Reform: Chapter Two - Dampening the Flames

Job Name: Dampening the flames
Job Rank: C-Tier
Job Location: Reim
Job Rewards: 100 xp, 7,000 huang
Job Overview: There is unrest amongst the commoners in the slums, they demand changes from the new King. People have flocked to the streets to protest and the guards have done their best to contain them to the slums. A couple of overzealous guards used violence to get the people to disperse and now a few of the protestors plan to retaliate. Choose your side and calm tensions.

Enemy Name: Overzealous Guards x5
Rank: D-Tier
Needed damage to take down: C-Tier
Abilities:
Batons: D-Tier damage
Respect My Authority: Smacks a target with their baton at 10 m/s to deal D-tier damage.

OR

Enemy Name: Angry Protestors x5
Rank: D-Tier
Needed damage to take down: C-Tier
Abilities:
Glass Bottles: D-tier damage
Molotov: Throws a lit bottle of alcohol at 10 m/s that explodes on impact in a 5 meter radius dealing D-Tier damage.
Bottle Smash: Breaks a bottle over a target's head at 10 m/s to deal D-Tier Damage.

The morning walk into Remano from the safe-house he shared with Carmen and her cell had been a peaceful one. After passing through the main gates of the city, Azix's feet led him along the length of the inner-wall on the outskirts of the slums, the grass in the area was overgrown and large bushes circled around it. Azix removed a few bricks from the wall revealing a hollow portion where his Old Man's Guise was hidden. Quickly switching into his disguise, Azix replace the bricks and angled his path to the Grumptoes HQ.

While he took a few side-streets to get to his location, he noticed that the slums seemed strangely empty. His hobbled footsteps led him down a path which opened up into a main street, where he could hear raised voices in the distance. Curious, Azix headed in the direction of the voices, casting his vision back and forth along the street to watch for anyone hoping to take advantage of a lone, elderly man. Thankfully, he met no such people along the way.

He arrived at a scene where a large group of commoners were protesting the new King, herded back from going further into the city by a group of guards. One of the guards with markings on his uniform that denoted him as a Lieutenant, addressed the crowd, attempting to ease tensions.

"Ladies and Gentleman, please calm down! Yes, there is a new King and I understand you want changes, but gathering in a mob is not the way to do it! Please, go back to your jobs and address your grievances through the proper channels!" The Lieutenant shouted, hoping his calm words would settle the crowd.

A man with a shaggy, brown mop of hair and missing a leg, held himself up with a cane.  "Jobs? What jobs? I was wounded on the countryside by bandits, now I can not find work! No one will take a man missing a leg!"

The Lieutenant grimaced, this was not as easy as he hoped. "I can understand your frustration, but blocking the streets will only make things worse. I am sure if you request an audience with the council-"

A woman shouted from within the crowd, cutting him off. "Like they would let filth like us in the government district! You would rather us wither away in a quiet corner where we are out of sight! What would the council do, but lock us up!"

Azix realized the scene would devolve into chaos fast, especially by the sneers of some of the guards. As he thought this, a group of overzealous guards broke off from the main contingent and jogged towards the woman. One of them pulled out a baton from their belt and bashed it against the side of her head, knocking her to the ground. The crowd of protestors went into an uproar, shouting about the injustice, the guard's actions proved the inequality.

The Lieutenant ran after the Overzealous Guards, but the crowd surged around him, pushing him away. Azix watched for a brief moment, understanding that tensions were about to snap. Once the crowd attacked the guards, a riot would ensue and the guards would have no choice but to put it down with violence. Out of the corner of his eye, Azix saw five angry protestors run into a building nearby, closing the door after peering around to make sure they had been unseen. A bad feeling walled up inside his gut, something did not sit right about their actions.

Deciding to take action into his own hands, Azix brushed past the overzealous guards, gaining their attention. Once they turned around, he used Sakeru to allow him to move faster than normal towards the Lieutenant. Feeling their eyes on his back, Azix gave the Lieutenant an apologetic look, "I apologize for this..."

A confused look passed over the Lieutenant's face, between the speed of the old man before him and Azix's words, he was unsure how to react. Azix whipped out his staff from under the cloak and struck the Lieutenant. From behind him, Azix heard the overzealous guards shout to grab him.

