Leo the lion guard wasn't half as intimidating as Sarah had first pegged him to be. In fact, she found his company quite amusing. The city she had found herself in was called Grower. As they walked down central street, aptly named due to the fact that anything a person might need could be found there, Leo explained each of the guild-related buildings and what their purpose what as they passed by. There turned out to be quite a lot as almost every type of trade had a headquarters.

Guilds regulated everything inside and out of the city with each one was responsible for their own area of expertise. You could join a guild and accept contracts to earn money as most people did in Grower. You could still earn money without registering, but the fees for selling their goods were less if you were to become a member.

The size of a guild hall represented their status and power in the city of Grower. The largest of guilds holding the most influence over the city and their voices dictate the way it grows. "They don't look to be doing to bad," Sarah commented as they passed a building with timber being sawn out front.

"The Wood Cutters Guild." Leo explained that they had been around since the founding of the city, hundreds of years ago. It was apparent by the tone in his voice that he had a lot respect for that guild in particular.

The last building they had visited was the Ale for All Guild. Sarah was happy to see that some type of union had been formed for the betterment of alcohol. Carol's brother had suffered with alcohol and tolerance abuse so it was good to see measures in place to regulate the brewers and suppliers. Leo scoffs as they arrived however. "These guys," he growled. The first she had heard since meeting him.

"What's up with these guys. Isn't it a good thing what they do?" Sarah asked, not knowing the reason behind Leo's animosity. "You would think. Come."

"For the last few years there has been a significant increase in alcohol related crimes. Not to mention the staggering number of drunks that occupy the cells come morning. I know what you're thinking before you say it, so don't bother. Drunks in a cell is standard procedure. Well, not when nearly every cell is housing twenty people a night it isn't. Other than the four cells you saw, we have three more rooms exactly like that one. We also have two smaller rooms that house the more violent prisoners. Right now it's quiet, but in a few hours there'll be bodies laid all over and on top of each other. There's just not enough space. Even with five guard houses. The number of prisoners keeps rising and so does the amount of dead drunks." Leo shook his head and stopped walking before looking up at the moon. Its rays were nowhere near as strong as its counterpart the sun, but it was enough to help soften his features somewhat. Even the markings that made him appear frustrated didn't seem as intimidating underneath its light.

"Fuck it," Sarah clicked her tongue. "Want a hand investigating? I could go under cover. Do some covert ops?" Sarah offered her assistance without a second thought. Leo seemed like a cool dude, he also didn't leave her in a cell so there was that too.

"I appreciate yothe gesture, I think, but some of your words are lost on me words, miss Kemp. For example, how would going under a cover help me out? Also, how did you know that I was investigating?" Leo asked, curious as to what gave him away.

"Hmm, let's see. All of it? Yep. All of it. You're obviously keeping track of what's happening because you know detailed specifics. Plus, you seem to care more than the average guard would about drunks in the tank."

Heading away from the large building with the tankard plaque hanging outside, Leo stopped to look at Sarah. "The tank? You are very strange, miss Kemp. I think I should be weary of you after all."

"Don't be silly. You're like twice my size and twenty times as strong too. How did you get that strong anyway?" She didn't let the opportunity to ask about his diet go to waste and stealthily evaded another leading question. Fortunately it paid off and Leo played along.

"I can not use magic," he shrugged. "The points that others may put into their wisdom and intelligence stats have gone solely into my strength and vitality." His laugh was a thunderous roar before his face turned serious. "Most people here won't talk to you about their status though. Some will even take great offence if their questioned about it, so don't go round making a point of asking questions like that, OK?"

She nodded and thanked Leo for the helpful information as they passed by a stall selling meat skewers. It was at that point that Sarah realised she hadn't eaten in a few hours and her tummy agreed it was feeding time. After a quick Identify, however, she was thoroughly repulsed and almost ready to vomit.

[Rat Meat - The person who consumes this food has high chance of falling ill.]

"That's disgusting. Do people eat rat here?" Feeling more than a little grossed out, Sarah couldn't help but ask.

"Why would you ask such a question? That would be disgusting. Do you eat rat where you're from?" Leo actually looked wounded that she would ask him such a question. Not that it was her intention to hurt him.

"Fuck no. That would be disgusting. I was asking because that guy there is selling them on skewers?" Sarah pointed toward the man two stalls back.

