“Hmm, what to do…” I muttered as my awareness wandered mindlessly around the empty casino now that it was twilight hours.

Following River had yielded two important pieces of information. The location of a Skisfink storehouse and the location of the delver's guild.

Unfortunately, I was at a loss as to what I should do with this information.

Granted, it had only been a few days but, Amanda had been good on her word. No one had tried to attack me and River banging their fists on the exchange chest hardly counted.

Trying to spy on the guild could be seen as an aggressive action and if Ulandi or one of the other delvers managed to catch one of my cats around the guild, and had some way to prove that it was one of mine, I might be putting my handshake agreement in jeopardy.

“Well the delver’s guild is a bust, but what about the storehouse?” I asked myself.

It was a reasonable assumption that Rex or this Skisfink person was responsible for the tip off and if I was being honest, that pissed me the hell off.

Poor Rex couldn’t fight me properly, so he decided to run and get someone who could.

Fucking coward.

Either way, I don’t think Skisfink would be happy once they figured out that the delver’s guild wasn’t trying to attack me and that I would still be in business for the foreseeable future.

This wasn’t just some drunk at a bar, this was an organization that could and would keep coming back until they found something that I wouldn’t be able to handle.

As much as I hated to admit it, I would probably need to strike first.

Posting a few [stray cats] to patrol the area seemed like a good first step. Depending on what was in the storehouse would let me know what next steps I could take without any collateral.

Word would probably get out soon that I wasn’t a wizard and setting fire to a storehouse, that for all I knew might be full of black powder, wouldn’t be good for my reputation.

After a while, my mind wandered to Mr. Serendipity.

He had shown up out of nowhere, told me how to avoid a shitty situation, refused to explain himself, and then fucked back off to who knows where.

In my experience, people rarely did anything like that for free and it was worrying me to say the least.

“Well it’s not like he can predict the future or anything,” I thought sarcastically as I was left to ruminate on the ten days I had left before I could talk to him again.

***

Jasper took a deep breath of the morning air and let out a contented sigh as he passed through the familiar streets of the warehouse and docks districts.

He drove his new wagon slowly over the uneven cobblestones as his new mules trundled along ahead of him.

It was a far cry from the caravan and the draft horses he owned before the dragon attack, but it was still a nostalgic feeling being back in the driver’s seat.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

***

Three days previously:

“Oh, if you could wait just a moment, Mr. House would like your council on a few matters that are concerning him,” Selina said.

“That's curious,” Duke replied neutrally, “what council could we provide Mr. House?”

“So you are aware of the two times Mr. House has been accosted,” Selina stated rather than asked, “we believe that the cadets managed to find this place because someone informed the local delver’s guild.”

“So it wasn’t just a coincidence?” asked Duke.

Selina shook her head, “no, we believe that it was intentional. However with the truce we formed with guildmaster Medowsong, we shouldn’t have to worry about people trying to delve Mr. House like a traditional dungeon.”

“Okay, so what’s the problem?” Jasper asked.

“Mr. House wants to make sure that people don’t have the same reaction that I did when I first figured it out,” Duke answered.

“More or less,” Selina agreed.

“Makes sense,” Jasper shrugged, “the solution’s easy though.”

“Oh, do tell,” Selina said.

“Back before the dragon attack, any time I wanted to trade with the town of Lockley I had to remember to send the caravan with an extra flank of cured meat. The town was guarded by a fey that watched over the town in exchange for a cut of meat every now and then. Unfortunately the fey had a hard time telling merchants and bandits apart,” Jasper explained.

“Mr. House isn’t looking to become anyone’s protector or guardian,” Selina pointed out.

“He doesn’t have to,” Jasper countered, “Mr. House has a ton of coin and practically no overhead unless I’m way off the mark. Start spending it. You’ll be surprised what people can come to accept when it benefits them.”

“ I see. Mr. House approves of this suggestion. Do you have an idea of who we can get in contact with?” Selina asked.

***

“Delivery for Mr. House!” called Jasper as he approached the front door.

I let him in, a bill of sale was presented, gold was exchanged and crates were assimilated.

“I know I suggested you should spend money, but why food?” Jasper asked as he pocketed the coins.

“Mr. House has taken notice that several of the patrons leave and then later come back. We suspect that the reason might be for dinner. Mr. House would like to remove this inconvenience from his patrons,” Selina explained.

“In other words you don't want to give them a reason to leave so they stay longer,” Jasper grinned.

“Well that's the long and short of it, yes,” Selina said with a smirk, “Mr. House wishes you a pleasant day.”

“Oh it's about to be,” Jasper grinned as he patted the coins in his pocket and left with a wave.

***

Cecil had been asked to do some fairly odd jobs in his time as a delver, most of which didn't involve much delving.

As someone who was neither covered head to toe in scars, nor a particularly violent person, he was something of an outlier among his peers.

In fact most people would consider Cecil to be attractive, but not exceptionally so, personable, but not overbearing, and even someone who could let loose at a party without being someone you had to worry about.

It was because of these things that he was often tasked with gathering information and the reason he found himself entering an unnamed curio and resale shop.

“Welcome to shop of Spreen!” exclaimed a goblin girl as she popped from behind a pile of junk.

“Oh hello there. I was just wandering around and stumbled into your quaint shop,” he said as he focused his gift towards Spreen and discovered a sharp and appraising mind despite the way she presented herself.

“Ah you have good eye, yes?” Spreen began as more of her thoughts and emotions were made obvious to Cecil.

“I wouldn’t say that, but I know what I like,” Cecil replied as he began to wander around the shop.

“AH look at this! Eyes good, yes!” Spreen exclaimed as she scampered over to Cecil with a crystal goblet he had lingered on for a second longer than any of the other items.

“Well isn’t that pretty. Mind if I take a closer look at it?” Cecil asked.

“Please, look!” Spreen said holding the goblet closer.

Cecil took the goblet and immediately images began flashing in his mind.

Elves. A hand. Black bag. Spreen.

“Oh were did you get this?” asked Cecil.

“How do you say, sale of estate-” Spreen began.

“No you didn’t,” Cecil interrupted.

There was a pause as Spreen’s usual goofy grin slowly slid off her face.

“This goblet was stolen from an elven family, who I’m sure would be very interested to know what happened to it,” Cecil pressed, “In fact if you could drop this charade and use your words properly, that would be better for both of us,”

“What do you want? If you’re with the Skisfinks, I already paid my dues,” Spreen hissed.

“Oh I’ve got no affiliation with the likes of them,” Cecil explained, “I just need something from you.”

“How much?” Spreen asked with a glare.

“Fortunately, it’s something cheap. I just need to know about this ‘wizard’ that set up shop here recently. Oh and don’t bother lying. You’ll just be wasting both of our time,” Cecil said as he held the goblet up to the light.