Witches Going Live 1.3

Chapter 3 - Another Day’s Work

The fat stack of quests Dev passed off to Leo comprised a bulky collection of delivery jobs. Nothing out of the ordinary. For a few, he'd have to go out of his way and procure a few odds and ends on his own, but most of his deliveries were awaiting pickup in the Guild's inventory room. Taking out his clipboard, Leo flipped through it to single out the ones he needed to present, then took a left by the stairs leading to the second floor.

He entered through a large set of doors, entering a smaller yet still sizable room separated in two halves by another long row of counters. Behind these counters were rows and rows of ceiling-high shelves magically linked to countless storage containers deep beneath the Guild. Here, adventurers could drop off their loot and spare gear or pick up outgoing deliveries already deposited by clients.

It was less busy here than the main hall, but not by much. The Imperalis Adventurer's Guild wasn't a place that ever slowed down. Everyone was going, going, going, and the inventory room was no exception. The clerks at the desks were bouncing back and forth in a manic haze between helping adventurers and scouring the monolithic shelves, trying endlessly to make sense of the convoluted filing system that obfuscated and hindered as much as it helped.

Leo presented his quests to the nearest open desk, giving them to a bored-looking elf who could've been anywhere from two hundred or two thousand years old. After Leo turned the man down when he tried pitching an upgraded storage plan, the elf scurried back and set about filling up a cart full of deliveries. Knowing he might be here for a while, Leo whipped out a book from his bag and cracked it open to his bookmark, propping himself against the counter with his elbows.

His friend always lent him all kinds of pulpy novels the Association pumped out, and he'd gotten into the habit of trudging through them. While the front cover assured the reader that the book was based on the real exploits of a gold-ranked rogue named Zane Steel, Leo wasn't that naive. Most of these books appealed to the lowest common denominator, but you eventually grew a taste for the slop after eating enough. It wasn't the only thing she'd gotten him into, and it probably wouldn't be the last.

The constant barrage of sex scenes in the more adult-leaning novels didn't hurt Leo's attention, either.

With impeccable timing, the clerk returned as Leo reached one of those scenes. The previously empty cart was now stacked high with packages which would've been a problem for one man to carry on his own, especially for an adventurer who didn't have the superhuman strength widely seen in his profession.

Luckily, there were workarounds.

"Load her up," Leo swung his messenger bag off his shoulder and set it on the counter.

"Sure thing, kid," After taking the bag, the clerk had a moment of clarity and started to ask, "Oh, hey, while I got you here-"

"It has a higher storage capacity than anything in the Adventurer's First catalog," Leo smiled politely at the elf. "But I respect the grind."

Shrugging, the other man nodded his head. "Can't blame a guy for trying, can you?"

"Can't say that I can. Good luck with your quota."

"Thanks," he seemed to appreciate that, as he respectfully nodded toward Leo before transferring the huge package pile into Leo's custom-made vastbag.

Besides his smart-orb, it was easily his most expensive possession. It had all sorts of handy enchantments that increased its capacity more than a standard vastbag and even gave it bonus conveniences like sticking your hand in and automatically withdrawing the desired object on the first try or never losing its slender shape. Aside from its usefulness, it also had some personal significance to Leo. He wouldn't switch even if the Guild started offering a better product in their catalog.

With everything loaded, it was time to head back into the city.

One of the greatest things about Leo's partnership with Dev was just how easy he made things. Included in the clipboard was a route Dev had meticulously planned out first thing in the morning after taking the liberty of accepting these quests in Leo's name. Not having to think of his routing was a massive timesaver for Leo, and it was another factor that helped him become the Guild's most prominent runner of fetch quests and deliveries. While everyone else was out there running a small handful of jobs at once or agonizing over where they had to go and what time they had to be there, Leo was making his fifteenth delivery.

For all Dev's faults, Leo counted himself lucky to have such a good friend as he left the Guild through the front entrance.

