Character Information - Who is who?

Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven't. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful, it can be a spoiler for the chapter!)

Lorient M. Leonandra (Wolf-kin)

* The first child of the current Leonandra household

* A user of the wild-demon energy

* Sister of the MC

* Golden eyes

* Red fur and hair color

Larry Leonandra (Ox-kin)

* Personal Protector of Lorient M. Leonandra

* A user of internal energy.

* Specialized in two-handed Mace-arts

* Brown eyes

* Brown fur and hair color

Kairoso Leonandra (Wolf-kin)

* Lord of the Leonandra household

* Druid

* Father of the MC

* Green eyes

* Black fur and hair color

Sarusos Leonandra (Fox-kin)

* Retainer of the lord

* Specialized in intel, high-energy control, and dagger arts

* Red eyes

* Blond fur and hair color

This chapter has a minor torture scene, so be advised!

...

Through forests and savannas, uphill and downhill. Lorient walked for weeks with the fairies, the dwarf prisoner, and Larry. The progress was slow, and she was tired, not only physically but also mentally.

Her fellow travelers weren't the most chatty. The silence wasn't actually what was so suffocating, but the dwarf, who was glaring at them full of hate and fairies who only looked around and whispered between each other in their language, which Lorient couldn't understand, 'I should've listened to my teacher and learn it.'

She wasn't the best student and hated dry topics. She loved the outdoors, which was also why her teacher left after a year, as she wasn't doing anything. Her thoughts were quickly interrupted as she caught a whiff of something, instantly making her mood turn 180°.

'A city... Furri!'

Furri, a city and part of the Leonandra territory, was built for more efficient logistics as it was close to a big sea and a river that cut through their region, coming from the north.

Furri in itself was part of a larger conglomeration of other cities, which are around the sea Howl. The cities, all together, have millions of subjects with various beast-kin subraces who came from the West or South to work at the harbor or do trade.

As they approached the city, Lorient noticed first the walls around the city, which were more or less only built for appearance's sake, barely not existing. They were at most a meter (~3.3 ft) tall.

But it was not like the cities were defenseless since they had a ton of ditches dug out for stopping monsters or, rather, redirecting them to specific paths so they would be easier exterminated.

Lorient remembered how her former teacher taught her that most of the cities in their territory were like this because of their rapid expansion for decades.

The first towns were built around Howl and the river down south in the last hundreds of years. Suddenly, through the influx of subjects lured by their fief's policies and new job opportunities, they expanded heavily in the previous hundreds of years. Now they were full-fledged cities.

Their household needed a lot of logistic points to increase their trade and able them to transport to the north, where other territories were, and south where the ocean was. Thus workers were required, and they came en masse, 'What was it again? Low taxes and a lot of security?'

Her mother made many policies that attracted workers, merchants, and companies from around the county of Moorgrel and even the empire as a whole.

The influx of new residents became so bad that they needed to demolish the old infrastructure, like the walls, and build anew. Her mother, or rather her administrators, destroyed them as the economic exchange would slow down if they stood and separated the city.

Even though wealthy merchants and nobles would like to separate themselves into their own parts, the overall economic fluidity was more important than having a giant zone with useless mansions clogging the whole city while it was expanding.

They broke down the walls three times and rebuilt them further out till it became nothing more than a hassle to build sturdy ones. Thus they were also only made out of adobe instead of sand-lime. Also, more straightforward solutions, like the ditches, were chosen for protection against monsters from the West.

Lorient tried to remember every detail but couldn't. Even this information she knew was because her brother talked her ears off with all that. It was a hassle to chat with him since he loved to talk about possible solutions to administrative problems and all that stuff that she didn't care about.

But she could remember that they paid mercenaries and adventurers some coin to hunt down the monsters roaming around the vicinity. It was apparently cheaper than building a sturdy wall every couple of years.

She tried to remember everything while she walked toward the walls. Even though she hated to think about everything relative to administration, she needed to know a lot about it. She would probably be the lady in the future or administrate the military part, while her brother would be the lord.

She frowned slightly while thinking about it, 'I really hope Alex and Sarah will grow up and be more like Narsi. I am really not fit for this stuff.'

Nonetheless, she kept contemplating and trying to remember everything she loved to forget. Other cities with dungeons could allow themselves to stifle the economic flow since they mostly used the dungeon as their primary tax source, so it was optional to actually care about such things. Still, the Leonandra fief had none. Thus many other things needed to be done to ensure prosperity.

The walls were always presented to her as a great example in case of how to administer a city. If you wanted to destroy them, labor costs needed to be paid, and it was the primary factor, together with the necessary equipment for such an endeavor. Afterward, rebuilding needed the same plus the material cost, while the workers couldn't work on other projects that added more economic value to the city as a whole than a wall.

