“Huuuuh.” Sighed heavily Isabella, falling back on the bed, lying splayed with her eyes closed, thinking over everything that Samantha told her. “Fuck. I get your reasoning, but do you know how scared I was, you cunts? I almost pissed myself right there in front of you. Don’t ever joke with me like that again, bitches.”

“Sorry.” Said Samantha sitting in the armchair

“It was all her. I was an unwilling participant.” Said Kate sitting in the armchair at Sam’s side and pointing at Samantha.

“Hey!” Protested Sam. “Well…it is partly true though. If it was just for us, we would simply come to you and ask. You know I’d trust you. But…”

“I get it.” Said Isabella lifting herself from the bed and walking over to her friend. “My people and customers. Are they going to be alright?”

“Yeah. Bet they would even feel better than they hoped when they came here. I heard Dryad's sleeping magic is amazing in…you know…giving good dreams.” Said Samantha with a smirk.

“Good.” Sighed Isabella.

“And Becca? You did not kill her, to substitute her right?” Asked Isabella, gazing at Kate.

“No, No. We roughed your guards a bit just to measure their skills but they are all fine. Taking a good rest too under the Dryads spell.”

“God, you make it sound so easy.” Said Isabella, sighing again.

“It was easy to be true, Bell,” Said Samantha.

“I bet. For fighting junkies like you lot, it sure was. But they aren’t bad! They helped me a lot already, protecting my investment and businesses.” Said Isabella.

“Still not enough. There are people even we would struggle against in the underworld. These kids would not stand a chance.”

“I know.” Said Isabella. “It was temporary. I do have some connections in other regions. Becca’s company was just the most available right now.”

“So where did you get her and her team?”

“It’s a long story. She was once one of the ‘girls’, and had no other way of providing for herself so she sold herself. But she was always a tomboy and did not have many clients. I once heard about her dream of making her own Mercenary company. She kind of reminded me of you all. So I lent her money and gave advice on how to do business. She organized some ruffians she knew from childhood and opened her own mercenary company. When I was desperate here, she came to my help. I know she is still inadequate. She’s still a newbie in this. But she has potential, don’t be hard on her.

“I see. Well, sorry for that.”

“Don’t be. It might be a good experience for her.” Said Isabella. “Maybe you can give her more advice in the future?”

“We’ll see. It's not so easy for us to go out now. Every town has our wanted posters. Without these, we are walking dead.” Said Samantha pointing with her eyes at the medallion on the table.

“Still. This thing is amazing. You saying that it can give you any appearance and even Adventurers Guilds scan can't see through it?” Asked Bella bending to look at the round object that lay on the small tee table near Kate.

“Yeah. While Noah provides magic to charge it. If he stops it loses magic over time and once it loses its charge, he would have to reapply the skill on it.” Explained Kate.

“I see. It's a unique skill to his house only. Good. Would it work on me?” Asked Isabella, stretching her hand but stopping it, looking at Kate, as if asking for permission to touch it.

“Madam explained that skill is cast for a specific person. Tailor made so to say. So no. It has to be cast for you anew so you could use it.” Said Kate pushing medallion to Isabella allowing her to look closer.

“Too bad. I wish I had it. You can’t imagine how hard it is to just walk the street with all that attention from people that know I am a number one whore of the town.” Said Isabella disappointed as she studied the medallion in her hands before giving it back to Kate.

“Maybe you’ll get one if you ask, Madam.” Said Samantha.

“So you think I passed her test? Would she offer protection?” Asked Isabella

“I think so, yes. But you’ll have to talk with Noah. But…do you want it? Her help?”

“You saying she deducted all that about my situation the moment she heard the news today? Heck yes! I want to have a woman with that cunning mind on my side. Hell, I want to meet her as soon as possible. There’s so much I want to talk with her about. With her intelligence, I am sure she can give me so much advice.”

“Khem…” Said Samantha. “I get your enthusiasm, she sure is smart but…You did hear me explain what kind of being she is?”

“Monster, right? Yeah, I heard you. But she’s intelligent and never hurt you, even though you lived there several weeks already, right? There's no danger. Why should I worry?”

“I did not expect such a reaction to be true.” Said Samantha.

“I get it. It’s just that I more or less got used to the idea of monsters living in human society.”

“You knew?” Asked Kate surprised.

“No. No. Just…How do I say it? I had that strange feeling of suspicion. Remember that time you guys saved me?” Said Isabella.

Samantha nodded remembering a certain incident, many years ago.

“Hmm? What's the story?” Asked Kate looking between the two women.

“It was still before you joined Sam’s team.” Said Isabella. “I was just a prostitute in a local brothel and Sam, Lilly, and Dany just went on to be adventurers. 

“There was a certain incident back then. Many girls were disappearing all over the place.” Said Samantha.

“I heard of it before. Some perverted noble kidnapped women and held them in his prison as slaves.” Said Kate nodding

“Yeah, only not all were kidnapped. That fucker got attention from investigators when kidnappings were increasing, but before that, there were a lot more girls that he got his hands on in other ways. At first, they simply bought women. Many poor families sold their daughters themselves, so no one raised an alarm to search for them. The owners of brothels also got a good offer. Who would look for a disappeared whore?”

“For us, prostitutes, it was a worrisome time. We could not ask for help behind our bosses' backs, because that would get us in big trouble. Back then I was gaining good customers and good money, forming a plan to open my own place. I investigated the matters of the girls' disappearance in other brothels and soon found out the truth that they were sold. But I realized that I am a nuisance to my boss. He did not need a whore that could move him from the spot. 

