“Now, see here? This part of the leg is vital. Specifically the bones. Use your mana to set it like this…” With a crack, I used magic to set Lard’s broken leg properly.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” He screamed and jerked around in vain as I had restrained him.

“I see, your Holiness!” The priestess girl Leyna lightly clapped her hand in amazement.

“WHY DO I, VAKASA OF THE DARKNESS, HAVE TO BE YOUR TEST DUMMY?!” Lard shouted at the top of his lungs while he ignored him.

“Isn’t this your fault?” I sighed as I plugged his mouth with a piece of rag. After we had returned, the heroes went back to their usual training routine. Lard was included into our training but he went over his head and tried some stupid techniques. As a result, he broke his leg but at least I got a test dummy to show some medical techniques.

“Kuh! Do not blame my Spinning Whirlind Cyclone Attack! It is simply because the floor was too rough!” He spat the rag out and started making excuses.

“You won’t be able to move around for a while, tubby.” I slapped his leg and he yinced in pain. I had some servants carry him to his quarters as I concluded my lesson for Leyna.

“Also, quit calling me your Holiness or something.”

“Ah. My apologies, your Holiness!” She bowed.

“Friend, you seem to be making good progress with the heroes,” King Argo called out to me as he and his retinue of royal guards approached.

“Oh. Hello, old man. Yup, sure am.” I waved. One of the royal guards flinched at my greeting and kept his hand on his sword hilt.

“I believe you have met my head captain of my guards, Captain Kolm,” The king introduced me to his retinue. Each of the royal guard gave me a salute except for the head captain. How rude.

As far as I was concerned, the head captain also gave the heroes weapons training, even before I was appointed as the mentor of the heroes’ party. Perhaps he was jealous that I took his job away? But that was weird because he still taught them.

“So? What brings you here? I’m pretty sure you’re busy with the festival preparation so you wouldn’t have time to see me just because.” I crossed my arms and prepared for the inevitable upcoming task. Well, since the king was here, I might as well demand a raise in salary.

The heroes gathered around as they, too, could feel another task coming. One of the royal guards took out a scroll and handed it to me. Once again, I pretended to read it and gave it to one of the heroes.

“Give me the short version,” I said.

“I see you are ready for action and wish to go soon.” The king nodded in approval. Well, what the king was saying was true anyway. Not because I wanted to help out of the kindness of my heart, but to get out of here and finished whatever task he wanted to give me fast.

“You may have heard that recently there was a sudden increase in criminal activity. My nobles believes that this was caused by a new organization of criminals called ‘The Skeleton Crew’.” King Argo started to explain to me. ‘The Skeleton Crew’? That sounded like a very good name. In fact, that would’ve been a great name for my group of tourists. Damn, I should have called dibs.

“And you want us to miraculously stop them?” I asked.

“Indeed. The festival will be held in only a few days and we couldn’t start it with ruffians starting bloodshed in broad daylight.” He shook his head in disapproval.

“We can’t let those thugs ruin Founding Day!” Blackhair clenched his fist and shined in his justice-crazed aura.

“Great. We’ll start searching...tomorrow!” I gave a stern nod and started walking away.

“Eh?! Wait!” Blackhair called out for me but I simply waved away. I made my way towards the dungeon complex to have a talk with a certain someone.

.

.

.

I pressed the lamp closer to the man’s face. He had a lot of eye bags and his eyes had dark circles around it. We were in a dark room and this lamp was the only source of light, but it was terribly bad at its job so it was still dim.

“WHERE WERE YOU YESTERDAY NIGHT?!” I slammed my hand down the table and the man who was restrained to a chair flinched. This was the necromancer we caught a few days ago.

“I was in the jail cell!” He cried.

“Very unlikely...Note that down.” I clicked my tongue and turned to Lucia who was writing everything that was transpiring in this room down to the tiniest detail.

“This is insane! You’re insane!” The necromancer shouted.

“THAT’S NOT AN ANSWER!” I pressed the lamp at his face.

“Gah!” He yelped.

