Gunther took a long pull from his drink and smacked his lips, glancing at the pleased-looking dwarf innkeeper. "Guess your brewery got a chance to try using [Ferment] for their stock? It tastes way better now."

  "Glad you could taste the difference. Think we all need now is somebody with [Brew] to get rid of the remainder that the filter couldn't get rid of."

  "Hah, good luck trying trying to poach one from Celia." The mercenary's hand touched the handy pouch at his side, still holding onto some of those valuable gifted potions. "Maybe though there's some folks out there willing to learn or teach."

  "Belle be willing, perhaps we'll be blessed so." The door to the inn swung open and the owner glanced that way, face instantly darkening at the sight of these new arrivals. "You lot! Haven't I banned you already, get out!"

  "Woah, calm down. You don't want to say anything you might regret real soon." A frown developed on Gunther's face when he took in the familiar voice and turned around, confirming his suspicions. It had been one of those mercenaries who oft stirred up trouble about Gabion, a colleague he'd honestly rather not associate with. He noticed calmly how it wasn't just them entering, but what looked like a lot of their band too. The rest, likely waiting on the outside perhaps.

  And all of them in full armor with their weapons on them too. Now wasn't that curious.

  "I don't care what you think," Gunther's dwarf friend growled, slamming a hand against the counter top. "Get out, or I'm calling the guards!"

  "Go ahead. Try and do it." The mercenary smirked, as if privy to a secret the dwarf didn't know. "Or just accept we're going to be now in charge, and hand over your earnings.'

  "What are you thinking-" The innkeeper suddenly paled when a few teased out their weapons, grinning wildly. "This is a robbery, plain and simple! You won't get away with this!"

  "Have to agree with that," Gunther mentioned, pushing up from where he sat and turning to face the group of troublemakers. He caught the eye of some of the Eber Marauders seated about the inn and gave a subtle nod, a silent order to be ready for anything. "I happen to like this place see, so I can't let you get away with this. I reckon the guards might even give me a bounty for stopping this robbery."

  "Oh, they won't. And you'd be wise to realize that." The ringleader of these troublemakers laughed, again in that mocking, knowing way. "You've been around long enough to know it best out of all us, right? That as mercenaries, you always want to join the winning side to get paid. Joining the losing side earns you nothing but broken swords and armor, and maybe even a shallow grave if you're especially unlucky."

  The veteran gripped the hilt of his sword, about ready to draw it out. "Get to the point."

  "Isn't it obvious by now? We're taking over the city, we can overwhelm the guards! Wanna join in the sack?"

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  The strange sensation of Hans' new armor pieces wasn't even on his mind when he strode out into the night air. "What's going on!" he barked at the various rushing guards. "What's all this trouble about!"

  "Sir! The mercenaries are causing trouble in the streets, and aren't listening to us at all!" one of his subordinates swiftly reported. "Some of us even got attacked by them!"

  "What, do they want to be banished or executed!" Hans hissed and glanced about. "Where's the biggest source of them?"

  "Right in front of the walls, sir!"

  What? It didn't make sense. The Captain of the Guard wondered what they were up to before shaking his head and firmly squaring his shoulders. It didn't matter. He had a job to do.

  "You, run to the castle. Inform the duke of this development," he barked and grabbed his helmet. "Then head to the recovery ward. Ignore whatever the healers say, anybody who's still on 'light duty' needs to be brought in. Let's surprise these mercenaries with our numbers."

  "Everybody else? If you got issued the new armor pieces, with me! We're containing this uprising before it gets any worse!"

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  "A mercenary uprising?" Duke Gregori questioned, frowning as he donned his plate. "Is that what that common is all about?"

  "It appears so, according to that messenger," his son replied while he put on his own armor as well. "We don't exactly know for what reason, but they're beginning to openly harass and rob our people. We can't let this stand."

  "Well said. Though be on your guard," the father warned, strapping on the gauntlets. "Something is off. We will observe and interfere if need be."

