The Albrinters return to their high end inn. They rush inside with a huff. They are clearly frustrated.

  “In the end, that bitch did the worst thing imaginable.” Gilligan scowled.

  “It can’t be helped. She found all of us lacking.” Perschale says.

  “She took father’s title and didn’t give it to any of us!” Gilligan says.

  “As is her right and authority as our queen.” Lutz gives an exhausted sigh.

  “Now we’re just tax collectors.” Gilligan scoffs.

  “And we have to pay the property tax on the estate in our own town.” Sardon says.

  “It’s not even ours.” Unwo says. “It’s our ancestral home. Our forefathers have had it for generations.”

  “Damn it all.” Gilligan shouts. “What a waste of a trip.”

  As the sons and daughters of Oschont Albrinter wallow in frustration and despair, a knock is heard at the door.

  “Now’s not the time.” Sardon shouts at the door.

  “We aren’t taking visitors now.” Gilligan shouts.

  From the other side of the door, a woman’s voice calls out to them.

  “I know your pain.” the voice says. “You need not hide from me. I am a friend to all young nobles cast out to the wind by our queen.”

  The sons and daughters of Oschont Albrinter give each other a confused look. Lutz Albrinter opens the door to answer it.

  “Who is it?”

  When he answers the door, there stands a woman with such thick makeup that it looks unreal.

  “Hello. I am Kanady Vouscherpell. I think we can help each other in our moment of plight.”

  “I know this is about the same amount of work you guys usually make for me, but what the fuck is this?” Luard Luminite asks.

  Luard was in the Table and Tale. The adventurer’s guild. He and a few castle guards were speaking to Crane Baross. Luard was looking at a little over a dozen men and women in chains while a corkboard with lots of sketches of people, maps and red strings was being presented to him.

  “And is that why these idiots broke into Kanady Vouscherpell’s private home and then her place of work?” Luard asks. “Notably the royal castle of all places.”

  Luard points a thumb over to Ren, Alliot Greenbloom, Bron Stonearm, Linda Bona and Malo Goldleaf in chains.

  “Precisely.” Crane says.

  Luard gives a long sigh. He then glares at everyone in the room. He takes a moment to think.

  “Twenty years in the dungeon!” Luard says.

  “I see.” Crane says. “What sort of agreement can we come to? Same as always?”

  “Of course.” Luard says. “These adventurers will be pressed into service. They will adventure for the sake of the crown. In exchange, they will receive reduced sentences. To the point that they can never spend a moment in a jail cell if they work at it long and hard enough.”

  “As things have always been.” Crane says.

  “As things have always been with you trouble makers.” Luard says. “I do of course, expect you all to work through the festival and then delve headlong into the jaws of death the next day.”

  “Sounds fine to me.” Crane says. “Unless, our intrepid adventurers are opposed to the idea.”

  “Nah, that works fine for us.” Alliot speaks up.

  Luard gives Alliot a hard stare.

  “I expect great things from the asshole who punched half a castle’s wing into rubble.” Luard scoffs.

  Hours earlier, a party consisting of Ren, Alliot, Bron Linda and Malo had arrived at the royal castle. It is a grand castle with opulence that blinds the eyes of those who gaze too deeply at it. It is built so that when the sun rises in the morning, the sun must climb over it’s towers before it may grace the castle’s gate with light. While it is imposing, this view is generally only available at the castle gate. Nobody really notices anything like this in the rest of the city. There the party speak to the castle guards at the gate.

  “Hey guys, we’re looking for one Kanady Vouscherpell.” Alliot says to the castel guard at the gate.

  “I don’t know who that is.” the guard says.

  “Well, we’re just going to head in and see if she’s around.” Alliot says.

  “No. Go away.” the guard responds.

  The party is tossed out into their streets. The party remained still for a moment. Then Malo makes a suggestion.

  “Wanna hit up the servant’s access beneath the castle?” Malo asks.

  “You know it!” Linda says.

