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Asrin's House

"What should we do with that woman?" Shin looked at Mary. The man they tortured first was still mumbling to himself in agony, but the woman was terrified and tearing up.

"He was quite annoying. Getting information out of him was quite exhausting." Mary smiled, her eyes shifting toward the woman, "I hope you won't be as much of a pain to me, cause I'll only end up returning that pain to you tenfold."

"What do you want from me? You've already gotten everything you need from him?" She mumbled, her eyes fixated on Mary's evil smile. "I don't know, a toy, or a guide." She looked back at Ase, "Bring her something to eat and drink, throw it in the side room over there."

Ase rushed upstairs and quickly came back with some leftover food and water. She put them inside the room that Mary pointed out, and Shin dragged the woman inside, undoing her rope, and closed the door after her. She had nowhere to escape, but she could at least sleep on the floor till the morning.

"Wait!" She cried, knocking on the door, "What about him?"

Mary looked at her through the keyhole, "I'll tell in exchange for five nails."

"He'll live, but probably not as good as you'll have it." Shin said in the back, "I brought the bag." Ase came in with the same bag they brought those two prisoners in.

It was clear they were moving him to another place, most likely sending him to another person to torture and get information out. The only ones that she could think of were the guards, but it didn't make sense. Why didn't they just give him to them in the first place?

Later on, Mary and Shin approached a large home and knocked on the outside gate. A guard approached and looked at them from the garden. "Isn't it Lady Mary! It's been a while. How are you doing?"

"Is Captain Ashcrow here?" She asked, but the guard shook his head. "Still on duty, he'll be back this night. His wife is here though. If you want to stop by for a drink, she always asks about you."

"She's home?" Mary smiled, "I had a present for her. I thought she might be at work, so I wanted to leave it with the captain, but this is fortunate."

Seeing her face the guard rushed in and opened the door. "I'll guide you inside…Who's the young man?"

"A friend saved my life more than once." Mary replied as the guard guided them inside the house. The moment he opened the door and called, a short woman standing barely 5 feet tall walked out drying her hands with a towel. She saw Mary and jumped at her with a smile, "Mary! It's been a while!"

"Indeed, how are you doing these days?"

"Ah, you know. Work and coming back home for more work. But I've been able to let the good folks at work handle a lot of things for me lately." She then turned around and saw Shin, "Lad, welcome to my home; Are you one of Mary's associates?"

Shin started backing out while keeping his eyes on the woman, "I'm getting the hell out of here."

"Wait!" Mary stared back at him, "Why are you acting like that? Are you scared?"

"AH!" The woman cried, "Don't worry! I don't bit, I swear…at least not you." She looked back, "I have some tea and biscuits, come and have a drink."

"She's safe, I promise you. I expected you to sniff something, but not like this." Mary sighed and grabbed Shin by the hand, pulling him inside the house and into the living room.

Over coffee, the tree talked, "As you might've heard from Mary, my husband is the captain of the guards. I on the other hand work with the city's trash collection team. We go at night and collect the trash, clean the streets, and make sure all wild animals are dealt with within the city walls."

"Yeah." Shin looked at her, "I'm sure that trash moves, talks even…" No matter how innocent or cute this woman tries to act, he can see the monster behind her glowing eyes.

She giggled, "My name is Asrin. Named after my grandmother. What's your name?"

"Shin, a tamer. Not much else to say." He looked at her, "So, do you mind if I asked what kind of cleaning you do?"

"I'm sorry, Asrin…he is sharper than I expected."

"Don't worry about it. Having Shin at your side makes me quite confident that you will survive almost anything. You saw how he noticed me and wanted to bail out before anything bad happened." She pulled out her necklace, "Do you know what is this? The symbol of Eris, the goddess of murder."

"Asrin is the head of the city's assassin team. They kill anyone who opposes the lord and end conflicts in secret. She is also…" But before Mary could finish, Shin was the one to say, "And she's a vampire? She's too short, and her ears look a bit weird, like those of an elf, but far shorter. She isn't a human."

Asrin burst laughing, "See Mary! You've found a gem. Care to sell him to me?"

"No, he's my golden goose." Mary said with a passive face, "On a more serious note. I believe you already know what happened, right?"

"Yeah…" Asrin looked away with blood rushing to her head, veins bulging on her forehead. "Those fucking imperials."

"Asrin's grandparents are from that village. They survived. But some of her friends were of the women who got kidnapped." Mary pointed at the bag.

Asrin looked at the bag, "I know you brought me a live one. Is he one of the rats you smuggled in?"

"He knows where did they take the girls…" Mary went on to explain everything they found out. "I know I shouldn't let you out of this, so I brought him to you."

"The one you mauled down? Couldn't you hand me the unbroken one?" Asrin said with a smile.

"You have ways to even make corpses move. I need mine healthy to guide me through the forest. You can patch this one, can't you?"

Asrin giggled, "Fair enough, I'll handle this from here on." She stood, "Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I'll go spend my paid vacation back home."

Mary stood and so did Shin, "See you later then, make sure to enjoy your…vacation." When Mary and Shin went out he asked her on the way back home.

"What is she exactly?"

"A half-halfling half-human vampire, the empire hunted her for decades before an old couple hid her inside their home. The two claimed she was their granddaughter and from that day she lived with them for years until she met the captain and got married to him." Mary looked at him, "Those old couples are safe, they were with me in the carriage. But I doubt she would let the village of the two people that sheltered her get violated like this." Mary smiled and Shin looked at her, "She also happened to have a grudge against the empire, now she has a reason to go murder some of them."

"Indeed." Mary smiled, "Her husband would take a battalion out pretending to be just training, and then guide them to assault the imperial camp, his wife would do the same with her squad of assassins, and we'll just go to watch with our little guide. I'll get my money back, and they'll get the people back, a win-win for everyone."

"I was wondering, if the imperial picked all decent women in the village and took them away, why did they leave you?" He looked at her with a smug smile.

"Of course, I'm nothing more than an ugly pig by their standards." She joked, "I'm worth more when sold." Due to how wealthy Mary was, using her for fun was a waste compared to how much she was worth for ransom or when sold as a slave in the black market.

She wrapped her arm around Shin's arm, "Their plan would've worked if you and Ase didn't save me. For that, I'm thankful."

Pray to the Goddess of Murder!

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