A snakeman dressed in a uniform which was colored pitch black walked into the room, his footsteps resembling a trained march. He wore a cap which resembled a German commander from World War II, with a symbol in the center of a four pointed star.
The hundreds of badges and pins which adorned his uniform seemed to sway as this man made his way into the room, presenting in his hand a clipboard with a number of documents.
The man saluted to the cobra in front of him, placing his hand to his head in a military style.
"My Fuhrer, the provider. It is with great remorse that I bring to you a number of reports which would suggest dissidence and potential outside interference within this domain."
The black cobra who lay relaxed in his bed at first sat up on hearing these words, disrupting the women who were peacefully massaging his tail.
"Dissidence and outsiders, you say? This is.... extremely troublesome. What are the reports?"
Keeping his own hand to his head, the commander began to read off of his clipboard, presenting the information to his leader.
"The first report is regarding a certain carriage which has been discovered around a mile outside the city. It was parked quite far outside the city, however there was nobody inside the carriage when it was discovered. This is highly suspicious, as the carriage seemed to be in perfect shape. It's not possible that there was any sort of wreck in which the survivors left the carriage. Furthermore, even if the people riding in the carriage had only temporarily exited in order to take a break somewhere, where else would they head but this city?"
The man known as the provider thinned his eyes at this.
"So you're saying that outsiders have invaded?"
The commander nodded.
"I believe that is the case."
"Have there been any sightings of them?"
"Actually, that leads me to my next point. We are not sure whether this was related to the outsiders or not, however there was a single man today who dissented. During the weekly offerings, he made an attempt to keep his own earnings, unwilling to give back that which you have generously provided for him. This man was given one beating from every person present, and placed in the camps to do labor."
The cobra nodded, while grabbing the earplug of one of the women at his feet.
"You. Go get me a drink. Scotch will be fine."
The cobra then placed the earplug back in the woman, who did her best not to so much as tremble as her ruler was in contact with her, lest she offend him. She nodded and quickly got up, walking out of the room to retrieve his drink.
"Continue.", the cobra stated. "Why do you believe this has connection with the outsiders? While dissent is not exactly common, is there any relationship between the two events?"
The commander nodded.
"Indeed there is. There happened to be another event today during the daily distribution of sustenance where a single piece of meat went missing from one of the carts. Multiple men checked the scene and it was confirmed that there was no counting mistake, and with certainty we can say that a single piece of meat was stolen. At the time of the theft, it was immediately recognized that the piece of meat was missing, and so we lined up every person present and searched them head to toe, yet found nothing."
One of the eyes of the provider seemed to twitch at this.
"First we have a fool who is not willing to accept my grace, essentially begging to be allowed to steal what is rightfully mine, and now we have an actual theft of my own property, which I work endlessly to produce for my people? This is beyond mere disrespect, Commander."
The Commander closed his eyes with disdain.
"I understand that fully, my Fuhrer. However, there is more to this story than what I have already stated."
The cobra's lips seemed to curl distastefully, but he motioned for the commander to continue his report.
"Despite not being able to find the person who stole the meat, a certain woman came to our station just moments ago, presenting us with a new piece of evidence- and it was this piece of evidence which forced me to make you aware of this matter, as I cannot move forward without first hearing your own orders."
The guard turned around, walking out the door, and looked down the hallway before waving. The slithering sound which took the place of footsteps could be heard, and before the provider appeared a woman. This woman was in cuffs, blindfolded, and had earplugs in her ears, and behind her stood another guard, this one wearing a uniform identical to the Commander, though navy blue and with far less pins.
In the hands of this guard was a piece of paper. A note.
The woman was forced to kneel before the provider, despite not knowing where she was, and the guard pressed her face to the ground before standing and saluting to the provider, in the same way that the commander was doing.
"This woman is the wife of the man who was recently arrested for dissent, my Fuhrer."
The cobra looked down on the woman with piercing eyes. She was unaware of her location, but even through the blindfold she could feel the piercing glare aimed at her, which caused her to tremble as she pressed her face lower to the ground.
The cobra then looked to the other woman who was kneeling at his bedside, and took a single earplug out of her ear, carefully.
"I also am thirsty for some wine. Please retrieve some for me."
The woman nodded lightly with her eyes closed and her earplug was replaced before she made her way out the door just as the other woman had.
"Continue.", the cobra stated, and the man in navy blue held forward the letter which he was holding.
"According to this woman, she was in her apartment this evening when there was a knock at her door. She opened the door to find a package with this note on it. The note says the following."
