“Baret Heldermann.”

Both Kaiz and Viz deflated a little at the confirmation of Tanzer’s target. Red looked confused.

That’s that then. We’ll just have to take the nephew and run.

Her presence and mission meant their plans were out the window. It also meant he finally got a good picture of what the Count’s plan was. With the Baron alive, there were so many angles and paths that it was impossible to pin down what he was looking for. With the Baron dead, there was only one that could be on his mind. And he’d been setting the stage for it right from the beginning.

It was already risky and a bit reckless to stand by Heldermann’s side before, now it would just be plain foolish. They couldn't save him. Even if they rushed to alert him right this second, it wouldn’t matter. Tanzer wore gear more powerful that Kaiz’s boots and she was at least level [34].

The brightness of a titleds glow wasn’t the most accurate way to assess their level, a level [10] at night looked brighter than a level [20] during the day, but having just been in similar lighting conditions in the study with the Baron and his entourage, he would wager she had more than a ten level gap on the three.

That was massive. While some argued that levels were simply a measure of the body’s relationship with mana, and not a gauge of fighting prowess, those people had spent too much time in biology class and not enough time around actual people. Not accounting for specialties or specific training, every ten levels still made a person roughly five times stronger.

With his boots fully charged, Kaiz fought at around a level [25] wind-based melee fighter with basic gear. If he was five times stronger? The Baron wouldn’t be able to dig deep enough to escape him.

While he came to terms with reality, Tanzer stood up and bearhugged Viz.

Red frowned, “You know them?”

“Know them?” She turned around, but made sure to keep Viz’s hands wrapped around her thick enchanted armor, “V here was my first shot at love. I thought he loved me too, but he was just using me to get information on my clients.”

Viz tried to remove his arms, but he was not level [34], “What are you talking about?”

“Our love story?”

“Why are you lying?”

She fake gasped, “ Me? A liar?”

“Yes.”

She wasn’t lying. At least not about them once having a romance. Kaiz hadn’t been around for the start of it, but they had only ended things a few months ago. He wanted her to give up being an assassin, stop pretending to be a man, and to join their crew. She wanted him to give up his dream and instead commit to rising through the ranks of the underworld. They wanted very different things for their futures so they were always doomed to fail.

Red’s face communicated a deep conflict. A large part of it was clearly the shock of the powerful and famed Tanzer laying with a ‘monkey’, but she also gave Viz the look many gave Code when they found out he slept with men too. Kaiz was more intrigued with how she knew her though.

He stepped past the two and sat on the floor next to an unconscious Geyser, “How do you know T?”

Tanzer responded for her, “I killed her master a few years back. Noticed he’d taught her some interesting spells so I sent her to Snake. We keep in touch.”

Not enough to tell her you’re a woman though.

“I see...” He was vaguely interested in Red’s backstory, but when he glanced at Viz he could tell that he was enjoying the reunion far more than he was letting on so Kaiz took it upon himself to ask more questions, “So about the Baron… I thought you didn’t leave Waldaun?”

She gave him a confused look, “Who told you that?”

Huh?

He returned it, “You?”

“Me? Ah!” She inclined her head back, “This one didn’t like me venturing far when we were together.”

But he’d send me across the Screaming Sand without hesitation.

“How.. sweet of him.” Kaiz felt like she was in a good mood so he took a chance, “On account of our relationship, would it be possible to get you to go back home?”

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“Hmm.” She used Viz’s hand to tap her chin, “You know my reputation is important to me. Why would I call off such an easy hit?”

That’s not a no! There’s a chance!

“Do you know who hired you?”

“Judging by the conversations I’ve heard, Eustace Ernst. I’m confident it’s Jakob Emmrich though.”

Kaiz nodded, “Either way, they’re much worse than Baret.”

“They are, but one less enslaver is one less enslaver. You know that.”

Tanzer viewed all nobles as slave masters. Even though slavery was technically illegal, all land in Goldfrucht belonged to the noble class. Almost all major cities were owned by the Crown and had much more democratic governance, but in a territory like Heldermann’s every grain of sand was his to decide what to do with. There were penalties for misusing power, and you could even lose your land for being a tyrant, but ‘minor infractions’ usually went completely unpunished. Which sometimes allowed a noble to inflict slave-like conditions on a select group of people.

