Another day, another job. Fortunately, however this particular job didn't require her to travel all the way to Era, so instead Esperia could enjoy most of her morning relaxing in her apartment with her family. While Valerie was keeping an eye on Hasani, Esperia had been seated in a nearby chair reading a comic book she had purchased at a nearby shop.

The contents were interesting to say the least: It told the story of a world where instead of magic there existed supernatural powers, and among this world of heroes and villains there was one in particular that really took her attention.

However, noticing the time Esperia closed the comic book and rose out of her seat, giving Valerie a kiss on her cheek and Hasani a gentle head pat after which she departed on her work for the day.

It was at a place she was familiar with, an abandoned building had been converted into a drug store after she had previously helped an alchemist deal with a giant rat infestation, but unfortunately it appeared that the rats had burrowed a new tunnel from the sewers, leading to the man to request her aid once more.

Having arrived at the drug store Esperia spotted her client already waiting, a hand raised in greeting at her. "Hello Esperia, pleasure to see you again." Esperia smiled at the man, replying in a cheerful tone. "Hello Albert, how goes business? Heard you had a new infestation problem?"

The alchemist nodded his head firmly. "Indeed, business was going well till a few days ago a pack of rats burrowed into the basement and started causing a mess in my store! Can you please try to deal with them again for me?"

Esperia raised a hand to her cheek as she pondered for a moment. "Can do, I'll see if I can find out what is causing them to target your store."

WC: 321/2000

It didn't take long for Esperia to enter the drug store. The first sight that awaited her was the fact that the store looked somewhat differently. Instead of it being an abandoned building, it was now a clean and well-attended place, the sight of it making Esperia's lips curve up into a smile. She was glad to see the store was prosperous, but where in the world were those rats?

Her eyes gazed calmly at her surrounding environment, ignoring the dimly lit nature of the room when all of a sudden she spotted one of the lurking giant rats. The creature seemingly became aware that its concealment got seen through, and so the creature lunged forward. The rat jumped, fangs open and ready to bite at her when all of a sudden Esperia withdrew a hand from her cape, the Jackal's loop right in front of the rat's open mouth.

"Bang~" A playful hum escaped Esperia's lips as one of the enhanced bullets was released, the attack being more than enough to cause the critter to collapse on the ground with a heavy thud.

Esperia watched the rat fall on the ground with a heavy slam. Meanwhile she took a few steps past the corpse of the rat, reloading her gun when a second rat lunged at her from the opposite side.

The rat had assumed that she was defenseless while her gun was recharging, but the sudden shift of her body accompanied with a low kick toward the rat came with such force the creature got knocked sideways onto the ground, rolling a few steps further as Esperia pointed her gun at the beast, a second bullet being fired that easily slayed the giant rat.

"Nothing a bullet to the head doesn't solve~"

WC: 301
Total WC: 622/2000

It was a curious thing she noticed: despite the fact they were giant rats, they had avoided damaging the store. It didn't take more than a simple glance to notice the furniture was all left untouched, and that by itself made her curious. She had expected vermin to be more chaotic and unruly with their actions, but that was not the case here.

Then there was the fact those two rats clearly had tried to coordinate with one another in the hope to ambush her. This behavior was quite unlike that of what she had presumed was the natural behavior of a rat. Could it be related to that mutated giant rat that she found before in the basement? What did the alchemist call it again? A Skaven or something?

Wandering along the first floor of the store Esperia noticed that oddly enough several bags were toppled over, a peek inside their contents revealing there used to be medicine inside them. Was this the work of the rats?

"sneaky bat girl... sneaky bat girl..."

A voice whispered nervously from nearby, and looking around Esperia could, at first sight not see where the voice originated from, at least until she focused her vampiric vision and spotted a small humanoid figure hunched over inside a closet.

"You mean a vampire?" The vampire's words earned a skittish yelp from the one inside the closet as it seemingly was aware she had spotted them. "yes! yes! vampire! please don't hurt us! we no harm!"

Esperia tilted her head to the side in bewilderment, her free hand reaching for her cheek as she tapped a finger lightly against it. "Then why don't you stop hiding if you mean no harm?"

The closet slowly opened, causing the small figure to emerge from its hiding spot. Oddly enough it seemed to resemble a human in shape, but the fur on its body and its facial features suggested it was closer to rat than human. "Another Skaven?"

Esperia mused in curiosity, seemingly not having expected this surprise.

WC: 343
Total WC: 965/2000

The Skaven gazed hesitatingly at Esperia, not entirely sure what to expect. There was clearly a nervousness of whether Esperia might attack it or not, but instead the rat spoke softly. "No no, no Skaven! Skavi! Name is Skavi!"

The words intrigued Esperia who couldn't help but find her curiosity stirred. "Skavi, who gave you that name?" The humanoid rat skittered lightly from one spot to another as it spoke. "The great Rat King! Deep in the sewers! he makes us sneaky sneak into this place and makes us retrieve those magic seeds! gives us magic powers!"

