Day came like a hobo wandering through the streets at night.
Birds cawed and chirped. Animals rose from their homes. Bugs buzzed loudly.
Bo and Ald rolled around in a pile of grass. Bo sprawled on his stomach, using his empty bag as a pillow. Ald hugged his stick between his legs. He rubbed his face on his bag and giggled every few moments.
On the stone road, about twenty meters away, a troop of Guards marched. They wore hard leather armor and marched with spears in hand. On their heads sat a bucket-like helmet. A sword hung at their waists, beside a bag. Their colors were golden yellow and fiery red of the Yorefire nation!
Like any other day, the Guards patrolled the roads. They had the job of deporting unwanted layabouts to the Slums. There, these vagabonds could be picked up and used as collateral in ISC's. This system ran on the incentivizing of bonuses and money!
A Guard with a pock-marked face looked keenly in the grassy fields. His small mustache moved in the wind, almost sensing immigrants!
"There! I found two of them!" he shouted.
The troop marched towards Bo and Ald! In a few minutes, they stood at their feet!
"Hey! Wake up, you homeless f*cks!"
The small mustached man smacked Bo and Ald using the butt of his spear.
"Get up!"
"The f*ck?" Bo called out.
Ald blurted, "Mandy, it's not my fault!"
In a few seconds, the two slipped into reality. Taken aback, they scooted away from the Guards but bumped into two others standing behind them.
"Ahem," Bo started. "How may I help you fine Sirs today?"
The Guards shifted their spears into an attack formation.
"You're napping on Yorefire land. Are you two from Yorefire?"
Bo scoffed.
"I'm from Yorefire. Can't you see my handsome features?"
The Guards might have chuckled at his exaggeration but the small mustached man didn't look amused.
"You don't have the feeling of Yorefire. Didn't your parents baptize you?"
Bo and Ald turned to look at each other.
Bo asked, "Um... Sirs, we lived in small Villages. What's baptizing?"
The man smacked his helmet.
"You don't know baptizing!? That's supposed to be the ceremony marking you as a citizen of Yorefire! The Holy Fire of our nation should've purified you at birth!"
"...And what does that do?" Ald said, confused.
"Stop you from being deported, that's what! Not that it matters, now! Oi, bring over the shackles! We got fresh meat!"
The Guards each grabbed an arm and forced them into metal shackles. They chained Bo and Ald's hands behind their backs and the chain links trailed down like a leash.
Bo grunted, "Wait. I'm sure you Sirs are reasonable men."
"Yeah, I'm sure as the World that I live here!" Ald yelled. "All nineteen years of my life! There has to be another way we could do this!"
The small mustached man twiddled his facial hair.
"Well… There is another way."
"Really?"
The Guard nodded, "A small donation can show your loyalty to Yorefire. How about a Lacrimal coin? That sounds fair, right boys?"
The other Guards nodded.
"O-One Lacrimal coin?! Are you insane?" Bo yelled.
"Ah, don't be rude to him. I mean, how much could that be?"
"One million Tibia coins!"
"...Excuse me?"
"One Lacrimal coin is equal to one million Tibia coin!"
Ald dropped the words out of his mouth and stood aghast.
"We don't have anything on us! How're we supposed to donate a Lacrimal coin?"
"You can't. Off to the Slums with you! Let's go, boys!"
They dragged Bo and Ald through the grass towards the stone road. Halfway there, Bo reluctantly acted.
"Wait!"
"What now?" the mustached man grumbled.
"I'm actually a rich merchant. Just the other day, I made some coin. I left my things in the MM Market and there's enough to pay you. The thing is, I pretend to be poor when the MM Market closes so I don't draw attention. If you just take us there, you'll get your Lacrimal coin."
"Hey, that sounds like a good idea. We were going to head there either way," said a fat Guard with a blubbery face.
"Yeah, it wouldn't be too much trouble."
"I don't mind going."
"Me neither."
"I also keep my things in the MM Market."
Most of the Guards huddled off to the side in agreement. The mustached man wiggled his mustache.
"Is that all it takes to convince you all? He's got no proof and hasn't even proper clothes on, let alone proof of citizenship! For all we know, he's a foreign spy or an assassin!"
Hearing him, the other Guards didn't hesitate.
"What're you, a f*cking idiot!?"
"Sure, be reasonable, but a spy?"
"Do you know any assassins as flimsy-looking as that?"
"He's f*cking shackled and we got the chain. How's he going to get away?"
"You're arguing we're wasting time, but we wanted to go to the MM Market and check on some things. We don't lose anything in this situation."
The mustached man angrily stomped.
"Fine! Fine! We'll do it your way, boys!"
The Guards heartily laughed.
"That's our Nogger!"
"As stubborn as my Wife on a Friday night!"
