In his formative years, travel was a rarity, so under ordinary circumstances, Vance would've been excited to visit a new town. As it was, he wasn't sure if the butterflies in his stomach were because of nerves, excitement or something else entirely.
When they'd informed Leon of their intentions to visit Ervis, he had insisted that he come along, Vance fought him on the point and the two argued for nearly an hour.
As the trio approached Ervis, Vance got his description of the area from his two companions. Unlike Vereece, this place didn't have any walls and was tiny in comparison. It was still much larger than Wethermane, but that wasn't saying much. The scent of the ocean on the air was omnipresent and Mariah was the first to point out that it was visible from the hill they'd just crested.
They got into town with no fuss. To Vance's displeasure, the roads here were loosely cobbled.
Mariah and Vance had filled Leon in on their suspicions and he'd sympathised, though it took a while to convince him that it was worthwhile for them to look into it. Regardless, it seemed that now he was here, he was wholeheartedly invested. He was the first one to start poking around. As it turned out, Leon had a few friends in town.
He asked his two younger companions to wait for him by a local eatery. The two were more than happy to comply, so Vance and Mariah found themselves working their way through some sort of fish soup concoction. Neither was sure exactly what was in it, but it was nice enough.
Shortly thereafter, Leon returned to them. He'd only been gone for 45 minutes or so, but apparently, he'd already confirmed a few of Vance's suspicions.
First, in the recent attack on Ervis, nobody was injured. A few things were stolen, but that was all. The locals report dozens of outlaws having come into town, all weapons and fury, yet not a single act of actual violence.
Secondly, Mariah's guess had been correct. The Aimlee estate was here in Ervis. They had a large property close to the ocean, backed onto their place of business within the city, a warehouse mixed with a port.
Third, and perhaps most importantly, Leon learned that there was indeed some animosity between the Aimlee family and Master Telis prior to his death. Specifically, it seems that the Aimlee family lost some important package of his, though Leon didn't find out anything more than that.
"Hardly seems worth killing someone over," Mariah said, idly sipping on some mixture of apple juice and something she didn't recognise. Her tone did not match the topic at hand, too cheery.
"My thoughts exactly." Vance agreed.
Leon helped himself to an ambitious spoonful of Vance's soup, which he decided he didn't like, at all. He introduced his mouthful to the cobbles moments later, then joined the conversation.
"So? We've asked around, seems like something weird is going on, but what're we going to do about it?"
This was where Vance had to admit that he hadn't thought that far ahead. The loose plan that he spat out seemed to amount to "Let's stay here for a few days and see if we can learn anything else."
Unbeknownst to them, their conversation wasn't quite as private as they'd thought. From a taller building a few streets away, a middle-aged woman stood with her back leant up against the building's chimney. She looked down at the trio with eyes and ears sharpened by magic.
Gloria had always found that a little light and wind mana went a long way in her profession.
Specifically, she stared down at the blind boy. How had the one with the least natural gifts for perception found himself here, of all places? She couldn't help but be a little curious. Had he followed her? Impossible, she'd have seen him coming a mile away, literally. As she listened, she got the gist of it. They'd put together that much on their own? They hadn't gotten it all exactly right, but close enough.
She looked pensive for a moment, thinking about her plans and whether or not they'd be thrown off by the new players on the board. She doubted it, but she opted to move her plans forward nonetheless, better safe than sorry.
She gathered so much wind mana in the next second that for just a moment, the wind passing over this area of the town suddenly stopped in its tracks as if it lacked energy. It crawled forward at a snail's pace as she moulded her spell. With a step to the side, she was gone and the wind blew normally once again.
Vance's head twitched to the side suddenly. Had he felt something just then? He zoned in on his senses.
"Something wrong, Vance?"
"I thought I felt something, but... there's nothing."
He was certain there was something, but it was so quick. He'd never felt anything like that, it was the magical equivalent of a loud sound, very far away. Maybe an echo was more appropriate?
Thankfully, Mariah stole his attention back.
"So, you just want to wait around?"
"Well, I suppose..." Vance was about to agree, but that magical echo, whatever it was had given him an idea.
"Actually, I have an idea. Let's go see the Aimlee families buildings."
"What, why?" Leon asked through a mouthful of bread.
"Something has bothered me for a while. This inquisitor, whoever she is, is meant to be one of the best Arcanists in the empire, right? So why hasn't she acted yet? There's no way we're ahead of her on this trail, so what gives? I think something else is going on, and I want to find out what. If it's of interest to an Arcanist, maybe it's magical? I might be able to sense something if we visit."
