Legal Crap: Does anyone actually read this? Well, in the case that they do, I don't own the rights to this stuff. Don't sue me.
Duegran was beginning to get worried. His boss had left hours ago, and had not yet
returned with the stone. What if
something had gone wrong? Maybe she had
bumped into Ramza and his allies and been killed. Maybe she had been caught by a group of soldiers. Maybe-
"Well, we now have Cancer," came Syldreth's voice
behind him.
Duegran jumped up in shock. Syldreth probably found scaring him funny, partly because she could do
it with such ease.
Duegran turned around. Syldreth was just entering her quarters. She must have seen the relieved look on Duegran's face, for she
said, "No need to have been worried. I'm not an incompetent minion; I don't get caught."
Duegran voiced the largest thought on his mind. "So the thief was correct? The stone was, indeed, the Zodiac Stone
Cancer?"
"It was," she replied.
Duegran took a large breath. Syldreth had been correct, the stone HAD found its way to an
owner. Or had it? "If you wish, I can begin looking for a
suitable body for it."
"No. It will
get to the person suited for it eventually. Until then, I shall keep it," she told him.
Duegran bowed. "As you wish."
As he turned to leave, he suddenly remembered
something. "Oh, yes, there is
something else. Er...well...the
engineer leading the excavation team at Nelveska Island is having
some...problems. It would seem
that...well, he says it will take at least a month to transport the object that
they dug up," Duegran said, gulping nervously. He was well aware of Syldreth's usual reward for bad news.
This time, though, Syldreth must have been in a good mood
about the Zodiac Stone. "Very
well, that won't hamper my plans at all. Just be sure that it doesn't take longer. Is that all?"
Duegran knew when he was being dismissed. Happy that Syldreth wasn't angry, he quickly
left her chambers.
As he made his way to his office where he carried out any
matters of business Syldreth told him to, he felt somewhat puzzled. Even with the Zodiac Stone, he didn't see
how she planned to do what Ajora, Wiegraf, Dycedarg, Vormav, and Elmdor
themselves couldn't.
* * *
Once again, Mustadio had spent the entire night fiddling
with his work. He was pretty sure that
he was getting close to making a device that would give Worker 8 his own
decision-making capabilities, but every way so far had been blocked by some
inconsistency in his equations.
Mustadio sighed and got out of his seat. Maybe a nighttime snack would clear his
thinking and provide inspiration.
As Mustadio entered the kitchen, he was amazed to see the
light of day filtering in through the windows. Ramza, Agrias, Meliadoul, Alma, Boco, and Byblos were busy with their
breakfast.
Ramza noticed him and said, "Mustadio! You almost missed breakfast. Here, sit down and have some."
Mustadio obliged and began helping himself to the different
food around the table. "I stayed
up all night again working on that stupid device!"
Ramza looked puzzled. "What are you making now? A
new gun or something?"
Mustadio was about to take some of the stuff Byblos was
eating, then thought better of it. "I'm trying to make something to put in Worker 8 to make him
capable of making his own decisions. Instead of you having to tell him what to do, he'd be able to decide to
do it himself. It'd be useful for when
you aren't around to tell him what to do," Mustadio answered.
Ramza nodded. Mustadio decided to tell Ramza the answer to the unspoken question right
now.
Mustadio cleared his throat. "I'm sorry, Ramza, but I'm not going to be coming with you,
at least not for a while. My dad's
getting old, and his work is becoming a lot harder on him. Until he has enough money to live on, I
can't go anywhere with you. You can
always use my house when you need a place to stay, but that's it. Sorry," Mustadio told Ramza.
Mustadio could see that Ramza understood his position. "Okay, Mustadio. In that case, farewell for now." He got up. "Well, we may as well get going. Worker 8, come along."
Ramza and company got up, said their goodbyes, and left.
Mustadio finished his breakfast and began tinkering once
again with his new idea. As he did, he
tried to think of some way to quickly make enough money to support his
father. Mustadio wanted very badly to
go with Ramza, and as far as he could see, as soon as there was enough money
coming in, his father wouldn't need Mustadio to work with him, and Mustadio
could once again join Ramza.
* * *
So far, the day had been a normal day for the bartender of
the most popular bar in Goug. All the
usual people had come in, ordering drinks, talking to friends, or causing
trouble.
The bartender was busy wiping out a glass when the door
swung open, and a group of strangers walked in. The bartender had lived in Goug all his life, but he had never
met these people before. He was
somewhat glad of that. They were the
sort of people that you could tell you didn't want to mess with. The leader, a young man, walked over to the
counter, accompanied by three women a large figure wearing a cloak that
completely covered him. You could see
two glowing red eyes within the dark cloak staring straight ahead, never
blinking. The bartender was sure that
he'd seen the man's face on a wanted poster before.
The bartender took a deep breath, and asked, "Would you
like something, sir?" to the leader.
The young man nodded and answered, "Some milk will be
fine."
Such an order attracted some stares. The bartender felt a little relieved. Surely no one who ordered milk was going to
cause trouble.
As the bartender got him his drink, the young man studied
some of the propositions posted. As the
man drank his milk, he conferred with his companions.
The young man addressed the bartender. "We'd like to take up this job,"
he said, pointing at one.
The bartender looked down at the proposition paper and shook
his head. "I don't think you'll
want that one, sir. The person who
posted it is rather poor. They can't
pay more than a few hundred gil for your services," he told him.
The young man didn't seem to care. "We're not interested in the money, and the proposition says
that people are in danger from this monster. We'll take the job."
The bartender shrugged and handed the man a packet
containing information on the job.
* * *
Ramza stepped out of the bar, along with Alma, Meliadoul,
Agrias, and Worker 8 (who was concealed in a large cloak). It was a cold, dark day. Snowflakes slowly fell, blanketing the world
in white.
Ramza took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He had just signed up to join a part to
defeat a large monster that had been terrorizing nearby towns. Neither Agrias nor Meliadoul had objected to
it, and Ramza felt it was a worthwhile thing to do.
He helped Alma onto Boco, who was looking unhappy at being left out in the cold with only Byblos for company. Once everyone was ready, they set out for the rendezvous area for all the parties who joined.
