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Erin told her companions everything the Guild Master, Rigetta, had told her after she reunited with them. She had also told them of her own impression of Rigetta. Their reactions were mild and nothing out of the bounds. However, when Erin presented the bounty handbill for them to see, Lyra had erupted with rage.

“That son of a bitch finally did it now!” Lyra shouted and tossed the handbill of Edmund’s bounty. “Wanted for murder, theft, desertion, vandalism, and rape! Rape, for fuck’s sake! Was taking advantage of me not enough for him!”

“Lyra, calm down, please,” Erin implored as she looked around awkwardly while silently apologising to all those who might care.

“And a suspected member of the Covenant,” Siv added.

Erin and her companions were currently in the dining hall of the Guild. While the food here wasn’t exactly delectable, it was cheaper. It was priced this way as a privilege for adventurers. There weren’t many adventurers in the dining hall at the moment but there were a few and all of them turned their way when Lyra erupted with her fury.

“Right, of course,” Lyra said, calming down. “I’m sorry…” She slumped back down onto the bench.

Lilian was tittering as always when she picked the handbill up from the floor. “So this is your old flame,” she mused, studying the portrait of Edmund on the paper. “I don’t see anything good about him. He isn’t that comely. Is he strong or reliable?”

“He’s not,” Lyra muttered.

“Sentiment?”

Lyra nodded hesitantly.

“I see,” Lilian said and laid down the handbill onto the table. She then took a swig of wine she ordered in a mug.

Nivia was staring disapprovingly but whatever she wanted to say had already crossed the Dryad’s mind. So the Elf kept her silence and drank her fruit juice in small sips.

“What’s our next move, mistress?” Siv asked.

“Lodging,” Erin’s answer was brief.

“Ah, that would be difficult,” Lilian muttered.

“It will?” Nivia asked with a brow raised.

Lilian nodded. “We need to find an inn that can provide good service while being discreet. If we just rent a room without any thoughts, the innkeeper might just sell us out to whoever wants our heads. Well, Erin’s head.”

Nivia scowled but she didn’t refute Lilain’s words.

“Lilian’s right,” Erin said, slouching in her own chair as the bench was full. There was room for more on the bench but they would need to squeeze together, so Erin just took a chair from another table.

“Can’t we go after Edmund first?” Lyra asked, who was fletching her arrows with materials she bought from an all-around goods store inside the Guild itself.

Erin smiled warmly at Lyra. “I know you’re angry but we have to make our base first.” She patted Lyra’s lap before turning into a sensual caress.

“You have become very bold lately, Erin…”

“I suppose I have,” Erin answered without a shred of hesitation.

“E-Erin…” Aera called out in her meek voice.

Erin stopped her caress with a regrettable look and turned her gaze to Aera. “Yes?”

“Is this… Edmund person truly part of the Cov— group?” As they discussed before, they would avoid saying “Covenant” or “Marduk” out loud in public and Aera barely stopped herself in time.

“For his sake, it had better be a false claim,” it was Lyra who answered.

Erin saw Aera’s fists, which were clutching tightly, loosened.

“I see…”

It wasn’t just her fists. Erin could also feel Aera’s rage for a fleeting moment when she asked about Edmund’s affiliation. She might have been quiet and reticent, her grudge and vendetta still going on strong in her heart, like a beast lying in wait with her claws hidden.

“Siv, do you have any suggestions for any trustworthy inn here?” Erin asked.

“All inns become trustworthy when you have mountains of gold coins to offer but unfortunately, we don’t.”

“Well… that is unfortunate.”

Just then, the group received an unwelcome guest who came stalking up to them with a slight limp. Erin had taken notice of his presence long before that person even came close. She had hoped that person hadn’t come to the dining hall in search of her but simply here to get a bite to eat.

“Vixen!” shouted Ronan as he strode towards her table.

Everyone in Erin’s group looked ready to wallop the sore loser of a man but Erin gestured for them to stay and rose to meet the man herself. “Ronan,” she greeted dryly, looking over his shoulders but she didn’t see the two scantily-dressed mages behind him. “Didn’t we promise each other to not—”

“I don’t know what kind of trick you used in that duel but I assure you, I will expose you.”

“Trick? What trick are you talking about?”

“Don’t play dumb with me!” Ronan roared, stomping his foot. “How else can you win against me without the use of Magic Arts?”

Erin looked at him in disbelief. He was even bigger of a sore loser than she had expected.

“You will rue this day, I guarantee you. Pray that we do not meet outside the Guild or else you will taste the true difference in our strength and skills.”

“I’m sure I will. Now, if you would be so kind and sensible, please adhere to the deal we made beforehand.”

“Like hell I will! You only won because you cheated.”

Erin rolled her eyes. She looked around quickly and saw the same exasperated expression on the curious onlookers. Some were looking forward to the escalation of the confrontation. Some were hoping the confrontation would devolve. A very few were looking away in second-hand embarrassment due to Ronan.

“Are you listening to me?!” Ronan shouted.

Erin veered her reluctant gaze back to the petty man. “I’m not,” she answered and turned around to leave.

“That’s right. Walk away those tails of yours tucked between your legs.”

“My tails aren’t tucked between my legs. Are you delusionally blind?”

“Pray that we do meet outside of the Guild!” he repeated vainly. “The same goes for your companions!”

“Oh, dear,” Lilian muttered grimly under her breath.

Erin snapped around and pierced Ronan with a glare, her tails flourishing behind her lividly. “You dare threaten my friends?”