“So I was most likely to follow their fate, whatever it was. So I did the only thing I could think of. I sent Sam a distress message. If she was just a day late I would have been already sold too. Sam and the girls took care of that bastard boss  and his lackeys for me. As for that noble…you may have heard of it. Before investigators organized a troop to search that bastard's territory, old woman Paula burned the whole household to the ground, slaughtering everyone who was there. Many girls were released from his prison by her and the people she led, but just a small part of the amount that should have been there. Others were found buried later. Hundreds of women.”

“Back then Nobles actually had the gall to protest her actions, asking to call Paula for justice from Investigators, but were soon shut up by Adventurers guild. To tell the truth, the guild saved their asses. I bet she would have slaughtered them too. Granny fucking crazy.”

“There was, however, some rumor after that, saying that the noble was a monster.” Said Isabella.

“Well, it’s no wonder of course. What he did was indeed monstrous. But there was something strange. The rumors were quite specific, calling him a Hobgoblin. Many adventurers who participated in raid back then, said the same thing later. That man was a Hobgoblin. Many of them blabbered the story in brothels too. No one took it seriously and only considered it a drunken tavern story. But they sounded quite sure of it. And all repeated the same. Hobgoblin. So it kind of made me think about the matter. What if they were not lying? What if there are really monsters living among us? It was just a fantasy but I kinda got used to the idea while thinking about it. So it’s not really surprising to me that you actually met them, true monsters living among us.”

“He was a Guardian?” Asked Kate.

“Yeah. Probably.” Said Samantha, nodding.

“Guardian?” Asked Isabella.

“Well, there’s actually a reason for these monsters to live among humans. They are there with the government's approval.”

“Seriously? Does the church know too?” Asked Isabella, her eyes going wide.

“Yeah. I am not sure we are allowed to tell much, but it has something to do with Labyrinths and keeping them going, so that we don’t have dungeon break. We don’t know the specifics, but in short, there are Sapient monsters that can be reasoned with. Some agreement was reached with them and they joined the human’s side coming to live in the human realm by the human laws. Well most of them. Some as you might get could not throw away their monster habits. There should be a system for finding such cases and dealing with them. They call them observers. It’s some strange animals that can actually speak, they spy on these monsters and report to the government.”

“Interesting. This Madam you live with, you said she’s Arachna? How old is she, how long does she live among humans?”

Kate and Samantha looked at each other shrugging. “Hundreds of years is my estimation.” Said Samantha.

“Holy…No wonder she is so intelligent. Makes me want to meet her even more.” Said Isabella.

“Well if you made your decision. Let’s call Noah. We spent a long time chatting here, and he doesn’t have much time. He should go away tonight. Besides, we need to wake up your girls and customers. Otherwise, some people might come to check why your establishment is not working and sound an alarm.”

“Oh? You are not staying with him in this room tonight?” Asked Isabella with a naughty gleam in her eyes.

“Stop it, would you! I’ve had enough of it from Theressa tonight.”

“Oh? Now that's what I'd like to hear in detail.” Said Kate. 

“Agree.” Said Isabella.

“Enough!” Shouted Samantha, her face going red as she jumped up and went to call Noah. 

*****

“So this is true then.” Said the King holding a box full of inscriptions in which a green glob of slime lay on a velvet pad. “He really is that Tamer?” He added looking at Lord Belmont who stood at his side.

“No doubt now, Your Majesty. It’s just…” Said Lord Belmont without finishing his words.

“Speak.” Ordered the King

“It’s still unconfirmed, but…I have doubts he is a Tamer at all.” Said Royal Investigator.

“What do you mean?” Asked the King.

“That latest finding of the Royal Academy bothers me. I previously had doubts about his skills but now even more so.”

“You mean that report I ordered to be classified? I don’t understand. If that slime really is not a slime but a Mimic as they conjecture in their research, then that is only more proof that he is a Tamer is it not? That’s the most feasible explanation of his appearance-changing skill too. He can produce different types of Mimics, such that would help people change appearance.” Said The King.

“It’s not that. There was one more thing in the report that bothers me, Your Majesty. Researchers noticed that his Slimes or Mimics, whatever they are, are too ideal. As if artificial. This artificial part keeps me thinking. Tamers don’t create monsters, they capture them. And how many Labyrinths or dungeons are there where you can capture Mimic monsters? There is not a single one in the whole Western Region where he lives his whole life and this young Count McDaniels has never been anywhere away from his region. Neither has he been known to be trained as a Tamer. Instead, it was said he did not awaken his system until recently. Tamers don’t just start Taming Great Alpha Wolf and rare Mimics.”

“What is your theory?”

“I think he might have awakened a special type of system that has something to do with mimicking. We assume that he is a Tamer because he has two types of monsters by his side. Wolf and slime or mimic. But what if there are only Mimics? What if the wolf is not a wolf at all? It sounds crazy, I know. But what if he has only Mimics and the wolf is just one of them.”

“Interesting. There is no Tamer that can tame only some single type of monster. You suggest that he has a strange system that lets him create Mimics. Literally, make them. Breath in the spark of life into his creations. Is that what you think?” Said the King rubbing his chin.

Lord Belmont nodded.

“Interesting. But to check that we need the research material that Magistrates ask for. If they are right and this is Mimic instead of slime, there is no logical reason why they can’t reproduce the same thing. But if they can’t, this means your theory is most likely right. He is not a Tamer at all but something else entirely. Something more precious than we thought.”

“Or more dangerous.” Said, Lord Belmont.

“Or that. Finding out the degree of danger he represents would be your task. In the meantime find those mimics that our Magisters ask for. But do it covertly. No one should know for whom and for what they are needed. While every country searches for slimes that they can train into poison slimes, we are currently the only ones who know that they in fact may actually be mimics instead of slimes. We must not lose that advantage at all costs.

“Of course, Your Majesty.” Said Lord Belmont, nodding.