...

The Golden Goose Plaza, Wolfsteeth (Underworld)

Ocilia followed Quill and only now remembered why she was here after the talk about Ariana, 'Right. Retribution...'

After hearing the news that her Master could be one of those attacked, she wanted nothing more than to find the maniac who did it and shred him to pieces. Why? Her Master was the one variable in her life that gave her purpose. Anything less than seeking revenge for attacking him or his family was a point when she needed to act.

The last weeks even cemented her conviction and loyalty to a more severe level. If he had not been there, she would never have met Ariana, found her first romance, or even been able to survive her former friends. She also suddenly got much more respect from others through her status, strength, and skills. All was given to her without any expectations. Yet, she held herself to a higher standard, not wanting to take anything for granted and show that she was worthy of everything given to her.

This was why the moment she heard that her Master could've died, her world almost crumbled. A thought that was impossible to her. All his projects, ideals, and knowledge: Everything would be gone and, like that, a better world.

While spending some nights with Ariana, she told Ocilia that she also admired him for being like this, as every other noble would just take the gold and try to build up their power with it. On the other hand, they spend the gold on the impoverished to help them. Orphans wouldn't go to sleep hungry, widows would have another chance and first try to overcome their grief, and all the while educating all of them.

Only then did she understand that he was not only great in her mind but actually something that needed to be protected, and her thoughts from the last weeks, when she cried into her sleep, trying to envision an imaginary greater good, became slowly a reality.

It was like a call to her to keep going, bringing the knowledge he needed to enhance the world further, and with it, she felt proud. Like a knight, she was furthering her Master's goals step by step.

Now, though, someone attacked them, and she was outraged, barely thinking straight, and wanted nothing more than to take revenge. Fortunately, Quill, who she thought was an egoistic asshole, actually helped her. He became instantly much more sympathetic to her.

He even showed her around, which she was first skeptical about and didn't trust him, but after more thought, if he wanted to kill her, he would've already done so. He could've knocked her out and sold her if he wanted to since what she witnessed when he suddenly flashed to her, holding his blade at her throat, was far above her combat abilities. [Flash] in itself was a skill only performed by much more experienced warriors, and the energy she felt was something far beyond what she could produce.

So having him with her was reassuring, especially after he stopped pestering her after the first couple of days after she got together with Ariana, which she only now noticed, 'I am an airhead, huh?'

"Hey, don't daydream."

She was brought back from her thoughts when she heard him, "Huh?"

Quill turned slightly, looking at her in disappointment, "Listen, don't act like a moron and follow me. Don't say anything."

Ocilia nodded and followed him through a narrow tunnel. After a minute, they arrived at the end of the grayish-pink tunnel, and what she saw astounded her. There was a door, finely made with adornments, and before it stood two guards, heavily armed.

Quill stopped before them and showed two small gold coins, smiling charismatically, "Should be enough, right, my dear guards?"

They stayed stoic, and the one on the right shook his head.

Quill frowned and was about to say something, but she came forward, pulling out two large gold coins and giving them to the guards while saying, "Wolfsteeth is a bit more expensive than High-Town, I guess?"

However, instead of the expected tease, he sounded worried, "I don't like it at all. It shouldn't cost so much."

She didn't understand him, thinking he was a little stingy. The guards opened the door, and she walked through with Quill, 'This...'

What she saw amazed her. The whole ground was plastered with expensive white stone akin to the most expensive sections in central Wolfsteeth. There were buildings beautifully made, trees, and exotic flower patches. Furthermore, Restaurants, Cafés, and two enormous buildings, presumably the auction house and what looked like a copy of their hotel, only smaller, without the restaurant and bar, were built around the open plaza. Guards were stationed everywhere and gave an aura of no-nonsense from them. The people here were not much different from those from the wealthy districts, but with masks on of various animals and accompanied by multiple guards, 'This is unreal.'

She couldn't imagine that there was actually a copy of where they resided, only smaller, 'Where was I then if such a thing existed?!'

She remembered all the problems she had finding even two to three merchants for her Master's goods. She roamed through the horrendous parts of the underworld, where she was continuously attacked by elements worse than vermin and probably tricked out of her gold. She felt immensely frustrated for not immediately going to Quill and asking him to show her around.

From the side came a mocking voice, "Close your mouth. Otherwise, flies will fly in, hehe." He walked forward.

She came out of her thoughts and followed him, "Is this really the underworld?!"

