The trio was currently going for the ruins.

When the chief had implored the trio on his knees, Maximilian couldn't refuse his request. After he accepted, the man, after thanking them profusely, explained to them where they would find the entrance, giving them food rations to eat on the way and torches to help them in the labyrinth.

"I'm sorry to say it is all I can do to help you, but with my back blocked, I would be a burden more than anything else."

Maximilian, putting the rations in the Havenbag, nodded at him.

"It's alright, we understand. We are more efficient by ourselves anyway."

The trio walked in the night, quickly leaving the town after Maximilian took the time to go touch the teleportation crystal, allowing him to teleport back when he wanted.

"Master, can I ask you something?" asked Octavia after a bit of silence on the road.

"Of course."

"Why are we doing this? We don't know that man, why are we helping him?"

The question made Maximilian think for a bit.

"Well...there are severals reasons. The reward is a good thing, and he promised us twice what we got for the bandits. It is a quest, with a monster to take care of, that means training for you two, this is another good thing for us. And finally, what is the most important, I think it is the good thing to do. Tell me, Octavia, don't you want to help someone who implores you like that man did? Don't you want to help this poor girl?"

Octavia shrugged.

"I understand the two first things you said, I don't really get the last one."

"You don't think it's right?"

"I don't really care. I follow Master, if you ask me to go kill a monster, I go kill a monster. If you had asked me to kill the man on his knees and take his money at that moment, I would have."

Maximilian didn't stop walking, but Octavia's way of thinking was worrying him a bit. Lin-Lin, on the other hand, wasn't keeping silent about it.

"Octavia! Are you serious when you say that?"

The spider girl looked at her friend, an air of interrogation on her face.

"Of course. Isn't that the same for you? I don't care about those people, all I care about is making Master happy. As long as Master is proud of me, everything else isn't important."

Lin-Lin kept silent for a bit before answering her.

"I want Master to be happy too, but...isn't it sad to think like you do?"

Octavia shrugged.

"I don't feel sad, not for them. For all we know, that man's daughter could be already dead. And even if she's not, why didn't he go save her himself?"

Maximilian, still not stopping, took the time to answer her.

"Maybe because he can't? Sometimes, people simply don't have the power to do what needs to be done. It's in those situations that they turn to us, who have the power. They offer a reward so we take the time to help. They offer money, we offer them hope. That's why we go in there; because there's still hope for that girl."

Lin-Lin continued.

"And also, it's not as if it was a request from that mean smelly innkeeper. From him, I'm sure Master wouldn't have accepted any request."

Octavia nodded at that.

"True...he was smelly."

That made Maximilian curious a bit.

"Really? Did he smell that bad? I didn't realise."

"Master. Octavia and I are beastkin, we have naturally better smelling sense than human."

"Is that true?"

Octavia nodded.

"Yes, that's useful to catch prey...or find a mate."

The last point made Maximilian arched an eyebrow.

"A mate, you say..."

...........................................................................................................................................................

"Master, there's a string on the ground."

Lin-Lin had picked up the end of a red string disappearing into the dungeon's darkness.

"What do you think it is used for?"

Scratching his head, Maximilian remembered an old tale from his own world.

"If old stories about labyrinth I've heard are right, this string should lead us in the good direction...let's be careful, though."

Using fire magic to light on the path before them, the trio started advancing in the dungeon.

Very soon after they entered, they came across an intersection, the way going in three different directions.

"The string indicate we should take the left path..." Lin-Lin pointed.

"Indeed. Let's take that path then, but I suggest you two to keep your weapon at hand, we don't know what awaits us in there."

Maximilian opened the march, warily looking around him as he advanced.

*This is strange. A labyrinth like this should be filled with trapped or other things like that...why isn't there anything that has try to killed us already?*

As he was lost in his thoughts, he realised the path they had taken had led them to a dead end, that made him smiled.

*That's more like it...although maybe a bit too simple...!!!*

Under the trio's feet, the ground started to shake. Lin-Lin looked down, worried.

"Is the ground going to crumble down?"

Octavia, her feet slightly tapping on the dusty ground, was the one who answered her.

"No...there are things coming up..."

As she finished her phrase, things started to come out of the ground around them.

