A brand new deal

They both walk right up to Vic’s mom who is sitting on the porch in her swing with a cup of coffee in her hands. “You boys do everything on the list?” she asks while cradling the steaming cup in her lap.

“Yeah, momma. We have to talk to you about something.” Vic says. “Well, he does.”

“Is he gonna introduce himself or do you wanna do that for him, too?” she says, taking a sip from her cup.

Hisoki steps forward, and keeps the magic item he found hidden. “My name is Hisoki, after seeing your farm and your food I want to offer you a deal.”

She looks the jester up and down. “You look like you make jokes, not deals, and I don’t care for jokes.”

“It’s no joke. I need food. My normal supply of it is far from here. I like to have fresh supplies of meats, fruits, vegetables.”

“Cut to the chase. We don’t have time for all of your tomfoolery.”

“I want to clear your debt. I have the money. In exchange, I’d need a monthly supply of food for my tent.”

Vic instantly leans in and whispers. “You can’t just ask her that, she’ll never take it.”

She holds up a bag of coins. “I have the two-thousand for the first payment here. We don’t need handouts.”

“Momma… They want four-thousand.”

“And we’ll negotiate with some food.”

Hisoki sighs. “You know they don’t want the food. They want your land. They want your money. Let me pay it off and you won’t work for them! You’ll work for me once a month at best and I actually want your food!”

“I don’t know you.”

“And you don’t know those collectors!” Hisoki is sounding more frustrated.

“Who’s to say you won’t want more and more? Who’s to say you won’t change the deal like they have?”

“Ma’am, I don’t change my agreements. I worked on your farm today after telling your son I would help. I even removed some of the curses from your farm.”

“Did you now?” she ask almost doubtfully. “Tell you what. If you agree to come back every month, cure the curses that pop up in our crops, I’ll be willing to agree to this. Miss once, and you can forget about the food you would be getting.”

“Deal!” Hisoki says and extends his hand to her.

She leans forward and with an unexpected rough grip she shakes his hand. “Don’t disappoint me.” After that, Vic and Hisoki start taking care of the other things on the farm. A pig gets out and while Vic catches it, Hisoki is removing weeds. Hours go by when a bright blink appears in front of the homestead. Hisoki and Vic run to the house, seeing four men walk up toward the house. Luckily Vic gets there first and Hisoki isn’t far behind.

“Gentlemen, can I help you?” Vic asks, leaning on the banister of the porch. His mom still sitting in the swing behind him.

“We just came for the payment this week. We hope you have the four thousand prepared.” the man in the front says. The men right behind him are just looking around, and one is carrying a couple bags, sounding of money or gems.

Vic’s mom is having second thoughts when Vic himself speaks up. “Clown? You’re up.”

Hisoki walks toward the men from the side of the porch, pulling something from his bag and giving it a toss to the right. His tent unfolds and appears. Hisoki gives it a tap once it’s completed. He heads inside and brings out a chest full of gold coins. “This should cover the debt. All of it. How much was remaining?”

Vic’s mom speaks up. “A little under two-hundred fifty-thousand.”

“Well, that’s good news. In this chest is roughly three-hundred thousand.” Hisoki brings out a wand that levitates up fifty-thousand coins and moves them to his tent. “So? Are we done here?”

The collector in the middle seems a little pissed. “We prefer the weekly payments. If we let you clear this debt, that’s a steady income we lose out on.”

Vic is getting heated from hearing this. He’s about to say something awful when Hisoki starts. “I’m sorry, I don’t think you heard me. I’m clearing the debt whether you like it or not. That man back there? He was planning on feeding all of you to the pigs. I’m offering a way for you guys to not sleep as pig feed. Do you think I’d be doing this if they could make the payments?”

“We don’t care about your threats.” the one holding the massive bag says.

“I’m not threatening you. Vic is. Although, if you don’t clear the debt with this, I can clear it myself with your boss. Try not to feel too bad about losing the income?”

“Feel bad?” They all look at each other, playing coy. “We don’t feel bad at all because we are keeping our payments.” The rest agree by nodding their heads.

