Despite a one way short cut, getting out the catacombs still took almost half day due to being over-encumbered. I emerged from a sewer outlet at a disgusting little beach by the river. Fortunately there was a shop not far away.

  . . .

  "I'll give you 5 gold and 10 silver for the longsword. 3 gold, 15 silver for the polehammer. Two gold for the dagger. A gold and 30 silver for the battle axe. 5 silver and 5 copper for the utility knife."

  The utility knife had served me well, but a knife looted off a wealthy looking adventurer was far superior.

  "So that would be 12 gold, 20 silver and 5 coppers. Hmm..." Letting the barter ring work its magic and puppeteer me, I managed to negotiate up to 13 gold for the lot. I asked for one gold to be paid as forty silver (the current value of gold), from the pile I slide one back to the shopkeeper.

  "Please, I need some information. I need someone trustworthy to make a delivery, it's heavy but not far, so maybe two people or one strong fellow... or someone with a wheelbarrow. Plus a simple message" I pointed to the large duffel bag.

  "Where abouts you need that taken? I can vouch for my children, they're all in their teens now. Eldest almost your age. You'll be getting two to carry and one for security."

  "Xeothea's, between three it'll be a hard split, I only wanted to pay as high as two silver."

  He shrugged then placed the one I'd slid to him nearer the two I was toying with in my hand.

  "Oh look, my beloved children get one each now." He stated flatly with a subtle smirk.

  . . .

  I had told him to call his children to get ready, I needed a moment. I ducked out of the store, into an alley beside. Using a rag I found in Ilmarinen's apron pocket I bundled up 6 gold coins, 10 silver then stashed them in a half full jar of meteor ore, tossed a couple gems in too. I shook it up, and inspected my work, the bundle was barely visible.

  Next I stripped my armour off, it was so battered, there was a little space in the bag plus I arranged tools and books into the armour. I found some charcoal so I could scrawl 'min lv30 please' on the chest piece. My helmet just about fit in too. I'd lost the caduceus plaque from the front, it had fallen into a spike pit. Plus the helmet had claw marks and a couple puncture holes.

  "Hello- ello- ello, what do we have here then? You preparing a gift for me?" A raggedy old man with not many, and all rotting, teeth spoke while waving a knife. His three goons, armed with clubs and a shovel surrounded me.

  CRUNCH!

  CRACK!

  Too fast, the goons saw only blurs, I had first uppercut the old man, caught the teeth flying upward. Then delivered a hook to his jaw, catching a couple more teeth flying to the side. I swiveled round then made it rain teeth over the goons.

  A few awkward seconds passed as the gormless trio played a game of pass the brain cell. A dim idea flickered, just bright enough for them to see sense. They choose to lower their weapons.

  "Hold on... I'm trying to be a better person so..."

  I blasted some healing magic at the old man's mouth, enough so his gums weren't open wounds.

  "There, he can enjoy hot soup and mush now."

  The man holding him up, muttered thanks as they all promptly fucked off.

  . . .

  "Ok so you want me to say 'it's for Too-anna and that the meteor ore she wanted is inside. You'll collect the armour before winter' right"

  "Tuana, her meteor ore, armour before winter, that's right."

  The eldest, a fifteen year old lad who needed to learn to shave, nodded and mumbled the message again.

  "I'll remember, It's Tuana's meteor ore and you want the armour by winter." Piped up the middle child, a girl with a ponytail to her knees.

  The youngest seemed shy, he didn't say much. He did at least smile back as I waved them off. I waited, then stealthily followed them to at least the nicer part of the city, near the outer wall.

  Having spotted a shop selling gambeson, I went to buy a placeholder till the armour was ready. The min lv24 light armour would also help against the evening chill that was starting to set in. Unfortunately the only color they had in my size was black, which made me look a little thuggish.

  . . .

  Approaching the capital's adventurer's guild hall, I put my hood up then placed a bandanna over my mouth and nose.

  "I wish to remain anonymous, here are eleven adventurer cards I found on bodies and some gems to cash in."

  "I'm alright with anonymity, but by protocol I have to ask from which dungeon you got these, should anyone wish to retrieve the bodies." Stated the woman from behind the bars protecting her, how rough was the capital?

  "Demon lord's dungeon, the one below the capital."

  "I see..."

  As she opened the pouch of gems, her eyes widened, after tutting her way through a weighing, she drew in air through her teeth with a contrived look of sympathy.

