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D'Rias
Location: Eyris

A wave of heat washed over the shaman and blacksmith once again as the smithing apprentice worked the bellows. Sweat was trickling down D'Rias's back as he watched the hammer hovering over the tool to break the manacles. One slip and he could easily suffer a shattered arm or worse, the iron clasped to his arms might become so deformed that it would never come off. The blacksmith looked at him once more,

"your sure about this?" The mage nodded, a wave of heat coursing over him again.

"Do it".

The hammer rose up and paused for a moment before crashing down like a lightning bolt. The force of the impact traveled throughout his body and D'Rias gritted his teeth as it came down again, and again, and again. Suddenly the right manacle broke, shards of metal peppered the ground around them and he raised his wrist to look at it. It had been so long since he had not felt his strength being drawn from him little by little and now suddenly half of it had vanished like a breeze. He grinned and repositioned the one hand still chained, nodding to the blacksmith.

The air had never tasted so sweet. The mage walked down the busy street through the smells of the city and stalls listening to the clatter of life around him. The voices blended together into a mesh so tight he could not decipher anything he heard. The chaos made gathering information through eavesdropping nearly impossible, he could attempt to find some written information or, and this was the easier option, he could ask questions directly. His red eyes wandered, trying to decide who best to approach, a soldier nearby was talking to a knight on horseback and handing him a quill and paper. Recruting for the army perhaps? He started toward the two and folded his hands behind his back.

Myrie groaned in deep, utter frustration as she walked along the city streets. Carpentry, Bar-tending, Message-running. None of these jobs were meant for someone with a sword arm! Mercenary jobs were filling up quickly and she had arrived late to the party. She had very little chance of finding a good paying job and was running on very little money.

"Dammit... I can't believe jobs are filling up this quickly!" She said, hanging her head in despair. If she didn't get a job quickly, she would starve. This wasn't the first time she was ever in this situation but it definitely was not a pleasant experience. It's not like she wouldn't take a boring job if it was the only one available but she wasn't going to give up that easily. "Man... at least in Ilia, the job market was consistent..." She muttered, rubbing the back of her head. She looked around the sides of the streets. The city was bustling with advertisers and job hunters. She had to admit, This city was a fairly good base of operations for a mercenary. Her job-finding skills just sucked.

As she walked through the streets, she didn't notice a tall blue-haired figure in front of her and ended up crashing into him. She was fairly strong and knew how to keep on her feet but was fairly demoralized. That's why she ended up falling backwards onto her a**. She looked up, nursing her wounded area. A man with a faint look of royalty and greenish blue hair was standing over her. He appeared to be a lancer from the look of things. She couldn't help but feel embarrassed about her blunder.

"I-I'm sorry! I didn't see you there sir!" She said, standing up and dusting herself off. She felt like one of those people who shouts out their thoughts in the middle of a crowd. She was flushed in embarrassment and turned her head to look away from the man she bumped into. Many thoughts were running through her mind. "Oh man! I'm sure everybody saw that! Nobody's gonna hire me!" She thought. She clenched her fist in anger at herself. One reason was because she was angry at herself for being so careless and the other for knowing she was overreacting. She really wasn't off to a good start.

Khalid had left him alone for some time now, before the apprentice and Khalid appeared again. The apprentice, pale in the face, merely nodded courteously, before getting back to work. "How did it go?"

"It worked as planned. Can I go now? It's getting windy..."

Although he would've appreciated the extra help, Lance waved it off. "Sure, sure...I got what I needed from you. You can get back to the office."

Khalid, sighing a sigh of relief, huddled up before disappearing into the crowd, leaving Lance alone.

Now what, then...

His main speeches were done now, but obviously no one was going to come forward at this point. So all that remained was to pack up and go home, or...

Personal interaction.

Going up to random people that seemed like good subjects and present a short sale's pitch could work, but the people he'd need to find would either have to be desperate, easily influenced or clueless for it to go without a hitch. Anyone not that would probably put too much thought into it, especially since he wouldn't be able to spend much time with each person...

Better than nothing, probably. He didn't even have to look for long. Just looking up the road, he could see his first, victim, so to speak.

Female. Twenties. Not dressed in a uniform, but dressed in some armor. Having a sword with her. Had just bumped into someone, seemed confused.

Perfect.

