[Owing something to someone else.

Some people take debts owed to them far more seriously than others.]

That night, a few hours after we returned from the conference, Kared and Oroske slipped out of our hotel room. Before they departed, Kared set some very complex energy manipulation commands on hers, Oroske’s, and Nadred’s stamps, which I presumed was the location-spoofing thing she told us about the previous day. It took her a few minutes, and her full concentration to set each one.

“I don’t think I’ve ever asked, but where did you even learn how to do this?” Oroske asked.

“With how much sneaking around the Twilight has to do here, it was only natural they would teach me,” Kared responded. “One of the nobles who created the tracking system told us about its inner workings, and our scientists worked on a method to counteract it.”

“I take it that it wasn't just out of the good of their heart?” Oroske joked, though he did want to hear her answer.

“Hah, of course not,” she said, talking flatly as she had during the rest of the story. “If I recall, he wanted special treatment from us. And for a boon as great as the ability to wander Ish’din freely, I’m sure the leaders agreed.”

After they had left the lodgings, the two had to find a way into the palace. Kared explained the route Oroske would take on the way to the lobby, and explained she would find her own way. Once outside, they split up. “Remember, it is of the utmost importance that you act as though nothing is up the whole way there. If you’re stopped by anyone, just say you’re getting food. As long as you’re confident, you shouldn’t be stopped,” Kared instructed quietly as they parted.

Though they went in separate directions, the end goal was the same. It would have been easy enough to waltz into the palace if the main gate wasn’t present. Instead, they would have to enter the Underground through one of the unprotected entrances, and navigate the subterranean mazes until they find themselves in the palace.

Since Oroske didn’t have as much experience navigating the Underground as her, Kared made sure to give him the simpler, and therefore closer route. One of the obstacles to overcome when entering through the unguarded entrances was knowing which ones would be open, and when. Knowing where the entrances are was one thing, knowing that was another. Each time an entrance was used, it would close while another opens. The Crimson Twilight set these entrances up like this to help ensure they are not discovered. As such, of the nine entrances, only two would be open at once. Using her knowledge of the city and the way things and people move about in it, she was able to deduce which ones would be the most likely to be open. Oroske was given two sure-fire options, and instructions to try one before the other. Kared understood the cycle of which doors open and when, so she would head to what would have been Oroske’s third option.

Oroske did end up having to take his second option, a fake wall tucked away behind a small shop in the city’s Northwest corner. Had someone seen him enter, it would have looked like he simply walked through the stone wall and disappeared. Beyond the wall was a dimly lit corridor, lined by stone brick walls. Navigating the maze was difficult, as if you didn’t have a good sense of direction and any sort of map, it was difficult to tell where you were.

Oroske took a moment and recalled Kared’s instructions. She never was the best at explaining things, but he figured he should be fine. He had to find a way down one layer, then work his way to the Southwest until he found an underground stream. Once there he could follow that upstream until he arrived at what seemed like the source. After getting turned around a couple times, he eventually made it there, only to find Kared waiting for him.

As she had far more experience with navigating the depths she had an easy time finding her way there. So despite the fact the entrance she ended up taking was near the main entrance to the city, she was able to make her way over to the palace very quickly. She changed out of her Hunter uniform and put on a more plain looking red coat.

The source of the stream was extra water from the palace’s cistern, which was the next location the duo would visit. The cistern spanned almost every floor of the palace, and sourced its water from a natural spring above the city, deep in the mountains. On occasion, maintenance would have to be performed in the cistern, on every level. As such, Kared and Oroske were able to climb the maintenance ladders up to the floor second from the top. It was a long climb, and the two took a short break to rest and discuss the rest of the plan.

“Erun’s suite is on this floor, according to my intel,” Kared explained after they had sat down against the wall, “I’ll handle all the talking, so you just stay out of sight and keep watch. That sound good?”

“Fine by me,” Oroske said with a shrug, “I take it your ‘intel’ is from the Crimson Twilight?”

“Yes. The Erun family is deep in debt to them, so naturally they keep close tabs on them. When I visited the Twilight yesterday, I was confirming the information and asking some questions. I got permission to count this as paying a portion of his debt off, as long as he follows through.”

“I see, that’s pretty useful. What other questions did you ask?”

“That business with Kuro’s Second Soul was on my mind, so I asked them about any trenui trader groups getting up to no good. They said there are a few groups, two in the Demon Realm, one in the Human, that have been pretty high-profile targets for law enforcement lately. Unfortunately I don't have much more to go off of than that. The rest of the questions I asked were about some personal business.”

“I didn’t think you cared that much about Kuro and his Second, that was nice of you to ask about it.”

