‘Are you fucking kidding me!’

It has been what, three, four days tops since I was last accosted by bandits? Well to be fair, these guys are probably gangsters rather than bandits since this is a city, but the point remains! Seriously, what is it with this world and bandits popping up out of nowhere? And didn’t people boast that this city is one of the safest in the world?

“I said if you would-“

“No, I heard you the first time,” I pinched the ridge of my nose in frustration; processing my options.

While in any other situation, I’d probably use [Cry of the Banshee] to just one shot everyone in front of me; then hit the guys behind me with a second cast as they gawked at the instant death in front of them. The problem with that spell, however, is that it does not discriminate targets. That being, it will kill everything in front of me, including the pedestrian traffic behind the gangsters on the other ends of the alleyway. And that’s only assuming that the effects won’t penetrate past the brick walls of the buildings and kill everyone in them as well.

Geeze, stuck between a rock and a hard place.

I guess I could just kill them one by one and let a few run off after they see the one sided slaughter of their companions. Then again, I don’t really have any spells to my knowledge that are ‘clean’. I have a fire spell that burns people to death, a curse that inflict so much pain on a person that they might bite off their own tongues, a different curse that turns a person’s blood into a poisonous black ichor, and a spell that flings a bolt of eldritch energy at someone. Haven’t actually seen what the last one does to a person, but I’m pretty sure it’s not gentle to the person it hits.

It’s not a matter of ‘if I can kill them’ but ‘how to not make this look like a slasher crime scene’.

Well, I guess there is the option to just run away. Just teleport of fly off into the distance. Could work. Not sure about the teleporting part, but flying magic is not something unheard of or unattainable by the people of this world-

“Look kid I know your scared,” the big guy up front spoke up again, his words breaking my personal musings.

‘I’m scared?’ Oh dear, it looks like they were completely misinterpreting my silence.

“New place, some scary looking people coming up to you in an alleyway,” he went on. “Look, we’re not here to hurt you. Eight Fingers has a reputation, true. But we are just businessmen at our core. Someone just wants to talk to you about a business partnership with your transmutation Talent. I promise, no harm will come to you if you follow us.”

No harm my ass! Who do they think I am, a fucking child?

…

Ignoring that, how stupid does this guy think I am to think all he needs to say is some flowery words and I’d just go with him. Even if my memory of the Light Novels is a bit spotty with the nuances and tiny details, even I remember that the Eight Fingers is some international criminal organization that deals mostly in drugs and sex slaves.

My reply to this ‘speech?’.

“I’m running late to see my friend, so can you just move aside,” I gave them a shooing motion with one of my hands.

“Excuse me?”

“Ignoring the whole ‘twenty guys for one girl’ thing you have going on,” I gesture to the guys behind me, “there is no conceivable way any of you can survive against me.”

That got a bunch of confused looks from the gaggle before me. And a handful of chuckles.

“Okay I get what this looks like,” I tried another approach seeing that I wasn’t getting through to any of them. “Twenty on one, no avenue of escape, small cute looking girl for your sex dungeon; look I get it. You think this is going to be really easy, but it’s not.”

“We know you’re a magic caster,” the head guy announced, “that’s why I got the extra manpower.”

“I am a magic caster in the same way the Emperor is ‘well-off’. Technically true, but vastly understating the situation,” I countered with a sigh, seeing negotiations going nowhere.

“Well looks like someone’s a little full of themselves,” one man in the lineup announced; even got a few good chuckles. Said man also seemingly lost the will to live, since he decided to march towards me.

“What are you doing Gean,” the head guy asked his underling, apparently annoyed at the mook’s actions.

“Enough of this dancing around talk,” he told his boss/leader. “I don’t even get why you needed all of us? It’s just one girl! Yeah, maybe she is a scary magic caster, but look at her! I could break her bones with my bare hands!”

“Gean, get back here.”

“Sorry boss but I’ve got stuff to do today. I’m not just going to stand here until dusk with her highness. I’ll grab her and we can go.”

