Chapter 17

"I ever mention how much these quests suck?" I asked, turning in the marker for a 'find the lost pet' mission."All the time," Eris grumbled. "I know they suck, but we'll be C-ranked soon, then we can take on better stuff."Sylphie yawned, but opted not to comment. The clerk verified the mission completion and doled out our reward. "You're only three more C-ranks away from a rank up," the woman smiled at us."Finally." Turning to look at Eris and Sylphie, I asked, "Do we want to knock those out today or wait for tomorrow?""Today," Eris answered.Sylphie shrugged. "I could go either way."We went out and looked over the board. There were a couple of new missions since we checked that morning. "Okay, how about Eris and Ghislaine take two of the 'kill X monster' quests and Sylphie and I can pick up this pest elimination quest? We split up, get everything done, and meet back here this afternoon. Sound good?"The redhead nodded. "Yeah, that's fine."Ghislaine wouldn't care either way, and was currently getting a lunch of meat skewers for all of us from the market, so I counted her towards Eris' vote. Sylphie nodded and that settled it. "Okay then."I took the pest elimination mission down and we went to find Ghislaine. After our lunch, Eris and Ghislaine took off with orders from Ghislaine to call if something came up, and Sylphie and I set off for the client's location. As we went, Sylphie tugged at my sleeve. Leaning up to my ear, she murmured, "There are people talking about us."I laughed, as though she'd just told a joke, before whispering, "Where and how many?""At least two men, behind us. I think they've been following since the Guild.""What else are they saying?""Something about a bounty? I think they want to take you somewhere but they're complaining about the crowd and that you have someone with you."Looks like we've got more kidnappers. Joy. Well, this time I'll make sure to take them alive."You remember how to make a Quagmire and trap someone in it?" Sylphie nodded. "Then let's head for the client and see what they do."Things were a bit tense as we walked through Roa, leaving most of the crowd behind in the market. 'Storehouse 6, west Roa commercial district' turned out to be a ratty, beat up old building with a sliding door on the front for loading and unloading of cargo into carts. There were holes and obvious signs of rot in the wooden walls, whatever paint it had had long since been flaked away, the roof was partially collapsed in one place, and it looked like the kind of place you'd find hobos squatting. It looked like it should have been condemned years ago. A fire would do the entire neighborhood good."This place is a dump. There's no way someone's still using it for legitimate business," I said as I took in the state of the warehouse."Rudy, there are more," Sylphie murmured. "They're following the first group but I don't think they're together. I heard one say something about us not having a magic tool with us today?"I raised an eyebrow at that but nodded. Knocking at the man-door to the warehouse, I waited as the footsteps closed in behind us. The door opened and an unsavory type looked us up and down before grinning. More of a leer, really. The man was older, with a bald head, scraggly beard, and a mouth full of missing or broken teeth that the leer showed off. I noticed that it was directed mostly at Sylphie and had to clamp down on the urge to fry him then and there. "Well, hello there. What do we have here?""We're from the Guild, here for the pest removal job?" Sylphie supplied, turning up the moe as had become our routine.I was not above weaponizing Sylphie's natural Sylphie-ness in order to make sure things went smooth for us, or to ensure better tips (not that we needed the money, but I figured it was good practice for socializing her). I may have even coached her how to do it for maximum effect, using Eris as her test dummy.... Pretty sure the reason they got along so well and that Eris was such an easy target for it was because of the Boreas beast-kin fetish. Sure, you could argue that Sylphie was more elf or human than beast-kin, but I think the Boreas can smell it or something. The entire household loved her. Or it could just be that she's lovable.The filthy, stinking man in the door grinned wider. "Right, right. 