Guild mistress Magda just leaned back, but she wasn't done, so she told them. As it turned out, word had spread that certain individuals were asking about the two boys.

  “Be careful. People are starting to ask about you two.”

  “Like who?” Damian asked, frowning and looking confused. By the Dragon's shield, he hoped. he prayed it wasn't the lionin holding a grudge.

  She leaned forward, then her eyes sharpened. She tried to see any reason why a man like that would be interested in them. Of course, it was not he who was interested but one of his captains. A man serving the lord who conquered seven cities. She had to do her investigations before the [war lord] thought Principal City was the next city he would conquer because of some rumours about the two boys.

  “The [Warlord] of Fenroth,” she said and watched them pale.

  They froze in confusion, then understanding dawned. It all happened in mere moments.

  “Wha-what”

  “Why.”

  “Darrow did you know!”

  “Damian did you know.”

  They splattered, and for a time, she felt smug at the certain terror she had caused the two brothers, but she had to tell them the truth. Hopefully, there was a lesson in her scare somewhere in there.

  “Calm down, it was only one of his captains seeking recruits, and the rumors of you two caught his eye,” she said.

  She watched them visibly relax, but she wouldn’t have been at ease if she were in their position.

  Everyone associated with the warlord of Fanroth was a high-level individual, and association with them would most certainly have the other nobles, districts, and even entire regions against you.

  “I am not sure that’s any better,” Damian said and tried to look calm and confident as he spoke.

  “Get used to the attention.” She smirked and then waved them toward the door.

  The two hesitated, but then they nodded. They couldn’t do anything about it, and they couldn’t worry about a high-level individual like one of the captains of Fanroth.

  “You’re dismissed,” she said and waved them outside.

  Darrow tucked his bronze token in his cloak, and Damian put it in his pocket carefully.

  She watched them leave silently, and the receptionist nodded as they exited.

  They left the upper offices, past the whispering crowd of adventurers, and pushed through the gilded doors.

  It had been a while, but Darrow was the first to realise it. It was about three hours later when they realised the streets grew emptier and the shadows stretched out as they walked.

  Darrow slowed suddenly, and his hand touched the dagger.

  “There’s something off,” the rogue said.

  Damian stopped and glanced around.

  “The gang again,” he asked, narrowing his eyes.

  “No. Worse.” Darrow shook his head.

  Their [Shared Fear] danger sense skill screamed at them, then the air felt heavy, and they froze.

  Suddenly, there was a flicker in the alley, a blade flashed toward Darrow, and he barely managed to twist aside.

  Whatever had come striking at him vanished into the shadows just as quickly. Darrow drew his Daggers, and Damian drew his sword as they stood back to back.

  “What is it,” he asked.

  “I didn't even feel it coming,” Darrow replied, his eyes darting about. His [altered awareness] had been silent for that moment, and even worse, he still couldn't pick out the person trying to assassinate them.

  There was the growling of an animal that was mixed with gaggling, and Damian raised his sword.

  A shadow fell over a chalk-covered wall, and more shapes slunk from the darkness. There were dozens of them, odd and eerie-looking.

  They were goblins, mostly, with three or four dwarves and humans mixed in among them, but there was something wrong, something bad. Something that told Damian and Darrow to run.

  These weren't people anymore. They were corrupted by demonic dungeon magic, and their eyes were a pale black with no irises, similar to the revenants from the dungeon.

  The two brothers stepped back and felt their skin crawl at the gurgling sound the corrupted made.

  “Revenants,” Damian breathed.

  ---

  Whereas Arden watched from one of the rooftops. He had been following the twins since morning, but he shouldn't have expected anything much.

  When he looked through his spying glass with a [lesser inspect] enchantment, it flickered for a moment, but he narrowed his eye and still got the information about the classes and levels of his targets. The [lesser inspect] enchantment was high level, and he suspected the brothers' classes weren't rare enough to prevent him from seeing their classes.

  He frowned as he looked through the spying glass and decided not to waste his time on a level seven [initiate spy] and a level seven [dualist]. He opened a dimensional cage and let the corrupted revenants out. This was an experiment lord Graldo was taking part in.

  He pulled his bow out of his dimensional bag and sighted down at the two brothers.

  Damian and Darrow heard the corrupted goblins and humans hiss in unison, then an arrow flew from a hidden rooftop up ahead.

  They stepped back, then dozens more arrows came flying out of nowhere, and the brothers did their best and dodged out of the way desperately.

  That wasn't the only thing they had to worry about however. The corrupted revenants came at them as well, and Darrow hurled one of his daggers at the creatures.

