Sunday, February 8th, N.E. 807, 16:55

Kolos Street, 7th Circle, Royal Capital Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

Olivia Pine Fredirin.

It took the servant of the Iron-Hammers, whatever his name was, Ven, son of Darks or something like that, exactly two hours to break down, offering me everything he knew while begging for death. The length of time might make him out to be rather heroic, but he only lasted two hours because I refused to accept his surrender until two hours had passed. In fact, he had caved the second I asked.

Unfortunately, he had no valuable information. But, that was only to be expected, He was a simple servant to the third son of a lesser noble family, that third son was part of Kyle Gold-Field Fredirin’s gang of friends, but I doubted he was a close confidant, so even if he had stupidly shared things with his servant, it still wouldn’t have been anything important.

That said, it didn’t matter to me much. Kyle was the last of sixteen children produced from Duke Zachary’s second wife before she divorced him like his first. With the father being a drunk wastrel, his children weren’t much better, some of the sixteen were competent, but even if Kyle were one of the competent, the Gold-Field family was not a pressing concern.

“My lady, it’s rather cold, you should close your cloak.” Captain Nev voice woke me up from my reverie.

It was, in fact, rather chilly, the sun was setting, and while the Royal Capital rarely saw snow or freezing temperatures, it still got close, and the rivers left a damp chill in the air.

That said, while I could easily use my magic to erase the effects of simple, natural, cold temperatures, I actually enjoyed the cold.

“It’s fine, we are almost back to the Inn. More importantly, hand me another one of those apples.”

Without another word, the Captain swiftly drew out another juicy red apple and handed it to me.

They used to belong to the servant of the Iron-Hammers, but he couldn’t eat them anymore. It was convenient he seemed to like apples, since he had purchased a half dozen.

If I had to offer a complaint, it would be that even though he seemed to have splurged on the higher quality fruit, he seemed to lean towards the sweeter ones, and I personally preferred the more tart apples.

Still, it wasn’t bad.

“Captain,” I started after swallowing a bite of the apple. “I have a job for you.”

“If you order it, we will do it.” Was the steadfast reply.

“We have until the end of the weekend, that’s three days, I need you to set up a meeting with the thieves guild. Anyone who isn’t guarding me should be working on that.”

“...” Captain Nev had a sour look on his face.

“What is it, captain?”

“I… I don’t think this is a good idea.”

“Captain, I will be frank. I can’t rely on you for this.”

“...If there is something you are unsatisfied with…”

“That’s not it. Your squad specializes in scouting within the mountains and the forests, you can stalk prey, lay traps, ambush things, and you are all able fighters. Right?”

“Yes. Exactly.”

“And that is exactly it, what I need right now, is information, I need people who can gather that information for me, your squad can’t do that. If it comes to a fight, I will rely on you.”

“I… understand my lady. We will make contact with the thieves guild within a day,” he said resolutely

“I’m counting on you,” I replied. “And, can I have another apple?”

Monday, February 9th, N.E. 807, 11:24

Patio Inn, 7th Circle, Royal Capital Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

Olivia Pine Fredirin.

True to his word, Captain Nev kept two men in each adjacent room, and left two of the three female Spectres with me, the other five people went out that night, searching for the thieves guild.

The next day, before noon, he had returned with the news he had set up a meeting.

“This is the meeting spot?” I asked incredulously.

I expected a warehouse, like the one that that servant died in, or a tavern or restaurant.

“Yes my lady,” Responded one of my escorts, Lin.

In front of us, was a church, and not a small, dilapidated thing either, but a proper church, with members of the clergy and even worshipers. The God of the Sky’s holy symbol was hanging over the door, a cloud with a moon on the left, and a sun on the right.

“Well, whatever,” I said and walked in.

The church was a decent sized branch, unlike the large cathedrals that were built in the first and second circle of the Capital, a few acolytes were going about their business, and a few particularly pious citizens were in the pews, deep in prayer.

No one paid any kind of particular attention as I went up and dropped exactly four bronze coins, one after another, into the leftmost tithe box, nor when I and my four escorts retreated without a word and sat in the pews.

My escorts for this trip included the two best fighters of the squad, the ones who had ridden in front and behind me on the way to the city. Jeb and Ivan.. Lin, who answered me earlier, and who also helped capture that servant, was known as one of the fastest of their group, if anything went wrong, she could grab me and run. And finally, there was Wen, who was the one who made contact with the thieves guild in the first place, a friendly face so to say.

