Skana, CZ and Lakyus returned and set up the board in their private 'investigative center' quickly enough. As soon as they were done, Skana said, "I'll have the hotel concierge call for a discrete guard, we'll have quite a bit to do today."

"Fine, but remember I have to be at the Synod today too. If I'm late for one day and don't show up till around lunch, well who hasn't had that happen just once?" Lakyus said.

"Good to have friends." CZ said simply.

"Agreed." Skana said, giving CZ and Lakyus a small grin, "I think it's a good idea for there to be some support there that Neia knows. We can manage without you for a while, we'll reconvene here in the evening around dinner after the Synod ends for the day. I'm sure Neia would like to know what we found."

"Alright, that'll work." Lakyus said, and then Skana went out over to the front desk. A few moments later she returned.

"OK, he's going to have someone here within the hour." Skana said and flopped herself down in a chair, her arms and legs splayed out.

"Didn't sleep well?" Lakyus asked.

"No, but it's not that, I just feel so… weak, like a damn kitten. I'm not sure that resurrection spell really worked all the way, because I am dead on my feet." Skana said.

CZ approached and put a sticker on her cheek. "Cute. Feel that?" She asked.

Skana nodded, well used to CZ's antics by now. "Yes…"

"Not dead then." She said.

Lakyus covered her mouth to keep back her laugh. "Yes, the spell worked just like it was supposed to, you're feeling weak as a kitten because you've lost almost all your strength. Do you know your estimated rank by adventurer standards?" She asked.

Skana frowned, "Well, when we were fighting Remedios I didn't die, but the only occasion I had to face off on guild standards was in Yanana. In those fights I went as high as platinum before we started drinking games instead, I don't really know what my upper limit was at the time. I can say that I'm better with a sword than Neia, but she's better than I am with a bow. Why do you ask?"

Lakyus touched her cheek and looked up thoughtfully, "At a guess you were somewhere around Platinum or Orichalcum, which means right now you're maybe the equivalent of a gold rank, and you'll have to train a lot once you're able to move around more, in order to regain your lost strength. That you were able to stand and walk says you had to have had some considerable strength before though, good for your survival, if you'd been too weak, you'd be ashes."

Skana swallowed, "Unpleasant thought."

"Stay here." CZ said.

"What, why?" Skana asked.

"Weak. Can't fight." She said flatly.

"She's got a point." Lakyus said, "You'll be fine here, you can just wait for the guards, we'll go back to the restaurant and talk to the owner and the reservation manager. Once the guards arrive, you can fill them in on the mission, give them the letter of credit and inspect them when they come back. This is more efficient and you can take over when it is time for me to go to the Synod."

Skana sighed heavily, "I guess I can't really argue with that." She said, "Alright, go, I'll wait here, good luck to you."

"Thanks." Lakyus and CZ replied over their shoulders as they walked out of the back room.

When they left, Skana turned her chair to face the board and simply looked at it, as if by staring at it, she could compel the culprit to reveal himself, she folded her hands under her chin and watched it, digging her nails into her palms enough that they bled. Someone had killed her, worse, someone had tried to kill her wife in the most cowardly underhanded way possible. It had her raging inside, hating the weakness that resurrection had brought her, and longing to train again.

She spent so long looking for an answer that wasn't there that she lost track of the passage of time, and before she knew it someone was knocking on the door. "Come in." She said loudly, and in walked an officer of the Baharuth Army.

"Ma'am, I'm Captain Strega, I've been requisitioned to your service, along with my squad, please give me your orders!" He said crisply and snapped his feet together and rendered a smart salute and stared at her with awe.

"I take it you recognize me." She said, leaning forward in her chair.

"Ma'am! Yes I do ma'am!" He said. She looked him over, he was young, in his early twenties, impressive rank for a man that age, he had a half beard and honest looking blue eyes to complement his slender but firm looking frame, it was hard to keep her professional pride at bay, but she did her best.

"Well, I hope it was good things." She said with a little smile forming on her face before she reached into her front pocket and pulled out a letter from the emperor and handed it to him.

"Ma'am, the best things, ma'am." He said sharply, and then he reached out and took the letter.

