

“Leave it to me.” He states.

At the far side of town, the village’s prison sat. Made entirely from brick, it had no windows aside from those at the front entrance. Arte walked in from the front door, a heavy wooden door with strong metal hinges, and greeted the guard on duty. The guard was dressed in armor like all the others, when she walked in he widened his left eye, leaning toward her, and raising his brow.

“Hello. I’m here to visit a client for my request.” She hands the guard the paper.

He reads through the paper and looks her up and down with a scowl before holding his hand out. She begrudgingly hands him her sword and gestures for her to follow.

“This guard really doesn’t talk. Not because he can’t, but because he thinks it makes him look more imposing.” She thought.

He leads her to the back through a door leading to multiple locked cells. At the last cell in the prison, a shivering man stared up at her and the guard. His arms were thin like twigs, and his face looked like he had makeup on with how dark the bags under his eyes were. Skin as white as a sheet. He was hunched over in the corner, breathing deeply.

“Mr. Milq, I’m here to hear more about your request.” She says while leaning over. Her tone was light and sweet, like vanilla. After calming himself down, he turned to her and straightened his jacket. While they began, the guard waited over by the door.

“T-thank you for taking this request.” He grips the bars with both hands. “I was framed! I recently came to this town because they were seeking a doctor. Things were going great at the time, I was building a relationship with people of the town, when I was accused of poisoning the mayor’s daughter!” He exclaims. “She was already sick when I got here, but after I gave her medicine that would’ve resolved her symptoms. She got worse! Black liquid started coming out of her eyes and nose. After that, I got hauled here.” He explained.

“And you’re sure you gave her the right medicine?” She asks.

“Positive. I keep the medical records at my practice if you don’t believe me.” He says. “Not only that, but she strangely got better. Ever since I’ve been in here, I’ve heard rumors of her being the arm wrestling champion when before she couldn’t even pick up a pencil. While her sudden recovery is good, that black liquid that escaped her body gives me the creeps. If you could check my medical records, you’d be able to clear my name and get me out of here, then I could research what happened that day.”

“They’re already gone. The mayor had them wiped already. This quest was originally a mystery solving quest with a time limit in exchange for such a good reward. So there are only three ways we can resolve this quest. One of which would’ve been the medical records, if we had started sooner, so that’s out. Two would prevent Milq’s death, but not resolve the issue. The third, however…” She thought.

“Chief, this is Liquor Lion touching down on enemy soil,” Leo spoke telepathically.

“You finally made it. Hopefully, you remember the basics of sneaking in Crystal Quest.” She responds. “If you get caught, you’re on your own. There’s no one to back you up out there.”

“Understood.”

While Arte was in the prison, Leo was across town at the Mayor’s estate. Having just flipped the wall surrounding the mayor’s abode, he kneeled in the tall grass with a finger to his ear.

“Commencing Operation Impeachment!” He states.