The best way to describe the monstrosities around them would be the result of a centipede and a porcupine mixed together. At least a good meter each judging by the body showing out of the ground , the monsters looked a lot like giant centipedes, but with the body covered in long spikes. The one nearest Maximilian tried to bit his leg, showing far too many teeth for his circular mouth. Catching the monster's head with his gauntleted hand, Maximilian crushed it, spilling orange blood on the ground and on his equipment.

"Yuck...Girls!"

Not waiting for the order they knew was coming, the two girls attacked the monsters. They were looking for each other's back, Lin-Lin killing one of the monsters behind Octavia as the spider girl was doing the same for her pandagirl friend. They pierced, crushed and slashed, evading the attack of the creature and killing them all in a short time.

"Good job, you two."

Wiping the orange blood off her spear, Lin-Lin asked.

"I don't understand, Master. Wasn't the string supposed to lead us where we needed to go?"

"Well, seems like I was wrong, Lin-Lin. Someone or something has used this string to lure us into this trap. Bad luck for him, we are more capable than the average group of adventurers. Let's go back to the intersection, we need to take another route."

"What if there are more of those things?"

"We'll take care of them. I was worried about you two, but I see that even if we happen to be separate, as long as you two stay together, you'll be alright."

"That's true, Octavia sensed them coming!...How did you know they were coming?"

To answered, the spider girl slightly patted her feet on the ground.

"Even looking like that, I kept my spider senses. I felt them in the ground, thanks to the vibrations they were making."

"Impressive, Octavia." Maximilian added.

As the trio was reaching the intersection, they heard a sound, the kind of sound a powerful stomp on the ground would make. Lifting a hand, Maximilian signalled the two to stop.

"I think someone is coming to see how we are doing...let's go say hello!"

Maximilian started to run in the intersection's direction, followed by the two girls.

...........................................................................................................................................................

"What is that, Master?"

The trio was facing what they supposed was the creature they were looking for.

Nearly three metres high if you counted the fifty centimetres long horns on his head, the entire body covered in a thick black fur, the bipedal beast had his legs ending with hooves, while his arms had at their end big hands with three massive fingers each, big nails looking like hooves on them. The head of the monster was a bull one, whose dark blue eyes were currently warily looking at the trio. All in all, the thing in front of them couldn't be anything else than a...

"Minotaur. This, Octavia, is a minotaur."

The minotaur, whose only equipment consisted of a leather loincloth attached around his waist by a rope and some kind of pendant around his neck, took a step in their direction and opened his mouth wide, letting out a big roar, clenching his fists.

The two girls lifted their weapon while Maximilian scanned the monster.

*Level fifteen, not bad...but nothing exceptional. His equipment is nearly nonexistent, but his stats are interesting...I wonder if...*

"Should we attack, Master?"

"Wait a second, Lin-Lin, I want to try diplomacy first. Who knows, he could be willing to talk."

Looking straight at the minotaur facing him, Maximilian add.

"What do you think? We're here for the girl. Is there any chance you could give her to us without fighting?"

The look in the minotaur's eyes assured Maximilian he had understood, the fist he tried to put on his face with violence inclined Maximilian to think he wasn't willing to cooperate. Maximilian took a quick step back, evading the attack. Once again, the minotaur roared, visibly trying to scare the trio away. The two girls took a step back, the loud noise having some effect on them. Maximilian, for his part, simply used his little finger to clean his ear.

"Are you done? Okay, my turn now...we're here for the GIRL!!!"

The last word left Maximilian's mouth with so much force you could have sworn a bomb had detonated in the labyrinth. The minotaur took some steps back, his legs shaking a bit. He looked at the trio once again, fear in his eyes, before running back in the central path.

"That's a chicken-hearted minotaur we've got here...let's go, girls. We need to catch him if we want to find the girl... Girls?"

As he turned, he saw his two companions had taken a few more steps back, looking at him warily.

"Is there a problem?"

Octavia and Lin-Lin looked at each other before shaking their head from left to right.

"Master surprised us, that's all." Lin-Lin said.

"That was loud, too loud, Master." Octavia added had she pointed at her own ears.

Maximilian laughed a bit, scratching his nose.

