Chapter 1.8-Interlude:

“Any movement?” I asked my partner as I adjusted my cloak to cover my mouth. We blended in the shadows in the small alleyway across the building we were surveilling.

“Not since that kid went in last night.” The man crouching beside me replied as he kept his eyes glued to the enchanted lens the Brotherhood provided us. He was already showing his years in his sluggish movements and longer downtimes between shifts. Despite this, he was the best in the business and had never failed a job. His intuition was always on the mark.

I noticed that his voice was hoarse from having kept silent for the better part of the night.

The client spared no expense if they wanted Gazel on this job.

“Why don’t you take a break, Gazel. I can start the next shift. They might set out today and you need to recover.” I offered to relieve my senior of twenty years.

Gazel stood up slowly and stretched his back. “I’ll take you up on that, Orelius.” He stepped further back in the alleyway and laid down inside the crates we stacked as makeshift beds. Anyone who peered into this narrow pass would only see innocuous boxes.

Within seconds, I could hear Gazel’s rhythmic breathing slow down as he fell asleep. In our line of work, being able to sleep and recuperate whenever and wherever was an essential skill.

I continued to monitor the inside of the house with the enchanted lens. While they couldn’t really see past wall or stone, they could detect targets with even trace amounts of mana inside buildings or caves. A necessary tool when monitoring potentially dangerous individuals, especially trained fighters like our current quarries.

Right now the little noble lady should be on the second floor. Probably still asleep.

A part of me was both impressed and intimidated by the incomparable amount of mana our main target possessed. The lens could only display people as clouds of mana, but her cloud was incredibly dense and of the deepest shade of red. It was like witnessing a breathing oak tree that was actively expanding and contracting.

Beside her was the secondary target, although of a lesser priority. Her mana cloud was a mix of swirling wisps of emerald green and orange, but of a significantly smaller size.

I suppose even an average magic user’s mana would dwarf in comparison to the little noble’s.

Nearby, there were three other mana clouds. Two mana clouds were of a pure white hue and a red cloud with dark blue spots blinking within. The slightly larger white cloud was directly beside the blue-spotted red cloud.

The red cloud should be the kid that went in a few hours ago. His mana pool seems average albeit uniquely patterned.

After almost a decade of doing Cloak work, it was the first time I’ve ever encountered a spotted mana cloud. His rate of recovery was quite impressive. After he stopped moving, his mana cloud ballooned from the size of a fruit to the size of a small wagon in the span of an hour. He seemed to have fully recovered even before my shift ended last night.

I took out my own notes and started scribbling. “Potential acquisition. Fire/creation? affinity. Finch kid.”

He wouldn’t be able to be a Cloak… But I’m sure he could be an asset to the Brotherhood. Master Alphonse always emphasized that diversity was the key to our success.

I started flipping back the surveillance notes we’ve made so far after tailing the targets for weeks.

Mina Valera, only child of Chase and Vela Valera of the Roost. Hero recruit and soon to be trainee of the Guild. Strong fire affinity. Excellent mana control. S-Level danger classification in direct confrontations. No active artifact observed. Presently, no magic weapon.

Vanya Safyre, only child of Stilton Safyre of the Capital and an unknown commoner woman. Hero recruit and soon to be trainee of the Guild. Defensive and reinforcement magic affinity. Above average mana control. C-Level danger classification in direct confrontations. Necklace artifact, unknown effects. Equipped with an enchanted shield, but no offensive weapons.

As I reviewed the notes we took down, I started to become a little skeptical about fulfilling the objectives of our assignment.

Aside from burning through numerous magical weapons, I really don’t think that this Valera kid has an artifact. I wonder why the client is insistent that she does?

I shook my head and tried to clear my mind.

Not good. Forming half-baked opinions will only create bias.

I readjusted the lens and found the red cloud moving. I stopped and took out my pocket watch.

It’s three in the morning. Where is this kid going?

I watched the red cloud going down the stairs into the basement of the house.

After a few minutes, the cloud in the lens seemed to be diminishing every ten minutes.

Probably a workshop then.

A little before four o’clock, the red cloud was heading out the door. I lowered the lens and used my own eyes to observe. The kid seemed taller now that he wasn’t hobbling. He looks exhausted but also quite pleased with himself. In his hands he held a long box.