She remembered her question at the time, which made her teacher giggle, why not just move the wall outwards?

It was possible but too expensive. Sometimes destroying and rebuilding something was much cheaper than repairing or moving something.

The only thing the wall was suitable for was to keep monsters and demons out, which was not a big deal. Luckily, the invasion by foreign powers was basically non-existent for them as they were in an odd spot as a noble family.

This was too complicated for her to comprehend since the intertwined and incestuous doings of aristocrats were like a net made by a manic spider. Politics are a cluster of interests, and the Leonandra family was deep inside them.

But, in her mind, she had no doubt they could defend themselves from an enemy attack. She considered their family the strongest and most vital force in this region. While enemies could siege them quite fast, due to the lack of walls, it would end quickly when her father or mother arrived.

She was also proud that they had dozens of peak Tier 2 fighters with mighty [Divinity Line]'s. This was something that not even barons or viscounts had.

She stopped her thoughts as they went through the entrance, which was nothing more than a hole in the wall with half a dozen guards standing there and looking like they were bored out of their minds.

'Makes sense since there are no tolls or anything. I would be bored too.'

Nobody in their right mind would start a fight in the entrance section of the city where the guards were, so they had really nothing to do.

This changed, though, since they brought an unexpected guest with them. Everyone looked at the dwarf with anxiety.

A guard came over and pointed at the bound dwarf. "Hello, young lad, what do we have here?"

Lorient looked at Larry, who came over and brought a red badge out of one of his pockets. The badge was square and a bit clunky but was intricately designed. On it was an engraving of a wolf's head biting into a demon with two horns. It also emitted a demonic energy which also she could emit.

The guard's eyes opened wide, and he looked back at the young wolf-kin girl while she just smiled back. He inhaled and exhaled strongly.

It looked funny to her how the poor cat-kins face paled very quickly, and his tail was tucked between his legs. She frowned inwardly, though, as there was a big preconception of children of nobles who were spoiled and became furious by the slightest thing.

This she didn't like since her family wasn't like this, and this guard was probably someone from outside their territory and didn't know better.

'I really hate all the arrogant assholes who ruin our reputation!'

Yet, if she was honest, their family's upspring was sometimes rowdy. Still, they would never ruin the lives of commoners, or at least she never heard of anyone doing it without any objective justification. How the rationale would look like, she never considered it.

In contrast to them, her father's status was a lot different as he was a nouveau noble and a druid. Druids are part of the Temple Of Nature and almost free to do what they want as they are spiritual figures who accompany the folk under challenging situations.

They cemented themselves into the hearts of commoners as they did a lot of charity work, from healing the sick to providing comfort to loved ones after one's death. Of course, they are also powerhouses akin to knights of nobles to the temple.

Even if Lorient had a good opinion of them, her father didn't, which he didn't want to elaborate on. It usually ends in a diatribe of him berating all of his colleagues.

They usually have the same rights as commoners. Still, no noble would be stupid enough to mess around with the spiritual leaders of Beast-kin, as they were probably the most influential group right after the royalty.

Luckily for the noble's circles, Temple members usually distanced themselves from politics and only involved themselves when nobles went against them or their doctrines.

'Oh, did the guard say something? I was in my own world.'

She shook herself away, "I was thinking about something. What did you say?"

The guard gulped and said, presumably, what he said before, "I mean to ask, what does Ms. Leonandra have to do with this dirty dwarf?"

Lorient shrugged and ignored the guard's wrongful conduct, "We got attacked and killed the rest of them. He is the only surviving one which we then caught."

The cat-kin guard looked more relaxed and nodded toward Larry and her since he identified him as her babysitter, "Please wait here for a moment. We will get a restriction collar."

He looked back at her and was probably waiting for permission, which she gave with a nod. With that, he ran towards some house made out of adobe with the same symbol as her token, 'He should need a couple of minutes.'

Lorient looked back and saw the fairies looking at everything curiously except for the one with the wreath on her head.

This gave her at least the information that they were a more isolated group and never went to larger cities except for their leader, presumably.

This is all she knew about them, and if she was, to be honest, it wasn't much. They only occasionally discussed food, other customs, and how theirs differentiated from the beast-kin. That was it, as they never said their name and called themselves by their titles if they had any.

She could probably figure more out through their talks, but her cultural knowledge about other races was shallow at best.

'Oh, he came back… with someone?'

She saw the red-furred cat-kin that was following an elephant-kin. She was a big, bulky woman of 2.5 meters (8.2 feet) with two giant tusks protruding from her mouth with tattoos engraved on them.

She wore full plate armor and a massive double-handed ax on her back, 'The engravings probably symbolize her tribe or so.'

