Chapter 11: Chapter 10: A Mage has a meeting, then helps to find an aspiring polluter

While Alexia was waiting at the table, several guild members had stopped by and greeted her.  They were interested in the armor she was wearing, and she told them it was acquired from her god. After discussing at length the benefits of Jack, she saw a tall pale man come down from the stairs.

The man had blond white hair tied back into a ponytail, that swung as he walked with a limp. Walking behind the counter, he went to Edward and spoke with him. Edward said a few words, and pointed at Alexia. Alexia stood and went to meet the man. "Hello, are you Edwards supervisor Oliver?" She asked him.

"Yes, I am Oliver. Thank you for staying to meet me. I am in charge of most day to day stuff the Head of the Guild has no time for. You are Alexia right?" Oliver said. She nodded, and he continued on "Taking a look at your report, I have some things I would like to go over with you, do you have time to do so?"

"Yes, I am free at the moment, though I would hope this won't take long?" Alexia said.

Oliver continued on and said "Not at all, but as this deals with sensitive subjects, I would appreciate it if we took this discussion to my office." He said, and motioned for Alexia to follow him. As they walked up the stairs, he stated "I've noticed you haven't been active as a member of the guild lately. In fact it's been almost three years since your last recorded mission."

Frowning she said, "I don't believe there is a requirement for guild members to be active members last I checked."

Oliver shook his head and said "Nope, no requirements, I just wanted to know if you had any problems with the guild."

Shaking her head, she made it clear that she did want to continue this line of dialogue any further. They fell into silence and reached the second floor. Heading down a long hallway he reached a door and said, "Here is my office, please take a seat inside."

As Alexia stepped inside, she saw the office was not empty. There was a brown-skinned woman sitting in a chair in front of a desk, she was wearing a guards uniform. The insignia on it let Alexia know she was a captain of the guard.

The woman stood up and offered her hand and said "Hello, I'm Beryl, a Captain of the Guard." 

Taking her hand Alexia shook it and said "Hello captain, I'm Alexia." After exchanging greetings they sat down in the chairs in front of the desk.and Oliver took the chair behind the desk.

"I was having a discussion with Captain Beryl, when I got the message from Edward." Oliver said, and when he said discussion, his eyes looked at Beryl in a way that made Alexia think it was more than that. "Seeing as this involves the safety of the city, I thought it would be best to invite Captain Beryl to the discussion" he continued.

"Yes, I thought as much myself, and planned to inform the guards when I finished the mission." Alexia said taking a closer look at the two. Oliver was towering over his desk, yet his skin was so pale it looked as if he had never stepped out of the Guild. 

Using Examination, she was shocked as she couldn't see his race. It was hidden from her examination. As for Beryl, her dark skin tone was clearly from the southern lands and examination showed she was a strong human. Her short cropped hair that all the guards shared, suited her features.

Beryl said "I appreciate your enthusiasm to help in the aid of this city. While Oliver was fetching you I took a look over the report you wrote." She glanced pointedly at Oliver when she said this. "I saw several things that the city will have to deal with in the report."

Oliver nodded and said "Let's start from the begining tell me about your mission. We will stop you if we have any questions."

Alexia started, "Well as I was heading into the sewers I was warned about the dangers inside by my now contracted god Jack." 

Oliver turned and pulled a book down from the bookshelf behind him.  On the cover was the word Deities embossed in gold. Oliver said "I'm not familiar with that God. Given that you can step inside the Guild, I don't believe it's an Evil God. Please continue your account."

"The first part of the sewers had a far higher number of slimes than I would have expected. I killed those that I found and made my way deeper in, where I began to encounter a slightly larger form of slime that could shoot acid." Alexia said and then briefly described encountering the three little slimes making that large slime.

Oliver nodded and said "It's not exactly common knowledge, but slimes combine to get stronger. Hence the whole reason for using Mana Lights in the sewers. They were supposed to prevent the slimes from having the numbers you are describing. The last mission down there, only recorded two slimes."

"After dealing with these slimes I encountered A King Slime and managed to defeat it." Alexia said and Oliver put out his hand signaling her to stop.

Pulling out a sheet of paper, he took a look and said "Your rating as a member is F. A King slime is easily rated as a D level creature. You want to tell me how you defeated a creature two levels above your rank, and this is your first mission in several years?" Oliver said questioning her.

Sensing he was doubting her story, Alexia growled out "I got help from my God, and now I can do things like this!" Alexia activated the Flameshield causing flames to dance about her figure. 

Beryl said in a commanding voice "Enough of this you two." Alexia frowned and shut off the Flameshield. Beryl and Oliver stared at one another before Oliver broke the stare. “Be respectful Oliver.” Beryl warned him.

Oliver broke the stare and said "I apologize Alexia, I was rude. Please continue."

"After I killed a couple more slimes I then encountered a Fungal Slime Lord and managed to kill it." Alexia said pulling out the proof she had gotten from downstairs, if he wanted to question if she really had killed a Fungal Slime Lord.

Oliver nodded and said "The Guild apologizes for the danger we put you in. We strive to put an accurate rating on the missions we post. If you hadn't taken it and completed it, we would have likely lost a guild member. We thank you for completing the mission. I personally have marked your efforts as significant."

Beryl agreed and said "I would hope they upgrade your rank. We need more people like you getting things done." Then Beryl glanced at the report and said "In this report you mentioned you believed someone was dumping magical liquids down a storm drain?" Alexia nodded "Damn, the Magical Guild will have to send a team down to clean up the mess. We'll have to send guards down to keep it clear of monsters."

