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JAIME FONTOYA

When we returned to the fields, half of the farmers were finishing up the last of the harvest. The other half were digging canals to connect the fields to the moat.

Once all the crops have been reaped, the harvesting half would help diverge the lake to flood the fields. Everything should be finished by sundown.

The bandit we captured was too heavy, so we removed his armour. That way, Ilias could levitate his unconscious body to the village with ease.

"Who the hell is that?" Tony pointed out.

I tossed the armour with an eagle emblem to his feet.

"Bandits?"

That word stirred the nearby villagers' light atmosphere. Their panic travelled among the farmers and summoned the rest of the sentinels.

"Where did you see bandits?" Askeladd questioned.

"Bandit. Just one," Ilias corrected. "We found this one scouting on the other side of the lake. It's a good thing we noticed him."

"If there's a scout, then it means they're preparing to attack. They must've sent that one to see if the harvest is finished."

"How long do we have?" I asked.

"Until tomorrow. They'll know something is wrong when he doesn't come back tonight."

Ritsu butted in. "I thought I bought us an extra fortnight?"

"It looks like they're double-checking."

The farmers gathered around, picking up axes, sickles, shovels, and anything else that could kill. The ones working on the moat watched.

"H-h-he's a bandit?!" one of them said. "Let's kill him!"

"Gut him like they planned to do to us!"

A mob formed, chanting for the scout to be executed. One of the farmers charged, but Askeladd redirected him back to the others. The twins donned their sword and shield while Tony began pushing the ones that charged away. Ilias and I stuck close to the scout, trying to protect him. One of the farmers slipped through and was about to strike the bandit, but Mondatta enveloped him in a bubble.

Askeladd snatched Tony's pistol and fired a round into the sky. "Enough of this! We're not butchers!"

"They are!" a farmer cried. "Does a deer not fight back when cornered by a wolf?"

"I'm not saying this man is innocent. But killing him now is a mistake. He has more value if he's alive. We'll question their plans and once his usefulness has worn out, maybe then we'll figure out what to do with him."

We dragged the scout inside the village and tied him to a wooden post. The farmers wanted to watch the interrogation but were ushered back outside the walls. Tony, Roxy, and Roxanne stayed outside to manage them.

Ilias woke up the scout with a mixture of healing jynx and a blast of ice-cold water

"Huh?! What the hell?" the scout asked.

Askeladd stabbed his sword into the ground and used it to support his weight. "I wager you weren't expecting this."

"Where the hell am I?"

"Look around. It should look familiar. I'd recommend ignoring the walls though."

The scout shook himself awake and studied the area. "Don't tell me this is the village."

"Correct. Let me tell you something. In two months, we managed to build walls. If these two kids didn't stop you, you would've seen that we were finishing up the harvest. Once we're done with that, the farmers will start diverging the lake to flood the fields and the moat we dug around this place."

"This is very impressive, captain. May I call you captain?"

"Askeladd. And what do we call you?"

"Call me anything you want. It doesn't matter and you don't care. Just kill me."

"Kill you? The farmers wanted to kill you, but we stopped them. We want you to answer a couple of questions for us."

"And if I don't?"

"Let's just say a lot of pain will be involved."

"I'm a pretty honest man but you'll torture me either way. I'll tell you everything you want, but you won't believe me. I don't want to get hurt, so how will this work?"

"Okay, fine." Ilias summoned Talking Book. "Do you know the contract spell, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap?"

"I've heard of it."

Ilias motioned the book to flip to the correct page and made the scout read it. "You understand the rules to the spell?"

The scout took a moment to read then nodded.

"Here's the deal I'm offering. You answer our questions truthfully and we won't torture you."

"How do I know you won't break this?"

"You read the rules of the contract. If we torture you, our hearts explode. If you lie, your heart explodes. That's our deal."

"Fine."

"Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap," Ilias said, as harmless flames engulfed our hands.

He made us shake the scout's hand.

Askeladd knelt to match the same eye level as the scout. "How many of you are there?"

"Seventy."

"Seventy?" Mondatta questioned. "I thought there were fifty of you."

