“You’ve changed a bit these last couple of days.” Maymun said to Quyon, the both of them trailing behind Ilon. They would arrive at Mazual in 20 or so minutes and Ilon had rushed forward a little bit, racing against the clock of lunchtime’s end.

“Have I? How so?” Quyon inquisitively asked. How much could a person change in a day or two? Quyon thought that change happened over long periods of times or through traumatic experiences.

“You’ve been smiling more recently.” Maymun said as she directed a smile at Quyon. It truly made her happy that the person she loved was smiling more and acting more cheerful. Even if that reason was due to someone else and not her. She had expected her usual jealousy to run rampant, but maybe because it was Ilon it didn’t seem to be rearing its ugly head.

“I suppose so. It’s just … nice to have another person we can trust around.” Quyon said so softly that Maymun could barely hear it over the wind from jogging. “Oh, look. There’s Mazual in the distance.”

The familiar wooden walls showed up in their view as they crested a small hill. The town looked the same as usual, guards patrolling the walls and people coming and going. The only thing that was noticeably different was that there were a lot less people entering the town compared to when the two of them had arrived a couple of days ago. It seemed that news and rumours travelled fast.

“Hurry up or we’re going to miss lunch.” They heard Ilon call from down below.

“Yeah, Yeah. We’re coming.” Maymun shouted back at him but didn’t move from the top of the hill. “Hey, Quyon.”

“Yeah?”

“We sort of just assumed it, but are you fine with Ilon travelling with us?” Maymun asked casually. She already knew the answer but figured it would be better to ask anyway.

“Of course. Are you not?” She responded.

“I’m fine with it. I just wanted to make sure. It has been a couple of years since we’ve all been together after all and I didn’t want to force you to do something you’re not happy with.”

“You know I’ll tell you if something doesn’t make me happy. We are a team. And honestly, I think Ilon makes a great addition to it. We might even be able to face a tier ten with the three of us.” Quyon said with a knowing look towards Maymun. They had always avoided tier ten Horror’s because it was too risky to handle with just the two of them. But Quyon knew how badly Maymun wanted to fight one of them, so this was her compromise.

“Even though we almost just died to a tier nine and eight combo?” Maymun cheekily said.

“We should hurry up, Ilon’s going to start getting mad.” Quyon said as she started to make her way down the hill.

“Quyon.” Maymun said in a serious voice. She continued as Quyon turned around. “Try not to get too used to having Ilon around. We’re all going to the same place currently, but who knows after.”

“I know. He has his own goals after all. Potentially only five months, huh?” Quyon said as she looked at the blue sky, void of any clouds.

“Let’s just enjoy these five months while we can then. If we decide to keep on travelling after that, then great. If not, then we continue on like we had been before.” Maymun said as she joined Quyon in descending the hill.

“Hard to believe that it’s just five months away. We were only 13 the last time we went to one, still with the Master.” Quyon replied. They fell silent as they made their way towards Ilon.

“This is revenge for what I said earlier, isn’t it?” Ilon said towards Maymun as they approached him. “I’m sorry about that, but I’m sure you want some good food as well.”

“It wasn’t anything like that, but that is a good idea.” Maymun got some joy at the betrayed face Ilon made. “I’m joking. We were just having a serious talk, which reminds me. We sort of assumed that we would be travelling together, at the very least until we get there, is that fine with you?”

“Of course. It sucked being by myself, so I’m really grateful you guys are together with me.” Ilon grinned. “But I’d be more grateful if we stopped stalling. I’m really hungry.” He laughed as he continued jogging towards Mazual.

Being able to trust my back to someone really is nice. He hadn’t had anyone that he could trust his back to since, well, them. After Maymun and Quyon were ‘dropped off’ by the Master he was alone with her for a couple of years, then he was on his own for close to a year. And he certainly couldn’t trust his back to the Master. She had done a lot for them, but in no way did any of the Cursed trust Her, other than Yo’lbars. But he was a different case entirely.

After a couple more minutes of jogging they finally reached the east gate of Mazual.

“Oh, you’re back.” A familiar sounding voice rang out as a guard was checking their identifications. Ilon looked over and saw the unique black armour and stand-out almost golden spiked hair. “Looks like your two friends are with you this time. How were things out there?” He asked. “You alright?” He said with concern after seeing the burnt hole in his shirt on the shoulder and their disheveled appearances.

“We’re okay. The forest might be referred to as the one-eyed forest for a while, but other than that things are fine now.” Ilon said after consideration. He had confirmed Tain’s beliefs that there was in fact a Horror in the forest, and that they had successfully hunted it.