“THAT COULD BE A POSSIBLE CODEWORD! Lucia, note that down! Now, answer my questions. Where were you during the day we raided your tomb?!” I walked around the room with the lamp then sat opposite of him.

“I...what?! You were there, you fool! I was in my glorious necromancy room of-...”

I slammed the lamp down on the table and grunted.

“...I was in my basement,” He answered quietly.

“And the day before that?”

“In my basement.”

“The day before that?”

“....Still in my basement.” I stopped for a minute and just stared at him. He was looking down at the table.

“Do you have any friends?” I asked him.

“Geh….I….noooo….maybe?”

“Corpses don’t count.” I silently nodded and crossed my arms. I relaxed my sitting position and sniffed the air. Ew. I shouldn’t have done that. The prison dungeon smelt like piss, probably understandable as the prisoners pissed in a bucket at the corner of their cell.

“Tell me. Do you know any other necromancers?” I asked.

“Pfft. As if I’d answer a fool like you! I shall not answer to those who are benea-”

“Ah. I forgot. You have no friends.” I shook my head mockingly.

“...YOU!” He tried to get off his restraints but failed.

“Eh. It’s probably useless asking you.” I shrugged and summoned Horatio. He slowly rose seemingly from the ground and knelt to me.

“My vampire! You stole my vampire, you dog! I’ll rat you out! I’ll tell them you know necromancy and have a vampire in tow!” He screamed.

“Puh..pfft...kuh kuh kuh….” I snickered and hovered one of my hands over my face, “You may not know this but I am the mentor of the heroes’ party. The king even knows me personally. Nobody would believe you.”

“Corruption! CORRUPTION!” He started protesting as I did an evil laugh.

“You called for me, master?” Horatio interrupted.

“Yes, how did this basement dweller learn necromancy?” I pointed at the opposite end of the table.

“Unfortunately, I do not know. He had already learned necromancy by the time he used my seal.” He shook his head.

“Ha! You’ll never get any information about me!” He laughed at my face. I got annoyed by him so I turned my head straight to the necromancer’s direction.

“Horatio. What does this guy do in his free time?” I asked.

“Wait…”

“If master is interested. He spent most of the time eating his loneliness away. To make matters worse he kept ogling at the female corpses that I occasionally brought. After that, I stopped bringing female corpses for fear that I might witness something...disturbing,” Horatio answered while still kneeling, but I could feel his aura of disapproval.

“WAIT! STOP!”

“Answer the question, bugger! Where did you learn necromancy from or else we’ll dig deeper!” I slammed my hand on the table and threatened the necromancer.

“In the Sorceror City State of Cahalot! There’s a secret group there that teaches necromancy there! So, please! Stooop! I can’t bear it! Let me out! I’m losing my mind here!” The necromancer started wriggling around, trying to get out.

“What? A secret group? Who is its leader?” I asked.

“I don’t know! I swear! There’s rumors that it could be a lich!” He answered.

“Hmm. I see. We’re done here.” I clapped my hands and all the torches in the room caught fire, brightening the room. Lucia handed me a transcript and sank back into my shadow along with Horatio.

I looked over the paper and walked to the door. I knocked on it and the prison guards let me out. Since I was an important guest of the king, I was treated like an important noble so I could go wherever I wished, with some exception.

I couldn’t get much information from that necromancer. I was hoping that he would know other necromancers in Angolia or around it but it seemed that he was just a lone necromancer. So practitioners of the dark arts weren’t organized and were largely left to their own devices?

But then there was a group lead by a supposedly lich in that Sorceror City. I should visit the Sorceror City States someday. I had a feeling I wouldn’t visit it any time soon, though. Whilst I was thinking about all these, I made my ways to my private quarters then sealed the place with barriers.

I sat on the side of my bed then summoned Horatio and Lucia. My vampire maid continued standing with her weird professional maid smile while Horatio was kneeling on the floor.

“Hey. Why are you kneeling?” I asked him.

“Because you are my master,” He answered without hesitation.

“Your master is that little girl over there.” I pointed at Lucia.

“Then what does that make you?” He asked.

“Your master’s master.”

