“If you don’t tell me where the money is, we won't have any choice but to force your wife and daughters to work for it. If you don’t know what that means, allow me to break it down for you with vivid details,” Old Man sat beside Emi and rubbed the pommel of his dagger against her bounded arm. Before he had a chance to continue, Servi took the time to act.

“Look, Dal, you have to tell us where you keep the money. I’ll let you in on a little secret,” she murmured. She walked over to the trembling daughters and grabbed Lori by her shoulder. In reality, she was using Telekinesis to lift her up, so she wasn’t inflicting any damage. “They said to leave you alive. As in, we don’t have the authority to kill you. Your family, on the other hand….” 

“She’s right. And if we don’t want to kill them, they can take on your debt. You’ll be free to gamble to your heart's content after that! But I hope you know what that entails. If not, let me break it down for you. Man after man; Kobold after Singi after Elf after Dwarf, sticking their filthy cocks in her. Day in and day out. There won’t be a moment that she’s free from semen. Her ears, her eyes. Her mouth and ass, all monopolized by thick rods pounding in and out.  There won’t be a moment for her to rest. If you’re lucky, at the low, low price of 1 dupla a round, it’ll take 1,366 patrons for her to make your payment. She’ll obviously get pregnant, but the baby inside might not survive. And if it did, who would love it? It’d be an unloved baby who came into this world because you were too chicken shit to FUCKING PAY UP!!!” 

Dal cried, his words rendered gibberish by his growing emotions. Emi had long since stopped crying. Her body had no more tears to give.  

“Daddy daddy!!” Servi spoke in a child-like voice. She crouched behind Lori and used her hand to move her head. “I don’t wanna be raped. I’m too young to be a mommy like mommy. I don’t like pain, and it’s gonna hurt, right? Daddy, I won’t ever forgive you… And I know mommy and sister won’t either…. Just pay up… Please, daddy…I don’t want some unknown man’s seed inside of me...” 

 “There you have it, Dal. Your own daughter is telling you to pay up. I’m starting to think you don’t love your family. I th—Aaahh, that’s it, isn’t it? You don’t have the money at all, do you?” Old Man connected the dots and slowly folded his hands in front of him.

“I don’t…” Dal whimpered through the tears as wet snot dribbled from his nose. “Business isn’t going so hot. And I took what I had to pay to gamble after I got the letter from the Mafia. I won big, and I decorated the house. I figured since I won once, I can win again. But I didn’t. I lost it all…..” 

“Daddy daddy,” Servi continued to speak in a little girl’s voice, “You’re fucking pathetic excuse of a father. Because of you, me and my sister have to become cum dumps for older men. And mommy will have a baby inside of her that no one wants. Daddy, why?!  Why?! FUCKING WHY?!” in a bout of false anger, Servi raced ahead of the girl she used as a puppet and punched Dal in the face.  

“Willian—” 

“No! This deadbeat piece of shit put his whole fucking family in danger!!!” like a punching bag, Servi released her anger upon his head, limiting her strength and using Remedium each time to heal whatever damage she inflicted. Old Man was none of the wiser of the award-winning acting happening in front of him.

“Williana, that’s enough!!!” he grabbed her by her arm and pulled her back. The next moment, her fake anger disappeared, and she was cool, calm, and collected. “Calm down!” he shouted as he turned back to Dal, who felt the lingering pain of Servi’s attack. The damage was healed, but the pain wasn’t.  

“Failure, tell us how much money you have,” Servi ordered. “Wait, let me see what your wife has to say about all this. And let me be frank. Should you scream or yell for help, I will kill you. A warm corpse can provide as much pleasure as someone alive. A hole is a hole, after all.” 

After releasing her Telekinesis, Emi nodded as fast as she could to the point where Servi was afraid she would injure her neck. Once the rope gag was removed, she went off like a firecracker.  

“You stupid fool!!! You told me that your gambling days were over!!! You’ve doomed our entire family!!! And why haven’t you told me about this?! Didn’t we agree to leave no secrets between us when we married?!! I swear, should we survive this, I am taking our daughters and leaving your sorry ass!!!! Hey, there’s a little box with money inside the mattress. If you take it, can you kill this failure of a husband and father?” 

Old Man laughed and clapped. “Damn, Emi. I didn’t know you had it in your to turn on your husband like that. Not a lot of faith, huh? Williana, check out the bed.” 

