RSTUM 120 (Patreon)

120: Nightingale (2): The Iron Alley

Annoying Leon wasn't the wisest thing one should do, and walking the streets of Stormdale was one very annoyed Leon.

"Boris and his big mouth couldn't shut up about how great the commission you gave him was. He was in the pub the other day and kept boasting of his own work to the point where he attracted unwanted attention. By the time he got home, the debtors were knocking at our door, saying our debts were due and we must pay them up or else… Else happened, I'm afraid. Both my brother and the arbalest were taken."

"I was a fool." Leon stormed out of the shop angrily, leaving Katarina with a guilty and concerned look on her face.

His weapon was precious, but he stole it anyway, so it didn't matter in terms of value, but the weapon itself was precious, and Leon didn't do much investigating about the Half-Dwarf siblings before handing them his most reliable weapon.

He couldn't discern whether that was the truth or he was being scammed, but even with doubt in his mind, Leon walked towards the Iron Alley just to vent it off someone, all while Alice was following him without talking.

He didn't know much about the Iron Alley, but from the rumors he heard, it was where the Dwarven Craftsmen consolidated their businesses into a single commercial and industrial entity.

And just as it was described, what Leon found at the beginning of the Iron Alley was a wide array of shops that looked like the brass bazaar in old Cairo or Baghdad, with all the wares organized neatly from top to bottom on chains handled from the ceilings of the shops.

The difference between the Iron Alley and a bronze bazaar is that, unlike the oriental luster of the brass, the iron was all cold and dingy. There were indeed kitchen wares, pots, and whatnot, but it seemed that these were the wares left for the lesser Dwarves, the untalented, the cripples, and the half Dwarves.

But what of arms and armor?

This can be answered, as not any craftsman would make those unless they are in the most central and closed-off areas in the alleys where outsiders can step in.

Leon observed closely as he was approached by many brokers, who are Dwarves younglings that can take you anywhere in the alley for a price. These brokers are the only ones with access to weapons in the alley.

A broker would take a buyer to meet the seller by going through the ordinary shops that act as fronts to the real workshops at the back where actual business takes place.

This is hardly illegal since it is kind of public knowledge, but it is fairly common that there is a standard quality among those sellers, with some rumors about special commissions and secret deals that go around the place. This latter part, however, is the real problem, as it breaches the Alley Code.

The Alley Code is some sort of law under which most only Dwarven Craftsmen are allowed to craft weapons and pass down the secrets of Dwarven Steel to other Dwarves within the boundaries of the Alley. It doesn't end there, as it also states that only the top Dwarven Shops are allowed to take on special commissions, work with certain types of metal, and practice Runic Smithing, a way of enchanting weapons and armor with magic.

Any Dwarf that breaks the Alley Code is kicked out, not from the alley but from the city entirely.

There were seven big craftsmen in the alley, the ones who established and enforce the Alley Code. Each of the big seven controls a group of henchmen and has friends in both high and holy places.

Leon wasn't up against a common gang; this time, he is against an enterprise entity with strong social and legal foundation. Being an enemy with the Iron Alley as Leon Dark is being an enemy to every Dwarf in Stormdale, a position that Duchess Annabelle can't afford at the moment.

"This seems hopeless." Alice spoke, "Your friend is deeply involved with the inner workings of this place. You'll need connections to bring either him or your weapon back."

"The only connection I need is the grim reaper." Leon replied.

"Nice name. A friend of yours?" Alice asked.

"More like a customer." Leon replied and walked deeper into the alley.

He knew that the alley sealed its doors by nighttime, so he needed to gather as much intel as possible about the place. All the points of interest, the sensitive places, the storehouses, the areas of infiltration, the secluded spots, and most importantly, where Boris was taken, were all taken in order to recover his Arbalest.

***

Leon had to send Alice back to the Garden Palace before the night since his real work is about to begin, the work of the Black Cobra.

Once he was all by himself, he sat down on a rooftop overlooking the Iron Alley from distance, and a large book could be seen on his left hip.

"So you can do such a thing?" Leon asked.

"The dead souls can't interfere with living ones, but if you lend me Mana, I'll be able to apply some sort of soul curse that you'll find very useful." Rhyme the Banchee replied.

"I like what I hear."

"Though you will be closer to those who walk with death?"

"I died once, darling. I'm already very close."

As Rhyme was speaking from inside the book, she immediately emerged behind Leon in an instantaneous motion and was right behind his left shoulder, looking at him eagerly.

"Care to get even closer?"

"Your offer lacks sexiness."

Leon stood up and packed the book behind his back rather than sending it back to storage so that the summoning of Rhyme didn't get interrupted.

"You said you could show me things." Leon turned to Rhyme.

"Tell me what you're looking for."

"A half Dwarf and that Arbalest you saw me shoot."

"I can only show you souls."

"Then reveal it all to me."

"All souls?"

"Yes."

Rhyme hovered around Leon before coming right behind him and slowly starting to phase through him. Her eyes overlaid his eyes, and what she could see was reflected right into his vision. The world darkened, the souls brightened, and every single living soul was revealed to him.

