How low was she falling? A question Lycoris idly asked herself as she crouched down onto her knees and scooped a bottle into the water of the sea before her. Her brother had always told her to only accept a job that didn’t go against her own morals, and this job was a clean and proper job that fitted that bill, but the thought that she was actually doing something petty like this? If her brother had seen her right now he would likely have been laughing himself silly. Pulling the bottle back back out of the water Lycoris heaved a deep sigh as she raised her free hand to her hip and grumbled softly. “A mercenary who is gathering water samples, what’s next… babysitting?”

The job was quite simple really, a famous and rather talented biologist called Raina had called for help to gather some samples since her partner was unable to do the work this time. It was curious why she needed those samples, perhaps there was something wrong with the water? Nonetheless such a simple and trivial chore felt unsuited for the purple-haired girl who had just finished stashing away the final bottle into the container that she had been given upon accepting the assignment at the laboratory. Of course, it didn’t exactly help her mood that she now had to carry those back. “I was trained to fight, not do chores even a kid can do...” A childish pout emerged upon her cheeks as she made her way back to the laboratory in Hargeon.

To be honest, she desired something more challenging, something intense that would test her limits. Something like helping Jay with the bench pressing was still doable since it trained her body, but to call her a good Samaritan would be a lie. She didn’t help people out of goodwill, all her actions had a reason, and usually they benefited her in the end. Wandering along the beach slowly led her back toward the laboratory where she found one of the aides and inquired calmly, doing her best to conceal her annoyance behind a pleasant smile. “Where do I find Raina?” The aide was quick to show her the way, a few corridors into the laboratory and she arrived at the biologist her personal office where she was looking over some papers.

“Ah perfect, those are the samples I requested?” Straight to the point? She could admire that type of attitude, especially in a job like this where she didn’t want to waste too much time with pleasantries. “Indeed, my name is Lycoris, a MERCENARY. I got your samples right here.” Adding some emphasis on the word mercenary Lycoris handed over the samples to Raina who smiled briefly at her as she moved over to the nearby machine. “Sorry about making you do such trivial work, I imagine it must be a boring chore for you Lycoris.” The girl smiled weakly in response to those words, replying in a soft and slightly bemused tone. “No kidding there...”

The biologist had just finished putting the bottles into a machine as she started to write down some details while Lycoris calmly observed, her patience strong enough because the aforementioned payment had been quite promising. “Still it’s an important job, do you know why?” Oh great, was she going to deal with a lecture now? Noticing the light shake of her head Raina continued her explanation.

“Pollution is a serious threat. People think that the sea can just cleanse itself, so they just toss away trash and other things into the sea, yet little do they know the consequences of it.” Consequences? Of course the sea couldn’t cleanse itself, but were the consequences that dire? “Say Lycoris, do you like fish?” That was an easy question to answer, a grin emerging upon her lips as she replied eagerly. “Of course, who doesn’t love some good fish sticks?” The energetic response of the young lady coaxed a chuckle out of Raina who continued speaking. “Then you got a reason to fight against pollution. You see, if the water gets polluted the fish gets tainted, and as a result the very fish sticks you love to eat will taste less pleasant, or down the line might even become poisonous.”

Wait, what the hell?! Pollution was going to turn her fish sticks into poison?! That was much more severe than this conversation initially led on! “That’s why I’m trying to figure out ways to reduce the pollution in the surrounding waters and make the fish more tolerant toward it.”

It made sense to try to fight the pollution, even if it sounded like an uphill battle. A frown emerged upon the girl’s face as she inquired with a hint of curiosity. “Can’t you figure out a way to stop the source?”

The girls words made Raina smile briefly as she finished her tests and replied calmly. “We’re already working on that, the guards at Hargeon now will arrest those who pollute the waters, or at the very least force them to pay for the efforts to remove the trash they toss into the water. But from those tests it seems we still got a long way to go.”

It was a bit sad to hear that they had been struggling so much, especially if it would endanger those delicious fish sticks. “I’ll keep an eye out for polluters myself.” Raina had just finished grabbing a small pouch filled with jewels that she calmly handed over to the purple-haired girl and stated with a smile. “That’s all I can ask for. Thanks for your help Lycoris, here is your pay and feel free to come again in the future if you wish to help me more.”

Lycoris smiled briefly as she felt the weight of the pouch in her hand and after stashing it away hummed softly. “I might take you up on that offer sometime, but only if the next job is a bit more exciting.” And with those words the girl left the laboratory, hoping to find a more exciting adventure!