Initially I had a relatively good impression of Kai, but every time he opens his mouth he seems more like a typical macho dude who wants to ascertain his superiority over everyone else.

This also makes me realize the severity of my own hypocrisy; I'm ready to tear Ian into shreds for mistreating Blossom but I couldn't care less about Kai objectifying his slaves and humiliating them in front of the entire guild. I simply can't bring myself to feel much empathy for people I don't care about.

"That just makes Lily better, Big Brother! The fact that she is so unfortunate that she has to spend every night next to an ugly bastard like me and then greet dozens of other smelly men during the day makes me harder than anything in this world!"

I choke on my lemon cocktail and have a coughing fit. I'm not alone, though. These three are so loud that a lot of other tables are also listening in.

His conversation partners, Kai and Grunt, just look at him for a few seconds with incredulity evident in their eyes, this time even the emotionless slaves stare at him with utter disgust. The men then laugh at him boisterously. "I told you he is retarded, Big Brother! Kekeke!"

"Well, we knew it already, but this is a new low!"

"Whatever! It's getting late, Lily should be finished with her last customer. I better get going before her cave dries up completely. Getting her wet is a harder task than eating only three warm meals a day, let me tell you! See you guys tomorrow!" He waves, then stops abruptly, remembering something. "Mutt, here's your food!

Dig in!"

He then grabs one of the many plates set in front of him and throws it onto the ground. Blossom lowers herself slowly onto all fours and begins to eat it up. The fact that she did it without hesitation just shows how conditioned she is to these humiliating actions of his.

Ayame once again puts her hand on my shoulder, but this time there's no need for it. I gently stroke it to signal that she doesn't need to worry about me acting out.

My heart stings with great pain from seeing this image of my beloved Blossom being mistreated. I wish I was strong enough to walk up there and resolve everything right this instant. This helpless feeling is something I don't wish to experience ever again in my life.

I've already fed Blossom two stews today so she doesn't need to play along to not starve, but she must know that doing so would make him alert, and possibly even Kai, who seems to be the much bigger threat here.

In thirty seconds she is finished devouring the gruel from the inn's floor and the two stand to leave.

We've already called a servant asking for the tab of my cocktail minutes before, so we are ready to follow.

As Ian and Blossom step out of the tavern, I stand up and we follow a fifteen or so seconds later. The tavern is still buzzing with the noise of rowdy adventurers and clinking glasses as we make our way to the door. Ayame and I walk out into the refreshing night breeze and the smell of the city is welcoming us.

The moon is situated high up in the sky, emitting a faint light onto the cobblestone roads.

Ian and Blossom head down the main road. Ian's gait is unsteady, clearly affected by the alcohol. Blossom follows silently, her head bowed.

We keep a careful distance, staying within the shadows of the buildings lining the street. Ayame moves soundlessly beside me, her eyes never leaving our target.

The road twists and turns through the heart of the city, gradually leading us to a seedier part of town. The buildings here are older, their facades cracked and weathered. The brothel Ian frequents soon comes into view.

Ian heads straight for the entrance and finds himself greeted by a heavily under dressed woman who throws herself into his arms with greatly exaggerated enthusiasm. Blossom follows a few paces behind with a face that's a perfect mask of indifference. The door swings shut behind them, and Ayame and I share a glance, she then lets out an exasperated sigh; "what a piece of trash!

I could barely hold it in."

"Yeah, he is one special guy that's for sure. I can't wait to get my hands on him."

Now we know the brothel's location, his drinking buddies' identities, his schedule. With this, today's portion of the plan has been achieved.

As for why we didn't ambush him right now?

It's simple: Blossom was present. She is contractually obligated to fight against us if we make a move with her near us.

The first part of Operation Fluffy Liberation revolves around scouting Ian's tendencies and then waiting for Blossom to be sent out on the next money making quest, which should happen tomorrow based on how much he was whining about his lack of funds previously in the tavern.

With her out of the picture, he is just a glorified human pinata ready to be beaten to death.

This situation we've found ourselves in accentuates the vulnerabilities of the slave contract. Blossom knows that an assassination attempt on her owner is coming, but she is staying quiet. Unless he specifically asks, to which she can't answer with a lie, he won't realize what's happening.

Actually, I have a feeling that I was wrong in thinking that this phenomenon is the result of the slave contract's limitations. I would assume that the writer of Blossom's contract is the one at fault here, he or she probably didn't include many clauses and lazily wrote some general ones which can be played around if the slave is smart enough.

Today is over, thus we retire for the night. Tomorrow I hope to be done with the first part of the operation, but knowing Ian's sleep schedule we will have enough time to visit proper armor, weapon and artifact shops before he wakes up, where we can hopefully finally buy some magically enhanced goodies thanks to the gold coin we got from Eric Winterwood.