The main street was an entirely different world as Ray walked toward the front gate. The few people who still lingered were shopkeepers who stayed open late and drunk customers staggering toward a place where they could sleep off their liquor. The road was lit by magical lanterns that hung on straight and narrow poles. Dancing in the alleyways and behind shop curtains, darkness collected into a solid mass of mysterious shadows.

She reveled in the haunting stillness of the night. Her vision penetrated the deepest shadows, forcing even the weirdest sounds to reveal their true forms – the creaking groan was a rusty hinge; the shuffling footsteps were rustling fabrics; the heavy chains were simply the silent, sepulchral screams of slaves working long after their masters retired to their beds. Darkness could not mask anything before the eyes of a seraph.

Standing near the front gate, her teammates were waiting for her. Realizing that she was the last one to arrive, she increased her pace.

“Sorry I’m late!” she called out as she approached.

“We’ve been waiting for almost ten minutes,” Kelsey complained. “What took you so long?”

The wind picked up around them, carrying a remnant of winter chill. The priestess huddled her arms together under the thin fabric of her white robe. Her fancy attire was adorned with purple and gold trim and embroidered with a golden lily from over her left hip down to her ankles. As fancy as it looked, it was clearly not very warm.

“You cold, Kelsey?” Helen teased.

Kelsey shot the archer a bitter look, her shoulders quivering as she stomped her feet and rubbed her hands together to increase blood flow.

Helen seemed much warmer. She was leaning on her strung longbow and waved as Ray looked at her. She had her soft brown hair tied back into a ponytail over a warm scarf wrapped snugly around her neck. Her navy blue gambeson was crisscrossed with sheathes containing daggers.

Behind her, Ray saw Ven standing away from the group. He appeared the same as usual, covered in a dark cloak and a silver mask that covered his face. His icy blue eyes shifted back and forth, observing the distant moving shadows.

“Let’s just get out of here,” Kelsey groaned through chattering teeth. “Why are we leaving this late at night again?”

“I need to be outside of the town until the second wave of goblins respawn,” Ray explained. “If I try anything before then, I risk losing any opportunity I may have to rescue the second group.”

“Yes, yes, I know that much. I want to know why we’re leaving now instead of early in the morning.”

“I heard that the first set of goblins respawned a few minutes ago,” Helen supplied with a yawn. “I do feel a bit tired though, so I’d like to set off soon. You ready to go, Ray?”

Ray tapped the enchanted bag tied to her belt with a grin. “Always,” she replied. “What kind of request did you get?”

Helen withdrew a slip of paper from her own bag and passed it to her.

She accepted the paper and examined it. It was rather plain with no pictures and only a few words, one of which she didn’t understand.

“It just says Bounty: Monsters. Reward: DUE.”

“This is a general bounty that anybody can turn in. The guild won’t recognize us as bronze-rank until we graduate and pass the registration test. There is always a general bounty on monsters posted in the event that travelers encounter them unexpectedly and want a reward for hunting them,” Helen explained upon seeing her confused expression.

“I see…” Ray muttered. “What does ‘DUE’ mean?”

Ven overheard her question as he walked over to join the group. “Determined Upon Evaluation. It’s basically the guild’s way of saying that they’ll cheat you if you don’t know what you’re doing,” he supplied.

“Huh…”

“Should we get going now?” Kelsey interjected, throwing a cold glare at Ray. “This was your idea, right? Don’t we need to leave so we can get it over with?”

“Geez Kelsey, I’ve never seen you this grouchy before,” Ray teased. “You tired? Hungry? You couldn’t possibly have forgotten to bring a coat, right?”

Kelsey’s cheeks, already flushed with cold, further reddened with embarrassment. She turned away and stomped toward the gate.

Ray hurriedly pulled an extra fur-lined coat out of her bag and rushed after the priestess. Eileen had given her a truly ridiculous amount of extra clothing before her first adventure, and her extra supply included over a dozen coats. Though it was fun to tease other people for their oversights, she didn’t want her friend to continue suffering.

She opened up the coat and wrapped it around Kelsey’s shoulders from behind. The priestess stopped when she felt the extra weight and then her eyes widened with shock. She tried to show Ray her gratitude with a smile, but her pale lips were shaking too much. Instead, she slipped her arms through the sleeves while Ray pulled out an extra pair of boots and gloves.

Seeing her pull out the winter gear, Helen and Ven both examined her with renewed eyes. Since she was only wearing slacks, a slim t-shirt, and comfortable, closed-toe shoes, it probably looked like she was giving up her warmer clothes for her friend’s benefit. Ray was hardly bothered by the cold air at all, but she decided to let them think whatever they wanted. It would only be helpful to her if they were impressed by her ‘selfless acts’.

After Kelsey finished swapping out her shoes and placing the gloves on her hands, Helen motioned toward the gate and the vigilant guards standing nearby.