"Yeah, now calm down, or else everyone will think we are weirdos, also..." He grabbed into his pouch and pulled out two masks, both a simplified version of a bunny, giving one of them to her, "...put this on, and if someone asks you something weird, just don't answer."

Ocilia pulled the hoody down and put the mask on. While tying up the mask string behind her head, she asked, "What weird questions?"

"The animal masks usually have a meaning. Bunnies are guests with no services to offer, foxes are merchants, and bears are mercenaries. However, bunny also means something else at other establishments."

She tilted her head, "What?"

"For red-light districts, it means that you are free to have and ready for some fun stuff, hehe. Some morons always think it is the same here, so just ignore them, alright?"

She frowned but nodded nonetheless, not liking the situation, 'Sorry, Ariana, but I need to find the asshole who dared to attack my household.'

"Want to grab something to eat? The auction only starts in two hours, and I need to talk to some people about the Fio guy."

Hearing that, she nodded immediately, "Yes... do so, please."

...

Steven's Seafood Specials Restaurant

"So?"

Quill returned to their table and shrugged, saying, "No idea. There is nobody who knows anything about the guy."

She saw how he talked to some waitress for ten minutes, occasionally flirting, only for her to shake her head. While observing him, she also tried to listen to other conversations, but they mostly gossiped about the psycho roaming around. So the moment he came and said that there was no information, she was about to stand up without finishing her food and leave.

However, Quill gestured to sit down again, "Calm down. It was only one new friend who didn't know anything. Later, I will have someone who maybe knows something at the auction house."

Ocilia relaxed again but felt tense. She would rather be more proactive, but, in this case, she trusted Quill's judgment more as he was obviously better acquainted with the underworld, 'The sitting still irks me nonetheless.'

'I need to calm down.' In one sense, Quill was right that a systematic approach was much better than going from place to place and threatening everyone for information. She looked around, seeing the pleasant ambiance, and sighed, returning back to her food, 'Let's eat first.'

While cutting her fish, she suddenly heard something interesting, "Did you hear? Someone booked the Shining Moon floor at the Sundown Hotel."

"So? Isn't there always some noble wanting more privacy?"

"Sure, but there are currently only Earls in Wolfsteeth. Nobody else, weird, isn't it?"

"Couldn't it be just some rich guy?"

"Not really. The Shining Moon floor is exclusively for nobles, right?"

"I guess, but if someone came with enough gold, wouldn't it be enough for an exception?"

'It could be...' She suddenly stood up, but before she could lose herself again, she heard Quill's stern voice, "Can you fucking calm down..." She looked at him, and he was visibly annoyed, "...listen here, there are tons of other nobles who want to do crazy stuff with whole floors and stay anonymous, so simply relax for now, okay?"

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

She nodded but nonetheless replied surely, "Even if it is unlikely, I need to see if it is him."

Ocilia knew what she wanted was ridiculous but needed to look at least who it was. It would hunt her till death if they didn't catch the perpetrator, and she didn't look through every nook and cranny, 'I will go even if Quill doesn't want to.'

What surprised her, though, he sighed, standing up, "Let's go..." However, as he pushed the chair back, he visibly remembered something, gesturing her to give him something, "...I need gold, at least ten large gold coins..." He then sheepishly scratched his cheek, "...also, please pay for the food. I am kind of broke. Girls are sometimes expensive, hehe."

Ocilia was first baffled but then laughed, breaking her tension, "Haha! I know what you mean. Ariana is too expensive."

...

30 minutes later

"So, how do you want to go inside?"

Quill shrugged, "How else? Just follow me."

She followed him as he walked into the hotel, which looked like an exact copy of theirs, even from the inside, directly to the receptionist. He leaned at the counter, smiling charmingly at her, "Hello, sugar..." His words were less subtle, "...I need to know something, y'know?" While saying this, he took out a large gold coin, putting it on the counter while holding it down with his middle finger.

The receptionist, who was some kind of djinn, raised an eyebrow at first, but after seeing the gold coin, she began to smile, "Of course, Mr, what do you want to know?"

Quill's smile became more honest, "You see, my friend here..." He pointed with a thumb at Ocilia, "...was bought by the guy who rented the whole floor, the good-looking fox-kin, so I want to bring her up and make sure she is delivered..." He leaned a little forward, almost whispering at her, "...however, he wanted to make sure it would be as secretive as possible..." He pushed the gold coin forward, "...can you arrange it, sweety?"

The djinn looked to the left and right, seeing nobody. She also started to analyze Ocilia, who felt immediately naked, 'I... don't like where this is going.'

