Thump.

A chest filled of golden chits poured out and clattered over a large table Vike prepared in advance.

The grinning Lycanthrope trained his eyes at the prize as if he was being served a delicious meal. His tongue washed over his jagged fangs, his claws greedily poked into the pile of shiny goods and held one a handful of goodies. There was a perverted expression of greed as he watched the golden chits roll out of his palms and back into the pile.

“Ah, marvelous. Well done! In such a small span of time, you managed to collect the amount I requested. I cannot praise you enough, Oracle.”

“You better fulfill what you promised.”

“I shall, your holiness! I would have never thought of all people I am blessed to have been greeted by the Oracle himself. If only you had introduced yourself with the title of the divine’s will, I would have received you and your companions with a much grander reception.”

“Would you have given me a harder task if you known?”

“Perhaps. Speaking of which, have you thought of a place for the Scalemen to stay after I permitted them of their refugee status?”

“Everything’s settled. I’ve got some help for that.”

“Really now?” Vike questioned. He raised a brow and stroked the hair on his chin. “As expected, the Samark Family are quick to snatch a bite.”

“If you don’t have anything else to add, I’m leaving.” Kihet stopped by the exit. “And it would be in your best interest to not delay your end of the deal one second longer than it needs to.”

“You need not to worry, Oracle. I always honor my contracts.” Vike then bowed. “It was a pleasure. I humbly look forward to our future partnership. You will visit again very soon.”

“We’ll see.”

Move in, deliver the contents, and quickly walk away as fast as possible. Tama was right. If Kihet continued spending time back there, Vike may have an opportunity to dig into Kihet’s problems and try to exploit it into his own fortune. The Lycanthrope already knew so much in a short amount of time.

Truthfully, Kihet wanted information of Rogus’ incident. Vike would have a wide array of connections to which he could probably find the answer within days. In the end, he avoided requesting Vike’s assistance. The few minutes he stood there, he could see the insatiable greed in the old Lycanthrope’s gaze. Vike’s whole existence thrived on his kingdom of avarice.

If anything, Kihet found himself fortunate to have slipped away before Vike’s fangs dug into him.

He hurriedly marched up the stairs and directed himself out of the building before Vike’s workers would stop and ask him questions.

“Aten, it’s done.”

A Vivirian ever so slightly angled his oversized head towards Kihet. He dropped one end of the coiled rope to the ground as his other hands scribbled on his writing tablet.

[Result?]

“He’ll get the Scalemen their certificates. While it’s being processed, I need to talk to the head of Samark family.”

[Go back?]

“Yeah.”

After confirming their destination, Aten hovered in the air and dropped a coil of rope. There was a stirrup for Kihet to support himself as Aten gave him a lift over the lake.

As expected, a crowd waited for him at the other end. Rather than praises and cheers, they hurled insults and criticism. Why? Most of them had betted their money on Vol to win the duel and it was Kihet who stood victorious.

“Aten, could you fly higher?”

Since there were no traffic in Navargzan’s airspace, they were able to fly by thousands of crowds below them and make their way back to the colosseum.

Once Kihet set his foot on the ground, he marched through the few angry Beastkin blocking the entrance and demanded the silvers they lost. Those boldly challenged him immediately found themselves unable to speak once they met his cold expression. Their bodies seized up, voices unable to come out of their mouths, but most importantly, their beastial instincts screamed at them to leave the Oracle alone.

Kihet didn’t bother to spare a glance to their direction and instead, silently passed by while they were frozen.

Several guards employed by Fatilda quickly ushered Kihet through the entrance when he was within perimeter. Once through, he saw a community of exiled Scalemen moving about.

“Kihet, welcome back!” Lily leaped down from the terrace and trotted up to him.

“Yup. I’m here now. Where’s Fatilda?”

“She’s with your friend waiting in the captain’s quarters.”

“I guess she doesn’t want Vol out of her sight. That’s good.” Kihet looked around. “Where are the others?”

“Ainig’s talking to the chieftains. Yizdra and Krullu are setting up shop. Tama went out to the markets again. Lastly, Salith is…”

“I was looking for more information about Golden dust, but I couldn’t come up with anything useful.” Salith answered.

She carefully pushed through a small crowd of children running around her as she made her way towards Kihet. She thrust forward documents with discoveries of her time wandering through Navargzan.

“What’s wrong, Salith? You don’t look too good.”

“No… it’s about your friend.” She scratched her face. “When I first saw him… How can I put this nicely without being disrespectful? It’s kind of difficult to find the right words.”

“When he saw us, he was insistently acting like a creep.” Lily shuddered. “He looked very desperate like he never met a girl before.”

“No surprise there.” Kihet sighed. He should’ve known as he was visiting Pamalyra who were full of beastmen. “Looks like he’s still a same person I know. Which means, Aten, I’ll formally introduce you to my friend first.”

