If there was any lord above I''d shake his hand right now. Sure, I''m a brilliant man myself and I like to take credit for my own successes, but if anybody asks about how I made it to this part of my plan I''d be hard-pressed to avoid admitting that there was absolutely divine intervention. Who would''ve thought that the guards would just drop the investigation on the Prymdor sewer system after a couple of days because of a few rat bites? It seemed too good to be true.


    I didn''t doubt that Kingfall could be a part of this. Whoever was pulling their strings didn''t want any interruptions, but the fact that I haven''t gotten my rat bite equivalent means they don''t know about me yet. The day had come when I''d make my way into the sewers I''d have to find comfort in for the next day. The hours with sunlight were wasted running over the plan for how exactly I''d ambush them. I hadn''t had a second encounter or heard any new news about them or their plans over the course of the last two weeks so I still hadn''t a clue about who would have the weapon on them. "The middle one" meant nothing when I was pretty sure that nobody in their right mind would stick with a specific organization of how they stand. Well, they might not be in their right mind. Regardless, it was safer to sit and watch. Even if I was ninety-nine percent sure that I knew who I needed to snatch the weapon from, that one percent could be the difference between dying and living. It wasn''t a risk I even needed to take unless I was as crazy as the lunatics I was debasing. Chief Rayner was particularly generous that day, she had cooked up quite the meal for me and the gal. I wasted no time devouring my portion, I would need as much food as I could get. Sure, I could survive without food for a good month if I needed to, but I wanted to be as close to a perfect state as I could if I would be waiting there for a full day, I hadn''t gotten the chance to work with my ability. Couldn''t just show up to the local market brawl, who knows what the Chief would''ve done to me? Anyway, the point is I scarfed down any food that I could without annoying Chief Rayner too much, but I didn''t escape her questions about why I was loading up.


    The time that wasn''t spent eating was used to think out the fantasies of my success. I had spent the last two weeks driving myself to insanity imagining all the ways in which I could fail, I think I owed it to myself to daydream just a little before this hellish sewer interaction actually happened. The sun set and I ran out of the house to find a good view. The red glare of dusk peeked over the Prymdor walls, and the rest of that fading sunlight was shut out when the gates were closed. The rings of the sun that prevented me from getting the key to my illustrious future of fame and renown finally ran away under the tip of the walls, and I knew it was time to find my way to the sewers. I had settled on making my way over there right after the sun had set, if even one of them was punctual and it was true that they were meeting directly at midnight then I had to compensate for that. I couldn''t be caught by one of the trio just waltzing in, the entire plan would fall to pieces.


    I ran faster than I ever had before, I rushed straight past the royal pathway. They didn''t allow carriages in or out at night so I wouldn''t run the risk of crashing into another snob. It only took me another few to get over to the Ladle. The guards had left it for scraps after their examination that was cut short a week back, and the nightlife didn''t take long to get back to it, and get it up and running. From what I heard, the guards dealt with all the rats while they were down there, that''s how whatever disease they were spreading got around the whole of them so quickly. I''d have to hope that there were no rats left, but I didn''t have any skin exposed, too cold for that these days. The rug that attempted to hide whatever was left of the trapdoor was long gone, so I just made my way down the stairs to the heavy metal door. I didn''t even have the time to give them the password, they had just opened the door. Maybe they were less wary after the infection had spread around the capital, they probably thought nobody who wanted to stop whatever operations they had going on would risk getting infected. Hell, if the entire capital wasn''t at risk from another thing I wouldn''t be coming down here at all, so I can''t blame them for loosening up.


    Drenadora, huh? The day that we chose to devote to the legend of the first king of Melantia. I never believed that he stopped a dragon with a pinky finger, but if the first king was anything like the one that we had now I wouldn''t have any reason to doubt his strength. Hell, rumors that he was some sort of reincarnation of Faerlorn may as well have secured his spot on the throne. That, and the public displays of violence against those anarchists. They had some sort of cruddy organization name too, something like "The Resetters."You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    Stupid, right? They named themselves that and nobody knew why. Whenever they would riot in the streets they''d always rant about how they were saving the world from some horrible future. I wonder if they ever considered that burning down cities doesn''t save anything. They would always scream at the current king about how he would cause this world to disappear one day, but his consistent victories against them eased the public out of suspicion. Well, anyone would be suspicious if some guy just came in and started running an entire country after the previous monarch had been assassinated. I wonder if he ever considered himself lucky for how this whole ordeal turned out for him. Rumors alone would''ve gotten him far, but there were nay-sayers up until the Cardinal of Volden stepped in and supported his rise to power. If he hadn''t been attacked repeatedly by people who were villains in the public eye, maybe the Cardinal wouldn''t have interfered. I wonder what the nation would look like now if it had to go on without a monarch for any longer. Those anarchists would''ve gotten their little experiment in Melantia, the guards during that time were largely unorganized and split into their own factions. Eventually, "A Party Without A Name" stepped in and kept all of the main cities under control single-handedly while the current king put out fires all across the royal cabinet.


    Anyway, quite the day for them to choose to meet. Maybe they didn''t have a good sense of time but hadn''t they ever heard of a calendar? We were in the middle of Pluto, they couldn''t have left that on the slip instead? Well, it didn''t matter now, I had found my way back to the room at the intersection under the royal pathway. When I came back the first time after the guards had cleared, I found a little hole in the corner of the room that led to some secluded area that appeared to be dug out. I hadn''t brought any light with me, so I had to feel around for it. The texture of this opening was different than the normal sewer walls, so I didn''t have that much trouble besides slamming my head right into the corner when I tried to duck into the opening. If they did check back here out of curiosity, they''d have to crawl through the opening to get to the larger room, so I''d have plenty of time to attack them while they would try to fit through. For the time being, I got situated in my new little enclosure. It wasn''t coated in piss and other unknown liquid so the same stench of the sewers wasn''t in this area. I was sitting against the wall just thinking about the fanfare of the parades that would be organized in my honor. All the people of Prymdor would line up on the sides of the roads just like they did for the nobles, even those snobs would have to acknowledge me after this. I would walk on by without guards right next to me, but the public wouldn''t rush at me and scream in my face. They wouldn''t accost me or try to stop me in my path to get whatever they wanted out of me. No, they''d wait on the sides of the road out of respect for me. They would recognize all the good I had done for this city, for this country. They would tell their friends all about how the great Flynn Holde worked his way up from a nobody to an international sensation. I''d go to that school and find the guy who gave me my invitation and finally learn his last name.


    All I had to worry about now was the amount of time I''d been waiting in this room. It was probably around midnight now, while navigating through the sewers happened quickly this time it felt like I had been in this little opening for longer than I could imagine. The smell of the sewer had crept back in through the hole, which meant that the smell of sewage that was now combined with rat corpses wouldn''t leave my mind for the next week after this, but I''d have to put up with it. Just as I was getting into a semi-comfortable position I heard footsteps back in the main room. I peeked through the opening to see who had come in, I assumed they''d have brought something to help them see. The lamp they must''ve brought along allowed me to see their silhouette, but it was just enough to make out the cloaks they were wearing. Sure, there were other people who wore cloaks in Prymdor, but who else would both wear cloaks and show up to this intersection at this time of night? It had to be them. All three of them had walked into the room, or at least I assumed they had, I heard three sets of footsteps.


    "Well then, Kingfall. Let''s start this meeting."