“I wish Lisette had told me this was a resource town.”

Jaeger muttered to himself, adjusting his tricorn. He'd seen a lot of resource towns like this. Places that existed for the sole purpose of extracting resources. Mining towns, lumber camps, large hunting lodges and port cities were the most dominant places in Beseria in the end.

These places all had certain things in common, regardless of the resource or whether it was completely run by a single group. The first was that there was always a local tavern and a traveler's tavern. Second, criminals and independent mercenaries flocked to these places, thanks to the loose laws and no-questions-asked attitude. If his targets weren't fools, they'd have scouts or contacts in town, on the lookout for anyone new coming through. If they were fools, they'd be in town, probably in one of the warehouses. But he couldn't count on them being fools.

“Oi! We’re talking to ya horseman. Best ya answer now.”

He hadn't even noticed that the men in front of him had advanced. Pushing up his tricorn, he turned to look at them and saw that they were town guards, or perhaps company guards, judging by their uniforms and insignia.

“I've been on the road for a while, so my mind wanders. What was your question?”

Sighing loudly, one of them stepped forward, his spear held loosely in one hand, while another held some sort of medallion; Jaeger didn't really recognize it.

“What’s yer purpose for coming to Chippy?”

“I'm hunting in the area and a colleague told me to come here.”

The guards' posture changed, each one becoming more alert. The speaker cleared his throat and spoke clearly, his accent disappearing as he seemed to read from a script.

“All bounties, warrants, crimes and wanted statuses from outside Chippy are not valid in Chippy without the written approval of the Board of Fochabers & Magpie. Thus the hunting of any citizens, traders, guards, or people of Chippy is illegal and may be met with the full force of the guard.”

The speaker had gripped his spear tightly, the medallion tucked away as he prepared for battle. Jaeger could tell that all of these men had heard this speech many times before, each expecting a certain outcome.

“I don’t care; I don't hunt people. I'm after more profitable game. I've heard of large groups along the shore and in the woods nearby.”

This took them by surprise. They were probably used to someone from one of the law enforcement guilds coming through. The lead guard fumbled for his medallion as he spoke.

“Wait, yer not here for anyone in town?”

“Not particularly, if someone comes at me that might change things, but I don't care much about the crimes people commit. I'm only interested in my hunt.”

“Oh well, stay out of the marked fishing and official hunting areas, and yer welcome to stay in Chippy; ye see the signs before you get too close. If ya want to hunt, best ya head down to the Visitor's Tavern; if there's a beastie in the area, Melinda can tell ya where to find it.”

The guard's tone had changed quickly when I didn't react as they expected. The lead one pointed me to a tavern and they just let me pass. That felt sloppy, there was no way that other adventurers or detectives hadn't just lied to get in. Jaeger thought as he nudged Ventress toward the tavern. As he moved away from the guards, a familiar weight settled on his shoulders and the smell of fish and blood wafted into his nose.

“Mrrw. You did well not to get caught by those guards. I must be rubbing off on you, because you are becoming a skilled liar.”

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Then an incredibly soft furry body rubbed against the side of his head. Blinking his eyes at the sudden fur and wrinkling his nose at the smell that hit him, Jaeger tried to figure out what Mischief meant.

“What are you talking about?”

“These guards had a Truth Medallion, the user can force someone to speak only the truth. Only people of the right class can ignore it completely, but those classes are pure chaos anyway. Even the most skilled liars have trouble with Truth Medallions, so congratulations again on being a top-tier liar.”

Jaeger thought that something that forced people to speak only the truth seemed dangerous. On the other hand, while he had spoken more than he would have liked, he hadn't lied.

“I didn’t lie.”

“Yes, you did. You are clearly here to hunt criminals, you have a literal bounty sheet in your coat, and you told them you don't hunt people.”

“I’m not, I am and I don’t. I'm not here for criminals, because I don't care about people's crimes, but I have the bounty papers. Also, I don't hunt people, I hunt bounties. The moment I take a bounty, they stop being a person and become just another bounty to me.”

Mischief fell silent and soon disappeared from Jaeger's shoulder. As he rode through the city, he noticed a few things that stood out. The insignia on the guards' chests was also on every single shop he could see, sometimes it was subtle, sometimes it was the only thing on a sign. The other thing was the lack of guards, but the heavy presence of armed thugs sitting out and about. These men were clearly not guards, as they were closer to the bandits Jaeger had fought.

As he approached the tavern, he decided to talk to Lisette about her inaccurate knowledge of this town when he got back to Patterson, but for now he'd do what was important and concentrate on his hunt. The building looked like every other dockside grogshop Jaeger had seen. Brown wood with open spaces instead of windows and a pair of hanging doors. The only difference he could see was that there was no stable. Instead, the front of the tavern had posts for tying up horses, so he rode up to one and tied Ventress loosely to it.

“I don't know how long we'll be here, girl, but don't get too comfortable.”

He said sternly, loosening his saddle and feeding Ventress by hand. She shook her mane and stomped her hooves in response, nickering at him as he walked away. Rolling his eyes, he pushed open the tavern doors and entered.

While the outside was like any other grog shop, the inside was unique. Ghostly fish swam all around him, while the walls were covered in glowing water plants and rocks. The tables and chairs seemed to be made of coral, while the wall was a blue-green color, reminiscent of the last time Jaeger had seen the sea. The feeling of being under the sea was new to him, but he couldn't afford to look like a lost yokel, so he pushed his amazement aside and moved to the top of the bar; a solidified bar of sand that had risen to just below his chest height.

As he approached the bartender at work, she moved to meet him where he stood in front of the bar. The woman had a dusting of scales all over her body, giving her an almost metallic sheen that was a blue-purple that matched some of the rivers he'd passed. This brought out her dark, purple-black eyes even more. Jaeger didn't want to know much more, so he didn't think too much about her race; a workaround he had found to avoid magical info dumps. Then he heard her voice.

When she spoke, her voice was hypnotic, and he had to fight to keep control of himself.

“Ah, a new guest welcome. I apologize for the effect of my voice, if you give it a moment it should pass. I find myself unable to stop the process while above water, but one does what one must.”

She stopped speaking, seeming to wait for him to come to his senses. He'd recovered while she was talking, but he thought it best to let her think he needed longer. Finally he spoke, hesitantly, before regaining his strength.

“What was that?”

“Oh good, you're back, that was relatively quick. Not the fastest mind, but not slow either. That effect was my voice, as I said, it is an uncontrollable aspect of my people; the Muri-Gena.”

Jaeger felt the flow of knowledge and just let it flow through him, gaining a minimum of understanding, he didn't have time to get bogged down with an information dump.

“Will this happen again?”

“No, it only happens the first time you hear me. Unless you want it to happen again?” She smiled invitingly.

“No. I’d like a meal, a drink, and some information.”

She sighed dramatically.

“So boring. Fine, I'll get you some fish stew and a mug of the local liquor. As for information, well, that depends on what you want to know.”

She waved her hand and Jaeger watched as some of the randomly swimming fish organized themselves and swam into an opening behind the bar.

“I'm looking for information about hunting grounds in the area. One of the guards said that Melinda would know where to look.”

“Ah, well, you're in luck. I happen to be Melinda, and I happen to have some information.” Her eyes flashed blue for a moment as she stared at him, then her smile turned predatory. “Oh yes, I definitely have information that someone like you would find useful; Bounty Hunter.”