Thunk!

Sahro dropped his mug on the table, its contents spilling all over the wood. The wooden cup slowly rolled on the table to finally drop to the ground, the sound of the mug hitting the ground echoing in the silent inn. Glenn blinked, before rubbing his eyes. He drew a deep breath as he joined both of his hands together, his chin resting on them.

"...Sorry, what did you just say?" He asked with confusion, his eyes squinting in concentration. Giselle sighed and looked at the ceiling, leaning in the back of her chair tiredly. She blew a thick cloud of tobacco smoke, unresponsive. Sahro picked the fallen beer up and placed the cup back on the table with trembling hands, smiling awkwardly.

"...This is a joke, right?" Sahro asked with hope, the Black Heir's eyes shaking as he noticed the cold glint in Giselle's eyes. His head dropped in front of him, his face hidden in his hands. Glenn rubbed his temples, staring coldly in Giselle's direction.

"What...How did this happen? How..." Glenn took a long inspiration, a vein popping on the side of his head, "...Just explain to me how this invincible old man could have gotten captured. I simply cannot fathom someone strong enough to bring Redan to his knees, be it in the Sewers or the Fringe..."

Giselle crackled her wrists, her lips pinched. She crushed her already fully-consumed cigar on the table, the ash crackling as the last embers died out.

"...I swear..." She rubbed her forehead, wearing a complicated look, "...Ya kids shan't know, but I and Redan take some works from a few of King's Rise...inhabitants," She spat the last word with disgust, clenching the edge of the table in anger.

"...I'd already be far away from this accursed city if it wasn't for..." Her gaze softened and she shook her head, dismissing her previous words with a wave of her hand.

"Anyway, Redan was supposed' to meet one of our 'employers' to get a payment, when things turned for the wors'," Giselle sighed and scratched the old scars on her face. Glenn frowned at the sight, his nose creased. Never had he seen the powerful lady so down in his life, even though he hadn't spent that much time with her.

"That bastar' employer refused to pay, and instead chose to get some hired goons to capture Redan!" She angrily spat as she punched the table roughly, the wood creaking under the hit. Glenn glanced at the counter and saw Milena standing rigidly there, her face drained from all the blood and her fingers crisped over a glass mug.

"Who the hell could have the balls to capture Redan and succeed...?" Glenn questioned, his eyebrows creased. He leaned forward on the table, attentive. Giselle calmed herself with a deep breath before resuming her explanations.

"Our "employers" always send a masked man to deal with us, an intermediary of some sort. We get the job done, he pays us, and everyone is happy. Or at least it used to be that way..." Her face reddened in anger once more, the heat in the inn increasing strongly.

"But now, they're using this useless old man's life to blackmail us into doing free work!" She slammed her fist against the table once more, only this time Glenn had cast Gravity Manipulation on her fist to make the attacks as weightless as a feather. The experience was so disturbing for the lady that her anger disappeared as fast as it appeared, leaving a place for confusion. She looked at her hand as if it had betrayed her, opening and closing it. Glenn coughed lightly to gather her attention once again, his hands clasped together.

"So, Redan got somehow captured, and you can't do anything about it since he's been carried into King's Rise. We don't know who took him away, we don't know where he was taken... We have no hints at all, do we?" Glenn resumed with an annoyed expression. Giselle nodded with a wry smile as she slowly took out yet another cigar, her pockets seemingly filled with them.

She lit it up with her magic flames, before sighing loudly.

"That's about it," The Black Heirs' leader puffed silently on her cigar, leaving the two young men in front of her lost in their thoughts. Glenn scratched the back of his head, before crossing his arms.

"What kind of job did you take for the backstabber?"

Giselle hesitantly glanced around her, when a thin invisible veil surrounded the table.

"Don't worry, no one will hear anything," Glenn coldly said as he gestured to the black heirs further away from the table, whose faces were filled with confusion as all sounds of discussion from the table were suddenly cut off from them. Giselle nodded slightly and pursed her lips.

"...It was a hit," She admitted, her face darkening as she spoke. The lady took a deep puff from her cigar and continued.

"The employer smuggled us inside the Fringe and pointed us to a specific location we needed to clean out. Redan took care of it with a few other Black Heirs while I stayed behind to take care of all the mess with the Thorn's Church. Nonetheless, it was very weird. Never had it been so easy to enter the city, or the Watchers so incompetent from what my boys explained to me," Giselle rubbed her chin as she recounted the events.

"What was the target? I might manage to guess who the hell could have been behind it if I understood why they wanted to clean a place out without using the Cleaners or the Fixers..." Glenn asked as he rubbed the tip of his nose. Giselle didn't make him wait long for an answer.

"Sure, the deal was to kill a specific monster in a steel warehouse situated in a small hamlet situated between the Northern Town and the Western Town," She moistened her lips before smacking them, her face resigned, "...But I don't see how that will help you. Damn it, and you're already supposed to get Callum..." She trailed off, the tiredness of the last days showing on her face. Glenn didn't reply, occupied to arrange his thoughts.

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'...A steel warehouse that's not situated in a Town? This sounds shady as hell, even more so since they required the help of outsiders to get rid of their problems. Unless they specifically needed the Black Heirs to take care of the problem, but why? Why would they need these guys specifically when they already have mercenaries strong enough to defeat Redan...?' Glenn bit down on his tongue anxiously, unable to understand how any of that made sense.

'...Maybe the people who employed the Black Heirs and the one who captured Redan weren't the same?' Diamanes theorized, making Glenn raise an eyebrow in interest.

'Keep going, I feel like you're onto something...'

