In a small, dimly lit room separated from the corridor by an iron door with bars, K lounged comfortably in his chair, humming a song without a care in the world.

"Can you pipe it down in there?" the guard outside shouted, kicking the iron door. The man has a distinct feature to him, he is a muscular man with a scar on his lip. Because of K’s little act, Lyla had decided to send two men to guard and watch him.

They didn’t know why they were needed there, but since their leader had sent them, they could only oblige. "Because of you, my friend and I can’t play cards," one of the guards grumbled.

"My dearest friend, I fail to understand how that’s my problem!" K responded, practically laying his head on the table out of boredom.

The other guard joined in. "While the others are enjoying the night together, we’re stuck here guarding a useless rich brat," he grumbled, his voice tinged with boredom as he yawned.

"You can’t blame me for that. As you said, I’m just a feeble brat with some pocket change to spend," K said casually, going along with the narrative. "But I must admit, having you two gentlemen here with me sure makes my night a lot less boring."

K then got up from his chair and moved toward the door, reaching his arm through the bars. "Since we’re all here anyway, how about we entertain each other with our stories? As a merchant, I have many tales to share with smart fellows like yourselves. Both strange and weird, I promise they'll knock your socks off."

"Quit talking, brat. We’re here to watch over you, not indulge you," the muscular guard who had shouted earlier quickly shot down K’s offer.

His buddy beside him was not so eager. "Come on, Higard, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to hear him out."

Higard started to waver a bit, his breath hesitant. "Uh, I don’t know… we should just continue with our duty."

Hearing this, K had a knowing grin and seized the chance to convince them. "My dearest friends, since both of us want the same thing, perhaps my proposition will be to your liking. I guarantee it will benefit both me, you, and you," K said, slowly pointing from one guard to the other, his voice soft and convincing yet subtly pushy.

K then laid out his proposition to them. Once he finished, the two guards turned to one another with intrigued expressions.

A few hours later, at the foot of the mountain. Under the cover of night, a shadow leaped from one tree to another. His movements were swift and precise as he effortlessly passed through the patrolling bandits and into their camp.

Adorned in a sleek black suit that covered his body, Davis dodged and ducked to avoid the bandits’ detection, successfully infiltrating their stronghold without making his presence known.

With his sword strapped to his back, Davis moved from room to room, trying to pinpoint K’s location while hiding his presence. "This is going to take a while," Davis sighed, frowning with concentration as he continued his search.

Except for the bandit leader’s room, which was the most heavily guarded, the other rooms showed no sign of K. Tired of searching, Davis decided to kidnap one of the patrolling guards who walked past the room he was in.

"Answer my question and you won’t be harmed," Davis instructed, his hand gripping the man’s throat tightly and the other covering his mouth. The guard nodded, and Davis asked, "Where is K, your recently captured prisoner?"

Davis let his hand go, and instantly the man started screaming, "Intru—" He was knocked out before he could finish.

"Alright, second time's the charm," Davis exclaimed as he stared at the unconscious man’s body.

Davis repeated the process with the next unlucky patrolling guard, but this time he unsheathed his sword and used it to threaten him. After getting the information he needed, Davis knocked the man out and headed to the location.

Back at K's place, he sat at the same table as his captors, on the table was a playing card and some snacks.

"So I said, give me everything you have, and the guy dropped everything—even his piss," Higard loudly recounted. K and the other guard both burst out laughing at his joke.

"That is one fascinating story indeed, my friend," K laughed, tapping Higard on the shoulder.

From the outside looking in, they appeared more like a group of old friends joking around and playing cards. "You’re not half bad either, brat. Your fantasy story about this demon Toby that is scared of a fish liver is hilarious," Higard admitted.

The other guard laughed until he shed tears, repeatedly slapping the table. "And he spoke with so much emotion, I almost believed his absurd story too," Higard added, laughing while pointing at K.

K nodded proudly. "What can I say, my friend? I’m quite the storyteller." He took a sip from his cup of booze, his eyes narrowing with a mischievous spark. "Stories are always exaggerated for entertainment, so mine can't be compared to yours, my friend."

In his signature style, K continued his speech. "With your years of life experience and journey, I'm sure you have quite the story to tell. And what's even more impressive is your boss—to be able to command so many brave men like yourself..."

K then raised the booze bottle and poured it into the two half-drunken guards' cups. "Well, she must be quite the character. Wouldn't you agree, my friend?"

"Character my ass, she's nothing but a pretentious girl who’s never experienced the real world," Higard grunted, his words slurred as he continued chugging down booze.

The other guard nodded in agreement. "She lacks what it takes to be a leader. If she weren't the boss's goddaughter, she wouldn’t be anything," he spat angrily, nearly falling off his chair.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

K raised an eyebrow and continued his probing questions. "I heard something about your old leader passing," he said, sighing with a hint of regret. "If only I had the chance to meet such a man before he burned alive."

Higard and his companion exchanged confused looks. "What the fuck are you talking about? Our leader wasn't burned alive; he was eaten by that beast."

K quickly covered his mouth with his hand, his eyes widening in feigned shock. "I apologize for my idiocy, but Mr. Higard, you seem to know about his brave sacrifice against this... formidable beast."

K gently raised the bottle of booze and refilled Higard’s cup. "Mr. Higard, please, would you be so kind as to enlighten me about his bravery?"

The other guard, drunk and incoherent, spoke in a slurred voice. "That stormy night, the monster appeared out of nowhere." He said, his body struggling to sit up straight. "Its wings covered the sky, its claws were sharper than blades, and its fiery breath burned even in the pouring storm."

