The beastwoman was frowning as she stared at the guard...

...

Olaf and I looked at the old man in front of us.

He had a gray, trimmed beard on his face.

His jawline was strong. He looked very intimidating.

The man stared at me.

He spoke, eventually, "You're really not nervous at all, unlike your friend there. Do you have any idea of who you're dealing with here?"

I got straight to the point, "We're looking for someone who fled the palace. Olaf?" I said my piece and looked at Olaf.

He looked at me in surprise, not expecting me to pass the conversation to him.

The boy turned his head towards the man in front of us, looking at him as he thought of what to say.

I told Olaf, "Stop wasting the man's time. We're here with legitimate business, so just ask him what you need to know and he'll give you his price."

The old man's eyes never left me, not sparing Olaf a glance. He spoke, "You seem to understand how things work around here. Are you Laura's child?"

He even knows my mother's name.

I gave nothing away, my face remaining as lazy and expressionless as always.

I looked at him, asking, "How much is that information worth to you? Does it cover the cost of telling us about the person who fled the palace?"

The old man grinned.

Olaf had finally built up some courage to speak, asking the man, "A kid, boy around our age, fled the palace after stealing an artifact. We're all looking for him, do you know where he is?"

The man finally looked at Olaf. He gave his price, "That information is expensive, but I'm sure a rich kid from the palace can afford it. 100 thousand silvers."

He has the information?

Olaf's eyebrows raised up, speaking loudly in irritation, "That much just for pointing us the way to that brat Erik!?"

"Y...'r... dr...m...ng...!"

His thoughts are becoming clearer. I'm improving.

I noticed Olaf's mistake and quickly spoke to the man, "We gave you the person's name, that's going to cost you 20 thousand silvers."

The man looked at me, sneering, "We hadn't agreed to a deal beforehand. And I didn't know that was the person's name. So it was Erik Spearhand, huh?"

Olaf noticed his mistake. He hit his own forehead with his palm.

I stared at the man, then asked him, "Then, what kind of information would be worth 100 thousand silvers to you?"

He immediately laughed at me, asking, "Haha! And what could you possibly know that's worth so much?"

I asked again, "What kind of information?"

Seeing how serious I looked, he stopped laughing.

After thinking for a while, he answered, "Minor research secrets from the palace's magic tower, whether a concubine has new changes planned for her business, the death of an important figure that hasn't been announced yet... That kind."

Perfect.

I made an offer, "The death of an important figure that hasn't been announced yet. I want a contract stating the trade of that information for the location of Erik Spearhand. Also, I want our identities hidden from the records. No one must know we provided you with the information."

His eyebrows raised. Olaf looked at me with surprise, not expecting me to know something so important.

The old man clearly believed my words, since once he snapped his fingers, his assistant came back carrying a magic contract scroll.

Olaf, I and the old man all held the scroll together. The contents were written as if it was reading our minds.

Within the contents was the fact that, if someone refused to or lied while providing their piece of information, the magical contract would punish them.

As for the punishment, it was generally in the form of a life threatening lightning bolt showing up out of nowhere to strike the one who breached the contract.

After coming up with satisfactory terms, the assistant handed us ink so we could sign with our fingerprints. She also signed as a witness of the contract being made.

Then, she left the room and went away to store the contract.

Once I exchanged my piece of information, he would then be contractually obliged to state his.

So, he asked me, "Who died?"

I answered, "Concubine Invicta. She died a few days ago. If I'm lying, the contract's magic may punish me now."

Then, Olaf and the old man both quickly looked around. Nothing happened to me.

Both looked at me wide-eyed.

Olaf asked in surprise, "How do you know such a thing!?"

The old man spoke, "That is indeed expensive information. Concubine Invicta is a legend of our human empire. To think she'd die..."

Concubine Invicta used to battle in the Frontlines. She was called a hero. The invincible 'Champion of the Goddess of Death', before she 'fell' for the emperor and became a concubine.

In reality, he threatened her poor old parents, promising he would destroy her hometown if she didn't become his concubine.

After they died of old age, she joined the matriarch's faction to keep the imperial family in check.

The old man looked at the table, then back at me, asking, "Who killed her?"

I replied, "I'm not here to trade that information. Now, tell us where Erik Spearhand is."

The man showed an unhappy expression, but still answered, "A boy matching concubine Elsa's son's appearance, albeit dirtier, was seen here in Maroon District days ago. He was last seen crossing the gate to the Capital district with a couple and a little girl."

Olaf quickly asked him, "Who are those three? Where are they now?"

The man harrumphed, replying with a smirk as he looked at me, "I'm not here to trade that information."