After some seconds, the djinn nodded towards Quill, "Fine with me, just needed to check her..." She put her hand over Quill's, slowly pushing the coin toward her while he pulled his hand away, smiling, "...please follow me, Mr."

Quill nodded toward Ocilia, who was confused but followed nonetheless, although overly suspicious of his actions. After the djinn showed them the back entrance and how they would get up through the servant's stairwell, they were left alone as it was apparently the most discreet way to the floor.

While they were walking up the stairs, she whispered toward him, slight killing intent leaking out, "You knew that he was here?"

Quill frowned, "No, and I obviously bluffed, thinking she would just take the coin and say there is no fox-kin."

Ocilia retracted her killing intent fully and was only confused since he didn't attack or become angry or flustered, only frustrated for some reason. She asked, "How did you know then that he was beautiful?"

He sighed, "First, most fox-kin are at least somewhat beautiful, and next, beauty is relative. You are probably into flat chests, seeing how you are together with Ara, while I like 'em bigger. It's in the eye of the beholder."

Ocilia blushed slightly, "It's not like I like them little. It's just..."

Quill interrupted her, sounding annoyed, "Yeah, yeah. You love her personality 'n shit."

"Love?! It's too..."

Quill suddenly pulled his dagger out, "Shut up and concentrate. We arrived..." He looked fully concentrated, like a hunter looking for prey, "...if it is truly him, we can't catch him. We need to assassinate him."

She frowned, reprimanding herself, as she was pretty absent. The last weeks were hard on her with all the killing. Even though she slowly came to terms with it, a distraction like Ariana was like the Core, keeping her mind away from all the bloodshed.

Ocilia was usually alone with her own thoughts, and now, with Quill, who she found more sympathetic, it was like she found someone else she could distract herself with, 'I need to concentrate...'

She was again fully concentrated but confused as to why they would need to kill him, "Fine, but why not catch him if it is him?"

Quill walked slowly forward, trying to listen through the servant's entrance, whispering, "Sweety, this guy attacked the Leonandra household, could flee, and is alive. I bet even if he is not dangerous, the ones around him are. Now concentrate and kill everyone you see; it doesn't matter who. I would rather have the lives of some innocent servants on my mind than get brewed into a potion."

Ocilia frowned, "Isn't it unhonorable?"

He chuckled, "Hehe, who the fuck actually cares? Do you think a battlefield is much more honorable than what we are doing right now? It's kill or be killed, and I would rather be the former than the latter."

"You don't understand. It is about the pride of being..." Before she could end the sentence, he took her head and pushed it down, screaming, "Down!"

Bang!

Her head crashed toward the floor, bashing the ground, but as she peeked upwards slightly while being pressed, she saw how a spear pierced the wall where she stood before, still flying and drilling into the wall on the other side of the stairwell.

"Fuck, I guess, whoever it is, they don't want us here!"

An eery voice come from the pierced hole, "Kekeke, good point..." A red light bursted out of the hole toward the spear. The light collected itself on the spear, which stuck in the wall, forming a being, "...how strange..." The being scratched his head, "...can't remember seeing you, well ho..."

Before he could end the sentence, a sudden killing intent almost penetrated her mind, making her absence for a moment. She saw how Quill was behind the individual. His dagger cladded with energy, perfectly surrounding like another alloy. His usually pink eyes were glowing, and she saw him fully serious for the first time.

Yet, as he swung toward the neck, he missed. The weird being with reddish skin and yellow scales ducked down, avoiding the critical hit, "Oho, not bad!"

Ocilia came out of her stupor and immediately started using her threads. They conjured around the being but were immediately snuffed out by an enormous amount of energy he emitted. He looked at her with a smirk, but only briefly because Quill kept attacking it.

After the missed slash, Quill pulled a throwing knife out of his sleeve, using it as a second dagger, attacking him immediately with it. The being turned around, grabbing the blade and snuffing out the energy. His hand bled profusely, but he only viciously smiled while staring at Quill, "How cute."

After saying it, he tried to grab Quill, who, as a counterattack, stepped on the being's chest to kick himself away. He turned mid-air with a summersault and landed with his feet on the wall. The being and his spear turned into reddish energy, immediately flying towards Quill.

Ocilia tried again to use her threads, but as before, the conjure points were extinguished almost immediately by the violent and destructive energy of the individual, even though she put much more energy into them, 'This can't be.'

Panic slowly seeped into her, only interrupted by the unknown person appearing in front of Quill, menacingly smiling. He punched at him with an immensely destructive force. Yet, Quill bent his body in weird ways to avoid it while the energy on his feet was used to glue himself to the wall as a foothold. While avoiding it, he rotated elegantly once and landed a kick at the being's head, making it fall.

