It's been about a week since the horrific incident in the town square, and since then, my life has been nothing but wild. After the incident, I ended up having to answer a plethora of questions the officers had for me. Thankfully, Iain was able to back up everything I said, so the police were able to let me go. Iain also let everybody know that I was a "monster" who was able to greatly injure the parasite, which resulted in its defeat! While this is technically true, it's somewhat embarrassing, especially considering Iain never needed my help in the first place.
Iain had wanted to hold a ceremony awarding me with a medal of some sort, but it seems like the city council didn't want to bring any more attention to the incident, so the ceremony never happened (which I'm kind of grateful for). Despite me getting let go, the incident, now known as "The Town Square Fiasco," is still very prevalent. The whole town of Acttio is enraged, with many people saying that they can no longer feel safe in their own city. Many are protesting that adventurers shouldn't be allowed back in the city after going down into the hole. Obviously, that's an outrageous proposal, but I can't exactly blame them for being scared. Two innocent people were murdered by something they should have never had to fear.
While thinking about all this, my shift ends, so I get ready to leave. Upon walking out the door, I wave goodbye to my co-worker. "Have a goodnight!" She smiles and waves back. "You too!" As soon as I step out of the store, I'm greeted by a chill gust of air. The streets are dimly lit by the lampposts laid out across the sidwalks, and the night sky is completely clear of clouds and stars. I start walking towards my apartment when I feel a vibration coming from my pocket. I roll my eyes before reaching into my pocket and grabbing my phone. I flip it open, and sure enough, I see the message: "Iain Auct is calling." I forgot to mention this, but while I was in police custody, Iain ended up giving me his number on a slip of paper. I called it as soon as I got out of jail. Looking back, I wish I never did because for the past few days, Iain had been calling me non-stop and asking the same question, every. Single. Time.
I press the green answer button flashing onscreen and lift the phone to my ear. "What do you want, Iain?"
"Hey, why do you sound so bothered?! Your best friend Iain is calling! Don't sound so depressed!" Iain's voice is full of excitement despite it being 11:30 at night. I let out a sigh before speaking. "Iain, look. No matter how many times you ask me, I'm not joining the police force. I already told you I'm going to become an adventurer."
I hear Iain chuckle on the other line. "Wait, that's not what I wanted to talk to you about— Well, that's not ALL I wanted to talk about." There's a small pause before Iain starts talking again. "I'm not going to ask you to join the police force anymore, but I was wondering if you'd be willing to do a job." I'm completely caught off guard by this. "A job?" Iain continues, "Yes, a job. I feel like your skills would be helpful for our next operation." I look down at my feet and grip my phone tightly. "Listen Iain, back in Town Square, I want you to know that what I did was a fluke. I was just lucky. You think too highly of me. I don't see how I could be of any help in an operation that you're apart of!"
I get ready to talk some more, but Iain cuts me off. "Eve, I'm sick of you acting like this. I beg you to take pride in your strength! This hasn't been announced to the public yet, but that man, the one that the parasite infected, has finally been identified (from witnesses, not the disintegrated body). Turns out he was a very experienced adventurer. His name was Gary Tun. He was somewhat shy, so he stayed away from the media, but he was strong. Apparently, on his dives, he was able to reach thousands of feet down into the hole. And I'm sure that you, of all people, know that in order to reach that far down into the hole requires immense ability. Yet, you were able to react to his attacks and out-speed him. Calling yourself weak is practically an insult to Gary!" Iain sounded a little upset.
I'm a bit taken aback by what Iain said, but he's completely right. I felt stupid. "Sorry, Iain. You're right. I didn't mean to sound insensitive." Iain immediately regains his chipper tone and reassures me. "Don't worry about it, buddy. Sorry for snapping at you. More importantly, let me tell you the details of the job." I'm still reluctant to do the job, but I nod my head and respond, 'Please do.'" "Alright then!" I hear a loud creak come from the phone. Iain probably sat back into his chair. "So Eve, have you ever heard of Lyrin? It's a pretty popular drug in this city." I quickly respond with a yes, considering the shady neighborhood I lived in I had probably seen somebody take it without realizing. Iain confines "In that case you should know how dangerous it can be." Iain was right. I knew some people who had died from taking the smallest pinch of Lyrin. Finally, Iain drops the bombshell on me. "Well, recently, we found the lab of the main group cooking the crap. We plan to raid them in about 4 days." My mouth is completely agape at this point, but Iain keeps going.
"Eve, I have trust in all of my fellow officers; however, I feel like having you on this raid will maximize our chances of success. In fact, you're probably closer to me in skill than you are to the rest of the officers." Iain was completely serious about this. "Iain, listen." I start speaking to Iain in a slow manner in order to really get my point across. "Putting skills aside, I have no experience in raids. I'd probably slow everybody down." I wasn't even trying to be humble this time, how could I possibly help with that! "Eve, Eve, Eve, don't worry about experience. I'll tell you everything you need to know. It's not that complicated." I don't trust this guy at all….. "Well, Eve, from your silence, I'm going to assume you're already interested, but this is going to seal the deal!" At this point, I want this conversation to end, so I hurriedly ask Iain what will "seal the deal."
"Well, I know that you wish to be an Adventurer, don't you, Eve? Well, I also happen to know that it takes quite a lot of money for a single trip down there." He's right. A trip down into the hole can be very costly when accounting for all the proper equipment and resources such as weapons, food, medical equipment, transportation, and many other things. Most people hope to break even off of valuables they find down there. "Eve, if you agree to go on this raid, I'm willing to pay you for your services out of pocket. My family is pretty wealthy so I can cover the expenses. In terms of the amount, well, I'm not too sure, but just know I'm willing to pay up to $20k for your work. The safety of my fellow officers is very important to me, and I feel like you, paired with me, can guarantee their safety. So, what do you say?"
At that moment, I couldn't see Iain's face, but I already knew he had a sleazy smirk on his stupid face. I dropped the hand holding my phone to my hip and looked at the sky, hating every second of this, hating what I was about to say. After holding that pose for a bit, I lifted the phone back to my ear and said the words I never wanted to say. "I'll do it." Within a second of me saying that, I could hear Iain laughing like a fool through the phone. "Oh, shut up, I have one last question regarding this." Iain starts speaking through his laughs. "Hahaha! Sorry, what's your question?"
"Is it even okay for me to join this raid? Don't you need permission from somebody?" Iain's laughs finally come to a close, and he answers me in his cocky tone. "Permission from who? Didn't you know, I'm Number One. I don't need permission from anybody!"