Headed by a Snake

One of the most welcome developments Maeva reported was receiving a letter from the Brazen Guard adventuring company. Guild Letalis was formally invited to their collective.

Word had traveled quickly, largely due to the channels Sorina Capulet had used for advertising in the Holy Country. Publicly, House Vanzano was behind the guild's development. By now, the noble houses understood that the East Charm Trading Company stood behind them.

The Brazen Guard also had the advantage of insider knowledge-- that both Tycon and Centurion Zenon were assigned to restore House Vanzano's name. Guild Letalis was more than a desperate noble's attempt to regain relevance or a Kingdom organization trying to gain power in the Holy Country. It was an effort backed by Archbishop Natalya Crucis, herself.

There was little to lose from allying with House Vanzano. In fact, Tycon was surprised that the Brazen Guard was the only guild that reached out to them. Dozens of businesspersons sought out Sorina because they had the gold-sniffing senses to recognize a good opportunity.

...It was doubtful they sought her out in order to win her favor.

Tycon asked Maeva to reply formally, accepting the offer, and inducting Guild Letalis into the Brazen Guard Collective.

The most distressing of Maeva's matters were the reports on Athena's parents... The incidents around the manor were not few.

Athena's mother, Lady Marigold, was a constant visitor to Instructor Shao Ran's training area. There, she'd spend her time flaunting her corset-lifted cleavage, gawking at the male adventurers, and attempting to... woo the Sea Wolf Lieutenant.

The noblewoman had no idea how futile her attempts were. Marigold had a penchant for wearing strong perfume and thick makeup to hide her middling age. For persons with overly keen olfactory senses, her very existence was offensive. Tycon avoided breathing in the woman's general direction. As for Ran... he had a keener sense of smell than he did.

Athena's father, Lord Greer, was reported to 'accidentally' wander into the female servants' area where a number of female adventurers had taken residence. There had even been multiple reports of sexual harassment and the mysterious theft of undergarments.

The concept had initially baffled him. Why were Bronze and Iron-Rank adventurers being taken advantage of by sentient trash? Maeva explained that Lord Greer was not outright killed out of respect for their employer... which was ironic because Tycon would have absolutely no issues with Greer being killed by the first woman scorned.

Stealing ladies' undergarments... Really... How absurd.

Anyroad, the bothersome Lord and Lady of the estate needed to be taken care of.

Tycon assured Maeva that he would handle it.

...

By mid-sun, Tycon had equipped the two Sol Invictus horses, Corporal Horse and Private Jeremy, with a handsome carriage. The bindings that they were to pull were modified for their comfort.

He consulted the budget with Maeva and she agreed to grant Lord Greer and his wife a stipend to spend on a short vacation. The coin involved with that along with the purchase of the better-than-average, refurbished carriage made Tycon's heart bleed.

Still, the temporary removal of the Vanzano Lord and Lady was a worthwhile cost.

The cream-coated stallion, Jeremy whinnied nervously, "(Y-you sure about this, Boss? Just the two of us?)"

The horses did not consider the two humans they'd be escorting as part of their number. That was fine. The unreliable and lecherous Greer and his extravagant strumpet of a wife were poor examples of humans.

Tycon frowned, "Yes. You have both proven trustworthy individuals and this mission is well within your capabilities."

"(Don't listen to him, Snake,)" Horse huffed. "(We'll be fine! Everything that'll happen will happen! Nihihii...)"

The cackling neigh of the chestnut-colored Horse was somewhat worrisome, but Tycon decided to ignore it... "Private Jeremy, state your orders."

"(Uh...)" Jeremy fidgeted, clopping his front two hooves as he thought, "(We take Lord and Lady Vanzano to the Kingdom city of Passage. And... and we're not allowed to let them mistreat us.)"

"(It's a looooonnnng way to Passage,)" Horse reared up in excitement. "(I figure we can take a detour and take them to Underhoof.)"

Tycon grimaced at Horse's suggestion. Escorting persons to Underfoot-- or Underhoof, as it were, was Invictus code-speak for murdering witnesses quietly and without alarm.

"Belay that order," Tycon insisted. "I only want them gone for a moon or three. There are too many variables affected if they were to be found dead on the side of the road."

"(But... I want to kill again,)" Horse neighed quietly.

Tycon sighed, mulling over the thought, "If there is an *accident*... I suppose I'd forgive it."

He shook his head. He wasn't going to ask a member of Sol Invictus to do something he wouldn't do, himself, "Bah! Just bring them back in one piece!"

"(You can count on us, Snake,)" Horse declared proudly. "(Humans have lots of pieces.)"

"(Corporal...)" Jeremy shook in complaint... "(No... No, they do not...)"

...

Combat Instructor Shao Ran looked forward to the sun's training.

As of recent, general training bothered him. Dealing with regular humans was... difficult. Part of it was due to the training areas were so... boring. Silva didn't have ravenous, flesh-eating sea life in their waters-- even the sharks kept to the depths, far away from humans. There were rocky beaches, sure, but the rocks weren't sharp enough to draw blood. Making the recruits run on mildly uncomfortable surfaces brought him no joy.

Was Port Saint Guinefort formed into existence by a sadistic god? Or was Silva just... so incredibly soft?

Shao Ran was also having difficulties accounting for the durability of a 'normal' adventurer. They had a bit of First-Circle healing, but that was limited. He was accustomed to training Sea Wolves... and all of his men and women could heal from their training injuries on their own. And besides that, these adventurers were also slower and weaker in nearly all aspects compared to a proper Sea Wolf! Outrageous! Absurd, even.

But this sun... this sun would be different!

Ran had been tasked to train just two people: the Yin Body Frostblade, Athena Vanzano, along with one of her classmates. In six short weeks, they both set to compete as a duo team in the upcoming Caeruleum Martial Tournament.