Absorption 2.6.6.X.2.6

  Several days passed.

  Nick continued making investments into his newest potential hire. The trick was starting small, indebting the child through acts of kindness which would hopefully leave the boy compliant… as well as help the boy grow healthy enough to be at least somewhat useful.

  The best part of these attempts was the fact that they were cheap, at least for him with his daily income.

  Soon, a week had passed.

  Thus far, there had been little to no return on investment from the boy. Nick decided it was time to begin pushing for more. Either to drive the boy away, or more realistically, to start receiving some sort of return.

  However, Nick was no brute. He would use both strategy and suave style, using the same skills that had served him through his long and storied corporate career. That day, Nick had brought a little more variety of food, including a bread bowl filled with a chunky gravy he had picked up at his inn–the chef there was quite talented, at least compared to the rest of this town.

  Of course, while Nick carried himself with pride, the boy was a savage.

  At least judging by how the boy was tearing into the gravy.

  Of course, Nick kept his criticisms silent, and instead shared a paternal smile with the youth.

  “Is this your favorite so far?” Nick asked.

  The boy nodded, not quite vigorously, but more so than the usual muted movements he had.

  Nick wondered how far the bribery should extend and he considered inviting the boy back to the inn, but considering that Nick needed the boy here on the street in order to observe… Nick decided against it. Perhaps in the future.

  “You know,” Nick said as he watched the boy make a mess of the gravy. “It occurs to me that we have never introduced ourselves.”

  “Y-yeah?” the boy asked, speaking with a full mouth.

  Nick resisted the urge to grimace at the sight. He had seen much worse these past months.

  “Indeed,” Nick said. “My name is Nick Delaney, a–”

  “-lich?”

  “-well, I was going to say I'm a self-made entrepreneur, but I suppose that works as well.”

  Silence passed, almost awkwardly, although Nick ensured that he appeared unaffected by such concerns. After a suitable time passed, Nick prompted, “You know, this would ordinarily be when you introduced yourself.”

  “A-ah. Sorry,” the boy said.” Kirk. Name’s Kirk.”

  “And?” Nick prompted, hoping for a family name.

  However, the boy buried his head in his food, unwilling to share more.

  Nick let it slide, for the moment.

  “Very well. Until tomorrow then. Our deal remains?”

  The boy nodded in agreement.

  The next day proceeded much the same. A routine delve, a slight amount of personal growth, and a return with a sackful of low to mid-tier ‘loot.’ The only deviation was when he brought another meal to the boy. This time, Nick brought a large roasted haunch of some beast. The haunch itself was perhaps the size of a man’s arm.

  It had caught Nick’s fancy as he was passing the stall, which led to its purchase. It was not overly expensive, compared to some of the other refinements that Nick had been purchasing for himself.

  It was this roasted haunch that Nick held before the boy.

  The boy’s eyes widened. Drool leaked from the corner of the boy’s mouth. He was looking healthier than when Nick had first come across the boy. The regular meals had been serving the boy well.

  Nick knew there was a risk that the boy would terminate the arrangement, as there were plentiful opportunities for savvy characters. Afterall, why would the boy continue to stew in misery when he could simply delve the dungeon for easy gains?

  It was with this knowledge that Nick began testing the boy’s character.

  “Greetings, Kurt. I hope the day finds you well.” Nick still held the haunch out and above the boy.

  The boy was distracted by the fat drizzling down the bone and onto Nick’s hand. However, the boy was responsive enough to half wince at the name.

  “Ah, it’s Kirk. Sorry, sir.”

  Nick nodded, appreciative that the boy had spine enough to correct the misnomer. It also proved that the boy wished to continue the arrangement. Otherwise, why bother correcting Nick?

  “Apologies,” Nick said with feigned sincerity. The boy winced again, but Nick ignored this. He handed the roasted and glazed haunch to the boy and watched on as the boy ravenously tore into the meat. Nick swore he could see the boy’s face and throat distend in the process. Watching was both a fascinating and disturbing experience. No more than a minute later, and the boy was chewing on the bone itself. Nick then cleared his throat. “This may be off topic,” Nick began. “But how much can you eat?”

