Armand marched out of the church, showing as much dignity as he possibly could. Behind him were the mercenaries, along with the man from the town guard. They carried their injured and dead with them. In one of Armand's hands was the fanged skull of the vampire.

"With death, strigoi revert to their true age. My target was so old that he became a skeleton," Armand thought.

A crowd had gathered in front of the church. Militiamen with halberds held them back. Armand glanced at the building behind him. The garlic that trapped the strigoi inside still covered the location. A shiver went down his spine.

"Some day, I will become a strigoi. That is inevitable. I wonder if I will suffer the same fate or if I will find a way to avoid it? Well, I suppose not getting captured by scholars will be a good start," the boy contemplated.

He then turned his attention to the crowd.

"Good people of this village, I am Lord Armand Concord, your lord."

While the noble was certain that the commoners already knew this, likely informed by the militia if they hadn't seen him already, he did not want to take chances.

"A terrible beast had taken refuge in this church, defiling it and displeasing the gods," Armand continued.

The boy held up the vampire's skull where he hoped everyone could see it. But with the height of a 13-year-old, Armand had his doubts that it was visible to most of the group.

"I have slain this vile creature. And now, you are no longer in any danger. I am certain the gods were appeased."

Clapping and cheers arose from the crowd. It was as enthusiastic as it could be, considering the time of night the villagers woke up. Armand surveyed them, judging their reactions.

"Their cheers are genuine," he observed. "I wonder if I can use this strigoi skull to give more proof of monsters? No. That might displease the creature that turned me. I'd best destroy this soon."

Armand pulled the skull back before waving to the populace.

"That is all. I will return to my castle now. You may go back to sleep," he said.

The crowd dispersed. When they were gone, the militia did the same. Soon, aside from Armand and his mercenaries, only Master Werner remained.

Armand mounted his horse in silence. The noble's soldiers did the same. Master Werner rode to the boy, making sure to speak softly. After all, the mercenaries had lost someone, and he wanted to allow them to mourn in peace.

"Lord Armand," Master Werner bowed his head. "The strigoi is truly dead, yes?"

"That is right. Its skeleton is in the church. The militia will dispose of it tomorrow," the noble replied.

"Perhaps I could take it for study?"

Armand shrugged.

"If you want, do it. I will wait for you. But the strigoi's skeleton is no different from yours or mine. That is unless you count the missing limbs."

Intrigue flickered in the scholar's eyes.

"Strigoi skeletons don't have all their limbs?" he asked.

"When you chop off their arms and legs with greatswords, yes," Armand answered.

The interest faded.

"I suppose so. I will take the skeleton anyway," Master Wener said. "May I have the skull too?"

Armand held up the skull. He looked over every bit of it.

"Maybe I should give this to Master Werner? He could study it and might even find something about strigoi," the noble contemplated.

Then, Armand shook his head.

"No. Master Werner having this would make him the target of other strigoi. I cannot protect him forever. It's better if he just has the rest of the body. There aren't any obvious signs of being a strigoi there," Armand thought before speaking. "I am afraid not. This skull will remain with me until I can destroy it."

After a moment of hesitation, Master Werner spoke again.

"Will it come back if you do not?"

"No. Only a god could bring this strigoi back now," Armand replied.

Slight relief flowed through Master Werner. Still, a puzzled expression crossed his face.

"Then, why destroy it?" Master Werner asked.

"If another strigoi sees this skull, it will kill whoever holds it," Armand answered.

The Order of Hermes member nodded grimly. He rode towards the church, tying his horse's reigns to a post before going inside. After a few moments, Master Werner emerged with bits of the skeleton. It was a bit of a struggle for the old man to carry them. However, he made it to his mount.

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Armand kept a close eye on Master Werner as he returned to the church. It took him several trips to bring the entire skeleton out. And even then, bits of bone stuck out of the side of the saddlebags.

When Master Werner had the entire skeleton in his possession, he rode to Armand and the mercenaries. Then, everyone left the village. Armand waited until they were some distance away before holding up an arm.

"Stop," he commanded. "This is a good place."

Everyone did as Armand ordered. The group then looked around. They were surrounded by farmland. However, there was a creek nearby with rocks sticking out of the water.

Armand dismounted before wading into the stream. He placed the skull on the furthest rock from the mercenaries, far enough away that they'd be out of the blast radius. After that, Armand pulled a grenade out of his clothes and put it next to the skull.

The explosive was lit, and Armand ran like hell away from it. There was a loud noise, accompanied by a flash of light. Armand was on the shore when it went off. He was unharmed.

Turning around, Armand saw what was left of the skull: little bits of white floating down the creek. The boy mounted his horse and continued riding. His compatriots followed him without saying a word.