'Pest elimination.' Well, come on in and we'll see about getting it taken care of."Trap? Trap. Couldn't be more obvious if he tried. So, are these idiots working with the first batch? The second? Or do we have three entirely separate groups of assholes? And what the hell did we do to get their attention? Ah well, let's spring it and see what shakes out.He moved aside and we followed him in. "What sort of pests are we talking about?" I asked, looking around as two more men slipped out of the shadows of the warehouse to try to flank us. They were of a kind with the one who had led us inside—ugly, older, and clearly having seen better days."Rats. Big gray ones," the man nodded. "Causing all kinds of problems for some very important people. But they'll be happy if we get rid of one in particular. It's kind of scrawny, but that's the one they have their sights set on."Wow, you are bad at this, I mentally sighed."Uh huh," I nodded along, playing up my own 'cute, oblivious shota' act. "That sounds awful, mister! What kind of important people?"The man stopped in the middle of the room and spun around, drawing a stiletto from behind his back. A look at the two on our flanks showed them having drawn swords of their own. Shitty, pitted and rusted things that looked like they wouldn't stand up to being swung around much before snapping. "The kind who pay good money to get rid of mouthy brats."Before we could get down to the business of murdering the fuck out of capturing our would-be assassins, the man-door to the warehouse burst open and four men came storming in, weapons drawn."What's all this, then?!" The one in the lead yelled as the two men flanking us turned to square off against the newcomers.The new guys looked in much better condition that the assassins, with better quality weapons, some armor, and generally looking like they didn't spend all their pay on liquor. The one in the lead was a tall, lean, clean-shaven swordsman with long, loose brown hair. Aside from the leader, the other three carried what looked like cudgels or short clubs."What's the meaning of this? You tryin' to horn in on our job?!" the lead assassin demanded, waving his knife. "Fuck off! They're ours.""Now, now. No need for that. Tell you what, you let us have the boy, you can keep the girl," kidnapper in chief suggested.The master assassin spat off to the side. "Go fuck yourself. We're killing him and taking his head back for our reward."The kidnapper shook his head. "Can't let you do that. We need him alive for our own bounty. There's a man in the capitol who's paying too well to part with the money.""Out of curiosity," I asked, turning my head to eye the assassin, "what do you intend to do with my friend here?""What d'ya think, brat? Sell her to the highest bidder as a slave. After me and the boys sample the goods."At my side, Sylphie flinched, the hand on the hilt of her sword tightening where she had yet to draw it. I nodded, smiling along as though he hadn't just outright admitted to intending to rape and sell Sylphie into slavery. "And would it change your minds at all if I told you—"The wall off to the side of the building exploded in a ball of fire and a shower of splinters. A group of three stormed inside, weapons ready.The first was a big, burly man wielding a huge sword and wearing heavy armor. The second wore leather armor and carried a bow, the arrow nocked and tracking over various people before landing on the master assassin. The third was a woman, who wore robes and carried a staff/glaive thing. Given the size of the mana crystal in the staff, it looked expensive, but the blade at the end told me it was supposed to be functional as more than a simple blunt weapon.They looked very much like adventurers. So much so in fact that I recognized them as adventurers who had been hanging around the Guild hall lately."Well, well, well. What do we have here? Looks like someone overbooked," the mage laughed quietly. "So, just who are you boys?""We was here first, you lot can fuck right off with the others!" The master assassin demanded."And I told you, we're not leaving here without the boy," the gentleman kidnapper countered."We don't get paid without his head, so we're not letting you just walk out of here with him."The mage nodded along, before tapping her staff on the ground and drawing the attention of the others. "Okay, I think I understand the situation. You," she pointed at the assassin, "have a contact to kill him. And you," she shifted her attention to the kidnapper, "have a contact to kidnap him. Either of those is fine by us and you can work out who gets to do what between yourselves, just so long as you give us a few minutes with him first. You see, we've been paid to secure one of those fancy personal vehicles they've been