Chương 71: Book 1, Chapter 71: Deskwork

"Next, please!" John called as the woman walked away with her brown cloth bag of coins, experimentally testing the weight of the sack. The militiaman standing guard outside slid the door open, letting the new client in as the last left through a side door of the quickly repurposed bedroom. Through it walked a lanky, skinny man, who awkwardly bowed deeply upon reaching the desk before placing his own money pouch on the counter. It was a frayed, almost threadbare thing, much like the man's clothes.

"T-thank you, Lor—Sorry! My thanks, Lord Hall!" At that, the man dipped deeper, and John had to fight down the urge to groan lest he give the poor man a heart attack. He was very grateful that the militia was helping out with distribution in other offices, because if this repeated a few hundred times extra tonight, he might just keel over dead. Besides, Rin was standing in the corner of the room watching his every move. He had to at least pretend to be a good role model.

It wasn't as if he could leave her with Yuki; the kitsune had dipped out, saying she "Would ensure nobody was troubled by any particularly brave thieves," and somebody had to keep an eye on The Unbound. Even if the now even more reverent glances she gave him were slightly disquieting. John decided to tactically not acknowledge the man's perceived screw-up to not make the situation any more awkward than it already was.

"Alright, let's see what we're looking at here…" he muttered, reaching across before dumping out the bag. A dozen or so copper coins and three iron ones tumbled over one another, clinking against the wooden table that he had quickly given a raised edge to stop any more incidents after the first disaster of someone all too eagerly tilling over an overflowing bucket of money like some sort of bizarre cartoon character.

John tried not to wince at how little money the man brought and fought down the urge to at least give him a few more mon as a form of social aid. Alas, if he started handing out extra cash for a meal or two, people would start to worry that this currency wasn't backed by anything at all, even if he had the reserves for it. The man looked spry enough, though, even if malnutrition clearly ate into his frame with how his cracked skin clung to fading muscles, like he was wearing a skinsuit one size too large.

"Tell you what," John said, reaching under the desk and grabbing the appropriate coins from a pair of bins under the table before swapping them out on the desk.

"Do you need work? Have any particular skills?" The man frantically nodded, a bit of hope sparking in his gaze.

"I was a travelling musician, my lord!" Ouch. Yeah, John could see how getting trapped where most of the populace has to worry about their next meal might especially be rough for a performer. Idly, he wondered what his instrument was, but he felt it would be in poor taste to ask, given the man almost certainly sold it for food.

"I don't think I'm going to need a musician in the immediate future, but there's going to be a few big programs. You alright with hard labour?" The man only dipped his head in response.

"Of course, my lord, I'll do anything!" he pleaded, pure desperation painting his tone. Anything. John believed him. He was no stranger to the tough years, where he had scraped slimy moss off riverside rocks to have something to fill his gut. If someone had told him that he could have a nice, warm roast for the low, low price of a life… Well, he wasn't sure if he had the will to resist. What an awful power to have over someone.

As John placed the coins in the bag, he also grabbed a half-filled sheet of paper and a piece of wood, jotting down a few quick notes on the paper with his homemade pencil.

"What's your name?"

"Shigemori Shiro," the man quietly responded. John nodded, writing a few notes below the scrap.

"Shigemori Shiro. NL. NS. EP. AR. P2. 0081" The abbreviations were, of course, in English letters because even the thought of drawing out the full native characters for who knew how many people today made his wrist cramp up. Non-local. Non-skilled. Extreme poverty. At risk. Priority 2. Serial number 0081. It was a bit of a last-minute addition to the plan, but John figured having a ledger of people looking for work and their skills would be a plus.

Of course, someone could lie to him about their abilities if they were brave enough, but he doubted that any deception would stay buried long under Yuki's gaze if someone tried to fake a skill to get a job. John quickly grabbed a chisel, and a couple of decent whacks all it took to inscribe the English number fifty-one into the chunk of wood, handing it back to the man along with his bag.

"Keep an eye out for announcements about work, and keep that slab of wood close if you apply for a job through anything I do. Off you go now."

