After some grueling work with the doctor, Akira was just about done for the day, but considering the long term goals that were beginning to form in her mind, if she somehow could push herself to do more Rune Knight oriented work today... Maybe she'd find the time she needed to work on other things and take a longer break if necessary. If the duo got more done maybe it'd be enough to prove her team work capabilities to their superior, and then she wouldn't have to be weighed down by Tsuru anymore. As she waited for him to deal with the doctor's gratitude and join here, she looked around and spotted the bulletin board, there wasn't much of a crowd around it, not too many keen on helping others, just like she thought.

She held her breath as she staggered through the main street again, making her way to the soft board. Her eyes scanned the requests. 'God damn it, everything here is a bit above my pay grade... except...' her gaze roved and pinned the flapping posters, trying her best to avoid the attention-seeking pink ones, till she had no choice because it was the only option left. Quickly her eyes skimmed over the words and the requirements. 'Of course, pages like us got to aid with stupid things like this... Half-halfheartedly, not even bothering to unpin it, she tore the poster off the board.

Even the helpful Tsuru should find this request silly... She thought or at least hoped, probably in vain. Not only was the job itself distasteful to her, but the concept of helping the rich get pretty and rare fabric, was something she disagreed with almost fundamentally. Despite that, it was also something she had learned to accept... The more you got, the more you get... She shuddered, crumpling the sheet and shoving it into her pocket, she turned and looked around to find this Fernando guy's shop.

It wasn't too tough to spot and wasn't too far away... She guessed, when one works for the rich, they get the perk of making large fancy boards to attract more rich people and make shops on the main square. She grunted as she located her partner on the other side, she let out a piercing whistle to attract his attention, and pointed to the boutique, then cowered through the crowd to make her way to it. At least serving the rich meant, there too large a crowd in front of his shop, most commoners knew they couldn't afford the guy's stuff, she exhaled softly and waited for the healer, interaction was definitely more his thing, than hers.

442/1000

The scarlet-haired teen wasn’t sure where he was going. He walked along the main street absentmindedly, bumping into one or the other occasionally, still thinking about how he could improve himself. If it wasn’t for Akira’s whistle, the poor boy would have walked into some unknown alley in his autopilot mode and gotten lost. Hearing the whistle from across the street, Haru quickly turned around and noticed Akira pointing towards a fancy shop. At first, he thought she wanted to shop. But he quickly dismissed that theory, seeing how averse to people she was. That’s when he saw the pink flier in her hand. He sincerely hoped it wasn’t some C or higher ranked quest. He believed Akira to be overconfident and presumed her capable of biting more than they can chew. “What do we have?” he asked, walking up to her and taking the flier to see what their objective was.

Haru couldn’t believe his eyes. “Why this? Wasn’t there anything better?” he grunted, followed by a heavy sigh. “We are helping some fashion designer get high quality fabric so that the rich can show it off to the poor hard-working souls here?” he muttered. He was in half a mind to just put the flier back, but noticed it was half-torn. He gave a sour look at Akira and dragged himself towards the boutique. Well… The least I can do is get it done quickly. The store had quite a large crowd outside, window shopping, but only three customers inside. One of the employees saw Haru enter and approached him rapidly. “I’m afraid you must deposit a million jewels at the counter before you can browse our collection. I’m sure you understand why,” she said, bowing slightly. Haru simply raised the flier and dangled it in front of her as a response. “Of course. Apologies. Please come this way,” she said, guiding him towards a back office.

Haru couldn’t believe his eyes when he entered Fernando’s office. There were dozens of mannequins arranged in rows neatly, all dressed up in exotic fabric and eccentric designs. “Sir, he is here to assist with the fabric purchase,” the lady said, before being dismissed. “Welcome! Thank you so much for helping me out,” Fernando said, grabbing Haru’s arm and shaking it. “You see, I’m stuck with this piece I’m working on. I need this particular fabric to complete it, but I do not have enough. I’m supposed to finish this order by this week. I heard there were some travelling merchants around who have the same quality of fabric for a cheaper price. But they surely will not give it away for that price if I’m the one asking. So, will you please?” he asked, but before Haru could answer, he was dragged towards the stitching table and a piece of velvety cloth was thrusted into his hands along with a huge sack of jewels. “Ensure what you get is just as good or better than this. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have lots of work to do.” And with that, Haru was excused and he had never gotten out of anywhere as fast as he did then.

Walking back to Akira, he spoke in a sad monotone. “We have got a sample for quality check. I think he wants us to get it from the guys who are selling stuff under a tent. ‘Travelling merchants’. I saw a couple near the end of the road.”

576/1000

At least he complained about it too... It made her smile, only half a smile so it looked more like a smirk, but at least it was something they agreed on. She didn't respond too optimistically still, because this couldn't mean that they'd get all chummy and be a perfect little team of do-gooders now. After everything that happened today, she was a ball of salt. 'Do I look like someone who'd pick this if I didn't absolutely have to? Besides suck it up, money is what makes the world spin, might as well as accept it, stick our heads down and deal with it.' she responded, dully, mostly because unfortunately she was forced to believe her own words... this quest just proved that!

