Elzur, the City of Wine. The Elroths' territory had three major regions: the Western Region, with the Shert River as its natural border, with Gintar acting as its governing city. This region was under the oversight of Werebor, who was titled Governor of the West within the family. In the east, the smallest part of the country, called the Capital Region, stood the capital city of Irgimith, where the imperial pace and supposedly Kaipan lived. If he was not at his favorite small vilge, growing his own grapes and fermenting his own wine, always trying to make something new and tasty. Then there was the northern region, called Grape County, with its regional capital, Elzur, the City of Wine, which was also home to their most important source of income.

  This region was vast, dwarfing the other two, yet it was where the fewest people lived, as enormous swaths of nd were dedicated to a single purpose: growing grape vines on the myriad hillsides. Most who occupied this nd lived on small farms or in vils, overseeing the growing of grapes, or in the city of Elzur, located in the region's center. Usually, this region's Governor was responsible for the steady output of its main export, wine. So, it was why the task fell to Lulu after being told to move here. Yet in reality, she was just the Governor in name, as she wasn't inclined to lead or take any interest in how the region worked. Her ministers, serving under her, also knew and celebrated her choice, happy to remain the true leaders. The two years she spent here made the ministers under her perfectly comfortable with the new state of things, as their personal powers grew and their word weighed more than the so-called Governor's by now, even if she was the granddaughter of the king himself.

  "Master, there were reports of bandit sightings once again from the region's southern parts," Yanda spoke up, holding a letter written by the minor nobles under Lulu's rule.

  Apparently, they wrote a letter, bypassing the ministers, and delivering it directly to the Governor's vil. They sounded desperate to come to a pce where they knew Lulu lived, with a select few of her followers and guards... It wasn't normal, yet Lulu had no interest in it at all.

  "Let the military deal with it, pass it to the ministers in charge, and let them worry." Lulu waved her hand, not wanting to even hear about it.

  "My Lady…" He tried, "If they thought those ministers would do something or worry about it, they wouldn't have brought it here directly." Yanda countered, seeing the issues brewing.

  "If they don't think it's a big deal, then it is not; why should I worry about it? If bandits harassed the territory, it would be mostly their problem too, as they would be responsible." She shot back, not backing down.

  "I think-"

  "Then don't think." She interrupted him, "It is not why I bought you, you don't need to think! I do that instead of you. You just need to be my pet." She added, licking her lips. "If the region falls, even better. Don't you realize it yet? I don't want to be here, because this is my prison."

  "Then I am a prisoner in a prisoner's prison," Yanda replied, suddenly in a firm voice.

  "It's how the world works." She smiled, standing up from her sofa, walking in front of him, taking out the letter from his hands, and throwing it sideways. "We do what stronger people tell us to do. So... Kneel." She ordered, and even if Yanda did not want to, the colr on his neck ensured his body followed his master's orders. "See?"

  "It's the colr. I am not-"

  "You are." She cut him off, "That is why you have a colr. Don't think that you are a human! Humans don't have gills; those fish scales on your body are also inhuman, and even though you are not even close to being a great cultivator... You can manipute water like an expert. Are you still calling yourself human? No human can do that."

  "..." Her words stabbed at the sore part of his heart, making him fall silent while Lulu giggled, raising her long skirt, throwing it over his head, and pulling his face between her thighs.

  "You are my pet. So be a good one and do the usual… mmm~ Yes, that's it. No human has that kind of tongue~!" She moaned happily, but before she could get absorbed in it, a knocking came, and one of her maids walked in. "Don't stop… continue until I say so!" She moaned again, holding Yanda's head through her skirt while her maid didn't even blink at the scene, apparently, used to it.

  "The ministers are calling for a meeting and want you to be there, My Lady."

  "Ahh… w-why?" Lulu asked, gasping.

  "There was… a disturbance… in the south."

  "Wha...what… dis… disturb… mmm... ?"

  "I don't know, My Lady. But they seemed nervous and agitated."