“Gean!”

“You should listen to him,” I quipped as the mook approached; arms crossed. “Look, you’ve got your whole life ahead of you, do you really want to throw it away doing something stupid? I can’t be held responsible for what happens to you if you touch me.”

“Whatever,” Gean grabbed my arm and gave me a tug, “come on let’s-“

Before he finished, I swatted his hand off me. I heard a sharp snaping sound and felt something brittle shatter beneath my gloved fingers. A second later the mook was on the ground, clutching his wrist and screaming.

“Gods fucking damnit!” His cries reverberated against the stone walls. “That bitch broke my fucking wrist!”

Seriously? I didn’t even swat his hand away that hard. Regardless, my physical stats are shit. Why the hell is this crybaby whining about pain from me?

Before his boss could even chastise his actions, the man on the ground squirmed to his knees and threw a punch towards my gut; retribution for the wrist, I guess. I didn’t even move this time. The fist connected with my belly, however the wet crunch sound from his hand kind of revealed the result of that little spat.

“Fuck!” He swore again. Two of his fingers looked bent from the impact. “What the hell is she made of? Fucking steel!?” He leaned forward into himself, swearing as he nursed his broken hand.

Hugh, that didn’t even hurt.

As he sat there whimpering and swearing left and right, I laid a single hand on his head.

“Let’s hope your death scares them straight,” I mutter. Though if I were being honest with myself, I was kind of interested in seeing the effects meta magic had on spells in person.

“Wait, what-“ he stopped as his eyes caught the light of a magic circle forming right on his head. Eyes widened, realization finally sinking in. He looked to the side, tension growing in his kneeling legs. Maybe he thought he could make a run for it.

I did try to warn him earlier.

Silly man.

“Maximize Magic: [Black Blood].”

Within the split second of the last letter leaving my tongue, the man began to scream. Just like before when I used this spell on those bandits, blackened veins bulged out of his skin as black ooze began to drip from his mouth, eyes and nostrils. Unlike the other time, the effects were setting in much faster. Skin paled to a chalky bone white before everyone’s eyes, and his eyes blacked as the black blood pooled out of his sockets. Hoarse screams became wet cries, which soon turned into unintelligible guggling.

He let out a handful more wet coughs before I genteelly pushed him aside, using no more force than turning a page in a book. He landed on his side, black ooze pooling around his body from his mouth. His body twitched a bit more before finally going still.

And it got on my clothes! Little black dots peppered across my white skirt, and the tip of my shoes were now in the slowly growing lack of blacked blood. Gross. I rubbed the shoe tip against the man’s clothes in a vain attempt to get some of the ooze off.

‘I really hope this crap doesn’t stain,’ I mused.

Putting that issue aside for the moment, I looked back up at his compatriots to see if the effects of black blood had the desired effects. Going by the visible shaking and half steps back everyone seemed to be taking, I’d say this is working out really well!

Even the boss guy seemed shaken. Oh, he did a good job of hiding it, but even I could see how his muscles were tensing up and his eyes constantly darting from me to the guy at my feet.

Honestly, this whole situation is giving me a serious case of DeJa’Vu: criminals outnumber and surround me, suicidal overconfidence on their part, mocking my attempt to get them to fuck off, some idiot walks up and tries to one v one me, they die, all my would-be attackers are horrified by my power, and so on. If their next move is to change me in some vain hope to overwhelm me with sheer numbers, yet fail, then I’ll call bingo.

Is this why Ainz eventually can’t see the people of this world as ‘people’? This constant cycle of “haha I’m so strong you can’t beat me” followed by the inevitable “impossible no one can be this powerful” interactions. Rinse and repeat and yeah, even I would start to roll my eyes at these people and not take any of them seriously.

I mean, from their perspective, I just look like a little girl. A mage, but still a little girl. They have no idea that I have the power to exterminate all life in this city, by myself, in a matter of hours. And the only reason it would be that long is because I have no clue what spells I can actually cast.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going!” the cry form one of the men in the lineup brought me back to reality.

