We were sitting in Escinca’s office. I still kind of hesitated to call it my office at times, but Hamsik didn’t seem to mind that he was discussing such an important matter with me instead of Elder Escinca. Made sense since he was the one who was the first to suggest that I should take the Elder’s place after he passed away.

“Spill,” I said. “Where is he? And how did you find out?”

Hamsik looked away for a second, red eyes darkening. “Zoltan has decided to go to the undercity.”

“Undercity?”

“Yes. The location where the black market and the major criminal syndicates of Zairgon are located. Zoltan has become a lot more desperate than I had assumed. To think the son of a noble would so directly enmesh himself with the thugs there.”

I leaned back. “It’s not normal for the nobles to be involved with criminal syndicates?”

“In an underhanded fashion? Certainly, it wouldn’t be surprising. There are dealings between various Great Houses lords and crime lords. But no familial member of a Great House would ever be caught dead in undercity. Matters are entirely handled through intermediaries and retainers.”

I was starting to see what Hamsik meant about Zoltan’s desperation. If he was willing to abandon his image as the scion of a Great House, then he was essentially abandoning everything that came with being the scion of a Great House.

“Why?” I asked. “Are things that bad at House Kalnislaw? Is he… denouncing his own House entirely?”

“No, not at all.” Hamsik paused, frowning. “Well, I can’t be certain but I assume he isn’t turning his back on his family. Rather, he’s resorting to one of the last remaining means of uplifting House Kalnislaw. You see, the other nobles have essentially frozen Kalnislaw out of their circles. They are alone now. Which means the Council can pounce on them fully.”

Pounce… My eyes widened as I realized what Hamsik meant. “Wait, are they giving House Kalnislaw to the Anymphea?”

Hamsik smiled mirthlessly, flashing a few of his fangs. “Close, but not quite. The Council is buying off a certain chunk of the Kalnislaw lands to grant to the Anymphea. You’re well aware of what the Anymphea want, and to prevent friction between the Council and Ring Two, the other Great Houses have collectively decided to screw over House Kalnislaw.”

“What does Zoltan think he can do by going to the undercity?”

Hamsik shrugged. “I’m not certain. Probably secure some sort of financial help, no doubt. I’m worried it’s something even more nefarious, however.” He leaned forward, voice and expression growing more resolute. “And if it is, we need to stop him before he worsens things even further.”

I considered the matter. Zoltan Kalnislaw was desperate to save his House and his family. That wasn’t a bad motivation. But if that motivation was twisting him to look at avenues that would make things objectively worse, then Hamsik was right. He needed to be stopped.

“What about your parents?” I asked. “Are they worried?” That was a stupid question. Of course they were worried. “Did they ask you to find Zoltan?”

“They are worried that he’s missing, but I haven’t told them about my discovery yet.”

“Because you’re afraid of what they’ll do?”

“I don’t know what they’ll do,” he said softly.

But before that became a necessity, we could take care of it. Or, that was Hamsik’s plan at least.

“I know someone who’s familiar with the undercity,” I said. “Give me some time and I’ll get a hold of him. Then we can figure out what to do. Do you have any specific intel on where he is in the undercity or who he might be associated with?”

Hamsik slowly shook his head. “He was just spotted there. I don’t even know if he’s staying there permanently.”

“Spotted… by who?”

Hamsik was evasive once again. He looked away for a long moment before finally returning to watch me with a curious eye, like he was gauging my reaction. “That’s not important. What is important is that we know where Zoltan is or is most likely to be. That is enough.”

Fine. He could keep his little secrets. Probably had to do with where he hung around all the time because he sure didn’t spend much time at the cult.

“Alright, I’ll let you know as soon as I find something,” I said. “Will you be at the temple for the day?”

Hamsik looked a little uncomfortable at that, almost like he had a meeting afterwards that he couldn’t talk about.

I sighed. “You don’t have to force yourself to stay here. I know you’ll be here when we really need you, Hamsik.”

