Drusus was a generous, patient man. So that was why he was giving the man fifteen seconds to answer the question rather than ten.
God could the thing stop shaking for five seconds!?
He shook his head, unfortunately, all the people he’d encountered so far hadn’t been very helpful, from the guards to the gods damned demigod and company. Now he was on his ninth tap and the man was still not speaking.
Tenth.
Eleventh…
“Come on now…”
Fourteenth…
Fifteenth.
He sighed and waved to his Armatee behind the man who brought his sword down in one swift stroke onto the man’s neck, separating their head forever more in a single moment. The splatter of blood that coated the cellar’s cobbles would make for some tedious cleaning but alas, the man could have spared everyone the trouble if he’d spoken…
“Now that you know I’m serious,” Drusus intoned, “Would one of you two be willing to tell me what you know, or else you’ll be going to meet your friend by Karnos’s side.”
The arrayed men quivered in place, the words catching in their mouths.
His Armatee coughed, “Sire, are we sure these men know anything? They were talking about the location in an inn over a few pitchers of wine. They may be nothing more than the local drunk-”
“I know who may be of use far more than you. I hired you for your combat skills and loyalty, not your detective skills.” Drusus snapped back.
“Yes, sire…”
His gaze flicked back to the men expectantly as they all swallowed and finally one saw fit to get over their stuttering and speak.
“It’s the bathhouse and the walls, that’s where I ‘eard it!”
“No, no, it isn’t in the walls it’s under the governor’s place!”
“Are ye trying to get us killed!? It’s in the-“
“Enough!” Drusus barked, “Can you get your stories straight!?”
“Well, that’s it! We were trying to piece what was true before you-“
“But do you know for sure?”
“We know that those places might have it but we never check-“
“That’s enough then. Kenris, Xenan, deal with them and dispose of them in the barrels. The Vinegar should stop any smells.”
All their eyes widened, their mouths opening just for a moment before the swords came down, leaving only one left alive, to see the bodies of their comrades, before they were freed and passed over to Thassalors to be delivered to Karnos.
----------------------------------------
Dyo finally breathed a deep sigh of relief as they exited the villa and the citadel, a wave of relief washing over him. Finally, he was out of that stifling room and the demanding mayor. Finally.
“Well,” Ercole sighed, “I didn’t think that entire treasure thing was true but I’m glad to be proven wrong this time!”
Shani chuckled, “And I’m going to be very glad to take it all.”
“I don’t think she’d like it.”
Shani raised an eyebrow, “Why? The mayor said we just need to not let it fall into the other lots' hands.”
“But also strongly inferred that she’d be the right hands for it to be in.”
“Fucking nobles… But can I take a few coins? No one would notice that.”
He reached over to mockingly pat her on the back, thought for a moment, then recoiled, “I’d keep that conversation for when we find out what’s actually in the treasure…”
“Point, taken.”
Dyo stroked his horns and groaned, leaning against the wall of an apartment, “And where do we even start!? We have an entire city to search for a treasure that hasn’t been found in hundreds of years!”
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
“We don’t have to.” Hreysti said, “We can follow Drusus to it and take him down then, or…” He swallowed, looking like his face had gone pale, though there wasn’t any way for that to happen on his blanched skin, “we kill him before then. That would stop him as well and we can get her off our backs so we can get away from here.”
Dyo pulled himself from the wall and put an arm around his friend’s shoulders. “How about we discuss this back at the inn? We shouldn’t be talking about this in public anyway.”
----------------------------------------
“Val, what’s up?”
The satyr shook themself head as Agrippa’s question pierced the air. They had been in the middle of pouring drinks for all of them but were looking noticeably distracted…
“Oh… It’s nothing, just four of my regulars haven’t come in today. They’re such booze hounds that they’re always jumping at the chance to take a drink around midday away from their porter jobs.”
Ercole shrugged, “Their overseer could have just gotten tired of that today and got them working.”
“Aye, but it still makes my fur rise up… Anyways, how did your meeting with the mayor go?”
“Stifling,” Dyo muttered.
“Yep, that’s Necia in a nutshell. I tell you, I couldn’t stand her when she was lecturing me on the Calsynican cult’s activities causing “concerns” during the last guild meeting…”
Dyo took a long sip of his wine, “And she wants us to stop her distant cousin we saw at the gate from getting the mythical city treasure.”
“Oh! Drusus!? The Nepotianus!?” They laughed, pulling a stool up and sitting down. “Every time you come in you just have to raise my curiosity! You really are a sign that my prayers and offerings have paid off. And-“ They finally registered the second half of Dyo’s sentence. “You’re telling me that it’s actually real!? Fuck… I should have been hounding those regulars on where it was so I could have got it all to myself! Ha!”
