Vampa, who stood more than a foot taller than Dantes, nodded silently at his question. He was wearing an undershirt and trousers held up by suspenders , his thick black boots were well worn, and had a few drops of red along the heel that didn’t take a scholar to identify. It was the most dressed he’d ever seen him.

They started walking up the road, the two black hounds in tow. The crowd parted before them, with a number of men and women offering them respectful nods as they moved.

“I was surprised when Zak said you’d be the muscle for today. He said you need money?” asked Dantes.

Vampa nodded. “Have to buy something,” he said simply.

“Listen, you’ve done me more than a few good turns and Vera favors you. If you need some gold I’ll give it to you.”

He shook his head. “Don’t like loans. Don't trust them if they come from you.”

Dantes chuckled. “You shouldn’t, but I didn’t mean a loan. I’ll just give you the gold.”

He shook his head again. “Need to earn the money. It’s important.”

“Fair enough.” Dantes left it at that. The man was set, and there didn’t seem to be a lot of value in pushing him to take some gold for free. Even if he succeeded it would just make Vampa annoyed and Dantes’s pockets lighter. Not much of an upside for him.

Their first stop was a butcher on the border of the docks and Midtown. Dantes walked in with Vampa and his hounds in tow.

A half dwarf was standing behind the counter chopping meat with a heavy cleaver. He had pink stains all up and down his apron, and both his thick hair and beard were neatly tied to keep them out of the way and keep any stray locks from falling into the meat. He had a small dog nibbling a bone in the corner, and a windowbox filled with sweet smelling flowers in his window.

The small dog stood from its place in the corner to bark at Vampa and the hounds.

“It’s fine. We mean your person no harm and we’ll leave your territory shortly,” said Dantes to him, projecting relaxed calm in his direction.

The dog didn’t respond, but did stop yapping and sat back down to chew his bone, though he did so with one eye on Dantes and his retinue. Dantes asked the other hounds to go introduce themselves.

“Mister Dantes! Welcome.”

“Dom, how are you doing?” Dantes asked, learning carefully on the counter to avoid a fresh patch of blood.

“Good Sir, good. You’re here for the payment?”

Dantes nodded.

Dom hopped off the small crate he’d been standing on and went to the back of the building.

Vampa and the hounds scanned the room for threats, the hounds sniffing the air, and Vampa’s clipped ears twitching slightly as he tracked movement by sound.

It was appreciated, but unnecessary. Dantes was watching the storefront from a pigeon floating in the air, the back of it with a rat munching on a rotten apple core, and his own sense of hearing was as strong as an elf's since he’d gained the ability to change into a bat. Still, he’d realized that bringing a guard with him actually made people more comfortable with him. The stories about him had traveled far and fast, growing larger with each retelling. Seeing that he needed protection too made him seem more normal, and put people at ease. That was important to him. Fear was useful, but having everyone on edge in Midtown wasn’t a good idea when he wanted the coin to flow.

Dom reappeared with a small pouch as well as a package wrapped in butcher’s paper.

“Here’s this month’s sir. As well as something extra for you.”

Dantes smiled and took both of them. “Thanks Dom.” he felt the weight of the coin in his hands and opened the pouch, seeing the gleam of silver.

“Any trouble recently?”

Dom shook his head. “No sir.”

Dantes nodded at him. “See you next month, Dom. Unless you decide to drop by the Vixen to see Milta again, then I’ll see you sooner.”

Dom chuckled at that and waved as they left.

They walked into the next shop, a small bakery. Just like the butcher there was a flower box in the window, as well as some vegetables in a small patch being grown just by the door. There weren’t any dogs, but there were two orange cats sitting in the windowsill. Dantes scratched one behind the ears as he entered.

A half-orc woman was behind the counter this time, white flour staining her hands.

“Dantes, uh, what can I do for you? Need something sweet for your girls again?”

He shook his head. “Not today Hrin. We’re just here to collect”

She looked confused. “Collect? We already paid one of your men this month.”

Dantes’s friendly demeanor shifted and he went from casually leaning on the glass display of pastries to standing at the counter leaning toward her.

“Which one of my men?”

Her green skin paled a bit. “Uh, he said his name was Grantum? Big guy, blonde hair, mostly human I think. Said he worked for you?”

Dantes pulled away from her and moved to the closest of the orange cats who was bathing herself in a particularly nice ray of sunlight.

“Your servant over there says she paid a man yesterday who was pretending to work for me. Is this true?”

She briefly stopped what she was doing to look at him. “What’s it worth to you?”

