Chapter 61 - 61

Words : 1217 Updated : Sep 12th, 2025

"Alright Derek, one more stop. Food." Adam smiled as he turned back to the kid. "My favorite thing!" He smiled brightly and then turned to lead Adam away. Lune stood still and watched them go, lost in thoughts of her own. "I have more questions if you have some time, Derek." Adam said as he kept pace with him. "Certainly! Feel free to ask!" He said happily. It was clear by now the kid enjoyed the feeling of supporting others, being relied on was something he enjoyed deeply, probably because he was a kid and people treated him like that, so leading adults around and answering questions was perfect for him. "Why does Midway have paper money? Was there a reason they don't use caps as much?" Derek's face darkened a bit as the question was asked. "That's because of The Guild." Derek said somberly. "Oh? I heard about them, some kind of merchant guild yeah? They are the ones who set up the money for people?" "More like forced." Derek corrected, still much less enthusiastic than before, he even sounded a bit bitter. "I get the feeling there is some subtext I don't know… do you not like them?" "They are bullies." He said softly but enough that Adam could hear him. "They take a cut of everything, if you run a business in Midway you pay a tax to them, all merchants have to use the slips too…" He peters off a bit. "They tax everyone?" Adam asked surprised, having assumed that was like the government's job. "No, not everyone, just the people trying to do business, even me." "They take from you?!" Adam said, shocked. "Yeah, 10% of whatever I make everyday. If I don't make any money though, they leave me alone." "That's…" Adam started before stopping, not even sure what to say about it. "It is what it is." Derek shrugged still a bit down. "It's just the rules." "What do they use the tax money for?" Derek looked up at Adam like he had no idea what he was talking about. "I guess nothing." Adam chuckled darkly. "Is there like a mayor or something of the town that can stop them?" "Everyone knows the mayor is in The Guild's pockets." Derek responded. "As I said, it's just the way things are here." "Wow…" Adam said, really not having any idea how to follow that up. "So yeah, if you see any members of The Guild it's best to just stay out of their way." Derek finished. "I think I heard that exact thing from a friend in Naper." "Smart friend." They then rounded the corner and arrived in a massive food court, complete with a large number of food vendors, some in the boutiques, some in food stalls, and one food truck somehow in the center of the food court, somehow, even despite this being the second floor. "Wow." Adam said, impressed. "This is exactly what I was looking for." He smirked and then reached into his pouch and pulled out another cap, flipping it to Derek. "Thanks, Derek, you've done a great job helping me today." Derek's expression immediately lightened once more when he got the cap. Not too surprising, Adam had, over the course of the day, paid him 7 caps more than his going rate, still not much but certainly more than he would usually get from a single customer. However his expression immediately turned to fear as he looked up and into the crowd in the food court. Adam traced his gaze and saw what he was looking at. Men in black suits. 3 of them. The 3 men were crowding around one of the food vendors, which seemed to be a bakery, and were talking with the staff. From his position Adam couldn't hear what was being said but while there were no threatening overtures made by the men in suits the people behind the counter of the bakery looked frightened and seemed to be pleading. "I uh… gotta go…" Derek said as he slowly backed up, using Adam's frame as cover from the men's line of sight as he did. "It was nice meeting you Mr. Adam!" He said as he then bolted away. Adam turned his head and watched him dash off before turning back. When he did he saw one of the suited men looking in his direction, though not at Adam. He did not move from his spot though, so after a moment he returned his gaze to the bakery. Adam felt like he wanted to intervene but there was far too much nuance to the situation he didn't know so intervening could at best be a nuisance to Derek, at worst ruin his ability to work in Midway and get Adam kicked out. So he had to sit this one out. Besides, both Derek and Chuck told him to avoid The Guild if at all possible, so he would let this one lie. He began to walk to the center of the food court, to take in his options and choose one when he saw a familiar face. Deccanus. He was walking a little ahead of Adam amongst a crowd. It had been a bit since he last saw him and while he would not say they were at all friends, a familiar face was certainly a pleasant surprise here, it helped ground him in this sea of unknown people. "Hey Decc-" He began, arm above his head to catch his attention but stopped short when Deccanus seemed to turn to head right towards a specific table in the food court. His expression was serious and hardened. He walked up to a man who was sitting alone at a table drinking a bottle of whiskey. The man had black hair, blue eyes, and a rough beard. He was wearing some sort of brown duster and jeans and had on his chest sturdy looking body armor of some kind with white lettering Adam couldn't read from where he was. But there was some sort of bear symbol patch on his shoulder Adam could see. On the table next to him was a gas mask helmet with red tinted eyes. Deccanus stopped a few feet short of the man, standing just to his left and staring at him while the man continued to casually sip at his drink. "I finally found you, Ranger." Deccanus said with a cold rage as he stared the man down like he was going to kill him. The man referred to as a ranger did not even flinch at the words, choosing to ignore Deccanus entirely. "I have come to claim your head." Deccanus said slowly and with emphasis as he slowly reached for the machete on his hip, placing his hand on the hilt. "Ave, true to Caesar!" He said as he drew his machete in a flash and took a half step forward before a large revolver pistol, hidden on the lap of the ranger, went off hitting Deccanus hard enough that he was sent flying back a foot and hit the ground hard. "Ave, true to shit." The man said dismissively as he resumed drinking.

Chapter 61 - 61

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