Four Legs, Two Legs, Three Legs, And... [Medeia, Mura]

”Kind of… I’ve just had a knack for it for as long as I remember,” Mura elaborated. He’d been physically fit ever since he was young, always full of energy and capable of lifting heavy furniture, outrun his father, and beat up groups of bullies by the time he turned 10. Not exactly overlord-level feats, but he knew he was for the martial art life long ago. It was tough to actually integrate into the dojo at first – but as time passed, and lectures and homework meant less and less, he felt more and more drawn to the disciplinary routines at the dojo, and it led to this.

“Grief… shit, that doesn’t sound like a good motivator for channeling magical powers,” Mura expressed with a raised brow, “I don’t really get why it’d work more efficiently when you have a specific emotion surfacing up. It’s still your power, right? Shouldn’t it be efficient all the time?”

“It serves you well and I most certainly hope you continue with your training. This world needs more do-gooders and less garbage if you ask me.” The brunette answered with a nod, she had most certainly seen her fair share of the latter and deep down, that was probably a good description of herself as well. For so long, she had spent her time in the dark places of the world and Medeia honestly wondered if perhaps it was too late for her to change course. How could she possibly switch sides having caused so much pain?

“I am not certain if I know completely why my powers increase when I am enraged but it appears to be the truth. The more hatred I possess, the more painful my attacks are. It is a rather unfortunate power in that regard I suppose but when you have lived a life like mine, anger is something that comes to the surface.” She then added with a slight shrug, the bank soon coming into view before the two.

Damn… she just called her past self garbage. Seriously, what on earth- I mean, who on earth made her change this starkly? Or was she always struggling deep inside, only leading her morals to the surface here and now? In the end, Mura might never find the answer… but sure. It was miles better than having her as an enemy.

An ally was always preferred, especially one who could manipulate lightning. The Head Master would be head-over-heels with her – imagine the sort of Iaijutsu you could practice with lightning-fast movements! Ah, but she didn’t look like the sword-wielding kind of lady, so maybe that would never come to fruition. Oh well.

…

“Scary…” Mura commented. Nuff said, her powers sounded a bit occult in that regard – but wasn’t all magic by definition occult? Even her attire betrayed a tone of… British? Like fancy, fine British nobility? Or whatever he read in history books…

Oh, the bank was coming into view. “Don’t wanna get nosey, but… j-just how much did that prickly client put on the Head Master’s head master head?”

“It was not his head that my employer wanted in truth.” Medeia replied with a shrug, seeing no reason as to why she should hide the details now. “He simply wished to continue to draw money out of him through extortion. I believe that as long as your Master paid, he would not have been killed. My boss was a coward to put it mildly and while he could order a hit if pushed, it was not something that he did regularly. He was a weak boss and in the end it cost him.”

With the bank now looming large, the brunette would turn to Mura before going any further, taking a few moments to think before asking. “How much damage did you think we did during our fight? If I am going to make amends for what happened between us, I should pay for what happened to the dojo. I am sure that I have earned enough over the years to cover it and it would be negligent of me not to offer compensation.”

Huh? Wow. Coward. That was all Mura could call this dead meat that was now a remnant of the past – a fucking coward. Good riddance she killed him. One less… uh, where did these people even come from? Coming to money and then just extorting people like this? What sort of business did he run? Was this really the end, or would some other prick step up in his shoes and enact revenge?

Only time would tell.

However, his thoughts now went to the bank- holy fuck, he knew that bank. A rather expensive one at that, but one might think [“How? It’s a bank, it’s supposed to store your money, not charge you for it!”] Now, Mura did kind of skim through school, so the whole machinery of banks escaped his knowledge, but there was a thing called interest, stocks, et cetera-

In conclusion, mostly very rich people utilized this bank to manage their finances. And wherever rich people gathered, corruption would likely bloom – despite so, this bank had a spiking reputation and generally positive outlooks in the eyes of the public. He wondered what allowed it to maintain such…

…

…

Oh, he had to actually- wait, what did the Head Master say again? “Uh, wait… I need to check real quick,” he quickly commented, before he picked up his smartphone and took a call…

“… Hey, Sensei. How much was it again? … The damage to the dojo, you told me earlier, how much was it again? … 10 mil? Ok, thanks. J-Just wait a second, I’m on it-“

He put the smartphone back down again. Mura didn’t even know how much the Head Master had saved up, but 10 million yen sounded like a hell of a lot. How much was it in… uh, Australian dollars? “The damages round up to 10 million yen… I mean, if you don’t have that much, we can always just go… y’know, make your ex-boss pay a bit more. Then again, he’s dead… fuck… I don’t feel like robbing dead people.”

Mura genuinely didn't find it believable that she had such a big number in her savings. 10 million was a lot, and yet, we were still talking about yen, Mura.