Throughout the morning, he'd been moving along with the traffic flow and traveling leisurely. Now that he was on the job, Leo stepped up his game and demonstrated why he was the king. Many of the common gifts prevalent among his kin skipped Leo entirely, but stamina and speed were not among those. He darted forward, his strides eating up the ground at a pace few could match and taking him through routes that an ordinary mount couldn't dream of.

He flew down the steps and the tiered terraces, heading west. To save time, Leo would tackle the gathering portion of today's quests before looping back to finish his deliveries in the city. Some alchemist or another wanted potion ingredients and tasked him with gathering a basket of hanglow fruit, a particular sort of nut growing on dense bushes in front of tree bases you could find in the Bellepar Timberlands. From there, he'd head northeast for a quick dive into the foothills to scoop up a geode left behind by a lesser cave wurm and then east to the grasslands in search of rock quail eggs,

Easy.

At full speed, Leo blazed past the crowds he walked among earlier. He was running through the central lane meant for horses and carriages, bypassing all obstacles with his diverse movement arts while relying on the most basic art of all to supplement his speed- Quick Step. By building up a small pool of his body's energy into the sole of his foot, Leo burst forward and didn't look back. He had a lot of miles to cover both inside the city and out, so onwards he went.

It wasn't long till Leo found himself at the southernmost bridge of the Kingriver, the only way west out of the adventure district. There wasn't a toll for crossing that slowed things down, but the bridge itself was a full two lanes narrower than the streets he'd been running through. The traffic was congested as people came and went from the neighboring district, but this wasn't about to set Leo back. He dropped into a low crouch, stored energy in his lower legs, then leaped after activating Spring Heel.

Just like that, Leo was soaring, and the wind buffeted his fancy hair. The momentum of his sprinting carried into the jump, making him clear a vast distance before plummeting down toward the roof of a wagon. If he didn't do something about it fast, he'd crash straight through and ruin someone else's day. He had a trick in his book for just about anything, though, and he began preparing another art moments before the impact.

Leo's landed on top of the roof without so much as a sound. Featherfoot dispersed the kinetic impact harmlessly around his feet, a burst of air the only proof of his impending collision. From there, he transitioned into another graceful crouch and immediately performed another long-distance leap. Combining his arts gave the impression to any onlookers that this man could ignore the laws of gravity, watching in awe as this young man bounced from cart to cart without losing a hint of speed. He wasn't damaging the carts, either, so no one really cared. You saw all kinds of weird things in the big city, and most people assumed Leo was another crazy adventurer on his way out of the Guild district.

One of the biggest districts in Imperalis, Almalenna's Grace was home to the least fortunate commoners and was Leo's next step on his way to leaving the city. The roads there weren't as broad or well maintained as the ones you find elsewhere in the city, and the traffic was absolutely choking. You had to submit yourself to it if you wanted it to take you where you wanted to go, but Leo figured out early in his career how to bypass the headache by using the unique architecture around these parts.

Buildings were tall here, stuffed with tons of apartments and overcrowded homes. Plenty of awnings, signs, and other overhangs crisscrossing above the road carved a trail for anyone surefooted enough to take advantage of it. After his last cart jump, Leo hurtled toward the start of this road and landed against the side of one such imposing home. In another gravity-defying feat, Leo's continued stride carried him vertically up the stone wall as Wall Walk did precisely what its name implied. Learning how to do that one was a pain in the ass, but Leo had a good teacher.

Now on the roof, Leo didn't waste time looking at the view of the city below. There'd be time for that later. He fell into a rhythm of jumps, crossing gaps between buildings with liberal use of his Double Jump art and his treasured winged boots. When activated, a pair of small white wings would spread out from his ankles, allowing him to glide for ten seconds- more than enough time to slow things down and adjust the angle of his fall if he ever needed to. Between his particular skill set and his tools, there was nothing Leo wasn't prepared for when it came to free-running.

As he ran, his adventuring gear did its job. Running around in a badass leather jacket would've been foolish if it weren't for Leo having gone out of his way to get it treated with a minor enchantment to help regulate his body heat. Even if he crossed the entire city in a mad dash, he wouldn't shed an ounce of sweat. Was it vain? Absolutely. Expensive? He'd spent money on stupider things. Besides, doing his job in the utmost style was worth it. All those badass adventurers got to wear their fancy armor sets and magical robes, and Leo had to compensate somehow, didn't he?