  The party stows away in a crate bound for the royal castle. The crate makes it inside where it is then stopped.

  “Stop right there!” a castle guard says. “Standard security check. Open it up!”

  A castle servant opens the crate to look inside. There they see a party of adventurers squeezing into the crate.

  “Um. Hi!” Alliot says.

  In that next moment, Alliot throws a kick and launches himself out of the crate. The castle guard is struck in the face and is thrown back by the sudden kick.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  “Nice meeting you, buddy.” Alliot says as he rushes off.

  The party rushes off in every direction. Alliot rushes into the building, up some stairs, down a hallway, through a window that was closed, through a courtyard, jumped through a window on the second story, down that new hall and bursts through a door. Inside, Alliot found a man wearing a sleek dress shirt and his hair slicked back. He was working at a desk with a quill and parchment. Although he stopped when a young man with cat and elf ears suddenly bursted through the door.

  “Hello! Oh! Wait! You’re Luard, right?” Alliot says. “We met at an inn yesterday.”

  “Uhh… yes… I’m sorry, what- I- why are you here?” Luard asks.

  “Oh! Right! I’m here for some woman by the name of Kanady Vouscherpell.” Alliot says. “You wouldn’t happen to know where her office with super secret hidden cabinets and doors would be, would you?”

  “What?” Luard gives Alliot a confused look. “Look, if you’re a guest at the royal castle, you should have someone here to guide you. Go ask them.”

  “Ah, right. Right. A guide. And… being a guest…” Alliot nods along at the explanation and in his response.

  Luard gives Alliot a hard stare.

  “You’re not a guest, are you?” Luard says, eyeing him up and down.

  “Well, I’m a guest of sorts. Someone here carried me inside and I was both inspected and welcomed by a castle guard.” Alliot says. “Well, gotta go. Nice meeting you again.”

  Alliot swiftly turns to leave. As he does, Luard grips a staff fastened to the bottom of his desk and chants a spell.

  “Arcane Push!”

  Alliot is thrown against the door opposite Luard’s office. Then he is pushed across that room, which appeared to be a records room with filing cabinets of some kind. Then Alliot was pushed out the window to that room and out onto the courtyard he ran across a moment ago.

  Luard took the staff from beneath his desk, grabbed a magic staff from a wall in his office and calmly walked out of his office. He closed the door to his office and waved his hand over the door knob. The door knob glowed with a magical light and a click was heard. Luard calmly walked into the record room, across it to the man shaped hole he made and looked down.

  Alliot was scrambling to stand back up. He gripped onto his nose to see if it was okay. He found that it was bleeding after being forced through a door and a window. Once he picked himself up he looked around. His gaze rises to see Luard looking down on him from the hole in the wall on the second story. Luard held two magic staves. One in each hand as royal records rained down like confetti.

  “You’re a funny guy and all, and I’m thankful that you found my mother’s necklace, but I can’t just let you get away with breaking and entering the royal castle.” Luard says. “Not some noble estate. Not some military barracks. The royal castle. Where our queen works and rests her head.”

  Alliot raises his hands, less in a surrendering fashion and more in a joking one.

  “Well look, I didn’t mean to offend. I was just looking for a conspiracy." Alliot says.

  “I don’t give a shit.” Luard rolls his shoulders looking down on Alliot. “I think a beating is in order.”

  Luard points one of his staves at Alliot. Alliot takes up a fighting stance.

  “Firebolt!”

  A mote of fire hurls itself out at Alliot. Luard side steps the spell and grabs an outdoor bench. He lifts the bench in one hand and holds it up.

  “Property Damage Style: Bench Luncher!”

  Alliot throws the bench up at Luard. Luard jumps down to dodge the attack. Once he does, the bench then explodes above him. Luard is taken aback. He looks up at the records room wide eyed.

  “What the fuck?”

  While Luard was distracted by the explosion, Alliot rushes up to him with furious speed.

