Nikolai couldn’t help but cringe a little at the many stares aimed at him. Igri was wrapped around his neck tightly, and judging by some of the rather hostile looks, he guessed she was fairly popular. It was no wonder—Igri was more than a little pretty, with long blonde hair and bright green eyes.

  Nikolai patted her back, careful not to let his hand rest in any one place for more than a moment.

  “Hello, Igri. Nice to see you again,” he said, keeping his tone casual but warm.

  Igri trembled slightly, and judging by the wetness on his neck, she was crying. “You remembered…”

  “Of course I did.”

  He gently pushed her back, and Kaelith pulled out a chair for her. Igri wiped her eyes with her apron, then let Nikolai guide her into the seat.

  “Sorry… It’s just… when I saw you, I couldn’t help myself. I owe you so much…” she said haltingly.

  Nikolai smiled at her. “No need to apologize. I’m just happy to see you looking healthier. Is everything going okay?”

  Igri nodded. “The dwarven healer at the church helped us a lot. The few who stayed in the city have jobs now—real jobs, that is. David is still around too.”

  Nikolai had to think for a moment. Ah—right. The man who had helped him as well. “I see. And how is he?”

  Igri grinned. “He joined the guard. He visits sometimes…”

  For a while, the two of them talked, with Kaelith sitting back and listening. Nikolai asked about life after their ordeal and gently fished for information that might prove useful later. He wasn’t using her, he told himself—he was genuinely happy to see her safe—but at the same time, he didn’t feel nearly as invested in the conversation as she did. Was he growing callous?

  Igri was smiling now, clearly happy to see him, and judging by the blush on her face, it might even be a little more than that. Food and drinks arrived at the table, and none of the other maids commented on Igri taking an impromptu break.

  After a while, the conversation slowed, and Kaelith leaned forward. “Excuse me—Igri, was it?”

  Igri turned to her, looking slightly surprised to find her there. “Yes?”

  Kaelith smiled, carefully keeping her sharp canines hidden. “I’m Kaelith. I’m an adventurer. I wasn’t always one, though—my story’s different from yours—but I’ve known pricks who thought nothing of hurting other people far too many times. I think I might like to have a chat with this illusionist Nikolai mentioned…”

  Igri’s eyes widened. “No! He’s dangerous, Miss Kaelith. You shouldn’t get close to him!”

  Nikolai nodded. “She’s right, Kaelith. It’s a bad idea.”

  Kaelith scoffed. “Someone has to punish people like that, and I quite enjoy jobs like this. Look, Igri—do you remember anything that might help me get close to him?”

  Igri glanced at Nikolai, who gave her a defeated shrug, before turning back to Kaelith. “I… well, if you promise to be really careful…”

  Kaelith nodded. “Always am!”

  Igri hesitated, then sighed. “Okay. Look, I don’t know much, alright? I spent most of my time… well, you know.” Horrible memories clearly passed behind her eyes as a single tear ran down her cheek. Then her expression hardened, replaced by something else entirely—fury and hatred.

  “The guards talked. There were several places in the slums, but they always complained about not being chosen to guard the richer quarters. I remember the name of one of them… Rest of Roses,” she said, her voice low and intense.

  “I can’t say for sure you’ll find him there, but that’s all I remember. There were other mentions of people, though—never by name. I had the feeling they might be high society. Maybe even nobles.”

  Kaelith gently placed a hand over Igri’s. “I’ll see what I can do. I’m not sure I can convince the guild, though. Even so, this can’t be ignored.”

  Igri smiled sadly. “I’m not sure what you can do alone, Miss Kaelith… I still think you should stay out of it. They’re really dangerous…”

  Nikolai took Igri’s other hand. “Kaelith is strong, Igri. You don’t need to worry about her. Maybe she can convince the guild, eh? She’s right—having what happened to you and David happen to others… it’s unacceptable.”

  Igri’s eyes flared again, her voice turning cold and sinister. “I would make them pay, if I could. I you can do something then…”

  Kaelith nodded. “Count on it.”

  They talked a while longer, and when Kaelith explained how she and Nikolai had met, the two women seemed to form a kind of bond. Nikolai protested Kaelith’s version—how he had selflessly saved her life—but it fell on deaf ears.

  He knew she was playing it up on purpose, partly to tease him, but also because it gave her and Igri common ground.

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  Eventually, it was time to go, and Igri escorted them to the door. Before leaving, she took Nikolai’s hand and leaned in slightly. “Come visit sometime, okay?”

  Her crooked smirk made him blush, and he managed an embarrassed half-promise before they stepped outside and began walking back toward the hospitarium.

  Kaelith slipped her arm through his, and Nikolai sighed. “I’m exhausted…”

  Kaelith giggled. “You should take her up on her offer, Nikolai. It isn’t good to get all pent up.”

  Nikolai groaned. “Not you too… I’m fine, okay? I’m not pent up!”

  Kaelith raised an eyebrow. “No? Well, don’t wait too long. It isn’t healthy.”

  Nikolai rolled his eyes. “I’m not going to take advantage of a girl who’s that vulnerable. I helped get her out of that shithole—that would only make it worse. Besides, I feel a bit bad for our little act back there.”

