There are times when one should be brave, and times when one should know when to cut their losses and flee. Many books I’ve read disagree on when that point is, while others say that the point depends on a number of circumstances, circumstances whose number cannot be put fully into words, be they written or spoken, and only experience can truly help determine when one should cut their losses or push ahead.

Those books also teach you how to deal with failure, but none of them can prepare you for when a monster comes to your room with an offer you almost refused, even when you shouldn’t have.

“M-mmonster.” I said for what must have been the fifth time since the she-devil let me to speak.

She did so grudgingly after she made me swear not to scream in fear. Like the one before, it was a request I couldn’t refuse and this time I was wise enough to take it the first time it was offered. Not like anyone would answer even if I did scream.

I can still remember vividly how her iris started to glow green and her pupil turned into a mass of all-consuming darkness as she spoke, the unspoken threat as clear as a sunny day.

“Where are the proper clothes? None of these are good or fit for royalty!” The she-devil questioned in an annoyed tone.

“T-there’s none that are b-better, except the ones for the p-party.”

“Stop stuttering, you’re a royal not a frightened slum roach.” She said absentmindedly while she continued looking through the drawers for a pair of pant that fit her description of ‘royalty’.

I just nodded at that not trusting myself to speak.

“What’s wrong with those? They’re… all I have, really.” I said slowly as the minutes passed by and she continued her futile search.

She abruptly stopped, and looked at me, her eyes were normal again and there was no sign of how they looked previously. Those green eyes seemed to dull as a mix of emotions I couldn’t place battled for supremacy.

“For starters, they don’t have holes in them, nor are they this rough and they’re washed by soap and not by a smooth rock.” She replied.

“Sorry I keep the soap for cleaning myself.” I whispered, slightly annoyed at the condescension.

I receive little soap, so I have to choose between washing myself or my clothes, and if I had to choose between the two, then my body came first.

“I see.” she said in a neutral tone as I realized she must have heard me.

She eventually picked a pair of slightly too wide black pants and a white shirt with long sleeves and threw them at me. She then proceeded to open the door to the bathroom. I took the unspoken order for what it was, and immediately went to clean myself and change my clothes while putting my dirty clothes into the dirty pile.

I came out skittishly and saw her reading a book. It was hard to say for sure from here, but it looked like “The history of before the Empire in East Astella.”. I’ve read it enough times to recognize the colors from a distance so I’m pretty sure that was it. It was an interesting book, talking about the various cultures that lived here before the Empire conquered them all.

“I like how they talk about the Zuvei, the book said they had underground cities and the catacombs are in fact their old capital.” I said awkwardly, trying to make conversation.

“Yes it is, I even know several Zuvei, they’re descendants of the original inhabitants of the capital even. They’re among those I represent in fact.”

Ah, it seems we’re back to business then. My shoulders slumped as I dreaded what was to come.

“Don’t be so sad your highness. I can guarantee you that it’s going to be worth it working with them, and don’t let their cannibalism get in the way of a good deal. The clans are excellent spies and I can guarantee their quality as I’ve worked with them several times.” She responded, thankfully mistaking my slumped shoulders for something.

“So, how it’s this going to work then?”

If I was going to be a puppet of whatever organizations could get this monster to do their bidding, then the least I could was get as much as I could out of it.

“That depends on what you want and need, as well as what you can offer.”

“That being everything and nothing.”

My dry response seems to have sent her into a giggling fit.

She looked cute sort of cute when laughing…

‘Head flying blood monster Kar! She’s not some cute maid!’ I admonished myself as I tried to dispel the image of a cute girl from the most likely blood thirsty fiend.

As I was trying to make some order of my head, the maid recovered from her giggling fit and started speaking again.

“Oh how rude of me, sitting when royalty is standing, please sit Your Highness.” She said, swiftly raising up, doing a perfect bow as she spoke.

The book was thankfully not thrown but left gently on the bed. It might not have been one of my favorites but I was still fond of it.

“Stop with this charade, you’re scaring me more than before.”

It wasn’t completely true. While her current demeanor was scary, it was nothing compared to ‘that’. It wasn’t the act itself that was scary, but the way it contrasted with her previous actions.

“No can do, I’m afraid. I need to maintain a habit, lest I slip up as I work as your personal maid.”

Her tone was that of a maid, even the words she said, if taken out of context, would have fit on any maid addressing her lord. Instead of being servile words of a maid addressing her lord, all they were in fact was a clarification of what will happen and my lack of choice in the matter.