  "Yeah… Ih…. I'll be… there… soooohn… I'll beh..… there!" came her reply, but her maid was not sure it was aimed at her as she was biting onto her own lips, watching them.

  …….…..

  It was around midnight. Luckily, the sky was clear, and the moon's light illuminated the dark. Ren and her company were close to an enormous, two-story brick warehouse built on the side of a giant hill, connected directly to it. Scouting it out, apparently, the main gate advertised it as a wine warehouse. They had been there for two days now, and 01 and 02 examined the surroundings, finding various hidden guard posts that would alert the people inside if someone approached or something suspicious was happening. Of course, they did not expect Harmony Experts at the level of Ren, so they posed no threat to any of them, even if they had so-called Harmony Experts... people who advanced at the fifth or sixth stage. Child's py.

  "Are we doing this loud?" Isha asked, ready to fight her way in.

  "No." Ren whispered, "If I wanted to bst the pce into rubble, I would've done it already. I waited for the night to sneak in!"

  "I agree." Lacuss nodded.

  "We will split up." Ren continued, "Lacuss, you go with Isha. You two go into the warehouse and clear it from the inside. Preferably do that quietly!"

  "Do we need survivors?" She raised her eyebrow.

  "No."

  "Good." She grinned at once.

  "01 and 02, you are responsible for the outskirts. Mop up every guard post. No survivors! If you find someone who looks like he has information, interrogate him before sending him off. Got it?"

  "Yes, Master!"

  "What are you going to do?" Lacuss asked, raising a brow.

  "I'm going with you, but we will split up; I'll scout out the part built into the hill... After you finish, regroup and come after me."

  "Good for me!" Isha nodded, way too excited for the fight.

  When they split up, 01 and 02 didn't sck off; they disappeared in two different directions, circling around the compound. When 01 hit the first post, hidden between some trees, the guards there didn't have a chance to react. The first one was stabbed in the head by 01's index finger, going through his skull with ease, while he maintained eye contact with the other, stopping him from moving, before quickly decapitating him, disappearing to head to the next checkpoint.

  02 was also just as quick, emerging from the darkness and, with one hand, grabbing onto a head, crushing it like a child would do so with an egg. He stabbed his other hand through the second guard's back, holding onto his spine, breaking it like twigs.

  The two were dispatching the sver guards efficiently and quickly, way more than Ren would have expected, even enjoying it, releasing their pent-up emotions. At first, both of them bmed and hated Ren for what happened to them, but ter, learning how quickly they had been thrown away, their hatred turned from Ren to their own family and bloodline. Especially when Ren offered a way out and a promise of a better life. It came at a point when they would've accepted even death, just to be free from the daily experiments... Since then, it seemed the demonic figure of Ren was turning into something else in their minds, and by now, she may py pranks and make fun of them, yet she acted in an even fairer way than Yurik ever did.

  Not realizing their own feelings, both acted to the fullest when given the order, driven solely by the desire to complete their first independent mission to the best of their abilities so they could prove their capability and usefulness.

  At the same time, in the warehouse, it was pying out very simirly. Isha chose to go up to the second level while Lacuss took on the first, separating once inside. Ren didn't wait, and she disappeared to find the part of the building that led into the inside of the hill.

  Lacuss was going around the ground floor, which was filled with towering wooden boxes of wine bottles, ready to transport, looking for any clue or guard inside. As he did so, he noted how it was dotted with kegs and barrels of different sizes, forming a confusing maze for the ordinary... but for him it was simple as he navigated like he had been here already. He moved fast and soundlessly, and every swing of his bde cimed a life when he came across one. Anyone he found, the st thing they saw was a bottomless, dark, red fsh before they were either cut in half vertically or horizontally, or, if they were the lucky ones, they were only decapitated.

