It had been a month since Orou went outside and honestly, he had missed the fresh air, although if he had a choice, he would stay inside for as long as he could, researching and learning spells. The street was as busy as when Orou first came into the city, if not busier. There were beastmen that smelled of alcohol and beastmen who smelled of perfume mixing together, creating a unique atmosphere in the city. Grizz was slightly grinning to himself as he watched, Orou’s head darted from one beastmen to another with renewed interest in what was happening in the city.

After making their way past the Moonhall casino and the countless gambling houses on the way, they arrived at a slightly larger building than most. It was made out of green stone, though it resembled many of the gambling houses simply based on the architecture. Two guards bearing an insignia of a panther’s head on their shields were standing guard, more so chatting with each other than guarding the door of the building.

Grizz stood a few meters off to the side and nudged Orou before saying to him: “To be honest, I don’t have any sort of grand plan here. We go into the governor’s building and confront him with evidence, if he doesn’t take action, the least we can do is make him not interfere in our business.”

“I know how much you like to toy with magic and Izz loves company, so it’s a win-win situation. I simply had to get him interested at first, so I said you desperately needed to learn magic at first.” Grizz had a mischievous expression on his face as he told Orou this. “Wait, don’t tell Izz that I said this to you,” he put up his finger in a “shush” manner and laughed to himself, though Orou was confused how he would tell Izz this information.

“I’m rambling on here, let’s go in,” and as he said that, he started walking straight towards the guards. They didn’t pay Grizz any attention until he was standing right next to them, and even then, the two of them ignored him. Grizz placed his hand on the door and pushed it open, which finally provoked a reaction from the two of them.

“Stop there, what business do you have with the governor?” One of the guards coughed and put up his deepest and most intimidating voice, though it seemed to have an opposite effect thanks to his partner laughing beside him.

“I’m sent here by Nim Ashmore on official dealings with Governor Baltis,” Grizz rummaged through his backpack and grabbed a piece of paper. Almost as if shoving it in the guard’s face, Grizz passed it on to him and a few moments later, the guard straightened his stature and handed the paper back to Grizz. The other guard had stopped laughing and was now properly holding his weapon, looking as if he was doing his best to keep watch.

“You may pass. The governor is currently in the midst of a meeting, so you might have to wait for a bit.” The guard fully opened to door and stepped aside to let Grizz in. He looked suspiciously at Orou as he was slithering into the building, his body was about to step forwards and block his path before he decided otherwise and let Orou pass. Grizz winked and loudly said: “Being born into a rich family sure is nice.”

While the building didn’t look particularly impressive from the outside, it impressed Orou from the inside. A massive living room with painted gold walls and a massive golden chandelier greeted the two of them. Before Orou could take a closer look at the rest of the room, a beastman dressed in a blue suit with white, fluffy wool covering his face, almost to the point where one couldn’t make out his facial features.

“Unexpected visitors, the governor is busy. Sit down over there and I’ll call you over when it’s your turn,” and with that, the beastman wandered off into a separate room, leaving them all alone.

“If that guy is supposed to greet visitors, he must be really bad in doing his job,” Grizz said to Orou when the beastman was out of earshot and he started walking forwards. Orou followed his example and started slithering over to the table, but before he could do so, he was stopped by Grizz.

“If we were to wait here, we would be wasting the chance we were given here. Let’s go snoop around this house, maybe we can discover some blackmail to persuade the governor to join us.” Grizz’s mischievous smile made a return for the second time today. He stopped and started listening for something or other and after a few seconds of doing so, he pointed towards his right and said: “Once you hear the governor’s voice you can never forget it. Let’s go!”

Orou stopped himself to listen for a bit, but he heard no voice coming from the right. He sensed the vibrations from the beastman travel further to the left and he felt a few more vibrations coming from straight ahead, but surprisingly, nothing from the right side. Grizz had already reached a doorway and was impatiently waving at Orou, beckoning him to come over.

The two of them passed through a narrow hallway with several more doors on the way and Grizz stopped by each one of them, pressing his ear against the door and listening for a few seconds. His face went from excitement to disappointment with each door he listened at until they arrived at the end of the hallway that split into two more hallways.

Grizz confidently turned left and pointed at the door at the end of the hallway. Not bothering to listen at any other door, Grizz started briskly walking while Orou was still examining the various paintings that were hung up on the wall. Once more, Grizz waved at Orou and put his ears against the door, and Orou, following his example, did the same.

“And what’s the situation regarding the rebels in the city?” A deep and rough voice asked a question. Orou could hear the sound of pages being flipped before a reply came: “The royal guard have been doing their best to search through everyone and not let any known rebels into the city, which has cut the profits of the town in two at least considering what kind of people travel here. Besides that, we haven’t found any beastmen with strange marking nor have we found anything strange being smuggled in.” A voice that was awfully sweet replied back before sighing.

A few seconds of silence passed before the sweet voice continued: “There have been reports of people openly discussing the subject and what’s happening further to the west. There’s no shortage of beastmen who are starting to question the king’s rule, though the situation isn’t as bad as everywhere else, at least, there’s no risk of a revolt here.”

“I have the power to directly report to the king if the rumors aren’t squelched. There’s no shortage of beastmen trying to prove themselves during these trying times and no position of power is truly secure.” The deep voice calmly spoke, but he was interrupted by a thumping sound.

“Are you threatening me? I know how to run this city and I’ve been doing it so for twenty years, I don’t need anyone to tell me what to do or how to do it.” The voice that was previously sweet turned venomous and Orou could feel the tension within the room, not able to see what was going on.

“I am doing no such thing. I am merely stating what I can do and what’s the current situation, no more. I will visit you very soon Governor Baltis and I expect the problem to be solved by then,” and with that, Orou heard the sound of footsteps slowly approaching the door they had pressed against. Grizz immediately removed his head from the door and started dashing in the other direction, doing so while making practically no noise. Orou followed him, controlling the blood core inside of him to match Grizz’s speed, moving as noiselessly as he was.

As the door opened, the two of them had already turned the corner and were sprinting back to the reception room. Grizz jumped over the table and landed on the coach nearby, grabbing one of the fruits that was lying on a platter. Orou slithered next to Grizz and coiled up, placing his head on his body and looking directly down the hallway, expecting the beastman to come any moment.

After a few seconds of silence and anticipation, Orou saw a lion beastman with much, much darker fur than Vaar walking down the hallway. He was staring directly at Grizz and Orou as he was walking by, though Grizz’s facial expression was the epitome of boredom, not revealing any of his real emotions to the beastman. Without as much of a word, the lion beastman passed the two of them and exited the building before Grizz let out a sigh of relief.

“He’s from the lion family so likely, he’s someone important. If I didn’t have 100% confidence in persuading the governor, I do now.” Grizz said to Orou as they waited for their turn to come. Several minutes passed and finally, the beastman in the blue suit walked up to them. With an indifferent expression on his face, he said: “The governor will be seeing you now.”