Only after he was kilometers away from the outpost did Drake dare to make a sound. Then, he started laughing uncontrollably, making his two companions glance at him before going back to playing.

"Hahaha... F*ck, what am I doing? Haha..."

He couldn't deny it felt good to hit Major Erinster with the hilt of his knife. Still, every moment he spent inside the outpost was excruciatingly slow. He didn't know when something would go wrong, and he would be caught. Invading an army base in the middle of the night, plus beating a high-ranking officer... There was no doubt he would be executed if they found out.

But it was worth it. Not only he wasn't caught, but he was sure Major Erinster's attack would be delayed by a day or two. He had been purposely vague in his threat, and didn't show himself for a moment, all so the officer would be scared. After all, facing a hidden enemy was much worse than meeting them in an open field.

"Okay, next step... Get back to Ricker, let Scarlet yell at me for being dumb, wait for Anna's team, and everyone gets happy. Except for Erinster, but you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs, right?"

As usual, no one answered him, but he knew both Kniivar and Frainer were paying attention. To others, it might seem like he was talking to himself, but in reality, the two Iferes were always there.

Laughing, Drake rode his Yscalent to Ricker, and entered the city under the cover of the night. Careful not to be seen, he entered his hotel room through the window, thanks to Frainer's Telekinesis. For anyone who asked, he had been sleeping peacefully the entire night.

----------------------------

When he woke up, Major Erinster saw that it was already day. He touched the back of his head, which was throbbing with pain, and uttered a weak groan. His face went red with shame when he thought of what had happened the last night, and how he had been caught like a newbie. That shame, however, was quickly replaced by anger. Once he found out who ambushed him, he would pay back this humiliation.

"Err... Major, sir? We've been looking for you all morning."

When he opened the door of the empty pantry, he was greeted by a stunned soldier, who was seemingly about to enter. The corporal looked at his disheveled clothes, but said nothing about it.

"I was checking something, soldier. Get back to work!"

"Y-Yes, sir! About that knife..."

Major Erinster's head snapped back to the pantry, and he clearly saw the knife stuck on the floor. How he had missed it earlier, he didn't know. Kicking it aside, he took his anger out on the poor corporal.

"Say a word more and you will be cleaning sh*t for a month! Get out of here! Immediately!"

Scared senseless, the soldier scurried away, leaving a fuming army major behind him. At the moment, all the officer could think was of the possible culprits, and how he was going to kill them.

"Captain! Lieutenant! Come over here!"

"Yes, sir!"

"I think we need another day of preparation. Bring the heavy artillery. I want to exterminate every last one of those rats. None shall escape."

---------------------------

"You what?!"

Drake wiggled uncomfortably in his chair, trying to look anywhere but at Scarlet. The police chief was the physical embodiment of anger at the moment. Even Frainer and Kniivar could feel the tension in the room, and were laying under her desk without making a sound.

"Uhmm... I may have punched Major Erinster. With the hilt of my knife."

He was too scared to care if he was making sense or not. Scarlet's expression had gone completely cold when she heard the second half of his sentence, and that was somehow worse than the screaming from before. Then, suddenly, she started laughing. Hysterically.

"Hahaha... Haha... Hahaha!"

It was so unexpected that he didn't know how to react. All he could do was stare as the usually cool police chief laughed until tears started coming out of her eyes.

"Are you... Okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. It's just... F*ck, what I wouldn't give to see his face. Haha..."

"So, are you still pissed?"

"Oh, definitely. You are going to hear it later. What you did was dumb and stupid. But for now, I'm going to ignore it."

Startled, Drake kept quiet. What was he supposed to say in this situation? That was not exactly what he thought was going to happen. Still, it was better than the outcome he previously imagined. Especially now that Scarlet fished a bottle of something from a drawer, and poured a glass for him.

"To Erinster."

"Haha... To Erinster. I'm sure he appreciates it."

They both downed their drinks, and the police chief filled their glasses again before hiding the now half-empty bottle. Drake smiled, and closed his eyes, savoring the moment.

"Why did you tell me what you did to Erinster? You do know that I should arrest you, right? Don't think that just because we f*cked once, I'm gonna risk my career for you."

Well, there goes the moment. He hurriedly denied thinking that - he really wasn't - and she calmed down. Or maybe she was never angry to begin with, he wasn't sure. Scarlet was difficult to figure out, to say the least

"All that aside, you are really freaking crazy, you know that, right?"

"Yeah, a little. Hahahaha..."

"Forget it, you are incurable. What did the Nulls say?"

The police chief shook her head in dismay, and changed topics. Drake had commented about a phone call he received earlier, but with everything else that he said, she had pushed it to the back of her mind, and forgotten.

"Three days. Anna said they are already on their way, and asked that I stayed here, to help them during the investigation."

"And did you comment about the attack and Erinster's campaign?"

"Didn't have time. She hung up as soon as she could. Something about a politician caught cheating with another's wife. Apparently, Secret Service deals with that too. She said it could lead to an internal conflict Menoraz can't afford right now."

Although that had intrigued him - not the affair part, but the internal conflict one - Drake didn't ask, since it wasn't his problem. Like Anna once pointed out, she barely knew him, so she obviously wouldn't disclose details about something that seemed important. Besides, Drake would rather face a thousand Barbarians than meddle in politics.

