...

Interrogation Room, Primary Guard Post, Wolfsteeth

"If you try to touch me, I will slaughter your whole family, you vermin."

"Hm, sure thing."

A mouse-kin stood in front of Ilusia while she sat inside a darkened cell bound by chains and wearing an anti-energy collar. Her condition was terrible. She was visibly dehydrated and looked much thinner than usual while dirt covered her exquisite dress and body.

Yet, the mouse-kin didn't care as he slowly put brown leather gloves on, fitting his casual outfit. Usually, he would bring every suspect first to another room and let them stay there for at least a week without any outside communication. Only then would he start his interrogation, which would be much more effortless by then. Yet, time was of the essence because someone from the estate requested a quick and thorough investigation.

After he was done, he came forward and squatted down before Ilusia. His voice was friendly, but he looked stoically at her, "So, we can do it the easy way or the hard way. Which one do you want?"

Ilusia, without hesitation, spat in his face and smiled afterward at him viciously. The mouse-kin stood up and took out a handkerchief, cleaning his face. After he was done, he, without hesitation, kicked her stomach.

"Argh!" After a groan, she lay down on the cold floor of the cell, trying to catch a breath, looking with a venomous glare at the interrogator.

The mouse-kin, though, sighed, "Huh, hard way it is..." He turned around and signaled his disciple, "...I need simple furniture, my instruments, a healer, and some potions."

Even though the investigation needed to be done quickly, he would nonetheless let his new disciple assist him while teaching him a thing or two. It was important, in his mind, to nurture the future.

His young pigeon-kin disciple became confused and nervously asked, "Bu... But isn't it expensive?"

The mouse-kin smiled, "Good point. Because of this, you will write down the costs of everything used, like our time, and this will be added to the ransom. We need to be economically responsible, all right?"

The young pigeon-kin nodded but flinched again when he looked at Ilusia, who let out a small amount of killing intent. The mouse-kin interrogator saw this and immediately stepped on her face. Afterward, he smiled at his disciple, trying to calm him down, "Don't worry about her, boy. You can also try out your techniques later if you want. Since you are new, I will not force you, but it is a great learning chance."

The pigeon-kin's feathers ruffled slightly, and he nodded nervously, "Of... Of course... but you will be there too, right?"

The mouse-kin nodded, his smile widening, "Of course, now go, but don't forget to bring back all of my instruments. You will see later why we need them."

The pigeon-kin nodded and immediately walked away to get everything. The interrogator, though, looked at Ilusia and analyzed her more while still holding his foot on her face, "Well, if you could scream a bit more, it would be nice of you. If you resist too much, he will quickly get discouraged. I would then be nicer to you, how about it?"

All he could hear was a hateful growl. The mouse-kin sighed, "Well, I will explain to him later that most prisoners are not that resistant..." He shook his head, "...poor boy to try his techniques for the first time at such a prisoner, but I can't let such a great opportunity go to waste..." He put more pressure on his foot, pressing her face more strongly toward the ground, chafing it, "...poor boy, huh."

...

Some days later, a Letter from Salyna to Aurum

Hello dear Aurum,

I am happy to hear that you are alive and well. Don't worry about the killed nobles from central Mal-Gil. I also got the report, and as you said, the lie test showed they planned to conspire against our household, so any action of yours would be justified even if they had any status here.

However, the next time, do me a favor and just kill everyone, even though the ransom for their bodies would be less, but also the correspondence I would need to do, too. Gold shouldn't be a worry for you anymore.

Regardless of all that happened, if you write and annoy me again because of such a minuscule problem while I need to prepare everything for that psychotic bitch and the Nine-Fire youths, I will personally spank you till your butt becomes as red as the third moon.

With love,

Your Mom <3

PS: Remember to pay tax on the ransom.

...

Wintersleep hotel, Honeydew Bar

Three teens were sitting in the high-class bar, which was part of their hotel. Everything was meticulously crafted out of darker wood and decorated with many plants to look and feel like a cabin in a forest.

The clientele was relatively young but mostly had status, as seen in their costly clothes and accessories. Most looked either drunk or high in some way, probably bored from life and looking for a fling. The three youths were sitting at the counter. One of them looked stressed as he read a letter, while the other two were overly relaxed, enjoying themselves.

Aurum threw the letter on the counter after he was done reading, "This is what my dear Mother said," he took a drink, which smelled terrible but helped to calm his nerves, gulping it down.