I'm speechless. How petty.

I answered Olaf, "What matters is that Erik reached the Capital district and no one found him yet. He's probably at the academy. That's the most obvious place he'd go to."

Olaf looked at me, showing a look of comprehension, "Oh, that makes sense! There was a professor there who really liked him and-"

I quickly shushed him, "You want to give more free information to the old man?"

"Oh! You're right!" Olaf quickly shut his mouth.

The man started laughing. I stood up and spoke to him, "Nice doing business with you."

He sighed and replied while smiling, "You too, kid. You surprised me today. If you have any more obscure information like that, make sure to come to me. I'll pay you well. I know you're probably rich, but I don't trade in just silvers."

And I don't need you if I want to know things.

I replied, "I'll keep that in mind. Olaf?"

"Oh, yeah, let's go. Pleasure doing business." Olaf replied, nodding to the old man as he stood up.

The old man snapped his fingers. The assistant came back.

She held the door open for us. Through it, we could see the bar again.

She spoke as we passed her by, "Thank you for your business."

"You're more than welcome." I replied without sparing a glance at her.

She chuckled, then closed the door behind us.

I stared at the door.

You guys just made a huge profit because I have to pretend not to know things.

Yet, Olaf now knows that I knew something only the highest ranking people from the palace knew about.

The boy looked lost. Then, he recovered himself asked me with a suspicious expression, "How did you know about concubine Invicta's death?"

I ignored his question, asking, "What's our next destination?"

He stared at me.

After a few seconds, Olaf relaxed and took an obvious guess, "Your mom probably told you. Let's book a room in a hotel, it's getting late. We'll go to the academy tomorrow. Classes start soon, anyway. We'll look for Erik there."

We left the bar.

Soon, Olaf and I were travelling with our floater shoes again.

Artificial Sloth. Sight Voyage.

...

Concubine Talia was wearing a red dress that only revealed her left thigh as she looked out of the window, taking a sip of the wine in her glass.

She was inside the emperor's chamber.

Emperor Drago, lying on his bed, spoke to her with a cold expression, "Why do you keep staring out of that window, Talia? Is it more interesting than me?"

She turned around and looked at him with an eyebrow raised, swallowing the wine that was still in her mouth.

Then, another woman, who was hooded and dressed in black robes, stood up from her previously sitting position, in the corner of the bedroom.

She approached the emperor.

He looked at her expressionlessly, but he was clearly surprised by her presence in the room.

The emperor asked, "Who are you?"

The woman's eyes glowed pink. The emperor's eyes then glowed the same, before they closed.

Emperor Drago had suddenly fallen asleep.

Concubine Talia spoke with a frown as she looked at the hooded lady, "Is he building up a resistance towards your illusions?"

The woman spoke with a whispering voice, "Not at all. I just didn't predict the duration correctly. My apologies, mistress."

It was this lady. Their Mind attribute trump card.

The hooded woman's expression turned weird for an instant. Squinting her eyes, she looked around.

Concubine Talia caught her strange behavior, asking, "What's wrong?"

The lady looked back at her, replying with a smile, "Nothing."

I've been using Sight Voyage since I was five. If it was that easy to detect, I'd just let mom do whatever she wanted with my undead body.

Concubine Talia looked back towards the window. Through it, you could see the magic tower in the distance.

The concubine's eyes glowed green.

Visual attribute magic.

Drawing an imaginary line between the concubine's eyes and whatever was at the end, you would discover that she was looking through the tower and straight at the seer's nuke.

Concubine Talia spoke with a worried tone, "That 'divine' artifact is strange. I don't know what those things inside it are, but my sixth sense tells me that it's dangerous to keep it around."

The hooded lady asked with an inquisitive tone, "Why so, mistress?"

The concubine took a sip of her wine and replied, "I don't know. I just don't feel safe inside the palace anymore."

"Are you planning a vacation, mistress? Can I go with you?"

"No, you're still needed here in the palace. Also, I need you to finish getting the emperor on my side. What are the activation words again?"

The hooded lady had a vicious grin on her face as she replied, "It is 'as I said before', mistress. As soon as you say that, whatever you say after will be fully obeyed by the emperor. And he'll rationalize all his actions in a convenient way for you."

Concubine Talia smiled, "Good. Finish converting him. With his majesty as my loyal pet, that empress will have no say anymore."

The hooded lady chuckled.

Talia turned around to gaze in the direction of the magic tower, then sipped from the wine glass in her hand.

...

I had followed Olaf into a hotel.

It was better off than most hotels I had seen on this district.