[We are aware that your husband was sick and could not work. Here is a piece of meat. Please use this to feed your family.]
-The Slaves of the antiheroes
"Inside the package was a single piece of meat, which has been deduced to be the missing piece of meat from earlier today. As you can see from the message, the person who stole the meat did so with the intention of feeding the family of the man who dissented, which is direct rebellion against your law. That man did not earn this meat, and thus it must not be used to feed his family."
The face of the cobra wrinkled into a disturbing look as he glared at the woman, however as this was said, one of the women whom had been sent away to collect drinks- the one who was collecting the scotch- happened to return at that moment with the drink on a platter.
She walked slowly and quietly into the door past the guards, and as she did so the cobra immediately stared at this woman.
She walked up to his bedside, kneeling before him with the drink presented.
The cobra took out one of her earplugs slowly, and leaned over to the woman to whisper something into her ear.
"We were in the middle of speaking just now, and yet you walked right in here without so much as an order. Do you believe that you have the right to do such a thing in my presence?"
The woman's eyes went wide with fear as this was whispered into her ear, and the cobra slapped the drink on the platter, covering the woman in the drink.
"Commander. Take this woman to the farms. She has no respect for me. She has no place in my presence."
The woman was frozen stiff, unsure what to do. She wanted to scream and cry, and beg for mercy, but she knew that she could not- for doing so would only be further disrespecting the Fuhrer.
She merely stood still, with shock and awe covering her face as the Commander walked up to her, grabbing her by the collar of her neck and dragging her away.
"To walk right in when the Fuhrer is speaking to us like that..... the nerve...", the Commander whispered as he took this woman away.
She did not scream or struggle, despite the fact that she was being choked as she was dragged off, because she was too paralyzed by fear.
The fear of what would become of her.
As the Commander walked out with this woman, he walked past the other woman, who was standing outside the hallway with the wine in her hand on a platter. She watched in terror as the other girl was taken away for stepping inside without permission.
Meanwhile, the cobra motioned for the soldier in the navy blue uniform to continue.
"The most crucial piece of information is the following, my Fuhrer. This letter was signed by 'the slaves of the antiheroes.' If I remember correctly, the antiheroes were beings of legend who were said to one day attempt to take over every village and city in the monster realm. If these people who left the message truly are the slaves of these antiheroes, then this is problematic, however this further confirms the theory which we have been considering."
The man turned the letter around, showing the cobra the drawing of the flag which had a demonic hand, grasping a heart which represented the world itself, squeezing the blood out of it.
"Without a doubt, outsiders have infiltrated the city, and are already causing disturbances in your law and the way of life you have set for the people."
The cobra took a deep breath, clearly stressed upon hearing this, however calmed himself.
The man known as the Commander then returned to the side of his own soldier, saluting once more before his leader.
The provider then looked at the two with his piercing green eyes before speaking.
"If it has been confirmed that outsiders do indeed exist within the city, then they must be caught and made an example of. That is all there is to it. Everyone must know that there is no rebellion against my rule. And as for the woman right there, she is to be placed in the labor camps for her relation to the matter. That is all."
"It shall be done as you wish, my Fuhrer. We will focus all efforts tomorrow morning to capture these infiltrators."
The Commander nodded once to confirm that he understood his orders, before the guard wearing a navy blue uniform took the woman before them away to be thrown into the labor camps. The provider and the Commander were now left together alone in the room, however the cobra glared over to the doorway and called out to the woman who was waiting in fear.
"Woman. Why have you been standing there idly, forcing me to wait for my drink? Come forth.", the cobra stated in a commanding tone.
The woman walked carefully into the room, in the same manner which the one before her had, kneeling before the provider and offering him the drink on the platter.
Once more, he leaned over and removed the earplug to whisper into the ear of this woman.
"It is unacceptable to make me wait so long while you stand there doing nothing. Do you think you are more important than I?"
This woman too began to shiver as her eyes went wide, realizing that she had made a grave mistake.
"Take this one to the labor camps as well. She clearly has no respect for me as a provider."
This time, the provider took the glass of wine from the platter, and took a slow sip from it, swirling around the glass as he tasted the wine.
When he swallowed, he then lifted the glass above the head of the woman kneeling before him, and slowly poured it onto her head.
"Barely acceptable. Yet your disrespect for me has turned barely acceptable into completely unacceptable. Lament your actions in the camps."
With a salute, the Commander stood forward and grabbed hold of the woman as well, this time by her drenched hair. She too was dragged out pitifully, holding her breath and bearing the pain as she was taken away to her own doom.