She didn't want to go in, so she lurked around outside and waited for him to do the dirty business talking stuff, she stood close by the door though, to eavesdrop on the task so he didn't have to waste time on relaying the information to her again, just after the Fernando guy finished saying please, a oddly dressed young boy stuck his head out and looked straight at her. 'Hey you, get off this property, don't you see this is a sacred place for those with some taste...' If she had the strength and the time, for all the sourness she was carrying around, she'd pick a fight, but she couldn't. 'Fine.' she said cooly and stepped off the platform away from the shop.

Her little tete-te with the service boy had garnered her too much attention, now they all suddenly thought they could stare at her like she was filth.  Soon Tsuru was out of the shop and for once she was not as mad to see him, he was the only one who wasn't looking at her with any judgement. He did relay what she had missed, holding up the fabric they were supposed to use for comparison. She just nodded, didn't even bother taking the alleys, he knew where they were going and she just accepted that this day was her rock bottom.

Soon they were at the merchants shop, she knew what that stupid merchant wanted and she decided to use her haggard look to her advantage, as she haggled the price, looking at her state, the guy didn't seem inclined to sell at all, but did, probably out of pity, but at least they got a really really good price. As they walked back towards the shop she felt a little hopeless, like she'd sold her soul... and she needed to do something to remedy that. As they neared the shop, in frantic desperation she did something crazy...

Akira elbowed Tsuru, 'So... I can't really go in there, with that stupid service boy around, but...' she counted the money they had left and closed her fist around some of it, offering the boy the rest. 'You take this and tell him we got it for double of what we actually did, which is still way better than what he would have got for it and...' she sighed softly and added 'and you can give the extra to some poor man?' her playful eyes lighting up... 'I'll stay far away, so no one gets suspicious, what say you?'

But before he had a chance to respond, she recalled how much of a rule-follower he was, so she just grunted softly. 'Eh, what am I thinking, I know you wouldn't go through with it.' A bit gruffly, under her own annoyed assumption, she shoved the money she was holding onto back into his hands. Sighing softly she looked into his eyes, her own orbs still betraying a small hopeful glint... She chewed on her lips and softly whispered. 'In case you grow a pair, do come back with some...'

1102/1000
~~Exit~~

The duo walked to the tents without uttering a single word. As much as he liked the busy street early that day, it’s numb buzzing sound in the background had started to annoy him a bit; probably because he is a bit tired now. As before, Akira took the lead when it actually mattered. She took the sample from Haru, did her thing with the merchant and in no time, they had a bundle of high-quality fabric rolled up and ready to deliver. He didn’t approve of her deceiving the merchant into giving large discounts, not to mention he couldn’t believe how naïve the man was. If the girl was really that poor, wouldn’t she be more interested in food than fine clothing? In any case, he wasn’t one to complain if the job was done.

Haru kept to the less crowded side of the street. He knew better than to let some rookie thief snatch away Fernando’s goods. Finally, they reached the boutique with no trouble on the way and Akira suggested something that took Haru by surprise. When she first began talking about how they can deceive Fernando, Haru thought she was going to suggest they take the money for themselves. He raised an eyebrow at her, as if he wanted to ask if she really was a good fit for the Rune Knights. However, when she completed her sentence, saying the money might of better use to the poor people, Haru was truly taken aback. Somehow, he had a deep-set prejudice towards darkness magic users that he did not expect them to be nice. This was truly an eye-opener for the scarlet-haired teen.

While he would never lie to a citizen and take their money without their knowledge, he did consider part of her suggestion. He just nodded and smiled in response to Akira’s snide remarks and walked into the boutique. The lady he met before greeted him again and took him to Fernando. Haru delivered the fabric, along with the entirety of the remaining jewels. Fernando couldn’t believe he got such great quality goods for such a cheap price. “How did you manage this? No. Don’t tell me. I don’t want to know,” he said, giggling away. Then, he thanked Haru for his services and paid up. Before leaving however, Haru stopped for a moment and turned towards the fashion designer. “Listen… I know you got a great deal here. Have you ever thought about helping the poor with all the fortune you have accumulated?” he asked, with genuine curiosity. Fernando looked up at him with incredulity and laughed out loud. “Don’t be naïve boy. They are poor because they chose to be poor. They are lazy. They lack passion. Do you think I was born rich? I made myself rich because I wanted to be rich. Now, pack up your idealism and get out of here,” he said, his last sentence riddled with more hatred than required. “A fortunate one’s luck is relative,” Haru muttered before leaving the boutique.

Once out of the shop, he caught up with Akira and handed over her portion of the reward. He took his share and lied, “And I stole this much for the poor.”

1112/1000
-Exit-