“....That still makes you my master.” He had this confused face, or so I thought. He had a stern face which doesn’t exert any emotion. Doesn’t help the fact that his face was all pale.

“Oh, don’t be such a bore.” I dismissed his reply. I raised my hand and he stood up straight. Even with his cloak on, I could tell he was tall and slender.

“....I do not know how you being my master relates to me being a hole on the ground,” He answered with a straight face. Oh my Goddess, did I accidentally take another headache into my life?

“Nevermind that! Which part of blood sucking freak society are you?”

“I am a….or was a member of the Vampires of the Western Continent,” He replied.

“So, you answer to that dwarf queen Ellysa or what?”

“No, I do not. I answer to another Lord, or used to. There are many Vampire Lords and Ladies in the group.”

“What? You knives-for-teeth don’t have a leader?” I leaned in forward towards Horatio.

“Negative. The society has many factions vying for control over the others. The vampire Ellysa is an independent Vampire Lady who rarely meddles with the affairs of the vampires. Well, given the fact that she was given the title Vampire Lady just because she was a queen of a powerful nation would tell you something,” Horatio explained.

Whoa. That was interesting. Lucia may be a vampire, but she used to be a thrall. That meant that she probably doesn’t know much about vampire societies. In fact, Ellysa doesn’t even care about what happens in the society so she probably hadn’t told Lucia anything about this.

On the other hand, it seemed that Horatio was a full fledged vampire who was a member of a society. I might have to get Horatio to tell Lucia everything about being a vampire.

“So, there was a leader of the vampires at some point?” I asked.

“Indeed. The person was called a Vampire Patriarch or Matriarch. The last one died without a named successor.”

“You’re pretty old, huh? Do you know about a certain race called ‘halflings’?” I asked.

“Halflings? I do not know what you’re talking about. Also, I am not old compared to most vampires. I am only some two hundred years old.” Horatio bowed.

I laid down on my bed and thought all the things Horatio just told me. I looked at Lucia, still obediently standing at the corner of the room.

Vampire Matriarch, huh…

.

.

.

I followed my boss into a room. Inside the spacious room was full of different kinds of trinkets and banners of gangs that the Skeleton Crew had destroyed. On a huge table reserved for my boss was the black banner with a simple white skull at the center, the banner of the Skeleton Crew gang.

From what I could hear, the Skeleton Crew’s top had three top bosses, along with bodyguards. Nobody knew who they were before they made this gang. My boss was an eccentric one. Despite having two daggers, one of which was mithril, he called himself ‘Daggerless’. He had never removed his hood and his face was always covered.

My mates and I speculated that his face was burnt or was heavily scarred. No matter what we thought, he was a joyous one, though. He was efficient in his work, but loved to crack weird jokes or antics that we had to always try to keep up with.

“So, Temp Boss has told us that there’s a few more annoying groups to deal with before we could finally attack the Bloody Rags,” He said as he sat down at the chair by the large table.

The Skeleton Crew may be new, but their influence had reached terrifying levels already. Within a month or so, they managed to expand into the capital, but at a slow pace. Perhaps they just wanted to set this place up as a base to launch attacks against the Bloody Rags?

What was their beef against Bloody Rags anyway? Years of experience working in the underground society taught me not to ask any questions.

“Whatever you say, boss.” I nodded. It was weird that my boss called the head of the Skeleton Crew ‘Temp Boss’. We didn’t knew what it meant, but it probably meant something very important.

“Dav, I’ll have you move some of your men towards the west side of first merchant district. Once there, exert our influence and set up a base there,” My boss ordered.

“Boss, that’s Bear Grounder’s territory. They’re one of the oldest criminal gang in the capital. Do we really have to fight them?” I voiced my concern.

“Hmm. I guess? I don’t know who they are, but their name sounds funny so I want them gone.” He tapped at the table while holding a cup of wine. As usual, his eccentricness doesn’t cease to amaze me. Destroying one of the oldest crime gang just because their name sounds funny?

When I first joined the Skeleton Crew, I would’ve shouted ‘Nuts!’ and left. But after sticking around long enough to be promoted into a captain, I simply just went with what he would order.

