I headed into one of the castle warehouses. It was so massive I thought I might have a hard time finding anything… But… They left the chains lying in the middle of the floor carelessly thrown over all the gear they no doubt used to subjugate the minotaur and move it…

After giving the area a quick once-over. I had to stop myself from setting up lethal traps, reminding myself I was dealing with actual people for once, and not monsters. ‘I’ll just have to be fast… Fighting my way out won’t be an option.’

I quickly moved over to the chains, making sure to note the manufacturer's brand engraved into the metal. Since it was being used for illegal activities, I figured the gear would have been made in-house and lacking one… The chains not only had one though, but the mark wasn’t tampered with or removed either. ‘The guilds are pretty strict about records and equipment management… I wonder what the stated reason for this being here is?’ I took a closer look, deciphering the meaning of the pattern. ‘Who decided the crafters needed three different languages to write things in anyway…’

Of the three COMMONLY used scripts… There were glyphs representing sounds, sigiles that represented meaning, and characters, also called “Dura,” for ideas, or in some cases full sentences. There were runes too… But those were more about magic stuff than conveying messages.

‘The signature should be branded in Dura… So if I’m reading this right… Runn family, fourth daughter… Using the… Cozy Flame Forge. Smith name… Feisty?’ I stared at it a bit longer, trying to commit it to memory, but admittedly lacking trust in my ability to memorize such a complex symbol. With the help of my metal magic, I separated the link from the rest of the chain and threw it into my storage for reference, moving on to the crates underneath. With one swift pull, I yanked the tarp off, revealing nothing but empty bottles. ‘I’m getting the feeling I’m not a great detective… The evidence is right in front of my face and I don't understand it…’

I moved closer to inspect the crate to make sure… But yeah, just empty bottles. ‘The plan might have been to store minotaur blood in them, or mass produce antidote and use these bottles… Or they could be totally unrelated…’

“Who are you.” I heard an echo resonate through my left ear. “Who gave you permission to be in hear!”

I was a bit jumpy but relaxed when I realized it was Finn’s magic doing its thing. ‘Sounds like Alden’s voice, so… He got caught? Alden would recognize me, so it would be best to probably sneak out on my own from here…

As I listened to Finn confidently explain his reasoning I quickly moved everything back to how it was. ‘If I got caught sneaking out it would be too suspicious, so I should probably go out the same way I came in. I let out a sigh, turning around and staring face to face into the eyes of a guard, both of us too shocked to move.

‘I couldn’t hear him coming over Finn’s nonstop talking!’ Another guard walked in behind him, and although I wanted to run, Finn and I agreed before on our plan. ‘Time to test my acting…’ I gulped, steadying myself. “What’s with these supplies just sitting in the middle of the warehouse? And what’s with the chains anyway? Was there a supply overflow and you guys got stuck with the excess?”

Neither one seemed ready to answer, but the one that came in second seemed careful, instead of nervous like the first. “Something like that… Couldn’t say… We just move what they tell us to… Now, who are you? Identify yourself or you’ll be arrested.”

‘Sparks… Identify? Should I give my real name and say I’m working with Finn temporarily? Or maybe I should pretend to be a member of his guild… No… Wait… Since I came here with Finn… I haven’t actually committed any crimes yet… But impersonation would be illegal… So…’ “I’m here with an elite member of the Circle of Smoke, He’s speaking with Alden right now. We came here to do an inspection.”

The guard sighed with a deep growl. “Keep him here, I’ll go and find the boss and we can get this all sorted out… We should have been notified, so there is a possibility they’re a thief and just lying.”

The first guard, a human boy about my size, seemed more than a bit nervous looking me in the eye, as if he was afraid of what might happen if I resisted. It wasn’t a bad instinct. I might have had trouble taking down an Orc, but a human teen… I could mop the floor with him and escape if I had to. ‘I managed to get away without dropping my name so far, I should keep it that way.’

Thankfully, the nooby guard didn’t feel like asking questions, so I just had to sit back and enjoy the earful as Alden and Finn continued talking.

“One of the elites…” Alden Grumbled. “And you’re here inspecting things then? Ok, how much do you want.”

‘That was… Direct…’

If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

“Hm… I’m here on work anyway, so just give me a gold coin or so.”

‘He’s accepting?!?’

Eventually, the orc guard found them and as smooth as ever Finn managed to explain the situation, fully expecting it via being able to hear through my ears as well. At first, Alden tried to go with him, but he managed to convince him to stay behind. “They're new, so I think we should keep our affairs between us. I’m not one for splitting profits you know, and I’d hate for you to have to increase your spending.”

Seeing the merit in that, Alden didn’t see through it at all, too preoccupied with the prospect of saving money on bribing fewer people. Of course, not long after Finn met up with me and we both headed out.

“First rule of the circle… Don’t get caught…” He signed at me as we walked out the main door.

