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“They are both bound by a contract with the Order and have absolute confidentiality,” she answered assuredly as she finally addressed what was happening. “Can you explain the situation?”

“You know what?” Jake said with a rather sinister smile as he motioned toward Nella. “I think we will have her explain it. Nella, would you be so kind as to explain what is happening here?”

Nella simply sat frozen as she stared for a few more seconds, not even recognizing Jake had spoken to her. She finally seemed to collect her senses somewhat as she stared at Jake. “You are the Chosen of the Malefic Viper?”

“Now who is the daft one?” Jake asked jokingly as he quickly turned to Viridia. “Oh yeah, that is one of the reasons why this entire situation is as it is. She called me dumb, and I am pretty sure she also called the Malefic Viper a moron at some point?”

“I… you misunderstood, I-“ Nella tried to explain but quickly shut up after getting a stare from Viridia.

“To summarize, she offended the Chosen and potentially the Malefic One?” Viridia asked.

“When you say it like that, it sounds bad, but yes, that Is exactly what she did. The one I killed didn’t really say anything but was just her silent cheerleader,” Jake answered casually. He had to admit, he was probably enjoying this way more than he should, and it was only helped by Meira looking completely fine with everything that was going down. Happy, even.

Viridia simply nodded and asked. “What are your plans with the two remaining visitors?”

“Leave the elf alone; I knocked her out to avoid her seeing any of this. As for our dear scalekin, I shall figure that out promptly, as you quite honestly arrived far faster than I had anticipated. So if you would do me the favor of waiting outside until we are done, it would be great. Afterward, I may need a bit of a clean-up crew,” Jake explained to them.

“As you wish,” Viridia bowed as she and the two enforcers simply teleported into the garden in front of the mansion. This left Nella, Jake, Meira and an unconscious Izil left alive in the hallway. One could ask if it was necessary to call Viridia there, but he decided to do so to make it absolutely clear how much Nella had fucked up. It was pure vanity and, honestly, just the fastest way to convince her he was actually the Chosen.

Nella looked up at Jake and did exactly what he expected her to: beg.

“I… I didn’t know,” Nella said as she fell to the ground and pressed her forehead against the floor. “I beg for your forgiveness and will do anything! Please, my family can compensate you handsomely and… I… I can even become your slave!”

Jake just sighed. “You still don’t get it, do you? I don’t give a shit about you. Never did. The one you need forgiveness from is not me but Meira. She is the one in control here.”

Nella’s eyes darted to Meira instantly, and groveled at her feet. “Meira, I am sorry; I would have never done those things if I knew! I beg you, please, I will do anything you want.”

Meira looked at Jake with misty eyes as he asked her: “So, Meira, what do you want to do? These are your enemies, not mine. True, I did take the initiative with the half-ogre and got my own personal frustrations out, but this one is all yours.”

“Won’t… won’t it expose you as the Chosen if she goes free?” Meira asked with concern.

“Maybe. But I already told you that no matter what, I will respect your choice… though, no, I will not have her become a slave,” Jake answered.

“She doesn’t deserve to be either,” Meira muttered as she looked deep in thought before finally asking him. “Lord Thayne, why are you being nice to me?”

Jake was taken aback by the question. His usual response would just be not to bother with her. If he had just wanted her to be a member of the Order and get out of his hair, he wouldn’t do what he was doing with Nella either. While he certainly had felt a considerable amount of responsibility for her as she had been dumped on him by the Viper, he didn’t act solely out of duty. He considered Meira a friend, even if he did know that was entirely one-sided as she viewed him as her superior in every way. So… the real reason was probably as simple as they came: he didn’t really have one. He just wanted to.

“Because I decided to be,” Jake answered with a smile. “You don’t need some profound reason for every decision. Sometimes you just go with your gut and see where that leads you.”

Meira nodded as she looked down at Nella before looking back at Jake. She finally gritted her teeth as she stammered out. “I… I suffered a lot before I came to serve Lord Thayne. But after coming here, I have been treated so well, and I even did things for myself. I then met Izil, Nella, and Utmal, and I thought I had finally even gotten friends… but they were just using me. That hurt more than even the poison resistance training… and when I was being tortured back then, I hoped every day that my torturer would just drop dead.”

