Page 214

I walked through the streets of the Capital with Bella, Mimi, the twins, Raya, and Sibyl at my side. We were kind of a large group. Silva and Lorriene left to make contact with Sophin and set up a meeting for me. This would likely be our last chance to get anything done in the city so we were taking care of the last of our business before we helped with the slave rebellion. I still had mixed feelings about the situation but I felt committed to this course of action now. Hopefully the Order of Lilith will be helpful as allies here, I'm still not sure of the extent of their influence and power yet. So far I only know of them as an organization that sets up assassinations and fights with the Tamin church.

"The first thing I want to take care of today is a pickup I have to do at Tenna's blacksmith shop. She promised me something good there and I'm excited to receive it. Then we need to swing by the Adventurer's Guild to register Sibyl and Raya to our Party. Rather than waiting I want to swing by the cartographer's guild so I can finish up the measuring test there, and if we have time left over I want to do a little shopping," I told everyone.

"Silva technically isn't in our Party at the guild either right?" Torien whispered.

I frowned. "Well... yes, but the situation is odd with her. Until recently it didn't matter much if she joined because of the collar. Now though... it would make sense to but she's a little busy right now. It probably won't hurt to get her registered somewhere else instead, like Goldenhearth if their guild is back up by the time we get there." Not to mention Silva and Torien haven't had their much needed talk yet.

"Do blacksmiths normally sell weapons for mages?" Raya asked curiously.

"Not usually," Sibyl answered.

I laughed. "Bella's scepter actually came from a blacksmith. The guy at the counter was just trying to offload it before we got yelled at though."

Bella gave a wry smile. "We had accidentally walked into a store that didn't serve beastfolk without realizing it."

I glanced over at the twins. They were walking in the back to show deference to us even though they weren't wearing slave collars anymore. It must have felt odd being in the same city when not long ago they were making a point to act more like slaves. I was happy Torien spoke up at all under the circumstances. They were wearing their servant's uniforms still so they technically had the same status... even though people treated slave servants differently than free servants in practice.

When we reached the blacksmith shop it looked... different. Like, closed different. All of the signage that indicated what kind of store it was had been taken down.

"Are you sure this is the place?" Sibyl asked looking up and down the storefront.

I nodded. "I'm sure..." I tried the door and luckily it was open.

A familiar demi-beastfolk guy was seated at the counter but all the shelves of weapons were bare now. All that was left was empty stands.

"We're closed!" he started to yell before a look of recognition came over his face. "Oh, it's you again. Let me go tell Tenna that you're here." He jumped up from his seat and went in the back while we awkwardly looked around at the empty store.

"Lilith! Glad to see you again. I was hoping you didn't get killed or arrested in that scuffle the other day!" Tenna walked out of the back holding a longsword in a beautiful black leather sheath.

Sibyl gasped when Tenna unsheathed it and rested the blade against her wrist to show it off. "How does it look?" Tenna asked.

"Lilith, is that a mithril sword?" Sibyl asked. The envy in her voice was obvious.

Tenna raised an eyebrow and glanced at Sibyl. "Are these your friends? They a trustworthy sort?"

"I trust them with my life," I said before taking the sword from her. It felt light but sturdy. The blade wasn't quite as wide as I had expected and came to an extremely sharp point. It looks like it was made for piercing chainmail. The blade had a simple yet elegant looking crossguard and a decorative pattern on the first third of the blade.

"That sword is some of my best work. I was really happy to work with the ore you brought me, its purity was high and it made the smelting process easy." Tenna looked pleased I was happy with the work.

I channeled a bit of light magic through the blade and drew a small clover in the air using [Light Signal] as a test. The magic took to the blade as if it were an extension of my arm. I had used magic through my blade before when I was training with Theo, but the way the magic flowed through this sword felt completely different.

Tenna started grinning from ear to ear. "It's good that I found such a good wielder for a sword like that. Not everyone can use a sword and magic."

I sheathed the blade and smiled back at her. "The blade is beautiful, thank you, Tenna."

Her grin changed to a more mischievous one and I realized immediately I had been caught in some kind of trap. "If you want to show your appreciation, I could use a favor..."

I sighed. "What do you need?"

Her grin faltered a little. "I need to get out of the capital." She glanced past me at the door and got a little closer. "An old acquaintance of mine told me that the city is going to turn into a war zone in the next few days. He said that the guys who started the riot the other day are going to do another, even bigger one, really soon. They're trying to goad the Tamin bastards into a fight or something. The young King is a moron, things will turn ugly here for beastfolk if another riot happens. People are already on edge, I'm surprised it hasn't happened already. I've already filed the papers to claim the mine with the king's clerks but the only way we'll be able to protect our new land and mine is if I'm in Traehall to protect it myself. I need to get out of here and you and your friends should too, riding with you will keep me and my apprentice safe and you guys will get coin for taking us there."