"Sorry, you two. Let's get going."

...........................................................................................................................................................

They pursued the fleeing minotaur.

"Hurry, I don't want him to lose us in this labyrinth!"

The massive beast was actually easy to follow, the sound he was making as he ran away indicated where the trio had to go each time there was more than one path possible.

"Despite his large size, he's quite fast!"

They had been running after him for long, and they had still not caught on him. Maximilian and Octavia could have run faster, but the constant turns the corridor was taking made it difficult to accelerate. On the other side, they didn't want to leave Lin-Lin behind.

At a moment, they arrived in a longer and straighter tunnel, seeing the minotaur before them, actively pulling a lever on the wall. As they were gonna reach him, the beast pulled it down, making several layers of wall falling down, blocking the path.

The trio stopped for a bit, Maximilian quickly scanning the wall.

"Okay, there's no trap nor magic protection. Lin-Lin, use earth magic to break it."

"Yes, Master!"

The panda girl came before the wall, putting a hand on it. She closed her eyes, concentrating for a second, before closing her fist and hitting the wall hard, a big rift appearing on it.

"Good job, do it again. Harder, this time. Octavia, If you could take care of our guest while Lin-Lin opens the path for us..."

The vibration caused by the wall moving and being hit on had attracted more of those giants centipedes, who were now coming out of the ground behind the group, blocking any retreat. The Arachne nodded and produce another wind arrow.

"At your orders, Master!"

There were more monsters this time, another one coming out of the ground as one was falling. Octavia was actively killing them, using her wind magic to do so. When Maximilian saw her using too much mana for her own good, he gave her a mana potion to take a sip from, giving her energy back. While she was drinking, Maximilian simply used a wind spell to push back the monster, not wanting to take Octavia's prey away from her.

"Will you be okay, Octavia?"

"I'm fine, Master. You can count on me."

"Do your best."

While the spider girl was handling the creatures, Maximilian went to see how Lin-Lin was doing. Some layers had already crumbled, only one or two remained. The panda girl, breathing hard, was giving her all.

"How are things going on here?"

"Those walls are thick, Master, but I'm going to broke them all!"

"Here, take a sip of mana potion."

"Thank you."

Quickly enough, Lin-Lin managed to destroy the remaining layers before going to help her spidergirl friend. They took care of the last monster before the trio started to advance again.

...........................................................................................................................................................

Finally, the trio arrived at a bigger room, looking like some kind of old church. Old chairs and bench had been broken to make firewood, an old table served as some kind of working place, where one of the centipedes had been cut open and emptied. At the back of the room, where was supposed to be the worshipped icon, was an altar on wich rested a girl, with before her the minotaur, facing the trio with a big piece of wood between his hands.

Deciding to talk once again, Maximilian called after the minotaur, staying a bit away to try not scaring him.

"You made us run! Now, what?"

"YOU....GO!"

Opening his big mouth, the minotaur lets out simple words, that made Maximilian smiled.

*I knew it!*

Lin-Lin and Octavia were surprised.

"He can talk!?" Lin-Lin asked.

"What do we do, Master?" Octavia continued, her arc in hand.

"Easy, girls, I think there is something strange with this fellow..."

Maximilian advanced slowly and calmly in the minotaur's direction.

"So...you live here?"

"HUMAN MAN...MUST GO!"

The minotaur was trying to make his voice as menacing as possible, but it was clear he wasn't sure of himself.

"Why is that? Tell me."

"HUMAN MAN BAD...IF NOT LEAVE, ME HURT YOU!"

As if to convince himself as much as the human he was threatening, the minotaur lifted the big piece of wood above his head, but Maximilian wasn't stopping, still slowly and calmly advancing.

"You say I'm bad, but you are the one who attacked us and sent monster after us..."

While talking, Maximilian showed the centipede on the table he was passing next to. He stopped for a bit, taking a look at what was on the table exactly.

"Me...ME DO NOT SEND THEM! YOU MAKE THEM COME."

"Me? How could have I done that? It is the first time I've been here."

"HUMAN MAN BRING MONSTER HERE! HUMAN MAN SAY...GIRL MUST LAY. GIRL SAY NO, ME HEAR, ME SAVE GIRL, ME SCARE HUMAN MAN SO HUMAN MAN READ PAPER AND MONSTER COME."