Nella opened her eyes wide as she continued begging. “I never did anything that bad to you! I just did what everyone would do, and it was never personal or done to hurt you! Please believe me, if I had known, I would have never-“

“You would have never even spoken to me if you knew I was a slave…” Meira said sadly. “I didn’t think I had to hide it, but after you and Utmal found out, you treated me worse than before… why did you need to be cruel? If you had actually been a friend, I would have helped anyway.”

“We can start over! I will never disrespect you again, no matter what!” Nella said, grasping for straws. “Please!”

Meira just sighed sadly as she looked at Jake. “I have never killed anyone,” she said in her usual meek tone.

Jake didn’t answer but just acknowledged with a nod. It made sense she had only ever killed mindless beasts, if even that, considering her healer class.

“I am not sure I want to either…” she muttered as she seemed to finally have made up her mind. “I think we should hand her over to the enforcers and the Hall Master and have them decide on a punishment.”

Jake failed to hold back a small smirk. They all knew what that meant.

“Please! Meira, don’t do this. Didn’t you say you considered me a friend? Can you really do this to your friends, I-“

She didn’t get to say more as a robed figure appeared within the hallway and instantly knocked her out, with Viridia and the other enforcer appearing a moment later. Jake had naturally let them know that Meira had decided and conveyed her choice.

“Are you sure you want to leave the last elf be? We will be able to cover this incident up rather easily if all loose ends are removed,” Viridia said as she motioned toward Izil.

Jake looked at Meira even if he knew the answer, and she vehemently shook her head as expected.

“Nope, leave her be. It may lead to complications down the line, but it is what it is,” Jake answered her.

“Very well. How do you want these two to have died? With honor or disgraced? We can even make it a scenario leading to severe punishment of their ancestors and families if you so desire,” Viridia asked.

Meira looked incredibly uncomfortable at the mention of going after their families, and Jake also thought that was overdoing it.

“Meira, you are still in the arena of decision-making here,” Jake informed her.

“I don’t want their families to suffer because of what they did… they already lost someone, and that is enough…” Meira said in a rather weak voice.

Jake nodded. “Have them die with a modicum of honor. I will leave it up to you how to handle it.”

“Very well. I intercepted the scalekin trying to send a message out of this residence with her token earlier, and I will use that to make up a story by sending messages to relevant parties. How about them bringing back a valuable item to the Order but dying in the process? That way, we will offer slight compensation to their families on account of their deeds. I doubt they will ever raise a ruckus with this approach, and if they do, well, I shall also handle that,” Viridia offered.

Meira nodded after Jake threw a questioning glance at her. Also, he really wanted to ask about her intercepting messages sent from the token and apparently being able to doctor messages too. Jake had not heard anything about that being a thing, as all official information indicated it was an absolutely safe form of communication within the Order. Turned out that was a fucking lie.

“That will be fine, and once more, thanks for your help. Just to let you know, I don’t plan on making this a habit,” Jake said a bit jokingly.

“I would not complain if you did,” Viridia smiled as she bowed.

After a few more pleasantries and thanks from Meira to Viridia, the Hall Master and two enforcers left, bringing along the unconscious Nella and the corpse of Utmal. They even made all traces of them having ever been there disappear - corpse and all.

That just left the minor problem called Izil. Now, Jake had absolutely no plan on how to hide his identity from her. Not because he didn’t want to hide it, but because he had made a spontaneous decision to knock her out to at least give himself a chance. He considered what kind of story they could spin but came up short.

If he said he killed them and had his backer cover it up, she would instantly know that was either a lie or his backer had to be really far up in the hierarchy within the Order. It would almost have to be a god and considering his Blessing, he could see her figure it out. Gods did not back someone blessed by other gods, which is why the basic assumption had always been that Jake had a mortal backer, as any god would have to be the Viper, and that surely couldn’t be a thing.

“How long will she be unconscious?” Meira asked with a hint of worry.

“Eh… not long? Hopefully. The poison isn’t harmful by itself but is good at knocking people out and making them calm as can be. It shouldn’t take more than an hour or two, I reckon,” Jake said with a smile and a relatively high level of confidence.

Something that would later turn out to be a mistake.

