An elderly man stood in front of the mercenaries, silken cloth draped over his shoulders laden with different colours, making him seem closer to a peacock than a human.

"The scouts reported the encampment to have been left deserted with signs of battle, no raids since a week either. Mercenary Leader Hall, the gratitude of myself and every citizen within Blue's Meet, also per contract a thousand gold crowns, shall be yours. It is a pleasure to have done business with you."

Hall stood, facing the merchant, then nodded with an iron gaze and held out his hand.

"I thank City Lord Mortimer for his time, me and my men shall take our leave."

The old man's face flickered for a second before he responded to the handshake, then issuing a servant to show them their way out.

'Pleasure as if, pleasure bleeding me dry maybe, you pay one to kill the other.'

The group of sellswords, in the meantime, had already left the estate and split up, some heading back to the camp with the money, including Hall, the majority made for the City of Blue's Meet however, trying to squeeze the most out of their current break.

Most noticeable on the way were 4 figures, a dwarf with short beard, a giant woman towering at least 3 meters, a hobgoblin with human like, almost handsome features and an old black man without hair.

"Bah, in the names of all hells, why do these pigs have to be stuck up ones? Its like they wanna show just how deep they can shove a stick into their arse. Worst off all, they're only fat because of their money, if it was a real pig, sticking them up and grilling would be a great idea though. Fuck, I'm a genius. Maybe we can try doing that with them anyway and see how well they keep it up."

The dwarf raved on but quickly calmed down to his usual self.

"If you continue this you might end up like the captain, you're right they really are obnoxious in how they feel better than others though."

The old man spoke calmly, tapping his hooked nose and smiling.

"Then again, it's how they always acted, so no use going off on it."

Rag grunted, turned and trotted forward.

"Sat, you gonna come over for a pint, or two, or three? That'd help right now and we at least made some money of the pig, even if we couldn't grill it."

The large woman nodded and the group fell into silence.

"Say, I am curious. I have been wondering about it ever since actually.

But the captain, why did he play with that guy?"

Sat started slowly with a deep and melodious voice.

"He could have just killed them off easily and collected the reward with less waiting."

"I've been with him for longest but Hall's just weird sometimes. Don't really know, he's a good fellow but definitely got his crazy moments, maybe it's just one of his antics?"

Rag shrugged, continuing.

"He's definitely got something he's going for, or maybe not, I really don't know 'bout that, I met him a couple years back while I was on the search for work, and he was recruiting already. That's all I know about him personally, but then again it doesn't matter once you are in our line of work, everyone here got enough to hide anyway and he's not been a bad captain."

The old man nodded, then inclined his head.

"What you said is definitely true, it feels as if the captain can jump to being serious in front of others without even thinking, I'd say his usual manner is, as disturbing as it might be, his real character though. Its what he does when he feels comfortable maybe? I can't say for certain, but even if I could I doubt I'd completely understand his thoughts, he just randomly picked me from the desert when I was in an... awkward situation let's say. Can't say I've yet understood why he did or how he figured at the time, but I guess that's how it is."

"Aye. A pint on that, I'd invite you too Aqil, but you're that typa guy who doesn't like drinking, I still don't get how you can be a sellsword with such an attitude. A man needs to calm down every now n'then"

Without waiting Rag lifted his hand for a moment then moved away with Sat, they pinpointed a bar that seemed big enough for her and had already vanished out of sight.

Aqil turned towards the goblin.

"Hmmm, you don't want to join them? I heard goblins have problems with liquor in a story once, can't remember when exactly it was though. I wouldn't have thought it was true."

"Don't mind it, I know what you are here for and I have my own plans for the visit as well.

I'd prefer doing something useful, there's better ways to enjoy myself too. As for alcohol... Let's just say it's not really to my taste, I prefer something fresher."

The goblin looked on with a half grin and licked his lips lightly and started to turn.

"Mind you, I am a hobgoblin."

He snarled and made off with a sinister chuckle.

'Well, there he goes off, let's hope nobody dies. As for me, let's see.'

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Aquil quickly took off from his spot, moving skillfully through different alleyways until he turned a corner and vanished into a door.

Minutes later he reappeared dressed in a black suit, moving towards a faraway park, when coming closer one could see the park's entrance was being guarded while well dressed men and women were entering as well as leaving.

The guardhouse even had a refined look while a fence taller than 4 meters reached around the entire expanse.

"The Bloodline Park, I haven't had to go here for a while, a place for all those nobles to get together and act as if they knew about culture."

He moved off to the side, concentrating and moving his hand a little.

Suddenly a blinding light appeared in the vicinity, causing everyone to cover their eyes.

Aquil used the moment to propel himself across the fence and landed safely on the other side.

'Now the long winded part.'

He moved forwards with steady steps, avoiding the eyes of any noble he came across and searching for servants that were currently free.