His two companions gave each other a helpless look and shrugged.
"Sure, we can swing by. Just don't get all weird on me, we need to remain unnoticed. If you're right and they're up to something, then we'll be in trouble if they catch us snooping around." Leon added.
After Leon had eaten what Vance estimated was half of the bread in the whole world, the three of them made their way further into town, towards the Aimlee estate.
The closer they got to the port, the more Mariah was telling Vance of people she regarded as "unsavoury types" around the area. Vance didn't really know how she decided if someone was particularly unsavoury, but he had to admit the area had a particularly visceral smell about it, fish guts, possibly.
Vance started to hear the ocean as they got closer. The constant sloshing of waves against each other and the shore had always been something he'd considered a little scary. It was this huge body of water, stretching on forever in every direction and he had no way to navigate it. He'd decided a long time ago that a life at sea was probably not the one for him.
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This area was, by far, the busiest in the city. Vance could hear the constant ringing of small bells, the sounds of wagons and other smaller wheeled constructs being moved all around him. He could hear the clatter of wheelbarrows against the ground. He could tell whether they were empty or not by how hard they impacted the cobbles beneath them, it sounded and smelled like today was a good haul for the fishing vessels.
Leon led the way through the packed streets with his two companions in tow. Mariah had attached herself to Vance like a vice and he vaguely noticed that her hand was a little clammy.
"Not a fan of crowds?" He whispered to her.
"Not really." He could hear the nerves in her voice by the way she tried to throw in a little laugh, but it didn't sound natural.
"Me neither. Too many people stomping around. It gets disorientating." Vance decided to chat with her the rest of the way to try and keep her distracted, it seemed to work pretty well, she eased up her death grip a little, his hand was grateful for the extra blood flow.
With a sigh of relief from Mariah, the three exited the crowd on the far side of the square. After getting a few directions from passers-by, Leon found the building they were looking for. It was a very large building mostly built of wood, but with a solid stone foundation as well as its own little wall with a large wrought iron gate stuck to the front. It didn't seem to be guarded out here, so getting close to the wall wasn't a problem. Several people were posted up against the wall, seemingly taking breaks, so the three followed suit and casually leant up against the wall.
"Is this the place?"
Both Mariah and Leon answered in time with each other "Yep."
"Alright, Leon - hold me up, will you? I'm about to push myself pretty hard and if I overdo it, I don't want to cause a ruckus by falling over or something."
Mariah looked a little concerned, but Leon grabbed hold of him.
"Whatever you say, lil' bro. You know what you're doing, right?"
"Sort of."
The building was large, about three stories tall. Vance had no idea what he was looking for, and not to mention there was that port attached to the back. So he wanted to be thorough. He placed the top of his head against the outside of the wall and hunched over a little, it looked a lot like he was going to be sick, and his brother had propped him up. It looked surprisingly natural.
In reality, he was focusing all of his attention in front of him. He didn't want to project his mana sense out behind him, he'd be overwhelmed by the crowd. Instead, he focused it on just the area directly in front of him, the building.
He slowly pushed his sense outwards and in his mind, he began constructing a map of what he was detecting. His sense passed over the external walls with no issues, but it took a considerable effort of will to push it through the walls, into the actual building.
Leon felt Vance tense up a little. Mariah had rested a hand on Vance's back. She was being supportive, but it actually helped build the throwing up aesthetic.
Vance had projected his sense out large distances before, but he'd never quite focused it like this before. It felt like he was exploring, running his hands over every surface that he went past. He'd commit it to memory and then move on to the next. It swept upstairs and around corners, it seeped into drawers and cabinets alike and over the next few minutes, he explored the Aimlee household from his perched position in front of the walls.
He detected the membranes of people moving around inside. Three in total, but it was the third he was interested in. He encountered something he'd never felt before. Vance thought it was a man based on the outline of his membrane. He was sitting at a desk in a room on the third floor, filling out paperwork. The room had a few small objects that contained mana, but that wasn't what caught his attention.
To Vance's mana sense, it was like he was pulsing. Every few moments, he found that it was like a wave of mana was being projected from the man's body in every direction. He had no idea what it meant, but he was intrigued. He was close to his limit, but he decided to go for one last push. He wanted to know.
