Elara’s eyes narrowed at him once those words left his lips.
"Why would you do that? You barely know , and you’re the newest advisor. Getting involved in internal politics could be dangerous for soone still establishing their position."
"True," Rey acknowledged. "But I didn’t join the Red House to watch it slowly dissolve into a Yellow Lily subsidiary. And from what you’ve described, that’s exactly what’s happening—a coordinated effort to make us so desperate that we accept subordination as the only option."
He t her gaze directly.
"I’m good at finding information. I can read people well and see patterns."
"I’m guessing that’s how you knew to look for , huh?" Elara raised a brow, causing Rey to laugh.
"You got ." He raised a hand in surrender, smiling broadly for a mont before his expression darkened.
"I’m good at what I do. You’re good at analyzing data and maintaining docuntation. We could work together—you handle the financial audit trail, I handle the behavioral observation and intelligence gathering."
"And what do you get out of this?" Elara asked skeptically.
"The sa thing you do—a Red House that remains independent and functional. Plus," Rey smiled slightly, "helping expose corrupt senior advisors would certainly accelerate my climb through the ranks. I’m pragmatic about my motivations."
Elara considered this, her analytical mind clearly weighing the proposal.
"You’d be taking considerable risk. If the advisors you’re investigating discover what you’re doing—"
"Then I’d better be careful not to get caught," Rey interrupted, his tone turning even bolder.
"Are you willing to work with or not?"
After a long pause, Elara nodded slowly.
"Very well. But we need protocols. Secure communication thods, regular check-ins, contingency plans if either of us is compromised. I also need to know where you are at all tis. I’ll make sure you know the sa."
"Agreed," Rey said. "Let’s et again in three days to coordinate our approach. Sowhere neutral, not connected to the Red House."
They arranged details for their next eting, then parted ways.
Rey watched Elara depart, her precise movents carrying her into the darkness of district four’s streets.
Once she was out of sight, Rey’s expression shifted from the affable cooperation he’d shown to sothing colder.
Sinister... Far more calculating.
’I didn’t think it would be this easy, but I succeeded in the end.’ He brought out what resembled a compass and stared at the blinking dot on it.
It was an Artifact, and he used it to detect her position.
’She can also detect my movent with sothing similar. This way, the both of us can know what the other is up to.’
Rey’s grin grew wider.
’It’s too bad she doesn’t know that this isn’t my only counterasure.’
Besides this clear tracking thod, Rey had also secretly resorted to a Chaos Art that imparted so of his Imprint on her.
This would allow him to naturally track her location and detect her presence.
His addition was also so subtle, so she wouldn’t suspect anything. He had done it in the brief mont of physical contact, when he shook her hand.
The best part was that the tracking mark was layered beneath other Imprints on her body, so unless she really tried and unraveled all those Imprints, she wouldn’t detect his arrangents.
But why would she ever unravel these Imprints? These were protections that any sensible person in the Dark Comrce District would maintain.
As such, they would remain in place.
’Until... hehe...’
Rey chuckled to himself.
’Trust, but verify...’ He thought as he made his way back toward his shop. ’Elara seems genuine, and her information appears valuable. But in this world, everyone has angles. I need to know what hers are.’
***
Rey returned to Helt’s Scrollworks and dismissed his enslaved workers for the evening.
Once alone, he descended into the basent storage area he’d converted into a private workspace.
His smile widened as he contemplated his next move.
’The other advisors think they’re playing political gas, maneuvering for advantage in a declining organization. They don’t understand that the ga has changed, that soone far more dangerous than they anticipated has entered the board.’
Rey opened his spatial storage cube, withdrawing specific items—not the most valuable Desgarron treasures, but tools suited for a different kind of work.
An Artifact that altered appearance more dramatically than his current disguise, transforming his elderly rchant form into sothing younger and more physically dangerous.
Dark clothing designed for stealth and mobility.