We waited for half a minute before an old priest walked up to us.

“Oh? What a large group of believers, and at this time of the day. How devoted. Perhaps a private prayer chamber would be best?” he said, his voice sounding exactly like a devout follower of a god.

“No, that is fine, we can’t impose upon you,” Wen replied.

“Do not worry child, we are all children of the sky, please, let me guide you.”

“Well, if you insist, but the sky looks bleak today, I think it might rain, we’ll need to leave if it does.”

“All is the sky’s blessing” The old priest motioned for us to follow, and we did.

He led us down one of the side hallways, and into a room that was surprisingly roomy, mostly because it was barren, save for a single altar on the far wall, but we went in any way as the priest left with a small bow.

“That was what the informant told you to say?” I asked Wen.

“Yes, reject first, but then agree, if he says something about being children, respond with you think it might rain and we need to leave. If he says something about the sky being our parent, say it might rain, but we’ll stay. And if he said we were one with the sky, I was supposed to say, I hope it’s a sunny sky.” He answered dutifully.

Before I could say anything else, the holy altar built into the wall suddenly shifted, and a man stepped out of the opening.

“It's pretty complex, but it keeps out the undesirable, you know? Anyways, call me Dog, I hear you need our expertise?” the man said.

I hadn’t noticed his approach, and the movement of the altar was silent, but I had noticed my guards reaching for their weapons.

“It’s fine,” I said to the Spectres, and they released some of their tension, not all, but some.

“Oh, so you are in charge here? Interesting.” The man, Dog, said.

“I am,” I said as I removed the hood on my cloak.

“Oh, how pretty. And who could you be miss? A pretty lass such as yourself, how could I have let you go unnoticed until now.

Four hands tensed upon weapons, but I ignored them.

“I could introduce myself, but what would be the fun in that? I find it hard to believe that you couldn’t figure it out in time.” I joked with him.

“Still, I can't just call you, ‘You’ all the time.”

“Well then, how about you call me, Cat?” I said with a laugh.

“Ahaha, fine, Cat it is. But I think a Kitten is more accurate?" Then he looked at my frowning guards and added, “Maybe not, Cat will do. So then, Cat, what can we do for you?”

“I need you to gather some items for me, and I also need some information. For now, I might have something else to ask, but let us focus on those things first.” I said, the mirth having left my voice.

“Let's start with the items, I'll tell you if we can get it. Well, I say that, but for the right price, we can get anything, I guarantee it.” Dog boasted.

“The Royal Crown” I deadpanned.

“... well, except that.” Dog said with an awkward cough. “I mean, if you really, really, had the money, we could make it work, but I doubt that enough gold exists to do that.”

“I jest.”

“Good, I almost broke out into a cold sweat there. So what do you really want?”

“Garten Root.”

“We have that, it’s not popular, but we have it and sell it, how much do you need?”

“A pound or two, maybe more in the future.”

“That is a lot, but it won't be a problem, what else?”

“Tesk Spores, purified ideally, but raw is fine too.”

“...what do you want that for? Eh, never mind, you don’t need to tell me, probably better if you don’t.”

“It’s fine, I'm not planning on poisoning anyone with it.”

“Of course not, even the purified spore requires a large dose, and the smell and taste are both too extreme, no one will eat that.”

“Really? Hmm, I enjoy the taste myself, it makes a good tea, very bitter.” I replied nonchalantly.

“...For real?” Dog asked incredulously.

“Yes, mix it with milk, sugar, and a citrus fruit, oranges will do, but I prefer limes. It makes an excellent tea.”

“That’s crazy, I guess you use detoxification magic then?”

“Of course, I enjoy the taste, but not enough to die for it.”

“Crazy. Well is that all?”

“No, I also need a soul extractor, at least of grade four, and I need it unmarked.”

“That... might be difficult. There isn’t really a market for those, so we don’t keep any on hand, we’ll need to uh, acquire one.”

“I also need that quickly.”

“... How quickly?” He said with a frown.

“Within days.”

“That is going to cost you.”

“As long as it’s at least grade four, and unmarked, I'll pay.”

