Snow is glad she got with Null. Since I was a Rat he was nice to me, albeit there were the dark times where the healing hurt, but that is long gone.

For him to be at the same time in some form and around the whole town was weird, but I never feared anything. He was nice and gave me food and water. While not being able to move right, he just fed me directly and I remember how he often pat me while lying in my Nest.

Now I finally can pat him and help him out, I am so glad! True, the change hurt more than the healing, but I was ready! At least I thought, but now that is over and I am finally like his favorite form!

…

Right now there is a secret Mission for me. My Shadow Rats, how Null named them are following the person who snooped next to our Room.

Walking around in circles he entered the Fort after a while.

“Report!”

“What did you hear?”

“Their strength is higher than just the two of them. I heard of some Fighter called Loopy and an Alchemist or Herbalist with the Nickname Bush Man. There are more it seems likely working in a kind of Greenhouse, where maybe the Products came from.”

“Anything else?”

“No more Information, just that there are more Farmers of unknown Number. They were the Farmers in the Fields we forsake while snuffing out the embers of takeover in the City. Their Loyalty lies deep, as they lost everything and now seem to have some kind of easy life.”

“...No wonder they did not even flinch. Elane, what can you say about this?”

“It is not possible for me to say anything. The man called Ava or now Lord Null is no true Mage. His Armor seems to have runic mechanisms he can use.”

“So just a fighter?”

“...no, that is the strange thing. He just ripped the chains without activating any runic circle. His bodily strength is way too high for being a simple Fighter. He might be a trained Knight.”

Another seems to be disagreeing with that mean girl Elane.

“Unlikely! The higher Castes would not let a fully trained Knight walk around without supervision. We talk about a non Mage using Mana. That could throw the whole Caste System out of balance!”

“Nothing to learn for now. Elane what about the girl?”

“She is even weirder. The Magic she uses is neither Shamanistic nor Druidic in Nature. If I would not know better I would rather say she is a Demon, but no Demon would just walk around like a normal human.”

Stupid Elane! Snow is Snow! Not a demon or whatever. Well maybe I am a bit more than a Monster now, but still I am myself.

“So, might she be the true Leader? I can not think of a maybe Knight to be the ruler of a Mana well somewhere.”

“It… it might be, but their relationship is somehow strange. They act like lovely siblings, but nothing shows her being in charge.”

Yes! Very lovely Siblings! I love Null and want to be with him as it is always fun!

“Some peons with way too high morale, an unknown Knight, some demonic Ferral, hidden people… This gets worse and worse. Any reason to believe they are a split Caste or maybe a branch of a higher one?”

“Negative. No one knows about their affiliation. They just appear and disappear like they are ghosts.”

“What about the position of their supposed Village?”

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

“Obviously a Lie. How can there be anything inside Starfall Mountain. I heard it might be a Crater, but even scrying does not show anything but pain to the seers.”

“Maybe it is true. If there is a hole, there might be valuable things inside.”

“Too vague to start a fight over this.”

“It might be really the reason for the vanishing of the Green Fire. Seldar was no fool, but greed always clouded his reasoning. He might have poisoned his mind with his vile flames long ago.”

Everyone talks, but they just argue, argue and argue some more. Just be friends like us, and then everything would be easier. Humans are really weird…

“Anything more?”

The sneaky one pipes up.

“The talk was about going to war with us but were at the end appeased. Albeit they want a stable relationship, the one called Null can not tolerate what Guard Chief Karl said about his beast companion. How I heard it, he would fight the whole garrison just for his head.”

“That is troubling. That one is not only impulsive but rather rash in his emotions. If I do not fear, what might lie behind their shadows, I would have frozen that bastard into an ice sculpture… What to do…”

“How about just giving him Karl? He might be a reliable member our Caste, but for an unknown Power to be antagonistic for his head is rather foolish, no?”

Yes, Null did not like that guy. He said something about me, that really made him mad. I am happy to be dotted on, but if he made Null that angry, I want to dote on Null too and give this guy hell.

“...For now set him under House arrest. We might give him over as an apology, but it would be good if we find a way to keep his head attached. The morale of our troops would rise, if they heard of us protecting our own.”

What is there to be thinking about? If you want to help someone you like you help. If you do not want to, you do not. Why do humans need to decide for so long to even consider helping? Somehow I am glad not to be human, so complicated and annoying.

…

“Rendlar, you will take care of the whole commerce with that Null.”

Right now a Rat is also snooping in the chambers of that Peddler King. They have nice Cookies, but maybe they are not so nice after all?

“Well you might have underestimated him a bit too much.”

“Shut it. As Merchants we need to keep our profit as high as possible. I would have given him three Gold per Kilo. You are too honest.”

“And you are too shrewd. I started with five Gold and just got haggled to six. He seems to like honesty more than Money.”

“That is why you should have put the price even lower. Look honest and reap the Money he does not care about.”

What a mean Woman.

“...That is the reason you are sent to this Town, Claire.”

“So? You were sent because of your stupid honesty ruining some great deals.”

Nah, I like that Rendlar Guy way more. He is the nice Merchant you are the crummy one.

“So, I am send to be the official visitor at first for the contract?”

“Of course! Do you think I would go into the Dark Forest? Maybe he just wanted to make a sick joke, but it sounded like he meant it. No, thank you.”

sigh “As you are the President, I oblige. Remember, with the commerce I could be making, the position might shift between us.”

“And that is why you are too honest, Ren. Telling your competitor how he might be in danger, just to be a good sport. Then let me tell you something, Blue Ice now knows about it, the place is maybe in the worst location ever and Arcana might meddle with the whole transaction later on. There are more than one way to lose not only your head but not even have anything of a body anymore to bury. If you survive I give you the crown with a kiss on the hand, I have my presidency back next time.”

“Then I take over the whole contract. As this thing is way too big for the need of your underhanded transports, I have to trust the Blue Ice for transport security.”

“Do what you must. Anything else?”

“No… good luck, Claire.”

“Go to hell.”

Well, at least we have the nice Merchant. I would not like to have the one who is that vile. With this I might have more Cookies and ask for more toys for reasonable prices. That reminds me, I have to nag Null for my new toy he wanted to make, as he seems to have forgotten about his promise. That scatterbrain sometimes…

…

A dark tunnel and bending pipes. It is hard to maneuver in those. Our sewers are way better than what they use. The direction should be right… whoops! Someone threw a bucket of water down the drain. Lucky evade!

Well then where to… Down here might be right and now a left. Ah there we are. So this is their house arrest place. Quite cozy for a supposed jail. Why did we have to sit between mold and smelly water, when they had such a place? Blue Ice is really not nice…

Looking around I can see some Guards being inside those rooms through the bottom gap of the doors. Some I remember. The one there I remember being in my way. Seems like his leg was not being able to recover, sorry not sorry.

Here is he not. So maybe in another wing…

The higher security place is not really that high. Still iron bars as doors where I can squeeze through or gaps where I can just puddle the Rat and slip under. Such lax security.

There he is! Hi Karl, there is someone who wants to meet you again. Now let us carefully see how to bring enough rats to open a hole to pull him in…