"That letter authorizes you to use the emperor's own treasury for your expenditures, with no upper limit. You and your soldiers will discreetly visit a tailor and have yourself outfitted like the very finest merchants. Then you will split up into teams and visit various restaurants from this list." She said, standing up and taking a list off the board. "While there, you will look for two things. First, a man who looks like this." She took the sketch CZ had drawn and handed it to him. "Second is a tray that looks like this, exactly like this." She said and took the sketch of the tray down and handed it over as well. "Memorize both his face and every line of silver or white gold that is etched into those patterns on that tray, I want to know where that man is, and where that tray is used, and I am certain both will be found at the same location, in one of those few restaurants."

"Ma'am, what is our budget for food and drinks ma'am, I assume we are to blend in?" He asked formally as he looked over the images he held, drinking them in and burning them into his memory.

"Whatever the empire's annual budget is." She said bluntly. "There is no limit, you can get the whole place drunk if you want, I don't care, as long as one of your groups finds both of the things we're looking for. You don't need to apprehend him, in fact I'd prefer you didn't, just identify where he works, and where he lives. Now, go get your people dressed to the nines and come back here for a brief inspection." She said bluntly, "Oh, and you're not to keep those pictures, get your men ready, memorize those things, then return here and I'll take those back, can't take the risk it might disappear along the way, or worse, expose you if it is seen." She said.

He nodded, rendered a salute, said "Yes ma'am!" and turned around and walked out.

When Lakyus and CZ reached the restaurant, they caught a lucky break. They were immediately recognized by the man that had seated them all the night Skana had been poisoned, and his very first act on seeing them was to abandon his post and rush to the two women. He bowed very deeply and said with a sincerity as deep as his bow, "Ladies, so glad you're back, I have been hoping to see you again so that I could beg your forgiveness for what happened to your companion, please know that the owner has expressed his complete willingness to cooperate with you in any way to find out who could have done this to you!" He stared hard at their feet, until he heard Lakyus speak.

"That is actually why we're here, we want to talk to the owner, and the person responsible for taking reservations, and whoever else has access to them." She said.

"At once my lady!" he said and snapped his back up to a vertical position and immediately rushed within, followed closely by CZ and Lakyus.

The restaurant was far from as busy as it had been 'that night'. Half the tables sat empty, but the attendant gave no sign that he was perturbed by the deficit of customers and he weaved through tables with the practiced grace of a noble's son, which, as she thought about it, he may have been. The kingdom was not the only place where noble houses had 'spares'. He lead them to the back to a slender door that blended in almost flawlessly with the wood work, at first Lakyus was cautious, a secret entrance was not a normal thing, but a moment later she laughed in her own head. The owner was so conscientious about the decor that he didn't want a door to break the flow of the design, therefore he designed it so that it would blend in with the wall.

She rolled her eyes, but followed up a set of ornate steps that lead down a short hall to another smooth door that opened up into an office space. There, a slender man with a thick bushy mustache in chef's clothing, sat behind a desk. As soon as he saw them enter, he stood and reached over the desk and extended his hand. "My dear lady Lakyus, and… CZ, yes? My name is Chef Thale, I am so very sorry about the incident that took place at my restaurant, please believe me when I say I never would have permitted something to happen to any of my customers, this black mark on my name, if it comforts you, will never wash away." He shook his head gravely. "Who will eat at a restaurant where poisoning is possible, if it were the food, then the food is bad, if it were planned and intended, nobody will dine somewhere so haphazard with the privacy and safety of their customers. I may not recover from this. At least your friend did." He said.

"Which loss is worse?" CZ asked, her voice had her usual neutrality, but Lakyus had gotten to know CZ a bit, and she saw red.

"Your companion would have been the greater loss, I don't mean to trivialize her at all!" He said, probably, Lakyus reflected, saving his life. "Please understand though, I have poured my life into this, all my life I have worked and labored to build a name and a reputation for myself, I have devoted myself to the culinary arts and have proudly served the people of the capital for many, many years. To lose all of that over dinner…" He balled his fists and pressed them into the desk he leaned over, "I may be ruined, and it is hard to cope with that."

"I see." CZ said.

"Then we are of one purpose, first, understand that anything you tell us is considered a government secret, losing your restaurant is bad, losing your head is much worse." Lakyus said with a calm and patient voice.

"Understood." He said softly.

"First we need to speak with everyone who has access to the reservation list, this was a deliberate and targeted attempt at assassinating the Pope of Black Justice, the Sorcerer King is incensed beyond measure, and it literally killed her wife, she made those reservations herself. Someone leaked those out to her killer." Lakyus said.