Then again, I preferred him compared to the lady boss. Heard she was mean one with a temper. I had been in one of the important meetings with all the captains and bosses gathered. The head boss jingled a jar with...weird black goo and the lady boss tried to murder him.

“And if we lose our foothold because we couldn’t fight against their overwhelming power?” I scratched my scarred, shaven face.

“Well, like what one of friends said, ‘We lose some, we win some.’” Boss shrugged. I felt like this man’s entire group of friends were as weird as he was. I snorted at his response and prepared to leave to begin my mission when we heard noises outside.

One of our crewmember slammed the door open and shouted, “We’re being attacked!”

Attacked?! Who were insane enough to attack the main base of the Skeleton Crew in the capital?! I unsheathed my longsword and prepared to meet the invaders. My boss also rushed out of the room.

I struggled to keep up with him but he was pretty fast. Our hideout was a manor taken from one of the rival gangs. That meant that our defenses were strong. Whoever wanted to attack us had to attack us with a small army, which would attract attention from the guards. Nobody wanted that.

We were at main hallway when an explosion blew the other side of the hallway. Thugs and ruffians were rushing out or getting behind the boss to rally against the invader.

“Alright, boys. Let your uncle Daggerless handle these uninvited guests.” He took out both of his daggers. One of the daggers looked normal, but the other one was a beauty. Its color changed depending on the lighting and it was intricately designed so well that one might think it belonged in a museum.

The other side of the hall had smoke from the explosion. However, we saw some silhouettes coming out. Let us see…

One..two….Hmm? These were kids! There were six of them, one of them didn’t even looked like he belonged in the group.

“Criminals! Your days of injustice is at an end!” The leader of the group of kids proclaimed as he pointed his sword at us. We all laughed except for boss. He was silent, which was unnatural.

“Alright, we were surprised, but now we ain’t! Let’s have at ‘em!” The other captain besides me shouted and the thugs rushed at the group of kids. My mates and I stayed with the boss while we watched the other thugs attack the kids.

A bandit thrusted his sword forward at the black-haired kid and he jumped, tumbling across the bandit’s back. The kid landed smoothly behind the bandit’s back and slammed the back of the bandit’s head with his hilt.

Two thugs, thinking the blonde-haired girl was an easy target, rushed at her. She took out a rapier and placed one of her hands at the back. She readied her stance and opened her mouth. She looked like she was about to say something but decided not to, hesitantly whilst gritting her teeth.

Without saying a word, she rushed forward faster than my eyes could follow her and went through both thugs. They both ran for a few more steps, ignoring her, before tumbling down. What did she do?! Damn! If only she shouted her move, then we would’ve been able to react accordingly!

There was a blue-haired priestess in the group who cast a spell, blinding a few of the ruffians. While distracted, an elf shot all of the ruffians at the leg, causing them to fall down in agony.

The captain who called the attack, moved towards a brown-haired girl. She chanted while facing both of her palms towards the captain. He was a veteran so he knew what to do against mages. She finished her chant and a bolt of lightning shot out of her hands. He rolled to the side and kicked his legs forward.

The captain was just an arm’s length away from the girl as he raised his axe above head. He swung his axe downward, but the mage girl expected this and parried the axe away with her dagger.

Damn, as expected. It was a combat mage. Mages were simply people interested in learning magic, like how scholars learnt engineering. There was a difference. People didn’t learn engineering just to make war machines, they also used them to build houses.

On the other hand, people who study magic for war also learnt martial arts, like how a bowman would learn to use a secondary weapon. People who thought mages or archers couldn’t fight up close and personal were misinformed people.

The mage girl jumped to the captain’s left and used her dagger as a conduit for her spell, like a wand. A burst of lightning shot out of the tip of the dagger and the captain used his own spells to redirect the spell.

A fat boy with a shield ran close to the captain’s back and tried to slash him, but the captain simply kicked backwards. It was funny seeing the fat boy bounce across the floor.

The black-haired leader rushed up close to the captain, slashing his own sword down diagonally. At the same time the blonde girl charged forward with her rapier. The captain reacted accordingly, using his axe to block the sword, while using his own hand to parry the rapier away from his body.