"Argh!" He slammed the glass on the counter and immediately became dizzy.

Quill leaned against the counter and looked at the letter, scratching his head, "You need to pay taxes on the damn ransom?"

Ariana rolled her eyes while sipping an orange juice, "Didn't you read the tax code?"

"Hm..." Quill started to contemplate while rolling a cigarette with something Aurum identified as a rainbow leaf, that if ignited, the smoke would become colorful. After another moment, he answered, "Not really? I had no idea what we would do here in the first place since Rum only wrote shit about saving the world and fulfilling our dreams n' such."

Ariana looked at him more sternly, "You know, for how much we get paid, we should at least read the tax code..." She thought for a bit, "...I think, for example, that we need to pay taxes because ransom is seen as outward payment while what we produce is seen as internally made. So the tax on this should differ, and I can't remember the rates exactly, but it is weird because we have a flat..."

Bang!

Aurum slammed his hand on the counter, "It's not about the damn ransom!"

Ariana slightly flinched and glared at him, "Can you calm down? Your Mother actually dissolved you of any fault even though your people killed multiple nobles..." She looked more sternly at him, "...I would be so joyful that I would dance the ancient lizard-kin tribe dances all day to honor my ancestors for the fortune I received."

"Isn't one of your dances that you are all naked, rubbing against each other?" While saying this, Quill finished the cigarette and pulled out what looked like a small cone, designed like a torch. The cone suddenly lightened up after he put some energy into it, and after another moment, a small flame appeared, with which he ignited his cigarette. He took a deep breath, exhaled a colorful cloud of smoke, and became visibly more relaxed, "...oh yes. The damn miasma is keeping me on edge, I don't know how you do it."

Ariana answered him, "I know what you mean. It's like someone trying to stab you at all times."

Aurum looked at his friends, slightly drunk from one drink, "You know what? Fuck it. I tried it, but it is like it is."

Ariana leaned toward Quill, whispering, "What is he talking about?"

Quill looked at her and shrugged, "Dunno? Maybe he wants to do the lizard tribal dance with you?"

Aurum suddenly became angry, "Fuck it! We will start tomorrow, alright?"

Both shrugged and nodded toward him, knowing that he was drunk already. They couldn't comprehend his bad mood and why he was this on edge, only looking confused at him.

However, Aurum also didn't say anything to them since it was apparently a problem only he saw as such. He was highly distressed for the last few days, barely able to sleep. It wasn't so much about the dead nobles, even though this was also worrying, but what the report stated. What he wildly assumed became true, something he could barely believe. Ilusia planned something akin to a conspiracy to gain merits to attain a more favorable position inside her household. It was sloppy and juvenile, almost bordering on a parody of some cheap drama novel. Yet, she meant it, and he couldn't believe it.

He wrote his Mother a heartfelt letter immediately after reading the report, telling her all the results and, from this, his resulting worries, hoping for emotional support. Little to say, she barely cared and misunderstood him. However, he knew he could not expect her to help him as she had her hands full with other things. Being an adult, he understood that he would have to figure things out himself.

Aurum's actual worries weren't ones that he would be punished but the distrust he developed toward nobles outside his household. He needed a quick fix for this since the charity he had required him to interact with them if he wanted to expand to other territories.

Fortunately, his new skill helped him with that. When inspecting his system window for this skill, he was surprised since he had never heard about it: [Diplomatic Self Manipulation].

[https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kiruschka/kiruschka.github.io/main/Chapter_89-97/Chapter_89/Aurum_89.svg]

His new skill could superficially hide his changed body language so he wouldn't look unsympathetic when talking to other nobles, replacing it with whatever was needed to appeal to them.

Through this, every one of his actions became cold and calculative, but outwardly, he looked as if he was talking with his heart pouring out. It was scary using such a skill. He felt like he was puppeteering himself when using it, thinking about what the people he wanted to appeal to needed to see to convince them.

However, the attempted kidnapping, a new skill that would let him be a puppet, the distrust he developed, and the pressure to fulfill his goals in the fastest way possible, etc., everything became too much for him, and he would need a break for a couple of weeks to work on himself. Yet, he decided to simply suck it up and only think about his and his Master's goals. Even though it felt juvenile, he didn't want to wait any longer, feeling that he was inwardly much more restless than usual and needed to start the project at last.