*This is getting interesting.*

Maximilian stopped a few meters away from the minotaur, simply looking at him, not doing any menacing movement who could have made the beast attack.

"Look at me, look at me well. Am I the human man who attacked the girl?"

"NO...no, you not..."

The minotaur was finally starting to talk at a normal volume, to Maximilian's ears pleasure.

"You...not him...he fight with axe, he is bad human man."

"So...you didn't capture the girl, you protected her..."

The minotaur nodded, slowly lowering his arms.

"Me...defend girl. But monster bite and she asleep now. She warm, me try to help. kill monster, try understand what problem is...but...but..."

Keeping the piece of wood in one hand, he hit the side of his forehead with the palm of his other hand.

"Binvo stupid! Binvo can't help!"

Maximilian, happy to see the minotaur not wanting to attack, at least not clearly, tested his luck.

"Binvo...is this your name?"

The minotaur stopped hitting himself and looked at Maximilian again with his dark blue eyes.

"Me is Binvo. Father give Binvo name, father gentle with Binvo, he show how to heal pain, but Bimbo can't help girl..."

*His father...is there another minotaurs in this labyrinth? We'll see about that later.*

"Binvo, your father seems gentle. I'm here because this girl's father is worried, he wants me to help her too. Can you let me help her?"

The minotaur looked at the laid down girl, then at Maximilian, before finally dropping the wood weapon.

"Binvo...wants to help girl..."

"Very well, let's see what we can do..."

Maximilian signalled the two girls to come closer, what they did warily, still looking at the minotaur from the corner of their eyes. Maximilian walked next to Binvo to go see the girl on the altar. Putting a hand on her forehead, Maximilian felt Binvo wasn't lying, the girl had a high fever.

"Help me, Binvo, where was she bitten?"

"Leg."

Looking where the minotaur was pointing, Maximilian pulled the girl's robe up a bit, revealing an orange/purple inflated leg, the part under the knee unrecognisable.

"Master, what happened to her?"

"Venom. One of the monsters, like the ones we killed, managed to bit her and that's the result after three days without treatment. Binvo..."

Maximilian turned to face the minotaur who was looking at him with attention.

"You said your father showed you how to heal pain, what did you use on her?"

"Come..."

Binvo brought Maximilian to his working table, where some dried herbs had been stocked.

"Father show me. Plant gives energy, other plant help when tired. Girl not waking, so Binvo gave both."

Thanks to his alchemy skill, Maximilian instantly recognised the two types of herbs. They weren't bad for the girl, at least. But they were far from sufficient to heal her, they had just managed to give her more time. Maximilian patted the minotaur's harm, making the beast froze for a second.

"You did well, Bingo. She isn't healed yet, but thanks to you, she is still alive. What about water, what did you give her to drink?"

"Water drop from ceiling in a cave here. Me go fetch and give her."

"Very good. Now I suggest we take care of her."

Going back to the girl, Maximilian made his usual basin of hot water appeared, asking Octavia to second him for the wet clothes. Maximilian took a green flask out of the Havenbag, giving it to Binvo.

"You want to help, right?"

The minotaur nodded.

"Very well. Lin-Lin, open her mouth. Binvo, I need you to drop five drops of this flask in her mouth. It's an anti-venom, this will help."

The minotaur seemed bothered by something.

"Is something wrong, Bingo?"

"Binvo...can't count."

"Oh...Lin-Lin, count for him, would you?"

"Yes, Master."

While the Minotaur and the panda girl made the unconscious girl drink some anti-venom, Maximilian used a small knife to punctured the inflated leg, letting the excess venom out. The smell of the substance coming out was awful, like rotten onions. Octavia, next to Maximilian, grimaced.

"Yuck, that smells bad."

"Indeed. It seems like the venom of those creatures develops a very...specific smell once it comes in contact with air. Well, better outside than inside."

It didn't take them too long, the girl hadn't a lot of injuries to begin with, apart from the venom and bite mark of course. Once the leg had retrieved a normal size and had been bandaged, Maximilian put everything back in the Havenbag.

