Planet Areana. Empire of Largoth. Capital Parn
The Spotted Lyrs Tavern
A few hours later
Accommodation was a complete disaster. This year, there was an unusually large influx of visitors to the capital, making it difficult to find a bed, let alone a room. And spending the night with a group of complete strangers in a small space with everyone practically breathing down your neck was just too much for me. Plus, hygiene and security were a real boon for thieves of all stripes. But for some reason, they left me alone. I saw them following me a couple of times, but that was it. Either they didn't like me, or they had too many weapons hanging on me, and you couldn't spot anything valuable at first glance.
Looking around, I thought, "I'd better find a place on the street," and then reminded myself, "Which, by the way, wouldn't have worked either." Homeless people were being chased away by patrols scurrying around the city in all directions.
I've already considered looking for a place to live outside the city or living in the countryside, somewhere nearby in the forest—it's cleaner than here, but then I'd have to pay an entrance fee every day to get back into the city. However, I'll probably have to bear the cost, since I couldn't find anything here.
True, now we need to return to the Spotted Lyrs tavern.
I went there immediately upon entering the city to leave my drake. I paid a couple of silver coins for his stable-keeping for a few days and tossed another one to the caretaker boy so he'd take better care of my Tiir. Then I visited the establishment itself. I needed to speak with the owner about finding me buyers and getting something to eat. The innkeeper promised to find the right people for the same five percent of the profits. I also showed him the Tarrlok swords and daggers, informing him that I wanted to sell them too. I kept only the highest-quality ones for myself, which was essentially what I'd taken from the least valuable shaman.
"Hmm," mused Lyrs (that was the name of the innkeeper, though I still couldn't figure out why he was spotted), looking at the weapons laid out before him. "I need to do some searching. But by evening, I reckon I'll find buyers for both the artifacts and the swords. I'm not sure about the daggers. But I'll ask around, too."
"Okay," I agreed.
And now I was returning to the tavern, where we were supposed to meet the people who would be interested in my goods.
The hall was full, but I immediately spotted three mages sitting separately. Lyrs nodded to them. I approached their table.
"Good afternoon, gentlemen," I greeted. "I understand you're interested in something I have."
"Good morning," the young man nodded, though it seemed to me that the man in charge was a middle-aged man, as he was the most powerful mage of them all. "There's this. Lyrs said you have a lot of interesting things."
"I don't know how much," I shrugged, "but I'm ready to show."
"Then let's go," the young mage said, waving his hand toward a separate room. "I don't think it's wise to show off both the artifacts and the money here."
"I agree," I nodded, and we went into a small separate room, which, apparently, was used for such purposes.
I already knew the approximate difference in price for my artifacts. I'd browsed the stalls, visited the market, and checked prices in stores and with individual vendors. It turned out that everything here was about three to four times more expensive. And for the most powerful artifacts, you could ask for six times as much. I had three of the latter. It was these that primarily interested the trio.
The mages were completely indifferent to the plants; it wasn't their specialty. But as Lyrs told me when we were walking here, he found a buyer for them, too, though she's supposed to arrive a little later. It doesn't matter to me, the main thing is to get out of the city before the gates close.
The mages first selected the most promising artifacts and immediately counted out two thousand gold pieces for them to me.
"The first and second years of study are paid for," I commented to myself on this event.
Then, after a brief consultation, they selected a few more artifacts. Apparently, they, too, were on a limited budget. I only got six hundred gold pieces here. They looked at the rest with regret, but said they couldn't spend more on artifact blanks. However, if I stayed here for an hour, a couple of their friends would be here and wouldn't mind buying a few things, too.
I didn't mind. I still had about five hours.
While I waited, I managed to have dinner and pay the innkeeper's share. I still didn't have enough for five years of training, the minimum I needed to attend the academy to earn a magical certificate and a mage's seal.
