After burning down Tessio’s cash house, Michelle waited for further opportunities to help the Martello men to become the next crime overlord in Oak town. Her orders were clear; she had to help the Martello family overthrow the Tessio’s. While she roamed the streets, waiting for the right moment to cause further friction between the two criminal gangs, she stumbled upon Dr. Stephen’s magic shop. She had been here before with Benjamin, when she was much younger. Her master was a regular customer of all his darker goods. Wondering if the doctor would remember her, she walked in to say hello.

The shop was as dingy as one would expect, with not a single customer. A sharp bell rang as Michelle opened the doors, and Stephen popped up from under his counter in a rather startled manner. “Oh hello! Welcome~” he croaked monotonically. That was until he took a closer look at Michelle and realized who she was. “Ah… Miss Hunter. Long time. Tell me… How is Master Benjamin?” he asked, easing up to her a bit. Michelle was surprised the doctor still remembered her. “I’m surprised you remember me still Doctor. Master is good. He is the one who sent me to this town on business. I thought I would drop in and say hello since I was in the neighbourhood,” she replied, curiously exploring the weird goods he had in display.

“I never forget those with potential Miss Hunter. Now… I wouldn’t be foolish enough to ask what your business in this town is. But, if you have some free time, I could use your help. For a good compensation of course,” Stephen said. Usually, Michelle did not take up any missions without Benjamin’s approval. However, she knew the doctor and her master are acquaintances and she did not want to offend him. So, she agreed.

The task was simple and she did not have to go out of her way to accomplish it. Stephen gave her a couple of hexes that needed to be tested and he needed someone whom he could trust and wouldn’t snitch on him. With all the crimes going on in the streets of Oak, she was sure she could find two targets who deserve the hexes. She pocketed the paper with the hexes, promised the doctor that she would return soon with the results and exited the shop.

As she suspected, there were no shortage of targets for the hexes. Michelle’s first target was a middle-aged drunkard who was picking on a young woman, who looked truly terrified. “Hey cutie… I’m feeling things I have never felt before, down there, just from looking at you. How about you come intensify it further?” he said, trying to catch the lady and pull her towards him. Tch! Intensify? Sure… Michelle pulled the hex page from her pocket and muttered the word ‘Stimuli’ clearly, while looking at her drunk target. The man let go of the woman—who ran away from the scene as quickly as possible—and fell to the ground squirming. Michelle noticed the hex word on the page vanished after the usage. Looks like this one is a success.

525/1000

Now that she was done with the first hex, Michelle was on the prowl to find her second target. This one read ‘Decrepify’ and was supposed to cripple the target for an hour. Michelle knew she would find the perfect target if she went to the market street. Boy, am I right?! Just as she thought, the number of petty thieves around in the Oak town markets was astonishing. The young lady looked around for the most ambitious thief in the vicinity. She could forgive those who stole for survival, but not those who did it for an easy gain.

Michelle saw one such man lurking around the jewellery stall. It was no shock to her when he grabbed a huge box full of gems, when the shop keeper was distracted, and made a run for it. You aren’t getting away today! Michelle uttered the word ‘Decrepify’, looking at the running thief. While she expected him to just drop down, unable to use his legs anymore, he instead started limping. Huh? Not effective enough. Michelle ran towards the limping man and kicked him in the shin, dropping him to the ground. She pulled the gem box from his hand and hit him in the head to knock him out. The shopkeeper was extremely grateful when Michelle returned his goods. Having tested both the hexes, Michelle decided to head back to the doctor and report.

Doctor Stephen welcomed Michelle back with enthusiasm. “Tell me! How good were those?” he asked, eager to know if his creations worked as he intended. “Stimuli is a complete success. The man fell to the ground and began squirming after I cast it on him. Maybe it was more effective because he was intoxicated? Something to add to your notes,” Michelle said, taking a seat opposite the man. “Excellent! Excellent, indeed,” the doctor echoed, giggling in excitement. “However… Decrepify was not completely successful. The man was not crippled. He only got a limp,” Michelle finished, not with much tact on the bad news. The doctor seemed rather disappointed with the second part of the report. “I see… That is unfortunate,” he said, sighing. “Well… At least it was in the right direction. Not completely off. That’s something, right?” Michelle added. She meant those comments genuinely, and was not trying to soothe the man or anything of the sort. The woman did not deal with emotions.

Nevertheless, her words seemed to motivate the doctor and he was back in good spirits. “You are right Miss. Here… Take this for your troubles,” he said, handing her some Jewels. “And do come back whenever you find some free time. I could use help from trustworthy people like you,” he said, urging her to keep working for him. Michelle wasn’t sure if she would take him up in that offer. After all, she wasn’t here to help a crazy old doctor with his experiments. But, she wasn’t one to deny offers right off the bat. So, she simply nodded and exited the shop.

As she made her way towards her hotel, she saw the man she used ‘Stimuli’ on finally get off the ground and drag himself off. “Run along, sucker,” she muttered under her breath, controlling her urges to knock the guy down.

1069/1000
-Exit-