"So you want me to look for a young Monia and you have nothing with you to help me track her by scent?" the Lycan asked, her wolf-like ears perking up slightly.

"No, no. I have nothing on me that belongs to her. But I never said I didn't have anything on me," he replied, pulling a small scarf from his deep pocket.

"Is that supposed to be funny?" the Lycan scoffed.

"No," said Gustav, "but ..."

"Please stop," said the girl, looking at the numerous figures on the scarf, "It looks beautiful. A little rough, but still beautiful. I take it that's her shawl?"

She sniffed, "It smells like a Monia. Her magic is quite spicy."

Gustav frowned. Since when did anyone's magic smell spicy? The beastkin, a Lycan, thankfully she didn't seem as proud of her heritage as the rest of her kind, nodded slowly before saying, "A silver mark and I'll help you find it."

Gustav nodded, a reasonable price considering he had no way to haggle, "Sure. Now, where is she?"

The Lycan laughed and pointed to the gate nearby, "Her scent leads there, that's all I can tell you. My nose is not that extraordinary. You should have asked one of my older family members to help you, not me."

"No, you're good enough," Gustav said, rummaging in his deep pocket before taking out a silver coin, "Here."

The archer eyed the silver before biting it, much to Gustav's surprise. He had only seen this before with dwarves, but never with the beastkin.

The archer eyed him and said, "What, I just wanted to see if you were trying to fool me. I mean, not many can fake the eagle, and the ones that do usually end up dead. But being careful hasn't hurt me so far."

"I am a man of my word," Gustav replied. "Not in my wildest dreams would I try to deceive anyone. Honesty is one of my many virtues."

"Surely," said the woman, beginning to walk towards the gate, "why are you looking for her?"

"A secret," Gustav said.

"I thought honesty was one of your virtues?" the woman said, laughing, "But I guess you have your reasons."

She paused and asked, "Criminal?"

"Of course not," Gustav said, "She is not the type of person to break the law."

"She's undoubtedly not," a woman's voice claimed. Gustav turned and saw Alexandra standing there. She was wearing black leather armour. It was enchanted, and thus not the kind of leather you got from cows or other animals. Still, she was armed with the same old sword.

"You know Elise?" asked Gustav. That was surprising. Or maybe not. He remembered Fiona telling him that an old woman and her niece were Elise's friends. Alexandra was the headmaster's niece, so that made some sense when he thought about it.

"Yes?" Alexandra replied, looking at him as if he had been living under a rock, "Most of us know her. She's extremely talented. I have her to thank, she beat me up so damn fast that I decided to start training again."

"Are you looking for her?" asked Alexandra, "You her father?"

"No, no," Gustav said, shaking his head quickly, "I and her mother work at the Margrave's villa. I've been asked to look for her."

Alexandra eyed him doubtfully, "It seems you are not lying. But Elise told me that her mother allowed her to join the Association."

"Have you spoken to her mother?" asked Gustav.

"No? Why should we? It's not like it's forbidden to join the Association," Alexandra replied. "We take in most children her age, often orphans, to support them. But I doubt Elise needed our help."

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"The reason I'm here," the Lycan murmured, but Gustav ignored her while Alexandra just nodded.

"Elise has informed me that she - and I'm not lying, I swear - is looking for a sacrifice. She's weird, but not in a bad way. She's gone to the Aschen forest, if I remember correctly," Alexandra continued, "I think she'll be there for at least another hour. So if you go there now, you'll probably find her near the edge of the forest. Elise is not as stupid as the fools you met before. She won't go any deeper."

"Thank you very much," said Gustav, "it seems that your aunt has at least done something right."

"What do you mean?" Alexandra asked, slightly perplexed, but Gustav was already gone. The Lycan looked after Alexandra before leaving as well.

"What a strange Dragen," Alexandra muttered, heading for the gate as well. There was one more task she had to complete: to kill a drake. Catching the killer had only been a kind of warm-up task. She was almost as strong as her beloved aunt who had fought against quite a few famed mercenaries and bandits in her past.

