“Oh,” Raea said and nodded. “Just a minor side character named … Abaddon!? You don’t mean that Abaddon, do you?” Her brow furrowed as her footsteps halted. Palan ignored her and continued walking, so she grabbed Danger Noodle and pulled him back. “What kind of contract did you make?”

“Isn’t Abaddon one of the four sinners?” Justitia asked Pyre. “Like, no one would ever name their child Abaddon, right?”

Pyre shrugged. “Abaddon isn’t a bad name,” he said. “It has three syllables, very sophisticated. One syllable is too few. Two syllables are eh. Four syllables are just unwieldy like Justitia. Isn’t that a mouthful to say?”

“Thanks,” Justitia muttered. “Asshole.”

“Well?” Raea asked as she tugged on Danger Noodle. Her feet were planted against the ground, but she was being dragged along by Palan, leaving two parallel lines in the dirt floor. The black snake hissed at Raea before squirming out of her grasp and coiling around Palan’s chest, looking at him with an aggrieved expression. “You can’t just say something like that and keep us in suspense.”

“Can’t I?” Palan asked and raised an eyebrow. “It’s just a minor matter anyways. I can guarantee you there’s no mana exchanging involved.”

“I no longer trust your definition of minor,” Raea said and pursed her lips. “It’s really Abaddon? One of the four sinners?”

“Yes,” Palan said. “I guess there’s no point in hiding it anymore since you’re perfectly fine with me killing Sariel anyways.” His brow furrowed as he spoke in a lower voice, “My sister contracted an illness—the plague; at least, that’s what people called it. I heard the only way to cure it was through a shaman, so I went out to look for one. And that shaman happened to be an archangel named Abaddon. He knew my reputation as a hunter and offered me a deal through a contract. He’d save my sister if I brought him Sariel’s head. The end.”

Pyre tapped his pipe and hummed. “You know, the influx of random demons has been bothering the higher ups for the longest time now,” he said. “So it turns out Abaddon’s partly responsible for that. If his goal was to waste the angels’ resources on establishing the guardians, then he’s done a very good job.”

“Aren’t you a bit too calm about this?” Justitia asked Pyre, staring at the smoking half-angel whose eyes were half-closed.

Pyre rolled his eyes. “Like I’ll take an angel who ran away like a whipped dog seriously,” he said. “Hell, I don’t even take Solra seriously.”

“So this whole time you were wanting to go to the capital was because you needed to kill Sariel?” Raea asked and pursed her lips. She was still being dragged along by Palan. “I feel like I was manipulated by you.”

“You were using me as well,” Palan said and shrugged. “You wanted your merits to go back to the capital. I just happened to want to go to the capital too.”

“And what?” Raea asked, folding her arms over her chest. “Were you just going to kill Sariel while I was receiving a promotion? Was that your plan? What would’ve happened to me if you did that? Wouldn’t I be the world’s greatest traitor?”

“Of course I would’ve taken you with me to Eljiam,” Palan said and snorted. “Let’s not dwell on hypothetical situations, alright? It’s a waste of effort.”

“It is not,” Raea said as she pinched Palan’s red tail. It let out a squeak before hissing at her.

“Right,” Palan said as his left arm was entangled by his tail. “I forgot. You’re the one who got mad at me because of a dream.”

Raea’s brow furrowed as she stopped in place. “Hey!” she shouted. “That dream was totally true! You did have bigger plans than just reuniting with your sister! Did I really see the Creator that night?”

“Alright,” Pyre said, cutting in before anyone else could speak. “Let’s not talk about the Creator. We all know he doesn’t exist, or if he does, he’s unimportant. Can we talk about more serious things like Palan’s newfound powers?”

“Blasphemer,” Justitia said under her breath. “You’re ending won’t be very happy.”

“Oh please,” Pyre said and laughed. “That much is obvious—my whole life hasn’t been very happy after all.” He grinned at Justitia as he pulled out his pipe. “Is someone feeling a bit bitter about being tortured? How badly did I hurt you? Everything just blends together after a while.”

“I probably should’ve known they wouldn’t get along well,” Palan said to Raea.

“I think it’s a miracle that they get along with you,” Raea said with a pout. “But Pyre was right. Your power did seem to change.”

