^Huh...^

^Hmm? What's up?^

^Is it just me, or does this place feel different?^

^What?^

Deep in the [Hellfire Mountainrange], a wagon belonging to a group known as the Lovely Marionette Society was making their way to the [Mines of Malevolence].

This wagon, like every wagon headed in this direction, was positively loaded with slaves sourced from a variety of backgrounds and in various states of health and unhealth.

The Lovely Marionette Society, despite their innocuous-sounding name, was an underworld society dedicated to the creation of the most "beautiful" aether puppets.

While every member's overarching definition of beauty varied from person to person, they could at least all agree that a key part of it was an aesthetically pleasing face.

Whether this face was made by their own hands or sourced from others was a point of contention among members but wasn't actively discouraged.

Regardless, as puppet makers, the Lovely Marionette Society made it a point to acquire whatever material they needed or wanted, regardless of the source or price.

As such, the [Mines of Malevolence] was one of their favorite places to go to, not only dispose of political rivals in a clandestine manner, but also acquire materials that were absolutely perfect for making powerful aether puppet parts.

[Malevolent Gold] was known to channel cursed energy with near one hundred percent efficiency, which was an absolute necessity for aether puppets that were meant to inflict curses.

Not only that, but the cursed soil in general helped to produce hardy aether plants that were perfect for beginners to make wooden cursed puppets. At least, that was normally the case.

Whenever the Lovely Marionette Society sent people here, they would always comment that the air and earth in this place would feel cursed and heavy.

But now, for reasons neither of them understood why or how, the cursed atmosphere of the area felt…lighter.

Like someone had just removed a big chunk of the accursed land's power.

^I ran this route before, and the air here would normally feel like an elephant pressing its foot down your shoulder,^ one of the warriors driving the wagon explained to the other. ^But now it only feels like...as if a large bull is doing it instead.^

^So...it still feels oppressive, but not as oppressive as it should be feeling?^

^Basically, yeah.^

^Hmm.^

Analyzing the energetic composition of their location was outside of their purview, so the two warriors from the Lovely Marionette Society decided to eventually file away the strangeness in the back of their mind until they could share this information with someone who was a touch more qualified to do so.

They still had a whole wagon full of slaves to sell off, after all.

Thankfully, that didn't take too long.

About a half mile of additional traveling later, the wagon arrived to the [Mines of Malevolence] and felt reassured that things were working as usual.

At least, it appeared things were working as usual.

Every time they would arrive, they would notice that the surface portion of the mines would be noticeably bereft of people, save for the strange and monstrous warriors that would be guarding the place.

This time around, arriving to the mines, they noticed that the warriors guarding the place at the time appeared to be a strange-looking horse-mah with a steely demeanor and even steelier body armor, one that appeared to be wearing a hooded set of clothes, and another that was wearing the strongest combination for leather clothes and armor that they had ever seen.

In other words, it was the same old same old.

Reassured at the presence of these strange monster warriors, the wagon from the LMS, rode inew with confidence.

Little did the drivers of this wagon know, though, was that they were going to be the first domino in a very long, very weird chain of events.

Taking the lead in this conversation, the steely horse-man warrior stepped towards the wagon drivers.

[Are you the wagon coming in from Rainbowden, today?]

^Yes, we are.^

The steely horse kaijin let out a heavy snort before walking around the back and taking a closer look at the cage full of slaves that were there.

The slaves in the cage instantly recoiled at the sight of the horse-man's piercing gaze.

[Hmm. Usual amount, usual payment,] the steely horse-man growled as he walked back to the front of the wagon.

^Indeed, indeed.^

[But how would you two like to make a little extra?]

^Huh?^

As the steely horse-man made his offer known to the warriors from the Lovely Marionette Society known, the other two horse-like kaijin went to work unloading the slaves and escorting them deeper into the mines. At the exact same time, some animalistic zakos went to work and deposited ingots of cursed metals into the back of the wagon.

[A few days back, some refugees from some sect getting wiped out nowhere begged for us to take them to Rainbowden. We don't got the capacity or willingness to take them to city,] the horse-man Kaijin explained. [Would you mind taking them? Forming a caravan, if you will.]

The two warriors from Lovely Marionette Society looked at each other for a couple of moments, sharing with each other a series of subtle clues and gestures that only they could understand.

Eventually, they stopped signing at each other and o presented their position on the matter in a united manner.

^Alright, first off, how much extra extra gold are you giving to us exactly. A crate? A barrel?^

Snapping his fingers, a pair of zakos appeared from out nowhere and dropped off a literal treasure chest to the area between.

Once the chest was placed, the horse-man gave it a light kick to open it and reveal to the warriors that these pieces of [Malevolent Gold] were a bit... different.

They were perfectly spherical.

[The boss has been improving his refining techniques to point that he managed to make these refined droplets of gold,] the horse-man explained. [Their effectiveness should exceed that of regular ingots.]

^Holy...^

Now that they understood what was to be gained, the warriors from Rainbowden were now more than willing to play escort.

They just needed one more bit of information before deciding to do so.

^Okay, the compensation is great...who are we caravaning with?^

Once he heard that they were willing to cooperate, the horse-man Kaijin looked over his shoulder to make sure the timing was correct.

[Her.]

From the main cavern, a small group of young men and women exited together in a coordinated manner.

A manner that the two wagon drivers immediately recognized as being the practice of nobility.

Quickly scanning the group, they could recognize that their clothes were rugged and rough, the type meant for travelling while hiding one's identity at the same time.

At the very center of this group, there was one young woman who appeared a bit more regal than the rest.

^Are these the ones who will be escorting us to Rainbowden?^ the woman at the center of this group asked, a clearly royal accent tinging her voice.

[They are.]

^Hmmm.^

The young woman looked over the duo with that critical eye that only nobles could properly wield, and the duo in turn felt as if even their breathing was being reviewed.

They weren't used to such treatment before, but they couldn't help but cow before it.

^Hmmm. They'll do.^

That simple word of affirmation was all they needed to hear to let out massive sighs of relief.

Which was...very odd for them.

They weren't used to working with nobles after all.

^I shall get my wagon ready, please, give my regards to the master of the mines.^

[We shall.]

And with that statement made, the entourage disappeared back into the mines to get ready to leave.

But before they did, one of the wagon drivers finally worked up the nerve to ask something pertinent.

^Hey, wait! Who are your exactly?!^

In response to this question, the young woman paused for a moment before looking back and answering with a very elegant refusal.

^Don't ask too many questions, dear warrior. Such curiosity tends to kill cats and cads alike.^

And with that, the entourage disappeared from view.

...Meanwhile, on a mental level...

[Holy shit, that actually worked,] Rail Horn commented. [Just...wow.]

[I never doubted the chief for a second,] Pegasoar added. [I had doubts in Depth Strider keeping a straight face when acting, though.]

[Piss off.]

[And this is why we don't doubt the Maestro when it comes to the art of bullshit,] Hurricroak added. [We've done this before and we can do it again.]

'I can't take all the credit for this,' Zhen Liu humbly added. 'It was Jinju Ren's idea to play up the list noble aspect. I'm just surprised that neither of them recognized who she was.'

[To be fair, milord, the dragon rulers of the world have tendency to make many offspring. I wouldn't be surprised if there were at least a few bastards out there,] Nepherage pointed out.

'...fair enough.'