Getting back to the Shimmering Lotus was no easy task. The streets were busier than they were during the day, with what seemed like hundreds of people wandering around, half-drunk and incredibly loud. It got to the point that Elise gave up on trying to cross the streets on the ground. She was reluctant to fly too, especially since her glowing wings would draw all kinds of attention at night. That left her with her final option of chaining {Leap} and {Dart} together to hop from roof to roof.

This method was actually much easier than she thought it would be, especially since {Leap} had upgraded to give her a double jump in mid-air, so she was able to make it across the narrow streets fairly easily. Landing was a challenge though, since the roofs were slanted just a bit too much for her rabbit paws to get a good grip when coming in at such high speeds. She had to pop her wings out a couple times as she traveled just to stabilize her landings. Since she was on the roofs, no one seemed to notice, but she felt her heart leap out of her chest every time she had to do it.

As far as she could tell though, no one saw her, and she ultimately arrived safely at the Shimmering Lotus. Below, the brothel was largely quiet. She could hear the sounds of people moving about inside, and some were whispering to each other, but it was a very subdued, tense atmosphere. Directly below where Elise stood was the room where Margaret, the owner, had been sleeping with the Boss, and she could hear the woman herself inside, humming while coins clinked together softly.

Elise waited a minute or so before dropping down and flashing her wings for a moment so she could get back in her spot behind the open window door, and then she waited a bit longer as she considered her next move. She had gotten there, but now what? Steal the gold back? Confront her? Something more subtle?

She didn’t even know what she wanted to do there. All she knew was that Margaret was a greedy liar, and that a woman like that didn’t deserve to get away with taking advantage of that situation like she had. With that in mind, what was the best way to punish her?

Not a punishment, she corrected herself. It’s justice.

She thought for a moment longer before a nagging thought worked its way into her mind.

Am I allowed to do this?

She wasn’t a member of law enforcement whose job it was to bring people to justice. She wasn’t a knight like Penelope with a mission to protect and help those in need. She was just a random girl, about to commit a crime in the name of justice.

But if I don’t, who else will? Certainly not the coppers, if Penelope is to be believed.

If she did nothing, then Margaret would get away with it, and would probably continue to do so. No one would stop her, and she would continue embezzling and exploiting her employees until the day she died. Maybe someone else would come along to stop her later down the line, but that wasn’t something Elise was willing to bet on. At that moment, she was the only one with the ability and desire to do anything about it, and if she didn’t do anything, she’d be leaving Sharon and the others like her stuck in a bad situation they had no good way out of.

With her mind set, she started thinking about ways to achieve her goals. Killing was out of the question. Completely. Margaret was bad, but Elise wasn’t even sure that the Boss had deserved death. The brothel owner definitely didn’t as far as she could tell. Besides, even if she actually had committed crimes worthy of death, Elise doubted herself capable of actually administering the punishment.

If she simply stole the gold back, that would only be a short term solution. In fact, it might even make things worse, since the older woman might take it out on her workers, accusing them of perpetrating the theft. That was off the table too.

She needed to do something that would work in the long-term, both punishing Margaret, and preventing her from doing the same in the future. Elise smiled as her attention turned to {Fey Bargaining}. Assuming she could get Margaret to agree to something, it was the perfect skill for the situation. She just had to get it to work.

Unfortunately, that meant she would have to communicate with the woman directly, and {Lesser Transformation} wouldn’t be off cooldown for another few hours. That might have been for the better though, as if she failed, and Margaret saw her in her human form, the consequences would go back to Penelope, and probably Sharon and Annie as well.

After a few more minutes of contemplation, she settled on the plan she thought would work best, then hopped around the door to get a better look inside the room. Margaret was sitting at a desk on the far side of the room, idly stacking the dwarven gold coins as she hummed to herself. She was facing away from the window, so she didn’t notice Elise’s entry, which Elise thought worked out better. She hopped inside, landing softly on the bed, before creeping to the floor as quietly as she could. She managed to make it to the ground without getting noticed, at which point she shifted back to her changeling form.

“So, you took advantage of the ones who came to your aid,” she said in Freddy’s voice.

She had seldom had a use for {Mimic}, a skill she had earned after Emilia was defeated, but she felt this was the perfect opportunity. Using her own voice had a chance of being traced back to her, but using a male voice more or less negated that risk. In her opinion, it was also more unsettling and threatening, especially since she had managed to almost perfectly capture the subtle danger that Freddy’s words always seemed to convey.

Margaret turned around rapidly at the sound of the voice, and when she saw Elise, she looked utterly baffled. Elise couldn’t blame her. If their situations were reversed, she would be confused too.