Most people who lived here were salary people, so they were more well-off than the usual gamblers and vagabonds that roamed the streets.

Olaf approached the lady on the counter, telling her, "Room for two, the best you have."

The woman stood up from her chair and put her newspaper down.

She looked at us. Glancing at our clean clothes, she soon showed a smile on her face.

She spoke in a happy tone, "Good evening, little gentlemen! We have the perfect room available, just 50 silvers!"

That amount was suspicious.

With Sight Voyage, it was possible to see that the price of the best room, according to her private ledger, was just 10 silvers.

What a scam.

The people around us smirked in our direction. Olaf didn't notice anything strange, soon pulling out a bag from his pocket.

He spoke as he handed her the small bag of coins, "Here, we'll want it."

As she was about to take it, I grabbed it.

She looked at me with a stunned expression.

I asked her, "50 silvers? Lady, do me and my friend a favor here. My other friend came here yesterday and paid just 10 for it. How about we pay 20 since it's two people, and we'll tip you a 5 so you can buy yourself something nice?"

I took five coins from the bag and put it on top of the table. All had the number 5 written on them, totalling 25 silvers.

She stared at the coins. She had made no move to take them.

Seriously? I tried to be nice.

As she was about to speak, probably to refuse us, I suddenly told her, "Wait, miss, there's something on your left ear. You might want to check that."

"What?" she put a hand on her left ear. Feeling something slightly wet, she looked at her fingers.

They were slightly red.

Advanced Wind Blade.

I started at her, "It was probably just a bug. Right?"

She began to look nervous. Then, she saw me pushing the five coins on the table towards her.

The lady took them. Then, she retrieved a key.

She spoke with a nervous smile, "Go upstairs, there's a door with the same number as the one written on the key! That's the room!"

Olaf took the key, thanking her, "Thank you. Let's go, Sloth."

He went ahead, not having noticed anything that just went on.

The people around us also kept to themselves, pretending to be busy.

We went upstairs.

Olaf and I soon found our room and entered. Olaf took a shower first, then it was my turn.

Once we were done, we each slept in our separate beds.

Meanwhile, downstairs.

A man carrying a glass of beer approached the counter.

He spoke to the lady, "Why did you go and mess with those rich kids? Did you not notice how clean they looked?"

The lady exhaled air from her mouth before she replied, "Hah, how was I supposed to know that boy was going to catch my lie? Since when are kids so smart?"

The man told her, "They are probably brats from the academy. You know how they're all geniuses. What can we do? I'm a Fire attribute mage and all I can do is light a cigarette with my thumb!"

The woman stared at him with an annoyed look, then spoke exasperatedly, "Fine, fine! But still, they can't cause trouble here! I can just call the police!"

The man harrumphed and told her, "And you think the police is gonna do anything to them?"

The woman thought about it and suddenly showed a frightened expression on her face, "Y-You're right! My gods, do you think they'll come back and do something to me? I should have just let them stay for free!"

The man tried to comfort her, "Calm down, the kid even tipped you. Maybe they don't want any trouble either, just a place to sleep. They're probably just passing by and will be gone by tomorrow."

The woman replied with her eyes moist, "I hope you're right. Gods, protect your humble servant here! I'm just trying to make a living like everyone else!"

Shameful scammer. Who knows who else lost their money due to your greed.

He looked at her ear and asked her, "How's your ear?"

She replied, "It still stings a little. I didn't even notice the boy had cast a spell."

"I told you. We don't mess with rich people. Some of them could level this whole street if they wanted."

"It's so unfair. We're all at their mercy. What kind of life is that?"

"It's still life. Just keep to yourself and you'll be fine."

He drank the rest of his beer with a gulp, then went back to the hotel's bar.

The woman sat back on her chair. After looking at the ceiling for a while, she picked up her newspaper again and began to read it.

...

Matriarch Lydia was standing on top of a tall building.

What luxury. A penthouse.

She took a sip of the drink in her glass. It was a fruity and alcoholic beverage.

In front of her was a pool. It was illuminated by the moonlight.

The matriarch was fully dressed in her nightgown.

Someone who wasn't fully dressed, however, swam on her pool.

A woman swam towards the pool's ladder, climbing up.

Matriarch Lydia was frowning as she stared at her.

The woman quickly shook her hand. Suddenly, she was holding a towel.

It appeared out of nowhere.

My head hurts. Where did that towel come from?

The woman currently drying herself in front of matriarch Lydia was the seer.

The seer's hair was black and smooth, going all the way down to her waist.

The matriarch spoke, "What are you doing here, Morgana?"

