Chapter 220: I Sold Someone a Fake Secret

Raven had lied plenty of times for work. The difference between a useful lie and a bad one was simple. A bad lie tried to replace reality. A useful one leaned on it.

He spread three crystal fragments, two pieces of metal, and one of the payment notes recovered from the group that had tried to study him across the table. Valeria sat opposite him, Roland stood by the window, and Elise leaned against the wall with her arms crossed.

"I need to sell them something they already want to believe," Raven said. "Not something impossible to verify."

Valeria studied the crystals. "So we don’t invent some completely new secret component."

"Exactly. They already know the Mk.I has a Reservoir. They know it uses crystal, mana, and organic components. If I suddenly claim the whole thing depends on a legendary stone that appears once every century, they’ll assume I’m trying to mislead them."

Roland pointed toward one of the fragments. "But if you tell them it depends on a rare version of something they already expect to exist..."

"They’ll look for it."

Elise frowned slightly. "And what exactly do you want them looking for?"

Raven pushed one of the crystals toward her. "An imported storage crystal from Varkess. Supposedly stable under extreme pressure, but prone to rapid degradation after several shots."

Valeria understood first. "That would explain why you don’t fire continuously."

"And why I reload manually, why the rifle needs constant maintenance, and why I refuse to sell it even when someone offers a fortune."

Roland added, "It also explains why you keep hunting for expensive materials."

Raven nodded. The lie worked precisely because several parts of it were true. The Mk.I consumed a great deal of mana, required maintenance, and had real limitations. None of them simply depended on a disposable imported crystal.

Valeria picked up the fragment and turned it between her fingers. "We’ll need a believable origin."

"That part is yours."

She smiled. "So you finally admit you need me for something civilized."

Raven looked at her. "Don’t exaggerate."

"Too late."

---

Valeria built the story in less than an hour. She didn’t call it a secret crystal. She described it as a limited commercial variant normally used in industrial pressure instruments and certain frontier rune systems, expensive, difficult to import, and specific enough to sound real without becoming absurd. Then she added a company. Not a fake one, but a real company that traded with Varkess and had moved similar crystals months earlier.

Raven read through the draft. "This is better than I expected."

Valeria raised an eyebrow. "I’m choosing to interpret that as a compliment."

"It was."

She took half a second before smiling. Roland watched from the window. "Are we finished with the part where the two of you turn professional approval into something uncomfortable?"

Valeria turned toward him. "Nobody asked for your opinion."

"That confirms it."

Raven returned to the document. The story had one deliberate weakness. The supposed crystal degraded after three to five shots, which meant any serious buyer would try to obtain a sample. Exactly what Raven wanted.

---

The leak needed a credible source. Valeria could move commercial information, but that tied the rumor too directly to her. Roland could spread it among mercenaries, although it would take time to gain weight. Elise was another matter.

Raven looked at her. She already appeared suspicious. "No."

"I haven’t said anything yet."

"You looked at me the way you look at a tool you’ve just decided to use."

Roland laughed. Raven continued anyway. "I need it to look like you don’t completely agree with me."

Elise watched him. "That shouldn’t require acting."

Valeria smiled far too quickly. Raven ignored her. "Good."

Elise tilted her head. "What do you want me to say?"

"Nothing technical. Only that the weapon depends on imported material, that it’s unstable, and that my insistence on keeping it operational is complicating your supervision."

Elise remained silent for several seconds. "So you want me to look concerned because you’re using dangerous biological technology that might explode, corrupt you, or kill people nearby?"

Raven looked at her. "Yes."

"That doesn’t require much acting either."

Valeria covered her mouth with one hand. Roland suddenly found the view outside fascinating. Raven narrowed his eyes. "You’re enjoying this."

"I’m trying to perform my role convincingly."

"Too convincingly."

Elise smiled. "I’m glad you appreciate my commitment."

Raven decided this had been a strategic mistake.

---

The plan moved in three directions. Valeria placed a commercial inquiry asking about availability of the supposed crystal. Roland circulated a cruder version among mercenaries: the Thunder Weapon required "blue Varkess cores" that burned out after only a few shots. Elise allowed a lesser priest to overhear part of a carefully prepared conversation about the weapon’s "instability."

The network reacted before nightfall. An intermediary requested to buy a sample. Not of the rifle. Of the crystal. That was enough.

