Chapter 29. Job troubles

I stretched my arms and legs out to get the stiffness out of them. I had stayed in this household longer then I would have liked. Now that I was fully healed I had to get back to the mainland, however I was out of gold and I'm currently staying with Shen at no cost. I had to find work, and the only thing I'm good at is killing. My first thought was to try for an assassination but then I thought how suspicious that would seem. My next thought was to do mercenary work and after thinking it over that seemed to be my best option. Todays goal was simple, look around for some mercenary work, I think it should be easy with all the taverns around. They tend to have boards put up with jobs on them, sometimes even the job giver themselves are in the tavern. I lift myself up from the floor and got dressed before jumping down the trapdoor. I had gotten used to the darkened room, Shen said the dark helped the Living Shadow inside me heal and 'improve' me. The only thing I've noticed is the red marks along my arms. They remind me of when you have something pressed against your arm for to long and it leaves a mark, however the marks didn't disappear any they seemed to 'shaped' to be marks. I ignored it for now and continued down to the front door. The house Shen stayed in was unusual, to me at least. It had paper walls and removable mats of ceilings. It works, I suppose... I didn't see Shen on my way out, in fact I didn't see any other Kinkou members that lived there either. Maybe they had a mission, nothing to do with me. I didn't find myself to be hungry so I didn't bother to grab anything. I walked out the front door and started walking. I plotted out what taverns I wanted to go to. I've been around town since Ahri wanted to talk so much we would visit different taverns. She would alway avoid one topic now that I think about it, what her 'occupation' was. Whenever I brought up the topic she would just brush it off or say 'It's not important' which was very strange. I kept that in mind as I walked into the first taverns.

The tavern I walked into was a quiet one on the edge of the town. Not a lot of people came here since they didn't sell alcohol. Food was good though. I turned my attention to the wooden board they had next to the entrance and looked over it. Most of the board was covered in papers from jobs, which is good. I scanned the board for the job of my choice. Lost animal... Thieves... Lost jewelry... Repair work? I was almost at the end of the board and I didn't find anything. I sighed lightly and walked out, but not before the owner said 'have a good day'. The next tavern I wanted to visit was a bit of a walk from the first tavern but I don't mind walks. Most of the time I find my idea of far away to be either walking to another town or sailing across the sea. Walking from one side of a town or city to the other didn't seem far to me. I kept moving through the crowds of people and houses and eventually I found the tavern I was looking for. It was much much more active then the other taverns since it was one of the biggest. It was also the one where I first saw Sona. I walked in to hear the sounds of laughter and clanking glasses. As usual, the place was packed. Most of the people in the Tavern seemed to be foreign, I found that Ionians don't drink alcohol as much as others do. That doesn't mean they don't but it's something I noticed from going to taverns. I turned my attention to the board next to the bar. It didn't have anything different from the other board only this one had no space for more jobs. I did my best not to bother anyone as I moved through the crowd of people and looked over the job list. This time I found plenty of jobs I would be willing to take except they were all local. Most of them were actually playing guard duty or escort, I suppose the bandit clans are a problem. I finished up with the board coming up with nothing again and did my best to leave the crowded tavern. I spent most of the day going from tavern to tavern looking over the boards they had and never found a job out of the area. I had just walked out of the last tavern I planned on looking in and night was almost here. I sighed heavly, I was tierd and now my stomach was yelling at me to eat something. My coat was starting to feel heavier then it should and my weapons weighed down on me. I started walking though I wasn't sure where to go. I could alway trace back my steps but right now I just wanted to wander. My mind was exhausted from being used to read page after page after page. I was also occasionally called out by the odd drunk brute.

I wandered around up to the point when I had reached the other end of the town. The end I was on was something of a cliff looking over the forested area ahead. It was a nice sight to see but I was to tierd to really care. I sat down on the ground and tried to focus on breathing to get my energy back. Soon it will be night and I'll get my energy from the Living Shadow. I closed my eyes for a minute to get my energy back. Focus... Breath... let the feeling in your body rest and return stronger. That all I thought for the longest time only to be interrupted by the sound of someone running. My first thought was to ignore it but then the thought of it being one of Zed's men crossed my mind and I shot up instantly. I drew my sword and pointed it where the footsteps came from. However it wasn't one of Zeds men, in fact it wasn't even a man.

"B-Blade, are you ok" Que said shocked.

I sighed letting my body drop to the floor, that took all the energy I had "You again" I spat.

"You look like you could use some help" Que said walking up to me.

She was about to reach for my arm to help me up but I moved my arm before she could "Leave me alone, you don't owe me anything and I don't owe you anything". Thats right, she still thinks she owes me. That was before I even knew about the Living Shadow. I wonder what she would do if I was like this back then.

"Don't be so difficult, I'm here to help" She said as she grabbed my arm with both her hands and pulled me up.

I pushed her away as I got up and she stumbled backwards "I don't want your help, leave me alone" I said. I was starting to get mad.

"Why? Why won't you let me help you. Are you like this to everyone or just because I owe you" She spat. I could see it in her eyes, she was genuinely mad about that.

"Because I can last on my own. People are just liabilities to me if they cant defend themselfs" I replied.

"I can handle myself, you just don't want to let others know your weak" She spat. Weak? I'm not going to lie when I saw here here in Ionia for the first time she seemed like the cheerful kind that couldn't harm or even talk back to anyone. I was a little surprised when she called me weak but I didn't let it show for very long.

"I'm weak, so that would make you strong? Ironic coming from someone who was saved by a weakling" I said as I sheathed my sword.

I could tell she was about to get fed up, then hopefully she would leave "Fine if I'm so weak then lets fight" She said with a grin.

I won't lie, when I heard that all I did was start laughing "A fight? Between me and you?" I said chuckling.

She looked at me with a glare "If I win you come with me, but if you win I'll leave you alone from now on" she said.

I knew better then to underestimate so I calmed myself down and started to focus on fighting. I was still weakened so this will take a lot out of me. I drew my sword again and stepped away from her "Fine with me" I said as I removed the last trace of my smirk. She stepped away from me and held one of her hands out. I waited to see what she was doing and eventually the fire from the torches around us started to stream towards her hand. After enough fire had been gathered it started to take form and turned into a long spear. The spear was unique, its entire pole was brown with golden enhancements across it. The spearhead was also unique, it waved a little once it juts from the pole but quickly turns to a barbed tip. The bottom of the spear also had what looked like a blue gem. She spun the spear around in her hand before holding it with hold hands pointing it at me.

"First person to give in loses" She said looking at me with a glare. I sighed deeply and drew my dagger getting ready to fight.

"I want you to remember this is your fault" I said with a glare of my own.

=====Author notes=====

Sorry for missing so many days but I ended up breaking my mouse and only just got a new one today. It's really cool though, it lights up and stuff. But yeah thats what happens, I'll do my best to get back onto writing but I'm actually on a writers block, my I have the major points in the story thought out but how to connect them is a bit... tricky... Thanks for understanding-blade6309