Chapter 26: A Noblewoman Saw My Stolen Skills and Started Investigating Me

The man didn’t seem to enjoy the answer.

Raven didn’t care.

He pulled out the two mercenary badges he’d recovered from the cannibals’ camp.

Placed them on the counter.

The clerk’s expression changed immediately.

"Where did you find these?"

"Seven miles southwest of the mill. Abandoned farm."

She picked up the first.

"Marek Tol."

Then the second.

"Jessa Verin."

The man with the glasses lost his amused expression.

"They disappeared three weeks ago."

"They’re not missing anymore."

The clerk looked up.

Raven continued.

"Group of six. Cultists. Cannibals. Hollow Father."

Garrick took a small step backward.

Raven noticed.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"You’re bad at lying."

Garrick pressed his lips together.

The gray-haired clerk turned toward him.

"Did we have reports of cult activity in that area?"

"No."

"Disappearances?"

"Travelers disappear."

"Two registered mercenaries."

"The investigation found no—"

Raven interrupted.

"I found bodies hanging from hooks in a barn."

Silence.

Several nearby conversations died down.

The gray-haired woman didn’t take her eyes off Garrick.

"I’ll need a full report."

Garrick said:

"That’s a matter for the Guard."

"When our badges start showing up among cannibals, it becomes our matter too."

Raven picked up his backpack.

Not his problem.

He’d provided the information.

They could do something with it.

Or not.

Either way, it wouldn’t affect his dinner.

"Ashford."

The clerk stopped him.

Raven turned.

"All six?"

"Dead."

"By yourself?"

"Yes."

"Any Awakened?"

Raven remembered the leader.

"One. Level twelve."

Silence returned.

She stared at him for several seconds.

"We need to update your combat record."

"Do it."

"This could justify an early evaluation for Iron."

"What do I get?"

"Access to better contracts."

Raven stopped.

"Then do it quickly."

The woman shook her head.

"You need a formal evaluation."

"When?"

"Tomorrow, if an examiner is available."

"Good."

Garrick looked even less pleased.

Raven noticed.

That improved his mood slightly.

"One more thing," the clerk said.

"What?"

"Don’t accept anything tonight."

Raven raised an eyebrow.

"Why?"

She pointed at his bandages.

"Because if you come back tomorrow with another Awakened corpse, I’m going to start charging you for the paperwork."

Raven considered that.

"Reasonable."

He left.

---

Evening had already swallowed the last of the daylight when Raven stepped out of the House.

Greyhaven was entering its second life.

Magical lamps glowed atop street posts.

Taverns opened their doors.

Freshly paid mercenaries began spending money at a rate that explained why so many of them remained poor.

Raven needed an inn.

Then food.

Then a bath.

Probably not in that order.

He walked down a commercial avenue.

His body was beginning to remind him about every injury at once.

He couldn’t keep accumulating damage like this.

Killing above his level worked.

Recovering above his level didn’t.

At some point, he would need to find a Trait related to regeneration.

He added another item to the mental list.

Then someone bumped into him.

Child.

No.

Teenager.

Fifteen or sixteen.

Clothes too large for him.

Fast movements.

"Sorry, sir."

He kept walking.

Raven took three more steps.

Then reached for the pouch holding his crowns.

Empty.

He stopped.

"Optimistic."

The boy was already running.

Raven didn’t chase him.

He pulled a copper crown from another pocket.

Small.

Round.

Solid enough.

The boy was forty feet away.

Raven threw the coin.

Kinetic Acceleration.

Not maximum.

Just enough.

THWACK.

The coin struck the back of the thief’s hand.

The boy cried out.

The pouch dropped.

Raven kept walking.

The teenager looked at the coin.

Then at Raven.

Then at the pouch.

Raven reached him.

Crouched.

Picked up his crowns.

"Next time, rob someone who’s distracted."

The boy clutched his hand.

"Son of a bitch!"

Raven put the pouch away.

"Work on your attitude too."

The teenager ran.

Raven picked up the copper coin.

It was slightly bent.

Interesting.

He’d used very little mana.

Which meant even small objects could become fairly efficient weapons.

He rolled the coin between his fingers.

He hadn’t realized someone was watching him.

---

Across the avenue, a black carriage had stopped outside an alchemy shop.

It wasn’t particularly large.

It didn’t need to be.

The dark finish, silver trim, and small crest engraved into the door said enough to anyone familiar with Asterian nobility.

A woman stood beside the carriage.

Tall.

Jet-black hair falling almost to her waist, with a burgundy sheen visible beneath the streetlamps.

A traveling dress in black and dark wine.

Gloves.

Perfect posture.

Two guards stood behind her.

The woman wasn’t watching the thief.

She was watching Raven.

More specifically...

the coin in his hand.

Her wine-red eyes narrowed slightly.

She had felt the mana.

Not an enchantment.

Not an artifact.

Not any conventional magical formula.

The energy had entered the object and violently altered its motion for a fraction of a second.

Strange.

But that wasn’t all.

She had sensed something else before that.

The instant Raven activated the Skill, several different mana currents inside him had responded.

Fire.

Mineralized earth.

Something connected to animal movement.

And now that acceleration.

Incompatible natures.

Far too different to normally belong to a single Bloodline.

One of her guards spoke.

"Lady Valeria."

She didn’t answer.

Raven was walking away.

The damaged coat barely concealed the bandages beneath it.

He moved like an injured man who refused to let the injury decide his pace.

He wasn’t looking around for attention.

He didn’t seem to know anyone was watching him.

Valeria noticed the Copper badge hanging from his belt.

That almost made her laugh.

"A Copper?"

The guard followed her gaze.

"Foreign, I believe. I saw him enter the House a few days ago."

"Name?"

"I don’t know, my lady."

Valeria watched Raven disappear into the crowd.

A small smile appeared on her lips.

Not kind.

Interested.

"Find out."

The guard lowered his head.

"Yes, Lady Valeria."

She turned back toward the shop.

Then stopped.

"And find out what kind of magic he just used."

"Something concerning?"

Valeria remembered the brief flash of mana around the coin.

Then the other affinities hidden inside that man.

"No."

Her smile grew slightly.

"Something interesting."

And in Greyhaven, where almost anything could be bought if someone offered enough crowns, Valeria von Nacht had just found something whose price she didn’t yet know.