“No! DON’T CHEC— AAAHHH!!!” Emi jumped forward, head-butting her husband and breaking his healed nose. The new and previous pain combined, leaving him sickly and bleeding as he fell back to the mattress. Old Man rolled with laughter, slapping his legs and snorting like a pig.  

“Yeah, I found it,” Servi said with her hand deep into the fluffy mattress. Five giant stab wounds littered it like a dog digging a hole, and white stuffing covered the bed like snow would the ground in winter. She pulled out a small black jewelry box with three crosses adorning it. Opening it, she saw a single 10 coin dupla. But after a bit of manipulation, it became filled with twenty 100 dupla coins.  

“Lookie what I found! 2,000 dupla all hidden away. Sounds like someone lied again,” Servi exclaimed. She handed the box to Old Man, who showed it to Emi.  

“You son of a bitch!! You had the fucking money all along but didn’t tell her?!” Emi roared again.  

“Emi, there’s not—” 

“SHUT UP!! I HATE YOU!!”  

“Well, we got the money, and that’s what we came for. I imagine you four have a lot to talk about. Remember, this all could’ve been avoided if he would’ve given us the money sooner,” Old Man sheathed his dagger and turned to leave.  

“What do we do about them?” Servi cradled the jewelry box under her right arm.  

“I say we untie the wife. To be fair, everything that transpired tonight was Dal’s fault. We were only here for him and the money, and she and the two children were unfortunate bystanders. We have no problem with them.” 

Servi did as Old Man said and removed the rest of the rope. The very first thing Emi did was smack her husband. Then she ran to her children and gave them a hug they desperately needed. Motherly affection was the only cure for the trauma they had to endure.

“Come on, we’re done here,” Old Man opened the door and walked down the corridor.  

Servi went to leave but stopped. She turned around and projected her consciousness into her ring. Once she came back out, two seconds later, a small box filled with expensive jewels and ten 1,000 dupla coins appeared floating in front of her.  

“Take it and leave. I can’t guarantee you or your daughters’ safety,” Servi said. Emi blinked twice in confusion as she looked at the open box.  

“I… Why... How?” Emi asked. Her silk nightie scrunched up as she sat on the bed. The floating box flew over to her and landed softly on her knees. Lori and Leigh hugged their mother tightly while softly whimpering.

“Our business was with him. That’s all. You, Lori, and Leigh were never in danger. Even when I threw those daggers, there was a zero percent chance I would miss. Take that money and sell the jewels. Take your daughters and go somewhere safe. I recommend Canary, and it’s your choice to take your pathetic husband with you. But whatever you do, don’t kill him. Our boss told us to keep him alive... It's not much coming from a piece of shit like me, but I wish I didn't have to involve children in matters that don't concern them.  For what it's worth, I am sorry it happened like this."

Before Emi had a chance to respond and ask the tens of questions swarming around her exhausted brain, Servi walked out and closed the door. She went down the corridor and descended the steps. Old Man leaned against the counter and glanced up when he heard footsteps. “You about done?” 

“Yeah. I told Emi to whatever she wanted as long as she didn’t kill Dal. But damn, he had two thousand hidden away?” 

“Yeah. I won’t lie and say I don’t understand the gambling, I do, but family comes first. It has to be. In that regard, he’s a failure as a husband and a father,” Old Man opened the door and walked through as a blast of warm air covered his body.  

“There ain’t nothing better than the nightly air, is there?” 

Old Man chuckled. “No, I suppose not. But after what we did, it seems tainted. People like us are the scum of the earth. Because of us, those little girls were exposed to something terrible tonight. I don’t want to say it’s worth it, but it is. Especially for me. Hey, Williana?” 

“What’s up, Old Man?” Servi replied.  

She looked behind her and realized that fateful armor shop, which became a turning point in the lives of a mother and two daughters, had lost all emotional value. It probably took Dal a long time to build up his skills, even longer to be hired on by an armorer, and even longer than that to have made enough money to own his own shop. But what had happened to him tonight was the result of his selfish actions. The man Emi fell in love with had disappeared, and she finally realized that.  

“While we’re walking back to Deset, let me tell you a story. I don’t know why, and I don’t know how, but I feel like I can trust you.” 

“Why’re you acting so sentimental? We only met a few hours ago.” 

“That’s the thing. I don’t know myself. Maybe I’m tired of keeping everything locked in. But answer me this: will you listen to my story?” 

“I will,” Servi replied. It wouldn’t be the lengthiest story, nor would it be the shortest. It was simply the story of Old Man and the life he led: he once had it all, but a single mistake and a series of bad decisions, made thereafter, took it all away.