A wide smile bloomed on her as she came closer, showing her yellow teeth, "Good day, Ms. Lorient!"

'She knows me somehow?'

Lorient rarely went to Furri to know the locals by name. She tilted her head and tried to force a smile, "Good day…."

Larry saved the day before she could further disgrace herself, "How are you, Sjantja? Did you already smother your Husband? Ho ho ho!"

Lorient tried her hardest not to laugh at Larry's laughter. Sjantja turned towards Larry and grunted at him, "At least I have a cute husband. What about you?"

Larry crossed his arms before his chest, "I am Ms. Lorient's personal guard!"

They looked at each other for a good minute until something Lorient was very familiar with interrupted them, "GUHAHAHAHA! Look at these children!"

She turned immediately around, her eyes became teary, and a quiet voice left her mouth "Dad…."

Her father looked at her with an extensive and joyous smile. He was the lord of this territory, a peak Tier 3 druid full of raw power, the husband of her mother and her father.

Lorient didn't see him for the last one and a half years which made her incredibly angry, not because solely she missed him but also because of her siblings.

Sarah was a little clingy and missed him very much. Narsiz should also miss him, but he is more composed. Then, there was Alexander. Even if she considered him more intelligent than her, her little brother probably thinks that not knowing his father was normal, 'In ordinary noble families, this is normal, but we are the LEONANDRAS! WE PUT FAMILY OVER EVERYTHING!'

Lorient looked back at him. All the frustration and anger went through her like a tidal wave, which she held back for at least a year. She reeled her leg back, "You could at least send a letter to us, you giant idiot!" and swung against his thigh with all she had. A loud bang was heard.

An uncomfortable silence permeated the area. Nobody dared to say something as Lorient cried quietly after kicking the lord, her father.

From her peripheral view, she could see all the others around her. The guards stood just there like made out of stone, with pale faces, like the fairies who looked worse since it was a druid who was attacked. The dwarf was… well, he was already dead inside.

Dad's soldiers were standing there and waiting, fully relaxed, as this was what they expected from his blood. All the other onlookers stepped back and were ready to run away if this giant started to get angry.

As for Larry, he grabbed his Mace on his back, not to attack me, but he looked at her father, ready to defend her at any cost. The loyalty of the personal protector was scary. He knew nothing about the lord and perceived him as a regular noble, so his reaction made some soldiers smirk.

The only sound heard was minutes of her staying and crying but not looking away from him. Her pride didn't allow it.

The smile on his face was no more as he looked purely neutral at her. He bent forward and kissed his daughter on her forehead.

He stood straight again and said with guilt in his voice, "I apologize, Lori. You know how Dad is. I never forgot about you but forgot to send a letter. Your Dad is a real idiot."

Before she could think what to say, her anger slowly faded away, but suddenly, he took his daughter and threw her over his shoulder. Larry let him do it because no killing intent and bloodlust were felt around him.

"And this is for being such a bratty child! GUHAHAHAHA!" he slapped Lorient on her butt.

Spank

'Did he…spank me in public…?'

She wasn't hurt but felt incredible humiliation. Her face started to flush, "You!"

Her father interrupted her rant before she could even begin, "GUHAHAHA! Calm down, little pup! You have more than enough time later for your ol' pops!"

'I will strangle Dad….'

"Hey, guard commander, organize some rooms for her and my men. Also, I want to see this little guy here later…."

He nodded toward the dwarf, and killing intent could be felt, but before it erupted to something more terrifying, his retainer interrupted him, "Ahem! Killing intent, my lord!"

It subsided instantly, and even Lorient could feel it slowly coming like a massive tidal wave of knives that would point at her heart.

'Thank you, Saru! Being so close to him, I would probably faint.'

Kairoso scratched his head sheepishly, "GUHAHA! Got too excited, but never mind..." he looked at the elephant-kin and pointed at the fairies with his thumb, "...got to go and talk with the little leaves first. Do you have a place for a good private talk?"

Lorient was let down again, and as she straightened her clothes, her father started to caress her head, 'Such a big hand.'

Lorient looked at him, but he looked at Sjantja, who rubbed her chin, 'Oh, right, he asked about the fairies... totally forgot about them.'

Kairoso turned toward the fairies, "You are leaves from the Twin-Acorn Temple, right? What are you doing so far out from your compound.... wait...that means… that old bitch…."

"Mr. Druid! You can't talk like that about the se..."

Before the fairy could say more, the one with the wreath in her hair interrupted by touching her shoulder, "Lady?"

She shook her head and made it clear to ignore the provocation.

'Huh, did Dad provoke them purposely?'

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

She looked at his smile. Perhaps he didn't like the fairy he called a bitch, or maybe he just wanted to tease them. He called them leaves, implying they were at the bottom of the Temple's hierarchy, while her father enjoyed a higher rank.

