The room was dark. A man, unperturbed by the absence of light, walked inside the building with no hesitation in his cadence. The building he was in appeared to be a bar, albeit extremely unembellished, it didn’t even have chairs or tables for patrons to sit on. It only had the classic counter and stools every bar had. The cupboards and shelves, except for one keg of beer, were completely empty of drinks, though they were full of dust, webs and dead insects. He walked behind the counter and began to serve himself drinks. Pulled out three mugs and poured beer into them. Placing the two drinks in front of two empty stools, he walked over to the front again and sat down next to the mugs and began to drink himself.

Dust that had settled down years ago, stirred again into motion by the man who gave life to the previously dead establishment, it swirled around the man's head. He slowly drank his beer. From his demeanor, he expected no one to come. At the edge of his hearing, he heard quiet conversations, the soft thump of far away drinks being put down and laughs echoing. Though he was non-reactionary. Some people believed it to be spirits, using illusions to make themselves known to the living. Some just believed it was part of the world, natural phenomena that had nothing to do with the spiritual realm. But the man…

It wasn’t obvious as he wasn’t looking around but his focused expression and slightly hunched over posture gave away that he was shrewdly trying to figure out the origins of the illusions, his face while no one would notice in the dark, looked a bit… hopeful. The man shook his head, chastising himself for having such silly thoughts. Finishing his drink, he slammed his mug on the counter, making the other two undrunk drinks ripple in effect and the dust that was swirling around him was sucked up by the force of his slam and dispersed away from him. “I did it. I bought a bar. Both of you looked so happy when you were dreaming about buying one…” As he said that the stoic exterior of his face slowly broke. Being reminded of the memories he so desperately wanted to be fake. “They’re going to answer for what they’ve done. I promise you that.”

The man then lit up two candles and put them in front of the drinks. Getting himself ready, he equipped his locksteel armor, utilitarian in fashion and only covered the most critical parts of his body for as much mobility as possible. His under armor was similarly lackluster, just a simple black gambeson and trousers. Locksteel was an alloy of lockaria scales and steel that made the armor have a dull gray tint. He stowed away a menacing looking mace that was made of similar locksteel, he also had a shortsword and assortment of tools but it was obvious he favored his mace. Going out the backway of the semi-abandoned bar into the alleyways, making sure to lock the bar before he left. The outside light, finally illuminating the features of the man. He had deep bags under his crimson eyes, his black hair cut short military style. Continuing his gait, he entered the city at large.

He was in Slab Glosso, one of the five slabs in the Councildom of Threinas. Lutinae is the name of the capital city of Threinas which resided in the middle of the four slabs. Lutinae was also used to name the huge chunk of landmass that comprised the slab cities, valley cities that ran through between the valleys of the slabs and outer valleys. A lot of foreigners or citizens from provinces get confused about that fact. Still, this was the beating heart of Threinas, where everything happened from passing inane laws to radical change.

Walking through the streets of Glosso. He noticed some kids playing with plywood and sliding down the ramp-like bottom part of the wall of one of the houses. A disgruntled old man came out of the house and yelled at them.

“Stop sliding down my damn house you brats!” An old man with more wrinkles than face wagged his stick at the children. “Those are one of a kind mermen foundations!”

“We ain’t down the ocean old man! It’s not going to break with some sliding!” One of the older kids said.

“Yeah! Let us play!” Said a chorus of the kids.

“Why do you even care? You’re not even a merman!” The older kid who was obviously the leader of this pack said. One of the younger kids, emboldened by his leader yelled out incoherent streams of sounds and got a laugh by the group.

“It’s my damn house!” Yelled back the grizzled old man.

The red-eyed man walked past them with a wry expression. He heard them still arguing even when he was a fair ways away. He was new to this part of Glosso, he never saw this many residential buildings. But this was part of owning a bar and he seemed to darken a bit at the thought.

He saw a carriage line, pulled by wolves, though they were as big as a horse and their necks and heads were as big as one too. It was going to take forever if he wanted to walk all the way to his destination. Glosso was too big for that.

Riding a carriage, he didn’t know why but he felt like he had a new perspective of this city. It seemed owning an establishment just changed your relationship with it rather than just living in it. Looking out the window, he saw a stark difference when he visited Slab Lutinae, it was definitely different from the traditional Threinas architecture of sharp points protruding more than they should with accented swirls and curves. Here, it seemed it adapted many of the provinces of the country’s style which had more rounder shapes, even some of the mermen with their beefy bottom part of the wall where it was firmly connected to the ground. It also had indents within the wall that he imagined if he could see the air, it flowed through the indents and smoothly flowed out of the house. A style of evolving with living under the ocean.

