The cold mountain wind against my bare, newly-regenerated skin was a sharp reminder of my predicament. I was a walking scandal and a tactical nightmare. If I soared over the walls of Caria now, the sentries wouldn't see an S-rank bounty hunter, they would see a winged, naked demon. The bounty hunter is meant to be unseen, not a spectacle for the city guards.
I tucked my wings tight and began a steep, silent plunge toward the dark trade road that snaked along the base of the mountains.
I hit the soft dirt near the treeline, my boots, infact, this clothing was the only things that had survived the fire, it is thudding quietly. I stayed low, creeping through the brush until I spotted a lone merchant wagon parked near a small creek. The horse was huffing softly in the dark, and the smell of cheap ale was thick in the air.
The merchant was sprawled across the driver's bench, snoring loudly with a half-empty bottle clutched to his chest. He was far too deep in his cups to notice a shadow passing over his cargo.
I sifted through the back of the carriage. It was a traveling tailor's haul. I didn't care for fashion; I needed utility.
I grabbed a heavy, dark traveler's robe made of thick wool. It was oversized, perfect for concealing the slight protrusions where my wings rested against my spine as well as hiding me through the deadly shades of sun. I pulled it over my head, the coarse fabric scratching against my fresh skin, a grounding, painful sensation.
I didn't stop there. I found a long, tattered shawl to wrap around my neck and head, effectively hiding my glasgow smile and the messy, short hair that had just begun to grow back.
Now, I looked like just another weary pilgrim or a low-rent mercenary.
I left a few copper coins on the merchant's lap, a silent payment for his unintentional charity and slipped back into the shadows of the road. I couldn't fly into the city, but I could walk. The gates of Caria were just a few miles ahead, and the sun was still hours from rising.
I touched the Registry of the Condemned and tucked into the robe's inner pocket. The Katt siblings, the wanted fugitive Cameron, and the 8th District. The pieces were moving. I began the long trek toward the city walls, the bounty hunter finally dressed for the kill.
I walked to the gates of Caria and I saw the gatekeeper from earlier, the same gatekeeper who helped me get past through the lines, I greeted him and a silent thanks from him, then he responded.
"Eirene, rough night huh? How's your bounty hunter was going?"
I didn't respond, I just stare at the guards eyes until he realized that I was mute, he then apologies and said.
"Apologies Eirene, I completely forgot your mute, my job as a city's gatekeeper is a living nightmare, standing at the gates day and night, 24/7 jobs but always rewarded me a few silver coins, it was horrendous."
While he was complaining about his job as a gatekeeper, I handed the status card and he tapped it in a mana stone like it is a debit card scanner back in the real world, even complex technology still resides in Andromeda.
"Well, we first met since day one, perhaps I will introduce myself, my name is Luscious Granhart, the city gatekeeper."
Upon hearing his surname clearly, my first thought would be the Granhart twins, Luke and Luck, in fact, Luscious had the same traits as the twins back in Town Allure, I expected to him being a brother of the twins, or some distant cousin, I tried to ask questions but my non existent tongue lend out a single puff of air.
As to hide my embarrassment, I took the status card and handed the silver coin, there I left and proceeded to the only place that knew the Katt's siblings identity, the Luminous Knight Bureau Association in the 4th district.
The gates of Caria were a stark contrast to the deathly silence of the mountains. Even in the dead of night, the city breathed with a rowdy, neon-tinted energy. Torches and magical lanterns bathed the cobblestones in flickering gold, and the air was thick with the smell of roasting meat and cheap ale. Groups of lower-ranked adventurers stumbled through the streets, boasting of their kills and clashing their tankards.
I pulled my stolen robe tighter, the heavy wool scratching against my raw skin. I moved through the crowd like a ripple in water, present, yet passing unnoticed. To them, I was just another battered traveler. They didn't see the S-rank ichor beneath the fabric or the monster that had just devoured a Cyclops.
I made my way toward the Bureau, hoping to log my progress or perhaps find a late-night clerk who could track the Katt siblings' official records. But as I reached the massive iron-bound doors, I found them locked tight. The glowing magical seal hummed with a dim, closed frequency.
The world seemed to tilt slightly as the adrenaline of the hunt finally bled away, replaced by a crushing, bone-deep fatigue. My blood-mutilated arm flickered, its mana becoming harder to maintain so I dissolved it like it was nothing, returning back to my old mutilated arm. I couldn't wander the streets like this, and I certainly couldn't meet Nautilus Cotton at the CKBA until I looked less like a victim of a house fire.
I turned away from the Bureau and headed toward the residential outskirts, where my small, modest house sat in the quiet shadows of the lower district.
There, I saw Renny, the 3rd district gatekeeper, sleeping while holding it's spear, I awoken up just by tapping his body timidly, then awoken up.
"E-Eirene?" he yawned
I just stand there over the dim lights of the gates, I handed the toll and the status card like a normal citizen, he yawned indefinitely and said.
"You know Eirene, I knew being a bounty hunter is hard, but being a gatekeeper is the hardest, I didn't know I have to stay up late just for the protection of the people in the 3rd district…" then yawned.
I felt bad about Renny because he was a 3rd district gatekeeper at this point, but I needed to go to my house, I felt that the sun was about to rise, so I snatched back the status card in tired eyes and went to my property. House 132
The walk was a blur of aching muscles and dark alleys. When I finally reached my door, I fumbled with the key using my one physical hand. The lock clicked, and I stepped into the cool, silent interior.
The house smelled of dust and old parchment. It was a cold place, no hearth fire, no family, just a staging ground for a ghost. I leaned my back against the closed door, sliding down until I hit the floor.
The heavy door clicked shut, sealing out the noise of Caria. In the sanctuary of my home, the bounty hunter could finally breathe.
I moved with a weary grace, hanging the stolen, soot-stained robe and my leather purse onto the coatrack. My blood wings unfurled fully for the first time since the fight, massive, translucent crimson structures that filled the small room, their light casting a soft, red glow against the stone walls. They twitched, shedding the last remnants of mountain dust.
I walked into the small washroom, the air already smelling of the cedar oils I kept there. My hands, one flesh and one of molded ichor, reached up to unbind the shawl and the last of my undergarments. Finally, I reached for the eyepatch.
As it fell away, the scarred, hollow socket where my eye used to be was exposed to the cool air. I caught my reflection in the darkened window, a mosaic of new, pale skin and the permanent jagged line of my glasgow smile. I looked less like a girl and more like a weapon that had been broken and reforged too many times.
I stepped into the clawfoot bathtub. The water was lukewarm, but to my raw, regenerating skin, it felt like liquid silk.
I sank beneath the surface, letting the water muffle the world. I stayed under until my lungs burned, watching the blood-ichor of my mutilated hand ripple through the water like ink. For these few minutes, I wasn't an S-rank hunter or a survivor of a massacre. I was just Eirene, soaking away the filth of a village that had been burned in an instant.
When I finally broke the surface, my single green eye was clear and focused. The Katt siblings were heading to Cameron. Cameron was the key to Elias. And tomorrow, Nautilus Cotton would tell me exactly how deep this rabbit hole went.
I stepped out of the bath, the water dripping off my wings and onto the floor. I didn't bother with a towel yet; I simply stood there in the silence, a phantom of red and white, waiting for the sun to rise so I could finish what I started.