Chapter 21: The Hounds I

A tap to his arm drew Leo out of his temporary stupor, and the [Fragmentholder] glanced over to see Allan frowning at him, still waiting for a response. He exhaled.

“No point hiding,” Leo muttered. “They already know we’re here.”

Dark eyes flashed. “Run?”

The voices grew louder, and it was clear now that the two members of the group were arguing. The woman with the [Watcher] skill, on the other hand, hadn’t looked away once, green eyes gazing calmly at them. She smiled.

“Good day,” she called over. All at once, the other two stopped and their heads snapped in their direction.

Leo’s eyes shifted, rapidly scanning the three. As he’d thought, now that [Judgement] had reached level 3, he no longer needed to use mana to prompt their stat sheets to appear. They formed with only a slight focus.

Flora was the name of the woman in the front, and [Watcher] was her personal skill. Twenty seven. Her light brown hair was drawn back in a single braid that billowed in the wind, and the two shortswords strapped to her belt remained untouched. She hadn’t moved to draw them. Not yet.

Leo’s eyes shifted to the younger man standing on her right, who frowned down at them with his arms crossed, bearing significantly more obvious tension in his body language than Flora revealed. Ivan. Twenty four. [Foresight]. He carried no visible weapons.

The final member of the group was a tall well built man carrying a long spear loosely in hand. His movements were entirely casual, and he grinned down cockily. This one was named Dalton, a year older at twenty five, and his personal skill was called [Candor].

All three were of the [Mercenary] class, and all three of their personal skills put Leo on edge. Names couldn’t always be trusted, but if they were at all accurate to what they did, then this would be difficult. He already had an idea of [Watcher]’s ability, after all.

Did they run while they had the chance? Talk and hope the three didn’t realize what their true goals were?

Pinned to their cloaks, silver badges gleamed in the light, the metal twisted and curved into the shape of an opening jaw. The symbol of the Hounds.

“Hello,” Leo replied. He carefully did not reach for the dagger at his side. There was no place for them to run; better to wait and hope they took them for simple travelers.

“Fine weather today, isn’t it?”

“It is,” Allan said. The [Healer] subtly shifted so that he was the furthest in the front, expression drawn in a pleasant smile. “Though I must say, that light wall takes some getting used to.”

Flora hummed. “You also saw it go up, then.” She shook her head. “I’m afraid things have become quite a mess. Are you all travelers? I don’t recall seeing you in Clearside.”

That had to be the village nearby. Just behind Flora, the other two Hounds tensed. Leo kept his eye on them, judging the distance between the road and the lake.

When he glanced over at Spade, the [Executioner] was doing the same. All three Hounds seemed primarily focused on her, judging by the angle of their stances and the occasional glances. He could understand why. Between the three of them, with her build, scars, and the long sword sheathed at her side, she was the most obvious threat.

“We are,” Allan said without hesitation, not allowing a trace of unease into his voice or posture.

“Is that so? Where are you from?”

“North,” Leo said simply.

Green eyes scanned the three of them thoughtfully, and Flora’s gaze slowed when it landed on Spade. She hummed.

“Are you mercenaries?”

The other two Hounds shifted. Mercenary bands in Avel tended to be rather protective of their territory. Given Avel’s lack of resources, the wardless roads and villages and the limited number of guards, most groups’ primary source of income was from being paid to protect villages from Echoes.

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The Hounds were a consistent group and fairly professional from what Leo had heard—certainly more reliable than some other mercenary bands. Still, they would naturally be wary of potential competitors.

“I used to work as a bounty hunter.” Spade chuckled. “You could say I’m retired now.”

She tapped a particularly long scar at the side of her neck, its surface rough and edges jagged. “It got a tad too dangerous.”

“I see. I imagine traveling by yourselves is quite dangerous as well, given the Silence.”

“We’ve been fortunate so far,” Allan replied easily. “We haven’t encountered much trouble yet.”

