章 59: A Deal in the Shadows
The party arrived in Anticourt late noon and the sun was still up. They expected the soldiers that split off from the knights to arrive the next day or the day after that. It was bustling and lively even though it was almost evening, they could see merchants everywhere. This village was a former merchant trading post but due to the high traffic, it boomed into a flourishing haven for goods as this was a prime intersection in Bren. Anticourt is the place to find most goods in Fulmen. Stone and wood buildings intermingled in the town and there were no walls protecting the village.
The party headed to an inn for much-needed rest. The barkeep was friendly and quickly gave the knights lodging. They hid Ezra's identity because it would cause a commotion and it would garner both danger and unwanted attention. They kept on getting odd glances from the people sitting in the tavern. A group of knights with a toddler was truly a peculiar sight. Not to mention it was a bizarre mixture, one Riverruner, five Blackfyre Guard and two Demon Hunters. All of them got separated rooms except for Evan and Ezra who checked in a larger suite. Reitz gave Evan a hefty sum of money for the mission so they could spend more than the other knights.
The tavern they slept in was a lofty inn complete with knight level guards, this place was a little expensive compared to the other places but it was worth the price, merchants used the place to store their valuables. It had a great reputation because the overseer of Anticourt, Baron Flair Incendis, owned it. He was a burly man that sported a walrus moustache. He was a landless Baron of Fulmen. His brother inherited their domain, leaving him landless but Reitz gave him the administrative duties for Anticourt.
Before retiring to bed Evan made sure he fulfilled his promise to send a letter to Reitz upon arriving in Anticourt, he asked Rycharde to look after the sleeping lordling while he was away. Rycharde was happy to oblige. The town had a messenger post; it housed various messenger birds. Usually, one could only use their service from morning to late afternoon but since Evan presented the Blackfyre seal to the caretaker, it entitled him to use the messenger hawks which were for the official use of the empire. He quickly penned the letter and left the messenger post an hour after.
It was now late at night, but a passerby caught his eye. He saw a hooded figure briskly walking toward an alleyway, this was not an odd sight at this late an hour because of the cold wind in Anticourt, however; he saw a gleaming pendant that seemed oddly familiar. Evan cautiously crept behind him. He was not too sure why he was doing this; it was just a gut feeling for him.
The figure turned at another alley way and tailed him. The person actually went to the outskirts of the town town Evan could not actually follow the man directly because it was too obvious since they were at the plains. He decided to reroute and crawl through the grassland.
After a while the hooded figure stopped. Two men met him and bowed in salutation. The hooded figure nodded and they proceeded further out of town. Luckily, Evan found some cover. The man took off his hood to meet two other people in dressed black garments. It was odd because they also wore hoods but did not take them off. Evan tried his best to squint and look at them but he found that he could not even glimpse a silhouette of the hooded men. It was like staring into the abyss a darkness covered their faces seemingly veiling them.
Evan tried to get a better angle of the person who took off his hood. He gasped as he saw his face.
'It's the Duke of Loria, what the hell is he doing here?'
The duke spoke. "Esteemed Shadow Walkers, I am the Duke of Loria, Duke Terros. I was told by certain channels that you are willing to do certain jobs for magic cores. I would like to ask for your cooperation in the matter regarding of Earl Blackfyre"
'Shadow Walkers? Arcanists? He is colluding with Arcanists? That is a capital offense! And this matter regarding Lord Blackfyre, could he be trying to assassinate him with their help?' Evan thought.
"The mercenaries I hired were useless, they failed to kill Reitz. I hope that 20000 magic cores will suffice as a down payment?"
The Shadow Walkers didn't reply. The duke was getting impatient and he kept tapping his thigh with his index finger. After a minute or so, the Shadow Walker spoke.
"30000 magic cores. 20000 for the Lord of Fulmen and 10000 for gathering intelligence and the schematics of Castle Blackfyre,"
The duke was irritable, 30000 was a steep price for the assassination, gold was easy to pay, he did not lack gold, but 30000 magic cores were not an easy thing to gather, besides being hard to smuggle from the eyes of the Imperial capital, his domain's total output for a year was only 45000 to 50000 magic cores.
If a substantial amount would disappear from their export. The capital would make an inquiry to check if the mines were depleted, if the mine was healthy they would send another inquiry on why there was a lack of magic core exports, if you failed to give a suitable answer you would be stripped of your title or beheaded.
Duke Terros did not know how the Shadow Walkers were using the cores, but he himself had a team of artificers trying to pry open the secrets of magic crystal and cores. These people were sent to the capital to learn the craft and would intentionally fail their last year and they would be sent back with their knowledge retained. Their intention was to bridge the gap between the knowledge of those that have finished the artificer training and their own. So far they were not having much success and are only able to build basic magic core-crystal pairs.
"30000 is too much, I can only pay 25000," bargained Terros.
"I'm afraid we must part ways Duke Terros," replied the shadow walker.
It was evident in Terros' face that he was angry but was suppressing it.
"Please esteemed Shadow Walkers, I can offer up to 27000," implored the sullen duke.
The shadow walkers were silent. After a few seconds, the area around the shadow walkers became darker and darker. The Arcanists were leaving.
"WAIT! Wait! I'll give you the cores!" yelled a frustrated Terros.
The area around them was visible again.
"Then so shall it be. The cores must be delivered at the location tomorrow," answered the lead Shadow Walker.
Evan slowly squirmed out of his position, he had heard enough. He needed to report everything to Reitz.
Just as he was about to sneak out.
"We'll also get rid of the spy for free," said the shadow walker.
Evan knew they were talking about him. He immediately dashed forward he did not care anymore since he was spotted. At the corner of his eyes darkness slowly ebbed on both his sides. The shadow walkers were attacking.
クリエイターの想い 
earldennison
earldennison Hi Readers,
this is an unedited chapter. Please post the stuff I need to change in the comments. I don't have time to edit I need to sleep, I have to wake up at 3am.
Also, I changed the synopsis, tell me what you think.
Thanks, and please don't forget to vote.
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