I'll be honest, not much really happens in this chapter besides it just being set-up for the next one. We do get some fun scenes of characters bonding and learning some important info.

Big thanks to Qinlongfei for beta reading this chapter and providing important feedback and critique.

With that said, let's get this chapter started!

Chapter 62: The Hunt Begins

Raphtalia knew that despite being the granddaughter of Emperor Kajirou, she was not destined for greatness in her life. And that was fine with her.

Big sister Sadeena liked to talk a lot about their homeland(usually when she was drunk), a country that she had never even been to or seen in her life. She would tell tall tales about how Q'ten Lou had powerful weapons forged from ancient and rare ore that could only be found on their former nation that gave the wielder the power and strength to resist Cardinal and Star Weapons, that allowed them to call themselves the 'Judge of Heroes'. Until the last Shield Hero Noriko Bloody Fist destroyed it in a devastating attack that they had never recovered from, that forced most of the people to flee to wherever they could find safety.

That was how her family ended up settling into Port Harp. Raphtalia supposes that many would call it a humiliation in every sense of the word...

But honestly, Raphtalia didn't care for any of that. She was perfectly content living a normal life as a regular merchant's daughter, she didn't even really think about her technical status as a princess unless she catches big sister Sadeena drunk and rambling off again about her family's true identities. That was the reason why her father had to explain their family's true lineage when she was younger in case she ever saw Big sis Sadeena drunk and had to stop her from revealing anything important about their family by accident.

Raphtalia was...happy at Port Harp. Her family never had any issues with money so they always had enough to live comfortably. She had good friends like Keel and Rifana to play with and she was just content.

Now its all gone... and she knows that living a normal life was no longer an option and simply being a normal kid who just wanted to play and enjoy her life was no more.

That fact was hitting her harder now than ever before.

" Alright Raphtalia, just focus on visualizing the illusion in your head and pushing the mana out in front of you like we practiced." Alice spoke in a gentle, soft tone. It reminded Raphtalia a lot of how her mother or even big sister Mein spoke sometimes which made her feel a bit better about her past failures." Remember recite the full incantation, don't just try to do it with the name alone. That might be a bit too complex for you to learn right now."

" O-Okay!" Raphtalia took a deep breath as she made another attempt at trying to cast this simple dark level spell Alice was trying to teach her. She focused as hard as she could on visualizing the illusion that she wanted to cast and tried to make it as simple as possible." As source of thy power, I order thee, decipher the laws of nature and create a form of shadow before me! Fast Shadow Clone!"

Raphtalia focused her mana as hard as she could out of her hand, and after a moment passed a collection of shadows started to take shape and form properly into a more recognizable being that had her face. An illusionary clone of herself made out of shadow magic. Alice said that this was a pretty useful spell to learn as it could be used as a distraction or to confuse enemies.

Raphtalia felt happy that she finally got the spell to work but felt her confidence quickly drop as she realized the illusion wasn't performing the action she envisioned it doing, which was just running in a straight line. Instead the shadow clone of herself just stood there like a stone, not moving or even blinking which did not make for a convincing illusion. It only got worse when she saw that the illusion was starting to melt and fade, a sign of her magic failing.

" No no no!" Raphtalia scrambled to try and hold up the illusion to no avail, just wanting to avoid another failure. " I-I can fix it! I can-"

She couldn't fix it. The illusion had failed and faded into nothingness. That was her fourth attempt at casting a simple illusion spell

" I-I failed." Again. Raphtalia gave an apologetic look at Alice, feeling like she was just wasting the priestess's time when all she did was fail.

" Its okay Raphtalia, illusion magic is tricky to get a handle on. Don't feel too bad about it." Alice did not scold her for her failure, instead she just gave a patient smile to her. Somehow it made her feel just as bad if she was actually scolded on her failure." Let's take a break for now and let your mana regenerate, okay?"

"O-Okay..." Raphtalia nodded as the two of them went to sit on the benches of the courtyard.

" People may think mages have it easy, but casting magic can be hard work. Its important to rest up after practicing spells." Alice advised her but Raphtalia couldn't reply when she was stuck in her own head.

Raphtalia really liked Alice, she was so kind and patient even when she failed to properly put her teachings into practice. Father had never really spoken much about the Three Heroes Church or much of any faith back then, but big sister Sadeena always told her to stay away from members of the Three Heroes Church saying that all of them were bad people who enslaved demi-humans and beastmen like her. But Alice didn't act like that at all, she seemed pretty friendly and more approachable to demi-humans than Beast Slayer. Raphtalia couldn't deny that she was actually scared a little of the man whose title was named after killing her own kind, she knows that those he kills are criminals but still...

It made her feel even worse because it seemed that no matter how good of a teacher she had, she still couldn't master even basic magic spells. The ones she did manage to cast were little more than parlor tricks that wouldn't do much in a fight, if she can't even do this than how can she expect to ever grow to be helpful to Master Naofumi and big sister Mein? Jun and Filo were even younger than her, and they were already a huge help to the party no matter how much they bicker between each other.