  As for Isha, she found the offices that were on the second floor. They were filled with tables and paperwork of incoming and outgoing merchants, goods, and a handful of accounts. Some rooms were designed to be wine-tasting lounges or just pces where people could rex, filled with soft cushions, drinks, and the echoes of debauchery. Isha was more fshy than Lacuss, literally, as her every punch that turned a head into ashes was followed by a blinding, reddish light as her fmes lit up the hallways. She was lucky that 01 and 02 moved quickly, killing the outside guards, because someone would've for sure noticed the fshing and wondered what kind of party was going on inside.

  As the cleaning group was doing their sweep, Ren was already deep underground, following a tunnel lit by torches, previously hidden behind a wine rack. When she arrived inside, it was such a prominent pce that it could rival the Royal Pace's auditorium. Instead of marble and beautiful decoration, though, it was made of red bricks and had a hard, dirt ground, with tall, gray pilrs supporting the walls and ceiling of the hollowed-out hill.

  "Who are you?" a guard shouted, clearly in the Harmony Realm, noticing the arriving Ren. The inside of the pce was well lit, and around a dozen people were taking inventory, working at a rexed pace, shocked by the sudden arrival.

  The only answer he got was a lightning spear stabbing toward his chest. Apparently, he had experience in battles, quickly stepping backward, dodging... Still, the spear moved quicker all of a sudden, catching up, penetrating his chest, bsting his heart out, through his back, before dissipating, leaving only a corpse behind.

  "Too weak. Well… you are all just svers and bandits; no surprise here." Ren chuckled before summoning another spear and beginning a quick and efficient killing spree.

  She was not worried that anyone here could stand up to her, so while she was killing off the people outside the dozens of cages, her gaze was taking note of every sve they kept there.

  Some of them were some kind of demonic animal from different types of species, yet to reach the human level of intelligence, or so it seemed. Still, most of the cages contained humans, and there were at least thirty of those. They were all young, healthy-looking males, teens, young adults, wearing coarse clothes and the same metal colrs she had been examining. They all looked at the massacre, awed by Ren as she fshed around the pce, with the sound of rumbling thunder, painfully reverberating inside the cave.

  When she dispatched the st sver, killing her even though she was begging for her life, Ren stabbed her spear into her head before turning towards the cages. She didn't wait; releasing them, she just smiled and spoke up in a soft voice.

  "Gather in front of me."

  "Who are you?" someone repeated the exact words of the svers, but instead of being a gruff tone, the question now came from one of the young sve boys standing in front of the rest.

  "I am the Head Disciple of the Immortal Wonders Sect," Ren answered calmly, looking at them, chuckling at the confusion on their faces. "It is a newly established thing on the Shert River, between the Empire and the Kingdom. We are independent of everyone and the new holy pce for cultivation!" She excimed happily, ready to spread the name, "We accept anyone who has talent and wants to be strong! We were passing by and heard about this pce, so we came to free you all~!"

  "But the colrs… we… we can't leave; it will kill us!" the others stuttered, afraid.

  "No worries." She stepped forward as her index finger fshed with violet lightning, stabbing into the colr.

  Before he could react, the colr just broke into two halves and fell to the ground, while the others soon flocked towards Ren, wanting to be the next to be freed. She patiently let them line up as she released them one by one. During the process, the others finally arrived as well, and, seeing their uniforms the same bck and purple as Ren's, the freed sves immediately knew they were friends of their savior.

  "Everything has been cleaned out, Master." 01 stepped forward to give his report.

  "Good. You did well." She nodded at him and 02 with a smile, and it was seemingly enough to put the two into a jovial mood. "Your bde?" she then asked with a chuckle, looking at Lacuss, who now only held the hilt of his saber.

  "Broke. Stuck into one of their bodies... It happens." He shook his head as it was a usual occurrence for him.

  "What are we going to do with them?" Isha asked, looking at the freed people with a sympathetic expression.

  “We… are…” The suddenly freed sves looked at each other, unsure of what to say or do.

