MM2 -CH3-

Rene was quite glad to be heading for the guild house for the Mask, the Tramp’s Tail.

Dinner with his family and his brides had been polite.

Not to mention stiff, uncomfortable, overly formal, and lacking in familial feeling.

Considering Aurora was meeting everyone for the first time, and everyone else was meeting his family for the first time, it’s wasn’t a surprise to him in the end that everyone was somewhat uncomfortable.

That said, it hadn’t gone poorly. Or negatively.

Just awkward.

The biggest problem of the even was there’d been almost no time for Aurora to really meet everyone before dinner. That entire period of time had been taken up by training her in the basics of what would keep her alive as the Light Mask.

Irini and Rene had their work cut out for them to get Aurora to a place where she could survive on her own.

Swordsmanship wasn’t an issue. She could actually defend herself well in a stand up fight.

The problem was her awareness, her ability to sneak, and to defend from ambushes.

And the second problem tonight was that there was no time for Rene to meet with his parents after dinner. Nor for Aurora to sit down and truly get to know everyone other than Irini.

The three of them needed to get to the Tramp’s tail almost immediately.

Odelia had instructed everyone to return tomorrow to formally discuss their situation as a group.

Aurora included, who fortunately had the day off.

“This is very enjoyable,” Irini said after landing next to Rene in the alley behind the Tramp’s tail.

Standing there, he considered that. Aurora was a very adept student. She’d learned very quickly between Irini and Rene. To the point that she could have easily been accepted into a modern day special-forces combat team.

Rene couldn’t deny his ability to instruct others was likely his most powerful tool. The ability to turn a city guard into an assassin in a week was becoming a very distinct possibility.

“Agreed,” he admitted. “It’s rather nice to have another in our group for this.”

“Should we bring in our Elven-concubine? She might be good at this,” Irini asked, her question punctuated by the softest tap of Aurora’s boots hitting the ground behind them.

“Maybe,” Rene allowed, turning to look at Aurora.

She was wearing a duplicate of Irini’s mask, except a white color.

They are each one side of my own mask. Dark Mask and Light Mask.

“I would agree to the former statement. This is rather… enjoyable,” Aurora said, standing up from her crouch. They’d jumped down from a rather impressive height and landed without a concern. “As to the latter, I’m uncertain. I was only able to speak with her for a very short time.”

Aurora and Irini had both been taught safe fall. They’d likely been growing the skill as they ran through the city to the Tramp’s Tail as well.

“But I like this. Much more so than being a guard. I feel like I’m always waiting for someone to attack me,” confessed Aurora. “Perhaps I’ll need to retire after-all.”

“You should. You and I will work well together. And being a guard is putting yourself into a position where anyone can approach you. That is unsuitable for you anymore,” Irini agreed. “R-Mask stalked you for a while. He was also able to follow you home and then back to the plaza. I stalked him, but in the end, he hunted and caught me.”

Aurora nodded her head to that. She was dressed in the same way Irini and he was, though she wore a short-sword rather than the daggers he and Irini preferred.

Nodding his head to the side, Rene started toward the mouth of the alley. Heading out to the street he could feel Irini and Aurora projecting themselves in their space.

Sliding into the Mask’s personality, Rene did the same. Pushing out his presence and awareness.

The more he could chase off anyone who might give him trouble before they even got close to him, the better, and safer, he would be.

Stepping into the Tramp’s Tail, Rene paused and looked around.

Your skill in Awareness has increased (9)

Your skill in Intimidation has increased (29)

Like a dark cloud rolling in across a clear sky, everyone in the Tramp’s Tail hunched their shoulders. Huddling into themselves and appearing smaller.

Satisfied, feeling no threats, Rene retracted his presence and began walking toward his office. Entering it he found Rose, Darla, and Pinky were already standing in front of his desk.

Each was dressed in a very expensive looking dress that complimented them personally. All three of them had their hands clasped and held in front of themselves, their shoulders squared.

Exactly as Dephan, who wasn’t present, had clearly instructed them to do so.

Though there was one difference this time.

All three were smiling at him.

“Madam Dephan is currently handling a minor situation, boss. Welcome home,” Pinky said clearly. From what he could tell of her, Pinky seemed to be the leader of the three women. Her bright blonde hair was pulled back in a rather elegant looking braid today, her soft green eyes very direct and unwavering. “May I personally entertain you? It would be my pleasure to offer you my first experience and tend to your needs.”