  This time it was Kaelith’s turn to sigh. “You’re an idiot, Nikolai…”

  “What? Why!?”

  “Because you treat sex like it’s this huge thing! It’s just sex. It doesn’t have to carry deeper meaning, and women can make their own damn decisions,” she said, sounding genuinely annoyed—which was unusual for her.

  “Be that as it may, I’m not used to seeing it like that. I was sort of raised in a strict household when it came to stuff like that.” he replied defensively.

  “This world is going to eat you up and spit you out,” Kaelith said, holding him just a little closer.

  Once back in his room, it was finally time to deal with something they had put off due to more pressing matters: loot.

  Kaelith had hinted that they’d gotten a fairly good haul from looting the monsters—or rather, that she had, using Lurk. Speaking of Lurk, Kaelith still hadn’t found time to fix him up. Apparently it required a ritual, and more annoyingly, it would drain Kaelith’s essence reserves.

  That meant Nikolai would have to replenish her essence once more. Perhaps they would need to go monster hunting soon.

  Kaelith had already gone through the items taken from the crypt. They now sat across from each other as she began laying them out on his bed.

  “So, most of what we got are materials,” she explained, pointing to a few samples. “But those can fetch quite a bit of gold. Most are infused with dark affinity or undeath, which makes them rather specialized.”

  Nikolai had no idea what the nearly black metal ingots might be used for, and frankly wasn’t interested at the moment. He had too much else on his mind. Crafting could come later—he’d toyed with the idea, but dedicating years to hammering steel into shape? No, not for him.

  Kaelith grinned at his mild disinterest and slipped the metals back into her pouch. “Next, we have some mana crystals. They’re generally used for potions, but they have a wide variety of applications. Most of these are pure, uncorrupted mana crystals.”

  This caught Nikolai’s interest. The crystals glowed with translucent blue light, and if nothing else, they were beautiful. He picked one up, his Discerning Eye activating automatically. Medium grade. What that meant exactly, he wasn’t sure—but medium was better than low, right?

  Kaelith took it from him and returned it to the pouch. “They’re valuable, but we should probably hold onto them for now. Providing the crystals ourselves can make magical crafting much cheaper. Now—onto the interesting stuff. There are also claws and talons from the harpies, some rusty weapons and so on, but I’ll have them sold at market. I don’t see any immediate use for those”

  She pulled out three rune stones. Kaelith had indeed saved the best for last.

  “Now these I had appraised a few days ago—I know a guy,” she said, pointing to the first. “This one is Shadowmeld. It lets you travel through shadows for a few seconds. The effect should grow in effect as the owner advances, though I can’t say by how much.”

  She indicated the second. “This is a summoning spell: Summon Familiar. It does exactly what it says—it summons a being tied to your affinity and path.”

  Finally, she pointed to the last rune stone. “And this is an empowerment rune, and a good one. Marrowspawn Vitality. It increases general vitality and strength.”

  Marrowspawn… so that many-armed monster must have been called that. Nikolai looked at the runes, tempted by all of them, but unwilling to be selfish. He gestured toward them. “Which one are you interested in?”

  Kaelith smiled widely and pointed to the summoning rune. “I’ll take this one, if you don’t mind. I already have enhancement spells for empowering Lurk, and they’ll work just as well on a summon. With Lurk out of commission, it’s good to have options. Familiars are generally not oriented for combat, but it could prove useful at some point”

  Nikolai nodded. It made sense. He was curious about having a familiar himself, but that could wait. Who knew, he might find a magical companion himself in time.

  “How many runes do you have right now, Nikolai?” Kaelith asked suddenly.

  He thought for a moment. “Eight.”

  Kaelith whistled. “That’s incredible for a stage five. You probably still have room for a few more though right? It’s not an exact science, but generally speaking, stage five can handle about ten. Very few have that many though. Also, not everyone are the same.”

  “So two per stage?” he asked.

  “No, that’s not how it works. It depends on the strength of your soul—which I know is a weird metric. There are ways to measure soul strength, but not in this city, as far as I know. It’s more of a rule of thumb. At stage ten, most people can handle around fourteen runes, though some manage sixteen, others only twelve.”

  She held his gaze. “So I’m guessing you mostly have spell runes?”

  Nikolai nodded. “Only spell runes, actually.”

  Kaelith groaned. “No empowerments!?”

  He shook his head, and she jabbed a finger at the Marrowspawn Vitality rune. “You are taking that.”

  Nikolai opened his mouth to argue—then closed it again, realizing he had no real objection. He grinned. “Fine. And the last rune?”

  “Yours.”

  He blinked. “Why? I can already wrap myself in shadows to stay hidden. I don’t think I need it.”

  Kaelith rolled her eyes. “It’s a defensive skill that doubles as an escape ability. You’re taking it.”

  That was when the air popped, and Sevrin appeared in the room out of nowhere.

  To Kaelith’s credit, she was only startled for a heartbeat before dark flames erupted from her hands, and she placed herself between Nikolai and the butler.

  Sevrin smiled appreciatively, standing completely unconcerned amid the roaring darkness. “I applaud your instinctive reaction to protect the young master, Miss Kaelith. It is a pleasure to meet my fellow servant indeed.”