  “Property Damage Style: Shattering Jump Kick!”

  Luard turns his attention back to Alliot. He then points one of his staves at Alliot.

  “Summon Gangster!”

  A large muscular man suddenly appears in front of Alliot. He puts a hand up and catches Alliot’s kick out of mid air. The large man winds up to swing Alliot by the foot. During the wind up, Alliot bends his knee and arches his back so that he grabs the man by the foot. Alliot pulls on the man’s foot and it comes off the floor for him to lose his balance. The large man falls over and Alliot comes to a handstand before using his hands to leap up and away from the man. Luard then points his staff at Alliot again.

  “Summon Serial Killer!”

  In a flash of light, a thin woman with an unusually large meat cleaver suddenly appears and swings at Alliot’s feet. Alliot leaps back further to avoid the woman’s swing.

  “Woah! What is this?” Alliot stammers.

  “Just a bit of my specialty.” Luard sneers. “There are a few reasons I earned the title Gangster Chancellor. One reason is because instead of contracting with elemental spirits, angels, demons or whatever else there is, I have made summoning contracts with criminals.”

  “Woah! You can do that?” Alliot asks.

  “I have the blessing of my queen to do this.” Luard says. “Call it a penal battalion, or whatever you want. Just know that they all agreed to be magically bound to my service.”

  “Hah! It’s going to take more than a few crooks to beat me.” Alliot sneers.

  “If you insist.” Luard draws a sinister grin across his face.

  Luard crosses his staves before slamming them down to either side of himself.

  “Summon Gang!”

  A magical light flashes. When the light vanishes, there stand over a dozen rough looking men and women with dirty and rough looking weapons.

  “Summon Pirate Crew!”

  Another flash of light shines. This time, two dozen men and women wearing light clothes wielding mainly cutlasses and pistols appear.

  “Summon Traitor!”

  Another flash of light appears and disappears. This time a lone man stands. He wears a helm that covers his face. He is adorned in what looks like thick and expensive armor. He also holds a large zweihander. Notably, there are spots on his armor that seemed to have been torn off, however you tear at metal armor. It can be surmised that this is where marks or rank were once displayed. This man takes up a fighting stance. One that looked seasoned and practiced like he was used to fighting. A seasoned professional in an occupation where men died young.

  “Oh! Wow!” Alliot looks at the crowd of armed enemies in front of him.

  “Everyone!” Luard speaks as though he were making an announcement. “Visit all the horrors you can muster on him.”

  At those words, all the criminals Luard summoned through magic rush at Alliot. The first to reach Alliot was a pirate woman. She swings for his head with a cutlass. Alliot ducks under it and throws out a palm strike and then punches with the same hand. The pirate woman stumbles back and a gangster moves in with an overhead swing at him. Alliot rushes in and palm strikes the gangster before the swing comes out. Alliot then rushes back and elbow strikes a pirate behind him. He was swiftly being surrounded. Alliot needs to start making waves in this crowd of criminals who are looking to kill him.

  “Property Damage Style: Wood Furniture Chop!”

  Alliot performs an open hand chop on a gangster. The hand sinks into his shoulder and the gangster suddenly vanishes.

  “Huh?” Alliot gives a confused look.

  “Like all summon contracts, when the contracted entity takes enough damage it returns to it’s home!” Luard sneers. “When you beat these people, you just send them back to Salt Rush Prison Island. With only minor injuries too.”

  “Damn! Well, alright!” Alliot says.

  Alliot gives a swift kick to a pirate before turning to punch a gangster. He sees them all recoil to his normal attacks, but not vanishing. With that in mind, he then tries another skill.

  “Property Damage Style: Crater Axe Kick!”

  Alliot lifts one of his legs up and brings it down onto the courtyard ground. Dust is knocked up into the air and the ground creates a concave. A crater appears and some of the pirates and gangsters caught in the crater vanish. Seeing this, Alliot surmises that his normal attacks aren’t enough to send these crooks back to whatever weird summoning jail cell they came from.

