Chapter 6: The Note.

Mon’Ter’s gaze looked down on the thugs, their vision had long since completely tunneled onto the man’s crimson eye and fear had seeped into their very being.  

Upon Mon’Ter’s request for the bag to be returned, they all fell to their knees while trembling. Tears ran down on their cheeks while their undergarments had become wet from their lost control over their bladders.  

“M-Mo-Monster...” A rather large thug muttered, his teeth chattering as he trembled heavily in fear and grabbed his shoulders with his hands like he was searching for warmth and comfort.  

The crimson eye seemed more sinister and more horrifying the more he looked into it, as if it peered deep into his very soul and threatened to butcher it.  

Mon’Ter then took a step forward, speaking softly in whispers as he did. “Me is not... Monster... Me is, Mon’Ter.”   

For whatever reason, his introduction had increased the dread that the thugs felt by several fold. Mon’Ter’s frame had grown to a towering size in their eyes, as he slowly got closer and closer to them the sounds of his steps rang in their ears ever so loudly.  

It felt as if Doom had come upon them, and they couldn’t take it.  

The pressure was too much for their fragile psyches to handle. 

Each and every man that had gone to intercept Mon’Ter fainted before him, some even had foam coming out of their mouths as they laid on the ground, still trembling from the earlier terror.   

“...” Mon’Ter looked over them silently, “Me thought... My clothing was working...” He spoke, a bit disappointed that people still feared him this much despite his disguise.  

This scene had happened before as well, times when people couldn’t help but shake before him and faint from the overwhelming dread they felt.  

Unbeknown even to Mon’Ter himself, there was a good reason for this to happen. One that he had little control over even at this stage of his life.  

“Mon’Ter!” Elyenora spoke up as she ran up to Mon’Ter, “I knocked the others out too, let’s go find my reward money that they stole and call the town guards!”  

The scene behind Elyenora wasn’t too different from the one around Mon’Ter, with the unconscious bodies of a multitude of men littering the ground after facing the back of Elyenora’s sword handle.   

“Mm...” Mon’Ter nodded, “The one who... Took it... Is behind that...” He pointed towards the counter, behind which Thomas the thief had hidden himself in between the whole commotion and fighting taking place.  

“Oh, really now?” Elyenora asked, turning her gaze to the counter. “Seems like I have someone to teach a lesson to.” She spoke angrily again, walking towards the counter as she cracked her knuckles threateningly. 

Thomas’ thoughts were something along the lines of... ‘Crap baskets... I hate my life...’  

Thomas got up, his hands were raised high into the air as to show he had given up the fight, “I surrender! Please don’t hurt me, I’ll return the money to you!” He spoke in an effort to save himself.  

“Yes, you’ll return it of course.” Elyenora said calmly, walking right up to him. “But first you need to experience some punishment.” She spoke with a cheerful tone and smile that didn’t match her words at all.  

“Huh?” Thomas uttered, confused for but a moment before his confusion was answered.  

Elyenora punched him straight in the jaw, raising his body up in the air and sending him flying straight into the wall behind him.  

He fell to the floor with a thud, jaw was cleanly broken, many teeth were lost and much blood seeped out from his mouth due to it. He was completely unconscious after receiving the hit.  

“Phew,” Elyenora sighed, dusting her hands off. “That made me feel better, are there any other people in here that you can sense, Mon’Ter?” She asked as she turned to him.  

“None... The underground place is very... Empty, aside from here.” He replied.   

“I see,” Elyenora nodded to the answer, “let’s find the coins and send these men to the authorities then. No use staying here much longer.” 

“Okay...” Mon’Ter replied, walking up to behind the counter as well. 

It didn’t take long for Elyenora to find Thomas’ bag that he had stolen, however inside it there were only seven silver coins and a few dozen copper ones.  

“What...” Elyenora said in disappointment, “So that middle-aged man was a money grabber after all?” She sighed, “Or maybe the thief had to give some away to his boss as tax or something?”  

With that thought in mind, the girl moved back to the counter and looked under it.  

There were many glasses and mugs meant for wine, beer, ale and other alcoholic beverages placed there. The beverages themselves were stacked on a shelf on the right to where Elyenora, or usually the bartender, stood. 

“Let’s see here...” Elyenora said, looking over everything. 

Aside from the glasses, there were also some daggers placed on top of a note, next to this note there were six silver coins, the ones that Thomas had given up. 

The outlaw’s boss, Kuccle, had left them there for the moment since he planned to put them in a safe spot later on.  

Elyenora took the coins in her hand, “Oh, there they are! Six silver, I only really needed 3 though...” looking at the coins for a moment, she continued. “Oh well, I guess I can take the extra as compensation for dealing with this outlaw hideout.” She said to herself and placed the coins in her new found coin bag.  

After she did so however, she decided to look again and grabbed the note. She was curious as to what it might say.  