"Impressive." Leon muttered, "With this kind of scanning, it will all be over quickly."

The Soul Vision, which Rhyme uses, is simply an overlay of every mortal soul. She can see them through walls and through magical barriers, unless it was a barrier made solely to block the Soul Vision.

With that nice assistance, Leon hurriedly rushed off the rooftop in an arc of light made by the "Divine Step" spell and traveled through the Iron Alley from rooftops.

Using the information he acquired this afternoon when he visited the Alley, he headed immediately towards the storehouses, where security was minimal, and started setting everything that could catch a flame on fire.

The sneaking was the easy part, but lighting things on fire was even easier. The fact that Leon can use Fire Magic is already a disaster on so many scales.

In a matter of minutes, huge pillars of smoke were rising to the sky in what can be estimated to be a loss of thousands of golden crowns. The Dwarves were freaking out everywhere, and almost every Water Mage in the city was called to the scene.

It was a crime, a major aggression on the Iron Alley that can't be seen as a coincidence at all. All these warehouses were in many separate parts and belonged to certain workshops, and it meant only one thing at this time.

Leon was careful and very selective with his targets of arson. He made sure that while he was in the market, he knew which workshop was which and their apparent relationships with one another from the simple gossip in the streets.

By choosing certain warehouses to burn, he would make the targeted owners wary of their competitors and hastily point fingers at them. Of course, it will soon be discovered that an outsider is the perpetrator, but Leon was going to rely on this early confusion in order to execute the latter part of his plan.

When the fires were spreading across the Iron Alley, Leon started visiting each of the major workshops discreetly, and a series of attacks took place. He targeted the guards and workers of these shops to interrogate them about a certain Half Dwarf who was brought here along with a special arbalest. Of course, interrogating on the run wasn't an effective strategy any day of the week, but Leon had Rhyme, the Banshee that can make anyone sing just with the sight of her face.

A Banshee has a lot of powers, one of which is that it can seep into the life of any mortal being. This comes with the benefit of weakening the willpower of that mortal to the point where they would answer anything in a state of wild fear.

Using that, Leon only traveled to the fifth workshop before hearing actual news about Boris and the Arbalest. Boris was being held by a group called the Hammer's Crew, a Dwarf Gang with ties to every workshop in the Iron Alley.

The Hammer, it seemed like the name of a Bull or a Monkey from the Syndicate, but Leon didn't want to get involved with this sort of person at this point in time. That's why he got rid of everyone he interrogated by tossing them into the burning buildings.

The final step was to raid the Hammer's Crew.

***

With the fires spreading over the Iron Alley, one tall figure stood above the tower, narrowing her eyes as her long, silky hair fluttered with the wind.

"What sort of madness is this?" She muttered to herself.

Fires started breaking out in every warehouse in the alley, and looking at the pattern, it was definitely an arson.

The girl with the tall Amazonian figure frowned further as she saw many people flooding out of the alley as the Dwarves were kicking out all the customers. Even the city guards had to wait before the Dwarves would allow them in.

Aldora jumped off the tower without taking any measures of safety, yet she landed four stories under with only bending her knees before fixing her posture in a cool way.

"What's wrong?"

"An arsonist's doing, fast moving, probably magic."

"How fast?"

"One fire broke out in the East Anvil's warehouse before another fire broke out in the one near Fellhammer's shop. Barely one minute apart."

"It can't be a Mage."

"Unless it is one speedy mage."

"That would be a very high leveled bastard."

"Boris is still there. That weapon too. It is obvious someone has started moving."

This conversation happened between four individuals, two females and two males.

They looked like common mercenaries, but those who know the mercenaries in Stormdale would know them as the Winged Hounds, a famous group of fighters led by Dalton Vanne and his exactives, Mayfair the Whisperer, Aldora the Tall, and Osborn the Shadow.

These four individuals may be the leaders of a big band of mercenaries, but their skills aren't as amazing as one would expect. They are experts nonetheless, and they have connections all over the city and even in some other cities. Their most important connections in this city, however, are the siblings Boris and Katarina.

"So, Captain, will we get involved?" Aldora, the Amazonian woman wearing a chest plate and a combat skirt, asked the white-haired man wearing the gambeson armor.

"Not all of us." Dalton Vanne answered, "Osborn, you will head in right away. Don't cause trouble, and simply try to trace Boris on your own."

"What about me, Captain?" Asked Mayfair, the short blonde girl who was wearing a black and purple gown.

"Get a vantage point, darling, and try to determine what kind of Mage we are facing." Dalton replied to his wife before turning to Aldora, "And you…"

"Yes."

"Get in the alley; cause a distraction. Those Dwarves took Boris somewhere, and we need to get him back and secure that weapon. Once we have it, we can negotiate a good price with its owner."

"Aye, Captain." Aldora put her hoplite helmet on her head and carried her spear and round shield.

"Good luck, everyone. I'll be with Mayfair here and once you get to know where Boris is, send a silent signal. We'll be in and out before any Dwarf realizes it."

And with that, a different player got involved in the mess of the Half-Dwarf, Leon, and the Dwarf Gang.

Whether they are friends or foes, that is still to be seen.