"What!?" Leo rushed back to follow up on Sarah's allegation and began checking the meat himself. The merchant began to sweat somewhat and it wasn't due to the weather. "What meat is this?" Leo demanded as the merchant began to visibly shake that much that Sarah thought her tower was being upgraded.

"G-Gekki, sir." The man bowed to hide his face as he clutched on to the sides of his robe. Leo, for all his height and build while in full armour, was a pretty-intimidating sight to behold. Especially when he glaring straight at you. Sarah knew that through first hand experience.

"He's saying it's cow and to be honest I can't actually smell a difference. Usually I can sniff out rat a mile away so maybe you were mistaken. Either way there's no crime here. Let's go." Leo set off down the street, but Sarah wasn't happy about being told she was wrong as she moppily followed after.

"I wasn't mistaken. Identify was. I don't even know what rat meat looks like, you know?" Sarah bumped into Leo's back, who had apparently decided to stop dead in his tracks. He turned around and his face was back to the puzzled, but curious look he had showning often. After taking a few moments to decided what to say, he couldn't think of a good way to ask about her status so he just came out with it. "You have Identify?"

"Yeah, why? Doesn't everyone? It was like one of the first skills I got. What's up, Leo? Why are you looking at me like I'm a juicy slab of fresh meat and talking under your breath?" Sarah was confused as to why her having the skill Identify was such a problem, but Leo investing heavily into his strength wasn't.

"I can not imagine what you had to go through to acquire that skill, but it must have been a truly traumatic experience. I'm very sorry that you had to endure something like that." The honest sentiment caught Sarah off guard and before she had knew it, tears were streaming down her cheek.

'How the fuck does he know that? Actually, I suppose he would know more than me. This is his world after all. He's had years to learn about the everyday crazy shit that happens here whereas I'm still a rookie in boot camp.'

"Thank you?" Unsure if that was the right response, Sarah couldn't help but appreciate the care in Leo's words as she dried her eyes.

'Why can't my descriptions be this kind to me!' A few choice titles sprang to mind.

"I mean, thank you. It's nice to actually hear that. Not that I'm going to tell you what happened, but it was horrible, you're right. Thank you, Leo. While it's on my mind, do your titles and skills give you shit?"

"Do my skills cause me to go to the bathroom more often?" As had been the case since Sarah had met Solus, her words were lost in translation.

"No! That's not what I meant. My skills tell me to stop... getting injured, or something like that. Does that sound right to you?"

"Do you get injured often?" Leo asked.

"It's been happening quite frequently these last two days. Is that why my titles are so rude towards me?" Leo was once again staring intensely at Sarah, causing her to fret that she may have mistakenly slipped up somewhere.

"What did I say this time?" They keep walking as Leo looked as though he was going through a state of disbelief.

"I know I will regret asking this, but how many titles do you have?" The words hurt him say and the pain was written across his face. Leo had told her it was taboo to ask about another's status and here he was posing the questions himself. Curiosity was a strong driving force after all.

"Didn't you say I shouldn't tell people that sort of information?" Realising that she may have already given away more information than she should, Sarah's words hurt the lion in a way she hadn't fully understood even though she only meant to tease the muscular cat.

"I... I'm sorry. I should not have pried. I thought... I don't even know what I was thinking. Please, forgive me." It was only then that Sarah realised the weight that Leo placed over another person's status. It had been hard to ask, but even harder being rebuked.

"I'm sorry. I was only teasing you. I see now I shouldn't have done that and to be honest, Leo, I like you. Not in that way though, so don't go getting riled up. What I mean is that you seem like an upstanding guy and sometimes I don't know when to bite tongue. You do seem like a good guy, Leo. I have four titles. What about you?"

Casually revealing what others would consider a closely guarded secret, Sarah felt it was nice to have someone to confide in. She didn't know any other actual people. Apart from her summoned souls and the murderous, old guardian, that she could call friends on this new world and Leo seems like a decent-enough cat.

"None." The answer she recieved was was a slap in the face to Sarah.

"What? How do you not have any titles? You're fucking huge. With your strength, I'm surprised that you don't have more titles than I do." Sarah was honestly shocked and they continued on in silence.

It was at that point Sarah realised that she should have taken the Book of Souls out of her ring before they had started their tour and the second Leo's eyes d left her, drifting to one of the passing food stalls, she did just that. As quick as she could, Sarah opened the book and slid it up her shirt. She wrapped her arms around her stomach to hold and conceal the hardback object.

'I hope this works. People die all the time in places like this, right? Hopefully, I can just be a passing soul collector.'

