"Ayoo, Marco! What're you doin' here, man?" with a booming voice, someone approached the therianthrope with a broad smile, pulling him in to dap him up. He seemed to be a ghoul.

  "I'm here with a new friend," Marco pointed at Ryan standing behind him. "He's one of the dreadseekers."

  "Oh? Ya don't say." the man grinned as he leaned back at the bar he was standing in front of. "A little rich boy, ey?"

  Ryan looked at Marco confused. "Dreadseeker?"

  "What, you don't know about that? You know, you guys, the Aglecards. You're the dreadseekers. You seek, you know..." Marco said, generally motioning at himself and the man standing at the bar, "... dreads."

  Finally understanding what Marco was saying, he raised his brows. "Oh, right. I didn't know that's what you called yourselves."

  The ghoul laughed. "Call ourselves? Man, oh man, that's what we're called by others! They ain't even teach you that much?"

  Ryan scratched the back of his head. "Honestly, no? But I've got a unique situation, anyway, so I'm not super filled in on everything yet."

  "Wait, what? I thought you're high up in the family if you've got all that cure shit with you." Marco looked Ryan up and down, already wondering if he maybe made a mistake trusting him with all this. "But for the record, it's more of an... ironic use. It's what folk like us were called in the past in myths and shit, so now we're using it ourselves."

  Ryan nodded and kept that in mind. "So like reclaiming?"

  "Somethin' like that."

  "... So should I not say it?"

  Marco scoffed and shook his head. "It's not a slur, calm down. More of an inside joke, I guess," he explained. "But still be careful with it. Actually, yeah, better not say it at all."

  Ryan nodded, "Got it. So, uh... yeah, anyway, I've got a unique position in the family, let's keep it at that. And that unique position lets me deal with whatever we're here to deal with. Which is...?"

  He looked at Marco, waiting for an explanation that he hadn't been given while they walked here. Of course, Ryan knew that it had something to do with curses, but not any specifics like who those curses affected or what the actual symptoms were. Not that knowing this would change anything, anyway. The only thing that Ryan would try was to see if Tiar reacted to any curse beside 'corruption'.

  If so, then this was something much more versatile that he had to test in the future. If there wasn't a response at all, he could fully focus on the corruption aspect of things.

  "Right." Marco turned to the ghoul. "Your uncle, does he still have that curse?"

  "Sure as hell, he does. Fuckin' hardy, even the dreadseekers that came here before weren't able to do shit. What, you think this guy can?"

  "Maybe. He just cured Mama Garcia," Marco grinned, and the ghoul stared at Ryan.

  "Hold up, what? There's a cure for corruption goin' around?"

  "Why, do you know anyone with corruption?" Ryan asked. He knew that he would be able to do something about those cases for sure, and corruption was one of the few curses that could actually spread. Well, a lot of strands of corruption, at least. Not all of them were as aggressive, just a lot of them.

  "A couple folk, I guess. Not sure if they're up for a visit right now, though. Especially not from a total stranger dreadseeker."

  This time, the ghoul said that last word with a sneer that told Ryan everything he had to know. The Aglecard family had a lot of power, especially amongst people like these two that relied on them a lot. But at the same time, it was clear that they weren't exactly... well-liked. More like a necessary respect that they almost had to have if they wanted to live their lives to the fullest.

  On one hand, that stung a bit to find out, but it also wasn't something all too surprising. It was actually something that he expected. At least, it looked like he was on the right track in trying to learn what the family had to change about the way they did things.

  "In that case, could you talk to them? Just contact me through Marco if you want me to come see them," Ryan said with a smile.

  "Huh? Wait, what? Why am I suddenly your go-between?"

  Quickly ignoring Marco, the ghoul shrugged and turned around. "Yeah, sure, whatever. My uncle should be somewhere around here, hold on," he said, getting ready to leave. Though, he was glancing around for a few moments, and then looked back at Marco. "Just, uh... watch this guy, yeah? Don't want to get into any trouble."

