We ran into some small complications while traveling: wolf attacks, fog, fallen trees, etc. The seemingly random obstacles resulted in making what should have been a one or two day trip into three - nevertheless we had finally made it to the city of Crumbrock. It was slightly smaller than Boltward and seemed bit less maintained as well.

The marks of degradation were hard to spot: parts of the road missing pavement or padding, unkempt grass here and there. Culminating into tiny cracks I saw in the city gate as we approached which didn’t look to be caused by any ‘recent attack’, rather, the thick wood just corrupting itself over years of lack of attention. There were some bricks missing off the walls as well, and as for the city guards…

I ‘gulped’ loudly.

I respected our honorable peace-keepers, who kept a vigilant guard - doing the same work as the Silver Lions - just within the city walls and likely far less praise. But… they, truthfully, just looked like…common thugs. Their armors were far from being called ‘uniforms’. In Boltward, every guard carried a shiny, clean armor, which would distinguish him in the crowd and they were expected to keep it up to code in their daily inspections.

Here? Barely two armors even looked the same! The only thing that seemed to prove that the men were indeed part of guards, was a single dirty, colorful rag over their right shoulders saying ‘Militia’ and all of them wearing similar batons… Actually, now seeing them from close up… these weren’t batons. These were maces… with spike wire around the tip.

A shiver ran down my spine on the mere imagination of how painful it would be to be hit by one of those.

Alas, we didn’t stop here, venturing deeper into the city, moving via the main roads, we eventually reached an inn located in the merchant district. Notably, it was not far away from the so-called ‘lower city’ - I was expecting it to be a fancy name for slums, but color me surprised, when I learned it was the ‘richest’ part of the city. As I was later told, the light never stops shining in that place.

Again, at first I thought that it might be because of how religious it was, possibly filled with churches and temples active for the entire day and night.

Wrong again.

“You see, respectable knight…” the innkeeper told us as we were checking in “...It is because of the colorful street lamps that turn on as soon as the sun is about to go down. The entire lower city is filled with multiple… facilities. If light is purple - means it’s a casino. If it’s green - merchant shop. If it is pink or red…” he froze, and gave a small wiggle with his thick brows “... And if it is light blue, it is everything else.”

Hearing him stop and miss one description, instead of doing that weird eye thing some of the older folk in the village did, made me mentally squint my eyes on him. Maybe it was some code older folk learned naturally?

We thanked the innkeeper and booked two rooms on the upper floor. After reaching our rooms we put down our spare equipment, traveling gear, and prepared small piles of clothes which had gotten dirty during travel to later wash them.

I didn’t hear the Captain enter my room. I never do.

“Aster. It is time for the next phase of our… mission.”

I jumped up surprised, as his voice echoed directly in my ear, dropping whatever I had in my hands, to turn around and meet my officer, not wanting him to be forced to talk into my back! Tis’ would be disrespectful.

“S-sir yes sir! Reporting for duty!”

The man, who was seemingly blurring with shadows, reached into his pocket, and picked out a small bag, passing it to me.

My fingers moved quickly, pulling at the string keeping the bag close and checking what was inside.

… Money

“One thousand in total. This is your… operational budget.”

I nearly swallowed my saliva, wanting to sweat all over my body. This was… a lot. It could cover all the maintenance costs in my home-village, get us supplies of materials and prepare well for winter, and all of that was after paying all our annual taxes.

“W-what am I supposed to do with it?” I was starting to fear what type of mission would warrant such funds.

The question slipped through my lips.

“I have already told you. Infiltration. You are taking a new identity - a mercenary knight, who just finished a big contract, and has lots of money to waste. Someone like a ‘new-you’ would attract many people. Offering different goods and services to separate you from said money. Spend as much as you want and can, don’t haggle too much, keep on… ‘consuming’. I would suggest you start at a casino, take 200 - so you don’t lose it all… I will be watching over you. Don’t act suspicious, don’t even try to spy on people. Be natural. I will take care of everything from the shadows. Treat it as a real-life vacation. In fact it is critical you be as calm and relaxed as possible while conducting this mission!”

