The Linwood family dates back decades, even before the rise of the kingdom they swear fealty to. They had been a family centered around war and were a powerful military force for the kingdom. Despite the kindness they show to allies, there was a vindictive and cruel streak for their enemies. After the kingdom’s expansion, there was not much left for the Linwood family, and they had begun losing their position in the noble courts. The family slowly fell from grace, and with it came a slew of problems.

They struggled to find a place through politicking and wound up losing much of the privilege they had. The problems only grew worse, and eventually, the family was exploited for their talents. Several cases where the women and children of the family were kidnapped or manipulated. Apparently, people believed that those who had received powerful gits were likely to have children who could accomplish the same. However, the family had a limit for what they were willing to take and eventually turned to more drastic measures.

One of those was wholescale violence against the other families. The family felt the need to remind others of their talents and started attacking other noble houses. At first, it started as a small physical altercation, that usually ended with a few dead, but the house was still intact. That semblance of peace only lasted for a short while, and the situation quickly escalated to more severe actions. The Linwood family began burning noble houses to the ground, doing to the families what they had wanted to do to them. Ultimately even the king decided to intervene, trying to soothe the family’s anger. It didn’t work and the family started to oppose the king. They demanded to know where the retribution was when their family had been the victim.

Their argument didn’t go over well with the king, and the hammer of punishment came down on the family. It didn’t immediately escalate to banishment and started with more mundane things. An increase in taxes and being forced to make some public apologies. The family was unsatisfied, and continued their actions, regaining some of their cruelness from their past. It grew to the point where the kingdom’s whole noble society grew destabilized. Even this was not what drew the final line though.

That came when the king tried to send them to battle once again. There was no need for war, and it had been to try and direct their strengths. However, the demand came as an obvious ploy to appease the other noble houses. There were several meetings between the head of the house, the current lord’s father, and the king. The exact details of the interactions were left out, but the story had mentioned how their relationship only worsened. At some point, a line was crossed and the head of the house at the time was executed. The man’s son was banished to an outer village to watch the borders. It was a final action, and the book worded it like the king was afraid of the family. He had exiled them for his own peace of mind.

As Mash finished the story, he considered what it could mean. The Linwood family had been greatly wronged by the king. The current Mister Linwood seemed content with his life, but that didn’t fit with the image the story painted of their family. It did seem like the man was telling the truth when he mentioned having countless enemies. Their family had seriously targeted almost every noble family, the royal family included. Trying to figure out who was responsible would be near impossible. The others were looking for documentation on where demons were located. This world had monsters of some kind, and while these demons had not been seen before, Mash knew that they existed in this world.

Red had read through dozens of books that detailed monsters and found several creatures that would match with the demons that they had fought before. Currently, she was trying to find their location on a map. They wanted to know who would even have had an opportunity to work with the creatures. They had discovered the obvious motivation of the supposed assassins but still needed to find out who was in the position to get support from creatures like demons.

The map revealed a lot of the world. When the king said outer village, he really meant outer. This village was actually beyond the borders of the kingdom and rested in a mostly neutral place between two kingdoms. Furthermore, it was tucked away between two large rivers. The king had obviously been trying to isolate the Linwoods and had driven them into both a literal and figurative corner.

“I found it! The demons should be next to someplace called the Artock Mountains. According to the book, it’s a pretty isolated place.”

Luke sounded confident, and he laid the book on the table for them to see. It was easy to find the location on the map, though it didn’t really answer any questions. The mountain range was actually a part of the territory that was sectioned off by two rivers and was dangerously close to the village. It was close enough that he believed that the Linwoods should have been able to notice.

“How did someone gain access to the demons while avoiding the notice of someone like the lord? Or Edward, I heard he has clones constantly scouting the surroundings.”

Jill’s questions did make him reconsider the situation. She was right, the distance was so close that anyone should have been able to observe the demons coming to the village. New demons had been appearing, and they still hadn’t been able to find the source. Edward and Robert were checking the village constantly, trying to find any entrance for the demons. Their search had been entirely futile, and even the lord himself started to take part in the search. Even still, there had been no new discoveries.