"Titles are not so easily obtained," Leo explained as he purchased two skewers and gave one to Sarah. "It's suggested that you have to live through a near death experience to acquire one. I personally don't know anybody who has one, let alone four. Are you sure you're not jesting me?"

"I swear to god. Also, if what you're telling me is true, I definitely won't be telling anyone else my details. No wonder people keep their status a close-guarded secret." Her guide nodded and the continued on again in silence.

They were headed back the way they came and Leo couldn't help bht steal sly glances at the woman beside him. He was wondering what tribulations she would have had to go through to have acquired four titles at such a young age. Sarah took the opportunity to test one of her previously unused skills.

- Eyes of Death - Level 1: You are able to view the HP of your enemies. You are also able to bare witness to any incidents of death that have occured in your nearby vicinity.

Sarah activated the skill to see if removing the Book of Souls had been a pointless exercise. As she did, a thin rectangular bar appeared above every person on the street. Leo was not an exception either and his health bar seemed to double up on itself. Probably something to do with all the stats he had spare from not being able to use magic.

As she looked around, Sarah spotted two colourless rectangular bars in an alleyway on her left. She didn't know how long they had been there, but she didn't know if either of them still had a soul.

'I wonder if the souls stick around after death?'

[I can collect souls up to three hours after an individual has passed.] A new voice spoke inside her head and almost made her jump from shock.

'Since when do you talk? Do all magical objects in this world do that? Is my staff going to start walking around on its own? Just. I can't deal with you right now, book. Thank you for letting me know. That was a helpful piece of information, but while we're here with Leo the fucking lionheart, please refrain fom spooking the shit out of me.'

[Yes, Master.] The book whispered in Sarah's mind. It was almost too much to take and that point. She didn't even consider the fact that the book might be able to talk, let alone whisper, but she couldn't afford to waste any brain power on it at that time. Leo seemed like quite the perceptual individual.

"Hey, Leo. What do you know about magical objects?" Sarah eventually broke the silence as she curious to learn as much as she could before they went their separate ways.

"Sadly not as much as you probably need to know. Let me guess. You have a plethora of them too?" He chuckled light heartedly, but Sarah could tell he was growing more and more suspicious every time she opened her mouth. "The library is your best bet." Noticing that she failed to respond, Leo offered the best advice he could just as they returned to Guard House 3.

"OK. Well, thanks you for that and thanks for not leaving me in that cell. That magma guy didn't sound like an appealing bunk partner." Sarah laughed.

"Truer words have never been spoken and as I said, it's not as though we have space for people who are only curiously suspicious." Leo smiled at Sarah before he took on a more serious tone. "It's time for me to take my leave, but it was a pleasure meeting you, miss Kemp. Hopefully I will see you again," he winked.

"You too, Leo. And yeah, hopefully the next time it won't be under threat of being jailed." Sarah couldn't help but joke over how they had met. "Still, I'll probably call in if I need help in the future, is that OK?"

"You're welcome to visit me anytime," Leo smiled.

"Awesome. I'll see you later then." Sarah turned around and started back towards the location of the dead bodies. They had fallen out of the range of her perception as they traveled, but it was easy enough for her to find them again. She hadn't take any turns with the guard captain after all and their entire tour had been one big loop of central street.

When she reached the bodies, Sarah cast Identify on both to reveal what she already knew. Their colourless corpses caused a fresh bout of tears to run down the mortified woman's cheeks and this time they were not for herself. The two children looked almost human but both have canine ears on their heads.

'I wasn't really going to use this skill. If anything is going to get me outed as a Necromancer and burnt at the stake it's this one for sure. They won't get their soul backs either will they?' Sarah's question was rhetorical, but the Book of Souls wasn't to know that and an answer was given.

[No Master. You are able to implant fresh souls, but the one they had before death has already left their bodies.]

'That's... actually good news. Thank you, Book. In fact, what's your name? Everybody else seems to have one,' she asked through the telepathic connection they were sharing.

[I do not have a name, Master. My last owner called me 'that bastard book'. If it would like, you may refer to me as such.]

'Dont be daft. When we get home, I'll think of a good name for you. First though, I need to work out how to Frankenstein these kids and then get them back home without anyone seeing us.' Sarah laughed at her own stupidity. She hadn't really known what had led her to come back for the lifeless children and after laying eyes on them, she knew she couldn't leave them.

'OK. Let's see how this works.'