Divine Beast Ascension

580 Blood Moon Order?

Gathered in the conference hall, the task force found themselves doing some light social drinking. It was all they could do without any orders during such a sudden development. Apart from Lambier, who left to gather intel before Hurman left with Kuldar and Oli, everyone had to wait until they had orders to fulfill.

Nearby, the members of the Practor Family sat down to welcome their newest member.

Lyle smiled and bowed his head to the young man. “It’s a pleasure to have you join us, Trenk. I understand that the circumstances weren’t ideal for you or the Forells. However, we’re still glad to have you in the Practor family, regardless of whether you hit it off with my niece.”

“Uncle Lyle…” Melinda grumbled, giving him an intimidating glare.

Mertin chuckled, “As your potential father-in-law, I wish you and my daughter a happy relationship. Also, I must say that your take on our family swordsmanship is spectacular. In time, I’m sure my father would be happy to help you develop it into a new family style, one you can pass down to others as you see fit.”

Blushing for multiple reasons, Trenk struggled to address even one part of that conversation. “Th-thank you, Master Mertin. It would be an honor to develop a family sword style and to have Master Hurman’s help in doing so…”

“What do you think of my daughter, Trenk?”

“I-I…” Fumbling his words, Trenk blushed again but kept his cool. “I would be grateful for the chance to get to know her. I’ve only met her a few times in the past, but her dedication to her family and her training always stuck out to me. And… she’s also beautiful, so it’s impossible for me to say that I’m not interested in maybe furthering my relationship with her…”

Melinda didn’t say a word. Her face was red but her tongue was tied. She didn’t know whether to slug her father, dismiss Trenk’s statement, or just leave the conversation at that.

.....

When the doors opened and Hurman walked in, Melinda and Trenk both felt Mertin’s heavy stare fall off of them, for now.

“What’s new, Father?” Mertin asked.

Once the task force turned their attention to him, Hurman answered, “A few things. First off, I have the first orders for the rest of you.

“Blood Moon Order has infiltrated Forell City. Do any of you know a ‘Dollon’ from Blood Moon Order?”

While Hurdo and Sarpo were clueless, Marsel, Opal, and Ceela were stunned by that announcement. Marcel in particular asked, “Are you certain that Blood Moon Order is involved?”

“Yeah. It was confirmed by the accomplices. According to them, one perennial and two elders were smuggled into the city by Walder. And one of them went by Dollon, though it was likely an alias,” stated Hurman.

Raising his hand, Oli asked, “Excuse me, but who is the Blood Moon Order? In Rot City, I’ve never heard of them.”

Hurman looked to two people, waiting for one of them to explain.

Marsel sighed, “Blood Moon Order is a band of assassins. They’ve got strong enough roots to find work across a few territories. But they’ve always been careful. That’s why they opened various businesses or organizations to hide their trails or at least blur their tracks… In fact, I spent some time working for them myself.”

“And I’ve hired them in the past,” Kuldar added with an annoyed tone. “They’re professional enough to get their jobs done. But they’re notorious for squeezing you for extra money and valuables, or even running away with their findings during the job.”

Nodding, Marsel continued, “I wasn’t a member of the order though. I was just a guild member, back when I had just started getting into mercenary work.”

“Guild? As if, a Blood Moon Guild?” Oli asked, taken aback that there truly was a connection to his hunch and memory.

“Yes. But I quit weeks after joining. It became clear that the only way to move up in the guild was to work off the record or to get recruited into the order,” Marsel said. “They’re based out of Prodson Territory and relocate their official headquarters every year or two to keep people from easily tracking them down.”

Glancing at Oli, Hurman chimed in, “I’m not sure if this is true, but if I remember correctly, the reason Kuldar stopped working with the Blood Moon altogether was because their guild collapsed about three years ago. Is that right?”

Kuldar nodded, saying, “That’s right. Blood Moon Guild would always offer some of the best prices on the market for any goods they had on hand. But they suddenly collapsed, as if overnight three years ago.”

Marsel was about to say something more before he blinked and deduced an important fact. “... Thinking back, I heard a lot of rumors back then. I heard that a monstrous cat had chased and hunted all the higher-ups in the guild. At the time, I was just glad that I never stuck with the guild and got targeted. But… if those rumors are true, don’t they match up with the rise of Iron?”

With his own thoughts confirmed, Hurman stated, “That would make sense. I’ve heard from the other patrician clans that Blood Moon Guild was involved in poaching various beast tribes before the Iron-body Clan took over the territory. I also heard that Dean Vloz made special trips to ‘gather’ available cultivation techniques and battle arts from various bandit groups across the neighboring territories. And that would, technically, include Prodson and Blood Moon Guild.”

Before Oli could telepathically confirm that fact, Hurdo pounded his chest with pride and past fury. “Of course! Along with Rathe, we chased them to the territory border and wiped out the Blood Moon Guild’s poaching party. We killed their perennial leaders as well, taking their treasure as our trophies of war!”

Hearing that, those originally from Prodson Territory were floored. It was one thing to hear rumors of the guild getting wiped out. But it was another thing to hear a beefy gorilla confirm it all firsthand.

“In other words, Blood Moon Order has a history with Iron Territory, regardless of whether Iron Territory knows otherwise,” Hurman stated with a dejected nod. “And they’re a reclusive assassin organization operating through other businesses… If only Vloz had known that. He would’ve loved to strip Blood Moon Order bare and steal all of their techniques and arts.”

Raising his hand again, Oli asked, “Will my power be enough against them? Against such an organization, it’s best to gather as much intel as possible.”

Kuldar spoke up, “I’ve never worked with the order directly. It was always through their guild.”

Before Oli could ask more questions, Hurman cut in, “Then we’ll have to hunt down as much information as possible. Those in the task force will be spread out across the Libarn residence and the Forell Residence. Hurdo, Sarpo, I’m sending you to help guard the Forell Family.”

“Alright!” Sarpo growled with a tinge of excitement.

Hurdo pounded his chest and shouted, “I hope I get to rip them to shreds!”

Continuing, Hurman said, “Marsel, Ceela, Opal, you’ll remain in the Libarn Residence and be on guard duty. That leaves Vero. I need you to go meet Lambier and update him on the intel we’ve gathered so far. Then, you’ll meet with Tranton and check what information he’ll have gathered in the meantime.

“Between Fulkar, Lambier, and the Forells gathering leads, it’s impossible for us to come out completely empty-handed. Before sundown, you’ll have your target’s name and/or location, Vero. But be on your toes. There’s no telling if they’ll try and target you sooner rather than later.”

Opal asked, “You think they’re already on to us?”

“In this case, I would rather assume that they have intel on us. That way we can at least be prepared for a surprise attack if necessary,” Human replied. “And if it’s too much for you to handle alone, Vero, you know how to signal for us.”

Smiling, Oli asked, “And where will I find Lambier?”

*********

Thud! Thump…

A chair was thrown across the table, knocking a man to the floor. Intoxicated and buzzed, the man laughed it off and tried to lob it back at the attacker. But the chair barely reached the table and bounced away.

The entire bar was lively and active! Drinks were in every hand and smiles were on everyone’s faces. Such was the norm when someone buys the entire place a few rounds.

Raising his mug along with a table of unfamiliar faces, Lambier laughed and cheered. He chugged his non-alcoholic beer to play the part while everyone else shouted and spilled all sorts of secrets.

Before long, Lambier was at the next table, repeating the same cheers and learning a few more secrets. Sadly, most of them were unreliable or completely useless.

However, after getting the entire bar drunk and in the mood to brag or complain, secrets were poured out just as much as the booze.