flaunting all over town and get the secret of how they were made out of whoever made them. Word has it, you did. Is that correct?" She asked, finally turning her attention to me.I smiled, and suddenly every weapon in the room aside from my own and Sylphie's was pointed my way. Looking confused, I asked Sylphie, "What, is there something on my face?""Just a scary look," Sylphie murmured, shaking her head.I shrugged before turning my attention back to the would-be assassins, kidnappers, and thieves. "Maybe. Tell me, did anyone tell you just who it was you had been sent after?""A bastard Greyrat. Probably one of Sauros' many illegitimate spawn," the assassin supplied.The kidnapper frowned, shaking his head. "Rudeus Greyrat, son of the S-ranked adventurer Paul Greyrat, formerly of the Notos Greyrat family."That's new information. Didn't realize their party got to S-Rank. Ghislaine's been holding out on me, I mused, but knowing her, she probably didn't feel it was important enough to mention."Oh, so we got us a noble here! Been a while since I spilled noble blood," the assassin jeered.The thief hummed quietly, before nodding at the kidnapper. "What he said, with the addition that you're a mage."I nodded. "Well then, seems you've got all the pieces but two. I am in fact Rudeus Greyrat. Unfortunately, my father is that Paul Greyrat. And I am indeed a mage. They left out one detail about that, however.""And what's that then, mister noble?"I nodded at the enemy mage. "Why don't you ask her?"The woman frowned, before it clicked and she stilled. "Your rank.""Give the lady a prize.""Mages and swordsmen. You and your dick waving with your ranks and titles. Not gonna matter what you call yourself when I put this blade between your ribs," the assassin rolled his eyes."Then there's the other thing you're forgetting. Sylphie?" I put a hand on her shoulder and the girl looked over at me. "Sink 'em."The ground around us collapsed, dropping the entire group up to their necks in muck. She followed it up by pulling the water out and solidifying the ground around them to rock, just as I'd taught her. There were shouts of surprise from the newly trapped ne'er do wells as they tried and failed to get loose."The other thing you should have been asking was, 'who's the girl with him?' This is my student, Sylphiette. Saint-level Water mage."The mage thief was silent for a moment before asking, "Did she cast that silently?""Maybe," I grinned as I went around collecting weapons and sending them off to my bunker. The glaive-staff I kept in hand, giving it a twirl to get a feel for the weight. A little heavy towards the front, and a bit too big for me at the moment. But the way playing with it makes that bitch's face twitch is priceless, so I'll hang onto it for now.A little earth manipulation relieved them of any copper, silver, or gold on their persons, and confirmed the mage's suspicions, if the sending of their gear hadn't already. "Now, you all wait right here. I'm going to go get someone to send some guards by to pick you up. Sylphie, if they try to escape, zap them. If that mage starts chanting, zap her twice.""Mm! I will."Still trying to work himself free, the lead assassin yelled, "You can't do this, you little shit! We've got friends in high places!"I sent the man a grin. "Oh? Do you now? Well, be sure to tell my friends in high places all about yours later, okay? I'd sure love to meet them. Sit down, share some tea, have a nice little talk about why it's a horrible fucking idea to piss in my Cheerios. Or send idiots who make the mistake of threatening to rape and sell off my friend. Now, you're already on my shit list for that, so I suggest you shut up before I shut you up."Walking outside, I checked to make sure there was no one around before pulling out the phone. "Sprite, could you call the house?"The phone rang a couple of times before the hologram popped up, showing Phillip's face. "Rudy?" he asked, looking around the hologram on his end with a frown. "What's going on? Are you in the slums?""Close enough, apparently. The commercial district, but I guess this is the old part of it. We just captured not one, not two, but three separate groups trying to either kill, kidnap, or steal from us. Well, me. Think you could send some guys by to collect them?"Crack! Crack!Phillip flinched at the sound, a worried look coming over his face. It was a sound he knew pretty well now, given the way Sylphie and I tossed lightning around for practice. "What was that?"I snickered. "That would be the mage we