“Wh-what?” said Margaret.

“You received charity from a pair of strangers, and rather than thanking them for the good deed, you decided to exploit them for more.”

“Wh-what?! I didn’t! It was for damages!”

“We both know that’s not true,” said Elise, stepping forward. Margaret flinched. “Why did you do it?”

“D-do what?” she demanded. “They barged into my establishment and wrecked the place! Why shouldn’t I be compensated for it?”

“You lied about how much the damages would be, and you lied about what you would use the money for. You have no intention of giving any of that to your employees.”

“Wh- of course not! It’s my building that got wrecked, not theirs!”

Elise sighed, then cast a low power {Magic Missile} at the ground, putting 8 round holes in a circle around Margaret’s chair. This move was a bit of a gamble, because if the woman screamed, and others arrived, Elise’s plan would be ruined, but her gamble paid off. Back during the fight, she noticed that the woman was silent the entire time, despite many of the others screaming or shouting. And just like then, rather than making noise, she instead gasped, and froze in her place.

“Call for help and you die,” said Elise. “Nod if you understand.”

After a moment, Margaret nodded. Elise almost exhaled in relief, glad that her bluff had worked, but managed to keep her composure.

“Good,” she said. “Now, I’m not here to hurt you. If you listen to what I say, and agree to my conditions–which are very reasonable, I might add– I will leave without touching a hair on your head. Do you understand?”

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Yes, sir,” she said, nodding vigorously.

The older woman gasped again as she and Elise both felt the icy sensation of {Fey Bargaining} taking hold.

“Now, here’s what I want you to do,” said Elise. “First, you must agree to not tell anyone about my presence here tonight, nor will you use writing or any other kind of signal to tell anyone about what is happening right now.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Now, that gold you received as reparations for the damage caused?” continued Elise. “You will use what is necessary to repair the brothel, and the rest will be divided evenly amongst your workers.”

“...Yes, sir,” said Margaret with a frown.

“And finally, from now on, you will treat your workers fairly. You will pay them well, and provide them with any and all basic needs, for as long as they work under you. You will not abuse them in any way, physically, verbally, or financially. Do you understand?”

Margaret bit her lip, and Elise could almost see the gears turning in her mind. She glanced at Elise, then down at the holes in the floor, then up to the gold on her desk, then back at Elise, before finally scowling.

“Yes, sir,” she said, begrudgingly.

“Good,” said Elise, nodding. “It was a pleasure doing business with you.”

[ {Fey Bargaining} has leveled up! 14 -> 16 ]

Without waiting for the other woman’s response, she activated her wings again, flying out the window, and back up to the roof.

I did it! she thought excitedly, tapping her back foot lightly on the roof.

She had done a little bit of property destruction, but that would be covered by the gold that she had let Margaret keep. That was almost a non-issue, especially compared to what she had achieved. She had brought justice to the corrupt brothelkeeper without spilling a drop of blood, without exposing herself to undue danger, and hopefully without causing inadvertent negative consequences to anyone else.

She stayed on the roof just long enough to hear Margaret slam her fist on her desk and curse under her breath before making her way back to the inn. She made it back without incident, and almost as soon as she got back into her bed, she fell asleep, and dreamt of beef stew.

She was awoken the next morning by a pounding on her room’s door. She ignored it at first, but when it didn’t stop, she was forced to get out of bed and stretch. Based on the sun’s position, it wasn’t long after sunrise, and having gone out late the previous night, she did not feel well-rested. Still, she transformed back into a human, and checked her hair before opening the door.

“Oh good,” said Penelope when Elise opened the door. “I was getting worried. I’m going to take them back home. Do you want to come with, or…?”

Elise thought for a moment then shrugged. She didn’t want to spend too much of her precious humanoid time when she would be needing it later that day when she exchanged her gold and got new clothes, but she also didn’t feel like it was right to leave the kids without saying goodbye.

“Sure,” she said. “Let’s go.”

Marco’s brother’s shack was even further into the slums than the inn was, where the streets were lined with garbage and other things that she tried not to look at. The building itself was little more than a few thin sheets of wood held together by rusty nails and rotting external support beams. The inside was a single room, and mostly empty. Half of it was an enormous bed that Marco and his brother shared, a quarter of it was a “kitchen” that was just a fire pit with a metal pot hanging from a bar, and the rest was open space.

The older brother wasn’t there, which Elise and Penelope were fine with. As far as they could tell, he worked hard to pay off some kind of debt, and any time he spent at home was time spent either eating or sleeping. They wouldn’t want to interrupt. He sounded like a good brother, overall. Marco and Annie seemed to like him, at least.