“Fine then, well, let's see, Garten Root is 10 gold an ounce, so 160 for a pound, we always have it in stock by the way. Tesk Spores, purified, I think 25 gold for a gallon, but another 5 for the container. And I can’t say for sure, but the extractor will be around 500, maybe even more. And I need a down payment of half that before we even start.”

“No problem.”

“Good, then, anything else?”

“No, just information then.”

“Okay, let's talk about that, what do you need?”

“Four days ago, a carriage with a True Noble, ended up going for a swim. You’ve heard?”

“Of course.”

“I don’t suppose you know, who set that up?”

“It was a faulty bridge support I believe.” Dog said coyly.

“Mmmm, well, if there was any additional information, I would buy that. And, I would like to put in a request, for someone to investigate and find the true culprit.”

“I imagine, you don’t just want the basic information, but you want all the details?”

“Yes.”

“40 gold, and for the investigation, tentatively, it will be 100 gold, that number will almost certainly increase as the investigation starts taking time. I should also mention, if it starts getting dangerous, we charge extra too.”

“That’s fine.” I then withdrew a single coin, one made of a shimmering blue crystal, and tossed it towards Dog.

“Wow,” Dog exclaimed seeing the coin, “A crystal coin, you don’t see these every day. Cat, you must be pretty wealthy.”

“I am.” I simply said.

“Hmm, well, I do love a wealthy client, but I'll need to get you change, unless you want to count this as a down-payment on the future costs?” He said while still looking at the coin in his hand.

“I did say, I had a third thing?” I mentioned, and then tossed over another two identical coins.

“Ah… yeah.” Dog said, his eyes not leaving the crystal coins.

“Your guild doesn’t just deal in the trade of… questionable goods and information, right? I need, something a bit more extreme, but just a bit.” I said, smiling.

“And what would that be? I can tell with that grin on your face Cat, it’s something big.”

“Nothing major, nothing major at all. I just need, someone to sneak something, a small package really, into someone's house.”

“What might be in this package? And whose house would it need to be snuck into Cat?”

“The package is just a pillow, don’t you trust me Dog? But, it might be best if it doesn’t get scanned for magical effects, if you know what I mean?”

“All too well, and since getting scanned is a concern, I imagine the house it is going to, will also be a concern.”

“I think you will be fine, I imagine you already have someone working in the house in question, the estate of the Canyon Family is too important for you to overlook.”

“Ah… you really are crazy after all. You want to smuggle, a ‘pillow’ into the estate of the Canyon Family? It’s impossible.”

“You said everything was possible for the right price?” I reminded him.

“Not this. Look, let me be honest with you Cat, the Canyon Estate is a natural fortress, and it’s only a fortress, nothing but. Red Rock Canyon is just that kind of place. There are so many magical wards on that place, we couldn’t even smuggle in a tissue, let alone a pillow, and one that can’t be scanned? It’s impossible.”

“Ah, I have made a mistake, I don’t need it in their main estate, just their villa here, in the capital.”

“... That… might be possible. I can’t make a guarantee on it, however, and it will cost you more than just these three crystal coins, that is for sure.” he said, resigned to his fate.

“Dog, this is important, you need to make it happen,” I said as I reached back into my wallet, this time withdrawing a coin made of clear crystal, which I held up so the thief could see. “I need that pillow in there within a week. Make it happen.”

“Uh, yeah, sure.” Dog said, staring at the coin, his attention only coming back to me when I slipped it back into my wallet.

“The three crystal coins are a down-payment, if you need more, you should know where I am staying by now right? Find me there.”

“Cat, you drive a hard bargain, I will see what I can do.

“Good,” I said as I turned and left.

Tuesday, February 17th, N.E. 807, 12:30

Pine Family carriage, 3rd Circle, Royal Capital Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

Olivia Pine Fredirin.

One week had passed since my trade with Dog of the thieves guild.

By the time we returned to the inn, someone was already there with my Garten Root and Tesk Spores. The spores, which came purified in a magically sealed container, that prevented the smell from leaking, and the poison from leaking, were used for exactly what I said, tea.

