Sandoval’s mouth erupted another set of gruesome teeth. Flames enveloped him, casting an eerie purple glow across the blackened walls and sewage. Although he’d told Kuro he could change form, seeing his tiny claws stretch into what were essentially multi-jointed spines was still fascinating. At least, that’s what Kuro would have thought if he’d had time to register the transformation before a flood of rats burst around the corner. Muskrats as large as pigs poured in, even squeezing in from every crack and hole in the wall, scuttling across its surface. They swept forward, squealing and gnashing their teeth. Kuro shuddered at the sound of massive claws clacking against stone like iron tongs clicking shut. He followed the rats surrounding them with his eyes, mentally reminding himself again and again that despite those crocodile teeth, they were still just rats and he had all the equipment he needed, and two capable fighters and…

  “Kuro!” Cinti snapped. “Don’t panic. I’ll be your second shield.”

  She pounded her sword’s hilt to her chest plate with a sharp nod.

  The rats moved like one organism. And they were gearing up to pounce at their backs. Cinti raised her sword and used one of her skills.

  “Call!”

  From his position behind her, Kuro gaped in awe as light lit up her nervous system under her skin. It spread through her until she glowed a soft, white. It seemed to send the rodents into a frenzy. They diverted away from Kuro and toward her. They bit and tore as they swarmed her, but her skin might as well have been steel to creatures below her level.

  Cinti flew into Berserker mode, slashing heads clean off.

  “Kuro!” she shouted, snapping him from his stupor. “Kill as many as you can! They can’t attack you while my Call skill is active.”

  Kuro raised his sword and ordered Sandoval to fight. The demon produced a dagger from his flames and the two dove into the fray, cutting down rats from behind.

  Kuro stopped flinching at blood splatter by the time he’d sunk his sword into five or so. The demon relished in it.

  But the rodents streamed in endlessly, forcing Sandoval to reassess strategy aloud.

  “What are you doing? Any Slave Lord worth his class would capture a few!”

  Kuro paused, breathless after shield-bashing a maggot-infested rat in the face. This had to be the most physically draining thing he’d done since helping fix that wall.

  “You’re right,” he panted.

  “Of course I am!” Sandoval snapped. “Your intelligence is so low; I’m shocked I ended up enslaved to the likes of you.”

  The imp swung around to swipe at a passing rat running along the tunnel ledge and it screamed as his dagger severed its legs. It stumbled into a heap and Kuro gave an impressed whistle.

  Now it was his turn to impress. He gauged the area, picking out the biggest muskrat he could spot. He sent the orb speeding after if. As it was absorbed, the vermin releasing a slew of harsh squeals and hisses, Kuro braced for a massive drain of energy like the last time.

  Only, this time, he barely felt a thing.

  “That… didn’t feel too bad.”

  Sandoval cursed under his breath. “I wonder why that could be?” he said with a tone. “Perhaps it has something to do with it being a dumb animal.”

  Kuro rolled his eyes. That imp was in for a talking to when this was all over.

  “I’m pretty sure I just got stronger, Sando,” he said.

  And he sent his orb after another.

  “You might want to pace yourself,’ Sandoval said, pausing to hover nearby.

  His expression seemed to hold genuine concern or at least some sort of condescending version of it. Kuro shrugged. Even if he didn’t understand the intricacies, he remembered the stats in his Adventurer Contract Book.

  Rats swam past, drawn toward Cinti who blew them out of the water with each swing. Kuro itched to do anything to help her out.

  “I have the mana. I should be able to cast a couple more.”

  Sandoval shook his head.

  “You understand nothing. Spells need time to cool down. It’s not about if you have the mana, it’s about your rate of fire. Cast them one after the next like that and you’ll burn yourself out.”

  But between sword swings and casting Capture, Kuro didn’t hear him.

  Before the imp even finished talking, he had cast the orb once more. As soon as it caught its prey, a stabbing pain shot up his spine and superheated his brain. A gush of blood burst from his nose. Kuro grimaced and doubled forward.

  “There it is!” Sandoval cackled. “Now you pay the penalty.”

  “Penalty?” Kuro sputtered.

  The imp nodded, grinning like he was enjoying seeing Kuro struggle.