Of course, there were shortened courses and other departments where people with lesser abilities, seekers, and rangers, were trained, but I needed to establish myself at the academy. And it was desirable to gain access to both its library and the repository of ancient mage artifacts, which Deya and Kasis had told me about along the way. Only mages and those studying in the magical departments had access to these. After all, as I realized, if I wanted answers to my questions, I needed to dig in precisely this direction: ancient magic and ancient artifacts.
As Lyrs had promised, a girl, clearly a life mage, soon approached. She looked very happily at the plants offered to her and selected almost all the artifacts imbued with life force. As she explained, she was buying all this not for herself, but for their group: they had pooled their resources and were buying the ingredients they needed from around the city. They then crafted amulets and healing potions from them and sold them.
I was surprised that they sent her alone.
She hesitated, but then admitted she wasn't alone, and that her security detail was apparently sitting in the hall. That's why I noticed three strings coming from her!
"Okay," I agreed to the deal and earned another thousand gold.
The only plant I had left was this strange one I'd acquired from the searchers at the outpost a few days earlier. I decided to keep that one for myself. It was just too unusual.
And the total number of artifacts I have has significantly decreased. Only about a dozen stones and other small debris remain.
Literally right after the girl, two more breathless guys flew in, who turned out to be the very same acquaintances of the three magicians who had left here almost an hour ago, and they bought several more artifacts from me for one thousand one hundred.
There were no more customers for magical artifacts in sight. I gave Lyrs his due percentage and waited for several aristocrats who wanted to see my weapons.
The innkeeper couldn't really help me here, as the price for such a weapon, given its quality, was average, no more than ten gold pieces. But in that quality, it wouldn't be of much interest to anyone, while as a trophy, it would be. However, he couldn't appraise it in this case, suggesting I wait to see how the customers reacted. He only warned me not to be too brazen and not to overcharge, but also not to go too cheap, otherwise they would simply consider the item unworthy of their attention.
Basically, it's just like ours. No one's going to buy a piece of toast for twenty bucks, but a crouton—no problem. Although both are fried bread. So we work on our image. And use our brains a little.
I need to at least come up with a story for my weapons. Although there's really no need to invent anything here. The swords and daggers belonged to three of the most powerful Tarrlok shamans. It's unlikely anyone else has such weapons. As Kasis said, they treasured their shamans very much. And that's absolutely true. Of course, I don't know much about the shamans' power, but buyers don't need to know that.
Next, you can separate and rank the weapons, saying that this one belonged to their commander, and these two swords belonged to the lieutenants. This will at least increase the value of one of the swords.
I looked over the weapons lying before me and chose the sword with the unusual hilt.
"It would be suitable as the blade of the biggest villain." – Especially since its blade was a little wider than the others. Overall, it was slightly different, but still distinctive. I put it aside. And just in time.
Four young men entered my room, or rather, three humans and one ogre. All dressed in expensive clothes. As the innkeeper had said, they were true aristocrats, ten generations of noble ancestors shining through, and even more so in the ogre. I was even surprised why they had such weapons. After all, such families usually have them, and most often, they had been earned by the hands of their ancestors. But these young aristocrats had come to me for some reason, and I didn't mind.
"Sorry," I said, a little taken aback, "but I only have three swords," and pointed to the weapon lying on the table. I hadn't even thought there would be competition for such a product.
"We know," one of the guys nodded, "but we would still have taken a look, especially since we were told that there were also daggers."
I looked at the young people, and a certain plan, I don't know if it was clever or not, immediately started spinning in my head.
"Okay," I replied, "here are the weapons," and explained, "I only pulled out the swords, since Tarrlok combat knives are almost all alike. But they once belonged to different warriors, and I didn't want to break up the sets and was going to sell everything as is. But if you're interested…" I pulled five more knives from my almost empty knapsack. I kept three for myself, just in case. I moved two to one sword, two to another, and the last one to the third. "That's exactly how everything used to hang on the wall in our house," I said. "And then I started babbling about how the weapons used to belong to powerful Tarrlok shamans, that this was the sword of their leader, and these two were their assistants." "There was one more knife," I sighed, "but it's lost." And after a short silence, I added, "So I wanted to resell this last set for less."