  The sharp dagger bounced off the twisted flesh harmlessly, and Damian stepped forward. He parried the blow meant for Darrow, then he slashed with his sword.

  Damian's sword skittered off the harsh skin of the revenant, and in that moment, his danger sense skill screamed at him even louder. He used his [lesser strength] and kicked away the demon-corrupted revenants.

  “We can't fight them,” Darrow yelled backwards.

  “Then we have to run,” Damian said, gritting his teeth and straining against a large hobgoblin that had caught him by surprise.

  The brothers locked eyes, then as one they ran.

  Arden frowned as he watched them fight, then run. They should have been dead already, but the way they moved like they had eyes in the back of their heads—it had to be some sort of skill.

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  Arden loaded his bow and released, and to his surprise, the twin with the sword blocked it without even looking back. His eyes went wide slightly, but he didn't have the time to think it over. He ran.

  He followed them.

  To all his senses, Darrow could not detect whoever was shooting arrows at them, but one thing was for certain: it had to be a rogue. A member of the rogue's gallery, maybe.

  Arrows whistled past their ears, and to counter this, they ran against the wall to make shooting them harder in comparison to running out in the street.

  Darrow flipped a barrel behind them as they ran, and it smashed into a pursuing corrupted goblin.

  “Faster,” Damian said and tugged him on.

  The corrupted creatures screeched, their claws scraped on stone as they leapt over the barrow, and the arrows kept falling.

  An arrow grazed Damian's arm, and he stumbled, but Darrow was there in the next second, pulling him up and along through the twisting, faintly lit alleyway.

  His [shared fear] hit him, and he instinctively threw a dagger back, which bounced harmlessly off the revenant that had closed the distance, causing it to stagger back, and more came crashing after them.

  “Nothing’s working, "Darrow said as he turned back to face the direction they were running.

  “Survive first. think later,” Damian replied, panting all the while.

  “I hate dark alleys,” Darrow muttered as they ran and was nearly struck by the assassin's arrow.

  “Lets head to the adventurers square. We’ll lose them there.”

  “Lets hope they aren't crazy enough to follow us,”

  “Left,” Damian said.

  They ran until they reached a more populated area of the streets of Principal City, and when they turned back, the corrupted revenants were gone. There was not a trace or sight of them, and the silence stretched on as the goblins and the other corrupted things faded into distant echoes.

  The Shared Fear skill softened, and Darrow's hands sank to his knees.

  Damian looked at his sword, at the nicks and chips, and his brows knitted. He sheathed his sword, and he tore his cloth, then wrapped his shaking hand over his vest coat.

  “We… need answers,” he said.

  ---

  Damian and Darrow moved quickly. They moved as fast as they could and weaved through the dark streets. But they didn't bite back; the streets of New Calvessan were as quiet as could be.

  They breathed shallowly, their eyes darting to every sound, and the hum of the magical lamps just felt too loud.

  “Still thinking it was random,” Damian asked, wiping blood off his cheek.

  At this point on their journey back home, His cotton jacket was bloody, and as he moved to wrap the area that an arrow had grazed, he got some blood on his face.

  “No chance,” Darrow shook his head.

  They turned into a narrow side street and made their way straight to the storefront with a sign that read CASSANDRA’S DELIVERY AND FIXES.

  This was the place they called home, the only place they felt safe, and it was located between two large buildings. At least it had a window and two floors, the boys remembered climbing out of.

  The front window glowed with a faint light, which meant she was inside, and there was nothing to stop them from making their way inside, not the assassin Darrow thought he saw nor the goblins that might have been waiting for them in ambush. The coast looked clear. In fact, that was the only panicked thought they had. The brothers had to tell her what had just happened.

  The bell above the door jingled as they pushed their way inside the small space. The familiar scent of parchment and oil hit them and made the twins instinctively relax.

  Cassandra raised a vessel from the table as she noticed them look around wide-eyed, and she arched an eyebrow at them.

  In the corner of the room next to the shelves stacked with parcels, the young woman, a half-elf in an apron, was completely ignored.

  “Cassandra! Cassandra!” Damian called, and the older woman narrowed her eyes. For the life of her, she had never seen Damian so panicked, or was this Darrow? At least he was honest with his emotions.

  “Back from your adventure already,” she said and looked at the boys as they came to a stop in front of her desk.

  They were breathing hard, as if they had run here the whole way. She waited for a response, and Darrow answered her.

  “Adventure. More like an attempt on our lives,” Darrow corrected her.