"That's one problem dealt with. Now, I just have to worry about whatever Eris is doing. She hasn't written as many letters lately," Armand thought.

In the peasant cottage, John addressed the masses.

"The first group will have me, Jessica, Walter, Eleanor, Beckett, Madeline, James, and Johan," he said. "The second group will have Lady Julia, Hans, Grimmal, Joseph, Christof, James the Elder, Janet, and Jerren."

Eris held in a grimace.

"What is with these subhumans and Julia with js in their names?" she thought.

John continued.

"The last team will have Jacob, Lady Eris, Nadine, and Francois. If I missed your name, you are in the first group. Are there any questions?"

"I have one," Eris spoke up. "Why does Lady Abene's group have more people than mine?"

"Because we do not fully trust you, Lady Hapsburg. It is better to risk fewer of us," John answered.

Eris nodded.

"Well, these commoners at least somewhat understand risk management. That must be part of how they hid for so long," she thought.

John addressed the crowd once more.

"If there are no questions, I will go into the back room. Every member of group 2 and group 3 will be called in, one by one. There, I will explain your mission to you."

With that, he stood up and walked through a door. As John called over the first person, Eris entered contemplation.

"Another level of security. If everyone was told about the missions of each team, infiltrators and traitors could interfere with the performance of the other."

Eris glanced at Lady Abene, who was giving her a death glare. The Hapsburg decided to ignore her for now.

"But is that all there is to this? I'd expect a greater level of scheming from a noble, but commoners are too stupid to even think of grand plots. They're subhumans."

The girl avoided shaking her head.

"I can't underestimate anyone. Not when Armand is relying on me living. I need to figure out any potential plans. For now, I will assume that John is the bastard child of a noble or that some noble is helping him scheme."

Now, Eris changed her perspective ever so slightly.

"By giving everyone their orders one at a time, John can give people who are part of the same group different orders. If he wanted to kill me, he'd tell everyone there except for me to make sure I don't come back. But even if he doesn't want me dead, John could give contradictory orders to different people as a sort of test."

Another thought came to Eris, something that made her grimace.

"John did not assign leaders to any of the groups. Any rational person would assume that the nobles would naturally take charge. But if these people were rational, they wouldn't be revolutionaries. Is the lack of leadership another test, a bit of subhuman stupidity, or part of their revolutionary ideology? In any case, it will cause problems in the future."

Then, John's voice came from behind the door.

"Lady Eris Hapsburg!"

The girl stood up and walked to the other room. Eris made sure that she never turned her back to Lady Abene. Then, she stepped inside, closing the door behind her.

Eris found herself in an enclosed space. There were two chairs present. No other furniture. John sat on one seat and gestured to the other.

"Lady Hapsburg, feel free to sit," he said.

The girl did as such.

"What does the revolution need from me?" Eris asked.

"A task that will help us while also proving your dedication," John answered.

"There is a test involved, as expected," the girl thought before speaking. "Continue."

John took a deep breath. Then, he spoke again.

"As you have seen, there are many voices in the revolution. And they disagree on many things," John said.

"It worries me," Eris replied. "If the revolution succeeds, there might be another revolution against it."

John shivered and rubbed the back of his head.

"That is a risk," he admitted. "But anyway, many of us are not in favor of recruiting nobles, including members of the Revolutionary Council. But if we had some dirt on some of those nobles, it might help us ensure their loyalty. That could also convince the dissenting voices within our own movement."

"Which noble do you want me to get blackmail material on?" Eris questioned.

An awkward look crossed John's face. He hesitated for a few moments before talking.

"Your fiance, Lord Armand Concord. There are a few nobles who we considered recruiting, and we decided that he was the best option in the end. If you succeed at this mission, your second will be convincing him to join us. But that should be easy if what you've told us is true," John said.

Eris suppressed a massive grin.

"This is perfect, the best-case scenario! These idiots are practically inviting Armand to scheme with me against them! I will need to be careful, but still," she thought before speaking. "Must we pry into my beloved's secrets? Is there any other way?"

John shook his head.

"I'm afraid not. If there was, I'd go with it. But the revolution is too divided for us to just ask a noble who hasn't joined us of his own free will to help," he said.

Eris paused for a moment to make her acceptance more believable.

"If this is for the revolution, for a better tomorrow, I will do this," she stated.

John gave her a sympathetic smile.

"Meet up with the rest of your group here in one week. That should give you time to finish any affairs you need to. The moment you've met them, you'll move out to Armand Concord's lands."

Eris stood up and curtsied.

"I will complete this mission for the revolution," she spoke before thinking. "You utter fool. You might as well have dug your own grave. All I have to do is be careful around those little peons you sent with me. After all, their orders could be very different from mine."

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