“I didn’t sign up to deal with black magic bullshit,” one of the men replied, having already ran halfway down the empty alleyway.

“Get back over here!”

“You said she was just a magic caster with money,” another quipped, though the new speaker had yet to leave. “You didn’t say the girl was a witch!”

“Scared of a little girl now Trent?” A third man joined in, “thought you liked em like that?”

“You’re damn right I’m scared of a girl that can do that,” Trent pointed at the body at my feet.

“Think she’s actually some old hag with an illusion to make her look like a kid?” a fourth voice proposed.

“Okay all of you shut up,” their leader snapped. “Gean died because he was an idiot who didn’t follow orders. He walked right up to a magic caster, didn’t take her seriously, and died for it. So how about the rest of you let me do the thinking from now on!”

Is he giving his men a pep talk, about me, while I’m standing just a few meters away from them?

“Instead of going one by one, you’re all going to work together. Use your numbers and strength to bring her down! She’s just one person, and there are twenty of you!

Murmurings of agreement flowed amongst his men. Did they forget that I broke a guy’s wrist by simply swatting it away, or did they think he was just overreacting?

“You know I’m standing right here; I can hear everything you’re saying,” I spoke up.

“Then you know how bad your situation is,” the boss replied, though I had no idea if his bravado was genuine or for his men.

“No, I it’s just I’ve seen this whole song and dance before,” I sighed.

“See, I’m willing to bet that spell was your trump card,” the man rationalized with a smug smile. “And I’m also willing to bet after using something like that you must be almost tapped out of power. Afterall, if you had any other tricks, why haven’t you used them yet?”

So that’s what he’s basing his whole plan on? I used one ‘strong’ spell so I must be almost out of power? Seriously? I groaned at the logic, growing more annoyed at this interaction, and remembering that I have places to be right now.

“Okay, I have a counter point,” I was not going to waste another five minutes watching this slow moving car crash. ”Can’t you imagine that the reason I’m not using any other magic right now is because I’m concerned it would affect the people around us,” I gestured to the buildings to our sides. “But what if, and hear me out before you say anything, what if I just killed all of you where you’re standing right now and went on my merry way?”

“Your bluffing, no one is that-“

Out of nowhere, a crack of thunder boomed across the alleyway, and lightning struck the ground near the guy before he could finish. My heart felt like it was going to jump out of my chest, damn sound spooked the living daylights out of me!

Taking a few steps back from the newly scorched stone, he looked around to see where that freak lightning came from.

“Back off!”

That voice came from above….wait that voice!

My head swiveled about and saw Arche floating just above the alleyway. Cape billowing in the air. Electricity danced across her gloved fingers. Her expression was stoic, betraying no emotion that I could reasonably make out.

I saw her eyes glance at me, before shifting back to the group of thugs, who were still a bit shaken from the sudden thunder.

“I would leave if I were you,” Arche told them; her voice somehow being magically magnified to sound like she was using a loudspeaker. “The guards no doubt heard my [Thunderlance] and will be coming to investigate. So, unless you feel comfortable with facing not only a force of imperial knights but a mithril strength, third tier magic caster, I would suggest you leave. Now.”

The lead gangster looked at Arche, then to me, then to the body, weighing his odds.

Then he shook his head and made a gesture to his men.

“This isn’t over,” he announced as he and his men ran for the darkness of the labyrinth like alleyways that made up a city. No doubt to slink back and report his failure to his boss.

As the last goon slithered away, I heard Arche sigh as she floated down to ground level.

“Arche,” I greeted, stopping myself short of hugging her due to remembering the bits of black ooze that were still on my clothes. I ended up just patting her on the shoulder. “Not that I’m complaining about your help or anything, but how did you know I was in this kind of situation?”

“Some guy showed up where I was waiting for you and said a lot of things that made worried about your lateness,” Arche explained. She looked like she wanted to go on, but suddenly stared at something behind me; the body. “Lilly what- what happened? Are you okay?”

