The inside of the regional adventurers guild looked the same as always. The various chairs and tables inside were covered in dust. The notice board was empty as usual and there was barely anyone around.

However, did this mean that there were persons actually here and even more than that, of the three present, two of them didn't even work there.

If one were to look around they would notice the receptionist nowhere to be seen. Then that left Mr. Bentley present in the building as the sole employee. Standing next to the frail old man was a man with dreadlocks who had somewhat of a wild look to him.

He had recently gone through a bit of trouble and was covered all over in gauze. Most importantly he considered the man he was standing next to him his hero. It was none other than Ezekiel.

The two men were looking down on something or rather, I should say someone. The person on the floor the duo were staring at had both their hands and feet bound with rope.

On closer inspection, the person on the floor appeared to be the woman Ezekiel and Tibaut rescued from the dungeon.

Ezekiel looked unamused and casually kicked her in the stomach. The woman grimaced in pain and let out a yelp.

Ezekiel then crouched down and moved his face towards her.

"As you can see, I'm not in the mood to bullshit around. If you can tell me what I want to hear I think it'd be in both our interests." He said while forcing a smile.

The woman moved her face away and decided to keep her mouth shut.

"I see." He then sighed and hung his head down in disappointment.

He then started fiddling with one of his locks. "We don't have too much information on the cult, even those the pricks in the capital don't have much about them. So you can see why this kinda info would be important. What I'm saying is, that depending on the info you have, we might get a bit rough with you. Now that I think about it, you wouldn't be in a place like that if you didn't have something important now, right?"

The woman had clearly never been trained to endure interrogations as she started wiggling away as soon as he said the word important.

"Oh? I was just throwing bait out. I didn't expect you to bite this quickly. Is it an object?"

The woman unconsciously flinched when he said.

"Man, I'm on a roll today. I know we didn't search before we brought you here, but man am I glad. I can take my time searching through you for it. Ah, when's the last time I got to play with a woman half as pretty as you hehe. The screams when I slowly peel their clothes off are the best." He said with a smile one could hardly believe belonged to a human being.

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"Wait, you aren't actually going to anything like that, right?" The once silent woman now nervously asked while fruitlessly struggling in the rope.

Ezekiel said nothing. He began slowly approaching her with the look of a beast that hadn't eaten in days.

"Wait! Why do you even think I'm even in that cult you speak of? Please wait! Is this really what adventurers are like!?"

The look in Ezekiel's eyes didn't change while he made his approach. The woman continued begging while trying her best to back away.

This continued for a few seconds until she hit a wall. A small giggle came from Ezekiel when he saw this. As if to spit on her struggle he quickened his pace. She had now fully resorted to shouting and screaming for help.

Unfortunately for her, it was now past midnight and there wasn't a soul outside the building that could hear her pleas. Just as Ezekiel was about to help himself to the bound woman, someone grabbed his shoulder. It was Mr. Bentley.

"Boy, did you really think I was going to allow you to commit such an atrocity in my building?" He said looking insulted.

"Why do you care? Just go upstairs and wait thirty minutes." He then grinned. "I'll get her talking by then."

In a surprising show of agility, he quickly delivered a punch to Ezekiel's gut and then threw him to the ground. He then sighed and remarked, "What is the new generation coming to?"

Ezekiel looked to be in pain and was holding his stomach. The old man then walked over to the young woman and pulled out a piece of paper.

"Please excuse the boy, he needs to work on his manners. Now, unlike that buffoon, I'm willing to negotiate."

The woman was relieved by this turn of events however she was able to read the piece of paper and soon started questioning him.

"How do you have that?"

"See, apparently the boy who was protecting you found it but obviously he didn't put two and two together like our friend here." He said as pointed to Ezekiel

The piece of paper in his hands was an order to certain cult members to look for possible hideouts.

"What do you want?" The woman asked with hesitation.

"Settle down now, let's make my terms clear. I'm willing to let you go."

"?"

The woman almost couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Wait, what, why would yo-"

The old man shushed her.

"Now, now, I feel people as of late have been too willing to kill their fellow man. And besides just because you're one of them doesn't mean you killed someone, am I right?"

The woman vigorously nodded her head.

"See? If I had sent you to the capital or left you alone with that boy over there, an innocent woman would have died or worse."

The old man began to untie her roped limbs.

"Now I'm not asking for much but was the boy right in saying you had something important on you?"

The woman walked over to Ezekiel and looked like she was about to kick him but then refrained.

"Yes, he was right." After saying that she reached up into her skirt and pulled something like a scroll of some kind.

"To be honest, my faith has been wavering recently so I have no problem handing this over."

"Is that so? Better late than never," he responded as he collected the scroll from her.

The woman soon walked to the entrance, bowed to Mr. Bentley and promptly left.

"Was all that really necessary?" Ezekiel asked while getting up off the floor.

"No, but I'd rather have gotten this from her willingly. Making a mess here would be quite the trouble to clean up"

"You sure we can let her roam free?"

"You heard what she said. In fact that was probably why they had her in a place like that to begin with. There is no need to worry about a lynx that had no claws in the first place."

"(So they'll send those wavering in faith on suicide missions, eh.) Just so you know I'm not gonna clean it up for you if she goes on a rampage."

The old man gently waved his hand and then examined the information in the scroll.