“Leaf…Leaf…”

The girl in front of Kotori was truly in a sorry state. Ever since waking up a week ago, all she had talked about nothing was nothing but getting more sweet leaf.

Kotori had been putting a little bit of sweet leaf in her food to make sure she would eat it. Otherwise, she would ignore the food and beg for more of the drug.

Her eyes looked hollowed and she clung to anybody who came near her begging for the drug. She spent most of her days huddled on her bed, whimpering and trembling. Likely, working through the withdrawal symptoms she was experiencing.

Kotori felt bad for her. It was obvious she wasn’t thinking straight. She was likely in a great deal of pain.

Yukio wasn’t helpful either, begging Kotori to see her every day. The girl seemed to be making not much effort to get over her addiction. Although Kotori could be sympathetic to her, getting over a drug addiction is still an action that requires the requisite will to get over it.

Kotori had wondered if seeing Yukio would help the girl, but she was not thinking as all and still in a drug addled stupor despite being awake.

Kotori was carefully managing the dose of sweet leaf she was giving the girl based on the amount that was in the jar. She would run out in about a month and after that it was up to the girl to work through it herself. Kotori would’ve liked to have more sweet leaf to work with, but opted for a fast cleanse. It was a little dangerous but Kotori was cure if she waited any longer. Yukio might get angry and not want to work with them.

The inn had been quiet while Fawks worked on preparations for the market takeover. Yukio had been a great help and managed to enlist the help of several orphans who would also be able to speak out against Mr. Gerard. Now the only thing to do was to turn the Atlean merchants against each other.

Fawks was planning on target a merchant by the name of Bellmont Dirgle. Bellmont was one of Gerard’s underlings and also a sea lord, but was a highly ambitious man. Bellmont helped manage most of the affairs of the other Atlean sea lord who was another one of Gerard’s puppets.

They would be meeting with one of Bellmont’s associates to pretend like they wanted to work together to remove Gerard. In truth, Fawks was planning on turning both the merchants against each other and then collapsing the entire faction.

Because the Atlean merchants were all more prosperous than the Eris merchants they were still orders of magnitude more important than Fawks. Fawks would have to grovel a bit to make Bellmont trust him.

Thus, Fawks was currently treating Bellmont to several fancy restaurants and building a business relationship.

Eventually, Fawks would drop the bomb of Gerard’s illicit activities. Bellmont was probably quite aware of it but likely didn’t want to make a move for fear of threatening the entire faction. By using his own ambition Fawks would pretend to be a helpful conspirator.

Doing so would eliminate Gerard's factions.

Kotori heard a knock on the door.

“Come in,” She said

Umi entered being a washbasin full of warm water and a hand towel, the girl was quite dirty and Kotori planned on cleaning her up to make her at least presentable.

Umi set the basin down on the night table next to the best the girl was huddled in.

“You have a visitor” Umi said as she took the towel and wet it in the basin.

“Eh? Who?” Kotori said

“I don’t know,” Umi said shrugging

Kotori walked down to the reception desk where the receptionist prepared a room for her. Since this inn was Fawks “territory” She didn’t mind seeing a visitor.

Walking into the meeting room where she met Fawks, Kotori saw a large cloaked figure in the room.

Their face was shrouded, but Kotori had no issue looking up their identity with Status

Hatake Dawn

Race: [Human] Age: 57

HP: 179

Mana: 116

Agility: 68

Strength: 143

Defense: 338

Skills: [Bulwark], [Stone Skin], [Impact Absorption]

Traits: [Rook]

[A rook? An envoy of the king?] Kotori though seeing the stats.

The figure pulled off the hood of his cloak to reveal a large scarred face man. He had light stubble and a slight grin on his face.

“Hello, Kotori, I am Hatake Dawn. I was sent here by Mr. Gerard”

“Hello…” Kotori said in response

[So, he’s working for Gerard] Kotori thought

Even though adventurers were technically hired by the kingdom it wasn’t like they couldn’t hold other jobs if it didn’t interfere with their normal work.

Hatake leaned forward into his chair, his large frame making it creak slightly. He gave a strong glare that would make a normal person take a step back. Kotori was unfazed.

“You don’t seem surprised to see me?” He said

“Not in particular, I’ve seen worse,” Kotori said flatly

The Hatake gave a hearty laugh.

“Ah, when that Mr. Gerard told me to meet up with a girl that was barely out of the womb, I was expecting a typical intimidation job, but it seems like you have a bit more backbone than the average person,” He said.

“So what does Mr. Gerard want?” Kotori asked him.

Hatake smiled

“Betrayal”

Kitsura

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