”You seem rather relaxed at the prospect of immanent riots” I said.

Aesrideu smiled and sipped more wine. “A Bard never shows fear in the face of an an audience,” he quipped. “But in truth, I spent far too long being coddled in a forest grove to not be… exited by the prospect of urban unrest.”

I frowned. From what I knew of history in my world, mobs were rarely just exiting. I didn’t think that this world’s widespread superpowers would help things.

“Of course, as a Bard, I have less to fear than most from a fearful mob,” Aesrideu added. He glanced significantly at his lute.

Oh. “Crowd control,” I said aloud.

“Yes, support roles like you and I do have our uses,” he said. “Of course, I can’t influence the whole city, but I’ll do what I can to help those close to me.”

“Thats something at least,” I said.

“Of course, it would be better to stop the riots before they start,” he mused. “Perhaps you might know where to start?”

“I don’t know anything about whats going on,” I said bitterly. “I don’t even know what demons are.”

“Ah, yes, the original topic. Well I can help with that at least. Demons are creatures - or people - from outside of our world.”

“How is that different from Worldwalkers?” I asked. [Charm] kept my voice clear and my face showing only curiosity.

Aesrideu raised an eyebrow. “Interesting that they came to mind. Its been a long time for human memory since they were last here.”

“I recently happened to purchase a book on them,” Which I should really get around to reading.

“Well the difference is that Worldwalkers are brought here by the Gods, under the auspices of the [Status]. They are awarded skills and abilities the same as ourselves. Demons… are not.”

“Then how do they get here?”

“They are summoned. By [Demonologists], using knowledge that is outside of the [Status] - or at least not available through it. Anyone who learns too much about how is marked by the [Status] so no one really knows where it comes from.”

“What does marked by the [Status] mean?”

“[Demonologists] count as monsters. You can use [Identify] on them and see what they are.”

“Most people don’t go around using [Identify] on random people though.” I mused.

“Not unless theres a suspected [Demonologist] about,” Aesrideu agreed.

Well, its better than throwing them in a pond and seeing if they float. “So what are demons like then?” I asked aloud. “Do they come in types?”

“A wide variety of them, I’m afraid.” he said sadly. “It all depends on where they come from, amongst the many worlds that aren’t ours. Generally, in any given incursion, if theres a variety of demons, they all share certain characteristics. But between different incursions, there’s rarely any similarity.”

“So we can expect the demons to be all some sort of shadow-people this time… I don’t suppose those have come up before?” I asked hopefully.

“Not to my knowledge, but I’ve never gone through the histories looking for such.”

“Anything else that I might need to know?”

“Hmm,” he pondered. “There are some commonalities, but they have to do with the summoner. For one, the summoner tends to just keep summoning demons. I don’t know if they’re compelled, or if they just keep escalating to gain more power, but they keep increasing the number of demons until they’re taken care of.”

“That… doesn’t really describe what we have here though, does it? A bunch of demons show up, and then no more sightings…”

“True, and might indicate that the demonologist was only passing through. Good news for Anchorbury, but it makes them harder to find. Its… unusual for a demonologist to travel like that though. There are few tales where they did, but it was because they were being chased.”

“And no ones showed up saying they’re chasing a demonologist…”

“Exactly, its odd. The other thing is that if you kill the demonologist, the demons all disappear.”

“That sounds... easy?”

“Not at all, I’m afraid. The demons know of their vulnerability and will defend him ferociously. Thats about all I have.”

“Thanks. What do I owe you for this?”

“You’ve already paid enough, my lady,” Aesrideu said, raising his wineglass. “After all, its the duty of a bard to instruct.”

“If you say so… actually, would you be interested in some work? I need someone to track down some stories about a different matter.” I put some gold down on the table. “You can tell your friends that this is what we were talking about.”

He looked down at the gold and smiled. “Tell me more.”