  Marco looked around the bar. It was a relatively big space, and it was plenty busy, though people kept to themselves. But when Marco looked in the corner of the room, his face went pale. Ryan followed his gaze, noticing a group of pretty rough-looking fellows. They, just as most people in this bar, were hidden folk, or 'dreads' as Ryan just found out they refer to themselves in this area.

  A therianthrope, a ghoul, a vampire... and even a gorgon?

  "Now that's a pretty spread-out group," Ryan muttered to himself, and Marco immediately grabbed him by the shoulder and made him turn around.

  "What are you doing? Quiet down, will you? Just... stay here, don't draw attention, and you'll be fine. They might have already heard who you are, but if we're lucky, they won't do anything," Marco pointed out. He was clearly scared, but Ryan was more curious.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  "What, they some kind of gang or something?"

  "Fuck yes, they're 'some kind of gang', they're the 'Sons of Ursa'..."

  "Hm... I'm guessing they don't like the Aglecards, then?"

  "They fucking hate the Aglecards, so seriously, be quiet," Marco whispered, but Ryan just kept looking in their direction. Now, it would be risky to go talk to them, but it might be really worth it. Hearing it from the mouths of people that hated the Aglecards like that would be great. Everyone else was probably too scared or respected the family too much to tell him the complete truth, but from the way they were looking at him right now, without even knowing any complete details, they were absolutely disgusted by Ryan.

  They would definitely tell him what they thought. Sure, they might be a bit biased in the other direction, but it was good to learn those kinds of opinions as well.

  But by how worried Marco seemed, they were probably pretty damn dangerous, too, so he shouldn't risk it. At least not with Marco potentially getting caught in the crossfire.

  So, Ryan turned away from them and back to the bar. But then, the room grew quiet.

  "Maybe... maybe we should get out of here after all... We can come back some other time," Marco swallowed anxiously, and was about to push Ryan back to the door. But soon, they were blocked by that group of four.

  "Hey, Marco! Kiddo, how's it going? Who's your... friend?" asked the biggest of the bunch. The therianthrope. A... bear shifter, by the feel of him.

  Marco nervously laughed, "Oh, Torben! Didn't even see you there, are you... uhm, are you well?" he asked, as Ryan turned around with a bottle of beer that he had just ordered in his hand. "This is Ryan, he's uh... Jade's boyfriend, or something, I was just showing him around."

  One of the guys around Torben, the vampire, sneered. "Jade? She's dating a dreadseeker, seriously?"

  Marco shook his head immediately. "Dreadseeker? Him? Hah, no! He hates the Aglecards, seriously!"

  "And for the record, Jade and I aren't dating yet. I think today was kind of our first date?"

  Surprised, Marco snapped his head toward him, "Wait, seriously? You interrupted your first date with her to come to the rapids? The fuck's wrong with you, man?"

  "Who gives a shit if he's dating her or not?" Torben groaned loudly, taking a step closer to Ryan, towering over him. Therianthropes tended to have physical traits similar to their animal side, and that was often represented in height. This guy looked more like a short giant than anything else. "You hate the dreadseekers? Prove it."

  Ryan sighed a bit, glancing over at Marco. Well, at least this was a good place to get some frustration out.

  "How could I not? They hide people away from the world and decide what's best for them on their own. They elders are all power-hungry old fucks who ruin the lives of those around them with their whims while they sit on a pile of money. You know that one elder? Orion Garling-Aglecard? He's fucking obsessed with the past and forces everyone in his vicinity to act like they live three hundred years ago. And the current head of the family? He's just a fucking asshole that seems like he loves nothing more than keeping secrets, even from me," Ryan began to ramble loudly. "Fuck, he didn't even tell me how my dad really died. I had to learn about the Aglecards like four months ago. That shit still pisses me off. Seriously, the Aglecards fucking suck."

  Marco already buried his face in his hands, but Ryan just rolled his eyes at him. "What, you thought I was going to lie to him about who I am?"

