Tales of the Wastelander Ch. 31 - Teaser (Patreon)

In the city of D’troi, Magdalena was out and about the city during the afternoon hours of the day. She had a few errands to complete, which mainly consisted of her replenishing her food stock at her apartment. While she got a fair amount of food from her job as a maid at the tavern, she couldn’t eat there all the time. So, having some food at home was essential in order for her to stay fed.

The undercover Regulator hurried along, having collected some bread, dried meat and jarred preserves. She didn’t have a cooler in her apartment, as such items were a luxury this far north. This was far from the Expanse, so Magdalena would have to do without, for now. At least until the Regulators got a foothold here, but that day was a ways off.

As Magdalena walked along the street, she watched a young orphan girl running off, as she was being chased by a merchant. She thought this was just part of the normal group of orphans who came by and pestered the food merchants. But as she got closer, she heard what the man was saying, and it got her hackles up.

“Get back here, you thieving brat! Give me back my coin purse!” the merchant shouted.

Normally, Magdalena would have stepped in to help such a man, but noted one very important detail. The girl had nothing in her hands and was looking back at the man fearfully. Not to mention that the man’s coin purse was still attached to his belt and jangling with every step he took. Then there was the fact that the man was very well dressed for a merchant, which screamed one word to the Regulator: slaver.

She had to maintain her cover as a serving girl at the tavern where she worked, but the Regulator in her couldn’t just let the girl get nabbed. Spirits only knew what kind of tortures or traumas the girl would endure if he caught her. An idea popped into her head the moment she thought about intervening, and Magdalena smiled.

Just as the pair were racing past her, the Regulator pulled a small knife from up her sleeve and struck just as the pair passed her. Her aim was true, as Magdalena felt and heard the soft clink of metal on metal, her knife digging into the slaver’s coin purse. With a quick jerk, she pulled it free, tearing the coin purse open and spilling hects all over the ground.

The sound of falling money got everyone’s attention and, like scavengers on a corpse, they descended on the coins. The slaver heard the sound and turned around with a look of confusion on his face. Confusion then gave way to realization, then panic, as he saw that these coins on the ground were his.

“Stop! Leave the money! It’s mine!!” the man shouted as he tried swinging his arms to beat the people back. Some turned to him and slugged the man, turning the whole ordeal into a good old-fashioned street scuffle.

Magdalena giggled quietly to herself as she walked along. She was happy that she was able to spare the girl forced confinement, labor and spirits knew what other appalling things she’d be forced to do. The Regulator spotted the girl staring at the scene for a few seconds, before she turned her gaze to the woman. They locked eyes for but a moment and the girl simply nodded, mouthed ‘Thank you!’ and was gone.

Smiling to herself at her good deed, Magdalena made her way to the building where her apartment was. It was an old building from the Before, that had long since been redesigned and rebuilt to accommodate Meludgen. Many of the buildings in this ancient city had been rebuilt and repurposed since they had reclaimed it. There were still many more to be rebuilt, but that was happening, albeit at a slow pace.

Magdalena sighed and figured that maybe one day, the Meludgen of this world might hold a level of mastery the Pinkskins once had of the world from the Before. Such a thought made the undercover Regulator smile. The possibility of advancing to such heights was a dream shared by many Meludgen, and one that they all wished to see made into reality.