“Why are you so concerned about this girl?” Odal asked in confusion as they entered the Stone district.

“She is hiding something… The question is what and why.” Cass had been clearly offering something beneficial to Natalie, for her to try and refuse it meant she was afraid of something. It could be that she was afraid of the Warrior, but compared to the kind of people that roamed the Stone district at night, that would not seem a very strong reason to be afraid. From Cass’s perspective, even if the Warrior did something to her, it would be better than being passed around a crowd. And considering how this society worked, a Warrior would not dare go against a Strioi’s orders… So Natalie had no real reason to refuse.

Yet she tried to.

“Is it important?” Odal frowned, “And how do you plan to find out?”

“I have no idea if it is important, but finding out will be quite simple.” She would simply knock on Natalie’s door, despite her being at work, and if her parents were home she would get answers from them. If they weren’t home she would just take a look around and see what she could find.

“As an aside Odal,” Cass tried to look as if she brought this up offhandedly, “Would you let Elder Klein know I would not mind discussing my glyphs with him again? Though actually explaining precisely how they work is rather difficult…”

If Klein thought the freedom, money, and power he had gifted Cass with was making a difference, she might be able to squeeze more out of him by indicating that it was working. She had to appear as if she was not thinking like that though, rather than seem greedy, she should appear to be happy and convinced.

“I think he will be very glad to hear that,” Odal replied smiling.

The Stone district was very different during the day, you would not even think it was the same place. Instead of dangerous and raucous crowds there were busy and productive looking people moving about their business. Rather than yelling and occasional screams, there was the sound of calm talk and laughter. It seemed… Nice.

Cass easily remembered where Natalie’s family lived and knocked on their door. At first, it seemed like no one was home, but then the door cracked open…

“Hello Tina,” Cass smiled brightly even as Natalie’s mother jumped, perhaps surprised that Cass remembered her name. “Would you have a moment to talk?”

“Oh…” Tina seemed lost for a second, “Lady Strioi… I deeply apologize, but I was just on my way to the Priest district and I cannot delay…”

Cass let a little bit of violence slip into her smile and Tina’s eyes widened. “I insist Tina, if you are questioned tell them that I stopped you, be certain to use my name, Cass.”

“But… Lady Strioi…” Tina stuttered.

“Actually, you should start calling me Cass now, so that you don’t forget.” Cass paused for a second, “I will forgive you for being shaken and forgetting to invite me inside…”

“M- My apologies, Lady Cass.” Tina seemed more afraid than she needed to be, Cass began to feel excited as she scented metaphorical blood. “Please, come in…”

“Is your husband home?” Cass asked casually as she and Odal entered.

“No, he is at work in the Warrior district,” Tina did not take them very far into the house… “I am here alone.”

Cass smile widened further, “no, you are not.”

A nearby door opened and someone leaped at Cass with Odal yelling a warning. The next thing anyone besides Cass knew, he man was on the floor after a terrible sound shook the house.

“Wha- What was that?” Odal was shaken, even as he went to secure the man on the floor. Cass had to admit he was physically tough at least, he was the only person standing aside from Cass since Tina was crying on the floor.

“The short explanation is that I turned the anklet I bought in the Silver district into a magic tool,” Cass spoke loudly, knowing that Odal would likely not be able to hear her otherwise. “Using the movement of my leg, and a system based off a whip crack, I use my mana to force sound itself together and release it.” She gestured to the man on the floor, “As you can see, it can be quite debilitating.”

“Interesting,” Odal spoke loudly, Cass was unsurprised, she only escaped being made temporarily deaf by the sound because of her enhanced healing. “But not very practical, trained Warriors would not be stopped by something like this.”

No, they wouldn’t, but this was not the primary effect of the anklet… It was more of a pleasant extra she had realized would occur if she did not fully power the anklet. At full power… Well, she still hoped to test that on Odal someday.

“Now then,” Cass said cheerily. “It seems you were lying to me, how naughty…”

The man on the ground spat at Cass and swore at her.

“Now, now,” Cass sidestepped the saliva and admonished the man. “I am not talking to you yet.”

Odal shoved his fist into the man’s stomach, well he certainly knew the script for this story at least. Cass was right to keep him around for now, he really was useful.

“So Tina,” Cass prowled towards the woman who was still curled up on the floor. Tina tried to back away as Cass approached but hit the wall, “Care to explain why this man, who looks so much like you, is here?”

Cass would bet all her magic tools that the two were related. Natalie looked like her mother, raven black hair, green eyes, delicate features… And this man was the masculine version of that, and slightly older than Tina.

“He just dropped by,” Tina swallowed and spoke quickly in her nervousness. “I only answered that I was alone because I wasn’t thinking, it was an honest mistake!”