captured testing Sylphie and getting zapped for her trouble. I warned her not to."Phillip picked up a bell from beside the desk and rang it. "I'll send some men over. Where are you exactly?"I gave him the address as a maid walked into the room on his side. We said our goodbyes and I made my way inside to check on our captives. "She tried to chant," Sylphie explained as soon as I walked in.Looking at the groaning, insensate mage with obvious lightning burns on her face and neck, I shook my head. "Good job, Sylphie. Phillip's sending some people to collect them, so we'll just hang around here until they're done.""Mm," the girl nodded, moving over and leaning against my side. We stood like that in silence, watching the now strangely silent prisoners.Curious, I turned to the gentleman kidnapper. "Cat got your tongues?"The man gave a wry smile. "I think we've collectively decided we don't want to get 'zapped' by your little friend there. It looks quite painful.""I assure you, it is," I grinned."Rudy," Sylphie tugged at my sleeve. I sent her a questioning look. "Does this mean we'll have to do another quest, since this one was fake?"My eyebrow twitched. Taking a calming breath, I asked, "Which one of you shitheels set up the fake job with the guild?""It was him!" one of the assassin mooks nodded in the direction of their boss."You fuckin' sellout!" the man growled.He went silent as lightning danced between my fingers. "Did you happen to keep the quest marker?"The assassin cleared his throat, clearly trying to remember whether he had or not. After a moment, a triumphant look came over his face. "It's in my pocket.""Uh huh. Well, when we dig you out, you're going to mark it complete for us, okay?"The man sneered. "What's in it for me? Way I see it, we're dead anyway. Might as well leave behind one final 'fuck you,' little nob."I pointed at him and the Arc became a low powered Bolt, landing on his cheek and drawing a howl of pain and rage. "What was that? You've volunteered to be a test dummy for trying out creating medical spells? Gee, thanks mister! I've been meaning to get a new one. All my old ones died in horrible agony and the survivors are all horrendously deformed and insane. It's a shame that Millis keeps their spells locked down so tight, so enterprising mages who want to learn higher level healing have to find live test subjects for making their own. Mice can't really talk back when you work on them, see? But a person… well, person-shaped sack of shit, in your case. You can tell me what I'm doing wrong. Right up until your head explodes like the last one, anyway.""You don't have the balls—"I laughed. "That's funny. Neither will you, when I'm done. I make sure to neuter my test subjects. Makes them more compliant. Easier to manage."I had just been making an empty threat, but the more I considered it… "You're prisoners. Murderers, thieves, and kidnappers. You're slated for execution anyway, after interrogation. May as well get some use out of you before you shuffle off the mortal coil, and what better way than advancing the field of medicine? Think of how many people your sad, miserable little lives could help."The more I considered it, the better the idea sounded."Rudy," Sylphie tugged on my sleeve again. I looked over at her and she sent me a small frown. "No.""What? Come on! They're acceptable targets!" I gestured at the acceptable targets in question. "Human garbage. How many lives do you think these people have ruined over the course of their careers as criminals? How many people killed, kidnapped, raped, sold into slavery, or just had their valuables stolen and lives ruined. How many families have been hurt or broken because of them?"The girl simply stared at me, expectantly."No, really, rats can't talk. They could speed up spell development by years just by being able to tell me how they feel. With that, I could make spells to regenerate missing limbs, cure incurable diseases, treat untreatable injuries like Lilia's."More staring."Think of all the sick and injured children in war-torn lands these miserable wastes of oxygen would save, just by spending a few weeks in a lab."Even. More. Staring.I sighed, before metaphorically throwing up my hands. "Damnit. Fine! Have it your way."Sylphie's arms wrapped around me in a hug and her lips found my cheek. "Thank you.""Yeah, yeah," I waved her off. "Slowing the advance of medicine by centuries because it'd make you feel bad. The things I do for you," I grumbled.It was around that time that several men in the uniform of the city