K's interest was piqued, a grin spreading across his face as he giggled. Higard shouted angrily at the other guard's story. "It didn't breathe fire! I was there. I saw it shoot lightning, and its beak, its screech was deafening." Meanwhile, the other guard had already fallen off his chair and was snoring loudly.

Higard continued with a hiccup, fumbling to sit up straight. "Our former leader chose to fight it, but he was killed in the end," he slurred, slumping onto the table. "He gave us time to run, and his foolish girl gave us hope to live."

He too soon fell into a deep sleep, his hand still holding the half-empty cup of booze. "What a truly insightful conversation we had," K said, sitting alone at the table.

"Well then, gentlemen, I’ll see myself out. Have a lovely night, my friends," K said, taking one final sip from his cup before getting up and leaving.

Outside in the corridor, K met Davis, whose outfit made K chuckle softly. "Well, you sure took your time. How is Skye, surely you didn’t bring her along on your little excursion?" K asked.

Davis, pulling his mask down, answered with rushed urgency. "No, I didn’t bring her with me and She's fine, now let’s go!" he said, gesturing for them to leave.

"Before that," K stopped Davis, extending his hand, "I believe you have something of mine. Mind giving it back?" K leisurely waited with his hand out for Davis.

Davis reached into his pocket and gave K his spatial ring back. "There now let’s get out of here!"

K inspected the ring and smirked. "You go on ahead; I’ll catch up to you later. I need to say my goodbyes first," he said, shooing Davis away after getting his ring.

Davis stared at K with his mouth agape and an incredulous expression. "If you can catch up to me later, why wouldn’t you just leave by yourself?"

K thought for a moment before answering. "For starters, you had my wallet with you." He showed the ring now on his finger and walked past the stunned Davis. "Also, the view here is quite eye-catching, so I chose to stay a bit longer."

"Now that I think about it, that ring has an awful lot of gold. Care to elaborate on how you managed to get your hands on it?" Davis turned around and followed K closely. Their carefree actions made them look like they were out for a stroll in a bandit camp.

K shrugged him off. "I hit the jackpot during one of my outings." With that, K leaped onto the roof and started heading toward the bandit leader's location.

Davis watched him go with a tired stare, sighed, and shook his head. "I wonder what's for breakfast tomorrow?"

Soon, Davis too leaped onto the roof and headed in the opposite direction. K moved with ease, avoiding any detection as he effortlessly entered the boss's room. Sensing no one's presence, he roamed the place as if it were his home.

Picking up a paper that caught his interest, K examined the content and happily exclaimed, "A waterwheel, smart!" He giggled as he continued going through the papers. Just then, Lyra entered the room, and they stood in awkward silence as their gazes met.

K turned to Lyra, then to the papers, and back at her. He joked, "Well, this is awkward!"

Lyra frowned as she saw her drawing in his hand. "Put my drawing down, or I'll chop you up and grind you into mincemeat," she said, her eyes blazing with anger.

K continued holding her paper and responded, "My dear, if you’re trying to intimidate me, you’re failing spectacularly." He finally placed the paper back into its stack.

"How did you manage to get out? What happened to the guards?" Lyra questioned him cautiously, her hand slightly shaking with uncertainty.

K replied casually, "Don’t worry, darling, your guards are unharmed." He walked closer to her, his smile drawing her in. "I can leave anytime I want. The only reason you can keep me here is because I let you!"

He threw a small bag at her. "Here you go! This is for the room." K then exited through the window, disappearing without a sound. Lyra could tell there were coins in the bag from the clinking sound it made when she caught it.

She opened it slowly, and her eyes lit up with hope as she saw the 200 gold coins and a small paper note inside. Taking the note out and reading it, she let out an incredulous scoff and mumbled, "Annoying bastard."

An hour later.

Near the foot of the mountain, K walked around freely through the sudden thick fog that had appeared out of nowhere, his hands tucked inside his coat pockets as he whistled along his way. The fog was so dense that it was barely possible to see past a few meters.

Man’s scream*

"Oh, curious!" K softly whispered to himself as the scream disappeared as quickly as it had come. K walked slowly toward the source, his movements showing no sign of urgency or worry. Along the way, he spotted some mind-boggling footprints.

K squatted down to inspect them. "What the...?" It seemed like a man had walked through this path barefoot, but what was strange was how the footprints appeared.

The footprints were spaced apart and seemed to walk on all fours. "Did a skinwalker come through here?" K wondered. Following the tracks further, he spotted a single shoe along the strange trail.

As K investigated further, he found an even stranger scene. On the ground was a flattened area of grass that looked like a scuffle had taken place, and the strange footprints leading toward a flowing river downstream.

Now with a new trail imprinted onto the ground leading toward the river, K noticed a long line intersecting with the footsteps. At first glance, it looked similar to a carriage wheel rolling through the mud, except there was no mud.

The line appeared halfway and then disappeared, only to reappear again near the river. K noticed that along the singular line of the trail, there were a few footsteps: one barefoot and the other a shoe print matching the lone shoe he had found.

The most confusing part was that the strange footsteps, which appeared to belong to a creature with four human feet, ended at the river with no sign of it leaving.

K determined that the singular line was caused by a man being dragged toward the flowing river, pushing against whatever was pulling him. The struggle had started even before they reached this place, which explained why his shoe had dropped.

"Fascinating!" K murmured as he inspected the track. He giggled internally, trying to piece together the strange scene before him. "Now this an exciting mystery."