Oh I knew an awkward conversation when I saw one.

“Short version is that I got…dragged into this alleyway by that guy,” I rubbed the back of my neck as I drummed up a slightly altered version of the situation that I had been in. Less questions asked if I just said some rando dragged me into an alleyway then to explain I was cornered after a mental conversation with my homunculus assistant. “Was introduced to his friends, he got grabby, I objected, got punched in the stomach, and that was my reply.”

Inquisitiveness was replaced with concern and horror, “Oh Lilly….”. The petite blond swiftly wrapped me into a tight hug, uncaring of the bits of ooze on me.

Why was she acting like this? All I said was….Oh!

Oh….

Oh.

Small, cute, girl dragged into an alleyway with over a dozen guys. One man was ‘grabby’. Okay, I’ll admit, I could have worded that a little better.

While the hug was nice, it felt a bit awkward to be getting it because of a misunderstanding. I did manage to gently wriggle her off me, and saw the concern still present on her face.

I had to admit, she looked really cute this close.

“Arche, its okay,” I told her. “I-“

“What’s going on here!”

Looking to the source, we both saw a troop of knights enter the alleyway, their helms trained on the body in a puddle of its own blackened ooze and the two of us.

Well, this was going to be an even more awkward conversation.

--
--

Following a long talk with the knights, we were let off the hook with a slap on the wrist. The usual ‘don’t be a hero’ and ‘the knights are here to protect the people’ spiel. I was given a pass since I was a ‘victim’ of not only an attack but of an ‘attempted rape’, wish Arche did not mention that to the knights; though I am pretty sure it earned us some sympathy points. While Arche was given a ‘warning’ for both using flight magic without a permit, and for using a ‘dangerous’ tier two spell in a heavily populated area.

But overall, they took the body and waived us off.

Not sure how a warning is enforced in any way since neither of us were asked to provide our names or residences (not that me giving either would matter!). Maybe that was just the unofficial way of saying ‘good work kids, but we can’t openly say good work’.

Anyway, Arche walked me back to the inn where I felt like Arche was being a little too overbearing with me. Constantly asking if I wanted too not be alone. Insistent that she could get me some fresh clothes from her home if I needed them. She even offered to stay over in the Sour Apple if I wanted.

No, no, and no I told her.

I could tell she might be overreacting to the implication of what I said to her. No matter how much I tried to correct my previous blunder with wording, I feel like she thought I was just downplaying the whole thing rather than trying to correct myself. I mean, I know I was in no danger at all, with the worst those guys could have done to me was ruffle or dirty my clothes as they broke their bones against me, but she doesn’t know that.

And still…

“Are you sure? Do you want me to-”

“I told you I’m fine Arche,” I told her from the other side of the door, doing my best not to sound annoyed. I mean, how else could ‘how dare you be concerned over my wellbeing?’ be played off as anything other than obnoxious.

I think she finally got the memo that I wanted to be alone for a bit, since I heard a sigh on the other side of the door. “Fine,” I heard her reply. “But I’ll be downstairs if you need me.”

“Okay,” I huffed a sigh of relief as I heard her footsteps go off into the distance.

Ah, finally.

Immediately after secluding myself in my room to change out of these dirtied clothes. Non-human I may be, but I’d be damned if I was going to walk around in clothes covered in the dried black blood of my foes.

I was a little worried that I was going to have to send the clothes back to Nazarick to get the stains out. One of the downsides of an MMO based inventory system is that people don’t stock up on multiple copies of the same attire; not stuff that looks the same but has different stats, but same stats with the same appearance.

Meaning this outfit was the only good thing I had to wear; good in this case meaning not ‘evil’ looking. The only other thing that looks marginally ‘good’ is the black dress that serves as my ‘primary’ outfit, and that thing makes me look like I’m about to head off to a ball than be a traveling mage.