guard swept into the building through the man-door in the front. The leader came up and saluted. "The governor sent us. If you could pull them out of the ground one at a time, we'll take them into custody from here."We spent the next several minutes digging people out of the ground and letting the guards shackle them together, before they were marched off towards wherever it was the city guard kept their prisoners. Turning to Sylphie, I sighed and held out my arm. The girl took it and we started walking back to the guild. "Guess we'll go report this cock-up and pick up another mission.""It's fine. We're not in a hurry, right?"I shrugged. "Not really. I just hate having to redo work because someone screwed up somewhere."Sylphie nodded, humming quietly before a small smile crossed her face. "Eris is going to be annoyed that she missed out on the adventure.""Not much of an adventure," I countered, before a thought occurred and I winced. "Shit. I forgot to call Ghislaine."The limette laughed. "You should call her or she's going to be angry."I briefly considered not calling at all and just keeping it quiet. "If she finds out from someone else, she'll be even angrier."I shot the girl at my side an amused look. "Stop reading my mind."Sylphie simply smiled. "Let's visit your lab later. I want to show you something.""Sure, sounds fun," I agreed easily."This is getting out of control.""Mm?" Paul grunted, sipping at his pint as Laws finished his second of the night and started on the third. He's going hard at it tonight. He's going to make me carry him back again.His glass thumped onto the table and Laws let out a frustrated breath. "My girl. Your boy. This whole thing," he gestured around them. Paul frowned. "Danz got kicked in the head by his mule today. His wife and boy dragged him up to the house to ask Sylphiette to heal him. I had to tell them my daughter couldn't do it because she fucked off and ran away to go be with your son in Roa. His missus chewed my ass good for running her off. This is the third time since she left—"Sighing, the dirty-blonde man turned to his half-elven friend. "Laws, you made the call to keep her leaving quiet yourself. The only one to blame for her leaving is Rudeus, for ignoring what I told him about not contacting her and going behind our backs. Not to mention giving her that contraption. Not yourself, not me. Rudeus.""Well maybe if you had done a better job raising him," Laws griped, picking up a sausage off the plate of bar food the waitress had dropped off with their drinks and biting into it.Paul snorted into his beer. "I don't think Rudy ever needed us to raise him."Washing his sausage down with another drink, Laws asked, "Do you have any idea how humiliating it is to have your nine year old daughter sending home more in a week than you make in a month? Her first letter said it was 'to provide for her family,' but… It's exactly one copper more than I make in a month. It's a gods damned slap in the face, Paul.""Oh boo-fuckin'-hoo."Paul and Laws looked up from their table, off to their right at the corner table. There sat an old, bearded face familiar to anyone who lived in the village. The surly visage of Uncle greeted them as the man studied his own plate. "Uncle, this is a private conversa—""Shut yer goddamn yap, you uptight twig," Uncle snapped, his volume increasing. Laws shut his yap. Conversation in the small bar quieted. While everyone had previously been at least pretending to ignore the conversation going on between their Lord-appointed knight and his direct subordinate—the man ostensibly in charge of the city—watch now they weren't even bothering with that pretense, sensing a blowup about to occur.Uncle did not disappoint."'Oh, woe is me. My daughter's been corrupted by the evil mage and run off to his tower. Now, people think I'm a fuckin' idiot for running off one of the two healers we had in town—arguably the stronger of the two. The mage who offered, out of the kindness of her heart, to go help clear out the problem we're having in the forest, but I declined to help because it would make me and my boss look bad to accept help from a child. Now she's sending my family money to help take care of her baby sister and it's making me feel like a useless waste of a twig because she's doing better than I am.'"The old man paused to wet his throat. Laws took that moment to complain. "It's not that simple, Uncle.""The fuck it's not," Uncle put his glass down. "And did I say you could open your fucking cockhole, pretty-boy? No? Then keep it