"However, he turned to Sjantja with a big smile, "So, sweetie..." he said, "...could you give the little ones and me a bit of privacy? It's quite crowded here at the moment."

Lorient looked around, 'He is not wrong.'

A big crowd stood around them, listening and watching. Sjantja saluted, "Please follow me, my lord!"

As they started walking towards what was possibly one of the guard's offices, her father turned around, "Why are you standing like that, pup?" he asked and looked at his soldiers to the side, "Oh, and all of you are dismissed. If you want, stay here. If not, come with me to the estate. You need to be there in around four weeks, so you are free to do what you want until then. Saru, give them their bonus!"

Lorient snapped out of her stupor as the soldiers cheered. She also felt a wave of elation, 'I can follow Dad and find out what the fairies have to say, which has been bugging me this whole time!'

She caught up to her father while Sarusos was already organizing their soldiers. They walked towards one of the bigger houses, which was likely one of the guard's offices.

The guard's building was painted crimson so they could be easily noticed. She had never seen any other buildings painted the same color, so, in her mind, there was probably a law forbidding it to ensure that residents could quickly locate the guard's facilities.

She also glanced at the other buildings, which were painted and decorated randomly. Some were yellow, some white, and a few even rainbow-colored. It was a wild mishmash.

'The administration of Furri probably doesn't care about it, while Wolfsteeth is much more systematically administrated. But that will be Narsiz's future problem, as I don't care about such things.'

He was likely to receive a [Divinity Line] on the path of bureaucracy, leading to his internship in a city in a few years. Then, he would move on to administering a smaller town, and so forth.

'Perhaps he'll become the bureaucrat for our military, which would be fantastic, given his excellent skills in these matters.' She shrugged inwardly, knowing it would be revealed soon, as his legacy was in a few weeks.

The door opened, and they entered the guard station. Inside, there wasn't much to see besides a counter, wanted lists, and job offers similar to those found at the adventurer's guild. Behind the counter, one could see some tables with chairs where the guards took their breaks and ate.

At the counter, several other guards were speaking with residents, 'They're probably here to file complaints.'

Lorient found it exciting to have many different kinds of beast-kin races living in such a big city, but it also brought many problems, as each group had its own issues and affairs to deal with.

The mole-kin sometimes made holes under their houses, which could disrupt the structure of other nearby buildings. Bat-kin would try to buy blood from beautiful beast-kin, which could scare them out of their wits even if it was done in good faith. Some giant beast-kin would unintentionally destroy things or even injure much smaller ones. Then there were those with a strong temper who could quickly get angry and punch a hole through a building. The canine-kin, such as wolf-kin, were also problematic. During mating season, they would become nervous wrecks... she remembered that, actually, all beast-kin would become nervous wrecks.

As they entered the office, she heard her father from the side, "What are you looking around for, pup?"

She looked at her father, who appeared as casual as she remembered him, except when he was in fights. In those moments, he was like a completely different person. His killing intent was so extreme that anyone who wasn't a fighter would faint instantly.

She shrugged and said, "Nothing. I didn't often leave the estate."

He patted her on the shoulder, "Don't worry. You will catch up fast."

She sighed out of frustration, and a little part of her hoped that her father would notice and ask what was going on.

He did, "What are you sighing for?"

Suddenly, she let out all her frustrations that had piled up during the trip back and expressed what she truly wanted, "I don't just want to go on a sightseeing trip. I want to fight demons!"

He shook his head, "You're too young and not strong enough."

She flexed her biceps and boasted, "But I'm as strong as a regular foot soldier!"

He looked at her with a weak smile, like she was no older than five, "Hm, I know, but you need to understand that your mental attitude is too weak."

Lorient was confused by her father's statement, "What do you mean with my mental attitude being too weak?"

He looked at her and pointed to her head, "The demon aura, little pup, not only destroys the body but also corrupts the psyche. If one doesn't have a strong mental attitude, one will go insane. Why do you think we couldn't just take a few thousand soldiers, split them up, and slaughter them all?"

Lorient frowned but understood the gravity of her father's words, "I understand, but why do you think I am not ready?"

Kairoso looked at his daughter as if she was an idiot, "You are too young, little pup! With age comes a stronger fortitude. If you train, you will slaughter them in no time!"

She frowned but nodded in understanding. Kairoso started patting his daughter's head, "Don't frown. It makes your cute face look like my butt. GUHAHAHAHA! You'll get your chance to kill them. Just give it time."

She tried to distract herself by looking around. The office was sparsely furnished with a desk, couches, and a tea table. She and everyone else sat down, but the door opened before the talk could begin.

Sarusos came inside and looked annoyed, 'Well, he is fast. Probably just directed the work to someone else.'