"Very well. Now all she needs is a good meal and some rest."

"The girl...is okay?"

Seeing the minotaur inquiring about the girl made Maximilian smile.

"Indeed, thanks to you, she will be just fine. Alright, we've got who we were sent here for, I think it is time for us to go..."

Maximilian faced Binvo, extending a hand.

"Thank you for your help, Binvo."

The minotaur looked at the man's hand for a bit.

"You...want shake hand with Binvo?"

"Of course! We saved a girl together, now we are friends."

Binvo opened his eyes wide at Maximilian's words.

"But...Binvo is monster...monster are enemy of human..."

"Do you see me as an enemy?"

Binvo kept silent for a bit, closing his eyes and thinking for a bit.

"Father say...how you look not important, what you do important...I say you scary...but gentle."

Lin-Lin and Octavia seemed surprised by the minotaur's words.

"You think WE are scary?" Asked the panda girl.

"You are the tallest one here...and also the tougher looking one." Octavia continued.

The minotaur seemed a bit ashamed, looking down.

"Binvo big...but not strong. Binvo not like fight."

Maximilian smiled at the minotaur.

"Of course...you're a healer, not a killer, is that it?"

Binvo nodded, still looking down.

"Father say Binvo can be healer if try hard, so Binvo try hard...what is human man name?"

"My name is Maximilian Baltazard Van Nilmerus. Those two are my friends, Octavia and Lin-Lin."

Hesitantly at first, Binvo took the extended hand and shook it, putting what looked like a smile on his bull's face.

"Maximilian, Lin-Lin, Octavia. Binvo say thank you."

Once they stopped shaking hands, Maximilian searched through his Havenbag and pulled out one of his health potions, giving it to Binvo who looked at it, curious.

"What that is?"

"This is a health potion. It will help you if you need to heal a grave injury."

Binvo scratched his head with one of his big fingers.

"Binvo have no money..."

That surprised Maximilian.

*He has the notion of money? That's strange for a minotaur living in ruins...*

"No need to pay, Binvo. This is a present, from a friend."

Once again, Maximilian's words made the minotaur open his eyes wide.

"Present?!..."

One of his hand came to his pendant, playing a bit with it. It was some kind of hexagonal medallion on wich was pictured a coat of arm representing an axe and a hammer crossed behind a bull's head.

"...Maximilian is gentle, like father. Binvo not forget."

..........................................................................................................................................................

"What are you doing with the chief's daughter!?"

As they appeared next to the teleportation crystal, one of the town's guards, shouting when he recognised the girl, alerted people around. Not far from there, coming out of the inn came several men and the innkeeper. Quickly encircling the trio, they were looking unfriendly, to say the least.

"Let go of her this instant!"

Maximilian, carrying the unconscious girl like a bride, arched an eyebrow at the guard's order.

"Really? Can't you see she's unconscious? If I let go, she'll fall down..."

Using the few seconds the guard was taking to think of something to say, Maximilian continued.

"To answer your first question, it is the chief himself that sent us to retrieve his daughter. She was in the ruins outside the town. Now if you don't mind, there are parents waiting for their girl to come home..."

Not waiting for the guard's answer, Maximilian went in the chief's house direction, people getting on the side to let him pass. They were still stopped by the innkeeper and three men, suspiciously looking at the trio.

"I have some troubles believing you managed to kill the beast..."

"I didn't need to. The one living in there is good."

"Good?" The man asked.

Lin-Lin was the next one to talk.

"It is him who took care of the girl when she was attacked. He is gentle and..."

Maximilian cut her mid-sentence.

"Lin-Lin, I think it is enough, we have to go. Step aside or I'll have to make you, your choice."

The innkeeper didn't get on their way anymore, going back to his inn.

...........................................................................................................................................................

"My little girl!!"

The chief's wife rushed at them when they entered the chief's home once again. Caressing her daughter's cheek, she clearly was worried about her being unconscious.

"What has happened? How come she's unconscious?" Asked the chief

Maximilian passed next to the parents and laid the girl on her bed, showed by her mother.

"Your daughter has been attacked."

"Oh, goddess! The monster did it?" Inquired the woman.