Only upon reaching the city walls did Leo slow down and join the people exiting through the Gate of Timber. It pained him to do so, and he had half a mind to just run straight up the wall and hop on over the other side. Leo had never tried that, but with his skills, it was certainly an option. The only thing stopping him was the squad of well-armed soldiers patrolling along the top. It was easier to just flash his bronze-rank badge at the gate guard and be on his way.

"Three," Leo sighed as he stepped away from the armored man in his little booth, a shock of sunshine hair and emerald eyes peeking out from behind his metal visor. No wonder he wore the thing.

Exiting the city to the west like this led to two impoverished communities separated by a road leading into the Bellepar Timberlands- North and South Scroungetown. Leo never hung around here long and didn't step off the road. The two shantytowns were massive in scope, stretching halfway across the walls on either side and consisting of thousands of poorly-constructed shacks, tents, and other such hovels.

Leo was always sympathetic toward the folk who found themselves living here. Although the royal city was constantly improving and bettering itself in dozens of little ways, nothing ever changed for them. He made sure to tip a couple of beggars on his way out. Leo kept his mouth shut as he did and didn't acknowledge them beyond that. Whether you're a beggar or a bastard, Leo understood nobody liked being talked down to.

It wasn't long till he sped off again, soon crossing the border connecting the Arrark and Rhoivan provinces to head toward the timberlands. It was a journey that would've taken ordinary people a day on foot, but he made it faster than even a man on horseback.

The Bellepar Timberlands was a dense forest stretching across the northern half of Arrark's territory, nestled just underneath the Odarri Mountains. In direct contrast to the Gnarled Woods running along Arrark's southern half, the timberlands were significantly safer- yet not without danger. It was a popular place for up-and-coming adventurers to train and test their skills or to engage in a bit of questing, with the eastern half being the safest, thanks to its proximity to Imperalis. Like most dangerous places, it only got worse the deeper you went.

Leo likely wouldn't be venturing far enough to run into anything he couldn't escape from, so in he went.

He slowed down significantly as he cruised the woods, canvassing the undergrowth for any scraggly bushes which grew the nuts he needed for his quest. It was peaceful here today, with warm, flickering sunlight striking through the gaps of the canopy to dapple the ground. It must've rained a few days ago, as Leo could pick up the distant electric drone of jitterbugs standing out amongst the chirping of birds and the calls of other forest-dwelling creatures.

The canopy itself is thick enough that the undergrowth was relatively thin, so while Leo couldn't sprint full tilt like he would've liked, it was easy to keep up a fast pace. The only thing that stopped him was the occasional ravine or creek, which he quickly cleared, whether thanks to his winged boots or one of his arts. It wasn't long before he came across one of the bushes he'd been searching for.

Wasting not even a second, Leo extended his gauntlet and willed its enchantment to activate. As he pulled a basket from his bag, a glowing blue hand of pure magic materialized before him and flew to the bush. It gathered the nuts with speed matching his own and then returned to him, dumping its payload into the basket without Leo ever having to break his stride.

He'd gotten a lot of use out of his grasping glove ever since he picked up the thing at a thrift sale in the grotto, its utilities limited only by Leo's imagination. It was just another example of how optimized his job has become after the two years spent refining performance.

Although the quest didn't specifically require it, Leo went out of his way to snag a few other bushes worth after coming across them on his way northeast. It wasn't always guaranteed, but it was typically better to bring more than was requested on the off chance the client was willing to pay a little extra. If not, hey- free nuts.

The terrain began to shift as Leo steadily left the forest. The ground beneath him, which was primarily flat terrain with some gullies and small hills added in for good measure, gave way to steep hillsides with trees clinging on desperately to the sharp inclines. Beneath his feet, the loamy soil that gave a soft bounce to Leo's steps transitioned into crunchy gravel and hardened clay.