“Are you really leaving?” asked Marco once they got inside.

“Yes,” said Penelope. “We have somewhere we need to be. But if fate allows it, we’ll see each other again.”

“You promise?” asked Marco.

“I promise,” said Penelope. “But, while I’m gone, you two need to stop stealing from innocent people. Okay?”

“Okay,” said Marco.

Penelope looked over at Annie, who had her eyes cast down. “Annie?”

“Okay,” said the girl before looking up at Elise. “Will you really come back?”

“Of course,” said Elise. “As soon as I’m done with what I’m doing. And while I’m gone…”

Elise mentally reached into Astrid’s Star and summoned another 10 gold coins. She had been considering doing that before arriving, and seeing the state of the shack affirmed her thoughts. Both children’s eyes widened when they saw the shiny metal.

“Marco,” she said, counting out 5 coins. “I want you to give these to your brother. Don’t take them outside of this house. Make sure you keep them hidden until he gets them. Understand?”

“Okay!” he said, grabbing the coins.

“Annie, I want you to give these to your mom,” she said. “Do you think you can get them to her safely?”

Annie nodded. “Yes.”

“Good,” said Elise, patting her head. “And like she said, no more stealing.”

“From innocent people,” added Penelope.

Elise raised an eyebrow at the knight, but didn’t say anything.

“I have something for you two as well,” said Penelope, pulling what looked like two dull gray coins from a hip pouch. “Take them.”

Annie’s and Marco’s eyes widened even more than they had for Elise’s gold.

“A knight token?!” exclaimed Marco.

“Yes, a knight token.”

“Is- is this real?” asked Annie, not daring to even touch the iron coin in Penelope’s hand.

“It is,” said Penelope. “And it’s yours.”

“Really?”

“Yes,” said Penelope. “With this, when you unlock your System, it will offer you a Page class. If you take that class, you can go to Jelor City and join the Academy in the knight’s program.”

Annie took the token, touching it as gently as she could, as if she was afraid it would break if she squeezed it too hard. Her eyes teared up, and she immediately started sobbing. Penelope pulled her into a hug, and a moment later, Marco started crying as well. He and Elise piled in with the other two to form a group hug that lasted the better part of five minutes until Annie and Marco had settled down.

“Remember, it is the duty of a knight to protect people in need,” said Penelope when they pulled away. “That means you can’t go around stealing from innocent people anymore. That’s not a very knightly thing to do.”

Marco nodded vigorously, and Annie less so.

“We have to leave now,” Penelope continued. “So I wish the both of you the best of luck. I hope that you’ll be good while we’re gone.”

“We will!” said Marco. “We’ll be the goodest, best knights ever!”

“That’s the spirit,” said Penelope, smiling and ruffling his hair. “Don’t forget to keep this all secret though. The Boss won’t bother you any more, but there are other people around who are like him that will get jealous.”

“Okay!”

Penelope stepped back, and put her hands on her hips, smiling. “Then we’ll see you again next time.”

“Next time,” Elise echoed.

“Bye!” said Marco.

Upon leaving the shack, they immediately power walked back toward the nicer area of the city. They still had more than 3 hours before Elise’s transformation would fail, but they had no idea where or how they would be exchanging the dwarven gold, so they needed as much time as possible. They first tried at a bank, but despite liberal use of {Charm}, the teller was still unable to exchange unknown currency. The second bank was the same

“I think there’s another one a couple streets down,” said Peneleope as they emerged from the second.

Elise was about to nod and follow her when a sign on the opposite corner of the street caught her eye.

“What about there?” she suggested.

“An antique store?” asked Penelope, following Elise’s gaze. “Actually, that might work. Let’s try it.”

The inside of the shop was almost exactly what Elise had expected of an antique shop in a world of magic. There were random, ancient, but ordinary-looking cabinets and dinnerware and jewelry, as well as less ordinary-looking magical contraptions, most of which she couldn’t even begin to identify. She could sense that there was mana contained in most of it, but had no idea what their functions were. The shop was dimly lit by a few yellow-tinted crystals set into a silver chandelier on the ceiling that didn’t provide quite enough light, leaving some of the further corners of the room hidden in shadow. There didn’t seem to be anyone else there.

“Hello?” called Penelope.

There was a small crash from the back of the room followed by scrambling, and a moment later, a man’s head popped up over one of the far shelves. He looked to be at least 50, with the top of his head nearly bald, and the sides gray. He was a bit overweight, but wore a wide smile that made him look quite jolly.

[ Master of Whispers, lvl ??? ]

[ {Inspect} has leveled up! 52 -> 55 ]