Irinixis sat and stared into thin air while waiting to be called into the chamber. Her time since returning from the dungeon and figuring out Lord Thayne was the Chosen of the Malefic Viper had been anything but calm, and she had been flung into a whirlwind of bureaucracy and intrigue.

For the top brass to involve themselves in the dealings of a D-grade or even C-grade was incredibly rare, if not downright unheard of. So when an order came down from the Hall Master’s office to report anything related to Draskil and his group directly to them, it raised quite the fuss. When it became clear that Irin had been part of the dungeon group with him, the fuss turned to her as she was swarmed by colleagues and superiors, eventually leading to her being called by the leader of the Humanoid Resources Department. The mortal leader, that is, as one of the Witches of the Verdant Lagoon now sat at the very top.

Irin understood why a god would not get involved as that would make it clear that someone in the group was well and truly out of the ordinary. As it was, then one could at least find explanations for why the Hall Master wanted the report directly. With the Order undergoing a renaissance after the Malefic One returned, a lot of things were done differently than before.

Nevertheless, she was nervous about what her superior would ask her. Would she try to probe and figure out details about Draskil? The Malefic Dragonkin was at least an excellent red herring, and with the Hall Master actively helping by specifying interest was on him and not Lord Thayne, she hoped the Mistress wouldn’t ask too much about him. While Irin had plenty of confidence in herself, she didn’t at all believe she could resist the probings of the Velvet Mistress. She was an S-grade succubus, and Irin had heard she was approaching the demi-god tier. For someone like her, Irin was like an open book.

“Irinixis, please enter,” she suddenly heard a voice as she was thrown out of her thoughts. She hadn’t even noticed the attendant approaching her.

“Thank you,” Irin bowed to the attendant as she got up and walked through the gate in front of her. She appeared within a mostly red room with silk-like cloth hanging from the ceiling so far above she couldn’t even see it. The room was filled with a thin red mist as Irin saw a woman lying across a bed on a slightly raised platform.

“Irinixis, my child, I am so glad you had time to come visit me,” the Velvet Mistress spoke as she sat up on her bed and tapped the spot right next to her. “Come over here and join me.”

Irin was incredibly nervous but didn’t dare argue as she went over. When she got closer, she finally properly saw the Velvet Mistress. She was a succubus like her, but Irin did not dare compare herself to the woman in front of her. One could only describe her as a personification of beauty, and even Irin found her face reddening as she approached.

The Velvet Mistress was a famous figure and was known to have many lovers from all sorts of places. There were even gods on her list of usuals, and her personal network of information could rival that of some factions. Yet she had chosen to be the leader of the Humanoid Resources department of the Order of the Malefic Viper because apparently “the one who got away” was part of the Order. It had long been a topic of discussion among the demons who this mysterious man could be, but none had figured it out quite yet, and the Velvet Mistress certainly wasn’t sharing.

Irin, who had found herself lost in thought again, finally found herself in front of the Velvet Mistress. The Mistress took her hand and made her sit on the bed beside her as she smiled. “I am sure you have many questions as to why I asked you to come. Contrary to what you may believe, I am not going to question or interrogate you. Things are changing within the Order, and everything is telling me you are finding yourself rather close to the epicenter of this change. While I cannot be sure, I feel confident enough to bet on it.”

“What does the Mistress need of me?” Irin asked, unsure and a little bit uncomfortable being too close to the woman. She felt her face heat up as the Velvet Mistress smiled again and leaned closer.

“I want you,” she said in a teasing tone before giving Irin some space as she stood up, leaving the young demon beet-red in the face.

“I am serious. If you are truly close to the epicenter of this, you will need to be up to the task. We cannot lose out simply because we miss our chance, now can we? So I have an offer for you, my dear. I haven’t had a disciple in a few thousand years, but what do you say?” the Velvet Mistress asked in a tempting tone.

Irin didn’t even need to consider it before nodding, as she was in a state halfway between shock and elation. Within only a few days, she had gone from just being just another random employee of the Humanoid Resources Department to sitting in the room of the Velvet Mistress being offered to become a disciple.

All because she had been randomly assigned to a certain group from the ninety-third universe. One that happened to include a certain extraordinary human that had become the impetus of change for the Order of the Malefic Viper by making their Patron return to the world.