"Really? I wonder what is happening... Anyway, the sooner they arrive, the better. Your little stunt might frighten Erinster a little, but I doubt he will hold back his offensive more than a day or two."

"That's good enough. Tauron River is reallocating his tribe, and even I don't know to where. I believe that should keep the Taurons safe for long enough."

Scarlet nodded slowly, and they talked for a while more, before she ushered him out of her office. She had a lot of work to do, especially considering the attack on the previous day, and didn't have time to keep him company. Aware of that, Drake bid her farewells, and went to his hotel. For the first time in weeks, he could just relax and wait.

----------------------------

Three days passed by painfully slowly. Drake never thought that not being shot at could be so boring, but it was. He spent those days playing cards in the Velvet, reassuring his grandfather that he was all right, and strolling in the surroundings of Ricker with Frainer and Kniivar.

On the second day, a group of about sixty soldiers, carrying cannons and what not had left the outpost, led by Major Erinster. They headed straight to the Tauron village, but found nothing there, apart from empty houses. The tribe had made a good job in covering their tracks, and it would take days for the military to comb through the entirety of Kinton Valley. Drake, who had followed the expedition from a distance, was more than happy with this outcome.

Finally, on the third day of waiting, the investigation team arrived. The sun was setting when Drake saw the small dust cloud that signaled a group of Yscalents. Getting up, he stretched, and got ready to receive them. He had been waiting at Ricker's entrance the entire day, and was tired, but he knew the quicker he explained everything to the Null group, the better.

The group was composed of three women and two men. If the suits they used weren't already a dead giveaway to their identities, then the way they looked around, seemingly expecting to be ambushed, was. They analyzed Drake, who was sitting in a bench, his rifle next to him, and a slightly chubby woman, with curly brown hair, dismounted to greet him.

"By the way you are waiting for us, I presume you must be Drake, right?"

"Yep. Drake Stronter, at your service."

"How gallant. I'm agent Allure. You can call me... Well, just Allure will do."

Drake raised an eyebrow, noticing that she didn't plan on introducing the others. By the looks of it, they wanted to exclude him from the rest of the investigation. He wasn't too sure how he felt about that. For now, he wouldn't mention it, but let things play out.

"Okay, Allure. There were some... Developments in the situation."

"Good or bad?"

"Uhmm... That depends on how you view it. You entered through this side of the city, so you didn't see the other entrance. Four days ago, Ricker was attacked by a gang of Barbarians. We managed to repeal them, luckily."

"We?"

One of the men in the group questioned Drake with a condescending tone, which he ignored. He was pretty sure that was the first field mission of the man, so he had no grounds on which he could base his arrogance. It was just a feeling, and there was no reason behind it other than his gut, but Drake had learned to trust his instincts. He turned back to Allure. She was different. She gave him the same feeling Anna, Scarlet, Higler did. That of a leader and a killer.

"We as in me and the police force. Scarlet Illoer, the police chief, can confirm it. I presume you are going to talk to her?"

Allure shot a glare at her group, and the Secret Service members all shut up. Contrarily to them, she wasn't upset that Drake didn't take them seriously. Rather, she was curious.

"Leaving that aside, you said there's a good and a bad side to this. Care to explain?"

"No problem. Bad side is lots of people died, including half a dozen civilians. Good news is that we captured a few of the Barbarians. Those that didn't die, anyway. We managed to get them to talk. They aren't Taurons, but they were hired to behave like they were."

"Someone wants to blame them... Do you know who?"

"Broken Eagle, their leader, refused to say. However, the only person in all of Ricker and Kinton Valley that would benefit from a conflict is Major Erinster."

There was a moment of silence, during which the Nulls exchanged meaningful glances. Drake had thought they would be shocked or incredulous, but that didn't seem to be the case. They looked more annoyed than anything.

"You might be onto something, Drake. Anything else we should know?"

"Err... The major is leading a battalion or platoon or whatever to hunt the Taurons. They departed yesterday. However, Tauron River already changed his village's location, so it isn't going to be easy to find him, especially when the soldiers can be seen from kilometers away."

"Uhmm... Kendrick, you go after them, and tell the major we have new evidence that the Taurons might not be responsible for anything that happened. If he refuses, say you-know-what to him."

Allure turned to the second man, who grunted in acknowledgment to the order, and turned his Yscalent around. Although Drake was curious, he knew they wouldn't answer even if he asked.

"All right, Drake, we will take it from here. You did a good job up till now, so just leave the rest to us."

Just as he had expected, the investigation team dispensed him as soon as they could. To that, Drake only shrugged, and gestured to Frainer and Kniivar to follow him. He saw Allure's eyes lit up when she saw the later, not with greed, but surprise. He didn't give it much thought, already used to the reactions a Daughter of Gods attracted.

"As you wish, ma'am. If you need a hand, call me. I'm already too deep into this to walk away halfway, so I will be staying in Ricker until it's over."

Having said that, Drake followed the now-familiar street to his hotel, leaving behind the Nulls. He felt that the team was staring at him mockingly - except Allure - but he didn't care. He had offered his help not out of arrogance, but confidence. Whether they wanted it or not, it was up to them.