A cloaked figure approached the guards that were on duty in front of the Esin manor that night. Startled, they both grabbed their spears and took a defensive stance. A cloaked figure walking in the night was as suspicious as one could be.

“Halt! Don’t move any closer! This is a noble’s residence and you have no business being here.”

“Oh, but I do. Tell Albek that Fang Chu needs to speak with him urgently,” replied a sweet voice.

A few minutes later, the redhead was sitting comfortably on a couch while sipping a cup of warm tea. Albek was sitting across her, rubbing his temples like someone who was having a tremendous headache. A servant left a plate of pastries on the center table and left the room, leaving the two alone.

“You’re one hard to fathom, lady Fang Chu. You asked for my help to track a group of strange adventurers, then you left with them on some fake task and disappeared from the face of Flanac for six months. Now you’re back out of the blue paying me a visit at the dead of the night. Couldn’t you have waited till the morning? Do you know how hard is going to be to stop the servants from gossiping?”

“Stop whining, Albek! Who would believe you scored a beautiful lady like myself?”

Albek let out a long and distressed sigh. “What do you want this time?”

“Wow, so rude! Aren’t you going to ask how I’ve been doing or where have I been?”

“Will you tell me if I do?”

“No,” replied the redhead sticking her tongue out in a childish gesture.

“That’s why I didn’t bother asking. Plus, you look healthy to me, so all is well. What happened to that strange group you were travelling with though? I was hoping to hire them now that you’ve finished your dealings with them.”

“Oh? What for?”

“Nothing really. After you had my men follow them around for a couple days, I have to concur with you that they are a peculiar bunch. Therefore, I’d like to learn more about them and perhaps bring them into our house if they’re worthy.”

“Sorry, not happening. I’m travelling with them still and we’re quite busy at the moment.”

“What? After all this time you’re still travelling with them? I know you won’t say, but what the hell are you trying to do?”

“If you know I won’t say it, why bother asking? Anyways, if you want to form a connection with them there’s someone you must meet. In fact, that was the purpose of my visit.”

“I was going to say it didn’t matter, I only have a slight curiosity towards them after all, but I guess now I’m forced to oblige. Who is this person? Is he or she also going to grace us with his or her presence tonight?”

“Yes, but I’ll need you to ask one of your servants to fetch him for me in a bit. He doesn’t know that I haven’t left the capital yet nor that I plan to introduce you two. Before that though, I want to come clean with you. I’m not a noble Albek. I’m not even from Balt. I’m just a foreign traveller.”

“What? But lord Ranna confirmed you are his adopted daughter! You have his emblem!”

“Oh, that? That old man tried to abduct me on the road, so I beat up him and his guard and took his insignia,” said Fang Chu while shrugging her shoulders.

“Uh… I see.”

Albek lowered his head and closed his eyes as he rested his face against his hands. His mind was whirling with a dozen different thoughts and he was having a hard time settling down. Finally, he let out a loud sigh and faced Fang Chu again.

“I still can’t keep up with your thinking. What were you hoping for by revealing this to me here and now? You do realize that you came to my house alone, in the middle of the night and confessed to assaulting and robbing a noble of his possessions, right? As of now, you’re in the palm of my hand and whatever I decide to do to you is justifiable,” said Albek as he scanned her from top to bottom, purposely slowing his gaze when he reached her chest and hips.

“Yes, so what are you going to do?” replied the redhead nonchalantly.

“Nothing,” sighed Albek. For some reason he always felt extremely tired when dealing with Fang Chu. He took his boots off and lay down on the sofa in a slouched manner. This was an extreme breach of etiquette, but he didn’t care. He was usually more relaxed around the redhead and now that he knew she wasn’t from another aristocratic family he gave up all form of pretence.

“I thought you would say that. I’m a good judge of character,” Fang Chu laughed.

“Yeah? But what if you were wrong? You could have been screwed. Quite literally, in fact.”

“Oh, please. I could have cut off your willy before you unbuckled your pants and made a victory lap around your manor before the guards managed to notice anything was wrong.”

A cold shiver ran across Albek’s back making him so uncomfortable that he had to sit up straight again. He knew Fang Chu was exaggerating, nevertheless, the imagery of the described scene left Albek feeling unwell.

“Now that this is out of the way, we can dispose the formalities, so just call me Fanu. The person I want you to escort here is a merchant by the name of Lawrence. I don’t know where he’s staying, but he is registered in the Logarth Union, so you probably have a way to find it out, right?”

“I do. I’ll have my coachman bring him over in a bit. Why do you want me to meet him though?”

“Because I want you to help him. He’s working for me and my friends in a new business endeavour and having the help of house Esin would make things easier for us. Of course, I’m not asking your help for free. I told you the truth about me because I consider you a friend, but also as a means of repayment.”

“You want me to blackmail house Ranna?” asked Albek who was quick in the uptake.

“Nothing that harsh. You could just let them know that you somehow discovered their secret and, you know, ask for a slight better deal on the transactions of goods between your two houses for the next couple years. I’m sure that would raise your standing in the eyes of your eldest brother as well.”

