Out of instinct Chelna checked the magical signature and to her surprise found that it was coming from the communication orb in the guild masters office.

This was the communications orb Kele normally contacted her with unless she was out.

With haste she quickly pulled out her communication orb and channeled her magic into it, after it turned blue she said in a panicked tone.

“Kele help me, the murderer from your guild is after me and your employee Rizi is helping him.”

She expected to hear concern or even panic from her friend, not the sound of Kele’s giggling voice.

“Calm down Chelna it’s not what you think, Tommy is not trying to murder you and Rizi is not helping him do it, she is following my orders.”

“What?” Chelna asked in surprise.

“Tommy did me a favor by eliminating Grotsk.” Kele said before explaining

“As you know the entire adventurer’s guild is as corrupt as Oakforest City and by eliminating Grotsk I now have a valid reason to purge the guild without arousing suspicion from the headquarters.”

“Once I purge my own guild and clean out the trash, I can start focussing on the rest of the adventurer’s guild and seize control for myself.”

“After all, that's what we agreed upon all those years ago wasn’t it?”

“I will seize control of the adventurer’s guild while you seize control of the Etria nation.”

“Kele be careful, you know communication orbs are not secure.” Chelna said in panic.

Kele giggled again before saying.

“Wow, meeting Tommy really shook you up.”

“You're forgetting that while normal communication between two standard orbs is indeed insecure, when you use at least one master orb like the one I am using in my office….”

“Communication becomes secure.” Chelna finished as she calmed down slightly.

“Exactly.” Kele said before saying;

“Now why don’t you tell me exactly why you decided to meet with them, when I heard the king ordered all the royal family to remain in the castle.”

Chelna slowed down and took some deep breaths to calm herself before she explained.

“Rizi contacted me with your personal orb and mentioned that she had someone who could help with my personal project, she also gave the pass-phrase the two of us came up with.”

“Why didn’t you tell me you gave it to another person?” Chelna asked accusingly before adding.

“Also why did you tell her about my personal project? Did you also tell her your own?”

“My bad, it was only recently that I confided in Rizi because she is trustworthy.” Kele answered apologetically before adding.

“Also she does know about my plans to seize control of the guild and she has vowed to help me with it.”

“Hmph fine, I will trust you on this.” Chelna replied grumpily before adding.

“But if you tell it to anyone else without informing me, prepare to be punished.”

Kele giggled before saying playfully.

“I would never dare go against my princess and the future empress.”

“Still I wonder how Tommy can help you.” Kele mumbled.

“I don’t know, but since you vouch for them I suppose I can go find out.” Chelna replied before asking.

“Will you join us?”

Kele sighed before saying.

“I wish I could, however if I leave the guild now it will look suspicious as I am supposed to be gathering information for when the investigators arrive.”

There was silence for a moment before Chelna said.

“I see, ok I will end the communication here then and go see what your two friends want.”

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“Don’t work too hard.”

“Unfortunately working hard is all I will be doing for the foreseeable future.” Kele replied in a tired tone.

“You really need a boyfriend.” Chelna teased with a giggle.

“That’s the last thing I want to hear from you, virgin princess.” Kele teased back.

“Fuck off.” Chelna said in a very un-princess like way before ending the communication.

Chelna sighed before taking a moment to gather herself after which she turned and proceeded back the way she came.

It didn’t take long for her to meet up with Rizi who was hurrying to catch up.

“P p p princess.” Rizi said with difficulty as she was gasping for breath.

“I have spoken with Kele and she explained the situation and don’t call me that since we are not alone.” Chelna hissed before saying in an annoyed tone.

“You really could have handled this better, I mean dropping Tommy Smith who is a recognised murderer on me.”

Rizi took a moment to gather herself before she asked.

“Would you have come if I mentioned his name before?”

“Fair point.” Chelna conceded before saying.

“Come let us return and you can explain why I’m really here.”

After which she started proceeding back to the Forest Rest.

“I told you the truth before, Tommy can help you with your project.”

Rizi replied as she walked behind Chelna.

“Walk next to me since I am incognito right now.” Chelna instructed before asking.

“How much did you tell him about my project?”

“Not much.” Rizi replied before adding.

“I just mentioned you are interested in the elimination of the city's criminal organizations and have done extensive research into them.”

Chelna raised an eyebrow in surprise before asking.

“Why would you tell him that?”

“He received a task from Erden related to it.”

“Blacksmith Erden over in the east industrial district?” Chelna asked.

“Yes.” Rizi nodded before continuing.

“Erden tasked him with causing the collapse of the criminal organizations and eliminating their leaders.”

“What!” Chelna said in surprise before asking.

“Why would Erden ask such a ridiculous thing of him?”

“Tommy wants to use his forge.” Rizi replied simply.

“Ohhh now it makes sense, Erden probably thinks he will fail or most likely give up.” Chelna said as she put two and two together.

“Do you know what he wants to use the forge to make?” Chelna then asked.

“No, the topic never came up.” Rizi replied.

“Hmmm.” Chlena replied before they lapsed into silence as they walked.

A few minutes later they returned to the inn, when they entered the bar however they found that Tommy was no longer at their table.

As the two women scanned the room looking for him, Tue approached and whispered.

“Tommy said for you to meet him in his room.”

“Eh!” Chelna responded in surprise which earned a strange look from Tue.

“Understood, thanks Tue.” Rizi replied with a smile.

She then took Chelna by the hand and started leading her towards the stairs.

“Wait wait.” Chelna said quietly in panic.

“What?” Rizi asked curiously as she turned to her.

“I can't enter a man's bedchambers.” Chelna said.

Rizi rolled her eyes before saying.

“First off, it's not exactly his bedchambers since he is living there.”

“Second, you won't be alone in there with him.”

“Third, you're in disguise.”

“Fourth, nothing like you are imagining is going to happen.”

There was silence for a moment as Chelna considered this before she nodded and said.

“Very well.”

The two proceeded up the stairs before they stopped outside Tommy’s door, where Rizi knocked.

“It’s open.” They heard Tommy say.

As Rizi pushed the door open they were surprised to see a topless Tommy in the middle of putting a clean shirt on.

Both women froze on the spot and stared at his upper body.

While Tommy did not look muscular when he was wearing clothes because of how he trained his muscles to be compact, the same could not be said when he was topless.

The two women stared at his finely sculpted arm muscles.

His chest that had a fabulous looking ten pack.

While both women admitted his face was only average at best, they could not say the same about his upper body that was like a god’s.

“Hey one second. Tommy said as he turned around.

As he did so both women could not help but gasp slightly.

If Tommy’s chest was the pinnacle of perfection, then his back was the complete opposite.

It was covered in scars and what looked like burn marks.

Tommy soon covered his upper body with the shirt before he turned back to them and pointed at the desk while saying.

“I had your food and drink brought up here.”

It took a moment for both women to get over what they just saw as Chelna replied.

“Thank you.”

“Why did you decide to change the meeting location?” Rizi asked as she finally closed the door.

“Firstly I don’t think your friend here would appreciate all the people staring at her when she suddenly returned after the scene she made about leaving.”

Tommy answered, causing Chelna to blush though neither of them could see it under her hood.

“Secondly I am guessing that your friend doesn't want people to know she is investigating how to eliminate the city's criminal organizations considering the trouble you went through to arrange this meeting.”

“While I appreciate both points and thank you for your consideration.” Chelna said before adding.

“I would ask that you stop speaking about me like I’m not here.”

Tommy chuckled before saying.

“My apologies, I would be happy to address you directly except I don’t know how to address you.”