Leaning against the steel doors two guards stood watch over one of oldest cities, the hot sun beating against them and the red soil, as they stood watch of two colossal gates serving as the main entrance, the outer ring of Haecian territory that was Purgatory. The first guard planted his gun into the soil and rested his leg on the butt, his modern looking combat armor reinforced with steel plates...

"Hey Frank about that promotion you claimed we were going to get? Screw you, I really DID break my leg in that goo, the armor kept it from giving way until I got it off."

Staring at his partner the other guard in much lighter and much more form fitting armor sighed, face palming and resting his on his shoulder, as he punched his partner in the shoulder

"Shut up already...we got the raise, and you got your comp, so what if we're still guarding the damn doors, don't forget that thing's freakin' loaded and we're the ones who invite visitors to this 'great' city...and speaking of which...look alive, someone's coming!"

Straightening out the two assumed a far more professional stance once they spotted the two strangers wandering to the gates from the desert...

In the distance, two figures could be seen...

One of them was a fairly tall black haired girl with long hair and bluish clothing. The other was a scarlet haired girl with a hardened expression and quite muscular appearance, despite her smaller stature to her companion.

The two approached the side gradually, coming within hailing distance of the guards.

The red haired girl spoke up, "Hey there!" She waved at the guards and stopped in front of them with her partner, "We're hired hands for a job in this city. Are we allowed to pass on through?"

The first guard stared at the red haired girl and tilted his head as his partner looked them over...

"Most likely but let's continue according to procedure please ma'am, State your names, your business in purgatory and declare any weapons..."

"Pepper Slyhart." The red girl said with hands on her hips

"Emii Zephyr. I carry no weapons, but I'm a wind adept." The black haired girl stated at the guard, her gaze then straying to admiring the gate they stood before.

Pepper then took out her blade sheathed on her back and showed it to the guards for inspection. It was a fairly long weapon with a broad edge and sharp tip, glowing with a faint greenish light.

"We're here to meet a Ms. Milo. We were contracted by her at a earlier date." Pepper also pulled out the document from her pouch, proving their employment.

The guards nodded in tandem and the second guard began tapped at it as a pair of claws emerged from his gloves and he skewered them into rivets in the gate...

"That's more than enough for us for now. If you know your destination proceed, if not, head left for a block and enter the Spire to ask for directions...welcome to the city of Purgatory Ma'am"

Glancing over to his partner the man nodded and tapped it resulting in roughly similar claws emerged, allowing them to slowly push the door open enough to allow the girls entry into the city, small buildings of various make, dwarfed by large towers and sky scrapers a castle in the center of it all, and despite the busy appearance of the city there didn't actually seem to be much going on...

Pepper gave a brief nod to the guards, then turned to tap Emii, who was busy admiring the scene.

"Huh? Oh, alright guess we're good to go then." Emii said

"Comon! No slacking!" Pepper said, scowling at her partner.

The two entered the city past the guards, "Well, since we don't know exactly where Ms. Milo is, we should follow the guard's directions. He said head left for a block and enter 'The Spire'. So that's what we'll do."

The two proceeded to follow their intended plan to reach the Spire.

Unsurprisingly the spire was a pin needle shaped tower made of steel, twisting to point with a red steel door acting as their only entry point to the sparsely populated streets. As they passed through the pair would see fliers for a tournament that had started the other day...

As they walked by the area, Emii, out of curiosity, would stop to take a look at the fliers.

"Oh for god sakes. Can you keep your eye on our objective here please?" Pepper said to Emii, clearly irritated at her lack of focus.

"Pepper, you never appreciate the finer things in life." Emii said with a grumble as she turned to continue with Pepper.

"You know why we're here. Let's finish that task first before being sidetracked." Pepper told her, as they approached the big steel door to enter the spire.

At the reception desk what looked to be a young brunette android in what appeared to be a grey aviator jacket was sketching something, humming happily off key to himself as they made their way in. Besides a half dozen empty beds and a few benches near the entrance, and a ladder on the far end of the building there didn't seem to be anyone or anything else of note, as the man kept drawing...

"Awesome! A live android!" Emii said quietly to herself in excitement.

Pepper walked towards the figure, "Excuse me sir. We're new to the city. We were wondering if you could help us find our destination?"

With that the young man gave a quick examination and gave a thumbs up.

"Neato, two pretty girls and one of them's..."

Giving a slight nod the young man yawned and rummaged through his cabinet...