Kaiz pressed anyway, “If you’ve listened in to him speaking, then you know he’s a very fair and just man. He’s good to his people.”

He didn’t really know if that was true, Carlton was the only one that specifically spoke highly of him and that was obviously not a good source. Based on the actions he’d been told about, however, and the fact he seriously offered ownership of a mine to create a more even exchange, Kaiz was somewhat comfortable betting on his character.

“It appears that way.” It seemed he was correct, just not enough for Tanzer, “But he has to be. He doesn’t have the money or the military to instill loyalty. How else would he keep any stability?”

“That’s.. okay. How about you wait to see if this is his true self?”

“Wait for how long? Until he’s fixed this place?” She shook her head, “I don’t kill for free, unless they’re abhorrent. If Baret turns out to be just like every other enslaver in the kingdom, that wouldn’t be worth the second trip.”

“What if we offered to match what they’re paying you now in the event that he turns for the worse in the future?”

She paused for a second, but then replied, “It’s not just the coin. They’ve orchestrated the opening for me as well.”

“We can do that too.” The idea of setting the Baron up like that didn’t quite sit right with Kaiz, but he comforted himself with the fact that this was only in case he revealed himself to be a fraud, “Heldermann is very hands on. Boots to the ground. It would be easy to create an opening.”

“Hmm. Maybe…”

Something!

He looked at Viz and sent every possible nonverbal signal he could.

“Not only will we match it. I’ll make a bet with you.”

She turned around to face him, “You still owe me ten darkgold from our last bet.”

“You cheated, and were therefore disqualified. If anything you owe me ten darkgold.”

“We didn’t set any rules!”

“Ah ah.” His hands were unbound so his index finger was free to wave in her face, “When we made our first wager I said no interfering with the outcome.”

She snatched the finger and replaced it with her own, “You didn’t specify that the rule would apply for all future bets.”

“Why would I need to specify? When a rule is set it’s set.”

“That’s not true! When we bet on who could cross that quicksand pit first, I remember a lot of pushing and shoving.”

“That’s completely different.”

“No it’s not!”

“We were mimicking a Pitrunner sprint. They fight. It wasn’t just a regular race.”

Kaiz was already tired of watching the couple’s squabble again. He usually stayed way out of it, but seeing as ownership of a mine was at stake, he gave his perspective.

“T. Remember when you asked me not to wear my mask in your safehouse, did you have to ask me every time or just once?”

She turned and gave him a stank look, like he’d ruined her fun, “Ugh. Fine!”

He didn’t celebrate just yet.

“I’ll get you your ten darkgold.”

Kaiz would make sure to collect some of that, but that wasn’t his primary concern, “The Baron?”

She had already rotated back to Viz, “Can you afford it?”

Viz responded for him, “How much?”

“One-Three-Five darkgold.”

Whoa…

That was so… cheap. The only other time he’d seen her go headhunting for a noble, there was an almost twenty briks price tag on the job. One hundred thirty-five darkgold was slightly less than five and a half. He expected they’d need to save hard, get loans, call in favors, but even if they just sold the ore they mined as a raw material, they’d make more than that amount over the next year. And with a full year of ownership under their belt it wouldn’t matter if the Baron flipped and had to be killed. Whoever came in after wouldn’t be able to dislodge them easily.

Kaiz took that instantly, “Deal!”

She did not turn back, “And our bet?”

Viz grinned, “If Heldermann is still a benevolent enslaver, as you’ve called it, in two years. You owe us five briks.”

Kaiz didn’t think there was any need for the bet to be so high, but if she agreed to waiting two years then he’d take that. That would just put them in an even better position.

“So in two years I get ten briks? Are you sure you can afford that?”

“In two years? Absolutely. We won’t need it.” Viz really emphasized that point, “But we’ll have it.”

They shouldn’t actually have brik coins themselves, just the equivalent in darkgold. To say nothing of their rarity, the value of an individual brik coin was simply too high for anyone with sense to keep them around.

“Hmmmm.” She stretched out the ‘m’ for a long while, before she stopped, “No deal.”

“What?!”

“Why?”

“You two would bicker over five darkgold last time I saw you. Now you’re betting five briks? I’m not stupid. What’s your deal with Baret?”

Here we go.