Whenever he found one he would talk to them.

The situation for nobility was quite complicated, originally Blue's Meet had been called Warenhof and used to be part of a smaller Kingdom called Alten, in which feudal rules were predominant.

The city was a bustling center of trade in the region and originally a lot of it's wealth was funneled through into the capital of Alten, the trader's of the city however smelt profit and more, they would be able to escape the feudal administration that limited their rights and power.

Two decades ago the city had prepared enough, they declared independency and joined the trade league of Evergreen or Garh arahn as it is called in old Sylvan.

Supported by their monetary strength and alliances the King of Alten could not pursue the issue even if he wanted.

Not all nobles died or left the sovereign city state however, choosing to live off their wealth and business instead.

Thanks to that it was more difficult to gain information on the noble houses and intrigue in the surrounding countries, but easier to hear news relating to business and raiders, a line that was no doubt just as profitable.

'I think that should be enough, there doesn't seem to be any other news I would want.'

Waving politely he excused himself from a group of maids and turned around, starting to walk along the road to exit the park through one of the four gatehouses, since an inspection would only happen on entry.

Arriving at the entrance he saw a small man in weirdly colourful suit pushing a maid towards one of the thickets off in the distance, one could only imagine what his plan was from the pale expression on the girls face and the way his hands moved down her body.

Aqil stood by for a while, pondering, he then turned and made off towards the gate, not throwing a glance back.

Shortly before moving into the gatehouse he heard a muffled scream and wet sounds from behind the bushes.

He thought another second, then turned and spoke.

"Deva fui ara Deva'mal'fra, don Deva'mal'fra Shura'mal'fra'coet, goot erest er eta Baif ara Deva'mal, mer don Unsh me bal."

He smiled looking towards the bushes, turned and left.

'I wonder if that grandpa finished what he was up to, just thinking of it makes me feel cold, I never knew humans could be that scary. Well, at least I'm sure he's a human, compared to the captain, but that old guy is supposedly a strong magic user, a Lawbringer at that.'

The hobgoblin sat up thinking, eventually discarding his thoughts and looking down on a woman who was currently sucking his dick.

He held down her head and teased her in the meantime.

'If the dwarf got one thing right, venting really is a good thing when your jobs killing, instincts suck don't they? But at least I managed to not rape that one back on the battlefield, I really need to keep it in check until a town whenever we battle, it's not the same if you don't get killing and fucking to go together.'

At the same time he had started shoving himself into the woman to fully enjoy her.

'Nothing like it after a hunt. Mhmmm, she's surprisingly good.'

He felt her thighs pressing down on him and whenever he moved she would tighten, his instincts taking over more and more because of it. At some point she grabbed his balls, making him go half insane and lose reasoning, he quickly bowed down to massage her breasts and lick across her neck.

More and more he wanted to own this girl, he continued enjoying her, teasing her and fucking her, slowly the girl's moans started dying down and after hours she had passed over into a half unconscious state.

That's when he finally left off, exiting the brothel with a satisfied grunt he started moving through the city.

He came to stop in front of a inconspicuous bar, he looked around and entered silently, moving to a table and sitting down.

"Two Grey Scales."

The waiter scrutinised him, then nodded and a while later two drinks had appeared on his table.

Another man suddenly stood in front of him, looking down.

"You don't want that, do ya?"

"You can have both even, I don't drink, I still hate this custom of making me waste money I could use on girls."

The man inclined his head, sat down and started drinking slowly.

After he had finished one of the beverages halfway he looked up again.

"Thanks, you came in perfectly after some work, ya know? Anyway, I definitely haven't seen any of your kind in a while, I doubt you've ever been here either."

"Sharp. I am connected with the Devil's Flower and know some locations, don't mind it. Much more importantly, do you have any news or interesting things to do for a large group of heavily armoured men?"

"The Devils...."

The man lowered his voice quickly.

"There's not that many news to talk about, there were some conflicts between Blue's Meet and Tjust, another one of the Trade League's members.

The Royalty of Alten is still trying to make it difficult for the City State, that's not new though.

Thinking of jobs... actually, there is something I almost forgot about.

Its something no one had much authority to know about, but given your connections, it should be alright.

An unknown person has started recruiting in secret, smells of trouble like nothing else does, trouble and death.

It's not only here, it's in a lot of cities, even kingdoms around, and it is happening with incredible secrecy for the number of people that must be following on it.

The reward is too enticing for it not to be the case, like a honey trap.

You are offered a straight pay per head, and then an extra based on special achievements and how much killing you did."

The hobgoblin looked thoughtful, choosing his words with surprising care.

"I... would need to first get information from our camp. It sounds like a deathtrap, I don't think it's a smart move to take."

The hobgoblin stood up.

"I'll be gone for now, thank you for the info, if anything happens I will be back."

The man nodded and watched the hobgoblin leave.