A secret meeting

Congratulations, Eternal enslavement successful!

Without wait, Jay had activated his slave magic once again and set himself as the new owner of the small pantherian girl. They then rushed up the stairs he had reached and once they reached the mansion, got greeted by Lina.

She saw Jay with the girl and the state she was in and instantly stepped to the side. As he slipped past her, Jay heard Lina follow him besides Nara.

Latter had followed him from the basement and shouted out orders to the agents, having them take care of the slaves they found in the basement.

From what he heard of their conversation, Lina reported to her sister that whoever had killed the clerk in the shop most certainly had also taken the safe and left not too long before they arrived. As Jay had reported he hadn't seen anyone else and they still secured countless documents that proved Lady Kendra's guilt, the operation still had been a success.

In their talks, Jay had let the two sisters pass him as he really had no idea of how to leave the mansion.

Letting them pass was not quite right though, as he had turned to the right at the end of a hallway when they took to the left and asked him where he wanted to go...

In front of the wide entrance to the building stood a carriage ready for them, guarded by agents. From Lina he learned that they had anticipated to find some more guards or employees they could use as witness and brought it with them.

While they at least found some maids and a butler in the mansion, they could only leave once a slaver freed them as well though. This way it was no problem that Lina and Jay used the vehicle to get to the headquarters, while Nara had to oversee the search in the mansion.

On the short way, Lina only asked Jay what he thought of the whole situation and he honestly replied that there was something amiss. As he looked down to the sleeping girl he could only shake his head.

Even Lina had a sorrowful expression as she explained that something like this is horrendous but sadly more frequent than it he might think. Beastkin were seen as worth less than others and sometimes not even as one of the races in these lands.

While it was something new to Jay, he was not in the mood to further inquire, but he would remember it.

After a few more minutes in silence, the carriage arrived at the fort and got directly led in when Lina showed herself. Shalina Ravencrest had already been waiting for them atop the stairs and walked them down as they dismounted from the vehicle.

Not waiting a moment, she asked Lina for a report that the young woman instantly gave.

At the same time, Jay carefully fetched the passed out Vellara from the carriage and was a bout to climb the stairs when Shalina disrupted Lina's narration of what happened and rushed to his side.

She only took a short glance at the girl and told Jay to hurry. He was to bring her over to the sickbay of the military and watch out that no one tries any healing on her. She would get a special person to help her in hopes she could fully recover, though the chances were low from the beginning.

Jay did as she asked him to and rushed to the right at the end of the stairs, finding the medical treatment area directly next to the training fields. The guard stationed there recognized Jay and helped him to carry her inside.

Once they got into the small hall with curtains separating small areas, Jay placed the small pantherian onto the next empty bed and explained to the guard. The man directly went to the medial team and informed them, then came back to Jay and told him he would stand guard. This way Jay could go back to the headquarters and give his report.

On the way over the training fields, Jay met two agents that asked him where the girl he brough was, as they got order to watch over her.

He explained that one of the guards is already there and that they should work together. To his surprise, none of the two had any problem with that and they directly rushed on.

The rest of the way back didn't take long and Jay directly went to the meeting room inside the AI:7. As the two women and Osborn had already been waiting for him there, he directly gave his report about what had happened and what they found.

The conclusion the four came to was that they needed to find the stolen safe and if possible the thief if they wanted to learn who was behind all the scheming.

As the documents they still found were enough proof so Kendra wouldn't come free ever again, they had at least one part done.

The only problem they faced was how to to take care of the slaves they found. Until they got set free, none of them could leave the grounds and get questioned.

What they needed was another slaver that could manage those people.

Jay offered to take care of that and travel to the mages quarter. He had to go there either way and get some information, so it was no hassle for him to notify the man.

With this done, Shalina closed the small meeting and while Lina had to rush back to the slaves shop, Jay left the fort towards the canals on his own horse.

His first destination when he reached the wide street along the canals wasn't the bridge over to the trade district though. Instead he rode to the north.

Only a few minutes later, Jay got close to another bridge leading to a small reinforced island in the canal with quite a number of old houses on it. His care lay of course not with the island. It was the two people standing next to it, a bit hidden from the road leading towards the nobles district.

Lenny had kept to his word and was watching over Eloise at the closest bridge like Jay had asked him to. When he got closer to the two, they stepped out of the shadow and waved to Jay.

While jumping from his horse, Jay threw Lenny another silver coin over.

"He, thanks man! I guess I can't be called shady at all, compared to you…" L.

"You're welcome. Though I don't know what's shady about helping a beautiful young woman in need." J.

Thanking him once again, Lenny took his leave and a few seconds later he had vanished into one of the small alleys of the old town.

As he looked over to Eloise again, Jay saw her still fiddling with the small silver coin he had tossed her at the same time as he threw one to Lenny.

"This is for your travel expenses. I would like you to fetch something to eat and then get on a carriage to Gold Creek. Go to the Inn there and ask for a man called Marcus.

You only need to tell him that Jay send you for helping him if he compensates with a room for you…" J.

"W-why…?" E.

"Why what? Why you need to leave the city and work?" J.

"N-No, Master… Why do you care so much and even give me money?" E.

"I guess you have had it hard… I only want to help you." J.

"Thank you, really… Master." E.

"If you're happy that's fine, but cut it with the master ...at least in public." E.

"Yes, M…?" E.

"My name is Jay, simply call me that. Now leave, or we might get seen. Try to hide your face as much as possible. I take it you don't want to get found and questioned what happened at Lady Kendra's shop, right?" J.

"Thank you again, M… Mister Jay. Goodbye." E.

"Till then…" J.

With that, another addition in his followers list left for Gold Creek.