" Is something on your mind Raphtalia?"

" I-I'm fine, just thinking is all." Raphtalia came up with a quick lie to cover her absentmindedness.

" You sure? You didn't answer me when I asked if you wanted some water."

" W-Wait, you did?" Raphtalia was shocked that she was so deep in thought that she hadn't even noticed Alice speaking to her.

" No, but based on your reaction, something is on your mind." Alice revealed her trick with a mischievous smirk that made Raphtalia shocked that she was deceived so easily." But in all seriousness, there is something bothering you. Do you want to talk about it?"

" I-I-I just...I want to get better with my magic." Raphtalia said weakly.

" Illusion magic is hard to get a handle on. Shadow and Light magic are two of the more trickier elements, its normal that you don't get it right first try." Alice gave words of encouragement that made her feel a bit better, but not by much.

" Yes, but how long would it take for me to get better at it?" Raphtalia pondered that question a lot. Days, weeks, months maybe? That was time they didn't have with the Waves of Catastrophe ongoing.

" Clarissa always says that properly learning the ways of the arcane requires an entire life of education." Alice had an intuitive look on her face." But I'm guessing that there's an underlying reason for why you want to speed up your progress?"

" I-I want to be able to do more for Master Naofumi and Big sister Mein. I don't want to be a burden for them anymore." Raphtalia confessed her true feelings about why she wanted to get better.

Raphtalia was smart enough to know that she was the weakest link of the party, even before she lost her right arm that made her even more dependent on the others for help. Nobody had ever said it out loud but she knows deep down that it was the truth, she had done nothing useful to pay back all the kindness big sister Mein and Master Naofumi showed her since they rescued her from the slums. She was the one who pushed Master Naofumi and Big sister Mein to take her to the Wave because she didn't want to be left alone after losing Keel, and she did nothing actually useful besides get her right arm hacked off by an undead. The loss of her right arm made her an even greater burden than she was before, where now she could barely even hold a spoon properly.

Maybe if she hadn't lost her arm, she would have already learned how to properly use a weapon to defend herself by now, instead of relearning how to run without falling flat on her face because she lost her balance. Her limitations were more clearer now than ever before and it hurt knowing just how far behind she was compared to everybody else.

" Oh Raphtalia. I understand where you're coming from, but you're still just a kid. You shouldn't push yourself-"

" I know that! But it doesn't change the fact that Master Naofumi and Big Sister Mein have to fight a world-ending catastrophe and I don't...I don't want to just do nothing anymore." Raphtalia couldn't stop herself from letting some of the irritation she feels with herself slip into her voice. Master Naofumi and big sis Mein had told her the same thing, but its not like she could pretend that there wasn't an oncoming disaster that threatened to kill them all.

She didn't want to do nothing and watch people she care for die, like what happened...with her parents.

" I understand how you feel Raphtalia, actually I think I understand it better than most." Alice gave her a sympathetic look." You know, I used to be in your position too where I thought I was the weakest link of my party."

" R-Really?" Raphtalia said in disbelief. Alice always seemed so calm, collected and rational leader of her own party. She was what Raphtalia imagined was the example of an accomplished adventurer from the guild who managed to rise through the ranks on her own power. How could she ever have been someone like herself?

" Yeah, I wasn't always like this, I wasn't even the leader of Titan Storm back then when we were first starting out as rookies. I was almost too shy to even talk a lot back then." Alice told her story with a soft smile on her face. " I was just a young girl from the Three Heroes Church who wanted to do more with her life than spend it in a cathedral, I wanted to see the world and help people along the way. That's how I ended up meeting my friends and how our first quest almost ended in disaster when we went after a small bandit group. We would have all been killed if Slayer hadn't shown up to save us and took us under his wing afterwards."

" Working with Slayer certainly made things...well, not easier but it certainly had its advantages working with a Silver rank willing to teach us how to be proper adventurers. Though even after we started working with Slayer, I still couldn't help but feel like I was the weakest link of the party." Alice explained with a melancholic expression." I only knew a handful of miracles and spells, and the prospect of killing somebody terrified me back then, never mind learning how to fight. I felt like I was dependent on everybody else to cover for me and protect me."

" How...how did you move past it?" Raphtalia asked desperately.

" Well, another mentor of mine told me that if I wanted to improve than I needed to stop worrying over how I can be of use and instead focus on why I needed to do this for myself." Alice smiled at what she assumed to be a happy memory." Once I figured that part out, I could finally improve myself on my own terms and figured out what kind of person I wanted to be."

" I guess what I'm trying to say is, don't be too hard on yourself. Don't hinge your self worth on how much use you can be to someone else." Alice explained with a smile." Doing it because you want to help people is a good reason, but don't worry yourself into an early grave because you're not learning fast enough."

