Yuri puffed her cheeks while walking out the hideout holding only a small piece of paper.

“All those documents and no information other than this..”

Sighing, she looked around for a certain short man at the inn.

“Ah there you are!”

Finding her target who met her gaze and finished his gaze with a sigh, she called out.

“What can I help you with today, girl?”

Galin asked with a bored expression.

“I’m here about cashing in that request you ow me!”

Smiling, Yuri took out a small piece of paper from her pocket.

“Alright..but I’m going to need an advance payment, as this months rent is today and I’m all out of coin.”

He looked down sadly into his now empty mug.

“That’s fine, I need you to find these people for me, you can do it right?”

Handing over the paper to Galin who glanced over it. Galins face froze with shock.

“Sorry, girl. I think I’m going to decline this job..”

He handed back the paper.

“What, why?” She frowned.

“Aren’t you in dire need of money. It’s just finding some people, can’t be that hard, right?”

“Girl, you seem to not know..but..the people you are looking for are a dangerous bunch that specialise in smuggling weapon and incredibly illegal magical weapons. They’re suspected to be the ones supplying the rebels with all their equipment. No one knows much other than the rumours, i’m sure they want to keep it that way. I won’t go digging my own grave, no matter how desperate for coin I am..”

His expression serious, and his arms folded, Galins tone was resolved in his cowardice.

“I see..so they were that dangerous..”

“And why would a young girl like you want to find this scary gang anyway?”

“Don’t call me girl..and the reason I want to know more about them is because of the fact they provide the rebels with all their things..” She muttered while thinking.

“That’s just a rumour you know. You can’t take those too seriously..”

Galin said with a small frown.

“Oh it’s no rumour…the paper I gave you? It came directly from the captain of the rebels..”

The paper was waved around like a small flag.

“….Is that so…” Galin slowly let each word out. “I’m not going to ask you how you got that, but I want nothing to do with that group..”

He began to stand up.

“Wait wait!” She forced the short man to sit down.

“How about..i offer you a new job as a high ranking soldier, or even officer in the army?”

“A new job..? and a high ranking one at that..?” He grumbled “You can get something like that for me?”

“Yes, although i don’t know if you would get to keep the job after they are done, but surely the fame and honour from accomplishing that would be plenty, not to mention it looks good on a resume!”

She hoped to sweeten the deal.

“True..wait accomplish what exactly?”

“Recapturing the bank from the rebels of course!”

Yuri announced with a smile that made Galins frown turn wider and change to surprise.

“That..would be a big achievement aye..and you can guarantee i get some of that fame?”

“Of course, if you can find the people i’m looking for of course!”

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

She slid the paper over the table. There were many notes and scribbles on the paper, about money management and weapons distributions amongst other things. Two words stood out the most and were written with a seemingly more generous amount of ink.

The words read “Golden claw”.

—

The next day, while Yuri was busy lazing around at the inn, a red faced Galin ran up while out of breath.

“So…got any clues?”

She asked after waiting for the dwarfish man to catch his breath.

“Better, I found out where to find one of the members!”

Galin smiled proudly while pushing out his chest triumphantly.

“Impressive, how did you manage that in a day? I thought they were supposed to be all mysterious and secretive.”

She was suspicious of the dwarf being able to accomplish anything this quickly without being persuaded by ale.

“Well they are, but only because the people who talk about them too much suddenly disappear. Other than that they operate as a fairly normal illegal underground group.”

“And you would know those things, like what is considered normal for smuggling business?”

Yuri asked suspiciously.

“Aye, well not me personally. But I have all manner of drinking buddies, and you wouldn’t believe the stuff they would tell you after a few beers!”

Galin laughed while holding his stomach.

“I see..so basically..instead of doing the job I gave you. You went out to drink..”

She gave him a pitying look.

“Don’t be rude, girl! That’s just how I operate, I got the information didn’t I!”

Galin argued while swaying slightly, the effects of last nights alcohol lingering on him.

“Well that’s fine I guess..so tell me what you heard..”

–

Yuri sat in a small bar that seemed to scream ‘Shady activities are being handled here!’. As everyone seemed to either be twitchy and nervous or overconfident and plastered with valuables.

A few hours of quietly sipping on the same beer later, which the barkeep didn’t seem to mind as most people seemed to do that, she began getting bored and wondered if Galins information was just a drunken hallucination.

Right as she was about to leave, the man she was looking for entered the bar.

He was just as Galin had described, wearing brightly coloured clothes, a few golden teeth and a creepy smile that made him look like he had just won the lottery. He moved like a penguin due to his large round body and seemed to have an uncanny resemblance to another fat jolly golden toothed man. This one however didn’t have the characteristic greasy beard and looked a fair bit younger.

She shook off her surprise at the resemblance and approached the man, signalling that she wanted to have a word.

“Ah yes, if you would like to discuss business let us go to a more private room, barkeep?”

The man turned to the barkeep, who nodded towards a door at the back.

“So what would you like to purchase, miss?”

The main asked directly after they sat down in the small room that seemed to contain nothing more than a poker table with a few chairs.

“Information.” Yuri stated simply.

“Ah yes, we don’t many people asking for that nowadays. The price may vary depending on the type of information, but I’m sure you could guess that.”

He smiled at her.

“Yes figured, anyway I want information on the rebels, more specifically information on the rebels inside the bank.”

Yuri upheld her poker face.

“I’m afraid we don’t have any information regarding that. But if it’s anything else, we can surely-”

The man was interrupted mid sentence by Yuri.

“Cut the crap, how much will it cost, I know you have been dealing with the rebels, the cost isn’t an issue.”

She frowned.

“I see. I’m sorry but we have a strict policy against selling information about our customers.”

“I don’t have time for this..are you going to sell me the information or am I going to have to threaten you?”

She was becoming slightly irritated, mostly due to the fact that this man reminded her of Delem and made her think of Hikaru.

“Miss I don’t believe that you can threaten me without threatening the entirety of the golden claw. I am sure you have heard about our achievements. Such as the great spiriting away of the treasures in Urnan. I doubt there is anything you can do that will be enough to threaten me miss..”

The man sighed with a sarcastic smile, which went completely ignored by Yuri.

“Did you just say that the golden claw was responsible for the robbery In Urnan…?”

Yuri asked again just to be sure.

“I see you finally understand our greatness..”

The man smiled wider, his few golden teeth shining brightly against the light of the lamp.

“Your group..the golden claw..wouldn’t happen to have someone called Delem in it would it..?” She squinted.

“How do you know the name of our leader!?”

“…So that’s how it was..he took all the credit for that..”

A small vein pulsated on Yuri’s forehead.

“I will show you when I see you again.. a world of pain..”

Muttering to herself, she noticed the younger looking version of Delem trying to catch her attention.

“Yes, that reminds me, how were you able to find out about what had happened In Urnan. I thought the city had a complete ban on teleporting letters?”

A feminine eyebrow was raised at the man that looked like Delem.

“Ah well, the best merchants always have their own teleportation circles for private letters, but you didn’t answer my question?”

“Well if you have your own teleport circle. Send a letter to Delem and tell him that Yuri is here and that I am very irritated, he should understand..if he knows what’s good for him..”

The man shivered upon witnessing Yuri’s bloodthirsty smile.

“S-sure. Come back here tomorrow..I’m sure I will have a reply by then..”

The man began to shuffle away as fast as his round body would let him.

“Excellent..”

A wide smile adorned Yuri’s face, the lamp casting eery shadows on her, making her seem more ominous. This made another spread of rumours about an evil spirits in the form of a little girl to spread around the city.