As Fanilly chose to accompany the other knights into the barracks, Alette waved her hand towards Sir Fionn.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm not surprised. Honorable knights and all that," she commented, "Ah, but that captain of yours [i]is[/i] really cute, you know. Chatting with her definitely lifted my spirits after hanging around with all these corpses."

It felt as if Alette's demeanor could turn on a dime, given she was not letting out a playful giggle. Still, when Renar spoke to her, her more serious expression returned.

"I'm not going to deny I'm pissed we weren't told just what we were chasing," responded the crimson-eyed Shark, "Sure, the pay was nice, especially getting half first, but it feels like something they should have mentioned."

She sighed.

"But, not like they didn't warn us not to touch it and to try and keep it nice and wrapped up," she continued, "Besides, only a real dumbass would hire expensive mercenaries and not give a shit about their investment. Hard to justify ratting them out when you think about it like that."

She rested her spear on her shoulder once again.

"We're already not going to be finishing this job," she added, "Spreading the name of our employer around on top of that? That's bad for business."

[hr]

The choking scent of blood permeated the barracks. Here, kept insulted from the elements, the corpses were largely quite fresh. It was a grisly sight, to say the least. Some of the soldiers had been murdered in their beds by their fellows, stabbed to death or brutally beaten. Others had perished attempting, it seemed, to protect the injured, some not immediately affected by the shard's madness.

It was a grim sight, to say the least.

Fanilly's hands tensed, and she took a deep breath, trying to clear her head.

"We hadn't gotten to the barracks, yet," commented one of the mercenaries grimly, "It's worse then we thought."

Still, no matter how grim it may be, they could not leave without investigating the bodies.

"Look for anyone who has a tattoo of a boar on the back of their neck," Fanilly ordered. The sight of some of her knights' reactions to the tattoo had been enough to inform her of how they felt, but it was also their strongest lead at the moment. Alette was right. If they found any more bodies belonging to disguised Golden Boars, they would potentially find clues as to who employed the infamous mercenaries. And, if they had obtained the shard, where it might have been taken.

At least the Boar's policies meant there was an identifying marker.

[hr]

"Hmmm?"

Abigail tilted her head when she was spoken to, her eyes shimmering.

"A vampire... ah, an elegant killer? No, no... fast and brutal, but not [i]elegant[/i]," she commented as she took stock of Tyaethe's form, "Adorable, though... not as cute as dear Alette, but still adorable~"

She let out a dreamy giggle.

"Mmm, I don't know if I'd call myself undead, you know? I don't think it's very accurate, not exactly... Ah, I know!"

Smiling pleasantly, she took one of her gloves in her hand and slowly removed it.

Beneath were jointed fingers.

"Does this answer your question, cute vampire~?"

When they reached the Captain's quarters, it was just as grisly a sight as the rest of the fort. The captain, a powerful-looking man with dark hair and a large moustache, lay in his bed, his throat slit with a sharp implement. However, is body appeared otherwise untouched.

Near his bed, his desk had been pulled open, various papers scattered about the floor.

While it was a gruesome sight, to say the least, something about it seemed entirely different from the violence committed below...

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