The Beginning

The next morning Mikax awoke feeling refreshed as he always did. Today, however, he planned to start making the changes he had thought up to build The Misfit Toys here in Bedel. He got dressed and made his way down to have breakfast.

Mikax was happy to see that Lyra and Orion were back to their usual selves, happily greeting and taking care of customers. He noticed two people sitting next to his usual seat at the bar, Hesa and the other noble lady that he hadn't met yet. If he didn't enjoy this establishment's food and drink so much he would have left just to avoid them but alas any other place just fell short.

As he sat down Hesa didn't acknowledge Mikax at all. The truth was that she was terrified of the man. She could feel her heart racing inside her chest, her hands slightly shook just from him being nearby.

Kydorzia was having a similar reaction only much more mild but hers wasn't out of fear, it was excitement. Her father was part of the faction wanting to replace the King. Duke Ryb had been a soldier so his outlook on Mikax wasn't as negative as some of the other nobles. He respected true power which is why he volunteered his daughter for the mission. He had instructed her to get on Mikax's good side no matter the cost.

Since Mikax decided to pretend that they weren't present the two followed suit. Neither wanted to upset him so going with the flow was the best option. The three sat in silence for almost 30 minutes before Rotnam made an appearance.

When the two girls had seen him they were shocked. He looked rough, to say the least. They could tell that he was hungover and hadn't slept as long as he would need to recover.

Mikax couldn't resist the temptation and shouted at Rotnam once he saw him, "GOOD MORNING KNIGHT COMMANDER! DID YOU HAVE TOO MUCH FUN LAST NIGHT?" As soon as Mikax began to yell Rotnam shot him a look that could kill while covering his ears.

"Can you please not raise your voice Mikax, I don't know how you look so rested." Rotnam sat on the other side of Kydorzia and ordered some food and specifically asked for water.

Seeing the interaction between the two men they had surmised that Rotnam ignored their advice and decided to see Mikax last night. They were glad to see that it mostly looked like they had partied too hard and not anything dangerous.

A few minutes later another guest arrived. This one Mikax was surprised to have not seen sooner.

"Mikax! Finally, I'm able to see you again! I was delayed in the capital by some brutes!" Mr. Akkar had come into the bar and made a direct line towards Mikax while shouting about the mistreatment while he had gone to make the exchange. Once he arrived at the bar he quickly closed his mouth and made an apologetic bow when he saw the people who sat beside Mikax. Rotnam was one of the main brutes he had complained about.

Mikax was laughing hysterically at the situation. When he finally had calmed down some he turned to Hesa for the first time. "Sorry but I'm going to need you to sit at the end next to Rotnam, I have business with Mr. Akkar."

Hesa didn't need to be told twice. She was glad for a reason to get some distance from Mikax. It took a minute to convince Mr. Akkar to take the seat but he had eventually submitted upon Mikax's insistence.

He was now sitting between the most dangerous man in the Kingdom with some of the most influential on his other side. Mr. Akkar had never felt so important in his life. He had given up on any high-profile career when he was assigned to the backwater town that was Redgate but things were looking up.

As he produced a heavy bag of coins he slid it to Mikax immediately. "The silver you asked for as promised. I even negotiated a higher exchange rate gathering you 2000 silver coins instead of 1500." Mr. Akkar was extremely proud of himself for this accomplishment.

Sliding the bag back to Mr. Akkar, Mikax put on a rarely serious face. "I'd like to offer you a job. If you accept, that bag of coins will be your starting bonus. Before we get started talking about that though we need 3 more people to join us and for some privacy."

Mikax flagged down Orion from the front counter and asked Lyra to join them as well. He then produced a gold coin and asked the couple if they would mind closing the bar for their discussion. Of course, the answer was yes. The people sitting at the bar were far more important than everyone else in the town combined, and they would make more money off that coin than a year of sales.

Within 10 minutes everyone had left the bar and the doors had been locked.

"Hesa or whatever your name is, can one of you go wake up Arlyne" Mikax nonchalantly asked while going behind the bar and looking through the bottles.

Both girls were shocked he knew Arlyne's name. As far as they knew he hadn't met her before and he didn't take interest in Kydorzia's name, so why did he seem to know her and have enough interest in her to hold off starting the meeting without her? Finally, after recovering herself, Hesa stood and left the room.

