Kal’s eyes wearily glazed over page after page of “Lyssian Nobility—A Complete Collection of Esteemed Families and Individuals.”

  Oh my days, this is dreadful. I thought the modern era made us worse, but this somehow manages to one-up TMZ.

  Groaning, Kal turned the gold-trimmed page. On the next was a thin-nosed man with a blonde bald cut. His chin was stuck so high in the air that it looked to threaten the health of his neck.

  They couldn’t get any more pompous if they tried.

  Aldovo Thomastus Michelangelo the Seventh of House Warwick.

  Wait, House Warwick?

  “Hailing from the southern region of Lyssia, House Warwick’s power and influence is based around the Duchy of Morhem, ruled by the house’s patriarch. Not only is Morhem one of the Kingdom of Lyssia’s Three Great Duchies, which united upon the defeat of the great archdemon, forming Lyssia itself and contributing resources to build the new capital of Lorran. But Morhem has long been known for its extensive mineral deposits, and most of the kingdom's biggest copper and iron mines reside in its plentiful Adelle Mountain Range.”

  Okay, so these guys are seriously rich. No wonder that guy was pompously strutting his stuff. More importantly, this Warwick family could be more useful than I had originally imagined.

  Kal leaned back, thinking about his next move. He wasn’t too worried about the demon hunter scouts randomly finding the den. It had been well hidden, and the thick shrub around it forced you to walk in the stream—which should hide any tracks.

  However, wandering the forest while they were out scouting was too risky. He had to respect that they were likely trained scouts, and if one of them suspected him of something, they might decide to follow him.

  I need to find a way to give them something useful. Something that will send them off in the wrong direction.

  The giant toad wasn’t actually a demon, and even if it was blamed for the disturbances, he wasn’t sure if the party of hunters would get paid for its retrieval. Kal didn’t particularly care about the pompous noble, but if he could in-debt a scion of such a wealthy family to him, then that might be worth the extra work.

  Wait, what about the fiend?

  Kal retrieved the marble from his pocket. It was the remnants of the demon’s mana core. The tiny things could be worth a decent amount of coin and, like everything with magical properties, could be fashioned into valuable items. But who would he sell it to in Ebenshire?

  He also didn’t want to draw attention to himself by selling a remnant core. Such things weren’t easy to come by, and people would likely question one in the hands of a child.

  To Kal’s eyes, the core clearly didn’t belong to the toad. However, Daedrik hadn’t even realized Arix was possessed. He knew mages had some ability to detect demonic power, but he was increasingly questioning how sensitive their powers were.

  He only had two people to trick: the pompous Warick scion and the clerical mages at the bounty office.

  If I could find a way to bind this with the toad corpse…

  Resting in his palm, the red marble’s surface vividly morphed—like flames dancing across its smooth surface.

  I just need to distract the scouts somehow and then return to the burrow. Figure out a way to bind this to the corpse that’ll fool the mages. Then, I can get Bougie and Wort to help me move the corpse somewhere so that the hunters will find it.

  Racing through his thoughts, Kal realized he still needed to devise a plan to gain the young noble’s debt. Simply leaving the fake demon corpse somewhere in the forest wasn’t likely to gain him anything on its own—except perhaps ridding Ebenshire of a noble nuisance.

  Maybe I could just pretend to be a distressed child who found something they shouldn’t have… no. Too risky. All it would take is one blabbermouth local to call me something like ‘The Prodigy of Ebenshire’ to raise their suspicions. Being famous sucks.

  The plan also wouldn’t work if someone else told him in Kal’s stead. The entire purpose was for this Egarn fellow to feel indebted to Kal.

  Maybe if I’m careful and catch them alone.

  Kal figured the risk was worth it. Even if the part grew a little suspicious about him, he doubted anything would come of it.

  He had been constantly improving his core and mana-shrouding techniques, so much so that even Andric hadn’t suspected anything. Well, maybe he suspected something. But he was pretty confident he hadn’t known of his demonic core.

  Egarn didn’t seem to be half the mage Andric was. Demon hunter or not, Kal doubted he would be the one to catch him out. Not only that, but if his financial situation was as bad as that Zazie woman suggested, he likely wouldn’t want to wait around Ebenshire drinking bad ales on some half-cocked suspicion.

  If Kal was right, the party of demon hunters would hurry back to the bounty office once they found the demon corpse to collect their reward.

