It took quite a bit of time for Silva to calm down after the earth stopped shaking. Using that time, I finished off the rest of my laundry, getting dressed in gloriously clean clothes. Getting the moisture from the fabric was a bit challenging, requiring me to use a combination of Rune- and normal magic, carefully cooling the moisture down to the point that I could use the cold-aspect of it to gain minute influence. It was incredibly finicky, largely useless for anything but training my control and only possible thanks to my ability to control two different magics at the same time thanks to parallel processing but for drying my clothes in safety, it was good enough. And, more importantly, it was enough to give me a point in Ice Rune Mastery and another point in Ice Magic, bringing them to thirteen and twelve.

I had to chuckle a little when I realised that, from a magical ability standpoint, doing my laundry was on the same difficulty level as killing hundreds of creatures at the same time. But that was just how the system defined things.

“Silva, we’ll take everything with us tonight. We’ll be heading towards Mrs Wu’s gym, look for another good spot to flood the sewers with deadly mist and get some EXP. I’d like to find out what happened to my teacher,” I explained to my partner, her tail starting to wag quickly, maybe due to my tone of voice. I had no idea, but it seemed she wasn’t too fussed about things, so I went through the stuff I had looted these past few days, trying to decide what to take and what to leave here. There simply was too much to carry but maybe I’d come back here at some point.

The sun was just about to vanish, giving me the freedom of movement once more, when Silva stiffened, her fur standing up in an obvious display of intimidation. She let out a soft, warning growl, looking over at me for a second before focusing towards one of the closed doors once more. I had never even tried to use them, simply because the broken window gave me all the access that I’d ever need, an entrance that was nicely hidden and yet easily accessible.

Making myself combat-ready with my blades in hand and the frozen Shuttle floating above my shoulder, I channelled Astral Power into my cloak, all but disappearing in the deep shadows of the gloomy dusk. Listening carefully, I could hear voices, speaking softly and after a minute or so, I could hear metal scraping against metal, right on the other side of the nearby door.

For a moment, I considered simply leading Silva away, to disappear through the broken window, but there was still a bit of sun in the sky and I wasn’t about to subject myself to that curse. Not if I could help it.

From the sounds I could hear from the other side of the door, it was relatively easy to imagine what was going on. Soft, whispering voices, speaking of the setting sun and a need for shelter, intermingled with lingering fear from the earthquake and the Shattered, questioning whether or not they would manage to get back to their base before the city is covered in darkness. Other survivors, trying to pick the lock on the door of my shelter, looking for a place to sleep.

Slipping deeper into the darkness, I moved near one of the corners, not quite into it but trying to find a position that one wouldn’t expect. Ready and waiting. At least one of the voices outside is female, one male, the other uncertain. Maybe either. Worse was that I couldn’t be sure if there were more, I could faintly hear the rustling of clothes but trying to put a number on that was just impossible, at least with my current attributes. Silva might know more but sadly, she didn’t tell me what she was hearing.

Finally, the lock opened with a soft click and the door swung open with the tortured sound of unoiled hinges. Four people became visible, their positioning pretty idiotic, none of them using the wall for cover, they just stood in front of the door, as if asking to be skewered by an attack from the inside. What idiots, maybe their survival was more due to luck than skill.

The idiot-squad trooped in without a care in the world, their eyes swivelling around but not actually securing the area. As if they were on a sightseeing trip, wandering through a museum or something like that. Sure, I was using my magic to conceal myself, but that only helped, it wasn’t as if I was invisible. Even worse, they missed Silva at first glance and she didn’t even seriously try to hide, simply waiting in the middle of the room, near the door that led to the window we used as entrance. In a good position to flee at a moment's notice, demonstrating that her tactical ability is superior to those who had just entered.

“Ugh,” the fool who entered second suddenly stopped, almost causing the one behind him to collide with his back. “Good doggo?” he pleaded, looking at Silva with wide-eyes. “Are you a good boy?” he continued, trying to appease Silva who now started to growl in a deep, threatening manner.

“Shit, that beast’s level fourteen,” the third in line, and owner of the female voice added, staring at my dear partner, having obviously Observe’d her. Silva wasn’t happy with the invasion of her privacy and her growl deepened, her hackles rising.

Curious, I used my own Observe, only that I focused on the concealment-rune at the same time, channelling them both using my dual thought streams. It was a trick I had picked up on Mundus and while I wasn’t sure if it would completely conceal the use of Observe at my level, it might stop them from noticing.

Knowing their levels, I could only shake my head. Two of them, the one in the lead and the one in the back, were level six, the second in line level five and the girl who had just spoken a mighty level four. Pathetic.

“We might manage to tame the dog, don’t make any aggressive moves,” the guy in the back suggested, looking past his team to see Silva looking ready to pounce and rip the four of them apart.

“If anyone makes an aggressive move, it would be me. Or maybe my dog. And she’s not a good boy,” I mocked them, my voice catching them completely off-guard. It was a hard challenge to keep myself from laughing at their reactions, one of them even managed to drop the makeshift club he was carrying around. Or maybe I should call it a make-shit club?

“Who’re you?!” the girl squeaked out, her eyes trying to focus on my still-concealed form.

“The one who has taken shelter here?” I replied, before letting out a soft whistle to call Silva to my side. Walking across the room with slow, measured steps, Silva cut quite the intimidating figure, intimidating enough to make the one in the lead take a step back.

“Why are you here all alone?” the guy in the lead asked, looking both confused and somewhat agitated.

“Because I prefer to keep my own company. And I wouldn’t say that I’m alone,” I replied, gently petting Silva’s head when she reached me. At that moment, I felt the greasy, intrusive sensation of Observe washing over me and tried to squash it, only to fail.

“Stop that,” I warned the girl, who suddenly went very pale. “It is beyond rude to rip away someone's privacy like that. Some would kill for it, be grateful I’m in a forgiving mood,” I snarled, the blade floating above my shoulder twitching forward. That I had Observe’d them myself was something I wasn’t about to share. If they weren’t able to notice, they just didn’t need to know and didn’t deserve their privacy.

“Level fifteen!?” the girl blurted out, her face going pale.

“Yes, I’ve been quite successful,” I grinned, quite amused at the expressions on their faces. “You may stay here for the night, or you can fuck off for all I care. Just don’t get in my way,” I told them, having already decided that I wouldn’t come back. Not if there were people near enough to casually venture over, people I didn’t trust.

During our talk, the sun had set to the point that I wouldn’t be subject to my curse any longer, so I made my way towards the door. No need to hop out through the window, if it wasn’t necessary. With practised ease, I strapped Silva's bags across her torso before we started to walk out of the building.

My movement brought me close enough that they could actually make out my physique through my concealment and one of them, the second in line who was also the idiot who dropped his club earlier, started to mutter something that sounded suspiciously like “just some little girl,” but he didn’t get further than the first syllable of the word little before an elbow silenced him.

The other two simply moved out of the way, giving Silva and me a wide berth, not even trying to recruit us. Fear could be a wonderful thing, especially when it kept people from bothering me.