Eve paced back and forth in front of the box of space she’d stuck Young Master Andrew in. She couldn’t kill him, more’s the pity. While having the young man die might be convenient, the System wouldn’t tolerate it. She needed a method to remove him from the picture so his family wouldn’t learn of her existence.

The nobility had strange and unusual methods of detection, and Eve worried it might not be possible to cut the trail completely. For all, she knew they could summon a demon that could see the past as clearly as looking through a pool of crystal water. On the other hand, such any method had a cost. If she made it more costly to gain information than simply wait for the young master to return it might work.

I’ll have him claim he’s traveling to increase his personal power. Eve thought. They might try to track him down, but if he doesn’t show up it won’t raise the same level of alarm as merely vanishing.

It was one thing if a brothel changed hands, it was quite another if a bright young master walked right off the face of the plane. Nobility, at least back on Earth, had a horrible reputation for being a vile method of gathering chain villains. She knew she had read quite a few situations that could have been avoided if cleanup had been done properly. Lazily hoping no one would discover, question or hunt for the missing young master was idiocy in and of itself.

Kill the son, the father arrives, kill the father, the grandfather arrives.

Addere in infinitum, truly annoying, the evil of chain villainy.

In a world where people could live thousands of years, a single villain chain could have hundreds of thousands of links. It simply wasn’t worth melting the entire chain down. The entire affair absolutely was something Eve had absolutely zero interest in letting occur. On the other hand, she wasn’t so merciful as to offer the young man a permanent contract. This scion of the Shillington was no fluffy, cute, and cuddly munchkin worth her time or patience.

Temporary work release contract. Eve thought giving a silver-eyed glare at the young master in question.

Eve decided to throw the young man at the mercy of her allied committee. This incident wasn’t their fault, but getting input never hurt. Stepping into a frozen moment of time, Eve called to each of the others to join her at the round table of the mental conference room. The room had grown as the mental connection between everyone gained deeper strength.

“I say we render his components down to Dust. Then we’ll have Kudzu turn it into Ink! Let them track something like that, hah!” Nota said from her section of the conference table. Pointing to diagrams in the book she conjured into her hand the young female schoolgirl avatar she was wearing said, “If we do it like this and then use the ink to create a talisman and sacrifice it for power, it would be untraceable! Probably.”

Eve rubbed the bridge of her nose with one delicate hand before she relaxed and said, “We can’t do that. I’m having his body cleaned by Witch’s Dust to prevent tracking, not aid in murdering him.”

“I could always render him into alchemic components,” Kudzu said while waving a few vine-mouthed tentacles. “I can even make the end absolutely heavenly. No muss, no fuss. No trace, no case!”

Eve stared plaintively at the miniature Hut as if beseeching for aid.

“Uncute.” the Hut said rendering her verdict in the same tone someone else might say Undead.

Turning to her last ally Eve’s eyes lit in hope as Felix said, “We don’t need to kill him. It figured the crystal would be the most logical and balanced out of all four. When the Core continued though, her face fell with agonized defeat. “Stick him in the Dungeon with whatever weapon he favors and tell him it’s for his own good. According to Nota, young men frequently want to impress beautiful women. Even evil enemy ones.” Sometimes she forgot her allies were inhuman to the extreme.

Eve’s eyes closed briefly as she sighed before she cast a troubled gaze at Nota asking, “What exactly are you reading these days to give such advice to an innocent Core?”

“Murder Hobo Fanfictions: Earth Specialty Edition, Series Two,” Nota said with a brilliant smile.

Eve leaned back in her chair to stare up at the starless space above the conference table with dead fish eyes before she recovered with a sigh and said, “Fine. We’ll go with Felix’s idea. I suppose I can just consider it as another potential route to gain a decent minion. If he survives. If he doesn’t, it won’t be my fault. Everyone knows Dungeons are dangerous.”

Nodding to herself, Eve stepped out of the frozen moment turning the full weight of her gaze on Young Master Andrew.

“So. Sign this and I won’t pursue the matter,” Eve said weaving a Contract into existence to hover in front of the young man. She watched as he skimmed over the contract checking for loopholes before a confused expression crossed his features once he finished reading. “It explicitly states you will provide assistance in raising my Tier, training, and rewards for good behavior?” Andrew said his eyes looking up at Eve’s thousand-watt smile.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“Of course, I simply need you out of the way for a bit of time. But there’s no point in making it unpleasant. Depending on your luck you might even meet some of the women taking part in this personalized training, too. I’m sure a strong, wealthy, and well-bred man such as yourself would have little difficulty finding something to talk with them about.” Eve's smile grew even more brilliant as she watched the young man’s eyes shake. She knew there was only a sliver of rational thought left before crossing the finish line. Sighing inside Eve turned up the full force of her Charm Stat briefly and said in a husky voice, “I’d be ever so impressed with a man who can handle his sword with finesse.” Young Master Andrew Shillington’s doubts collapsed in the face of the full force of her persuasive might. A short scribbled signature later and a thumbprint was all it took for Felix to teleport the young man into the Dungeon.

