HC:Pacifist | Ch. 101 - Raid (Patreon)

Roth carefully made it back into the shadows and walked back upstairs. He quietly returned to the room where he was washing the wool. What he had seen in the lab haunted him, but some practical part of his mind urged him to check the buckets. As he inspected them, he noticed how even more impurities had come to the surface and were floating on top of the lanolin oil.

Roth felt like kicking the buckets. Thadeus was in on it with the Beanies! How was it that everything in this city went back to the crime families in the slums? The world of tailoring wasn't as innocent as he had hoped. This begged the question: what was he going to do now?

He had to run a rescue operation and take the sheep to a safe place. The only problem was that he didn't know how to get them past the front door. What could he do to ensure he could slip past the front door and save them?

Roth thought for a moment, and a surge of relief washed past him. He didn't need to sneak them past the front door, did he? He left the chamber and stormed out of the shop. After a few minutes, he got a notification.

You have failed to report to Thadeus.

You failed the [Wool Washing] quest.

-10 reputation with Thadeus.

Roth couldn't care less about what that butcher thought of him. He was already on his way to the Peace Corps. It was partway between the city center and the academic district. The familiar figure of the tall, slightly military-like building graced Roth's view. He'd been here not six hours ago and was back again.

As Roth drew nearer to the Peace Corps headquarters, he spotted a small woman with dark hair and a yellow monkey suit. What was Xana doing in front of the Peace Corps?

Roth cursed under his breath. Why couldn't he catch a break? In the last 24 hours, he had been chased by the Gazpachos, had been confronted by Wilson and Gary, and now Xana was here. On top of that, he had just found out about Thadeus running an animal exploration scheme with the Beanies. No matter how hard he tried, he kept getting into these lawless hooligans' path.

He looked from afar and wondered what he should do. Should he go for it? After all, the mask had held against Gary's scrutiny. Wouldn't it do the same against Xana? Roth decided to go for it. He felt his forehead drip with sweat, and he couldn't stop his hand from shaking. He tightened his fists and strolled as confidently as his nerves allowed toward the entrance of the Peace Corps.

*

Xana had been standing guard in front of the Peace Corps for several hours. There was no sign of Roth. She had her drones performing scans in the maximum radius they could handle. After Gary had sold his daggers to get her money, she had upgraded her drones so that they could have 20 perception each. They could also be 750m away from her and have each a 50m scanning radius.

They constantly patrolled the area around her, looking for ''Pax". If he stepped into their search area, she would get a notification immediately. She yawned. Her drone scanners weren't powerful enough to pierce the walls of the Peace Corps headquarters, and with her evil alignment, she didn't dare enter the building. Her drones were at 4 and 10 o'clock and hadn't caught anything. She sighed, bored.

Beep! Beep! Pax detected.

Xana jolted upright. Where? She looked at the scanner. The drone at 4 o'clock had barely caught sight of Roth. He was spotted at a 720m distance. Xana tried to see the Pax avatar in the area where he'd been spotted and saw no one. How could this be? She called the other drone urgently toward her and beckoned the drone that had spotted Roth to do the same. Even as the two drones eventually reached her, she couldn't find a sign of Roth. What had just happened?

*

Roth entered the Peace Corps, panting and sweating. He could hardly breathe. What had just happened? When he started walking toward Xana, she reacted as if she knew he was nearby.

She had stared at Roth right in the eye and hadn't seen through his disguise. How could it be? How could she know he was close and yet not see him? Roth wanted to slap himself. He shouldn't have pushed it. From now on, he would stick to traveling in the sewers, only coming to the surface when necessary. He headed into the peace corps and looked for Commissioner Jack.

*

"You didn't leave even six hours ago, and you're back with more information? This time you've got dirt on the Beanies?" said Jack within his silent cube. He wore a similar uniform but now sported a shiny three-star medal and the accompanying golden epaulets on his shoulders.

"Why do you still use the silent cube? Aren't you commissioner now? Aren't we safe?"

"Old habits. Besides, it stands to reason that if the Gazpachos could corrupt Ethos, that they or another of the families could corrupt someone else."

Roth grimaced. He could learn a lesson from Jack's precautionary measures. He didn't let his station go to his head. Had Roth been as cautious, he could have avoided the situation that had just happened outside.

"Anyway, it's as I told you."

"Hmmm... tell you what, I would normally wait and scout out this Thadeus guy, but he seems to be a small fish, and I do want to start my service as a commissioner with a bang. I'll go raid them now." Roth thought about Xana, who was waiting outside.

"Wonderful," at least the quest would be over quickly, "But could you hold out for one hour before going there? Those foreigners I told you about are out to get me, and I can't leave through the front door. They are running surveillance on me."

"Really? People are hunting one of our informants right outside my doorstep?" The commissioner asked with a predatory smile. Roth felt the temperature drop. Jack sighed, and the stifling pressure receded. "As much as I want to help you, I can't interfere with matters between foreigners."

It had been worth a shot. Roth would just have to rely on himself here."It's OK, commissioner. Can you point me toward the nearest bathroom?"

