Kihet found himself standing in front of a billboard studying the layout of the city posted for the public to see. He ran his finger over the map, marking down directions to several blacksmith shop in hopes to locate the one Rogus mentioned.

This was the only lead Kihet had from his past conversations with Rogus.

Chances were slim, but Rogus would have gone to friends and acquaintances for help in his predicament.

“Thirteen… fourteen shops in total all across Navargzan.” Lily pointed out. “They’re not close either. Did he mention the shop’s name?”

“No, but he did say there is one who can make me a prosthetic foot. That’s my only lead.”

“What about Tama? Have you asked if she knows?”

“I did. It seems six of the shops offer that service, but only four have license to openly do so. What do you think?”

Lily entered deep thought for a moment, piecing every bit of information throw at her. She blankly stared at the billboard while Kihet finished writing down shop names. Once all six and their directions were jotted down, she tugged Kihet’s sleeve to peek at the list.

“Let’s go visit the ones without license.” She suggested.

“You think it’s one of them?”

“En. The fact Rogus was hiding or didn’t mention the name of the shop could also mean it shouldn’t be a known place to sell prosthetics. It could also be a place that wasn’t listed.”

“Good enough. We can ask about other places they know if we don’t have a lead.”

Having to set their destination, the two navigated through Navargzan’s streets until they passed through a labyrinth like district built of many alleyways. Once they made the first turn, they could feel multiple gazes glued behind their backs. Perhaps they caught the attention of muggers, pickpockets and the likes.

Lily sharpened her sense of hearing, preparing to loosen an arrow if anyone dared took action. Her hand gripped her shortbow openly displayed to observers.

“Through here?”

“En. We turn at the end of the street, and we’ll be there.”

“How many are following us?”

“About a dozen. They’ll ambush us once we step out of the shop.”

“We can worry about them later. I’ll cast my magic over us in case they suddenly jump us.”

Kihet placed one hand over Lily’s shoulder and recited the words of magic. An outward force slowed everything spread over Lily’s body. It even preventing small grains of sand from touching her.

“Wow, this feels weird.” Lily said as she inspected the visual elements of Kihet’s spell. “Why don’t you need magic crystals to cast magic?”

“The Oracle’s flames I use to dispel other people’s magic get stocked up. I can use that reserve to cast my own magic.”

“That’s cool! As long as you keep dispelling more spells, you can keep using magic without a catalyst? All spellcasters must be jealous.”

“It’s a privilege. We’re here.”

“En. Looks like it.”

They stood in front of a worn down building with windows boarded up. Its door was riddled with holes reinforced by an iron gate. The chimney pointing towards the sky was constantly spewing smoke, a sign the shop was accepting customers.

However, bodies were littered everywhere. Some were bisected, some looked to be mauled by a beast to the point their face were unrecognizable. Nonetheless, Kihet and Lily proceeded towards the shop.

As Lily opened the door, the soft clang of a chime alerted the owner of visitors. It was dim as the place did not receive any natural sunlight. The tempo of the owner’s hammer slowly came to a halt as he faced his gruffly long snout to his visitors.

“Cheap irons on your left, armor on your right. Let me know if you need assistance.”

The blacksmith then proceeded to hammer away at the anvil in front of him.

Curious, Kihet took a peek at the wares as he limped towards the counter. He noticed many old equipment collecting dust in nearly every collection. On first impressions, he’d rather use a wooden club from driftwood than entrust his life in long battles to weapons displayed here.

“I’ll take a batch of your throwing knives.”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

However, expendable weapons were always welcomed. If a weapon meant to be discarded broke after its initial use, it’d have served its purpose and be unable to used back against him.

“Anything else?”

“Do you fix up someone’s missing foot by any chance?”

“Don’t know what you’re talking about. I only make and sell weapons and armor.”

“And armed prosthetics, right?”

“Don’t know where you heard that. Who are you anyways? You aren’t a regular.”

“Are you acquainted with someone name Rogus? You know, a silvered Lycanthrope?”

“Can’t say I am. Who’s asking?”

Kihet raised a finger and summoned a flick of silver fire.

“Oracle, huh. Heard quite the show you made in the colosseum.” The blacksmith tossed his piece back into the furnace and moved towards the counter. “So, aside from this Rogus person, where’d you hear I can give someone ‘armed’ prosthetics?”

“Leotharp.”

“You sure know some hot shots, holy one. I do in fact make and offer upgrades to prosthetics for selected customers. I should add my price is quite expensive.”

“Rogus did speak highly of you so I’m willing to take that offer, but I’m short on time. Do you know if Rogus swung by?”

“Yeah. See the mess outside my shop? His doing.”

“Do you know where he’s headed?”

“Like all fugitives in Navargzan. Out.”

“Know any smugglers?”

“None which are skilled at helping our missing friend. Say, there’s company waiting out there. I’d appreciate if you could get rid of them as soon as you can. They’ve been scaring the rest of my other customers lately.”