Raphtalia thought about Alice's words deeply, was she right? Could it be the reason that she couldn't get a hold of her magic is because she was doing this for the wrong reasons and that affected her ability to learn? She couldn't deny that the main and only reason she wanted to get better is because she didn't want to be a burden anymore that big sis Mein and Master Naofumi had to take care of. Maybe she should have been looking at it from the perspective on why she wanted to get stronger. But that left another question on why she wanted to get stronger?

The images of Keel, Big sister Mein and Master Naofumi flashed through her mind. She had her answer.

She wanted to get stronger so that she could stop Keel from hurting others and to protect people alongside big sis Mein and Master Naofumi.

" I-I think I understand what you're trying to say." Raphtalia nodded in agreement with the priestess.

Alice smiled down at her." In that case, try it again but with a new mindset."

Raphtalia took a deep breath as she hoped off the bench and made her fifth attempt. " As source of thy power, I order thee, decipher the laws of nature and create a form of shadow before me! Fast Shadow Clone!"

She focused her mind once again as she felt the mana project itself in front of her into the illusionary version of herself with a blank expression, but this time the illusion took hold as it finally started walking in a straight line in front of her. Raphtalia had simplified the illusion so that it wouldn't put too much of a strain on forming it and putting the illusion into practice.

" Good job Raphtalia! I told you would get it eventually." Alice clapped in encouragement at such as a small achievement but it made Raphtalia smile.

" T-Thank you..."

It wasn't much, but it was a start at least.

Mein's POV

" So you're going to be gone for a few days?" Naofumi asked as he leaned up against one of the wooden beams of the stables.

" Two or three days at most. I need to scout for a suitable area where I can take Raphtalia hunting, the last thing we need is to suddenly stumble into gutterbeak territory and make a run for it." Mein of course, didn't mention that she was going to making a slight detour into Reichnott County to break into the manor and try to find evidence of who exactly the former Lord Reichnott's bastard is. Mein wasn't technically lying, she was rather just not mentioning it and she did intend to scout for a suitable area to take Raphtalia hunting when her main job was finished.

Mein did one last pre-check of the saddle to make sure it was secured properly to the filorial that had been given to her. Eclair was kind enough to loan one of the filorials from the stables to her for a fast trip. Mein considered bringing Jun, but decided that he wouldn't be able to help much in her actual mission and would only slow her down. Better to just borrow a filorial from the stables than bring someone who wasn't going to be doing much besides be an extra seat filler during her adventure.

She made sure to NOT put this filorial down as a party member. Mein was uncertain how much control she had over her passive power that accelerated a monster's growth, but she definitely does not want to deal with another Filo. One was already more than enough to deal with.

" Are you sure its a good idea to go out by yourself when there are bandit groups roaming about?" Naofumi questioned her decision with a bit of worry in his tone." You sure you don't want one of us to come with you?"

" Its alright Naofumi, I travel faster than most bandit groups can keep up with unless they brought their own steeds." Mein smirked at the Shield Hero as she gently pulled on the reins to lead the filorial to the front gate." And even then, I have more than a few tricks up my sleeve to deal with them."

Mein could say that she had come a long way in the development of her Mark, with her skill tree becoming quite colorful with various powerful abilities like Bend Time, Blink, Mesmerize, Devouring Swarm, and others that gave her more than enough options to destroy her enemies. Plus her level was sufficiently high enough that she could easily demolish any bandits that tried to threaten her even if they had superior numbers, as long as she left no witnesses to her heresy than it should be fine. There was a reason why it was said that a level 100 warrior could take on an entire army by themselves through levels alone, even if they had little to no control over their own power. A warhammer was still a warhammer when properly applied.

" If you say so Mein..." Naofumi didn't raise any further objections, but it was clear he was worried about her.

Mein thought it was adorable how worried Naofumi was for her safety, so she decided to tease him a bit so she quickly gave him a kiss on the cheek that shocked him so much that his cheeks turned red from the sudden intimate contact.

" Don't worry about me Naofumi, I'll be back before you know it." Mein said as she got onto the filorial and rode off into the distance. " And don't get into too much trouble while I am away."

" I should be saying that to you!" Naofumi called out to her, which Mein laughed at.

Mouse's POV

Mouse thought that becoming the leader of her own group would be a lot more exciting than this. She had always hoped to become the leader of her own group one day, she could go wherever she wanted, do whatever she wanted and the only limit being her group's ability to scrounge up the money to keep mobile. That was the kind of freedom she strived for, to finally be the one calling the shots and no longer having to kiss ass to somebody else. Just like the Bitch Lord from years ago that Mouse used to look up to before she disappeared and the Hound Lord became the most notorious bandit in Melromarc.

Butcher was a muscle-headed idiot who only became the leader of the group because nobody else could physically oppose him and only knew how to lead by the strength of his fist. Mouse scoffed behind his back for how idiotic he was, but it irked her to no end that was all she could ever do against Butcher's pure brute force. So imagine her surprise when Butcher was killed for trying to cross the Hound Lord who in turn made her the new leader of the group. The Unstoppable Butcher had been put down and she couldn't say that she was going to miss the bastard no matter how much she may have kissed his ass back then. The cherry on top was the Hound Lord making her the new leader.