Thankfully, one of the potions placed in my item box before I left was able to fix that up: [Cosmetic Bleach], reverts items back to their original cosmetic form. How does a vial of clear fluid know what the ‘original’ form was? I have no idea! But it works!

But as my clothes were being ‘bleached’ I was left with some time to think over the events that just happened.

I pondered the words of that Eight Fingers guy and his talk about my “Talent” in transmuting. Given that I helped pay off Arche’s parents debt with the Eight Fingers with transmuted gold coins, its not hard to see what happened from there. Lender went back to boss, lender explained what happen, and now Eight Fingers boss wants to sink his claws into the walking talking money printer that is me.

Now I knew I wasn’t in any real danger. Eight Fingers, for all the fear they inspire amongst the masses, are mere humans; dehumanizing as it might sound. I am so far above them in terms of power it is not even funny. A swat of my hand had enough force to shatter a guy’s wrist, and that’s without considering my magical power.

So no, I was not overly concerned about the criminals. Give me a day or two, and I could scourge their group from the city entirely.

What did concern me, were the people that could get caught in the crossfire of any altercation between myself and them. Most of the people in this world are far too…brittle. Frail. If I were to really let loose, the death toll amongst the civilian populace would be high. Unacceptably so.

Maybe to the denizens of Nazarick, that wouldn’t be an issue; seeing the trade off as more than worth it to get rid of an ‘annoyance’. But I do take issue with it.

I worried for a time after my first encounter those with bandits, of how little I felt when I killed them, and worried if I was being changed due to my new race. Like how Ainz felt his emotions going away. I worried that was happening to me; that deep down I didn’t care about people anymore.

But when confronted by those guys in the alley, the thought that [Cry of the Banshee] had a wide enough area of effect that I would kill people beyond the thugs made my stomach turn.

That sick feeling gave me some comfort. I was still, mostly, human in mindset.

If I was confronted by people seeking to do me harm, that’s on them. No matter what sob story they may have, or family that may be waiting for them, they will get no sympathy if they attack me. The exception might be people being forced against their will or being mind controlled, but that is a whole different matter. I probably would sympathize there, but if it was my life or theirs….

Regardless of mental gymnastics, I felt it was my duty to keep as many people as possible out of the ‘splash zone’ of this little spat with the Eight Fingers and myself. I was under no illusion that the Eight Fingers would just throw up their hands and say, ‘well we tried’. They were too dumb to do that.

So, the question became, where could I go that I could rip and tear away at any thug sent my way without worrying of hurting uninvolved bystanders?

Then I remembered I own a house now. A house I can lace with all manners of traps and wards so that the Eight Fingers guys end up like mosquitos against one of those bug zapper things.

I needed to contact Eva immediately.

--
--
--

“Thank you for the offer Arche, but I am fine,” Lilly replied to Arche as the two girls talked in the tavern area of the Sour Apple.

“Are you sure? I’m certain I could get Bartholomew to let you stay an extra night in light of everything that-“

“Arche, I am fine,” Lilly said firmly. A series of thuds from the stairwell got her attention. “Oh good the last of it is packed up.”

When Lilly descended from her room, in a fresh outfit, she told Arche that she received word this morning that her home was ready to live in. So, she was moving out of the Inn to her new home. It should be a happy moment.

Yet the events of earlier today still hung a shadow over Arche’s mood.

Descending the stairwell, baggage in hand, was Mya. Or was it Eva? Finding out the maid had a twin, who was also a maid, who was also a tier one caster, did throw Arche for a loop. The new maid even made the same mistake of assuming Imina, who was sitting in an open both with Hekkeron, fiddling with her bow, was a man. Though it was met with a snort of annoyance and a sharp look at Foresight’s giggling leader, then drunken rage given the half-elf’s soberness.

Still, the whole thig was strange.

Speaking of twins, the other brown-haired maid walked in soon after having strapped another piece of luggage to the coach they had outside. It was an obscenely opulent carriage, pulled by equally impressive horses. It all screamed obscene wealth.