The seer, or Morgana, chuckled, "I came with good news! Why are you frowning? You look much better when you smile."

"Don't play games with me, what news!?" matriarch Lydia had a very worried expression for some reason.

Morgana kept chuckling as she dried herself.

After a while, she turned to face the moon.

As the seer gazed at the moon with a fond look, she spoke, "Vicky was great company. We had so much fun together. But now, she's gone. I never leave a job unfinished, after all. Not even for love."

Matriarch Lydia's expression turned sad as soon as the seer had finished saying her piece.

"So, you did kill her..." the matriarch muttered.

The seer replied with a bitter smile, "I did. But don't worry. If you want revenge, I prepared something for you."

The matriarch looked at her with an angry expression, her voice growing louder, "You didn't. Not at my son's palace!"

Morgana chuckled, "Haha! Please! You still view him as your son? You probably didn't know, but in the future-"

Matriarch Lydia immediately interrupted her with an irritated tone, "No! Stop! I don't want to spend a whole day with a headache because of you!"

The seer began to laugh as she walked inside the penthouse.

Going through the glass door, she approached matriarch Lydia's kitchen.

Opening the freezer, Morgana grabbed a bottle containing a clear, yet alcoholic drink.

Passing her hand over the bottle's metallic lid, the lid disappeared.

How is she doing this? Why did my head hurt when she did it?

There's something wrong with Morgana. I don't know what magic she's using.

Matriarch Lydia approached the kitchen's counter, staring at Morgana.

The seer gulped a big amount of the bottle's contents before looking back at the matriarch.

Morgana spoke as she exhaled, "Ahh! That hits the spot! Come on, Lydia, you used to be so fun! I still remember that night you-"

The matriarch interrupted her with an irritated expression, "I don't remember any of it, so it didn't happen."

Morgana made an expression of fake shock, saying, "Ah! That hurts my feelings, Lydia! You used to treat me so kindly. You used to be like a mom to me..."

The seer pouted coyly, then drunk more from the clear beverage that looked like water but wasn't.

Matriarch Lydia got to the point with a deadpan expression, "What am I supposed to do with a nuke, Morgana? Blow up my own son?"

The seer replied, "It's just a harmless threat, Lydia. I mean, if you want it to be harmless. I taught the activation spell to one of your spies from the Roses. Also, the 'divine artifact', as they're calling it, is already anchored to their magic tower."

The matriarch looked at her wide-eyed, speaking loudly, "You anchored it!?"

The seer shrugged and spoke with a cheeky tone, "Of course. I couldn't have them moving it! They'll soon notice that if they try to lift it up or teleport it, it'll just come back."

The matriarch spoke loudly with a grim expression, "But then what if I want to remove it!? Away from my son!"

Morgana chuckled loudly as she spoke, "Ohoho! You can't! It'll be there forever from now on! You or your spy can blow it up anytime. Here, I'll teach you the spell."

Suddenly, matriarch Lydia froze. Her eyes blinked rapidly. Even her breathing had stopped.

After a while, she seemed to have returned to normal.

She spoke with a dazed expression, "Did you-"

Morgana interrupted her, "Yes. Feels nice, doesn't it? Instantly learning a new spell feels so good. I experience it recreationally sometimes when I'm feeling bored."

Matriarch Lydia turned around and walked tremblingly as she looked for a place to sit.

Sitting down on a sofa, matriarch Lydia closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

Morgana leaped and sat at her side.

The seer watched matriarch Lydia's expression with a fond look on her face, saying, "You never seem to age. I never get tired of looking at your facial expressions."

Matriarch Lydia looked at Morgana with an annoyed glance. Then, she drank the rest of her fruity beverage and left with a huff.

The seer laughed, lying on the sofa while watching matriarch Lydia go.

Morgana gulped the rest of her drink. After shaking her hand, the bottle disappeared.

Gods' mightiest champion, I'm going to have a headache.

...

Meanwhile, back at the palace.

On one of the top floors of the magic tower, a hooded figure stood in front of the palace's newest 'divine artifact'.

The robes the woman was wearing seemed to be special, made specifically for a beastman to wear.

A furry tail could be seen coming out of a hole in her attire. It was fiery in color, with different shades of orange.

Through the hood, you could see she had light freckles on her cheeks.

"Who are you? Your robes..." a male guard appeared and approached the woman.

She turned around to look at the guard.

It was chilly inside the room. The wind circulated due to the magical fan that rotated on the ceiling.

The woman pulled back her hood.

Her medium, fiery and wavy hair was revealed.

The beastwoman was frowning as she stared at the guard...