[Context: Lady Aigumo is a jorogumo, a spider woman yokai who entered the material world by the same means as all the others. And she eats attractive single men.]

With a smile and a curt bow, Lady Aigumo shuffles into the house. The human who let her in smiles happily, only in part with a sleezy grin. The other part was the genuine extacy and happiness that all the people in the city were currently suffering from. The unnatural euphoria that hung over this city was making them all overjoyed and careless, unaware of any danger. Which would've been good, if it weren't for the cause of that happiness.

Lady Aigumo walks into the house and nods at all the people inside. She doesn't let her disappointment show upon seeing that the man wasn't living here alone. But, it made sense. The human looked like a traveller, so he was probably an outsider who came to Komiteia to bask in its sudden euphoria. Just someone who was given access to the guest chamber of this halfling family. The small humanoids smiled at her too, their unnatural happiness making them completely unaware of the danger that such a stranger might pose. They didn't even think twice about letting her inside, without any reason or cause. They were happy, and suspected nothing bad to happen to them.

The human guest smiles at her too, some sense of lust still in his otherwise overjoyed mind. She could seduce him and get him alone, but it would be troublesome with the halfling family around. Especially considering how she preferred to eat her prey over the span of days. But even these careless inhabitants might grow suspicious if she were to do that. And Lady Aigumo wouldn't even be here if she could take her time. Not with him around.

Lady Aigumo smiles and sits down around the table, smiling back at the stupidly grinning halflings. Lowering her head and trying to fit in, she can almost physically feel the presence pass by behind her. The others are unaware of the large creature, both in supernatural sense and of the large shadow passing by the window. Baku was looking for her, hunting her. Lady Aigumo knew it instinctively, just like how she instinctively knew she had to avoid him at all costs. That damned elephant-thing had given her a paradise hunting ground of careless prey, only to claim them all for himself. Not even as food for himself, he was just protecting them. That damned altruistic yokai.

Lady Aigumo sighs relieved when his presence passes, she managed to elude him. But he'd be back soon, so she couldn't stay here for long. Not even when the human made such an easy target, one that no one would miss if she'd play this right.

With another bow and smile she gets up and walks out again. The human seems a bit disappointed and it begins to dawn on the halflings that they had no idea who she was or why she had entered their house. But it didn't matter, Lady Aigumo is already back on the street and headed in the direction that Baku came from by the time that either could voice their questions.

With her same mask of polite and alluring smiling she continues walking through the streets and nods at the people that pass her by. They all smiled their dumb goofy grins and nodded back. Only a female mercenary grunts and nods back to her in a reluctant way, the only person who didn't seem to be captured by the euphoria that plagued this city. it made sense, there was no conflict right now. Even the otherwise so consistently terrible barrier of Emiria was currently desolated and lacking any problems. This was certainly not a good time for a mercenary who had to make rent.

This made Lady Aigumo think. Even with the current joy, there had to be quite a lot of people like that about. People who could fight, and would attack anything with enough bounty or 'evil' to warrant their death. The woman she just saw wasn't suitable, she looked like she wouldn't even listen to someone without proper compensation. But where there was one female mercenary, there had to be a dozen male ones. And Lady Aigumo knew how to make men do what she wanted.

Yes. There were bounty posters all over the continent, speaking of evil spirits and a reward to defeat them. And Baku was a spirit, though the evil part was lacking. But, that was something she could do something about.  Because what kind of spirit would make people happy and protect them without an ulterior motive? Yes, Lady Aigumo just had to find and deceive a few mercenaries or adventurers to hunt down and kill Baku, and this city would become her hunting grounds.

The mercenary shakes his head no and turns away from her, returning to his perpetual war on sobriety. Lady Aigumo smiles politely and nods before turning away. Once she was no longer facing the man, she sneers in disgust. And annoyance. For as much as these men were calling themselves mercenaries, they weren't too eager to rally to the call of glory and reward money. As much as Baku's presence had made everyone else happy and go-lucky, the mercenaries had turned to a depressed lot. A sorry excuse for fighters that were holed up in their disgusting taverns and guild halls. Without guts and without taking any risks.

The most common reason for declining her wasn't either of those two, though. No, it was greed. Her last failure had declined her for the same reason as most others; the lack of advance payment. It didn't matter how much she promised once the job was done, they weren't getting off their lazy asses without at least 10 precent in advance, if not a lot more. And there was no way that Lady Aigumo was going to pay anyone ahead of time. Not only because all the mercenaries who did accept the bounty had ended up as bloody chunks on the pavement, but also because she had no faith in the mercenary's reliability. She had no guarantee that they'd take her silver and then truly hunted down the Baku as promised. Or even keep their eyes and ears peeled for their quarry. Why would they, if they were given enough silver to drink some more?

She had only found about a dozen or so adventurers and mercenaries willing to accept her quest thus far, most of which were either rookies or overconfident. Or both. Usually both. And most of them had demanded a night with her as part of their payment. That part she had easily agreed to, though pretending to be a bit more hard to get as to not arouse suspicion. Once anyone would actually succeed in defeating Baku and come to claim their reward, she would have to dispose of him anyway. If he'd willingly follow her into an empty room away from prying eyes, it would be so much easier.

"Please, kind sir. Can you help me? Can you vanquish the great evil that threatens this city? The monster that the posters speak of is roaming these streets freely, with no one to stop him. He has the people dazed in a false sense of security and rendered them completely defenseless to his wiles. Please, tell me that you are not led astray like them. Please tell me that you have managed to strafe off his deceptive aura." Lady Aigumo says in her cutest damsel-in-need voice. "He has already taken my father from me, and several other victims. But the authorities won't listen to me, or anyone who's affected by the monster's viciousness. They are dazed as all are, unable to break their spell of euphoria. Please, valiant warrior, will you save this city?"

The mercenary looks up at her, grumpy and without bothering to put his cup back down. "What's the advance pay?"

After a few more minutes of barter and discussing, Lady Aigumo takes her loss and leaves this man to his alcoholism as well. He was the last mercenary in this bar, time to move on. Bar #4 had been a bust, only one mercenary that probably wouldn't even manage to scratch Baku. The rest was a melancholic as this city was euphoric, and almost impossible to move from their cosy bar stools. Hopefully bar #5 would be more lively.

A new face in the corner of her eye draws her gaze. A new mercenary of some kind had entered the bar without her noticing, or perhaps they had been sitting in that dark corner all along. Either way, it didn't matter. She might as well try him, and leave once he too would turn out to be a bust. He did look a bit above the average mercenary of this place, which was both promising and a good sign of wasted effort. The higher the quality, the more likely they'd ask for money up front.

With her prettiest smile she approaches him and bows curtly. "Greetings, kind sir. Can you help me?"