  Once again, there was a commotion at the entrance of the armory when the duke's retinue tried to bar a certain somebody from barging in again. "You're not leaving me out of it this time, father!" Petula shouted, shoving away a distant relative who wasn't sure how to act. She grabbed her own armor and began to put it on before a word could be said otherwise. "If this is affecting our people, then it is a matter for all of House Cordis! And Aunt Vio agrees too, she's also in her robes and has her staff."

  His sister was joining too? He supposed that in a way, his daughter was right; this was a highly unusual circumstance, one that he was quite unfamiliar with. Stopping a monster tide was something he knew exactly how to counteract and command against. But stopping an apparently mercenary uprising was unfamiliar territory, one in which he wasn't quite sure what to do aside from brute force that could run the streets of Gabion red with blood.

  If there was something he overlooked, something that his better family could notice and speak on, then...it was worth keeping at his side to hear. "Very well. But you will be at our rear, understood?"

  Petula paused, perhaps slightly taken aback by the swift acceptance. But her efforts to get ready quickened soon after. "I won't leave your side, father. Not unless the situation calls for it."

  He sorely hoped it wouldn't.

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  "An attack at sunset is indeed ideal," Eifer mused to the contractor at his side. "Especially after a long summer day. The people will tire of the heat and wish nothing more than to retreat to their abodes to rest the short night. They will look away from the chaos beyond their home, and slumber in hopes it will be all over come the morn. By which time, my forces should be in control."

  "It is hardly best though for assassination, especially vampires," the shadowed assassin hissed, pacing uneasily where they stood. But there was no need to fret- the two were some distance away from the city. It would be hard to make them out at such distance, and House Cordis' lands were so paltry, they didn't bother with regular patrols. "It would be so much better to do it during day, when they're trapped in the castle. But now you give them free reign to act with the hidden sun."

  "As if they would even pose a significant challenge- it has been long known that their [Blood Harvest] is best used against monsters of greater stature against them. But against those of near-equal?" The knight smiled and gestured to his readied retinue hidden just behind the crest. "I suspect only blood from you or me would be of any benefit to them. So we merely need not allow them the chance. You fret too much."

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  "Killing a noble is no small task. If it were, then the Broker would have lower rates, and a far higher success one at that."

  "Mmh, I suppose the messy death of Fuzier's heir proves that. But this time, you needn't worry about the method employed." Eifer waved his hand. "Just leave the young daughter alive. The rest are unnecessary to me."

  "You paid for two bodies. You get only two bodies."

  No, it wouldn't do to openly scowl at the reminder of such a mercantile attitude. Best not ruin the relationship just yet. But a barb should be safe. "You embody the Prowler well with such an attitude."

  The assassin was silent, leaving him to smirk and thank the gods. Yes, indeed, this all was in the name of the Ten Divines. For in the absence of their light he carries out the dark deeds of the night. But when they return with the sunrise, all sins shall be washed away, leaving him...radiant.

  "The chaos seems to have begun. All of my beloved champions, make your final preparations and get ready to march!"

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  Contrary to Hans' expectations, when he showed up with his group to help reinforce the guards already on the scene, things didn't just deescalate.

  Rather, these troublemaker mercenaries seemed to get even worse.

  "You lot can't do jack shit!"

  "Oi bastards, how about you just go home and hire us to do your job for you!"

  "Forget that, let's just take over the city entirely, they don't deserve it!"

  It wasn't quite every mercenary in Gabion, but it certainly felt like a vast majority of them were here and present. Hans didn't know what caused this- maybe too much drink? Too little pay? But regardless, he was here now, and he had to take command. The relieved guards there were more than happy to let their captain step in to handle the scenario, stepping back to let the freshly arrived guards step in with their new carapace armor. Their appearance did make a few of the hooligans step back warily, but seeing that their fellow sellswords and them still greatly outnumbered the city guard, surged forward with renewed insults.