Azix whirled around to find himself surrounded by the overzealous guards, who glared at him as they pulled out their weapons. The crowd of protestors behind them froze at witnessing an old man fighting against the guards. While they were stunned, it allowed the guards to focus on Azix alone. Whispering to the Rukh as the guards tightened their holds on their batons, Azix conjured his Clear spell. A thin film of magoi surrounded his body before expanding in a dome around him, the force of the spell knocking the overzealous guards back and knocking the wind from their lungs.

The crowd had not seen the transparent wave of force knock into the guards, but they did see the guards fly backwards. They crowded around Azix, hoping to protect him from retaliation, but he shed his Old Man's Guise and revealed his Kouen features to their dismay.

The man from earlier shouted, "It is one of the Kou filth! He is trying to set us up!"

Azix hesitated for a moment, realizing that he should have thought that might be a reaction. He raised his staff in the air and shouted, "No! I am trying to help you! I heard your pleas, I know you want work! I can help you find work if you would just list-"

A terrified scream cut over Azix's words and the crowd turned to the side where five angry protestors stood. One of the protestors had chucked a Molotov towards the guards where it shattered sending a wave of flames in an area around it. The Lieutenant was able to just move in time to avoid the flames, but a few of the crowd nearby were unlucky, their clothes catching on fire.

Azix reacted by taking the soot-covered brown cloak he used as a part of his disguise and ran over to them. With his cloak he beat the flames down and pulled them away from the herd of people, hoping they would be safe. Making sure they were fine for the moment, Azix turned his attention to the angry protestors.

[1052/1000 words]

[250/300 magoi]

Spoiler:

Sustaining the power of Sakeru, Azix used his quick speed to close the distance with the angry protestors. "I do not want to hurt you, but if you cause further damage you are only hurting your cause. I will not allow that to happen!"

One of the angry protestors sneered at Azix and raised his bottle over his head, sending it down to Bottle Smash against the magician's head. Azix's Borg flared to life to block the attack, the impact caused the bottle to shatter in the angry protestor's hand. The man's wide eyes stared into Azix's purple one in shock, fear creeping in as he realized that he was in over his head.

Azix exhaled and quickly thought on how he wanted to handle the situation. He had attacked the overzealous guards because of their heavy handed tactics, so it would be fair to do the same with these angry protestors. Would the crowd of protestors see it that way? Azix had to hope they did, the angry protestors needed to be dealt with before they could create a worse situation.

With three of the angry protestors standing side-by-side, Azix whispered a series of commands to the black Rukh. Lending their magoi, they a solid, transparent wall of magoi a centimeter thick between Azix and the three protestors. The wall was a centimeter thick, stretching just over fifteen feet in length and width. The men would see the shimmer of the wall as Azix sent it forward, before feeling the force of the wall as it hit them. The Force Wall's impact was enough to cause leave a few bruises, the purpose was more psychological. Azix could hit them with invisible objects, a trick that would not work on a magician, who could see the Rukh. Two of the angry protestors were hit head on by the wall, while a third was clipped on the shoulder.

While that had gone on, the two angry protestors that had not been the target of his spell, circled around Azix. By the time Azix had attacked their comrades, the two men were behind him. They struck, one aimed at Azix's staff hand, the other aimed at his head. A futile effort, the magician's Borg flared back up to absorb both strikes.

With his Clear spell sustained, the thin film of magoi that hovered over his body expanded into a dome again. It struck the two men behind him, striking them with a crushing impact, before retracting back around his body. Those two stumbled back and collapsed to the ground, defeated. Azix's attention turned back to the other three.

"Will you listen to rea-," he asked as he turned around to see the other three running towards him to attack with their glass bottles. Azix sighed, lifted his staff and formed five Force Cubes in the air before him. With a flick of his staff the force cubes were sent forward, splitting them between the three targets. The small, palm-sized cubes smacked into the targets, leaving a bruise on impact.

The men dropped their bottles, giving up on their last desperate attempt to seize their ideas. They slumped to their knees and silence passed over the crowd.

The orange magician faced the crowd, wondering how to salvage this situation, using their desire for change to enlist their help in his workforce program. Raising his voice so the protestors could hear, "Let that be all the fighting that is done today. The Overzealous Guards and the Angry Protestors were both punished for resorting to violence. Let us speak peacefully now. Can we do that?" Azix looked between the Lieutenant and the crowd with the last question, to show he was speaking to both parties.

The Lieutenant gave a curt nod with a bitter look on his face, he wanted a peaceful solution, but he was upset that he had been smacked in the process. The crowd however, recognizing the Kouen features thought he was part of the problem.