He walked over to where Kairoso and his daughter were sitting and stood behind the couch where Larry was standing. On the opposite side were the fairies, fascinated by even the most minuscule things.

After a moment of silence, the fairies looked at Kairoso. Their leader, the one with the wreath on her head, seemed relaxed, while the others appeared nervous.

The fairy wearing the wreath nodded respectfully to Kairoso, "Mr. Druid, it's nice to see you. As you've already guessed, we are leaves, and you can call me Green."

Kairoso nodded back, looking extremely bored, and Green obviously didn't like it, as everyone could tell from her facial expression.

Green sighed, "Mr. Druid, our seer looked into the demon's territory, and she has bad news for you. But before I say it, please control your killing intent..." she inhaled softly, "....there is a Tier 3 blood demon there."

The big wolf-kin started to frown and ruffle his hair, "Damn it, I haven't seen that one in a long time."

Kairoso looked at his daughter worriedly and sounded stressed, "This means I will be gone for a long time when I go to the east."

Lorient immediately felt stressed, and her voice became louder, "Wait! What do you mean you won't be there for a long time?! Wasn't this demon run estimated to last three to four years?"

In an indifferent and dismissive tone, Green answered her question, "Ms. Lorient, a blood demon, is a rather troublesome foe, especially a Tier 3 one. They are not particularly strong, but they have really nasty skills."

Lorient was utterly confused, and as Green saw this, she elaborated further, "Blood demons, in general, are like parasites. No, they are parasites, and the higher the Tier, the greater the chance that their skills become more sophisticated and harder to detect. That's why we must eradicate this demon as quickly as possible."

The young wolf-kin girl grew angrier and angrier, sounding distressed, "But why won't you help Dad then?!"

Kairoso responded, "Because that old bitch doesn't have the resources, and all our druids are already on missions of similar importance, or at least I hope so…." His face darkened, and his smile became sinister. "…otherwise, it's never too late for another ref…."

The fairy suddenly looked similarly sinister, and a barely noticeable killing intent oozed from her toward the dad and daughter duo, "Mr. Druid, I would not finish that sentence if I were you."

Kairoso stood up and looked down at them. His facial expression became more mocking but equally angry, "Oho! Did you just intimidate my daughter? Did the Twin-Acorn Temple forget their place?" His tone was filled with disdain.

Kairoso's stare was intense. Before Lorient could say something, Green began coughing intensely, as if someone was choking her. She struggled heavily to catch her breath, 'What's wrong with her breathing?'

Lorient looked at her father as he sounded suddenly like a demon. His voice deepened, "You see, the seer came to me, not the other way around."

He began to growl, the sound growing louder as he spoke, and Lorient could sense his bloodlust, which seemed to be directed primarily toward Green. The feeling was so strong that Lorient could feel it oozing out, "You think I will let myself be commanded around like the other treehuggers? Your whole little shit-ass branch would be eradicated if I weren't here!"

A roar resounded similar to an ancient beast, almost deafening Lorient, and she was not the only one who felt frightened or worse, as the other fairies, except Green, fainted, but she could barely sit.

'Dad is mad, really mad!'

After a short moment, an ethereal voice was heard saying, "Stop, Kairoso!"

His smile became softer as he looked at Green, "GUHAHAHA! How are you?! Didn't think you would use your little toys as your medium! What an honor!"

Lorient looked at Green and saw how her eyes glowed in bright green, 'Medium? What was that again?'

Before she could recall all the critical positions in the temple, the voice resounded again, "Kairoso, I want to apologize for the messenger. We know your status as a free druid, and we thank you for helping us without expecting anything in return."

Green, who was possibly possessed, stood up and saluted. Afterward, the bloodlust slowly dissipated as he muttered, "Tsk, fine."

He slumped back on the couch, which creaked under his massive weight, "So, tell me, are there high-tiered blood demons? I heard that the Cathedral of Pestilence was the one who discovered the irregularity in the coming demon run. Do they have more information?"

Green didn't move at all from her position, and while Lorient heard the voice that came from her as a medium, the little fairy acted like a doll that didn't move her lips, "We don't know."

Kairoso crossed his arms and looked annoyed, "Tsk, got it. I expect support through communication and surveillance in this campaign, so let this group stay with us."

"Don't worry. This was my intention in the first place. I will say farewell as I can't hold this connection for long. Good luck, Kairo."

After she said her farewell, Green fell to the floor, unconscious. Nobody even helped her, but Lorient felt terrible for her. Looking at Larry behind her, he understood his mistress and went to her and just threw her roughly on the couch.

Lorient sighed and rubbed the place between her eyes. He could have been at least a bit more sensitive in her mind, 'She was not a potato sack!'

