Recruitment Drive [pre Chapter 154]

Sebastien

Set in a non-canonical alternate dimension as the first human tests of the sleep-proxy spell approach in Chapter 154 - "Experimenting in Humans." This "blooper" scene did not actually happen, unlike most of the other bonus content.

As she looked through the carriage window, wincing a little at every bump and rattle as the wheels passed over the cobblestones of the street below, Sebastien gingerly touched the swollen, bruised skin around her eye.

She was sure she looked a mess, but at least she was alive.

The carriage passed a pair of coppers, and Sebastien instinctively tensed, but they were only shooing away a poor couple from a bench. Apparently, the area was too affluent to allow “loiterers,” which really meant “poor and possibly homeless people.”

The couple had wrapped their feet in rags against the cold, wearing only woven-straw sandals around the bundled appendages. Their shoulders were hunched and sagging as they walked away. ‘A little kindness would mean something, to people like that,’ she thought. ‘A little help to get them on their feet might make a big difference.’

Suddenly, she realized that she had a ready-made source of poor and desperate people who might be willing to let someone do magical experiments on them for very little money. ‘Non-harmful magical experiments,’ she insisted to herself, even though she knew there was always some level of danger in untested magic.

“Turn around!” she ordered the carriage driver, making him take her around the block and catch up to the poor couple. She hobbled out of the carriage, waving them down.

They seemed bemused, or perhaps frightened, by her interest, but didn’t try to run.

“I noticed what happened with the copper,” she began.

They remained silent, though the man reached out a hand in front of the woman as if to protect her.

“Were you aware that the Verdant Stag runs a shelter in their territory?”

“They run more’n one,” the man said. “All full to overflowing.”

“Ah.” She tapped her fingers nervously against her thigh. “Would you be interested in some work?” she asked, the real reason for the conversation.

“What kind of work?” the woman asked, slipping a wary hand into her pocket.

“I know a couple of researchers—trained sorcerers—who are developing a new healing spell. They need some people to test it. All the animal trials have been successful, but they need to move on to humans and are looking for volunteers.”

The man’s eyes tightened with suspicion.

“It’s paid work!” Sebastien added quickly. “Um, three gold each, I think it was.”

The couple shared a quick glance, and he looked Sebastien up and down. “Would we need to…get hurt? To test the spell, I mean.”

“Oh! No,” she said, reaching up to touch her eye as she realized where his trepidation came from. “No injury involved. I was in…a riding accident, banged myself up a bit, completely unrelated.”

Seeing that they were still somewhat hesitant, she decided to make a gesture of good faith, handing them a few loose coins—enough to buy breakfast. The couple took the coins readily enough, but if anything, the generosity only made them more suspicious. Perhaps they needed more information to make a decision. “Clinical trials are standard when developing any new healing spell,” she tried. “This spell is meant to passively improve your physical and mental condition, not help you recover from an injury. The kind of thing high-end clients use to boost their quality of life. They’ll just need you to report on whether you feel refreshed, stronger, improved mental clarity, that kind of thing. How quickly you get tired.” There. Hopefully that would reassure them.

“You want us to test high end feel-good magic?” the man mused, relaxing a bit. “How addictive is it?”

Sebastien blinked at him. “Um. It shouldn’t be addictive? It’s just a passive healing spell.”

“What are the side-effects?” the woman asked.

Sebastien hesitated. “Well…you won’t be able to sleep for a few days.”

The couple shared a knowing look. “Five gold, and we’ll do it. But no cages, no locked rooms, no extra ‘tests’ for other stuff, and nothing sexual.”

“It really is a test for a harmless healing spell.”

They stared silently back at her.

She sighed, deflating. “Definitely no cages, locked rooms, administration of other spells or substances, and nothing sexual. I promise.”

The man harrumphed. “We’ll see. Five gold,” he repeated.