Gathered in the Albrinter estate’s main foyer, a number of armed and armored people are gathered. At the far end of the foyer, the sons and daughters of the noble family descend a grand set of stairs before stopping at the first landing and looking down at the foyer. Lutz Albrinter speaks to the gathered crowd with authority.

  “Everyone! Thank you for answering our summons. We have made a decision. We will be dealing with Parnidot’s insurrection on the morrow. You have been chosen to stand with us. For the protection of this town and it's people, we have dedicated ourselves to stopping the chaos and madness. I ask you all to stand with us.”

  The crowd gives a light applause, but otherwise doesn’t roar in any kind of excitement. The crowd begins to disperse for the night. Supposedly, they would be beating up some priests and zealots in the morning. Some people opted to go to sleep early and others wanted to do anything else but stay here. Meanwhile, Ren was way in the back talking to Mona. It takes Ren a moment before she asks a question.

  “Wait, why are you coming to this raid?”

  “What do you mean?” Mona asked back.

  “You could just go stay at home, or I guess the inn. So you don’t need to do any fighting.”

  Mona scratches at her head uncomfortable before speaking again.

  “Maybe we can talk about that at the inn.” Mona says.

  “Okay, but I might be busy. I’m almost done with the magic ring I’ve been working on. I should be done with it tonight.”

  “We can talk while we work, right?”

  “Yep!”

  Before the two have a chance to leave, Lutz Albrinter approaches the two.

  “If I may, can I take this time to issue you the quest?” he says.

  “Oh! I almost forgot.” Ren says.

  Lutz waves one of his hands in the air briefly and a pair of messages appear in Ren’s mind.

  “I’ll be issuing both quests we discussed earlier. I doubt we will have issues with Mackamer, but that blackguard has been known to appear where it would best hurt my cause.” Lutz says.

  Quest

  Stop Parnidot’s Inquisition

  Quest

  Stop Mackamer’s Schemes

  Ren accepts both of them without a second thought, or more accurately, without a single thought in her head. Voices in someone’s head can do that sometimes.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Quest Accepted!

  Quest Accepted!

  “No problem.” Ren says.

  “Then I thank the both of you. Rest well and I hope to see you in the morning.” Lutz says.

  He waves the both of them off as they leave in the afternoon light. Mona and Ren walk back to the inn. Mona doesn’t do a lot of walking on the streets. Usually she moves through alleyways and rooftops. Tonight, she walks with Ren back to an inn so that they may prepare for battle.

  Returning to the inn, they find Vivi working at a table in the room she shares with Mona. Earlier in the day, the shipment of chill cotton had been returned to the intended recipient, as well as the lightning wolves slain. They had since been skinned and now a number of fur was available for use. Unfortunately, the fur of a lightning wolf isn’t magical or does anything lightning wise. It’s just a nice and vibrant yellow color, but aside from that, it’s no different than regular fur. Thankfully, Vivi is decently skilled in tanning the fur. She is given a chance to put her skills to work.

  “We’re back.” Mona says.

  “Oh! Welcome back.” Vivi says.

  “We’re probably going to order takeout and eat here. Ren also seems to be hard at work with her own magic stuff. I was going to talk to her about some things, and I think I would like you there with me.” Mona says.

  The very words pierce Vivi’s heart.

  “I- I suppose I could use the break.” Vivi manages to stammer.

  Ren is seated at a chair and table while a magic tablet glows with light. The light was blue when Mona and Vivi enter the room, but it is now turning green. Floating above the tablet is a cheap ring made of copper and with a small green gem inlaid in the metal.

  “Ren, do you have a minute?” Mona asked.

  “I can talk while working.” Ren says.

  “Good enough for me.”

  Mona and Vivi take seats at the table. Mona takes a moment, before she begins.

  “You asked why I was getting myself involved with this fight against Parnidot. The truth is that in addition to all the stuff I don’t care about, he opened the door to something I do care about. Before I came to this town I was cast out of Elfhiem, the biggest colony of elves on the continent. Me and my parents wandered with a merchant caravan until a hydra attacked us. It- well- ate my parents. After it left, the caravan goods were all over the place. Among them was a jeweled hairpin. I took it. Thought I could at least sell it. But when I picked it up, I heard a voice. It taught me. Trained me. I became an incredible assassin. I joined the masses in the revolts. I assassinated the majority of the people in a noble house. The Leostriders. They were like the other nobles. Crass, greedy and generally just awful people.

  “Cool!” Ren says without looking up. “So that’s how you got that title.”

  “So, that’s what happened.” Vivi says.

  “With the voice’s guidance, I decimated them and earned the title Thorn of Leostriders. The power. The adjacency to choose my own fate. For all my life I felt helpless, but I became unstoppable by following the voice. Then it asked me to do something truly awful. The princess, or I guess she’s our queen now, began purging the nobles. That’s what everyone wanted. This was the change everyone wanted. Even still, the voice wanted me to assassinate her.”

  “Why?” Ren asked.

  “I haven’t the faintest idea.” Mona says. “In either case, I wanted out of whatever game the voice was playing. So I came to the temple here. I confessed to everything. Then they just let me go. No charges. No searches. No blaming. Nothing. In fact, they offered to let me stay. They locked the hairpin in a vault and I never heard the voice again.”

  “I see. You were blessed with a second chance.” Vivi says.

  “Yeah. I really was.” Mona reminisces before continuing. “Anyway, Parnidot opened up the vault. The hairpin and various other holy artifacts that were either enshrined or kept at the temple are now being used by him and his cronies. I just want to throw the hairpin back in a vault.”

  “Okay!” Ren says.

  “Is… is that it?” Mona asked.

  “Yep. You actually told me way more than the answer to my question.” Ren says without a hint of emotion in her voice.

  “I- I see.” Mona seems a bit disappointed and embarrassed.

  “W- well, I’m glad to have heard your story.” Vivi said. “Thank you for sharing and opening up your heart to us.”

  “Right. Thank you, Vivi.”

  Mona stood over Vivi and looked down at her with a gentle smile. Vivi blushed very brightly as she received Mona’s heartfelt thanks.

  “Let’s get started on dinner.” Mona says. “The restaurant down the block still owes us for the lightning wolf meat. Ren is busy, so let’s go. Just the two of us.”

  Vivi was a hot mess. She was violently shaking, she was glowing red and steam was about to shoot out from her ears. Thankfully, Mona managed to guide her by the hand out of Ren’s room. It certainly didn’t help Vivi’s heart rate and blushing, but the two were well on their way.

  Hours after dinner was served and eaten, the group had split up for the night. Vivi was preparing Mona’s sneaking suit and Mona was preparing knives. Ren was still at work at her magic tablet until late into the night. Before any clock could strike midnight, one of the voices in Ren’s head approved of the ring floating above the tablet.