Ronan shrieked and backed away hastily and involuntarily despite how much he wanted to stand his ground. “W-w-what do you i-intend to do!?” he quacked. “Do you know where we are?!”

“Now you’re using the Guild’s rules as your shield… pathetic,” Erin spat as she approached him with her raging aura donned. Anyone with a little bit of aptitude for magic or Spirits could tell the air around Erin was dangerous and volatile. It wasn’t often they see the rage of a Fae or the Spirits. Those who were wishing for the confrontation to devolve had become piqued by the novel occurrence they were witnessing.

“I warn you, Fae! I have friends! If you dare to hurt me, I will—”

“You will what?” Erin challenged him as she unleashed a focused and controlled oppressive aura upon him.

Ronan stumbled backwards with a sharp shrill, tripping on the chairs and benches. He ended up tumbling to the ground. “Stay back!” he tried to roar but it came out like a squeal. “You can’t do this!”

“Can’t do what, Ronan?” Erin glared down at him. “What did I do? Did I push you? No, I didn’t. Ask anyone here. You tripped on your own.”

“Bullshit! You did something!”

“If there’s anything I have done, is responding to your threats made against my companions and my lovers. Allow me to return those threats of yours.”

Ronan clambered away from Erin when she leaned slightly forward.

“Pray that we do not meet in a dark alley or an empty street, lest you find out how much of a nobody you are without levels and the System.”

Ronan seemed to have a lot of things to say in response but under her glare and the oppression of the Spirits, he could find his voice, his gall, and his spine. He was simply pressing his lips together with an indignant expression.

Satisfied with the state she was leaving him in, Erin turned on her heels and walked back to her table. She heard Ronan getting back up to his feet and she was prepared to respond to his retaliation. However, she heard him scuttling out of the dining hall in the next moment and she heaved a sigh of relief.

“He will, without a doubt, get back at us outside the Guild, anyone of us, for today,” Siv said as Erin plopped right back down her seat.

“Absolutely,” Lilian agreed with a nod. “Men like him enjoy holding grudges, even more than a woman.”

“We can just cripple him if he decides to do just that,” Nivia suggested.

Lyra looked at Nivia weirdly.

“What?” asked the Elf.

“Nothing.” Lyra shocked her head. “It’s just… I was just about to say the same thing.”

“That’s disconcerting to know.”

“Don’t worry, I feel the same.”

“Are we really going to cripple him if he confronts us outside this building?” Aera asked.

“Oh, sweet Aera…” Lilian tittered. “Of course, yes.”

Erin was smiling, expecting sensibility from the dryad but she received the opposite instead. “Lilian. He’s fucking arse but he’s no criminal. Crippling him is too harsh of a response.”

“Is it, my dear Erin? Imagine what he would do to us if we let him be. Have you seen the way he looked at you?”

“How could I have not?”

“Then you should know that crippling him would be saving a lot of potential victims. What if he caught Lyra alone and off guard and did unspeakable things to her? Crippling him then would be too late and too lenient.”

“We could file a formal complaint to the Guild.”

“That will only restrict his adventurer’s privileges. He can still move around as he pleases.”

“But crippling him… it’s too much.”

“Do you hate doling out due punishment that much?”

“Quite the opposite, Lilian. I know I will enjoy it and I’m afraid that I will not be able to stop.”

Lilian’s smile turned solemn and doleful. “I see… That is known to happen.”

“Kerva?” Nivia said.

Lilian nodded.

“Who’s Kerva?” Lyra asked.

“A Beast-kin,” answered Siv. “I didn’t think the Fae would know this story too.”

“Why wouldn’t we?” Lilian said. “It’s a story that involves Fae and a Beast-kin after all.”

“What is this story about?” Erin inquired.

“It’s about this Beast-kin named Kerva,” Nivia began. “He fell in love with an Elf but the Elf saw the Beast-kin as nothing more than a savage. Still, Kerva was a stubborn and persistant person. He kept approaching the Elf every day and tried his best to court her. Till one day, the Elf relented to his advances, on the condition he would help her get rid of the poachers in her forest. Kerva was no saint nor was he benign but when he started subjugating these poachers, he gradually developed a liking for doling out justice and punisment to the unjust and wrongdoers.”

“The story’s unsettling enough as it is,” Erin remarked.

“It gets worse. By the time Kerva had garnered the Elf’s fancy and favour, he didn’t even care about her anymore. He abandoned this childish goal his embarked on a trip to dole out punishment and justice to evil, on the standards of his judgement. Long enough, it stopped becoming about ridding evil. Turns out, Kerva simply enjoys killing and ridding evil was just a convenient excuse he told himself to keep the nightmares away in his sleep. In the end, instead of casting away the pretence, he enhanced it. He became obsessed with the pretence of ridding evil before the evil had even budded.”

“That’s just a lunatic who lacks any self-awareness,” Lyra said. “At least the Elf dodged a terrible that could have befallen on her.” She turned to Erin. “You’re not Kerva, Erin. I know you.”

“But that’s just it, Lyra… I don’t know me. Every day, I’m discovering something new about myself and I’m afraid of what I might discover eventually. What if—”

“No, Erin.” Lyra plunged forward and sat on Erin’s lap, wrapping her arms around her. “There’s no what if. You will not be Kerva. We will not let you. You’re not alone, alright? You have us. Kerva doesn’t, does he?”

Nivia shrugged. “Probably not?”

“You’re not sure?”

“It is just a story, Lyra.”

Erin smiled melancholically. “Let us hope so.”