Chapter 118: Any Advantage

The lead peacekeeper listened without interrupting while Elara explained what she’d heard, then gave Nick and Jaxir the same opportunity. By the time both sides finished, his expression hadn’t changed much, though his attention lingered on the little girl gripping Jaxir’s sleeve.

"Veylan."

The Magic Class peacekeeper stepped forward at the name and crouched several feet from the girl, raising one hand without touching her. Pale Mana spread outward in a thin layer before settling across her body, and whatever he sensed made his brow furrow almost immediately.

The lead peacekeeper waited until the spell faded. "Well?"

"She’s been through considerable physical trauma." Veylan’s eyes remained on the girl for another moment before he stood. "None of it appears sexual in nature."

Silence settled over the group.

Jaxir supposed that should’ve been reassuring, but judging by the looks surrounding them, they’d only managed to move from the worst possible explanation to one that was barely less terrible. Elara’s expression remained hard while even the peacekeepers continued watching him and Nick.

Veylan glanced toward the girl again. "Most of the injuries aren’t recent, though. Several months old at least, with only minor injuries since."

That helped a little more.

Unfortunately, Jaxir could almost see the next question forming in everyone’s mind. Several months without injuries didn’t prove that he and Nick hadn’t known her for several months.

The little girl’s grip tightened around his sleeve until she finally couldn’t take it anymore.

"I’m sorry."

Everyone looked down at her.

"I just met them today." She wiped at her face and looked toward Elara. "They didn’t hurt me. They helped me get here, and Jaxir saved me when things got bad."

Her voice started wavering for real now, without any of the exaggerated crying she’d used earlier. "I thought they were going to leave me too, and he told me to go away, so I got mad."

She pointed directly at Nick.

Elara’s expression softened immediately before she turned a vicious glare on him.

Nick’s mouth fell open.

"How could you try to abandon a little girl?"

Nick stared at her. "Are you fucking serious?"

Jaxir bit the inside of his cheek.

Elara didn’t even seem to realize she had skipped over the part where she’d accused them of abusing a child. Worse, none of the peacekeepers appeared particularly offended about having their time wasted, with the lead peacekeeper simply nodding once now that the actual situation had become clear.

Nick looked around at everyone for support and received none.

"You know what? Fuck all of you."

He turned and stormed toward the road running along the outside of Marr Town’s walls.

Jaxir sighed before looking toward Elara’s party. Several of them appeared embarrassed enough on her behalf that he couldn’t bring himself to be particularly annoyed with them.

"It’s fine."

Elara had already forgotten about him anyway.

She crouched and wrapped the girl in a hug before brushing some messy hair away from her face. "What’s your name?"

"Niri."

"Alright, Niri. Do you have somewhere safe to go?"

Niri glanced toward Jaxir.

Jaxir was already turning after Nick when he felt small footsteps hurry up behind him. He looked back to find Niri following without asking permission, while Elara watched with enough uncertainty that she clearly wanted to object but no longer trusted herself to make another accusation.

Jaxir gave her a small wave and kept walking.

Behind them, the 4 peacekeepers started back toward Marr Town. They had almost reached the gates when Veylan leaned closer to the lead peacekeeper and whispered something too quietly for anyone else to hear.

The man’s steps slowed.

"Are you sure?"

Veylan nodded solemnly.

The lead peacekeeper turned and looked back toward the road where Jaxir had disappeared, his eyes narrowing slightly before he continued into the city.

**

Jaxir caught up with Nick just as he disappeared through the doors of a tavern built not far within Marr Town’s walls. Judging by the number of wagons and travelers outside, plenty of people coming into the city took it as their first stop, making it quite popular and packed.

Luckily, Nick found a table in the corner and dropped into a chair with enough force to make it scrape across the floor. Jaxir sat opposite him while Niri took the chair beside Jaxir, apparently having decided she was part of the group now.

"You want to talk about what just happened?" Jaxir asked.

Nick stared at him. "I dunno. Do you want to talk about why you crash out every time the Chance Corporation is mentioned?"

Jaxir paused for a moment before chuckling. "Touché."

Neither of them seemed interested in pushing the subject any further, which suited Jaxir just fine. He leaned back and looked around the tavern instead, watching NPC servers carry trays between tables while the smell of roasted meat drifted from somewhere behind the counter.

"Anything special about taverns in here?"

Nick seemed grateful for the change of topic. "Food tastes real and you don’t get fat."

Jaxir nodded. "I can see the appeal."

"There’s more to it than that. Some professional speed eaters use Divinity to train now because you can overload the same fullness responses without spending every day eating enough calories to kill yourself."

Jaxir’s brows rose.

Nick took a drink from the cup someone had already dropped at their table. "Apparently it transfers pretty well, though once you’re high enough Level your Mana starts helping your body clear the feeling of fullness faster, so it stops being as useful for normal training. So the elite speed eaters stay pretty low level."

"Oh!"

Niri’s head popped up.

"If your Mana control is good enough, there are eating competitions too. Some of them have really good rewards."

Nick slowly turned toward her.

Niri immediately shrank back behind Jaxir’s shoulder.

Jaxir looked between them and almost laughed. She had apparently decided Nick was still dangerous territory after getting him accused of several felonies worth of behavior. But then what she’d actually said registered.

Jaxir turned slightly in his chair. "What kind of rewards?"

Niri peeked out from behind him. "Depends on the competition."

"Items?"

"Sometimes."

"Vestigem Cards?"

"Sometimes."

"Anything permanent?"

Her eyes brightened. "Those are the good ones."

Jaxir leaned forward.

He had 2 hours before Lue’s meeting and a body that processed Mana better than it had yesterday. He had a feeling that was exactly why little Niri here knew about these competitions too.

His grin slowly returned.

"Tell me more."