At this point, William would have normally gone to find his contact and give a report on the Hengan family, as well as the other families involved. However, this particular time was a bit awkward to make a report on. In fact, it felt rather incriminating. Though William didn’t feel particularly guilty about killing those people, the law might not say the same thing. Finally, William decided that the problems wouldn’t end with just the dead figures. The rest of their families needed to be investigated. Not that William was going to turn himself in or anything. He was just going to turn in his report… and leave.

By the time he had decided what he was going to do, William was late to meet with his contact. Not that they had a scheduled time for him to report in, exactly. Rather, the contact would be found in certain places at specific days and times. They had likely already left, so William would have to wait a few more days. Still, William decided to show up anyway. It wouldn’t take too much time even if they were already gone, and William wasn’t really that busy at the moment. The only thing he could really be doing was sleep… and there would be plenty of time for that.

Thus, William found himself walking down a few back alleys. Though they were back alleys, they were still rather nice, being in a good part of the city. Not fantastic, but clean enough, and wide enough. There also weren’t a lot of strange people loitering around, merely a pair… and of course these were William and his contact.

“You’re late.” His contact said as he came close.

“Yeah yeah. It’s not like I promised to be here today anyway.” William reached into his bag, searching around for the case that held his written notes. There were no secret passwords or special phrases to be exchanged. William and the contact had been introduced to each other, and knew each other’s faces. Even though it was night, there was still moonlight, at least enough to recognize a familiar face. Finally, William pulled out a leather case. “Here it is.” He extended the case, and his contact reached out to take it. Then, William took a sudden step forward, driving his palm directly into their chest.

The figure in front of William collapsed, revealing an unfamiliar face. William looked around until he was certain there had been no one else nearby. “Who are you, then?” The unconscious body couldn’t answer, not that William had expected anything.

-----

Lorelei was awoken shortly before a knock on her door. She sighed and went to answer, only to be met by two men, one who unceremoniously flopped to the floor, causing her to take a step back. “Contrary to popular belief, my people do sleep at night.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“I know.” William said, then broke into a minor coughing fit. “Listen, can you drag that guy inside? It’s a lot…” William took a breath, “...harder than it used to be.”

Lorelei accommodated him, dragging the unconscious form along by an arm, though she could easily have picked him up. William came in and closed the door behind himself. “So, William, why do you honor me with a…” she grinned slightly, “nighttime visit?”

William shrugged, and pointed at the man on the ground. “I was hoping you could get some information from him.” William explained the situation, including the part where he had killed five nobles.

“Hmm, interesting. This… espionage must have been planned well in advance. It may even have been going on for some time… with them appearing after your contact has gone. Either that… or something had just happened to him.”

William grimaced. “Yeah, I hope that’s not the case. I’ll have to talk to the knights as soon as possible. If you could find out what noble family he’s from- he can do magic and looks Ostanan so he should be from a noble family- that would be great. Finding out why he was disguised as my contact should be included as well.”

“Sure, I can try… but I don’t torture people any more, just so you know.”

“So? That’s never stopped you from getting information before. Besides, he doesn’t know that.”

“That’s a good point. Besides, torture never really gives accurate of information.”

-----

Franklin Gallowood woke up to a bucket of water pouring over him, only to find his hands bound behind his back. The only thing he could see was a glowing orb of light, and a red face with horns. “Good morning, Franklin. Nice to see that you’re awake.”

He briefly struggled against his bonds, though the effort proved futile. His hands were tightly bound, and he had no strength nor skill to get out of bonds of any kind. He could use magic, but not with a demon standing right over him. “W-what did I do wrong? I know we haven’t gotten any results yet, but we were trying! I just talked with S-Sei-Seirrohm, he said we’d have more time!”

The demoness shook her head. “Oh, Franklin. It’s not you. Still, all of you are responsible for each other, and I’m afraid…”

Franklin cursed. “Was it Alex? Joel? No it must have been that cowardly Egercard family! We told you they couldn’t be trusted! Please, it’s not my fault!”

“Oh? You sound like you really didn’t know. Still, you must have had suspicions. There was one more, after all.”

Franklin racked his brain. There weren’t really that many of them, which only left… “I… I don’t… was it the Manphens? They seemed like the type to sell the rest of us out to save their own hides.” Now that he thought about it, it was probably everyone. The Gallowoods shouldn’t have trusted anyone.

“Actually, it turns out you have done something wrong. See, the problem is… you were stupid and trusted demons.” The demoness leaned in uncomfortably close, the light only revealing a small part of her face. “Did you not hear the whole thing about wiping out humanity? They’re serious. Why would they let a few cowardly traitors live?” Then, Franklin passed out.