บท 14: The Opportunist

Chapter 14.

Reskeme was awoken in the night to loud knocking followed by loud noises below him as what sounded like a group of people searched the house he was in. He could hear the guards cursing as the thru open doors and broken furniture.

A man downstairs was causing a racket asking over and over that they not break stuff. With a loud smack the man shut up judging by a meaty sound and the crack the man must have been hit in the stomach and lost his breath.

For ten minutes Reskeme stared at the foo that opened below it looked small only big enough for a small adult to climb up. It must be a hidden door Reskeme thought. He willed the man downstairs to be quiet about his attic, the man downstairs must have disliked the guards immensely as he kept his mouth shut until the guards with a final insult of slamming the door left his house.

Reskeme could hear the man cleaning up glass and other items for almost an hour, the man was cursing the guards and his bad luck. When Reskeme decided the trouble had passed he finally decided he was safe and could go back to sleep on the hard dusty floor.

Reskeme woke up and coughed dust at entered his mouth making his throat sore. Luckily for him he didn't cough loud. Reskeme sat up and sneezed it appeared that the dust was still causing problems.

Reskeme looked around not seeing anything it was still dark and hard to see. Reskeme turned around and almost peed himself when he came face to face with his familiar, who was only a foot away staring straight into his eyes.

With his heart racing, Reskeme glared at his now snickering familiar. With his heart pounding out of his chest the boy decided that he would try and find a job today. Reskeme surely could get a job as magic users were very valuable and would get given jobs. Most places would offer to sponsor people with magic as it was benificial for them to do so. Reskeme thought this would be a great idea to join someplace like the messengers guild as he could get magic training if he did well and he would get paid at the same time.

Even Reskeme who was clearly a gutter rat in his dirty clothes would get a job if he proved that he had magic. Reskeme walked over to the door he stretched and his back cracked sleeping on the floor always made his back sore. Reskeme was nervous He stood before the window and stared at his familiar willing the demon to stay in the attic and not leave.

The demon just went back to sleep in the corner out of sight. Reskeme channelled his mana and wrapped it as thick as he could around his whole body. After his skin turned a light brown He was excited for the day and maybe he could make some copper. Reskeme remembered the chest in the corner he walked over and tried to open it. The chest wouldn't open of course, Reskeme thought maybe he could use mana to burn the lock but he wasn't sure how thick the lock was and didn't want to catch the room on fire.

Reskeme decided to make some lock picks. He would have plenty of chances to pick the lock if he made some and it would be good practice as he had never tried it before. Reskeme had seen lockpicks and knew what he needed, soo it couldn't be too hard he thought. With some anticipation, Reskeme made his way to the window. It was at this moment that Reskeme remembered that he hadn't changed the colour of his hair.

It was going to be one of those days he thought as he sat down to wait for the spell to break apart. twenty minutes later the spell had finally faded, Reskeme was a little irritated but what could he do. He channelled all of his mana and focused on his first layer of mana covering all of his body, When his skin turned a dark brown he focused and continued channelling focusing on black for his hair.

Now Reskeme was less happy for the day, although he was still willing to go try and get some money maybe he could become a delivery boy or a messenger. With Renewed determination and a little of his excitement back, Reskeme adjusted the window and climbed out before shutting it behind him. Reskeme took a look around trying to find a marker from the top of the roof.

They were just out of the slums area soo this area wasn't too poor. There was a mailing station that was for the city that lived near this area. Reskeme spotted his mark and walked over to the gutter pipe got down on his chest and while chanting to himself "don't look down". He climbed slowly down the gutter the two stories drop would be bad.

Reskeme sighed with relief when he finally reached the ground, he wasn't terrified of heights although they did make him extremely nervous. Reskeme walked casually down the alley towards the messenger office. He walked for ten minutes before he realized he took a wrong turn somewhere. With a grumble, he changed back until he finally got back on track.

Reskeme was grumpy he had guessed the path wrong that time and almost slipped into something that looked fowl in the process. A lot of the alleys in this part of the city where people's personal privy. They would toss their chamber pots out the window because unlike the merchants and nobles they didn't have indoor bathroom or pipes that carried waste thru gutters.

Some people were clearly still mad after last night and would toss wast at people who were walking underneath just because they were having a bad day. Reskeme avoided two such people before he arrived in front of a building. The building looked official maybe they would give him some work he thought.

Reskeme walked towards the door receiving a few glances from people as he passed, that was probably because the boy was dusty, dirty and they wanted to keep an eye on him soo he didn't rob them. That was silly Reskeme thought there was no way he would pickpocket them right in front of everyone else. He would obviously wait until they were turned around and not paying attention before he robbed them.

Reskeme opened the doors and was glared at by a tall menacing man behind a desk. The man was heavily muscled and tall, Reskeme was now less certain of his plan. The huge muscled man kept quiet behind the desk as he entered. The man Had a name tag that stated the man's name was Hank. Reskeme walked up to the desk and said, "I'm looking for a job" Hank continued to glare at the boy looking him up and down making Reskeme sweat with nerves. The man Kept staring, Reskeme was starting to fear for his life this man was scary as hell.

