Chapter 347: Dressed for the Dark

The dark market offered six trades and no explanation of what accepting any of them required. Rias expanded each option inside the quarantined interface. Opening Protection showed examples involving escort work, debt collection, and guarding outlaw shelters. Procurement covered restricted materials and living targets, while Information asked for academy schedules, hidden routes, identities, and evidence records. Execution needed no expansion.

"Recovery," Martin said.

Cassandra nodded. "Broad enough to justify retrieving people, goods, or records. It does not obligate us to provide anything the market considers property."

"The wording may still be used against us," Rias warned.

"Then we read every contract before accepting it," Katherine said. "Slowly enough to annoy whoever presents it."

Alexandra leaned over her sister’s shoulder. "Can I threaten them while you read?"

"Only if they need to believe I am the reasonable one," Katherine said.

Alexandra smiled. "They will."

Katherine studied her sister for a beat, apparently deciding that arguing with that level of confidence would only prove the point. "Then try to look dangerous without starting a fight before we get through the door."

Rias selected Recovery through the quarantined copy. Black light folded around the option.

[Trade Declared: Recovery.]

[Recover people, goods, evidence, debt records, contract seals, or escaped property on behalf of a registered patron.]

[Guest crews remain responsible for disputes concerning ownership, consent, and valid claim.]

[Unregistered Recovery Crew created.]

[Patron: Recovered Contact Seal.]

[Guest Access: Limited.]

The phrase escaped property tightened Alexandra’s mouth. "If a living target says no, it is not property to us," she said. "Whatever word the market uses."

A second prompt appeared.

[Guest presentation may not display academy affiliation, guild affiliation, public bounty status, or protected real-world identity.]

[Select temporary trade masks.]

The system generated a row of plain masks and dark clothing. None would conceal distinctive equipment once it was drawn. Breakwater Aegis and the Nightglass Longbow would retain their silhouettes, and Rias refused any disguise that interfered with Gloamneedle or Shadow Step.

Katherine chose a smooth black half-mask with silver around one eye. Her raven-black hair would have been recognizable from public footage, so the market veil darkened it to a muted brown. Alexandra selected a sharper mask and then rejected the first three coats for making her shoulders look narrow.

"We are infiltrating criminals," Martin said. "Not attending a premiere."

"A criminal can still recognize poor tailoring," Alexandra replied.

Cassandra stood behind Martin and adjusted the collar of his dark coat. "This cut exposes the Worldshell plates at your shoulders. That may identify the rarity of your armor."

Katherine tugged one side lower. "Covering everything will make him look as though he arrived expecting an inspection."

Alexandra loosened the belt. Cassandra tightened it again. Alexandra loosened it a second time.

Martin looked down at three sets of hands changing his clothing. "Am I entering the market or being prepared for sale?"

Katherine stepped back and studied the result. "Even a Recovery crew needs someone who looks expensive enough to survive the work."

"Expensive?"

"Your coat," Cassandra said. "Not you."

Alexandra smiled with too much satisfaction. "I disagree."

Elisebeth stood at the far end of the evidence table, pretending the entire process had nothing to do with her. When Martin raised the Breakwater Aegis, the lower strap caught against his sleeve. She crossed the room, pulled the sleeve free, and tightened the strap by one notch.

"That would have restricted your wrist," she said. "Do not interpret this as participation in whatever they are doing."

"I’m interpreting it as useful."

Elisebeth gave him a look that warned him not to push his luck and returned to her place at the table. Rias had already finished dressing. Her trade mask covered the upper half of her face, and a plain gray cloak hid every recognizable part of her equipment except the handle of Gloamneedle.

"The market veil changes appearance, not movement," she said. "Anyone who has studied our public combat footage could still recognize us. Avoid signature abilities unless the alternative is worse."

Rias’s gaze shifted toward the companions who would make the six of them impossible to forget. Angel was already in Martin’s pocket dimension, and Katherine had not summoned Kinnami. Kumoe still stood beside Alexandra.

Alexandra crouched beside Kumoe instead of opening the subspace immediately. "I don’t want to hide you. I also don’t want someone recognizing us because they’ve memorized our fights. Will you stay in your space until I call you?" The curious head whined. The sleepy middle barely opened her eyes. The right stared at Alexandra long enough to make the answer feel like a negotiation rather than an order.

At last, the right head bumped Alexandra’s shoulder. The curious head followed with considerably less dignity, and Kumoe entered the personal subspace by her own choice. Alexandra watched the light fade before standing. "I still hate this plan."

Katherine adjusted the edge of her half-mask. "If the cover breaks, Kinnami comes out. Until then, we enter as six people and nothing more memorable than that."

Martin felt Angel shift faintly through the bond and hoped the pocket dimension contained no public bronze cups. Elisebeth glanced at him. "Why did you just make that face?"

"Parental concern. She can eventually become an island and still somehow find the one bronze object she’s not supposed to swallow."

Elisebeth considered that and, for once, found nothing worth arguing with. Rias set the final evidence conditions. The original Contact Seal remained inside three wards in her inventory. Only the quarantined copy would interact with the market. The Sairren return disk stayed with Martin, while everyone received a private retreat notice that could be triggered without speech.

Cassandra opened her mouth, then looked toward the others first. "Any objections before we enter?"

Alexandra adjusted the edge of her mask. "Katherine leads social contact. I support her. You analyze contracts and money. Martin keeps people off us. Rias handles routes and evidence. Elisebeth stops the walls from listening."

"And you?" Martin asked.

"I make anyone asking too many questions decide they have somewhere else to be."

Katherine gave her sister an affectionate look. "That is the role we discussed."

"I improved the wording."

Elisebeth lifted her staff. "I would like the record to show that I am entering a criminal market with three women who spent longer dressing Martin than checking their own equipment."

"Your record is denied," Cassandra said.

The response came dryly enough that Alexandra laughed, but Cassandra’s eyes moved toward Rias afterward. Rias did not join the joke. She checked the seal one final time, then pressed her thumb to the Recovery mark. A vertical line appeared in the evidence-room wall.

It widened without breaking the plaster. Blackness filled the opening first, followed by a corridor lit with suspended lamps whose flames gave off no heat. The passage extended farther than the lodge building could physically contain. No location appeared on their maps. No dungeon notice announced where they were going.

Only one message waited above the threshold.

[Guest right recognized.]

[The market remembers what you owe.]

Martin stepped through first with Breakwater Aegis ready in its equipment slot. The others followed.

Rias entered last. The doorway closed behind the six humans without leaving a mark on the wall.