"How much do you want for this sword?" the ogre asked.
There was no doubt what he would point to first.
In response, I said something slightly different:
"Dear sirs, I don't want to offend anyone, but I need at least fifteen hundred gold pieces for everything, enough to cover my tuition at the academy, which is why I'm forced to sell our family heirlooms. So I'm prepared to give everything for that amount. And so I'll sell the most valuable sword last. Or I'll give it all at once to whoever—" I looked at them suggestively, "—whoever buys it all from me en masse."
The aristocrats looked at me in surprise. I pressed on:
"Don't doubt it. The blades are truly Tarrlok. Any blacksmith will confirm this, and any mage can verify that they belonged to shamans. If you like, you can do it right now. But I don't have any contacts in this city, so I'll trust you with this."
This got them thinking in the direction I wanted. They were no longer pondering whether to buy the weapon or not, whether to haggle over it or forget about it altogether. They were now figuring out how to verify the veracity of my words, and if everything I said was true, then they would be holding truly unique battle trophies.
I wasn't worried about it at all. I could still sense residual magical energy in the weapon, as any gifted person would. And the fact that it was a Tarrlok weapon would be obvious to any blacksmith.
"To Sereul?" the man asked the ogre.
"Yes, I thought of him too," he nodded. He turned to me and said, "We have one expert. But watch out, if you dare lie..." The ogre's eyes narrowed dangerously.
I looked at him calmly:
- Let's go.
Before leaving, I approached Lyrs and gave him the last of the money owed. He looked at me in surprise:
- You haven't received anything yet!
"I got it," I shrugged, "but they don't realize it yet."
As soon as these four tried to catch me in a lie, they had already subconsciously accepted the truth of my story. Now they needed a little confirmation.
It turned out to be quite a short walk. Although for some reason I thought I'd have to walk at least to the artisans' quarter. But we went to see a friend of theirs who runs a gun shop nearby.
"Sereul!" one of the guys shouted, entering the small shop. "Where are you hiding?!"
First, loud footsteps were heard, which made the floor shake slightly, and then, I couldn't even believe my eyes, such a huge monster came out, with a palm the size of my head.
"What are you making noise about again?" the giant said.
"It even talks?"
Now I know for sure that tarloks are far from the largest you can meet in this world.
"Sereul, we're here on business," the ogre began immediately, nodding in my direction. "He says he has Tarrlok swords that belonged to shamans. Can you verify that?"
"And he asked the right question," I chuckled, "I won't even have to interfere."
This giant turned his gaze to me and rumbled:
"Put it out," she said, pointing to the counter.
When I laid everything out in front of him, he, without even looking closely, determined:
"They're definitely Tarlok ones, their forging. They're a bit small, admittedly, but if you say they belonged to shamans, then that's possible."
I saw a thin stream of energy extend from him to the weapon.
"Hm. I wasn't lying," he said, "it definitely belonged to the shamans."
The aristocrats paid me, took their weapons, and left. I packed the gold in my backpack and was about to leave too, when a voice from the counter stopped me:
- How did you heat them up?
Turning around, I noticed the giant looking at me with curiosity. I thought: he hadn't told them anything, and it seemed he was simply curious and didn't want to get caught like that himself, so I replied:
"Having told the pure truth," he said, and, smiling, he left his shop.
And Sereul, still looking in surprise at the door that had closed behind the northerner, thought: "How can you deceive someone by telling the truth?"
It's very simple. You don't have to say it all.
* * *
Leila stood, biting her lip.
She'd been told not to come here alone. But she'd disobeyed. And now she'd paid for it. However, she couldn't have done otherwise. There was no time to look for anyone, and she'd been told that here they could tell her about her father's fate. So she went.
Leila knew the area itself was a seedy place, and the establishment where she'd arranged to meet her was even more so. But she still had no choice. She had to know what was wrong with him!
Just like last time, it turned out to be another trap.