closed. You'll know when I'm done tearing you a new asshole, son. Now, where was I?"He considered it for a moment before nodding. "Oh, right. Going over your many failures. Perhaps the biggest one is sitting right there in front of you. You trusted that idiot over what you could see with your own eyes and the two of you ran off the other ridiculously powerful mage in the village. You know, the one who was watering the fields for cheap and who raised the roads we walk and drive our carts on from the muddy, pot-hole filled dirt tracks they were for free."The one you idiots," Uncle shot a glare at the rest of the room and several of the men (and a few women) who had been not-so-discretely watching the show turned away at the sudden scrutiny, "turned around and treated like a damned outsider the moment he left, because you didn't want to accept the fact that your little brats are absolute shits and you know fuck-all about raising a child.""Says the man who got his daughter killed."The room went absolutely silent. Uncle's gaze drifted up from his pint to meet Paul's gaze. "That's rich, coming from the man whose at the time seven year oldson put him down and humiliated him in front of his family and friends and gave you the beating you were going to give him. Tell me, Paul. What do you think little Rudy's been doing all this time? Diddling that noble you sent him off to teach? Or d'ya think he's been working with that beast of a woman that came to get him on getting better at swinging a stick?""You need to shut up now, Uncle. You're drunk. Go home."Uncle snorted. "Fuck off, you washed up has-been. What are you going to do? Beat an old man? You can try it boy, but I'll make sure you're the one coming off worse in the end."When Paul didn't move from his seat, Uncle nodded. "That's what I thought. You two chuckle-fucks are going to be the end of this village. Between the two of you, you've sent off or run off two of the only mages born here in decades. Mages that might have gone off for a time to do some adventuring, before coming back with their money to settle down here and probably start a family of their own—a family of mages, because that's how it tends to go. Everyone knows mages bring in money. They're worth their weight in gold, and you two pissed it away."Finishing off his drink, Uncle waved over the only barmaid for a fresh pint. "Have either of you two shitbirds been into Roa lately?" When neither Paul nor Laws answered, Uncle glared. "I'm not asking for my health. Answer the damn question."Paul sighed. "Can't say I have. Where are you going with this?"When Laws just shook his head, Uncle rolled his eyes. "Know what I hear, every time I pull into the city to trade my wares? I hear people talking. I see what happens when a mage puts his mind towards making a place better. Talking about how the roads for a hundred miles in every direction from Roa have been done just like ours. They're calling your son Rudeus the Road-Builder, Paul. I see goods coming from further than they ever have before, more money changing hands than Asura has seen anywhere but in Ars—certainly nowhere in Fittoa. Merchants talking about how this year, Roa's going to beat out the capital for profits. People talking about strange new things coming out of Roa that no one quite knows where they came from, but we all know who made 'em."Uncle pointed a gnarled finger at the swordsman. "If you had just let him be, we'd be up to our eyeballs in gold. Hell, even if you sent the boy off, as long as you didn't burn that bridge he'd have come back one day and brought it all back with him. But no, Paul. You shit all over that. And for what? Oh, everyone's heard the rumors, considering they come straight from the twig there in that very seat. But those of us who don't have our heads up our asses, who actually met the lad and that master of his before him, know they're nothing but hogwash. So the only thing you're protecting in sending the boy off is your fuckin' ego."Paul was silent as the realization set in that he truly had screwed over the village exactly as the old man claimed. Then, his jaw clenched and he shook his head. "You're wrong. None of it would be worth a shit if it came—"When Paul abruptly shut his mouth with a click of teeth, Uncle shot the man a glare. "Finish it, Paul. Go ahead. Say what you were going to say. It wouldn't be worth a shit if it came from where?""From the kind of people I left behind.""And if you think little Rudy is that kind of man, you're a goddamned idiot," Uncle declared, before