One week later.
In the Black Raven Kingdom, in an unmarked street that was so deserted that it looked as if it hadn't had footfall for decades.
The street was filled with shops and houses that were all shuttered up, and there was a general sloppiness to the area that made it seem as if whoever had fled from here had done so in a hurry.
The street was quite famous in the surrounding area for once housing an organization, of sorts, which had, at that point, been one of the strongest and most mysterious in the entire continent. Anyone who found out about it would find themselves abducted and then killed, and all those who sought to do business with them would arrive wearing masks to cover their identity. Yet, it was whispered that no matter what masks anyone used, the organization had a method to discover who they were, and they even used that information as a bargaining chip if needed.
Below that street, even though it looked as if no one had inhabited it for a very long time, there was an area that could only be gotten to using an underground entrance and a pathway that had actually been set to be demolished, but had not met its fate because of the fact that the one who had been sent to do so, had been greedy and had not wanted all of the effort that had gone into constructing such an elaborate underground area to go to waste.
He had seen an opportunity, and he had let it remain, and to this day, he had never had to regret that action. Instead, it had actually slowly evolved into an area that was quite similar to what it had been before, and this was seen as quite an interesting irony by those who knew the reality of what used to go on here.
In that path, there were multiple doors on both sides, and in one of them, there were three people seated around a table.
They were playing a simple game of chance, with the objective being that the one who could accurately guess the side two dice would show after being shaken would be the one who would win all the money that was being placed for betting.
'Fighters only,' it said on a plank which hung outside that door, and all of the three appeared to fit the brief. Although they didn't have rippling muscles that were too huge to even fit into normal clothes, what each of them did have was an agile powerhouse of a body that could definitely do any task that was given to it.
There was a fourth man, and he was the dealer. In his hands was a round bowl made of glass, and inside it, two dice were swirling around as he had artfully moved the bowl all over the place with just one palm covering its opening, making clear that this was something that he did every day.
When he was finally done, he placed the ball on the table, but because of the way he had been swirling the bowl, the dice kept rolling around while being watched carefully by all three who were present. The bowl was transparent to make it clear that there was no manipulation being done, as the dice would never leave the sight of the players.
After a few seconds, the dice finally fell to the surface to show the numbers six and four, seeing which one of the men in the room exclaimed, "It's my lucky day! Ha ha!" Before swooping forward with his hands to drag all the money that was on the table to his side.
As he did so, among the other two, one of them had a frustrated expression on his face as he began to curse the bad luck that had struck him today.
Yet, the other looked as if he was considering something, and after a moment, he got an expression as if he had made a decision.
In a movement that was too quick to follow by anyone who wasn't at least an Exalted Human, the man stood up and pulled out a knife from his bare skin. All weapons were forbidden in this room, but he had somehow sneaked one in.
Even before anyone could react and scream to call the guards who were standing outside, the knife smoothly went into the forehead of the dealer, and while the dealer fell to the floor, the man lunged on top of him and followed him on the way down while making swift motions with the knife.
By the time the dealer hit the floor, the man had already dug out a blob of flesh that was dripping blood, and it was glowing faintly as if there was some kind of light inside it.
"A Mageroot. I knew it. So he was using a camouflage spell? Well, this guy was sloppy in actually mimicking the real dealer, because that guy has a notorious addiction to alcohol… Each time we played, I would always notice him glancing at our glasses of wine, but this one seemed immune to it. I guess I was right."
Saying this almost to himself, the man caressed that grotesque blob in his hand before finally crushing it and setting his eyes on the one who had exclaimed with joy before.
"Now then… How shall we settle this, my dear friend? Don't even think about trying to kill me, as I can send a message and make all of this public before even the first blow lands. After that, I'll see from the afterlife how your gambling business continues…"
A few minutes later, this man found himself happily whistling a tune while walking along the road parallel to the abandoned street. His pockets were flush with gold coins and Ether blocks that had been given in order to keep his mouth shut regarding the taboo behind cheating which had been broken in that room, and as he casually kept looking in different directions, no one would have been able to guess that he was actually keeping track of two men who had been sent to follow him to kill him later on so that he would never talk to anyone, ever again.
