With Sarah in the inn, the other two girls had eight hours to pass.
“Anything you want to do or see?” Nia asked. She herself had also a few things she should take care of, now that she was back. They weren’t that important to put herself in danger just for them, but since she was already here, why not take the opportunity to get some favors?
Fortunately weapon dealers and smiths were pretty widespread, including a few near the place she had to visit.
Exiting the inn, they quickly passed through the plaza again before the girls turned to a somewhat smaller and less frequented street. Though just in comparison to the main streets, the road they were on now had still a lot of people walking around and was rather large.
Continuing on and choosing their way seemingly at random Nia led Sera through smaller and smaller passages in between the buildings. Finally they reached a dusty and old looking building. Cracks in the walls were visible, though the house seemed to be still in use, based on the sound of metal striking metal coming from its inside.
“That’s the shop i would recommend you. Yes, you could probably also visit basically any other shop near the main streets, if you just want some random weapon, but i don’t know much about their quality and this one also has a bunch of more eccentric weapons in store.” After quickly checking the time, Nia continued on. “Anyway, i’ll be back soon, as i need to finish a few things myself. Just stay here and try not to talk. A few other, more outlandish, shops are also nearby, we can visit those later.”
With that Nia took her leave for the moment.
Passing through a few more streets and making sure that neither her new teammate nor any other unwanted companions followed her, she found herself in front of a dimly lit toy store. A shop weird enough for most to dismiss it, but not to an extent that people would actually start to question its existence. Sure, children basically never visited this realm, but one had to level one’s class and skills somehow.
The true purpose of the shop was only known to a select few, most probably invited like the assassin.
Silently the girl opened the door, though in the end the ringing of a bell announced her presence. Carving on a piece of wood behind the counter, the clerk looked up.
[Human Lv 83]
He looked like a for this realm older man nearing his tenth cycle (cycle * 4 + 3 = age in years), though with regard to the job they did, there was a certain probability, that the man’s appearance was fake. Putting the wood in his hand to the side and removing any splinters from his clothes, he turned his attention to the visitor.
“So, how can i help ya, girl? ‘re ya here to buy or sell?” He opened the conversation.
Nia disliked being called “girl”, but the guy and the people behind him disliked using the actual names of people. However that wasn’t why she visited him. “Probably selling, mister. Did anything happen at the central plaza recently? No, i don’t want to know any details.”
After thinking for a moment, the shop owner answered. “Aside from the usual nothin’ special. Why ‘re ya askin’?”
“Thought so… Well, first of all, i want to be paid in favors for this. Is that okay?” While she was somewhat part of the information organization it was in the end only a loose connection. Not that it differed much for the other members. No names and no credit, well usually. The organization was just meant to allow its members to share knowledge without the hassle of going through Eas and using up privileges, regardless of what else they did the rest of their time.
“Ya know how we-“
Nia interrupted him. “Yes, yes, i know. I’m not selling to the organization, i’m selling to you and those who could profit from it directly.”
“Must be pretty important, if ya want favors for it.” Then he continued with a sigh. “Fine, but don’t expect anythin’ in return, if it doesn’t turn out to be useful.”
“Sure. Well, to put it in a nutshell, the Usurper is dead. Probably also a lot of his men, otherwise someone else should have reclaimed ownership over the realm by now and you would have noticed it.” Nia explained.
Seconds passed.
“Oi, ‘re ya serious? If ya’re lyin’ lots of people’ll be pretty mad at ya! Do ya’ve any proof?”
“Nothing. But you know how good i am at finding things, don’t you?” She had expected the question, but she also wasn’t part of the network for nothing.
The missing evidence made it hard for him to believe her, but until now she had a track record of being useful. Also her ability to find things was what got her the invitation to the network in the first place. “Okay, i guess ya’ll carry the major risk anyway and, if he’s truly gone, gettin’ the information first ‘ll be quite valuable. So, how much time did pass?”
“8 hours.” Nia replied.
“What?! Say that first! Damn!”
Quickly the man picked up a bunch of papers and wrote a few notes on them. Then, after looking over them again and discarding a few, he folded and sealed the rest of them with seeds which quickly sprouted and covered the parchment. Normally one would use contracts, but as they didn’t have much time, and the goal of the network was to reduce privilege usage it would do. He had weeded out the problematic recipients anyway. Then he whistled and moments later a young girl probably two cycles old stormed out of the back of the shop.
“Here take those,” he handed the girl the letters, “and bring them to those addresses,” the store owner gave the girl a list. Nia was definitely interested in who would owe her a favor soon, but she also knew where to hold back her curiosity.
Moments later the level 6 girl returned the list, which she had apparently memorized, covered herself in shadows, not unlike the magic the older assassin liked to use, and rushed away.
“So you got an apprentice?” Nia tried to inquire about the girl, not that she expected to gain much from the informant without paying for it.
“Yea… Somehow ended up here… Not sure, if it’s the best environment for her, but findin’ some good “hunter” who’s willing to take in a dead weight ‘s hard.” The owner who had still been looking after the courier then turned to face the assassin. “Anyway, if ya don’t’ve anythin’ else to sell or buy ya should go. Thanks to someone i’ve less than 8 hours to finish all preparations to get out of the realm!”
Noticing that she was about to overstay her welcome, the girl left the shop with a goodbye.
Passing through a bunch of random streets to get rid of any possible followers, Nia returned to the smithy. Opening the door and looking around in search of her team member, but she couldn’t find Sera anywhere. Even after trying to sense her with the party-function, she couldn’t feel her anywhere nearby.
“Hello Nia, here for some new daggers or just to do some maintenance on them?” The energetic voice of the usually more grumpy smith awoke Nia from her thoughts, as she was contemplating where the sword fighter could have gone to.
“Ah, no, not today Eric. I was searching for someone. Did a black armored girl visit you a couple of minutes ago?”
“You can’t expect people to find someone with such a description, basically every non-tank front-liner wears black. Though i guess i don’t have that many visitors and a girl with black armor was here. However she left about half an hour ago.” Eric replied.
After a quick look at her time Nia cursed.
Her visit by the informant had taken longer than she had expected. Time hadn’t been a problem until now, as she was operating alone, but with how fast Sera lost interest in things, Nia should have expected that her new team member would run off on her own.
“Damn!”
The girl was about to storm out of the store, but then stopped. After thinking for a moment, she returned. “By the way i’ve information that this realm will get a bit chaotic in about 8 hours. You probably want to leave before then. Also give me a dagger or some other good weapon once you have reached triple digits as thanks!”
Already halfway back to the door, she was stopped. “Hey, what do you mean with chaotic? And don’t just claim my weapons!” Flustered by the sudden proclamation the smith tried to stop his customer.
Thinking about whether she should tell the truth or hide, she decided to go with the former. Whether the man knew it or not, shouldn’t change much. “Hannibal is dead. His group got annihilated or something. Anyway, good luck in dodging the war over this realm!” The girl replied dryly to the question of the smith.
Shocked, it took the man a moment to process the information. “Damn indeed! Thanks for the info!” Eric then quickly vanished in the back of his store. Probably collecting his most important possession and securing the house.
“Anyway, i need to find the girl, see you.”
Having placed her claim on the future creation of her smith, Nia ran back to the streets and disappeared in the maze of the town in search of Sera.
