Inevitably implies a lack of options, but it is most likely the result of bad decisions.

~Arawn, God of the Dead

Otto punched a guard, and he plowed through the wall of a nearby shop. It was a holdout, one of the few merchants that hadn’t employed Nin’s services. It wasn’t an accident that at least a dozen men were sent crashing through its walls, doors, and windows. Even now, he could hear things crashing inside and the groaning of a building that could collapse at any moment.

All around him were broken warriors—men and women who caused Nin’s clients trouble. It was like a symphony of pain, and the entire plaza was now silent. One man was left standing among the dozens, and his once pretty face looked ghastly.

“I am Lach, assistant to Councilman Tupper…” the man kept spouting random nonsense that Otto barely understood. Rather than listen, Otto shoved his large thumb into his mouth. It was unexpected, and nearby observers were secretly laughing.

“Baby babble. Suck. It better now.” Otto told him in a soothing voice, and this time the laughter was unconstrained. Lach backed up and spat on the ground, trying to clear his mouth of blood and whatever else was on Otto’s thumb.

An enormous hand grabbed his head and turned it toward a merchant. It was to the point Lach couldn’t even move and had no control over his body. The gigantic paw released his head and pointed at the merchant and all the nearby merchants that stood nearby.

“They pay. Otto protect. Scram or…” Otto pointed at the broken guards that Lach brought with him.

“Sir, he’s a simpleton. We voluntarily pay Emerald Dragon protection fees to ensure our properties remain safe. These people deserve their punishment because they broke our stores and merchandise. They already said they were your men, so expect us to submit to Councilman Tupper for compensation.”

“You can’t avoid paying the Guard Tax! These people are part of the city guard, and the tax is to pay them to protect the town. Now you’ll need to pay to have—”

“Protect? Weak. No protect. Toy guards. No pay. Otto protect. Trash.”

Otto was very expressive, and while his words were simple, their meaning wasn’t. The merchants were used to his way of speaking, but all of them had long realized that this giant was definitely not a simpleton. However, none of them dared ask why he couldn’t talk properly.

“You thug! Those are my people. You will pay.”

“No. Make toy.” Otto’s big finger slammed against Lach’s chest, causing him to stumble back. It damn near broke the smaller man’s ribs. “Run.”

Lach didn’t hesitate and sprinted away like the devil was groping his ass. After that one little jab of Otto’s finger, he feared becoming the giant’s toy. His fear was so poignant he forgot why he was there in the first place in his haste to flee.

“Wait! Otto want play.” Otto shouted after him, and Lach stumbled and nearly pissed himself. He didn’t hear Otto chuckling and thought the man was chasing him, so he ran down alleys and side streets trying to lose the ghost that wasn’t chasing him. Looking at the guards lying on the ground moaning, he grinned. “All scram. Or Otto play again.”

The previously hurt guards went silent and then scrambled to their feet. Grabbing their injured comrades, they fled too. They were gone so fast that if it weren’t for the merchant’s shop that Otto trashed, no one would have suspected such a big fight occurred. The holdout merchant scrambled out of his shop after it started collapsing.

“Otto know,” he said and stared at the greedy man.

“Shut up, idiot. You know nothing, and you destroyed my shop!”

“Lach cousin.”

At Otto’s words, the other nearby merchants all turned and stared at the pitiful man who’d just gone pale from fright. It was only now that he really felt regret because there was only one thing he could do. Run. He high-tailed it out of there with more than a few of the other merchants chasing him down.

“Sir Otto, that wasn’t good, right?” A merchant under Otto’s protection asked nervously. It was one thing to beat the guards because they had caused harm to the merchants, and it was justified. But the man knew how strong Otto was, and the force behind that jab likely caused the man bodily harm. Attacking a city official in any capacity wasn’t something anyone could do.

Otto shrugged and went back to Emerald Dragon Café with the merchant in tow. The new signboard also had Emerald Dragon Protection Services listed as a service. It wasn’t Nin’s idea to do that, but Mara’s. The moment they walked into the building, Nin appeared.

Otto pointed at the amiable man. “Tell.”

The merchant explained the situation, and Nin frowned. “There is no such tax, so I think someone is setting us up. Are you sure that man is a city official?”

“I’m sure,” the merchant said, and after a few more words, the man left.

Nin rubbed her forehead in exasperation. It wasn’t Otto’s fault, so she said nothing to him. The big guy found his thick metal stool and sat down near the door while Nin contemplated what to do. The real headache was the increasing number of bodies found in the loch, which was the westernmost border of Rosdoe. Its waters were easily seen from the upper floors of her café. Even some of her own people were found floating, and she never liked people touching her stuff.

