He knew he’d be called on again soon, but not this quickly. Godfrey, the blacksmith he’d helped recently by capturing a thief, had sent a messenger his way, informing him he had need of his assistance with a business matter. The letter held no more information except a time to meet him in his shop. Having nothing better to do, he made his way to the shop later on when it had specified.

Upon seeing Mikajia, Godfrey gave a little grin before nodding and welcoming him. He spent the next few minutes informing Mikajia why he was calling on him and what the task would entail. Apparently Godfrey was about to partake in a business deal for a rare gem he needed. The deal was scheduled to happen in roughly fifteen minutes. What Godfrey needed from Mikajia was basically someone to intimidate the merchant into being fair with his price.

So by that reasoning, Mikajia felt he could safely assume that the exact opposite was going to happen. And he wasn’t wrong. When the man arrived, Mikajia could tell he was a bit out of his league, at least as far as strength was concerned. The merchant was a hulking man, but if he had to guess, he’d say that Godfrey still had him beat. The blacksmith was massive; everything about the man screaming strength and toughness.

Mikajia figured if a fight did break out, he could rely on Godfrey to deal the majority of the damage and he could simply back the man up. However, he was still unconcerned. Even with the very obvious gap in strength between him and this merchant, his magic more than made up for the difference. The fool would be helpless then; forced to watch as he was pummeled within an inch of his life.

And that’s exactly what happened. He honestly wasn’t surprised at this turn of events. The fool was insulting Mikajia practically from the moment he entered the shop, calling him puny, pathetic, weak, etc. Clearly, he was all brawn and no brain. After all, what kind of fool only judged people based off of physical appearance? Especially when magic was commonplace. He had seen some of the smallest and most fragile people do some of the most amazing and terrifying things, all thanks to magic.

Only an absolute fucking moron would judge someone’s capabilities based off of strength alone. Though he typically preferred for people to underestimate him, giving him an edge, when someone berated him so blatantly, attempting to demean him based off of something so superficial, it made him want to kill. He held a perfect poker face during the majority of the meeting, but inside he was absolutely seething, imagining ripping the man to absolute shreds, forcing him to choke on his own entrails and laughing all the while.

Then he got his chance. He could tell the merchant was trying to charge Godfrey an exorbitant number of jewels for this one gem. It was good quality, yes, but he knew the price the merchant was asking was easily four to five times higher than it should have been. As soon as he mentioned this to Godfrey, the angry blacksmith pounced. Technically, the merchant was a bit faster than Godfrey, but that’s where Mikajia came in to play.

Every time the Merchant tried to dodge, or duck around Godfrey, Mikajia was there to land a blow or two of his own, or parry an attack aimed at Godfrey. Though Mikajia’s attacks weren’t all that strong, he was able to deal many of them while using Godfrey’s size and stature to his advantage, avoiding any heavy blows himself. He considered using his magic to help subdue the merchant, but he still didn’t have the best aim with it. The last thing he wanted to do was accidentally hit Godfrey. He also figured the blacksmith would not be too happy with Mikajia if he accidentally destroyed some of his armor or weapons as a result. So for this encounter, he would just have to resort to his physical prowess.

Eventually, they managed to wear the man down, ultimately ending with Mikajia gripping the man’s throat tight, while Godfrey held one of his many swords to the man’s gut. What do you know? Once he felt Mikajia’s hand twitch over his windpipe, followed by the cold steel against his guy, he started singing a much different tune. The new price of the gemstone was now heavily reduced, and much more reasonable.

The merchant was also much more friendly with Mikajia, complimenting him several times on how skilled and agile he had been. He simply cocked an eyebrow in response before rolling his eyes, turning to set the table back up, and get to tidying up the weapons and armor that had been sent flying all over the place during their scuttle. As he was putting a shield back up on it’s hook, he said, “Just remember merchant, this new discount you’re giving, will be the one you always give Godfrey Might from now on. And if you attempt to ever swindle him again,” He turned around, eyes wide and burning scarlet from his anger, his look promising untold horrors and unspeakable pain, “I will, find you.”

The merchant visibly paled before stumbling back into a set of armor, almost knocking it off it’s hook, “Okay, okay!” He said with a trembling voice and hands raised in surrender, “I promise, I’ll give Mr. Might the best discounts imaginable.” The rest of the deal went as smoothly as you could ever ask, and once the man had his jewels for the gemstone, he gave several hasty bows before leaving the shop.

Once the merchant was gone, Godfrey turned and grinned at Mikajia as they clasped forearms, “Well done my friend.” Godfrey said, before turning and grabbing a bag from behind his counter. He began filling it with jewels for Mikajia’s payment, “I’ll just give you the jewels that I managed to save during that deal. It was thanks to your assistance that I managed to get a reduced price, plus it’s more than I was planning on paying you anyways.”

“No problem,” He said as he took the hefty bag of jewels, “Glad to help. Call on me again in the future if you need help.” Mikajia gave the man a simple nod before heading out.

WC = 1064/1000