Back at home, I considered my next move. I’d done everything I said I would for our assignment, anything further could wait until our next meeting. It grated at me to just sit around with rumours of demons floating about, but realistically, I couldn’t think of anything to do about them. So I decided to practice some enchanting.

Yesterday, Elodie had bought me a locket, with one of my silversteel disks welded to the inside. I thought that if the runes were attached to a device, I could link the [Trigger] rune to a physical action taken on the device, like opening the locket. I could do the same thing with [Sense (Touch)], but one less rune made for a more efficient enchantment. Theoretically, with just the two runes, the mana cost would be under the ambient mana, but I decided to attach a mana crystal as well. I wasn’t sure if [Spell Storing] would cost just 3 or if there was an additional cost for the spell. Having a mana crystal would let me see just how much mana the enchantment was using.

The enchantment went smoothly, though having to cast a spell while keeping the rune ‘hot’ was a bit of a challenge. A good thing I don’t need words or gestures to cast spells. I mused. Just maintaining concentration was hard enough, and I suspected that I could only do it because of my superhuman intelligence. Unlike [Strength] I didn’t feel five times smarter, but every now and then I noticed myself doing something I probably couldn’t have done before. Using [Memorise] to remember a song and hold the entire thing in my mind while instilling it into [Unseen Sound] was one of those times.

It did take a lot of concentration though, so it was only after I’d completed the circle of runes that I realised Elodie was trying to get my attention.

“Miss Kandis!” she called from the door in an urgent whisper. I looked over and beckoned her to come in. She wasn’t banned from the workshop by any means, but she was afraid to come close when I was [Enchanting].

“What is it?” I asked, still a little groggy from casting that spell.

“You have a guest!” said, “A noble! He’s waiting in the dining room. A Duvost!”

“Not Aubert, then?” After watching me use him as a beast of burden, she wouldn’t be so exited to see him here.

“No, its his cousin, Guillaume!”

Okay… why is this guy calling on me? And why can’t they pronounce William right? I had a questions, but there was only one way to get answers. I looked down at myself and sighed. I was in my work clothes, which consisted of my most worn - and most comfortable - dress. It was hardly suitable for meeting nobles.

With a sigh, I cast [Disguise]. My dress was replaced with the one I’d been out and about in earlier today. Elodie gasped, I think half scandalised and half jealous.

“I’d better go see him then. Elodie, can you get word to the Guildmaster I have another enchantment to show him? At his convenience of course.”

I only had one room for receiving visitors, and it was currently set up as a dining room. The table left a lot to be desired, though, and I was thinking about turning it into a sitting room and having meals in the kitchen with Elodie. Right now though, one of the chairs was occupied by a young gentleman who reminded me a lot of Aubert. He had the same brown hair and eyes, but his face was less round and he was broader across the shoulders.

“Mistress Hammond!” he said, quickly getting up and bowing. “Guillaume Duvost, at your service.”

Since he’d bowed, I curtseyed. “Please take a seat,” I said. [Charm] told me that our respective status was… a grey area. He was a noble without a title - it would have been mentioned by now if he had one - while I was a senior guild member. The least important form of noble versus a fairly important commoner. Since he was a guest in my home though, I had the edge.

I took a seat opposite him with a warm smile. “What brings you here, sir?”

“I’m here to apologise on behalf of my cousin,” he said. “I heard you’d had some trouble with him, and I wanted to assure you that the Duvost are not all so boorish.”

[Intrigue] perked up. I was being [Intrigued]! Not against, but... with? This man was using me against… Aubert? His father? There weren’t many other prospects.

“How gracious of you!” I said, radiating good will. “But you should know that your cousin has already apologised.”

“That… doesn’t sound like him,” Guillaume said cautiously.

“He did seem somewhat upset about it,” I said leaning forward conspiratorially. “I think my Guildmaster spoke with his father, who enforced his parental authority.”

