It had been almost three weeks since the attack on the fortress. During that time, many changes had occurred within the city.

After I had dealt with Morgaine, I had my robots assist in the search for Drusus, but it was as though he had disappeared into thin air. In the end, we were forced to give up the search, and instead turned to investigating the remnants of the fortress for any information on his whereabouts. We scoured every single room, and we ended up finding a secret area under the fortress. Inside was a revolting sight, with the corpses of dozens of individuals. In the cells that lined the walls were several slaves, with many appearing malnourished and diseased. We learned from them that Drusus took a sadistic pleasure from torturing them, and the room filled with tools for torture and a bloodstained table corroborated their testimonies.

The entire affair was so horrifically sickening that I was forced to have my robots deal with the retrieval of the corpses. Each one was given a decent burial, and the survivors were taken in by Venari and temporarily housed in her mansion. While they were there, I had my M.A.D. offer free medical care for their various injuries and illnesses.

When that was taken care of, Venari made a city-wide announcement regarding the events that had occurred the previous night. She denounced the crimes of her brother, and publicly stated that he was now a criminal wanted by the Empire. Due to the state of the city, she also announced that she was temporarily taking his place as Governor, but that once the situation was stabilized, she was stepping down. To my surprise, the people of Ocaephis didn’t seem too bothered by what some might consider a power grab. While the majority of them were somewhat mistrustful, Venari’s reputation and her long-standing relationship with the residents of the city seemed to have convinced them to give her a chance.

The soldiers and mages that had taken Drusus’s side during the attack were made into indentured servants as a punishment, with their first task being to repair all the damage to the fortress. It was a happy surprise when I discovered that the captain that had been sent to kill me after my first visit to Ocaephis was among them. I made sure he got a good look at me before I flipped him the middle finger. I didn’t think he understood the meaning of the gesture, but it was satisfying all the same. I found seeing his face turning beet red quite cathartic, in fact.

With Venari occupied with her affairs, Captain Sequor took up active command of the Wild Hunters. Unfortunately, I couldn’t meet him due to a new monster popping up in the west, forcing him to lead an expedition to deal with it. From what I saw through the drones, he was a well built man with a seemingly permanent grim expression on his face. Although he may have been muscular in his youth, age had clearly taken its toll, evident by his deep wrinkles and graying hair. When I had later asked Venari why he didn’t join us during our assault, she informed me that he was supposed to organize what essentially would have been a full scale rebellion against Drusus if we had failed.

Due to our continued stay in the city, I was forced to have Eve send for a Replete charging station. She also insisted on bringing more reinforcements just in case, and considering the events of the past few days, I couldn’t argue. Luckily, the Ashray infiltrators that I had posted inside the city a while back were turning out to be more useful than I had anticipated. Not only was I able to take over one to regain my normal appearance, they were invaluable in rooting out the few remaining pockets of resistance. By posing as trusted members of Drusus’s circle, they were able to infiltrate their hideouts without arousing suspicion. I tried having the Ashrays find out where Drusus might have gone, but nobody seemed to know. After many failed attempts, I decided to just hand a list of all the hideout locations to Venari and have her deal with them.

All this weighed heavily on Venari, and at one point, Lieutenant Barbatus, her butler Gaius, and I had to convince her to sleep for at least 8 hours after she had stayed up for two days straight. Doing so was no easy feat, but eventually, she reluctantly agreed. According to Gaius, she fell asleep as soon as she flopped onto her bed.

Once the situation had stabilized, I was finally able to relax for a change. Although I knew I had to leave soon, I made sure I bought some souvenirs for everyone back home. Venari guessed that I was planning on returning, and asked me to meet her in her mansion before I left.

“Lord,” the guards in front of her residence said, nodding respectfully. Although I didn’t have a formal title, many of the Wild Hunters and city guards still insisted on calling me Lord. While a large part of me felt uncomfortable with the respect and weight of the title, I had to admit a small part enjoyed it.

“Sup Caelus, Sisen,” I replied cheerfully, nodding back at them. With my frequent visits, I had grown somewhat close with the members of Venari’s guard and household. Walking through the gate, I took in the pleasant view of the garden's various plants. Although each one had a different beauty to them, the coming winter had dulled their vibrancy. A strong sense of nostalgia hit me, and I was reminded of the dull grays and browns that made up the cities of Earth..

“Lady Venari is awaiting your arrival in the pavilion,” a familiar voice suddenly said from behind me. Jumping in shock, I realized that Gaius had suddenly appeared there, hands clasped behind his back.