  “This is why you should always listen to me,” he said. “You won’t be able to cast the spell for the rest of the day, you useless—”

  “I get it!”

  Kuro blew out his nose and, sheathing his sword for a moment, pinched his nose.

  “At least I got three. Not too bad,” he said, his voice nasally.

  Sandoval scoffed, flying off to deal some more damage. “Could have caught five if you’d listened to me,” he muttered.

  Kuro waved him away dismissively. No one was going to rain on his parade when he was knee-deep in shit. He summoned his new slaves and bid them kill their brethren. The three rats splashed off to do exactly as ordered.

  It sent chills across his skin when they tore and dismembered their own kin with abandon. Even Sandoval looked disturbed.

  With Cinti leading the charge, the tiny group mowed through the hoard for what seemed like hours.

  Just when Kuro thought his arms and legs would give out under exhaustion, Cinti shouted from the centre of the chaos.

  “My Call is fading! We’ll have to fall back.”

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  As the light beneath her skin dimmed, she lifted a hand and roared. A fiery aura blessed her body and sent the remaining rats fleeing to their holes. The tunnel fell into a sudden silence, punctuated only by slow, echoing drips and breathless panting.

  Now the true state of things was revealed. Blood and viscera stained every surface. Heaps of rodents and blood coagulated around them in cushions, both floating on the surface of the sludge.

  Amidst laboured breaths, Cinti said, “Let’s flush the bodies downstream and prepare for the next wave. There’s not much time before they’re back.”

  Whaaaat?” Kuro said. “Are you kidding me?”

  She shook her head.

  “We have a long day ahead of us.”

  They quickly got to work removing mounds of carcasses, pushing them into the current which moved like molasses. Cinti leaned on one of the thin ledges to rest.

  Soon, the rats returned. They poured in two more times before Cinti prompted them to move further into the sewers to provoke another reaction. Once she was satisfied with their progress, she put up a magical barrier to prevent any muskrat coming or going. The party slogged out of the sewers like zombies. Soaked in blood, sweat, and filth, they dragged their slumped bodies through the demon’s head into the weak light.

  “Hope you guys are ready to do this all over tomorrow,” Cinti groaned.

  Kuro let out a dying wheeze.

  “How long is this going to take?” he mumbled.

  “Until it is done, you lazy Lagarde,” Sandoval said.

  The imp looked a lot more energetic than the others.

  “You know what, I no longer require your services. Thank you.”

  The demon was sucked back into the void. Cinti and Kuro walked back to the guild hall covered in quickly-drying and hardening grime.

  Their arrival at the guildhall this time made their first day there look like a greeting with open arms. Not one elf was able to distract themself when the pair walked in. Jaws hung slack and others turned up their noses in offended scowls. The ladies literally ran and hid behind their male counterparts, mewling like frightened kittens. Kuro went hot in the face, but followed Cinti’s lead and kept his head up. Strangely, this was less embarrassing than falling in dog poop and tearing open his pants on TV. Maybe it had to do with the reason he now found himself in a parallel but arguably worse state. The work they had done was necessary. In fact, he should wear the sewage and blood like proud battle scars. And these elves should be lauding them as heroes!

  But his shabbily built confidence shattered when the elf who had called Cinti a sewer knight confronted them before the stairs. As usual, he was shirtless, wearing only a towel and glistening droplets of perspiration.

  ‘Ugh, not this guy again,’ Kuro thought.

  He examined them head to toe and scoffed. “Are either of you aware that you reek? I know you have to clean up the pest problem, but you don’t have to look like you actually enjoy swimming in filth.”

  “Isn’t that what humans do though?” someone said within the reeling crowd.

  Kuro just barely caught it, but remembering the way Cinti ignored the snide remarks, he tried to act like he hadn’t.

  The half-naked elf continued, not daring to get too close this time.

  “Poor Cinti. One might think your elven blood would save you from disgrace, but no. Although, I suppose your mother was just a wood elf after all,” he said and then added under his breath. “A peasant.”

  Kuro couldn’t listen to this anymore. This guy was going too far dragging parents into it and after the day they’d had it felt like he could pop a blood vessel. He took a step forward and opened his mouth to say something in her defence, hoping she wouldn’t be upset with him for it.

  “Why don’t you come up with some new material for your comedy show, Arken?” Cinti snapped.