I ran my fingers through the fur on my cheek. How much should I reveal? I probably shouldn't reveal anything but this will give us an excuse to leave town. Escorting two people to another city would be plenty of cover to leave without suspicion. Except that would mean that she would have to know a little bit about what we're doing...

She noticed my hesitation and narrowed her eyes. "You're not sure... It's not about money, is it? Do you know something about all of this?"

Damn, this mousegirl was observant.

Torien cleared her throat and stepped forward. "The situation is even worse than that. I'm a pantharian and my collar fell off two days ago. The only way that would happen is if the King is dead and has no heirs."

I immediately snapped a [Zone of Silence] up before Torien finished her first sentence. Tenna stared back at Torien with a look of utter shock.

"I would be willing to take you to Traehall but we're working on something that will happen during the riot you heard about. You could wait in our carriage with a few of my friends while we work. We're planning on leaving before the riot happens and sneaking back into town after. That's the best I can do."

Tenna's eyes met mine and narrowed again. "You guys aren't demon worshippers are you?"

"No, we're demon hunters, I swear to Sorsette. We intend to interfere with a demon cult's plans that night. We're not fans of the former young King so we aren't working within the law either. We may not be the best choice as escorts to Traehall," I told her. Everything I told her is technically true, it's safer not to mention that we're intending to attack the slaver's guild though.

She crossed her arms and looked me up and down. ...It was honestly a bit comical since she was so much shorter than me but I didn't let that show on my face. Finally, she sighed. "I can tell there's more that you're not telling me but my gut is telling me that I can trust you. You brought that chunk of mithril all the way from Traehall without opening it and my cousins said pretty complimentary things about you and your friends too. Will this business you're doing mean that my apprentice and I will be any less safe waiting for you?"

"I'm... not sure," I answered honestly. "We may have to deal with the Tamin church and members of the cult but we probably wouldn't even be able to get to the wagon before getting away from them anyway. You shouldn't be in any more danger by waiting for us to return."

Tenna sighed. "And who are you leaving us with? Someone strong? Like that rabbit demi?"

"Not her, but we have another person around my level who will be protecting the wagon with her two uunas. Raya and Sibyl here will be there helping protect it as well." I pointed the two out.

She glanced at the two of them but looked dismissive. "Fine. Two uunas and someone that can tame them will probably be strong enough to protect us from the monsters mucking about while we wait for you. After hearing all of this I might be crazy for offering this job to you after hearing all of that but I don't hardly trust anyone in the capital anymore with everything happening. Are we doing this under the table or can we at least go to the adventurer's guild?"

I cleared my throat. "The uh, the guild would give us good cover for what we're about to do."

"Right," she said in a deadpan tone. "Lock up, Kino. We're headed for the adventurer's guild," she said to the wolf boy.

"Yes, ma'am," he replied immediately.

I released the magic I had going and exited the shop and waited for them to lock up. "What's going to happen to your shop?" I asked the woman.

"I sold it. Finished getting rid of the inventory yesterday and was just hanging around today waiting for you to pick up the sword. I'd have kept it if you didn't show up today," she said with a grin. "...but then I'd have had to find another group leaving for Traehall in the next few days who would take both a demi and a beastfolk. Harder than you might think."

"I believe it," I replied with a sigh.

I took a moment to strap the new sword around my waist before handing my old one to Mimi who covertly made it disappear under her cloak. Being able to wordlessly indicate what I wanted through the bond was always nice.

"How much do you trust your friends?" the mousefolk asked me quietly.

I turned to her with a raised eyebrow. "All of them are family. You don't need to worry about that."

"Even the one with the space magic?" she asked.

I smiled. "Especially the one with the space magic." I pulled Mimi over to me and kissed her on the cheek.

Tenna snorted. "At least I can safely guess how much the Tamin church probably likes you."

Laughing, I turned back to her again. "They certainly do have their issues with me."

Our group which had now swelled to nine people made our way through the city to the adventurer's guild. The streets weren't as dense as the first day we were here, a lot of people weren't hanging out anymore... and I didn't see any of the homeless people panhandling either. After seeing the amount of beggars the first day, that was what struck me as the oddest part.

We followed Tenna into the adventurer's guild and started milling in line.

She looked at me with an eyebrow. "Is your entire group going to talk to reception?"

"Well... Raya and Sibyl still need to sign on as party members and Morrigan and Torien were still listed as slaves last time we talked to the guild so I wanted to fix that too..."

Tenna slumped a little bit and suddenly looked really weary. "Ugh, this is going to take forever. I hate dealing with the guilds."

I looked over at the other lines and laughed internally. None of this was even half as bad as the DMV, I could tell just from the lines that things were moving without any problems. Poor woman would have to suck it up.

"I hate paperwork," the mousefolk grumbled to herself.