Chapter 125

Luke did not consider himself to be a particularly observant person. Even here on Aros, after all the fighting for his life and the system giving him the ability to literally count the ants on a tree a thousand feet away, he’d only recently started trying to sort through what his senses were telling him. Even then, that had only been an active effort to make up for losing the ability to feel the amount of XP other people or monsters had.

However unobservant he might have been, he still realized they’d attracted a stalker. There was a man, an inch or two taller than Luke and with shaggy brown hair. He wore clothes in the local style, was unarmed and nothing about him indicated that he was anything other than some random citizen, except for the fact that Luke had seen him three times now in the last fifteen minutes.

He took a minute to toss an [Analyze] at the man, then leaned hard into his poor, neglected, rank 1 [Deception] to keep his face blank.

[Name: Blacktongue Human Mercenary]
[Level: 23]
[Strength: 9]
[Agility: 30]
[Stamina: 17]
[Perception: 28]

“Zea,” he said softly.

“Hmm?” She didn’t look up from where she was sorting through a jar full of what looked like ordinary river pebbles to him.

“There is a man following us. [Analyze] says he’s part of that mercenary group we fought a few days back.”

Zea froze for a split second, then resumed picking through the pebbles as if he’d never spoken. “I need two more reagents to make this work. Ten minutes, tops. We’ll go back to the inn, collect our stuff, and get out of the city.”

If only they hadn’t had to get new shoes, they’d already have been done with the shopping. Then again, if they were back at the inn, it was possible Luke would never have noticed the tail. They might have been ambushed by a dozen more mercenaries in the middle of the night.

Luke started throwing [Analyze] at random people, which mostly returned resulted of ordinary citizens between levels 8 and 15, usually correlating to the target’s age. There were, unfortunately, three more mercenaries hidden in the crowd. They all were around the same level and with similar stat spreads as the first one, so Luke assumed they were rocking some sort of scout or spy build.

He let Zea know in a whisper, and she picked up the pace to pick up the last two things she needed. Once they left the stall and hustled away from the market square, all four mercenaries he’d spotted faded into the background and eventually disappeared.

Luke wasn’t about to let his guard down though, not now. He kept using [Analyze] over and over, which led to him discovering two new mercenaries. These ones only followed him for a block before handing him off to someone else. Either they were communicating somehow, or there were so many that no matter which direction he went, someone was always waiting to start following.

“At least ten different mercs now,” he told Zea. “There might be more I didn’t spot. None of them are wearing field gear, but that doesn’t mean they won’t have a poisoned knife.”

“Maybe you should spend some AP now. Just leave some for bloodline skills later. You’re probably not going to need the whole amount anyway.”

“I think we’re good for now. I haven’t spotted anyone above level 26 yet,” Luke said. “But a skill to help see through stuff like [Stealth]would be good. Raw perception is great for seeing, but it doesn’t help me notice, you know?”

“So… [Detection]?”

“Er, yeah, maybe. That sounds about right.” He found it easily enough in the system’s skill shop, with the first rank being a measly 3 AP. Luke picked it up and looked around. “Doesn’t seem any different.”

“You just bought it? Gods, of course you did.” Zea said. “Maybe because there’s no one hiding around here? Or maybe because it’s only rank 1 and the mercenaries following us are good at their jobs?”

“Those are both good points,” Luke said. “You think I should pick up rank 2 for another 10 AP?”

“Might not hurt, but honestly, your perception is so high already that you could just make a bit of effort to train yourself. I’m sure you could have learned [Detection] easily with a bit of work. You could probably get it up to rank 2 without wasting the AP.”

“You think I can do that in the next few minutes before however many hidden mercs there are following us make their move?”

“Well. Shit. Fine, I guess it’s a good use of AP.”

Luke spent another 10 AP and bumped [Detection] up to rank 2. The skill started poking at his brain, demanding he look at certain people, though not giving him much to go on beyond that. Most of the signals were irrelevant, things like someone palming a coin at a nearby vendor stall, or three kids looking out the second story window of a nearby home. His high perception was probably making it worse, since it gave the skill so much more raw input to work with.

Between that and [Peripheral Awareness] widening his range of vision even more, Luke was already trying to find an ‘off’ button for the new skill. On the other hand, [Detection] pointed out two guys lurking in an alleyway up ahead, looking like they were waiting to jump out and ambush someone. A quick use of [Analyze] told him they weren’t part of the mercenary band, but the point was that Luke hadn’t even noticed them before, despite having seen them.

It was going to take some work to get the hang of every little thing demanding his attention, but he expected he’d get used to it quickly enough. For now, he just focused on looking for the mercs tailing them. With [Detection] helping him focus, he spotted another four mercs over the next minute.

“What do you think they’re waiting for?” he asked. “They know who we are. They’re keeping track of our movements. You think they’re assembling somewhere and preparing to come out in force to subdue us?”