  “Lots,” the boy said, finally taking a breath after sucking out the marrow of it. “Just…” the boy grimaced in discomfort, “lots. Leave it at that.”

  “Very well,” Nick said with shrug. “So, Kirk, have you seen anything of interest of late?”

  “There’s a new drop,” the boy said.

  “As in a new prisoner?” Nick asked. He supposed he had never thought through the repopulation dynamics within the town and if inmates were sterilized or not, but he did believe that the number of new prisoners coming in would be great enough to not warrant any particular interest, unless they were unusual in some fashion. “Anything about them?”

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  “An elf. Heard some complaints.”

  “An elf?” Nick repeated. He supposed he should not be overly surprised that multiple races existed. He had met that one purple animal person once, and then there had been the inquisitor with the wings. But that surprise aside, the locals should largely be used to these non-humans, and so having one in particular called out must mean something… What that something was, Nick struggled to comprehend. “What were these complaints in particular?”

  The boy shrugged. “Heard he used magic on some folks.”

  “What sort of magic?” Nick asked, feeling as though he was pulling teeth.

  Kirk shrugged again.

  Nick refrained from scowling, if barely. He missed the slight upturn to the boy’s lips.

  “Hm. And of the thugs?”

  “Maybe not them, but you wanted dirt on the Marks?”

  “The tattoos, yes.”

  The boy scoffed at the term but continued all the same. “They’re small time stuff. Not great.”

  “Well, that’s something…”

  “Wait,” the boy cut in. “They’re small-time, they waste slots, but they should cost lots more.”

  “Lots more?” Nick frowned, musing out loud. “Undercutting the market of an inelastic good? But why… unless it’s actually elastic? Or do the wardens get more for the subsidy…” Nick turned his full attention back to Kirk. The boy had a glazed look to him. “Just how certain are you of this, and by what margin?”

  The boy shrugged. “Pretty sure. Up top, nobody gets that many Marks. They’d do it if they could. Even if they’re weak. Something’s better than nothing.”

  “Huh.” Nick mused to himself, before shaking himself from his stupor. “Well, Kurt–”

  “-Kirk–”

  “-that’s what I said. I have another question for you.”

  The boy grunted and waved the bone at Nick to continue.

  “You clearly favor meat… Does it need to be cooked?”

  “Nnnno?”

  Another day, another hunt, though this time Nick deviated while still in the middle levels. He killed a beast by crushing its ribs, leaving an intact carcass of a thirty pound beast. Nick harvested the rest of his kills but spared this specific carcass, which he then carried up from the depths.

  The toll-takers seemed amused by the addition, but the toll remained the same and Nick otherwise ignored them. He no longer felt the imperative to find an alternative route. The tax was not so burdensome to require an immediate effort on his part. A part of him acknowledged that this was a frivolous waste of future profits and that this was how people became poor.

  He pushed those thoughts aside.

  This day, before he traveled to the tower to make a deposit, he tossed the carcass to the boy, Kirk.

  Kirk seemed beside himself as the carcass slid across the grimey ground and Nick left with an amused smirk. It was both a good deed and an investment in the child. Besides, Nick was interested to see what the boy would make of it.

  After the tower, Nick purchased a few sundries that the boy might require, such as a knife and a travel-kit, and Nick also purchased a few compressed rations, along with a semi-fresh loaf of bread crafted from a flour-substitute that Nick was advised to not investigate.

  It was with these goods that Nick returned to the boy, to find the carcass heavily mauled and Kirk covered in smeared blood and offal. The boy’s fingers were talons and his lips stretched farther than a mouth should… and his teeth were sharp.

  Nick forgot himself and paused at the entrance to the alleyway, almost dropping his armful of goods.

  The boy waved at Nick and flashed a smile before tearing back into the carcass.

  Nick shook himself from his embarrassing reaction and decided to simply set the gifts down besides the boy before leaving.

