Rem ate his breakfast slowly, savoring every bite.

Ham, rocco eggs, enchanted rye bread and, of course, a tall glass of golden, aromatic mead. One should eat their food slowly, chew well and have a glass of something close by, just in case – people in his line of work despised indigestion.

Sitting alone at the long table, Rem’s only company was his maid, Valeria, who stood behind him decanter in hand and ready to refill his glass.

“Val, could you please sit? You know full well that I am not a noble, nor do I care about etiquette. Not while we are all alone in this oh-so-empty mansion of mine.”

The maid, a young city bred elven woman, bowed gently and with a polished, professional tone answered:

“It is as the Master wishes.”

In her usual, graceful manner, Valeria sat next to him. She placed the mead filled decanter on the white tablecloth and only then rested her immaculate white gloved hands on the table. Her body moved swiftly and in a ritualistic manner, as the young woman assumed a picturesque sitting pose, head tilted at an angle. Thus positioned, she was ready to tend to her employer’s requests at a moment’s notice.

Rem was sure that any noble would love to have a talented maid like her in their employ, yet it was him who had to hire her.

He knew people.

The man also knew elves, orcs and dwarves, but that was beside the point since all of his contacts had been supplying him with accurate information for a decade or so. Valeria was supposed to be the next victim of one supremely obnoxious, in his humble opinion, secret society. The latter he quietly took care of and free of charge, after Val was safely working in his own, well protected mansion. Said group was of sadistic morons and bitches variety, spoiled fools who chased away their “boredom” by torturing young men and women to death.

Valeria was a gray skinned, blue haired elven beauty, whose pink colored eyes were now studying his spaced out facial expression. Hopefully Val would never learn why he hired her, offering the recently graduated and inexperienced maid such a lucrative contract, or what could’ve happened if he hadn’t done what he did.

She gave him a somewhat confused look, and asked with a tone much less professional than the way she spoke before:

“Is the breakfast to my Master’s liking? Perhaps he desires something more... elaborate?”

“Thank you Val, it was tasty and filling. The mead you brewed two months ago came out just as marvelous as you promised!”

“Thank you Master, I shall endeavor to do even better in the future.”

“By the way, this arrived in the mail right when I was preparing your food.” - Valeria produced a letter from her perfect apron and placed it next to Rem’s empty plate.

“Would that be all, Master? I could serve you another portion, if you so desire.”

Rem stood up letter in hand, fixed his robe and smiled back at his maid:

“One portion will do, thank you very much. You can go about your daily routine, Val and I... well... I will retire to my study and read this letter.

“Bleeding trolls!” - he exclaimed, scratching his stubby chin - “That sounded so stuck up and noble-y!”

Chuckling, Rem walked past the big, crystal windows, checking his six-and-a-half foot tall frame. The blue robe couldn’t hide his powerful, athletic build; his face pleasant to look at, despite the messy short beard which irritated him ever so slightly. His brown, spotted eyes were still capable of throwing youthful glares left and right... or so he was told by his lady friends.

Taking the advice of his maid Rem allowed her to braid his shoulder long, jet black hair, and the braid was now resting on his left shoulder. He thought himself average, but of sufficient skill, and although he had courted more than a few ladies, he couldn’t find time for a committed relationship.

His current occupation was definitely not the safest and most women worth their salt would be unwilling to share their lives with a solver of problems. He made most of his money by taking care of things which other people were unable or unwilling to deal with. Like an occasional group of murderous cultists or a band of Useless, for example.

The Useless, in particular, were a big problem during this Turn because a lot of failed adventurers had to be banished out of Krart. Only those who passed the Guild’s exam and did not stab their comrades in the back became certified Adventurers. Indeed, one could be a raging asshole, lie through their teeth, and even steal, but the Law was the Law. People unwilling to work with others had no place within the city walls.

Walking into his mansion’s study, Rem sat on a plush chair and examined the fancy letter. Since the missive was sealed within a quality envelope, most probably it was sent by somebody rich, perhaps even famous client of his.

The letters “Levoah” appeared on its blank surface when he opened the envelope and Rem gasped, unable to contain his surprise.

They were the biggest and richest noble House in Krart!

It was well known that the Levoah noble family had plenty of servants and even a small army of knights on their payroll. They still retained a lot of their political power, having secured multiple, profitable businesses across all of the city’s different quarters. While most of the old noble houses were either gone forever or in full decline, Levoah prospered.

Why exactly were they offering him of all people, a contract?!

Nevermind what their goals were, this was a potentially well paying job and Rem pulled the letter out of the envelope.

“Dear Mr. Rem,

I will be short in my expose and hit the nail straight on the head. There is a certain group of Useless close to your current location who are in a possession of stolen property. Property which belongs to me and it should be no surprise to you that I want it back.

The item in question is a chest made of darkwood reinforced with blue steel bracers, and locked by an elaborate alchemical lock. Your job, should you choose to accept it will be to locate the fools hiding in the nearby forest, eliminate them, and return my property. Upon completion of this task you will receive the hefty sum of one thousand gold coins.

You will notice that it is a reward most generous and that is because I urgently need the contents of this chest. Mind your time sir since you can waste no longer than a single Ninth!

Mr. Rem, I trust that you, as a well known professional, will not disturb the sanctity of my possessions and open the chest. If that should happen, our contract will be null and void, and you eligible to pay a breach of trust fine!

Yours:

Countess Karena Levoah”

Rem read the letter again and then carefully stashed it in his safe. If something should happen, his friends in the city had a spare key and could use the missive as evidence. Not that he expected anything to happen to him but... one never knew when taking jobs from House Levoah.

So far it sounded just as mundane as his recent jobs had been and when it came to the Useless, that was consistent with what they usually did. Once banished from the city, the murderous chumps formed gangs and tried preying on the travelers, robbing cargo or kidnapping people for ransom. That never ended well for them, because Rem or a group of adventurers always got the fools before they did too much damage.

The banishing was not permanent but in fact a second chance, instead of a swift execution. Krart could not spend resources and space to jail people, therefore they were sent outside to survive on their own in the wild. Sadly, only token few changed their ways and in recent years people were questioning the Law, claiming that giving murderous and treacherous people a second chance was a waste.

Fiddling with the key to his armory, Rem thought of what would be a good way to secure additional information for this contract. It was indeed a job which required speed, secrecy and on top of all, he had no idea of the size of that gang.

He could send a message to his people in the city and ask them to do some magical scouting for him, but that, of course, would take time. He had only nine days; his employer gave him a Ninth to complete this job. A letter sent to the city of Krart would take a day to reach his people, and for them to do their work probably yet another day would pass. Which in effect robbed him of three full days and left seven to do the job itself.

Instead of wasting precious time and money paying for magical scouting, Rem could go out on a walk. There was a small fishing village, one hour walking distance away from his mansion and the Hoods who resided there could provide him with the information he needed.

These vigilantes had agents everywhere, their eyes saw much and their ears were privy to many a rumor. If he chose to use their services though, they’d demand some sort of compensation. Though coin was preferable and expected, in some cases they’d ask for a “simple” favor.

Rem was on great terms with the Hoods since he did a couple of jobs for them during the past Turn. The best thing was that he’d only lose a single day and the Hoods were a reasonable bunch, always ready to help the common man. They wouldn’t like some band of Useless to prey upon innocent travelers and in their own backyard nonetheless.

***

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Link to the second part of the story.

Link to the third part.

Link to the fourth part.

Link to part five.

Link to part six.

Link to part nine.

Link to part twelve.

Link to the second episode - "Solver of problems"

Just another job