Moonblight.

That would be Levy’s next stop. Not only had he written down Titus' message but he’d spent the rest of the day, until Aurelis dragged him out of his room to have dinner, ruminating on it. He hadn’t decided on what all had hidden meanings and what didn’t but he knew he had to travel west. That much had been clear. But after that…

He was stuck on whether or not he should literally follow the moon or not. Titus had said not to stray too far from its light, but also that its sickness - whatever that meant- meant him harm. Moonblight was to the west, but blight also meant sickness so did that mean he should stay away? In the same arena, blight rhymed with light so maybe that’s where he was supposed to go? So many questions. None of which Titus would answer, Levy knew that much. He’d deal with the ravens and birds part later. Before he set off, he knew that the 20 coin he had in his pouch wouldn’t be enough for all the supplies he would need along the way. It would be nearly a full day's ride to Moonblight and he’d been at the end of his food and halfway through his water when he’d arrived at Foolshope.

So there he stood, alone, surveying the local bounty board. They never had any big jobs posted but Levy didn’t care. He just wanted something that would pay him decent enough for his journey. 20 coin for help unloading carts? Not enough. 500 coin for help tracking down a local gang? Too time-consuming.

“Here we go.” Levy smiled, yanking the paper from where it was pinned on the board.

Though Levy had grown up in Foolshope, the streets had remained foreign to him. For some reason, it felt like they were always changing. New streets were constantly being added. Old streets were torn up and replaced by company buildings. He always got turned around one way or another. Luckily for him, the back of the poster had a lovely little map of the city on the back with an address and a star marking the location of where to get more information. When he arrived, Levy found himself at a little hole-in-the-wall shop. It was a restaurant he’d never seen before but it was easy to miss such things in a city as big as this. He made his way up to the counter and peeked around. It didn’t look as though anyone was around. He gave the shop another look over and saw that, above, there was a large metal sheet secured in place. He imagined that it slid down to close off the shop when they were closed. Surely it was open, right?

“How may I help you, sir?”

Levy jumped a bit, turning to look at the woman who was poking her head out from around a wall that, if he had to guess, separated the main counter from the kitchen area. She was short, had long black hair braided over her shoulder, and bright blue almond-shaped eyes. Caught off guard, not only by her sudden appearance, but also by her thick foreign accent, Levy paused.

“You want food?” The woman continued, making her way towards the counter. “The menu is down there.”

Levy’s eyes followed as she pointed, wooden spoon in hand, at a large menu painted onto the stone that made up the base of the counter. After a moment of idly looking at the menu, still trying to gather his thoughts, he looked back up at her and shook his head.

“Oh, no.” He said quickly. “I came here about the bounty.”

Levy reached across the counter, showing off the piece of paper. The woman leaned forward and furrowed her brows as she inspected it. Finally, she nodded, crossing her arms.

“Ahh, I see.”

She marched away from the counter, disappearing behind the wall again. As he waited, Levy looked over the menu again, curious. Some of the stuff sounded pretty good. Next to some of the names were some little stylized paintings of the dishes which only added to the charm of the place. Across the top, painted in large lettering were the words ‘Miss Masuro’s Melting Pot’. Then the woman returned, a decent-sized pouch in her hand, and the wooden spoon returned to whatever pot she'd been busy stirring before Levy’s arrival. 

“80 coin and a free meal if you can find the thug terrorizing my shop and my customers.”

A plethora of muffled clinks and clanks erupted from the bag as she plopped it onto the counter. Levy gave her a hesitant look as he reached for it. She gave him a nod and he opened it, inspecting the integrity of the coin. As far as he could tell, it was legit.

“Do you have any information on him?” Levy asked.

The woman nodded, pulling the string in the top of the coin pouch shut before removing it from the counter.

“His name is Rukard Tilsong.” She started. “Short blonde hair with brown eyes.”

She looked Levy up and down before adding.

“Shorter than you.”

Levy responded with a nod and turned to walk away, ready to get this job over with.

“Wait!”

He turned to see the woman marching around the counter, headed straight for him with the most ferocious look of anger he’d ever seen before. She stopped just in front of him, looking him dead in the eyes.

“If you find a boy about this tall-” She raised a hand above her head. “With shaggy black hair and brown eyes named Ozaki Masuro, tell him to stop hanging out with that thug and come help in his Meisa’s shop.”

Levy gave a smile and nodded.

“Will do, ma’am.”