He saw a myriad of people. Mostly merchants and warrior-looking people. Every corner, there appeared to be a person in armor, or at least had a weapon at their side even when they weren’t part of an army or an adventurer party. Nobody really takes a second look at them. It was normal after all. Any culture is bound to change when men and women in armor, constantly advertising themselves, either with their results or promised potential and selling dreams of great wealth. And this gloomy man was going to their very base of operations. The adventurers guild.

Getting off the carriage. The mace-equipped man went inside the impressive looking building. If Glosso was the capital of radical architectural style, then the adventurers guild was the very example of that. It somehow combined several styles into one and the very feat of it inspired determination in people. A show of greatness, as if it conquered a great beast, mirroring the very adventurers it supported inside.

As he entered. There was a slight stop in hubbub. The people here seemed to know him. Everyone inside gave a nod to him and he nodded back. Even the newer recruits sensed the mood and gave the red-eyed man some room. As soon as this weird energy entered the room, it just as quickly went away and the people inside did their work, except for one person.

“Julius! I’ve been waiting for you, my good man!” A happy-go-lucky rotund man walked up to the broody man.

“Daniel…” The man known as Julius said with an exacerbated sigh.

“Oh come on now! I’ve told you to just call me Dan, and more importantly have you considered the opportunity I’ve presented you with?” The portly man said with expecting eyes.

“I didn’t consider it, no.” Julius said while staring Dan in the eyes. That got some snickers out of some adventurers who were listening to the conversation.

Daniel, unperturbed by Julius, laughed. “Oh you!”

“In any case, I have something to do.” Without waiting for a reply verbally or even waiting to get Daniel’s reaction to his statement, he walked off the lobby and into the upper floors of the adventurers guild.

As Julius went up. Some of the adventurers, feeling bad for Daniel yelled out to him. “Dan! Come over here and drink your sorrows away!”

Daniel perked up. And seeing no reason to refuse said. “Why not.” As he went towards the table he then asked the adventurers. “I think my only choice might be to increase the pay of my contract.”

“Hah. True, pay is too low for a band of adventurers and too risky for a solo, duo or trio! If Julius isn’t taking it, then no sane mind would.” One of the men with a poleaxe said.

“Plus, I doubt he’s going to accept any requests now.” Said a woman who, unlike her team members, drank water.

“Why is that?” Daniel was perturbed by that. As far as he knew, Julius was an incredibly determined adventurer, one to never turn down a request too ridiculous as long as it paid well. And he was far from retirement age.

“He hasn’t taken up a contract in two months. I think he’s done.” She said.

“Well, I hope not.” Daniel murmured while gulping down a beer.

—------

Julius went up to the upper floors of the adventurers guild. It was used for meetings between a patron and usually a band of adventurers. It could also be used by normal people who just want to meet up and discuss something in neutral territory and had privacy enchantments that no common man could get for his own home. Julius was using it for the latter.

Entering one of the rooms Julius saw a merchant. He was easily identifiable, clothing that had frivolous frills and folds that was a bit too expensive for some random person to wear and not too luxurious to be mistaken for one of the elite in the city.

The man stood up from his seat and bowed with textbook form. “Julius, good to see you.”

Julius nodded to him and closed the door and the merchant man pulled a lever and it activated the privacy enchantments of the room. It did a cursory inspection of any lingering spells and blocked any sense magic from being able to peer in.

After that happened, Julius layered his own spells. Not trusting the capabilities of the guild enchantments.

Both of the men sat. “Elias, do you have what I need?” Julius asked without any notion of prolonging the meeting.

“My, you are impatient. But yes, I have managed to find a gang of loan sharks and their hideout. This is just a small one, I’m afraid.” He said with a genuine tinge of sadness in his voice.

“That’s fine. Big beasts are found by the smallest tracks. Where are they located?” Julius asked.

“They’re operating in one of the valley cities of Lutinae, specifically in Groundward Gorge. Their base of operations can be seen here.” The man handed him a map. It was near the red-light district of Groundward Gorge or more commonly known as Gorge by everyone else. The Gorge itself was in between Slab Kortlea and Glosso. Lutinae was in the middle and bordered the three valley cities.

“Hmm...” Julius took the map.

“From my investigation, they’re specifically targeting women with exorbitant interest rates and when the debt adds up too much, they ‘recommend’ them to work at one of their ‘bars’.” Elias said with obvious sarcasm.

“It looks like their tactics haven’t changed at all.” Julius said. Though he was trying to hide it, there was clear anger behind his voice.

“They have about twenty people. Are you sure you don’t need any help?” Elias asked.

“These are just some small-time thugs. Unnecessary.” Julius quickly shot down Elias’ suggestion.

“If you say so. Here are the capabilities of their members” Elias handed him another piece of paper. “Some of them are competent enough to wield some magic, though they’re street-learned, not exactly the best control nor application.”

Julius looked through the list. There wasn’t really anyone to look out for.

“I also recommend we don’t meet here in the adventurer’s guild anymore. If these loan sharks find out someone’s targeting them, they’re bound to search this place first.” Elias said.

