Board Thread:What Would You Do?/@comment-38248322-20190307003237/@comment-44464716-20200408143759

With a heart hopeful for a fresh start, and a mind preparing for the worst, I step off the ship and onto the port of Nilanders. People are bustling about; heading in and out of the dock as quickly as they can, while Mamono wait to chat up any sailors or passengers that catch their eye.

The closer I get to the city itself, the sea breeze fades, replaced with the stink of industrial smoke and snake oil from the salesmen at the port entrance. In the midst of all this, I keep my head low and just try to get out of the harbour as quickly as possible. I have a friend who moved to the city years ago and offered to share an apartment with me until I make enough for my own place. The last letter he sent me had the address, so I head there.

However, on the way, I see a hellhound pursuing a young man who is very much non-consenting. I draw my training sword from my luggage; I hoped to make some money by teaching historic swordsmanship and self-defence, and here was a good opportunity to use what I knew.

"He said no," I tell the hellhound, who has now pressed the man between herself and a building.

"Mind your own business, stranger," She tells me. So, I point my sword at her.

"He said no. Back away." Instead of backing off, she turns to me and pounces. I manage to fight her off; grazing her arm. Reluctantly, she backs off.

"Thank you, stranger," The young man tells me. I tell him to head home and be prepared in case she comes back, and I continue on my way. Eventually, I reach my friend's apartment and I settle in.

The next day, I decide to head out and look for a room I can rent for teaching. However, all the ones that are big enough are far too expensive. Resigned, I begin heading home. On my way back, someone bumped into me. It was the young man I saved yesterday.

"Hey, you saved me yesterday!" He tells me. "Look, I have to repay you somehow." He then notices that I'm holding a flyer of rooms for rent. "I know some people who can help you afford that."

Curious, I follow him. He leads me to a small old building in a poor section of the city. "Perfect hiding place," he tells me, "No one would think we'd hide in a place like this."

I begin to be concerned about what kind of a group needs to hide, but I came all this way. Inside, there's a small group of people: humans and mamono. Some of them wear armour and carry weapons. One of them, presumably their leader, approaches me. She's a very beautiful woman, with long red hair tied in a braid, a black dress and leggings, a big hat and a sword at her side. Her eyes are as red as her hair, which, combined with her beauty, lead me to think she might not be entirely human.

"Welcome. Bill told me about you; how you fought off a hellhound with a sword. Well done. Not many can do that." She continues, "We're vigilantes; we're the only group left looking out for the little guy in this city, and we could use your help."

"My help?" I ask her. I'm brand new to the city, so I'm not sure how much I could help.

"There have been a rash of kidnappings. Young men are being taken and forced to fight mamono in an arena, run by the lizardmen mob. We're going to rescue them, but, in order to get in, we need a... volunteer. None of our young men are good with melee weapons. If you help us, we can pay for that studio."

Needing the money, and understanding their cause, I agree to help out. The details of what happened in that arena are... inconsequential; let's put it there. Let's just say that the plan got complicated after a salamander saw how I fought and took and took an interest, and I had to avoid fighting her so she wouldn't pursue me. But, we ultimately succeeded, and I grew to like the leader of this vigilante group.

A couple days later, I buy the studio and begin setting it up for historical swordsmanship when I hear a knock at the door.

"We're not open yet," I say while putting a training sword up on a wall.

"I know, I wanted to thank you again." Recognizing that voice, I turn around. It's the vigilante leader.

"It's okay," I tell her, "Just don't mention it; especially not the part with the salamander."

She just laughs. "Sure. I was thinking, I still have some savings from my vampire mother's ill-gotten funds, but I'm going to need a job soon, and you look like you could use a teaching assistant."

Remembering how well she fought, I take her up on the offer. We began classes a few days later, and we began dating a few days after that.