Fanilly took a deep breath. She'd nearly accepted the offer before learning anything about what they were actually looking for. It had almost felt like the eyes of her knights were boring into the back of her neck as she spoke with the mercenary captain.

Perhaps that's what reminded her to press a little harder than she had.

"... There's no reason to deny your offer," the Knight-Captain continued, "If you'll tell us just what you're looking for. You're right, it makes sense to work together if we're both trying to figure out what happened here. But it doesn't make sense to keep withholding details from us if you really want to work together."

Alette's crimson eyes narrowed.

Then they travelled. Across the knights, lingering briefly on Fionn, before drifting over her four lieutenants.

Abigail seemed to simply be admiring her. Bors nodded. Mathen said nothing. Clarice let out a sigh.

Alette's eyes returned to Fanilly after a few moments.

"You're right, it doesn't make much sense, does it?" the blue-haired mercenary suddenly grinned again as she spoke, "And I don't think it'll make our employer too upset regardless, it's not as if we know that much either."

She stepped forward.

"You're right, 'Sir Fionn', we did expect some problems. Turns out there might be some other parties interested in the item we're looking for. If you want quality protection for something valuable against some violent and unrestrained types, you hire the best," Alette continued, waving her free hand as she spoke.

She paused for a moment before continuing.

"The object we're looking for is black, and looks a bit like a shard of glass. Supposedly it's poisoned, or cursed, or something like that. Touching it is out of the question, at least with your bare hands, but wrapping it in cloth will keep you from coming into direct contact with it," explained the Shark, "So Clarice prepared some warded cloth specifically to add another layer of defense."

A smug expression crossed the parasol-wielding girl's features.

"When it comes to curses, there's no-one in this world who can claim they're better than I am."

That single comment made Fanilly feel even more wary.

"All of these dead, though... I can't think of a curse this strong, so something else must have happened..." Alette trailed off with a sigh, "Well, in any case, we were here to meet with a contact in the fort, acquire the object, kill the other party pursuing it, and return with it to our employer. Speaking of the other party... Bors!"

She looked back over her shoulder.

The hulking armored figure had already reached behind him, pulling out another corpse and tossing it to the ground. The dead man was wearing Thaln's colors, but...

"The mark on the back of his neck should tell you exactly who we're dealing with."

Indeed, tattooed on the deceased man's neck was the image of a ferocious gold and black boar.

"If we can't find it here, those bastards might already have it, but we can't walk away until we know it's gone."

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