Once she had picked it up, Mon’Ter spoke up to her in a questioning tone, “What... Do we do... With them now?” He looked over all the unconscious outlaws.  

“Well,” Elyenora began to reply, “I guess now we’ll simply tie these guys up and take the thief to the town guards, I’ll show them the way back to the hideout afterwards so they can take care of everything.” 

“Okay...” Mon’Ter nodded, understanding the plan for their next actions.  

‘I’ll read the note later I guess, it’s not that important right now...’ Elyenora thought to herself, placing the note inside of her small bag.  

...  

It didn’t take long for Elyenora and Mon’Ter to find some rope and tie the men all up, they weren’t going to wake up anytime soon, especially the ones who had faced Mon’Ter, so that helped out a lot with the process.    

After all was said and done Mon’Ter grabbed Thomas, the thief who had stolen their reward money, while holding him by his clothes. The duo of princess and monster then left together with said thief back to where they had entered the hideout from.  

Along the way as they walked through the dark halls while Elyenora hummed her joyful melody, Mon’Ter couldn’t help but speak up and ask. “Ely...?”  

“Yes?” Elyenora asked back, turning towards her companion, “What is it Mon’Ter?”  

“How did... You find me?” He asked, a bit curious as to how she had managed to track him down to that underground hideout.  

He knew little about humans, however he still knew some things about them.   

For instance, they weren’t nearly as capable trackers as him. Elyenora herself hadn’t even seen the man he had tracked, so there was no way she followed the thief’s trail while Mon’Ter himself had left zero trace of where he had run towards by habit.  

Mon’Ter has been hunting for his food most of his life, hence he knew better than anyone how to keep low and stay untraceable while on the hunt.   

So how could Elyenora have found him so quickly? How could she find this hideout so easily as if she had followed a straight line towards it?  

Elyenora looked to Mon’Ter, smiling with a grin. “Well, my magical eyes can do more than just see someone’s soul, you know?”  

“Hm...” Mon’Ter pondered, “What does that mean?”  

“You see,” Elyenora entered teacher mode, “Whenever I see a person’s soul. It is always unique and colorful. The colors depend on the person, be they good at heart or evil. Their personalities or even their talents. Another thing is that stronger souls tend to leave a track which I’m able to see and thus follow.” She explained and then pointed to Mon’Ter. “You leave a rather big track Mon’Ter, since you’re strong.”  

“Ely... Really... Tracked me?” He asked, quite surprised as even his one eye widened in shock.  

This had been the first time in his life that someone had managed to track him down while he was on the hunt for something.  

To put it simply, he was impressed.  

“Yes, that is what I’m getting at silly.” Elyenora chuckled, finding her companion’s reaction to be rather amusing.  

“Me ish... Impressed.” Mon’Ter simply said, as the two continued to walk towards the exit.  

“Really now, that sure means a lot coming from you.” She smiled, pleased at the praise. “After all, you’re really amazing! You managed to find this place so quickly, almost as if you knew the location beforehand.” Elyenora pointed out.  

“Yes... If me knows what... Or who me is tracing... Me knows where that is located... Within a big area...” Mon’Ter replied, explaining his own tracking skill.  

If he simply saw someone, felt their presence or smelled their scent then they had little to no chance of escaping his large scope.  

Even if they were hidden somewhere deep within a bustling city, as long as Mon’Ter had prior knowledge of them then they were not safe even underground.  

“Ohh! That’s awesome!” Elyenora exclaimed, “We should test it out sometime and see how far you can find someone from, I’m rather interested in that now.”  

“Okay...” Mon’Ter simply agreed, while Elyenora continued to hum in delight.  

About a minute later they found the exit to the dirty alleyway from before, walking up the stairs they ended up back outside in the tight space.  

“I’ll go ask for the town guard’s assistance, you wait here for me to return, together with this guy.” Elyenora said, pointing to the still unconscious thief named Thomas.  

Mon’Ter simply nodded and dropped the man on the ground, sitting down next to him to await for the girl’s return.  

Elyenora left the premise shortly, it didn’t take too long for her to find a group of guardsmen and get them to come along with her.  

They were rather skeptical of her words at first, what with her saying that she and her friend had captured the thief that stole a bag of coin from one of the Mountain Lion Tavern’s patrons, however as guards they couldn’t simply ignore her and followed.  

Once they arrived at the alleyway and saw Mon’Ter with the thief, they believed her more. When they saw the trap door leading to the underground hideout however, they were convinced.  

After a quick explanation, the squad of guards turned to the stairway and thought it over.  

“This is those thieves' hideout... We’ve been searching for it for years...” One of the guards spoke.  

“Yeah, to think it was right here in this dirty alleyway...” Another mentioned.  

“We need to go and take them all in, it’s time those bastards went to prison!” A third spoke, turning around to face the duo of civilians that had helped them find this place. “Thank you for-”  

However, both Elyenora and Mon’Ter were already long gone.  