“I think it’s because I realized how pitiful I was acting,” Palan said as he rounded a corner. Chattering could be heard as they entered the cafeteria. “Once you … lectured me—still annoyed about that by the way—I had a moment of clarity and my understanding of my power increased. Gravity doesn’t always have to drag things down.” He furrowed his brow as a harpy flew past him, carrying a crying dwarf. “It’s a bit hard to explain, but I just feel it. Now tell me”—his gaze locked onto Raea’s—“what’s with the harpies? I’m usually not a very curious person, but this warrants a few answers.”

The group stared at the ceiling of the passage. “Well,” Raea said and scratched her cheek. “You know how they call me the harbinger? I’ve somehow become their leader…. I mean, it’s not a bad thing to be looked up to by so many people. It’s a nice feeling actually.” She nodded.

“That doesn’t explain the cursing dwarves,” Justitia said as a dwarf spewed profanities overhead as he was dragged away by a harpy.

Raea bit her lower lip. “Mm. Harpies are a bit slow,” she said. “So I wanted them to become a little smarter. Education is important. Once I help them reestablish their ancestral territories, I don’t want them to return to their previous ways. I hope they can become a more peaceful nation.”

“Once you help them what?” Palan asked.

“Reestablish their territory,” Raea said and nodded. “That’s my job as the harbinger. If they’re so sincere in treating me as the harbinger, shouldn’t I answer their sincerity by trying my best?”

“And you say I’m the one manipulating you,” Palan said and snorted.

“They’re sincere with no ulterior motives,” Raea said and crossed her arms over her chest. “Besides, I need a goal to distract myself.” She stared at the ground. “Without one … I don’t feel very stable. I need something to angrily work towards to vent my wrath or it’ll devour me. I don’t want that to happen.”

Chapter 263

“Goals are good, no doubt about that,” Pyre said and nodded as he grabbed a nearby lizardman. Purple smoke billowed out of his mouth as he spoke, “Go gather the dwarves who were working in the prison and have them clean up the mess.”

The lizardman was about to protest but realized who gave her the order. She abandoned her meal and scrambled away, cursing her bad luck. Justitia furrowed her brow as the lizardman disappeared down a tunnel. “You really are a bully,” she said and stared at Pyre. “To everyone.”

Pyre shrugged. “In this world,” he said as he picked up the lizardman’s meal, “there are two types of people: Those who’ve suffered and never want anybody else to suffer the same as they have. And those who’ve suffered and want everybody else to feel the same type of pain. I am the latter.” He nodded as he put away his pipe and munched on a roasted arm. He used it to point at Raea. “She’s the same as me.”

“Huh?” Raea raised an eyebrow as her head swiveled. Her three companions were staring at her. “Me? Aren’t I the former? I dislike suffering.”

“You want revenge, don’t you?” Pyre asked.

“Well, yeah,” Raea said and knit her eyebrows. “But—“

“So doesn’t that make you the same? You suffered, so you want the people who made you suffer to feel the same pain,” Pyre said. “There are no ifs, ands, or buts.”

“No, no, no,” Raea said and shook her head. “This is a special case. I don’t want the whole world to suffer. I just want to avenge my sister. Only the people involved in her death have to die.”

“Like Palan?” Pyre asked and chuckled. “I’m pretty sure you have some hatred flowing towards him.”

“He’s a special case too,” Raea said and pursed her lips. Justitia took a step back, hiding half her body behind Palan.

“Are you sure you’re not just a hypocrite?” Pyre asked. “You say you want to prevent other people’s suffering, but you’re willing to set them on fire. You say it’s a certain subset of people that you want to kill, but you’re pardoning someone who’s in that subset. Why can’t you forgive them all?”

Raea bit her lower lip.

Pyre grinned. “See, there’s nothing wrong with being a hypocrite,” he said. “Everyone—“

Raea kicked the plate in Pyre’s hand, launching it into his face. “Eat your stupid leg and shut up!” Raea said and snorted. She crossed her arms over her chest and whirled around, heading towards the tunnel leading to the harpy nest. “Let’s go. I still haven’t finished browsing all the treasures.”

The plate slid off of Pyre’s face. He coughed and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. “It was an arm,” he said to Raea’s and Palan’s backs. Justitia stuck her tongue out at him before following after the duo. Pyre shook his head as he grabbed a nearby goblin and used her as a towel, wiping the juices off of his face. He sighed and dropped the disgruntled goblin. “That’s what I get for trying to improve her powers. Whatever. I should start on that slave collar.”

