Pink Phoenix Duchy, Lowscale Tavern.
It was the most popular tavern in the outer parts of the city, and the biggest. Its only downside was that it had no sleeping quarters, the owners didn't do a part time inn business. But still, it was popular, because it was old. Fathers would bring their sons to drink there until their sons became fathers themselves, and so on, and so on. Everyone remembered and respected the Lowscale Tavern, even though it was named offhandedly by the first duke of the duchy. That time, the outer parts were basically another name for the slums.
The tavern was also popular because of the informal conversations that happened there, anyone who worked for the rich and also visited the tavern would always spread gossips about the people they worked for, whether their stories were true or not didn't matter, what mattered was if they were entertaining enough to be spread.
Two men were sitting at a table in the middle of the tavern, their talk was stimulating, and people nearby were keeping one eye and one ear on their conversation.
''… And they crawled out of their graves! Those abominations are walking around with the living now.''
''Truly, what were those sorcerers thinking, raising the dead? Hmm, this wasn't the first time they experimented on something, and it went completely wrong, remember the teleportation arrays?''
''Yeah, but they fixed that…''
''But it still caused a lot of deaths before that! I heard the space collapsed and killed hundreds of people.''
''You guys talking about the walking dead?'' A man pulled his chair closer to their table, ''I heard about them from my sister.''
''I heard about them when I visited the Black Stallion Duchy!'' Another man energetically added.
''Really? That far?''
''I reckon these sorcerers raising the dead aren't doing it out of pure curiosity, they seem to be gathering them. Do they plan to attack the kingdom?'' Another man gasped. By this time, everyone in the tavern was listening and giving their inputs, everyone began wondering about what the man said; maybe there were a group of sorcerers who wanted to attack the kingdom.
The conversations were so heated that no one noticed that the man had walked out of the tavern. He walked down the poorly lit road, past the woman who sold boiled potatoes, past the prostitutes who had wandered a bit way from their place of business to lure healthy young men and decrepit old men alike. They winked at him coquettishly, he could smell their cheap perfume from where he stood, but he resisted, he had spent a fair share of his money on them already.
He didn't stop until he reached the inn where he and his companion slept, he opened the door to their room and saw it empty.
''Hmm, I guess I'm the first to arrive.'' He said. He took off his boots and sat down on one of the beds, the inn was generous enough to allow them to bring more beds in, for a price, of course. He didn't think it was ideal to share rooms though, after all, one of his companions was a girl.
''We're back!'' The door burst open, and a girl and a man came inside, the girl immediately flopped on her bed after walking in. The man greeted him first.
''How was your day, mister Lorax?''
''Same old, same old.'' He said, ''But, hey, I've told you not to call me mister, Damon. I'm only two years older than you.''
Damon laughed, ''Oh, right. I keep forgetting… Jasmine get up, don't sleep like that.'' He tapped her till she responded.
''Uhhh, why can't I sleep like this?'' She groaned.
''Because you're sweaty and gross, change.''
Then they both began undressing.
Lorax turned his head away and sighed, ''I really don't think it is appropriate for you to change your clothes in front of me, I don't know how you do it without care…''
''It's because I'm not interested in you.'' They both said.
''Wow,'' Lorax scoffed incredulously, ''I was mostly talking to Jasmine since she's way younger than me, but thanks for lowering my self-esteem Damon, I really needed to be humbled.''
''How is that – ugh, whatever.''
''But it's true though,'' Jasmine said as she removed her clothes, ''we lived in a place where there wasn't time for such shame. I'm comfortable with Damon so it doesn't bother me to change clothes near him, and it's not like I'm showing you my boobs, I'm just changing clothes, my undergarments stay on.''
''And do you truly find me attractive, or do you think that you feel you would?'' She raised an eyebrow.
''I…'' Lorax was stumped.
Jasmine giggled, ''Well, you're better than most anyhow. Most men don't know that there is an age limit to their attraction, like I understand thinking about it and getting a natural uncontrollable response, but when they try to make their imagination come true is what pisses me off.''
''Yeah, remember that guy who tried to rape you?'' Damon chuckled.
''I also remember you threatening to cut off his dick.''
They both laughed and flopped on their beds. Lorax looked at them, dumbfounded.
A few minutes later Jasmine had slept, leaving Damon and Lorax to talk, quietly of course, waking up Jasmine could be disastrous.
''I talked so much today.'' Damon yawned.
''Yeah, me too,'' Lorax said, ''who knew this mission would be so hard?''
It had been almost four months since they left the Forsaken Lands, the first place they went to was the Black Stallion Duchy. Lorax was a bit worried when they went there since Jasmine and Damon were basically fugitives but their time in the Black Stallion Duchy was easier and smoother than in the Pink Phoenix Duchy. They didn't have to spend much time there, this was mostly because an Adventurers group got attacked by the undead, Damon's group coming with their own stories was like adding wood to an already blazing fire. And it seemed that the people of Black Stallion Duchy were as paranoid as their duke because after a few weeks the entire main city knew about the news, which was incredible because the city was huge.
So they decided not to visit the nearby towns or village, they figured the news would naturally spread throughout the country on its own. Then they traveled to the Pink Pheonix Duchy.
Jasmine was particularly excited to visit a country led by a woman, Damon didn't care and Lorax was more interested in visiting the brothels. After settling down, they began spreading tales. They had bought a lot disguises from the Black Stallion Duchy so they were always different people every time they did their mission.
But they underestimated the imagination of the people in Pink Pheonix Duchy, they spun the rumors so much that there were now people who had 'survived' attacks from the undead.
''Where are we going after this?'' Lorax asked.
''White tiger.'' Damon said.
''Is our group doing the most work? The other group only has Green Turtle Duchy to tackle, while we are doing the other three.''