The Odarri Mountains' foothills were more challenging to navigate than the timberlands. Though equally close to Imperalis, the number of adventurers that journeyed there was a fair bit fewer. Things lurked within the deep depths and commanded the peak's heights that brought fear into the hearts of men, and monsters were far from the only danger. Losing oneself at increased elevation was always possible, whether brought on by a violent storm or a trip into an unsuspecting tunnel- one wrong move, and that's it.

Praise the goddesses; Leo wouldn't be here for long. Tunnels left behind by lesser cave wurms were easy to identify and unlikely to be inhabited by anything other than the wurm itself, thanks to a unique pheromone secreted while slithering through the earth. The smell didn't register much for a human, either, and was only a mild irritation at best.

The geode Leo was hunting was a byproduct of the wurm. If one was crass, it could be viewed as a form of excrement. Calling it poop was a bit reductive, though. The wurms didn't digest the earth they consumed, merely devouring a path while straining for edible creatures unlucky enough to be caught in its maw. Leo once overheard an explanation from an employee of Critters, Creatures, and Companions about how whales ate, and to his understanding, the two were comparable enough. Cave wurms plowed through miles of dirt, consuming small organic creatures, and would then expel most of the minerals they ingested during their travels as a compacted geode.

Some were rather beautiful, containing valuable ores and stunning crystalline structures within. That was only if you were lucky, though. Most were just compacted balls of solid rock and little else of actual interest. This made looking for them a bit of a gamble. Ordinarily, a quest like this would've been something Leo would've passed on. Between the higher risk of danger, the random value of the target, and the distance he might have to travel to find a good one, it was too inconsistent to be taken seriously.

So why was it on the list, then? Because Dev knew Leo wouldn't pass up a request from Liriene Cardaign.

She was worth going out of his way for, and her demands weren't unrealistic. She didn't want a massive batch of geodes like a smith or a jeweler might've, only desiring three. That wouldn't even take him more than a few minutes after he'd found a cave.

Traveling in the foothills slowed Leo down significantly as it lacked consistent paths, forcing him to make the most of his skills to free run over the rough terrain. He Wall Walked his way up the side of a narrow gorge, using it to bounce back and forth across the small gap and gain height in combination with Spring Heel. Upon reaching the top, he quickly scrambled up the last few boulders to gain a better advantage of the land around him. There, he spotted precisely the sort of tunnel he was looking for.

Leo did what he did best and crossed the distance in style, landing at the foot of the cave and pulling out an everglow stick from his bag. It was a practical magical alternative to a torch he'd picked up at Molligale's Emporium. Reusable, bright, cheap. Suited him just fine, even if he hated having to shop there. Pressing the activation button, Leo crouched down and wandered inside the cramped borehole.

It was a tight fit, but Leo wasn't the biggest guy around. He ran his fingers along the edge of the rocky walls to confirm what he already knew. They were smooth- this was it, alright. Lesser cave wurms dug using a combination of natural acid and mucus to glide through the earth, eating their way through solid rock and minerals like water, their passing leaving behind smooth grooves carved into passages as the creatures drilled their way to their next meal. Furthermore, it was fresh. It hadn't collected much dirt or debris since it was first dug, and it only took him a brief walk down the tunnel until Leo found his first geode. It was a hunk of rock about the size of a human head and roughly the same weight.

One quick swipe of the grasping glove and it was deposited in Leo's bag.

The frequency of a wurm processing a geode depended on the size of the monster, naturally. The longer the wurm, the farther it could travel before ejecting the contents of its gut. It was often debated by adventurers in the business of geode prospecting on whether or not it was best to focus on tunnels made by bigger wurms or smaller ones. Bigger ones left you with higher quality geodes at a reduced frequency, smaller ones for a greater quantity overall.

As for Leo, he wasn't a prospector and couldn't care about any of that.

He only knew that he had found one of the smaller tunnels, meaning he'd be able to finish up his business as soon as he'd hoped. Good. Trudging through claustrophobic tunnels wasn't his idea of a good time, and he still had to gather eggs in the grasslands before he could return to the city. Luckily, the wurm blessed him with two fortuitous excretions not long after he started his search, and just like that, Leo was out of there.

