Sometimes on Jecht’s Travels around the country led him into unexpected tasks with at times beneficial rewards, other times it led to unnecessary troubles and wasted effort and time. Luckily for Jecht this time around it would be the former instead of the latter.

Today’s travels took Jecht to the outskirts of Kikka, there were trees larger than any that Jecht had seen in most places that surrounded him and the area. These were the type of places that Jecht felt most at home in and it showed all the way down to the relaxed pace of his gait. Coming up to a large clearing Jecht took his time and scanned the environment, after all no reason to walk into a possible trap if he didn’t have too but upon his lookout he noticed there was a large house in said clearing. It even seemed to have a sign of some sort that looked to have a broom on it. Jecht was surprised to see what looked to be a store of some sort this far out here in the woods but he simply shrugged his shoulders and made his way to the store to see what wares they had for sell or if they had any odd jobs needing completed so that he could earn some extra yul in case of wanting to purchase meats or a new weapon if needed.

Approaching the Store he could now clearly read the sign and it was in fact a broom making and selling establishment, walking in through the front door he heard a bell ring signaling to any in the building that someone had entered. Shortly after there was sound of movement, slow but sure as an older man with white hair and glasses appeared from the back. The man had sawdust on his apron and hands showing he had been in the middle of some kind of wood work, he looked at Jecht’s shirtless and shoeless appearance and a grimace showed on his face, “I assume you aren’t here to purchase anything and we don’t have anything to give for free.” The old man announced as he looked at Jecht unsure of what his intentions, Jecht laughed freely and met the old man’s stare. “No sir, I’m not here for purchasing or hand-outs I happened upon your shop and wondered if you had any odd jobs needing done possibly something that needed physical help?” Jecht explained as he looked around the store not moving from the entrance more to keep who assumed was the owner at ease.

The old man looked at Jecht and could see he was in good enough shape to help him with a task he was actually needing some help with, “Surprisingly I could use some help and I’ll throw in a free broom that I haven’t been able to sell on top of some Yul if you do good enough.” The old man said as he gestured to the outside heading out there waiting for Jecht to follow him, “What I need is for someone to cut down some of the magical trees in the grove over there and bring me back four pieces so I can continue to make more brooms for an order that came in recently.” He explained as he gestured to the grove he spoke of, “I’m to old to do it in any quick fashion and with your help it would greatly reduce the amount of effort and time I would have had to put into doing it myself, Saves these old bones the ache.” The old man finished explaining as he looked at Jecht once more.

“Sounds easy enough, You got an axe I can use and a cart for hauling those logs? If so, I will have this done before the sun crests the horizon.” Jecht offered to the old man looking at the width of the trees in question, they were wider than himself with his arms outstretched it would be quite the workout and labor for him to do by himself but Jecht was more then confident in his physical ability. The old man showed him where to get the cart and horse for hauling the logs and gave Jecht an Axe to use for the request and once he showed Jecht where to put the logs on his return the old man went back inside to leave Jecht to his task.

Jecht jumped into the cart and once he got the horse to listen to his commands got on his way to the first of the trees he would be gathering. It wasn’t a long trip and he was now in position to begin his task, he made sure that the cart and horse were far enough away to keep out of any trouble should the tree not fall where he was planning on it landing and got to work swinging the axe into the tree. Each strike rang out echoing against the other trees, the axe biting into the bark and then into the tree proper until finally it was at a point where jecht needed to switch sides to make sure it would fall where he wanted it too. With a few more strikes the tree fell perfectly where he wanted it and it was time to continue onto the other three trees requested by the shopkeep. Each swing brought forth more sweat that jecht used his bandana to wipe from his face and each swing brought him closer to being complete, until finally the last tree fell to the ground and was ready to be loaded into the cart as needed.

Here it would take some more time and effort to get the logs into the cart but that didn’t phase Jecht as this was exactly the kind of thing that Jecht enjoyed and excelled at, after all if you couldn’t count on your own body than what could you count on? The sun dipped lower in the sky and as it was nearing disappearing behind the horizon Jecht was already heading back to off load all the logs where the shopkeep had told him too.

The old man was waiting for him as he had heard the horse and cart approaching, upon leaving his home he could see the cart was filled with logs from the trees that he had instructed Jecht to cut down and honestly was quite surprised that it was done by one person, “Well you have definitely earned the yul and broom for this work young man.” The shopkeep said with a slight smile, “For once I’m glad a ruffian like you darkened my doorstep.” He jested as he gave over the rewards to Jecht and thanked him once more. “If you would like with the sun setting and I’m sure you are tired after that work I’d like to invite you in for a meal and can even give you a place to lay your head for the night if you so wish.” The shopkeeper offered to Jecht, though Jecht did appreciate the offer for food and board he really only wanted the food as he was quite hungry. “I’ll take you up on the food but I quite enjoy sleeping outside if I’m being honest.” Jecht replied and followed the Shopkeep to the kitchen and enjoyed his food.

WC: 1223