Elyenora might have wanted to help, but she still couldn’t attract too much attention to herself right now.  

Every moment that they were safe was a moment of breathing fresh air, until her brother found out her whereabouts, she would be safe along with Mon’Ter on their journey.  

However, once her brother knew where she was it would become difficult to say they’re ‘safe’ anywhere. 

The prince’s faction is quite powerful after all, even outside the capital city. 

...  

Later that day the town guards came out with the news that a large thief den had been discovered and that they had apprehended more than two dozen outlaws, many stolen items were finally returned and or confiscated by the guard.  

The group of guards that Elyenora had found were said to be the ones who both found and even captured the outlaws, they would all see good days ahead filled with praises for quite a while. 

After all, the outlaw boss that had been running this underground safe zone was none other than Kuccle, the ‘Scarred Fat Man’. An accomplished criminal with a high bounty on his head, he was worth a whole five gold coins! That would be five hundred silver coins, a huge amount in this day and age. 

It was a huge accomplishment, one that managed to promote each and every guard that had ‘managed to apprehend’ this criminal mastermind and his cronies that had all been evading capture for years.  

Despite that fact, a few guards felt a bit guilty for lying about the whole event and capture being done by then, so they kept silently thanking the duo of strangers they had encountered for many weeks and months to come.  

Not that they’d ever come out with the truth of course, but still the guilt was there until their first new paycheck.  

…  

After searching for a cheap inn somewhere nearby where they could stay for the night, Mon’Ter and Elyenora finally found one named ‘Silver Tree Inn’.  

They went inside and quickly became patrons, purchasing a room of their own for one night. 

The inn’s price was about fifteen coppers in all, meals and lodgings, so it was rather cheap in the grand scheme of things but still decently comfortable. 

Their room was a standard one mostly made out of wood and situated on the second floor of the building. It had two beds separated by a nightstand, a desk with a wooden chair next to it and a single window that made for a decent view outside. 

They went inside the room, closing the door behind themselves and getting comfortable. They left their belongings on the beds and sat down to rest. 

Elyenora sighed, “Phew, glad that’s all well and done.” She said in relief, glad to have helped this town with their thief and outlaw problem. 

Then, Elyenora decided to count up all her finances after taking the bag of coins from the thief's den. Moving her gaze to Mon'Ter she saw he had buried his face into the bed’s pillow, muttering to himself quietly “Soft… Comfy…” 

Elyenora chuckled and said, "Go rest for a while. You did a great job by tracking that thief today."  

"Okay.. Ely…" Nodding, Mon’Ter laid his head on the pillow and closed his eyes slowly. Shortly, Mon’Ter had fallen completely asleep, his face looked rather relaxed while he breathed calmly.  

Smiling as she watched Mon’Ter fall asleep so quickly, Elyenora thought that the man must have been tired. Then, she stood up and pulled out everything she took from the thief's den as well as from her small bag that she carried around, placing all of her belongings on the inn room’s desk.  

Taking a seat, she saw two bags of coins, a short knife, a single bottle filled with red liquid, a water skin, a rope and a note. One of the coin bags was bigger than the other one as it was the bag used by the middle-aged merchant to hold the money that he was gambling with his orc slave. 

There were thirteen silver coins and forty five copper coins inside of it, while in her own smaller bag there were seven silver coins and thirty five copper ones. 

'That makes it twenty silver coins and eighty copper coins.' thought Elyenora as she counted everything from inside the bags. After that, her attention shifted to the note that she had taken before due to her curiosity being piqued.  

'I wonder what's written inside that note.' She was interested in the context, supporting her chin with her hand while she lifted up the note with the other.  

In the note it read. 

... 

“Kuccle,  

I have sent you this note to require your services once more. 

You see, I am currently in need of someone with your… Particular talents, with connections and a good number of henchmen working under you. Be it Merchants or Thieves you have what is needed for the job. 

You are required to kidnap and deliver to me any child from the age of five to the age of ten within the town of Cloran in which you reside.  

They could be from the slums, orphanage or any lost kids you can find on the streets. It really doesn’t matter as long as they’re from that age group.  

You must make haste, the time is nigh, and so is my patience.  

You will be awarded for your delicate efforts with a gold coin for every two children that you bring me, so I expect results. 

Jalid Talherd.” 

… 

Elyenora read the note with a serious expression on her face, her eyes sharpened as she fixated her gaze on each word.  

she placed the note back on the desk and began supporting her forehead with both hands, interlocking their fingers with each other. 

‘Jalid Talherd… The Alchemist Mage from my Brother’s faction… What does he need common children from a small trading town like this for?’ Elyenora contemplated in her mind, her face warped in silent fury. 

“What are those bastards planning?” She whispered, as the night loomed over the horizon.