Though their group had been standing around for a while, the guards were paying them little attention. Unless looking for certain targets, gate guards weren’t too concerned with criminals or those with ill intentions trying to leave the town. They were much more focused on preventing them from entering in the first place.

Ray nodded and took the lead. Her party members followed after her, Ven and Helen fanning out so that Kelsey was protected in the center. The group of four stepped into the long tunnel without so much as a question from the guards. They walked at a brisk pace until they were clear of the front gate.

On the other side of the wall, the endless starry sky filled their vision and the azure and crimson moonlight lit up the dark and dreary plains. The silhouettes of fences and farmhouses dotted their immediate surroundings. They slowed their pace and Helen took the lead now that they were away from the safety of the town guard.

As they moved past the well-kept farms, a few dogs rushed up to the fences and started barking. When Ray glared at the musky mutts, the cowardly creatures whined and retreated. A few windows lit up with light but the party ignored them as they continued.

They remained vigilant as they passed the dilapidated buildings furthest from the wall as there was always the faint possibility that bandits or vampires used them to hide.

The party finally relaxed when they were over a hundred meters away from the furthest farmhouse. There were no monsters in this region that attacked from underground, so they would see any threats approaching from far away while traveling through the plains.

Ray took the opportunity to ask a question she’d been wondering about.“Why are there so many abandoned farms? Did the farmers leave for some reason?”

Helen’s ears perked but she otherwise remained focused on their surroundings as she guided the group through the darkness.

Ven decided to answer the question. “Looking at it optimistically, there are probably some farmers who moved away. Realistically, the farms here are outside the protection of the walls, and Cairel protects our border with a hostile nation. Those who didn’t move away were probably kidnapped by raiders from the Federation. Just as we have orcs, trolls, and beastkin as slaves here, captured humans are sometimes enslaved over there.”

Monsters took humans as slaves? Repulsion filled her gut and she bit her lip and the unexpected and unfamiliar sensation.

“That's… awful,” Ray muttered in response.

The group continued toward the mountains in silence. There would be more time to talk once they set up camp.

If she had heard this a few days ago, she would have felt like it was just proper retribution. Now, it made her nervous and disgusted. While she was helping Legion design their plan to rescue the goblins, the topic of the other slaves in the town was a point of contention – Ray had wanted to focus only on saving the goblins and Lexi.

However, Legion declared that he would save all of the slaves. He decreed as the God of Freedom that enslaving other sentient beings was a great sin. That was probably the source of her unnatural antipathy. She had heard that Tethers were highly influenced by the domains and virtues of their Overseers, but this was her first time experiencing it.

She wasn’t sure how she felt about it. It was disconcerting that someone besides herself had so much influence over her feelings and actions, but Legion was a guiding light for her. Though he had only been gone for a few hours, she keenly felt his hollow absence. It was as if a light had gone out in her soul.

That was why this trip was so important, though. If it was just about using a little miracle power to save the goblins, Legion would probably have enough soon. However, they needed to stockpile enough power for a miracle that could save every slave in the town. Since the owners had to voluntarily release their slave contracts, things got a lot more complicated. Now that she had secured the goblin’s safety for a short time, she needed to do her best to build up holy power for Legion.

The most effective way to build up holy power was to baptize new members. They had briefly considered looking for converts among the slaves, but that was too dangerous before they were freed. The second option was to baptize humans, but neither of them felt like it was worth trying to convert humans this early on.

The final option was to look for other sentient monsters like the goblins. There was no guarantee that they were around, but it didn’t matter if she didn’t find any. It was beneficial to be outside the town where nobody could reach her until it was time to get things moving. Once Legion returned in a few days, it would be time for the debut of their grand plan.

***

Underneath the pristine, white-marble cathedral bathed in the shadows of dusk, a massive, royal purple gate opened within the catacombs.

A teenage boy covered from head to toe in expensive garments and accessories stepped through the gate and into the holy basement. Following behind him was a small entourage of exactly two people.

Prince Douglas fanned his face which gleamed with sweat while his personal bodyguard checked their surroundings for dangerous elements. It was swelteringly hot underneath the pounds of fabric, but fashion was more important than function, and projecting wealth was more important than fashion. As a prince, he was exceptionally wealthy, and so he suffered.

When his bodyguard concluded the pointless formality, Lydia tapped a marble brick on the wall and opened a secret door. They stepped into the musky passageway, closed the entrance, and proceeded to climb the cracked and crumbling stairway. At the top, they tapped another brick to open a path into Duke Jantzen’s office.

A handsome, well-dressed man rose from his plush chair to greet them. He stepped out from behind his desk and kneeled. In front of the desk, a scrawny boy stared at the three figures like a dog in front of a seraph.

Prince Douglas ignored the irreverent boy and instead addressed his loyal uncle and friend.

“Uncle Jantzen!” he exclaimed, raising his heavily laden arms wide as if to offer an embrace. “It’s been too long!”