Leila barely escaped the building she'd been lured into, smashing the door with a battering ram and scattering her attackers. She then tried to evade pursuit through the city's back alleys, but she didn't know this part of the capital and so she took a wrong turn. They cornered her in a dead end.
Leila tried to cast the air fist spell again, but it didn't work. The place where she was now standing was covered by a magic suppression shield. Among her pursuers was a mage, and a powerful one at that.
She stood with her back pressed against the wall, her small dagger held out, and watched the people approaching her with a hunted expression. They didn't look like simple bandits. They would have started jeering and mocking a girl caught in their clutches. And besides, there was a mage present who could create a magic suppression field.
Leila had watched her father and older brother move countless times during practice duels, and she was certain she was surrounded by professional warriors. Or rather, assassins.
"I won't give up," she thought in despair.
Although no one offered her anything, only a muffled command from one of the attackers sounded:
"Kill," which confirmed who these people really were and why they came.
Behind her.
And two people walked towards her.
"I don't want to!" the girl thought in despair.
But no one questioned her wishes. She had been hunted for a long time, and she knew it perfectly well. Leila had no idea whose orders the mercenaries were carrying out, but she assumed that the recent deaths of her close relatives, the attack on their mansion, and the subsequent disappearance of her father, which had completely unsettled her, were all somehow connected to everything that had happened.
And now these unknown beings have reached the last representative of the Leres dragonoid line. Her. It was not for nothing that her father had insistently asked her never to leave the academy alone. Or at least to always try to be with someone. But that's not always possible. And besides, the girl couldn't remain locked within the academy's walls forever.
Leila had long since understood why her father had taken such measures to ensure her safety. But she had violated them herself. So now she acted at her own risk. And now she had paid the price. Finally, she had been caught.
The killer was only a couple of steps away from her when he suddenly began to slowly sag. A moment later, the second one repeated his movement.
The girl looked in amazement at the dark dagger hilts protruding from the necks of the mercenaries lying on the ground. Her three other assassins noticed the same thing. But it didn't save them.
Behind them, as if from the darkness itself, a figure materialized and with one long, drawn-out, yet fast and sharp movement, slashed the mercenaries standing in front of it somewhere at the level of their necks.
"Three in one blow." The girl stared in amazement at the strange gray shadow, which, while not dissolving into thin air as Leila had somehow expected, stood there staring back at her.
And only now did the girl realize the suppression shield had fallen and she could use magic. But that was no longer necessary. Everything that was necessary had been accomplished by this seemingly unreal shadow.
The vague, blurry figure took a few steps forward. And the girl saw that her savior was an ordinary young man, a human, plainly dressed, tall, with straw-colored hair. He looked like he came from the northern kingdoms. If he was a mage, he was a weak one.
The man calmly leaned over the body of the nearest mercenary and, indifferently, even casually, as if he did this almost every day, wiped his sword on his clothes. Then he straightened up and, looking at the girl, asked:
"Are you okay? Are you all right?" However, after looking around at the bodies scattered around, he glanced once more at Leila's face and commented, "I think I should see you out."
And the girl was ready to swear that this simple phrase implied no objections. Her savior was simply stating the fact that he would escort her home. And for some reason, this only calmed her. For the first time in a month, the girl felt truly safe.
True, they didn't leave right away. Human went through all the bodies and collected the mercenaries' weapons, wallets, and amulets, placing their belongings in his own sack, which he then slung over his back.
"I'm ready," he informed her. "But you'll have to show me the way; I don't know the city at all." He stepped aside, letting the girl go first.
Leila, trying not to look at the corpses, jumped out of the dead end and looked around.
"We're going to the Inner City," she said.
The guy shrugged indifferently:
"As far as I understand, he's somewhere there," he said, waving his hand to the left.
The girl didn't know this, but if she ended up somewhere familiar, she would quickly get her bearings.
Ten minutes later, they reached the city market; it turned out her savior knew the way. She, thinking out loud, said she could definitely get to her home from there. He heard this and, with a simple nod, led her to the right place. Half an hour later, they approached the gates leading to the Inner City.
