Chapter 168: Tools and Information (1/2)

“Maybe Cameron can help you as well.” Balduur said at some point. “As long as you’re not doing anything against the empire.”

“Worth a shot.” Ilea said and blinked downwards. The street had gotten less busy in the past one and a half hour and she was standing close to alone with the man. Summoning one of Keyla’s meals, she handed it to him with a smile.

“Are you poisoning me?” the man asked with a raised eyebrow. He looked to be fifty with partially gray hair and more than one scar showing on his face. Black eyes stared at her, the man ready to strike at any moment.

“Relax, it’s a peace offering.” Ilea said, summoning a spoon and eating a little of the stew. ‘God her cooking is good…, she’s here isn’t she?’ Ilea thought and concentrated on the moment again.

“Yea alright, been a while since I ate.” the man said and took the bowl.

“That sounds like you’ve not eaten in decades.” Ilea said and got a chuckle from him.

“Might as well be the case.” he said and took a bite. “Wow this is good. By the necromancer.” he said and looked at her with a suddenly worried look.

“What, yea it’s good.” she said and leaned on the wall. He kept looking at her and then shook his head, continuing to eat.

“So you know Balduur?” he asked after a while.

“Yea, met him a couple months ago near Ravenhall.” Ilea said.

“What do you want then? From me that is.” Cameron said, not looking at her.

“Can’t I just want to be your friend.” she asked and chuckled. This time he stared at her.

“I’m looking for someone. Someone so incredibly sneaky I’m not even sure about their gender.” Ilea said.

“And how the hell would I be able to help there?” the man asked. “Better hire some trackers then.”

“Where is the most dangerous neighborhood. With the most unexplained disappearances, where somehow the guard is never allowed to investigate?” Ilea casually asked.

“Now would you want to take care of such a problem or would you somehow cause even more?” the guard replied, checking the surroundings for any listening ears.

“I believe the person I’m looking for likes to take care of such problems. And I need their help. That’s all you’ll get.” Ilea said and watched his reaction.

“Hmm, well that does sound intriguing. I doubt anybody involved in something like that would care about me. Still I’ll have to have someone vouch for you.” the guard said. “I don’t feel like ending up dead in a river somewhere.”

“I can empathize.” Ilea said. “How about Balduur himself?”

“I barely know the man. Got any other important connections.” he asked.

“How about Trian Alymie?” Ilea asked, saying the name with a whisper. This time his eyebrows rose.

“That Alymie family? So you’re looking for the people responsible?” he asked and shook his head. “No matter the reasons, slaughtering children and servants alike. I’d point out whoever did it, if I knew.”

“You seem like a good man.” Ilea said.

“I do have some principles. Killing children is not one of them. I can give you some places to start but also a warning. You’re not the first one to come and try to rip out the corruption. This is not like your backwater village where the elder dabbles in blood magic. This is the place where the elder got his blood magic tome from.” Cameron explained, somewhat confirming what Ilea had read in Eve’s letter. She wouldn’t mention the name she had read there either. Cameron already had a lot of information but after this talk, she was sure she could trust him with that much. Running into a trap set by him or by someone else, it wouldn’t make a difference.

“Nobody even mentioned the killings?” Ilea asked after a while and the man shook his head.

“Everybody knows but with the demons and Baralia, well it’s not exactly on everyone’s mind. You can feel the tension as well can’t you? This place would usually be guarded by a whole ten people.” he said.

“I thought the capital wasn’t hit that hard by the demons?” Ilea asked.

“It wasn’t but a big chunk of the imperial army residing here was sent out to clean out the mess your bloody order caused.” Cameron said, his voice composed.

“I’d be lying if I told you I care much.” Ilea said and shrugged.

“Tens of thousands have already died, likely even more. All of them citizens of the empire.” the man said and Ilea chose not to further engage. She didn’t know any of those people. A mere statistic. It wasn’t that she couldn’t see the tragedy but it didn’t exactly impact her directly. She remembered the reports on slavery and civil war just a couple hours of flying away from her back on Earth. Perhaps she had been a little more idealistic back then, even just a year ago but her experiences she made in Elos definitely left their marks.

The man sighed and calmed down a little. “At least you’re only striving for personal power and not political. As much as I want to condemn the Shadow’s Hand, I can’t deny the kingdoms and the empire have done just as bad if not worse.” he said. “I’ll join you upstairs in an hour when the next shift starts, if that even comes to be.” the man finished and Ilea nodded. She decided not to stay any longer, his information at least a start in her search.

“I’ll be back in an hour.” she said to Balduur and blinked outside, not waiting for an answer as she spread her wings and flew upwards with her full speed, coming to a stop only when she went beyond the clouds.

The stars were breathtaking as always but she was a little in a hurry. The other two would be waiting for half an hour already, or even longer. Having memorized the direction to the current inn they would meet at, Ilea accelerated and dove back into the clouds and out below. She could already see a squad of flying humans rushing towards her as she moved downwards. Perhaps going further out of the city first would’ve been the more reasonable decision.

‘Oh well.’ she thought and moved towards the group with reasonable speed.

“Hold, State your name and your business in Virilya!” one of the guards said. They were all between level one twenty and one forty. A good thing as they still couldn’t identify her. Ilea hoped they wouldn’t delay her too much, head trauma wasn’t something she wished on anybody.

“I’m Lilith, of the Shadow’s Hand. I’m looking for jobs at the guild. The Hand is a little short on paid work at the moment.” she said immediately, summoning her badge into her pocket and getting it out to show them.

“Let me see.” the woman next to the previously talking guard said and moved a little closer. Ilea tossed the badge her way and waited for a moment as the woman’s eyes started glowing yellow.

“Yea, that’s a real one.” she said and handed the badge back to Ilea.

“A safe stay to you then.” the man said and Ilea nodded, rushing downwards immediately, putting her badge back into her necklace. She didn’t expect it to go that smoothly but the badge certainly helped. Thinking about it, the thing didn’t really identify you as an actual member. The shortage Cameron talked about must make it a little easier to get in.

“They were afraid of you…,” Aki said as Ilea landed on a rooftop near the inn, checking her surroundings before she blinked down into the house’s cellar.

“What do you mean?” she asked the dagger.

“Well you were wondering why they let you in so easily weren’t you? One of them seemed to be trying to run at least three times…,” Aki explained himself.

“Well that’s not a good sign then.” Ilea said after thinking about it for a moment.

“Can I ask you for something?” Aki asked, stopping Ilea from blinking towards the inn.

“Sure, what is it?” she asked, looking over to the spider crawling across the wall.

“Can you leave me with that smith and his daughter for a while? As much as I’ve been enjoying this, my personality I feel has become closer to yours… and with that I’m kind of sick of being a dagger hanging from your armor. I want to move, explore and after seeing you… fight.” the dagger said and paused.