Duke Jantzen immediately rose to his feet. He ignored the boy prince's invitation and stepped past him to address Lydia and Keegan.

“I assume you came here to investigate that monster girl?”

“Probably,” Lydia shrugged. “You know how he gets when he finds something that interests him. I know what my part is in the plan, but I don’t know anything more than that.”

“Hey, hey. You shouldn’t ignore me. I’m important…” Doug whined from behind them.

The duke let out a rueful sigh and turned to address his nephew. “Douglas, I heard a weird rumor the other day that you are now both omnipotent and omniscient. I don’t know why you’re spreading these weird lies, but I trust that it isn’t to soothe your own ego.”

Prince Douglas, with as much elegance and dramatic grandness as he could muster, flicked the soft, sophisticated blonde hair out of his eyes.

“Don’t worry; everything I do has a purpose.”

Duke Jantzen shook his head as he stepped back behind his desk and picked up a report.

“Including this matter with the monster girl?” he asked.

“Of course. She may be the final piece in my preparations, though I need to meet her first to get a better grasp of her personality and her potential.”

The duke groaned. “I suppose this means you are committed to your course. Would there perhaps be any room in your grand designs for justice?”

“So you’re certain that she is the reason Jantzen turned into a drone?”

He pointed at the boy standing in front of this desk. “Peter here just respawned half an hour ago. Since I was waiting for the goblins to respawn, I was nearby and he caught my attention with his wild claims. It seems that Ray and her catkin friend killed all the adventurers who attacked the goblin camp except for Edwin Weston. I’m not certain yet, but I want to ask her some questions about how my son died.”

Doug gave the young boy an appraising look and the boy gulped nervously. He returned his attention to his uncle and took on a serious expression and tone.

“I won’t promise results either way until after I have made a personal judgment. I trust that you will adhere to my decision regardless of the conclusion.”

The duke held out a paper, which Lydia stepped forward to accept.

“I was expecting you to say that, so I already prepared the information you want. She left the town a few hours ago after visiting with me; she personally requested that I protect some goblins who just respawned. When she left, she was accompanied by a trainee priestess, the youngest daughter of the Rathburg house, and a Sun Cultist.”

Lydia raised her eyebrows as she listened while perusing the details on the paper. Keegan’s ears perked up at the unexpected name and he broke from his silent vigil.

“A Sun Cultist? Those shady bastards are involved in this as well?”

The duke shrugged. “Since only one of them is moving, I don’t think the whole Order of the Sun is involved, but when it comes to those zealots, I can’t ever tell what they’re thinking.”

“I’m more interested in why a member of the Rathburg house is working with her,” Doug murmured. “Bounty hunters usually refuse to work with adventurer parties, even if they are still in training. Apparently ‘rolling around with trash gets the stench on you’, or something like that.”

“Your Highness, if they already left then we should leave soon as well. They took a general commission, so we don’t know where they are going. If we guess wrong, it could take us days to find them.”

“Nah, there’s only one place to hunt anything strong around here,” Keegan countered. “Unless they went to the Federation, they are almost certainly going for the Voskeg Mountains. That’s where all the really dangerous monsters show up.”

“True,” Doug replied with a grimace. “There are some scary creatures in there that even I run away from. Especially those damn squirrels…”

Keegan and Lydia both nodded in agreement. All three of them remembered the same incident where they were overwhelmed by the nasty little critters. It was one of the exceptionally rare instances where the prince actually died.

“Well then, without further ado, shall we head out?” Doug asked.

“Wait, are none of you bothered that goblins respawned in the temple?” the duke interjected. .”You could meet with them and investigate. I have them in my custody.”

Doug waved away the suggestion. “Since this ‘Ray’ notified you about their revival before it happened, I’m sure we’ll get more information about them from her than we would talking to the goblins. None of us here speak their language.”

He opened the door and motioned for Keegan and Lydia to step through first. Before he went through himself, he turned to his uncle.

“Is there anything else?”

The duke shook his head and waved for him to leave. But then Peter half-raised one hand.

“E...e..excuse me…? Could I go with you to arrest her? I want to see her suffer for what she did to me.”

Doug examined the boy for several seconds before giving his response. “You may come with us, but you are not to speak unless first spoken to. Be quiet and follow our orders exactly.”

Peter’s eyes lit up and he revealed a malicious grin as he ran up to the prince.

“Thank you, Your Highness!” he exclaimed with a bow.

The prince stepped through the door to where Lydia and Keegan were waiting. The three of them, plus one tag-a-long, walked through the corridors of the cathedral toward the exit.

Prince Douglas naturally took the lead with Lydia on his left and Keegan on his right. Peter trailed behind.

“Let’s go find the little sheep!” Doug shouted enthusiastically, his voice echoing in the silent halls.

Lydia and Keegan gave an equally emphatic reply. ““Yes, Your Highness!””