With an almost evil gleam in his eye, Lance closed the gap between him and the woman in a mere moment, moving smoothly careful not to hit anyone on the way, before he grabbed her firmly by the shoulder.

"You are EXACTLY what I've been looking for! And I can see in your eyes! 'I don't know where to start, I wish someone would help me!' Well, I can be that helper! Here, take this pamphlet, it has an adress and just about any information you'd need about the mercenary guild, Cloak! Into adventure, or helping people, or just in need in money? No worries! We can find something that suits you perfectly! Please do visit! Do you have any questions? I'd be glad to help, Lance Dartel, at your service!"

After making sure the red haired woman took a pamphlet, he gave her a quick salute before he waited for some sort of response.

*******************

Though you know, I wish, I could...

You know there ain't no rest for the wicked...

Until we close our eyes for good...

War leaves behind tremendous damage, often physical.

Damage requires fixing, sometimes in the form of healing.

Blythe is a healer-for-hire by profession; you do the math.

Suffice to say, the repercussions of the Siege of Eyris, and the still-lingering larger war in Learania in general, had garnered Blythe tremendous amounts of work. With so much of the country scarred, Blythe had actually been able to live and work in a manner very similar to how he’d been living his last days in Magvel, travelling from village to village selling his services. This also allowed him the opportunity to see much more of the country of Learania and familiarize himself with his new environment; a mini-adventure of sorts in and of itself, even if a bit grim in tone. The only notable difference between doing such work here and in Magvel was this time he was healing injuries caused by other people in deliberate warfare, rather than by monsters which could much more easily be called undeniably ‘evil.’ There seemed to be more people than usual who looked down upon Blythe charging for his services than usual as a result, but the Troubadour had to make a living somehow. Blythe continued to live by the mantra that had guided him thus far: nothing in life is free. His prices were more than very fair and exceedingly affordable as it was, and yet there were still instances in which he accepted pay in the form of something other than gold when his customers hadn’t even the meager, raw monetary means to afford his services.

But his services throughout the expanse of the majority of Learania seemed to be less and less needed the longer he kept travelling; the country seemed to be well on its way to recovery and reconstruction. It was time for the Troubadour to do something else. As he’d made a substantial cumulative profit travelling as a hirable staff through the country, he figured he could determine his next course of action in the capital city of Eyris and perhaps invest some new equipment or a similar equivalent while there. Perhaps he might travel throughout the country north of Learania, Adliana, for a while.

The day he rode Cesario into Eyris for the first time since their insane dash during the siege happened to be the day of the job fair, however. Blythe didn’t foresee himself getting involved with anything permanently, and especially didn’t foresee himself settling down here for the time being, but the bustle of people was a welcome sight all the same. Opportunities abounded more than usual due to the event, and Blythe expected he could either gain valuable insight into the happenings of his new world, a new destination or plan of action, or new acquaintances of some sort as he made his way through the street the fair was planted in. At present he was headed to a respectable inn to stay at, but he’d have to travel through the job fair to reach it, apparently.


In other news: FD post coming soon...ish. Expect it in perhaps the next 48 hours. He'll be aiming for interaction with Amelia, as a heads up

Lloyd opened his eyes and blinked. He was in the Black Fang's library moments ago and when he went to leave he blacked out. The Black Fang assassin stood up and stretched, feeling his bones crack out of stiffness.
How long was I unconscious? He wondered.
Stepping out of the alleyway he was in, Lloyd tried to figure out where he was. As one of the Four Fangs, the group of assassins a part of the Black Fang, Lloyd had seen much of Elibe while on contracts. He knew right away that he was neither in Bern nor Sacae. There were no plains and the temperature was warmer than Bern typically had. Lloyd saw a fruit vendor and walked up to the man.
"Excuse me? Can you tell me where in Elibe this is?"
The man looked at Lloyd up and down, "Sir, I don't know what you have been drinking but I have no idea what you are talking about. This is Eyris. The biggest city in Learania."
Lloyd thanked the man still visibly confused and bought an orange to eat.
"Eyris? Learania? What is going on here." Lloyd shook his head. Seeing tents and crowds further up the road Lloyd decided to check out what was going on.

Regulus got to attention quickly and and left the barracks. He quickly mounted his horse and moved out into the street, "It seems that we won't be getting any rest or food before going to this Arajudia place."