Eve had pumped enough Witch’s Dust to scrub all evidence of the battle clean while chatting with Young Master Andrew. At the same time making temporal waves to muddy any attempts to read the past by folding space in complex twisting mazes. She was not even a smidge close to actually manipulating time, but muddying the eternal river’s stream wasn’t hard, in theory. Space and time had links, that even though she didn’t understand, she could exploit to stir the fabric of reality. With the addition of her personal presence, along with Witch’s Dust, there should be minimal chance of anyone getting a good look at things. Shifting her clothing back to a more eye catching variety, Eve looked around with a satisfied nod.

Fortunately, the clean-up was completed none too soon, as the same guard captain who had managed to accost Young Master Andrew from earlier showed up moments after it was finished in the distance. A narrow eyed gaze from deceptively calm brown eyes zeroed in on the only other person on the street, Eve. She turned a brilliant smile without an ounce of guilt on the guardsman as he strode up to speak with her. A quick glance took note of the expensive minor truth stone set within the badge on visible display over his heart. There wouldn’t be any chance of lying, so care with words was required here.

“Greetings, Guardsman. Do you have a moment to talk about our Lord and Savior, Mr. Wiggles?” Eve said as the man approached. The sudden look of confusion on the guard captain’s face was priceless. Pushing relentlessly ahead like those door-to-door folks from back home, Eve said, “Mr. Wiggles is a lesser known deity of the Ooze Tribe, and part of the Pantheon of Sand. I assure you, learning of such a jiggly and bouncy individual will enlighten your mind to the true potential of Ooze!”

To think that I’m even speaking absolute truth. Eve thought with mental grin at the bewildered captain. Who knew my indebted poker partner was a revered minor deity from the Pantheon of Sand. Nota’s relentless crusade to absorb all knowledge turned up interesting tidbits on occasion. Kudzu of course had little concern for the fact that he currently had the equivalent of an Ooze deity in his laboratory.

Eve gave a calculated giggle and said, “The benefits of our Lord Wiggles blessing are incredible!” Gesturing to the sparkling clean square, she continued, “Devouring dirt and filth are merely the most easily handled things for our benevolent Oozy overlord!”

“Yes, wonderful. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about the spatial manipulations in the area would you?” the guard captain asked trying to steer the conversation back into sane waters.

“I’m certain they are a blessing from a powerful being, perhaps even Lord Wiggles!” Eve said. It was true, her work was a blessing, for her at least.

With a sigh, the guard captain pulled a leather wallet before flashing it at Eve and saying, “I’m investigating an issue raised by the Shillington heir. Do you have time for a few questions?”

“No, I’m afraid I only have time to talk about the blessings of Lord Wiggles with you right now, Guard Captain Alfonso.” Eve said with a warm smile.

When the guard captain glanced askance at his truth stone, she knew the battle was almost won. The stone could determine truth, but it wasn’t an AI built to read human cues. Since she took care to speak truth, there was literally nothing the guard captain could do. Eve had already shifted her clothing to align with the brothel behind her subtly leading the captain to assume she was employed there. This ‘fact’ combined with the ‘fact’ that she was an annoying priestess of a minor deity lowered suspicion immensely. It wasn’t perfect cover, but people often saw only what their minds agreed was truth.

“Are you a Witch, ma’am?” Guard Captain Alfonso asked directly.

“Absolutely not, I’m no mere Witch, sir! I’m far above such things!” Eve said her tone turning unfriendly as if she had taken grave offense at the guard captain’s words.

I’m a Silver Prime Traveling Dust Witch. Eve thought as the man checked his truth stone. Now, had you asked if I was part of the Witch Race, I would have been pretty screwed!

Status questions like that were allowed only in the direst of circumstances for city guards. By agreeing to answer, Eve had effectively killed any follow up questions. Especially since she had spoken the unvarnished truth, at least to the poor guard captain’s understanding.

“If I can’t interest you in Lord Wiggle and his works of wonder, perhaps you might be interested in something else?” Eve said letting her clothing, and the brothel behind her provide all the suggestive leeway of a runaway freight train.

“No, thank you for your time. Could I see some identification, in case you need to be contacted later?” Guard Captain Alfonso asked politely.

Eve didn’t even blink as she forged fake credentials before pulling them from her dress and handing them over to the guard captain with casual grace. Her credentials listed her as a transient worker specializing in massage therapy. The fact that the credentials appeared fake only sold the story better, since it was common for ‘working’ women to have such fake identification papers. The guard captain barely glanced at the papers before giving a deep sigh. Eve chose not to grin in victory.

The best disguise is the one someone expects to see.

“Thank you. Have a good evening, Miss Eve.” Alfonso said.

“You as well, Guard Captain Alfonso.” Eve said.

Watching as the guard captain departed to look over the square Eve opened the brothel door before entering inside. Once out of sight, she shifted into Zen Eve form and used Spatial Step to exit the building.

Even if the guard captain wanted too, he couldn’t easily bother Janice. Doing so would upset the delicate balance between the underworld and the guards which could easily lead to an ‘accident’ happening.

No, Guard Captain Alfonso was a hard-boiled lad with no interest in taking a fall. Eve likewise had no interest in being connected to Young Master Andrew’s disappearance.

With the matter dealt with in a manner that didn’t cause much issue, Eve moved to check on her potential future minions.