“My Lady,” one of the maids walked up to them and addressed Lilly but not before shooting Arche a look. “We are ready to depart.”

“Great job Mya,” Lilly stood up. “Also, did you write down the address?”

“Yes, My Lady,” the maid, Mya, pulled a scrap of paper from her dress pocket.

Lilly took the slip and handed it to Arche, “here.”

“Your address?” Arche noted as she examined the paper. While she never personally went to that district of the city, she knew it was a very well of quarter filled with manors and villas. Use to be the residence of most of the city’s lower nobility; barons, counts, and knightly families. Nowadays, it was filled with ‘new money’ or government officials who rose in station from the Emperor’s brutal purges and reforms. Makes sense she would find a home there, given the abundance in housing.

Still, glancing past Lilly’s smile to the stoic maid standing behind her. Arche got the feeling the maids did not approve of her for whatever reason. Mya’s gazed bordered almost on naked contempt for Arche. Or maybe they just didn’t like other people in general?

Or maybe they were in a foul mood since their Mistress nearly got raped in a foreign city and now saw all foreigners as a potential threat?

“Yep,” Lilly was oblivious to the glares sent her way from the maid. “I might be a bit busy for the next day or so, but after that you’re free to come on over and see the place.”

“Thank you, and I will come by soon. Maybe not immediately, since we have a job lined up that’s going to take a few days. But after that? I’ll head on over. Of course, if you want, I doubt Hekkeron will make a fuss if you want me to-“

“Arche I told you, I am fine,” the girl sounded exasperated by Arche’s constant concern. “I’m not some damsel in distress, I am capable of protecting myself.”

Arche wasn’t familiar with the phrase Lilly used, but she was pretty sure she understood the meaning. No matter the smile Lilly put on and remembering the state of the corpse at her feet, Arche couldn’t help but feel concerned for the girl. For her friend.

Lilly had all the hallmarks of a naïve girl raised in a very sheltered environment. The type of environment that made life soft and simple for a person. Arche knows because she too lived a similar life for most of her childhood. Only in Lilly’s case it looked like her parents didn’t mess up, or if they did, whatever happened didn’t negatively affect her.

Arche’s fear was that Lilly was just putting on a brave face considering what happened; not just killing someone, but the threat that drove her to that.

Maybe Arche was acting too much like a mother hen to Lilly. It was just…she had heard of the fate of many elven prisoners in the Theocracy-Elf Kingdom war, with many female veterans ending up as slaves to citizens in the Theocracy. Either as spoils of war, trophies, or playthings.

To have a girl like her thrust into a situation like that….

“So, with you no longer needing to worry about me; have a great day, good luck on your mission, and be safe,” Lilly came in for brief, yet tight, hug. “And I cannot wait for you to see my place when you get back. From what Eva told me, the renovations came in beautifully.”

“I will, and you take care of yourself until-“

“My Lady,” the maid interrupted Arche, shooting the young worker a stoic glare before looking back to her charge. “Pardon me, but it is time to go.”

Arche bit back a frown at the maid’s interruption.

“Oh yeah, right,” Lilly rubbed the back of her neck. “Sorry Arche but…”

“Don’t worry, I understand,” Arche replied. “We’ll have plenty of time to talk when you get back.”

“Right! So good luck, and I’ll see you when I get back,” Lilly told her as she walked out the door. “And good luck to the rest of you guys!” She called out to Hekkeron and Imina, who response with waves of their own, as she boarded the carriage, waving to them threw the Sour Apple window as she was driven off.

But as Lilly’s carriage rounded the street corner, moving out of sight, another thought crept its way into Arche’s mind: namely the mystery that was Lilly herself.

It was less any one thing, but more a collection of oddities that made Arche suspect there was something more to the noble girl. Extremely potent magical energy, a capacity to inflict powerful curses if she went by the state of the corpse from earlier, had the ability to ‘make gold’ if the ravings of that money lender were anything to go by, and had a pair of maids who were not only physically identical, but held identical magical energy.

