Viscount Hengard Adria Hazelo was the commander of the city guards. As the little brother of Count Halmar, he did not inherit the family main estate and county, however, his brother gave him a post as the commander of the city guards and an honorary role as adviser whenever he needed help managing the county. It was not the most prestigious position for a noble, but Viscount Hengard was comfortable with what he had. He was not ambitious by a noble’s standard, but he did not want to be. He saw what ambition did to people; he experienced the War of the Empress firsthand.

  Knock Knock

  “Enter.” Kylan, his nephew, entered the office. The young man was already dressed in full armor so early in the morning. What a diligent young man, just like his father. It was a shame that he was a second son, he could easily be much more than a Vice-commander of the city guards. Considering he had no heir for himself, Viscount Hengard was considering adopting Kylan and let him inherit the branch family.

  “Uncle, you need me?” Kylan asked.

  “Before that, how’s the progress on the Elm street case?”

  “Not good, Uncle. We got nothing. All we had was the witnesses' testimonies but I’m starting to doubt those.” Kylan complained.

  “Is it fine to assume you have time to handle a new case?” The Viscount asked, he did not want to burden his favorite nephew with too much work, but he also realized that his personal case was going nowhere and it started to stress him out. An uncle's responsibility was to ensure that his nephews did not go bald like their father. A new case should refresh Kylan’s mind.

  “Of course, Uncle. I have time to take on another case.” Kylan eagerly answered. He too wanted to do something else rather than stressing out on a dead end case. Who knew, this new case might lead to a new clue for his old one.

  “Well, it’s less of a case and more like an urgent task.” Viscount Hengard handed a file to Kylan. He browsed the file that he received quickly and came to a conclusion, "Molrret infestation?”

  “Possible, Molrret Infestation. Guards had found lots of holes in a few of our warehouses and granaries. We’ve been missing crates of food and some goods. I want you to go to the mage tower and figure out a solution.”

  Kylan sighed. A Molrret infestation was not an easy thing to deal with. He realized that he saw more Molrret roaming about the street of Hazen lately, but he didn’t know that it had led to the point where their food storages were being raided by Molrret.

  “Wait a minute— goods?” That particular word struck Kylan in an odd way. Molrrets had no use for goods. “What kind of goods?”

  “Well, some trade goods, alcohol, and weapons.” Viscount Hengard explained. He understood Kylan’s bewilderment. He too thought it was strange that the Molrrets took non-food items—but at the same time, those holes in the report could only be dug by Molrrets.

  Kylan browsed the report once again. Those holes match Molrrets’ signature. Not only humans could not traverse Hazen’s sewer system freely, some of the warehouses that were targeted were not located directly under the sewer. “Alright, Uncle, I’ll head to the mage tower and get someone to help me investigate.”

  “Thank you Kylan. Why don’t you take Irvin while you’re at it. Get some brotherly bonding time.” suggested Hengard.

  Kylan chuckled wryly. Irvin Adria Hazen was the third son of the Hazen family, a talented mage who was studying at the Hazen mage tower. Kylan was not the biggest fan of Irvin. He considered Irvin lazy and spoiled. In reality, Irvin was not that lazy nor spoiled, but due to their closeness in age, Irvin and Kylan used to squabble a lot during childhood, and their parents— their mother specifically would pick Irvin’s side because he was younger.

  “Yeah sure, Uncle. I’ll be heading off now.”

  “Take care, Kylan.”

  Kylan left the room and headed to the mage tower. He dreaded the idea of having to talk to Irvin, yet work took precedence. Hopefully, the tower master would assign someone else to help him with the case, but he doubted it. Everyone around them wanted their relationship to improve, including the tower master.

  Oh well, having an awkward conversation with his brother would not be as bad as his dead-end case.

  *********

  It was the dead of night. Two guards, lazily guarding a warehouse. From a distance, hidden by the shadow of the alley, a young boy, Grigori, watched them like a hawk. He then disappeared into the shadows, into the depth of the sewer.

  He dropped down from a hole dug by Regulus. Inside the sewer, a bunch of kids, including Kisara and John, were waiting for him.

  “There’s two guards, they’re sleepy… but I don’t think we can raid the place without getting caught.” Grigori reported to the two leaders of the street urchins.

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  Kisara clicked her tongue—considering her experience of almost getting caught this morning, she did not want to make the same mistake, especially when she knew moving crates with a bunch of kids would be very noisy.

  “You seriously thought a warehouse wouldn’t be guarded. You really thought it’s gonna be an easy job huh?” criticized John in a mocking tone. “And don’t tell me, it’s the same warehouse you almost got caught in this morning?”

  “It’s not…probably… Regulus, It’s not right?” Kisara asked for Regulus' confirmation. Since they came in from below, she wasn’t sure where they were when scouting the warehouse in the morning.

  “No.Different.” Regulus said while munching on a freshly slain Sewer King. The other kids kept their distance from him because of it. They were all reluctant to enter the sewer at first, but after Kisara’s, Eda’s, Grigori’s, and Azali’s assurance, they entered the sewer, trusting in Regulus’ and D’aka’s protection—and Regulus did protect them from a sewer king. But now they were not sure if it’s the sewer kings they should be afraid of or Regulus.

  “So, what’s the plan here? Should I and Regulus take out the guards?” D’aka asked, suggesting a simple physical solution.

  “No.” said Kisara and John in unison. They were both surprised they could agree on the same thing.

  “We don’t want to leave any…evidence. Trails that can lead back to us.” Explained John. Kisara nodded in agreement.

  “What about the holes?” asked D’aka. To him those holes were obviously an evidence of a break in as it can be.

