"... Finally!" Creed shouted at the wall.

Before us spanned the tall walls of Duntborn city, made of some stone or another and nearly twenty meters tall.

We neared the gates, where a lot of guards were waiting, a whole platoon.

When they spotted the carriage, they ran twords us, hands on their weapons. I grabbed Creed by the shoulder and walked away from the carriage, dragging him with me. The platoon surrounded the carriage and escorted it, not paying any attention to Creed and me.

Creed was looking between the carriage and me, a hesitant look on his face.

"Well," I said, "let's go take our payment from the adventures' tavern. Tomorrow."

"Besides," I added, "I made sure to claim an extra valuable piece."

"Of what?" Creed asked.

"Insurance."

We entered the city easily and found an inn, which we payed  five Silver coins for for a day's stay for two, With meals.

It was afternoon by the time we reached the city, and nearing dark when we arrived at the inn. When we took a seat by a table near the center, people were entering and seating themselves, and ordering drinks after a long day's work.

"So what should we do with these now?" Creed asked, referring to our pouch which now had seventy gold and fifty silver coins, which we earned by selling a succubus head- 20G, four sets of imp eyeballs- 10G each, some slime jelly-7G, and Wererat fangs- four sets for 6G.

"First,” I said, "a backpack. And some proper equipment."

"Like what"? He asked.

"Like a hand crossbow and some assorted bolts. Also, cheese."

"Cheese?"

"Yeah, cheese."

"You mean that moldy thing that they make out of... That stuff?"

"Milk?" I suggested, to which he shuddered. "Do you have something against milk?" I asked.

"Something? I have everything against it- it's disgusting, and its source questionable."

"It's made from " "I know where milk is from," Creed cut me off, "but that makes it worse! How do you not gag whenever you're near it? And who even came up with that muck idea? Clearly not someone in the right plonk. What kind of sly, crafty merchant even manged to convince someone to eat the crap? What, did he go 'come over here and try some milk from a filthy cow!' and people just went along with it? Horrible, what humans can come up with. I'd rather stick to my meat and rabbits'blood soup," He finished with a bite of meat.

"I can't believe you don't like cheese. Are you even sane? Have you even eaten it to say that? I bet you didn't"

"And never will- why don't you go eat some muck and tell me if that's worth eating, huh? It's " "wait," I cut him off, turning to look around the inn.

"What are you " "I sensed something... Bad."

Creed paused and looked around with his neck outstretched, before his eyes widened, and he ducked his head, coming close to whisper "that's a cultist! Muck," he looked around nervously, "this is a bad sign..."

"Cultist? Of what?" I asked, turning to him.

He examined then from the corner of his eye, and said "I don't know exactly, but it feels like a demon."

"A demon? Like you?"

He looked at me and said, "no, I'm related to... Something else. I'm talking about a proper demon of the Hellworld plains. The demons of Dema!" He looked around again discretely, and I looked as well. I spotted a woman near the wall Infront of me, sitting with an impassive expression and upright, with a mug in her hand that she seemingly ignored. Her eyes held a passivity that felt mechanic.

Talking out a knife to examine, I used the reflection to see behind me. At the wall behind us at either corner were two people of similar countenances and bearings, and two more along the walls to my sides, one left and one right.

They formed a Pentagon, or a... I visualized it in my head and realized that with us in the middle of the room, is we exclude other people, we didn't form a Pentagon, but a pentagram. But why would they target us, if at all? It's not like we ourselves were... Unless...

I looked at Creed before me- Satan incarnate. 

I mean, it sounds like a sound argument to me at least.

It might be my bias, but it seemed kind of plausible.

I looked again, and they were all starting at my direction, but not quite at me.

"They're looking at you," I whispered.

"I know they're looking at me!" He replied, somewhat aggrieved.

"Do you have something against cultists?" I asked.

"It's a mutual enmity, and when I was younger I kind of mucked a few of their rituals and all that. It's been four years since I've seen one, and five since I disrupted a mass ritual to summon a demon lord."

I pondered, thinking about how to dispose of them without being found out. The entire room was about ten by nine or so meters, with a counter containing a receptionist turning the shape from a square to an arch, which was directly behind me. There were two windows with detachable shutters- like a cover that's hung above the window to cover it- that were open into alleys to either side of me. there was also a door infront.

"Creed," I said, catching his attention, "I need a distraction."

”A distraction?" He confirmed, then his expression morphed into a wicked smirk "one mucking distraction coming the crap up."

He opened his fiddle from his case, then jumped onto the table, and from the table to the reception counter.

"Fine friends!" His booming voice capturing the attention of everyone there. "Have any of you wondered how cheese came to be?"

Silence- not a whisper could be heard. I'd also be quiet if Satan jumped onto the counter and asked me about cheese.

Then Creed put his fiddle to his chin.

"Well it starts like this

In a village of fog

Where the waters are piss 

And the land a bog.

Where the sun nary shines

And the only hope

Lay in worshipping shrines

And heeding their pope."

He started in a simple tune, and then moved on to a more complex one;

"And then came upon a time

While worshipping a shrine

A demon heard the praying folk

And thought to play a funny joke."

Then the tune sped up;

"so he spread the word 

By all that had heard-

'That if they'd come 

He'd show them a way

To help overcome

And keep hunger at bay'

The villagers cheered

With the hope that had surged

For the end of their fear

 with the man that emerged.

They gathered together

And inquired the method

That the man had presented

To make food and water."

The tune slowed, taking on a mystical ambience.

"The demon hid his snicker

And said to the crowd

'I need someone hither

To bring me a cow'"

As he said the last word, he made a weird sound with his fiddle that caused the spectators to laugh.

As Creed sang, I approached the cultist by the door, sneaking in plain sight. Her gaze had not averted from Creed the entire time, and I had to wonder if her intentions to kill my friend were pure. When I reached her, I quickly stabbed both my daggers in her eyes, and threw her out the door. I did a similar process with both of the cultists near the windows. The cultists nearer the reception were more challenging, but also went smoothly due to the entire inn hanging off of Creed's every word. I went outside and took everything the cultists had on them except their underwear, and returned.

Creed sang about how cows rose to prominence, gained sentience, found the meaning of life, founded a country which flourished but was later attacked, destroyed and forgotten, and a few millennia later their ruins were found and the secret to milk was rediscovered, which spread far and wide, though people were still rightfully sceptical about it. He hasn't even gotten to the cheese yet, and all the audience didn't look eager to stop him.

This is going to be a long night...