[Me?]

“When I give the signal, show yourself as slow as you can like you’re really trying to scare him.” Kihet looked around. “Anyways, where are they waiting?”

“Last I saw them, they’re in the VIP lounge. Follow me!” Lily eagerly tugged Kihet’s hand.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

After challenging the set of stairs, the group found another Rozzalian standing guard outside the designated room. He turned his helmet towards Kihet’s group and saluted as soon as he spotted Salith.

“C-captain, it’s really you. Do you remember me?”

“Ryker? You bastard, you’re alive! It’s good to see you again!” Salith gave a hardy slap at Ryker’s bare shoulder. “Kihet, this is Ryker. He’s one of my lackeys back when I was a Captain.”

“We’ve been acquainted.”

“I wish it was under better circumstances.” Ryker added. “It was an honor to cross blades with you.”

“How’d you become a gladiator here?” Salith asked.

“As embarrassing as the result was, I was appointed by the Holy one here. I see no harm in earning some pocket change for myself.”

“What about the Queen?”

“Her majesty’s in the country. However, getting to her won’t be easy since she’s not in the city. By the way, Carmyn went to Stusis trying to find you. Is she with you?”

“She… did find me. Unfortunately, she can no longer join me.”

“Oh… I deeply apologize. She was one of Rozzosea’s finest warriors.”

“She wouldn’t want me keeping my head down anyways.” Salith turned towards Kihet. “Hey, sorry but I want to catch up with a friend. You three can go without me.”

“We’ll tell you how it went later.”

Kihet, Lily and Aten proceeded through the door leading to another hallway. Once the door closed behind them, Salith continued her conversation with Ryker. For once, she had a sense of peace from the good old days.

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

“Fatilda, about our agreement-.”

As soon as Kihet took one step through the door, a pair of hands clamped on his shoulders. Kihet reacted at the sudden movement and threw a punch. Once he noticed his fist did not land, he pulled out his leaf bladed knife and took a swing.

“Whoa, hey! Time out! It’s me!” Vol screamed.

Kihet’s blade stopped inches from Vol’s neck. Only when he registered his friend was the ghoulish face individual filled of jealousy was when Kihet sheathed his weapon.

“Kihet, dude. You were about to kill me!”

“Whose fault was it for suddenly jumping me?”

“That’s not important. Anyways! Why did you do this to me?! It’s all your fault I lost my freedom now!”

“What do you mean?”

“Since you threw me off my throne, I’m now going to have to marry that bimbo over there!”

Kihet wondered how Vol came to the situation of being forced into marriage. Several questions came to mind based off Kihet’s knowledge of his friend’s habits. Was he under the influence of alcohol? Had the Beastkins tricked him unknowingly in one of their contracts? Was money involved?

“Couldn’t you refuse?”

“Well… haha. It’s a long story.”

“Tell me.”

“Are you going help?”

“I’m not going to make any promises. You’ll have to tell me what happened first.”

“Ugh…”

To summarize, Vol was placed with an insurmountable debt from gambling.

At first, he raked in money more than enough for an average folk to live off for the rest of their life. However, he wanted more. Under the influence of alcohol and other substances, Vol continued his trips into casinos when finally, he played a rigged game.

In a few high stakes game, Vol lost all of his belongings on him and given a debt. In order to buy time, he blindly agreed to a contract with hidden conditions to be engaged to Fatilda.

Once Vol had discovered how he was tricked, he took asylum as the reigning champion to distance himself. He was hoping to outlive Fatilda so the contents of contract would be nulled until Kihet interfered.

“And that’s what happened…”

Kihet was extremely disappointed of Vol. He didn’t think Vol could’ve lowered any respect he held for Vol. He hung his head low and heaved a heavy sigh.

“I can’t help it! You know I act on impulses!” Vol dropped to knees. “You gotta help me, Kihet! I don’t wanna get married to a cat!”

“Excuse me, darling. I am here, you know?” Fatilda interrupted.

“I’m not your darling!”

“You say that, but you can no longer shield yourself. It won’t be long until it’s time for me to devour you~.”

The Mixrel’s slitted pupils eyed down Vol as if he was a fine meal. She opened her expensive fan and moved it over her nose as to hide her expression. Whether it was an act or not, Kihet could tell Fatilda was simply relishing Vol’s desperation and fear.

“Hieee! Kihet, please save me!”

“Maybe later. Right now, I have business with Fatilda in regards to the Scalemen’s stay.” Kihet set a package of documents on the table. “Kamrah has approved these forums for me and is now working on an official certificate to give Scalemen refugee status. The Scalemen will be given rights to stay in Pamalyra.”

“How surprising. I haven’t heard of a single instance of the old fart’s clients not placed in debt.”

“I got lucky. The winnings in the Colosseum were enough to bribe him.”

