Chapter 135: Roguey Rogues Doing Rogue Stuff (2/2)

“Interesting skill... yet you haven't shown yourself. Who are you?” the man asked towards his surroundings, turning in place, his blade held at the ready. Eve stayed silent as well, now smiling a little as she heard people approaching through the front door. The man would probably want to move should he be Edwin Redleaf, or perhaps killing guards was not something he would frown upon. A minus point in Eve's book, the men and women employed by the city or empire to guard it and keep it safe had rarely much to do with political decisions.

She moved backwards, standing right beside the hallway wall opposite the room. A moment later four imperial soldiers marched through, scouts as she saw from their uniforms. Not green ones either, each looking around the place, skills activated and careful not to disturb any of the corpses.

The front man ran into the room with his mace drawn but quickly stopped, sheathing the weapon and saluting to the man in black still standing in the room, blade drawn.

“Sir? What are...” the man asked and quickly prepared his weapon again, moving his hand in a couple motions that Eve knew meant the perimeter wasn't safe and that they should create a defensive line. 'Good soldiers...' she thought and watched them quietly discuss what happened and what the next steps would be.

“If you're here for me, then find me. I wish to talk, if only for that hiding skill you're using.” the man said, sheathing his blade again.

“Are you sure sir?” the squad leader asked, his voice calm as he scanned his surroundings. The other soldiers did the same, one of them with a little shaky hands.

“If whomever is hiding wanted you dead then I believe you wouldn't have reached the entrance of this house. And I believe they are not directly involved with the murders. Continue your work.” the man said, suddenly vanishing out of sight. Eve concentrated to fend off an attack, thinking his inability to find her a possible move to manipulate her or gain further information about her before he would strike.

Two minutes later that didn't seem to be the case, the soldiers' tension lessening by the minute. A good opportunity to strike but she had learned what she could from this. The man was involved somehow, or perhaps he was investigating as well. Meeting him would be her next step, now that all her other sources had either vanished or were silenced.

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'An intriguing skill...' Baltimore thought as he blended into the city's shadows thrown by the low hanging suns. Virilya was as busy as ever and while he welcomed the noise and people as a good way to make his own movements less noticeable, he had been too late. Too late to find Edwin before another one of his murders. Already he had the attention of an enemy he wasn't prepared to handle and while he was still of little consequence to them that would change with time and amount of people killed.

Still he smiled a little, knowing that was exactly what Edwin wanted, the little Redleaf tornado. He wondered how much the boy had progressed. At least so far he didn't make any mistakes, remembering his lessons from so long ago. Baltimore moved slowly, not using his teleporation ability as excessively as he would normally, still feeling the presence somewhere close, not close enough to endanger him but whomever it was, they were following. 'Another possible lead...' he thought as he jumped to the next house over, his view of the city blocked by bigger buildings around him.

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He was leading her on, Eve was sure of it. The man had moved leisurely, at least for what she assumed to be his skill. As much as she was looking for another clue, perhaps so was he.

[Warrior – lvl 220]

She identified the man to make sure. Any warrior at that level with a goal in mind would be moving more quickly through the city, even on his first day here. Thinking of Ilea, she stopped that kind of thinking as she continued to follow. Then again the man hadn't seemed like an impulsive fighter nut, otherwise the house probably wouldn't be standing anymore.

For the next hour, she followed the man as he went deeper and deeper into the city, below bridges and through sewers and rotten away cellars and underground tunnels until finally he stopped, deep down inside a place that was so mundane Eve just couldn't think of it as a trap. Seeing the man hadn't attacked or looked for her in the noble's house, he probably wanted to at least talk first. Something she could agree with.

A clone of her materialized a meter to her left, the man shifting his eyes to look at the clone.

“A projection? Interesting again. That's already two things about you that I like. I nearly can't tell the difference between that and a real person...” the man said as he slowly clapped.

“To follow me was a risk, what if this was simply a trap? A runed destination specialized in uncovering you?” he asked.

“You had four members of the scouts with you, I believe a strike would've been most reasonable then, why wait? You don't seem like a fool to me.” she answered.

“True, your analysis is sound. What if I simply wanted to capture you, murder you or torture you? For my own joy?” he asked, a black dagger moving around his hand in a fluid motion as he delivered the questions in a completely monotone voice.

Eve's clone started to grin, a little too wide to still look beautiful. “Then all the more reason to come here.” she answered his question. Apparently she had taken the man by surprise as he chuckled a little.

“Oh I see. Well aren't you motivated. Plenty of targets for you then in Virilya. Now tell me, do you know anything about the man you're hunting? Or were you the one to kill those nobles?” he asked.

“There are, there are. I don't assume you're one of them then. Perhaps a trade of information might be beneficial for the both of us?”

“What do you want to know?” the man answered, Eve quite happy at his direct approach.

“The name of the organization that is hunting this... Edwin Redleaf. And perhaps a location or person that would be able to tell me more... yet I do believe I might've found such a person already.” she said, smiling at the man. Depending on his next words she would take her chances at engaging him. No external influences would be around to save him and her close call with the huntress three days prior still sat sour with her.

“So you're hunting the hunters. An efficient way to look for them, that certainly is true but if you have any thoughts of engaging the Golden Lily, you're not even gonna wake up again to realize your mistake. Edwin seems to be trying himself, a little stupid for someone taught by me.” the man said, Eve preparing to fight. Nobody would reveal so much without the intention to silence anybody close by.

“The Golden Lily hmm? How come I've never heard of them?” she asked, unsheathing her daggers, still cloaked and standing a meter away from her clone.

“Oh they're quite good at silencing people who shouldn't know. A passion for some of them I wager.” and with that, he vanished. A black mist appearing in front of her clone, expanding quickly.

Eve moved backwards and through the tunnel as the black cloud advanced for another twenty meters, touching her back a little in the last moment. 'Black magic...' she winced at the phantom pain, knowing a little about how that particular magic worked. Quite effective and without her iron mind skill she might've already been knocked out by the contact.

Dropping her camouflage in the next room, four of her clones appeared as she turned around and skidded to a halt. Out of the smoked tunnel the man stepped, a black mask completing the light armor set he had been wearing. The time for talking was over.