He pushed hard, and he felt his mana sense wash over the man, pressing against him. Then, before he knew what he was doing, it slipped inside the man's body, pushing through his membrane. Vance was overwhelmed by the unexpected sensation for a moment. It felt like he had two bodies at once for a split second, then it passed. He discovered the cause of the man's strange presence.
The man had three different mana cores. He was an Arcanist. A very, very powerful one.
Vance only had a second to take this in before he felt himself lurch, and this time, he genuinely threw up. His probe had been forcefully ejected, it seemed that his mana sense acted a lot like a regular contact based probe once it was inside, like the one Elijah had used. Up until now, he'd not known that somebody could pick up on his mana sense, nor had he known he could remotely probe someone. He'd thought he was safe, poking around using his mana sense. He was wrong. He'd just made a terrible mistake and now, he'd been noticed.
Suddenly, the commotion in the streets behind them came to an abrupt stop. With a crash like thunder, the windows of the room on the third story shattered outwards and a man floated out from the building. He was a tall man, probably in his forties. He had well maintained, short black hair and a small goatee to match.
He was standing on thin air, looking down at the crowd of people near his household.
Vance hurriedly whispered. "Stand between us Leon, quick."
Leon did as he was instructed and stood between Vance and the man, still affecting the look of a man consoling his vomiting younger brother.
Mariah was a natural actor, though she didn't have to try very hard to act in awe of the feat she was witnessing. The crowd was still, looking up at the man who floated above them, fury on his face. He was scanning the crowd, his eyes trailing over each and every person. His eyes passed over Leon and didn't stop, there were too many people to individually scrutinize, and Vance was hoping his vision would pierce through two membranes. If he noticed Vance's core, he was almost certainly dead.
A familiar voice rang out from somewhere nearby.
"Tristan, you're scaring the people. Whatever is the matter?"
Vance recognised that voice straight away. Gloria.
A moment later, another person stood in the air, directly opposite the Aimlee family head. She was short, slender and not too far off of Tristan's age.
"Was it you?" He asked.
"What do you mean?" She asked, innocently.
"Don't play dumb with me, inquisitor. Somebody was probing at me. You and I both know that's very, very bad manners."
Vance could hear the whispers start when the word "inquisitor" was mentioned. He was beginning to recover but dared not step out from behind Leon. Fortunately, Mariah had no core to sense, so she was probably safe, as long as she didn't use mana.
Gloria sighed. It looked like her plans weren't as safe as she'd thought.
"You're right. I Apologise, Tristan. I needed to talk to you, and you're so hard to get hold of, I thought maybe I could entice you out." She smiled amiably at him.
Vance was flabbergasted, she was taking the blame? Why?
For a moment, his anger flared and the crowd gasped as both of his hands began crackling with lightning. Tiny bolts of bright blue and white electricity travelled up and down his arms. They were so frequent that for a moment it was difficult to see his hands and forearms.
It only persisted for a moment, then he got it under control and took a deep breath. Gloria didn't visibly react but Vance felt mana gathering to her in response to his threat, he could tell that both of them had immense gatherings of different types of mana about them right now.
"Well, you certainly have my attention. Shall we talk inside?" He put on his best smile, then looked down to the crowd.
"My apologies, good citizens. I didn't mean to frighten you. Some people just have no manners." He gave Gloria one more nasty glare, then he calmed himself as best he could and floated back towards his home. Gloria followed. As Tristan turned his back, Gloria made a point to look over at Leon, Vance and Mariah.
Mariah and Leon met her eyes and she flashed a wry smirk for a moment, then winked at them, disappearing into the Aimlee household.
While the crowd was still stunned into inaction, Leon propped Vance up. He looked pale.
"We should leave for now." He told Mariah. Everyone was in agreement. Vance took a moment to join them. This moment, more than any other in his life taught him a hard lesson.
He was weak. He felt like he'd come so far. His mana sense let him perform acts he couldn't dream of just a handful of weeks ago, he could spew fire from his palms, but he'd just learned that he was essentially an ant. He wasn't playing with outlaws and nobles, he was stepping into a world filled with Arcanists and real, terrible dangers. He had no business being here. He'd put himself in horrible danger and he hadn't even known until it was too late. Worst of all? He'd dragged his brother and his new friend into this mess with him.
Although he was full of worry, it also brought something else to mind. He might be terribly weak now, but he'd just gotten a glimpse of what he could become. amongst the guilt, he felt something new.