Both Orou and Grizz started heading down the stairs and past the wreckage that was the first floor. A massive hole that went through the ground and half of a body was lying to the side, the tables were either pushed to the side or completely destroyed. This place would be out of operation for a few months, the long-necked beastman who had hidden in the corner was practically crying as he was totalling all the losses, most likely not expecting the fight to go down to the first floor. Blood slowly dripped from Nim’s head as Grizz was carrying it by the hair. He took a deep breath and opened up the door to the outside.

There was complete silence as practically everyone’s eyes landed on Grizz and Orou and the head that Grizz was carrying. All kinds of emotions could be seen on the beastmen’s faces, shock, horror, joy, anger and the like. Grizz walked to the stage that Baltis was standing on and went right next to her. By her side was Kris, wearing a suit of plate mail and a halbert by his side, looking as regal as he could be. Baltis concealed her smile and as Grizz lifted up the head, she loudly proclaimed: “Nim has been slain by his son and the countless injustices that Grizz committed have been avenged.”

An overwhelming cheer went up, those that had most likely suffered under Nim were crying tears of joy. Orou noticed that the crowd was considerably thinner than before he went in and he could no longer see any eyes watching from the shadows nor anyone sneaking about on the roofs. When the cheering subsided, Baltis looked to the crowd and then back to Grizz, before saying: “You’ve done a great deed for this town, how could we, citizens of Onilia, ever repay you?”

Although this was planned in advance and Grizz knew what was going to happen, he was still doing his best to keep his emotions in check as Orou saw him struggling to not smile. He took a deep breath and slowly said to the crowd: “My father had done many horrible things during his life and my only wish is for that to not happen again. If there was one beastman who could keep this town in check and make sure no crime were to go unpunished, it would be my brother Kris.”

As Grizz pointed at Kris, he stared back at Grizz with pure shock in his eyes. His trembling finger pointed at Grizz and he softly whispered: “This is not how this was supposed to go, you were supposed to inherit Nim’s property, not me.” Despite Kris’ evident shock, the show had to go on. Baltis took Kris’ hand and lifted it up in the air before once more proclaiming: “Kris has done a wonderful job of keeping order in the city for multiple years and I’m sure that he will keep doing so for many more to come.

Both Grizz and Baltis were staring at Kris expectantly until eventually, he gave in and turned to the crowd. He had the bearings of a beastman who has been in charge for all of his life and with a strong voice, he addressed the crowd: “If that is what it takes to bring this city in order, then I will do what I must. With Governor Baltis’ help, I will make sure that the city and its establishments are properly regulated and that the civilians will suffer no injustice.”

Another overwhelming cheer resounded through the entire city and Kris let out a sigh of relief. Baltis said a few more words to reassure the citizens before they started dispersing and the four of them walked inside the Moonhall casino to have a talk. Grizz weakly patted Kris’ shoulder, half leaning on him to not collapse right then and there. Although he didn’t have any obvious injury thanks to Orou’s healing spell, he had the look of someone who had been walking for days without resting in the slightest. Kris had a thousand questions he wanted to ask Grizz, but after taking one last look at Grizz’s condition, he decided to save his questions for later. He surveyed the area around him and looked at Orou after seeing the massive hole in the ground, but he didn’t say anything regarding it.

Kris and Baltis were conversing about something, but Orou didn’t care about any of that. He slithered next to Grizz in order to make sure he was fine, and although he wasn’t very proficient in beastman anatomy, Orou was wondering if Grizz had lost too much blood. As he looked at Grizz, he saw that his body would shake every so often, and each time it did, Grizz’s facial expression slightly relaxed. Although the rhythm was off by a few seconds and it seemed slightly slower, it reminded Orou of his own blood core.

After a while, Kris and Baltis had agreed on something and they went their ways. Kris picked up Grizz’s sleeping body and motioned over to Orou: “We can finally return back to our house, Izz should have taken care of Nim’s people over there,” and with that, he started walking out of the casino. Orou slowly followed him, looking out for any potential ambushes along the way. Thankfully, they didn’t get assaulted along the way, but instead, people respectfully bowed and greeted Kris, it seemed like he knew more people than he was letting on to.

Eventually, they arrived at a mansion on the western side of the city. It was old, most likely hundreds of years old if Orou had to guess, though still in somewhat good condition. They walked inside of the mansion and a thick stench of blood immediately assaulted them. Izz was sitting on a chair and reading on a book, by his side ten people wearing servant’s outfits. As they walked in, Izz immediately stood up and, ignoring both Kris and Grizz, ran towards Orou.

“I was worried that you would die, the world couldn’t bear to lose someone who can see spirits,” Orou still remembered how Izz desperately tried to avoid him and compared it with the treatment he was getting right now. Many of the wounds on Orou’s body would be life-threatening if not for his blood-core and Izz gasped in surprise at how Orou wasn’t dead yet before Kris coughed next to Izz and pointed towards Grizz.

Izz turned around to check Grizz’s pulse and after making sure that he was still alive, he pointed towards a room upstairs and with a serious expression on his face he told Kris: “Take him up to his room, he should be fine after recovering for a few days. I’ll apply some medicine to him later.” He turned back to face Orou only to find him out of his sight and instead, following Kris to Grizz’s room. Izz sighed in desperation and tagged along, going up to the second floor and opening Grizz’s room.

Although Orou expected something more, it wasn’t anything unique. A plan room with a bed, a table and a window, a bit unfitting for a mansion of this size. Only the basic necessities were left and comparing the lavishness of the main room and this room, it was like day and night. Izz noticed Orou’s gaze going from Grizz’s room to outside of it and sitting down next to Grizz, started talking with a bit of a sad smile on his face.

“Grizz was never father’s favorite child. He would dote on both me and Kris, providing everything we needed, but he left only the basics for Grizz. That might have been one of the main reasons why he started stealing now that I think about it. At first, he simply stole what belonged to father. He would get caught every time and every time he did, he received ten lashings for it. He got better and better each time he got caught, learning from the lower-class beastman that he often hung out with. Father got increasingly more infuriated with Grizz until he had enough. I don’t know what happened on that night, but after that incident he started leaving home for longer and longer periods of time, going on his so-called “adventures,” until he returned back to us with the news that father had him exiled. Nim was a bad man and he deserved what he got, but still, he was our father.”

Izz softly sighed and without saying an additional word, stood up and started to slowly walk away. He stopped by the doorway and turned his head to look back at Orou, saying to him: “Protect Grizz for me. I want nothing more for him to settle down and live a peaceful life after what he has been through.”