Slayers: Chaos

Episode 53

Slayers: Chaos

Episode 053: Jobs! Gotta Make A Living Somehow

"Jobs?!" Lina exclaimed, her voice echoing through the interior of the Great Beast.

"Yes, jobs, that is to say work," Zelas explained. "Meaning, to perform tasks that bring a revenue."

"I know what a job is, but why do we need jobs?" Lina complained. She would expect to hunt for relics, of technology rather than magic given that they were in the over-world. She would expect to follow rumors and legends, to train and maybe hunt down some bandits over-world style for the sake of getting the hang of fighting with their new weapons, but the fiery redhead was not expecting Zelas to say she had to get a job.

"The answer to that is simple, we need money. Ship parts cost money and adding weapons and ammunition to this vessel is the fastest and most effective way to increase its power. Since I have a physical form now, I must consider not only my strength of energy, but also my physical defenses," Zelas explained, referring to the lost ship Great Beast. "I got the energy deal covered with your and Filia's bad tempers-"

At that point, both Filia and Lina let out an undignified chorus of, "hey!"

The protests were ignored as Zelas continued. "However, I must make sure that this vessel is strong. The final battle will take place in space, even if all of you have tasks to do, you won't be able to run around freely. Let's not forget what we discussed about the atmosphere of this world, this area called outer space doesn't have any air or gravity. You won't be able to survive without the life support within my vessel, which I must remind you I can turn off at any moment. So to summarize, if you want me to shield you and keep you alive, you better do your part to strengthen my vessel."

"When you put it that way, it does make sense," Amelia accepted.

"I would go around stealing what I need, but then we'll just waste the ammunition fighting off cops and draw unneeded attention that could alert the light weapon lost ships of our location and all of that, especially if it happens at the same time, will be very counterproductive," Zelas frowned. "Unfortunately, this means we must keep a low profile, thus earn money by..." She trailed into silence, searching for the right way to phrase it that didn't sound too repulsive to her. "By means that do not attract unwanted attention."

"In other words," Amelia elaborated with a smile. "We need honest jobs!"

"I wouldn't go that far," Zelas interjected. "You don't have to be honest, just be careful not to get caught."

"We won't need to worry about that if we work honestly!" Amelia insisted cheerfully. "Alright, let's go get some jobs!"

"You're forgetting something," Lina pointed out. She didn't want to ruin Amelia's cheer, but her point was a valid concern that needed to be expressed. "What kind of jobs can we do? When I take a job, it usually involves fighting with magic. We can try to do escorts, bandit hunting and such jobs with the psy-weapons we got from Canal, but will people hire us?"

"Oh yeah... we are kind of out of our element, aren't we?" Amelia admitted.

"From the perspective of the people of this world, we may seem like amateurs," Zelgadis mused. "Plus from what we've studied so far on the Internet, the police and transport systems in most of the planets in this world are pretty advanced and people don't usually have any need for bodyguards. Then those who do hire such services would likely be suspicious of us, since we're not exactly well known in any planets here, or known at all."

"I'm working on that," Zelas explained. "This world still needs individuals known as trouble contractors. That is actually Kain's profession along with the others at the Swordbreaker. They are bounty hunters of sorts, though the job of a trouble contractor isn't limited to hunting rogues, they do escorts, investigations, item recoveries and a variety of odd jobs that require skill precision and power. I think that would be the closest equivalent in this world to the usual jobs your little group would take. I will find a suitable job for us to perform that serves as a source of economical benefits and as training for the upcoming battle."