[Intrigue] flashed again, at the slight tightening of his eyes when I mentioned the Count. So its the father then…

I let [Charm] do its thing, going through the motions of polite society on automatic pilot. I was bemused both by the elaborate customs and my effortless navigation of them. Tea was offered and accepted, and we sat and exchanged flattering compliments. [Intrigue] had some suggestions of how to indicate that I was open to offers, but he didn’t make any. It seemed he was just here to feel me out.

Naturally, I followed him when he left. It was pretty easy, once I’d gotten Elodie to go through the front door to cover for my [Invisible] self. Walking down the street took some care, but nothing to difficult. [Dodge] needed the workout anyway.

Guillaume led me to what I assume was his house, a richly appointed three story building in the better part of town. I spent a little time looking for possible ways in, so I was still around when a very suspicious looking man left the house from the back door.

This fellow had an eyepatch - which was very unusual - and dressed in boiled leather armour. Not a matching set either.

[Identification]: - Reinforced Leather (Partial) - Quality: Excellent - Properties: Enchantment (Hardness)

[Identification]: - Reinforced Leather (Partial) - Quality: Excellent - Properties: Enchantment (Empower Agility)

[Identification]: - Darksteel Short-sword - Quality: Great - Properties: Enchantment (Sharpness)

That was odd. His equipment didn’t look that great, it looked tattered and worn. My impression was that as equipment wore out it lost quality levels… perhaps a disguise spell?

He seemed worth following, anyway - I wasn’t getting anywhere trying to case this joint. He led me to a much worse part of town while I pondered the eyepatch.

The reason that eyepatches were so rare was that this world had HP. Recover the HP, and the injury that caused the loss disappeared. I hadn’t developed extensive experience with injuries - yet - but to my knowledge, losing an eye permanently shouldn’t be possible.

People on the street didn’t think my target was impossible though. Unusual, yes - people glanced at him in surprise, but no one reacted that strongly. One-eye was able to continue on his way without interference. He let me to a large building - perhaps a warehouse - knocked, and was allowed entry.

Well that leaves me no wiser. I hung around for five minutes, in the hope that he’d come out and lead me somewhere else, but to no avail. I need some lackeys. I could task one of my team with keeping an eye on this place, but it seemed a waste of their talents.

For now, I returned home, to consider my options. Where did I stand in a conflict between Guillaume and Count Duvost? One of them was paying me, but Guillaume’s approach had at least been courteous. For now, I determined, it was best to keep an open mind and see what developed.

To that end, it occurred to me that I didn’t want Guillaume finding out that Aubert was working with me. Or for me, if I wanted to put it that way.

“Elodie,” I said innocently, “Lord Aubert has a reputation does he not?”

“Yes, miss.” Elodie was cooking us dinner, and I was watching the process intently. I did intend to cook for myself at some point, but I wanted to get an idea of how it all worked when you didn’t have an induction hot plate.

“Kandis, remember? And does his reputation go so far as to give any specific details?”

Elodie blushed. “What kind of details, miss... Kandis?”

“Like what tavern I can find him in tonight.”

“There’s no tavern in town that crew won’t show up in,” she complained. “But there are a few that they like best.”

“Crew?” Now that I thought about it, he did have a bunch of friends behind him that time.

“He goes drinking with a bunch of lordlings - some of his cousins and the kids of the nearby barons.” She thought for a moment, and then named some taverns. “The Vagabond Rose, the Ivory Chestnut and the… Deep Fiddle.

I raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t that last one a piece of dirty slang?”

“No!” Elodie exclaimed, blushing. “Its the name of the place.”

“Are you sure?” I asked with amusement. “I’d hate for there to be some misunderstanding if I asked someone on the street where I could find a Deep Fiddle.”

“The Deep Fiddle!” Elodie returned to the stove and repositioned pans with a little more force than seemed necessary. “There won’t be a problem as long as you use The!”

“Well if you say so,” I said doubtfully. “To change the subject entirely, what do you know about orphans in this city?”