"Thank you, my lord!" the man cried out as he bowed again, and John swore he saw a few wet tears spatter on the matted floor before the man pivoted and left. All this bowing and scraping was giving him an awful feeling of dissonance. Every bit of heaped praise was at the foot of a false idol, promising safety and security while providing nothing but a comforting lie. Still, he could bear it if it gave the people hope while the Nameless were getting stomped out.

Then the real rebuilding could begin, and he was confident in that. While protecting a town through force of arms was something he wasn't quite skilled in, creating a few things to kickstart the local economy was far more straightforward. The question, of course, is how quickly he could accomplish it, as they needed to get things settled and stable before the cold set in. John already had an unnaturally sharp axe that could dry wood to a usable state within moments rather than months kicking around.

He could probably replicate the focus and use it to create a portable mill that can produce ready-to-use planks from logs with a bit of tweaking. Not only would the timber be very useful around the village, but it would make good trade goods for food from any other town in the area without a giant spider problem. Hell, a veritable fountain of instant high-quality firewood would keep people safe from the cold, too. Ah, but he was getting ahead of himself. There was a reason he didn't call the next person in yet.

"So, Rin, what do you think?" he asked, turning to face the Unbound standing in the corner. The tall woman straightened, her horns—antlers? —whatever they were making a loud donk noise as they smacked into the wall behind her.

"What do I think, sensei? About what?" she asked, an almost cautious tone entering her voice. John squinted, wondering what was wrong before he realized that Rin probably thought she was missing some sort of lesson, covertly sequestered in how he handled that interaction. His expression relaxed, and he leaned back, going to scratch his chin only to realize it was far too difficult with his gauntleted hand.

"This whole thing," he not at all clarified, waving his palm in the rough direction of the hopefully shrinking line outside.

"Do you think I handled the whole currency plan the right way?" A pause, one far too long for his liking, passed. Rin's expression screwed up, and her lips pulled tight, a frown momentarily creasing her face before disappearing under a bright smile.

"Of course, sensei!" she responded, but her tone had a bit too much force and was a tad too bright. His student seemed to think it was another test. John sighed.

"It was a legitimate question, Rin," John grunted.

"Back home, I wasn't responsible for so many lives, never mind in a disaster scenario. Hell, before Yuki mentioned it, I didn't think about how desperate people might see others leaving here and know that they have money to steal. To be blunt, this is an absolute rush job at best. If you can think of anything that could backfire on us, I would greatly appreciate it." Some grand realization lit in the Unbound's eyes, and she fell into silence again, this time more purposeful, contemplative.

"Maybe you could have put more men in each room?" the Unbound slowly ventured. John blinked. A team of two in each seemed fine enough to him. One to change currency, one to stand guard to the side and make sure nobody tried something stupid. Both were armed, and there was a third person outside the door of each improvised office, so any attempts at theft would be quickly dealt with since it would be a three-on-one.

Plus, the coins they were given were inventoried beforehand, so if there were a mismatch in the in-out, he'd know who was responsible.

"Why is that?" he asked, furrowing his brow.

"Sensei, my father taught me that the more people are involved, the harder it is for any single one to accept bribes, because they're more scared of someone else turning them in," the Unbound almost cheerfully responded as John's mind slammed to a screaming halt. Bribes. John hadn't even considered them. But they were just recording information, right? Shit, but he did give them spreadsheets and told them a few criteria on what to note down.

Maybe someone could accept money to make someone a higher priority, as if they have any local dependents? No. Yuki would probably catch that in short order. However, if they were demanding payment to not list someone with a useful trade as unskilled, or as a lower priority, with the ready-made excuse of thinking they had a good amount of money saved… Shit. It'd be hard to catch, as there were bound to be a few small mistakes anyhow. These swap desks were going to run for a while, anyhow.

Maybe he could ask Yuki to fake being someone vulnerable to test them later? A couple runs through, and she should at least put the fear of discovery into them enough that nobody would dare try it, assuming they weren't already too scared of Yuki to think about it.

"Nothing we can do about it for tonight," John groaned.

"Thank you for pointing it out, though. If we're lucky, maybe anyone malicious enough to try it won't be confident enough to try it before they have a couple of days to get a grasp of the system and think things through."

"It's no problem, sensei!" she responded and waved off his approval, although a faint red coloured her cheeks. Suddenly, a thought struck John.

