...
Dick watched the actions of the strange mercenaries carefully, clutching his two-handed sword tightly in his hand, the nearest figure stepped out of the shadows of the house and spoke as he approached a little closer.
"Don't be so frightened? We just want to talk" said the mercenary, defiantly putting his sword back in its scabbard.
"Well, we're always in favour of talking, so what do you want?" Dick tried to keep his distance, he'd been clamped three times in two days, and he wasn't a slutty girl, so it was too much for him, the former leader of the forest brigands.
"What ties you and your suzerain to the head of the trade guild, Aivina?" The mercenary spoke calmly, as if he was afraid of scaring off his opponent.
"You can ask the lord yourself, he went to see Aivina, I'm sure he will explain everything to you, but I don't know if it was before or after your murder, but I think you should check." It was a dangerous situation, but we've been through this before, there were only three opponents, he was full of strength, and he had Ozen with him, and that thing is terrible in anger.
"So you don't know why he went to her?" The mercenary ignored the torrent of sarcasm coming from Dick's lips and waited patiently for an answer.
"I have no idea, but I'd blow her, she's a good one, so why doesn't he think like me?" Dick was pissed off by the calmness of the mercenary, and he wanted to warm up the tense atmosphere a little and played slightly with the sword in his hands. His interlocutor remained unperturbed, but his companions tensed visibly, grasping the hilt of their swords.
"You should hide your knife, or you'll wish you'd never been born." One of the mercenaries shouted, from their point of view everything was clear, they were outnumbered, and more importantly the mage was with them.
"I'm sorry bro, I've lost my scabbard somewhere here," the bandit bent down and started theatrically looking for something on the ground, "Bro, they're not here, let me look for them in your ass."
"You bitch…" the same mercenary shouted, but his rant was interrupted by the suddenly raised hand of their leader. He reluctantly turned his head and gave the mercenary a look that read - bitch, stay the fuck out of this. The mercenary faltered and lowered his head and fell silent.
"What's the connection between you and Aivina?" The leader of the mercenaries as if he was reading from a piece of paper, he didn't care what Dick was going to answer.
"Nothing, and how did you expect me to answer that question, you stupid moron, think what could connect me and the richest woman in the country." Baldy was angry, this theatre of the absurd was starting to piss him off, 'what a bullshit question'. The leader of the mercenaries hesitated a little, as if going over all the facts he knew, and lightly rubbing his temples continued.
"Dick, I'll be honest with you, you're a bit, how to say it correctly, fucked up. We have information that before the siege you took an order from her for a certain ring, the ring was transported among other valuables of some small noble family, but what a pity their wagon was robbed and the ring disappeared. And it happened not so far from the capital, and what a coincidence, in the same place where you and your gang of degenerates were doing robbery." The mercenary stopped, catching his breath, and after a few moments continued.
"So you don't have much choice, just give me the ring and go where you're going." The mercenary finished speaking and showed the magic staff, which was waiting in the depths of his cloak. And Dick pondered what to do the ring he had no ring, and there were two possibilities: either it lay where it lay, namely, in a hiding place under an oak tree, or Bondrewd had found it and it was now with him; there was also a third option to make a fool of himself and deny everything, but in that case a fight could not be avoided, and it was not desirable to get mixed up with a magician. Dick turned his head slightly, Ozen was sleeping peacefully, 'Bitch, they put sleeping pills in her.
"So, are you going to give it back or what," the leader of the mercenaries began to tire of this conversation, but there was nothing to do, the will of the customer was adamant.
"I'll tell you guys, I don't have the ring, as far as you know I became a squire and gave the ring to Lord Bondrewd as a welcome gift, so you can ask him." The mercenaries looked at each other, both looking at the main man with the hilt of their swords clenched tightly.
"I see, in that case, we're leaving." He turned round and, meeting the incomprehensible glances of his subordinates, walked away, his companions looked at each other, shrugged their shoulders and hurried after the leader.
And Dick was left alone in the stalemate, not understanding in his heart. 'What the hell was that all about?' Except that it didn't matter much now, Ozen was sleeping like a dead man, and leaving her here would incur the wrath of the suzerain, which the man didn't want at all. Dick sat down beside her, opened a flask of gnomish spirit, and sipped this 'divine nectar' and watched the night's sky.