“I’ll have a whole fish brought here to you later today.”

The cat purred a bit and stretched. “Yes, she’s telling the truth. He looked and smelled like this,” she sent an imprint of his look and smell to Dantes. That was something he’d only learned he could with creatures he had no blessing for if they consented to it.

He nodded and began sending vermin out to find the man.

He stood up and looked at Hrin who seemed a bit scared, but was kneading dough anyway.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

“I believe you. You don’t owe me anything this month. I’ll take it out in blood from this Grantum.”

She let out a breath. “Good. Take a bit extra out on him for me.”

Dantes nodded. “There won’t be any more to take when I’m through, but I’ll give the knife an extra twist for you.”

The next few shops had a similar story, all with the same perpetrator. He reached a general store next. There was a windowbox filled with dead and wilting flowers sitting by the door. Even a connection to Dantes couldn’t keep something alive with no sunlight, water, or nutrients at all. The store itself was empty and the shelves were sparsely populated. There was a bit of rope, some cloth, and a scattering of simple tools, but little else. A half-elf dozed a bit as he stared at the ceiling. He was dirty, as were his clothes, and there was just a bit of dust still around the rim of his nose.

Dantes walked up to the counter and knocked twice on the wood of it.

The half-elf shook his head as he remembered he was awake, and looked at Dantes.

“Uh, Dantes, sir, hi, er welcome.”

“Where’s my money, Tem?” he asked. There were no pleasantries this time.

“I uh, I gave it to your guy a few days ago. Grantum.”

Tem had no pets to interview, but Dantes wouldn’t have needed their help this time anyway.

“Oh, that’s great. Did you give him the full three months you owe, or just this month.”

“The uh, the full three. Had a lucky month.”

Dantes raised his eyebrows and smiled, putting his hands up a bit. “Oh, that’s great. I guess we’re all good then.”

Tem nodded emphatically. “Yeah, yeah. Of course. I always pay my debts.”

Dantes smiled. “Oh, I did have a question.” he reached out, grabbed Tem’s hair with his wooden hand, and slammed his face against the counter. There was a crunch as his nose broke.

Tem fell backward in his chair, clutching his bleeding nose and screaming.

“Do you think I’m an idiot?”

Tem pushed himself back to his feet by bracing himself against the wall.

“No,” he managed.

“Grantum hit five shops in a row, then didn’t hit the next three, then hit yours? That makes no sense. You know him, or of him, and you figured you could get out of what you owe by pretending he hit your shop too. Isn’t that right?”

Tem was crying, his tears mixing with the blood dripping from his nose. “I’ll get the money. I promise you I’ll get the money.”

“You have two weeks. After that the only way I’m getting what I owe is by selling you to Frasheid slavers.”

“I…I bought all my dust from your guys. I mean, you got my money either way. I can’t work if I have the shakes when I’m off of them.”

Dantes walked slowly around the counter and leaned in close.

“That’s not my problem. Try to run, and I’ll feed you to the rats.”

Tem whimpered as Dantes stood and walked out of the shop with Vampa and the hounds in tow. He frowned at the pack of meat still under his arm, and waved down a young girl who was walking down the street.

“Hey, take this down to Viridian Vixen for me and tell them to give it to Zilly.” He held out the meat as well as a few copper.

She nodded and took the coins and meat.

He gestured to one of the hounds. “Follow her and make sure she gets there and back safe.There’s some of the meat in it for you.”

The hound gave a bark in the affirmative, and after the girl gave him some surprisingly fearless pats on the haunch they were on their way.

They hit a few more shops, then Dantes paused.

“I haven’t visited these next few shops yet. They don’t owe, but the last person they paid was Mondego. Things may be a bit rougher from here on.”

Vampa nodded silently.

Dantes walked forward. The first shop was a small tavern and inn called, “Second Worst,”. In spite of the name, it didn’t seem too rough. The floorboards were creaky, and there was clearly a leak in the corner, but there were a few customers at the bar even in the early afternoon, and a few low rank adventurers who were likely using the beds upstairs were having quiet conversations in front of the fire.

Dantes went to the bar, where a Mutt with a thick beard, pointed ears, and a lanky build was pouring a drink.

Dantes leaned against the bar.

“You the owner?”

The man glanced at him and Vampa, his eyes narrowing. “Yup.”

“Come talk to me at the end of the bar.”

The man nodded, and when he finished serving the drink he’d been pouring he met Dantes at the end of the bar.

“What’s your name?” asked Dantes.

“Limsten.”