*

Thadeus dropped off another of the suckers who wanted to work for him for free in the washing room. If they had known how much he would have to pay to have an employee prepare the wool for spinning, there is no way that they would accept working for him for free like this.

He studied the numbers for the month. Although the sales had slightly dropped this month, he would still make a good profit thanks to how much he had saved from wool production. Even after giving a cut to the Beanies, he still had plenty of money left.

A bell rang. Customers were coming. He put on a pleasant smile and went to greet the new customers. There were three Peace Corps officers. The one taking the lead was a high-ranking officer, perhaps a captain or a commissioner. Two patrols accompanied him.

Thadeus felt trepidation in his heart. There was no way that they were onto him, right? Perhaps they were here to shop for clothes or fabric. He couldn't guess what for. His shop specialized in wool, and officers mainly used leather.

"C-can I help you, officers?" Saying this, another person entered the shop. Thadeus recognized him. It was the ungrateful idiot who had left his work half unfinished. "I'm sorry, foreigner. I don't have any more work for you. I don't help ungrateful people. I'm busy right now attending to my customers."

"We're here on business of a different sort. This fellow is here with us. Do you mind if we take a look at your lab downstairs?"

"What?" Thadeus looked at the young man hatefully. "On what grounds?"

"Our friend here has seen some shady business and has reported it to us."

"That is not enough to get you a warrant."

"Normally, we would need more, but he happens to be a martyr and a child of light. Are you saying we can't trust him?" Thadeus didn't know. A martyr? And a child of light? He was done for.

"I-I-I..."

"Archie, Hal, go check it out."

Thadeus tried making a run for it. If he could make it out of his shop and get to the Beanies in the slums, he would be OK. He had some money stashed away. He could perhaps work as a tailor for them and... He suddenly was immobilized. No matter how hard he tried to move, his arms and legs didn't respond. He looked down and saw that he was hanging in the air. He looked at the commissioner, who held a blue cube in his glove. It was a containment box. He was really done for.

*

Roth led the police officers downstairs. They jumped the scientist in a white lab coat before he noticed what was happening. One of them used a blue cube just like the one Jack had used earlier and incapacitated the man. As the caged sheep saw the Peace Corps and Roth entering and apprehending the evil mobster pumping them with drugs, Roth saw a twinkle of hope in their eyes.

"Can I help set them free?" He asked one of the officers.

"Of course, martyr."

Roth opened the cages, unfastened the leather bands, and carefully pulled out the different IVs stuck into the sheep.

"There, there, little sheep. You'll be alright."

"Meh! Meh"

You saved this poor sheep from being experimented on.

+5 reputation with the flock.

With the flock? Why not with sheep? Roth felt some curiosity, but that didn't stop him from hurrying along the corridor of cages and freeing the different sheep. Now that he could see the animals up close, he could see the cuts the careless shearers had caused on the poor creatures.

He also felt sorry for those with an overdeveloped coat of wool. It was warm down here, and the poor animals were under thick wool, making them highly uncomfortable. Roth found a nearby pair of scissors and tried to help the three sheep trapped within the overgrowth.

Shearing Scissors (Common)

Item description: A standard pair of copper scissors specifically made to shear the wool off sheep. Although they are used, they are still in good condition.

Item effects: Allows you to shear level 10 wool and below.

No restrictions.

"There, there, little one." Roth didn't know what he was doing well, but he couldn't leave the poor sheep like this. He wouldn't feel comfortable shearing wool close to the sheep's skin, but cutting the excessive wool and leaving only a healthy amount was easy.

As he started shearing the sheep, first it panicked, but seeing that Roth wasn't trying to hurt it, it let out a contented sigh of relief, and Roth saw a couple of tears on the animal. "You poor thing. You must be so hot. It's OK. It's OK."

You saved this poor sheep from being experimented on.

+5 reputation with the flock.

You help this sheep and ease its pain.

+10 reputation with the flock.

You have sheared a sheep and built a bond with it.

+3 reputation with the flock.

While Roth sheared the desperate sheep off their overgrown coats, Archie and Hal busily inspected the machinery and collected samples of the chemicals being forced onto the sheep.

+5 reputation with the flock

You help this sheep and ease its pain.

Roth noticed something peculiar as he worked on the last of the sheep. Even though all sheep were battered and poorly treated, they stood up individually as if summoned by an unhearable voice. They all started herding together. Even the sheep Roth had sheared were drawn as magnets toward each other. After a few minutes, all the sheep were huddled in the corner.

They trembled, frightened, and traumatized but seemed to sway together as if listening to only a song they could hear.

"You were right, martyr. They had quite the operation going on in here. Thank you for your help with this." Jack spared a look at the accompanying officers. There was a look of respect and awe for their new commissioner in their eyes.

"What will happen with the sheep, sir?" As Roth said this, he looked at the group of abused, meek beasts huddled together in a corner.

"I'm not sure, martyr. They've been through a lot. They need a safe place to go to. Could I leave it to you?"

Ch. 100 - The Crafted Hem

INDEX

Ch. 102 - Green Pastures