“Then I’ll ask you to look into giving me a new foot.”

“We can talk about the price and design when you found your friend.”

“That works.”

Having to gain information he wanted, Kihet dropped a generous tip. He held onto the knives recently purchased as he moved towards the door and signaled to Lily who was peeking through the gaps of the boarded windows.

Lily gestured there were some armed individuals outside dragging away corpses. They looked to be from the same band as their fallen brethren.

“Most of them taken positions on the rooftops. Do they have any casters?”

“I can’t hear any spells being prepared. I’ll go and lure them out.”

“Actually, Kihet. Do you mind if I take care of this?”

“Are you sure?”

“En! I promise to not let any of them escape! Can I?”

Somehow those words made Kihet anxious. It wasn’t as though he didn’t appreciate Lily’s enthusiasm. He had full confidence Lily would get the job done, but it just didn’t sit well with him to let Lily do all the work while he hanged back.

Lily kept looking at him full of confidence until Kihet let go of the door’s handle.

“Alright. I’ll only intervene if I think you’re in trouble.”

“When you open the door, I’ll rush out.”

“Get ready.”

“En!”

Her fingers pulled an arrow back with her eyes trained towards the direction of enemy. It was when Kihet kicked opened the door, Lily instantly bolted at the nearest wall.

She kicked off the face of the building, quickly repeating the process until she wall hopped to the top. What Kihet found impressive wasn’t her nimbleness, but the strength of her legs alone could carry her up while her hand was still on her bow.

Once Lily leaped into the air, she identified seventeen ambushers stationed all around. Some held bows, other crossbows, but their faces were all concealed. They were surprised when she found them first.

“Gotcha!” Lily loosened a fan of arrows.

Some went through her [Trick Orbs], others aimed straight for the ambushers. The instant some rogues pointed a crossbow at Lily, they found themselves struck with projectiles before they loosen their own.

Their projectiles converged towards Lily. The orb which stored arrows protected her from arrows on one end while her slender figure and acrobatic movement danced through curtains of bolts from another direction.

“We’re found!”

“Whaddya all doing?! There’s only one of em!”

Pamalyrians drew their weapons knowing their ranged attacks had failed to land a hit on one target. They rushed Lily with hatchets and blades.

Lily firstly dodged a group of three with [Waning Moon; Falling Petals]. She quickly swapped to her sword, ducked and spun away from her opponent’s weapons. While moving, she unleashed a flurry of slashes to disarm them.

From her challenger’s eyes, it was as though they were downed the moment Lily moved passed them.

“Next!”

Lily closed onto a new challenger, punching them with her gauntlet. The Dracalific fly’s bristle underneath the plating rubbed against each other, producing an overloading electric stock to tase her unlucky foe. She quickly held her bow out, loosening two arrows together. One traveled into her [Trick Orb], striking a Lycanthrope behind her. The other struck a Mixrel in the knee.

One by one, the ambushers fell down from the rooftops as Lily incapacitated them.

“Kihet, I’m done up here!”

“Good work. Now let’s tie them up-.”

Kihet saw someone move in the alley.

A cloaked figure hurriedly turned tail. As the individual was about to slip into the confusing alleyways, a cold [Chain] whipped through the air and coiled around its heel. It raised its foot only to trip, slammed its head onto the stone cobblestone and dragged back into the fray.

The Mixrel flipped himself over only for his chest to be stepped on.

“Seems like you missed one.”

“I was about to get him. I left one uninjured one purpose.” Lily gave a flick of her hair. “Hmm? Kihet, there’s something wrong with that guy.”

Underneath the hood hid a tranced victim of pixie dust. The Mixrel’s eyes resembled a dead fish, unable to make any expression. Instead, blood and white foam dripped out of his mouth.

“Check the other bodies.”

“They’re all like that.” Lily pressed her fingers against at one neck. “No pulse. Is it poison?”

“Whoever gave their commands expected them to die.”

On closer inspection, the suspects wore identical clothing to those who attacked Rogus. Each of them were lightly dusted with pixie dust to indicate their minds were under a command to confront them. Kihet prodded the body with his firelance. He stripped the corpses of their belongings to find any clue leading to the culprit targeting Rogus.

His only clue were the five bodies carrying medallions. Three gashes painted in black ran across the sigil belonging to a group unaffiliated to the merchants ruling Navargzan. The Shadow Claws.

Back in the days when the Elder taught him histories of each country, Kihet remembered a group used to rule Pamalyra from the shadows. They would puppeteer a figure head to appease the masses while plotting various ploys to remove oppositions remained unseen. For decades they were unstoppable until the Merchants rose to power from financial gain.

The amassed wealth swayed the people and soon, traitors of the Shadow claws. Loyalty worked on high ranking members, but with so many lower ranks easily bribes their operations would be sabotaged here and there.

Their crimes would be exposed, and false evidence planted by saboteurs sped their collapse. Soon, the Shadow claws had been forgotten.

“I need Tama to look into something for me."