However, her attention quickly switched to more exciting topics, like what was happening. Her father was in deep thought, but his aide, Sarusos, started telling her what it was all about.

He came close to her, and with a professional merchant smile, he started explaining the situation while she walked beside him, "Ms. Lorient, it is problematic because it is so hard to eradicate a high-tiered blood demon, and it is also probably the reason for this big wave..."

He frowned stronger and stronger while explaining, "...it is also possible that the Cathedral is behind it, or rather one of their experiments that went out of control. Now, what does this mean for us?"

Sarusos ran with his hand over his blond hair as his smile contorted slightly, "Let's ignore the Cathedral since it is impossible to prove, and beginning a war with them would be unnecessarily bloody..."

Lorient knew about the Cathedral of Pestilence. They were more of a radical religious group, neither good nor bad, but extreme in that they extensively researched new sicknesses, parasites, curses, etc.

Lorient knew only a little about them, but she knew that they never attacked directly or did anything bad in that sense, as the problem came with their experiments. While they didn't do their tests on beast-kin, their experiments sometimes went out of control, leading to catastrophes.

It has already happened several times, and they accidentally eliminated whole towns and cities. Other times, something ridiculous happened, like a village that suffered a curse that revived all the dead rats inside a bar, who then started drinking all the alcohol. Needless to say, the scholar who caused this came out alive but needed to pay a hefty fine.

Lorient also remembered why the nobles and commoners didn't burn them to the ground. They were very open-minded and accepted everyone, regardless of race or status, as long as they had talent in medicine, alchemy, or other relevant fields. This was seen by many poor commoners as a possible way to a better life, and the Cathedral also did a lot of charity work, such as healing the sick.

He chuckled slightly as he watched the thoughtful expression of Lorient but interrupted her and continued, "...the blood demon has the nasty skill to infect other demons, monsters, and kin of all kinds, and through this infection, it can take possession of their body and control them. The higher the Tier, the higher the sophistication of the control."

His fox ears twitched slightly, and a bright smile emerged on his face, "Luckily! In Tier 3, its control is rough enough to notice an infected one. This means that we need to thoroughly eradicate that thing before it can become stronger, which also means that the campaign can, theoretically speaking, be over in half a year or last for ten years..." his smile faded slightly, "...in short, we don't know the exact time frame."

She didn't like it but accepted the situation for now, "When does Dad need to go?"

He smiled sadly at her, "Probably in a couple of months. We need to prepare ourselves thoroughly."

She sighed heavily, feeling the weight of the situation. She had been stressing about it since she heard it and couldn't help but feel frustrated, 'I want a day alone with Dad before he goes away for a long time. Maybe we can have tomorrow to ourselves?'

Sarusos interrupted the young wolf-kin girl's thoughts as he addressed his master, "My lord, we should interrogate the dwarf."

Kairoso nodded solemnly while trying to focus on his thoughts, "Hm, Lori, follow us."

As they walked through the building, Kairoso spotted a guard on break and called out to him, "Hey! Get the fairies excellent accommodation and treat them well. But keep a close eye on them. If they try to leave the city without us, detain them."

The guard quickly stood up and saluted, "Yes, my Lord!" he said before running off to carry out his orders.

Lorient asked her father curiously, "Dad, why would the fairies want to escape?"

He snorted in response, "The pressure they felt is not something you'd want to experience again. They would probably rather flee and face punishment than meet me again. The temple wouldn't punish them too harshly if they abandoned their duty. After all, they're just a bunch of treehuggers."

Lorient nodded, trying to understand the nature-dweller's personality. She realized she knew very little about them except for what her father told her: they were all crazy.

Without looking at his daughter, Kairoso asked, "Tell me everything you know about the dwarf."

She explained everything that had happened and shared her thoughts on the dwarf's intentions to disrupt their alliance with the nature-dwellers.

Kairoso smirked slightly, "Good job. Shovelers are some little fuckers, but they were probably just hunting for slaves. And the closer you get to a city, the more villages around it you'll find, which means less protection and more weak and vulnerable beast-kin. They're easy targets."

Lorient thought that her father was probably right. She tended to get carried away with grandiose ideas, like imagining that poorly equipped and weak dwarves were the personal henchmen of the Vulcanic Forge. She even considered the possibility that they could disrupt the relationship of their alliance by killing some low-level temple members.

Lorient felt the heat rising to her head out of embarrassment for her overblown conspiracy theory. Fortunately, they arrived at the door to the jail before she could become even more ashamed of her delusional ideas, 'Sometimes, the easiest answer is the best.'

Lorient was surprised as they entered the jail. It was clean and dry, and in her opinion, it was tolerable. She secretly wished for something much worse, like rats or cockroaches, to be eating the dwarf.