He stretched his back after exiting the burrow, breathing in the fresh mountain air and gazing at the clear blue sky. Going off the sun's alignment, it was early in the afternoon. He'd made good time thus far and intended on making good time with the rest of his workload, starting with those eggs he needed to find.

Rock quails were common in the grasslands east of the foothills, and despite their misleading name, they didn't have any affinity with minerals of any kind. They were small, plump, and stupid little birds that got their name from being as dense as a rock and just as common. Such was their intellect that some people believed they hadn't died off yet because they were too stupid to figure out how. That, and they tasted like dirt, and even the most desperate grassland predators overlooked them.

The only thing they had going for them was their eggs, which were not only tasty but useful for purposes both magical and alchemical, but somehow, they couldn't even do that right. All attempts to domesticate them since their discovery had failed, as rock quails only lay eggs in the wild where they can live stress-free. Several Imperalis businesses went out of their way to keep them stocked on store shelves, but the markup was so intense that unless you bought in bulk, it was cheaper to hire an adventurer yourself to scoop some up for delivery.

Sliding down the loose soil on the side of an embankment, Leo finally slipped clear of the foothills and entered the plains. He repeated his search pattern from the forest, scouring left and right on his way toward the city. Roaming back and forth through the knee-high grass, it only took a few minutes before Leo quite literally stumbled across a dense gathering of rock quails. The stupid things were just lying about after having copulated themselves senseless, and he nearly tripped before noticing them. Only a couple paces away hidden in the grass was a bundle of nests with several heaps of eggs- six in one and another six in the other. Precisely the amount he needed.

"Sorry, guys," Leo grinned while muttering to the oblivious avians and extending his grasping glove. The magical hand manifested before shooting off to the nearest nest, only for Leo to be reminded a little too late that speeding ahead wasn't always the best option.

If Leo had picked them up by hand, he would've realized straightaway there was something off about one of the nests. One was foul and filled with rotten eggs that had gone soft. They couldn't withstand the pressure of the glove's hand clasping around them- shattering instantly. Worse, Leo already willed the hand back towards him, and a wave of egg filth escaping the gauntlet was sent rushing at him.

"Shit-" Leo didn't have long to respond, and the thought of getting all that gunk on his nice clothes caused him to overreact. Quick Step would've gotten him out of the way just fine, but on instinct alone, he went a step beyond.

By performing the same activation method, Leo tapped into an advanced form of the same art that made him disappear in a flash and appear nearly fifty feet away. Blink Step was total overkill, but he always relied on it in moments of panic. Leo had no desire to find out how difficult it'd be to get that smell out of his adventuring gear- especially not since he still had to drop off the geodes at Liri's place.

Having narrowly evaded disaster, Leo rested his palms on his knees as he panted in recovery. Of all his arts, this was the one that strained him the most, even when used sparingly. Most of the time, he only used it in emergencies, like when he was about to get run over on the street or when a monster began chasing him, which saved his life on many occasions. This wasn't quite as dramatic, but Leo was satisfied regardless.

He walked back to the other nest and bent over in front of it, intent on inspecting it up close this time. Sure enough, these six were fresh by comparison. Leo closed his eyes and sighed. Clarity always hit him after it was too late; now was no exception.

"Six and six does not make twelve, huh?" He ran a hand through his hair. "Gotta be what she was talking about. Gods, couldn't you have made it a little more obvious, Vana...?" Leo muttered to himself as he started scooping up the eggs by hand and depositing them into his vastbag. Interested in what he was doing, one of the rock quails waddled towards him and looked up at Leo with its dull eyes.

"Seriously?" He stared at the little bird. "I'm literally stealing your eggs. I could be a predator for all you know, and you just walk right up to me without a care in the world?"

It blinked and then chirped thoughtlessly.

"Don't know why I was expecting to get through to you..." Leo clicked his tongue and extended the egg towards the quail, repeatedly gesturing with it. "Here's a tip for next time around- maybe try sitting on your eggs next time, and maybe they'll hatch, yeah? Don't be a deadbeat. Be better."