  “We’ll chat later,” Nick said as he left, somewhat hastily.

  Nick spent that night and the next day thinking about what he had seen. Truthfully, besides the shocking appearance, the boy’s ability to morph his own body had little bearing on Nick.

  Well, that was not completely true.

  The boy could be an incredible asset, depending on how far those abilities stretched. Nick would be smart to ensure the boy’s loyalty, perhaps going so far as making the boy a lesser partner in Nick’s dealing, assuming such a formalized thing was available.

  With this in mind, Nick once more returned to the town, once more carrying a carcass, much the same as the day before. This time, Nick deposited the carcass besides the boy, and Nick did not immediately leave.

  When the boy reached for the carcass with a longer arm than the day before, Nick cleared his throat.

  The boy paused, then glanced up at Nick.

  Nick truly took the time to observe the child, and the child’s circumstances. One question really bothered NIck, and that was why the boy had been living in squalor, when the boy obviously had means and ability. Of course, Nick could not simply ask this question, as it would likely be perceived as rude.

  Instead, Nick made a note of the surroundings. “Where’d the rest of the last carcass end up?” Nick asked.

  The boy shrugged, still reaching for the carcass with a hungry focus.

  “A bottomless pit, truly. Is this part of your ability?”

  The boy shrugged then nodded but was otherwise unforthcoming.

  Nick gave up and rolled his eyes in exasperation. “Fine then, eat. But I have questions that I would like answered, or at the very least considered.”

  The boy’s lips quirked upwards, and this time Nick did catch it.

  “Ugh. Of course this amuses you,” Nick grumbled, before finding a spot opposite to Kirk and leaning against the wall. Nick watched the boy tear handfuls of flesh from the carcass and shove them in his mouth. The boy’s flesh was warping as this occurred, gaining a pinkish hue and filling out. “I will say that you’re looking much healthier than when I first laid eyes upon you.”

  The boy nodded while he ate. The ripping sounds and popping from ligaments displaced was truly something. Nick felt the smaller bones up until they crossed the boy’s lips, from whence they disappeared. Out of everything, that was the most disturbing, at least to Nick.

  Several minutes later, and the boy began slowing down.

  “Now can we talk?”

  “Sure sure,” the boy said, before his stomach rumbled, not in hunger, but in digestion. “Sorry.”

  “Hm. Now, what can you share regarding the tattoos, and what have you learned or heard otherwise that might be of import?”

  Most of the happenings were inane, but there was one piece of import.

  “-Right,” the boy said. “Remember the elf? Guess some thugs took issue with his magic and somehow managed to corner him near the tower. Wasn’t lookin’ good for ‘im, until some wardens told the blokes to clear out. Ordinarily, woulda thought they’d find the elf later and teach him a lesson, yeah? But that’s not what happened. They had another confrontation but they let him go. They lost some face, from what I heard.”

  “Remarkable…” Nick said, mind abuzz with reasons for why this might have happened. “The wardens told the thugs to stop attacking the elf?”

  The boy nodded.

  “And they listened, which on it’s own is not that impressive. But the fact that they refrained from murdering the elf later… even though it left them looking weak? …”

  It was very interesting indeed.

  “Do you think the elf used his magic to escape this comempunce?”

  The boy shrugged. “Dunno, but it’d be impressive if he did. There were quite a few of ‘em to use it on.”

  After some consideration, Nick latched onto an idea he had been playing with in the back of his mind.

  “Keep your ears open for where the elf can be found.”

  “Really?” the boy asked, seeming surprised. “You know elves, yeah?”

  Nick scuffed, undaunted by whatever prejudice the boy had in mind, and instead continued to carry out his plan.

  “Say, Kurt–”

  “-it’s Kirk!”

  “-how do you feel about moving in to an inn?”

  “Uhm… why?”

  “Presentation?”

  “Ugh. Not taking a bath, if that’s what you mean.”

  “Afraid of some water, then?”

  “S’not the water,” the boy shuffled where he sat. “It’s the soap…”