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

Aurum came out of his thoughts, seeing how Quill went over to some girls, who looked like they were from good houses, laughing and flirting with them, "He likes insect-kin?"

Ariana shrugged, "Dunno. We hadn't any at school, but they seem to be his type, I guess?"

Aurum nodded, "Well, he can have his fun as long as he is ready for tomorrow."

It was silent for some minutes between the two. Only the sound of slurping and drinking was heard from the two, with the background noises from joyful laughter and flirtatious chats, till Ariana broke it, "Does Ocilia have a fiancé?"

Aurum smirked slightly, "Go for it, but I don't know if she is into girls, and be careful since you saw how aggressive she is. Also, if she is, talk with Quill and let him know."

Ariana nodded, "Hm."

"Same type as Quill?"

"Hm."

It was silent again, holding on for minutes till Ariana broke it, "What about you?"

Aurum smiled sadly, "Nope. I have too little time to look for girls, but it matters little."

"Because of your dream?"

He clenched his glass slightly, "Yes. I can finally do what I want and truly make a difference."

Ariana tilted her head slightly in confusion, "Yeah, but what is this thing about education? Never heard you talk about it."

Aurum sipped some of his drink to relax and explained, "This is Mr. Alexander's demand. He wants everyone to have a certain level of education, doesn't matter where they come from."

Ariana blushed slightly, "He sounds really great. I wish the noble in our territory did something like this."

Aurum smirked at her, "He is great, but his appetite is bigger than mine by magnitudes. This is why I can't sit still and chase after girls..." He looked into his half-empty glass, "...I wish..." He shook his head, "... never mind."

"Hm."

After some minutes, Aurum saw how his friend left the bar with two girls in his arms, giggling and drunk, 'Well, such relationships were never something for me.'

Aurum remembered how quickly he fell in love with some girls at his school while going through the mating seasons, but because he was an avian-kin, he was mostly ignored, staying alone all the time.

For many reasons, the noble faction under the Dukes and Marquises saw avian-kin and insect-kin as lesser. Even the royal faction in central Mal-Gil saw them as not being on the same level, even though they gave those subraces far more opportunities than in other territories.

Only in Moorgrel would it not matter. This was also why Moorgrel's population was much larger than that of central Mal-Gil, as many insect-kin and avian-kin left for better opportunities even though the environment was much more hostile.

"By the way, when can we meet Mr. Alexander?" Aurum came out of his thoughts when he heard her. He turned toward her and looked surprised at Ariana. At first, he became suspicious but remembered the mana contract she had signed, which would kill her when she touched a single hair on his Master's body. Besides, his Master was also well-protected and powerful enough to go toe-to-toe with the guards Maurice killed, so he did not worry.

He shrugged, "Don't know. When we got some good results, I would say so that I could present him with something, I guess."

Ariana nodded, "Hm, I would really like to meet him."

Aurum raised an eyebrow, "Why so?"

She blushed slightly, "I saw his handwriting, the calculations, and the tables. Also, the concepts, although rough, had a certain charm and showed his understanding and resolve. Everything had an elegance, like that of a great scholar. Diligent, dignified, and refined..." Her face reddened even more, "...I always wanted to meet someone like this."

"What about the teachers in our school?"

Ariana became suddenly agitated, "Hacks!..." She turned to Aurum, "...they were all phonies! They came from wealth, and all their research and explanations were average at best!"

Aurum shrugged and smiled, "Well, Master is truly one of a kind. Let's leave it at that." He sighed and put some coins on the counter, standing up, "...I will go to sleep. Have a long day tomorrow."

"Hm."

As he wobbled away, he became a little nervous, 'Tomorrow we will start, at last. Forget all the other shit, nothing else matters now.'

...

Later that night, Wintersleep Hotel

Knock Knock Knock

An annoyed voice came out of the room, "Who is it?"

Ariana gulped down her anxiety and said with confidence, "Ariana."

It was silent for some seconds until Ocilia answered, sounding confused, "Who?"

Ariana smiled sadly and answered more confidently, clenching her hands, "Ariana, one of Aurum's new workers."

After another moment of silence, Ocilia asked again, "So? What do you want?"

She sighed, not knowing what to say anymore, but stayed nonetheless at the door, "I just wanted to get to know you better, that's all."

"Why?"