"I will have to find a map of the sewers, and track down the storm drain." Beryl said. "We will have to stop this before it becomes another Wormwood situation." Seeing Alexia look confused, Beryl said "About fifty years ago, an Alchemy shop in the city of Wormwood started to leak massive amounts of magical liquid into the sewers, and a massive monster swarm emerged and decimated the town. It's still so heavily polluted with magic, no one lives there."

"Oh, I think I heard about that. Actually, I think I can show you where the storm drain is. I have a very good sense of direction, and I think I know where that storm drain is." Alexia said. "Speaking of the drain, I believe the body I mentioned in the report was dumped down it."

Beryl said "Do you believe the dumping and the body are connected?"

Alexia shook her head and said "Unlikely, the body looks like it was dumped last night. The dumping of the magical liquid must have been going on for a few days before that."

Beryl looked at Oliver and said "Do you have anything else for her?" 

He shook his head "No, Mi-, No Captain, you are free to take her." 

As Beryl stood, she said "I'll meet you outside."

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Alexia stood and was about to exit, when Oliver said "Have a good day, and don't use that power on me again." Alexia paused and then went through the door and closed it behind her. Waiting a few seconds, she heard a loud crack that sounded like a slap come through the door.

Concerned she almost opened the door and went back in when Beryl came out smiling. "Ready to go?" Nodding Alexia followed her.

"Was everything alright in there?" Alexia asked as they went down the stairs.

Beryl laughed and said "Oh I just wanted to confirm we were still on for our date tonight." 

Reaching the main floor they began to walk out. Alexia asked "You two are seeing each other? I thought I saw something between you two."

Exiting the building Beryl asked "Which area is it?" Alexia Indicated the Magic District. Beryl unhooked a nearby horse and popped up into the saddle. "Here take my hand." She said and pulled Alexia right behind her. Grabbing her waist, she was a bit startled how the horse felt moving under her. "Haven't rode a horse before have you?" Beryl asked

"I can't say that I have. Is it that obvious?" Alexia asked. 

"The death grip you got on me is a big clue" Beryl said laughing. 

Alexia loosened her grip a bit. "So have you been seeing Oliver for a long time?"

"Yeah me and Oliver go back about two years now. I had just become an Assistant Captain when I spotted him, with those cute puppy dog eyes in a bar. Of course we didn't really get along right away, it was like cats and dogs for a bit there. We came to an understanding though, and I'm glad we did."

After a few minutes of traveling on the horse the came to the Mages district. Getting off the horse Beryl helped Alexia down, and Alexia felt her legs burn a little from the experience.

 "The Storm drain should be down this alley." Saying this, Alexia began to check the sides of the alley and soon found it. All the storm drains in the city had metal bars to prevent people and objects from flowing down the drains, but this one the bars were corroded off and a grown man could slide down the sewers.

Beryl bent down and examined the bars and drain. "Yeah, this is the work of Magic Liquids. Look there is a bit still remaining on the bars." A bar still had a bit of glow on one of it's ends. Taking a look around, Alexia noticed on the far end a man was hawking bottles of potions at passerby's. She pointed him out to Beryl, and they both went to check him out.

Crudely scrawled on a sign beneath the potions on the table was "Jimmy's P'tions of Plenty" He greeted the two women as they approached, "Hello there folks, looking to buy some potions?"

Beryl said "Is your name Jimmy?" 

“Sure am, Jimmy the Brewer, it’s darn right pleasure to meet you two.”  Jimmy said and spat into the street some brown gunk.

Alexia took a look over the potions and said "Did you know you spelled the word potions wrong on your sign?"

"Noticed it myself a day ago, Was going to get around to fixing it one of these days." Jimmy said scratching his scruffy neck.

Beryl took one of the potions and looked it over saying "Where did you learn to make potions Jimmy?" 

Jimmy proudly said "Taught myself! I was brewing beer one day and thought why not try brewing potions? So I came to the city and went to work starting brewing potions. I've been getting better at brewing potions everyday. These are my best yet" Jimmy smiled and indicated the low level health potions.

Beryl said "What have you been doing with the failed potions?" 

Jimmy scratched his head, "Well, dumping them down the sewers of course, out of sight out of mind, as my ma used to say." 

"You do know that dumping magical liquids down the sewers is against the law?" Beryl said sighing in frustration.

Jimmy said "No, I don't know about that, Am I in trouble?" fear began to spread across his face.

"Yes Jimmy, you are in a lot of trouble." Beryl said.

Taking some chains out of her pouch, she approached Jimmy. "In name of the Law, I am placing you under arrest for the unsanctioned dumping of magical liquids, the destruction of public property, the willful endangerment of citizen lives.”

“Do you have a license to be selling potions on the street?" Beryl suddenly thought of something and asked Jimmy.

Jimmy shook his head as Beryl tied his hands behind his back. "Then you are also under arrest  for operating without a license. You will be taken to a guard house and held until a Judge sees your case, or you make bail.”

"What about my potions?" Jimmy asked.

"They will be confiscated, and under my authority as captain of the guard be used as rewards for your capture." Turning to Alexia she said "I have to take him down to the guard house. Thank you for helping solve this. I'll get back to you if we discover anything about that body.”

“Oh and as a Captain of the Guard, I authorize giving you these potions as a reward for services of the city." Jimmy grumbled about that, but shut up when Beryl pulled on the chain. "See you around." Beryl left leading a despondent Jimmy who glanced angrily back at Alexia.

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