“It’s less that I care about him and his Second, more that I can’t sit idly and let trenui be treated like that. You know how I feel about that kind of stuff.”

“Ah, yeah that makes more sense. Anyway, I’m ready to go if you are.”

Kared nodded and stood up, stretching her arms above her head. Oroske followed suit, save for the stretching part. Upon exiting the cistern, the two walked in silence, Kared leading the way to the Erun family suite. Their path took them from the inner depths of the palace to the front, where the walls opened up into arches, giving way to a beautiful view of the city and the realms of Spire. Clumps of small dots of light could be seen, indicating where the various cities were. They didn’t take any time to take in the sites and simply continued their journey, turning South and following the hall.

Near where the hallway met back up with the mountain, and the arches stopped, they stopped at a small hallway with a door at the end. Small windows looked from the walls near the door out towards the arches.

Kared looked to Oroske, who simply nodded before propping himself up against the wall, just out of sight of the door. She then walked up to the door and gave a series of heavy knocks. Confused, muffled voices could be heard from inside. Sir Erun opened the door, confused at first. His confusion quickly turned to terror as he realized who was standing at his door. While large in width, he was small in stature, compared to Kared at least.

“Wh-why are you here?! How are you here?!” He stammered out angrily.

“The Crimson Twilight knows their way around this city better than anyone,” She said in a flat, serious voice, “You owe them a great debt, do you not?”

“Wh-what’s it to you? You’re with those Tsumi now, aren’t you?”

“Who said I can’t be with both? But that’s not the point. The point is, I’ve come in their stead to ask a favor.” She pulled an envelope, given to her by Danfis, out of her jacket. “The Tsumi are going to be asking for some things during tomorrow’s conference. All you have to do is push in favor of them.”

“Why would the Crimson Twilight want me to side with the Tsumi?”

“Simple, the things they want will benefit us as well.”

“And what of my debt? Will this clear it?”

“Oh, no, not entirely. It will be a good step towards clearing it, but your family’s debt is simply far deeper than this is worth. That said, if you don’t do it,” she paused and summoned forth a sword from her Demon Sheath, then leaned in and whispered, “I’m sure you know what happens next.”

Erun’s fear level sky-rocketed, and he agreed nervously. “Please, just don’t hurt my family,” he begged.

She gave a creepy smile, and said, “No promises.” She then turned around and walked away, grabbing Oroske as she turned the corner.

“Is it true that the Crimson Twilight will benefit from this as well?” He asked after they had made it back to the cistern.

“More or less,” she sighed, “Having a larger swathe of neutral territory would certainly be good for business. They’d probably end up at least trying to set up some sort of office location in or near Tsumi’din. They wouldn’t have agreed to let it count towards that family’s debt if it wasn’t at least partially beneficial to them.”

“I see, that makes sense.” There was a long pause as they climbed back down the ladder. “Would you actually hurt his family?”

“If someone does, it wouldn’t be me personally. But even then, I think the odds are in their favor. The Twilight usually doesn’t actually hurt the people that are in debt to them. After all, you can’t collect on debt from people who are dead.”

By the time she stopped talking, they had already made it back to the Underground’s maze. She gave him instructions on how to get back to the surface, and they split up once again.

While they were out and about, those of us that stayed back went out for dinner and discussed today’s conference, as well as discussed our plans for the next day. The second day of conferences would be focused on requests and issues the clans are facing, as well as more minor issues and requests from all parties.

The Ishen reported they had nothing in mind to bring up here, but they had several issues that were going to be brought up to the Lords in the Human Realm.

The Incol on the other hand did have requests for both sides. “As we often act as a neutral law enforcement party,” Uri began explaining, “We want to petition to install permanent outposts in some of the more major cities. In the Human Realm we’re looking to get a facility in the City of Towers, Quarry, and the Royal City currently. Here in the Demon Realm, we want one in Al’din, Sanctis, and Pyr’ra. We’d ask for one in Ish’din, but I think we can all agree that would be extremely unlikely.”

“We have a handful of requests ourselves,” Nadred chimed in, “Though I myself don’t know of them. The only two people here who do know are out doing their own thing right now.”

Our discussion derailed shortly after that, devolving into mostly idle chatter about various topics. Not knowing much about the world, I opted to simply sit and listen to people, eager to learn of their experiences. We ended up talking pretty late into the night, with Oroske and Kared getting back to our lodgings before us.

As these events took place, Lady Meia gathered her investigation team, an elite squadron that specialized in stealth and the gathering of information, and briefed them on the situation with the bridge and bandits around the Realm. She sent them out to discover what they can regarding the recent events. They dispersed immediately, practically disappearing into thin air, and quickly and quietly got to work.