He immediately jumped down at him while screaming, "Go! The fucker is most probably there!"

As Quill vanished from her view, flying down, she was only confused for a moment, but after coming out of it, she immediately went to the door. While doing so, she heard how the fight went haywire down there and people screaming, 'I really hope it is him!'

Ocilia immediately opened the door to the floor where the spear came from and was surprised that besides the outline, even the decoration was exactly the same as at their hotel. This was perfect since she could easily find the main suite.

She quickly strained her [Mana Sense] out as she was cautious of more enemies, already making plans for the worst. She was anxious for more individuals like the one Quill was fighting, who could easily crush her. However, she calmed herself down and became excited from just the thought of getting the one who attacked their estate, 'Please be here.'

As her [Mana Sense] flooded the room, she noticed some weird fluctuations in one of the shadows further away. Without much thought, she conjured her threads inside the shadow, or rather where the mana was, trying to constrict the mass of mana.

Ocilia caught something and was confused but wouldn't risk anything at this point, so she treated it as an enemy, constricting it with full force. After some seconds, the mana mass dimmed and popped out of the shadow, cutting her threads away. She looked carefully at a corpse with a cut-off head, 'What the...?'

The system rang her consistently, but she ignored it for now as the weird race she saw before her wasn't something she knew, but the darker bluish skin, pointy ears, and three pupilled eyes pointed towards only one conclusion, 'A night-elf?'

She remembered that her Father told her how diverse the underworld was. Till now, though, she had only seen beast-kin her whole life and maybe some djinns and nature-dwellers, but that was it. She shook herself awake, thinking it didn't matter who it was, and moved forward very carefully, step by step, while trying to spread her [Mana Sense] into every corner, 'It needs to be him.'

It would be the first time she would do something great if she could catch Fiorello, who attacked their household. It would be merit-worthy but also a first step to repaying her debt, which couldn't even be paid back with her life. It suddenly became what she had truly wanted to do since she could remember: honor and pride. With this, she could indeed be someone who would be able to show loyalty and protect the only people who actually gave a fuck about her besides her family.

After some time, she took a right turn and saw an enormous door with two masses of mana inside the shadows, which were thrown by the statues on the side, 'Night-elves hiding in shadows... this is a new one for me.'

Without much thought, she used her threads again inside the shadows. This time, it was harder to pinpoint the position as they moved a little more erratically, but it was still doable. After some moments, her threads constricted around them, and she killed another two, popping out in pieces.

Afterward, she took out a mana and stamina potion, gulping them down. After the short stomachache from drinking them simultaneously, she took a deep breath, relaxing herself. She started moving forward again, her threads around her while having almost a spell readied in case someone tried to ambush her.

After opening the big double door, she saw a fox-kin sitting on the couch, sipping wine while reading some literature. He looked pale and thin. She immediately noticed that he was weak, as even holding the book was too much for him, seeing how his arm shook slightly from overextension.

However, she didn't take it for granted that he was weak and became wary. She moved forward while spreading her [Mana Sense] into every corner. After taking some steps, she stopped when he turned to her, smiling, "Oh my, and who are you?"

'How do you figure out if it is him, actually?' Killing him and presenting the head from someone different would greatly embarrass her, so she would need first to find out.

Yet, Ocilia suddenly felt much more amiable toward him and found him rather friendly. However, she also noticed that he used a skill. It was weak in potency but felt hardly like that as it manipulated her sophistically even though she trained her mind daily, "I am Ocilia."

"I see. May I ask what you want?" His smile and use of skills never stopped. However, she felt it and could fight against it mentally. At most, it became annoying.

She answered stoically, trying to suppress a smile, "I came to collect the head of someone called Fiorello."

He tapped his chin with his index finger, "I don't know who it is, though?"

Ocilia smiled at him menacingly, and her threads slowly manifested around him, "I guess Master was right. The most guilty ones will try to act as normal as possible without considering their circumstances. You not freaking out and throwing a tantrum is actually quite the moronic move, you know? I know you are Fiorello, so just come with me."

What she said was a lie. Her Master told her that but also mentioned that everyone was very different in all kinds of situations, as there were no absolutes. However, after observing Quill, she wanted to try out what Quill did with the receptionist, bluffing her way to the truth, and it seemed to work.

Fiorello shrugged, chuckling, "Hehe, you got me, but do you want some strawberry cake before we go?"