While Eloise took the small alleys like Lenny to not get seen, Jay summoned his horse again and rode along the canals back to where he came from and then over the bridge connecting to the trade district.

Even on the other side, Jay followed the canals. Though this route was slightly longer, it was less crowded this time of the day and he could even gallop in between.

Like this his travel time shortened considerably and he reached the mages district not too long after.

Instead of riding straight and uphill like he normally did, Jay turned to the left once he passed the district gate. The road led slightly downhill and though it got darker as it lay in the shadows under the reinforced walls to the park that lay above, it still had this magical and park like touch.

Glad that he had asked for this location last time he was in Arathor, Jay knew the place he had to go to. It was a bar where he most certainly could find the slaver that then and there works for the military and does the crime enslavement.

Close to the end of the road, where Jay already saw long stairs leading up to the park and academy grounds, he finally arrived at the small pub he had been looking for.

The peak of the tower up in the middle of the district was barely visible from this point what Jay saw as he looked around once before he then turned to the pub.

It was called the Slaughtered Lamb and didn't look too inviting. The wooden sign over the door was squeaking from the little wind blowing there and the windows hung with thick curtains were dirty.

Not wasting any more time, Jay climbed the five stairs and entered into the dark interior that he found looking cozier than anticipated.

The name of the pub had somehow rung a bell for Jay, but like most of his past, he couldn't grasp it.

Passing the disorderly placed round tables in the narrow but deep hall, Jay made his way over to the long bar on the right.

The barkeeper looked quite fitting to the bar with black hair laid back and a fitting pointy beard. Numerous scars on his face finished his looks and while the man was polishing a mug, he gave Jay a nod.

Most of the tables had been free at this time of the day as it was a bit early for a drink. Only three tables had men and women playing cards or quietly chatting. No one of those customers looked decent, but that didn't surprise Jay at all.

But then his eyes got stuck at a certain spot. It was the all to well shaped backside of the waitress that just at that moment bent forward to serve the customers their drinks.

Brooding if he hadn't already seen this round butt in the tight fitting leather pant, Jay was about to proceed when the waitress straightened herself and looked over to him.

Fearing it was her womanly intuition that told her someone was looking at her ass, Jay got surprised to see a face he really knew:

It was no one else but Aletta that he had let go to infiltrate the cultists and report to him.

The black haired beauty with her seducing figure recognized him instantly and ignored the customers giving off their orders. She directly walked over to Jay with a happy face and slightly bowed after she arrived in front of him.

"Welcome, M… Jay. I'm glad you found me here, even though it hadn't been that long." A.

"Hello Aletta. While I have to admit it is pure coincidence, I'm glad to see you are all right." J.

She then bowed once again and asked Jay to follow her. The two of them walked along the bar, where she stated to the barkeeper that Jay was all right and an acquaintance, and then took a seat at a table in the corner of the room.

Jay wasn't sure if she could take a break that easily but then noticed the pub wasn't that busy as it was still quite early. His thoughts got interrupted only seconds after they sat down anyways.

Without waiting for him to ask her to, Aletta began her narration of what she had done and learned over the past weeks:

After she had arrived back at the capital, Aletta had gone to this inn and asked for a job. One reason had been that she didn't want to use the money Jay gave her too leisurely, and the other was to get in contact with the cult once again.

Latter had something like a base close by, so it worked out just like she had wanted to and she was officially a member by then.

While she learned that the next summoning would be in the near future, she didn't know when. But while at that moment there would certainly be many of the leaders present, it was at least a few weeks until then.

As for their main base of operations, she had no clue.

Her rank in the cult was way to low and she could be happy she hadn't gotten suspected as one of the sole survivors from the trip to Eldrin. That was the reason she hadn't even tried to get in contact with Jay, as she wanted to give him more detailed information.

Following her report, the two of them chatted a bit after Jay had asked her for something to eat. While munching on a simple but tasty sandwich, he learned that Aletta had gotten a room in the pub and been nothing but working.

She had spend her income for buying herbs and learning about them in order to help Lilly.

Hearing that name, Jay inquired if the two had already met. Aletta explained that Lilly had arrived a few days ago and directly visited her. But her short research on herbalism hadn't wielded many results and she still hadn't come any closer to a cure for Lilly's state.

Jay only hinted that she should have used the gold on that or even her investigation on the cultists. That would have been way better than saving it as he really had abundant amounts.

She lifted one brow to his comment but then asked if she may had used it on some alchemy tools and training so she could possibly use the herbs she bought and gathered.

Jay nearly had to laugh and shoved her another few gold pieces over under his hand. He then stated that of course she could use it that way, but he still got interested as to why. The answer was nothing he would have guessed.

Aletta simply stated that she wanted to later get the rare apothecary Job that required alchemy, herbalism and certain magics to be available. She went on and explained that she wanted it as it might not only help Lilly, but also his other followers later on.

In his surprise, Jay simply asked if he might help her and what she needed. Looking down to her hands, Aletta shook her head and answered that he had given her all she needed.

Then she looked into his eyes as she seemed to have remembered something.

"You previously said it was pure coincidence that we met here. What was the real reason if I may ask?" A.

"I wanted to meet a man called Zardeth. From what I know he should come here quite often…" J.

"The dark magician Zardeth?" A.

"Probably yes. Do you know about him?" J.

"Not only that. I can lead you to him… Follow me." A.

Contrary to his expectation, Aletta went towards the back of the pub instead to the exit. Jay followed her without saying a word and got led to a steep staircase at the end or the bar.

On the stairs, she leaned back and whispered to Jay that the basement was a secret meeting spot for the cult, so he shouldn't talk careless there.