As it was just a bird, it said nothing in response.

"Right. Well, good luck with that." Leo rose, turned towards the city looming in the distance, knelt on one knee, and took off.

He had a few miles to cross from here, but the smooth terrain and the soft grass beneath his feet were perfect for running. Things would be even easier once he got onto the Greatway, the massive road connecting all major cities in Karnalle. It ran north from Imperalis to the Bragos province through the gap between the Odarri and Hyrst Mountains. A steady stream of merchant caravans was always flowing either way, with rare imported goods from foreign realms heading north and metals, jewels, and ironworks from the mountains heading south to the capital.

Leo joined them on the road, speeding along his way to the northern gate of Imperalis- the Gate of the Mountains. He'd made excellent time, and by the time he flashed his badge to the gate guardian- who coincidentally raised to Leo's ongoing counter to four- it was only two in the afternoon. By Leo's best estimate, he might be ready to head into the grotto at around five or six. The sooner, the better, so after buying a quick refreshment in the form of an icy sweet treat from a nearby street vendor, Leo set about the rest of his business and got into the groove of making deliveries.

Crossing the north-most Kingriver bridge into his most hated district, Leo entered Barion Heights. What else needed to be said about it beyond that it was the home of the wealthy and the nobility? The whole place was nothing but expensive mansions, villas, and castles belonging to various influential noble families from across the seven provinces- barring Drerland, being the swampy cesspit it was. The reason it was called the Heights was thanks to the district's increase in elevation, but the common folk had a more crass way of looking at it. To them, the Heights were the Heights because everyone living there liked pissing onto everyone below from on high.

Leo was more familiar with the Heights than he ever wanted to be, and no matter how long it'd passed since he left, he couldn't erase the time he'd spent there in his teenage years. It wasn't all bad, but it didn't have to be. Enough of it was bad that it ruined everything else.

As far as he cared, the common folk had the right of things.

The only saving grace was that Leo rarely had to deal with nobles himself. Any deliveries he made were typically handled by snobby servants waiting for him at the gate. If he was lucky, sometimes a pretty beastfolk maid would be there to take his package, given how popular the race was with the rich as domestic servants. Lucky assholes. Leo wanted animal-eared maids, too, but he wasn't that well-off, and if he never increased his rank at the Guild, he probably never would be.

Yeah, right. It wasn't like hiring cute maids got them to actually like you or anything. It'd be a business arrangement, a convenient lie, just like the ones he shared with the girls on the OrbNet. After all, no girl would actually be interested in just another-

Leo snapped out of his depressive thoughts just in time for the pretty catfolk girl to smile politely and hand him back his clipboard, which she'd just finished signing. The papers were magically linked to identical copies at Dev's desk, meaning Leo wouldn't have to return to notify him of the job's completion. Bottling back up his issues where they belonged, Leo returned to the clipboard and thanked her for nothing in particular as he left.

Leo realized he needed a bit of downtime before seeing Liri tonight, so he picked up the pace and receded into a mindless grind of run, deliver, repeat. It didn't help his mood, making him disconnected from reality a bit the longer it went on. It was a grind when he dropped off packages in the middle-class homes of Osmarre's Repose, it was a grind when he dropped off important wares to various shops in the commercial district, and it was a grind when he made it back to Almalenna's Grace to drop off who knows what to who knows who.

In the blink of an eye, his day was done, and he'd hardly been cognizant of anything that happened. The time between then was like a fugue. He didn't know how he ended up sitting on top of one of the tallest buildings in Sere's Abundance, chowing down on a second icy treat, but it wasn't a bad view now he was there.

The middle Kingriver bridge was the real center of the city, but the Abundance- one of the most important markets for interrealm trading- was only a little to the left. Sitting there, he could see the entire skyline of Imperalis if he wanted- from the barricaded Traitor's Row to the northwest to the similarly gated-off Interrealm Senate in the southeast.

Leo watched as a Karnallian voidship passed overhead on its way to Dandamir Docks, wondering what it would be like to hop on board one of those and depart for somewhere he could make a new start for himself. Maybe Ikkuni or Merryburrow? Vippa Blonrap sounded pretty weird, but hey, gnomes were friendly people. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad so long as he didn't have to keep being who he was.