With a fierce attitude like that, Levy was surprised this Rukard fella stuck around. Surely there were easier, more vulnerable shops to torment. Why this one? He shrugged the question off. He wasn’t getting paid to find answers, he was getting paid to find this guy. Fortunately, that much wasn’t hard to do. Scrapping wasn’t the only thing Levy did. He found himself working on bounties often when he needed some quick cash and had built a repertoire of contacts throughout the years and it would seem that Rukard got around. Miss Masuro’s shop wasn’t the only one being harassed for coin. For the most part, it seemed like he worked alone, but occasionally ran around with some other groups.

Levy rapped his fist firmly against the door a few times before shoving his hand back into his pocket, waiting. At first, it was silent, then some shuffling followed by more silence. Levy kept his gaze forward, even as the shades in the window to the right of the door shifted, falling back into place. Then, the door finally opened. At first, the individual only peeked through the crack in the door, but after inspecting their visitor, they opened the door. Levy gave a friendly smile. Short blond hair, blue eyes… shorter than Levy, perfect.

“Who are you?” Rukard asked quickly.

Levy ignored the question.

“I’m looking for a man named Rukard Tilsong. You wouldn’t happen to know him, would you?” Levy raised a brow.

“Why’re you asking?” His expression turned defensive.

Levy leaned slightly to peek through the door but Rukard quickly put himself between his visitor and the entrance.

“No one else is here, right?” Levy asked.

Rukard hesitated, looking around nervously before looking back up at Levy.

“You can’t come in right now.” He said defensively. “I’ve got company already.”

‘That’s a lie.’ Levy narrowed his eyes.

Rukard quickly tried to close the door, but Levy caught it, forcing it open. Rukard tried to fight back, throwing a quick jab, fingers curled over his thumb. Levy just shook his head, stepping to the side as he caught Rukard’s arm. He pulled one of the shorter man’s legs out from under him and pinned him face-first to the ground.

“You’re going to stop harassing Miss Masuro and her customers alright?” Levy threatened.

“And what if I don’t.” Rukard spat, struggling under Levy’s weight.

Levy sighed.

“I could turn you over to the authorities.” Levy started.

He paused, soft footsteps sounding overhead. He furrowed his brows. He was sure the building had been clear before he knocked. He’d scouted the whole place out before doing anything. Better safe than sorry was something he lived by. He’d gotten this far because of that caution. After a moment of silence, Levy turned his attention back to Rukard, pulling his pistol from its holster.

“I could also take matters into my own hands.” Levy threatened.

Rukard’s eyes went wide in fear.

“Alright, alright! I’ll leave her alone I swear.”

Levy waited a moment longer before lifting his weight from the man, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt as he let him stand.

“Good. Now you can tell her that yourself.” Levy smiled.

Levy holstered his pistol, favoring the subtlety of a knife while making his way through more populated areas. He kept a tight grip on his captive as they traveled, finally arriving at the shop. To Levy’s delight, she didn’t have any customers at the time. With that, he shoved Rukard into the counter with a gentle push so as not to break anything. He gasped as his stomach slammed into the counter’s edge, knocking the wind out of him.

“I have someone who wants to talk to you, Miss Masuro.” Levy called out, figuring the woman was back in the kitchen.

There was an eruption of yelling from behind the wall, a loud thwack of wood hitting something soft and then the small woman marched out into the main shop area. Her eyes widened for a moment as she realized Levy had brought Rukard to her, before she crossed her arms and walked up to the man.

“What do you have to say for yourself?” She questioned, raising a brow.

“I promise I won’t harass you or your customers again, Miss Masuro.” He said, side-eyeing Levy as he did.

Miss Masuro looked him over before giving a simple nod.

“Good.” Then she shooed Rukard away.

With that, Levy let him go. As he left, Rukard glared over to Levy.

“You should really find yourself a more respectable job, man.”

Levy turned to look at Rukard before responding simply.

“Maybe you should take your own advice.”

And with that, Levy was rewarded. With 100 coin now in his possession, he was sure he’d have enough to get him where he wanted to go. It might be tight near the end, but he’d scrape by. He tried to refuse the free meal Miss Masuro had offered - she’d already paid him enough by his standards- but she wouldn’t have it. More than once, her head popped out from behind the wall with a glare to make sure Levy was still standing at the counter. When it was all said and done, he couldn’t complain. It had been one of the best bowls of soup he’d ever had.