  “Damn it! What is your vitality at?” Alliot cusses.

  “If you think I didn’t have the pick of the litter when it comes to people willing to hurt my enemies for some time outside of jail, think again.” Luard sneers. “There were so many criminals lining up to sign up with me that I had to be picky about who I made a deal with. Why would I not choose the best on offer?”

  “Yeah. Whatever.” Alliot says. “I don’t fight a lot of summoners, but are they all as annoying to fight as you?”

  “If you fought a lot of summoners, then you should know how this can be worse.” Luard says.

  “Ah shit!” Alliot raises his guard.

  Luard points both his staves at the gang he summoned.

  “Haste!”

  Many of the gangsters and pirates begin to move at staggering speeds. Alliot is managing to avoid all of these dangerous elements. He just isn’t able to strike back all too well. He is only able to stand his ground and defend himself. He needs to turn the tide of this battle quickly.

  “Property Damage Style: Street Wide Devastation!"

  Faster than even these criminals backed by the enhanced speed, Alliot darts around. He punches a woman with enough force to launch her into one of the castle walls. She crashes into the wall and a plume of dust shoots out. She vanishes as soon as she makes contact with the wall. Alliot then punches a man into the ground. Alliot strikes him in the cheek and the punch follows through leading him into the floor. The man’s face crashes down and the force cracks the courtyard. His face drags across the stone marring it with a massive crack. This man vanishes after his face is dragged on the floor for a time. Alliot ducks under a cutlass and kicks his new attacker in the chest. The kick launches him into a second story window. A pistol is shot at Alliot and he sidesteps it and pushes the musket ball mid air with his hand to strike another man in the shoulder. Alliot punches and a woman is launched into the fence that surrounds the castle. He kicks and a man is buried waist deep into the courtyard’s stone pavement. Alliot keeps up such ferocious attacks that do horrible damage to this courtyard. He moves as fast as an arrow loosed from it’s bow and turns while maintaining such speed. Alliot turns into a blur as his speed outmatches the crooks surrounding him. Luard looks on and sneers at the man with the zweihander in heavy armor.

  “You going?” Luard asks

  “I have seen enough.” the man says.

  The man in heavy armor darts at Alliot. Despite the blinding speed, the man finds his mark on Alliot and grazes his arm. Alliot suddenly stops and presses a hand against the cut. He brings it to his face and his hand comes back bloody.

  “Holy shit!” Alliot says.

  The man gets up and points his sword at Alliot.

  “If you have any more tricks, now is the time to use them.”

  Alliot grits his teeth.

  “Is that so?” Alliot laughs. “I do have one more technique. I don’t like using it because even I think it’s a bit overkill. Do your best to survive this.”

  He stamps both his feet down one after another and takes up a fighting stance.

  “Property Damage Style: Neighborhood Wide Devastation!"

  Alliot vanishes as he rushes forward. The armored man matches his speed as he returns Alliot’s charge. A resounding impact shakes the castle. For the briefest of moments, Alliot and the man return into view as a crater appears between them from an apartment impact. They both then vanish using their incredible speed once again. The side of the castle wall then gets peppered in what appear to be little impacts. Strikes that shatter walls and windows that surround this courtyard. The floor of this courtyard also began to crack and crumble. Luard was barely managing to keep track of Alliot with his eyes. Suddenly, the armored man finds himself face first in the stone of this courtyard.

  “Impressive.” the armored man says without a hint of pain in his voice. “You did well, but it seems that technique has cost your body a great deal.”

  While the armored man laid on the floor, Alliot falls to the floor and slides across it some distance. He has pushed his body hard enough to cause it to tire and fail him. The man in armor rises and looks at Alliot, then back to Luard.

  “He performed admirably.” the armored man says.

  Luard looked around the courtyard with his mouth hanging loose. This was the castle. This was the royal castle. Now this courtyard had turned into a mess to rival the worst of natural disasters.