The Impresario sighed with relief. Surgeit was apparently
satisfied, or he would be if the latest runner succeeded. He turned to
address Butz. "So, lad, you *are* a warrior, right? There's no other reason
why you would be here for this job."
	To this Butz replied, "Actually, I'm a musician... but fighting is
something I'm somewhat capable of as well."
	Eyeing Butz suspiciously, the Impresario continued, "Well, Mr.
Surgeit also brought up the point of you lacking the trappings of a
fighter. So where, pray tell, is your sword?"
	In truth Butz carried no weapon with him. After the defeat of
Exdeath, Butz wanted to retire from adventuring and live on the countless
hoard of treasure his adventuring had acquired. His personal sidearms
Ragnarok, and Strato sat over his fireplace as decorations. Still, he had
to convince the Impresario. Without warning he proceeded to drive his fist
elbow deep into the stone wall. "I hope this will suffice as a weapon," he
calmly asked.
	The Impresario was taken aback. Only the grandmaster Duncan and his
star pupil Sabin Figaro were likely capable of such a feat of power. After
regaining his composure, he replied, "Quite impressive, lad... in fact,
much better than what the other emissaries showed me. Well, let's just get
down to business. Mr. Surgeit is willing to offer 50,000 GP for each hero
that attends the premier. If you find them all then he will add a bonus of
200,000. If you manage to find them all then you will be rich beyond the
grandest dreams of avarice. So what is your decision, Butz?"
	Butz had already thought about his answer. "I'll need a few
things."
	An hour later most of his requests were fulfilled. Food and water
took a back seat to maps and language texts. There was little in terms of
protective gear beyond the painted armor and costume housed in the storage
closets. After assembling most of his gear, the Impresario approached him
with a pouch. "All of my hopes are with you, boy. There's some money in
this pouch to cover your expenses, as well a traveller's compass. May the
gods bless you on your voyage."
	"I will find them, sir," Butz replied while nodding.
	"Aahhhhhhhh!" screamed Surgeit. "Monster!"
	Butz immediately rushed to the dining hall from whence the shriek
had come. Surgeit had backed himself into a small corner. On the table,
Boco was busy menacing a rather large pot of vegetable stew. With just the
slightest excess of overacting, Butz called out, "Don't worry, Mr. Surgeit.
I'll vanquish this foul fowl!" Butz picked up a rather imposing meat
cleaver and gave Boco a wink. Boco immediately dashed for the exit with
Butz giving chase.
	As they careened out the door the Impresario entered. "Wonder what
that was about," he mused.
	When they were out of sight of the opera house, Butz mounted Boco.
"Do you know what kind of trouble you could have gotten us into?" he
screamed. The bird looked at him innocently and chirped. But Butz was
tired and lacked the strength to chide the bird much further. The rest of
the day was actually quite peaceful.

                               *  -  *  -  *

	Thunder pealed across the heavens. A great storm was in readiness
to drown the whole land. The pair had wandered for several weeks. In that
time Butz had learned several things besides the fact that they were
getting nowhere fast. Firstly, the major language of the land was
Gestahlish, named after the former emperor, but Figaran of the realm of
Figaro was fast becoming that in wake of the empire's fall. Secondly, both
of those tongues as well as many of those dialects were very close to
Mysidian, which allowed Butz to pick up a good deal of both languages.
Finally, something was very different about magic in this place. He found
most of his spells functioning wildly or not at all. Strangely, that fact
had done nothing to deter him from attempting to teleport himself and
Boco to the hamlet they had left half a day ago. Anything was better
than standing aimlessly in the rain. He clasped his hands together and
began the incantations. In a flash of light Butz and Boco reappeared
exactly two feet from where they began. Boco gave a chirp of
irritation. Again Butz attempted the spell.
	"Hey, it's nice and warm here!" Butz remarked. In agreement Boco
shook all of the water off of his feathers, once again disproving the
cliche "like water off a chocobo's back". Unfortunately, someone other than
Butz was caught in the crossfire.
	"Who are you!" Cyan asked as he assumed a defensive position.
	Butz's right hand began pushing his bangs aside as he took his
first good look at their neighbor. He glanced and blinked for a while
before reaching into his pack for a small scroll. On the scroll was a
drawing of Cyan, one of the heroes he sought.
	"Omigod, aren't you Spam Girlie-mon?" Butz asked with enthusiasm.
"This is great! After weeks of trudging and riding, I've finally found
one... only... thirteen more to go, still, this is a good start and-"
	"Excuse me, lad, may I have a word in edgewise?" Cyan asked with
slight annoyance.