The dwarf sat on the ground, gagged, bound, and blindfolded. He appeared angry as they entered, fuming at them and attempting to speak through his gag.

Lorient grew angry as she remembered the hassle the dwarf had caused them, especially when they had tried to make him drink water. He had refused to cooperate and had even tried to bite his tongue off, requiring them to force a wooden pipe into his throat to make him drink.

Kairoso nodded towards his retainer, "Saru, do your job."

This confused Lorient, 'Saru? What about him?'

She turned her head toward him and saw that he was putting on some white gloves. A smile akin to that of a devil from a children's storybook was seen on his face, which was new to her.

As he removed his blazer, he began to speak, "I don't like getting dirty myself. This work is so tedious, but I love it for sure."

He turned toward the wolf-kin girl, "Ms. Lorient, it is never too early to learn the art of torture."

He then turned toward a guard who had followed them into the cell, "Mr. Guard, please be a sweetheart and bring me two chairs and a table." Upon hearing this, the guard bolted instantly to bring the furniture.

There were now only four people inside the cell. Sarusos walked with a little hop in his step towards the dwarf and removed the blindfold, revealing the dwarf's blood-filled eyes.

Sarusos looked at him sinisterly, "Don't worry, Mr. Shoveler. I know how to make you talk, but I also feel like honing my skills, so I hope you don't break down that fast."

He threw a bag on the floor, which he had been wearing over his shoulders, and then reached inside to retrieve a cylindrical leather bag.

The guard returned, together with others, and carried a table and two chairs into the cell. Sarusos exclaimed, "Fantastic! Thank you so much for such excellent accommodation!"

Kairoso grumbled beside Lorient, "I don't get him."

Sarusos placed his cylindrical leather bag on the table and opened it up to reveal a knife roll, or rather, a roll containing all kinds of instruments.

Some of the instruments in the roll looked like tiny knives, others like needles, and even some that Lorient couldn't identify. All she knew was that Sarusos seemed really pleased with his collection.

He began to speak while inspecting his instruments, "Hm, let me teach you a bit about the art of torture, Ms. Lorient. What is the most important thing to consider when torturing someone?"

Lorient knew very little about torture. While a fighter, she knew those who gathered information also specialized in this field.

As Lorient was lost in thought, Sarusos continued to prepare, "Guards, please place him on the chair and make sure that every part of his body is securely fixed."

Sarusos turned around and looked at her, causing her spine to shiver, "I... I think it's about being brutal?" she answered uncertainly.

While Lorient didn't think her answer was completely wrong, Sarusos shook his head, "Not bad, Ms. Lorient, but incorrect. The methodology of torture is about the efficiency principle, similar to economics. We aim to inflict the most pain with the least amount of damage to the subject. We don't want to kill him."

As Sarusos talked, Lorient noticed his tail wagging happily, 'He's crazy.'

As Sarusos continued to prepare and sort his instruments, he attempted to teach Lorient, "Now, while we're still getting things ready, let me ask you something else. What is typically the most painful or sensitive spot on the body regardless of race?"

Lorient had no idea. While she knew roughly which spots on the body were the most vital, she wasn't sure which were the most sensitive, so she guessed, "Perhaps the eye?"

Sarusos shook his head again, "Incorrect. Let me show you, Ms. Lorient."

Sarusos sat on the chair before the dwarf, who was tied up. He took a very thin needle and poured a substance similar to liquor on it but much stronger. The smell was so terrible that Lorient had to cover her nose.

As he sat in front of the dwarf with the needle in his hand, his smile became the most sadistic Lorient had ever seen from anyone. Even demons were not depicted like this in picture books for children.

He slowly stuck the needle under the dwarf's fingernail. Even Lorient could feel the pain throughout her body.

Sarusos kept the needle under the dwarf's fingernail, twisting and turning it, worsening the pain. The dwarf tried to scream through his gag, and tears streamed down his face.

Sarusos kept teaching Lorient without looking at her, but she now didn't know if she wanted to learn this art, "Now, Ms. Lorient, why does it hurt so much for the shoveler?"

She thought, 'By the circle, how would I know this.'

"Maybe because... the fingers are the most sensitive part?"

She could see how he became more ecstatic, "Wrong again!"

He looked back at her, "The most sensitive spots are the nerve endings, but right now, I am not there. You need to slowly build up the pain. Nonetheless, it will be painful."

Sarusos turned back and started twisting and pushing the needle deeper from an awkward angle as he said it.

The dwarf was clearly in so much pain as she looked at him wriggling around, but luckily, her father distracted her from this grotesque sight, "This bastard has a ton of skills for torture and this kind of work."

This surprised her, but it made sense in her mind. There were a lot of different skills, and surely some of them would affect the pain one received.