“I know. Don’t worry about that. I already bought some property. Should have it more secure than these meeting rooms soon enough.”

“Your bar then?”

“No, I bought a building sometime ago.”

“Ahh, that’s good then. It’s about time your adventuring exploits got you some real money. Which of your patrons finally pulled through?”

“It was Kellen.”

“Ahh, the little enchantress herself.” Elias nodded to himself.

“In any case. I’ll be on my way. The building privacy enchantments should be done in a week, we’ll keep using the adventurer’s guild for now, all we’re targeting is the small-timers anyway. I’ll contact you then.”

Both of them stood up and shook hands.

 

---

 

A band was playing today in the Sheathed Sword. Their style was quite beautiful actually. It had this certain sultry flavor to it that made you want to find a partner and dance. Though reality was mostly a bunch of drunken idiots making a fool of themselves and adding themselves to the list of asinine stories that happen in the Gorge.

But the melodic tune didn’t do anything for her headache. She was upstairs of the bar and currently had her hands holding her head, keeping it together as if she were to let go her head would split apart. She could still imagine the viscous liquid that dripped on her inner thigh. She was thankful that the migraine was beginning to busy her mind from thinking about that. Especially when it distracted her from thinking how many men she went through in one night.

She was beginning to taste sweetness in her mouth. That wasn’t good. She rushed to one of the basins around and puked. Her thoughts went along with it. There was no coherence, just a stream of ‘oh please stop puking’ and pounding the basin like it was responsible for it.

One more. She thought to herself. One more guy and I’m free from these parasites! These devil people that deserve to have their ass violated by a housecat. Oh how I’d love to stab all of them. How I’d love to– Before she could finish her thoughts, she began puking again.

Her mind wasn’t the same anymore. She went through life like she was a mindless droll. She barely remembered that she left the room and went to one of the upper floors where she is to pay her due to her handler. It was as if her mind was trying to save her from pain by making her memory blurry. But the hope in her eyes of only going through this once more, of being able to be free was awakening her mind once again. Just one more.

Entering the office. It was the same as usual. He was busy doing some sort of paperwork where she was sure it was illegal in the first place. She put down the money he was owed.

“Good work” He said. Those words were like a knife to her. Good work? Good work doing what? Doing what you want because you forced a ridiculous amount of debt on me? Her fists were curled. Her long nails digging in her skin, pricking the layer of skin and shedding blood. The veins were apparent on her arms. But he didn’t seem to notice.

She forced herself out, but before she could.

“Wait.” He said.

Her heart dropped. She didn’t know why. There was nothing to warrant for her to feel like this. But this wasn’t normal. He never tried to stop her before. So, why stop her now?

“Just so we’re clear, once you’re done with another guy. That only clears your financial debt to us. You still have more to pay.” He said without even looking up at his paperwork.

“Wh-wh-what?!” Her eyes told everything she was feeling right now. But the man didn’t even look at her.

“We have every proof in the world of what you’ve done here. The disgusting things you did. We even have the men who are more than willing to give their accounts of how you pleasured them. If you want to live your life normally. You still have more to pay.” He said it like he was dealing with his taxes.

She was shaking. The entire fiber of her being. Outraged. She wanted to do something. There was a knife right there on the desk. It would be easy to just stick it in his neck. There was a chair, she could try to bash his head in.

Come on, Eve. It would be easy. Just move your hand and grab the knife and stab it through his neck. It would be so easy…

Her arms were moving ever so slightly. Moving towards the desk. But he noticed it and grabbed the knife casually and pointed it at her. Just as it happened, the room suddenly felt more, touched? She couldn’t put her finger on it. But it felt like a firm grip suddenly took hold of the entire room.

She knew that this person could cast some spells, but she wasn’t aware he was this strong. She closed her eyes. Terrified of what was going to happen. The sweat dripped down her body and was even more acutely felt, like it was distracting her from her untimely demise. But as time went on, nothing happened. Then she heard footsteps. Steady. No change in rhythm. It was like a metronome. She finally opened her eyes and saw her handler frozen, his eyes moving erratically and when their eyes met a chill went down her spine. She didn’t dare turn around.

The footsteps grew louder. Until she could feel this figure at her very back. He moved around her. She could see him now. Red armor that covered the critical parts of his body. It was ornate but the design was cracked, split and distorted. The parts underneath the crimson armor were black and had the same ornate design that was defiled.

The crimson armored man walked up to the person she despised so much. And punched his neck straight through. His hand cleanly passing through any defenses he tried to muster up and caving in his throat to where the front of his throat touched the chair he was sitting on.

Suddenly, the room felt much better to breathe in. She didn’t even realize how hard she was breathing. The grip she felt loosened its hold on the surrounding area.

“Tell me where the others are.” The man commanded with a distorted voice.