When finally Hank Said, "Good boy that glare you have is good, and you didn't run away after I glared at you that's good" The huge man had a deep voice which seemed to increase Reskemes discomfort in his presence. Hank said, "and what makes you think I would higher a lowly gutter rat like you?" Reskeme said, " I can cast magic I could be useful to the messengers guild"

Hank raised an eyebrow before saying, "That's a bold claim can you prove it?" Reskeme began channelling his mana for 10 seconds in which the man stared dubiously at him. Reskeme focused and envisioned what he wanted to create in his hand while forming the mana outside his already intact illusions. And without noise or even a flash, a wooden mug appeared in the boy's hand as it had always been there.

The man Hank had never seen anything like that before in this city and a lowly boy casting illusion magic was very interesting. Hank walked over to the still very nervous Reskeme and put his hand thru the mug which was just for appearances. He said," your detail work is bad and if someone looks to close its clearly not a real mug even without touching it.

Reskeme was at a loss until Hank said," How long do your spells last for" Reskeme replied, "That all depends on how much I channel although my maximum is 20 minutes" the boy lied. The man whistled and said, "Impressive That's almost as long as full-fledged mages" Hank said," alright boy you are hired I expect good things from you we will need to get you better clothes yours are garbage".

Hank glared at the now smiling Reskeme, "You better not disappoint our establishment, stealing from customers will not be tolerated," Hank said with a firm voice. Reskeme said with a straight face," I will do the job to the best of my abilities." Hank nodded and said, "follow me before walking into a side closet that was next to the man's desk." Reskeme followed the man, he was now excited and couldn't wait to get new clothes out of this that was something. To Reskemes surprise the entire closet was full of different sizes of uniforms that had the logo of the messengers.

Each one was an eye-catching red and had a logo with a horse and a scroll embroiderd on the shoulder. The uniforms were clean and were anywhere from huge to smaller than even Reskeme would need. This wasn't unusual as the messenger guild hired all ages for different levels of delivery. Hank grabbed an outfit that consisted of a shirt and a coat with embroidered pants held them up to Reskeme before grumbling about the boy being thin as hell and grabbed a slightly thinner set from the same rack. When Hank was satisfied that the outfit would fit Reskeme he instructed the boy wait in a side room that had a drain in the far corner.

Reskeme was extremely confused when the man told him to take off his rags. Reskeme did so he wasn't worried about his illusion it was on his skin and showed a specific colour, water wouldn't make the illusion disappear. Reskeme undressed and was extremely embarrassed, Hank re-entered the room with a bucket that had soapy water with a sponge. The man said without looking at Reskeme, "take the bucket stand over the drain and scrub everything."

Reskeme waited for the man to leave before he sighed and began scrubbing each time it felt like he was taking a layer off himself, He was covered in dust,ash and who knew what else. The water was cold but felt amazing on his skin. Reskeme got lost in the glorious sensations of washing himself. When He was almost done when he felt it as his mana brushed against his skin and hair like a strong breeze.

Reskeme Was lucky that he had taken a while cleaning himself. He quickly channelled his mana focusing on his skin first as it was a big pattern of mana, he kept channelling and changed the colour of his hair focusing on the same colour for his skin and his hair. It would be bad if Hank realized he was changing his body colours the man might get suspicious.

After channelling two double patterns in one day he already felt tired and his body was protesting although it wasnt near as bad as last time. Reskeme smiled he was seeing improvement. Hank opend the door and winked at the boy seeing his smile "that good to feel clean?" Reskeme came back to the present and replied, "Yes I havent felt this clean in weeks maybe even years." that made the gruff Hank smile at the clearly happy boy.

"Well come get your clothes on we have work to do" Hank said. Reskeme tried on the uniform first putting on some undergarments followed by the dress pants. The pants were loose and Reskeme assumed that he would halfto hold them up when Hank seen the boys prediciment and left the room before returning with a long strip of leather with a metal clasp.

Hank put the belt in Reskemes hand the boy was shocked that it was leather. This belt would cost half of a silver the boy thought. Hank said, "Put it thru the loops on your pants," when the boy did as he was told Hank instructed him back out into the hall. There was a mirror Reskeme was surprised and flabbergasted at the reflection looking back at him. He was staring at a boy with short uncombed hair in a formal costly outfit that was bright red and looked dashing on his small frame making him look important. Next to the giant that was hank he looked small but still looked dashing they almost looked like a father and son standing next to eachother.

Hank pulled out a letter from his desk that had some official looking seal on it. He handed it to the boy and said, "Here is your first task take this scroll to the main merchant guild house called the Rose and Dagger it is located in the merchant quarter". Reskeme held out his hand and nodded he was quite happy to do the job, The man said, "Deliver the letter to them as quick as possible and whatever you do dont open the seal", the final part with a glare soo intensly at the boy it made him shake.

Reskeme said, "do i return when i have finished"? Hank said, "Yes return with the reply from the merchant guild". Hank smiled at Reskeme as he turned from the desk with a letter in his hand. The document felt light and looked official. Reskeme was exited he was leaving the messengers hall with new cloths and a new opportunity. He was burning with anticipation thinking of all of the ways he could make some copper from things that the merchants guildhouse had just lying around. Surely there would be something they wouldnt miss he thought with a smile.