Drumm drove us up to the gate. I stepped out, and Rebecca stumbled behind me, still feeling a bit shaky in the legs. “You were right.”, she whispered. “I didn't throw up. I'm glad.” She leaned on me with about as much weight as my legs could carry, the rivets of her chestplate digging into my shoulders, presumably adding another set of marks on me.

  “We′ll wait till sundown for the two of you, then we gotta leave, or Thost is gonna get cranky.”

  “Oh shut it, Drumm.”

  The clanging of bone on metal sounded as Thost knocked on Drumm′s helmet.

  The guards at the entrance didn't blink twice at the dwarven vehicle. Presumably, they had seen these and other machines a lot if commerce was really this big in this town.

  “A human and a demihuman.”, one of the guards said. He looked at me. “Merchant, Mercenary, Slaver, Visitor?”

  I hesitated for half a second before saying: “Mercenary. We′re looking for a Leporid Merchant.”

  “The guard thought for a few moments. “There shouldn't be a merchant specialised in them, though most slavers have a couple. If you′re more looking to play around, the redlight district has specialised-”

  “No, no, no, no.”, I interrupted him. “We′re looking for a Leporid who is a merchant.”, I said. The merchant shrugged and looked at Rebecca. “They should also have places for Canid women-” Rebecca growled, and the guard luckily stopped talking. His colleague opened a notebook. “Does the Leporid have a name?”, he asked.

  “Simon.”

  Going through his notes, he languidly flipped page after page, licking his thumb after each one. It didn't take me long to understand what game he was playing. He was trying to get paid.

  I rummaged through the coin purse until I felt coins, grabbed a fistful of whatever was in my purse, and pressed it into the guard's hand, mixing a few copper and silver coins with a bunch of nails. He looked at his hand, then me as if he couldn't quite believe what he saw, but he pocketed it anyway.

  “Came in here an hour ago,” he said. “What are your names?” He flipped through pages until he reached a couple marked with a green stripe on the side.

  “Henry and Rebecca.”, I said, and the guard scribbled the names down before they let us come inside. As we stepped past him, I wished I had some sort of ability or item to pay him back for that behavior.

  “Rebecca, can you stand?”, I asked.

  “Let me try.”, she said, pushing herself off me. “Much better! Nothing quite like feeling ground under your feet, isn't there?” She rose to her full height, looking around. “Then let's track Simon, shall we?”, she said, sniffing the air. “Gonna be difficult with that many people, but there can't be that many Leporids here, can there?”

  “Still, he might just be passing through again.”, I said. Rebecca shrugged. “Even if in a town this big, there should be jobs for us, even though we aren't registered yet.”, she said in a hopeful tone..

  “I really wanted to see that festival.”, I admitted. Rebecca turned to me.

  “You do?”, she asked.

  “Yeah, Lea at the guild said it's the 650th anniversary of the first Rolaner.”, I said. “So to be honest, I was curious about it, thought that maybe there's more info on-

  A stinging pain erupted from the back of my head, the same pain I′ve had days ago with the gifts Henry′s family had sent him. Back when Rebeccah had removed the gem filled with poison. What was the reason this time?

  “Henry?”, Rebecca asked.

  “The pain is back.”, I said. “That pain I've had with the chainmai-”

  Before I could finish the sentence, Rebecca shoved me against a wall, and less than a moment later, the ground exploded where I had just stood, sending gravel sized chunks and dust all over. They hit Rebecca′s armor but she didnt so much as flinch.

  The pain vanished moments later. “What was that?”, I asked. Rebecca scanned the roofs. “Someone just threw an explosive at us. I don't know why, and I frankly don't care. We gotta take them out before they do it again.”

  “Target Attacker.”, I said, to Rebecca′s confusion. “Huh?”

  “The [Emperors Gaze]”, I said, and she nodded

  I looked around as the world lost its color. I hadn't gotten a fail message, so I should be able to see them, but there was nothing.”

  “They fled.”, I said. “I can't see them at least.”

  “So you can use both abilities.”, Rebecca said and began rushing down the street, I followed her.

  “We′re gonna try to get in between the people, hope that whoever attacked us doesn't dare shoot into a crowd.”

  We turned a corner into a bigger street. populated by a few dozen people at most, which wasn't enough to really form a crowd.

  “Do you see them?” , she asked.

  I scanned the area, but nothing came into view.

