Chapter 115: Another Eye - X

Gron Gaven’s services were specifically identity-related. Despite still having his <Blacksmith’s Intradermal Needles>, he no longer modified magic items or created replicas of artifacts.

He was incredibly hesitant to commit such crimes in the Empire.

Thus.

Kuvie and Reazue had been surprised to see another human in the Layers Beneath—especially since that human seemed acquainted with Aventine.

When Aventine introduced himself to Gron, however, the two glanced at each other with the same confused look in their eyes.

As usual, this Info-Hunter was being... weird.

The way he talked, as if he was reading into people’s surface thoughts—Kuvie always found it mildly terrifying and annoying. After all... it felt a little intrusive.

And rude.

’Yeah,’ Kuvie watched as Aventine read Gron’s inner dialogue and replied against the latter’s silence. ’Definitely rude.’

Reazue, on the other hand, was thankful that Aventine was so easy to talk to.

He just had to say a few words and the young human would miraculously nod his head in complete understanding.

So, as Reazue expected, the chat between Gron and Aventine ended in a few exchanges—with Aventine doing most of the talking.

Hearing it from a third-person perspective was odd. One had to piece together half their conversation from one party’s words alone.

Anyway, when Gron understood why they were here, he took a look at them, scanning them up and down. His dark brown eyes gleamed with a criminal kind of keenness.

"...It’ll cost you—"

—Bam.

A pouch filled with gold coins slammed onto the counter, and Gron just sighed after a moment’s surprise.

"Alright, let’s get to work then."

** *

I watched as Gron opened several different drawers on the wall, retrieving various stationery materials and organizing them on his desk, just an arm’s length away from the counter.

Textured parchment, some kind of wax, thin gold plates and copper frames, some dyes and a few flaps of leather, and finally a mystical-looking thread I identified as something obtained from the Empire itself.

Indeed, these criminals were tacitly approved—and sometimes even funded—by the Walvaskaz Empire. Either by its nobles, that one existence hiding in the shadows and playing the Game of Walvaskaz... or simply by the Empire’s Guards.

A measure of control was being exercised through their funding and support, making it so that the criminal activities here were never truly destructive beyond measure.

It also meant that any criminals who went through here weren’t above the surveillance of the law.

While I absentmindedly pondered these things, Gron swiftly completed our identification documents. We each had three papers: one that dictated our birth and physical details, another that described our family histories, and the third was our tax identification document. All of these things were properly stamped, woven with the appropriate margins, and imprinted with the corresponding enchantments.

The only reason why I could tell that it was fake was that I knew who made it. With a scan of [Absolute Awareness], I discovered that it was indeed indistinguishable from the real thing.

Gron’s handiwork was worthy of having created the <Counterfeit Sword of Light>.

Of course, these three documents were only the most basic ones. Luckily, any other identification document was more or less optional for what we were going to do.

Our faces and submission materials for the upcoming conference were much more important in comparison.

Gron swiftly got to work on that too.

With a few flicks of his mana imbued into an engraving pen, he charted out the details of our new appearances on a leather-wrapped cube. Tracing our figures by eye, he also created the appropriate features using several specialized enchantments.

This part of the job was a lot more intricate and took much more time.

While waiting, Kuvie and Reazue sat down on a bench nearby and watched the sparse traffic.

I also looked around.

Gron’s booth was located in a long, winding corridor that was wide enough to fit several carriages.

Different booths and workshops were inlaid on the walls, accessible via the chaotic roots of the Living City.

The myriad races here were composed of adventurers, criminals, and anonymously dressed people.

There weren’t any of the Empire’s Guards stationed here, but this particular district was within the jurisdiction of a Cyclops named Cel. He was the unofficial ruler, given his identity as an A-Rank Enchanter.

It was through his protection that there was a minimum level of order despite the shadows.

’Huh, weird.’

Looking into Cel’s background was impossibly expensive. All I had retrieved was his name and reputation from the style of the surrounding enchantments. Any other details, such as his specific strength, his specialization, and his current location... were inaccessible due to <Fate>.

After giving it a moment of thought, however, it was probably because the Cyclops was an underling of someone participating in the Game of Walvaskaz.

I did not use my mana to look into him more.

Instead, the curiosity I wanted to satiate right now was regarding Cel’s enchantments. Given that enchanters and mages were nearly adjacent professions, there was a lot that I could learn from his techniques.

Silently, I had taken out a book and a bottle of ink.

[Power of the Sea] allowed me to command the ink to seep into the book’s pages without me opening them.

Unlike <Archamagus> Daimyuon’s unforgettable magic knowledge, Cel’s enchantments did not directly burn themselves into my mind. They had no automatic memorization function.

Thus, there was a need for me to record them by hand. Or, well, via <Power of the Sea>.

After all, doing this saved up on costs in the long run.

Since I was here, right beside Cel’s enchantments, I no longer had to parse through the huge web of <Fate> aboveground, and the even more intricate web in the Layers Beneath.

Right now was the best time to steal someone else’s knowledge.

Unfortunately, there weren’t any treasures that intrigued me...

Except for one thing.

"Ah,"

I walked over a few steps to my right and grabbed an unassuming stick. Insane how I hadn’t noticed it until now. It was truly much harder to look for these things here in Walvaskaz.

There were simply too many objects that made my mana go poof the same way it did. Being more careful meant that I had a lower chance of noticing these things, and being more liberal with my mana meant that I would run out when I touched a random fated rock or object.

Those damn rocks that once touched a god or goddess’ feet were truly the most annoying of them all.

Luckily, after quite some time, I made another step forward in my pursuit of perfection:

[Detected a Divine Branch. Would you like to store it in the system? Y/N]

Of course, I clicked [Y].