I reminded myself of his words from before leaving Boltward.

“The codename for the mission is vacation!...” I slammed my fist into the open palm of the other hand “...Now I get why! The irony!” “...Irony. Yes. Absolutely. Indeed.”

The spy-master nodded a few times.

“Your new disguise will arrive shortly. Once it does, dress up, and leave immediately.” “Sir yes sir!”

I saluted, as my mission-superior seemingly dematerialized into thin air, once I thought I was alone in the room, I allowed my excitement to take over me. It made me start walking around the room, a bit nervously even.

Casino - my first target. What did I know about it? A few times I have been traveling with my father to the nearest city to sell our crops. There were a ‘few’ there, but dad never went in, and forbade me to step in there as well.

“It's a rotten place, sells you a spark of success and enjoyment, gets you hooked on it, and then sets up a fire of destruction. I knew good men that went to ruin, as they gambled their life-savings away, forced to sell their houses, and pushed into a never-ending spiral of debt.”

Needless to say I was rightfully scared off from such a horrid sounding place.

… and into this hell hole I was about to descend.

Eventually, I moved back to my bed, sitting cross-legged, trying to let my mind doze off. Calming myself before the mission, trying some meditation to pass the time.

Though, I wasn’t allowed to ‘rest’ long enough, as suddenly, there was knocking on my door. Getting off the bed, I walked towards it, opening slightly, noticing that no one was outside, only a large box was left in front of my room.

I quickly dragged it in, locked the door again, and opened the box.

Inside, I noticed only one thing.

Only.

One.

Thing.

A single ring.

It looked almost bizzare at the top of the huge, heavy box which was primarily filled with filler wood shavings. Regardless I focused my gaze on it.

[Ring of Greater Illusion] [Type: Ring]

[This ring coats the wearer in High Grade, and hard to detect, illusion]

[The ‘Avatar’ has already been programed into the ring]

[To change displayed Avatar - please contact local High-Mage]

I blinked several times, before I slowly put it on. Once I did, the ring flashed, spreading weak light across my body, covering my bones, coating them with ‘flesh’.

Looking into a mirror I was taken aback. I saw a young man, around twenty five years old, with a small patch of burned skin around his neck and nasty scar going from eyebrow down the cheek.

I raised my finger and touched my skin.

It ‘felt’ real, but at the same time, wearing an illusion on top of my ‘body’ felt… heavy? As if I was wearing a suit made of fake flesh. It would keep on reminding me that it wasn’t my real body, in a rather ‘painful’ way.

I looked down at ‘my’ new naked body, before starting to dress myself up. In my off-work mercenary style of choice: shirt, simple pants, and a belt.

Dagger behind belt, shortsword from the otherside, checking myself several times, wanting to see in case I forgot about anything, before finally stepping out from my room and heading down.

My ‘heart’ jumped to my throat, as people’s gaze fell on me. On an Undead.

I expected the spell to break. To reveal who I was. I expected screams, panic and aggression amongst other reactions.

But nothing happened. Most gazes moved back ignoring me, only few remained, rather curious ones rather than straight hostile.

I felt ‘naked’. Defenseless. Fully relying on the effect of the item which just landed in my hands.

Yet, it was important how I felt. What was important was carrying on with my duty. With my special mission! With the task that was entrusted to me. It was the item granted to me by Captain Ghost. I had to trust him, bah, there was almost no one I trusted more than Captain Ghost. The most competent man I have ever met in this life and my last.

Not wanting to waste time I stepped out from the inn, and moved towards the ‘lower-city’ to locate the casino. This part of the task wasn't hard. It was one of the biggest buildings in the whole lower-city, and had a huge sign above the entrance. The dark purple glow seemed to invite everyone who saw it in with a comforting embrace.

And so, I stepped in, fully expecting a dark room, evil people in hooded robes sitting by small tables, plotting and laughing maniacally, I expected a thousand wolfish eyes to turn in my direction as I stepped in…

… reality was completely different. It was a wide, bright room, filled with some pleasant, rhythmic music, and people laughing indeed… but in an honest, cheerful manner.