"Say, Rin? Would you like to take over for a bit? You're decent enough with your numbers," John said, taking a step away from his spot behind the desk and waving the dragon-woman over.

"Eh?!" Rin sputtered, even as her body seemingly autonomously parked her in the spot.

"Sensei! Are you sure?" There was something quiet and uncertain in her voice, hidden underneath the bluster 'Lady Nagahama Rin' normally coated herself in. John wondered if she had any particularly silly titles to embarrass her with, now that he thought of it. Yuki had already invented a few for him…

"Oh mighty Dragon of Slightly Cool-ish Rain Showers, what would you say your weaknesses are?" John teased, gently, turning his student into a sputtering mess on the spot as she tried to find her words. To be honest, that one was probably a solid three out of ten at best, but it wasn't as if he had any practice with banter for the past half-decade. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

It took a good fifteen seconds for Rin to calm down, although she still had her arms crossed over her chest and was looking away with her face scrunched up like a cat who had just sniffed at vodka.

"Maybe my aggression?" the Unbound finally cautiously questioned, still sounding unsure.

"This student tends to overcommit in fights, but my Aegis is strong enough that it works out." John simply nodded, entirely unsure what 'too aggressive' looks like in a sword fight. It's been a while since she had referred to herself in that weird quasi-third person, in any case. Strange.

"How about another? Look beyond just combat, think about how you got here," he gently prodded, trying to guide her into the conclusion he wanted. The Unbound fell deep into thought once more.

"Does it have something to do with how this student tried to fight you?" Rin hesitantly asked. John said nothing, smiling and silently urging her to continue with a few small waves.

"It's because… I got tricked?" Rin continued, voice hitting a high note toward the end." Bingo!" John exclaimed, only realizing he was speaking in English once he saw Rin staring blankly at him.

"I mean, yes, that's correct!" he quickly course-corrected.

"You got into that situation because someone tricked you. It worked out, but it could have easily ended poorly." Namely, if Yuki couldn't have gotten him out of the line of fire, odds are that the kitsune probably would have popped Rin's head off to protect him.

"You saw information, and you acted without thinking it through. Probably one of the most useful skills you can have is to think about why someone is telling you something. Yuki is going to be better at teaching you this than me, but I can give you some tips, at least." Which is to say that John remembered at least some of his skills from questioning the news and other sources back home.

While teaching this to a student who John was absolutely hiding some bombshells from was a risky game, and Yuki certainly wouldn't approve, he felt he had a duty to make sure she was taught right.

"Anyhow, I think some time behind the counter might help with that."

"If you say so, sensei," the Unbound uneasily responded, settling behind the desk with a mild frown. The Unbound glanced under the desk, glancing at large bins of coins, sorted by value and legitimacy. Then, she looked at the spreadsheet of English with a frown.

"Oh, right! I think I have a spare…" John mumbled, digging around in his bag and pulling out a spare copy of the cheatsheet he had given to the militia of simple questions to ask and what to mark down in the columns, plus his emergency brush and inkwell. To be honest, Rin's wrist was probably going to ache by the end of this, but she was a tough lady.

"There! That's what you need to write down." His soul was going to hurt from the information on the sheet swapping from English to the local tongue, but he could deal with it. Rin slowly read over the sheet, going over it three times as John watched, ready in case she had any probing questions.

"I think I'm ready, sensei," she finally stated, sounding semi-resolute, at least. John smiled at her, moving to stand nearby in case he needed to step in for help, just beside the polished, deeply coloured desk.

"Next!" he loudly called. A moment later, the door slid open, and a well-dressed man walked in, shaven head high and eyebrows almost as bushy as his well-maintained beard. He wore a barely suppressed sneer with the same ease as his crimson yukata, levelled not at them but at the door guard as he passed by. He turned to face the pair, and something flickered in his gaze as he faltered at the sight of who was behind his desk, before clear, unadulterated greed lit in its place, then was hidden behind a polite smile.

Oh fuck, here we go. John could barely keep the frown off his face as the man sauntered up to the desk, a hefty coin purse jangling on his hip. Most people they had processed so far had their bags stuffed away in their clothing, hidden against grabbing hands.

