“This spoilt aristocrat gig really works for you, doesn’t it?” Ruban said, munching on an almond biscotti as Ashwin filled him in on his conversation with Biskut. “People fall for it left, right and centre. Makes sense, I suppose. Not very far from the truth, is it?”

Ashwin replied with a haughty flick of his hair. “I’m a General in the army of Vaan, I’ll have you know.”

“An army that is fighting…what, exactly?” Ruban retorted, smirking.

“Well, it will be fighting humans in the very near future, if we don’t put an end to this mess soon. It seems the dead man they found in the river was actually an Aeriel. An Aeriel that’d had his wings hacked off after death. Apparently they sell it for the lighting.” He shuddered.

Ruban supposed he could see how that would be off-putting from his companion’s perspective. “It’s alright,” he said soothingly. “If you wind up dead, I promise to bury you with your wings intact.”

“Your magnanimity warms my heart.”

“As it should. That’s not the point, though,” Ruban began, his tone serious. “The Hunter I met at the Quarters said they received orders from the IAW to stop the investigation into the dead man’s identity, despite them having found sif particles in the stab wound. You think this has something to do with the SifCo case? Because that’s the only reason I can think of why the IAW would take an interest in some run-of-the-mill murder case in Ibanborah.”

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“Well, there’s only one way to find out, isn’t there?” Ashwin said, turning, a mischievous twinkle in his eye that made Ruban uneasy.

“And what would that be?” the Hunter asked cautiously.

“The interesting part, my friend, is not what the dead man was. The interesting part is where he was when he died.”

“I’m listening.”

“Well, from what I gathered from that kid, the body wasn’t originally found in the river. That was the gangs. They disguised it to make it look more human, then dumped it in the river for the police to find later.” He took a deep breath that Ruban suspected was simply for the dramatic effect. “But before there was a dead man in the river, there was a dead Aeriel in front of the Kinoh House. That’s where the gangs found him.”

Ruban frowned. “You’re sure about this?”

“As sure as we are of anything at this point. It’s a start, isn’t it? Now all we have to do is break into the Kinoh House and investigate.” At Ruban’s sceptical look, he shrugged. “If something in there could kill an Aeriel, I say it’s worth looking into.”

“Alright,” Ruban said eventually. It wasn’t as if he could dissuade Ashwin anyway. And he would rather not have an Aeriel roaming unchecked around the city, even if it was a friendly Aeriel. “We’ll go take a look after dinner.”