“I just don’t want things to become…” Hamsik’s words faded and then he shook his head, his eyes taking on a familiar disdainful look, but the slight smirk accompanying it was a gentle reminder that it was in jest. “You think you can be patronizing to me now that you’re the leader, is it?”

I smiled. “There’s the Hamsik we know and, well, not love, but at least we’re sure you’ll pop up out of nowhere and shoot the right people.”

Hamsik bared his fangs, then actually laughed for a second. I couldn’t recall if I had ever heard him laugh before and I had a feeling I was going to remember that.

We chatted for a bit longer after that, but before he could actually leave, Sreketh burst into my room.

“Ross!” she said. “Ross!” Then she paused, noticing she wasn’t the only one in the office with me. “Oh, Hamsik! Didn’t see you there. Hello.”

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Hamsik helloed back.

“What’s going on Sreketh?” I asked. “Is everything okay?”

“Well, no. I just saw one of the nobles’ carriages coming in and started rushing to—”

She didn’t even get to finish her sentence. I heard a strange, faint rumbling that was vaguely familiar, and I only had to look out the balcony to see the source. Said self-driving carriage that Sreketh had mentioned was coming to a stop right next to the temple.

“It’s him,” Hamsik said. All signs of his earlier mirth was now gone. “Brasvay

.”

We went down to meet the nobleman from the Great House in short order. I shouldn’t have discounted them. Sure, their initial interest in purchasing the cult’s lands by hook or by crook had cooled thanks to the Scarthrall infestation. But now that the Thralls were dealt with, they had returned. I had already heard of Drihawk’s renewed interest in the Earth Cult.

It was no surprise that Brasvay had resumed his goals regarding the Sun Cult’s lands too. I was just stupid to not have prepared for it.

The young lord emerged from his carriage and stepped foot almost daintily on the temple grounds, looking around with a beatific smile. His horns, adorned with diamond-crusted rings, were polished to a mirrorlike sheen.

What I really noted was that his entrance had drawn a good amount of attention. It wasn’t just me and the other cultists present. Several Ring Four residents from around the neighbourhood had been drawn to the spot too. Something told me Brasvay had done it on purpose.

“Greetings,” he said loudly, looking around until he caught my eye. Did he know that I was the leader? “It has been a while since I visited Ring Four. Looks like a great deal has changed since the last time I was here.”

“What do you want, Brasvay?” Hamsik asked testily.

He hadn’t been that outright aggressive against Brasvay the day I had seen him and Elder Escinca speak with the young lord. Maybe Escinca had held him back then. I certainly had no such qualms.

“Straight to business, is it?” Brasvay asked. His sharp eyes squinted a bit, his deep blue skin flushing to a shade of navy. “Don’t you have better things to do, half-vampire? Like a missing brother or a failing family? Or perhaps you don’t really care? I suppose bastards can’t be expected to sacrifice their entire lives for their families, can they?”

Hamsik’s face twisted, but I spoke first.

“If you’re here only to insult,” I said. “Then I’m going to ask you to leave and use the Pipe Missives instead so you don’t waste our time with stupid shit.”

“Aggression from all around, I see. Very well, then. You should be aware that you’re the one who started this on the wrong foot.”

He wasn’t just saying that as a threatening promise. His sharp little eyes flickered to either side, noting the other people present. Right. Hamsik and I weren’t exactly comporting ourselves in the most positive of lights.

“And?” I asked.

Brasvay sighed, his expensive suit tails ruffling a little. “And I am here to personally offer you a fair price for your land. This should come as no surprise to you, after all. It has been in the works for quite some time, and though we gave you grace to deal with your little problem, it is now time we get back to business.”

He was pissing me off. Little problem. Like the deaths and the terror and the way so many people on Ring Four had been misled and harmed by one, greedy, selfish man was all just a little problem.

“The answer is the same as always,” Hamsik said in a clipped tone. “The temple is not for sale.”

“No? Are you sure?”

He held out his hand, and the horns curling around his wrist glowed with a soft light. Strands of soft green mana came out and compressed into thin strings, which slithered into the self-driving carriage before returning with several jingling bags.

