As much as I wished I could just charge off to find my target I had to figure out who the hell he was. I only had a real name, and while Chester Baddington might not be the MOST common name, I was sure there was more than one around. Being a D-ranker should help narrow things down, but this WAS a B-ranked planet. Most of the people I’d met so far were D-rankers.

Which meant I needed local information, which meant I needed a source, and I needed some way to pay for it. I had some cash on hand, as well as another eight scrolls on hand just in case. But using those to pay for anything seemed premature. Instead, I decided to see if there was some sort of census or information database for the planet. I headed for the nearest library, which was sadly three towns over, but I made decent time with my Waltz.

It was about noon when I arrived, and the clerk at the library was, in a reaffirmation that people everywhere can be the same regardless of environment, a bored teenager reading a book and trying to ignore everyone who showed up.

“Child.” I boomed, really leaning on the demonic voice. Sure, it might be a bit mean, but I didn’t have time to deal with disaffected youth, I had shit to do. Luckily, I was fucking terrifying, so I was able to lean on my intimidating visage to pressure him to do his job a bit more quickly. I MIGHT have stifled a laugh when he squeaked and fell out of his chair, looking up at me with confused panic. “I seek knowledge.”

I was back in character since I was away from my new friends. Plus it was way more ominous when I talked like this. He swallowed, scrambling to his feet. “Yeah, ok. I mean, sure. I can find…knowledge. What do you want to know?”

“I seek the Ascendant known as Chester Baddington.” The guy himself was actually an Ascendant, an F-rank from the looks of it. I’d have assumed this planet would be too much for him, though the building seemed to offset the Impact slightly. He was wearing an odd bracelet that interested me, maybe some kind of offloading device for Impact. I’d have to look into it later.

He snagged a mirror from under the counter, fingers flying over the glass. “Um…is he like…historical or something?”

“No. He yet lives.” I said gravely.

He grimaced. “Hold on. Population records are sort of buried. He might not be on there. They haven’t been enforcing the census as heavily lately. But maybe…huh. I found him. I think. There’s three of them. How old is he? One is a baby, one is an old man, and one seems to be like…mid forties.”

“The third, I believe.” I said thoughtfully. “He is D-rank, if that helps your search.”

He tapped the screen. “Ok. Got him.” He glanced up at me nervously. “This is a census, man. It’s not exhaustive. I only have his hometown, his eye and hair color, and his next of kin.”

I reached into my ring, withdrawing a piece of paper, and handed it to him along with a pen. He copied down the details, and I returned the paper to my ring. I withdrew a single chit, E-rank, and pressed it down on the counter. “My presence, will you conceal it?”

His eyes widened and he snatched up the chit. “Hell yeah!” He said excitedly. “You were never here, man. Big scary demon mask who?”

Nodding, I turned and walked out. As I strolled, a cloaked, shadowy form coalesced beside me, keeping pace. It didn’t speak, at least not out loud, but my wife’s voice rang in my head. “You had far too much fun scaring that kid. This planet is a bad influence on you.”

I smirked at her. “You could talk to me mentally without the shadow clone. Miss me that much? Because I’ll be honest, I don’t know much about hunting down a target, and I could use all the help I can get.”

Her laugh tinkled in my head. “You’re doing fine. If you really need help we can ask Cark, but I thought this was your big moment running solo?”

“Well sure.” I laughed internally. “But you’re my wife. We share everything, so asking you for help doesn’t count. Your successes are my successes. Except in a literal sense, because I got none of that sweet, sweet, godslayer renown.”

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

She snickered. “Poor Shane can’t coast on his wife’s success. The world is so unfair. Anyway, I was just on break in my training and I felt you were alone. I missed you. I love you and good luck.” She popped up on her toes, pecking me on the cheek before the shadow construct dissolved.

No one had seen, she’d covered us in Stealth before she’d done it, and I smiled under my mask at my wife being thoughtful enough to try to preserve my fake reputation. I walked for a bit longer, then stopped and leaned against a tree, withdrawing the paper. The information was sparse. I’d hoped Chester had some kind of unique hair or eye color, as sometimes happened with Ascendants, but no. His hair was brown, his eyes were green.

His next of kin was listed as “Millicent Baddington” and his hometown was called Runkleton, Which was objectively the towniest name for a town I’d ever heard. Sighing, I pulled out the map I’d bought earlier today so I could reach Bentworth, where the library was situated. It was a pretty decent area, and it covered enough that I was able to find Runkleton easily enough, albeit barely, since it appeared to a literal blip up in the mountains.

Sighing, I turned and began my Waltz, blasting forward, though not bothering to go all out. My travel speed was staggering, and I was moving so quickly, I almost missed the ping from my Danger Sense. Almost. Instead, I pushed off the ground, my next burst of movement taking me up into the air.

As I vanished, a whistling sound breaking out, and a dozen arrows from a dozen directions smashed into the ground where I’d just been. “Surrender or die!” Bellowed a voice as I dodged. I expected another volley, but instead I heard a voice howl. “No,no, no STOP. Lower your weapons. Who the hell told you all to fire?”