It was like a dream come true. Not only was the Hound Lord giving her his support as the new leader, but he also gifted her quite a few nice trinkets in the form of runes and some lovely jewelry that sparkled. Mouse had never felt more powerful than when she unlocked the full power of the rune, she could practically feel the power of the Void itself coursing through her veins. She had never taken any of those stories about the Outsider and the Void seriously, it was all just a bunch of occult bullshit. At least up until she found out that it was all very real and it was now the very thing fueling her.

Finally she had become more than just a lackey for some dumbass who didn't know how to think except with their dick.

Yet here she was leaning up against a tree, watching a road and feeling the onset of boredom start to overtake her. Feeling like this was very much grunt work with how pointless and tiresome it felt.

The big 'job' the Hound Lord gave her seemed simple at first: Watch the road leading out of Silver Keep and try to capture any members of the Shield's party. Particularly some brat raccoon kid with one arm, some man-animal knight and a red haired bitch in a purple cloak. Any of them would do apparently and then report back to the Hound Lord. Mouse thought the job seemed easy enough and didn't care to question it, maybe the boss was planning on ransoming them off back to the Shield or something. She didn't really care as long as it kept her on his good side.

But she had come to figure out that waiting for three specific jackasses to show up was a lot harder than it seemed since it relied on a lot of luck. She and a large group of her men had set up in the treeline a day ago, that was right beside the road that led out of Silver Keep. So far, there was nothing of real note that happened besides the annoying as hell bugs that constantly bothered her.

Mouse heard the distinct sound of somebody walking behind her, the telltale sounds of leaves crunching and twigs breaking. She turned her head just enough to see that it was Roy who came to bother her." Hey Mouse, shouldn't we bring the birds closer and ready in case somebody does come along? If the birds are too far back, than we won't be able to get on them in time in case somebody passes on the road."

" That's boss to you." Mouse bite back in irritation at the disrespect." And its pointless to bring the birds up when we don't even know when anybody will be passing through. Damn birds get restless quickly and even then, we would have to push through this foliage to get to the road."

" You're the one who picked the spot..." Roy grumbled under his breath but Mouse still heard him. " Fine, I'll go tell the boys to settle in for now boss."

Mouse wanted to shout at Roy for the disrespect, but she was too damn tired and bored to be bothered. She rubbed the large bag she carried on her belt that contained the runes the Hound Lord had given to her, even through the cloth of the sack she could feel the power of the runes. And it might just be her own imagination, but she could swear that she sometimes heard whispering coming from the runes in the dead of night.

The Hound Lord had told her to distribute the runes to her most trusted men...but honestly, Mouse didn't trust any of these bastards. They clearly didn't trust or respect her as their new leader, so why should she be handing out power to these fools. What if one of them got a better power than her and tried to take her out? She couldn't have that happening when she just came into power. She would keep the runes to herself for now and maybe after they get this job done, will she consider who she can really trust in this group.

Mouse wasn't stupid. She knew how the others looked at her like she was just some incompetent idiot who got lucky or worse some ass kisser. To hell with them all, they had no idea what she had done to get this far and she would do more if it meant keeping her new position. Mouse was more than certain the others would never have accepted her as their new leader if the Hound Lord hadn't personally shown up to tell it to their faces. That's why its important to keep the Hound Lord on her side, even if she couldn't give two figs about the man.

After waiting a couple more minute that were spent mostly twirling the expensive purple earrings the Hound Lord gave her, Mouse got tired of watching the road and headed back to the camp which was only a couple meters away from the treeline where someone could watch the road. It only took her a few moments to get back to where her group had set up camp with a fire and tents set-up along with some logs that were used as makeshift seats. None of her men said anything to her as she sat down by the fire on a block of wood that had been cut down in a seat.

" Boss, how much longer do we have to sit around here with our dicks in our hands hoping that some of the man-animals the Hound Lord asked us to take shows up?" One of her men complained as he threw a stick into the fire." We're wasting our time dicking around doing the Hound Lord's dirty work. We should be out raiding and gathering up money!" His suggestion did get quite a few nods of agreement.

Mouse herself couldn't deny that is exactly what she would have preferred to be doing but she had to do this if she wanted to stay on the Hound Lord's good side. But she couldn't tell them that of course.

" In case all of you have forgotten, the only reason we made it this far is because the Hound Lord has been supplying us with weapons and armor. Without that, we're not going to last long especially now that the heroes have us in their sights." Mouse argued in an annoyed tone.

" Yeah, but we already have all the weapons and gear we could ever need. We don't need to rely on the Hound Lord for support anymore." Roy commented as he took a swig of a bottle he had in his hand." Its thanks to him that we're all on the chopping block after he killed dickless Reichnott. We don't need to follow his orders, we could leave and head for somewhere else where we're not being hunted by Heroes and all the damn nobles of the North."