  "Here." Ren took out some silver coins from her pouch, giving everyone five, so it would at least st a month if used correctly. "You are all free. You can find your way back home if you use it wisely. If you think you are talented enough, you can try to go to the Qun Kingdom or, through other means, to the Teardrop Isnd between the Qun and Rorik Kingdoms, on the Shert River. As I said, our Sect is located there. We will have an Opening Ceremony in about half a year, so you have time to decide what you want to do. That will be the time we will hold a selection and accept disciples." She expined with a friendly smile, "I can't guarantee you will be selected; it depends on your talent and nothing else!" She ughed softly before looking over them again, and, without saying anything else, she turned to leave.

  "You… you leave just like… that? We can go…?" They blinked, confused and stunned, as they did not expect to be freed, given money, and let go without anything being asked of them in return.

  "Yep." Ren waved a hand, not looking back, while Isha simply giggled and whispered to her while following her.

  "You love pying too cool, eh?" She teased while Ren wore a pyful grin before suddenly stopping and turning back.

  "Here it comes…" some of the sves thought at once.

  "There is one thing. If somebody asks you what happened..."

  "We will say nothing!" They nodded immediately.

  "No, no, no!" Ren shook her head, "Say that the Immortal Wonders Sect won't tolerate the strong praying on the weak! We are not heroes who save others, but if we encounter atrocities like this, we will intervene!"

  "We will?" Isha whispered, surprised.

  "We are here, are we not?" Ren winked at her, making her smile even wider as she suddenly picked her up, hugging her between her breasts.

  "Sometimes I really do like you, you mini bitch!"

  “Ugh… easy there… I can barely breathe between these weaponized body parts of yours!" She struggled to keep a pyful expression as they left, leaving a dumbfounded group behind, unable to believe what they were seeing.

  It took them minutes to regain their composure, and soon they were hurrying to escape, to run into freedom before anybody came back. When they took the first step outside, some of the young boys almost fell to their bottoms and started hurling as the yard was decorated with a pyramid of heads, clearly leaving a message for those who would find this pce... collecting all that remained of the guards here.

  Of course, Ren and the others watched them leave from the top of the warehouse, stretching zily.

  "Let's go back, free the demons too. Maybe we can tame them and use them as mounts!"

  "You think?" Isha asked, pying with her hair, "I knew you were having something else in your head besides freeing the boys."

  "Yup. I saw one there looking like a fluffy, big bear; I want it!" Ren grinned. "I just didn't want to scare them by releasing them too!"

  "That one? The one which is bck and white?" 01 asked, surprised, "It's an Ailuropoda."

  "A what?" Ren and Isha asked.

  "It's a demon native to the northern borders of the Enjin Kingdom," Lacuss expined suddenly, before 02 could. "I read about them; they were hunted by the Kingdom into almost complete extinction for their fur… If I remember correctly… almost 1500 years ago. They are still considered extinct because of their rarity."

  "Yeah." 02 nodded, pursing his lips to be robbed of the chance of expining it, "Their fur is the most luxurious thing you can get your hands on. A living one... Well, it is worth as much as all of the other sves combined. And more."

  "Jackpot!" Isha ughed. "You have a greedy eye, eh?" She elbowed Ren.

  "Do I? I just found it fluffy and cute. I want it!"

  "Um. Master… those bears are… stupid… and zy. Extremely zy and stupid. Some may call them stupidly zy." 01 expined, "They eat, sleep, and fart. That is all they do."

  "But it is cute!" Ren grinned without a flinch.

  "Well… if Master wants it, then Master will have it." 02 chuckled while Lacuss just cut in without bothering about it

  "I want the wolf."

  "There was a wolf?" Isha looked at him, as she barely remembered what kind of demons were in those cages.

  "Yes. The big, bck one."

  "Okay, let's go back; we can decide there!" Ren ughed, shaking his head, "Let's hurry, we should leave before the sun comes up!"

  As she jumped down, the rest quickly followed her back before they left with their new prizes.

  …….…..

  It was early morning at the vil of the Northern Finance Minister. He was just about to have breakfast, still wearing his silk sleeping robe, when his butler barged in with quick steps, apparently very much agitated.