'I mean, from what I gathered, the Black Heirs, and that's counting Giselle and Redan, are pretty much a very cheap workforce with extremely good efficiency. I don't even understand what the hell are they getting paid with, I mean, look at where they're living!' Diamanes sneered, making Glenn shake his head, Giselle and Sahro staring weirdly at him as he had his inner conversation.

"Do you want us to leave you alone, or...?" Sahro asked with a sarcastic tone, Glenn ignoring him royally.

'So, you're saying the first employer, the one who ordered the hit, might have nothing to do with the one who kidnapped Redan?'

'They wouldn't have hired the Black Heirs in the first place if they could simply use their mercenaries. And additionally, it looked like quite a profitable business for the one who ordered the hit. If my guesses are right, the Black Heirs are surviving by depending on the rewards from these hits, so it must have been a long time since this unhealthy partnership started,' Diamanes explained, each word he pronounced convincing his host further.

'It makes too much sense for me to dismiss it. I'll need to go have a talk with Maron later and see what kind of intel he could give me. Crap, and here I was hoping to get straight into the Bourgeoisie to get Giselle's grandson and get closer to Exan. I hope the Baron will be cleaning his neck because even if it's delayed, he'll certainly have the beheading he deserves...'

"...Alright, I have a semblance of a plan," Glenn suddenly stated, Sahro and Giselle focusing back on him.

"I'll be taking care of Redan on my side, so Giselle, you should concentrate on cleaning things up in the Sewers. And for the love of god, get away from the city's grates and build something further away. At least you'll finally have a semblance of a home if you're planning to stay here longer," Glenn advised as he rubbed his forehead, before turning toward Sahro.

"I don't think I need to ask you, but you're coming with me right?" The young man asked, grinning as he held his hand out. Sahro grinned back and shook the hand firmly.

"That goes without saying, heh. How could I miss all the fun?"

Giselle chuckled silently, before standing up and gesturing at the Black Heirs occupying the inn. They began leaving it, Milena sighing in relief when she realized what was happening.

Glenn dismissed the Silence curse before holding his hand toward Giselle.

"I'll take care of things on my end, I can only hope ya'll do the same," Giselle smiled as she shook his hand. She turned around to leave, her hand on the door, before turning around with a complicated expression.

"What?" Glenn asked worriedly, frowning.

"Well..." Giselle rubbed her nose before taking a long puff out of her cigar, "...My people don't know how to build stuff besides the tents and shacks we made. We've been planning on moving since long ago, but we simply don't have the skills to do so. We wanted to hire some kind of workers from the city, but well..."

Glenn resisted the need to slap his forehead, before forcing an agreeable smile and shooing Giselle away. It was weird to stand at the same level as the leader of one of the most powerful military forces in the region, but he couldn't grovel either. Even though Giselle was a Fourth Circle, he didn't feel like the difference between him and her was that high. And the lady knew that as well, hence why she didn't just spit in his face when he practically ordered her to move her ass.

"Don't worry, Lady Giselle, I'll send someone. Now, I need to get some sleep, so either go back to your district or take a room. Bye-bye!" He shut the door behind the wide-eyed Giselle, sighing in relief as he finally was free from her presence. Milena walked up to him and looked at the door while biting down on her lower lip.

"...So, should I offer you a drink?" She asked slowly, the pressure washing off her face.

"...What for?"

"...Thanking you for getting rid of the terrifying Leader of the Black Heirs, the Red Witch of the Ink Dunes?"

Glenn glanced at Milena, his eyebrows rising in disbelief.

"...What did you call her?"

Milena returned to the counter as the customers slowly carefully came back into the main room sitting back at their tables.

"You don't know her surname? Well, I didn't know it either a few months ago, but ever since I began living in the...here, I can't help but listen to rumors."

She grinned weakly, gesturing at the inn.

"That's the advantage of being an inn owner, haha...Haha..." She trailed off, the light in her eyes dimming. Glenn sat at the counter comfortably, Sahro following him. The two of them leaned there and sipped on a well-deserved cold beer. Well, Sahro didn't do much, but just for the mental support, in Glenn's books, he deserved it.

'You're not searching for an excuse to drink, are you?' Diamanes mocked, Glenn, sighing in response.

'I even thought you stop entirely, seeing how you refused to touch your beer back during your discussion with the strong lady,' Diamanes remarked. Glenn smirked and emptied the whole jug of beer in his throat.

'I just didn't want to drink with this so-easily irritable lady around. Even if I'm confident I won't die, I still don't want to fight against her,' Glenn explained, before asking Milena for a refill.

"...And to be honest, I feel like I deserve the right to relax for once. I shouldn't have to constantly be on edge, that's going to break me at some point..." He muttered through his teeth, his words more intended for himself than for Diamanes. The latter didn't answer, letting his host enjoy his time.

Sahro looked at his mug before frowning.

"So how the hell did you even become an inn owner? Aren't you supposed to be a noble or something?" The Black Heir asked innocently, Milena paling as she made sure that no one heard what he said. Glenn chuckled and watched the scene while sipping on his beer.

"You—Don't say that out loud!" She hissed as she pointed an angry finger toward Sahro.

"I don't want to end up like Prince or get killed by my Family, alright, so please, let's keep my past where it belongs!"

She served herself a beer cup and emptied it with an impressive dexterity that could only have been practiced multiple times.

"In. The. Past!"

Glenn sneered and leaned on the counter, shrugging.

"Sure, sure. Well, since we're there, I'm still very much curious about how you transitioned from an excellent Fixer to the owner of this respectable establishment."

Milena sighed and poured herself another drink.

"I mean, sure, I'll tell you. I'll warn you though, it's a long story..."

Glenn grinned and raised his cup in reply.

"Don't worry, my life is a long story in and of itself!"