I just sighed at that.

“Just, stop please, it’s freaking me out, only a deaf and blind man would take you as anything even approaching servile.”

She met me with a sigh of her own.

“It’s not that bad is it?” She replied in a resigned tone while playing with her hair.

She looked disappointed in herself and sad at her failure, as if she was a normal girl. Again the dissonance between the now and before was jarring but I hid it and remained silent. No need to continue digging my own grave even further.

We spent a few seconds in silence before she decided to switch the topic.

“Right, just sit then, no need to make a business transaction while one of us is sitting, I may not be aware of all the intricacies of making a deal, but I know enough to be able to tell that this is the worst way you could do it.” She said as she slumped on the bed with a sigh.

I followed shortly, but remained silent. No need to push my luck any more.

“Right so, what would you like or need to know? Can’t make this work if you remain mute.” She begun after a full minute of silence.

“What organizations are you representing and what can they offer?” I asked after some deliberation.

“Oh, a good question, if a bit tricky.”

“Tricky?”

My confusion was palpable as I spoke, how was the identity of the organizations tricky?

“Right, technically I represent three organizations and two cults, practically, every single one of those organizations are in fact several semi-independent smaller organizations working together against one another and in some cases forming alliances with outsiders against those they call kin, making the actual number somewhere around 20, depending on how you count them and if something drastic didn’t change in the past month.” She replied, and I could feel a headache coming as she finished.

Couldn’t criminals get their act together? I’m going to have to deal with fractured messes of contradicting interests wasn’t I?

“But don’t worry, I’ll ease you into them slowly over time, and thankfully agents from those organizations will provide a more comprehensive overview of their situation in any amount of detail you require, once I can organize some meetings that is.”

“Right, so what are those, three organizations and two cults then?”

She took a few second to reply as she debated on how to start.

“Right, they go like this.” She said and lifter her little finger in the air.

“The first are the Six Shadows, the main representative of the criminal organizations in the slums and the outer walls. They tend to stick to the word of their agreements and less to the spirit, but if you need anything smuggled in or out then you can get anything from narcotics to people in and out of there faster than the guards can blink.”

“You’re starting me off with drug pushers, and slavers too?” I asked befuddled, interrupting her in the process.

Yes, I knew that I was dealing with criminals, but slavery was a crime by divine mandate of my ancestor Alexander Goldstar. Few were the idiots that dared to actually go against the Temple that called my family divine.

“Oh no, no, they’re not slavers, they simply help smuggle people that are hunted by the law or other criminals to where they need to go discreetly. They also do some kidnappings for those same organizations for people that they desperately want to get into their claws, but they don’t do slavery.” She replied, her voice a mix between alarmed and scandalized as she waved her hands around in negation.

“Now, the Six Shadows are decent spies and can keep tabs on anything you would need to know in the outer city and even have plenty of agents in the nearby towns and villages, one of the two organizations that does in fact.” She said and nodded to herself.

‘Strange woman.’ I thought with what I realized was a growing shock.

I was shocked because the more I talked to her, the less I considered her a monster. I’m not sure how, but she managed to get under my skin, slowly. It was scary just how fast she managed to change my opinion then her.

‘Is this how nobles are when they want something from you?’ I thought, trying to remember when I have seen something like this before.

I’ve seen nobles acting similarly to how she acted, all friendly and incredibly expressive, to each other. Nothing like how they treated me, which only made sense, nobody wanted to deal with me or get something from me.

I’m not sure how much has passed as I was thinking on what she said and what that meant but I realized she stopped speaking.

“Err, sorry about that, please continue.” I said awkwardly.

“No need to apologize, your highness. Debating the merits of a proposal and internalizing knowledge is not something done in seconds and I’m no teacher to expect you to internalize all I’ve said as soon as I finished saying it, before moving to the next subject.” She said with a wry smile and I nodded in thanks.

“May I continue?”

“Y-yes, please” I said, slightly stuttering.

The second finger started pointing up

“The second organization I represent are the Hafno Hazdali, they’re originally from the western part of the federation. I’m not familiar with their language unfortunately, or what the name means, but I know that they are the best Assassins on the continent, with branches in every corner of the continent and even in Porter, according to the information they have provided and what I’ve managed to gather on them. Unfortunately, I do not represent their main branch, but only the local branch and they have little influence over the other branches.”