"Would you like to have dinner with me as a thank you?" a slightly embarrassed Leila asked the stranger just before the gate. He hadn't introduced himself the entire time.
The girl didn't want him to leave. Not because he made an indelible impression. No. It was just that she finally felt truly safe with him. She didn't understand what was creating such an unusual aura around this silent human, but it was definitely there.
"Forgive me, lady," the man seemed to realize that Leila was an aristocrat, "but I must refuse your request. I couldn't find a place to stay in the city, and I need to leave before dark, otherwise I don't want to spend the night in the city jail. They say it's not very comfortable there." And the guy smiled.
The girl slowly bowed her head, but suddenly, unexpectedly even for herself, she said:
"Would you like to stay with me?" She waited for his answer with bated breath.
"Won't I bother you?" he asked. "And won't your relatives mind?"
"No," the girl shook her head, "I live alone."
The guy looked at her in surprise and chuckled:
"I certainly agree, it would be foolish to refuse such an offer. But you can imagine how your friends and neighbors might feel about this, right?"
"Yes," the girl lowered her head, "but I have my reasons for that."
"I saw," the guy nodded, "as many as six reasons."
"Why six?" Leila wondered, and only then remembered the magician: "It really is six."
And she sighed, confirming his words.
"Then I am at your service," the northerner said, bowing his head to her with a very gallant and somewhat unusual air. "Allow me to accompany you." After taking a few more steps, he said, "Thank you, you've been a great help."
The girl looked at him and smiled for the first time since the attack.
"Well, yes, but you were just passing by and had nothing to do with the fact that I'm walking next to you now?" She looked him in the eye with a sly look.
It was at that moment that her soul felt light and free. The weight and burden of the last few days, which had been subtly weighing on her, fell away, and she realized that this unusual man, who still hadn't introduced himself, had saved more than just her life.
"By the way," she said mockingly, "don't you think that living in the same house with a girl and not even telling her your name is the height of bad manners?"
"Sorry," he replied sincerely, "it somehow slipped my mind. My name is Stepan."
"A strange name. Rare. Tenacious," the girl thought, glancing sideways at the human walking calmly beside her. "But it suits him."
And she introduced herself:
- And I'm Leila.
"Nice to meet you, Leila," he bowed his head again.
So they walked to her deserted mansion. But now, after a long time, a spark of life had flickered within it. And the girl was overjoyed at this. And also at the fact that this strange man, whom someone had called by such a strange name, was walking beside her.
"That's it, it's time to leave the city," I decided as I left the store.
There is just under an hour left before the city gates close.
But I didn't get far. Literally a few minutes later, a tall, slender girl flashed past me, a dozen meters away. I didn't get a good look at her face. And I'm not sure she even noticed me. I wouldn't have paid much attention to her either, if she hadn't been a mage and hadn't been pursued by a group of six guys, including a mage. That's what piqued my interest.
If the thief is a wife, an unfaithful lover, or a daughter they're trying to return to her father's house, that's one thing. But if they're trying to rob her, rape her, or kill her, that's quite another.
After observing the actions of the pursuers, I immediately dismissed the possibility of theft and rapist. Their professional training was palpable. People like these mercenaries don't go after ordinary thieves. And they usually don't bring back their wives. But if you need to eliminate someone quickly and effectively, these are the kind of gentlemen you need. They sounded familiar. I often see someone like him when I look in the mirror.
So, without a second thought, I followed them. If someone hired such seasoned professionals to eliminate a girl, even a mage, it could only mean one thing: she was a major nuisance to someone. And no one would do such a thing out of jealousy or unrequited feelings. This reeks of money and big politics. And if that's the case, then the girl is just a bargaining chip.
I don't like it when someone steps over others for their own interests. So, we must try to keep the girl alive.
"She runs fast," I thought as I caught up with them, "but it looks like she doesn't know the area at all."
It's so stupid to fall into the simplest trap!