The owner thought it over. "Four people have access." He looked over their shoulders. "Orli, go bring Rascos, Barqs, and Mir." The attendant that had greeted and brought them into the restaurant bowed his head and quickly withdrew. A few minutes later there were four men standing by.

It is usually a bad sign when one finds oneself arrayed in front of their unhappy looking employer, but if anyone had ever wondered, a heavily armed girl with an eyepatch walking behind them and audibly locking the door before planting herself in front of it, did not improve the mood of the room.

Lakyus walked in front of them.

"My name is Lakyus Alvein Dale Aindra, an adamantite adventurer, and I will be abundantly clear about your situation. One of you sold information to 'someone' who used that information to make an assassination attempt on Pope Neia Baraja, the woman who personally serves the Sorcerer King, the liege to your emperor. The assassination attempt poisoned and killed the pope's wife. Now, if that doesn't sound like enough of a problem, the Sorcerer King has offered to send one of his personal investigators, which from what I'm given to understand, includes that investigator's personal interrogator, to assist in the matter. The offer has not been accepted 'yet'."

There were very loud swallows and an abundant amount of sweating.

"You have two choices." She said as she stopped in front of the four right at the center. She held out one hand to her left at waist height. "You may confess." She lowered her other hand parallel to the left. "Or you may 'not' confess." All the while she'd kept her voice reasonable, but her look betrayed the fact that she was very angry.

"Neia and Skana are both friends of mine, so this is not a matter I take lightly. If you do not confess, you will keep your secret a little longer. But then I'll be turning you over to her." She gestured to the petite looking CZ Delta. "She's a demon maid of the Sorcerer King, he freed her from Jaldabaoth. If you keep your secrets from her, you will be turned over to Neia, who is very angry about the death of her wife, and she will likely turn you over to the interrogator. I don't know much about her, but 'guilt' to her species is like a sense of smell or sight. If you confess now, I'm inclined to be lenient, maybe let you go even, and keep your name 'out' of my report as an unimportant nobody who was not involved in the plot and was duped into…" She was interrupted before she could finish her sentence.

"It was me!" Mir shouted. "I did it! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I really didn't know anyone would get hurt! I just, wanted some extra pocket money and thought someone just wanted to sit close to her, it happens all the time, I swear nobody has ever gotten hurt, and nobody told me anything about the murder!" He said as he fell to his knees. Lakyus went and stood in front of him, she cupped his face in her hands.

"I believe you, if you were really guilty, you wouldn't still be working here, you'd have run for the hills." Lakyus said reassuringly. "So what I now want to know, is everything you can tell me about the person who you sold that information to."

"The rest of you, get out, and on pain of the headsman's ax or worse… never say a word." Lakyus said and looked to CZ. "CZ, let them out."

CZ unlocked the door, let them go out, unleashing enough of her killing intent to warn them that speaking on the events of this room would end very badly for them, then she closed and locked the door again.

"I sold it to an information broker, a woman named Ryli, she operates out of an inn, the Dancing Mare!" He said, spilling everything he knew in a panicked voice.

"And?" CZ asked from behind him, taking her palm and gently placing it over the top of his head, she 'squeezed' in what might have been gentle for her, but he let loose an agony filled yelp, like a dog that had just been kicked.

"Nothing! No one! I swear it!" he said, and as she released her gentle touch, his hands went up to his head and he began to whimper.

"You're going to give your ill gotten gains to charity, then you're going to quit this job and leave this city." Lakyus said.

"He can't quit. He's fired." Chef Thale said furiously.

"Either way, you're gone, and you'll never return here." She said with a chill voice. "You have five days to vacate."

He gave many small nods that were punctuated by his pained whimpers.

"Get out." CZ said, and opened the door again, he scurried out as fast as his legs could carry him.

"That may be settled," Chef Thale said, "but I am still ruined." He said as he sat heavily back down into his chair.

"Perhaps when we find the culprits, we'll celebrate here. That might restore some confidence to your establishment." Lakyus said.

"Perhaps." He said with a smidgen of hope. "Thank you for your kindness. I will cook my heart out for you, should such a day come, it is the least, and most, that I can offer you." Chef Thale said softly.

Lakyus & CZ nodded politely and left the restaurant, when they were back outside, Lakyus looked over at CZ. "I'm sorry to leave you now, but I need to go to the Synod, Neia shouldn't be there alone."

"Go." CZ replied, and hefted her spell gun. Actions spoke more clearly than words, and Lakyus bowed quietly and left.