  Torben inched closer, pushing out his chest while his nostrils flared out, "Who the fuck are you?"

  "I'm Ryan Aglecard, Runar's nephew."

  "You're not just a dreadseeker, you're dreadseeker royalty?" Torben spoke through clenched teeth, and even Marco seemed shocked, obviously not having known the details himself.

  "I don't like the word 'royalty', but yeah, I guess. But for the record, I don't love the family, the way we do things is terrible. I would actually love to talk to you guys about that. I want to change the way we do things, and instead have you guys decide on your own how you-"

  Torben stretched out his hand toward Ryan, pushing his hand around his head. The shifter's arm was starting to change, and the points of claws were slowly pushing into the top of Ryan's head. "Marco, what the fuck is wrong with you? Why are you hanging around with a bitch like him?" the gorgon from Torben's group asked, and Marco couldn't help but stutter.

  "L-Listen, man, I didn't know the details myself, I just brought him here because he's got some cure for curses, and I-"

  "Oh, fuck off! Since when have the Aglecards ever given a shit about what happens here?" Torben growled, as his eyes slowly started giving off a slight, red-brownish glow.

  "... You're an Awakened?" Ryan asked, though his voice was muffled through Torben's palm.

  The shifter laughed, squeezing just a bit tighter. It was clear that he wasn't exactly planning to kill Ryan or anything, he was just trying to stop him from moving with that massive paw of his. "What, you scared? You gonna call your big, strong uncle to save you?" he laughed, and the three gathered around him laughed together.

  "Nope." Ryan grabbed onto Torben's wrist and jumped off the ground, immediately pushing his feet up against the shifter's shoulder before twisting his body around. A brief moment later, the man's arm faced the wrong way, as Ryan, who was essentially squatting right now, fully stretched his legs out.

  Torben yelped in pain as, with a loud crack and crunch, his arm popped out of his shoulder. That was a lot easier than Ryan thought, but then again, he was a lot stronger than he was the last time he did something like this. Plus, even here, he could feel the influence of the 'Knight's Martial Knowledge' that made it so he put the exact pressure he needed onto the right spots.

  Ryan caught himself on the ground as Torben inevitably let go of his face. He jumped onto his feet and took off his jacket. It was a bit too restrictive for a fight.

  Smiling broadly, his eyes practically glistening with excitement as Torben held his arm in shock. "What the fuck are you-"

  "What, we're not going to fight? I mean, I just wanted to talk, but if you insist, we can go another route, too," Ryan explained. He cracked his knuckles and smiled broadly. It had been so long that he got into a real rough fight with random people like this that Ryan was maybe getting a little too excited.

  "W-Weren't you a Summoner?" Marco asked from behind him, still not sure he really knew what just happened.

  "Just something like a summoner," Ryan admitted, and grinned while looking at the others around Torben. The eyes of the vampire were also glowing, and a soft light seemed to come out from behind the gorgon's sunglasses too, but the ghoul was taking a step back. "Oh, yes! A one-versus-three, I love these!"

  "What the fuck is wrong with you..?" confused, Marco looked at Ryan's back as the gorgon was about to pull off their sunglasses.

  But Ryan wouldn't let him. A gorgon's 'petrification' wasn't permanent, but it was still dangerous. Especially in a fight. But at the very least, the trigger for that was to look into their eyes, which had a very easy fix.

  Ryan linked with Jester and called the spirit out of his domain and immediately closed his eyes. "Jester, sit back, don't join."

  The spirit, a bit upset, threw their fiddle onto the ground and cross their arms, just sitting down on the bar's counter. Jester couldn't really 'see', and instead perceived the area around him through some kind of magic.

  Though Torben and the others were a bit startled, Ryan just smiled at them. Everyone already ducked out of the way, realising what was going on, and even Torben and the vampire were doing their best not to look at the gorgon.

  "What, you guys worried you won't be able to beat a guy who can't see in a fistfight?"