Spoiler:

Somehow Rania and Kenzo had found themselves in the midst of a gang war in Hosenka. The Paladin wondered if asking Kenzo to help Weirdlock Jones with his investigation had been a mistake, but if anyone could help these people it was the two of them – because the inspector himself was garbage. When Weirdlock Jones explained the meaning of the emblem as an ‘Ouroborus’, the woman frowned and crossed her arms in front of her chest. They were a bit further away from the crime scene now, and Rania was standing close to her guild mate. “So, you suspect these Black Dragons to be the culprits then?” The inspector nodded slowly. “Yes indeed, but getting them to talk will be impossible – that’s not how they operate, that’s not how gangs operate.” He emphasized on the word gangs and gave Rania a strange look.

“We need insider information in order to bring them to justice, which means someone has to go undercover. The Black Dragons value strength more than anything,” as his sentence came to an end, the inspector’s eyes fell on Kenzo. Rania, quickly understanding the implication of his words, immediately protested. “What? That’s ridiculous, you can’t send him down there alone! It’s irresponsible and dangerous, I won’t allow it.” The Paladin began swinging her staff around angrily, in disbelief at how the inspector could even think of suggesting something like that. Yes, Kenzo was strong and could probably handle himself, but basically feeding him to the wolves and using him as a bait was unethical and immoral.

“It’s the only way. One of their main meeting spots is a gambling den in a club not too far from here,” the inspector continued, completely dismissing the woman. Rania shrieked and smacked him across the face with her scepter, before turning back around to Kenzo. “If you are going, then you aren’t going alone. I’m coming with you, I don’t care if I don’t look like a gang member. I’ll even get a tattoo if I must!” And she meant it.

The deeper they got into it, the more Kenzo had a feeling that the mission would eventually get dangerous. There was something that Weirdlock was not telling them, something that didn’t sit well with the mercenary. Once he told them they needed to infiltrate into the Black Dragons he returned a sceptic look at the inspector. He was clearly trying to leave Rania out of this, given the look he shot at him. Infiltrating into a gang was dangerous business, so while he agreed with not involving the black-haired paladin on it, he found it suspicious too. He still didn’t trust the shady inspector, so there was no way Kenzo was leaving her in his care just yet. The warrior’s perceptive mind told him there was something that he was still hiding.

”While I agree that the only way to get information out of those guns is by infiltrating their own gang, I also agree with Rania entirely” Kenzo replied after the girl. As he amusingly saw the way she delivered her divine fury upon the man with her staff, he continued. ”There is no way I’m going there without her. She might get in trouble while I’m not around to look after her. It’s too dangerous to have her go around.” Kenzo said he agreed with Rania, but maybe not for the same reason.

Once the inspector told them that the infiltration place was to be a gambling den, Kenzo’s eyes widened as he uncharacteristically grew more and more excited. ”Why didn’t you say so before? Come Rania! We have no time to lose then… We’ll make sure to send a report once we’re in” The warrior’s demeanor instantly changed upon learning this new bit of information. Pushing Rania along and taking him with him towards the location, he couldn’t push her fast enough. His mind now drifted about the potential money he could swindle out of all those wannabe gangsters.

”Yeah… that’s definitely going to be a problem..” Kenzo said as he heard the girl throw a fit. He had no problem on taking her along, knowing he could deal with the entire gang single handedly. Kenzo was that confident in his own skill. On the other hand, it was on how out of place she would look what preoccupied him. ”We need to work in your looks. We need to turn you into a gangster, not a doll straight out of a play...” Kenzo rubbed his chin with a cheeky as he thought on how to fix their predicament, teasing the girl.

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“I’m not a doll, thank you very much,” she snarled at the mercenary, turned on her heel and marched away. When the mercenary began pushing her along, she wiggled out of it and ran a few steps to put some distance between them. The situation had gotten awfully complicated, and the observant woman hadn’t missed the look in Kenzo’s eyes when gambling was mentioned – perhaps it was another bad habit of his? Not that Rania was one to judge, and if anything it came in rather handy considering the job they were about to do. They were headed towards the location they had been given and even though Rania was ahead of Kenzo, she occasionally looked over her shoulder to make sure he was still following after her.

Once they were out of Weirdlock Jones’ sight, the Paladin halted for a moment to allow for Kenzo to catch up to her. “That was weird – he’s pretty weird, isn’t he?” She asked and looked up to her friend; Rania’s face no longer showed any signs of anger and she merely frowned as different thoughts tangled up in the girl’s mind. “Anyways, gangster Rania isn’t going to happen, but I already have something in mind,” she revealed and the tone of her voice hinted that she didn’t feel at all triumphant – just tired. “I can’t bring my weapon along, so you’ll have to give me a moment to change before we can get started. Just wait here, will you?” She flashed Kenzo a smile and headed back for the inn.