  Hans took a position right behind the front, close enough to be heard. He sucked in a deep breath before raising his voice into a shout, "All you, disperse! Consider this your last warning before we start arresting everybody here!"

  That earned a lot of boos and jeers from the mercenaries, one line in particularly coming across clear. "You and what army!"

  As if summoned by that line, there was the stomping of feet when more guards appeared. Given the way some of them did walk just a bit stiffly, like they'd been confined to bed for far too long, these were the ones he had requested to come straight from the recovery wards. Those potions from the adventurers had greatly accelerated their healing though, on their advice, many had been assigned only lighter duties to ensure proper recovery.

  Given how they all looked ready to stare down another tide, Hans would say these veterans and friends certainly were fighting fit.

  The sudden appearance of these additional numbers helped even the odds a fair bit, and the mercenaries realized that. For many of them, their overwhelming bloodlust seemed to be wane and wax when the prospect of an easy fight slipped away. Now if things were to come to blows, then it was going to be an actual, bloody struggle.

  A few seemed to find that distasteful enough to slink away. Some of them, Hans grimly noted, seemed to still have nefarious looks. The type that Gunther would've called battlefield vultures, those who were already scavenging and looting to run even when a battle was going on. Speaking of whom, he didn't see any sign of the Eber Marauders were among this lot.

  He sorely hoped that they really weren't involved in this.

  Still, the bunch seemed to be wavering. Maybe one last push could hopefully get them to see sense and back off from a violent confrontation. "Alright, I was mistaken. This is now the last warning!" Hans yelled at them. "Think about it. If you leave now, you can leave the city tomorrow and keep getting paid elsewhere. If you stay, we won't show anymore mercy-"

  His bargain was interrupted when arrows were loosed from the nearby rooftops at him! When had those mercenaries climbed up to situation archers there-!

  The projectiles struck him in his new chest piece and bounced off, unable to penetrate. That seemed to be the same for those in the front with those new carapace armor pieces too, a few strategic pieces more than enough to deflect the worse of it. For those unluckily without like those behind the captain, he could hear their cries when the arrows pierced through the weaker leather.

  He would've been dead if it hadn't been for this hybrid monster armor.

  The man saw red and he snarled, drawing his sword. At the sound, the spears of the front instantly lowered, causing the foremost mercenaries to panic and scramble back from those gleaning points. But more behind drew their weapons too, committing to attack the guard.

  So Hans wouldn't hold back anymore. "Take them into custody! Dead or alive!"

  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------?

  "The situation has turned violent," Teodor observed from on top of the castle battlements, focused despite the worry in his voice. "Looks like the guards and mercenaries are now clashing openly in the streets."

  Gregori gave a low, disgusted growl. "I should have expelled them when I had the chance. Now something worse than monsters roam the streets," the duke spat. "I trust Hans will suppress them."

  "He certainly will, but it'll take time. Time in which the city could get robbed," his son warned and nodded at the forming house troops in the bailey. "We could sally out, launch a hammer and anvil strike. Between our retinue and the guards, we ought to be able to crush the mercenaries between and end this."

  A sound plan, and Gregori was pleased to see him come up with it quickly. "If I were to give you command of the retinue, could you do it?"

  "Yes," Teodor decisively said in a heartbeat later. "Would you like me to do so, fathe- my lord?"

  "Make preparations to. Let us dispense this uprising immediately-"

  "My lord," Vio's unusually serious tone cut in and he wasn't blind to the manner of address. "Look over there, to the east. Something's approaching Gabion."

  Heads turned in that direction and a mix of gasps with sharp intakes of breath echoed around. There, approaching their city, was an armed noble retinue; house troops that certainly didn't belong to House Cordis. Gregori glanced at his children who looked equally as stunned- so neither he nor them invited them to come.

  An invasion? Of all times?!

  Whatever happened to the imperial decree, did these neighbors not fear censure from the emperor!

  To House Cordis' collective dismay, with the guards focused at the wall on the opposite side of the city, the gates leading towards the rest of the empire swung open to let these invaders into their home.

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