A collection of single-use combat Artifacts, including several that could deliver devastating attacks before being depleted.
Most importantly, a lightning-based attack scroll—Mid-Sequence Spirit Art, capable of delivering a concentrated barrage that could incapacitate or kill depending on how it was applied.
’This should suffice for what I plan to do...’ Rey thought as he changed. ’With this, I can confirm a few things and also set up so things for the future.’
The elderly rchant Modred Helt disappeared, replaced by a figure that could have been any number of things—an assassin, or an enforcer.
The kind of person who moved through the Dark Comrce District’s shadows conducting business that left no witnesses.
Rey checked his tracking Artifact, confirming Elara’s location. She’d returned to her residence in district six—a modest apartnt befitting an auditor’s salary, showing no obvious signs of the wealth that would suggest corruption.
’The other tracking thod also states that she is in the sa area...’ Rey told himself. ’It seems she trusts a great deal, or is this also a test from her?’
Unfortunately for Elara, being tracked was also a part of his plan.
’I have multiple Artifacts and Scrolls that can either remove the Imprint or transfer it to another vessel.’
For the sake of his plan, he would be transferring it to a vessel small enough to carry with him when need be and also discard it when he wanted to act independently.
’I’ll leave the vessel here, alongside an appropriate asure...’
Once Rey was done with all his preparations, he slipped out of his shop through a back entrance, moving through Elkrim’s nightti streets with the confidence of soone who belonged to the darkness.
The tracking device led him to Elara’s building, and he positioned himself on a nearby rooftop with a clear view of her window.
Through enhanced perception, he watched her move about her apartnt, reviewing docunts, making notes.
There was nothing suspicious in her behavior—just soone working late on whatever auditing tasks occupied her ti.
But Rey needed more than observation.
He needed to test her.
Rey descended from the rooftop silently, making his way to ground level. He positioned himself in an alley adjacent to Elara’s building, knowing she would have to pass this way if she left her apartnt.
The waiting was patient, thodical.
This wasn’t about imdiate action but about creating the right conditions for his test.
Finally, nearly two hours after he’d taken position, Elara erged from her building. She moved with purpose, heading toward what Rey’s enhanced perception identified as a secure storage facility several blocks away—probably where she kept her more sensitive audit docuntation.
Perfect!
Rey followed at a distance, his altered appearance and stealth-oriented Artifacts making him nearly invisible in the dim streets.
The tracking mark confird her position even when visual contact was lost.
Elara paused in a narrow street between districts, and Rey saw her body language shift—tension entering her shoulders, her hand moving toward a defensive Artifact she carried.
She’d sensed sothing.
Not him specifically, but the feeling of being followed.
"I know you’re there," Elara called out, her voice steady despite the circumstances. "Show yourself."
Rey smiled in the darkness. This was the mont.
He stepped from the shadows, his altered appearance rendering him unrecognizable as Modred Helt.
Just another dangerous figure in a city full of all kinds of people.
Elara’s eyes widened as she saw him, her hand completing its movent to her defensive Artifact.
"Who are you? What do you want?"
Rey didn’t answer.
Instead, he moved—explosive speed granted by his enhanced body and movent Artifacts, closing the distance between them in a heartbeat.
Elara reacted instantly, activating her defense.
A barrier of Curse Art energy materialized around her, designed to deflect hostile magic and physical attacks.
Rey had anticipated this.
His hand grabbed the lightning scroll from his belt even as he moved, and he activated it mid-assault.
The stored Spirit Art erupted with devastating force, bypassing his need for Spirit Art affinity by using the scroll’s pre-charged power.
BOOOOOOOMMM!!!
Lightning exploded from the scroll in a concentrated barrage, brilliant white-blue energy that lit up the entire street with its intensity.
The bolts struck Elara’s barrier with trendous force.
Then—
[A/N: I wonder if anyone can guess just what Rey is planning and how deep his sche will go.]
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