Once the figure landed on the floor, the group of three mercenaries was already dead.
Riku,
"Christoph, we're saved!".
Christoph,
"I can't believe we survived".
Riku,
"Let's go thank him. Mama always said we should thank people when they help us".
Approaching the figure, Riku and Christopher could now clearly see Ritzy. Seeing Ritzy, they could only think one thing.
Christoph,
"A human".
Ritzy didn't care about their sudden movement. The only reason he saved the beastkin and elf was for information. He knew the best way to get what he wants, was for the other party to want to give him the information, and to do that. Ritzy needed to be seen in a favorable light. Like saving their lives.
Ritzy,
"I'm just passing by. I just wanted to ask about some things".
Christoph was scared of what was gonna happen since not only was Ritzy the enemy race, he was too strong to be escaped from. Ritzy had demonstrated he was much stronger than him when Ritzy killed the mercenaries in one move. Christoph didn't know what to do.
Riku was too young to care about different races. He only knew that humans were mean to him. By Ritzy not being mean, Riku saw it as Ritzy not being a human. Riku just saw Ritzy as a hero.
Stuttering from the excitement of seeing a hero, Riku said,
"T-thank you for h-helping us! What d-do you want t-to know!?".
Ritzy,
"Do you know who owns the emblem with the shield and three-leaf clover in the middle?".
Ritzy was interested in finding how that noble family got the beastkins for their gunpowder. He also wanted to know how far along their gunpowder research was. But before he could get into the details, Ritzy needed to know who the family was.
Riku,
"They're one of the big slave-trading families, but I don't know much. Christoph should know more about them".
Ritzy turned to Christoph but Christoph didn't look frightened like before. Instead, his fist was clenched. His nails were digging into his palms and causing it to bleed.
Christoph said disgruntled,
"Why do you want to know about the Schiavi family".
Ritzy's thoughts,
'This elf seems to hate the Schiavi family. If I don't want to be seen as an enemy, I need to make an excuse'.
Ritzy said in a fake angered voice,
"My half-brother was forced to be the city's wind magician slave for years. They said they would let my brother go if I could afford him. When I finally got enough to pay for his freedom, the city was overthrown. That Schiavi family was renting my brother at the time during the revolution".
Riku,
"If he was with that family before, then it means he escaped. I remember that one of the biggest groups of volunteered warriors came from the escaped slaves of the Schiavi!".
Ritzy,
"No, he didn't. My brother is a much better magician than me. This made the Schiavi family scared that he would be a major enemy in the revolution so they executed him before he was freed".
Christoph stopped clenching his fist and then changed into a worried tone,
"Could your brother be the half-nymph. I heard that the nymph is a wind magician and is part of the city so he would be rented to the nobles. That his power was so great, that the mayor deemed the nymph couldn't be owned by one person".
Ritzy didn't know if this was a trap but he took the risk. He wanted to have the elf believe he wasn't an enemy.
Ritzy pretended to be furious. Ritzy lifted his leg and slammed his foot into the ground. Breaking the stone floor.
Ritzy,
"Sorry, I get angered when people speak of my brother as an item that can be rented".
Christoph spoke more sympathetically when he heard Ritzy's response,
"I know what you mean. I experienced having being treated as an item and seeing loved ones being treated as items. Especially by that damn Schiavi family!".
Ritzy,
"It's bad being treated as an object, but nothing compares to seeing someone you care about not being treated as a living being".
Christoph said in a sad angry tone,
"I know what you mean. My daughter and her fiance were slaves bought by the Schiavi family. They were forced to work at the Schiavi brothel. Do you know how it is to see your daughter finally find love but then be sent to have her body used!"
Christoph took a deep breath then spoke in a hopeful tone,
"Thank the merciful God for allowing this revolution, now my daughter doesn't need to work in such a horrible place anymore. I just hope I see her again. I still haven't found her since a week before this revolution started".
Ritzy's thoughts,
'So that's where the bodies come from. They most likely dispose of the bodies used for sexual torture. I don't think they allow sexual torture to be used on human whores so beastkin slaves are probably the next best bet'.