  "Easy there, Zil; what is so important to rush in the early morning?" he ughed, sipping from a small cup, tasting his favorite blend of coffee.

  He was named Jarkat, a man in his mid-40s without cultivation, enjoying the newfound power he had gained over the past two years and the flowing wealth that had quadrupled his income since the new Governor left everything to them to do. Jarkat and his other colleagues now ruled like a close-knit aristocratic group, feeling like they were their own little Kingdom, doing anything they pleased as long as they paid their due into Elroth's coffers in the capital.

  "The Ironcws sent an urgent letter. One of their bases was hit in the previous days!"

  "Just pay off the snooping guards or threaten their family like usual!" he waved his hands.

  "No, My Lord… they were eradicated."

  "What?" he looked at him, now turning much more serious.

  "The whole base. Empty. Everything is gone! The sves, the documents, everything! Those who did it left a 2-meter-tall pyramid made out of the heads of the Ironcw members operating it!"

  "Fuck… FUCK!" he stood up suddenly. "I don't care about the goods, but the papers? They say all of the papers are gone?! Why were there any papers?! I told them to burn any evidence of our involvement!"

  "..."

  "Fuck… call a meeting. Immediately! We need to get a hold of the situation. NOW!"

  "Yes, My Lord!" he hurried off while Jarkat kicked over his chair.

  "Fucking idiots… Do they think they are an organization of the state?! They are just fucking svers! Damn! Damn! Why are there papers?!"

  While his rage was going on, back on the road, Ren was riding her newly acquired mount that towered over 4 meters tall, clearly grumbling as she needed to carry her master on her back instead of lying around somewhere, zing happily. Moving around was... tiring.

  Next to them, Lacuss was also riding the simirly tall wolf that was now proudly carrying him like a prized horse. It was a surprise for everyone because it jumped on him when Lacuss let it out... Luckily, he subdued him with his bare hands, and after that, the wolf acted like the most loyal puppy, immediately lying down before him, licking his hands. Worst of it all, at least in Isha's eyes, Lacuss took it as the most normal thing to happen.

  Speaking of Isha, she was also enjoying her time, riding atop a simirly pretty big horse, white in color, while its hoofs left illusory fmes behind at every step. He had a calm look in his eyes and quickly accepted Isha, as her fire affinity was something he enjoyed being close to.

  Still... 01 and 02 were maybe the happiest of the bunch, as they did not expect to receive a mount, but both sat on a horse simir to Isha's, only theirs was just a bit smaller.

  "Have you found out what kind of horses these are?" Isha asked as Ren read through the documents they stashed before leaving.

  "It says they are a kind of demonic stallion, bred by the Enjin Kingdom, captured around a thousand years ago. They come in different colors and affinities and are usually used by the Enjin Kingdom's special cavalry forces. They are pretty strong, going by the documents, but yours are still young. The best time to bond with them is now, and the easiest method to do that is simply to take care of them." She ughed while looking at Lacuss. "Yours seems to be a young shadow wolf. Or at least that is what the paper calls it... It seems to like to blend into the darkness and hunt alone, which is unusual for a wolf. But hey! Maybe it's special; I couldn't find any other descriptions. Probably some unique mutation or species."

  "Doesn't matter. I feel that he is like me." He patted its head with a calm expression while the wolf immediately pressed its head against Lacuss's palm.

  "I am happy if everybody is happy. So you shouldn't grumble, Kyu!" Ren hummed, rubbing the head of her own mount.

  "Kyu?" The others looked at her while the bck and white bear shook her head, giving out another set of grumbling voices.

  "Yup. It was the first sound she made when I poked her, waking her up~! It was cute~!" Ren ughed, clearly satisfied with everything, while they were nearing the top of a hill, looking over the city of Elzur. "Aaaah! Finally! Here we are! The papers said their principal contractor is living here. Let's settle down for a few days, and let me sort through the documents again... I need to think how to stir up some trouble so we can spread our name~!"

  "Heh, count me in!" Isha ughed as the city was oblivious to what was coming in the following weeks.