They went to Helga's tavern for breakfast. Neither the kid or the guards were keeping watch on her front door. Maybe they didn't catch up to their "prison break" yet. Meh. They were there as witnesses, right? Right?

Before leaving, Cless buried her stuff. She opened up another pit with a ramp, moved the gear from the captured delvers, or former delvers as she expelled everyone from the charters she won, into the wagon and covered it up with more tilled earth. Kate was left behind, sleeping in the basement, guarding the contraband.

Another gripe. She wanted to do some landscaping and get a pretty grassy lawn. With normal grass that at most reach your ankles, not the "I've been abandoned for a decade and grew to a ridiculous size" kind of grass.

That's why she was going to finish it all in one go today. Or that was the plan. And it brought them to Helga's tavern, by the side alley back door. Cless opened the door and peeked inside.

"Good morning!"

She greeted before checking if someone was inside. She couldn't tell because the floor was made of wood. Some guy with an apron was frying things over a large stove and set the pan aside to turn around.

"Good morning! Is this my milk delivery?" The man asked.

"Erm, no. We are Helga's friends and we would like thirteen servings of breakfast to go and to have a chat with her."

The man chortled, "I recognize you. You are that guild master that everyone is talking about. The one with the monster guild."

That monicker irritated Cless but she let it slip. She needed the man's help so she could help Helga and unravel the smuggling operation's boss to keep living in that town. Or to

"Yes and no. My guild is not made of monsters. They are just not-human. There is a huge difference. I do have some monsters but I'm a tamer." Cless decided to speed things up. She picked three ducats from her pouch and entered the kitchen. She placed the coins on a counter and bowed. The man kept watching her. "Please, we are rather hungry and in a hurry to help some friends. Could you please help us, mister?"

The cook came and looked in her eyes with a serious expression that soon melted away. "I can see the sincerity in your eyes, girl. Get your people inside, sit along that table at the back. I'll have your tummies filled in no time!" He smirked and gave Cless a thumbs up.

Cless ushered everyone to the table and noticed he didn't touch the coins. Well, not her problem. He soon came with a tray filled with food and a pile of plates. "It is buffet style today, guild master. Help yourselves, boys. There's more if you need it. I'll have Helga here after you finish."

They dug in. Sausages, steamed vegetables, pork cubes, bread and porridge made of wheatmeal with bits of crumbled nuts inside. After her hunger was sated, Cless pondered about the treatment they were receiving and noted the food they were served that day was a level above the usual served at the taproom. Maybe this guy...

"Sir, the food is delicious!" Cless complimented him in a loud voice.

The cook turned around, wiping his hands on his apron. "I'm glad you liked it, guild master. If you are done, I'll call Helga here."

Cless was quick to break the flow, "Actually, I was hoping we could have a talk before that. You see, it seems that Helga's brother Heimdall and his friends were in a tough predicament these days and she asked for our help to save them. But today their behavior changed entirely. Do you know anything about that? We are trying to help them."

He leaned a little forward, curled the tips of his lips upward and squinted as he studied Cless. "You are quite the busybody, aren't you, miss guild master? I am sure Helga didn't hire your guild 'cause she has no coin to her name with all the debt that deadbeat brother of hers incurred. It begs the question, why are you helping her?"

"Do you serve pies, sir?" She smirked and asked, with a mischievous glint in her eye.

"You want to eat pie? It will take a while to make it though." He answered, clearly interested in where it was going.

"That's a relief actually. 'Cause if you had any, you'd find the holes my fingers poked." She giggled.

"You are the kind of person that can't let sleeping dogs lie, eh?"

Cless shrugged. "I'm more of a wolf person, actually. Back to the pie, I'm going to poke after I leave here, who is blackmailing Helga and her brother?"

She posed her question as a challenge. Straight to the point and an attempt to catch the man by surprise. Cless put all the weight of her presence behind her question, leaving even a hint that she might be suspicious of his involvement. She wasn't though. After a few moments of silence as the man took his time to digest what Cless said, he was taken over by a bout of laughter.