"Ah never mind I'd be happy to help, things have been slow around here anyway. What would you two lovely ladies be looking for?"

"We're looking for a Ms. Milo. She hired us for a job at an earlier time, so we are here for that reason." Pepper said to the android

Emii took out a notepad from her pocket and began writing in it eagerly with her mechanical arm.

Meanwhile the young man sighed and rubbed his head...

"Ah bugger, Ms. Milo....alright let's get going then"

Stretching he holstered a small white gun in his coat and began to walk with them...

"Let's get going, it's not too far away..."

Heading out the door the young man rested his arms behind his head, leading them through the winding streets and pathways, looking even as if the further they went into the city very few people seemed to be roaming the streets, with only the occasional guard and passerby being really noticeable...

"Judging from your friend with the sword you two are mercenaries I take it...or did someone decide that the gardening union needed some muscle to get things going around here?"

Pepper and Emii followed behind their leader.

"We are mercenaries. However, the details of our job is not for being told." Pepper said plainly to the android

"Amazing...this city gets more intriguing by the minute!" said Emii

"....don't mind her. She's a very curious individual." Pepper said, scowling again at Emii

The young man nodded and smiled as she...

"Then I'll keep out of your business."

Leading them to the front door of a pretty small house , sat down just outside and smiled..

"This is her house go right ahead..."

Pepper gave the man a slight nod, then proceeded forward with Emii to enter into the house. Pepper would give a few knocks first...

Opening the door for pepper a tall muscle bound woman in a tank top and sweat pants stared the two down before nodding, letting them in as Noa sat just a few inches behind the door to hide himself.

"You're the two mercenaries I hired right? Let's settle this then have a seat..."

Glancing over them she frowned as she lead them into her humble home, seeming little more than the room they were standing in, with a couch, a bed, a kitchen and a room off to the side, presumably the bathroom, though at least there seemed to be plenty of standing room

"I've called you here to investigate the death of a friend, someone murdered him and...I want to know who did it...Obviously..."

"Indeed we are." Pepper said, looking up at the woman with slight initial surprise at her stature. Both Pepper and Emii would follow the woman into the home.

"A murder mystery? I see. Do you have any leads or pieces of evidence that could perhaps start us off then? Or perhaps would you happen to guess who it might be?" Pepper asked, "Whoever did it, most likely felt ill-respect towards your friend."

"He was my business partner, and he didn't really have any enemies, he was a fairly nice guy and..."

Gritting her teeth she frowned and slammed her fist down on the table.

"Well if it was someone I had gripes with, the usual suspects were all with me, and they're too stupid and too poor to hire someone to do it for them...so it was probably a random prick getting off on his jollies..."

Sighing she grit her teeth.

"Worst part is the tournaments opened and now a whole slew of foreigners came to start the arenas so now I don't know where to start looking...the only thing I really heard was that he wasn't acting like himself before he went and kicked the bucket."

Pepper thought for a moment, "Wasn't himself you say? Perhaps then we can start by examining his agenda at that time prior to death and what he was doing? Did he leave behind any written pieces that might explain his actions? Also, could you describe in detail how he was behaving strangely?"

"It would also be a good idea to know how he died. Might provide some additional clues." Emii added in after yawning a bit.

Ms.Milo frowned and rubbed her head

"I...I dunno how he died, I found him dead in his house and the bastards haven't let me investigate further so I wanted you to figure it out..."

Sighing she shook her head and scratched her head.

"Local law enforcement's a bit apathetic so I need someone to actually examine the corpse and do their damn job...maybe you could find his agenda or whatever but...I'm not really smart enough to figure these things out on my own so I hired you guys you know?"

"Do we need a warrant of sorts to be allowed to investigate the scene of his murder?" Pepper asked, "Also, did anyone inherit his possessions?"

Ms.Milo frowned and shook her head...

"I wouldn't know, they won't let me even ask about it!"

Thinking for a moment she frowned...

"I'd get an insurance policy because I was a business partner but...if he was killed off the job so the policy doesn't pay out, so don't get any ideas!"

"Hmm, so if you were a business partner of his, mind telling me anything else you noticed about him prior to his death? Any details would be helpful." Pepper said as she snatched Emii's notepad from her to jot down notes.

Emii sighed and decided to sit down on one of the nearby couches as she looked around.

As Emii sat down she would note a small book sitting out from under the woman's bed as she frowned...