The look that Medeia gave Mura when he revealed the number was one of complete disbelief. There was no chance that they had caused that much damage and the brunette could not help but wonder if he was joking with her. He could not be serious and there was no chance that she could pay that if he was telling the truth. The witch had plenty of cash but there were limits to her bank balance and her eyes narrowed as she figured out a response.

“How on Earth am I supposed to pay that?” She eventually asked, her tone rather no nonsense now. “I do not have that kind of money and even if I did, there is no way that it would cost that much to repair the dojo. Who is your Headmaster getting to do the repairs? Some cowboy builders? I am willing to help out with the cost but ten million yen is way off.”

Uhhh… yeah, he honestly got her reaction, but at the same time, she kinda did just go ham on the place back then. Then again, 10 million yen… how much was it in Australian dollars? Or pounds? Or any of the other currencies he knew from around the world?

His fingers went to work on his smartphone… well, his one thumb went to work on his smartphone, actually. “90 thousand dollars… 51 thousand pounds… 1 million korunas… urrrrgghhh, okay, wait- nah, you’re not getting away from paying, but I think we can work this out.”

… Did he have to do that again? Like, he made absolute scrap with it back in Tibet, but the villagers loved him back then. Would the same happen here, where so many people were already used to seeing shit fly around? Humans had become more and more spiritually aware overtime, so how big were the chances that they’d be spectacled at the sight of his swordsmanship if he pulled a few tricks?

… But Med did say that every spiritually aware human was unique. Maybe he’d still keep the spectacle. “Is it ‘cause the place was ancient? I don’t even know anymore… wait-“

He made another phone call… and bickered with the Head Master. Quite a lot, actually. Then, he hung up and continued: “Okay… I’ve cut it down to about 7 mil. You just cover half of that, I’ll take care of the rest.”

He'd at least make sure she fucking paid, if anything. Even if it ended up less than the price for the damage she caused.

Waiting as he tried to make a deal with his Headmaster, Medeia would briefly look over the bank before them. It was a breathtaking sight and the brunette wondered whether she would have eventually tried to rob the place if she had stuck to her original path. Her missions had become more dangerous over time and for all his faults, her boss had always been on the lookout for a new source of income. Where better than a bank for that? In truth though, she was lucky that the decision was one that he had not lived to make.

When Mura finally seemed to make a deal with his boss, Medeia would ponder for a bit before offering a rebuttal. “I should be able to cover that but I expect that your Headmaster gets the job done properly. There are many crooks out there who would love to take his money and do a botched job. Believe me, I have met enough of those people in my time.”

”Well yeah, of course… mhnnn, I should keep an eye out, just in case,” he agreed with a frown, starting to doubt the Head Master’s financial capabilities given he hid his savings in the damn dojo, and not… y’know… in a bank. Typical oldhead fashion, really. Overtime, it really felt like Mura was taking over his duties, but without the pay…

But pay was needed now, and it’d take time for him to cover his end, so he turned towards Medeia with an idea: “Can you show up at the dojo again in a month with your part? I’ll have my half ready by then.” It was kind of hasty, and Mura didn’t come off as the type of guy who could make that much money in just a month… unless he had a smashing office job, was a COO, a department manager etc. who decided to use his entire month’s check on this.

But alas, one month, at the dojo… and time passed on.

…

And if Medeia held her end of the deal, she’d find him at the destroyed dojo’s site, already frequented by different construction officials. Mura had to be particulate with who he’d want to hire for this job per Medeia’s warning… but again- how would you know who to trust? Reputation? Nobody wrote about construction guys online anymore. If anything, he would need to have experience with builders prior to know what their deal was… or maybe just be a good people person, a face-reader like some certain mercenaries out there who’d have to rely a lot on making the right connections to stay safe.

Mura looked dead inside. Exhausted, burned out… and if Medeia liked the buzz around town, word spread of a rising performance stunter who blew up during the last month. The Sword of Miracles was now a locally famous entertainment in Kyōto, and with his funny showbiz side, Mura actually managed to save enough money to hold his end of the bargain.

But fucking hell, he was tired.

A crack of lightning would go off close by and moments later, the brunette witch would emerge, having used her teleportation skills to reach what was left of the dojo. The place looked like a complete wreck in truth and Medeia was not awfully pleased to see that it had completely fallen to pieces. There was a time where she would not have cared less but times had changed and in the month since she had last met Mura, things had changed further still. She felt rather more comfortable in herself and as she landed beside him, the witch looked almost cheerful.

In her hand would be a large suitcase, containing the funds that she had agreed to pay, a sum that in the end had not been all that difficult to obtain. She had just leaned on a few people, reminding them of favours that they had owed her. There had been no violence and frankly the witch was rather happy that she had managed to avoid such things. A sign of her fresh start, a new way of life that did not include breaking the law all the time.

Mura certainly did not look happy though and with her smile fading, she would ask. “Been a rough month, hmm?”