A trace of strain showed on Banda’s face as he healed his damaged soul. Monga had taught him how, though that was with divinity. Using aura was more difficult and far less effective. Still, he had no other method.

  He imagined himself as a tree, to bleed out viscous sap and pour it into the cracks of the bark. The aura that was this ‘sap’ filled the fractures of his soul and quickly drained away, leaving behind only another thin layer over the wound.

  Banda opened his eyes, far from healed. He would need to continue until the layers repaired the fractures completely, but there was only so much that could be done in a single day.

  With his aura depleted, Banda’s thoughts drifted to his mind and soul, more than ever before. The weakness of his soul especially had been shown to him for a second time.

  It was a weakness he could not bear. Even more so, now that he knew the truth about Gugal and the power he once thought his own.

  The urge to cultivate briefly stirred in his mind but he buried it down as soon as it rose. He could not cultivate in this condition, lest he risk further damage.

  Using his soul in any way carried the same consequence. Fortunately, both his martial arts were Warrior techniques.

  He could still use his Feral Form as well, but exceeding his limits was no longer an option for now. If he did, the damage would be immediate and severe. It could even shatter his Spirit.

  Banda glanced ahead at Eres, who meditated calmly in her human way of sitting. He hadn’t noticed before, but she was always as composed in the wild as she was in the relative safety of this human den.

  He would have thought her ignorant and naive of the very existence of threats were she not so intense and resolved when the fighting actually started. It was a contradicting way to live. A strange way. He didn’t understand it. He couldn’t.

  Eres opened her eyes and smoothly rose to her feet, her lively gaze upon him had already forgotten the dangers of yesterday.

  “Let’s go see more of this town.”

  ---

  Banda and Eres patrolled through the part of the town they were assigned to. Otto had only given them the vague duties of collecting tribute and keeping the peace, leaving them free to choose how exactly they did so.

  As usual, Banda left the decision to Eres. Or more precisely, she had taken the lead herself, and he did not care enough to object. And more importantly, he didn’t understand what Otto was thinking.

  Eres walked through the tavern door as boldly and purposefully as she had the first day they arrived. Peering gazes shifting towards them on reflex, and were quickly averted once they landed on Banda.

  “...what can I get you?” The tavernkeep asked.

  “Tribute.” Eres answered bluntly.

  The tavernkeep hesitated, half in confusion at the demand and half in contemplation at the situation. Eres saw that clearly, but had no interest in explaining herself.

  “Pay up or take your complaints to Otto.”

  Hesitation only stalled the tavernkeep for a moment more before he reached into the leather pouch on his belt and handed over 5 crystals. Eres pocketed them in her own pouch and left without another word.

  Banda glanced at the pouch as they walked. That was the same amount they had plundered from the harpy matriarch’s core. And they had taken it so easily.

  “Why did Otto make us… enforcers?” He asked the former priestess who knew many things.

  Eres glanced back. “He’s selecting the strong out of his thralls. Gives them more power and privileges to keep the rest under control. That’s enough to make most unwilling to take the risk to move against him.”

  “Also…” She continued. “That Soul Seed technique has limits. I don’t know what grade it is, but aside from the fact that it only works on Rank 1, it’s impossible for something like that to be used infinitely. But if he makes use of people like us… He can extend his reach to even those not directly in his clutches.”

  “If he alone could keep ten in line, then rather than do the work himself, he gets those ten to each keep ten in line themselves. Now he has a hundred.”

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  Banda understood the logic but there was a strangeness to it. Back in the forest, if one was strong enough, the whole tribe would follow. No matter its size.

  He didn’t agree with this human method. It gave others power and arrogance. It kept those waiting to bare their fangs too close. A far better way is to slaughter the rivals and dominate all others to make them aware the only thing that awaits their challenge is death.

  “Human lies…” Banda called the trickery.

  “Here in civilization, we call it cunning.” Eres’ gaze turned to a building ahead, and narrowed ever so slightly.

  It was much larger than most, though still made of the same tan colored stone lined with cracks and disrepair as all the others. Two grim faced men stood at the side of the entrance but Eres ignored them as she led him up the stone steps into the building.

  The stench of dead flowers struck his nose before anything else. Banda found it unpleasant, though he bore through the irritation. To distract from the smell, he turned his focus to the the interior he now found himself in.