  The only problem was, how would he distract the scouts that were currently headed toward the woods?

  He knew Bougie and Wort would probably be a good match for the task. They were incredibly fast and good at hiding. However, the entire point was to lead the hunters away from his fiendling underlings. Using them was far too risky.

  Incriminate himself wasn’t any better, though. If the scouts suspected

  Well, I can’t just sit around.

  Grabbing his machete, Kal decided to scope the area out. He doubted he would raise any suspicions as long as he remained out of the woods and on the path between them and the town’s outskirts.

  The path winded around the entirety of the woods. It was elevated about a yard or so above a fence that lined the edge of Ebenshire’s outskirts, separating them from the forest.

  From the path, Kal could see over the fencing and into the veggie patches, chicken coops, and shrubbery that filled the yards of Ebenshire homes.

  Chimneys protruded from thatch roofs, lazily puffing white smoke into the sky, and berry bushes wrapped around picket fences, forming impressive walls of thorns dotted by flowers and berries.

  Soon, Kal reached an intersecting road that led down into one of the town’s sleepy streets. Lined by stone fences, a gate rested open where the road joined the path Kal walked along. Beside that gate were two hitched horses.

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  Those colors are the same as the horses in town.

  Glancing around, Kal took a stealthy step toward the horses. They’ve got to be part of Egarn’s party. Sneaking up to the horses and tenderly stroking their manes, he elicited a gentle, happy chuff.

  “Good boy—or girl,” Kal whispered.

  Carefully making his way around to the pouches strapped to their saddles, he unbuckled them and peered in.

  He spotted rolled-up maps, camping gear, ropes, and various other items.

  Yep, these horses definitely belong to the scouts.

  Glancing around again, Kal made sure no nosy eyes were watching.

  I suppose I could…

  Moving back around to the horse hitching, Kal hastily untied them. The horses pulled and on their reigns but remained grazing on some grass that poked through some of the fence palings.

  “Go, get,” Kal hissed, but the horses didn’t seem to care.

  Let’s see what you think of this.

  Kal pointed his palm at the wall where the grass was poking out and summoned a ball of fire.

  “Last chance.”

  One of the horses looked up lazily and then bit off another mouthful of grass.

  “Alright, you forced me,” Kal murmured, shooting the fireball at the fence.

  Neighing, the horses bucked up and reared, shaking their heads.

  My queue to leg it!

  Running between the two spooked horses, Kal charged down the street as they jumped into a gallop, headed for the winding path around the woods.

  Kal glanced over his shoulder to confirm they were still galloping away but didn’t slow his sprint for even a second.

  Dashing around a corner, then down an alley, and across a street, Kal skidded to a panting halt.

  I think that did it. Now, to see if they took the bait.

  Heading the long way home, Kal cut through several streets, walking away and then toward his home.

  Okay, unless someone has followed me the entire way, there’s reasonable reason to suspect I was the culprit.

  Kal entered his home and ran straight up to his room to scan the forest from his window.

  There was no sign of anything. Then again, he hadn’t spotted the scouts when he had been home earlier, either.

  Give it a minute… he tapped his foot against the ground impatiently. Damn it, whatever. I just have to keep an eye out and make sure nobody sees me. Now is likely as good a time as I’ll get.

  Bounding outside, Kal charged through the forest and toward the burrow, stopping every now and then to take a look around, hiding behind a tree to see if anyone followed him, etcetera.

  Before he stepped into the stream, he took one more look around and committed once he was sure nobody had followed.

  Arriving at the burrow entrance, he took care to push the shrubby and roots aside as he climbed inside and made a few tweaks to their concealment before heading deeper.

  “Oh, hey Bossman,” Wort said as Kal stepped into the main chamber.

  The two geckos were sitting around the scorched toad corpse, ripped and its flesh and eating.

  “You’re back. Does that mean we get to leave now?”

  “Shut up, Bougie.”

  “No,” Kal shook. “Not yet. Grab the toad and pull him out.”

  “What? He’s a meal?” Bougie said, turning to the toad where they had gnawed away at the bubbling flesh with a chunk of meat in his hand.

  “Just do it and be quick about it.”

  “I'll show you quick about it.”

  “Shut up, Bougie. Quit whining and get to work. The bossman gave you an order.”