I was trying to walk deeper into this… facility, but was stopped by some lady calling me forth from a reception stand that was off to one side.

“Excuse me! Sir? Sir! Aren’t you going to buy any tokens?” She waved over at me with a brilliant smile on her face.

I blinked a few times, and quickly looked around one more time.

The people playing around were indeed using these colorful wooden pieces with numbers painted on them.

I was about to apologize to the woman, when I reminded myself I needed to ‘adopt a new personality’. I couldn’t embaress Captain Ghost so soon!

My lady - hereby I wish to mentally apologize to you, but I am on a dire mission…

“AAA?! Of course I will!” I groaned, annoyed. “...Just wanted to see first if there’s a bloody reason for me to go inside in the first place!”

I yelled, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world and she shouldn’t have even called me.

Her expression changed immediately, the smilewent down a little, eyes darkened, sad, from being scolded…

Instead she now had a tight face, creases already showing on her forehead.

I AM SORRY I AM SORRY I AM SORRY I AM SORRY I AM SO SO SORRY!

I UNDERSTAND YOU ARE JUST DOING YOUR JOB AND WISH TO TAKE CARE OF CUSTOMERS! I AM SO SORRY!

“O-of course you do, respected patron… My-my apologies”

She bowed her head low.

I quickly moved deeper into the casino, walking while swaying left and right, checking people playing across the tables.

And I quickly found an issue…

…I didn’t know a single game.

Not a single one. I moved back to the ‘lady’ from the entrance and tossed a coin bag in her direction.

“Exchange these for tokens and hurry up!” I snarled, making sure to sound like she was already wasting my time before I even had addressed her.

Two hundred coins. I am just going to gamble two hundred coins. May luck be on my side today.

“...Very well. Here, that’s one thousand gold coins worth of tokens for you, in mixed values.” “FINALLY!” I groaned and sntached the bag she had prepared.

…

Wait, what?

Did she just say…

… I forgot to prepare a smaller bag with two hundred… I just throw in all my coins.

Some people looked in my direction, a few whistled.

“Damn. ‘A fat player’? So early in the morning?” I heard a quiet whisper.

Thanking the heavens above that I didn’t have actual sweat glands, I moved proudly across the room, sitting by ‘whatever’s table’. Already partly busy in the game.

“We are in the middle of the session, jerk!” one man cursed at me. Apparently, I committed some ‘taboo’, as other players also looked at me annoyed. “So what?” I barked back, trying to hide my own lack of knowledge, looking at the clerk who was shuffling cards “...Give me my cards!”

She had gone pale, and looked back quickly behind herself, at a man in a suit, who had been casually walking from table to table. Seeing me, his mouth curved, amused.

“Hit him with ‘two’” He ordered the lady “...as for you all, dear patrons, please forgive, we will give you ‘50’ token as compensation. You were missing one player for a ‘full set’ anyway.”

The remaining people groaned, but said nothing more as the clerk passed each one a free 50 token, and passed two cards to me, ‘faces up’.

“Six” and “five”.

“Another.” Said one of the patrons. “Another…” The next one followed. “I’m good.”A third added.

It was my turn.

I had no idea what the cards meant, and they expected my call.

I quickly looked at other people's cards, trying to see some pattern.

“You going to fucking move, asshole?” The first man who had cursed at me now hurried me along. “Fuck off, mate, some of us actaully use our brains!” I growled back, looking back at the clerk-lady “...another.

The three of us were given another card. Mine was - nine.

I had ‘five’, ‘six’ and ‘nine’.

Those were…numbers.

Everyone by the table frowned. One man even slammed his fist on the table.

“I am good.” “Yeah, me too.”

They seemed defeated. Well! When you land a blow, you need to deliver another, quickly, no?!

“Another!” I called with all the confidence I could muster.

Table went quiet, everyone's eyes had bulged out for some reason.

“S-sir… you have twenty?” Clerk lady informed me gently, in a now uncertain tone. “Oh? Really? Thank you for informing me, BECAUSE I COULDN’T COUNT ON MY OWN!”

I yelled again.

“Monica, hit him with another one.” The man in the suit said with a confident tone.