I landed, State of Grace letting me balance casually on the shaft of one arrow as I glanced around at the slowly revealed forms of those surrounding me. The leader was a short woman with close cropped red hair and bright blue eyes. Her pixielike nose was scrunched up in annoyance as she glared at the other figures, most of whom wore identical leather armor and cloaks.

One of the men in the back raised a hand. When she raised a brow at him, he cleared his throat. “Beggin’ your pardon miss, but it was David.”

“Fucking snitch!” Shouted one of the others. “I was just saying he looked scary. Letting him know we were there seemed dangerous. I thought we should shoot first and worry about decorum later is all.”

“I SAID.” The girl said, “That we would offer them a chance to surrender. I don’t PAY you to think, David.”

I glanced at them with a sigh. “You seem to be vagabonds and cutpurses by trade.” I said stoically. “Might you know of a man named Chester Baddington?” My fate had caused weirder shit to happen, might as well see if they knew my target.

The girl whirled on me. “Excuse me.” She snapped. “I am TRYING to discipline my employee, giant demon man. Can you please wait until we get back to robbing you?” She turned back to her people. “Honestly, rude.”

I stepped off the arrow, my foot touching the ground as I unleashed Pit of Despair. I pulsed my corrosion through it, the dust turning black as green energy sparked through it, and they all shrieked as they fell into the pit. I heard shouts of pain and alarm as the toxic dust burned their skin and some of them even inhaled it.

Sadly, Dust Construction was a very noticeable and unique Skill, but Pit of Despair fit my destructive motif to a T. I cancelled it, leaving them all stuck in the dirt as they gasped for air. Immediately after, I reached for Belial’s power, and I pushed, converting the still hot ground into hardened magmatic stone, pulsing with toxic heat. “My mistake.” I drawled menacingly. “Please, resume your conversation. You can stay there for as long as you like.”

The leader chuckled nervously. “Oh. Never mind. I was the one being rude. We’d be happy to help you kind stranger. Maybe you could…let us go first.” She whimpered. “This really hurts.”

I realized that I’d accidentally used my full corrosion, the combo with Mephistopheles, and I pulled back on it a bit. They all relaxed. “I’m looking for Chester Baddington. Do you know him?” They had never answered my question.

“No sir.” The girl squeaked. “Never met him, why? Did he do something to you? We can help you find him.”

I frowned, thinking about the other bit of info. “How about Millicent Baddington?” I asked.

“Millic-” She froze, eyes widening. “You’re looking for BAD MILLIE? Listen big guy, you’re really tough, and very scary, but Bad Millie runs half the thieves guilds on Rackham. Helping you find her would be suicide. She’d kill us.”

I walked over, shoving my hand into the dirt and grabbing her arm. I released the stone hold on the ground and pulled, lifting her effortlessly into the air. “And what?” I growled as I leaned in close. “Do you think I’M going to do to you if you say no? You accosted me unprompted mid travel, confessed to be seeking to rob me, and are now standing in the way of my hunt. Where I’m from people have sold their homes to try to repay a tenth the insult you’ve given me this day.”

I decided Mephistopheles was the kind of scary asshole who would demand tribute, and I thought it would play well here. I wasn’t going to hurt a bunch of idiot thieves too badly, but she didn’t know that.

Her eyes were wide, and I could literally see the reflection of my terrifying mask in her pupils as she quailed under my glare. She closed her eyes, puffed out her cheeks, and said. “Just me.” I raised a brow and she demanded. “Promise you’ll just take me with you. That you’ll tell everyone I was the person who sent you. Let my friends go. If you don’t I’ll just fight to the death, I don’t care.”

I dropped her, letting her feet hit the ground. Honestly, I was impressed. She was clearly scared shitless, but she refused to back down. She wanted to take care of her subordinates more than she wanted to be safe. “Fine.” I said shortly. “They may leave. As may you, after you escort me to her location. I won’t have you running off after giving me a false lead.”

She looked offended at that but snorted and turned to the others. “Get lost, you sorry sacks of pig puke.” She said loftily. “You’re cramping my style.”

David, the one who had been arguing to kill me, stared at her in horror. “But boss…what if he kills you? You can’t just go off with some scary monster guy. We can totally take him. He’s just D-rank like we are.”

She shook her head. “Not a chance. That attack had several more Impact than a D-ranker should have. He’s probably here for that evil god contest or whatever. If we kill him we might piss them off. Better to play along.” She squinted at me. “I’m Beladonna Darrow.” She said, holding out her hand. “And I hope my instinct about you being an ok guy is right. Lets go.”

I was impressed she’d picked up on the selection thing, and by her instincts. I shook her hand thoughtfully. “Mephistopheles.” I said in a booming demonic bass. "And you will come to no harm as long as you complete your task.” Internally, I was excited. I already had another lead. This manhunter thing was super easy.