  “Yeah, yeah, I’m getting to it.”

  The two geckos grabbed the corpse and began to heave, slowly dragging it out through the cave.

  “Come on, put you back into it.”

  “He’s bloody heavy. You give it a try,” Bougie whined.

  “Come on, stop complaining. This is important.”

  “Yeah, stop complaining and pull, Bougie. The bossman is proper smart. He’ll have a plan.”

  “You barely know him.”

  “I don’t need to. He’s got an aura. Now, shut up, Bougie.”

  Cheering them on, Kal followed as the geckos gradually pulled the half-eaten toad out of the cave, through the stream, and through the forest undergrowth.

  “Okay, here should be fine,” Kal said once they had moved the corpse suitably far. Sinking his hand into his pocket, he produced the fiery marble.

  “What’s that?” Wort said, inching closer as the marble brightened.

  “It’s what’s left of that fiend your former master tried to eat.”

  “Whaddya gonna do with it?” Bougie asked, craning over Wort as the two shuffled closer.

  “Watch and see,” Kal said, pushing the marble into the dead toad’s chest.

  Instead of meeting a solid surface as Kal pushed the marble-like core against the cooked flesh, it passed straight through as if it were permeable like water. Seconds later, the fiery light it produced disappeared as if it continued to sink into the corpse.

  “What happened?”

  “Wait,” Kal said, placing an open palm on the corpse. For a second, his hand glowed, and he turned to the geckos. “Feel that?”

  “Huh?” Wort narrowed his gaze. “Wait, you said he was a monster, didn’t you?”

  “He was, I swear it. No way I would cock up something like that,” Bougie said.

  “He was a monster,” Kal interjected. “I used that core remnant to change the way it appears. And from the looks of your reactions, it worked.”

  “You did that?” Bougie said.

  “See, he is a worthy bossman. I only ever heard tricks like that being done by real fiends.”

  “Well, I’ll be,” Bougie nodded.

  “I’m not a fiend, remember,” Kal reminded them. “But I might have the magic of one. Anyway, I’ve got to go now. We can talk about this later. Brush your footprints, and make this place look like a battle scene.”

  “How we do that?” Bougie crooked his reptilian head, black eyes flickering.

  “Just make a mess of the place. Look over there,” Kal said, pointing to the broken branches and shifted debris that marked a path in the undergrowth. “It’s beyond obvious the corpse was dragged here. But I doubt you two are capable of hiding your tracks. Instead, just mess the entire place up to match your tracks. If they’re to believe that something killed this demon, they’ll need convincing remains of a fight. Got it?”

  “Yeah, I do,” Wort said, glaring at Bougie.

  “Aye, me too, Bossman.”

  “Good. Once you’re done, go back to the burrow and wait. I’m going to bring the demon hunters here.”

  “Here? Why in the endless planes would you do that?” Bougie barked, his mood changing in a second.

  “To give them what they came here looking for. Don’t worry; as long as you stay in the burrow, you’ll be fine. In fact, you’ll be better than fine. Once they find this corpse, they’ll have no reason to stick around, and you won’t have to worry about them finding you anymore.”

  “Won’t they be curious about what killed this supposed demon?”

  “I imagine they will be.”

  “And?” Bougie probed.

  “The mana this toad corpse is giving off is about what you’d expect from a lesser fiend. That’s not the kind of creature just anything can kill. Remember, there aren’t actually any fiends around here. And there’s no way a fiend strong enough to kill this thing could be hanging about Ebenshire without its demonic mana seeping out. This will lead them to assume one of two things. Either another mage killed it and didn’t bother to take the corpse in for a reward, or some nasty fiend came through here, killed it, and moved on. Either way, the result remains the same. There really isn’t any reason for them to stick around.”

  “Hmm, I’m not so–”

  “Shut up, Bougie,” Wort smacked the other gecko across the back of his head. “Stop trying to think so much with that little pea brain of yours and do what the bossman says.”

  “But wha–”

  *Smack*

  “I don’t want to hear it. Now help me cover our tracks.”

  “Fine, but if this blows up in our faces, I’m gonna make you remember it,” Bougie said as the two began flailing about.

  “Use some magic if you can. Keep it basic. Maybe some scorch marks. Nothing that will be detected from far away.

  “Gotcha, Bossman.”

  Good. Now, just bring the hunters here.