“Ah! Lowe is back!”

Kaiz bent down to pick up the young girl running at him, “Good evening Ramona. Did you miss me?”

Ramona giggled, “I did, I did! Momma Jen said you might not come back for a while, but I knew you would!”

“Awww. How’d you know?”

“Cause you’re Lowe now, not Doman. That was a mean name so you were a big meanie and didn’t play with us. Lowe is a nice name so you have to be nice!”

“Do I?” Kaiz immediately assaulted her with tickles.

Ramona tried to run, but it was too late, the onslaught had begun and her yelps for mercy could do nothing to stop it. Kaiz’s deep, maniacal laughter quickly overtook her cries.

“Stop this at once!”

Interrupting his gleeful villainy, a loud shout emerged from within the orphanage. Kaiz thought Sister Sam had come out to ruin the fun, as she often did, but when he looked at the doorway between the makeshift study and the central hall only wood returned his gaze.

Huh?

That brief lull in his concentration was just what Ramona needed to leap from his clutches. She didn’t wait around either, as soon as she was free she was out the door. Kaiz followed closely behind, but instead of catching her he turned towards the crowd of kids standing by as Sister Sam pulled two of the boys by their ears. They both had wooden swords in hand. As he tried piecing the puzzle together, the answer showed up on its own.

“Lowe! How dare you terrorize my sweet Ramona.”

Kaiz watched skeptically as a tall, lanky, light-skinned man with a red glow approached him, “That your doing?”

He didn’t even turn to look at what was clearly his handiwork, “Don’t change the subject. Look what you’ve done to her.”

Ramona, who was casually sitting in his arms, turned to Kaiz and stuck out her tongue.

“Look. She’s traumatized,” He gently rubbed her hair, “Don’t worry, big brother Otto is here to protect you.”

“For now. Grim won’t be happy when he hears you’re hanging out in enemy territory.”

“I know. Shame I won’t be there to see it.”

The smirk on Otto’s face confused Kaiz. Grim’s crew wasn’t one of the biggest, but Grim himself had a huge reputation. Rightfully so, there wasn’t a soul outside of Waldaun’s walls that could confidently fight him one-on-one. Otto had always pushed the boundaries on what was acceptable, but now he was outright being disrespectful.

“Anyway. When you’re done here, meet me in the room. Viz wants us to talk.”

Huh?

“How do you know I’d be here?”

Otto replied while strolling away, “Where else would you be?”

What the? What does that even mean? What does Viz want us to talk about?

“K—Lowe! You come here right now, young man!”

It seemed he was about to take the fall for Otto’s shenanigans. Reunited for not even a minute and Kaiz was already tired of him

After an undeserved scolding, he joined Otto in their meeting place, “Must you always be a bastard?”

“I was born this way K. What can a poor orphan do?”

Kaiz groaned, “So why are you here?”

“I just told you, to—”

“Why are you here, blatantly disregarding your boss’ instructions?”

“Actually,” He leaned back into his seat and crossed his legs, “This is exactly where my ‘boss’ wants me to be.”

“What? Grim wants you to be here? Impossible. He wouldn’t even send you as a spy.”

Otto gasped, “You think so little of me?”

Grim can’t have sent him. So what? A new boss? Wait. Wait a minute...

Kaiz’s eyes went wide, “No way…”

“Took you a minute, huh?” He pulled out a circular silver badge. At the center there was a man, etched in gold, gazing into the distance with a telescope in hand, “You’re looking at a board member of the Golden Visions Trading Company.”

“So that’s what’s happened, huh?”

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Kaiz didn’t know how to feel. If Otto was here, he could think of a few other names that had likely been recruited into the fold. He could see it. This was more than just taking over North West, Viz was trying to take a real step forward here. That was something to be excited about.

Too much of that hinged on uncontrollable variables though. Runs were never sure things, blood runs even more so. Betting their future on one was beyond reckless. They had the option to have Tanzer run it too and Viz turned that down. In Kaiz’s estimation, he enjoyed recklessness. He enjoyed the risk.

Viz would surely argue that his successes far outweighed his failures and that none of his failures had backfired too heavily, but they were beginning to take the kind of risks where failure could be permanent.

Otto tucked his badge back into his pocket, “Back to the reason I’m here. You’re walking into the jaws of death soon, what’s that about?”

Kaiz’s butt fell into the nearest seat while his head fell into his hands, “It’s a blood run. Snake wants us to get a guy named Michel Rayner. He makes Nightwatcher cloaks.”

“Ouh. And this Mr. Rayner works for a noble?”

“Worse. So much worse. He works for the army.”

“Oouuh. Loud or silent?”

“Silent.”

“Ooouuh. My. What’s the time limit?”

“There isn’t one.”

“Oh. I’d say not all bad, but that’s still a pretty terrible job.”

Kaiz groaned.