''Hmm, we weren't given a specific country to go to, so I doubt they would stay only in green turtle, and even still, they still have more work to do than us. You know since they are closer they would most likely try to spread rumors in the capital city itself. Well, I guess you don't know, but I know Ronan.'' Damon said.
Lorax mulled about what he said, if he was being honest, he didn't want to visit the capital city, he didn't have enough courage to lie to the king himself. After a few minutes he heard soft snores from Damon, he closed his eyes too, eager to get a good night's sleep.
…
Azealia waited until most of the torches and candles were turned off before jumping down from the tree, a normal person would have gone crazy staying on a bug-filled tree for hours but not her, she was trained for this. Her padded boots barely made sounds when they hit the ground, she quickly double checked her equipment and weapons before walking towards the inn.
Two weeks, she had used two weeks to gather enough information about her targets. She had wanted to finish the mission sooner, but she found out that her initial target had accomplices, so she waited patiently until she was sure the time was right. She stood beside a window, slowed her breathing and perched her ears. No one was walking around, they had all gone to bed. So, she began climbing.
The mission was actually a rogue mission, she didn't refer it to her superiors because she thought that it would be easy for her to deal with some rumor spreaders. Normally, she wouldn't bother with such people, but her instincts told these people weren't just spreading fear without reason, especially when they were spreading one specific rumor.
Soon, with her expert climbing, she reached her targets window. She hung still for a few moments and stared into the room, the three bodies on the bed were still, they were fast asleep. She pulled herself into the room, her feet made minimal noise on the wooden floors.
She thought the noise was insignificant and wouldn't disturb the sleepers, but what she didn't know was that Damon and Jasmine had lived in a place where sleeping too deep could get you robbed or killed, and even when they got to the Overlord's City they immediately went to the Unsafe Zones to level up, so they were constantly on alert. Their eyes shot open and they immediately used [Sense].
They 'saw' a figure standing in their room, and immediately conducted the procedure they had planned. Jasmine pulled out a paper with a permanent [Light] rune and injected her warrior energy into it, brightening the room in an instant. The intruder covered their eyes with their arm and began edging closer to the window, but was soon dragged into the Shadow Realm.
''W-what! What's going on?!'' Lorax slurred and squinted his eyes from the bright light.
''Someone broke into our room.'' Jasmine said, ''Hey Damon, wasn't sending them to the Shadow Realm a bit of an overkill?''
''You're right,'' Damon sighed, ''keep the light on while I go get them.'' He dropped into his shadow.
He arrived in the colorless world of the Shadow Realm, he could see Jasmine talking to Lorax who was getting out of his bed, albeit extremely slowly. It had been a while since he came to the realm, only using it twice in the past four months to pass through the gates of the Black Stallion main city. He heard a sound behind him, then hastily raised his arm up to block the kick that was aimed at his head.
He jumped backwards to create some space between him and his attacker but they stuck beside him, a dagger appeared on their hand, aiming at his temple. He ducked but was hit in the face by their waiting knee.
'Fuck!' he thought, 'I'm vulnerable here.' He couldn't use shadow magic in the Shadow Realm, but how was he supposed to know that the intruder was a trained fighter?
He amateurishly dodged their strikes while searching for the best shadow to leave from, but they were relentless and didn't leave him room to think. They slithered behind him and tried to keep their dagger on his neck but he blocked their arm.
''You seem to have some fighting skills,'' the unmistakable voice of a woman sounded beside his ear, ''but they are rusty and wouldn't hold up against me. Now where the hell did you send me to –? ''
Damon elbowed her in the stomach, grabbed her whole arm and flung her overhead, she landed hard on the ground, ''I may be rusty, but I'm still a man. Bigger muscle mass, and all that.'' He said.
Even while gasping, she still endured the pain and rushed towards him. But Damon was ready for her, he ducked under her punch, grabbed her waist and pushed them both out of the Shadow Realm. When they got out it was impossible for her to win anymore, Damon could feel the shadows even with his eyes closed and he ordered them to stop her with [Shadow Vines], a self-created skill. The shadows around grew tendrils and wrapped themselves around her, leaving only her head visible.
''What took you so long?'' Jasmine said, ''And why is your nose bleeding?''
''She's not a normal intruder.'' Damon raised his face to Lorax who began healing him.
''She?'' Jasmine walked up to the incapacitated intruder and removed their mask, not minding their vehement glare. A youthful face appeared, with plump lips and a healthy brown skin, she was a great beauty, even with her hair disheveled and her eyes fierce.
''She tried to kill me.'' Damon spoke from behind.
''Oh,'' Jasmine eyes turned cold, she walked so close to the intruder that their noses were almost touching, ''is that so?''
The intruder didn't back down and glared back at her, they had a small staring competition until Damon pulled Jasmine backwards, ''Alright, enough. We already knew that trouble was going to find us during this mission, but an assassin… Could she be sent by the sorcerers to silence us?''
''Then let's kill her.'' Jasmine decided.
''What? No! Damn, you're so bloodthirsty. We have to find out what she knows, maybe through her we would be able to find the sorcerers directly.'' Damon said. He casted [Shadow Trace], a piece of his shadow broke off and formed a mark on the woman's face, then he threw her into the Shadow Realm.
''What did you do?'' Lorax asked.
''I kept a trace on her,'' Damon smirked, ''in the normal world, I would be able to track her wherever she goes, but in the Shadow Realm the trace sticks her directly on my shadow, so she should be standing right here.'' He waved his hand over his shadow.
In the Shadow Realm, the woman screamed, punched and kicked at Damon's slowly moving shadow, but her action had no effect whatsoever. She couldn't even walk away if she wanted to, she was trapped.