"Last week he had gotten back from a business trip to the royal quarter to report we'd completed one of our jobs, and he was feeling feeling a little woozy. A little more irritable than usual but poison had been ruled out by the doctor, so something he had seen had really disturbed him..."

Shaking her head Ms.Milo frowned and sighed.

"After that he buried himself in a bottle at the local tavern screaming about the end of days and then he disappeared a few days afterwards. After that I went in to see why he was slacking off...and I found him limp in his bed and I got a guard."

Emii picked up the book and started looking through it, examining its contents.

"The royal quarter you say? So, they might have some further answers regarding what made him act so oddly. By the way, what is the man's full name?"

Blushing a bit she stared at pepper for a moment before giving the name

"His name...oh..right...won't get far without that now will you...Terven Nosvak. He never liked his name so he usually asked us to call him terry."

She nodded though she seemed to seem even more depressed when Pepper mentioned it...

"It's in the center of the city, you'll not be getting in there without some friends I'm afraid."

Meanwhile Emii would note that it was a journal and well...it seemed to keep track of her day to day activities, depending on where she started and when she ended....from the saucy notes to the flowery if poorly written descriptions Emii would note that their relationship wasn't entirely business after more than a few weeks...

Emii would continue reading meanwhile.

Pepper finished scribing down the rest of her notes, "Alright then. We'll see what we can find." Pepper noticed Emii and walked over to her after finishing with Ms. Milo

Ms. Milo stared for a moment before realizing what they were doing, looking more than a bit sheepish as she tried to snatch her journal back...

"W-why are you going through my journal?!"

"Oh sorry....I just got carried away with my curiosity." Emii said and sighed before preparing to give the book back, before Pepper stopped her.

"Wait, this could prove useful in our investigation Emii." Pepper turned to Ms Milo, "May we borrow this? Any pieces of evidence could potentially be useful."

"T-there's nothing there but my work out and a lovestruck girl's...

Ms.Milo glared for a moment and sighed as she nodded...

"You know better than I do, I guess, take it with you but don't read it in public...my reputation will be ruined."

"Don't worry, we'll take good care of it." Pepper confirmed with Ms. Milo as she turned back to Emii, "We should probably head out and investigate some of the locations here, in particular the royal grounds if we are able to get inside."

"Want me to look for any more pieces of evidence in the book then?" Emii replied back

"Yeah, you do that." Pepper said then returning to face Ms Milo, "We'll be heading out now to continue our investigation....there wouldn't happen to be a map of this place somewhere, would there?"

[And here's the reason why I gave up on the map....]

Ms.Milo stared and shook her head...

"A map would be useless in town like this...the poor know the streets by the back of their hand, the rich have guards to escort them, the arena handles it's own affairs, the traders learn from experience...and everyone else?"

Smirking she slowly approached the pair...

"Is ripe for the picking...now leave before I change my mind about the book..."

Pepper nodded at the woman and gestured at Emii, preparing to leave with her to the outside streets.

When they were outside....

"I guess we'll be able to get around if we ask." Pepper said

"Sounds like it. Where first?" Emii

"I'd like to take a good look at the scene of the crime actually...so let's see if we can find Mr. Nosvak's house."

The pair would begin to walk down the street, hoping to encounter someone who may be able to point them towards their destination.

As they passed by the doorway they would note Noa sitting on the sidewalk waving at them as they passed, though it seemed Milo was right, there wasn't actually much to be garnered from the book besides an address, a few phone numbers, and the conquests of a warrior woman in her various battlefields...

Pepper stopped, "Ah that's right!" She turned to Noa, "Mister? Would you happen to know where Mr. Nosvak lived previously and can you take us to the place?"

Emii was once again marveling at the city around them...

Stretching Noa smirked and tapped his fingers against his cheek...

"Ah isn't that the name of the guy who was murdered recently? Why would you want to go there, it's not like anyone would let you root around without reason..."

Emii would note that while at ground level the town was pretty rickety and probably in poor repair, the spires from above, the castle and most of the surrounding area seemed to be active...and heavily guarded, sentries visible from any point in the city solely to make a point...

"So you mean not one is allowed to visit even?" Pepper asked, "Can you still lead us there regardless? We have something we need to do there."

Emii took note of the high security meanwhile....

Standing Noa sighed and tilted his head.

"Of course, it's a crime scene, I'll see what I can do but we'll see..."

With that he made his way onward and smiled...

"I'll take you there but I'd seriously like to know what you want to do at a dead-man's house..."

"We'll explain at some point." Pepper told him as the pair followed Noa.