  Kuro blinked at her saucer-eyed. Apparently, Cinti had lost her patience too. So much so that she was willing to engage in the drama these elves seemed to want to stir.

  “At least try to be creative with your insults. At his point, you’re just a bore,” she said, waving him off.

  Arken clutched his chiseled chest and gasped. “Well, I never!”

  Cinti screwed up her face and mocked him.

  “Well, well, well, I neverrr~”

  She walked on, throwing faces back at him while he gaped and sputtered in shock.

  At the top of the stairs, Kuro couldn’t hold it in anymore. He burst out laughing.

  “What was that?”

  Cinti shrugged. “These guys get scandalised by everything. It’s not hard to give them a conniption.”

  They took their Contract Books to the receptionist and pulled up the page listing the rat quest. Cinti handed it to Nigris who stared at them in amused revulsion.

  She didn’t say anything initially—probably too stunned to come up with anything yet.

  The quest page showed the number of rats killed and the amount they were owed as a result. It even broke down how those funds were to be distributed.

  Their earnings totalled to three hundred and seventy-five gold coins for the slaughter of seven thousand and five hundred rats. Five percent went to the guild as dues, leaving seventy-five percent to be split evenly among party members, and twenty percent split based on contribution.

  At five thousand heads, twice as many as Kuro, Cinti was entitled a total of one hundred and ninety gold. Kuro still earned a tidy sum of a hundred sixty-five.

  After reviewing the details, Nigris finally said something.

  “Looks like this little pity party is off to a great start! You keep this up, Kuro, and I may overlook your height issues. Though you’ll still have to do something about that excess fat. Or you can cash in some of your chips after you’ve cleaned yourself up for the privilege of having the lovely Nigris use your face as a step stool!”

  “Can the lovely Nigris, please stop wasting air and pay us?” Cinti ground out.

  “Aw, Cinti. Always such a stick in the mud,” Nigris huffed.

  She handed over their earnings and twiddled her fingers in a coy wave as Cinti strode off. Kuro turned to leave too, but Nigris leaned against her desk with a lustful sigh.

  “What do you say, Roro?” she moaned. “Seems you’re no stranger to getting a little dirty.”

  Kuro just coughed awkwardly and mumbled, “N-no thanks.”

  Then he was power-walking down the stairs and out the door. Cinti had already gone ahead of him. He wondered if Nigris’ flirting had upset her. Or maybe she was still stressed over her argument with Sandoval the other night. There would be time to find out later. His skin had started to burn and itch in concerning places, so he headed straight to the baths at the inn.

  He scrubbed like he never had before. Multiple times just to be sure the scent didn’t stick to him. When he was finished, he got his Contract Book and went to Cinti’s room.

  He knocked.

  “It’s Kuro.”

  “Come in,” Cinti called, sounding muffled through the door.

  As he pushed it open Cinti started apologising for storming off. Kuro was about to brush it off with a casual response and ask again if she would help him understand the details of his book, but he stopped short.

  Cinti was already dressed in her nightgown for bed. His eyes drifted to her body unabashedly. Sure she was buff, toned to a T, but it was clear she was built for a different kind of warfare too. The sheer material of her garment stretched tight across her cleavage, clinging to her in all the right ways. Only the gauziness of the cloth put a thin veneer between his eyes and her bare skin. He hovered by the door, wondering if he should leave or stay. With no one else around, there was nothing to distract him from lingering on every inch of her fit body.

  And to his surprise, she didn’t flinch. Instead, she sat at the edge of the bed and he choked as her butt spread out around her and ate up the sheets. She beckoned him over and his throat went dry.

  “I know you want to dive deep inside,” she started.

  Kuro’s heart jumped.

  “The intricacies of your Adventurer’s Contract Book,” she finished.

  Kuro’s heart dropped.

  “Uh huh,” he sighed, eyelid twitching.

  He sank onto the bed beside her.

  It was true that he originally came to her for that purpose, but did she have to tease him like this? He produced the book and she leaned in. Her soft golden hair brushed his cheek and he smelled lotus and honey—refreshingly sweet.

  His heart picked up again.

  Was she doing this on purpose? There was no way he could sit through an entire lesson without getting a hard-on.