“Maybe, or maybe just one big hitter. Or…” Zea bit her lip and shook her head. “Don’t forget who’s employing them, and what we know about those kinds of people. A single high level person could be coming down on us like a literal hammer of the Gods, and they’re just making sure that church agent knows where to strike.”

“Fuck. That’s probably worst-case scenario. You think we should make a scene of it, seize the initiative or whatever?”

“Not until we get back to the inn. You might as well put on that armor too. No point in trying to blend in now. Shit, this is going to make getting onto that boat a lot harder. How the fuck did they find us this quickly?”

“I mean,” Luke said as he gestured around. “Dwifkins?”

“There’s a whole city! Tens of thousands of people.”

“Sure, but don’t they live here? They’ve probably got friends and family, a whole social network. Maybe they just said, ‘Hey, if anyone sees a smoking hot dwifkin lady, let me know. Pay you a half-silver for the info.’”

“Fuuuck. And you still stick out yourself a bit. Not as bad as back in Valtira, but yeah. So the church knows who we are, what we look like, where we’re going. Of course they hop on a boat and beat us here. And then we spent some time down at the docks, and they know we’re looking for ships, so someone keeps on eye on it and spots me easily.”

“Wait, they know all that? How do they know we need a ship?” Luke asked.

“Because I was asking about prices for you back in Valtira, and inquisitors torture people for information. I wouldn’t be surprised if the entire stable of the Bloody Harbor ended up in a confessional after you made a run for it. I’m sure the only reason I didn’t was that they were expecting to follow me to you.”

The idea that the church had tortured just about every person he’d ever met in Valtira hadn’t occurred to Luke, which was stupid, now that Zea had pointed it out. That was what inquisitors did. It really put into perspective how callously they treated the average person, and how much harm he’d done to everyone around him just blundering around in Valtira.

“Snap out of it,” Zea said, poking him in the hip. “We’re here. Any mercs watching?”

“Three,” Luke said.

“No help for it. I guess we’re done sleeping in a bed again. Let’s go get our stuff.”

* * *

“The apostate knows he’s being followed,” Dradion reported. “He spotted tails a few times, and then about twenty minutes ago, he was suddenly noticing everything. I think he may have purchased a new skill, possibly [Detection].”

The inquisitor who’d hired them just shook his head. “Foolish and arrogant of him. To spend his AP so frivolously. I suppose he knows his death is imminent and is determined to grasp at every conceivable chance at victory. Where is he now, and is the dwifkin still with him?”

“They both went into the inn they’re staying at. I’ve got a team watching it from every direction. They won’t get out without us noticing.”

“Lead me there,” the inquisitor said.

Dradion did his best to keep his expression neutral. The inquisitor was a paying client, even if he was an arrogant dick. Never mind that this job had cost Blacktongue an unheard-of body count and probably well over a thousand gold in property damage. There was no way they’d so much as break even at this point. He cursed the day Singer had said yes to hunting a fucking apostate.

That kid, a fucking teenager, had to be a higher level than anyone in Blacktongue. He’d torn through Dradion’s friends like they were children. At this point, if that apostate was under level 30, he’d be surprised. And yet no one could feel a single point of XP coming off the kid.

“Of course,” Dradion said, still doing his best to maintain the polite fiction that he didn’t want to ram a sword down the inquisitor’s throat. The church didn’t have nearly as much power up here in Sicanti as it did back where this asshole was from, but murdering their client would look bad for his band, and Gods knew they were going to need a lot of business to recover from this whole shit storm.

Besides that, he wasn’t sure he could actually take the man. The inquisitor felt like he was only level 10 or 12, but there was no way that was true. The old man could be even stronger than Singer. Fuck, he’d better be if he was planning on taking down the kid who’d killed Singer. Maybe Dradion would get lucky and they’d kill each other.

* * *

Luke was armored up, with a bit of help from Zea. He’d put on the cloak and everything. They split the packs between them, now significantly emptier without the armor. The bag Zea had enchanted for slowing time was their officially designated food bag now, and since Luke’s worldly possessions amounted to what he was wearing and a single full set of clothes, his stuff didn’t take up much room. Mostly they were just carrying camping supplies and a full bag of enchanting stuff.

“Got the route in your head?” Zea asked.

“Yep.”

“Know where to meet up if we get separated.”

“Yes.”

“Back-up meeting spot?”

“Yes, Zea! I’m good. Are you ready?”

Both of them expected the mercs to make their moves soon. No way they’d just let Luke and Zea walk out of the city without attempting to stop them.

“You sure you don’t want to spend some of that AP?” she asked.

“Only if I need it. I want to keep as much held back as I can for new bloodline skills. There’s not a person on their team who’s within 10 levels of me. Hell, you’re a higher level than any of them now.”

“Yeah, but I’m not specialized towards combat. Any of them would kick my ass in a straight fight.”

“You know the fallback plan: If all else fails, blow shit up.”