I walked out of the room and exited the inn we were staying at. The night was cool, and the stars far above twinkled brightly. Even with all the lampposts, the night was still bright.

“I hope Ange and teach don’t have too much trouble…”

It wouldn’t do good for me to worry now, but I felt guilty leaving them with such tough looks on their faces. I started to make my way down the brick paved street when I heard a voice call out from behind me.

“Hey, Fin! Wait up!”

“Huh?” I turned to see my childhood friend, Ange, running up to me, “Oh come on, Ange,” I said exasperatedly, “I need you to stay behind and keep on an eye on that lady until I talk to Impeerio.”

“I know!” she replied, puffing out her cheeks.

Whenever she would do this, I couldn’t help but see her as the girl I used to play cards with when we were younger. But now this girl of the Skull Knight race was stuck with me in this terrible life. But yet, she never seemed down.

“This is for the girl!” she said sticking out a pouch, wearing that happy-go-lucky grin she always seemed to wear without effort.

“What’s this?” I asked, taking the brown pouch in my hand.

“Money. The lady needs clothes. Don’t you think?” she winked at me from beneath the shadows of her skull and wore a devious grin.

“Right.” I said, fighting a blush. “I’ll be back then,” I tucked the pouch away into my coat and gave my friend a final nod before turning.

“Have a good meeting!” Ange yelled, waving me away.

I quickly scurried away towards my meeting.

“It should be around here somewhere…”

I walked further down the streets until I found the restaurant I was told to come to.

“Jungle Kitchen? Seems like the place.”

The restaurant seemed to take the motief and the region and go beyond it. The wood was adorned with all manners of jungle plants and had flowers growing along its trim. I came up to the wooden door, turned the knob and walked in to be greeted by a delicious fragrance and a particular greeting-

“Yoohoo, Fin, over here!”

I turned to see the man calling me over to a booth. Platinum blonde hair that draped over his sharp, fair-skinned face almost hid his bright blue eyes.

“Impeerio…” I walked over to the booth, slightly relieved to see a familiar face and took a seat across from him.

Always a spectacle, Impeerio was sitting here, sipping his tea wearing a loud, multi-colored floral print shirt- one he most likely got in town and wore a wide brimmed hat with a red flower pinned into it. I didn’t know what race Impeerio was, but I did know what he liked by now.

The waitress, given the cat ears and tail, some type of feline beastman came to take my order-

“Great service they have here, don’t they? Wasn’t even a second and they noticed you.” Impeerio said gleefully as soon as the waitress walked away. “Looks like the guidebook was right, this is a wonderful restaurant.”

“I suppose, but Impeerio, I think I should report to you what happened.”

“Oh come now, we can shoot the breeze for a bit!” Impeerio said, dismissing my thoughts with a hand wave. “Here we are, so far east, in the deep jungles of Mistrim, a mere’s stone throw away from the mysterious mist’s boundary, in a quaint little town.” Impeerio looked out the window, seemingly admiring the sights. “Isn’t that just amazing? How far our journey has taken us.” He turned his gaze back to me and smiled, “Wouldn’t you agree, my friend?”

Impeerio, ever since I met him carried the air of a man that seemed to enjoy stopping to smell the roses along the way. That disposition however always made me curious how we could ever have intersected, and more specifically, how we could ever have come to work together.

“And that journey is still ongoing.” I said, interrupting his mood, “Which is why we need to speak about what’s happened.”

Impeerio sighed in an exaggerated manner, “Fine, fine,” he said, before beginning to sip his tea.

“We found the hideout. They were using a very small ruin, like your intel said.”

“Ahh,” he replied, “Were there Blood Hound members then?”

I pulled out from my chest pocket a few metal badges and tossed them onto the table. Badges I had picked up from the members after downing them.

“Yeah, but just small fry. The one worth talking about was a cyclops man. Seemed like he was the leader.”

“Ahh that criminal organization has grown so big that they can just send out small cells to ruins without batting an eye. Are you disappointed you didn’t find a bigger fish?”

I sighed as I took stock of just what I was feeling, “Yes and no. I had Ange with me, so in a way, I’m relieved they were targets we could handle. But still, this journey; its been long.”

“Ahh I think I understand what you’re feeling, though I can’t say I’ve ever felt it myself,” Impeerio replied.

The waitress returned with a water for me and a pie for Impeerio, which he quickly started slicing and eating, even silently offering me an eighth of the pie.

“Don’t you want to ask me about treasure?” I asked, my question signifying my refusal of the pie.

“Well, I thought the conversation would naturally go there,” Impeerio replied through a full mouth.

“We didn’t find any of the Seven Treasures.”

“Oh, that’s too bad.”

Though Impeerio had said that, he kept eating like nothing was wrong.

“Don’t worry,” he said after noticing my discomfort, “The contract won’t penalize you or anything. You did as I requested and that was good enough.”

“Right…”

Contracts; they were one of the foundations of my world. Magical agreements that when made must be observed lest you end up with the entire world conspiring to penalize you. This man before me, Impeerio, despite looking the way he does, was an intermediary I made a contract through.