“You got caught first…” I signed back

“I got caught on purpose…”

“I never said!” My hands paused… my gestures slowing as my spirits slowly sank. “I never said I was good enough to do stuff like this… There’s a reason I’m not in a guild you know…”

He rolled his eyes and nudged me to the side with his fist. “I’m just messing with you, don’t be so hard on yourself…” He said out loud, waiting till I raised my eyes to keep signing. “So… Did you find anything?”

I nodded. “Not much… Meet me in the inn, we can talk in my room.”

I walked into my room, casually walking over and jumping onto the foot of the bed frame, admittedly becoming a bit anxious at how quickly he closed the door, my mind going blank for a moment as we stared at each other.

“Ok, what did you find?”

I cleared my throat. ‘Right… I just have to act normal, and whatever awkwardness I feel will go away on its own…’ I took a deep breath, taking off my helmet and letting my hair down, along with unequipping some of my more bothersome gear that was heavy or tight, making it easier to relax as I talked. “The chain had a Dura on it,” I said, taking it out of storage and tossing it to him. “I don’t know anyone named Fiesty though. Actually, I’ve never heard of the Runn clan or the Cozy Flame Forge either for that matter. Do you think they run exclusively on the black market?”

He caught it. “You can read this?” He muttered looking back up and staring at me blankly, making me pause again.

“Y-yea… Is it really so strange?”

He shook his head. “No, sorry, it’s not I was just uhm… No, actually it’s pretty unusual. It’s taught in higher education, but even then people tend to not actually learn it.”

I finished taking off the armor around my hands to stretch the injured muscles in my arm and disconnected my chain pauldron to take some weight off my stiff shoulders.

“You aren’t… Going to take anything else off are you?”

I saw goosebumps run down my arms before I slowly bounced my eyes. ‘It still feels awkward…’

He cleared his throat. “I mean, this is your space, so whatever you want to do to feel comfortable is up to you, but I–”

He paused as I covered my face. “But you what.” I squeaked.

His eyes slowly moved to the wall across from me. “It’s nothing, don’t worry about it.”

“I-it’s not like I’m stripping! Why are you looking away? Do you really think I’d do something like that!”

He sighed. “Ok… I won’t look away. I want the first girl I see like that to be my wife and vice versa you know, so... Adventuring takes all types right...”

As he turned his eyes back I only felt more embarrassed to the point I was unable to speak for a moment, wrapping the blankets around me from off my bed, even though I was still wearing my armor I felt naked. “P-please don’t look…” I muttered, my voice only becoming more high-pitched and soft with every word as I almost instantly contradicted myself.

“See! This is why…” He paused, closing his eyes for a moment as he turned away again, leaning his head against the wall and resting a closed fist against it. “Right… Sorry.” With his eyes facing the wall he continued on the topic at hand as if he wasn’t bothered by the situation at all. “The Runn clan, and Fiesty, that’s typically a dwarven girl's name, right? Can’t say I’m surprised if she’s a smith.”

“Dwarves do have a knack for that sort of thing, but it’s pretty common for all races to give dwarven names in smithing families isn’t it?”

“Well, either way, it doesn’t matter, I’ll look into it. You said the Runn clan?”

I nodded, only embarrassing myself more, realizing he couldn’t see… “Ah r-right… The fourth daughter I think… At least… If I read it right…”

He pulled out one of the knives from the terror bird we downed. “Same symbol…” He stood up, still awkwardly facing the wall. “Is this everything?”

“Yeah, there were some empty glass vials, crates full, but nothing really suspicious about that.”

He sighed. “I’ll head to the Rothet and report these findings, it should at least be enough to bring him in and hold him while we continue investigating. Of course, this will suspend your fine and put that into review as well. It shouldn’t take long.” He paused again after resting his hand on the doorknob. “And… For the record, you uh… You don’t come across as the type to casually undress in front of other people… But, you should still be more careful in the future… Especially with inviting men into your room. You shouldn’t act like all the guys.” He turned back to me, his words starting to jumble. “ Not that you did anything wrong. I don’t mean to scare you, I’m sure no one would do anything bad to you! Since it would warrant execution and all… But I’m just saying you gotta—”

“Finn…”

“Uhm… Yeah?”

“Don’t you have something you should be doing right now?”

“Right… Sorry…”

He walked out the door and even then when I was alone I never managed to feel calm. My heart was beating faster than normal but without the spike in my blood pressure or the adrenalin. I suddenly felt too tired to move, but too tense to actually try and go to sleep. ‘The first person… It doesn’t make any sense, does it? For eyes to be able to take something away…’

I pulled the blanket tighter around my shoulders, falling back onto my bed and letting my body bounce as it hit the mattress, slowly curling my legs up after. No matter how much time passed I found myself unable to get the will together to change my clothes. ‘It’s times like these that I really miss having my dad around…’