Getting Meat [Mission; Private]

Continuing his journey through the mountainside back towards the nearest city, Alek had stopped at a hut to see if he could buy a glass of water - He'd been walking for hours at this point, and it was starting to get exhausting. 

If he continued at this pace without getting a break, he was either going to pass out, hallucinate something that would make him walk somewhere he shouldn't, or get a headache. Probably the latter, but you never knew when it came to weird places in this world. 

However, when he knocked at the door, some strange, bearded man who stood five inches shorter than him looked up through bearded spectacles like he had been expecting him. 

"Ah, yes. You're the person the city sent to take down some trees, correct? The court mage was good, but he was so inhospitable when it came to working with that assistant of his... well, they've both already resigned anyway so it doesn't really matter how well he did. What matters is that you're here and that I have a job for you!"  

A... job? Whilst he would normally be entranced by the prospect of employment, especially considering the fact that wild-life around here was pretty few and far between which meant there was little to hunt, he knew that if he wasn't back soon then something might happen. 

He was not a paranoid man, but considering the fact that he was 'guarding' someone who was from one of the most hostile tribes on the planet and had some magical power that even he didn't understand and who was currently travelling through an area that had already proven that it was rife with bandits and thugs, he got the feeling that this was a bad time to randomly leave him and start doing jobs for strangers. 

"I'm flattered, sir, but I really have to get back to my friend and..." 
"The usual fare of seven thousand huang for 10 trees is still okay, right?" Seven... thousand... huang? HE COULD BUY SO MUCH MEAT!! 

"Yes, sir, yes it is. I'll take your job."


350 / 1000

The job itself was not, to be fair, awfully difficult. The travel from the man's hut had taken around ten minutes with a decent pace, and he had to assume that the only reason the man was getting other people to do it was the fact that he was unable to chop down the trees or bring them back.

 It wasn't a matter of distance, but more a matter of physical abilities. Besides, he was pretty sure that he had seen a walking stick in the old man's home, so if he was having to hobble normally, he could only imagine how things would be if he was to have the added weight of a tree put onto his shoulders as well. 

Still, the job was, as fore-stated, pretty damned easy.  There was something about the trees of this area that made them almost pathetically weak. A simple kick and most of them would topple, leaving a drum like thud. Move, kick, fall, move, kick, fall, the rhythm led to an almost dance like rhythm of falling trees. 

How he was going to be paid seven thousand huang for a job like this almost astounded him. It would take twenty minutes, if that much. The only issue would be bringing the trees back to the guy's hut. They still had their leaves on, and whilst he was extremely strong, he was dubious about whether he could lift an entire tree over the shoulder for long enough to get back to the old man's cabin.

As it turned out, there was another problem that seemed to be advancing on his position more and more with every passing second. The quiet roar of tigers would, most likely, not be heard by anyone that wasn't a Fanalis, but thankfully for Alek he definitely was one. He'd checked. Several times. And by checked, he, of course, meant *CENSORED*. 

Turning around, he saw the approaching family of cats and smiled. Well, he was going to eat tiger meat tonight. 
"Come on... here kitty, kitty, kitty. I promise not to harm you, I'm just going to eat your delicious face."

704 / 1000

As if they were doing as he asked, the tigers threw themselves at him, hunger rather than anger in their eyes. If he had stopped to think about that for a second, he might have actually felt pity for these miserable things, they were merely trying to get some food, and yet they had chosen the absolute worst victim possible. Anyone else they'd chosen, they would have eaten well tonight.  

However, unfortunately for them, they were tangling with a soldier from the Fanalis corps from the heart of Reim, rather than some pathetic sheepherder from the mountains of Zou - They weren't prepared even slightly for the sort of hell-fire they were bringing down upon their own heads. 

A simple kick was all it took to cave in the head of the first tiger, reminding him almost of the way that he had fought the tigers back in the snowy mountains. Another kick, and the second one was down. 

As the third and fourth dived at him at the same time, he showed them exactly why you never screwed with a member of the Fanalis race. Clearing his throat to leave the air-space completely  free to be manipulated, he summoned up the strength of his lungs and...
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!" 

The scream was just white noise, a simple sound, but the energy that it carried with it was something that was nowhere near as basic. The gust was so strong that both went flying backwards, slamming into the trees that he had not cut down yet. 

Now, with the fight over and his dominance over the natural world exerted, he slipped the weight of the tigers onto the first log and started off on his journey back to the hut. There was going to be ten of these, he was going to need to get used to carrying heavy weights again.

1000/1000 -Mission Completed-