A gentle chill ran across her face, indicative of the winter now having fully embraced itself within Orchidia and the majority of Fiore as well. It was not as unbearable as others had made it out to be, nor even what she had come to expect or believe that she were looking to have to experience herself. She had prepared for it, perhaps as well, if not better than what most would be capable of enduring. Even just looking around in the city that she had arrived towards only a day or so earlier. Amongst the people walking about, their layers of clothing and protection from the frigid elements varied, some of them adequately dressed, enough so that they would not even come to realize or experience the frozen hell around them. Others were less fortunate, some left to wear nothing other than rags, barely content enough to act as additional layering for their beds, let alone be enough to sustain a high enough temperature that they might not freeze to death. It was, from some perspectives, a sad but true tale of the disportionate wealth that existed not only in this city, but through out much of the country. And Orchidia was no different, if not worse. Still reeling from the benefits of the Flower Festival that had taken place barely two years earlier, the effects and economic turnover from that event were still wholly felt. Those who had the fortune of working for one of the stalls that were present or otherwise were able to provide their services in other ways, be it the merchants, tavern owners, local authorities who were bribed to look the other way, the prostitutes who offered their services during the festivities, or otherwise, there were no shortages of those who were living a quality of life higher than what they had even before.

In addition, that as felt by the people who simply walked around. To be from Orchidia during that time, the economic boom introduced new ventures and oppurtunies for them. People who might have once refrained from working physical labor or other jobs requiring extensive attention found themselves drawn to these tasks, even for a short time, for some to come away with it with extra coin, in other cases having set themselves up for new careers. Even others found new opportunities in capitalizing on the various different cultures and experiences that were encountered. New businesses sprang up in Orchidia in the years that passed, different ventures and boons of wealth as well as times of strife coming to affect those who sought to enter these regions, but either way, it was very clear of one thing, that the festival had left an impact on Orchidia, ultimately for the better, but not everyone was benefiting from it. But that was far from the exception, and all throughout Fiore, and even within the lands outside of Fiore, so too was it the case. Though, that would be for then, not for now.

500/3000

She had been so focused on the contrast between the world outside of Fiore and Orchidia that she had not realized that the person had been creeping towards her, being careful as to not make their presence known, though it was hardly as though it would be appropriate to say that it was actually something of stealth that they were actually relying on, rather that they just hoped that they were being secretive, when in reality Augusta had been wholly aware of the man’s approach sinc ehte beginning, as after all, the people who were still int eh area was few and far between at this point, to the point now where they were essentially the only people that were in the courtyard at this pont. When the man got closer to Augusta, it appeared that there was something in his hand, something that was a bit tough to tell just what it was, but by all indication it wasn’t something that was dangerous, though that tid dnot mean that she was going to be unprepared. Instead, she readied herself for whatever it was that it might have been.

It took a bit of time, but eventually she had come to find out just what it was that was going on and why it was that this man had approached her int eh first place. It turned out to not have been something that was about her in particular, but rather out of opportunity, something for which probably would have been given or addressed to someone else had there been anyone else. Perhaps it was for the benefit of Augusta or misfortune by this respect that she was seeming to have to deal with things, but she was not about to worry too much, as it would be something to distract her, maybe even give her a chance to see more of this city. Previously, there had been much of the city that had been locked away due to the festival that had happened to be going on while she was in Orchidia before several years earlier, but now she was here again and it looked like that there was going to be no real issue as far as being able to move out and run through and monitor more and more of what was there that she had not seen before. Tactical areas, places of interest that may be worth while investing, and at the same time too, there were enough things that she had to do. What the man had seemed to want, whatever it was, she did not really seem to care all that much, nor did she think it mattered whether or not helping this man would have been something that would impact her all that much, but the point was more that she was going to get this done, not for his own betterment, but for herself. If she came away of going through and figuring out more to this city, that was worthwhile enough.

1000/3000

The task that Augusta was given was an odd one, one that did not seem to be all that confusing, all that complicated, but what instead seemed to be far more confusing and meaningless than perhaps what she might have first believed. It frustrated her, more in the fact that it seemed that this was something that any person could have taken care of and have done, though in reality it was very clear that for whatever reason, something that perhaps as she listened to the man talk to her more and more, it became more and more clear that the man was obviously something odd. Whether he was slow in the head or just something else was wrong with him, this man apparently seemed to have been an off one, a person that most people would have preferred to not have to deal with and Augusta was only coming to realize and learn this a little too late. Nevertheless, it was clear that she was going to just have to go ahead and take care of this task, get it done with and then be off to do whatever else it was that they needed to be done.

The first thing it was that she was expected to have gotten for the man was what he described as being a large bag of blood, the very fact that she was going about and getting something like that was a shocker and a confusion point in itself. But it appeared that the man was very clear determined and adamant that this had to happen, that the man was not going to tolerate it if he did not get his blood, which in spite of her protests and her challenges, it was very clear that this was going to have to happen. With reluctance, she headed towards the slaughterhouse that the man had escribed, following the directions that the man had given her, and even those were not clear. She found herself being lost as she tried to go through the alleyways to get to the area, and finally after a lengthy amount of time, she did manage to find the slaughterhouse that she was supposed to reach and get the blood from. It might have taken a bit of time for her to figure out just how to go about getting the blood, but after a little bit of time it was very clear that it would not have taken her much effort to go ahead and acquire the blood. Eventually after wasting any further time with trying to go ahead and figure out some sort of discreet way of going about getting the blood, she simply decided to go in and walk out with a bag of blood, paying no attention or worrying about what it might have concerned about. If this man was so determined to go ahead and acquire some blood, with how easy it was for her to do it, he could have done this himself.