A sword? Is he a blacksmith? Seems like this kid’s got a lot on his plate. Last to head home, first to leave.

I became more and more interested in recruiting him. I added more comments to my notes. Normally, all Cloaks doubled as initial scouts for recruitment since we’re the usual agents on the field. But I’ve been the most active in looking for new talent since I had my own ambitions.

If I can recruit two more assets this year, I can finally get promoted. Maybe get a desk job in headquarters.

I let out a sigh as I thought about my wife and son who I was only able to see in-between missions.

I have to work hard now so I can rest easy in the future.

I made another mental note to tail that kid after we finished this assignment.

“Missive.” A hoarse voice grunted behind me. I turned around to see Gazel unfurling a small scroll tied to the leg of a raven.

I took one more look at the house through the enchanted lens. After seeing that our targets weren’t rousing, I turned my attention back to the old man.

“What’s it say?” I asked.

“New orders.” Gazel replied. “Client wants us to recover whatever weapons the targets bring out of the city.”

I frowned at him. “He wants us to engage that monster?”

Gazel shook his head. “Doesn’t say. But the cardinal rule is not to harm if we can help it. Not that I think we’d have a shot at beating her if she’s armed.”

I nodded sadly at that. Most shadows don’t have extensive combat experience because our main function is to scout and recover.

“You think they’ll send Daggers for reinforcements?” I asked hopefully.

Gazel thought for a while and then shook his head again. “The client’s contract hasn’t been changed to cover the additional manpower. Besides, all the Daggers are out in the field right now on other assignments.”

Unprecedented. The Brotherhood has extensive networks throughout the continent but we’d never been tapped to capacity before.

“Did you hear anything more about that by the way?” I asked, betraying my own worries.

Gazel clasped my shoulder. “I’m sure your family is safe. Having Daggers out in the field doesn’t necessarily mean there’ll be an uprising or a coup. It just means that there’s a big potential for combat if the targets are engaged.”

I nodded my head but couldn’t remove the worried look I had.

Gazel clapped my back with a solid strike.

“Ow!” I yelped. “What was that for?” I protested as I tried to rub my back.

“Missive says we can report to the client once we get hold of their weapons. You’ll be back home in the Farmlands before you know it.” Gazel said reassuringly.

I straightened up and felt grateful for his display of compassion. “Alright, but how are we going to accomplish that without directly confronting them?”

Gazel pondered at this. “Hmm… That’ll depend on whether they head to the Roost or back to the Capital after this. There’s little we can do once they’re in the Jagged Pass with the roaming patrols there. So a direct confrontation may be unavoidable in that scenario.”

I gulped at the thought.

“On the other hand, it should be possible for a sneak attack along the King’s Road. Just need a distraction or two. We haven’t used any of the incapacitating agents. Good chance to paralyze them if we hit them with the darts.” Gazel continued.

“That’s a lot of assumptions.” I replied skeptically. “Wouldn’t sneaking into that house at night and stealing the weapons be safer?”

“Would be possible if we knew what weapons the client meant. They didn’t bring anything back here other than that warped blade. And I don’t think the client meant the younger girl’s shield.” Gazel remarked. “But them coming to this shop most likely means they’ll receive something here that the client wants.”

Ah that’s right. Bringing back the wrong thing means we failed the mission anyway.

“Alright. Where does the client want us to meet him after we recover the items?” I asked.

“Small house in the red district of North Haven.” Gazel replied.

I looked at him incredulously. “He wants us to come back here after assaulting two noble women? We’d be trapped.”

Gazel simply shook his head at me. “That’s the job. We can hide in one of the safehouses until it blows over. Besides, after we hand over the weapons, we’d have nothing implicating us.”

“But what if the Valera girl chases us?” I rubbed the back of my neck nervously.

Gazel brought out a small bomb. “A-Grade disorientation charge. Our last resort. Won’t have long-term effects but it can take down full-fledged heroes for ten minutes at least. I don’t reckon she’ll be able to do much in that state. Her partner also doesn’t have status recovery skills so we should be fine.”

Gazel held out his hand and I surrendered the lens to him as we continued to monitor the house.

It’ll work out… right?