Chapter 80: Changing of the Guard

I had plenty of complaints to levy against Frontier’s education system, but even I could admit that they got the job done, at least in areas where the requisite institutional will existed. All it took was me holding up the Changeling’s desiccated remains for inspection, and both adventurers halted in their tracks. The elder among them turned three shades paler but otherwise kept his composure, whilst his younger companion gasped, stumbled and needed the former’s firm hand on his shoulder to avoid toppling over. The innkeeper by contrast was lacking in comprehension, either that or he needed glasses, because he didn’t slow one whit at my display. That said, he clearly wasn’t a combatant, and though I recognised his bravery in charging ahead despite this, bravery alone could only carry a man so far. It would’ve been trivial to take his hand or his head, but he was only doing his job, and made a mean casserole to boot, so I ended up going easy on him.

[Knife stored.]

No weapon needed, just a swift sidestep to dodge his dagger followed by a solid right hook to the jaw; that was enough to send him flying back into the waiting arms of the adventurers, who were by now composed enough to grab hold of him. The older man whispered something into his ears, and the innkeeper stopped trying to struggle free for a second round.

“Take him downstairs,” the older man ordered his junior, leaving the latter to deal with the innkeeper while he approached my bedroom door. “Can we talk inside?”

“Sure, if you’re human,” I retorted, not quite drawing my weapon again, because retaining enough caution to check.

I didn’t think it likely, because as far as the enemy was concerned I was little more than a promising junior smuggler. They had the advantage of surprise with the first Changeling, and had only sent one; there wasn’t much reason to hold back a second, rather than have him join the initial ambush.

“Cautious. Good,” the man sounded approving as he sheathed his shortsword, before reaching up to a lone earring on his left ear, giving the ball bearing at the bottom a sharp twist.

[Kyle Erwing - Level 11 Sharpshooter]

A trinket variant of the Blackened Bracelet, I noted, as his name tag became visible. It wasn’t conclusive proof, necessarily, as I knew better than most that such a thing could be concealed even without equipment, but there was a limit to how much suspicion was warranted. Furthermore, judging by Masquerade’s description, the System didn’t permit people to disguise as a higher level, so the man before me was at least Level 11; if he’d wanted me dead, I would already have been. As it was, I just had to figure out his angle.

“Come in,” I agreed begrudgingly, letting him into my tiny room for the night.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

I ended up sitting on the bed while he took the sole chair, the two of us nearly meeting shoulder to shoulder as I leaned forward, a victim of the sloped ceilings that Frontier seemed to love. Kyle locked the door behind him, making me reassess slightly; I’d initially paired him and the youngster together, but maybe none of the first responders truly had anything in common except for being the fastest up the stairs.

“How much do you know about Changelings?” Kyle whispered, an anticipatory glint in his eye as he fixated on the skeleton in my hand.

“They like to eat people, and can copy the appearance of the person they eat, but not the details of their System.”

The library had been clear on that point: that the flesh change was a wholly biological process, and did not grant them the traits of their victims. Thankfully, because otherwise the Changelings would have been an existential threat to humanity rather than a recurring nuisance used to frighten naughty children at bedtime.

“You have the right of it, from a personal point of view,” Kyle grunted, his gaze unflinching, not even acknowledging me as he kept his eyes on the prize.

[Changeling Skeleton stored.]

I shoved it in my inventory, because I hated being ignored, and that finally got the man to look me eye to eye.

“How about at a wider level? Do you know what finding one of these means?”

“Not really,” I admitted. “All my knowledge is second hand, and I haven’t been on the road for long. I’m guessing it’s a bad thing?”

“Very. See, reports of Changelings happen every season of every year, but the vast majority of such reports are nonsense. Superstitious parents, usually, attribute changes in their children to replacement when they’re really just trying to hide some moonshine or that they’re sneaking out to meet their friends after curfew. Either that, or farmers finding oddities in their livestock, things they can’t explain. The latter category, the Adventurer’s Guild investigates diligently, because such incidents are how many budding epidemics are found and neutralised. Deal with it early enough, and the Kingdom can avoid having to order a cull, leaving farmers destitute and the population hungry. But it’s always something explainable, see, and never change. Not for as long as I’ve been on the road, and I started out over thirty years ago.”

“But this time, it is a Changeling.” I frowned, my palms tingling and I sensed something afoot, far bigger than another petty crook with a grudge against Harvey.

“It is,” Kyle took a deep, shuddering breath, visibly steadying himself as he went. “It is, and that means big trouble, the kind my late master lived through and told me tales of around the campfire. Changelings live and die in packs; where there’s one, a hundred will soon follow. This needs to be reported up the chain, so the city authorities can begin a lockdown, a search and a purge. Anything less, and we risk Heaven’s Reach being overrun, and a death toll in the thousands.”

“I believe you,” I replied truthfully. “And that’s going to happen, but that’s not what we’re really here to discuss. If this is as big as you say it is, then there must be a hefty reward for reporting the discovery, right?”

Kyle winced, and I relaxed, because he was only interrogating me for the sake of greed, and that was far easier to deal with than the other, worst-case scenarios I’d been thinking of.