Chapter 3
“What does it an when a girl bites you?”
Marim, Diogo, and Ricardo stared silently at Liam for several seconds.
“You talking about Nat?” Marim asked.
“Maybe…”
“Let’s see it,” Ricardo leaned in closer.
“No,” Liam stepped back.
“…where did she bite you?” Diogo asked.
“Uh, on the shoulder.”
Liam’s hand went to his left pauldron over where Nat had bitten him. Her ‘gift’ a couple of weeks ago had been a Darkvision ring she had bought for herself, which she asserted would allow them to spend more ti together. Almost all of that extra ti was sleeping, though. Nat had a habit of clinging to him while they slept, which made him feel like he was being broiled inside of his bedroll. Had he been cooking for so long that he had beco appetising enough to gnaw on? Maybe she had gone feral.
“My wife hasn’t bitten before,” Marim said, “so I got nothing.”
“You probably let her run wild for too long,” Ricardo told him.
“Run wild?”
“You know, letting her do too much of her own thing. Letting her run her own shop and all that. I heard she even tries to tell Sir Jorge how to run the camp now.”
When did that start happening? Sir Jorge had never ntioned it.
“I know you’re sweet on her and all,” Ricardo continued, “but you need to discipline your woman. It’ll never end otherwise.”
Liam sighed and left the three patrol sergeants, walking through Rimun Gate. The Faith of the Six encouraged professional ambition regardless of gender, but not only were won expected to be docile and subservient to n in the Faith of the Four, they were also seen as deviants if they favoured their careers over family life. There were exceptions, of course, such as Adventurers and other larger-than-life individuals, but a ‘wild’ woman was generally seen as a problematic existence.
Nowhere was this outlook more prevalent than in the highly-religious Holy Kingdom of Roble. Liam couldn’t stomach it, so he wondered if it made him a failure as an Assassin. Mrs Linum would probably say so. An Assassin was a master of disguise and was supposed to be able to seamlessly blend into any setting.
“Liam, there you are.”
Sir Jina was on the other side of the gate. An unfamiliar man of dark complexion and short stature stood at his side.
“I got a new guy for you,” the Knight said.
“Na’s Manuel,” the new guy stuck out his hand.
Liam took the proffered hand and gave it a firm shake.
“Nice to et you, Manuel.”
“He’s rough around the edges like the rest,” Sir Jina told him, “but he’ll manage. Probably.”
Over the past two weeks, the Knights hamred out an informal system of identifying and testing thief-taker candidates. Like Liam, they all started as caravan escorts and had their capabilities and trustworthiness gauged by the caravan masters. He wasn’t sure how reliably it identified Rogues as they had many overlapping qualities with Rangers in that type of situation, but it wasn’t as if Roble had an abundance of trustworthy street thugs to choose from like the Draconic Kingdom did.
After that, the candidates were incorporated into the new training routines devised for House Restelo’s city patrols. Those who surpassed a certain threshold of proficiency were placed under Liam. As Sir Jina said, however, even those guys were still ‘rough around the edges’.
“I’ll put him through his paces, sir,” Liam said. “Do the patrols know him on sight?”
“They’ve seen him in training, but that’s no guarantee. Hell, the other thief-takers might stick him in the dark.”
Manuel shifted on his feet as they spoke, his eyes going back and forth between Liam and the Knight. Liam motioned for him to follow with a jerk of his head.
“It’s an honour to finally et you, sir,” Manuel said as he fell into step beside him.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah!” Manuel enthused, “I’ve heard so much about you! You fought an army of Rogues for weeks on your own. You even went to prison and you stare down Redios Custodio whenever she cos around. That’s so hardcore – you really have my respect.”
He wasn’t sure if soone from the Holy Kingdom should have said all that. At the sa ti, it was sowhat reassuring. For lack of a better way to describe it, Rogues had roguish qualities no matter how they might otherwise be.
“So,” Manuel licked his lips and drywashed his hands, “what do I do?”
“Let’s take a look at your equipnt, first.”
They stopped on a street corner a block away from the gate. Manuel produced the sa type of dagger that Roble’s citizens used for everyday tasks. That in itself wasn’t bad, but he didn’t seem to have anything else beyond his nondescript labourer’s outfit.