"Now, we don't want that he faints, don't we? It will disturb my artwork and your lesson, kehehehehe!"

Lorient was actually surprised, and she asked him, "Wait! Why aren't you asking him anything and only torturing him? I mean, I am fine with it, but it's weird."

Sarusos was surprised and looked at her happily, "Excellent question!" he closed the dwarf's ears in case he understood their language, "Before I start the questioning, we need to gauge his tolerance and make him think that this is only an appetizer."

Lorient nodded in understanding but didn't comment, 'I don't know if I ever would need to get information like this. Ever.'

Sarusos nodded back at her, satisfied, and turned towards his leather roll. He took a little bottle with a colorless liquid from his instrument roll, "Now, this is something interesting. It's some kind of alchemical mixture. Dragon-kin scholars use a drop of this to avoid sleep for a night to learn for longer periods. Now, open your eyes wide open, my little shoveler, kehehe!"

As the sadistic fox-kin tried to hold the dwarf's eyes open, he forcefully dripped a drop of the solution into each eye.

After a minute, the dwarf started quickly and strongly inhaling and exhaling through his nose, and Lorient could hear his heart beating extremely fast.

Sarusos explained, "This solution has a lot of side effects, such as over-heightened senses, which in our case should be seen as a positive. Am I right, Ms. Lorient? Let's keep going. Kehehehe."

He sat down again and kept on torturing the dwarf, and even Lorient started to feel almost bad. But only almost.

However, she was shocked by how he held up. Everyone else would probably faint, but he couldn't. The solution did a perfect job of keeping him awake.

Sarusos kept asking his temporary student questions, and she couldn't even answer one correctly, 'Who knew that this subject was this complicated? But I am slightly relieved that I don't know much about it... I don't think I am the type for this.'

He suddenly stopped his torture, "Now, enough warmup..." he suddenly changed the language, which Lorient only understood a little but got the context, "...be a nice dwarf, and listen. I can either torture you for the next days, weeks or even months..." while talking, she could see how Sarusos hoped that the dwarf would lie or not answer anything, "...but if you tell the truth, I will give you a quick and painless death. So, choose wisely."

He took the mouth gag off, and the dwarf immediately spoke, "I will tell everything. Please just kill me!"

The room was filled with uncomfortable silence and a sobbing dwarf.

Saruso clicked his tongue in disappointment, "Tsk, what a weakling. Fine, so tell me, what did you do in our territory?"

The dwarf revealed everything to the point where they had no idea what else to ask. Saruso also used one of his skills to confirm if the dwarf was lying.

It was scary. No, Lorient found Sarusos scary, but he looked heartbroken. It reminded her of Sarah when she was little and her favorite toy broke.

What the dwarf said was that he and his partners worked for a slave merchant and were looking for merchandise. That's it. He was nothing more than a low-level worker. Lorient found it for some reason disappointed, too, but for other reasons than Sarusos.

In the end, Kairoso asked his retainer, sounding a little disturbed, "Truth?"

Sarusos sighed out of disappointment, "Yes, my Lord."

"Damn freak, end him already. He is useless."

Sarusos stood up and took a regular knife from his clothes, "I stay to my word." with that, he slashed the dwarf's throat.

...

Little later

Lorient and her father stood in front of the guard's building, enjoying the fresh air after what they witnessed, and waited for Sarusos to finish cleaning his instruments.

She was a bit disturbed and wanted to ask her father about Sarusos, "Dad."

He held his hand before her, "Don't ask me about Saru. He was always like this. The less you know, the better."

She nodded in understanding, 'I mean, he is loyal, so I shouldn't care so much... I guess.'

She leaned against him, and he caressed her head while they both looked at the bustling city.

"Dad."

"What is it, pup?"

"Why have you not sent even one letter to us?"

"I am sorry." He stopped momentarily caressing her head, "Your Dad had a lot to do and just forgot, but not about you or your siblings. I thought about you, Narsi, Sarah, and Mari every night. I just forgot to write a letter. Your Dad is a moron."

"You forgot someone."

He looked at her, really not knowing what she meant, "What do you mean?"

A sad smile emerged on her face, "Alex."

His eyes opened like crazy, and he slapped his forehead so hard that a loud bang was heard, "I am really a moron."

She looked at him with a smirk, "Can't deny my lord's father's words." and started giggling,

He frowned, "How is he doing?"

She ignored his question since she also didn't know this. Not like she wrote any letters. Instead, she tried to propose something, "Hm, I don't know when our ship is ready, but how about having a couple of hours of catching up tomorrow and I tell your everything?"

He nodded. "Sounds good. Today, it's too late already."

Seeing how the sun went down and shone orange, it looked beautiful how it fell on the city.