I still felt exhausted by the time I reached my house, and to make things even worse I saw the blond man with grey eyes dressed in extravagant clothing, his blond and blue-eyed wife dressed in an extravagant dress, which was cut short as to not touch the ground, at his side. Surrounding them were the same four tall men that were with them the last time.

What do they want?

When they saw me the man waved at me.

"Crow, it is good to see you. We would like to talk," he said as I approached.

I sighed and signalled them to follow me inside. As I pushed aside the heavy piece of cloth that served as my door I noticed two pieces of paper on the small table in front of my chair. When I sat down I took a quick look at it but didn't recognize the handwriting and before I could take a closer look I would have to get rid of this... fool.

"What do you want?" I asked, already annoyed by the very presence of six humans.

"We would like to inquire about your progress, we know that it has only been a short time since we have asked you to look for our daughter but we are truly desperate... is there any progress, anything we can help you with?" the man said.

You people are lucky that Pergament consists of idiots... or at least this branch does consist of idiots.

"I'm pretty certain I already know where she is, that's all," I said, wanting to get this over with as quickly as possible.

"Really!? Oh my, what joyous news, and so quick as well. Can you tell us where she is?" the man asked.

I sighed again, earning me an angry look from all four of his bodyguards. With the most deadpan expression, I looked back at them, individually. They seemed almost scared, and that was something I found amusing. People being scared of me was something fascinating. It had happened in the village over six years ago, and in this town, people left me and my fledgelings alone because they were afraid of me. As someone who had lived all his life fearing others it felt... good, satisfying, no, amazing to be feared by others, even the slightest bit of fear in someone's eye could fill me with joy. I smiled as I turned my attention back to the blond noble in front of me.

"Our deal was that I get her to you, not that I give you information about where she is," I said, barely containing my grin.

Maybe I can get even more money out of this fool...

"Wha-" one of the bodyguards began but his lord gave him a warning look.

"How much?" the nobleman asked.

"Fifty silvers," I said.

"Thirty," the nobleman responded, sounding quite desperate.

"Fifty-five silvers," I responded.

He gave me a look of defeat and just pulled out his money pouch without another word, putting down one silver rectangle-shaped coin with rounded edges and five circular silver coins. I took them and put them in my satchel.

"An organization called Pergament seems to have her, they've been in this town for a short time and have already established a base of operations underground. There's about thirty of them I know of, might be more."

The nobleman didn't seem shocked.

"So the demon lords are involved, I knew it," he whispered.

Demon lords? Interesting...

I expected something from Ira but she still remained silent. The nobleman nodded, thanked me and ordered his men to follow him outside. Once they left and the disgusting feeling they fave off weakened I could finally turn my attention towards the two pieces of paper, which were seemingly letters that had appeared on my table.

The right one seemed to be important so I read it first.

______________________________

Dear paladin Rudolpho,

I hereby ask of you to assist me in the training of the newlings here at fort Kalrim.

It would seem that my personal and resources alone are not sufficient in training the newlings currently present here, after our last mission went so horrably.

I would also like to ask you to bring more with you.

Due to the recent signs of the beginning of a new war, we need more men since most of mine sadly perished during our last heretic hunt.

The Golemancer is not yet ready so the only option I saw was to ask you, my dear friend, for help with the issue of training these newlings so that we could at least partially rebuild our forces.

It would bring me the utmost joy to hear from you soon,

your dear friend,

Lestul Rigarium, commander of fort Kalrim.

______________________________

Every time I read that word: heretic, a shiver went down my spine and my entire body seemed to twitch. I now turned my attention to the other letter.

______________________________

This is a copy of a letter sent about five weeks ago.

The paladin Rudolpho, mentioned in the letter, will pass through Titan's Footrpitn in exactly five days from now.

Lestul Rigarium is the leader of the heretic hunters in this area of the Galgar crater and with that is also in charge of Titan's Palace.

On a side note, next time you should win on your own, even if you didn't "technically" use magic.

But since you two put on a good show I decided to still give you the information.

I also ask of you to be prepared to fulfil the other part of our deal at any time.

Kind regards,

a friend.

______________________________

Who is this guy? He even knows about Ira... He seems to know a lot in general... but this is great news.

A smile crept across my face.

"This is the info I needed. Five days from now... I should time me saving that noble fool's daughter with my departure," I whispered to myself.

"Are we already leaving?" M's familiar voice asked.

I looked up and saw him sitting on one of the crates in the room. He always managed to sneak up on me.

"We are. I guess I should tell the fledgelings, they were the only good thing about this place after all," I said.

"Oh, do you care about your little children... and adults," M said, trying to tease me.

I chuckled.

"Not really, although I must admit that I did feel a little bad for them... a little, yes."

"Oh, you still have some feelings left," M said, almost sounding touched.

"Perhaps," I responded as I got up from my chair and began ascending towards the ladder, the two letters securely placed in one of my satchels.