Otto knew in his mind that it had something to do with the syndicates, which is why he put little thought into his actions. It was a dead-end situation either way. Either he quietly let them destroy the businesses they were paid to protect, or he protected the merchants and their wares which pit him against the city’s officials. Otto wasn’t the type of person who went back on his word. A choice that wasn’t really a choice.

“I just don’t know what the syndicates are aiming for us. Without a doubt, this Councilman Tupper is in a syndicate, but why target us? Our intelligence says they are after Rosdoe, so it makes no sense to stir trouble with a small outfit like ours. We make a decent amount of money, but not enough to threaten anyone.”

“Not money.” Otto had a similar thought but stared at Nin for a long time before thinking about Mara. He didn’t voice his thoughts out, but he was pretty sure they were targeting his brother’s wives. They wanted the beautiful women, and the trap was for Otto. It was an attempt to remove him from their side.

“Huh?” Nin looked over at Otto, who was staring at her.

“Women. Otto protect.”

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“Oh,” Nin’s soft voice stated out of reflex more than acknowledgment. “Ohhhh… Damn, which pig is lusting after Mara and me?”

There was quite a racket happening outside her café, and both of them looked out through the window and saw quite a few city officials. She recognized a few of them. These people weren’t the type that gathered on a whim. Nin wasn’t concerned because she felt that escaping with Otto and Mara shouldn’t be that hard. But this was really a strange set up because Commander Drock rarely involved himself in politics. His command was to face external threats, so his soldiers manned the walls and fought to keep things out. A lot of people praised him for avoiding internal affairs.

“That was quick,” Nin said, looking toward the door. “Otto, go out the back and find Mara. Bring her here directly. We stay together until Crow arrives.”

“Yes, sister. Otto go.” The big guy shrunk using his strange ability and became the size of an ordinary human male before exiting out the back. Nin gave a few orders to her people and waited while sipping some tea.

Nin refrained from rolling her eyes as several officials pushed their way into her café. One guard was about to kick her door, and she frowned.

“Kick my door, and you’ll pay for it!” She growled. “The door is clearly open. Are you trying to look like a damned fool, or do you lack the intelligence to realize you’ve always been the town idiot?”

The guard flushed and backed away.

Not bothering to greet any of the dozen people that walked in, her eyes went right to Commander Drock. He was likely the only one without an agenda out of all the fools standing in front of her. In fact, he might not have been invited to this little party to begin with.

“Commander, since when did you instate a Guard Tax?” Nin asked before those clowns could gain any footing.

“Excuse me?” Commander Drock asked. The man was not unlike Otto, just not nearly as tall. He had short brown and gray hair, thick arms and chest, clean-shaven, and scars marred the left side of his face and neck. In his uniform, he could be considered dashing.

“You haven’t heard of the Guard Tax? Based on assistant Lach’s words, it is a tax placed on businesses within Rosdoe. The funding is supposed to go to the city guard and assist in protecting the goods, property, and merchants—whether they require it or not. He led guards to destroy shops, merchandise, and harm people I am contracted to protect.”

“Who is this Assistant Lach?” Inspector Sands asked. Compared to Drock, this man was soft and lived an indolent life. Nin didn’t look down on him because the man was charming and, despite his gentle appearance, knew everything that happened in Rosdoe. That was a secret very few knew. Nin only knew the man because he had come to her café a few times.

Nin pointed at a chubby man standing near Inspector Sands. “Ask Councilman Tupper. It’s his man.”

“Nonsense. Besides, we aren’t here—”

“Shut up,” Nin growled. “You dare send someone to extort those under my protection!? Let me ask you, Tupper, which syndicate do you work for?”

Councilman Tupper’s apoplectic face went crimson. In all his years as a Councilman, no one had ever told him to shut up. His double chin quivered, and his beady eyes narrowed. Nin prayed the man’s heart would explode. The dialogue in Tupper’s head didn’t play out this way. In his mind, all women were timid creatures and bowed under the pressure of a powerful man. Her decisive nature put him at a disadvantage, so he scrambled to come up with a counterattack. Those watching were faintly amused but weren’t about to show it.

“Y-y-you dare slander me? I’ll have you beaten to death!”

“Aren’t you the one in charge of West Rosdoe’s internal affairs, including the appropriation of the guards? Isn’t this West Rosdoe? Are you just incompetent or stupid? Furthermore, this incident just happened, and you already show up with all these people that rarely appear together. How is it that you are here before the rumors? Confess. I’m pretty sure Inspector Sands is very interested in learning about this type of corruption.”

Tupper’s rage deflated as he looked nervously at the Inspector. Few on the council knew that this man was in charge of the city’s intelligence network and was explicitly responsible for sussing out corrupted government officials. It was literally his main job.