However, he was heavily outnumbered and the mage girl stunned him with another lightning spell. The captain dropped, cursing at the kids and went unconscious.

“Ah….That’s one captain down, another one to go along with their leader,” The black-haired boy said as he faced my boss and I.

Clapping came from the other side of the hallway, I looked towards the owner of the noise and saw a man with white robes. Tsk, another one?

“Well done, kiddos! We should finish this up soon and….wait a minute…” He stopped clapping when he saw my boss. Did he got scared? Good, you should be!

“Boss?!” HUH?! Did I misheard?! My own boss called the robed man his boss?!

“Excuse me, boss. Did you just call him ‘boss’?” I poked Daggerless. This was getting confusing, who was who's boss? Was he my boss? Is this man my boss? Am I my own boss?!

“What the hell are you doing here, Daggerless?” The robed man asked.

“Er...I…” Daggerless was trying to think of an excuse.

“Teacher, you know that man?” The blonde asked the robed man.

“Ah...kids. I want to teach you that conflicts could be solved by talking. Diplomatically resolving conflicts is an important skill of being a hero.” The robed man casually walked towards Daggerless.

“What? We should bring these criminals to justice! That’s the only thing they deserve! We are the heroes’ party and we must do what is right!” The black-haired boy shouted.

“Well, you see, we’re...ugh….outnumbered and outpowered!” He stopped and turned towards the group of kids. So these people were the heroes’ party! No wonder they were able to take down a the thugs down without problem.

“We took care of one of the captains and a lot of their hooligans down,” The blonde said.

“No! We’re outnumbered and outpowered, RIGHT?” The robed man turned towards Daggerless.

“Yes, Boss. I mean, YES! Soon, all of the crewmembers in the capital will arrived and decimate you all!” Daggerless laughed loudly while sticking his chest out in a pose.

“See? Now shut up and let me talk to their leader.” The robed man moved towards Daggerless.

“What the hell are you doing here? Answer me in 15 words,” The robed man harshly whispered to Daggerless.

“We decided that the Bloody Rags was annoying so we made our own criminal gang,” Daggerless answered quickly.

“What? Who the hell are the Bloody Rags and how did you guys make your gang?!”

“Well...this and that happened...and...yeah…” Daggerless scratched his head as he explained in a hushed tone, it was quiet but my sense of hearing was pretty good. The robed man placed his palm on his mask.

“Er...are you angry that we made our gang?”

“No. I was just unhappy I couldn’t call dibs on the name ‘Skeleton Crew’.” The robed man sighed. He turned back to the heroes party after thinking for a while.

“As it turns out, these people are sorry and will no longer be such big meanies anymore!” The robed man proclaimed.

“What?! So, we’ll just let them go just like that?” The mage girl shouted.

“Yes. They’re pretty sorry, RIGHT GUYS?” I didn’t know how, but the robed man managed to make a threatening face, even while he had a mask on. Daggerless started bowing his head in apology trying to laugh it off, so we followed suit.

“Ah...hahaha! Yes, we’re sorry! We’ll do charity from now on! I’m sure! Here, as an apology gift, we’ll give you this mithril rapier!” Daggerless gave a mithril rapier to the robed man.

“Oooh. Apology accepted. Now, let’s get out of here. See, kids? Everything is now alright! Aera, this is yours now.” He threw the rapier at the blonde. She caught it and unsheathed it. Her eyes and mouth went wide, surprised at the majesty of the mithril weapon.

The blonde girl was happy and started shoving the other heroes out of the building, despite their protests. The robed man was about to leave as well but turned to Daggerless once more.

“Don’t do anything until after Founder’s Day. You understand?” The robed man cracked his knuckles.

“YES, BOSS! UNDERSTOOD!” He stood straight and saluted the robed man. He continued to do so until the robed man had left the building.

“Ugh…” I was about to say a word until Daggerless held up a finger.

“Nothing. We will do nothing. Absolutely nothing until the end of Founder’s Day,” Daggerless monotonically ordered.