Esperia gazed back at the bags of missing medicine that Skavi gestured at, making the vampire ponder if that might had been the cause of their evolution. "So the medicine is what causes you all to change..."

Skavi nodded his head firmly, clarifying quickly. "Magic seeds make us strong! makes us smart! able to talk like humans! but most go angry angry when taking too much seeds!"

So the drugs were capable of also instigating the rats into a wild frenzy? Mentally noting down those details Esperia couldn't help but ask. "Why were you hiding Skavi?" The question made the Skaven shake his head firmly. "Me not like others! Me don't want to fight! Me wants to learn! learn about magic seeds! Learn about lots of things!"

Esperia couldn't help but chuckle softly at those words. "You mean you want to become a scholar?" The Skaven called Skavi nodded his head repeatedly in response to her question. "Yes! Yes! Skavi wants to become Scholar! Is that funny?"

Esperia shook her head lightly in response. "No Skavi, having a ambition to call your own is nice, this applies for all living things: Having an ambition is what makes you feel alive and willing to put in effort to accomplish it."

WC: 310
Total WC: 1275/2000

But there was still the matter she had to deal with, a matter she had not forgotten. "Skavi, are the others in the basement?" The question made the Skaven nod his head lightly in return to the statement, clarifying soon afterward. "Yes! Yes! Rats in basement! Led by Crio the Cruel! Crio ate too many seeds, became really violent, warmonger they call him! Killed adventurers and took their belongings!"

Esperia crouched down in front of the Skaven, a hand raised up toward him which made Skavi flinch for a moment when all of a sudden he noticed that she was affectionately petting his head. "Be a good boy and hide in here for a bit longer. Once I'm done I'll come and pick you up, and we'll see if I can't help you fulfill your dream of becoming a Scholar."

Skavi nodded his head a few times after which he stepped back toward the closet, and as he closed the door he whispered softly. "Be careful nice bat lady..."

Esperia rose back onto her feet, a smile on her lips. "The name is Esperia~" And with that said Esperia started to walk out of the storeroom, making her way toward the basement. It didn't take long for her to reach the staircase leading toward the basement, and further within Esperia could already heard the sound of the rats skittering within.

Without any warning Esperia opened the door, gun raised as she unloaded a shot at the nearest rat, which had just turned toward her in an attempt to lunge at her, yet the bullet cleanly pierced its skull.

Dashing toward their leader, the large Skaven clad in a leather cuirass and a iron helmet Esperia raised her gun and unleashed another round, yet this time to her surprise the nearby rats jumped into the space between her and their leader, clearly trying to shield him, despite the bullet detonating in a small explosion that consumed the two of them in a torrent of fire and lightning.

All of a sudden the Skaven took the opportunity to attempt to lunge through the corpses of his fallen brethnen, when Esperia suddenly heard a voice yelling from behind her.

"DON'T HURT NICE BAT LADY!!!"

To Esperia's surprise Skavi dashed in front of her, arms spread with what appeared to be a makeshift buckler in his arms, yet the sheer strength of the mutated rat overwhelmed the smaller one, knocking it backwards toward the door.

"Skavi..."

Esperia muttered, her eyes narrow in a glare of bloodlust. "Take a step backward, close the door and cover your ears till I come out, okay?"

There was something about the sheer pressure the girl's aura radiated that made Skavi nod his head feebly, stepping outside the room and closing the door just in time as Esperia spoke to the rat.

"You... attacked your own kin?" Crio hissed in response to the word. "Coward is no kin! Treacherous rat! Surface lover! Me kill Skavi, after me kills you!"

The Skaven lunged forward at Esperia, who swung her freed arm toward the Skaven's throat, her grip seemingly tightening as her body started to undergo some type of metamorposhis.

"You would kill your brother... for a different opinion?"

The Skaven flailed in her grasp as the black-haired woman from before had changed, instead now a giant bipedal bat-like creature towered over him, lifting him up by the throat.

"Mo-mo---" The skaven tried to speak, but the sheer pressure applied to his throat was crushing his windpipe as Esperia let out a bestial roar.

"I'll NEVER FORGIVE SUCH A CRIME!"

It was at least several minutes till Skavi, who was cowering in fear after hearing the noises inside, yet when the door opened it was not the monster he had imagined, but the black-haired lady who smiled kindly at him, even as her face and cleavage were stained with blood.

"Skavi, thank you for trying to save me~" The Skaven blinked in bewilderment as Esperia walked up to him, a hand gently helping the cowering creature upright as she guided him upstairs, just so that the little one wouldn't have to see the gory spectacle that was left in the basement.

"Let's go and report back to the owner of this store, and then I'll introduce you to him~ I'm sure he will be excited to meet you Skavi."

WC: 746
Total WC: +2000/2000