" And where would we go, hmmmm? Siltvelt or Zeltoble maybe? How do you expect a large group of armed demi-humans and beastmen to discreetly escape from the country without arousing suspicion? We wouldn't even make it to the border before we're caught by some patrol and cut down to half our number, probably even more than that. And by that point, we would be too exhausted to make the whole trek across without being detected or killed. Hiring a smuggler would cost way too much to transport the entire group and we would have to start from scratch." Mouse couldn't deny that some part of her agreed with Roy. The Hound Lord was fucking insane if he was serious about killing a high born and putting targets on all their backs. But right now, she needed to look after her own interest and that meant keeping her men in line.

" I'm not exactly the biggest fan of what he's done recently myself, but right now its sink or swim boys. If you have a problem with how I run this group, than kindly get the fuck out." Mouse sneered at all of them." But good luck getting anywhere else without getting killed by some man-animals or tossed into slavery."

Her little speech seemed to get through the thick skulls of her men as they all looked at the ground in begrudging thought. They all may hate it, but they were all smart enough to know that she was right in her point that it was sink or swim now. Sticking with the Hound Lord for protection was the safe bet for now. Mouse was happy that if nothing else, she managed to get it through their heads that she's calling the shots now.

Mouse let out a satisfied sigh, she was about to grab a bottle of rum to calm her nerves and settle in for a long day. But that was when she noticed one of their rabbitman archers head perk up as he seemed to look around for some kind of disturbance. She was well aware that rabbitmen had exceptionally good hearing that made them good archers, sure some other demi's had good hearing but none as good as rabbitmen.

" What's wrong?"

" Do you guys hear that? It sounds like...something's coming. Fast." The rabbitman turned his head back in the direction of the road." Its coming fast from down the road!"

That sudden declaration made Mouse's heart jump as she realized that she didn't assign anybody else to take over from watching the road. Mouse looked at all of her men sitting by the fire and they all had the same realization.

" Shit! Get moving!" Mouse shouted at her men as she ran back to the treeline where she could see the road. She didn't wait around for her men to catch up, she needed to get there now.

Mouse had been told before that she was fast on her feet, but right now she didn't feel fast enough as she had to push through bushes and branches to get back to the road. The distance from the treeline of the road to the camp they had set up was only a few minutes walk away, but it felt like forever as Mouse steadily heard the sounds of something coming down the road as she got closer, the familiar sound of some steed racing down the road at a fast pace.

She made it back to the treeline just in time to see a figure ride down the road at a fast speed on a filorial, leaving a plume of dust in her wake. Mouse pushing through the bushes and branches to walk onto the road itself to look at the back of the rider and while they were becoming harder to see, Mouse could make out they were wearing a purple cloak. The same color that one of those man-animals wore that the Hound Lord told her to capture.

That was her and Mouse just missed the opportunity to catch that bitch.

" Damn it!" Mouse cursed her luck as she kicked some of the dirt in frustration. The rest of her group had finally caught up and were looking down the road with tired breath from running in a short burst.

" Boss who was that? Was that one of the man-animals the Hound Lord wanted us to capture?" One of her boys asked as he caught his breath.

" Yeah...I think so." Mouse nodded." The bitch had a purple cloak, it has to be her!"

" Told you, we should have brought the birds closer and ready." Roy couldn't help but rub it in, she didn't even need to turn to see his stupid smirk.

" Shut up. Get the filorials and get ready to ride, with any luck we can catch up to her and follow the trail." Mouse snapped at Roy as her men scrambled to get the filorials.

She wouldn't fail her first job as the new leader of her group, come hell or high water.

Mein's POV

It didn't take exceptionally long for Mein to reach Reichnott county, the territory itself being right on the border of House Seatto's seat of power in Silver Pass. House Reichnott had always been one of uncle Uther's most steadfast and loyal allies so it made sense that their territory was the closest to House Seatto's territory, even if Mein personally thought the former Lord Reichnott was a glorified footstool of her mother who could do little else but side with one of the major power blocs in the nation for protection. Still it made the trip easier for her since she didn't have to travel very far from Silver Keep, she would have liked to set up one of her warp points at Silver Keep but didn't want to run the risk of somebody seeing her, so better to play it safe.

The filorial that was given to her by Eclair was quite fast and obedient, Mein enjoying the wind in her face as they traveled at a speed that allowed her to enjoy some thrills. She had taken some of the fast filorials from the royal stables out for a joy ride more than once when in her younger years and enjoyed watching some filorial races on recording crystals that came from Zeltoble.

The filorial was a nice change of pace compared to the annoying as hell devil bird that she's had to put up with these past couple of weeks since she and Jun gained the ability to talk. While she is firmly in the camp that dragons are superior, she had to at least give credit where it was due that filorials had the edge in stamina and pure speed compared to a raptor who was only capable of short burst of speed and power. Perhaps she should start training Jun to build his stamina to give him the ability to fight longer in a sustained battle?