“Why did you accept? I don’t want to judge a drink by its bottle, but Snake’s name is… Snake.”

Kaiz sat up straight and rubbed his temples, “The ‘Golden Visions Trading Company’ wouldn’t exist if I didn’t. Plus, he sent one of his people to come with me. Redhead. Beautiful. She has some wild spells that’d be way too valuable to throw away just to get me killed.”

“Ahh, I see.” He pinched his lower lip, “Hmm. Well, her name’s Irma. She doesn’t seem to do much besides frequent Snake’s gambling halls. There’s no info on her even being a runner.”

“How do you know we’re talking about the same person?”

“Before I came here Lo sent me a drawing of her—super fine—with a note that read, ‘If you can’t figure out who she is. Grim can keep you.’ So. You know.”

Kaiz chuckled, “Well. Her light spells are insane. Instead of creating light they destroy it. At night, she’s even more undetectable than a Nightwatcher. I’m not surprised there’s no info on her being a runner. She even has this other spell that keeps people unconscious. Don’t even know where to begin with that one.”

“So she’s supposed to be the ticket in then?”

“Not past the wall. I think Snake already has a way in, but once we’re in, she’ll be pretty useful.”

Otto rubbed his jaw, “I see. This is where I come in. I’ll be running with you, in a manner of speaking.”

“Running with? You’re on the bloon run?”

“Gods no. I’ll be running a separate job, but I’ll also be there to provide some support.”

Kaiz looked at him warily, “That’s an idiotic idea.”

“Ye of little faith. It seems the student believes himself better than the master?” Otto returned his look with a smirk.

Kaiz’s head fell into his palms again, as his fingers threatened to ruin his hairline, “I can’t believe this. This is the biggest job of our lives and he’s risking that for what? What can we possibly gain from you doing a parallel run?”

Otto smiled, “Well…”

----------------------------------------

“Good evening sir, what is your business tonight?”

“Good evening. I am a tutor for the Finfrock household.” An ‘attendant’ handed the guard a set of documents.

The guard briefly scanned them before handing them back, “Apologies for the wait, right this way.”

Given the right to pass, their four seater motorwagon continued through the gate unabated. Beyond the gate, they rode down the blue brick road, passing by a dozen magnificent looking properties until they reached their destination; a breathtaking mansion owned by Robert Finfrock.

“Ye. Of. Little. Faith.”

Kaiz ignored Otto’s oppressive smugness. He stepped out of the door and began offloading the luggage. Right now, he was a mere attendant. One of the three that Otto was allowed.The other two were also members of their crew, but Kaiz didn’t recognize either of them. New hires.

As they were moving the bags, a butler-type came out to greet Otto. He reached out for a handshake, “Mr. Garven, wonderful to finally meet you. I’ve heard nothing but glowing reviews concerning your service.”

Otto obliged, “The pleasure is mine. I take my work very seriously, it is a good feeling when that work is appreciated.”

“Of course. Baron Finfrock is out at the moment, but his wife is waiting for you inside.”

“Then I should not leave her waiting. If you would be so kind.”

The butler guided Otto inside. As he did, a maid came to instruct them on where to move his bags. Something deep within Kaizer despised being Otto’s attendant, but this was a job and he wouldn’t fail his task because of pettiness.

Unlike Otto, they entered the mansion through a side entrance. The first room they entered left much to be desired. It seemed like a very shoddy staff room. If it wasn’t for the lack of dust, Kaiz would question if it ever saw use. Once they were through that room though, it was decadence as a young Kaiz had dreamt it; gold ornaments, fanciful paintings, and extravagant chandeliers. As the maid led them through one lavishly decorated hall after the other, it shocked him that one family could stock so much luxury. It became increasingly difficult for the two ‘attendants’ with Kaiz to hide their awe. Kaiz himself did a bit better. He had stolen from the wealthy before. Though, no one of this much wealth.

Once they arrived at ‘Mr. Garven’s’ room they refocused on the task at hand, setting up magical defences. No one but Otto would be allowed to stay on the property. All of his needs would be handled by in-house servants, which would be a great situation if he was truly there to just tutor.

“Let’s begin. We only have an hour or so to do this.”

The two men with Kaiz were both rune experts, while Kaiz could absolutely call himself one too, his knowledge was highly specialized. He didn’t have the breath of expertise that the two held. That meant his role for the job was more correcting errors than drawing any runes himself.

It was a valuable thing though. His presence allowed the other two to move at a quicker pace than they usually would. With all three of them working in tandem the work sped right along. They finished within forty minutes, giving them time to set up some redundant systems just in case.

Eventually Otto came back and after a brief conversation and re-explanation of what all the runes did, they were escorted off the property. Usually that would mean it was time to leave, but Kaiz had been offered the perfect opportunity to do some light scouting.

He’d be a fool not to take it.