“Oh? None of you feel bad? Oh well… I tried.” Hisoki draws his sword slowly. And the man holding the bag drops it. The collector leading the group pulls his own sword. The third reveals a crossbow and the fourth pulls out a mace. Hisoki points his sword at the guy in the back with the crossbow and casts instant thrust, piercing the man straight through the chest before anyone can react. He falls over. The one with the mace misses his swing and is stabbed in the back. The one that dropped the sack full of their spoils didn’t have time to cast his spell before his shoulder down to his waist is slashed open. The collector leading this group swings twice before his throat is slashed. As he’s dying, he kneels, realizing his mistake, his eyes close, then they open again. He’s standing, staring at the jester that had just killed him. The jester hasn’t drawn his weapon and neither have they. In fact; they haven’t moved a muscle. His throat is fine, his allies are fine. What was that? Fear is settling in, causing him to start panting, sweating, his allies are too. The one holding the bag still clenching it but barely. They all experienced what just happened. “Is that really the reality you deserve?” Hisoki asks them with worry in his voice.

They realize it, all of them. This is not something they should risk themselves over. It’s just one farm. The collector steps forward, still very shaken, takes out a piece of parchment, lays it on the chest and stamps the paper with a seal, then hands it to Hisoki. “Paid in full…” the man says, leaving, while two of the other men hoist the chest, carrying it away.

“Alright! That’s done!” Hisoki claps. Vic can’t believe this. His problems are over. The debt that ate away his family is just gone. Now he’s questioning himself. His mom even sees it on his face.

Once Hisoki walks back to his tent, he collapses it, putting it back in his bag. Vic comes over to him. “I guess, I don’t have to be a knight anymore.”

“What?” the jester asks him. “Who said that?”

“Well… Me. I only became a knight to help the farm. My brothers will be back in a week. We can just work as intended.” Vic sighs, leaning against a fence post.

“You’re not satisfied with that, are you Vic?” Hisoki asks. “You had more in mind with becoming a knight.”

“You could say that. I just thought I’d be able to do more.”

“You still can, Vic. Nozomi became her own leader in less than a year. Imagine what you can do. She’s trying to change things. You can do some real, honest good. You have the tools, you have the reason.” Hisoki waves his hand toward the farm. “Clearing a debt isn’t the same as making the changes you want to see. We’ve got bandits in the outer rings. Debt collectors that would rather people make payments than pay it off entirely. I’m sure you knew this already… You’ve just been trying to avoid it.”

“Damn it, clown… Why do you gotta put it like that?” He digs his heel in the dirt. “I do wanna make a change. I’m no savior, life just needs to be made a little better, ya know? Why do we gotta survive when we could be living?”

“I couldn’t agree more, Vic. People will try to shape your path for you, while others clear the way. Know the difference, and you can make a change.” They go back to the house, passing Vic’s mom, but Hisoki stops in his tracks. Unable to ignore something. “Ma’am?” Hisoki pulls out the magic item from earlier he pulled from the earth itself. “Is this yours?”

She glares at it, and looks up at Hisoki as if he had grown two heads. “Excuse me?”

“Not to be rude, ma’am, this magic was found buried in your land. When I touched it, I didn’t know who it belonged to because I never met the person. When I saw you… I knew it was yours. This has been attuned to you for years.”

She waves her hand as though she’s dismissing the thought.

“This item increases yields by fifty percent but has the chance to curse the affected crops. You likely didn’t know about the side-effect…”

Vic is getting very upset hearing Hisoki accusing his mom of taking a shortcut. “Clown, my mother doesn’t do that.”

“Son, hush.” she says. “You want the truth? I knew about our debt before his father, my dear husband, died. It didn’t spring up on me. I tried to help using that thing to help our crops. Doesn’t mean a damn thing if no one buys, right? When I saw a curse settling on our crops, I knew it had to be the item. When I touched it, it shocked me and wouldn’t come out.”

“Yes, I figured. Usually items like this once in use don’t want to be moved again.”

“You got your precious answers, right? Now leave me and the rest of my family alone.”

“Ma’am, I didn’t do this to call you a hypocrite. You being willing to do anything for your family is better than holding onto your pride. I was only telling you that you don’t have to worry about the curse on your farm anymore.”

She gives a glare. “You’re not lying, are you?” she stops her glare. “No, you’re serious.”

“As serious as a drought.” Vic nudges the jester. “He’s not the kind of person that plays around with people’s problems.”

“I could change things up if you like, Vic.”

“Don’t push it…” Vic starts walking away to the living room. Hisoki gives a respectful nod to Vic’s mother and follows, seeing Vic flop in a chair. He kicks his boots off. “Don’t your feet hurt, clown?”