“What did you do before this?” Liam asked, “Before caravan escort duties, I an.”
“I was a labourer, sir. But there wasn’t any work in the city. Sir Luis picked out a while ago for the caravans.”
How did a labourer end up as a Rogue? Then again, he did seem pretty enthusiastic about his work. Will counted a lot towards self-developnt. However, that in turn raised questions about what he envisioned himself to be.
“The first thing you need to do is get so boots,” Liam told him. “Those straw sandals are going to get you killed. How in the world did you manage to work as an escort without wearing them out?”
“They didn’t pay us much,” Manuel replied, “but it was enough to afford new sandals every now and then.”
It was true that caravan escorts weren't paid much, but they were also provisioned by House Restelo while they worked. Everything else was extra and they worked nonstop, so he should have at least been able to afford so boots. On top of continuously buying new straw sandals, he must have been purchasing sothing else. Maybe he had a family in the city to feed and didn’t understand that rural folk were accustod to operating on credit.
“You’re working on the ground until you get a decent pair,” Liam told him. “The camp market should have plenty.”
“Um, we don’t get equipped by House Restelo?”
“Of course not,” Liam replied. “Knights equip themselves through their personal incos. It’s the sa sort of deal with n-at-arms. If you want to know how the other armsn manage things, just ask around.”
Manuel glanced over Liam’s gear.
“You an you paid for all that aweso stuff on your own?”
“Sort of. I saved up a lot and invested it in a workshop. You can still afford normal equipnt with an armsman’s pay, though.”
“Normal…you an you’re wearing magic items?”
“Yeah.”
The man’s jaw dropped open. Liam wasn’t sure what was so astounding. Saving up to start a business was common sense for pretty much every vocation. All he had done was identify a ‘wife’ who could read and write, figured out what she could do, and invested in her workshop while encouraging her to follow the tenets of The Six. Of course, Nat turned out to be super good at what she did, but all that ant was that they had a giant pile of scrip that they weren’t sure what to spend on.
“New guy?”
Ricardo strolled up behind them with his squad.
“He’s on the street for now,” Liam replied.
“Guess we can’t have another thief-taker breaking their neck.”
Liam nodded. One of the first new thief-takers had slipped off of a rooftop and landed on their head. They rushed him to the nearest temple for healing and it was sort of embarrassing explaining what happened to Sir Jina after that.
“You have a screen tonight?” Liam asked.
“Nope,” Ricardo answered. “Want us to take him on?”
“Don’t stab him by accident.”
“Hey, you’re the only one we nearly stabbed by accident. You’re just too damn sneaky for your own good.”
“What do I do?” Manuel asked.
“Walk about a half-block ahead of the patrol,” Liam told him. “Check the alleys and any other hiding spots you see along the route. If you find sothing suspicious, whistle up Ricardo’s patrol. Don’t try to do anything alone unless soone bolts.”
“Got it.”
He kept his instructions as plain as possible, as the new thief-takers didn’t seem to understand what a Sneak Attack was. Since they were more or less as excited as Manuel about their work, having them whacking random people carried a high risk of grievously injuring or even killing soone.
After making sure Manuel understood his instructions, Liam went to the rooftops to observe his progress. He frowned as the man snuck up on a cat in a doorway and pulled his dagger. The cat detected him and bolted, causing Manuel to jump a tre into the air with a startled shout. Ricardo’s patrol ca running to assist.
Is this alright?
Laughter rose as the patrol mocked Manuel for his overreaction. Liam hopped down from his perch above, slipping into the alley ahead of the group.
A few minutes later, Manuel appeared and paused to look in Liam’s direction. Then, he pulled his dagger and closed the distance. When the man raised his weapon to strike, Liam punched him in the gut. A swift kick sent him rolling back out into the street and the patrol ca running again.
“Are you an idiot?!” Liam scowled, “What if I was a kid?”
Technically, he was, but he had lied about his age.
“But I couldn’t see–”
“I told you that if you find sothing suspicious, whistle up the patrol. I didn’t say ‘stab anything suspicious’. At this rate, you’re going to cause trouble for everyone.”