...
"Me?" - Aivina hesitated a little, in her condition she should have slept for a couple of hours, not answered any questions.
"What do you want?" Bondrewd, who stood behind her, put his hands on the girl's shoulders, and lightly began to massage them, he was not a romantic, but he knew human anatomy, including sensitive areas, and he was going to take advantage of it.
The girl cried out when strong hands went on her shoulders, the sensations were simply divine, it was as if a rock fell from her shoulders, the muscles relaxed and the girl completely softened, but still responded.
"Power, wealth, happiness." Aivina whispered.
"Don't you have all that now?" Bondrewd asked and continued to work with his hands.
"My power and wealth now hang by a thread because of that cretin Avitus, he spends money as if it comes out of thin air, he has no idea what is happening in his country, hunger, devastation and crowds of robbers that have taken over all the roads, trade is in a mess, and this cretin keeps demanding and demanding money." There was real resentment in the girl's voice.
"Don't be so poor, don't you have a good share?" Lord of Dawn continued to dig in the direction he was interested in.
"There used to be rules, there used to be agreements, and this bastard is stamping out taxes as fast as bandits rob trade caravans. Under his brother, it may not have been as good for money, but there was something more important, rules and respect."
"I wonder what happened to the former king?" Bondrewd had already heard several versions of these events, but to hear the opinion of perhaps the most important person in the city was at least curious, and at most very useful.
"AA..." The man increased the pressure, and the girl continued through sighs.
"He killed him, everyone knows it, he hounded his brother, and killed his son and... took his corpse in a church caravan, few people know, but immediately after the heir disappeared, the church caravan under heavy guard of the king's soldiers left the city in an unknown direction."
"Hmm... that's very interesting, but politics aside, why did you call me here?"
"I... wanted to, I wanted to..." the girl seemed as if something was preventing her from continuing, but Bondrewd quickly untied her tongue, with his own hands.
"AAA... I just wanted to fuck!" She shouted, jerking her whole body.
"Very interesting, is there no one else but me? Is there something you're not telling me?"
"I'm telling the truth. Ah... I honestly... AA..." Bondrewd needed the truth, even if he guessed it himself, but, he needs arguments for a business proposal.
"I wanted to seduce you and with your help, to strengthen my position, but you exceeded all my expectations."
"Thank you, I would like to discuss a business proposition with you, but I think it can wait until tomorrow, for now." Bondrewd with a quick movement pressed lightly on the sleepy nerve, Aivina immediately passed out. Lord of Dawn, like a true gentleman, took her in his arms and carried her to the sofa in the corner of the room, she sniffled contentedly and Bondrewd covered her with the plaid he had found.
And now he had the most interesting thing to do, he had about two hours and a room filled with all sorts of documentation, perhaps something interesting would be found.
'This is not good.' - The aide's voice intervened again.
"Maybe, but to fulfil the tasks I've been given I need to know everything, all the secrets and skeletons in the wardrobe, at worst if she doesn't want to help me of her own free will I can blackmail her, it's better than just killing her and putting a leftist in her place anyway."
'You really think that after tonight, she won't support you?' the aide's voice was slightly surprised.
'Don't judge a book by its cover, if she's ready for anything now, that could change tomorrow, and besides, I have no idea what kind of cockroaches are roaming around in her head, so I think I'm justified in overreacting.'
'Suit yourself, but I hasten to remind you that the evil meter won't be too happy with your decision,' Bondrewd finally remembered, he hadn't looked at his status since leaving the forest, but right now the most important thing was the status of the evil points.
'Give me the status, points-wise.'
"No problem... just a little more... right now... +375 points, you have a reserve, but I highly recommend you don't abuse ambiguous actions, to be honest I haven't quite figured out how he calculates how many points to deduct and add for actions.
"You're useless." Bondrewd said coldly already out loud.
'Fuck you.'
"I'm going, I've got a lot of work to do." said Bondrewd and turned to the desk piled with papers.