  “No, nothing.” I turned around. “No, nobody here shows up. They fled.”

  “We should find Simon and leave quickly.”, Rebecca said, and I couldn't agree more.

  Rebecca sniffed the air, eyes closed in concentration. From time to time, she made a few steps in a direction. “I got Emily′s trail.”, she said, ears perking up. Rebecca grabbed my hand. “Trails still fresh, let's go.” We rushed down the street trying to catch up with the four that had rushed ahead of us.

  Rebecca′s sense of smell sent us all the way towards the middle of town until she finally came to a halt before an unassuming three-story building, wedged between larger buildings.

  “I can smell Simon and Emily here. As well as two Harpies. I'm not entirely sure about their scent, they might be the two extra slaves you bought. Also, a couple of- four other people.”

  I knocked on the door. A latch was opened, and a pair of green eyes came into view. “Yes?”, a voice said. It belonged to a woman in her thirties at most.

  “We′re looking for a demihuman named Simon.”, I said. “A Leporid.” The woman thought for a couple of seconds. “And you are?”

  “Mercenaries.”, I said. “We were hired as guards by Simon, I'm sure he′ll confirm that if you ask.

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  “You′re no mercenary.”, the lady said. “You look more like a tourist to me. I heard Noam is nice this time of the year, you should visit it. ” I blinked at the eyes in confusion.

  Rebecca and I were covered in dirt and grime from our days on the streets, even after our rudimentary cleaning in Seleman, and the dirt flung by the dwarven jeep. Rebecca′s pants still had dried blood on them, no matter how hard we had tried getting rid of it. We were both armored, and Rebecca carried a broadsword with obvious signs of use; there was no way the lady could doubt-

  [New World Mental Block] has prevented the Effect of [Compelling Suggestion]

  “I see.”, I said. “Then I'm sorry for the confusion.”, I took Rebecca′s hand. “Come, honey, we should go back to the market.” Rebecca′s hand closed around mine, and I could feel her hesitation, but she did not resist. We walked down the street before I turned a corner with her and let go of her hand.

  “What was that about?”, she asked, her voice a pitch higher than usual. Or was that just some part of me hoping? What was I thinking about? We had to get Simon and Emily out of there.

  “My [New World Mental Block] just activated.”, I said. “She was using some skill named [Compelling Suggestion] on me.”

  “So they have him and don't want someone coming in while they do.”, she said.

  “How big is the chance he′s just having some sort of merchant discussion?”, I asked, and Rebecca hesitated. “No outsiders allowed and all that.”

  “There is a chance,”, she admitted. “But I did not see any 'Demihuman allowed' sign. I don't know enough about merchants; they might not use them for inns and the like, and Emily is a drafter, so.”

  Rebecca tapped her foot, thinking. “I'd say it's more likely he′s been nabbed against his will. So we should go in and free him.” She grabbed her sword and pulled it halfway out of the sheath before I stopped her. “I′ll need some weapon too.”, I said.

  “What's your plan?”, she asked. “I′ve seen a blacksmith but not a single weaponsmith so far.”

  “That's more than enough.”, I said with a smile. “Give me the purse the Squire had.”

  I returned a few minutes later with my purchase. Rebecca furrowed her brow in confusion. “A padlock and a length of chain? Henry, unless you have some martial arts experience using those from back home, I can really think how that would help you.”

  I closed the padlock on one end and wrapped the remaining chain around my lower arm. I swung it around a few times.

  “Ok, ok, you made a flail without the handle thats…. better than going in barehanded.”, Rebecca said. “Just make sure you don't hurt yourself.“

  We formulated a quick plan before returning to the door. I knocked on the door again, Rebecca standing on the other side of the street in position, and once more the hatch opened.

  “Didn't I tell you-”, the lady started before seeing Rebecca over my shoulder, rushing closer. Rebecca crashed through the door, sending splinters all over. I rushed in behind her, chain raised, scanning the room. “Where are they?”, I yelled out. A man stepped through the door, face confused, arms raised in an appeasing manner. “What is the matter?”, he asked. Under normal circumstances, I would have explained myself, maybe apologized, but I hadn't deactivated [Emperors Gaze] ever since the initial attack, and lo and behold. The man was the only thing in color.

