Chop It Off

In the dead of night, near a small village on the outer skirts of a large Elvin city, shadows were shifting in the darkness.

"The Norville family is truly an odd bunch…" spoke one of the shadows, a bit of contempt layering his voice.

"If they're odd, what does that make you for accepting their money?"

The shadow had no response, so he could only sigh.

"Just shut up and focus on the scouting. We need to find exactly which children have been orphaned and who haven't. The campaign ended pre-maturely, so the Norville family wants this done now. They've even paid extra in all their excitement.

"Whichever homes you see lack an accompanying adult, mark them down. We'll have to deal with this before the bureaucrats get involved."

The shadow could only resign himself. Although the Kingdom was filled with occurrences just like these, he had a family to feed too. He could little afford to not take this job. But…