I walked into the Ironport bank, a fairly sturdily built building to deter bandits or dark wizards from breaking in and robbing it, to find a new banker sitting at the counter. I often had a couple hundred crowns to deposit, not much lower than a thousand, so I just made it a regular routine to stop by here and drop off my excess money from the various jobs I took.
“Can I help you?” Came the voice of the banker. He was probably new here, as I hadn’t seen him around town before ‘Nicholas Salore’, read the small nameplate, printed in slightly red ink, on top of his black suit. He was a fairly average person, with short hair and a thin beard, with his face seeming just slightly annoyed at how long I stood there.
“Yeah, I’d like to deposit a couple hundred crowns.” I took out the money, handing to to him as we worked out the transaction, It took a bit slower than usual, but it was done within a few minutes.
“Have a nice day,” I called to him as I left. I made sure to make a mental note to go visit the other banker later, just out of curiosity, but I supposed I’d maybe do something else for now. Maybe have the metalworker check on my equipment, or get a quick haircut at the tailor’s…
As I stood there thinking, watching the citizens pass by on their daily lives, I happened to hear a slightly unusual noise, as though someone was casting a spell around here. Not unusual, I suppose, as the tall stone “walls” around Ironport tended to be teeming with criminals anyways. There was almost always a bandit camp set up around here, and wizards or the Council had to go regularly deal with them to prevent travelling merchants from getting robbed. The sound seemed a bit closer than the distant crashes or explosions though.
I turned to look around the area, watching as another unfamiliar person walked into view from behind Barion Arms. It took a few moments to recognize the face, but it appeared it was one of the dark wizards I had recently seen in a wanted board stationed in Riverville, listed as a fairly low priority to capture. A bounty hunter nearby seemed to recognize them too, leaping up in the air to fire two arrows at them. I had spoken with this bounty hunter earlier, and from what she had told me, she was low on crowns, so I supposed this would at least help her earn something.
I stood back as I watched the two fight, not really concerned. The bounty hunter was decently powerful, and the dark wizard’s weak shots of earth magic were fairly easily dodged. Besides, there was decent medical treatment in the town. Any injuries could be easily fixed up later. They continued firing at each other for a while, and honestly I was about to walk away and go visit the auctioneer, whose lost hat I had found recently. Though as I did, there was a sudden crash- it appeared a window of a nearby building had shattered.
Honestly, the townsfolk were more irritated than relieved when the threat was called. Sure, a dark wizard haphazardly firing inside a town was dangerous, but everyone stayed indoors when an attacked occurred anyway. The bounty hunter was handling the situation fairly well, and if needed, I could always just defeat the dark wizard myself. The Council, however… The civilians didn’t seem to like them much.
Within minutes, around five or six soldiers entered the town, all firing blasts at the dark wizard, a wood magic soldier knocking him unconscious within moments. The bounty hunter grumbled in frustration as the soldiers went to arrest the knocked out dark wizard. Passing civilians shot an irritated look at the soldiers- in the span of less than a minute, the soldiers had shattered two more windows, damaged the statue of Oswald Salore, broken a small chunk of the stone pathing, and left glass shards and wooden blocks in the center of town. As quickly as they had came, the soldiers departed, the captured dark wizard in tow.
The metalworker, diligent as ever, began to clear away the debris to avoid accidents. Several other civilians helped him out, clearing the glass and wood out of the area. The bounty hunter walked into the tavern, definitely annoyed after the Council had just taken her bounty away. I recalled I had a letter to hand her, so I supposed I’d give it later. Honestly though, nobody liked the Council coming in to deal with minor issues like this.
When a villain or someone like the Minotaur came in here, the civilians greatly appreciated the Council, but other times, it was utter overkill. If it was just some bandits, or a weak dark wizard, usually the nearby scouts, bounty hunters, or wizards could handle it fairly well. A broken window definitely wasn’t worth sending soldiers over, I thought. Hell, they’d send soldiers to arrest people who didn’t pay fines but they didn’t always respond the robberies. And how did they always send soldiers so quickly anyways? It always took me hours to get to the Silent Tower.
I suppose the Magic Council never really revealed how they managed to get things done so efficiently. I just knew that they tended to cause more trouble than needed frequently. They’d probably report this minor incident in the news, as they tended to. Some more people seemed to have pitched in now to clear up the mess the soldiers caused, and even the mayor had come to observer the issue. Considering that the whole issue was over by now, I supposed I go continue helping out the citizens with their errands.