I’ve been fitted for a full outfit only a few times in my life. Sure, I’ve had people make me sweaters and pants and the like, but I was a farm kid; we didn’t go to tailors. The first outfit I had tailored for me was my dress uniform for the Guild. It was a turquoise military-formal kind of deal and it got burned after I was attacked by an angry pyromancer at a party. I never got a replacement.

During the Last War, I was fitted for an officer’s uniform, but I was deployed before it was finished. Never even saw it. I could probably go and try to claim it, 25 years after the fact, but that sounded like more trouble than it’s worth.

So I was a bit uncomfortable standing in my underwear as an old man took careful measurements of my body. I was even more uncomfortable because the cost of the suit I was going to get was more than my yearly wage. Lavin just watched, enjoying my discomfort.

“I’m surprised you don’t have any formal wear,” she said, taking a sip of the wine the tailor had provided. The clothing stores I went to never even provided water, much less fine wines. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a bit jealous.

“What’s the use of a suit in a fight?” I asked.

“A good suit is like a weapon itself,” the tailor said.

I glared at him and said, “Not against an ogre.”

He shrugged and said, “Fair enough.”

The tailor finished and left me and Lavin alone in the dressing room. I stepped down from the stool and pulled on my clothes.

“I’m a bit surprised you’re helping me,” Lavin said.

“Me too.”

“The Guild hasn’t been too friendly to me, is all I mean.”

I gave her my widest smile.

“They aren’t too friendly to me either. Can we get out of here now?”

Lavin drained her glass and sat up.

“Absolutely.”

For the past few days, I’d spent most of my time watching over Lavin as she went about her parliamentary duties. I’d managed to talk her down from her full range of activities, including social calls, but she still insisted on doing quite a lot.

I hadn’t been home except to grab a bag of clothes. Xico had been understanding and considering she tried to kill me less than a week ago, acted remarkably normal about the whole thing. I’d told Char what I was doing and asked her to keep me updated, but I hadn’t seen more than once. This case was moving all too slow for me. It made me uncomfortable, which was a funny thought. I’d tracked monsters for weeks at a time, but this case was making me antsy. I guess I just wasn’t used to city life yet.

Thick clouds obscured the setting sun as we left the tailor’s, plunging the city into an early, gray darkness. The streets were crowded, so I took Lavin by the hand and we pushed our way through throngs of people toward her apartment. As the crowds thinned out and we got to more residential areas, it became clear we were being followed.

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I glanced over my shoulder and saw a woman tailing us. I sped up my pace a bit, dragging Lavin along with me. I circled the block and the woman was still following us.

As we neared an alley, I broke out into a run.

I pushed Lavin into the alley and said, “Wait here.”

I turned around and walked out of the alley to see the woman giving chase. As soon as she saw me, she slowed to a walk and pulled out a

knife.

“We’re not going to try to talk this out?” I asked tiredly. The woman ignored me. She dashed forward and thrust her knife at my chest. I moved out of the way and caught her arm. I snapped the bone with a satisfying crunch. She dropped her knife and let out a cry.

Her knife clattered on the cobblestones and I punched her in the throat. She doubled over, wheezing. While she struggled for breath, I picked up her knife and pressed it to her neck.

“Feeling more talkative now?” I asked.

She growled and spit at me.

“Are you going to torture her for information?” Lavin asked, peeking out of the alley.

I shrugged.

“Should I?”

“You’ll never get anything out of me,” the woman spat. Blood was trickling down from her arm, where some bone was poking out.

I glanced back at Lavin and said, “You heard her. I should just kill her.”

Lavin shrugged.

I pressed the knife a bit closer to the woman’s throat. A bit of blood ran down the blade of the knife.

“At least tell me who hired you before I cut your throat.”

The woman glanced at me and then at Lavin, panic seeping into her eyes.

“I don’t know,” she said. “It was anonymous. I just work for an agency.”

“That was easy,” I said. I plunged the knife into the woman’s leg and she screamed, falling to the ground.

I walked back to Lavin and said, “She doesn’t know anything.”

Lavin looked a bit pale but nodded. I led her back to her apartment, careful that no one else was following us.

As we got in and I locked the door behind us, I asked, “Have you never had someone after your life before?”

She shook her head and collapsed down on the couch.

“No,” she said, “not like that at least.”

“Well, that wasn’t too bad, comparatively,” I said.

A bit of blood drained out of her face and she asked, “Have you killed a human before, Jonas?”

I didn’t answer and started to prepare dinner.

“Have you?” Lavin asked, a bit quieter, but with more force in her tone.

“Yes,” I finally said. “But you knew that.”

Lavin was quiet for a long time. I heard her pour herself a glass of wine, and then another. We ate dinner in silence. It was only after we’d finished that she spoke up.

“I know that your kind…er…Hunters, fought in the Last War.”

“A lot of people fought,” I said, clearing the dishes.

I could tell that Lavin wanted to say something, but she didn’t. Good. I didn’t particularly want to talk about my wartime experiences with a noble.