She passed me another card.

‘Ace’.

“T-Twenty one…” The clerk muttered with shaking hands.

Everyone watching the table went positively wild. Players were now dead-pale - and this is coming from an actual undead mind you. Cheering. Yelling. Going mad. Some patted my shoulders, as the clerk lady passed the three of us some tokens - me, the most. In fact the pile I was given seemed rather excessive.

“And that’s how you play…” I looked back at the first man - the one hostile from the start “..’asshole’” having absolutely no idea what had just happened. “...argh but… you won nonetheless…”.

The game continued.

“I am good,” I said when my counter showed 14. “S-sir… you still have some good chances of scoring more…” Clerk quietly said. “ARE YOU DEAF YOU GOAT?!” I yelled, the man in the suit only nodded in turn, letting her treat the remaining players. “Another one for me!” The first man said. “And me!” Said another patron. “Me as well!” Followed another.

Three cards were sent flying, one to each.

“Twenty-two, twenty-four, twenty-three.. busted, busted, and busted.” The clerk said with tense lips.

Another mad screaming commenced, as all tokens were passed to me again for some reason.

… What was going on?

Game continued.

“S-Sir, you have eighteen…” “Another!” I bellowed. “S-s-s-sir?” “YA REALLY DEAF?!” I glared at her while trying to make one of my eyes seem larger than the other.

Another card flew in my direction.

“Three… t-twenty-one!” The clerk chirped followed by a gulp that sounded like actual fear creeping into her voice.

Insanity. Our table kept on getting more and more spectators, the small crowd around our table thickening every minute. Some ladies moved closer to me, cheering, wishing me luck, one even passed me a glass of some alcohol.

I decided to act ‘bolder’ than I am, pulling one woman closer, and bottoming down the drink. No one noticed that same amount of alcohol poured down from the stool I was sitting on, as liquid passed though my bones and ended on the floor. Doesn’t matter. The show must go on!

Not wanting to lose my edge I kept up my winning strategy. By which I mean making consistently completely random calls. Another. Another-another. I am good. I am good. Another. I am good. I threw in another ‘another’ just to keep things interesting.

Another one. Another one. Another one. I’m good!

I felt like I was channeling some inspirational speech for some reason.

Always getting either the biggest, or second biggest stash, my pile of tokens constantly grew bigger and bigger, as my rivals were slowly running out of theirs.

I had slowly lost the flow of time, spending gods knows how long, possibly the better part of the day, at that table. The players around me changed several times, as they ‘went broke’, game ending, and a new group was now sitting at the table. Five full games later, I said that enough is enough, much to the small groans from the many spectators and my “cheering squad?” of ladies.

I passed one big token to the clerk, one big token to the ladies who were ‘spoiling me’ during the game, then I went to cash the tokens, giving another ‘tip’ to the reception lady who I had scolded before. I’ll never be able to live down the shame of what I had said to her.

Seeing my action she immediately began apologizing for ‘her previous rudeness’, counting the money and pushing a huge, HUGE I tell you, sack towards my direction.

“P-please come see us again…” she said, seeing me out but now with a hopeful but unsure gaze. “Damn sure I will!... Hope to see better players next time though.” I grunted leaving the hall, and going to a side room to check how much I had won.

I checked the contents of the bag. At the top of the huge pile of coins, there was a piece of paper, with a number written on it. How convenient!

I read the number.

Blinking several times.

Checked again.

But the number remained unchanged, odd.

The number said

Eight thousand, seven hundred and seventy two.

…. What?

About an hour after Asterouse had left his room, Ghost once again went to it. The slightly magical equipment that he had purchased had just arrived, and he was about to give it to his ‘apprentice’ for his ‘mission’.

Nothing ‘special’ - a set of long cloths, leaving only head and palms uncovered, though, the collar and sleeves had medium-level enchantment imbued into it. Should be more than enough to coat mentioned, revealed places with illusion as long as no one touched the wearer or cast dispell magic.

He entered the room, just to notice that the undead was gone. On the cloth racks he could see his armor laid out in full.

… he couldn't possibly leave without a disguise, right?

… Right?