Not to say that the girl was hiding some malicious end goal, merely that the girl was not telling her the full story about herself. Merely there was something usually about her.

But Arche saw no point in pressing the issue. Her secrets were her business, not Arche’s.

Still, she hoped the girl would be alright while she was gone.

--
--
--

“Is this it?”

“Yes, Master Paradyne.”

Fluder Paradyne, Master of the Ministry of Magic, Headmaster of the Imperial Magic Academy, and wielder of the sixth tier of magic, examined the body laid before him on the metal slab lit by torchlight.

Abnormal paling skin. Blackened sclera. Patches of hair have fallen off the body in an irregular pattern. Teeth stained black. Gums blackened. Visible veins seemingly filled with a black bile crisscrossed the body. Shattered bones along the fingers of the right hand and wrist; though this seemed incidental given he has found no other skeletal injury across the man’s body.

The man died of a curse, that much was obvious; and quite painfully if the way his limbs were twisted about when his students brought the body to Fluder were any indication. The curse would probably be of the third or fourth tier if he had to guess. Applied at short range, perhaps even by direct touch if the slight handprint of necrotic flesh was any indication. But did it need direct contact?

Hmm. It would appear the work of that mysterious magic caster he noted a few days ago. Mysterious, yet powerful.

Two days ago, while lecturing, he felt a pulse of magic sweep over the school grounds. Curious, he used his All-Seeing Eyes to find the source, and was almost blinded by a bright magical signature. Brighter than any others he had seen in decades.

It remined him of that woman. He was almost tempted to believe Rigrit herself was in Arwintar! Upon closer inspection, it showed the signatures were not the same. This caster’s signature was different, dimmer, but no less luminous.

He ended is lecture that day prematurely to meet this caster and ascertain their intentions; with the silent hope they came as a friend to seek an audience with himself. Yet when he arrived, the person was gone.

His eyes confirmed they were still in Arwintar; perhaps spooked by his sudden approach?

Fluder decided to let the caster come to him rather than search them out and possibly frighten them off further. He’s had cleared his schedule of all non-important matters and instructed his guards to bring any caster who sought his audience to the courtyard. From his study, he could use his Talent to see if they were the genuine article, or the standard supplicant he received on occasion.

He was wondering what was taking them so long to approach him again, his Ministry received word from the local garrison commander that a powerful curse had been used on an Eight Finger member and he was requesting instructions on how to dispose of the body. On a hunch, Fluder sent his students to collect the body and learn as much as they could of the one who cast it.

They retuned with the body in question, and a story that almost seemed fantastical.

Apparently, a young girl, a traveler by her own admission, cast this when she was confronted by a group of Eight Fingers.

Though was she a young girl? The dragon queen Draudillon Oriculus, nearly a century old, uses illusions to appear in the guise of a child when dealing with her subjects. Perhaps something similar was occurring here?

“What happened to him, Master?”

“He died of poisoning,” Fluder remarked aloud as he walked over to a nearby bookcase, taking a book on curses.

“From a curse?” The student remarked seeing the tome his teacher had taken.

“Most likely,” the wizard skimmed over the weathered pages. “An acute poisoning after changing all the blood in his body into that bile like substance.”

“Have you seen anything like this before Master?” Another student questioned.

“Seen? No,” he found the page on curses that rapidly alter body chemistry, “but something like this is not unheard of.”

“Then what are we to do?”

‘Stop interrupting my train of thought,’ he grumbled to himself.

“Prepare my stationary with fresh paper and ink,” Fluder instructed his students without looking up from his tome or the body before him. “Fetch me some clean towels. And inform his majesty that I will be preoccupied for the remainder of the day and will be unable to fulfil my duties at court.”

Fluder had found a more important use of his time today then listening to the droning’s of courtiers fight one another for young Jircniv’s favor.

He had a feeling that this was the beginning of something far more interesting than anything he's seen in some time.