Now alone, CZ approached a guard and got directions to the Dancing Mare. When she arrived she took a look around. There were patrons aplenty, none of them especially wealthy, but none of them dirt poor either. They were reasonably well dressed and the furniture was 'middle tier' quality by New World standards. Simple carved wood with some varnish slapped on it. The drinks were mostly beer and ale, but a few drank what was probably cheap wine. There was minimal decor, a little mediocre landscape art on the walls featuring rolling hills and small isolated homes, nothing special, nothing fancy, just good enough. She approached the innkeeper and rented a room, she then disappeared to it for a little while, allowing some time to pass before she came back down, checking to be sure the former desk clerk had been replaced, and then she approached the desk again. "Is Ryli here?" She asked.

"No." The desk clerk said flatly, offering no further knowledge.

"When she arrives, tell her that Mir will be waiting in room three one three. He has a deal for Ryli." She said, and walked out the front door.

The innkeeper watched her go, then when a woman walked in and simply claimed a corner seat, the clerk approached her. CZ had indeed walked out, but she walked out to the back of the inn, found the window to her room, leaped up to the window sill and climbed in. A few minutes later, a woman walked in, the door closed.

"Alright Mir, what do you have for me?" A fierce sounding voice said, and that was when CZ struck her on the back of the head.

"Abrupt. But questions require answers." She said to the unconscious woman, and then she called for a gate and dragged the woman through by her foot as soon as it opened.

When Ryli woke up, she found that her wrists ached, as one would expect, because her next realization was that she was hanging from them. She also found that she wasn't wearing anything. She kept her breathing modulated and slow, forcing herself to stay calm. Info brokers like her faced this kind of thing as an occupational hazard. What was not the usual hazard was the girl who walked in wearing very nice but unusually cut clothing. She had long blonde hair worn in a braid and soft, pale looking skin, but in the firelight of the place, her eyes stood out. The girl carried herself like a young peasant, but her eyes told a different story.

"Hiya. I'm Vanysa, an'a got some questions for yah, an yer gonna tell me all I wants ta know, m'kay?" She said with a very sweet smile.

Ryli was not a weak woman, she was muscled without bulk, toned, skilled… she thought, at detecting a trap, evading capture, and fairly decent at hand to hand combat. She was after all, still alive, where a lot of others were dead. Her long red hair might as well have represented her fiery spirit, and she sneered defiantly. "Nah, ah don't think so. Ah think I'll escape, kill you, and then escape from this place entirely, this is just part of the job for me."

The blond woman who called herself Vanysa giggled, and the giggle became a cackle, and then wings burst out from her back, talons grew from her fingers, her skin turned a dark purplish shade, and her hair went black, horns sprouted from her head, and she flew forward, her body completely covering the now shocked Ryli. One talon went under her chin and forced her to look up. Vanysa's mouth opened, baring fangs. "You do have a job to do." She cooed softly, "My master says you get to live, that you'll be useful to him, but because you had a direct hand in trying to kill his pope… you must be punished… and all information must be taken from you, and then you will be 'baptized' into his service. I don't know which will hurt you worse."

Ryli began to shake, Vanysa stared into her eyes, and inhaled as if Ryli were a flower with a lovely scent. "There is so much guilt in you… so much… I want it… I'm so hungry…" Vanysa said, and Ryli's confusion was still rising, when the teeth sank into flesh and the information broker began to kick and scream.

Captain Strega was having a fine time. These were the most comfortable clothes he'd ever worn, the wine was the best he'd ever had, the food was beyond sumptuous, he doubted he could go back to his old fare after this. He and three other men sat in various places around the restaurant, ordering, eating, talking with patrons, and generally having a very good time while they did their jobs. Identifying the right restaurant by the silver tray had turned out to be easy. The waiter however, had taken several hours, not that anybody minded. When things began to close down, they started to leave and spread themselves out, following an ordinary waiter was child's play, he didn't know he was being watched, and even if he felt it, who would suspect a wealthy merchant in the finest clothing? He smirked at the man's back.

Within an hour after his shift, they knew where he lived, and after leaving a few men to stake the place out, Captain Strega turned around to walk back to report to Commander Skana. Even as he returned, he thought of all the wonderful meals he could eat with the bonus he was sure to get for this.

AN: Hope you liked it. Leave a review, join me on discord (invite code on the author page) or donate to bdgiving dot org if you want to help motivate the author. :)