Chapter 81: Kadre

Chapter 81 -081: Kadre

She found him, not the other way around, which told Mikael something useful, because all he had given the boy was a single name and a number.

He was walking towards the house where he had spent the night before when a figure dropped from the roof into the alley just beside him. He had noticed someone following him, but he had paid them no heed.

She had been behind him for three streets now, quiet as breath on a cold morning, and had made no effort to hide it once she noticed he knew.

She was young by human estimates, somewhere around her early twenties, and lean in a way that probably suited her trade perfectly. Her hair was dark, cut short enough to avoid being grabbed, and the fire in her brown eyes complemented her rebellious look. Most of all, and a bit disappointingly, she was just an Adept rank!

Inwardly, Mikael sighed. What a waste of my time.

He spared her only that much of a glance before continuing on his way.

“You’re the one asking around,” she stated matter-of-factly.

“I am.”

Kadre sheathed her dagger and followed Mikael, albeit at a safe distance.

“Pretty face for a boy buying directions to a criminal.” Her eyes scanned him now, moving over every inch. The white hair. The pale skin that showed on his face and seemed to absorb the dim blue moonlight. His clothes were not exactly noble, but they did seem a bit out of place in this part of the city. No visible weapon meant he was either a pure mage or a fool, and neither would be perilous to her unless he was at Grandmaster rank.

“You certainly don’t look like someone who’d need to steal anything.”

“I am not,” Mikael agreed. “I’m the type who has lost something and wants it found. That is a different matter from mere thievery.”

“Lost.” To Kadre, the word seemed to hold another lie within itself.

“Where?”

“I don’t know.”

A pause. Then the corner of her mouth twitched as she was uncertain whether to smile or frown.

The answer of a man who found the question tedious.

“You don’t know what you lost, or you don’t know where you lost it?”

“Both, in a sense. Actually, I know roughly what it looks like and how it feels. I don’t know what it has become, who holds it, or under how many locks it may be sitting. Sorry, they. I need someone skilled at finding such things, things that can’t be found by following rules. I am inclined to believe that is where an expert like you comes in.”

The doubt was visible in his eyes. He didn’t need someone who would require him to go out of his way to protect a person who couldn’t protect themselves—in this case, herself. This was going to be a race against the Celestial Realm, and while they couldn’t directly interfere with him, the means to mess with him indirectly abounded!

“That’s three jobs, Mikael,” Kadre said a while later, breaking his train of thought. “Search, find, and recover.”

“It’s one, actually. You’re simply better and more well-versed in parts of it than I am.”

“And what are you good at, exactly? ‘Cause all I’ve seen is a man who talks like everyone should do whatever he says.”

He sighed. The little house stood before them.

“A misconception, I assure you. Everything I ever needed, so far as I can remember, I have taken by myself. But I also recognize when I’m not the right tool for a job. That is a rarity among you mortals.”

He was getting annoyed.

Mortals? Kadre thought. Was he not human? She filed the observation away.

It was a small slip, and she catalogued it alongside the others: the way he stood, the way he spoke, and the fact that he had not once looked at her hands.

“Kadre,” she said, extending a hand. “The man who showed you home was my old man. Not a family business, though, if you want to call thieving a trade.”

Mikael took her hand in a firm handshake. This was the third time, or was it the fourth, that he had partnered with mortals, with humans, to achieve a goal. So far, it hadn’t been bad. This time looked like it would be a bust.

His grip was firm and unhurried, and cool even through the fleece of his glove.

“I’ll call it whatever keeps you willing to do it.”

“Careful there, pretty boy. I haven’t said yes.”

“And I haven’t said you could agree yet. Your rank is too low for the kind of thing that lies ahead of us, should we ever work together.”

She was flustered. “Huh? I am an—”

“An Adept rank. No shit, I can see that. Forgive the language.”

She was at the same rank as Adrian’s deceased relative, the cousin with the bandana-sounding name.

To have sensed her rank that easily meant the guy, young as he looked, was probably a Grandmaster, since those were the people who began to develop very good mana perception.

“Tch. Let’s talk about the price. Don’t let the ranks fool you. What am I looking for, and what is it worth to you?”

“Relics,” Mikael replied. “A bit different from what you may consider relics, but relics all the same! As for their locations, I have nothing. Maybe the families that love keeping really old things, churches, temples, and the like.”

“So you were serious about not knowing their locations!?”

“I don’t tell deliberate lies, I’ll have you know.”

A pause followed as she considered the offer.

“And payment? I do hope it’s motivating enough, or I shall leave,” Kadre stated.

“Fine. You know what? I’ll indulge you and your weakness. Five hundred thousand gold crowns upfront,” Mikael replied, without knowing the weight of what he had just said. “For every relic we find that I need, you get eight hundred thousand gold. And since there are about three to five, I don’t really remember… Let’s…”

“Relax, pretty boy!” Kadre had almost lost her composure. “Do you take me for a fool?”

The lad was dumb enough to hire a criminal with a base payment equivalent to the profits of a very wealthy merchant.

“Do I look that easy to deceive?” she added, deciding to push her luck.

She watched his face for the flicker that would tell her he had slipped, that the number had been a mistake. There was none. He only waited, as one waits for a clerk to finish counting.

Four hundred thousand gold was a sum that meant she would have no need to work for a really long while. In some cases, it was what some noble families earned in revenue in a year. And here this guy was, tossing it about without a care. His family must be loaded. Jackpot.

“Is the price low? Fine. A million upfront, then. For all the unexpected troubles we may face, we’ll talk that out later. Then one million two hundred thousand for every relic found.”

The sale of the Rank Breakers was going well, and their scarcity helped fuel the rise in price! The Duke had also sent him over five million gold in something they called a “storage ring,” which was similar to the comm ring, except that the storage ring held a subspace in which to store money and other little things.

What Mikael needed now was not money that could potentially help him start up a smaller duchy. He had no need for mortal status. His aim had always been transcendence above everything.

He took a ring from his pocket and tapped on it. A small image rose, showing the amount of coins inside.

A cool five million gold coins!

The coins did not clink, and the ring did not so much as warm. Five million gold sat quietly in the palm of a boy who treated it like pocket lint.

Kadre nearly lost her mind completely! Some part of her willed her to attack, take the coins for herself, and escape this life of high-profile thievery that could end her any day.

But there were a few things that had been consistent about Mikael. He had no opening at all. All the while, they had walked with his back to her, and yet she couldn’t find anywhere to launch a sneak attack without him stopping her dead cold. Literally.

The second thing she had noticed was that the boy had zero qualms about killing her outright. She and those like her in this part of the Empire deemed themselves brave and rebellious, but they still feared the brute force of the Empire’s law. But he, with the condescending gaze in his eyes and the way his hands twitched whenever she came too close for his comfort…

A killer, without a doubt.

She had spent her whole life learning which people to avoid, and none of that learning had prepared her for someone who did not seem to need to be avoided at all.

“Have you one of these rings, Kadre?”

“No. It’s a risk to me.”

Damn it. The amount involved in this was mind-blowing. And work like this tended to go awry at some point.

“Is that so? Then we shall meet here tomorrow morning, and we’ll go sort you out one, after which we shall conclude our talks. I am not handling physical coins. Good night.”

And with that, Mikael slipped into the little house, leaving the baffled wonder thief aghast.

She stood in the alley for a while after the door had closed, the dim blue moonlight on her shoulders, her hand still faintly warm from the handshake. Then she shook her head, laughed once under her breath, and let the night swallow her.

Interesting.

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