Mein put those thoughts away for now as she saw the town of Lovun come into view ahead of her. House Reichnott had never been one of the strongest in terms of army strength or richest like House Rabier or Ebonheart so they never had the resources to build an entire city, which is why House Reichnott only had a large town to base their seat of power in unlike many other Silver Pass lords who either had some Keep or city to call their own. It made the princess in disguise wonder how House Reichnott will fare now with a young and very inexperienced heiress suddenly at the helm of her own house with little in the way of guidance.

If Porter's people were any indication of how well Lord Reichnott was administering his land before his death passed the torch of responsibility to Cute, than probably not well.

She couldn't think anymore on political matters as she approached the main entrance into the town that had a handful of guards stationed at the front who immediately stood up from their seats as they spotted her approach. Mein probably could have just sneaked into town after stashing the filorial somewhere, it wasn't like it would be hard considering Lovun only had a stone wall protecting it from outside threats, but she couldn't be bothered just to get in. Better for a direct approach.

" Halt traveler! Visitors to the town must go through an inspection before they are allowed entry with word of bandits roaming about." One of the guards at the gate hollered at her as she made her approach. Mein got off the filorial and walked toward the gate with her right hand held up to seem less threatening to the guards who tensed up at the sudden visitor.

" Be at ease guardsmen, I am but a simple traveler looking for rest and repast from the monsters of Silver Pass." Mein smirked under her mask as she walked towards the guardsmen. She certainly looked the part of a simple traveler, switching her Silver Huntress armor for her original simple leather armor set, as much as she loved her fine and beautiful armor, it was far too eye-catching and there was no way a simple traveler could afford such fine armor without attracting the wrong kind of attention.

" Remove your cloak and show your face." The head guard commanded and Mein was more than happy to oblige.

She pulled down her hood and cloak to reveal simple brown hair with black eyes instead of her normal red and green eyes. The princess turned agent of the Outsider had used Mimic to change her appearance to cover her tracks and entrance into the city.

Mein had to admit that she was starting to like Mimic as one of her favorite powers for how easily it gave her the ability to change her appearance at a moments notice. It was the perfect power for infiltration and hiding her identity. Back then, she had to rely on hair coloring potions and the like to change her appearance to something more easily bendable into a crowd, now she can do it at a whim. The princess of Melromarc was certain that she could give some of her own mother's Shadows a run for their money when it comes to hiding themselves in plain sight now.

" Is there anything else sir?" Mein asked politely as the head guard finished staring at her face for a minute.

" Yeah, you look human enough. Head on inside."

" Thank you kind sirs." Mein nodded as she lead the filorial inside the town, gently pulling on the reins. She couldn't help but think that the check reminded her of the inspection she went through with Naofumi back in Ebonheart city. Was this extra security because of the news of what happened in Ebonheart city or because of fear for the Hound Lord? Probably both.

Mein kept her head down as she walked through the town, she could see that many of the people she walked past had uncertain and fearful looks on their faces. It wasn't hard to guess the reason behind it. The death of their lord had probably been a shock to them all when the news of it reached them, now the people of Reichnott county don't just have the Hound Lord to worry about, but the Waves on top of now being under the rule of an inexperienced and young lady who has probably no idea how to lead to begin with.

Mein knew from the common people's perspective that nobles could almost come off as untouchable. Of course, they died eventually but with all that money and power, a lot of nobles could come off as invincible.

Thomas was the one to prove to all of Melromarc that nobody was untouchable. That was the reason why a lot of the common people had support for him during the early days of their journey.

Now the Hound Lord follows in his footsteps, trying to finish his mission. Will she follow the same path?

Mein shook her head as she focused on the matter at hand. First order of business was getting settled in, then she can formulate a plan to break into Reichnott manor and hopefully figure out who Reichnott's bastard is. Silver Pass already has enough problems to worry about, the last thing it needs is a scandal to breakout of a dead lord having a bastard, something like that could tear House Reichnott apart. Which is why Mein felt that power would be safer in her capable hands.

The princess in disguise got settled into a local inn where she left the filorial behind, so she could get to work on her mission here. Mein left the inn after paying upfront for the next two nights and headed for Reichnott manor.

Reichnott manor was situated on the outskirts of the town for better privacy. Mein had visited the manor a handful of times with father so she had a rough idea on the layout but she still needed to do some recon to get an idea of the security. Breaking into a manor was objectively easier than getting into a fortified castle or keep, but the security shouldn't be underestimated especially when a manor had fewer obvious places for her hide in. But Mein could get creative and she had an entire arsenal of skills to help her get in.

As she walked through the streets of the town of Lovun, Mein made sure to steer clear of any guard patrols she saw by being as inconspicuous as possible. Thomas had taught her that hiding in plain sight was the best strategy when you are trying to move undetected and it wasn't hard to blend in with the crowd. Subtly walk behind a crowd of people here, pretend to be interested in buying some rugs from a shopkeeper here and even buying a snack that came in the form of strips of meat that were on a stick.