“I thought I told you, I have really high pain tolerance. I realize when I’ve been hurt, I can still feel the pain, it’s just not crippling.”

“Kinda jealous, could use legs like those. Mine are beat all to hell. I need a bath is what I need…”

“Speaking of, how do you do hot baths here?”

“We don’t. We gather water, throw it into a big copper container in the bathroom, and let the copper pipes fill the bath.”

Hisoki makes a face that borderlines grossed out. “You don’t even heat it up?”

“With what?” Vic pulls out his knife and begins thumbing it with his leather glove.

“Good point, but you’re an inventor, Vic! You made your weapon on your hip!” Hisoki says, trying to talk him up.

“I hear what you’re saying. I guess I could dig up some coal, get it burning and place it under the copper vat holding the water. Mom and my brothers don’t like when I make changes. You don’t have to take a bath here. You have your tent. You know where the water supply is.”

“I just thought that coming to stay with you for a couple days meant more if I lived how you lived… Get to really know you and your family and how you all do everything. Especially before tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow is Sunday, Vic. Not like the berry challenge, this is the real Sunday. I’m going to be asleep all day.”

“Shit… I’m sorry. I didn’t know. You didn’t even get to have mom’s breakfast or anything and it’s already too late for dinner. Mom has been getting tired more often recently. Speaking of, why aren’t you yawning?”

“It varies when my tired spells start. If I’m feeling confident? I’m fine right until midnight, then I’m unconscious.”

“I guess you must be feeling good?”

“Vic, I got to meet your mom. I got to work on your farm. I helped you with the family debt. Your dogs are the most well behaved and loving guard dogs I’ve ever given a pet, not to mention your other animals. Just sad I didn’t meet your brothers or sister.”

“My brothers are a lot different. My sister? I’d like to see her again myself.” Vic nods to the back wall behind Hisoki. On it is a little family portrait of Vic and the rest of the family, including the father.

“Woah! You said your brothers are different? They all look just like you! Just taller!” Hisoki notices his sister doesn’t share the rest of the families brown hair, it’s a deep black and she isn’t nearly as tan as them from the work around the farm.

“Yeah, I call them the three tree trunks. Sis I call black sheep.”

“I can see why, your sister looks sad though…”

“Sis was never someone that liked doing things together.”

“Well Vic, I need a bath, badly. I’m going to go out and open my tent. You’re free to join me if you want a hot one.” Hisoki leaves the living room and heads outside.

Vic sits there, in silence, staring at that picture on the wall. “Fuck it.” He puts on his boots and walks outside.

After their bath, Vic has to wait with just a towel around his waist while the kobold cleans his clothing. Hisoki is in a robe and under that pajamas for the night. “Sure you don’t want anything? I might have something in your size…”

“Nah, I just need my pants to make it inside the house. You’ve got me spoiled on hot baths. Brought me back when we did take them as brothers.”

“Hot pot baths?”

“Yeah, not trying to go soft here. You just remind me a lot of when I was younger. When my family was tighter. We’d solve a problem in a day, not a year or four.”

“I’m sorry… I just feel like we’ve been through so much already.”

“Hisoki, at this point you’re practically my brother. You didn’t have to come here or help out. You’re a guest. Momma hates when guests work, but you showed that you aren’t just some temporary set of hands.”

“Thanks, I just wanted to know someone I call a friend better.” Hisoki is quite red without his makeup on.

“Speaking of temporary hands, are you upset you’re a rogue knight?”

“About that, I just have to complete seven level three or higher difficulty missions. Then I can pick any team I want.”

“Sounds tough, I don’t know fully what level three missions got going on; my sister was critically hurt in a level two mission a while back.”

“That’s a little scary, especially if she’s as capable as us.”

“Debatable, sis works better with a whole team.”

Hisoki smiles a little. “Whereas we just need to have one other person cover our weaknesses, right?” he says, making a tiny joke at Vic’s expense.

“Yeah, especially when you need a babysitter for a day.”

“Oh! Farmer has jokes now!” Hisoki raises an eyebrow with a bit of a smug expression.