Rania might seem innocent, but the slave-born woman’s life had been nothing but a drag for the majority of its time and even though she put on a sunny disposition often, she knew all about the rotten habits of humanity. The Paladin returned not too long after, without her staff and wearing significantly less clothes. Scantily-clad, Rania’s attire was reminiscent of an oriental dancer. She wore her hair open now, and jewelry adorned her neck, wrists and even ankles. Rania’s slim and toned body revealed that she was everything but fragile. “Suggestive enough, don’t you think? Especially with someone such as yourself accompanying me,” she said with a smile and jokingly clung to the mercenary’s arm. The implication here should have been obvious, even for his dense brain.

“Now, why don’t you go ahead and win some money so you can buy me diamonds?”

”I’m joking.. I’m joking!” Kenzo said as Rania ran away from him. Rubbing the back of his head wondering why she got so angry apparently. From the time he’d known the girl, the warrior had understood that Rania hated being underestimated. Still, he was a crude person, not used to long periods of social interaction. Maybe that was his issue? Ever since he left the mercenary company in Joya he had lived as a loner. The people at the company were mostly brutes, and he had grown up with them. Even if it came to no surprise to anyone, Kenzo had too learned some very flawed manners to some extent.

As he scrambled his head to find a way to apologize to her, he found the girl’s saintly demeanor to forgive him for it before he had the opportunity. Or at least that’s how he interpreted it, given that she was the one to start conversation with him. Sighing with relief, he answered the girl’s question. ”Yeah… too weird for an inspector” Kenzo remembered the only other inspector he’d met before, back at Orchidia Town. Contrary to Weirdlock Jones, Inspector Nilan was what one expected from the job description. However, it was still too soon to underestimate Weirdlock. ”Be careful. That guy is certainly keeping something suspicious from us.” Kenzo’s words of warning were both to the girl as to himself.

”Alright then!” Kenzo replied almost automatically as she ran off to change her appearance. It was definitely for the best, but the warrior’s mind was still on the whole Weirdlock thing. Browsing around a couple of shops nearby, the man decided to buy something to drink. Grabbing a bottle of water for himself and one for Rania, he took a large sip while he thought about what needed to be done. As his mind spaced off in his thoughts, he was brought out of it by Rania calling back for him.

”*Pft!*” Water escaped Kenzo’s lips involuntarily, taken aback by the radical change she had undergone. Dropping his jaw just a little, the quick-witted man found himself at a loss for words. He didn’t know what he expected, but Rania had come back as every man’s dreams. They were definitely going to grab the attention of every mobster at the gambling den. With a smile of amusement and excitement, he grabbed the girl by the arm back, talking at her with a playful tone that teased her back. ”For you? I’d buy Myras itself”

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Kenzo’s reaction made her laugh, but she thought nothing of it otherwise. “I have never been to Myras before,” she said and got lost in thoughts for a moment, thinking that perhaps it was a good choice for her next travel location. The Blue Pegasus members headed to the underground casino that was, according to the inspector, a hot spot for the entire gang. If they were lucky, they’d be allowed to enter and partake in some of the gambling, during which Kenzo was supposed to garner the attention and interest of the gang itself. Getting inside was tricky already, because they didn’t allow outsiders in and when the two of them arrived, the five (!!!) doormen made that pretty clear.

“Private party,” one of the guards snarled, but Rania merely batted her eyelashes at the much taller male and ran a hand through that long, black hair of hers. Silken, obsidian strands wrapped around her arm and beautifully cascaded down the side of her body as she looked up. “Please,” she begged sweetly and mustered up the courage to lock eyes with the man. “Something tells me that today is the day we win, and it has to be! I even prepared a dance for it,” the beautiful Paladin purred, and sneakily suggested that her companion usually had bad luck – which meant more money for them. With an annoyed sigh, the guard looked at the other men standing behind him before giving it a shrug and stepping aside so the two could enter.

Rania squeezed Kenzo’s arm in support – the rest would be up to him, because she didn’t know shit about gambling.

The two of them were soon enough at the entrance of the gambling den. As soon as Kenzo saw the five!!! armed men at the doorstep, he knew they’d be having some trouble. Luckily, they were too busy checking Rania up to even notice if whatever excuse she told them was sound or valid to enter. In the end, it was just what they needed to hear. She was looking really nice, so Kenzo knew that getting the yakuza members attention was not going to be hard. However, he still wanted to enjoy himself.

As they made their way to one of the tables, the mercenary started gambling away. He had huge stashes of reserves as of lately. His pension from Advent World had been quite substantial to say the least. Either way, the time flew by as quickly as the pockets from the rest of the people on table. Part of it was due to the clever sleigh of hand demonstrated by the Bellan warrior. Mostly though, thanks to the charm that Rania had placed all of the people in the table under. They were too concentrated on her to even notice being ripped off right in front of their noses. Once Kenzo dried them empty, it was time for the mission to proceed. Using the lamest of excuses, he got into a brawl with the rest of people wanting to enter the yakuza family. The fight was quick and simple. After a couple of kicks here and punches there, the blue haired man was the last man standing. As his reward, Rania and Kenzo were both invited to work for the family. ”Sure”

-EXIT-

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