  The entire first floor was lined with red cloth and pattern lanterns that turned the glow of the flame unusual colors. Wooden furniture and clay pots and other things of human make dotted over the ground more than was needed. It seemed wasteful.

  The human women seated on cushioned furniture or strolling around wore soft clothing that covered less than it should. It was no attire fit for combat, and the women carried themselves with no vigilance. Banda had never seen such disregard for survival in his life. None of them would last a day even in the outskirts of the forest.

  Eres caught noticed of his frowning observation of the brothel around him. “...I don’t suppose you know what taxes are?”

  “No.” Banda answered. More human lies, he imagined.

  “The apothecary and tavern are establishments within Otto’s territory. They pay what they owe since they live under his rule, as they would even if they didn’t have soul seeds.” Eres explained. “But the tribute from the slumlords is a bit different. It’s a compromise of sorts. They pay Otto enough that he doesn’t take the risk to fight them, but not so much that they feel forced to take that same risk against him.”

  “He should just take…” Banda muttered. He didn’t like stating the obvious, as he would be on the plundered side. But it was the obvious.

  “That only works once.” Eres countered. “I imagine that forest of yours must have been quite chaotic. Things are more stable in a settlement, which means it’s more rewarding to plant your roots and grow.”

  “Hello~” A woman drew near to Banda and spoke sweetly to him. “Can I interest you?”

  “Leave my sight.” Eres ordered. Cold and fraught with ire. The woman’s expression dropped instantly and she walked away quickly without hesitation, disappearing through a door at the side of the room.

  Banda showed only slight confusion to it. He hadn’t sensed any hostility from the human, and by all measure she was weak, so he could only assume they were attempting human deception of some kind.

  Scarcely a few moments passed before a middle aged man in modest finery approached them, his demeanor more dignified compared to the guards outside or the women within.

  “Welcome to the Wallflower Brothel. Might I be of service?” The steward asked them, neither dominant nor submissive.

  “Tell the proprietor we’re here for the tribute.” Eres told him.

  The change in the steward’s eye was subtle, but he inspected the pair more closely for a brief moment. “Please wait here.” He turned with unhurried pace and headed through the door guarded by two more underlings at the back of the hall for a short while before returning.

  “He will see you now.” The steward gestured to the same door and the pair headed through it without concern.

  The room seemed both a chamber and a study of sorts. A place of business and relaxation, with finer furnishments than that of the rest of the establishment.

  Banda paid none of that any mind, his sight focused on the only person within. A thin, well kempt man wearing tailored silk clothes and adorned in cheap, garish jewelry, lounging indifferently on a cushioned couch.

  He didn’t look like much of a combatant. Banda didn’t get the same sense of threat as he did from Otto or even Scar, but this human was a slumlord. One of only seven Rank 2 monks in the town.

  “I had heard Otto lost a few of his dogs.” Ubin said with a tone that matched his demeanor, and a judging gaze. “But I expected their replacements to be known.”

  “Now you know them.” Eres replied.

  Ubin looked at her closely then scoffed before tossing over two dark blue stones. Unlike the tiny fragments that were Shards and the larger diamond-shaped Crystals, these stones were like cut gems, shaped like rounded squares. They were Manastones, and each of them were comprised of one hundred Crystals.

  “This is less than we were told.” Eres eye’s sharpened as they rose back towards the proprietor of the brothel.

  “There’s nothing I can do about that.” He said. “I haven’t been getting enough medicine lately, so my girls must rest longer.”

  “Medicine?” Eres inquired.

  “Yes. Balms, ointments, pills, all of it.” Ubin’s expression soured as he spoke. “I get want I need from Gurda, but lately she is refusing to sell. Claims she doesn’t have enough herbs, but I know that Tath is buying up near everything she makes, though the ‘why’ of it escapes me…”

  Eres took note of the names. Tath was another slumlord, one of the weaker ones if rumor held true. Gurda, she suspected, was the name of the old herbalist as there was no other apothecary in this town.

  Ubin leaned back on his couch with a scowl that he simmered away with a deep breath. “If Gurda returns to our original arrangement, so will my tribute.”

  Eres met his gaze directly, the two giving over none of their deeper emotions. She pocketed the Manastones and took her leave without a word. Ubin merely watched them leave in silence.

  She walked directly out of the establishment, sparing no one else inside a single glance. Banda paid no more mind than was necessary for the sake of vigilance. Eres didn’t speak, even after they left, but she didn’t have to. Banda already knew where they were going.