finishing his drink and slamming the glass down. Standing up, he dropped some coin on the table. "And now, your stupidity has cost us Sylphiette as well, at a time when we could most use the help. I hope you're both fuckin' satisfied."Turning to Laws, Uncle demanded, "Well twig? Go ahead and open that cockhole you call a mouth. What have you got to say for yourself? You'll have to speak up, though. I 'magine it'll be hard to hear with how far you've got your head buried up Paul's ass, but I'll give it a try."Looking up from his drink, Laws said, "It's none of your business how I choose to raise my daughter—""That's where you're wrong, twig. It becomes town business when it starts hurting the town. You running Sylphiette off hurts the town. If you continue the trend, you two might as well go ahead and send little Aisha and Elin off now and save yourselves the time.""I didn't run her off! She was talking to Rudeus behind our backs and ran away on her own!"Uncle snorted, hocked, and spat off to the side. "So what? Girl's got to grow up some time. Or were you planning to keep her locked away in your home until she was thirty, to make sure she didn't turn into your mother and leave you? I'd call her a whore, but a whore doesn't do the payin.' And don't that just sting, that she did it anyway."Laws jumped to his feet, grabbing his mug by the handle and swinging for the old man's head. Uncle stood his ground. The empty pint glass stopped a foot from its target as Paul's hand locked around Laws' wrist in a grip like steel. "Alright, enough! Laws, sit down. Uncle, if you've said your piece, go home. You went too far."Quietly, but still loud enough that everyone in the bar heard, Uncle asked, "Bringing my dead daughter into it like you know a fuckin' thing about it is fine, but talking about the boy's mama and what we all know for fact ain't. Is that what you're saying? Sounds a whole lot like 'rules for thee, but not for me.' Guess you can take the brat from the nobles, but you can't take the noble out of the brat. But that's fine. Ol' Uncle's said his piece."Turning away, the man made for the door. "Think I'll see if I can find something blonde and twiggy next time I head into town. Maybe get her to call me 'daddy.'"Laws jerked in his seat but Paul held him in place until the ornery old goat left, having taken one last parting shot at the half-elf by way of Laws' mother and Paul's former party member, Elinalise. Sitting down, Paul waved the bar maid over. "Something a little stronger."The woman came back with a bottle and a pair of glasses and left it when Paul dropped a gold coin on the table. Opening the bottle, Paul poured for himself and his friend. "He's just—""Shut the fuck up, Paul," Laws growled, taking the offered glass and downing it in one gulp, before pouring a second. "He's right. This mess is your fault. What if you're wrong about Lewdeus," he slurred, "Lewdy. Rude. Ru—. You know what I mean."Paul sighed, shaking his head as he watched his friend climb into the bottle. "I'm not. I told you, it's what I would do," he answered honestly. "And Rudy is just like his father.""That's 'cause you're a piece of shit," Laws rolled his eyes. "What if you're wrong, Paul?""I'm not. You just have to trust me."They polished off the rest of the bottle in relative silence, ignoring the other patrons. Eventually, Paul stood and hefted Laws up onto his feet and got him moving. "You should know your limits by now," he grumbled good-naturedly as he directed his friend back to his home. The door was unlocked when he tried the handle, so he lead Laws inside, where he found the man's wife sitting on their couch, knitting and rocking the crib holding their new daughter.Looking up, the woman eyed the pair and took a sniff before wrinkling her nose. "Ugh. Drop him here," she said, standing up from the couch. "I'm not sharing the bed with that tonight."What little brain muscle-to-mouth filter Paul had was currently off the clock, so instead the bigger of the two muscles that directed his life did the talking for him—his dick. He dropped Laws on the cough and turned to the woman with the grin that he knew made his wives' panties wet and asked, "So you've got room for me then, Sylvia?""Shameless flirt," the woman rolled her eyes. "Go home."Paul chuckled, giving Laws one last pat on the boot before heading back home. He had some frustration to work off and the wives always appreciated it when he was more 'energetic' than usual.Uncle is right about one thing. With Sylphie gone, we're down to just Zenith.