Riku felt awkward from their conversation so he decided to change the topic.
Riku,
"Christoph, lets head to the backup place. I don't want to see another bad human".
Christoph,
"Oh, yes of course. Ritzy, follow us".
Ritzy noded and followed. While walking, Ritzy had more questions and Christoph answered. But during one question, Riku intervened. Riku wasn't comfortable with the adult talk they were having".
Riku,
"Wait, hero. I still don't know your name?".
Ritzy,
"My name is Grýlos but people call me gold".
Christoph,
"Oh, is your name in Nymph language?".
Ritzy,
"Yes, my father was a great fan of Nymphs so he gave me a Nymph name even though I didn't come from a Nymph like my brother".
Riku,
"Gold... Gold... Gold is such a good name for a hero. I'll make sure to spread your name so everyone can know about your heroic deeds".
Ritzy panicked for a millisecond but then quickly hid it.
Ritzy's thoughts,
'I can't have him spread a rumor about a golden-eyed man saving beastkin! But I also need to see their headquarters!'.
Ritzy,
"So... How much longer till we get there?".
Riku said merrily,
"It's at the town hall. Originally we would've gone to the bank but since we came from the auction hall, the bank is probably captured as well. At least thats what Christoph thinks".
Christoph,
"Yeah, the auction house and bank aren't too far apart from each other so-".
Ritzy extended both his hands and conjured a scythe. The next moment in one swift motion, Ritzy sliced through the young beastkin and elf.
Ritzy,
"Sorry, but I can't have you spread the rumor about a golden-eyed hero being inside the city".
Ritzy lowered next to the dead bodies to make sure they couldn't have survived. Seeing that there was no possible way for them to survive from his attack, Ritzy left the area and headed for the top of a nearby building.
Ritzy looked all around him and found the town hall. The town hall had many beastkins patrolling the area and they were also checking the arriving beastkin survivors.
Ritzy's thoughts,
'Going inside, I might find valuable weapons and mana items but how do I go inside? Sneaking around wouldn't be to possible since there's too many beastkin. The only option is a disguise but I can't pass their inspection with only that. Beastkins have an animal like smell and humans have their own unique smell. I need to blend in with someone else if I want to go inside'.
While seeing the crowd of beastkin arriving, he noticed many of them were injured.
Ritzy gave a devilish smile and then looked around him. Looking around, he saw a white fox-beastkin come up to Riku and Christoph's dead bodies.
Seeing the beastkin unaware of its surroundings, Ritzy leaped off the building and conjured a light blue short sword. Falling, Ritzy landed on the beastkin while stabbing his sword through the beastkin's throat.
Successfully killing the beastkin, Ritzy stopped standing on the beastkin and moved aside. Ritzy then stopped conjuring a short sword and made a very thin knife instead.
Ritzy grabbed the knife and used it to cut pieces from the fox. Ritzy cut off the beastkin's whiskers, pointy fox ears, and whitetail. To stop the bleeding coming from the parts, Ritzy used life magic to close the openings.
Ritzy then took the fox's shoelaces off. He used one shoelace to tie the tail on the top of his buttocks but under his trench coat and inside his pants. Ritzy then cut the second shoelace into two pieces and conjured a needle.
Ritzy used the needle to puncture the shoelace parts through the fox ears and then used the shoelace to tie the ears to his hair.
Done with the ears and tail, Ritzy moved on to the whiskers. Ritzy placed his hand on the open wound of the fox and then smudged the fox's blood around his body. Once his body was marked with blood, he used some more blood to put on his cheeks. Ritzy then placed the whiskers on his cheeks and used water magic. Ritzy water magic pulled the water from the blood, causing it to dry and harden.
With the dry blood, Ritzy did not only look like he escaped a fight, but the dry blood on his cheeks also worked as glue. The dry blood easily held the fox whiskers.
Ritzy's thoughts,
'I almost forgot my eyes'.
Ritzy then surrounded his eyes with life magic. Life magic was green and yellow can make green, so the gold light from his eyes was able to be hidden from the glow of life magic.
Ritzy now looked like a blessed life magic white fox beastkin that came from a brutal fight.