The last action she took totally wasn't just because she was hungry and wanted a snack. Definitely not.

It didn't take her long to reach the gate that would lead into Reichnott manor. Of course, she had no intention of sneaking in yet. She just needed to find a tall enough building that would give her the eagle eye's view she needed to take in the security of Reichnott manor. And it was just her luck that there was a building a few paces away from the gate that was tall enough to give her such a view.

She walked between the spaces of the buildings that provided her with some cover from the crowds and after making sure there was no witnesses, she started scaling the rooftop with little difficulty as it had many places for her to grab. Once she was on the rooftop, Mein took a deep breath as she laid flat on her stomach and observed the security over the manor grounds.

Mein could see that further up the path that led to the large sized manor, there was a carriage parked at the front entrance that caught her eye along with what seemed to be an armed escort. The princess turned agent used Far Vision to get a better look at the carriage and could see that it was quite expensive, looking like the type that was used by nobility and wealthy merchants who liked to pretend that they were nobility. Mein couldn't help but wonder who it was that was paying a visit to the new Lady Reichnott. A minor noble house or merchant family that is looking to 'pay their respects' and endear themselves to the new and naive Lady Reichnott? That seemed likely but who?

It was at that moment that she saw the front door of Reichnott manor open and walk out was the young Lady Reichnott herself...

Alongside a face Mein recognized.

Mein couldn't help but gasp under her breath as she saw the noble lady walk out of the manor with Cute by her side, the young heiress turned lady looking quite attentive like an eager baby duck that was listening to its mother. The noble lady smiled softly at Cute before entering the carriage, just as it departed from the manor grounds with its armed escort.

The symbol of House Consevatie adorned the side of the carriage and that matched up with the face of its eldest daughter: Lacus Consevatie.

A single thought coming to her mind at this knowledge.

Well fuck.

Omake: Monster in Human Skin

" You have done quite well for the family Lacus." Raleigh complimented his niece as the sounds of the carriage wheels resounded from outside the carriage." It seems the new Lady Reichnott has grown quite fond of you."

" Thank you uncle." Lacus nodded at the compliment, but her voice almost sounded monotonous as she seemed to be thinking about something else.

The death of Lord Reichnott was a shock to everybody, the fact that it came about as a result of some bandit lord was an even greater surprise. But any good player of the Game knows that somebody else's misfortune could be their opportunity. House Seatto was their biggest competitor here in the north, but they had lacked any opportunity to snub them so far. The death of the previous Lord Seatto was a boon in and of itself as it allowed the inexperienced Eclair Seatto to step up in his place, but the death of their biggest supporter Lord Van Reichnott was nothing short of pure dumb luck.

It was well-known that Cute Reichnott was far more simple compared to her father, who at least had enough experience in court to keep up appearances. Cute Reichnott was a walking political disaster in the making and Raleigh was almost excited to see the explosion.

" What's your opinion on the new Lady Reichnott?"

" Lady Cute is young, naive and inexperienced. She lacks any sort of refinement or tact that a proper noble should have." Lacus spoke in an almost emotionless tone that was a complete contrast to the warm and bubbly personality she presented Lady Reichnott earlier." While I don't think it will be hard to flip her into an ally in secret, it will be difficult to get her to fully turn against her 'big sister Eclair'. Regardless her house may be minor, but I have a feeling Lady Cute will be quite troublesome for Lady Eclair to deal with in the future."

" Yes, yes..." Raleigh nodded along as he tried not to feel uncomfortable looking into his niece's cold crystal clear eyes.

Raleigh was no stranger to keeping up a court mask, but goddamn could his niece unnerve him at times. It was like there was nothing that could scare her or throw her off balance, like you could stab her and she would barely even flinch. His eldest niece may have all the qualities of a perfect noble lady...but Chief God above, could she be unsettling with how inhuman she could act.

Raleigh was starting to get a better understanding on why his brother wanted his nephew to succeed his noble title. Melromarc's inheritance policy of ' men fight war, women rule the court' had been considered standard because of Queen Evangaline's reforms but it was never coded into law, since trying to take away male scion's right to inherit by force would result in a rebellion, so it had always been more like a tradition than an ironclad law.

Some people in court believe his brother to be some kind of male supremacist for wanting his son to inherit his noble title instead of his eldest daughter, but Grima had told him in secret before that wasn't the whole truth. The truth is that he wanted his son to inherit Jagged Reach was because his eldest daughter unnerved him. Raleigh thought his brother was overexaggerating but seeing Lacus today made him see his brother's point.

It had been a while since Raleigh had seen his nephew and youngest niece, since the former had been away with the Three Heroes Church making his career. But he supposes that his brother handing the title of Lord Paramount to his nephew couldn't end that badly, his nephew wasn't THAT stupid of course.