Valeria arranged the sale through a merchant who had no idea who his real customer was. Roland had already marked three possible routes from the exchange point and two positions from which he could observe without being seen. Raven reviewed everything before they left.

"If the buyer notices surveillance, we stop following."

Roland nodded. "If he changes transport twice, I take the second contact, not the first."

"Good."

Elise adjusted her cloak. "And me?"

"You act like you’d rather be anywhere else."

"That one is too easy again."

Raven looked at her. Elise smiled. Valeria laughed openly this time.

---

The buyer arrived twenty minutes late. Raven liked that. People who were genuinely nervous rarely arrived exactly when they said they would.

The man looked ordinary: merchant’s clothes, clean hands, nothing memorable about his face. He paid too much for the fake crystal and didn’t negotiate nearly enough. That was worse.

Valeria handled the sale. Raven was never visible. Roland followed first, then Raven, then Elise and Valeria along a different route. They didn’t walk together, didn’t repeat the same streets, and didn’t speed up when the man did.

Black Hound had taught Raven something basic about surveillance. Following someone didn’t mean keeping them in sight at all times. It meant knowing where they could appear next.

The buyer changed direction three times, entered a tea house, exited through another door, and passed the crystal to a woman in a gray cloak. Roland took her.

Two streets later, she climbed onto a wagon. Raven let it move. Valeria had already identified the commercial seal on the vehicle.

"Southern district warehouse," she murmured when they regrouped. "Subsidiary company. Doesn’t appear in the primary records."

Raven nodded. "Then we follow the wagon, not her."

Elise looked at him. "You’re enjoying this."

"No."

"You seem more relaxed."

"This has rules I understand."

That was different.

---

The warehouse looked dead. A narrow facade, two entrances, one covered upper window, and no visible commercial sign.

Roland found a position on a nearby rooftop. Valeria identified a secondary door connected to an inner courtyard. Elise detected mana movement through the walls. Raven counted people: five visible guards rotating positions, and more inside.

Then he saw something worse. An interior door opened for less than three seconds. Long enough. Eight people, restrained to metal frames. Subjects.

One had something growing around the shoulder. Another had dark channels beneath the skin. A third was connected to tubes filled with blue liquid.

Elise stopped breathing for a moment. "Raven."

"I saw them."

Valeria had too. "We can go in now."

"Yes."

But Raven didn’t move. Elise looked at him immediately. "What are you waiting for?"

"The person who comes for the results."

Her expression hardened. "There are eight people in there."

"I know."

"Then I don’t understand why we’re still watching."

Raven kept his eyes on the warehouse. "Because this isn’t the main laboratory. Not enough equipment, personnel, or security. It’s a testing or holding station. If we go in now, we free eight people and lose the chain leading to whoever controls it."

Elise clenched her jaw. "That assumes they survive while we wait."

Raven finally looked at her. "I’m not waiting without limits." He pointed toward three access points. "If they try to move anyone, we go in. If they prepare an execution, we go in. If another procedure starts, we go in. If we see any sign of immediate deterioration, we go in."

Roland spoke from his position. "I can cover the northern exit."

Valeria nodded. "I’ll take the courtyard."

Elise still didn’t look satisfied. Raven continued. "I’m not trading eight lives for a lead. I’m using the time while those eight lives aren’t getting worse."

She held his gaze. "And if you’re wrong?"

"Then we go in sooner."

It wasn’t reassurance. But it was the truth.

---

Seventeen minutes passed. Raven counted every one of them. The warehouse maintained the same pattern of guards and checks. Nobody touched the subjects.

Then another carriage appeared. Not cargo transport, but something smaller and better built. The man who stepped out wore no uniform, but the guards’ posture changed the moment they saw him. Raven felt the pieces settle into place.

"That’s him."

Roland spoke from above. "Do we follow?"

"Not yet."

The man entered the building. Elise was still watching the window through which they had seen the eight prisoners. Her hand rested near Mercy. Too near. Raven noticed.

"Elise."

She didn’t look away. "I’m waiting."

"I know."

That was exactly what concerned him. Inside the warehouse, someone carried a tray of instruments toward one of the prisoners. Elise took a step. Raven saw it too.

And he knew their margin had just shrunk to almost nothing.