“You may,” Rene said coming over to sit at his desk. “Just not right now.”

He wasn’t going to kid himself about eventually having to bed all three women. If he didn’t, it would likely send red flags to all three women, Dephan, and anyone who heard about it.

“I took care of the warehouse, boss,” Darla said quickly, holding his gaze just as Pinky had. Her dark black hair was arranged in small ribbons and clips, pulling it back from her face and highlighting her rather lovely features, not the least of which were her blue eyes. “Everything was cleaned up and put to rights. We paid off the local patrols just to make sure they didn’t look into it, then paid off the owner of the warehouse. I recorded everything in my personal ledger as madam Dephan instructed.”

“Good job, Darla,” Rene said nodding his head. “Collect a bonus for yourself for taking care of the extra bits. That’s good forethought on your part.”

Darla’s chin lifted up fractionally and her nostrils flared slightly. She was unable to fight down the smile that bloomed on her face, however.

Pride and ego. I wonder if any of these three ever had any. 

Let’s feed them of ourselves and compliments a plenty.

We have to, and I won’t lie and say I won’t enjoy it, but we can’t do that right now.

And stop rhyming with me.

The Monster chuckled, but said nothing.

“Uhm, I did it,” said Rose. Darla and Pinky both looked momentarily unnerved as soon as Rose spoke. As if they hadn’t expected her to say anything.

Looking to the young woman he found her watching him with a weird quirky smile.

Her hair which at first he thought was a reddish-brown had become more red by the day. As if frequent bathing and care was all that it needed to become a copper like color, then bundled it all up behind her head in a bun. Her brown eyes were warm and translucent like.

Of the three, Rose had the most impressive figure, though they were all incredibly beautiful. More so than even Odelia.

“And what did you do,” Rene asked feeling rather curious.

“My first word,” Rose said then scurried away from his desk toward one of the three that sat next to Dephan’s. “Dephan said she could tell what I wrote without me telling her, so it counts this time.”

Darla and Pinky both looked like they wanted to hide the girl in a closet and apologize to him.

Catching their eyes with his own he held up a hand to silence them before they could even contemplate interrupting this.

By the time Rose had turned back to him he’d put his attention back to her.

Rushing back over to him with a paper in her hands she held it out in front of herself quite proudly.

“Look, boss. I did your name,” Rose said bending her head over the paper and looking at her own work. “See? I’m not an idiot. I can learn. I’ve just never been taught. I’ll be good to you. Good for you.”

In the middle of the paper was four letters which were quite legible.

M-A-S-K.

Rene wasn’t quite convinced that Rose was a mental giant, but she could obviously learn and adapt. And that was far more than most people could ever say for themselves in a similar situation. So many that would give in to despair and stop.

Doubly so as she’d grown up in this world on the streets, kept herself a virgin, and managed to succeed so far in life as she had.

Sometimes, street smarts counted for more than intelligence ever could.

“As promised then, put it behind me on my wall, Rose. Good job,” Rene said seriously. “I expect your next project to be a full sentence.”

“I understand!” Rose said with a happy laugh. Then she moved beyond his desk, and behind him.

Quite deliberately she shoved his chair to the side and then sat down in his lap. Wriggling around for a moment she then lifted up the paper to his wall.

At some point he hadn’t noticed, she’d gotten ahold of a push pin.

With some pressure from her hand, she pinned her work to his wall and then turned to look at him. Smiling at him from inches away she reached up, grabbed his mask, and eased it to the side.

Exposing his cheek.

Before he could respond she’d leaned in and kissed said cheek, then rearranged his mask back in place. Moving his chair back around, Rose remained seated in his lap, looking quite happy where she was.

Huh. She’s cute. Like a kitten.

I like her. Consider me smitten.

Putting his hands on Rose’s hips, Rene leaned partially to one side to look to Darla and Pinky.

“Pinky, I recognize you as the leader of this trio,” Rene said quite formally. “Good work. You’re guiding Rose and Darla appropriately. I expect more progress from Rose with her literacy, and Darla with our city side of things. You three are my personal women. No one else’s, ever. Or you’ll have a bad end. You’re also my lieutenants and work for me. You’ll do what Dephan needs you to if I have no orders for you. Do you understand?”

Rose nodded her head enthusiastically, then leaned back, putting her shoulders to Rene. Reaching back with one arm she began to casually stroke the back of his head with one hand. Her other hand rubbing his thigh.