  "Unfortunately we don't have ready enough to pay out for this much today. Especially not for clear gems or diamonds. I need to check current values, but this is over 40 gold. If you leave them with us we can arrange payment for tomorrow. Would you like me to work out the exact value, it'll be a few minutes."

  I saw the cashier returning, stretching my legs, I peeled myself off the bench then strolled back over to her counter. Hearing the gems were worth over 40 gold, I had been happy to wait.

  "47 gold, 23 silver and 6 coppers for the gems sir. All adventurer's on these cards have been verified, all reported as missing in action. Standard finders fee of 5 coppers per adventurer's card, that's 5 silver and 5 copper, sir. Adding them together, that would be 47 gold, 29 silver and 1 copper, alright sir. Now, I have checked with my manager. If you want, you can have 17 gold, the silver and copper today. The remaining 30 gold, you can collect tomorrow using a code phrase. Would that be alright for you?"

  "Sure."

  "Great, can you write, or would you like to see my manager in the office over there to speak it aloud?"

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  "I can write."

  I scribbled down 'Ilmarinen is free, the dungeon smells of burnt vampire', figuring that would be secure enough and easy to remember.

  "Before I go, sorry for stinking this place up... Where's the nearest bath house please?"

  "Oh I'm quite used to adventurers reeking of god knows what, considering your new found wealth sir... Would you like directions to a more luxurious one, they have scented oils and the finest soaps?"

  . . .

  First, I collected Isabelle and some clean clothes. We discovered that having sex in a sauna was a bad idea— it was too hot. I left my dirty clothes and two cloaks with the friendly owners of the luxury bathhouse, for washing and repairs. The women were pleased for the extra income, and even recommended a place for us to eat.

  We both smelt amazing.

  "I want to tell you all about what I found out too, a solid lead on six of the scumbag child snatchers." Isabelle exclaimed as we're about to leave.

  "Sorry! Sorry, one moment. You aren't talking about the attack on Xeothea's are you?" The stronger looking of the two corpulent, over sixties ladies waved at us to stop.

  "Umm..."

  "I thought you looked familiar, I only briefly saw you with Gwendoline. I was dropping off soaps and oils, all we can really offer." Said the muscular woman.

  "Are you two of the heroes that scuppered that ship?" Asked the taller, slightly slimmer of the two.

  Me and Isabelle looked at each other, I shrugged, then gestured for her to speak since she got recognised.

  "Well, it didn't sink, but yes, we were involved."

  "My wife and I are from Xeothea's, neither of us warriors mind you, despite all the training. I used to cook for the previous head of Xeothea's" Exclaimed the ex chef.

  "And I used to run their library." The librarian chimed in with.

  "So forget that tavern we recommended!"

  "Yes, come eat with us tonight!"

  . . .

  The former head chef of Xeothea's, Louise, had not lost her edge in the kitchen, the food and the company were delightful. Finding out about the rat infested (both rodent and human kind) inn we were staying at, they also offered us a room.

  We had to explain we needed to be among the scum, and apparently Isabelle had a meeting there in the morning to get intel. Inevitably talk turned to business, fortunately perhaps as the two women knew the city well. They directed us to the area a gang, Isabelle had interest in, resided. Plus gave us a lead on where many ne'er-do-wells get their laundry done, might be worth talking to workers there.

  At the end of the evening we were made to promise we'd return to wash and rest after our work was done.

  Former librarian Géraldine also quizzed me about my cloaks. My newly looted cloak, a fine wool, midnight blue, piece of haute couture, with a silk lining had made me very happy when it fit me. Without going into too much detail about where I acquired it, I told the truth that it was looted and would become my go to once fixed and washed. Géraldine would do an extra good job with it and didn't want any money from me.

  While discussing the new cloak, Isabelle held her tongue, also looking at my new hooded gambeson coat, which featured removable sleeves and hood.

  . . .

  During breakfast at the shit hole inn, we were joined by none other than the two rogues I'd hired to keep an eye on Isabelle. Hans and Lando had not been subtle enough, having talked themselves out of getting beaten by Isabelle, they ended up working for her.

  They could be somewhat trusted, the innkeeper had vouched they were drinking after a delivery job the night of the raid. Plus neither seemed vile enough to accept such a villainous mission as stealing children.

  Isabelle had identified one of the tattoos seen on a masked raider. The blue inked image of saint Dionysius, patron saint of truth, was ironically the brand of a gang called the Red Liars.

  Several girls and a worker at Xeothea's had reported six individuals moving about together with the same blue bandanas.