Ariana became slightly irritated, 'Damn it! I saw that you are into girls. How can you be this dense?! A girl is standing in front of your door at night! What is there not to know?!'

Outwardly, she sounded all nice and friendly, as much as possible, but inwardly, she was about to scream at Ocilia about how dense she was. It was primarily the effect of the miasma irritating her, and the only way to not go hysterical was to use every skill she had that leveled up over the days she was here.

The progress was pretty fast, so she looked at her system window daily, always surprised to find some new mental fortitude skill progressing.

[https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kiruschka/kiruschka.github.io/main/Chapter_89-97/Chapter_89/Ariana_89.svg]

However, the miasma worked also like a charm for her. It encouraged her to visit Ocilia in the first place, as she would usually be too shy. Yet, the negatives were still there, so she needed every single level in her mental fortitude skills not to just come over as a raging bitch, "You will also be my colleague, so I thought I would at least talk with you."

After another moment of silence, Ocilia answered, sounding even more confused, "So?"

Ariana popped a vein, 'You can't be that dense?!' She controlled herself again, "May I come in?"

After hearing an audible sigh came a "Sure."

Ariana opened the door, initially feeling all joyful, but it quickly disappeared when she saw her room. Calling what was going on chaotic was an understatement. Clothes were somehow all around the room. She saw stacks of those new parchments, called paper, which she found great, were used as a saucer for either cups or dirty tableware with some leftover food, 'This... is really a turn-off and not what I expected for my first romance.'

When she got the letter from Aurum, she read a lot about the region and became highly delighted, envisioning and anticipating how great life could be here. She accepted the position Aurum offered her not only because of the wage or her ideals but also because of the relatively lax ways practiced in the region.

In central Mal-Gil, there was relative strictness when someone wanted to become a retainer to a noble or hold a higher position in a guild. Certain etiquette must be adhered to since it could represent her Master or Mistress in a bad light. Guilds were the same in central Mal-Gil since they needed to build up a reputation, so particular behavior was not welcome if one wanted to have a career.

One part of the rules she would've needed to follow was what kind of partner she could and couldn't have. Marrying certain beast-kin races, the same sex, or people with specific jobs, which were seen as the lowest of the low, was heavily frowned upon, which represented a big problem for her.

With such strict etiquette, she couldn't simultaneously have a fulfilling relationship and job. The same was true in school when she was mostly romantically alone, not because of her subrace like Aurum, but because she couldn't meet with other girls as it was seen as degrading to have a relationship with the same sex.

Regardless of what happened in central Mal-Gil, Moorgrel was entirely different as it was much more casual and merit-based. She didn't know the reason exactly but heard at some point that the ruling subraces, predominantly canine-kin, were much more socially open, caring more about loyalty and skill than standing and arbitrary etiquette.

So, a big reason to come here was that she could, at last, live out her life like she wanted while not fearing being stopped in her pursuit to climb standing-wise. She even decided over the previous days to bring her Father to this region so he could retire in peace. Her wage was ridiculously high, so she could easily care for him. Thus, she studied all the laws, tax codes, and culture like a maniac so Aurum would keep her as a worker.

Now, instead of sitting in her room and studying more convoluted tax codes, she had enough. It was because she could only think about her new freedom and wanted a fulfilling relationship after years of frustration and romantic loneliness.

However, Ariana targeting Ocilia wasn't only for the sake of just having a relationship. She also truly started to like her while observing her for the last few days. Ocilia was confident, had self-esteem, and an air of pride around her, which only the truly talented had. Her fighting abilities astounded her, and the cold-bloodedness somehow turned her on, besides her physical appearance, which she also loved.

Regardless of what she imagined, the moment she saw Ocilia sitting on the bed lotus-style reading some pamphlets, her first impression of her crumbled partly. The bed around her was full of crumbs and grease stains. She balanced an ink bottle beside her and looked messy but at least clean. She had the upper buttons of the pajama open, partly showing what Ariana found the most physically attractive about Ocilia, but it couldn't help. All the dirt and chaos around her made her want to run away.

However, Ariana tried to be more cordial, even though she didn't like the circumstances, smiling nervously at her, "You have it very... comfy here."

Ocilia raised an eyebrow, "Aha? Just come in and sit down wherever you want."

Ariana looked around, and all the chairs were either full of tableware, pouches, clothes, or something else entirely, "Yeah... why not... thanks."