"Lord Hall!" he greeted with a deep, smooth voice, a bovine tail flicking once behind him.

"This humble merchant is pleased to meet you! Your radiance has stunned us all, and I see a good future under your rule." On one hand, he probably should feel bad about accidentally throwing Rin on a live grenade. On the other hand, he didn't want to deal with this bullshit either. Sorry, Rin, but it was time for a trial by fire. John held a hand up, quieting the man before he went any further. Did he have to be nice?

He probably should, but he had been living like a weird hermit for a while; he had every excuse to just shut this guy down on the spot.

"Thank you, but I don't have any plans to rule at this time. Any extra authority is a temporary measure until the threat of the Nameless is dealt with," he responded.

"Of course, of course," he said with a smirk, the flames of avarice flickering in his deep brown eyes.

"It's going to be a long campaign, though, and I hear you need workers. You're far too important a man for such a thing. Before I started up my store here, I managed a shipping company. Give me a budget, and I can get you twice the men for half the wage, so you don't have to waste your personal time on something so banal." About as subtle as a brick, this one. He clearly didn't get the point, and John had no interest in the idea of getting a bunch of workers at slave labour prices.

John couldn't help the sigh that escaped him, and he watched something red-hot colour the man's expression for a second.

"I'm sorry, I am not accepting any partnership offers right now," he said, faux-sympathy in his voice.

"Would you mind placing your money on the table? My student will help you with changing your coins for something less likely to get you eaten by spiders." The man lingered on John, the light in his eyes fading to something uglier even as his smirk stayed in place, before ultimately tearing himself away to look at Rin.

"Of course!" he jovially said, unhooking the bag from his side before casually dumping it on the table, a small avalanche of coins spewing forth. That was… a lot of silver. There were a few copper and iron coins, sure, but they were far outnumbered, almost like tiny islands upon a vast, stormy sea. Whatever business the man was in, it was clearly successful, and this was what he was casually walking around with? Holy hell.

Something in Rin flipped all at once, and she outright glared at the man with slitted eyes before dipping her head, slowly counting the coins as her sinuous tail angrily whipped back and forth, threatening to take John out at the knees. It was a couple of long minutes. John was avoiding any conversation, not responding to the few attempted conversation starters the man attempted to feed him while Rin counted.

"I'm sorry, I'm mostly here to observe my student" and "Any calls for additional aid will be through public channels" worked well, although he swore he saw a vein bulge on the man's forehead at the second.

"And here is your money!" Rin said, handing the man back his bag, now much lighter with the smaller coins. Now, at least they could get him out of their hai— Rin reached for the spreadsheet. Oh no.

"What is your name, merchant?" Rin asked, glancing up at him. The man gave her a dirty look, like she had to have known already.

"Inoue Ichiro," he stated haughtily.

"Scion to the house Inoue, heir to the family business." Quite a statement, ignoring that he was running a shop in a spider-infested hellscape rather than in some comfy city somewhere. She nodded once, jotting down the name, although she didn't even blink at the sheer ego on display. To be fair, maybe that wasn't too unusual amongst the Unbound. They were a sort of warrior quasi-nobility, after all.

"How would you describe your financial situation?" she continued after checking the cheat sheet for the next step of the script.

"Awful," the man bemoaned, shaking his head even as John internally begged for him to shut up.

"I used to make five times as much a few years ago!" Rin looked at the bulging bag, sitting heavily aside the man's side, and then shot Ichiro a dirty look. She proceeded to write the word 'wealthy' in the slot.

"And do you have any skills?" she inquired, tilting her head with a slight, forced smile tugging at the edge of her lips. Oh fuck, Rin, why did you have to ask it like that? The man loudly huffed.

"Do I have any skills? I'm a genius of trade! A master of logistics!" he proclaimed, voice rising from a bass to a tenor as he puffed up his chest like a bird mid-threat display. She looked him in the eyes. And wrote down "unskilled". He should step in. Ichiro leaned in, breath catching and face going red as he read the sheet.

"Unskilled?!" he roared, standing at his full height and loudly stomping his foot on the ground.