Try to avoid going to unfamiliar places, especially on important business. And if you do have to go somewhere, research everything thoroughly beforehand. Otherwise, you might end up in a dead end like this.
Okay, we see the enemies. Although, no, one is missing. The mage. He's standing a little further down the street. Sure enough, he covered the girl with the familiar field. As I understand it from my previous experience with it, it prevents anyone within its range from using magic. Which means the girl will have to rely solely on her own strength. Which is hardly possible. I myself would be wary of going head-on against this tightly knit group of five fighters without a pre-planned approach.
But that's not necessary now. They don't know I'm there. It worked out well.
The attacking commander sent the two outer mercenaries forward, while he and the other two remained in the center of the small alley. This is when swordplay comes in handy.
Let's see what can be done.
The first thing we need to do is take out the mage, especially since this can be done quietly and unnoticed by the rest of the group. He has no protective field.
Next, we take out those who have moved toward the girl tensely clutching a small dagger.
And the last three are the three in the center. Paradoxically, killing these mercenaries, lined up in order of height, will be the easiest. The key is to work quickly and accurately. The strike must be powerful, precise, and follow a precisely calculated curve to sever three spines at once.
It's decided. I'm taking action.
I appear quietly behind the mage. Strike. I clamp my mouth shut. I hit him in the ribs. Where the air will not whistle from the lungs or the victim himself wheeze. A silent death and a quick one. The long blade also pierces the heart. And here, any weapon has a blade at least twenty centimeters long. All the knives are combat knives, even those used in the kitchen and on the trail.
I quickly remove all the trinkets from his belt and throw them in my pockets. I'll put them in my bag later.
Next, a step along the wall. I need to knock out the ones in front first.
Two dagger throws. Both hit the target. Too close to miss, at least for me. And most importantly, a smooth, even, sidestep to the right.
I move my hand along a precisely calculated trajectory. The sword is its continuation. And I feel a slight resistance and twitch of the blade. Just three times.
A perfect strike. Just like a true samurai. Although it would have been even better with a katana. But my sword is a slightly different shape.
Three bodies, still not realizing what happened, fall dead to the ground.
I know it's bad form to attack from behind, but I don't care. I achieved my goal. The girl is alive.
I look around. There's something useful on the bodies. I see amulets, weapons, maybe some money.
But first, I'll check on my rescued girl. And finally, I get a better look at her. The darkness didn't let me see it at first, and I wasn't really looking closely, but this girl was beautiful, too.
However, if the elf had an ethereal beauty, and the vampire girl a cold aloofness bordering on icy calm, then there was something else here. A wild, animalistic passion shone through the face of the girl standing opposite me. Fiery red hair. Slightly swarthy skin. And a chiseled, aristocratic face.
Although the other two also had a trace of ancient noble blood.
I was also surprised by her aura. It seemed to consist of two layers. One was the outer one. That's what I saw now. And the second was compressed, hidden from view. For now, dormant. But several direct channels ran from the girl's head to this inner layer. And if we assume these are control channels, then that means she can somehow influence this inner layer of the aura.
"What the hell is this? And who is she anyway?" I thought and took a couple of steps forward.
"Are you okay? Is everything alright with you?" I asked. Then I thought about the stupidity of my question; the bodies lying at my feet spoke volumes about it. "I think I should walk you home," I said.
If we hurry, I'll make it to the nearest gate just in time to go outside.
As I expected, the girl turned out to be an aristocrat and lived in the Inner City. So I walked her to the edge of the city. There was no need to go any further.
I should have advised her to try hiring security or otherwise take care of her safety. But at that moment, the girl offered to have dinner with me as a thank you. I would have gladly done so, if not for one small obstacle: I needed to leave the city before the gates closed, which I informed her of.
My new acquaintance, a stranger—we still haven't introduced ourselves—was very upset that I had to leave. It was clearly visible on her face. I thought she would say goodbye and go home, but she did the exact opposite. She invited me to stay with them.
This surprised me a little, but I saw that she sincerely wanted this.
"That's strange," I thought and asked if her relatives would be against it.