“We done with him?” Ricardo asked.
Manuel’s eyes widened at the implications of the patrol sergeant's words. He pushed himself up from the street and crawled to Liam’s feet.
“No, wait!” He pleaded, “Don’t get rid of ! I promise I won’t do it again!”
“After trying to stab a cat and then , your promises are about as good as a hole in a boat.”
“Just give another chance! Please!”
Liam shared a look with Ricardo.
“Let’s see how he does for one round?" Ricardo said.
That’s what we were just doing…
“Fine,” Liam said. “But if he screws up one more ti, he’s on the next caravan out.”
He returned to the rooftops with a shake of his head. Smiling Demon? He was more like the Demon Nanny. How did Roble’s Royal Army manage to train their thief-takers without incident? On second thought, maybe they didn’t.
A figure made its way over the rooftops, clambering over to join him.
“New guy?”
“Yeah.”
“Great. I thought I was in trouble for a mont when I saw you here. How many cats did he try to stab?”
“…that’s not funny.”
“It is, in a way.”
Liam sent an unamused look in the man’s direction. He was a thief-taker who had ‘graduated’ from Sir Jina’s training the previous week: a lanky young man by the na of As.
“Has anything happened on your block?” Liam asked.
“Not a peep, aside from the new guy. I doubt anything will happen this deep in our turf.”
A sigh escaped Liam's lips as he was reminded how silly Manuel’s reactions were. They were standing in House Restelo’s original jurisdiction, which ant they were several blocks from any of the bordering houses. The only thing he could stab was cats and the citizens under their protection, yet the new thief-taker treated every shadow like an imminent threat. The sun hadn’t even gone down and the city folk were still moving around.
“Keep an eye on him,” Liam said. “Check on any spots he misses and try to keep him from murdering random people.”
“You got it, boss.”
As went to catch up with Ricardo’s patrol. A week ago, he had tried to stab a cat as well, but he fled in fright when he encountered Liam.
Liam lingered a few minutes longer before returning to Rimun Gate to speak with Sir Jina. Upon entering the captain’s office, however, he found that the Knight wasn’t there.
“Where’s Sir Jina?” He asked a sentry back down at the gate.
“He went to the Fire Gate,” the sentry replied.
“Why?”
“‘Cause it got handed over to us.”
“What?” Liam frowned, “I thought that was happening tomorrow morning.”
“That’s what we all thought, but the place is emptied of armsn. The locals said it happened this morning.”
“Seriously?”
“I know, right? Damn royalists will do anything to get back at us.”
Liam rushed over to the Fire Gate, which was roughly one kilotre east of the Rimun Gate. He passed several Restelo Squads performing inspections along the way, then found a small crowd of well-dressed n and won at the gate itself.
“What is the aning of this? We haven’t had security all day!”
“Is this what we’re to expect with House Restelo?”
“We’re lucky that vagabonds didn’t sneak in to rob us!”
It sounded like a bunch of royalist stooges leveraging the unannounced handover to cause trouble. The last guy’s complaint wasn’t even realistic, as anyone could enter the Pri Estates so long as they weren’t swinging an axe all over the place.
Wait, does that an they staged a bunch of robberies to go along with this charade?
The pile of complaints grew, burying Sir Jina’s attempts at mollifying the crowd – which was a mistake in the first place. A second Knight appeared several minutes later: a newcor to Hoburns by the na of Fuentes. Liam slipped in behind him as he pushed his way through.
“Jina, what in the gods’ nas is going on here?!”
“Ridiculous!” A man sowhere in the crowd shouted, “Restelo has no idea what they’re doing!”
Sir Fuentes turned a glare in the direction of the voice, but was only t with a sea of mixed expressions.
“Oh, gods, he’s going to murder us!”
“Soone call the Holy Order!”
The audible sound of grinding teeth accompanied Sir Fuentes the rest of the way to the gate. Sir Jina looked like he was about to murder soone himself.
“It’s all yours, Fuen–oh, hey Liam.”
