Apocalypse: Fairy System by Macronomicon (fox in socks read aloud txt) 📕

“To work how?” Jeb asked, his nerves settling down now that he knew he wasn’t going to get beheaded on national TV. The mention of Impossible situations didn’t escape his notice, though.

“Many miles to the south, the city of Solmnath is home to a rather large population of human refugees left destitute after the Stitching.”

“California had a lot of people, yeah,” Jeb said with a shrug.

“It’s a dense population crammed full of non-Citizens with little to no trust in the empire. It’s a breeding ground of discontent and also…”

She glanced at him meaningfully.

“It’s a perfect hunting ground for a reaper,” Jeb filled in for her.

Packed in like sardines, limited food, no ability to interact with local government, no help from, nor trust in the law. That was a recipe for some absolutely awful conditions.

“Couldn’t you find them?” Jeb asked.

“I probably could,” Vresh said, nodding. “But there are different kinds of reapers. Some of them subtly pick off a child here and there, growing like a slow cancer. Others try to race to the finish line before they can be stopped.”

“What about the third kind?” Jeb asked, crossing his arms.

Vresh’s brows furrowed. “What do you mean?”

“The ones who hunt other reapers for the government. You’ve gotta be gaining a lot of power from this job.”

Pow!

Jeb’s vision filled with stars for a moment, his cheek stinging from where Vresh had slapped him.

The melas stared at him, her body giving off waves of heat that nearly made Jeb take a step back. He felt his arm hairs curl up.

“Those kinds of reapers exist. I am not one of them. I was born into a house that views service to the people as noblesse oblige. That includes hunting reapers. I take no joy in this duty.”

“Noted,” Jeb said, massaging his cheek. Looks like implying someone is a reaper is a good way to get slapped. Good to know.

“Let me guess. The slow reapers are on the bottom of your to-do list,” Jeb said.

“Indeed. I could spend several days hunting down the man behind vanishing children in ones and twos, but during that time, a few more villages on the outskirts might disappear.”

She met his gaze. “I can’t be everywhere at once.”

Harsh logic.

“I do, however, have the authority to deputize individuals for specific tasks,” she said, reaching into her pocket and producing a dull metal plate. It was about two inches from edge to edge, and fit easily in the palm of Jeb’s hand.

The front was emblazoned with what appeared to be the bust of a melas woman.

“Show that to the right people, and it’ll open doors,” she said.

“And the wrong people will get me lynched, I assume?” Jeb asked.

“Yep. It has one additional function: If the plate is broken, I will know it, along with exactly where it was broken.”

“Interesting,” Jeb muttered, staring down at the burnished token.

What we’ve got here is some kind of magical Bat-Signal.

The art was sort of a stylized painting of the enforcer, all solid black lines depicting the melas. The simplicity of the design drew more attention to her shape, which was, in a word…curvy.

“And if I wasn’t interested?” Jeb asked, glancing back up.

“I wouldn’t do anything to you,” Vresh said with a shrug. “I may have to mention you to my superiors though.

“You know, when the Impossible Tutorial reported the examinees had broken out, I missed the culprits due to the time dilation, but I remember the description of their leader.”

Vresh tapped her lips in thought.

“A one-legged man with brown hair growing out of his face. Telekinetic Myst Core. Mystic Trapsmith Class. Odd then, that when the humans who completed the Impossible Tutorial were teleported to the emperor’s palace, nobody by that description arrived. The humans themselves seemed pretty confused and distraught.

“Jebediah Trapper,” she said, wiggling her fingers ominously. “The one that slipped away. I wonder what my superiors would do if I were to give them your location. I’m sure they’d have a lot of questions.”

“Relax,” Jeb said, his voice flat. “I never said I wasn’t interested.”

“Oh.” She straightened, ominous voice—and fingers—falling away. “Good.”

Jeb seemed to only be able to keep his shit together for extended periods of time if he was under a ridiculous amount of life-threatening stress.

Why not save kids while he was at it? That was killing two birds with one stone.

“How far away is Solmnath from here?”

“About three weeks’ journey to the south. Follow the coast, and you’ll eventually come across it.”

And a decent place to get lost in.

“When you find the one vanishing children, deal with it yourself if you can. The Mark should only be broken for emergencies that threaten the lives of hundreds, not you specifically. I’d prefer you save it for a rampaging Leviathan or something.”

“Alright,” Jeb said, pocketing the Mark. “Then I’ll make you a Deal: I stop this reaper from killing children, probably via murder. In exchange, you don’t tell anyone about me.” He hoisted his backpack up and onto his shoulder. There was a tiny grunt from where Smartass was hiding in one of the pockets.

“Sounds good to me. Agreed,” Vresh said, folding her arms across her chest.

Click. Jeb felt the Deal settle into place and a sudden urge to travel to the south.

“Then if that’s all, I’ve got a destination in mind, and something to do when I get there.”

Vresh nodded and moved out of the way, allowing Jeb to leave the room without any further discussion.

******

Jeb closed his account at the inn and asked for directions to the nearest caravan heading south.

Kalfath’s major export had been crude oil lenses that got shipped south and east to major cities to be refined and used for