“So we went from smuggler to Assassins.”

“Yes, although I would have to say that they’re not exactly the best or as good as they claim, at least locally.” She said with a dismissive snort.

That reply was also continued with some muttering that sound suspiciously like “Incompetent try-hards’.

The dismissal of her employers was surprising, as I thought she was supposed to give me a sales pitch on each of the organizations, not badmouth them in front of me. As such, the only thing I could give her was an incredulous look.

“Don’t look at me like that, yes they are assassins, but the local branch of assassins, well they are not the best you can get. They’re mostly rejects from other branches that were ordered to go somewhere they couldn’t fuck up more. They’re good if you want something obvious but not if you want people to think it was an accident. They’re a cleaver in a business where one needs a needle.”

I just continued looking at her there was something else she wasn’t telling me.

“No it’s not because they tried to kill me several times that I’m so dismissive of them, I can assure you, Your Highness”

I remained silent, not sure how I should reply to that.

*Hmph* “Very well then let us continue then, the third organization are a cult, a death cult to be more precise, the Gava Uzzinka, The Pink Deaths, they’re local, and in fact only accept Zuvei into their ranks. While they’re very discreet, they’re a bit much to deal with when they’re not trying to kill you, excellent cooks too.” She said longingly.

‘Is their cooking that good?’ I wondered in my head, no reason to get that excited at the mere prospect of their food.

“Yes it’s that good, and no, you didn’t speak out loud, your face is really expressive, it’s really cute honestly.” She said kindly, a small smile gracing her face.

“So what’s the difference between the two, besides their talent at cooking? They’re both assassins right?” I could feel myself blush, but thankfully, she did not remark on it

She stood a bit and put her right hand on her chin as she pondered how to respond.

“Yes they are, and if you go by organization and lifestyle then I would say everything, but as for how they may help you, then I guess it would be discretion and the message hiring each would send. The Hafno Hazdali are used when you want people to know someone is after them, and that you wanted them to die painfully and publically. The pinkers, as we call them in the underworld, are discreet and if you call them then you want whoever you called dead or disappeared, and nobody to suspect it was you, or anyone else really, who ordered it.”

That wasn’t how I expected someone to describe a group of assassins, or that there was so much difference between the ways one would get to kill people.

“The second cult is The Fourth Eye. They’re information brokers, worshipping knowledge and trading it away for silver, which they also consider sacred, honestly there’s not much else I could say about them as they’re pretty private and their inner workings are unknown to outsiders, or even most members if what I heard is right. They’re however very good at it.”

“Why are they criminals then? I don’t think what they do is illegal is it?” I asked after some deliberation.

“All organizations I represent have reasons to not want to be in the spotlight until they believe the time is right that time, more often than not, being never. I would also advise you to not bring this point up with whoever they’re going to send for more in-depth talks until you’ve established a proper rapport. It’s a… delicate topic.”

I nodded at silently as I took all she said into consideration.

“Now, the last, but certainly not least, are the Conclave. It’s difficult to describe them to an outsider, but the best explanation would be that they’re a mix of scholars, spies and middlemen for the other factions in the underworld. The services they offer are many, but the most attractive is by far magical healing.” She finished and I had to stop from gawking

“Magical healing? Are you serious?” I asked, shock coursing through my vocal cords.

Mages capable of using their magic for healing are incredibly rare, with the royal palace only managing to acquire the services of ten such individuals ever since the kingdom was founded more than 300 years ago. Even now, father only has one such healer in his employ.

“Deadly.” She said with mirth in her eyes.

“After all, how do you think I can do this?”

The statement was met by a small ice knife doing a minor cut on her hand, only for the blade to transform into water and then cover it. Several seconds later, the wound and any sign of it was gone.

I just stood there as she spoke and showed her magic again, thinking about just what sort of organization this Conclave is. No organization, no matter how powerful would send such a valuable asset here, not unless she was disposable, and if she’s disposable then what isn’t?

“Now that the initial introductions are finished, let us talk real business my prince. There’s representatives from each organization that I’m supposed to get you in touch with, as well as other slight inconveniences that we need to get out of the way.”

“Such as?”

“Your wardrobe to start with, then we’ll see. Can’t have you meet the others dressed like that, it would reflect poorly on me.”

The words were said normally, but there was a glint in her eyes that sent shivers down my spine and that made me wonder if choosing death maybe wasn’t such a bad decision.

The priests did say that children always went to the Heavens after all.