That's when it became clear the girl lived alone. That was the reason for her desire. After all, what had happened hadn't been without consequences for her, and she was very frightened. So, without much hesitation, I agreed, although I warned her that in the eyes of others it might seem a bit frivolous. But, as it seemed to me, she couldn't care less. She just put it differently.
After some time we came to her house.
Frankly, I expected something more majestic. As it was, it was a small, two-story building, unimpressive compared to the others. However, unlike all the other houses, this one alone had its own, albeit small, magical source. Apparently, it was related to air magic. But I wasn't sure. I'd never seen anything like it before.
Looking around the hall and the first floor, I saw many paintings, but for some reason they were all covered with dark fabric.
But one huge group portrait, practically covering the entire wall, was uncovered and struck me. It depicted Leila, as I understood it, with her entire family. And it was painted relatively recently. The girl had hardly changed. But the mourning ribbon made me wary.
"Are these your relatives?" I asked.
"Yes," she answered quietly.
I didn't ask any further. It was already clear to me what I would hear.
It turns out that all of the girl's relatives died naturally or violently. And they were planning to kill her in front of me. I don't like this scenario.
If there's such a possibility, I'll try to cover it. And so, pointing towards the second floor, he asked:
– Can I find a room next to yours?
"Why?" Leila asked fearfully.
"This way I can come to your aid faster," I said seriously, nodding toward the portrait. "I don't want him to be wearing a mourning ribbon like all the others."
"Thank you," she said quietly. "Come on, I'll show you where to settle in."
We went up to the second floor.
"This is my brother's room. You can live in it." Leila pointed to the door. "Mine is next." And a little embarrassed, she added, "These rooms are connected by a common door," finishing quietly, "I won't lock it."
- Don't worry. I won't show up unless it's absolutely necessary.
- Thank you.
"You're welcome," I chuckled and reminded her, "Someone promised dinner. But, as I understand it, all the servants have already left?" I looked questioningly at the girl.
"Well, yes," she nodded, "but I actually wanted to make it myself. Like I always did for my parents and family."
- Ah, well, if that's the case, then I don't mind at all. I'll be only too happy.
And we went into the kitchen.
I tried to distract the girl from her sad thoughts. And eventually she began to smile again, as she had on the way home.
Dinner was spent chatting. I learned that Leila was already a student at the academy, studying elemental forces management. She was an air and water mage. Her father had paid the entire tuition fee in advance. She had already completed her first year.
Leila occasionally showed up at home, on holidays or weekends, to make sure everything was in order. She was in town now, trying to find out something about her recently missing father, which is what led to our meeting.
She lives permanently on the academy grounds, sharing a room with another girl who arrived to study from a remote settlement on the outskirts of the empire.
They, by the way, also have an estate, also on the outskirts, but she's never been there. She'd love to go there to see what's what. But she's afraid to do it alone. Those places are too dangerous. And it's best not to go there without an armed detachment.
That's how I learned almost her entire story. About her studies. About her dead family. About her missing father. And about what she does here.
All she found out about me was that I was planning to try to get into the academy. Maybe I'll get lucky.
That's when she told me that the appointment would start tomorrow, so I could go and see how things were going.
I agreed. Especially since I was planning to visit there myself. I needed to at least roughly understand how the distribution artifact worked. And, as always, I needed to try to keep a low profile, and to do that, I needed to understand what was actually required of me and what I'd have to do.
Then we went to our rooms. And for a long time afterward, I heard the girl fussing behind the wall.
And then came night. That's when I realized the girl was being hunted for real.
Residence of Lord Craig, Dragonoid of Leres
Three o'clock in the morning
Several shadows are creeping down the hallway. Their target is in the house, and there must be only one. It's in the second bedroom on the second floor. The client provided a very precise plan of both the house and its magical security system. Therefore, the nocturnal killers were able to gain entry without any problem.
Their accomplices had already carried out a hit on this building once. But the target wasn't there then, and now they're obligated to carry out their obligations to the end.
