The bustling city air felt different after the stifling tension of the Hunter's Guild. To Cisco, it smelled like opportunity. He walked a half-step behind the enigmatic young man, his mind racing faster than his feet. The spectacle was over, the E-rank badge was, bafflingly secured, and now it was time to reap the rewards for a day of shepherding this walking catastrophe.
But how to bring it up? The "young lord" had a temper that made a dungeon wyrm look docile.
One wrong word about payment, and Cisco could end up like Sebastian's hunters, a broken heap on the cobblestones. He needed a strategy, a way to make the extraction of funds seem like Baelgor's own idea.
Then, it hit him. The perfect, beautiful, extortionate idea. A smirk, oily and self-satisfied, spread across his face. It was so potent that a mother pushing a stroller nearby hurried past, her baby beginning to wail at the mere sight of it.
"My lord," Cisco began, his voice dripping with false camaraderie.