Definitely grew up in the streets. Most certainly knows how the world works.

Now I’m more impressed that she managed to keep herself pure.

“We all understand, thank you, boss. Yours and yours alone. Never another,” Pinky said, ducking her head toward him. “I will strive to lead my trio accordingly.

“Though, if you’re willing, could Rose entertain you? As Dephan stated, none of us have ever known a man in any way, but Dephan has been instructing us rigorously. We also obviously… have seen a lot of the world around us. We-we know what happens, how to do it, and what a man wants. Just… haven’t done any of it. I know she could please you.”

All three women nodded their heads at that.

Rose turned around partly and nuzzled Rene’s neck.

“I watched a lot of it happen in the streets. Mama worked the beds… I’ve never done any of it, but I know exactly what to do, boss. Let me entertain you,” Rose pleaded.

“Later,” Rene said and then patted Rose on the hip. “Up you go, Rose. Rejoin your trio. We have things to discuss.”

Rose sighed extravagantly, grinding her rear end into his lap for a second, before she got up and went to the other side of the desk.

“Any word on the other guilds?” Rene asked, just barely managing to keep a hold on his desire. “Anything from the Snakes or Ravens?”

“Nothing. They’re still doing whatever they want and causing problems,” Pinky said. “We’re paying for information. I… I also extended the bounty on both guilds. We’ve been collecting tattoos and heads.”

“Good. Soon as they settle down some, end the bounty,” Rene commanded.

“I’ve extended our contacts to the guards,” Darla added. “They’re all turning their heads right now while we solve this. It’s a… it’s costing us money but I feel it’s worth it.”

“Also good, not a concern. Money can be replaced far easier if the tension in the city goes down,” argued Rene.

“I made friends with a lot of the working girls who take care of the nobles and merchants,” Rose said with a bounce, as if she couldn’t stand still. “The nobles are all trying to be quiet and keep their heads down right now. With Junk being murdered, and someone probably finding his records, a lot of people are afrad of getting exposed.”

Nodding his head at that he pointed a finger at Rose while looking to Pinky.

“Your idea?” he asked.

“I… yes. Rose is… people can’t resist her,” admitted Pinky. “Especially the working girls. I’ll use what resources I’m allowed to, to get my job done for you.”

“Good. Rose, keep it up, that’s good information. Men say a lot of stupid things to brag,” Rene said. Then he pointed to Aurora. “This is Light Mask. She handles the nicer things in the guild. She’s equivalent to Dark Mask. Don’t get in her way, do what she tells you.”

All three women had been steadfastly avoiding looking at Aurora. Now they all looked to her and dipped their heads to her.

“Look forward to working with you,” grumbled Aurora.

“Anything you need?” Rene asked, looking to the guard.

“No. I’ll settle in,” she replied.

Rene turned and looked to Irini.

“You?” he asked.

“I’m going to train them,” Irini said, pointing at the trio. “They need Masks and learn to how to defend themselves. As your women, they must be ready. And the fewer people see of their faces the better. I’ll get the masks tonight.”

“Fine,” Rene said, nodding his head. That wasn’t a bad idea. It would give him an opportunity to level up his instructor skill as well. And if he did the work, he could make sure they didn’t learn anything they could use against him. “I’ll train them, however. I don’t want them learning things that won’t be useful to them. You can get their masks.”

“Perfect,” Irini said warmly and a slight roll of her tongue in a pur.

“Anything else?” Rene asked looking around. “No? Okay. What’s Dephan working on exactly?”

“The Madam is dealing with a client who was cruel,” Rose said with an angry frown appearing on her face. “He hit Nalissa several times. She’s handling them both right now.”

Lifting his hand to his right he pointed to Irini and flicked his hand forward.

Irini left without a word, moving quickly and with determination. Rene didn’t need to say a word.

“Great. Now, you three. Let’s… train a bit,” Rene said.

***

“I’m so tired,” Aurora complained after she followed Rene in through the window.

“Yeah, so am I. But this’ll probably be the last day we can rob the Ambassador’s house,” Rene said. “He’ll actually be suspected of being missing if he doesn’t return by tomorrow morning. Then someone will come looking.

“If we rob him tonight, we’re far less likely to miss anything valuable. Or anything he wouldn’t want someone else to find. Bring anything worth selling or keeping back here.”

Rene pointed at the floor.

They were currently on the third floor and the house was absolutely silent and still.