Thinking about it, Mash began to consider something more nefarious in the works. The layout of the map made him think that no one outside of the village would even be able to interact with demons. He knew that there was a chance that the demons were working independently, but that felt wrong considering the nature of the dungeon. Plus, he imagined they would have just invaded with force rather than all of the subterfuge needed for sneaking into the village. The book Luke found indicated that the demons weren’t particularly conniving and tended to have a culture defined by survival of the fittest. All of these things made him think that someone else had to be involved.

They had spent all their time looking for culprits outside the village, but that was wrong. The demons and the village were too isolated for something like that. It wasn’t impossible, but someone like Edward would have been able to notice someone coming in and out of the territory. Changing their focus towards the village itself, their list of culprits grew a lot smaller. The Linwoods were well-liked in the village and had only had problems with a handful of people. It wouldn’t take long to check them, but something about that list felt wrong. None of the people involved were particularly capable and shouldn’t have been able to orchestrate something like this.

No Mash’s initial instinct was that it needed to be someone more capable. The temple was a suspect, but he imagined the dungeon would have ended once Luke massacred everyone in there. They had checked to see if anyone from the temple was missing that day and had confirmed that everyone had been present. Luke still wouldn’t talk about the exact details of what had happened but insisted that there wasn’t much to gain. The church had been working with the demons, but most of the members were crazy and beyond reason.

There were a lot of things in this village that didn’t make a lot of sense. The church here didn’t have any capable healers, and the members were all corrupt. How and why did the temple even appear in the village?

Only a member of the Linwood family would be able to do something like that. Maybe one of the servants could have had the opportunity for it as well, but they would need to be skilled at imitation or something along those lines. The head butler? An assistant? Mash considered who could have been in the position to handle something like that.

After discussing their thoughts, the group formulated a few options. They could try and dig up more information on the Linwood family and their servants or check the villagers for someone who hated their lord. Lastly, they could visit the demon territory as it wasn’t all that far from here. They didn’t really want to split up this time and decided that they would check the demon territory first. Their group was very capable of things like scouting, and it sounded like the safest option that would give them actual results.

The villagers were likely to be a dead-end and accusing the Linwoods sounded like a fast way to make powerful enemies. With everything in mind, they decided to investigate the demons directly. They did a little bit of final preparation and prepared to head out. Along the way, they ran into Robert. He looked at them and their gazes and seemed to process the situation.

“Where are you all headed? And do you want some muscle?”

He smiled and flexed jokingly as he finished his questions. Mash tried to think of a response as they didn’t want to let him know the actual plan. Although, Red spoke before anyone else could and waved her hand in dismissal as she did so.

“No, we are going out for a much more mundane purpose today. The trial was exhausting and sitting in the library all day is getting monotonous. We are merely looking to take a break for a day or two. They requested that I continue to help them for the break and figured I could use one myself.”

There was a flash of concern across the man’s eyes, but he just gave them a smile. His appearance was still slightly off, and it was clear that he was still bothered by some things. The concern was probably genuine, though Mash found himself doubting it. He hoped that Robert was genuine, as he was a very likable man, but Mash was more careful now. Leah had made him understand the price of trusting too easily. Robert’s response was clear, and his voice sounded normal too.

“That sounds fun, well I won’t stop you. Things have been slowing down anyways, and we have caught most of the demons.”

They talked a little more but quickly said their goodbyes and separated. They didn’t run into anyone else and managed to get out of the house easily. Once outside, Mash saw Jill clap Red on the back in acknowledgment. It seemed like liars appreciated a good lie when they saw them. Mash only made a mental note, to pay more attention when they were talking to him. Slowly he shuffled closer to Luke, though he gave him an expression that said, “I am at least better than you.” Mash gave him a slightly offended expression, and they headed towards the demon’s homeland.