“My, oh my. So, you purposefully hid your title knowing he’d make full use of you if you didn’t. At least I was also able to get something out of this coincidence.”

“Who knows. Anyways, let’s get back on topic.”

“Woah! Hold up! I have lots of questions!” Vol shouted. “Kihet, you sold me out!”

“It’s not like you had any money you could spare and help with my situation. Aside from your preferences, I think you could live a luxurious life with Fatilda.”

“Well said, Oracle!”

“No, no no no. My preferences are more important! I much prefer if it was the Devil Folk or the Rozzalian instead of a cat. You should introduce them to me.”

Kihet narrowed his eyes then snapped his fingers. “Aten. You can step in now.”

Upon Kihet’s signal, the door creaked ever so slightly. Fingers not of skin but of chitin folded along the door’s edge. A transparent wing slipped through the gap of the opening door.

Vol turned pale as he watched the newcomer’s foot emerged and took a step into the room. The Vivirian’s head with many tiny dots fitted in his compound eyes all locked onto Vol.

“W-what is that?!”

“A friend.”

“No, no, no! There’s no way that is a person! It’s a monster!”

“If you continue to mess around. I’ll have him bite you.”

[What?] Aten instantly flipped his writing slate towards Kihet in retaliation.

“Just play along. Vol’s already caused enough trouble for me.”

Aten set his head straight, putting Vol in his sight. He let out a soft sigh then began clacking his mandibles and stomped towards Vol.

Suddenly Vol vanished.

“No matter what monster you are, you can’t threaten me if you can’t catch me-.”

Aten instantly closed the distance, pushing his dragonfly shaped head close enough for his antennas to feel Vol’s ragged breath.

“AAAHHHHHH! Get away from me!”

“Aten, chase after him until he can no longer run.”

Finding Kihet’s friend able to move around the same speed as he could, Aten’s antennas slightly wiggled in curiosity. Perhaps there was someone finally who could compete with him in terms of speed.

Nonetheless, Aten ran out the door before spreading his wings and began his chase. Everyone left in the room could hear Vol’s fading scream.

With the aftermath of Aten’s introduction calming the room, Lily awkwardly stepped in and closed the door behind her. “That was something. Will they be alright?”

“They’re playing a friendly game. Let’s get back to business.” Kihet took a seat opposite to Fatilda. “I hope you aren’t using this place for our deal.”

“Of course not. The Colosseum brings large profits for the Samark family. Since the schedule has been cleared thanks to your display, construction for the Scalemen’s district will be completed by the time new fights roll out.”

“That’s fast and good to hear.”

“By the way, Oracle.” Fatilda leaned forward with her elbows on her knees, now adopting a serious expression. “I’m sure my dearest friend, Tama, had ask for your help regards to locating a person, correct?”

“Why? Do you know something about it?”

“It would be in your best interest to stop your search if you don’t want to end up like the Silver’s family.”

“Silver?”

“[Rolling Crown]’s wielder, Silver, the Liberator, the hero who ended the Pirate King’s reign threatening the whole of Pamalyra. Ring a bell?”

“Did you mean Rogus? He came into Navargzan with me. He has a weapon with the same name on him.”

“Did he now? Interesting. And where is he?”

“He was arrested a few days ago. It was due to him targeted to be drugged with Pixie Dust. I was hoping Vol could do something about it, but it sounds like he has no influence in Pamalyra at all. I need him bailed out, but I don’t want to ask Vike for a favor.”

“I see.” Fatilda kept silent behind her fan for a few seconds. “Then as you already know, we Pamalyrians like to discuss business. I will certainly keep this as a debt until I have a request to ask back of you.”

“As long as it is reasonable.”

“Excellent!” Fatilda reached for a crystal ball next to her. “Dear attendant, please be dear and retrieve the prisoner named Rogus for me. You may use whatever amount from the family’s treasury.”

-“With all due respect, madam.”- The attendant sounded nervous. –“I’ve arrived prior to your request and have spoken to the jailor. There appears to be difficulties to locate the prisoner. Someone had paid the due.”-

“The price of his bond had only come out an hour ago. Who was trying to bail out the prisoner?”

“I already know who.” Kihet forcibly stood up. “Vike.”

It shouldn’t be a surprise Vike knew about the little massacre which happened in his district.

-“My lady, there is more. Apparently, the prisoner escaped during the transaction. There are wanted posters of him plastered everywhere right.”-

Was it luck Vike failed to acquire leverage against Kihet or simply more trouble? Regardless, there was only a small window of opportunity opened to him and locate Rogus before Vike’s men do.

“What a predicament.” Fatilda fanned herself. “Attendant, visit the mercenary guild and hire the best Trackers. We must bring the prisoner to us before the old fart does. It seems earning a debt from the Oracle will be no easy feat.”

“While you’re doing that, I’ll go look for him in places he mentioned.”