This lead to a minor argument with my guards, since the idea of using the foul-smelling, poisonous mold spores as an ingredient to consume was met with disbelief, but I eventually won. Tesk tea has a rich, if bitter, flavor that just brings a small tingle to the tongue, the only effect of the poison on me. Normally, low-level detoxification magic would be sufficient for simply breathing in the spores, but to deal with the purified spores, that wouldn’t cut it. Let alone, directly consuming the purified spores, in that case, high-level detoxification magic would be needed. And while low-level detox magic is somewhat common, medium and high level are much rarer.

It was a good thing then, that I didn’t require detoxification magic. Organic and mineral based poisons were simply destroyed by my own blood, which itself, was the greater poison. Only magical poisons could harm me, and they would need to be either incredibly insidious or possess more magic than my own blood.

As for the Garten Root, it was technically a narcotic. It temporarily raised mana production, with the side effect of making it leak out too easily, and it also created a minor euphoric high when consumed in any way. It’s not exactly illegal, but a permit is needed to use it, and a large amount of research goes into trying to reduce the side effects.

The narcotic effect wouldn’t work on me since it’s technically a poison, but the effect of raising mana production and of making it leak out, I would experience both of those. The first effect would be largely pointless for me, but the second would help me reforge my body.

So I spent the rest of the week, and the weekend, circling my mana to reforge my body, drinking Tesk Tea, and reviewing the documents that held all of the thieves guild’s information pertaining to my fall into the river.

The conclusion about my swim was not promising. The bridge was old, it didn’t see much traffic, and there was a termite infestation in the wood. I was just unlucky to have been the one on it when it collapsed. Of course, anyone could see that wasn’t the case. But there was no magical interference, and as far as the thieves guild could tell, no one was pulling strings and derailing the official investigation.

The most likely assumption was that the bridge was tampered with the old fashioned way, someone with some tools damaged the support and then left. If someone other than me was the first to cross it, they would have ended up in the river instead. Well, the tampering was probably done under the assumption the bridge would only fail when a carriage with escorts crossed, a single horseman or pedestrian wouldn’t make it fall. It was simple, crude, inexact, but it left almost no evidence. The investigation was focused on anyone witnessing someone messing with the bridge, but that area doesn’t have a lot of traffic, so no one saw anything.

Conclusion, identifying the mastermind is impossible at this time.

The guild’s investigation did uncover that several parties were intentionally spreading the story, in opposition to the Pine Family’s attempts to cover it up. The end result was that the Pine Family was embarrassed by the entire thing. But the rumor spreaders were most likely just taking advantage of the situation.

Not only was the investigation a waste, but future investigating would also be a waste, so I dropped the entire thing.

On Saturday, Dog sent one of his associates, a small balding man named, Caterpillar, who handed off the soul extractor, grade four, and unmarked. I also put in a request for the blueprints for the Canyon Family’s villa within the capital. Those arrived within the hour, but cost an extra 200 gold.

On Sunday I had Captain Nev head out and find a warehouse to rent. On Monday, I became the temporary owner of a warehouse in the Seventh Circle. It was a three-story building, somewhat small, with the third story being little more than a shed on the roof. It did, however, have a large basement, which made it perfect for my purposes. The Spectre spent the day furnishing it with tables, chairs, desks, and shelves. And when they were done, I spent an hour cutting my hand open and smearing my blood liberally over the walls. Now, the warehouse was a lot more durable, and also nearly impossible to magically spy on.

While this was all happening, I had the Spectres randomly walk around town, sometimes individually, sometimes in groups, sometimes I sent a few out in different directions, and I even had them leave the city, sometimes they even spent a night outside. The idea was, that anyone watching us wouldn’t be able to tell which trips actually meant something, and which were simply a red herring.

On Tuesday morning, we vacated the Patio Inn and moved to the new warehouse, but during the move, I left the city myself this time. Not by myself, Jeb and Ivan both left with me, and we met up with Naya, who had left the night before. The three of us who left together had horses, Naya lacked one, but since I was so small, we shared my horse.

We spent hours riding until we met up with our target, the carriage I had left with over a week ago, along with my servants and guardian knights.

The Spectres would stay out for another night, they would head to the warehouse sometime tomorrow, but I, in my carriage, would enter the city around sunset tonight.

And I would not be heading to the warehouse, but back to the Pine Family Villa.

As the carriage slowly made its way down the road, and as my servants helped me change out of my traveler’s gear, I admit, sad as it was, I felt a tad bit lonely.

For the first time since I awoke, Gimmy, was not with me.