“Especially if you find something you personally want that couldn’t be traced back here,” Rene added. “Make sure you get it. You don’t find too many opportunities like this available to you.”

“I don’t even know what I’m looking for,” Aurora said as Irini moved to a cabinet and pulled it open.

“Anything valuable, anything you want, or anything you think someone else in our group might want,” Rene instructed. “I’m personally looking for correspondence. Letters, notes, anything that he might have received from someone else.”

Leaving the girls to their own devices, Rene left the room through the open door. Standing in the hall he stretched out his senses in all directions and turned on his tracking ability.

There was only one trail to follow, and it was a name he didn’t recognize. Except given the trail timer was at twenty hours ago, it could only be the ambassador himself.

And where were you going just before you left off for your kidnapping meeting, hm?

Keeping his eyes to the trail, which became a series of blue bootprints after Rene focused on it, he got to work.

Slowly, Rene had to unwind this trail. Given that this man had likely criss-crossed back and forth through his home over months, he had no doubt he’d probably lose the trail a number of times.

Through the hall-way Rene went.

Walking along he checked his surroundings as best as he could as he went. Trying to keep an eye out for anything that he could take that’d be worthwhile.

He was deeply interested in the paintings he passed, but he imagined those were probably unique pieces. Things that he couldn’t resell or show off.

They were simply too easily to identify.

Entering the entry lobby he found himself looking down two flights of stairs. The trail he was following moved right down both to the ground floor.

Heading down Rene was impressed by the amount of wealth on display by the city of Felicie.

Everything here was the property of the city, all put here for the Elven ambassador to enjoy. From the imported rugs to an actual glass chandelier, it was all very expensive.

Expensive in a way that Rene couldn’t quite comprehend.

Reaching the ground floor he found the trail wound itself backward and forward. Going through the entirety of the house.

Except as he stared at each set of prints he could see the timer behind each one. To the point that he was able to identify the last one. The most recent one.

That one led down and around the staircase. It dipped into a backroom that was full of dry goods and things that wouldn’t go to rot on a shelf.

Sucking on his teeth Rene considered the room and where the prints themselves led.

Which were odd on their own. They went straight into a shelf and beyond them. As if they didn’t exist at all.

With his left hand Rene began to idly run his fingers across his jaw back and forth as he contemplated the situation.

Clearly there’s a secret passage here. But how do we go about getting it to open?

What do you take me for, a clairvoyant seer? Its not as if I can just use a magical token.

You’re rhyming with me.

Whatever. I are you, you are me. We are we. Right?

I’m learning to accept that.

There was a soft growl from the Monster at that, but nothing afterward.

“Whatever,” grumbled Rene, then he reached out and grabbed the shelf and jerked on it.

Only for the entire thing to come tumbling down at him. The whole thing clattering to the ground as he dodged out of the way and falling to one side.

Grimacing Rene stood there feeling like an idiot. He’d just made more than enough to get someone interested in him if they were listening.

Standing there, he waited.

And waited.

Yet no one came.

Okay…? Okay.

Looking back to the spot the shelf had been, Rene was surprised to see what looked like a potato simply roll through the wall and vanish.

Raising his eyebrows at that, Rene took a step forward with his hand out toward the wall.

Passing right through it, his hand vanished, only to be followed by Rene when he kept going.

Standing in a narrow stone passage that winded down into the ground he quickly started heading down.

When he reached the bottom of it, he was surprised when magical lanterns lit themselves. Spreading out a faint blue illumination throughout the room.

Rene really didn’t want to see it though.

Didn’t want to see any of it.

There were a number of cages along one wall. In front of those were a number of wooden benches and tables with leather straps.

Sex dungeon. Straps to hold them down. Cages to keep them ready.

I’m glad we killed the Elf.

Likewise. Except… except if he was participating in this, wouldn’t we have gotten an alignment gain for him?

Which means he was the location, but not the provider, or one of the participants.

Valid deduction.

Looking at the ground, not wanting to step into the room, Rene focused on it.

The bare dirt held the imprint of many booted feet.

Where above the house had been cleaned meticulously during the day, to the point that there was no presence of anyone, here was a different matter.

Pulling a piece of paper free from his inventory and a charcoal stick, Rene began to write down all the names he could see on the tracking list.

This would be a list of death if he could manage it. Because Rene didn’t have to think hard about who would likely end up in those cages.

If a ransom isn’t paid, this is likely where they stayed.

Used and abused; bruised and confused.

They will need to pay, won’t they.