A hush fell over the crowd, their once-angry gazes going from Sir Jina to Liam. A woman nearby – he was pretty sure it was the Es that worked for House Ovar – scread and fainted. The crowd panicked and lted away into the Pri Estates, leaving a line of royalist armsn quaking in their boots as they levelled their halberds to ward him away.
“Huh,” Sir Jina said. “Remind to call on you the next ti this happens.”
“Forgive for being new here,” Sir Fuentes said, “but what the actual fuck just happened?”
Sir Jina ca over and clapped Liam on the back.
“Liam here’s our very own Demon Assassin from Ijaniya,” he said. “Or sothing like that. It gets crazier every ti I check.”
“I’m sorry,” the other Knight said, “I don’t follow.”
“That would be ill-advised,” Sir Jina replied. “It just goes wherever it goes. Where are your n?”
“Half of them are drunk and the other half are getting drunk. We were supposed to assu our duties here tomorrow.”
With House Restelo’s expanding operations ca additional companies of armsn. A and B Company were joined by a C and D Company in the ranks of the elite, though those two were promoted from the best of the regular companies and were only about a step above the rest. Supporting them were eight regular companies, four of which were still in basic training.
The elite companies patrolled the border streets while the regular ones were assigned to the interior of House Restelo’s jurisdiction, which included its growing labour camp. Since the companies that had passed their basic training were already assigned to specific duties, however, the n stationed at the Fire Gate appeared to be sowhat raw recruits who were probably training in the camp when Sir Jina snatched them up en masse.
“Then I guess we’re stuck with these scarecrows for now,” Sir Jina said. “Liam, do you think B and D companies can afford to move?”
“I’m not sure, sir,” Liam replied. “It’s quiet right now, but what the royalists did here is bound to open up so holes in our defence. I’d be especially wary of any ‘presents’ that they’ve left behind.”
“Such as…”
“Sabotaging our fuel storage, for instance. They may even believe they have a right to do it since the warehouses would be filled with their charcoal.”
Sir Jina clicked his tongue.
“I wanted to save the district inspection for the morning, but it sounds like it’s better to do it right away. Fuentes, you’re in command of the company here. I’m going to see who I can recruit from the locals for this. Liam, start checking around for sneaks.”
“Yes, sir.”
Liam left the gatehouse and walked along the city’s second wall, wondering how to go about doing that. It was still early enough in the evening that people were doing things outside and he wasn’t familiar with any of them. Additionally, the newly acquired district was set up in a pretty annoying way.
While House Restelo controlled the Fire Gate, they didn’t control the walls. Usually, walls would represent safety, but the royalist-manned walls instead represented a way for their enemies to cause trouble. Unless House Restelo constantly monitored its entire length, infiltrators based in the Pri Estates could sneak over at any point.
Bordering the south of the Fire District was the Water District – locally known as the Water Gardens – which was the closest thing to a hive of scum and villainy Hoburns had. The denizens themselves weren’t bad, but the entertainnt district was frequented by countless patrons from the royalist houses. They could co over as an organised effort of well-prepared agents or a mob of drunken rowdies. Either way, House Restelo had to defend against them.
Why is the Fire District by the Water District, anyway? Shouldn’t it be on the opposite side of the city?
The Holy Kingdom couldn’t even get its elental axis straight. Liam could find no end to the contradictions contained within it.
He made his way over the rooftops, weaving through the forest of soot-stained chimneys of the city’s silent forges. Smiths and their families loitered in the enclosed yards below, their expressions a mix of worry and listlessness. Beyond that, there seed to be little else but House Restelo’s patrols, who warily poked their heads into every nook and cranny in search of infiltrators and sabotage.
With how small the district was, however, it only took half the night before Sir Jina was satisfied that nothing was amiss. The closest thing to sabotage were the warehouses left locked by the forr overseers, which Liam effortlessly picked at the Knight’s behest.
“You’d think they’re having a competition over how petty one can get,” Sir Jina scratched his head. “Looks like they managed to empty all of the warehouses before they bolted, as well.”
“Fewer issues over loose ends, I say,” Sir Fuentes said. “Any…unconventional security asures that I should be made aware of?”
The Knight looked pointedly in Liam’s direction as he spoke. He clearly wasn’t comfortable with the idea that there was soone who could sneak around undetected and gain access to pretty much anything in the city.