  "We've asked around, got a little dicey but we made it out OK, and the red liars shouldn't get any warning. The descriptions you got match the four heads of the gang, and their two top enforcers." Stated Hans, a suave white man in his thirties.

  "We've confirmed the four heads are at their hideout, the two enforcers however took leave yesterday. The Varga siblings are psychotic incestuous scum, they use their old family home, a chalet somewhere far from the capital, as a lovepad- pretty sure they killed their own parents." Added Lando, an equally suave black man of similar age to Hans.

  They go on to provide a more precise location within the area the bathhouse owners had pointed us to. They weren't sure of the size of the gang, but it seemed they were only a couple dozen strong. During the day, the hideout would likely only have a dozen or so people.

  "We also identified almost all of the sketches of dead raiders you showed us, seems all the leaders and stronger members of a fairly new- clearly overly ambitious- gang called the Kiss Kiss Boys were wiped out. That gang is no more.

  That accounts for five of the dead. We're looking into a possible sole survivor, joined another gang that took part in the raid, but haven't identified which gang yet." Explained Lando.

  "The incident described where someone chopped his fallen comrades hand off before running away, we think we know why. Another dead, and the one that got chopped, we're pretty sure are brawlers from an underground fighting circuit.

  Though his face is a bit messed up, we're sure one hand guy is three finger George. As well as three fingers on his dominant hand, he also had a distinctive tattoo on that hand. That would most likely make the one that ran away his brother Robert. You'll find him with a matching tattoo, a bulls head." Said Hans.

  "That's two more. Of the six dead raiders left, two are known solo mercenaries, willing to bet the rest are too. If any are gang affiliated, we haven't found anything. According to your reports some raiders were smart enough to carry their dead out. So Probably no one cared enough about the unidentified four." Elaborated Lando.

  "One the sketches you showed of raiders that got away... Ugh... We identified him, then looking into him, identified a couple more. Three brutal thugs for hire, not technically a gang but they hang out together at a drinking hole not far from here, Marcus, George and Thomas. And that's a different George from three finger by the way. They are not nice people." Stated Hans.

  After the pair gave us more specifics, I spied Isabelle starting the count out coins. I tapped her arm then shook my head, before putting a gold coin between Hans and Lando.

  "Split this or wait, come back with more information. Try to find out about the surviving Kiss Kiss boy. Possible location of the Varga chalet would be good too. You'll get another one then, OK. Understand this also buys your silence, if anyone asks-"

  "We don't know you, got it." Said Hans flashing a thumbs up.

  Lando cleared his throat, I sensed he was about to say something serious.

  "We left something important till last... You're not the only ones looking into this. A handful of the royal's personal guards are working with capital guards. In fact you don't need to worry about Marcus, George and Thomas. They're to be hung in the central square tomorrow at noon. Got nabbed in front of us, good show."

  Lando laughed, Hans showing his agreement with a nod as he chucked.

  "They identified and found four others too, you'll have to go tomorrow so you can cross them off your list."

  "Yep, several gangs are spooked and laying low. We can't put them to faces but we got three names for you, all fled the city after the raid. One known only as Fred the spike, was splashing coin on whores and booze the night after. When his hangover cleared and he heard guards were sniffing about, he scarpered.

  Apparently skinny, missing part of his left ear and fond of shivs. Beyond that, he's an average looking fellow." Chimed in Hans.

  "Then there's the witch and warlock couple, Isaac and Willow Butterford. They must've known about the raid for a while, probably recruited early on to help break Xeothea's magic defences. They sold their home under the proviso they could stay till the day after the raid, not very deceptive of them."

  I leant in to make sure I got the names correct.

  "Fred the spike. Isaac and Willow butterford. Correct?"

  "That's right. As far as descriptions go, Willow is taller than most women, short blond hair, told she's got kinda of bitchy face..." Lando's glance to Isabelle didn't linger for any discernible fraction of a second, however I understood its meaning, he continued almost seamlessly.

  "...Isaac is said to be the same height as his wife. Been told he's lean and shredded, eats only meat, eggs and nuts. Used to be seen doing stretches naked in his yard. Has long brown hair, chiseled features. Isaac's older, maybe forty, Willow is younger by a dozen or so years.

  Any other magic was provided by the mages sent over by prince Lakshman. Guess the Butterfords were there to provide local advice."

  Me and Isabelle thanked them for their good work. I paid the table, sending two more drinks to them.