Slamming open the door I rushed inside, worried for Pepper's safety.

"Are you ok Pepper?", I yelled.

"Jameson! These guys were threatening me to hand over the inn", Pepper said, her face wet with tears.

These guys were threatening Pepper?! What kind of heartless jerks would do this?! No one threatens my friends...

I felt my face contort into a tight-lipped smile as I clenched my jaw, staring at the three hooligans who were now looking at me. I had to stop Dob and Lob from immediately attacking them even though I really wanted them to be taught a lesson immediately.

"So you guys are the ones going around town pressuring people huh? Too bad you chose the wrong target...", I said as I clenched my fists.

"Tell me who you're working for and I'll let you off. Otherwise... well you're gonna have a bad time."

The three men seemed angered by my statement and started to charge toward me.

"Guys, can we do this outside? I don't want to get blood anywhere."

One of the men held up his hand, signaling for the others to stop.

"Fine. We don't want to dirty our property anyway. Follow us if you dare."

Unluckily for them, I did dare and Dob and Lob also dared so we followed behind them as they led us to a nearby alley.

The man that had signaled for the others to stop earlier turned back towards me.

"This place should work. Now we're not restricted by the town rules. You three are gonna get it now."

"Oh. What I coincidence. I was thinking the same thing", I smiled, taking out my dagger.

Dob and Lob saw me take out my weapon and took out there's as well but I gestured for them to put them away.

"No need guys. I can handle this by myself."

I quickly activated Rune Programming and switched around and added some Movement Runes. When I was done I quickly ran the program and I watched as the dagger flew out of my hand and disabled each of the criminals' movements by cutting their Achilles' tendons.

I walked over to them and grinned slightly in sadistic pleasure at seeing the people who threatened Pepper crying out in pain.

Am I being cruel? I guess. But I think they deserve it.

"So you guys wanna tell me who you work for now? Or do I need to encourage you a bit more?"

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One of the men piped up.

"I'll talk! Please just don't do anything else."

"Then talk", I said, growling slightly.

"Yes of course. We don't know his full name but we call him Mr. Scott. That's all we know mister. I swear."

Hmm. Should I let them off alive? ah fine. You win conscience.

"Fine. Seeing as you've cooperated and I haven't seen you hurt anyone physically I'll let you off. But I will kill you if I ever catch you doing something like this again. Clear?", I said, glaring at them.

"Yes sir!", their voices overlapping slightly as they scrambled to talk.

"Very well. Scram!"

I now watched as they attempted to walk away without the ability to move their feet, chuckling intermittently as they fell sometimes.

"Ah isn't this way better than just stabbing them?", I asked while turning to face Dob and Lob.

They nodded and gave me a thumbs up. I could tell that they were laughing on the inside at the three guys' plight. The now less mobile guys soon got the hang of walking through and I knew the show was over.

"Okay well, that was fun. Let's go check on Pepper and then go looking for this Mr. Scott scumbag."

Dob and Lob nodded and we walked back to the Fierce Boar inn. Pepper seemed overjoyed at our return.

"Thank you guys so much! I'm so glad you came back safely! What happened to those guys?"

"Well we had a little talk", I said, winking at Pepper.

"Wow! You must be really strong!", Pepper exclaimed, her face alight with unrestrained admiration.

"Ah well..."

Wait why am I turning down this opportunity? I might not be that physically strong but I'm strong in other ways. I did just beat three guys in like 10 seconds flat.

"Yes. I am very strong."

Pepper's eyes glittered at my confession.

"Oooo. You gotta show me your moves sometime!"

"Hehe, sure. No problem!"

Guess I shoulda listened to my brain the first time! Now I have to let another person know about my secrets. Although Pepper seems trustworthy. I'll just wait a bit until I'm sure. For now, though I should use my diversion tactics.

"So Pepper the guys mentioned they worked under a Mr. Scott. Do you happen to know who they might be referring to?"

Pepper thought for a moment.

"Well, there's this pretty rich guy named Scott Crawford. He lives in a big house that's pretty much right next to the town square. He does own a lot of businesses but I haven't seen any traces of stuff on this scale. I can't think of any other Scott's though."

"Hmm. Scott Crawford huh. Guess we'll have to pay him a visit and see if anything sticks."

I saw a worried look appear in Pepper's eyes.

"Jameson that's really dangerous! This guy has guards and probably lots of other security measures. It's too risky."

"Well, Pepper. I need to do this. Don't worry I'll be fine. I'm tougher than I look as you now know."

"Yeah but still. What if you get caught or injured? It'll be my fault."

"Aw Pepper. That's sweet but I'm not just doing this for you even though that does help to motivate me a lot. I have other reasons for doing this. You actually helped me because it would've been way harder to find those guys if they hadn't come here."

Pepper smiled at this.

"Really?"

"Yes really. I promise."

"Okay then. Be safe!"

"I will. You don't have to worry about that."

I looked at Dob and Lob.

"Hey, you guys have to stay here. I need to do some of my stuff", I said, winking when I got to the word stuff.

Dob and Lob nodded at me and gave me a thumbs up. I could tell they were a bit sad that they couldn't come along but I also knew that they were aware I wasn't doing it on purpose.

I leaned towards Dob and Lob's ears.

"You guys keep an eye on Pepper. Make sure she's ok and that no harm comes to her. I should be back by morning."

They nodded again and I saw determination fill their eyes, displacing the slight sadness that lingered there before from being left out of the mission.

With Pepper safe and being watched over I now felt ready to go infiltrate Scott Crawford's house and look around to see if he was the guy I was looking for.