“The royalists have been fielding spies,” Sir Jina said, “so we’ve been developing counterasures for them. I know you just ca in from Canta, but you’ll be caught up soon enough. Liam, did you catch any new issues? I know the Water Gardens are a problem just waiting to happen.”
“And the Fire Gate,” Sir Fuentes added. “We don’t have a single lick of authority in the Pri Estates so the royalists can do any number of things. I don’t like how vulnerable we are there.”
Sir Jina nodded in agreent, then looked over at Liam.
“The wall is controlled by the royalists,” Liam said. “It’s like a fortress they can attack from any ti they want. Both the wall and the Water Gardens will need extra security.”
“Would improved lighting help?” Sir Jina asked.
“I think so,” Liam nodded. “It should eliminate the chance of people sneaking into the district at night so long as the sentries and patrols are paying attention…but where are we going to get so much lighting?”
“Sir Fuentes ca in with a few crates of Torches. They were supposed to be set up around our entire jurisdiction, but it sounds like they’ll be put to better use on this end.”
Lord Demiurge is right. Knowledge is dangerous.
In the short ti since he started making suggestions to improve House Restelo’s situation, all sorts of novel – at least to the Holy Kingdom – ideas had cropped up. Through specific forms of training and being able to digest new experiences, the Knights and their n were developing practices that even Liam would be hard-pressed to deal with.
He supposed it made plenty of sense: he wasn’t exactly the smartest guy around, but even he could grasp new concepts and turn them into working knowledge just by being exposed to them. Conceptualisation was the greatest barrier to innovation. A lot of things seed obvious in hindsight and it was easy to look down on others for their ignorance, but trying to think of them the other way around really was next to impossible. One only knew what they knew, after all.
Just before dawn, Sir Jorge appeared at the head of a caravan of goods from the labour camp. The warehouses of the Fire District were still being filled with iron bars, charcoal, and a variety of other reagents for smithing when the local workshop owners were gathered up and brought before the Knight. Liam stalked the rooftops around the gathering, alert for any suspicious individuals.
“Good morning,” Sir Jorge said. “I am Sir Jorge, overseer of House Restelo’s jurisdiction in Hoburns. There was so confusion last night, but, well, let’s put that behind us, yes? I assu everyone will be far more interested in the opportunity that I have co to present.”
“Opportunity?”
A man at the front of the gathering, dressed in guildmaster’s garb, crossed his arms.
“Just so you know,” he said, “we won’t be doing anything crooked for House Restelo.”
Evidently, there had been one other, obvious, bit of sabotage left behind.
“Crooked?” Sir Jorge laughed, “Perish the thought! I understand that the forr…managent had so choice things to say about our most honourable house, but I assure you that none of it is true. Probably. Ahem, let’s get down to business, shall we?”
The Knight held out a hand. One of his aides ca forward with a scroll case and placed it into his palm.
“House Restelo has issued supply contracts for arms, armour, and talwork,” he waved the case in the air. “There are a variety of terms tailored to different specialisations.”
“We’re not arming House Restelo, either,” the guildmaster said.
“Of course not,” Sir Jorge smiled. “We have our own, most excellent craftsn, after all. The contract in my hand and the many like it are for the Holy Kingdom. More precisely, they are ant to arm the Royal Army.”
The assembled craftsn looked to one another while speaking in low murmurs. For all of the guildmaster’s antagonism, they were understandably more interested in the opportunity to make a living again. Sir Jorge held out the scroll case to the guildmaster, who popped it open and fished out the contents. Several nearby smiths leaned in to read over his shoulders. After several monts, the guildmaster rolled the contract up again and put it away.
“I hope you don’t mind if I confirm the legitimacy of this contract with the royal palace.”
“Be our guest,” Sir Jorge’s smile remained undiminished. “In the anti, if anyone with a greater asure of trust wishes to begin working, our rchants will be happy to assist you. Ah – there are plenty of contracts to go around, so please keep things civil.”
The mont Sir Jorge strolled away, the guildmaster was nearly trampled by his own mbers. He may have been swayed to the royalists’ side, but the limits of his influence were clear.
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