“You must really think I am an idiot…” Cass sighed, and stomped down on the woman’s leg, snapping it. She might like Natalie, but this woman had not left a good impression on her before, and to try and make such a pathetic lie…

Tina screamed and the man resumed his struggling, “You bitch!” He roared, “Keep your disgusting hands off her! If you want to hurt someone I am right here!”

“Wait your turn, there is no need to rush.” Cass did quite enjoy this, and really, rushing would only lead to her accidentally killing someone. “Tina here has a few questions to answer, and she should probably start working with the assumption that I am not an idiot and give answers that have at least an ounce of truth to them.”

Tina was crying and clutching her leg as Cass loomed over her. Cass was a rather short girl, but when someone was collapsed on the ground she might as well have been a giant.

“So, before you lie again and I break your other leg,” Cass rested her foot on the unbroken leg to give her threat a bit more weight. “Let me tell you a couple of my thoughts. First, this man looks quite like you and your daughter, but not so much like your husband. I don’t think you are cuckolding him, at least not with this man, so that would make me presume he is related to you.”

Cass smiled at the terror in Tina’s eyes, it was more than just fear of pain after all. “Further, as soon as I noticed the pair of shoes by the door and mentioned it, your relative attacked me. So clearly, meeting a Strioi and a Warrior would be a problem for him… Tell me, what crime did your brother commit?”

“I am not her brother,” the man struggled against Odal. “I forced this cunt to shelter me, if you want to hurt someone, hurt me!”

Cass sighed, “sorry Tina, but your relative over there ignored my warning about obvious lies…” She broke Tina’s other leg, and basked in the accompanying scream.

“Fucking bitch!” The man struggled harder against Odal, but to no avail. Clearly Warrior training conditioned them to be far stronger than the average Stone…

“Ye- Yes…” Tina cried, her hands trembling as she tried to shield her broken legs from Cass. “H- he is my brother…”

“Tina! No!”

“Ah, thank you Tina,” Cass said gently, almost lovingly, though the only thing she was loving was the feeling of power this gave her. “And, aside from attacking me now, what did your brother do to warrant you hiding him?”

“Gorv wa- was dr- drunk one night…” Tina had no more will to resist Cass, she broke too easily Cass thought. She had wanted to have more fun… “He didn’t know, h- he ne- never would have… Th- the Priest wasn’t hurt…”

“Fucking bitch,” Gorv growled. “I robbed a fucking Priest, are you happy now? Even being sent to the Sand would be better than letting you torture my family any more!”

“Ah, I see…” Cass understood the situation, Tina’s brother, Gorv, was an idiot and had gotten drunk and robbed a Priest. By the laws of Beergmutar he and his family would be forced into the Sand caste… This would likely extend all the way to Tina’s family as well. “Odal, I am not particularly familiar with procedure for this, who, precisely, would be sent to the Sand?”

“This man, the woman over there, and that girl Natalie.” Odal replied easily, “The husband would have been let off, but considering he sheltered this criminal…”

Cass nodded, but there were still some oddities bothering her… “So, how does this relate to Natalie working in the Silver district and taking such a risky trip home?”

“Leave my niece out of this!”

“Odal, please shut him up.” Cass was tired of listening to Gorv’s constant whining. And Odal obliged her by putting his fist in Gorv’s stomach every time he tried to speak.

“I- I worked for the Priest…” Tina’s face was a mess of snot and tears, pathetically crying and gasping as she spoke. “If- if he saw m- me… He might rec- recognize me…”

“So you had to leave him and Natalie had to get a job to replace the lost income…”

“An- and I could not go ba- back to work because…”

“Tina don-!” Odal kicked Gorv in the groin, and that seemed to shut him up for a bit longer…

“Because why my dear Tina?” Cass purred.

“The Ma- Matron… She told me tha- that if I didn’t help her… She would report us all!”

“The Matron?” Cass was surprised by this, “What did that woman want from you?”

Tina just cried and shook her head, so Cass decided to ask Gorv for this one. “Well Gorv, you have been begging to talk for so long now… Perhaps you can explain?”

“The Matron gets her money from a series of deals… All of which are shady,” Gorv growled angrily. “She made Tina ‘escort’ children to ‘work’ in the houses of wealthy patrons.”

“Who is this ‘Matron?’” Odal asked, but Cass waved the question away and pursued the more important fact.

“Oh?” Cass smiled widely, “I think we can make a deal then, one that we all can be happy about.”

“Fuck off cunt.” Gorv spat on Cass’s face and in the next instant Cass had him by the throat, lifting him straight off the ground with the power of her glyphs.

“I try to be generous and look where it gets me,” she wiped the spittle off on the man’s shirt and then slammed him against the wall, shaking the entire house. “But I really think you should think more about your situation. Right now, you and your entire family are in my hands, and I think you realize that I am not a particularly merciful girl.”

She tossed Gorv aside and watched him fall on top of Tina who screamed in pain. Cass had actually not intended to do that, but it certainly got her point across…

“So before I lose my temper, let me explain how this is going to go down.”