In the small river side camp set up by the wolfgirl, Ansel as the imp found out during introductions, Stolas retells the events of the last two days going over everything. Without any deceit he was honest and forthcoming for as much as memory would allow. The imp, the slime and the wolfgirl are preparing an early morning meal before breaking camp.

“Wow, that’s pretty rough,” Ansel the wolfgirl leans back in her seat waving a hand at the tome in Stolas’ lap, “and you think it’s all because of that book?”

“Probably,” The imp shrugs as he stirred a cooking pot filled with the crab eggs Jade stole. “I think they might have been the same adventurers I took it from. They probably want it back.”

“Or they want revenge.” Ansel counters and points at him with her spoon. “You did say you killed one of them, right?”

“Why would they care about that?” Stolas’ brow scrunches in confusion, “Don’t humans kill each other all the time?”

“You’re probably thinking about bandits…” She lets Stolas have a moment to ponder her words. Jade on the other hand ignores the whole conversation and loafs off to the side contently digesting her share of the eggs.

“Regardless,” Ansel shakes her head, her shaggy mane of brown hair turning puffier. “I don’t think you should tell everyone you meet about that book.”

“Why not?”

“Just because they’re not human doesn’t mean they’re your ally.” Her expression tightens as she points the spoon at him for emphasis, “Some might try to kill you and take the book.”

“If I can’t trust people I just met,” Stolas raises an eyebrow turning his attention from the pot towards the wolfgirl. “Does that include you?”

“Of course not!” She proudly declares thumping a fist against her chest. “I am Ansel the Ferocious! I don’t need a little book to get stronger! I’m already strong enough!”

“Denying it that much just makes you more suspicious…”

“Shut up.” She pouts a little from her mighty declaration getting dismissed like that. But her sulking doesn’t last long. “So, what happened to those cores you told me about?”

“Broke one and used the rest.” The imp answers with a sigh. Pulling the pot out of the fire he serves Ansel her portion.

“Oh, right… Your spear…” She nods along, “About the ones you used, what did they do?”

“Well they changed us, giving us new abilities. Jade can blow bubbles,” At the mention of its name, the slime crawls over next to the imp. With a smile Stolas pats the gelatinous ball and continues, “As for me, I have my breath and ice claws.”

“Ice claws?” Hearing that last part Ansel’s ear twitches, and she leans in with wide eyes. “Really let me see?!”

“Huh?” caught off guard by her enthusiasm the imp offers no resistance as she grabs his hand and yanks him forward.

“Wow…, they’re like cat claws,” Pushing on his fingers she forces the blue claws to extent. Excitement glittered in her eyes as she inspected his newly formed feature. Putting their hands next to each other she looks up at him with a wide grin. “Hey look! They match, …well yours are blue, but you see it right?”

Before he can think of a reply, a slimy green tendril reaches up and pulls their joined hands down into the slime’s body. Jade bubbles and vibrates forming little spikes along its surface.

“Yelck!” Scrunching her face Ansel quickly retracts her hand and shakes off the slime coating her. “What was that for?!”

“I have no idea.” Stolas shrugs giving the wolfgirl an awkward smile while Jade crawls up encasing the lower half of his arm. “Maybe it was feeling left out?”

“You sure about that?” She raises an eyebrow, watching the slime try to climb its way up to his shoulders.

An awkward silence stretched between them and only to be broken by Stolas standing up with Jade attached to his shoulders and back.

“Thank you for your help but Jade I have to leave.” Picking up his only two belongings Stolas starts heading out.

“Oh, uh, right…” Ansel’s eyes drop to the ground between and frown begins to form on her lips. “…Where did you say you were heading?”

Stopping the imp faces her and shrugs, the movement sending ripples through Jade’s gelatinous body. “No idea, we’re probably going to head east and try to find another cave or someplace abandoned. Why do you ask?”