While the carriage rode them back to Jagged Reach, Raleigh took the time to think about his next move. The group he had sent after the Shield Hero to recover his slave had never reported back in, which meant that they had failed in their task. He wondered if the fools had spilled their guts to the Shield Hero before they were likely killed. No matter, he left no evidence tying any of that back to him. The bigger issue is that the Shield Hero has likely grown in power that would make sending another group to collect his old pet inadvisable.

He would have to come up with a different scheme then. Nobody takes one of his toys and gets away with it. Nob-

The carriage came to a sudden stop that disrupted his line of thinking. It happened so fast that it shocked him at why the carriage driver stopped so suddenly without warning. " What happened? Why did the carriage suddenly-

" BANDIT ATTACK!"

Raleigh jumped as he heard one of the guards outside shout, followed by the sounds of the rest of his men letting out a war cry as several footsteps could be heard coming towards them. The loud sounds of fighting and blades clashing against each other could be heard from outside along with the screams of the dying that resounded throughout the area. Raleigh felt a sliver of fear slide its way into his heart, making a cold sweat fall down the side of his face as he thought about what was happening.

Could this be the work of the Hound Lord? Are we his next targets?

The viscount had heard that the Hound Lord was bold or insane enough to go after nobles. The bandit lord had apparently been the one to kill the former Lord Reichnott after all, but Raleigh had never expected that his House would be a target as well. That was enough to make his breath heighten and slowly back away from the carriage door. He had heard that Lord Reichnott had been cremated, the only reason a noble would cremated instead of buried per tradition is if it was either impractical...or the body was in such a horrid state when it was found that an urn of ashes was more respectable at that point.

But what scared him the most was when he saw the look on his niece's face as she sat across from him. A look of complete disinterest. There wasn't a hint of fear present on her face, not even because Lacus was purposefully keeping up a calm face. This simply is what she was actually feeling: Nothing.

The two of them could be dead or worse in the next couple of minutes, and Lacus looks like she could care less.

At that moment, the door to the carriage swung open and Raleigh thought that it was one of the guards come to inform that they were safe. Instead it was the face of a very angry looking bull beastman that was holding a bloody axe that made Raleigh scream in terror at the sight.

The bull bandit smirked as he looked at the two of them." Time to die you little-AH!" The bull bandit was cut off when a guard stabbed him in the side and pushed him to the ground, causing the carriage door to slam shut in the process.

Raleigh thought about holding the door shut, but knew it wouldn't do much against the strength of a demi-human or beastmen. All he could do was pray to the Chief God that their guards would be enough to repel them.

After a few minutes of waiting and quiet praying, the sounds of fighting slowly died out and he could hear the sounds of dozens of footsteps running away. The door to the carriage opened again but this time it was the face of one of the guards who came to check on them, indicating that they had won.

" M-M-My lady, my lord, are you both okay?" The guard asked in a tired and exhausted voice.

" We're fine. What happened just now?" Lacus asked so simply, as if he wasn't close to having his heart beat out of his chest in fear.

" W-We were attacked by some group of bandits, we ran into them on the road. They hit us hard, but we managed to repel them and send them scurrying away."

" Understood. Gather up the tags of those who died, we don't have the space to bring them with us but we will at least have an accurate number of who was lost. Provide medical aid to the injured, we should be able to reach the next town before long." Lacus didn't miss a beat. Commanding the remaining men without a hint of hesitation or indecisiveness in her voice.

" Yes, my lady." The guard nodded as he left them.

That somehow just made Raleigh more uneasy being left alone with his niece after watching her reaction.

" Is something wrong uncle? You look scared." Lacus asked in a perfectly calm tone with those same cold eyes.

He could only nod, trying to ignore the slight shake and hesitation he felt when he answered.

Raleigh was starting to understand his brother a lot more now: Lacus felt more like an eldritch abomination in human skin than a person.

All cards on the table here, I was not planning on having Alice and Raphtalia bond over the course of this arc. But the more I thought about it, the more it surprisingly made sense. Alice knows exactly how Raphtalia is feeling right now and dealing with her own emotions about feeling like a burden/dead weight on the party, since I did decide to keep in that Alice started out as a shy and weak priestess but worked her way up to a proper fighter.

Mouse's scene actually almost got cut, but I decided to keep it in to show how the Hound Lord doesn't have full control over his subordinates. Honestly, this is something that a lot of web novel writers who have 'realistic and practical' MC who act like total POS tend to conveniently forget that when a group of greedy, over-ambitious bad guys work together, there doesn't tend to be a lot of group cohesion or loyalty. Especially when said leader rules with an iron fist.

Fun fact, Qin was actually the one who suggested having Lacus play a small role in this arc where she endears herself to Cute who is very much vulnerable at the moment and is susceptible to manipulation. And he was the one who came up with the idea of this omake where we get to see Lacus's true face from Torpedo uncle's perspective, along with seeing how much of a cowardly POS creepy uncle really is underneath all his pomp and creepiness.

With that said, I will see you all in the next one.

Angel Out.