Chapter 57

They made their way through dingy back alleys, quickly leaving the low levelers quarter behind and headed toward the mid levelers part of town.

Lyra hesitantly touched at Rain’s elbow causing him to stop.

“Uhm, I should take out those arrow shafts. They kinda stand out a bit and they don’t make you look very leveler like.”

“I don’t think anything makes me look very leveler like,” gravelled Rain, but he sat down on the ground crossing his legs so that she could reach the arrows.

“I feel ... guilty,” muttered Lyra as she gently touched one of the arrows in Rain’s back. “Levelers are supposed to be good, we kill monsters ... but monsters aren’t like I was told or how I understood...”

Opal spat to the side. “Levelers were never good sheepy. You trap monsters in dungeons in a never ending cycle of death and killing all for your own greed. You make us suffer and hate and struggle for nothing.”

“That’s because of what happens sometimes with monsters! If we didn’t the world would, there would- You don’t know about it, you don’t understand!”

“BULLSHIT! You do it for levels! For power!”

“Stop.” growled Rain, firmly putting an end to it.

They fell silent as Lyra slowly worked the remaining arrows from Rain’s back. Fortunately they were only shallow wounds and despite Rain’s body occasionally tensing up with pain they came out easily. Lyra was glad she had chosen black for his coat, it hid the blood stains well.

“Maybe it was a bad idea to come here like this, pretending to be a leveler,” she murmured, “I didn’t expect the reaction to be quite so- I guess I really am getting used to being around you.”

“It’s fine. There wasn’t an easy way into town, your idea worked, we are inside and so far the town hasn’t entirely gone to war with me.”

“I guess at least some people are assuming you’re my slave, It would have saved so much hassle if we could have just bypassed the walls though.”

“Why didn’t we?” said Opal.

“Because they are enchanted everywhere but at the gatehouses.

Opal twirled her black hair, looking between Lyra and Rain.

“Hmm, So do you want to keep going like this? These levelers don’t seem to like us very much.”

“I’m not leaving until I’ve found at least Lira and Adlen, we’ve come this far I’m not backing down now.”

“We could use my invisibility?” said Lyra, “Now we’re inside we don’t need to remain out in the open like this, we could do this from the shadows.”

Rain hesitated then shook his head. “No, if we can do this a certain way we can come back freely over and over, just randomly killing them could draw attention. Do you know what I have in mind?”

“I think so,” said Lyra, “But let’s see what happens first. Come on let’s go to some busier areas, I’ll try and be a bit louder about you being a ‘leveler’ this time.”

They moved deeper into the mid leveler quarter and toward the market districts. It was busier here, much busier, and the number of people who practically jumped out of their skin and fled when they saw Rain increased. A couple of people tried to draw swords and attack him but this time Lyra was ready with a heavy duty word barrage that involved a lot of accusations of racism and rudeness and why in the gods sweet name would the guards let a giant scary monster into town? Don’t be ridiculous that would never happen, be rational, gosh. In short she gaslit the ever loving shit out of them, in fact this went past gaslighting, she was solidifying the gas into a brick and hitting people in the face with it.

Rain for his part found he was, strangely enough, starting to enjoy the reactions. It was somehow gratifying to see people draw back from him after his past life where they would ignore him or casually knock him aside with a look of disgust.

Food stalls were causing Rain not a little discomfort as they passed by, the rich spiced smell of meat roasting over open braziers getting his hunger up, filling his mouth with saliva, causing his stomach to growl, he could just reach out and ta-. He was glad for the reprieve when they moved away although the hunger never quite dissapeared, instead becoming a slow background burn.

They caused a huge commotion as they emerged into the market proper, hawkers at stalls going bugeyed and choking on their own spit as Rain’s shadow loomed over them. The crowd had a difficult time keeping back from him with so many people and it was only Lyra walking in front of him with her arms spread and announcing him that stopped a full blown panic.

“The mighty merchant king, Fitz of the north has arrived in Lynthia! No he is not a monster, yes he has lots of gold! You think he’s a monster? Well I guess you must hate gold then cause you aren’t getting any!”

As Lyra spoke Rain turned his head, his gaze following Opal. Like a piece of steel being drawn toward a magnet, the Goblin was making a beeline to the nearest stall selling weapons, a fascinated look in her eyes.

The rotund and bald merchant running the stall gave the Goblin a sceptical look.

“Did your master send you out on an errand Goblin?

“ ... Yes? My master says to give me your best weapon, the shiniest, pointiest, sharpiest pointy you have.”

The merchant blinked down at her, then his gaze moved to her pack which did look like the sort of thing someone wealthy might perhaps own. An ingratiating smile appeared on the merchant’s face. He had stumbled upon an easy mark, what a wonderful day!

Immediately he brushed aside the blades laid out on his counter and from underneath produced a box, a long black lacquered box. He ran his hand along it reverently.

“This is a rarity in this part of the world, this came from far far to the east, created over the course of a decade by celibate monks of the skyspine mountain range. They rarely if ever interact with the outside world, this had to be smuggled out and even then ten people died in the process, the monks guard their masterpieces carefully.

A fire was burning in Opal, the fire of hype. She found she could not look away from the merchant’s emotive performance.

The merchant flourished his chubby hands, “May I present the Crimson Katana of Kalirn!”

He ran a finger along the rim and then carefully, slowly, opened the box as though revealing his favourite child. Opal’s mouth dropped open seeing the glossy red curved blade within. Her hand came out, shaking slightly as she hesitantly reached for this magnificent weapon. The merchant drew the box back to her dismay.