Commander Drock’s eyes narrowed in thought as he watched the show play out.

“Stop trying to distract from the fact that your man harmed a city official.”

“Are you talking about Assistant Lach?” A woman’s rich voice called out from behind all of them. Nin smiled and was relieved that Mara was standing there, unharmed. She worried that whoever planned all this wanted to abduct Mara during the distraction. “The same man who is over at the Otter Tail, carousing with his buddies and talking about how he framed some third-rate protection agency’s dumb giant? Sorry, Otto,” Mara said and pat the big guy on the arm. “Is that the official Otto supposedly harmed? As I see it, he is definitely injured… in the head!”

Mara snorted and pushed her way through the crowd to stand by Nin.

Commander Drock sighed but smiled at the broad-shouldered woman’s comments. He had to admire her build because she looked more formidable than most of his guards. Even the smallish woman that ran this place didn’t look like a pushover, and he felt more danger from her. Regardless, these city officials became worse every year and wondered if it was time to ascend again. His children were grown, and his youngest had just gained his Shield. There wasn’t much keeping him on this floor anymore.

Tupper didn’t even conduct himself like a gentleman, much less someone that should be on the council.

Mara held out her hand to Nin, who placed a vestige in her hand. She tossed it to Commander Drock. The old veteran caught it and raised an eyebrow toward her.

“Our intelligence. I’m sure you’ll find some of that material interesting. We can’t prove all of our conjectures, but you have the people to figure it out.”

Drock placed it to his forehead and scanned the contents. The more he viewed, the deeper his frown became. At one point, everyone clearly saw the veins in his massive arms bulge. Finally, he pulled it away and handed it to Inspector Sands.

“Little girl, do the three of you promise not to leave town?”

“We do,” Mara claimed.

“Is this more?”

“It is enough for now. Call it the opening salvo for negotiations.”

“Negotiations?” Drock snorted, and while his cold, impassive face didn’t change, Mara could see the amusement in his eyes.

“Of course. I am a cultivator and need benefits. Otherwise, my climb will be long and arduous.”

Inspector Sands laughed at the audacity but couldn’t help liking the three before him. They were his kind of people. Low key, unassuming, and trying to avoid trouble as much as possible.

“And what do you want from us?” Sands asked instead of Drock.

“A proper investigation,” Mara said. She knew more about the city’s laws than the other two. Also, many students at the academy really liked to gossip, so she was privy to all kinds of information. “Sirs, rumors are going around that a powerful syndicate is attempting to overthrow the council and claim Rosdoe. We were targeted by Councilman Tupper, and as you can see in the information we provided, we expected it. We didn’t know who or when, but now that he appeared, you should start your investigation with him.”

“Hmph. You might as well ask for the stars, you foolish little girl,” Tupper shouted, unable to keep his temper any longer.

“Take him. Collect Assistant Lach as well,” Commander Drock ordered. “Torture them if needed. I want everything. Sands, you know what to do.”

“I do, and this information is good. What do you think?” Inspector Sands asked.

“Compelling.” Drock was terse like that. Conveyed what he needed to, using as few words as possible. “Just you three?”

This question was targeted at Nin, Otto, and Mara.

“We are more. They just aren’t here yet,” Mara didn’t hide it because it’d be easy to figure out based on the messages they’d been sending through the Adventurer’s Guild.

Commander Drock’s eyes drifted to Otto. “What are you?”

“Otto not know.”

“He always talks like that?”

“Yes, sir,” Mara said. “He’s my husband’s sworn brother and kind-hearted as long as people don’t irritate him.”

Drock nodded and sensed a warrior’s spirit within the boy. Even as formidable as Otto was, his eyes showed wariness toward Nin. Drock couldn’t say what it was about her that made him cautious, but he was certain that if these three wanted to run, he’d be hard put to stop them.

“Let’s go.” Commander Drock ordered everyone out and gave the three one last glance before he turned to leave. He turned back once he was sure none of the others could see or hear him. “Remain vigilant. Talented newbies are often conscripted. This struggle for power in this town isn’t worth your efforts to prevent. As long as the Keystone is here, no one will overstep their bounds too far, or they’ll end up dead. The Keystone is part of the tower and despises those that interfere with people ascending.”

Nin giggled after the man left. “Looks like little sister made an impression on the impassive commander.”

“If I’m not mistaken, that man was saved by my father. Those scars on his face happened during a beast wave, and my father dragged him to safety,” Mara explained, feeling conflicted about meeting the man. She always felt her father’s story wasn’t simple but didn’t dare question the commander either.

Either way, Nin felt it was an odd coincidence. Mara might have recognized the man, but she was sure the man didn’t recognize her.