“Slave collar?” the goblin asked as she tried to wipe blood off of her dress. She raised her head and looked around, but Pyre had already disappeared. “No one else heard that?” she asked. There was no response, and the goblin shrugged before cleaning up the mess on the floor.

Though Raea and Palan were far away, they heard Pyre’s words, causing Raea to snort. “Improve my powers,” she said and rolled her eyes. “Yeah, okay. Didn’t I just say I didn’t want to be devoured by wrath?” She nodded her head at every harpy that greeted her as she walked down the tunnel, following slightly behind Palan with Justitia at her side.

“You mentioned treasures,” Palan said, ignoring Raea’s comment.

She snorted. “Remember that room you found me in?” Raea asked.

“The one you nearly set on fire?” Palan asked.

“Don’t try to blame that on me,” Raea asked and furrowed her brow. “Would I have done that if you hadn’t made those contracts?”

Palan kept his mouth shut as the trio made it to the top of the harpies’ territory. “Not this again,” Justitia muttered to herself and sighed. A tail snaked around her waist, and she closed her eyes. Wind rushed past her body as the ground disappeared from beneath her feet. When she opened her eyes again, the three were at the bottom, near the central pillar of the bone nest.

“You’re back,” Cory said and blinked. Her wings flapped as she righted herself from her previous upside-down position, causing soot to fall off of her legs. Within the nest, hundreds of halflings were bound and gagged, lying on top of each other like potato sacks. The red harpy puffed her chest out. “Look at how many people we caught.”

Palan raised an eyebrow. “How’d you tie them up?” he asked and raised his hands, wiggling his fingers like Cleo would. “Cause, you know.”

“Oh,” Cory said. She gestured towards a troll who was sitting beside the halfling pile, his arms and legs unbound. “He helped us.”

Raea pursed her lips as a few screams punctuated the air. Three goblins fell from the sky, landing against the ground with a cracking sound. The troll stood up and tied their limp bodies together before throwing them on top of the pile. “I think that’s enough…,” Raea said and scratched her head. “Are you even sure all of them can read?”

“Kidnap first, ask questions later,” Cory said and nodded. “If one out of a hundred goblins can read, then we just need to kidnap a hundred goblins.” Her head leaned to the side. “Right?”

Raea sighed and shook her head. “It doesn’t … you know … never mind. I guess this is why we need to kidnap the dwarves,” she said and headed towards the curtain in the pillar.

As the trio descended the stairwell, they heard Cory yelling, “The harbinger has spoken! No more goblins, lizardmen, centaurs, and trolls! Only kidnap the dwarves!”

“You’re not going to correct her?” Justitia asked as she stumbled on a protruding step and supported herself with the wall. Unlike Palan and Raea, she couldn’t see in the dark.

“Sometimes mistakes have to be made before people can learn,” Raea said and nodded as she swept aside the curtain leading into the harpies’ treasury. The floor was blackened, and a few treasures near the fringes of the piles were burnt or melted. “The harpies had a system: contribution of treasures directly related to quality of rooms. The harpies who contributed more got to live closer to the main nest. This is everything they accumulated over the years.”

Chapter 264

“These qualify as treasures?” Palan asked as his gaze swept through the treasury. Rusted armor and weapons were heaped on top of each other, forming miniature mountains. A few red metal sheets were stacked neatly in a corner. Chests containing thousands of yellow crystals lay on the floor with their lids opened.

Bones of every color, belonging to creatures that Palan couldn’t identify, were scattered throughout the room. Justitia walked over and picked one up, a crease forming on her forehead as her fingers traced the edges. “Why are these classified as treasures?” she asked. The yellow bone was smooth to touch. A few notches were cut out of the sides. “Writing?”

“Nope,” Cory said as her head popped over Justitia’s shoulder. “Just chicken scratch.”

Justitia screamed and dropped the bone before falling forward. “What are you doing here?” she asked as she regained her composure. Palan and Raea turned around to stare at the red harpy.

“Watching?” Cory asked.

“Didn’t I say no one should come in here while I’m here?” Raea asked and furrowed her brow.

“Oh,” Cory said. “I assumed you only meant that for that one time. Should I leave? Who else is going to introduce all our awesome treasures to you?”

