Glenn and Sahro stepped into the bakery, graciously welcomed by the rotund lady who swiftly orchestrated a display of hospitality. With deft, professional movements, she set up a quaint table adorned with a checkered napkin and served them two cups filled to the brim. The duo found themselves seated at the table, savoring their drinks before they could even inquire about the unexpected gesture.

Sahro, visibly perplexed by this unanticipated show of generosity, hesitated as he took a cautious sip of his drink. Meanwhile, Glenn, tasting it, discovered that it was cider, a departure from the typical bitter brew he had encountered in this world. The surprising sweetness, dominated by the flavor of apple and tinged with a hint of carbonation, refreshed his senses. The baker beamed, her hands resting proudly on her hips.

"That's my husband's cider. He makes it with an apple from a nearby communal orchard. It's pretty good, isn't it?" she inquired.

Glenn nodded, taking another sip. "I might become addicted." He slowly settled the cup back on the table, “We didn’t get to introduce ourselves. I am Glenn, and this is Sahro. We’re Silver Fixers sent by the Cleaner’s Workshop.”

He retrieved the contract from his dimensional pouch, extending it towards the baker. She took it and gave it a glance.

“Oh, finally!” She sighed in relief, “I’m Laurence, the owner of the Hearts Bakery on Rampart Street,” she added. She wasted no time stamping the contract before shaking her head heavily.

"To be honest, I was starting to lose hope…” Laurence moistened her lips in disgust, “Those damned pests have made it impossible for me to access my basement, where all my supplies are stored. And I can't possibly work with the knowledge that they are scurrying beneath my floor."

Laurence handed the paper back to Glenn, who safely stowed it away in his pouch. Puzzled, Glenn inquired, "Pests?" He wondered if twenty-five silvers wasn't a bit much for exterminating rats. It seemed weird to even pay a mercenary guild to take care of those. She nodded grimly, frustrated. "Yes, those damned rats. I've managed to dispatch one of those wretched creatures, but their numbers are overwhelming. I sometimes feel they'd devour me alive if I didn't descend into the basement armed with a torch."

Glenn shivered and instinctively clenched the hilt of his sword,”...Let’s get to it, then. I’m not a big fan of rodents either.”

Laurence patted him on the shoulder with an encouraging smile, “Perfect. Just…” She frowned, “Remember to not damage my basement. There are important resources, and the furnace is also down there. All of this costs more money than I can afford to replace,” Laurence warned with creased eyebrows.

Glenn and Sahro exchanged a glance and smiled at her as they rose from their seats, “Of course, Miss Laurence. We will be careful.”

Laurence chuckled and waved her hand dismissively, “Miss? I’m no miss. Call me m’am, that’ll do nicely.”

Glenn laughed, “As you wish, M’am Laurence.”

The baker laughed heartily before directing them to a trapdoor granting them access to the basement. They walked down a steep wooden staircase that led to a well-lit room with a wooden door reinforced by sturdy beams. Laurence looked at them from above the basement’s ceiling as she hurriedly closed the trapdoor.

“I’ll let you remove the beam, okay? Good luck!”

Glenn moistened his lips and almost shrugged. How hard could it be to take care of some rats?

'And there you go. What do you call it already...you jinxed it?'. Diamanes' voice chimed in Glenn's mind as they ventured into the basement. Disregarding his hand's snickers, Glenn motioned for Sahro to remove the beam while he readied a torch in his left hand and a Magic Bullet in his right. The door creaked open, a smell of carrion forcing him to take a step back. He could hear the sound of scurrying in the darkness, but not see the damn creatures.

His torch shone light on something to his right, a pitchfork. The tool’s four blades were covered in dry, red paint up to the hilt.

"Wait, how big are those rats–" Before Glenn could finish his sentence, a golden retriever-sized rat lunged at him, teeth first. He jumped back and instinctively released his Magic BUllet, obliterating the creature’s skull. The rat’s lifeless, yet heavy body landed on Glenn’s chest, forcing him to the ground. He hurriedly pushed the corpse away and stood up, his torch raised high. Hisses and scurrying intensified within the darkness of the room they opened, the massive rats moving around threateningly.

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Glenn glanced at the corpse of the rat he just slayed, his eyes widening slightly. It was a damned fat rat. Its limbs were still twitching, the life slowly escaping from it, as blood flowed out of the blown-out head of the monster. It had heavily clawed front limbs, which Glenn had no doubt were razor-sharp.

A few high-pitched squeaks and hisses came from the opened door as if to warn them. Sahro readied his sword, not sparing a glance at Glenn's vanquished foe. The latter readied another Magic Bullet as he took a step inside the room, discovering a dozen red eyes looking at him. The torch’s flame wasn’t strong enough to completely push the almost unnatural darkness of the room.

“How the hell are they so fat?” Glenn blurted out in awe. Sahro spat to the side and covered his sword in a crimson Aura.