“You know I don’t care about power. Yet, we both know that if my brother thought of me as more valuable, I would have more funds and freedom both for my studies as well to help your friend out in this business endeavour. You’re truly fearsome.”

“You flatter me. I wasn’t thinking that far.”

“Yeah, sure…”

“Ah, I also want you to look after a plant for me,” exclaimed Fang Chu like she suddenly remembered about it out of the blue.

-

Lawrence was having a metaphorical heart attack. He was currently sitting inside of a luxurious carriage while holding a potted plant. The plant was wriggling and moving in a weird manner and all of its branches were bent in a single direction. The strange thing was that after the carriage made some turns, the direction the plant was bent towards started to change. Having experienced this before when he first received the task of looking after the plant, Lawrence paid no attention to this phenomenon. Besides, there were other things for him to be worried about right now.

A few minutes ago, he was happily counting gold in his sleep when he was disturbed by the gentleman that was now driving the carriage. Apparently, Fang Chu asked for him to be picked up and requested that he brought the plant together with him. Lawrence was doubtful, for he knew that the redhead had left the capital already. Yet, when he learned that the one summoning him was a nobleman, there was nothing left for him to do but to grit his teeth and accompany the coachman. As the carriage swayed on the cobblestones, Lawrence prayed quietly for the summons to be real and not a trap of some kind.

-

“I’ve brought him over, my liege.”

“Let him in.”

Lawrence walked into the room with stiff steps and quickly swept his gaze around. From his location he could see the back of Fang Chu’s head and her signature red hair as well as a young man with hawk like eyes that were watching him with interest.

[Thank the heavens! Fang Chu really is here!] he thought relieved.

“I’m Lawrence, a humble merchant at your service,” he saluted.

“Come, come, sit. It was Fanu that asked me to fetch you.”

“Lawrence, you’re here. You brought the plant? Good, give it to Albek, it will be easier for him to look after it.”

Albek received the plant and gave it to one of his servants to take care of. The redhead introduced them again and spurred the conversation for a while until she felt Lawrence was more comfortable with the situation. Now that the merchant could keep the conversation going and make his demands, she decided it was time to leave and got up.

“Uh? What’s wrong Fanu?”

“I’m leaving,” said the redhead as she stretched her limbs.

“What? Now?” asked Lawrence.

“Yes. I just wanted to introduce you two. Now it’s your job to negotiate and win Albek’s support. You should know the others already left the capital and I need to catch up with them.”

“You came out of nowhere and now you’re leaving just as abruptly. Aren’t you going to visit Richard before you leave town?” joked Albek.

“I already did.”

“Uh? You did?” Albek was flabbergasted. That was an answer he didn’t see coming.

“Yeah. You’re going to learn about it soon,” laughed Fang Chu.

The redhead put on her old cloak again and left, heading for the edge of the city. At this time the gates of the capital would be closed and they wouldn’t open for anyone but the king. This was an insurmountable barrier for anyone trying to leave the city at night, but Fang Chu was quite experienced in such situations.

She walked along the wall until she found a spot that was overlooked by the guards and took out her grappling hook. With practiced movements, she secured it on top of the wall and began climbing the rope with dazzling speed. After reaching the top, she quickly secured the grappling hook on the other side and began rappelling down. When her feet touched the ground, she stored the rope and the grappling hook on her ring, making them disappear. All in all, the entire process took only a couple minutes. The patrolling guards finally walked by the spot she used, but there was nothing there to see.

Fang Chu adjusted her course and followed the road. After a few hours of travelling she could see the bright glow of a bonfire a few meters away from the beaten path. Loud voices could be heard coming from that vicinity as well.

“That’s not fair Eliot! I could never beat you even if it was clear, how do you expect me to hit you when it’s so dark?”

“Fanu said you need to practice at all times and for all situations! Stop complaining and come at me Ben!”

*Bang* *Bam*

“Ouch! Ease on the punch! I’m not sturdy like you!”

“You’re considered a grade two warrior now, Fanu said this force should be acceptable.”

*Bam* *Whack*

“Ugh, what the hell are you doing Boro! You can’t whack me too! Two against one is just too much!”

Hearing the commotion Fang Chu was stunned. What are they doing camping by the side of the road? Shouldn’t they be waiting at the inn by now? She approached the bonfire and saw Liza sitting alone while eating some food.

“Hey, you’re back! Did you finish what you needed to do?”

“Yeah. What are you guys doing here however? Why aren’t you waiting in the inn I told you about?”

“The inn was too far away. We knew you didn’t want us putting our nose into your business, but we figured we might stay close by in case you needed us for something. Ben said you had the face of someone that was going to stir trouble when you stayed behind.”

“What? Me?” Fang Chu blushed.

Seeing her reaction, Liza laughed. “Yeah, I guess he was spot on.”

“Why, that little… I’m going to show him a thing or two.”

The redhead had barely sat down when she got up again and walked away from the bonfire to hide her embarrassment. She followed the voices that were a bit further away and decided to join up the others in tormenting Ben for a while.