Yet, this man had a way of walking that allowed him to weave and bob into and out of crowds, as a result of which he was soon out of the sight of these two, and even a third tracker who had been sent after the man in the room had found out that the first two were facing difficulties.
After ensuring that he had succeeded, the man headed to a room in one of the many inns in the capital of the Black Raven Kingdom, where he opened the door to find someone who looked exactly like him.
Taking off the trinket that had melted into the skin of his chest, he allowed his real appearance to be shown.
He had blue, striking eyes that would captivate anyone who looked into them, and as he stretched his back which he had kept bent until now under the thick coat to hide the fact that he was actually taller than the one he was impersonating, it turned out that he stood at least 6 feet tall.
His features were such that he would have stood out no matter where he was, and there was also a general sense of mischief about him, as if he was always up to something. This was most prominent in his eyes, which sparkled like those of a trickster.
Throwing almost all of the gold coins and Ether blocks onto the table in the room except for a few, he said, "It's done. You should have seen their faces… you're not known to be very smart, though, but I don't think there'll be any problems. Just make sure you're not around."
Seeing the large pile of treasure in front of him, the eyes of the man inside the room widened before he said, "I can't believe those guys were cheating me for so long! To think that they even let me win a few times to make me believe that I could keep going back for the chance to win all of my losses back…"
Chuckling, the one in front of him said, "That's their strategy! The whole appeal of gambling is that if you win a little, it will make you feel invincible, no matter how much you lose, to make you keep putting in money. They switch around the dealers using a camouflage spell exactly like the one that is in this handy trinket of mine."
Looking up at him, the other man said, "I was never able to notice anything! Anyway, time is short. Thank you for everything, Lan."
Waving his hand, the one who had just been called Lan said, "Don't mention it, I've fully taken my payment. You helped me out in the city when I first came here, and I don't forget my debts. How could I stand to the side after finding out that you were knee-deep in debt due to these random fools? Where are you headed, by the way?"
After thinking for a bit, the man said, "Eldinor, maybe. I have a few relatives over there."
As soon as he heard this, Lan leaned forward and said, "That's great! Here, take this communication trinket. If you ever find a trinket that can cast an advanced camouflage spell, then contact me. It is exactly the thing I need to take my…ahem, services to the next level. I heard from someone that advanced levels can even change the make-up of a body to make you taller or shorter if needed. This one only changes the surface appearance. I have nothing to complain, though, as even this is rare."
The man's eyes lingered on the trinket in Lan's hand as he heard this, so he couldn't help but ask, "Yes, I had never heard that something like this was even possible… Where did you get it?"
In response, Lan looked around as if he could never be sure that there wasn't anyone around, and then finally answered, "The Tricobra Society. You know, the one that hastily left all those years ago, on the day when the Church incident happened in Lanthanor. Many say that those two are connected, but what I found out is that these guys were using the distraction caused by the Church to stay here, and with the Church being beaten back, they had to leave, too. I don't know who was beating who, and where they went, so don't ask me. They did say they would be back, though. Well, enough chit chat. Get going."
Nodding and getting a worried expression on his face, the man got up and packed up the valuables before leaving the room after thanking Lan one last time.
With a sigh, Lan prepared to use the communication trinket on the wall of the room to ask for dinner to be brought up, but he paused as he suddenly felt something.
His entire body tensed up, and in a flash, he turned around and threw a knife at the door.
It looked like that spot was empty, but the moment before it passed…the knife suddenly ground to a halt, and a man wearing a grey-colored cloak that hid his face appeared.
"Lan. Just Lan? No matter how much I searched, I couldn't find a last name. Is this the trinket that you are looking for?"
Saying so, the man threw a trinket shaped like a coin with a button toward Lan, who caught it with wide-open eyes as he had seen it before.
The moment he caught it instinctively, a needle suddenly appeared from the trinket and pricked his finger, following which a tiny droplet of blood dripped to the floor.
The moment before it hit the floor, the tiniest fragment of that droplet of blood was suddenly whisked away by a spell, and a second later, a voice appeared in the cloaked man's mind which made him smile with the happiness of one who had found water after searching for it for days, parched and desperate, in an empty desert.
[Blood analyzed. Hidden Bloodline: Shapeshifter detected. Concentration: Low. Chance of Awakening: Low.]