“Well, I need to head east too,” Her voice wavered as she glanced up at him. “And I was thinking that it would be better to travel in a bigger group. You know safety in numbers and all that.”

“How long have you been traveling out here?”

“About a month.” She tilts her head puzzled by his response before her lips curl into a defensive frown, “So what about? Do you have a problem traveling together?"

“Not at all.” The imp quickly shakes his head and gives her a smile, “I think that’s a good idea.”

“Well good. Because from the sounds of it, you guys need all the help you can get.” With prideful smile on her face she puffs her chest up, “And I’m the best help you can find around here.”

“I feel safer already.” Stolas nods his head and starts to pack up the camp.

“No need to be a smart ass.” Her smile quickly turns to pout. Snatching the small bundle of camp supplies from his hands Ansel stalks off towards the east.

“But I wasn’t…” Trying to explain himself Stolas chases after the wolfgirl, and the three of them head off.

…

Daria and Ignatz find themselves seated at a large ornate desk directly across from one of the higher up of the mage’s guild. A man who appeared to be in his late forties, wearing an ornate cloak over some high-quality traveling clothes. Between them rests the broken halves of Stolas’ spear.

“Thank you for coming to meet me, my name is Rileus, a second circle wizard with the guild. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” His voice is calm and measured but holds very little warmth. Giving the two adventurers a moment to introduce themselves, he picks up the upper half of the spear. “It seems you two came across a rather unusual find.”

“What do you mean?” Daria rases an eyebrow and leans back in her seat. “It’s just an enchanted dagger tied to a stick.”

“Yes the materials and the spear itself are of no value,” Rileus sets the spear down, and looks her in the eye. “It’s the technique used to make that I’m interested in.”

“What do you mean?” Ignatz leaned in getting a better look at the spear and drawing the wizard’s attention. “I thought it was just an enchantment, at most it a reforging spell.”

“No,” Placing a hand on the spear it begins to glow, emitting a blue light. “A normal enchantment places a spell onto the item and is often limited by its capability with the element of the spell. This however seems to have infused the mana directly into the structure of the spear and changed its very nature.”

Ignatz falls silent focusing on the spear.

“So, What about it?” Daria on the other hand just shrugs it off.

“‘What about it?’” A frown briefly passes over Rileus’ face before he straightens his posture and addresses the disinterested adventurer directly. “If we can combine this technique with existing enchanting methods, we might be able to produce living or divine quality weapons.”

“…” Daria tilts her head. “I still don’t see it. All the spear can do is spray mist. If this technique really is as powerful as you say, then why didn’t the imp make something stronger?”

“Currently, to enchant an item it requires a large amount mana.” The wizard holds out his hands holding them up as if they were scales weighing two items. “The amount is so great it is disproportionate to the resulting effect.”

“So,” Ignatz nods along in realization, “It’s like my helmet? It warns me of an attack that would harm me or my allies, but I can only use it every couple of hours. And you’re saying that I could use it more often if this technique was used instead.”

“Exactly.” Rileus nods, the briefest hints of a smile tugs at his lips.

“So what do you want?” Daria’s impatience began to creep into her voice, “You obviously didn’t just drop by to chat about potential discoveries.”

“You are correct.” His expression becomes stern and business like, “I want to issue a bounty on this imp you mentioned. I am willing to pay ten thousand for his capture, and he must be alive. I will also offer an additional one thousand for each item like this spear.”

The adventurers share a conflicted look. Ignatz hesitantly replies, “…We would like some time to consider the offer.”

“You may take as much time as you need.” Rileus nods, standing up he pulls out a coin pouch and sets it on the table before them before grabbing the spear. “But you should know, I have hired others to search as well.”

“What?!” Daria jumps to her feet. “No, he is our quarry. I have a score to settle with him!”

“I’m afraid your personal business with him is of little consequence.” His tone is cold and dismissive. He walks around the two and opens the meeting room door. “You will have a week before my hunters arrive. If you wish to collect the bounty, then you should work quickly.”

