“People who made their fortune and power through unsavory means will always have a day when payback catches up with them. Sometimes, it might just take a while, though.” - Kris Marsten, mercenary best known for being the most successful bounty hunter of her era, circa 340 VA.

One hour before dawn that day, Aideen snuck through the darkness of the night towards the Baron’s mansion. It felt a bit coincidental that in her travels to Elmaiya this time she happened to run into corrupt nobles twice and that they were both Barons, but after some introspection and second thoughts, it was not that odd either.

A Baron was the lowest rank of true nobility in the Elmaiya Empire, with landholders beneath them typically not considered part of the nobility. Most of them had small or poor territories, especially the families that were stuck at that rank for generations like that of the Baron of Pesoris. Most of them had ambitions to climb higher in their life, but rarely the opportunity or the ability to do so.

If they were lower in ranks – a non-noble landholder for example – they would be less daring to do corrupt things in fear of the noble that supervised their region. On the other hand, those higher in rank generally wouldn’t risk their family’s fortune and reputation over mere money. When they moved, it was typically for greater benefits than just wealth.

As she had already been informed about the details of the security of the Baron’s mansion – straight from the source at that, as apparently Mord had been in charge of the Baron’s security detail – Aideen easily slipped through the gaps and blind spots of the guards. Within minutes, she had entered the mansion itself, and soon made her way towards the opulent room where the current Baron of Pesoris slept.

The Baron himself was a somewhat plump man in his thirties with a finely kept mustache. Aideen gave no chance to the man and immediately made use of her magic. Most people associated Mortality affinity with healing, the knitting of flesh, and the likes. Few realized that a powerful mage of that affinity could use it for so much more.

For instance, the moment Aideen touched the Baron, she instantly rendered him unable to move any of limbs. She also paralyzed his mouth and tongue, which rendered the man unable to make any loud noise even if he wanted to. Her sudden intrusion woke the Baron, but the man was unable to do anything but to stare at her with his eyes.

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“People like you always thought that you’re above everything, that what you did wouldn’t be found out and you’d keep getting away with it,” stated Aideen coldly with a quiet voice to the Baron. At the same time, she nonchalantly stripped the man of his night clothes, and brought out the knife that Mord had used out of her storage, making sure the Baron got a good look at it. “I’m just going to let you know how those you’ve trampled beneath your foot feels like.”

Before the Baron could even make a muffled protest, Aideen used the knife to make a pair of precise incisions on his abdomen, one vertical, one horizontal. She was skilled and took care to not damage the organs beneath the skin and fat layer, then lifted the flaps of flesh and opened the wound much like a cadaver being splayed for inspection.

Then she used her magic to fuse the flaps of flesh with the flesh on the Baron’s chest and waist, rendering the wound wide open for all to see. After that was done, she pulled out and arranged the man's intestines in the sort of pattern she had seen with the drunken youth before. To seal the deal, she even wrote the usual “Mord was here” in blood on the wall next to the bed.

Despite the gruesome scene, Aideen had not taken the Baron’s life. Instead, she took care to heal all the bleeding from his wounds and made sure that the flaps of flesh she fused with his skin fused so perfectly that it would take some really skilled healers to unravel her work. Even then it would likely be a very painful process to do so.

At the same time, she used her magic to amplify the sensitivity of the Baron’s exposed flesh and organs many times over. Even the slightest breeze felt like someone pierced his organs with many needles, much less a physical touch. None of what she did would take the man’s life, unless he chose to end it himself, as she wanted the Baron to suffer but stay alive for when Lucea’s judgment would arrive.

With the grisly work behind her, she stealthily left the mansion and rendezvoused with Celia and Kino outside Pesor. As for Mord, they kept him tied up and carried him on the back of a wagon as they traveled southwards to Fort Bharat. After all, a cooperative witness was never a bad thing to have when dealing with corrupt nobles like these.

When the three of them arrived at Fort Bharat nearly two weeks later, Aideen entrusted the captive to the guards on the Lichdom’s side, while at the same time she asked those on the Empire’s side to deliver another letter to Lucea, complete with the testimony from Mord that night. Only after that did the three leave the fort and headed towards the Lichdom.

Months later, Aideen heard that the Barony of Pesoris had been dissolved and split up between its neighbors, and that the Empress commanded a thorough inspection of all the nobles in the Empire, with those found abusing their power or derelict in their duty directly purged. That caused a small upheaval in the Empire, but was a move that was unanimously praised by the commoners.

As for the killer once known as Mord, she received a letter from Oleg that the man proved to be quite useful. He wasn’t particularly good as an agent or spy, but was unexpectedly a skilled alchemist. The sedative he tried to use on Aideen was something he created himself, and turned out to be extremely effective, as were several other creations of his.

He would have no freedom for the rest of his life, but as long as his existence remained beneficial, Oleg and Lucea would make him work his bones for the sake of the Empire.