"No, actually. It seems that it was the said monster who saved her, but she was poisoned."

"Poisoned?! We need to go get a healer, right now!" Exclaimed the chief as he started to turn to get out of his house.

Putting a hand on the man's shoulder, Maximilian stopped him.

"Calm yourself, chief, your daughter is fine. We took care of the venom already. What she needs now is to get some force back. She needs to eat something, I suggest to make her drink soup and rest. She's been having a fever for more than a day long, there is nothing more to do than waiting for her to wake up."

The girl's mother stood up and hurry in the kitchen.

"Let me do it! I'm going to make some soup for her right now."

While Lin-Lin and Octavia were speaking near the fireplace. Maximilian sat facing the chief who was sighing in relief.

"Gods be praised, you brought her back...Thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart for that."

The chief passed a hand over his face, brushing away what could have been a tear, clearly something he wasn't going to let a stranger see.

"So...you said the monster inside helped my daughter? How so?"

"Well, from what he told me..."

The chief lifted a hand to made him stopped.

"Wait! He 'told' you? What kind of monster can speak like a human?"

"A lot, actually. Human language isn't the hardest thing to master, you know. So, as I was saying, he explained to me what happened. He saw your daughter being attacked and saved her. The problem is that the man who was attacking read some kind of invocation scroll that made the monsters who bit her appeared. That's when she has been poisoned. The monster brought her back in his lair and helped her the best he could. Was it not for the herbs he gave her, your daughter would certainly be dead by now..."

The chief nodded as Maximilian told him what he had learned from Binvo.

"And...that man, do you know who he is?"

"How could I? I haven't been here for more than a few hours. All I know is that he possess a battleaxe and at least one magic scroll. If you have an idea, I'm all ears."

"...Not really, battleaxe isn't something I've seen used by the men here a lot. One or two lumberjacks use working axe, but that's all. As for the scrolls, they aren't that common around here. I've heard the merchant sometimes accept one for payment, but this old man wouldn't be able to attack anyone even if he wanted to."

"Why so?"

"Because next to him, I'm a young boy, that's why. I couldn't say for sure who's older between him and the town's teleportation crystal. Believe me, that old fellow isn't the one who attacked my daughter..."

The chief kept silent for a bit, then...

"Speaking of something else, what exactly is the monster in the ruins?"

"A minotaur, why?"

"A minotaur? That's strange..."

"What is?"

"I've heard of them, minotaurs. It is strange for one to be in this place, the lived more in the south for all I know...Now that I think about it..."

The chief scratched his beard for a bit, lost in his thoughts. After a while, Maximilian coughed to catch his attention back.

"You were going to say..."

"Oh, sorry! I've had a few sleepless night and I'm easily lost in my own head. I was thinking of a group of dwarfs, actually. They passed by our town one day. It was something like twenty years ago, but I still remember it."

Maximilian thought about it for a bit but didn't see what it have to do with their discussion.

"I'm sorry to ask this, but why are you talking about those dwarfs?"

"That's because they had a Minotaur prisoner with them that day. Now that I think about it, they did leave in the ruins direction...Do you think it could have something to do with the one who helped my daughter?"

Maximilian shrugged.

"Maybe, I don't know."

...........................................................................................................................................................

The chief allowed the trio to use the living room that night. They slept for some hours until the morning came.

"Sir Nilmerus! She's awake! She wants to see you."

The chief came to the trio, asking them to follow him. In her bed, the girl was seating, helped by her mother. Maximilian smiled at the girl.

"Glad to see you awake."

The girl nodded.

"Mother told me what you did, thank you, my lord. May I ask you...what happened to Binvo?"

The chief was curious.

"Binvo? Who's Binvo?"

Maximilian answered the two at the same time.

"That's the minotaur's name. He is alright, we first thought he was the one who had captured you, but after we talked a bit, we understood he was a good guy."

The girl sighed in relief .

"Thank you Goddess..."

The chief looked at Maximilian, then at his daughter.

"I'm so glad you're fine, my daughter. I'm sure everybody will be happy to hear you came back safe and sound. Maximilian explained to me almost all the town was there when he came back and..."

As if a thunderbolt had hit the girl, she seemed to remember something.