“And there goes a lead…” Shani murmured, as she took a swig of ale.
Dyo’s eyes narrowed at the mug. He got that others from foreign places liked the stuff and that it technically was still in his and his father’s domain but still. That stuff is swill when compared to wine.
She didn’t seem to notice, or at least ignored his gaze and continued. “I vote for trying to find the treasure, pocketing what we can, and then killing Drusus in an ambush. Efficient, profitable, and entirely within our orders. What we call in my business a clean plan.”
A smile spread across Ercole’s face, “You know, I think I might agree with you on this one.”
Agrippa shot up in their seat, dress fluttering as they did, “Wait, wait! Kill him!? We didn’t get told to do that! We just have to stop him!”
Shani tutted, “Agrippa, for nobles, a lot of words just mean kill. They’re poetic about it, really shitilly poetic, but they try.”
“But- Do they really deserve it?”
She shrugged and took another swig, “Not our place to question it.”
“Not our place!?” They cried, pointing between Dyo and Ercole, “We have a noble and a demigod with us! We should have authority over her!”
“Welcome to the system shortstack, they have the city guards at their back, and we have to do what they say.”
Ercole nodded in agreement, “Unless you feel like fighting off the entire city’s guard force and making ourselves enemies of the Republic, we have to go along with it. Well, unless Dyo’s dad decides to smite the mayor, but I doubt he’s in the mood for that sort of intervention right now. The gods seem to only do that when their children are attacked or manipulated for reasons unrelated to their children’s actions.”
Agrippa spluttered for a few moments before going quiet and bowing their head, sitting back down with a mutter of “It still doesn’t feel right…”
The noble let out a short, dry chuckle as they then cradled their face in their hands and looked over to Dyo, “So Dyonaigus, how do you suggest we approach this? You’re our divine guide and hero.”
A small blush spread across Dyo’s face as he thought, Val’s and Shani’s eyes glancing over and noticing the slight embarrassment with smiles. One of warm adoration, the other a mischievous one, but Dyo paid them no attention.
Instead, when he looked away from Ercole, it was to Hreysti and his face. After all that had happened in the forest, he didn’t want to cause him any more harm, and he saw how much Hreysti hesitated when he offered his plan, one perhaps born of his experiences with raiding in the distant past… Memories he guessed were not fond ones. But at the same time, deciding to lure Drusus into an ambush to deal with him out of sight and telling the mayor that finding the treasure was her problem would be the quickest way to get her off their backs so they could return to their own activities. Shani liked the plan as well; she’d voiced some cautious support for it on the way to the inn, so that was a point in its favour too, but was it worth the pain and danger? They’d also be missing out on taking some of the treasure for themselves, which would certainly help fund them after having to spend a fair amount of what Ercole took out of the bank on horses.
His eyes narrowed as the two locked eyes, eyes filled with sadness but also determination, a mad desire to keep going…
“We’ll try to gather some clues to the treasure, but we’ll also keep track of Drusus. If he seems to be getting close or we’ve run out of leads, we’ll kill him.”
Ercole leant back in his chair and took a sip of his wine before setting it down and giving a smug smile. “It could work, a bit of a halfway house, but it can work. How would we suggest we keep track of him?”
Dyo looked over to Agrippa, “Agrippa and you can deal with tracking him. I know you know a lot more about the histories than I do, but I’m not ignorant of my own country’s legends. So, I, Hreysti, and Shani can go tracking for clues.”
“It would, no offense to you Agrippa, leave my group a little short of combat power however if he decides to have the same plan. Do you think we would be anticipating that?”
Dyo paused, stroking his horns, “No, I… I didn’t think about that…”
“I’m not useless!” Agrippa called out, “I can handle myself! I could turn into a bear and help while you come to aid us!”
Ercole snapped his fingers, “Good idea! Yes… Changelings can turn to animals can’t they?”
“I’m surprised the grand sage and savant of magic forgot that,” Shani laughed, “What’s next, are you going to forget you can cast magic?”
Ercole snapped his fingers again with a solemn face, this time, a small jolt of lighting arcing between his fingers with a crackle that made some of the other patrons turn their heads. “Certainly not.”
“But anyway you two,” Dyo chided, sensing the incoming storm, “That matter is settled. We have a plan.”
“And you can count on my help too.” Val said, “I can see what I can do to chase down my four regulars if anyone wants to join me during my downtime and if you need anything from me, just ask.”
With that, Dyo let a smirk spread across his face, confidence filling him. “Right then, once we’ve finished our figs, we’ll start!”