Stepping out he leaves them with a final warning, “Just remember, if you plan to kill the imp then expect your heads to be on the chopping block next.”

*Click* The latch of the door closing behind Rileus sounded many times louder than usual.

“…” Daria and Ignatz remained silent long after he left, each lost to their own thoughts.

…

With the sun high in the sky, Stolas and his two companions steadily make their way east. The dense trees of Limus Hallow begin to thin out giving way to the expansive grasslands and rolling hills of Ventus Plains, and the border between the western and northern territories.

Like human kingdoms, demons and sentient monsters have divided themselves up into territories regardless of the human borders. Stretching across and beyond the lands of Linum are three demonic territories united by a ruler known as the Lord of Brimstone. Not many demons and monsters know his real name since he tends to stay in the Southern Kingdom territory. Instead the other two territories are managed by a duke under his control. Stolas and Jade lived in the within the territory known as the Western Untamed, which is managed by a werebeast known as the Wild Queen. And the third territory known as the Northern clans, due to how many individual dungeons there are, is managed by a harpy queen known as the Duchess of Feathers.

The Vernus Plains that the three are traveling through are an open and expansive landscape with little in the way of human structures. In their place are a plethora of dungeons built by demons and monsters, each containing a dungeon lord and its clan. These dungeons are not unique to the plains and northern territory, but it does have the highest concentration of clans. Clans that often fight with each other, so it should be easy to find a small and empty dungeon for them to take. Or at least that’s what Stolas thought.

“Are you sure it will be alright?” Ansel asks Stolas as they make their way up a large hill. “Is this place in the middle of a civil war?”

“Not really,” The imp climbs to the top and scans the surrounding grassland trying to get an idea of where to go next. “Only a handful of the dungeon lords are trying to kill the Duchess.”

“But hasn’t it gotten worse?” Coming up beside him the wolfgirl looks around as well.

“All the more reason to go now.” In the distance Stolas spots a few structures. “With all of that chaos I doubt the lords will care about or even notice a couple of squatters.”

“And if they do notice, and want force you out?”

“Well, I have a plan for that.” Stolas gives her a wide confident grin, before setting off down the hill.

“If you say so…” Following alongside him and the slime Ansel decides to take his word for it.

Taking the better part of a day, the three of them search for a suitable structure. Preferably somewhere away from the larger clans, and recently abandoned so nothing else with the same idea has already moved in. Sun has begun to set by the time they find a suitable location.

In the distance they spot what looks like an abandoned outpost. Built from stone bricks a solitary pillar Stands at the top of a hill, with a single square room attached to the base. The creeping ivy along the walls show the outpost had been built quite sometime ago.

“Is there anyone inside?” Stolas peers out at it from behind one of the sparse trees dotting the landscape. Jade hugs his leg peeking out as well imitating his posture.

“Don’t think so.” Squinting her eyes, the wolfgirl peeks out from the other side and focuses on the empty windows dotting the structure. She can’t see any movement only the still darkness within. “I’ll go check it out.”

“Wait!” Raising his voice just barely enough to be still considered a whisper, the imp stops Ansel. “We should all go. Just to be safe.”

“…” She hesitates for a second. Her eyes move to the pincer club he drags behind him, considering his request she shrugs. “Alright. Just be careful with the club and don’t make a lot of noise.”

Not waiting for him to respond she takes off towards fort in a quiet run sticking close to the ground. Holding the large club as close to his chest as his still healing rib will allow Stolas follows after her with Jade in tow.

During their approach Stolas keeps his focus on the windows, and it seems that nothing has changed. He can’t help but hope that they had gotten lucky with this find. Making it to the entrance without incident the trio stand on either side of the open doorway.

