Chapter 219: Back to Business

Sunlight was streaming through the gap in the dormitory curtains when Arthur finally woke up on Sunday morning.

He didn’t move immediately. He lay flat on his back, listening to the distant sound of breakfast bells ringing across the academy quadrangle.

His left wrist ached from the Keeper fight. The muscles in his shoulders felt like they’d been ground against stone.

It was the best he had felt in weeks.

He brought up his status window.

Name: Arthur Vance

Level: 38

Primary Class: Phantom Sniper (Unique)

Secondary Class: Assassin

Arthur closed the interface, still pleased to see Assassin listed beneath Phantom Sniper.

He threw the blanket off and swung his legs over the edge of the mattress. "I’m going to eat half the dining hall."

"Leave some for me," Felix said from the other side of the room. He was sitting at his desk, methodically applying protective wax over the fresh gouges across the steel face of Aegis Bulwark. "I need to pay Brunhilda to fix this again before Combat Conditioning on Tuesday, and she’s going to charge me triple for bringing it back two days after her last repair."

"Take some of the silver from the lockbox," Arthur said, reaching for a clean shirt.

"We haven’t appraised the silver yet," Felix pointed out, buffing a circle of wax over the scarred steel.

"Then we’ll get it appraised," Arthur said. He flexed his left hand as he pulled his sleeve down. The tendon tightened, but the sharp pain of a fresh tear was absent. "Are Emily and Chloe meeting us at the warehouse?"

"Noon," Felix said. "Assuming you’re actually ready to deal with Sylvia today instead of staring at your class window."

After breakfast, Arthur and Felix headed down to Warehouse Nine. It was nearly noon when they arrived.

The main floor was already busy. Two junior hunters were cataloging salvaged spearheads near the loading bay, while Sophia sat behind her desk, checking a stack of toll receipts.

Emily and Chloe were waiting by the front counter.

Emily had the heavy, matte-black dagger wrapped securely in an oiled cloth resting on the wood. Chloe was leaning against the counter beside a leather pouch of uncut garnets and tarnished silver bars.

Sylvia stood on the other side of the desk, looking from the ancient treasure to Emily’s wrapped dagger, and finally to Arthur and Felix as they walked up.

"I thought you said you were taking the weekend off to rest your wrist," Sylvia said, her gaze fixing on Arthur.

"I did," Arthur said, stepping up beside Emily and slipping an arm around her waist. "Mostly."

"Uh-huh." Sylvia picked up one of the uncut garnets, holding the dark stone up to the light filtering through the high warehouse windows. "And I suppose you found a pouch of unpolished gemstone sitting in a ditch while you were resting?"

"Actually," Emily said, leaning comfortably against Arthur’s side, "we found it in an old lockbox. Along with the silver."

"And the knife," Sylvia noted, eyeing the wrapped bundle. "Did you rob a museum, Arthur?"

"The salvage came from an abandoned ruin outside the city," Arthur said honestly. "Nobody’s looking for it, and nobody else has a claim."

Sylvia studied him for a moment. Then she pulled a blank appraisal ledger toward her. "Fine. Tolan can assess the stones tomorrow. He knows a gem cutter in the merchant district. We can weigh the silver here and pay out at the municipal exchange rate."

"What about the dagger?" Emily asked, tapping the oiled cloth. "I want to keep it, but I need to know what the enchantment is worth before we settle the rest."

Sylvia pulled the cloth back slightly, revealing the leaf-shaped black steel.

"It’s a returning weapon," Arthur offered. "If you throw it, it comes back. It uses mana."

Sylvia frowned, folding the cloth back over the blade. "If you want a proper valuation on a bound enchantment, we have to hire a specialist from the merchant guild. They take a percentage of the assessed value just to look at the metal."

"Can’t Tolan look at it?" Chloe asked.

"Tolan is an alchemist," Sylvia said. "He doesn’t read ancient weapon arrays. We either pay the specialist fee, or you guess."

Arthur rested his hand on the counter. Array mechanics.

He remembered the first-year student he’d met during the festival preparations. A girl with impressive mana control who needed coin for her laboratory fees.

"Actually," Arthur said. "I might know someone who can read the array."

Sylvia paused, her pen hovering over the ledger. "A specialist?"

"A student," Arthur corrected. "First-year elemental and array track. Her output is terrible, but her control is exceptional. She’s starting a shift sorting cargo manifests at the south gate on Tuesday because she needs the money."

Sylvia gave him a skeptical look. "You want me to hand an enchanted weapon to a broke first-year student?"

"I want you to give her a practical assessment," Arthur said. "Bring her in, hand her something relatively ordinary from the salvage pile, and see if she can map the array. If she’s good enough, Obsidian Hand gets an in-house appraiser for magical salvage, and we don’t have to pay the merchant guild’s rates anymore."

Sylvia looked from Arthur to the wrapped dagger.

"Find out if she’s available," Sylvia said finally, writing a note in the margin of her ledger. "I’ll authorize a paid trial. But Tolan supervises whatever she touches until I know she’s competent."

"I’ll talk to her tomorrow," Arthur agreed.

With the loot handed over for weighing and appraisal, Arthur, Emily, and Chloe stepped back out into the bright Sunday afternoon sunlight. Felix had already headed toward the forge district with his shield.

Arthur stretched his arms over his head, feeling a satisfying pop in his shoulders.

"You want to test the new skills," Emily said, watching him.

"I want to see how much Assassin’s Instinct actually helps when someone’s trying to hit me," Arthur admitted. "We should book a sparring ring tomorrow."

"You want to spar against a stealth class?" Chloe asked Emily, raising an eyebrow.

"I want to see if his fancy new dagger skill actually works when the person he’s trying to backstab knows he’s coming," Emily corrected, a slow, competitive smile spreading across her face. "Shadow Step isn’t going to help much if I just turn around and punch you in the mouth."

"I’ll hold you to that," Arthur said with a grin.

"I’m not healing either of you if you break something stupid," Chloe warned them. "My infirmary shift starts at four tomorrow, and I’m not spending it re-setting Emily’s nose."

"Emily’s nose will be fine," Arthur said. "I’m aiming for the ribs."

Emily laughed, linking her arm loosely through his right elbow. "Try it, Vance."

They reached the intersection near the old market square. The smell of roasted meats and fresh bread drifted over the cobblestones from the taverns and food stalls lining the thoroughfare.

Arthur’s stomach growled as they passed the food stalls. Breakfast had been hours ago.

Chloe stopped walking. "We should eat."

"I want roast pork," Emily decided, steering them toward a tavern with a painted sign swinging above the door. "And Arthur’s paying."

"I already paid for the horses," Arthur pointed out.

"You got a second class out of the trip," Emily said, pulling him toward the door. "You can buy lunch."

Arthur followed Emily into the tavern, catching Chloe’s hand as she stepped through the door beside him.