“I see. Things aren’t looking too up here. No sign of our lost horn, nor anything else suspicious.” Tain responded with a bit of frustration leaking through.

“What are you two trying to play at by being so secretive? You need something from us?” Maymun called out their act, trying to get straight to the point.

“Haha, how straightforward. Apologies, it seems I’ve gotten too used to politics. My name’s Tain, the guard captain of Mazual. May I get the two of you ladies’ names?” Tain said as he put his right hand over his heart.

“I’m Maymun and this is Quyon.” Maymun introduced both of them. As much as she didn’t like dealing with guards, this wasn’t exactly a situation that they could get out of.

“Nice to meet you.” Quyon nodded with a deadpan face.

“Good to meet you both as well. Since you want to get straight to the point, would you three mind joining me in my office?” Tain’s face got a bit more serious as he said that. His perpetual grin faded and the eyes of a hardened warrior shone through.

“Should we go?” Ilon whispered to Maymun and Quyon. He was sure that Tain could easily hear them, but it was more for courtesy sakes than for privacy.

“It might be something related to the violet eyes that he doesn’t want people to hear about.” Quyon responded.

“May as well see what he wants.” Maymun whispered before speaking in her normal voice. “Sure, we’ll join you.”

“Excellent. Come, it’s just over here.” Tain said as he led them inside Mazual. Not too far away was a guard station. As he walked over the guards would stop and salute at them, their right fist over their heart and their left hand tucked behind them. The most surprising thing to Ilon though, was that Tain would genuinely smile and call the names of every guard they encountered.

“I’m surprised.” Ilon offhandedly said.

“By what? The fact that I remember all their names.” Tain gave a smug grin. “I’m the captain, of course I have to know my subordinates names.”

“No, I’m surprised how well liked and respected you are.” Ilon joked. He wasn’t usually the type to be buddy-buddy with strangers, but he felt that Tain was someone who wouldn’t mind casual banter.

“Oof, I’ll have you know that when I was in guard school, I was the most popular in the entire school! All the girls flocked to me and all the boys wanted to be me.” He said dramatically. “What do you two girls think, do I still got it?”

“You’re not really my type, but I’d still give you a solid 8 outta 10.” Maymun said as she eyed Tain up and down.

“Not bad, and you?” He asked towards Quyon.

“I only like girls.” She responded, still deadpan.

“Aha, something we have in common then.” Tain stopped and gave her a smile. “Unfortunately we’re here, so I’ll have to get you to tell me your type later.”

They had arrived at a decent sized building that was nothing fancy, but it had a training yard with several guards sparring. Through the already open doors of the guard station he could see several people lined up at a receptionist's desk. The inside had wooden floorboards with several potted plants around and several paintings of people Ilon didn’t recognize.

“My office is up here.” Tain said as he led them up a flight of stairs. They entered one of the many rooms in the upstairs area of the guard station. The room had a nice mahogany table and a comfortable looking chair, hardwood floors ordained by fancy rugs, several different swords hung up to decorate the wall, and several cabinets that seemed bursting at the seams with papers.

“Welcome. Sorry that I don’t really have anything like tea to offer you guys.” Tain said as he leaned against his desk. Seeing that the trio had closed the door behind him he continued. “Seeing as you like to be straightforward, I’ll get right to the point. We believe the vice-head of the Shamans to be in their headquarters, however they’ve taken it upon themselves to do an ‘internal investigation’.” He said while doing the hand-quotations.

“Are they stalling or trying to cover up for him?” Ilon asked.

“The Vice-head and Head of Shamans are both from the traditionalist faction of Shamans and they’re on good terms. So it’s likely that they’re going to plant false evidence and accuse some random fallen shaman they found.” Tain replied.

“But there’s a witness report of the Vice-head, isn’t there?” Maymun questioned him.

“That doesn’t really mean much.” Quyon responded before Tain had a chance. “They can just claim that the report was from a confused little girl who had just had a traumatic experience, plus she didn’t exactly specify that it was the Vice-head, just that it was someone who had a horn marking on their face.”

“Has there been any sightings of the Vice-head since the incident?” Ilon asked.

“No. The Head has stated that he went out on some type of mission though, which counters the claim that it was him.” Tain answered. “To make things worse, the Mayor has denied us of investigating them, saying that we should leave it to our own departments to conduct investigations on their own people.” He said in a frustrated voice.

“But aren’t you guards? Don’t you, by authority of the King, have the ability to conduct investigations?” Quyon asked.

