Pursuit

They found themselves at a house relatively near the town square, with green decorations everywhere. The door was marked with two green beads that resembled eyes, each of which was the size of a head. Dark green snake-looking pieces of wood were the banisters, each having a small figured riding atop the head.

Snowman didn't waste any time, knocking three times on the center of the door. As the entryway opened, odd chants filled the air and drifted into the group's ears. The chanting mulled on, unabated by the visitors that were at their doorstep.

A lanky figure with the horns of a gazelle and the face of a rabbit entered their view. His face soon morphed into something closer to a human, though his rabbit like traits still remained. His nose was quite pink, dotted with whiskers as he sniffed around. The hood he wore that was adorned with snake scales made metallic sounds due to his sporadic movements.

"Wh-what are you doing here? You don't look like the tax people?" His voice was akin to scratching a chalk board, that's how shrill the rabbit monster's voice was.

"I do not know you, and I do not care. You are to let us in *now*." Unlike her previous times speaking, there was a faint undertone of actual emotion in her voice.

Alban caught onto it and mentally sent her a thumbs up, as the guy was so annoying he would've had to do something about it. 'So I still hate annoyances...that's good.' Little did the savage know that because the rabbit reminded him of his feelings, he had already started forgiving him.

"No no no. You can't! It's sacrifice time, you can't!" The jackrabbit became visibly distressed, evidence by the shaking of his paws as he clenched his hood tightly.

"Sacrifices? Yer pieces of...horrible people, aren't ya!?" The air around Lat became heavier, as the youth became fired up. It was horrible for people to treat other people like crap, and he wouldn't abide it. Why, if he had a decision-

"No, actually. Cult sacrifices are legal as long as they do it every other day and the other party has consented." As Snowman cut Lat off, the gheckla visibly drooped, the energy in his body deflating. As his face touched the floor, he mumbled out the last bits of his reasoning.

"But...who would even consent to that...?"

"Plenty of people. We have multiple lives, so people that have not died once yet usually exploit it for some good cash. At least in Mrathos, that is the norm."

As Lat was practically dying on the ground due to his sudden lack of energy, Alban walked in the house anyways. He accomplished that by taking advantage of the fact that the jackrabbit was obviously...compromised, and knocked him out.

As he strolled in, he saw a circle with runic text around it and a monster bleeding out on the floor. The cultists around it laid unmoving, all huddled together in their chants. As Alban stood there and waited for them to finish, Snowman walked in as well.

"...Alban, please let me handle this. You do not know what you are doing yet."

"Handle away. Though I don't think they have what you're looking for."

"Why do you think that?" Alban paused, before extending his aura. Red fog-like light spread out from his body and enveloped him for a meter around. As the aura activated, Alban used Observe to see if that would have any effect on the cultists. To Snowman's surprise, it did.

The chants stopped as the circle was a washed with green light. The monster in the center disappeared, replaced by a bouquet and a box of...chocolates?

"You. What is this?" Snowman grabbed the nearest cultist and lifted them above her head, looking down on the rest of the cultists as she did so. The cultist she held shook in terror, crying out as they trembled.

"I'll tell you everything, just tell that man to stop his aura! Please!"

Alban complied as the cultist sighed in relief, slumping down in Snowman's hand. The other cultists quit shivering as well, their gazes transfixed on the chocolates in the center of the fading circle.

"Um, the chocolates are actually Snake Confectionaries. They don't sell them to the cults in the Lower District, so we prayed to Hlamtu to fulfill our wishes..." The voice turned sheepish very quickly as the atmosphere in the room soured. The rest of the cultists gazed at the one who spoke accusingly, clearly betrayed by how easy the monster gave up their secrets.

"...Illicit sweets are not under my jurisdiction. I am talking about the artifact you helped smuggle in here."

"What are you even talking about?"

Murmurs filled the room as befuddlement set over the cultists. Most of them asked simple questions, like who or what. Teta, who watched all of this silently, seriously doubted that a cult that smuggles sweets would lie about something like this.

"There was a shipment this morning that should not have been allowed? Do you remember anything like that?"

"Oh, you mean that weird cart we helped? Yeah, they weren't allowed in town so we talked with the guards. That's it. Can you put me down now?"

"...Do you even know how ordered it?"

"Nope!" Snowman dropped the cultist in her hand and strolled out the door without a word. Alban eyed the chocolates at the center a bit, before deciding that it probably wouldn't taste very good. The group made their way to the next house instead.

After the obligatory three knocks, the door opened on its own. The four made their way inside the spacious house, stopping at the entryway to a large church like area. A tall monster that had three legs and the body of a pyramid stood before them.

"Boss, isn't that-"

"I didn't know they actually survived?" The two whispered to each other as Lat laid himself out on a pew. Snowman stood before the monster, waiting for it to show it's actual body before she let it know of her suspicions.

The tip of the pyramid retracted into the rest of its body as a pretty pure white woman sprang out of the newly made hole. Clothed in an outfit that looked to resemble a monk in Alban's eyes, the woman's singsong voice floated in the air.

"Whatsoever brings you here to my abode?"

"There was an item that should not be in this town, and I have intel that says you may be involved. Your statement?"

"Search whatever you like, dear inspector." The woman smiled, before retracting herself back into her pyramid and settling down. The sound of a tongue clicking was heard instantly as Snowman walked out of the house briskly.

"Wait, why're we leaving? Don't we have to investigate or something?" Lat was practically shouting as they approached the last cult, though he was completely ignored. Shaking his head, Teta decided to answer his question for him.

"She was too confident. Didn't confirm nor deny anything, so we can be sure that we would have nothing on her. At least, as long as we're under her watch."

"What if she did have something and was merely bluffing?"

"You're not very smart, are you Lat. We *patrol*, why would we do something without orders? Do you even use that brain of yours?"

Alban and Snowman ignored the two's bickering as the latter was in the process of knocking on the door. However, before she could even lay her hands upon the door—

[BANG!]

A large explosion rocked the very foundations of the house as half of it was blown away. A garbled series of shouts filled the air as Snowman ran to the back of the house. When she got there, all she saw was smoke and a figure fleeing in the middle of it. She then took off running towards the fleeing monster.

Teta and Lat flew over the house to see what was happening while Alban made a mad dash for the back. Taking in the situation, he made the split decision to follow Snowman to offer support, as he was unsure how strong the absconding monster truly was.

"Lat, Teta, you two can fly so scope out the area. Any information you get right now would be helpful."

"Got it, boss! Let's go already blondie." Teta flew upwards while dragging Lat away, as Alban made his chase towards whatever situation awaited him.

As he ran, he saw the traces that the two left behind in their escape. A bunch of monsters were scattered all over the place, several of them in a daze. As he sped up even faster while circulating the mana in his body, his nose caught onto a peculiar scent.

The smell was captivating as it caused his throat to gulp down saliva. It was somewhat...nostalgic to Alban. Like he should know exactly what it is, though right now he couldn't remember it. All he knew was that it was quite distracting.

And so while running he brought the Full Powder out of his inventory while simultaneously gulping half of its contents. The hunger that was rising started to subside, just enough for him to not get lost in his bloodlust. A smile settled on his face.

'Whatever it is, I'll eat it. I just don't want to go on a rampage and screw myself over.' He ran even faster.