"Why should we listen to you?" A middle-aged woman with babe-in-arm asked.

Before Azix could reply, a familiar voice in the crowd spoke for him. "Because he has helped us before!"

The crowd parted as five kids walked through them to stand by Azix. Lavicus, Octovius, Jacques, Tyrion and Leo, his Grumptoes squad, nodded at him before looking to the crowd. Lavicus addressed the crowd, "When my sister was kidnapped, he found her and saved her."

Octovius spoke next, "Do you remember the Street Ninja gang? He was the one that got rid of them. He has been helping you guys and has never asked for your thanks."

The man with the messy brown-hair looked at Azix, "Is that true?"

Azix looked at the Grumptoes and smiled, while he was happy that they defended him, they had just given away a few jobs he had done. Most of the people who heard that would be overjoyed, but there could be a few who had been connected to those jobs. There could even be a few who were spies who could use that information to connect dots to other things he had done. He knew they were only looking out for him though, so he could not be mad.

He turned to the crowd, who seemed more willing to listen. "Yes, it is. I have tried to help when I can, as I am now. I heard you mention jobs, that is very ironic. As you can tell, I am from Kou, but I ask that you do not judge me by that alone. The Lieutenant told you guys to request an audience with the Council to ask for change, that is good advice. I have already done that. I asked them for two things. One, for schools to be built and made available to all children, four to eighteen years of age. All children would receive an education for free. Two, a workforce program that would be available to those who have no jobs. They would receive training in various skills to find what you are most suited for, being paid in the process. The condition would be that you have to stay employed and in Reim for five years after that. I asked for an opportunity for those who were willing to work, not a free ride."

The crowd perked up, the Kouen man had fought for opportunities for them and their children. Several shouted from the crowd, "What did they say? Did they like the idea? When is this going to happen?"

Azix smiled and gestured for them to quiet down, "We spoke at length about it. When I first presented it, there were issues about spending money on these ideas. I tried to express the value of investing in these programs for you and your children. Yet, King Lagi still was not satisfied, he did not think it was worth it."

The crowd buzzed, a temper building within it, upset to hear that their fears had been correct. Azix let it sizzle for only a moment before he continued, "But! This foreigner from Kou before you did not give up. I have acquired a great sum of money in my travels and offered to invest in you guys with my own money. Only then, did your King Lagi decide to accept the deal, offering a portion of the taxes to the projects, on a trial basis. He wants to see your dedication to work. Will you prove to him you have the dedication?"

The crowd's emotions were swept from anger to joy and they agreed simultaneously. "Now, can we please clear the streets and go back to your day, like this Lieutenant asked? Since I am in charge of setting up the workforce program, I will be going around looking for willing people today. I ask that only those most willing sign up, if you quit in the middle of training you are ruining this opportunity for others."

The crowd started to break up, while others asked how to sign up. Azix offered to go through the different neighborhoods throughout the day to meet with them. Once they were satisfied that Azix would be around, they dispersed.

The Lieutenant approached Azix, "Thank you for calming them down. Are you really going to do what you claimed to do? They will only be angrier if you lied."

Azix gave him a somber nod, "I meant every word, they deserve a chance like everyone else. I apologize again for hitting you with my staff. Can we forget all this happened?"

The Lieutenant turned around and walked away, replying over his shoulder, "Don't hit me again."

Azix chuckled and knelt down by the Grumptoes, "Thank you for the save." He saw a billion questions in their eyes and smiled. "Meet me at the safe-house in half an hour and I will answer any questions have." The Grumptoes' heads bobbed and they scampered off to arrive at the HQ separately.

Azix grabbed his Old Man's Guise and took off through some side streets, weaving back and forth to make sure he wasn't followed. When he was satisfied he wasn't, Azix whispered to the Rukh to Vanish from sight.[/b]

[1532/250 D-Tier Ability Training]

Spoiler:

[170/300 magoi]

Spoiler:

The little girl watched, lost amongst the crowd of protestors. No one paid her any mind as she watched everything unfold. The crowd was rowdy and loud until that magician stepped in and smoothed things over, with minimal violence, even. She was almost impressed. She took a mental note of all the abilities he had used in the process of taming the beast of a crowd, knowing the details would interest her employer. As the crowd started to disperse, she vanished down an alley, skipping and humming to herself as her pink hair bounced, people oblivious to her movements and dismissing her as just another kid running around.

[exit]