“I think everything here is self-explanatory,” Raea said as she pursed her lips. She stared at the bone by Cory’s feet. “But fine. Tell us what the treasures are.”

Cory nodded and picked up the bone with her talons. “These yellow ones are the fortunetelling bones,” she said as she hopped around the room, picking up the scattered yellow bones. “The seers made their predictions with these. I think.” She furrowed her brow as she placed the bones into a neat pile before scooping up red bones. “These red ones are decision sticks. When the matriarchs are going to make a big decision, they toss these bones. This little skull mark means don’t do it, and this little happy face means go for it.” She dropped them next to the pile of yellow bones. “And lastly,” she said as she gathered blue bones, “these are the gambling sticks. They’re used by the matriarch when she’s bored and wants to play a game, but no one knows the rules anymore.” The blue bones scattered the red and yellow ones as Cory flung them over, not caring about neatness anymore. Her brow furrowed. “Or maybe the yellow ones were the gambling sticks…. Oh wells, that doesn’t matter.”

Cory’s wings fluttered as she half-flew, half-walked over to Palan’s side. “You’ve got good eyes,” she said and nodded at the chests by his feet. It was a shame Cleo wasn’t here. “These are the yellow crystals that we’ve plundered from, well, everyone. Don’t ask where they came from, and you won’t have to worry about it. We use these as power sources to light up the nest and currency to buy food. They’re super inconvenient to pick up though.” Her talons clasped a bunch of crystals, but the majority ended up falling out of her grasp.

“What are these metal sheets?” Raea asked, gesturing towards the red metal in the corner.

Cory shrugged. “We don’t use them for anything,” she said. “But the sadistic benefactor likes them, so obviously they must be a treasure. I was the one who brought them here.” She stuck her chest out and placed the tips of her wings on her hips. “That’s what secured me my place as matriarch.” Her voice lowered as her head drooped. “Don’t tell him I stole them though.”

Palan and Raea walked around the mounds of armor, heading towards the back of the treasury. “Wait,” Cory said. “You don’t want to know about the armor and weapons?”

“Are they magical?” Justitia asked as she stopped by Cory’s side. Raea and Palan ignored the two as they rummaged through a layer of miscellaneous items spread on the floor.

“Well,” Cory said. “Well, well, well. I’ll have you know, if you pick up this spear and stab it through someone’s heart, then they’ll die.”

“Isn’t that the point of all weapons?” Justitia asked and furrowed her brow. She wondered what happened to her lance that was confiscated after she was captured. It was the only weapon she could afford that could channel her powers of temperance. “Aren’t there any special ones?”

“Um. If you slash someone with this sword, then they’ll bleed,” Cory said as she awkwardly lifted a sword with her talons. Justitia’s face blanched as she took a few steps back while Cory hopped around and tried some stabbing motions. The harpy’s brow furrowed. “Very tricky to use though.”

“Forget it,” Justitia said and sighed as Cory dropped the sword.

“Hey,” Raea said as she picked up a necklace that was buried at the very bottom of a pile of jewelry. Her attention was drawn to it because out of the rest of the jewelry, it was the only one in decent condition. It had a golden chain, which was as thick as her fingers, with red stripes circling its length. The clasp was made out of a blue metal that hadn’t corroded which was a surprise to her because the necklace was half-submerged in a pool of sticky mud when she fished it out. Attached to the chain, there was the upper half of a skull made of red metal. “What is this?”

“Creepy as hell,” Cory said as she hopped over and crinkled her nose. “That’s what it is.” Her eyes narrowed at the red skull: there were no teeth, the two triangles where a nose should’ve been were filled in with gold, and the eye sockets were covered with two black gemstones. “It looks like you can open its eyes. I’ve never seen any matriarch wear that before—probably because it’s freaky.”

Palan glanced at it and rubbed his chin. “Andrea would like that,” he said as he held out his hand. Raea placed it into his palm.

She made a face as the skull stared at her. “Watch,” she said as Palan turned it around and touched its forehead. “You’re going to open its eyelids and real eyeballs are going to be inside. I have a feeling.”

“That would be interesting,” Palan said. He placed his fingers at the bottoms of the two black gemstones and flicked them upwards. “Huh. You were right.”

“What,” Raea said as she went to his side. She peered at the skull. Two hawk-like eyes stared back at her.