“In exchange for the power to survive and exact my vengeance, I need to follow up on the leads you dig up on the Seven Treasures your God wants you to find,” I said, reminding myself and confirming with Impeerio that I had gotten it right.

“Within a reasonable timeframe and other little things!” he interjected, “Mustn't forget the minutiae that make the contract humane.”

“Right.”

“Don’t worry about it so much! You’re in the clear! It’s thanks to your earnest efforts that we’ve secured three of the treasures so far!” Impeerio was doing his best to quell my concerns of failure and the consequences therein.

I had heard that contracts could be very cruel in how they determined what constituted a penalty or violation, but when Impeerio and I made a contract he made very sure to set up one that would be very kind to me. Thanks to that, I could afford to take long breaks between leads, although I never felt comfortable doing so. Regardless, so long as I got to the lead within a few months, I was in the clear contract wise.

“Still,” Impeerio started, “It’s odd, I was sure there was something there.”

“Actually, that’s what I wanted to speak with you on.”

“Do tell,” Impeerio said, taking another entranced bite of his pie.

“We found a woman, stuffed in a box.” Impeerio stopped midway through his chew and raised a brow.

“Was she alive?!” he shouted, food spilling out from his mouth. “Oh sorry, sorry, I’ll clean that up.”

“Yes, she was alive, but she was nude with not a single item on her and we haven’t really been able to identify what race of sentient she is.”

“Wait, hold on hold on!” Impeerio said, his brow knitted into concern.

“Yes?”

“Where is she now?”

Does he know something?

“I brought her back and left her at the inn under supervision,” I replied. I realized that maybe he was concerned that I caused a commotion. That would be expected if I suddenly brought an unconscious woman into town. “We were stealthy about it, no one noticed,” I said to calm Impeerio’s concerns.

“Uhuh, I thought so. And how did your women feel?”

“My-My women?” I knew who Impeerio was talking about, but I didn’t want to think what would happen if Ange knew Impeerio referred to her as that.

“Yes! How did your women feel about you bringing a naked woman, a strange naked woman back into your group?! Were they angry?!”

“H-Huh?” Impeerio was too animated about the topic; it caught me off guard. “I suppose, Teach kind of teased me about it,” I waved my hands frantically, “But it wasn’t that big of a deal! We wrapped her up in my coat when we brought her in!” I wasn’t sure what was going on anymore.

“Oh, so nothing scandalous happened? That’s a bore. My Lord gave you a second lease on life; you should live it to the fullest,” Impeerio replied with a childish pout. “You know, between jobs,” he amended.

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I yelled; I didn’t want to be stuck on this point. “More importantly, the woman!” I slapped my hands on the table to shun any steamy thought, “Do you know what might be going on here?”

He looked at me, took another bite of his pie and seemed to mull the thought over. “Can’t say I know anything for sure.” He pointed his pie covered fork towards me, flicking his wrist, “The woman might be related to the treasure in some way.”

I raised my brow. “How? On what grounds?” I asked. I was skeptical of how this random woman could be involved with an ancient treasure.

“My information indicated there was a lead here. You found a mysterious woman, mysteriously shoved into a box. It wouldn’t be any more mysterious for her to be involved.

I thought to the woman; she was naked and had yet to regain consciousness. She was stuffed into a box that she wouldn’t be able to open. She was a victim of the Blood Hounds.

“With all due respect, I think she’s a victim. If you’re sure about your info though, I’ll just head back to the ruin now and look for more clues.”

“Did you not investigate it thoroughly already?”

“I was tossed into a hidden chamber that we wouldn’t have known existed. And then we found the girl and couldn’t look further. There might be something more there.”

“Hmm.” Impeerio brought his messy fork to his chin, slathering cream on his chin in the process. “Well how about we sleep on it? Maybe we’ll have better ideas tomorrow on how to proceed. Besides, I wouldn’t want your ladies to get upset because of you being overworked.”

“Is this not an urgent matter? Securing the treasure?”

“You’re the only one that makes it urgent. I give you room to breathe.”

“But what if the Blood Hounds take it while I’m off breathing?”

“Then you go find the Blood Hounds.” He stuck his thumb into the air and grinned, “I believe in you.”

“R-Right.” I wasn’t good with such direct declarations; I looked out the window without noticing. I could hear Impeerio snickering in the meantime. “W-Well, if that’s decided, I’m going to leave now.”

“Huh?!” Impeerio gasped, offended, “What do you mean leave?! At least run the gab with me while I finish my pie.”

“No, I’ve got to go do an errand.”

“What could be more important than chatting out with your friend?!” Impeerio’s sounded even more offended than before; his hand had already clutched his chest.

“I’ve got to go buy the woman some clothes. The girls asked me to.”

“Oh?” Impeerio slapped his hands against the table and leaned over so forcefully I thought the table was about to tip. “I’ll come with you then!” he yelled. His eyes were beaming.

“Why though? I’ll be fine on my own.”

Impeerio wore a smug look, “Did you get her measurements? Do you know all the best places to shop?”

I stopped in my tracks; I was about to answer, but I knew I had no answer. Impeerio however took my silence as the answer.

“Then that does it! Let’s head out, Fin! To buy the lovely lady some clothes!”