"You are something, guild master! I must say, It's been ages since I've seen someone as meddlesome as you! I like it a lot. They don't live long though."

It was at the same time a warning, a compliment, and a bit of advice. Cless knew she'd win the cook if she dealt with the warning part, and she had just the thing for it.

"Say, compared to the other delver guilds around here, how strong are the Dragon Delvers and the Timberwolves?"

She had no idea if the cook knew, but the man seemed both old and wise. In a Dungeon City, delver guilds were the lifeline. Given also that he seemed to know about Helga's problems and her brother and friends were hired as porters by them, the conclusion was that he could know the answer.

"They are near the bottom of the top twenty delver guilds in town. Not big shots but they are growing fast and earning a lot of coins. Why do you ask?"

He sent the ball back to Cless' court. She felt challenged. He gave her a morsel of information, something she could learn by visiting the Association. She was planning on going there today but this little game pushed her buttons.

"Well, I think I can handle it. I've got both of their charters yesterday," She bragged and showed him the two captured tokens. "So maybe my guild will outlive them."

A guild charter can only be transferred, not stolen. They were bound to the guild master and served as proof of their position.

"That changes everything," he lowered his voice as he mentally withdrew to his thoughts for a few moments. "Very well. Helga's mother was kidnapped. I don't know where she is being held but they threatened them to turn you in otherwise she dies."

"Just that?" Cless thought out loud. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean like Helga's mom was not important, she surely is. But if it is just one hostage, they might as well have none. Could you tell me where Helga's mom live?"

After getting directions to Helga's house, five doors to the left of the tavern, Cless shoved the rest of her food down her throat and left with everyone. As she was crossing the back door, the cook called her.

"You forgot your coin! Today's breakfast is on the house!"

She looked at the silver coins on the counter, back at the cook and shook his head.

"Nonsense. I give coin to the people I don't like all the time, why should I not give coin to the people I like? I know I'm a hypocrite but that is too much. Keep the change! Toodles!"

They crossed the five doors and Cless caught Helga's scent coming out of the door that should be her house. The wattle and daub buildings on the street were adjoined, without alleys. The front door was probably the only way to access it. Cless tried but it was locked.

Cless whispered over her shoulder. "Vic, help me here."

The lamiak used a Xylomancer spell. "Wood Shape," and the wood between the lock and the door frame weakened until it broke. Cless tried to keep the lock near the place where it should be and they filed inside. She placed the bolt back in the frame hole and closed the door as Vic used the same spell again to weld the lock back in place. Minus some discoloration, it was good as new.

"Silverfang, we need a wolf."

They went to the only room that didn't have either Helga or Heimdall's scent and Cless transferred [Acute Smell] to Silverfang. He quickly picked up the mother's scent and Cless opened the window enough to give them line of sight to the street. Since the whole guild now had the power to do short-range teleports, everyone blinked to the street and Silverfang moved from the shadow of the bed to Cless' shadow.

They didn't give the baffled people on the streets time to think where did these gang of misshapen people come from. Silverfang ran ahead, following the latest scent trail. They backed several times as they retraced her steps and soon it became faint.

, Silverfang barked.

Cless growled back.

They ran around the city for two hours, losing the trail or picking up a false one until Silverfang caught the scent again when she got down from the vehicle. Cless looked around and found that they were in the slums.

They looked at her, unsure if they should proceed. "No time to lose. Press ahead and try to not kill anyone, but don't try too hard. The safety of the hostage is paramount."

They ran through the slums, the usual dwellers scampering out of sight, conditioned by one too many raids from guards, bandits, and people traffickers. Cless couldn't ignore that several of these inhabitants seemed non-human.

They reached a single-story house and Cless felt people inside through tremorsense. The floor should be just packed earth. She kicked the door and ran inside. She went full-throttle expecting to see the hostage, a woman of middle age or more. The house had only three rooms separated by fabric curtains for doors. She pulled one them, ripping the fabric from its support to take a look inside.

