Edwin stared at the content of the package before him, then at the grinning redhead with brown eyes before him.

“Is this a joke?” Hissed Edwin. Of all the things Cardinal Leo IX could have asked for from a foreign Boliarin, this was by far the worst thing.

“Oh, I have no idea what you mean. I was not allowed to open the package, you see,” the smile on the Hafnon man widened and Edwin felt his eye twitch.

“The Surian Theocracy has three Boliarins. Why can’t they handle something like this?” Snapped Edwin, not wanting to play games with Thorold Hafnon.

“I am afraid I truly don’t know what you mean. Perhaps if I can take a look?” Thorold extended his hands towards the package and Edwin trusted it in his hands. Despite his normal iron self-control, his foot began tapping.

Thorold pretended to read what he had already read in a dark alley and hummed.

“Well, this is quite the favor to ask, I agree. Still, our Boliarins proved useless in the task. They are too old, I’m afraid, and not to the liking of the demoness,” Thorold returned the papers with the task to Edwin and repressed the urge to sneaker.

“Although, their minds were willing to finish the task, but their flesh was weak,” Thorold imagined this young, he couldn’t be over twenty, thing trying to play a game of seduction with a succubus, and he smiled at him.

Edwin’s face was bright red, whatever because of embarrassment or anger, Thorold did not know. He decided to take pity on the man and throw him a bone.

“I suppose, you can always force a storming of the current lair of Haedi, but you seem a bit too young. You will miss out on quite the boon if you choose violence,” and no necromancer wanted to miss out on the eyeball of a demon. But this one huffed and then leafed through the papers.

“It says here that 700 had disappeared. Why hadn’t the Cardinal forced a storming of the palace of Haedi?” This was the coughing sickness all over again. Either willful ignorance or incompetence. Both inexcusable.

“The palace is an illusion, a survivor said once. She lives in a filthy cave. Would you take the job?” Thorold knew this Boliarin would force a storming. There will be countless angry families once the cemetery emptied.

“I will see this demoness dead, but I will not debase myself!” Said Edwin and Thorold shrugged. Oh, the folly of the young. He decided to skip the trip to the brothel. If Roberts was not jumping at the opportunity of a wild night with a succubus, he was either gay or asexual. Either way, the working women would further insult him.

“Then, I have only one last task, esteemed guest,” Thorold made a sign and the gates of Wandermere opened behind him. “Welcome to the white town! I will be your guide.”

The white buildings shone in the fading sunlight. With its wavy streets, paved with white stone and its hanging terraces with various flowers that bloomed with white blossoms, the whole town looked ordered.

“You certainly have a theme and stick to it,” Edwin watched the town in amazement. A child stopped to stare at him and waved, then its mother pulled it along on one errand or the other. “And your people are friendly enough.”

“Hospitality is what makes the Surian Theocracy such a good tourist destination. Now, for the guest rights!”

 A woman wearing the traditional costume of the Surian Theocracy, a shirt with red and purple stitched leaves and a shirt with vines and a sandy color, came forward. With a platter with bread and salt and a big wine bottle.

“I hear that there is a vampire in your traveling party?” Thorold asked just to be polite, he knew all about the companions of one Edwin Roberts.

So, the bottle had blood. Edwin went and opened the carriage door and saw that his family was playing cards inside.

“Harry, can you manage a couple of minutes in the shade? We are offered guest rights,” Hadrian took a wine bottle, not too different from the one on the platter, and drank it dry. It had human blood inside. A last gift from the mayor of Myrna before their departure.

“Now I can. It is so nice that we are getting the official welcome. Considering that Cardinal Leo IX threatened me with an execution the last time I saw him. Do you know that without his crown, his baldness is very glaring?”

Daniel snickered as Edwin groaned.

“You did not. Harry, he is a holy man!” Edwin heard someone clear their throat in an attempt not to laugh. It appears that Hadrian’s escapades were appreciated even here.

“Oh, come off it, Eddy. I returned the crown. He had it coming, not letting me into the country because of something I did five hundred years prior,” Edwin didn’t want to know what it was that angered the usually calm Cardinal. So, he just stepped to the side and let everyone get out.

First exited Daniel, then Elidys, Ben and Rael followed Hadrian out, and they all got in a line to receive the guest rights.

“I haven’t gotten guest rights in an age!” Exclaimed Daniel as he dipped the bread in the salt. He was the last to go because he was still, and will always be, contagious.

“Wandermere has many delights. We have top-notch weapon shops. Ones that would be honored to cater to a dragon slayer of your caliber,” Thorold was trying to butter them up, Daniel knew, but he was not above being buttered.

“And can I ask for a moment of your time to lead me to them?” Thorold answered him with a fake smile that barely vailed the annoyance hidden behind it.

“I am your guide. Boliarin Roberts, you have been taking lessons from my family’s library,” the amusement was clear on Thorold’s face. Edwin shifted around uncomfortably, but didn’t try to bullshit him.

“I had to research if the Hafnon family was spreading the coughing sickness,” Edwin knew that if the Hafnons wanted to persecute him, they would have.

“A word of advice, try using animals native to the home country of the people you spy on, next time. It was amusing to pretend not to see poodles skulking around our estate. But kudos for bypassing our barriers,” Edwin looked at the town as Hadrian snickered.

Daniel clapped him on the back and the children looked confused. If there was a forest near Myrna, he would have emptied it of its corpses. But there wasn’t, and so now he needed to live with the shame of getting caught.