“Learned from the best, clown.” As they continue talking, the kobold comes out with Vic’s clothing, while wearing Vic’s hat. “Thanks, lil’ guy.” He takes his hat from on top of his head and puts on his pants. “Hisoki? Wanna see something?” Vic points outside the tent, carrying his armor for his arm over his shoulder and his shirt over the other. Hisoki slides on his boots temporarily while Vic does. He and Hisoki make a short walk to a shed. When Vic opens the door to it, he only partially opens it and nods for Hisoki to slide in first. After he does, Vic does too and closes it. There are no windows or anything in this shed, and there’s a couple big glass containers with a brownish liquid inside, the containers sitting on the floor with covers over them. There’s a smell of plants in here, fermented plants no less. “Gotta keep the sunlight from hitting these.” Vic lifts one onto a table, uncovering it. “I’ve been trying to make something else before making this peacemaker.”

“It looks like stagnant water that’s been left to fester…” Hisoki is visibly wincing at this ‘creation’ of Vic’s.

“Oh yeah?” Vic smirks and removes some little device from the top and inserts a long device in the top. “I made a water pump with my dad a long time ago. I used the same idea to make this thing.” He grabs a glass from a small cabinet and puts the other end of the water pump inside the glass and out comes not brown, but a golden-orange frothy liquid. Once it’s near full, Vic hands it to Hisoki. “Give it a try.”

Hisoki is far more interested now that it’s not solid brown. He smells it first. It’s familiar, like an ale, yet has a semi-sour bite after. He sips and really palates it. “This is… Not great. Sorta sweet, sorta bitter maybe?”

Vic sighs, “Yeah, I know.”

“Tastes like it should be cold.”

“I-Wait… What did you say?”

“I said it tastes like it should be cold.”

“I didn’t even think of that. Actually, if I let it chill for at least a week—no… Three weeks. Maybe in closed-off containers?” Vic keeps muttering to himself as Hisoki puts down the glass.

“Vic? Yoohoo, Vic?” Hisoki says and Vic finally looks over at him. “What’s this all for?”

“Right, it’s kind of a passion. I love my whiskey, but I also enjoy ale or mead. Those drinks are nice, but ale goes flat too fast, and mead can upset your stomach after working too hard. This? If I can get this right, no problems besides getting drunk. And I can sip on it when taking a break, especially if it’s cold.” Vic takes the remnants of the glass and drinks it all. “I think cold will work.”

“That’s good! I mainly prefer cold drinks now anyway, though I’m biased. The only hot drink I indulge in is coffee.” The jester watches Vic remove the pump and place the strange cork back in the top, then cover it back up, putting the large glass container back on the floor.

“I guess you’re goin’ to bed soon? I think it might be past ten. I don’t know where my watch went off to.” Vic checks himself, patting his pockets. “I might have left it in my bedroom…”

“I don’t know either, I’m in pajamas and a robe. I am feeling tired though…” Hisoki yawns with tears forming a bit from how hard it’s hitting him.

Vic steps out of the shed, holding it partially open for Hisoki. “I guess you’re sleeping in your tent?”

Hisoki steps out and Vic shuts it. “Yeah, I want to sleep in your house again, honest, however my kobold prefers if I sleep in my bed on Sunday so he can take care of me.”

“What does he even do?” Vic tilts his head at the jester, looking genuinely confused. “I just made sure you were warm with a fire. I’ve seen your bed. It’s not like you need help keeping warm.”

“I’ll be honest. I have no clue. I’d rather make him happy than distressed.” Hisoki balances on a stray log as he says this while walking back to his tent.

“Hey, is he good at farm work?”

“Vic…”

“Hey! I’m not asking to buy him! Just borrow. For a week.”

“Vic!”

“Alright, alright.” Vic says, then mutters. “Damn clown’s got free labor and won’t even use it…” facing away from Hisoki.

“I’m tired, not deaf.” Hisoki stands in front of him as they arrive at the tent, arms crossed, his sleeves on his robe bunching up.

“Thanks for the reminder. Don’t you have a twenty-four-hour nap to get to? Ya blanket bozo.” he says while picking some stray wheat from the field, chewing on it.

“Blanket Bozo!? Firstly, I’m way funnier than bozo! Secondly, I-”

“Uh huh, uh huh, yeah. Go get you some shut-eye before you pass out on my grass. Cause I’m not carrying you to bed.”

Hisoki grumbles. “This isn’t over! I’ll get you back!” he says with anger but a half smile.

Vic gives Hisoki a wave and they both head to their beds.