The Guards dragged Bo and Ald to the MM Market. It was a rough walk and Bo carefully treaded. He didn't want them to step on his feet.
The MM Market already opened up. Immortals popped in and out. A constant stream of people came and went. The gigantic area was crowded again.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Ald whispered to Bo.
"Do you have anything better?"
"Nope."
"Then shut up!"
They arrived at the MM Market. Their appearance caused a commotion and onlookers gawked at Bo and Ald. Why did the Guards bring them here? And were they... buying food on duty?
"Sweet! More pastrami on rye!"
"Hey, Doug. You skip out on your Wife's cooking too?"
"No sh*t. Her casserole is a garlic and onion filled mess."
"Do you have an Iliac coin I can borrow? I'm one short of buying my tuna fish salad."
"You still owe me three from last week."
"It's nice to buy chicken soup from the ChickenSoupGod. He's one of the food people who offers his food legit using his MM Market pseudonym!"
"You got that right!"
The regulars of the MM Market mulled about and lost interest in the novelty quickly. Rather, spectators usually were the poor people surprised at the incident and the lazy people watching the MM Market for a good show.
Bo fiddled around in his menu and retrieved a Lacrimal coin. He walked up to Nogger, the angry, pock-marked, and small mustached man.
"Sir, I have the Lacrimal coin you wanted."
"The what who now?" Nogger said, through a mouthful of venison. He held a hunk of deer leg the size of a club and took another mouthful.
"Oh? Wow, would you look at that? You do have a Lacrimal coin! Here, hand it over!"
Bo shook his head.
"Trade me the shackles and chains for the Lacrimal coin. You're not going to scam me by making up some excuse to not let us go."
"Tch. Figures."
Nogger pulled a keyring from his pocket and singled out a small rusted key. He unlocked Bo and Ald.
"There. Now give me the coin."
"Thank you very much, Sir."
Since Nogger got paid, Bo and Ald were free to go!
"Ah! This donation is only for this time! You better get ready to pay up next time I catch you!"
""Yes, Sir!"" Bo and Ald bowed and walked over to a pillar.
"F*ck you! I lost a Lacrimal coin because of you! You owe me one!"
"F*ck! Worry about that later. What's this "Baptism" of Holy Fire? How're we going to verify ourselves as citizens?" Ald worried.
"Ah, don't worry about it."
Bo swiped through his transparent screen.
"I'm working on it."
Ald stared at Bo like he was a crazy person. It was for good reason, since Bo was rich enough to have a Lacrimal coin but preferred to bum it out. Why was Bo not a citizen? Why did Bo choose Ald out of all the people in Yorefire? And why was Bo flinging his hands around in the air?
"Come to think of it, a bunch of people are doing the same," Ald thought.
Bo stopped for a moment and saw Ald's confused look. He looked like a thin Chicken dropped out of the sky.
"This is the MM Market, Brother. Don't fool around. Think about accessing it so you can start making back the money I'm investing in you."
"Oh!?" Ald cried out in shock.
Bo wanted to cry, but life was unfair. Life was rigged from the start, so he had to double down and beat it up using the power of money!
Two Baptisms of Holy Fire for a grand total of a Lacrimal coin! Again, Bo felt his pockets slashed. He claimed the noted items and beheld two small and plain jars.
"You open this one."
"Huh?"
Ald received a trade request from Bo and accepted the jar.
"What's this for?"
"Baptism. If we get caught next time, it'll be jail time instead of being sent to the Slums to be recycled."
Bo already opened his jar. A glaringly bright fire sprung forth and enveloped his entire body! He screamed in agony as the mystical Holy Fire imprinted itself into his Soul and Body!
In a few moments, Bo's dirty skin sloughed off and scattered in the wind as ashes. As if done, the Holy Fire cocooned around Bo and then burst in a sparkling blaze! Where he now stood, a prominent Yorefire citizen of flaming hair, lightly tanned skin, and blue eyes appeared! This was the new Bo, having skin that was dirt-free!
"F*cking f*ck! Add a warning label about that!" Bo groaned from the pain.
"Uh... Is there a better way to do this?"
Bo glared at Ald. He jabbed his finger under Ald's chin and tilted his head up.
"Listen hear, Brother. I took you in out of all the people I could've chosen. I paid to get you released. I wasted fifty Nasal coins on this and if you're not going to use it, fat chance am I to bail you out next time!"
Bo's intense atmosphere cowed Ald.
"...Alright, alright. I'm doing it."
Ald popped open the jar. A similar Holy Fire repeated the process. Ald looked clean instead of old and patch-worked. Instead of a starved and diseased chicken crammed in a coop full of other chickens, Ald looked like a starved chicken! Honestly, both Ald and Bo were quite skinny.
"Look alive, Ald. Today's going to be busy."
"What am I supposed to do?"
"Act as my Yes-Man. I need support more than ever."