When she returned it was immediately clear that Arlyne had been wherever Rotnam had gone with Mikax. If Rotnam looked rough then she was 5x worse. She sat at one of the tables and immediately put her head down.

Laughing to himself Mikax removed two small vials from his pouch and handed one to Rotnam before walking over to Arlyne. He tapped her shoulder and handed the other one to her. They both looked skeptical of him and didn't immediately drink them.

Clearing his throat Mikax began shouting. "DRINK THE VIALS I NEED YOU TO BE ABLE TO CONTRIBUTE!"

After clasping their hands over their ears for a moment they complied. Neither wanted to hear Mikax yell again their heads hurt too much.

To everyone's surprise, they both had a light blue light emit from their bodies. It was clear that both Rotnam and Arlyne had recovered almost to top shape.

"What was that?" Arlyne was amazed. Very few potions would help someone recover from the effects of alcohol since it was considered a poison and it was just wasteful to use an antidote potion but they knew those were usually yellow.

"Just some water," Mikax told the truth when he said that. They didn't need to know that his guild had killed a Goddess and drained a fountain for it. Its only real property was as a detoxification but there were many stronger options for that so Mikax had kept nearly 5000 vials of it specifically to cure hangovers, The Misfit Toys loved to party after all.

No one believed that it was just water but if Mikax wasn't going to share the information none of them could force him.

Mikax asked everyone to push some tables together in the center of the room so they could all face each other when this discussion broke out. He poured himself a drink and offered some to the rest of the group. Lyra, Orion, and Mr. Akkar were the only ones to accept. Everyone else felt they needed to be on high alert while those who took the drinks felt they needed to calm down.

"So to start I want you all to know you should be honored to be included in this conversation. What I am about to ask you all will be life-changing if you want to accept, if you choose not to accept then I will ask you to never appear before me again." Mikax was very solemn right now and everyone could feel the weight of the words he was speaking. No one doubted he meant what he said.

He continued "By now you all know I came from another world. In that world, I was one of the founders of the strongest organization that ruled that world. We were known as The Misfit Toys. Although we had a leader, we all were treated as equals." As he glanced around the group he was happy to see that they were all listening.

"Some of you are here by pure luck." After saying this Mikax glanced at Arlyne and Kydorzia.

"Some of you are here because of fate." Mikax turned towards Hesa and Mr. Akkar next.

"Some of you are here because you chose to be." He glanced at Rotnam next.

"Lastly, some of you are here because I want you to be." Finally, he looked at Orion and Lyra.

"It doesn't matter why you are here now, what I am offering, every one of you, is a place beside me in The Misfit Toys. I will be creating a branch guild here in Bedel since it seems I'll be here for a while." Mikax left what he had said hanging in the air. Although these people didn't understand the real honor he had bestowed upon them yet, he was certain that eventually they would.

"I'm in." Arlyne was the first to break the silence. It didn't take her long but she had learned the night before that Mikax was far from normal. He had led them into the demon lord's castle to make a deal with who she believed was humankind's mortal enemy and afterwards have a party. Not a single human in the world could have done that except for him, because of that she was willing to risk her future.

Everyone was amazed to see her jump at the opportunity. As they had all looked towards her they had noticed Mr. Akkar take the bag of coins and insert it into his storage bag. "I'll join you as well" was all he said.

Looking towards Orion and Lyra, Mikax decided to tell them their roles. "I know that you two probably do not understand 'why you?' What I would like is to make the Valedge Inn into the guild's home. I would fund an expansion of the building and enhance some of its capabilities. It would no longer be a public inn, but it would maintain the restaurant and bar aspect which you would be in charge of. Your monthly income will easily exceed your current capabilities. You will also be under mine and the guilds' permanent protection."

"We will agree." Orion had spoken up after hearing about Mikax's protection. Lyra grabbed her husband's hand and nodded her head.

These two were the only ones that Mikax had planned to have to convince. If the others chose not to join him they were replaceable to him but he would not budge when it came to his daily food and drink.

Silence hung as the rest of the people continued to weigh their pros and cons.