“I don’t know, but their size won’t matter once I slice them to bits!”

Glenn’s eyes widened and he hurriedly stopped him, “Wait, wait, no, we can’t afford to break anything. No Aura, okay?”

Sahro rolled his eyes and reluctantly nodded, the red hue around his blade dissipating. He then pointed at the Mana twirling around Glenn’s right hand, “What about magic, then? Won’t you poke holes in the walls with that?”

Glenn looked at his hand in turn and bit down on his lip. He clenched his right hand and nodded slowly, “Yeah, you’re right.” He unsheathed his sword and clenched it with both hands, “Let’s carve our way through.”

The two hesitantly took another step into the room, only for the rats to squeak even harder. They ran in the darkness, trying to find an opening to come and bite their limbs off. Glenn and Sahro both stayed close to the exit, refusing to lose their escape path. A rat suddenly lunged forward, similar to the first Glenn killed. The latter gritted his teeth and prepared to defend, but Sahro’s sword cleaved down and delivered both the sentence and the execution. The rat’s head rolled down to the side as the corpse slid on the floor, a pool of blood forming under it.

The rats hissed angrily, their sharp claws digging into the stone floor. Glenn gulped heavily.

“Shit, they’re coming!” He warned as he took a step back, his sword raised high.

Sahro clenched his teeth and retorted, "I can see that, moron!"

One of the rats jumped at Sahro before its head got swiftly pierced by the Black Heir's curved blade. Glenn abandoned the torch, unconcerned about starting a fire on the stone-brick floor. Another rat lunged at the Black Heir, but Glenn kicked it away, before stabbing its skull and pinning it to the floor. Sahro dodged to the side another charging rat and sliced all of its legs off, before cleanly piercing its forehead.

Glenn wiped the sweat off his forehead only to jump back as two more rats charged at him. His back touched Sahro’s, startling him.

“Don't get in my way!” He yelled as he fended off the rats' attacks and managed to cut the head off one of them. The other jumped over his dead comrade and landed directly on Glenn. The latter gritted his teeth as he desperately fended off the beast, his sword being the only thing that saved him from its deadly sharp teeth.

Sahro kicked the rat away and finished it, before pulling Glenn back on his feet, “You’re the one annoying me!” The Black Heir retorted as he punched a rat in the snout and drove his sword in its neck, cleaving it upward in a gore finisher. Glenn heaved, searching in the darkness for another rat to slaughter. Besides corpses, bloodied bags of floor, and old shelves, he couldn’t see any more of those beasts.

‘You just keep on doing it, huh?’ Diamanes snorted mockingly. Glenn raised a puzzled eyebrow, only to be pushed to the side, a rat landing right where he was a second ago. Sahro, who just saved him, cleaved the rat’s head off in one fell swoop. He glanced around and cleaned the blood off his blade on one of the corpses, “That should have been the last of them,” He muttered.

Glenn wiped away the blood off his face, before mimicking Sahro’s actions and cleaning his blade on one of the dead beasts’ fur.

“...You’re good at this,” Glenn said as he sheathed his sword. Sahro shrugged and kicked one of the bodies, making sure it was dead.

“I trained in the Sewers fighting bandits, other Black Heirs, or even closed Rifts such as this one. You know how to close it, right?” The Black Heir asked as he pointed at a…perplexing something on one side of the room. Glenn retrieved his torch and hobbled next to Sahro, sinking to one knee as he looked at a strange, enigmatic phenomenon. Roughly a meter and a half in height and width, it defied easy description—a rift, a tear, or some otherworldly disturbance in reality itself. Glenn and Sahro stood at the edge of it, staring into a strange and unnatural darkness where the fabric of reality had seemingly unraveled.

Sahro muttered hesitantly as Aura covered his right hand, "I think something moved in there..."

Diamanes interrupted Glenn's contemplation with a puzzling proposal. 'Put me in there; it'll be quite a surprise,' he suggested with a hint of expectation and satisfaction. Glenn hesitantly pushed his left hand into the rift, feeling a cold seize his hand. Sahro watched, eyebrows furrowed, wondering what strange method his companion was using to close the Rift.

As the Black Heir was about to pull out his companion's hand, the rift disappeared, as if absorbed by Glenn's hand. The bandages came undone as if burned by something magical, and the purple color of his skin deepened, somehow intensified.

"Burp, oh, sorry." Diamanes blurted out. Glenn paused and slowly looked at his hand in horror. Sahro gazed at the left, purple hand, his eyes widening in astonishment. If he could have widened them further, Glenn had no doubt Sahro would have. A mouth manifested in the palm of Glenn's hand, and a red tongue greedily licked its lips.

"That, that was a good meal."

Glenn, his face aghast and still splattered with blood and brains, returned a horrified stare at his hand.

Diamanes' once-smug smile vanished.

"Oh. Did I just say that out loud?"