The man known of the provider now sat alone in his own room, looking around at the spilled drinks on either side of his bed.
"Unacceptable. To think that such women could be considered the best among this village. Not a single one of them knows how to show their respect for someone above them."
That very night, both of those women were thrown into a cell with a number of other slaves- all women who had at one point served the provider and been called out for some unreasonable nitpick.
The provider was a man who was impossible to please, yet every single person within this cell greatly lamented their own abilities and their failure to please such a man.
He held expectations which were impossible to meet. If you did one thing, he would expect you to do the other. And if you did the other, he would expect you to do the first thing.
Trying to please such a man was no gamble.
It was a game which was rigged from the start.
----
Melody found herself looking at the other three as they slept peacefully beside her.
She was tired, yet she did not even consider falling asleep. She forced herself to stay awake, because it was her duty as the person leading this mission to ensure that nothing went wrong.
'Pierre may have tried to say he wanted to take over on watch, but look at him now. If he really wanted to do so, wouldn't he have woken himself up just to do that?'
Melody looked around as she sat next to the three, glancing around the plaza, in and out of all the alleyways which branched out from it.
Standing up, she listened for even the slightest sound, yet there was nothing.
Just as she had entered this city with not a single person saying a word, right now that silence had been reestablished, though this time it was because there were no people around.
No guards had come around this area thus far.
'It seems that the guards can't guard everything. Or perhaps they don't have any on patrol? It's likely that they simply assign guards to given checkpoints and key locations, and that's why none have come by at this point. That would make sense based on what that soldier said as well.'
Looking back to the three who were sleeping on the ground as if it were a comfortable bed, she smiled.
'I would prefer if nobody comes around till morning so that they can continue resting like that, but if someone comes around I might have to improvise.'
Technically Melody could always use an invisibility potion in order to make it so that the four would be able to rest without disturbance, but the plan was to get arrested.
It didn't particularly matter whether they were arrested at night or during the day, but getting arrested at night might actually be the better option, for it would create less of a disturbance.
Of course, if they were arrested in the early morning this would be best- before anyone was up and about heading to work.
Melody took a few steps to the side, checking down a certain alleyway and listening for anyone, yet there was nothing.
'Sigh.... back in my days as an assassin I wasn't ever worried about anything like this.... but now that there are real expectations on the line....'
Even if she failed in her missions, she would always be able to escape without harm. She was skilled to the point where she needed not to worry about failure.
Her clients were not people that she was required to please.
Sure, they might have been wealthy people among the underground of the Empire, and pissing them off would have consequences, but nothing compared to disappointing the antiheroes.
'Well... I don't believe they would punish us for any form of failure.... but it is exactly for that reason why I cannot allow myself to fail.... my former employers would try and hunt me down if I failed. They might even send other assassins after my life, which was why there was no real reason to care about them or their problems. However, for their excellencies.....'
Melody found herself grinning as she replayed her own plan in her head.
'Well, I don't believe anything they have agreed to a scheme which would end in failure. I just have to keep to the script... though, Lance has technically already gone off script once.... however, even that we've been able to use to our advantage.'
Night continued to pass, and Melody heard nothing in the streets, the moon slowly tracing itself across the sky until finally the slightest ray of sunlight began to peek out from the horizon.
'Ah, it seems it's morning.'
Melody bonked the sleeping three on the head with the end of her wand, and they all woke up quickly, looking at her with confused faces.
"Ow!"
"Ugh!"
"Huh!?"
Melody almost cracked a smile at seeing the three so confused, but waved to them to get up.
"Come on. We have a mission to get to."
"Eh?! Melody, don't tell me.... you stayed up all night!?", Pierre asked, clearly concerned for her.
"Yeah, I did. What of it?"
"You should have waken me up to take a watch! Aren't you going to be extremely tired today!?"
Melody looked at Pierre with confusion.
"Staying up for only a single night is nothing if it means the success of the mission. And doesn't Lance have some sort of energy potion to counter fatigue? Just give me one of those and I'll be fine."
Lance, who was gathering his bearings, stood up and began to reach into his pockets.
As he did so, he pulled out a light blue potion and threw it over to Melody, who caught it with one hand, taking a sip and then throwing it back to him.
She looked completely restored, and didn't feel tired in the least anymore.
Charlotte too got up quickly, and the four were ready to head off.
"But really, Melody... you should rely on us a little bit more....", she complained. "We're here for the sake of the mission too. You don't have to take the entire burden on yourself."
Melody smiled lightly at her comrades.
"I know that. Now hurry up and come with me so that we can get ourselves arrested."