“Maybe if it was five, ten years ago. But even though Duhnovo and Killian are technically at peace due to the recent treaty, conflict between the two politically has ramped up considerably. There would have most likely been war already if it hadn’t been for the increased speed in the spread of the Deadzone.” Tain responded. “And we’re unfortunately in the west which is in the sphere of Duhnovo influence. They easily pressured the king and he flopped like a sack of potatoes.”

“So what do you want us to do?” Maymun asked.

“I’d rather not ask this of kids like you, but I’d like to hire you three as mercenaries. Your job will be to track down the Vice-head of the Shamans, Bi’wan, and see if you can’t find any evidence. You’ll be on your own since we’ve pretty much been forbidden to do anything unless another incident happens.” Tain said with a cracked voice. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, calming himself. “In the last incident, there were over 40 casualties, hundreds injured, and many more traumatized. If we wait and do nothing, it will be too late to stop another incident.”

Ilon looked towards Quyon and Maymun and saw them both nod their head at him. He wasn’t feeling the greatest about taking this mission, considering the fact that it would drag them into the whirlpool that was politics. The Master had always told them to avoid it if it was possible, but they would be leaving Mazual soon anyways. Still, the words of Kachuk rang in his mind, paralyzing him from instantly accepting.

“If you’re worried about payment, don’t. Although I won’t be able to pay you that much since I’m not allowed to use the guard funds and have to pay out of pocket, how does 5 gold sound?” Tain said with a confident smile. Five gold was a lot to an average person. To some, 5 gold was a year's salary and to some, they might not have ever seen a gold coin before.

But it wasn’t money he was worried about. The Master had given him enough to last a long time if he spent it sparingly. He was worried that in their pursuit of the Vice-head they would encounter something that they wouldn’t even have a chance to escape from.

“We’ll do it.” Before Ilon had the chance to think about it more, Maymun jumped the discussion and accepted it for them.

“Wait.”

“Wait.”

Both Ilon and Quyon called out at the exact same time. Quyon also stopping Maymun surprised Ilon as he assumed that she would be okay with the mission considering she was fine with returning to the city.

“You can go first.” Ilon said to Quyon, curious what she had to say.

“Thanks. Why did you choose us to hire? There should be plenty more people out there who are far more suitable for the job of tracking someone down.” Quyon said with suspicion.

“A lot of our specialized contacts inside the town have been disappearing recently. I’d like to blame it on the Shamans, but I’ve gotten reports that it’s the same for them. Most of the people who we’d use in this situation have already disappeared or have left Mazual.” Tain grimly replied.

“Have you sent any requests to the Capital? I’m sure they’d send someone considering the situation.” Ilon asked.

“I have. It’s just that the Capital is dealing with a large problem of its own.” Tain responded. “Recently a group of terrorists called the Armani have cropped up and are causing a lot of problems.”

“If they haven’t been taken care of yet, then they likely have a backer in high places, right?” Quyon said and got a nod from Tain “I see. Then, I’m fine with taking the job. What about you Ilon?”

“I’m just worried about the potential dangers involved. We know nothing about the other two that were involved which worries me.” They had already had one life threatening encounter already, he wasn’t much in the mood for another.

“That’s why I’m asking you guys.” Tain answered. “We don’t know much, just speculation. Your job isn’t to fight or capture them, it’s just to gather information about them. Anything will be useful, even if it’s just a rumour. Even though we can’t do much we can still keep an eye and ear out while patrolling. We’ll also inform you if we find anything. The only thing I ask of you is to help out if another situation like the last occurs.” Tain looked at each of them, one by one, holding his gaze for a couple of seconds.

“Alright. Deal.” Ilon said with slight reluctance. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to lend his aid, just that they were taking a big risk or were potentially wasting their time. “However, at most we can only stay a week. We have somewhere to be that’s a distance away. If we find nothing during that time then you don’t have to pay us.”

“I’ll still pay you either way. Thank you for this. Truly.” Tain said with a sad smile. “It’s not easy being unable to do anything. Before you go, take this. It’s a portrait of Bi’wan we had made.” Tain said as he reached over to his desk and grabbed a sheet of paper.

The person on it had messy brown hair, light brown eyes, and slightly sunken cheeks. He looked like someone who would be found drunk in the middle of an alley, not a Vice-head of all Shamans in Mazual.

“Then, we’ll take our leave.” Quyon said as she nodded at Tain. Ilon and Maymun also said their farewells and the three of them left. Tain walked behind his desk and sat down in his chair, causing it to creak from the weight of his armour. His arms fell limply to the sides as he leaned his head back and closed his eyes.

“Forgive me.”