----------------------------------------

Ten minutes after they had left the city, the Lycan turned and pointed west towards the large forest that Gustav had seen when he had come to Aschen. Tobias had told him that there was a nest in its centre and that he wanted to go there with Lucius. But so far this sorry excuse of a mage had not left his room to do anything at all.

"One silver is not nearly enough to make me go there ..." the Lycan said, "As much as I love spiders ... the ones that live there are far too big and hairy."

Gustav handed her another silver before saying, "Is this enough?"

Money was not an issue, there was enough in the treasury to probably buy almost all the buildings in the city and have enough left to equip a large private army.

"Yes... if you kill the spiders," the Lycan said, "I find them quite disgusting..."

Gustav nodded, "I understand.... I will do that. I need to train my aim for the delve."

The Lycan muttered something along the lines of crazy land dragon, but he could have misunderstood that. He wasn't a land dragon, they weren't as elegant as he was. Destruction followed them wherever they went. What followed him was the aromatic smell of the perfume his mother had given him. He really missed her, but he was too old to live with her.

He grumbled. Land dragons, or drakes, were extremely stupid. He couldn't fathom why they were believed to be descended from dragons.

They entered the forest and Gustav's eyes adjusted to the rather dull light, quickly enough to notice that a spider was blocking their way. It was unexpectedly large ... but did not seem to move. He had wondered why, but finding out why probably wouldn't help. Gustav pointed his index finger at the spider before a white beam pierced it and burned through its thin, dark carapace.

"It's already dead," the archer exclaimed, looking at him, "or it would have attacked us by now."

She shook her head before slowly and carefully approaching the spider. She circled it and inspected it. The young Lycan nodded and said, "I've always wondered why the Monia entered the forest. It looks like she is using the spiders for training. A strange way, there are simpler and also weaker demonic beasts or monsters here, but she's damn effective at killing the spiders."

Gustav approached the corpse and saw no wounds, then he looked at the spider's back and noticed that a large sword had just pierced it.

He frowned. As far as Lucius had reported, Elise was a normal child who still hadn't figured out what her node did. What eight-year-old child could defeat a demonic beast? Not many ... there were some who were younger and some who were older, but these prodigies were rare.

From what Lucius had been told by his mother, who had become something of Elise's step-grandmother, Elise was a special case. She had to find out what her nodes were doing by finding a sacrifice. He himself had also needed to do that. In his youth he had killed a lightning wolf, a fairly young one, but it had been strong enough to help him overcome the barrier of his node.

Gustav looked at the archer and said, "I think I can manage to find her on my own, unless you want to follow me?"

She tilted her head before looking to the spiders, "I think I will follow you if you help me gather some of their silk .... Only if we find some."

He nodded slowly. Yes, he could do that ... But what would he get in return?

"I don't think your help is needed," he said then, "I can just follow the trail of bodies."

"Sure, and I suppose the fact that this," she pointed to the ground, "is the edge of the forest won't stop you."

"And this one," she pointed at the spider, "is only here because it's weaker than what lives in the middle. Either really fat spiders, though that's doubtful, or a bunch of the crazier and stronger greenskins. They hunt the spiders quite a bit, and I doubt they'll leave a free meal there for long."

Orcs? Or goblins? Probably the latter, the former were a nuisance to deal with. Goblins did multiply like rabbits, but they weren't strong. Orcs were much worse. They could sometimes use magic and no sensible ruler would let them live.

The margrave was as sane as one could be. So goblins were more likely. That was nostalgic. He had fought them when he had been what? Twelve years old probably? He could not really remeber that well.

He nodded and said, "I see. You go after them, and I'll take care of any problems that might arise."

"Sure, boss," the Lycan said, grinning, "Then follow me, but please don't be as loud as you have been. I really don't want to be overrun by a bunch of angry goblins."