It wasn't just that there wasn't no chance girls would ever take him seriously. It was that no one would. Indifference and mild acquaintanceship were the best he could hope for from most people. No one really saw him. Even if he was a 'leaping' one, he was just another lion in a city packed already packed with more than it ever needed. What worth did a man like that really have?

Inevitably, his eyes were drawn towards the most noticeable thing in all of Imperalis- Castle Lundreame. To call it a foreboding present didn't do it justice. The castle wasn't like any other structure in all of Karnalle. Owing to the bipolar history of House Lundreame's rule beginning since the age of heroes ended three and a half millennia prior, all manner of kings and queens had left their mark on that curious seat of power.

Towering over the rest of the city, it looked like a normal castle for the first few levels until everything started branching off to the point where it resembled an abstract painting rendered by a cosmically-compromised artist. Towers twisted upon themselves, looping and in some cases leading nowhere. Unfinished additions were present in droves. Some mad King even tried constructing a second gravity-defying castle further up the structure, held up by a series of pillars that haven't caved in to this day. Magic, probably, but that didn't make it any less insane to look upon.

Then, there was the little fort by Castle Lundreame's side- Ralvask's Keep. Home to the unwanted, where they might sharpen their claws and make something of themselves. Leo only managed to pull his eyes away after finishing his snack. Wanting to dwell on something a little less depressing, he thought back on what he could remember of the day he'd had.

He'd run hard today- one of the longest routes he'd done yet. It wasn't the best paying day he'd ever had- his geode quest taking up time that could have been spent on who knows how many extra deliveries in the city- but the coin was still better than most adventurers his rank would make in a month. So why was he still so tense, and why couldn't he stop disassociating?

He had money. Clothes to mask his true self behind. False love from strangers on the orbnet. It should've been enough for someone like him, but no matter how much he told himself that, it wasn't.

Everything came down to Leo being able to count the people who actually cared about him on one hand. There was Dev, Liri, his old boss and his wife, and maybe Vana, if he was gracious. No- Vana counted. They might not've been very close, but Leo somehow knew she saw him for who he was, even with her hood drawn over her eyes.

There was a yearning in Leo's heart. He lusted for love, validation, and recognition- every scrap he could get.

It didn't help that the Association hadn't so much as implied they ever intended on promoting him to silver rank. Leo completed more quests in his first two years than some adventurers did in a lifetime. Dev used to hype him up, telling him he'd get a letter from the internal ranking committee or whatever any day now, but after a while, he stopped mentioning it, and Leo never bothered asking why.

No matter how much effort he put in, Leo's deeds went unrecognized by the Guild. He was the Leaping Lion, and that's all he would ever be. Why would he need to be promoted to silver-rank when he could make the Association more money by mass-completing bronze-ranked deliveries and fetch quests for the rest of his life? Maybe that was cynical to even consider, but Leo felt he was onto something.

It wasn't like his badge changing color would make any difference, anyway. He'd still be doing the same kind of thankless work for the same sort of people who only had gold and empty platitudes to give him for his trouble.

"What the fuck am I doing?" Leo sighed and ran his hand down his face.

The idea was to take a moment for himself after his long day before seeing Liri, but all Leo accomplished was making himself feel worse than he already did. He flicked the little wooden stick from his snack over the edge of the building and watched it tumble down to the city of uncaring eyes below.

Leo's dissatisfaction and his insecurities paved the way for something more. Something raw. Worsening his mood wasn't the only thing that happened, actually. His snack- little more than iced sugar water- had filled his bladder. Sure, he could take care of it on his way to the grotto, but why bother waiting that long if no one knew he existed?

Fuck it.

Leo stood up, undid his fly, and dangled his flaccid cock over the rooftop's edge where the entire city of Imperalis could see him if they only knew. It wouldn't last long- it never did- but for the first time in a long time, Leo felt like himself as he showed all those shitty nobles they weren't the only ones who knew how to piss on everyone else.