Here are the stairs.
They go up to the second floor.
The next door is needed.
The shadows move forward. A few more steps and they will be there.
Suddenly, another shadow appears. Not even a shadow. A ghost of a shadow.
A quick flash of short blades – there is no one else in the corridor except this ghost.
"So where should I drag you?" mutters this strange ghost.
And, looking at the open doors of his room, he drags the bodies there one by one.
* * *
It was a wild night. I slept for maybe three hours. And then I slaughtered the assassination squads sent after Leila.
The unknown individuals acted so professionally that I even wondered if there was a counterpart to our Japanese assassins here. Their clothing, equipment, and weapons were practically identical.
There were five squads. They entered the house every hour. And so on until dawn. Groups of three fighters.
I spotted the first one by chance. Among them was someone with strong magical abilities. I detected his presence. Then I discovered the others.
They crept through gaps in the house's magical defenses. Either they were prepared in advance, or someone leaked all the plans and schematics to someone else, and only someone who either installed them or had direct access to them could have done so. And there shouldn't be many of those. I'll figure it out later.
Fifteen corpses. And we couldn't take a single one alive. They often managed to react to my presence. So I had to simply eliminate them.
There was probably a lookout outside, but I couldn't spot anyone. Cleanup teams were showing up too regularly.
The last detachment penetrated just before dawn.
There was no one for the next two hours. So I went to examine the bodies. But the search yielded nothing of particular value. I still couldn't figure out who they really were.
In the morning, I had to escort the girl to the Academy of Magic. As far as I could tell, she was safe there. And so I spent the entire day in ambush. But no one else showed up at the mansion.
That night, I carried all the bodies to the Inner City wall, using the same route the unknown intruders had used. I needed to discourage whoever had ordered Leila from contacting her again, so I left a message that would surely reach him.
As a result, the night passed very quickly for me. I was busy. Only in the morning did I fall asleep in the room and on the bed that the girl allowed me to use.
She also had some of her brother's clothes, but they were too big for me and hung like a sack. So I preferred to wear what Anyuta had made for me.
My message thundered throughout the city this morning.
And in the afternoon I finally headed to the Academy of Magic.
Residence of the Seyist family
Morning
"Lord," a frantic voice called out, "Lord, wake up! Look out the window!" Someone was knocking on the door of the senior lord's bedroom.
He didn't like being woken up in the morning, especially since he'd overindulged a bit yesterday with his so-called business partners. Although, of course, they were more like accomplices.
"Lord, come on, look!" the insistent knock repeated.
"We need to get up," the lord forced himself to get up and began to climb out of bed.
And only then did he notice the small, huddled lump lying nearby.
- Who is this? - He didn't remember her.
And no wonder. The guards often snatched random girls off the street. And the lord didn't care who he was tormenting at night. And he wasn't worried about that now, either. So the elder Seist shoved the girl the guards had brought him yesterday off the bed, glanced at her, and spat:
"Get lost, you bitch. If anyone finds out anything, your family is finished." He kicked her in the face.
She, trembling slightly and crying, covering herself with one hand, nodded and, gathering her dress, which was torn to shreds, ran out into the corridor.
"I'm tired of it," the sadist behind the mask of a refined aristocrat said lazily, looking after her. He threw on a robe and finally walked out into the corridor. "What's wrong?" he asked, glancing at his senior bodyguard.
"Sir, did you look out the window?" he asked.
"No, of course not," the lord shook his head, "I have nothing to do."
"Then do it now," the bodyguard said, pointing to the nearest one.
The lord shrugged and slowly approached him. And then froze.
On the wall opposite his house, the inscription read: "I know." And it was laid out with the corpses of Night Brotherhood assassins. The very ones who were supposed to carry out his final order. Or rather, how it was laid out. The bodies were pinned to the wall with their own weapons. And the most disgusting thing of all, all their heads were turned toward Lord Seyist's residence.
Is Craig back? Or is it something else?
But the warning was clear and was intended for the one who was now looking at him.