  “Don’t worry about the holes. Most people will think Molrret did that. If anything, we want everyone to think Molrret the one stealing all the goods.”

  “Wouldn’t that get the Molrrets in trouble?” asked D’aka. He was genuinely worried that the guards would start capturing the Molrrets because of their action. Especially since he was from the far north, the origin of the Taon. There, the Taon dealt with Molrret by capturing them, binding their arms in a way their big claws could not cut it, then dumped them far away from their settlements.

  “Don’t worry D’aka. They’ll be fine.” John reassured D’aka. He was just saying that to please D’aka’s worry, but there was some truth in John’s words. Unlike the Taon, the people of Azalia usually just ignore their Molrrets problem. The Molrrets would usually leave on their own on due time— and trying to capture or kill a Molrret was riskier than ignoring them.

  These were the differences between the Taon who usually settled in the mountain range and Azalian who rarely do. The Molrrets were a threat to the Taon when left alone due to the risk of landslides. They had to risk getting their limbs cleaved by Molrrets’ claws rather than having their entire residents buried by the earth.

  “So Kisara, how do you want to do this?” John asked Kisara, getting the topic back on track. “Shut up, I’m still thinking.”

  John sighed. If it weren’t such a good opportunity to enrich the gang and himself, he would have just continued teasing Kisara and let the raid fail.

  “Alright, alright. Leave the guards to me. Brett.” John motioned his hand to Brett, a boy who wasn’t particularly smart, strong, or charismatic, he was however close enough to both Cooper and John, often doing some of their dirty works to curry favor with them. Brett gave John a sack he was asked to carry.

  “Watch and learn Kisara.” John said, teasing Kisara one last time, before he climbed a rope that was prepared so the kids could get out of the ceiling hole easily. Kisara followed from behind. She was annoyed by the teasing but she was also curious on how John would deal with the guards.

  John stepped out of the alleyways and approached the guards casually. The guards broke out of the sleepiness after seeing John, a bit wary.

  “Hey misters.” John greeted the guards with a disarming smile on his face. “What do you want, brat?”

  John pulled out two bottles of wine from his sack. “I got some wine, you want them? High quality. I’ll sell them for cheap.”

  “Where do you get those, kid? Are they stolen?” asked the guard sternly.

  “Does it matter where I got them if it’s gonna enter your stomach anyway?”

  “Heh, good one.” Both of the guards were considering John’s offer. The night was still long and the job was boring as hell. Getting a bit drunk would not hurt anybody. “How much, kid?”

  “Two Silver Azul for one bottle.” That was a cheap price for wine. They usually cost around five to six Silver Azul per bottle, or a guard’s day wage.

  “That’s too expensive, kid. I could just arrest you for stealing those wines.” The guard tried to haggle using a threat. “Tsk, One Silver Azul for one then.”

  “30 copper Azul.” It was a lowball offer, only half the worth of John’s counter offer.

  “You’re robbing me with that price.” Complained John.

  “Those are stolen in the first place.”

  John pretended to be bothered by those offers. He never cared how much they’ll buy it in the first place, just that they’ll drink the wine.

  “One silver Azul for both. Last offer, I rather drink these myself than sell it any lower.”

  The two guards were smiling at each other, they found the situation amusing. “Woah woah woah, you’re too young to be drinking. Alright, One Silver for both.” The guard reached out to his money satchel and flicked a Silver Azul at John.

  “Thanks Mister, enjoy the wine.” John handed the wine to both of them and left, waving as he went.

  “What a brat. I say we did good today. Not only we recovered stolen goods tonight, we prevented a kid from life of alcoholism and helped him earn money.” joked the haggling guard. “Cheers to that brother. And you owe me 30 coppers.” half-joked the paying guard.

  The two guards laughed at each other's jokes and started drinking.

  *******

  John returned to the alleyway where Kisara was hiding and watching.

  “That’s your plan? Getting them drunk?” Complained Kisara.

  “Getting them dead drunk. So drunk not even a dragon could wake them.” Corrected John.

  “How are you sure two bottles of wine would be enough? What if they’re a heavy drinker?” Kisara’s concern was understandable, but John just grinned at her. “Oh it will. Just give it a few minutes."

  A few minutes later, the bottles of wine were empty and the two guards were knocked out drunk.

  “How? Did you know they’re light drinkers?” Kisara was amazed at how effective the wines were.

  “Nope. Those wines are drugged.”

  Hearing that, Kisara was immediately on guard. “What? How? Where did you get some drug?” Kisara number one worry was John and the boys would start drugging the girls and did something unsavory at them.

  “Relax Kisara. I found them from the Burhan's stock.” explained John, he understood why Kisara was so hostile at him, rightfully so.

  Hearing the explanation helped ease Kisara. It made sense— More importantly it meant John did not have a reliable source of drugs. “Did you get them when Regulus… did his thing?”

  “Not exactly. We immediately bailed from their hideout once…Krieg is dead. We still couldn’t loot the hideout, too many guards. But me, Cooper, and some of the other boys looked around the area and found their hidden piles. Not enough Burhans alive to bother our search and loot.”

  “I see, and how did you find out those wines were drugged?”

  “Me and the boys found out the hard way when we did an after loot party. D’aka had to wake us up.”

  “Ah you idiots.” Kisara had mixed emotions. She was a bit annoyed that the boys did not share their loot with the girls, but at the same time she was glad the girls did not accidentally get drugged.

  “It is what it is. Hopefully, we can find some un-drugged wine inside of that baby.” John pointed at the now unguarded warehouse.

  “Don’t forget to share this time,” teased Kisara. She too was excited that their raid plan was progressing well.