“Do you know who I am?”

The man nodded, his jaw set, and his eyes staying mostly on Vampa.

“So you know why I’m here?”

“To steal from me and call it protection?”

Dantes smiled a bit, surprised at his boldness.

“That’s how it was under Mondego, and I can’t tell you that the negatives are much different. If you say no, then you, or your tavern, or someone you care about, will start having issues. You’ll pay me to stop these issues. The difference is that when you have issues from anyone else, I will actually help you. Unlike Mondego.”

“Could barely afford him. Don’t know how long I’d be able to afford you.”

“I make things easier than he did. You have an anti-vermin enchantment on this place, right?”

He nodded.

“You pay the Academy one silver and three copper for it a month?”

He nodded again.

“You let that lapse and I’ll give you a discount.”

“Then how’ll I keep the rats from drowning in my ale?”

“Same way you used to. Rat traps, a dog, a couple cats. I just don’t want any magic intervention. You could easily afford all that with what you’d save.”

The man scratched his beard thoughtfully.

“If you start a garden, I’ll give you another discount. I’ll even give you some seeds.”

He laughed a little. “Are you joking?”

Dantes shook his head. “No. If you do as I ask, you’ll only owe me half of what you would pay Mondego every month.”

The man nodded a bit, Dantes could tell he already had him, but decided to sweeten things a little more.

“If you let one of my dealers hang around, I’ll give you a cut of what he makes too.”

“I dunno… I’ve got little ones.”

“My dealers don’t sell to kids or they lose a digit.” Mondego had been too free in who he let his men deal to. Selling to kids was bad business in the long run, and Dantes himself couldn’t shake the idea of his mother crying if she knew he let his men do that.

The man looked thoughtful for a few moments and nodded. “Don’t really have a choice anyway,” he said, reaching out a hand.

Dantes took his hand. “You do, and you made the right one. We’ll be back next month. I’ll have someone drop off the seeds.”

The man nodded, and went back to serving his customers. Dantes, Vampa, and the remaining hound left the tavern. It was almost midafternoon, and Dantes was starting to regret picking one of his heavier coats as they continued walking.

“You have honor, of a kind.”

Dantes almost jumped. It had been some time since he’d heard Vampa talk, and he wasn’t sure he’d ever heard him speak without being spoken to first.

“I don’t have any honor.”

“You take care of those who keep their word to you, you punish those who don’t severely. You limit the spread of your own evil at a cost to yourself. You treat those of all backgrounds with the same rules, though you do treat those you know personally better than others. It reminds me a bit of the founders back when they were still alive.”

Dantes wasn’t really sure of how to respond to that. He was under the impression that Vampa had a low opinion of him, particularly after things had ended between him and his daughter. Aside from that he found himself flabbergasted that Vampa was old enough to have known Rendhold’s founders.

“I’m surprised you feel that way,” he said, opting for honesty.

He shrugged, intuiting Dantes’s reasoning. “Zilly should’ve known better. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t just watched you spend each night with a different whore for months.”

They walked in silence for some time, when Dantes found the man he’d been looking for in the background of his day through the eyes of a rat a few blocks away.

Dantes turned sharply down an alley and Vampa followed him, eventually stopping in front of an abandoned building.

“Grantum, the man who took what was owed to me, is in that building. Go and bring him out for me, leave his face intact.”

Vampa nodded and opened the door, walking briskly inside. There was a brief scuffle, one that Dantes didn’t bother watching, and he dragged the man out into the alley, tossing him to the ground.

Dantes kicked Grantum in the ribs, flipping him over, then placed his boot on the man’s neck.

“Pretty good con, but you really should’ve thought about who you were fucking with.”

His eyes bulged from his face as he clawed at Dantes’s boots desperately.

“Did you spend the money?” he asked, picking his boot up.

Grantum sucked down several quick breaths. “I, I hid most of it in the old fireplace. It’s behind a loose brick in there.”

Dantes gestured with his head for Vampa to go get it, and he went back inside. He came out shortly afterward holding several small pouches of coins.

“You told me right away. I appreciate you saving us all the trouble of lying.”

The man nodded emphatically. “So that means you’re not going to-”

Dantes extended a single wooden finger through the man's eye and out the back of his head. He then pulled it back.

“Vampa, pick up that garbage and throw him into the middle of the street. We’ll let everyone marinate on that for a day and finish the rounds tomorrow.”

Vampa nodded, lifting Grantum’s corpse like it weighed nothing.

“Good work today, you definitely earned that pay you’re looking for.”