“Hm. Let’s just walk towards the city centre. Maybe we will find some interesting shops.” Lucy suggested.

“Sure.” I replied.

We walked for a while until we heard an explosion. It was not next to us. Based on the sound, I would have guessed something happened a few streets away.

“Do you think this is an attack or an accident? Should we investigate?” I asked. This was supposed to be a day with Lucy. With no drama, or politics. But people could be in danger.

“We should go. Maybe someone needs help.”

I concentrated on the spell to establish our mental communication again.

“I really hope this is just an accident.” I said mentally.

“I bet it’s demons.” Lucy thought back.

“It’s too far away to target us. I suppose they could be after a different delegation.” I suggested.

“There seems to be a lot of infighting in the Empire. Remember that Beira thinks the inquisition trashed her lab and stole her research. Maybe she is retaliating.”

“If they resort to open warfare in the streets the emperor is surely going to intervene.”

“Who knows? Maybe he is waiting for the other factions to weaken themselves before he steps in?”

Lucy had a point there. Maybe the Emperor was using this whole mess to clean his house. While we had our mental talk we both used a flight spell. Once we were in the air we saw smoke coming from a building. It looked like a guard station. I could also see people running in the streets. They were being chased by demonic hounds.

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“Do you see that? It looks like there are demons coming from the guard station.”

“They look a lot like those we encountered in Iron Rock.” Lucy pointed out.

I had a bad feeling about this. “Can you help the people being chased in the streets? I will go inside the building.”

“Is it wise to split up? We don’t know what is inside. And we also don’t know how the Empire will respond. They might think we are involved because we are here.”

“Hm. You make a good point. I will summon Shani to clean up the streets and we will both enter the building and look for the source.”

We landed in front of the compromised building. The metal sign on top was half melted but you could still read the word “Guard”. The station was built from solid stone, it was two stories high and smoke was coming from a hole in the wall on the 2nd floor.

Before we entered I used my spell to call Shani, the elemental lord. The air crackled and a small cyclone formed in front of me. It took the form of a female elf. Shani appeared.

“Hi! It’s been a long time, what are we killing today?” After that first statement she looked at me and frowned. She floated a little closer, sniffed me and then peered into my eyes. I just let it happen, she did not seem hostile.

“HA! I knew it! You are one of the ladies!” She proclaimed. I had no idea what she meant.

“Um sure. It’s nice to see you again Shani. We currently have some demons chasing people in the streets. I would like you to protect the people and stop the demons.”

An unnaturally large grin formed in her face. Lightning shot from her hand and slowly took the form of an oversized scythe. “As the lady wishes.” She gave me a short bow, then she was off.

Now was not the time to reflect on her behaviour though, we had a building to investigate. I had already equipped my armour on the way here. But looking at Lucy I remembered that I was still carrying the demon lord’s plate. I really should find a smith to adjust it for her. All she had was magical clothing. And her natural defence. Her body was quite durable, thankfully.

“We should enter through that hole.” Lucy suggested while pointing.

I nodded. It was big enough that we could easily use it to get inside. The room we found was in shambles. The stone walls were scorched, the floor was charred and had a man sized hole in the centre. A lot of ash was covering the floor. A large cabinet was burning in the corner. I saw no people, dead or alive. I used a tier two spell to summon a ball of water. It took care of the fire.

We made our way downstairs. I could hear noises coming from below. We followed them to the basement. The guard station had a few holding cells. Those were not meant for long term prisoners, mostly they were used for drunks.

Only one cell was occupied. It held a young man who was crying. A hound was trying to get to him. The bars were already bent, it would only be a matter of time until they broke. I unsheathed my sword and decapitated the monster with one stroke. He looked at us with surprise and confusion. It quickly turned into relief.

“What happened here?” I asked.