“Dude! Don’t scare me like that!” I said with mild annoyance. For a brief moment, I saw the wisp of a smile at the edges of his mouth, but it vanished as quickly as it appeared.

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“If you would kindly follow me,” he said politely, turning on a dime and walking down a pathway leading deeper into the garden. After a moment's hesitation, I followed him. It wasn’t long before I spotted the pavilion, placed smack dab in the middle of the garden. Made of a white stone, it reflected the sunlight, making it look as though it were glowing. Four bridges, each facing one of the cardinal directions, had been built over a small rivulet of water that encircled the pavilion like a moat. In the center was a circular table, with three curved benches around it. Venari was seated on one of them, her back facing us.

“Lady Venari,” Gaius spoke softly.

“Evan, it’s good to see you,” Venari said, turning around and smiling. Instead of the more militaristic uniforms I was accustomed to seeing her wear, she had instead chosen to wear a long fur coat along with thick blue gloves to protect from the cold. She patted the empty seat next to her. “Come, sit. Gaius, would you mind making tea for us?”

“Of course, my lady.”

“Oh, and please fetch the other items we had discussed.”

Very well. If you would kindly excuse me, I will return shortly.”

Crossing one of the bridges, I sat down and leaned back, resting my arms on the table behind me. A few minutes of comfortable silence passed before either of us spoke.

“So you’re leaving?”

“Yeah. Tomorrow afternoon at the latest.”

“Is there any chance I could convince you to stay?”

“I’m sorry, but no. I have people waiting for me back home. Plus, there are a lot of things I still have to do.”

Venari sighed disappointedly. “I thought not.”

“Hey, it’s not like this is the last time I’m ever going to see you,” I said comfortingly. “I’ll come back to visit, I promise.”

“I know. It’s just…” Venari hesitated. “I suppose I have grown somewhat dependent on you.”

“What do you mean?”

Venari didn’t reply for a while. I remained silent as well, not wanting to push her too much.

“When I was a child,” she said suddenly, “I didn’t have many people I could trust. While my brother excelled in the scholarly arts, my talents lay in the art of combat. Seeing this, Father doted on me, and almost completely ignored Drusus. Although I didn’t have any choice in the matter, my brother saw this, and resented me for it. He tormented me relentlessly. And because he was the heir to the position of Governor, the children of the nobles did whatever they had to in order to cozy up to him. Of course, he was smart enough to hide this fact from Father. The closest thing I had to a friend was Giaus.”

I nodded slowly, hanging on to every word.

“Eventually, I joined the Wild Hunters against the wishes of my father, while Drusus took up a position as one of the Governor’s advisors. His influence allowed him to dictate the tasks and expeditions I was assigned, and he abused his power to send me on the riskiest ones. I cannot even recall the number of times I almost died to monsters. Several years ago, however, he stopped. I had hoped that he had grown past his childish behavior, but now I see how naive I was,” she laughed in a self-deprecating manner. “He had me dancing in the palm of his hand the entire damn time!”

The rivulets of water started trembling, and small droplets of water rose up into the air before Venari restrained her emotions.

“What about your buddies in the Wild Hunters?”

She shook her head. “They were always a bit standoffish, worried that they would somehow offend me. Especially once I outranked them. I suppose what I’m trying to say is…I am blessed by the Mother to have someone I can trust as much as you,” she said, turning towards me and smiling warmly.

I smiled back before laughing loudly. “This is coming from the person who shot a water spear through me the first day we met,” I teased, pulling the elven silver dagger from my waist and fiddling around with it. After the battle, it had become sort of a regular habit.

“Ah, yes, I apologize for that again,” Venari cringed in embarrassment. “I may not have been thinking very clearly then.”

“Eh, I’m just fucking with you,” I waved off her apology.

I noticed her gaze move to the dagger in my hand. “You know, I never did ask where you got that,” she commented.

“Actually, it’s kind of a funny story,” I recalled. I told her all about the eccentric yet mysterious man in the market, as well as how he disappeared into thin air before I could get any information out of him. “Oh! He had a pretty weird bird with him too. I’m pretty sure it was a crow, but it was red instead of black. Plus, it kept smacking him on the head and cawing at him,” I chuckled. “Shit, I can’t remember his name…”

“[It was Luan.]”

“Oh, yeah! Luan!”

Venari leaned in uncomfortably close with an alarmed expression on her face. “Wait, what did you say?”

“Huh? You mean Luan?” I asked confusedly.

“Evan! Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?!?!” she exclaimed.

“I was busy! Am I in trouble or something?!?!”

Venari covered her face with her hands and took several deep breaths. “Unless I am terribly mistaken, you met the God of chaos,” She said with a shaky breath.