1500/3000

With the blood in her possession, Augusta headed towards the next item that was on the list, which appeared to have been armaments. Weapons, armor, of all varying types, with a very clear order that they had to have been as worn and damaged as possible. That surprised her, more from the perspective that because of how often during her time outside of Fiore, they would have prioritizes the newer armaments, weapons and armors, than that of older weapons. The ones that were older, they would have been melted down and used as some sort of armament later on, or perhaps they would just go ahead and shatter them, using pieces of the weapons to apply them to projectile weapons to give them even more of a lethal element. But that was more of something that was an alternative for if there was nothing else that they could have done. In this case though, it was something that she was actually going ahead and looking for, purposely trying to acquire these older items for the sake of whatever it was that this man was trying to do and accomplish with. It did not take long for her to get exactly that, the weapons and armors being difficult enough to carry along with the bag of blood, the ability to carry the latter without it spilling out being a challenge in itself, but now adding that her focus and carrying capacity is being more limited by the other armaments that she’s already being forced to carry. It made her wish that she was not invested within this sort of job, as it was becoming far more difficult and tedius than it warranted.

Something that made things all the more annoying was the fact that she had to go back to the original location that she had me the man at, though it was very clear too that it was not going to have been easy to do. To make matters even more troublesome, she was not able to refer back to the directions that she had been given just given all of the things she was carrying already. It was something that was a bit of a combination between her memory and just hoping that whichever path that she had taken the next time turned out to be the one that it was supposed to have been. After what had seemed to last for a lengthy amount of time, she finally was in a position to go ahead and not worry as it finally appeared that she was able to reach the same area that she had been trying to get to. She was expecting to have reached there and meet with the man, but once she had arrived there, it became very clear that the man was not there, nor did it look like he was going to have gotten there. She was alone, standing there with a bunch of weapons and a bag of blood, wondering what just why.

2000/3000

For as much time as she had been there in the empty alleyway, she figured that the job would have been a waste, that her having acquired the weapons, armor, and blood was a waste. Augusta was about ready to give up and consider this no longer worth investing into any of this when something happened that seemed to throw things up in the air. A Rune Knight, one who appeared to have been relatively young, perhaps not having spent much more than a few years within the position, apparently had been made aware of some of the weapons at the forge being taken, though Augusta was certain that she herself did not make herself known. The same could have been said of the bag of blood, as she knew she was not seen, and it seemed that that was true as the Ruen Knight did not ask about the blood, only of the weapons. He also did not seem to know anything at all of Augusta, which was perfect for the Holy Knight as the last thing that she could have afforded was to allow herself to be revealed, especially on such a foolish task as this. It only further added insult to injury when she came to realize just how young and otherwise foolish this Rune Knight was proving to be. That she had fallen victim to this man’s half-hazard searching, it was an insult, one in which she would have sought to remedy herself had the situation been a bit different. Alas, this was the hand that she had been dealt.

The guard seemed to be sympathic to her cause, if for no other reason than the fact that it seemed that whatever her job was something that apparently was not too uncommon. As she could tell, this was a common thing, that this man who had hired Augusta had tried to execute this job for a while, so now at this point it was becoming almost a common thing that people were being arrested or otherwise trying to turn in the man for this job, whatever the hell the ulterior motive of the thing was. It was not that much of an important thing to Augusta as to what it might have been, but what was pretty clear was that it did not matter whether or not it was Augusta or someone else, there was going to be someone who was going to continue to be asked of this job until it would finally be accomplished. It was at this point that there was a decision made between both the Rune Knight and Augusta, that she would be the one who carried out this job, finishing it and thereby making sure that the man would not go ahead and cause any more problems for the people of Orchidia. However though, it was clear enough that they were not intending on allowing the man to finish out the job, but rather the Rune Knights would finish it.

2500/3000

Augusta was to go ahead and carry out the job, treating everything as though it were the same thing as was originally set to be. Taking the bag of blood and the weapons, she was going to go ahead and scatter the items about, to make it appear as though there were some sort of battle that took place, one that would cause a great deal of shock and awe, as well as panic, given the fact that there now things were in relative peace. As such, Augusta made sure that she made the battle look real, doing everything possible to stage the battle appropriately. The weapons were dipped in the blood, making sure that they were not fully coated in blood, but rather enough such that it would have been that the weapons would have actually appeared like they were used in battle. It was something that she was very familiar with at this point, having seen weapons being used in battle more than enough times to the point that she was eseentially an expert, if not even far beyond that. In order to make sure that things went smoothly, Augusta decided to go ahead and cause a bit of extra panic, tipping over a couple of boxes and crates, causing enough of a commotion that would have drawn a few people, and from there, it was only natural that the chain reaction would cause even more people to arrive and follow along, eventually drawing a monster crowd to what might have been a terrible battle. It would be all the more convincing once it was seen that there were a handful of Rune Knights scattered about, making it look as real as possible, not only giving validation to the man that had hired Augusta, but it would have also enabled them to take over, to make sure that the man, even though he may have been able to get his task accomplished, it would be the extent to which he would be able to do anything at all. And that was perfect for Augusta, especially given what the man did or what he would have accomplished did not matter ot her at all, only that the job was done and she would be rewarded, which even if he did not go ahead and finish things out, she knew at the very least that she was going to end up being paid by either the man or the Ruen Knights. The rest of the people were filling up the streets, making it so that it was only a matter of time until there would be nothing more than guards and Rune Knights and the people who were desperately trying to go ahead and see what was going on. It was a perfect chance for Augusta to get her pay and disappear without anyone possibly finding out who she might have been, though even when the odds were that low, she had finished out this job and had gotten paid.

3000/3000