She found two men in the first room, reaching for their weapons. Cless ignored them and went for the second room, dark inside. As she pulled the curtain, she found a scene of horror.

"I want everyone alive!"

She screamed in pure rage and let her [Fear Aura] flood the slums with dread they would not forget so soon. The room was dark but she could see as metal worked like light sources for her eyes. What she saw was heartwrenching. A woman's corpse, naked and exsanguinated, with two men sleeping on either side of her, also naked but very alive.

She reached to touch the woman's foot. "Revivify," the priestess inside her prayed for the spell to work. Nothing. Too cold. Stiff. Dry.

The two men next to the woman woke up and froze as they basked in her terrifying aura. She grabbed a foot and with a wail of pain tossed the man through the flimsy inner wall of the house. She picked the other one and did the same.

"Revivify." She had enough Power for more than fifteen of the costly thirty-seven Power spells. The woman's body was discolored, cold, and stiff. Her rational mind made her stop at the eighth. Her ten-minute window was over.

Cless screamed her rage out. She moved back to the living room where four very scared and maimed thugs were trembling watched by four somewhat scared and hale guild members.

"You! I swear I am going to torture your souls for all eternity for what you've done!" She growled.

"Spare us!" One of them spoke through gritted teeth.

"Death is too good for the likes of you thugs," Cless grew before their eyes. Dark, terrible. "Who ordered you to do this to her?"

"Clegane! Clegane from the town records."

"Since when is she dead? And don't try to lie to me."

"Bitch bit my cock last night. I slit her throat."

That was the last drop.

"Spike. Spike."

Both legs of the man were impaled, effectively pinning him in a sitting position. Cless made the ground come alive.

"Golem!"

The construct was restrained in size by the building. It still had two meters in height.

"Crush his manhood," Cless ordered the golem.

She knew there wasn't anyone else in the hundred-meter range of her [Fear Aura], the denizens of the slums long gone from whatever eldritch horror was affecting that area. Even though not only the Blind Eye and the thugs heard the man's screams. Cless healed him, although it would do nothing for the mutilation. She impaled the other three men sitting on the ground as well.

"Wish for death. Hand over everything you have, your Skill, Stats, Experience, even the rest of your natural lives so you can die in peace. Wish for death and I'll grant it for you. Refuse and live in eternal torment."

She was feeling darkness pulsing inside her. It was a comfortable feeling. A fire within that promised to smother the portions of the world she didn't like.

"Cless stop! You are scaring me!" Venaris cried.

She came to her senses. Shaking her head, Cless looked at the scared men and scared guild members around her. Ashamed, she deactivated her [Fear Aura].

"Who are you?" One of the men asked, trembling.

"I am the Infernal Princess. And you are doomed." She lashed out.

"Please, spare us from the eternal torment," Another one, clutching his impaled leg, pleaded.

She was still pissed. "This Clegane, is he the boss of the smuggling operation?"

"We think so. We have evicted people during the last year so he could reclaim some properties. We only had to carry crates of stuff from the church catacombs out of town once."

"I will let you live. I will lend you the strength to fulfill one task. Do it and you may go. You will forget everything about Glauchester and will keep traveling far away from here, to the farthest land you know of for one year. Accept and you may live, reject and you'll wish for death."

"What would your Majesty have us do?" The most vocal of them bowed his head deeply. The others imitated them. "Our lives are yours, command us."

Cless felt her Skill trigger. The four were hers, just like the beastkin boys.

"You will capture this Clegane fellow and bring him to me at my place by the ruined manor that shares the backyard with the graveyard. Do not ever speak of us. I will lend each of you eight hundred thousand Experience to help you. It will be returned to me along with your own Experience, Stats, and Skills if you die or just the Experience when Clegane is delivered. After you are done and if you are successful, you'll leave, forget, go on your pilgrimage to never return."

800,000 Experience lent to each of Billy, Hubert, Nathaniel, and Darrel.

Cless took one of the men's cloak and wrapped Helga's mother, walking away with her guild. The four thugs went on their way to kidnap the kidnapper. The Blind Eye guild walked back home silently.