Peering inside reveals the single room to be in surprisingly good condition. While it could not be considered immaculate by any stretch, but it seems fairly livable like who it belonged to could return soon. The rough wooden floors were coated in a thin layer of dust, a single table sat in the center with two chairs seated at it, one of which was upturned and laying on the floor. Two more chairs sat in front of a cold fireplace filled with ashes, and directly across from the entrance was an open door leading deeper in.

Stolas and Ansel share a look before sneaking in. Straining their ears the two of them don’t hear any movement aside for some light creaking of some kind past the other door. Behind the entrance and previously out of sight the imp spots what looks like an empty weapon rack, empty except for a single spear just beginning to rust.

“Nice!” Unable to contain himself Stolas lets out a quiet exclamation drawing very harsh look from his lupine companion. A bit bashful he gingerly sets the chitinous club down and picks up his preferred weapon. Moving past the table and chairs he joins Ansel at the interior door. Jade sticking close huddles between his legs.

With a silent signal she shushes Stolas and gestures towards the inside of the next room.

The cylindrical must have been the kitchen/storage room, since half was devoted to a small oven and stove, and the other was filled with storage crates tucked under a set of stairs. But the thing that caught the trio’s attention was the body sitting slumped up against the wall. The half-eaten body of some humanoid creature rested across from them occasionally twitching. The back end of some large beetle stuck out from the corpse’s stomach; its upper half fully buried inside the torso.

Feeling small wave of nausea Stolas covers his mouth for moment before readjusting the grip on the spear. Ansel looks over to him and jerks her head towards the exit giving him a questioning look. Stolas only shakes his head and peers back inside.

Pulling his eyes away from the grisly corpse he scans the room, typically if you find one insectoid monster there might be others hanging around. Some movement between the crates catches his eye. Emerging from behind the crates, a large ant monster crawls along searching the surrounding with its antennae.

A dungeon ant, one of the lower tier threats one could stumble against. On their own they’re nothing special, but they had a unique behavior where once one shows up in an area, others are sure to follow in an endless stream of marching insects.

The wolfgirl looks back at Stolas and mouths ‘how about now’ at him. Again, the imp shakes his head. Pointing to her he motions towards the dungeon ant, pointing at himself he jabs a finger at the beetle, and finally to Jade he makes a circular motion with his finger telling it to search around the area.

Ansel makes a small frown seeming to consider arguing about the plan but gives a nod afterwards. Either she will go along with or she will have something to say when they can talk.

Taking her signal as the former Stolas holds up his hand counting down.

3, 2, 1.

The pair of Stolas and Ansel rush out getting the jump on the unaware insects. Ansel leaps silently landing on the ant she swings her daggers and instantly severs the ants head. Shifting her body into a kneeling stance her eyes sweep the area for more ants.

As the wolfgirl rushed past him Stolas charged the beetle tightening his body ready to put his all behind a single thrust. With a sharp thrust Stolas strikes at the beetle, but his attack falters due to his rib flaring up in pain The spear pierces the beetle’s carapace but doesn’t go too deep. Bucking the monster shakes swings spear around and jerking the imp’s arms back and forth.

Coming to his Ansel stabs a dagger into the beetle’s back holding it place for a moment as she drags the other along one of the segments connecting the head to the thorax. Twitching for a moment the beetle falls still seeping yellowish red fluids.

“You okay?” placing a hand on his shoulder Ansel helps steady the imp, who is currently holding his injured side.

“Yeah… just need a second…” He takes a moment to let the pain pass, before looking over to the slime, “Jade can you go up the stairs and make sure there aren’t any more bugs?”

Bobbing its body in the affirmative the gelatinous ball rushes up to the second story

“Well, what now?” Crossing her arms, the wolfgirl leans against a crate. “You can’t really expect to live here, you never know when more might show up.”

“It will be fine. If you’re not squeamish then you have a free source of food.” The imp shrugs off her concern.

Ansel grimaces at his comment. “I doubt they taste good.”

“Not at all,” Stolas stoops down and starts to try and pile up the insects. “Can you go get my club I have something cool to show you.”