Roxie sits at a bar and drinks one drink after another, not the first time she has done this.
"One Cosmo more," she says to the bartender.
It is already almost midnight. The bartender places the Cosmo on the table. Roxie does not wait a moment and drinks it down.
"Mmm… the bill please," she says to the bartender.
While she waits, she listens to the conversations in the bar. The guy next to her is complaining about his wife. Almost every conversation she hears is boring, except for two men talking about H.U.M.A.N, and unfortunately they are not exactly against it.
"You know, that Samuel guy is not that great," says one of them. He is wearing a coat.
The other one, wearing glasses, answers, "Yeah, kind of. I mean, fairy tale beings are really fragile."
The bartender comes back.
"That will be 60€."
Roxie pays and stands up, but just as she is about to leave the bar, Samuel walks in. She flinches. In lightning speed, she puts on a cap and looks in another direction—but too late.
"Roxie Yakudatsu. I know you are here."
She swallows and puts on her brave mask, takes the cap off, and says,
"Yes, I am here. And what are you doing here? No desire left to threaten little children, or have you been beaten too often?"
Samuel's right eye twitches. He commands,
"Everyone out. Outside my friend is waiting. He will give you money. 500€."
Driven by greed, the guests leave.
"What do you think you're doing?" the bartender snaps angrily.
Samuel insists, "You too. Out. Now."
The bartender rages, "I will not be thrown out of my own bar!"
Samuel shakes his head.
"Fine. Maragidyne."
The bartender starts to burn—slowly, painfully. No screams. Just quiet, agonizing burning.
Then Samuel looks at Roxie.
"This is my power, and now you listen—"
Thomp.
A sound like a hand hitting stone.
It is actually Roxie's fist hitting Samuel's face.
No reaction from Samuel. He grabs Roxie's hand in a firm grip—enough to hurt, but not enough to break anything.
"You little bitch. You DARE to attack me after you just saw what I can do? You are the dumbest person I know, even dumber than Ben or Henri. You know I could just burn you or tear you apart."
Roxie clenches her teeth.
"Yes, you could—but you won't. And I know why. You need me, or rather my power, my magic. And besides—"
Roxie disappears and reappears behind Samuel.
"You are not as smart as you think. You think I am a vampire or something."
Samuel looks at her angrily. She continues,
"I'll take that as a yes. And yet I must say—you are wrong. My race was not as stupid as all those classical ones. We kept ourselves hidden because we knew that if you knew we existed, we would become weaker."
Samuel tries to strike her, but she disappears again.
"What are you?" he asks.
Roxie appears again.
"I will definitely not tell you that."
Then she strikes again, but just before her hand hits him, it grows to the size of her entire body. This time, the punch has impact, and Samuel flies against the wall.
But barely a second later, he is standing in front of her again.
"Really impressive. Yes, I did not expect that. But it is not enough. Maragidyne."
Roxie burns—and yet she disappears.
Samuel thinks she is gone, but in reality she has shrunk, jumped into a beer, and slipped away.
Then the door opens. It is Samuel.
"Well done, Nahum."
The Samuel who was just fighting Roxie transforms back into Nahum.
"Thank you, Master. But why the disguise again?" Nahum asks.
Samuel only shakes his head.
"You are really that stupid. And that is exactly why you do not need to know."
6 a.m.
"You, you, you talked to him and you betrayed our friend!?" Henri said.
Ben looked at the floor, he was ashamed far too much.
"I'm sorry, I… I thought I had it under control."
Henri sat down as well.
"We all thought that. In the end, we had nothing under control," he said and let himself fall into the chair.
Then Heinrich spoke up.
"It's my fault. In the end, I should have realized that you were too inexperienced."
Everyone sat at the table, depressed.
Then Lovran slammed his hand on the table and made the hand sign for stop.
"I know it looks bad, but we haven't lost. Everyone is still alive, and we can grow from this. We know that we need to become stronger."
…They knew he was right. But how?
Henri spoke the thought out loud.
"But how do we want to become stronger?"
Ben had an idea.
"How about we travel into fairy tales and train under the most powerful beings?"
Suddenly, Roxie appeared.