“You will be offered excellent recompense for the temple,” Brasvay said. “Enough money to tide you and your little cult over and

…” His eyes once again flickered around to everyone watching the scene unfold, and he lifted up the jingling bags higher. “And enough for you to spend more on your mission than you already have been doing.”

“Like you know what our mission is supposed to be,” Sreketh muttered.

Apparently, despite the words being barely audible, Brasvay still heard them. “Oh, I think we all know how you struggle to remain relevant, so instead of your fickle gods who will never answer you, you attach yourselves to the people around you in some sort of misguided, ineffectual sense of community. But really, all you’re doing is leeching off of others.”

The people spectating had been silent so far, and after the bags of money had been brought out, several of them had been awed. I had started fearing that rejecting that sort of cash would end up making us look selfish in the people’s eyes.

But then Brasvay had pushed things a bit too far.

“Take back those words,” someone shouted. “The Sun Cult has done more for Ring Four than you lot could ever dream of doing.”

“They gave me a home!” someone else said.

“Protected us from those Pits-screwing vampires!”

“I’ve known Old Escinca since I was a wee lad, and he was a pillar for ages.”

More and more words of support barged in, buoying up my heart. We had support. The people here cherished us and that wasn’t going to change, no matter how much money was dangled in front of them.

“If they were so helpful and great,” Brasvay said. “Then they would recognize the value of this money that I’m offering for just this dilapidated temple of theirs.” He raised his voice to talk over the people trying to talk over him. “Money that they could use to even further enrich Ring Four!”

The voices from the others quieted down at that, though there were still a lot of grumbles, of course. No one could deny that we were being offered a hefty sum.

“Again, I’m not forcing anything upon you,” Brasvay said. “I’m trying to offer you what I think is fair. The Council will change their stance on making the cult lands available for purchase. When they do, you will need to accept this offer. The cults might have helped you, but they have failed in their mission to find their missing gods. We need to make real progress on that front!”

I wondered how true that was, but it wasn’t important. While most were hanging on the Rakshasa noble’s words, several people were looking at me, waiting for an answer.

“The temple is not for sale,” I said. “Regardless of how much money you offer us. The temple represents a great deal that no amount of money would ever be able to replicate or recompense. It’s a home, a beacon, a place people can look at from all over Ring Four and use as a guide. It’s everything we ever hoped it would be. It’s a part of Ring Four, a part of us.”

Everybody else agreed with raucous cheers and aggressive roars.

Brasvay just tutted and shook his head at first. “Are you sure you won’t reconsider?” he asked, waving the jingling heavy bags around some more. He dangled the money at people who had been eyeing the bags all along. “Really? Are you going to give up all that you could benefit from just because of sentimentality? Are you going to give up on security, on the safety of your very lives?”

I didn’t like just how much of a threat that sounded like. “Careful, Brasvay. You’re not on a turf where you can make threats and get away with it.”

“Threat? I don’t need to make threats. I’m telling the truth.” He scoffed. “You think you and your ragtag little cult are prepared enough for the Blight Swarm?”

A slow wave of murmuring rumbled through the gathering. I was finding it difficult to not scowl. Stupid, fucking Brasvay.

I didn’t know how much everyone else knew what the Blight Swarm was. But beside me, Hamsik had frozen. Sreketh was frowning too. Worse than all that, some of the murmurs around us had started to sound very alarmed. Frightened. Like they knew a Blight Swarm was a pretty big deal. A pretty bad deal.

I really wanted to curse. Brasvay had come here with a plan, one that was focused entirely on uprooting the Sun Cult off the pedestal people had placed us on.

And now, with all the information he had on the Blight Swarm—no doubt his connections as a noble had granted him a lot of intel—he was on his way to success.

And then he twisted the knife.

Brasvay grinned. “You haven’t told them, have you?” His eyes were focused entirely on me. “I don’t blame you. A measly cult like yours could never deal with a threat of this magnitude. Still, you hid something this big.” His malicious eyes locked onto mine. “You lied.”