"We found new members. There were a lot of villagers that didn't have homes after we raided them. They joined us because they didn't want to live a sorrowful life."

"Is your captain's name Montgomery Gucci?" Askeladd showed him the wanted poster. "Is this him?"

"Yeah, that's the big boss."

"You said you've grown to seventy. Does that include the elf and his two friends?"

"Wait, how do you know about them?"

"Who's them? What are their names in full?"

The scout tsked. "Messina Versace, Florence Cavalli, and Vienna Armani. And no, with them we're seventy-three. But they're not with the Eagles. They're their own party."

"We know. Is it true that they only want to attack this village?"

"Yes."

"Why? What was the deal you made with them?"

"It's pretty simple. They help us raid the village and we get to take everything. They get the villagers."

"Why the hell do they want the villagers? Are they slavers or traffickers? What are they?"

"They're definitely neither."

"Why do they want the village then?"

"To be fair, only Messina wants this village. The girls are just helping him out because they're in the same party."

"Okay then, what does Messina want?"

"He hasn't told us anything yet. But he said it's got something to do with his tarot card." The scout grinned creepily. "Justice."

Ilias shot a look at me.

Wait, I have the justice card as well. What kind of justice is he seeking?

"What does he mean by that?" I asked.

"We'll ask that later, Jaime." Askeladd grabbed Ilias' Talking Book and quill. "Now, how many of you can use jynx? And what categories?

"About eleven of us can use basic jynx in the elemental, arcane, and healing variety."

"And how many of you have unique abilities? Alchemy, cursed artifacts, Stands—anything that's highly irregular."

"Four. The captain, Messina, Florence, and Vienna."

"What are their abilities?"

The scout smiled meekly and closed his eyes, resting his head against the post. We waited for a minute or two but got no answer.

"Hey, what are their abilities?"

The scout just smiled at us.

"Son of a bitch, he's cheating us," Mondatta realized. "If he doesn't answer the question, he's technically not lying. And we can't torture him. He's done talking."

Askeladd patted Ilias on the back. "Good work, Kid. But next time, you have to add a rule saying they have to answer our questions."

A farmer who had been watching spoke up. Mondatta instinctively put a bubble on the scout.

"Then in that case, can I kill him?" It was Hinan, the refugee from the other village. "Let me have my justice."

"Hinan, you—"

He pointed at the scout. "I told you all when my people arrived here that my wife and infant son were murdered."

"We do, by a man with two right hands..."

I went around the wooden post to observe the man's hands. His left hand was configured like a right hand.

"Please," he cried. "Every night I see their faces and my heart won't stop weeping. Please, give me this. If I'm going to kill a man, please let it be him."

Mondatta removed the bubble. "Go ahead."

"No," Askeladd said. "We still have uses for him."

"Like what? He won't answer our questions and we can't torture anything out of him. Do you really want to deny this widower his justice?"

The elf knight nodded at Mondatta in understanding, pulling his sword from the ground and handing it to Hinan. "I just had it sharpened, so swing hard and true. You should do it in one swoop."

Hinan grasped the sword, staring at the scout with tears in his eyes.

Justice... Is this really what I was seeking?

I made my way to the armoury. Ilias and Askeladd wondered where I was going so they followed. Mondatta stayed behind.

Just as we left, I heard Hinan speak. "May the gods forgive you, but I won't."

We made our way to the hidden cellar where all of the equipment was stored. I began sorting through the armour.

"What are we here for?"

"Justice," I said. "Messina and I have the same card. Justice is the sword that cuts through a situation and will not be swayed when deciding what is fair and just. I think he and I might be the same in that aspect."

Askellad scratched his head. "What do you mean by that?"

"Which would you say is the most elf-like armour?"

The knight picked a cobweb-covered one in the corner. "This one without a doubt. Its design and craftmanship were made using an elf's hand."

"Messina Versace, huh?" I studied the armour and found the marking I was looking for. "Yeah, just as I thought. He wants justice for a family member these villagers murdered."

Ilias and Askeladd poked their heads closer. "Why, what does it say?"

"The property of Loggins Versace."