"Lord Hall, please control your student; she oversteps! You need people like me!" John swore he felt part of his soul die out of sheer secondhand embarrassment. Rin's Presence flared like an angry thunderstorm, crashing into the room. Ichiro was either stupid enough or suicidal enough to pay it no mind. John held up his hands as he tried to think of a way to de-escalate the situation before Rin decided the lack of self-preservation was cause enough for a good ol' execution.

"You dare?" Rin hissed in turn, her fingers digging into the table with about as much resistance as mud, wood splintering under her iron grasp with a series of loud cracks.

"I wager you only have money because all of heaven and earth is so terrified of your visage and sickened by your bearing that they pay you to leave them be!"" Holy shit, Rin!" he blurted, again in English, not helping the situation at all. On one hand, the guy was an asshole, and he absolutely deserved that, but he probably shouldn't allow her to beat the stuffing out of someone for talking a bit of trash.

"What the hell do you know, kid?" he loudly scoffed, fire in his eyes.

"I bet your father held his rear high to get you some kappa—" The roar from Rin was deep and primal as she pounced over the table like a tiger, bowling the man over in a blur of unnatural speed, sending the two tumbling. The "fight," if it could be called that, was over after the first tumble as the Unbound pinned the man with her supernatural strength, holding a hand over his mouth. Their eyes met. Rin grinned.

John had noticed that she had not gone for her blade, so she probably wasn't going to kill the man, so he stood aside for now. He was being a massive dick. John felt her Presence wash over the room like a raging storm, calling to mind a dark and stormy sea as two armadas of ships clashed upon its surface, claiming all those that fell into the depths below.

The silent cry that echoed from the man was muffled by the Unbound's hand as he flailed like a pinned insect, his limbs trying and failing to get any sort of grip on either her or the floor. A moment later, water started to gush from his nose like a fountain, flushing out the entire system in a single ungodly torrent. Some of it was even leaking from the edge of his wide, reddened eyes, making it look like he was comically crying like a cartoon character.

With a satisfied grin on her face, Rin stepped off the man, letting him roll over and cough what might very well have been a gallon of water onto the floor in a display John had to admit was at least a bit comical.

"You can't do this to me!" the man growled out. Oh, cool, Rin made sure not to flood his lungs somehow.

"Just… take your money and go, man," John sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. The man growled, clearly a bit low on self-preservation as he stumbled to his feet.

"I have never in my years been so disrespected!"

"You will listen to Lord Hall!" Rin roared, once more surging forth, blasting his mouth once more with water before chilling it, forming a gag made of ice in his mouth.

"Mmph!" Ichiro grunted, trying to pry the flared construct from his jaws, and John was suddenly reminded of a documentary he watched about a man who put a lightbulb in his mouth and couldn't get it out. It seemed like he could breathe, thankfully, probably through some feat of hydrokinesis like how Rin had avoided flooding his lungs. John sighed as the man looked at the two of them with absolute hate.

"Right, that's it," he groaned. He swung a window open, revealing a slightly thinning crowd below. John then proceeded to levitate the gagged man out the window, depositing him outside in a prime case of out of sight and out of mind. This was going to cause a headache, wasn't it? The man clearly had some degree of power by sheer virtue of wealth, although he wagered he didn't command the same respect he and Yuki currently possessed. He might not need it to become a problem, though.

On the other hand, he was clearly a corrupt asshole, and the fact that he wasn't bled dry by the tax collectors told John that he was probably working with them to some degree. Hell, John wouldn't be surprised if he was named in that documentation Yuki stole from this very building. Odds are they were going to make an enemy of him eventually.

"Sensei?" Rin said quietly. He turned to face her, and the woman's cheeks were borderline glowing red as she hunched over, abashedly avoiding as much eye contact as possible.

"Am I in trouble?" Was she? He really shouldn't encourage this type of behaviour, and it would surely get her into some serious trouble one day, but… Insulting family was a pretty big no-no here, from what he understood. To be honest, the man was probably asking for it, and acting like that to an Unbound was a borderline suicidal idea. Also, it helped that it was pretty bloody funny in retrospect.

"You get one, don't do it again," John stated, keeping the smile off his face the best he could, but he wagered that anyone socially adept would be able to tell just how hard he was fighting to keep a grin from forming.