She slowly walked toward a chair, took the clothes into her arms, and looked around where to put them. However, they suddenly lifted themselves up from her arms, surprising her, and were thrown to the floor beside her.

Ariana was surprised and flinched. Even more so after hearing Ocilia, "Calm down. Sit and let's do... what do you want to do again? Knowing each other better or something?"

She sat down, finding the chaos increasingly more uncomfortable. So she tried to only look at Ocilia, which was a much more appealing sight, "Yes, that's right. You are a guard of Mr. Alexander, am I right? I read that the child... sorry, I meant hatchlings of nobles have loyal guards at their side here in Moorgrel, so it is obviously you and Maurice, am I correct?"

Ocilia smirked at her and shook her head, "Nope. I am his disciple in magic and alchemy, but mostly academic subjects."

Ariana chuckled slightly, not taking her seriously, "Hehe, you are truly funny." After she said it, a thread suddenly appeared and began to glow, turning into bread that just hung before her. She was astounded, "...the food spell?!"

Ariana became immediately skeptical as it was highly rare for other subraces besides dragon-kin to do magic. She suspected it was some weird [Mystic Skill], and while she would love to play along, she hated to lie and would rather come over as obnoxious than not say what she honestly thought. So, she just smiled at her slightly provokingly, "This is a very nice [Mystic Skill]."

However, something unexpected happened. Instead of getting angry, Ocilia only smirked, and Ariana could feel how threads surrounded her, restricting her slightly, 'Oh no!' She felt panic and couldn't move anymore as fear overtook everything else. It began to glow, blinding her, so she closed her eyes.

Ariana sat like a statue, frightened that something would happen the moment she breathed wrongly. She suddenly heard a burst of laughter, "Haha! Calm down and move a bit. I just cleaned you since you had such greasy hair."

'What?!' Ariana opened her eyes and slowly started to move. She saw how black flakes were falling off her skin, making her panic, but only briefly. Underneath, she saw her skin, much more clean, almost perfect, without any impurities, 'She truly can do magic?!'

It was a spell mage apprentices learned and used to clean themselves. Almost everyone who could do magic knew this one. She stood up immediately, and the flakes fell from her head and body.

After a short moment, she cleaned herself of the flakes. She felt refreshed and looked stunned at Ocilia and burst out the first thing she thought about, "You are so young?! What are you doing here and not at a magic university?! As a spider-kin who can do magic, everyone would want you!"

Ocilia only chuckled and waved her hand in dismissal, "No need. My Master showed me how to do magic, and he is also the reason why I am as strong as I am now. No need for a useless school."

"Master?! Mr. Alexander? Wait, isn't he a wolf-kin... did Aurum tell the truth that he was an alchemist?!" She was baffled and couldn't believe anything anymore. It was too weird, 'A wolf-kin and spider-kin can actually do magic?! What the...'

At first, Aurum told her he was a mage and alchemist, which was vital for her to know since it was how they made the gold, but it was no secret. However, she always thought that he told a half-truth and that there was just a talented dragon-kin under Alexander who served him.

She came out of her thoughts when Ocilia spoke with a smugness she usually didn't like, but now it was different. She felt like she had become part of those who could look down on others, "I think I need to welcome you in becoming my Master's servant..." She gestured with her hand, "...sit down and let's talk, okay?"

Ariana nodded and sat down. She listened to Ocilia for the whole night, and only little was new as everything she said Aurum had already told her, but now she actually believed it fully. From the paper and mana ink to the magic they learned. She also suddenly understood why she signed such a harsh mana contract and frowned inwardly as she thought they were too lax.

After hours, they also started talking about more casual things, and Ariana became excited that she began to know her better. Yet, something frustrated her, 'Well, my dream of getting my clothes ripped off by her will probably not be fulfilled tonight.'

...

The following day, Quill's room

"Huaaaam!"

Quill turned to the side, wanting to cuddle with the girls he hooked up with last night, but there was nobody. After some more rolling around, he sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes while thinking about the one-night stand, 'Damn, I already like it here.'

The girls here were much more aggressive and knew what they wanted—exactly his type. He stood up and looked for his clothes but couldn't find anything. He panicked a little and looked everywhere till it suddenly dawned on him, "Fuck! Those bitches stole my shit!"

He sighed and slumped his shoulders, 'Too aggressive, man...'