  “Well you certainly look like you met death on a stroll,” she teased.

  “Close enough,” Damian said, leaning his head back to take a deep breath.

  “We were attacked,” Darrow said, breathing deep and willing control back into his body.

  Cassandra’s posture shifted. She leaned forward and looked at Damian.

  “By whom?” she asked.

  “Goblins. And not just them,” Damian said just before he was interrupted.

  “There were goblins and some humans, even a dwarf. They had black eyes. I think they were corrupted,” Darrow said.

  “Revenants, out on the streets. Are you sure?” Cassandra asked, her eyes flickering with concern.

  “Yes, it was demonic dungeon mana. You told us that the only way people can get corrupted,”

  “And this wasn't some illusion skill or spell,“

  “No, it wasn't. That's why we are asking,” Damian said and felt at his arm where the arrow had grazed him.

  That had not been an illusion.

  In the corner of the store where she stood, the half-elf, Elora, stiffened as she listened to the boys speaking about being attacked by goblins.

  “Tell me everything,” Cassandra said and folded her arms.

  This was bad, and it meant the news about the dungeons was really true if it was the case.

  Damian and Darrow didn't hesitate to tell her everything; in fact, Darrow made most of the descriptions, and Damian always pulled his focus back to the story.

  Throughout the story, Cassandra’s expression had grown grim, and the two brothers hadn't noticed it. The half elven girl had. She fidgeted nervously in the back.

  “Were you followed,” she asked.

  Damian shook his head.

  “No. We lost them,” he said.

  “Good,” she said. “Now did you at least bring back the food.”

  “Obviously not,” Darrow said, massaging his forehead and groaning all the while.

  “Of course not,” she sighed deeply.

  Damian slumped onto one of the crates in the room and brought them back to what they had been discussing.

  “I think someone is targeting us.”

  “Like some bounty for an assassin to collect,” Darrow said and gestured, quipping with both his hands.

  “Targeting you, why?” Cassandra repeated.

  Damian pulled a receipt from his coat, walked over, and placed it in front of Cassandra.

  This was the glowing rune-covered piece of paper that he would have to take to the dwarves in the banks, and in return, he would get his guild coin for his contributions during the raid.

  “Someone knows we got paid,” he said. After all, it was the only reason they would be attacked.

  She arched an eyebrow and looked down at the long, thin scroll that was all but reinforced with magic.

  She snatched it and scanned its contents.

  “Seventy gold and two hundred and one silver? That’s barely anything.” She scowled.

  Darrow laughed. It was weak, more of a chuckle than anything else, really.

  “Am telling you it was an assassin trying to mug us.” he said, his tone coming close to disbelief.

  Cassandra shook her head.

  “Still, this isn’t enough to draw that much attention.”

  She turned to Damian, the brother, being the most careful of the two. He probably noticed something.

  “Any suspects,” she asked.

  “Could still be an assassin,” Darrow said before Damian could even open his mouth.

  Cassandra raised an eyebrow.

  “An assassin? For you two?” She smirked.

  “Hey, we’re popular now,” Darrow joked, but she didn't laugh.

  To the woman who had raised them like sons, it wasn't funny at all.

  She placed her hand on Darrow's, then she activated her skill.

  “[Detect Bounty],” she whispered.

  There was a faint glow around them, and a moment later it vanished.

  “Nothing,” she muttered.

  “Meaning what,” Darrow asked.

  “Meaning whoever went after you hasn’t put it on a bounty board. they haven't gone public,” Cassandra said.

  “So it's a private contract,” Damian exhaled.

  “Exactly. Don’t worry, I will look into it,” she said and nodded.

  She looked down at Damian's bank receipt, and she dropped it into the warded glass jar vessel. The runes flared, and the seal tightened all by itself.

  Damian furrowed his eyebrows as he followed the jar as Cassandra put it under her table.

  “Are we going to use the coin from mine then?” Darrow asked, his bank receipt held between his fingers. They still had to go get food in the market and buy the things they needed for themselves.

  She shook her head.

  “No, that's for an emergency and you wont be spending it on dice,” she replied, narrowing her eyes at Darrow.

  “Then whose?”

  Cassandra glanced at the half-elf in the corner of the room, and for the first time, Damian and Darrow realised they weren't alone in the office room. They turned to face the girl.

  “New client.” Cassandra said.

  The brothers exchanged looks.

  “A client?” Damian asked.

  “Yes, in fact she was just telling me why she came here.”

  Cassandra gestured with her hand and invited the girl to step forward.