[Dalton has activated the [Candor] skill]

Leo’s eyes snapped over in the man’s direction. His pupils seemed to enlargen, nostrils flaring as his body went still. What was he seeing?

On instinct, Leo activated [Judgement]. The notification in his vision rippled, and in the next second, it dissipated entirely, leaving behind a new string of words mirroring the golden text hovering in front of the Hound. The [Fragmentholder]’s eyes widened.

[You have activated [Candor] on ???]

[System processing]

[Extracting past history and background]

[Final score: 98]

The mirrored notifications dissipated at the same time, and Dalton blinked. He turned his head from Spade to Allan.

Leo’s mind churned, but he kept [Judgement] on. Sure enough, he was able to see the next string of notifications appearing in front of the Hound as well as a mirrored copy across his own vision.

Was this the new level 3 active effect? It seemed like an extension of the ability the fragment had given him, allowing him to directly view other people’s system notifications instead of merely granting an outside awareness of them.

The final notification popped up for Allan, and Leo focused on the number, trying to figure out what the man’s skill did.

In the background, he could hear the sounds of Allan and Flora still chatting amicably.

[Final score: 21]

Dalton’s eyes narrowed. Definitely not good, then.

Leo turned his eyes away just before the man moved onto him next. Based on the name of the skill and the scores, he guessed it wasn’t a traditional lie detector, but perhaps an overall assessment of “candor” and honesty. A way to gauge people at a glance.

“—never seen the lake myself,” Allan was saying. “I wasn’t expecting it to be exactly as the legends say.”

“It is quite the sight, isn’t it?”

Leo tuned out their words, instead focusing on the notifications forming in front of him. He wasn’t looking up this time to verify it was the same as what Dalton saw, but by now he had a pretty good idea of how this new [Judgement] ability worked.

[System processing]

[Extracting past history and background]

His shoulders tensed, waiting. And then, the final notification appeared.

[Final score: 0]

Leo froze.

What? How was that possible? The skill must do something different than he’d thought, because a zero should be impossible.

Impossible, unless the skill was registering that. The [Fragmentholder] felt his heartbeat pick up, but he forced himself to stay calm.

Atop the slope, Dalton jerked back and frowned. He turned and whispered something in the other Hound’s ear, Ivan, and the man’s brow furrowed before he stepped forward and tapped Flora on the shoulder.

She didn’t even look up or respond, the string of movements so quick and practiced that it happened in an instance.

“—considering the dangers,” Flora continued, green eyes and steady voice betraying nothing, “I hope you will allow us to accompany you to Clearside.”

For the first time in their conversation, Allan hesitated. Dark eyes flicked over to Leo. The [Fragmentholder] subtly shook his head.

“…Thank you for the offer, but I’m afraid we’re a bit short on money.”

“Nonsense. We happen to be traveling towards the village as well. It would be no trouble to guard you along the way, and we won’t require any price. Hounds’ honor.”

To his right, Leo noted Spade subtly shifting her stance so she could draw her sword more easily. A bit of stiffness creeped into Allan’s jaw even as he kept talking.

“That’s very generous of you, but we—”

“Cut the bullshit.”

A rough, raspy voice interrupted the [Healer].

Dalton sneered down at them from atop the slope. His fingers flexed and retightened around his spear. He cocked his head. “Enough. This is taking too long.”

“A bit of patience doesn’t hurt,” Flora said, but she didn’t look particularly perturbed by the interruption. She simply gazed down at them with those keen green eyes.

“But yes, I suppose there’s no point in dancing around the issue any longer.”

The woman took a step forward, and Leo’s shoulders tensed.

“We don’t mean to accuse you of dishonesty,” she said lightly, still in that calm, even voice that was becoming increasingly uncanny the longer he listened to it.

“However, my companion here has reason to suspect you. And while I’m well aware that general tendencies aren’t always indicative of singular behaviors, in the interest of security, we’ll need to take you to see our leader.”

Her eyes glinted, and she came to a stop a few feet in front of them. A sword’s length away.

“Will you come peacefully?”