"All the town?"

Maximilian shrugged.

"Well, not exactly. Some guards, the shop owner, the innkeeper, I don't know everyone in this town so..."

"Oh no!"

...........................................................................................................................................................

Binvo was sitting on the altar where the girl was not so long ago, making the flask turn between his fingers, creating beautiful colours as the firelight reflected on it.

"Binvo is happy, father. Binvo have friend."

Steps sound caught his attention and he stood from the altar, putting the health potion on it.

"Who come?"

A man stepped out of the shadow, warily looking at the tall creature in front of him. Seeing the sword at the man's belt, the minotaur growled, picking up a big piece of wood. Seeing that, the man lifted his hands, trying his best to smile friendly at the beast, but only managing an unpleasant smirk.

"Peace, noble minotaur, I come in peace..."

Not looking away from the intruder, Binvo said.

"What human want?"

.........................................................................................................................................................

"What's the matter?"

The girl's reaction worried Maximilian. The seating girl looked back at him with pleading eyes.

"My lord, you have to stop him before he goes back to the ruins! He's going to...to..."

The sudden excitation took a lot of energy from her and she let herself be supported by her mother, taking a deep breath while doing so.

"Calm yourself, my daughter, you are safe now."

"It's not for me I'm worried about, father!"

.........................................................................................................................................................

The smirking man took some steps further.

"I come here bringing a message...and a question. We've heard you are gentler than you look, is that true?"

Binvo, intrigued by the man's words, lowered his piece of wood a bit.

"Binvo not bad. What human want?"

The smirk on the man's face became even more unpleasant.

"Me? Nothing much, only to present my boss to you..."

With that said, the man made a slight gesture of the hand, two distinctive sounds being heard from the tunnel's shadow behind him.

.........................................................................................................................................................

"It's Binvo! He's going to kill Binvo!"

The chief's daughter's words were resonating in Maximilian's head while he and the girls were running in the town, quickly reaching the centre.

"Hurry, girls! We have to stop him before he leaves for the ruins!"

Not wasting time knocking, Maximilian kicked the door open, breaking the lock in the process. Quickly going inside and looking around, Maximilian hurriedly scanned the place but didn't find the one they were looking for.

"Shit! He's gone already! Octavia, Lin-Lin, we have to go back to the ruins, quick!"

The trio left the inn, where they had hoped to find the culprit designated by the chief's daughter.

.........................................................................................................................................................

Stepping inside the minotaur's lair, followed by two men armed with crossbows, the innkeeper, a battle axe in his hands, smirked as he saw the minotaur's state.

"So it was true, he really is a 'gentle monster', who would have thought."

The innkeeper stepped further, quickly reaching the altar next to wich was laying Binvo, two crossbow bolts in the chest. The minotaur was injured, each breathing he took hurting him a lot. Thinking about Maximilian's health potion, he lifted a hand, trying to reach it, only to see his new friend's present taken away by the innkeeper while his accomplices blocked his arms, one for each and the third aiming at his head with his crossbow. The innkeeper was playing with the health potion, taunting the poor minotaur.

"You want some of this?"

Looking at the health potion with more attention, the innkeeper whistle in appreciation.

"That's good stuff you've got here...let me guess, that idiot and his two brats gave it to you?"

Seeing the minotaur not wanting to answer him, the innkeeper turned one of the bolts in Binvo's chest, making the minotaur roared in pain.

"YOU ANSWER WHEN I ASK A QUESTION, BEAST!!"

"YEEEES!! THIS PRESENT!!"

Breathing quickly, Binvo gargled a bit, some blood coming from his mouth. the poor state of the minotaur amused his persecutors. Putting a foot on Binvo's chest, the innkeeper made sure he had his attention.

"Now you're going to put your inferior brain to work, beast. You're going to do as I say, and if I'm satisfied, maybe I'll give this back to you."

Binvo kept silent for a second then, fearing more pain, finally said.

"What human want?"

"What do I want? Let me show you..."

The innkeeper bowed and took Binvo's pendant, tearing it off his neck.

"Gold, beast. What I want is the gold those filthy dwarfs brought here twenty years ago. You live here, you know where it is hidden and you're going to show us where."