  I swung the chain before he had time to react, slamming it against his jaw, which gave a sickening crunch. I jumped over the slumped body as he sank, groaning in pain. In the back of the room, there sat Simon, Emily and the harpies, shackled and gagged. Simon's eyes widened as he saw me, and so did Emily′s. I quickly step across the room and removed Emily′s gag, who gasped for air, a thankful shimmer in her eyes.

  Behind us, Rebecca was fighting against someone else, maybe the woman, maybe our attacker had managed to get back up. I grabbed the knife from a side table, thankful that it was clean and the group seemed unharmed, and cut Emily′s tied wrists before handing her the knife. “I gotta help Rebecca.”, I said quickly before turning around and rushing back.

  The man with the broken jaw had indeed gotten up and was now swinging some sort of club at Rebecca, who managed to block it with her shoulder before he got to swing it fully, absorbing some of the damage as she blocked another strike by the woman at the door who was wielding a woodcutter's axe, with her sword.

  I rushed forward and slammed the padlock on a chain at the back of the man's head, and he went down without another sound.

  Rebecca jumped back, her blade reflecting the light as she swung the broadsword in a large arc, cleaving through the doorwoman's axe, before another cleaving strike ended any threat she could pose as she went down with a gurgling throat. “That's two.”, she said, “Where are three and four?”

  “One is upstairs, I kicked him in the head, he won't get up anytime soon.”, Emily yelled from the other room. “And they sent out one of them to get an Interrogator.”

  As if to prove her wrong, the third, a scrawny man with a bandaged skull, came down the stairs, hatred in his eyes. He opened his mouth, no doubt to say something, before his legs gave in and he landed face down on the floor.

  Rebecca nudged him with the tip of her sword, and he did not react. We shared a look before she shrugged. We stepped into the back and helped Emily, who had barely managed to cut halfway through the rope tying her ankles together. Seeing the deep marks on her legs and the shake in her step, Rebecca simply slung the smaller woman over her shoulder and stepped out of the building. I cut the harpies free, neither of which spoke even after I removed the gag. I helped them outside while Rebecca looked over Emily′s legs. I sat down the harpies before walking back to get Simon out. I managed to cut the ropes binding him and removed the gag.

  He gasped for air, his whole body shivering. I put a hand on his back comfortingly and began leading him out as well.

  It was then that the remaining man sat up. He pressed his thumb onto a vial he was holding, which I hadn't noticed before, blood running down his face, yet it was contorted in a fanatical grin.

  “In the name of the gods, I sentence you to death, Rolander.”

  He pressed onto the vial, and cracks formed on the glass as he clenched his fist.

  I grabbed Simon and tossed him out the door before he could say a word. I rushed towards the door only to be held back by a sharp tug at my arm. The fanatic had grabbed the chain, and with the other side wrapped around my arm, I was trapped. I pulled with all my strength, but he did not yield. He pulled me back, grabbing onto my tunic as he laughed into my face, his hot breath on my skin sending shivers of disgust through me. I managed to push him off, barely a few feet away from me. I stumbled back towards the stairs, disoriented before managing to get up, trying to rush for the door as I heard a high-pitched cling.

  A wall of flame and thunder slammed me into a wooden support, and I felt myself slumping to the ground.

  Debris rained down upon me as the building creaked under its own weight, collapsing over me. I heard Rebecca scream my name. The last thing I could feel was my body being slammed into the ground by falling rocks and pinned by more as they fell onto me, knocking what little air there was out of my lungs.

  I do not know how much time had passed by the time I drifted back into consciousness. Every bit of my body was in pain, unfathomably so. The Grace opened and displayed a message, lighting up the darkness that surrounded me. I sucked in air, unable to believe what I saw before me.

  By the will of the gods, your death will not be quick.

  _________________________________________________________________________

  Current Status:

  Stats:

  Power: 2

  Agility: 1

  Toughness: 3

  Mental: 2

  Perception: 3

  Mana: N/A

  Effects:

  Night Vision  Lvl. 1

  Overlapping Protection  Lvl. 1

  Poisonous Blood  Lvl. 1

  Protection against Natural Poison and Venom Lvl. 1

  Various Wounds  Lvl. 1

  Skills:

  [Behind every great person, there's their spouse] Lvl. 2

  [Emperors Gaze]  Lvl. 2

  [New World Mental Block]  Lvl. N/A

  Known Ritual Spells:

  [Determine Value]

  [Liquid Equilibrium]

  [Rite of True Death] (Taught Incorrectly)

  [Simple Transportation Magic]