"That's actually not such a bad idea, but there is an improvement—"
"WTF, WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!?" Henri shouted in shock.
Roxie smiled.
"I've been here the whole time, buddy. So, where was I? Right. How about we break the Fabula Mediocris Iter Labe—"
Now Heinrich interrupted her.
"That is outrageous. Why should we do that? It is an ancient relic."
Roxie clicked her tongue.
"Tsk. Big Buddy, think about it. If we don't break it, then everyone has to train in the same place. But if we break it, then everyone can train in their own domain."
Ben spoke up, still looking at the floor, not daring to look Roxie in the eyes.
"That would be the best way… Roxie, can we talk alone for a moment?"
Roxie postponed him.
"Later, baby boy. Let's finish sorting this out first."
Heinrich sighed.
"Then it's settled. We'll break it. But first we should decide who goes where."
Roxie said,
"Baby boy goes to the Brave Little Tailor."
Lovran suggested,
"Henri, you should go to Heracles, and you, my lord, should go to Strong Hans."
Roxie clapped her hands together.
"Butler, that's a very good instinct. I would have suggested the same. That's why we will guard the castle until you return. Good, now please, Big Buddy, go and break the stone, and you, baby boy, come with me."
And so Heinrich went to split the stone, and Ben and Roxie went outside, where Ben immediately broke down in tears again.
"I'm sorry… I didn't want to put you in danger."
Roxie took him into her arms.
"Shhh. It's okay, baby boy. You'll learn and make up for your mistake. I believe in you."
So they stood there together, embracing, and Roxie said,
"The Brave Little Tailor will help you. I'm sure of it."
Nahum was fighting inside his head when he heard the voice of the Pied Piper again.
"You know he's only using you."
He thinks back.
"No, I mean something to him. He needs me."
The Pied Piper laughs loudly inside his mind.
"Do you really think that? If that were true, why does he never include you in his plans?"
Nahum thinks, searching for a counterargument. Then Samuel's magical imprint speaks again.
"Because he knows the plans are too complex for him."
"Phh," the Pied Piper scoffs.
"Come on, we both know it. He wants his plans to always end with him on top. But fine, keep lying to yourself."
Nahum stands still. Life was so much easier when he only had one voice in his head, and that was Samuel's voice.
He refocuses on the present. Where exactly was he?
The woodcutter Franz was floating in a magical bubble in front of him while Nahum absorbed his magic.
"Let me out, you bastard!!" Franz shouted.
Nahum shrank the bubble a little.
"Here's the deal: You stay quiet, you survive as a normal human. You're loud or say anything, and you die."
With that, Franz fell silent.
Then Nahum continued.
"You know, it's almost a bit embarrassing that I didn't kill you the first time. But in the present, it seems I'm much stronger than you. Might also be because of all the little magical stuff I absorbed."
Finally, the bubble burst.
"Oh, and just to be sure: Wénzì zhàdàn. Say a single word about today and your head explodes. Oh, and don't even think about texting, that's included."
With that, Nahum left the shop and felt even stronger. Then he looked at the list and started the engine.
Once he has all of them, he will be stronger than anyone else, and then Samuel can put his plan into action.
The Pied Piper spoke again.
"And why don't you follow your own plan if you're so strong?"
Since he had no answer, he simply ignored her.
"So, so, no answer. Fine."
Meanwhile, Samuel is pleased. His plan is coming true, and with Nahum as his loyal servant, nothing will stand in his way.
And once the plan is finished, he won't need Nahum anymore.
He alone will become a god.
He alone is above everyone.
He alone unites it.
He alone is smart, strong, and intelligent enough.
And he alone is enough for it.
But for now, he must keep wearing the mask and keep winning.
bonus
A few months ago, Ben once asked Henri what Lovran actually is.
Henri answered:
"He's a half-vampire. To be precise, something like my uh uh uh cousin. Best and Bell had two children, one being my uh uh uh (a lot of uh) grandpa and my aunt, with just as many uhs before that. So, my aunt then had a child with a vampire, and then they had two sons. And he then also had another son, Lovran, who is actually more of a friend than a butler, but likes to insist on formality."
Ben was satisfied with that.