The Reaper of Rathmere - Book 1 - Chapter 2 - The Pits (Patreon)

                                                                                 Year 849
                                                                                Month 3

                                                                                  Adrian

It takes me the rest of the night to get back to the inner ring despite my inhuman speed, and even then, I only arrive at my destination right as the faint rays of the sun begin to peak through the heavy rain, highlighting the two enormous, red and black towers in the distance that serve as the Judicials’ headquarters. One of the four ruling factions that control Rathmere.

I look out through the rain at the bustling city that serves as the inner ring of Rathmere. At the fat merchants and their heavily armored bodyguards as they make their way from one large building to another; the gladiators as they head towards the closest Pit for the morning matches; and even the justicars as they patrol the streets made out of Rathmere’s rather well-known red and black stone.

The sight contrasts completely with the poor, shit-filled slums at my back, where everyone is always fighting to survive.

I focus my attention on the four story building located at the edge of the slums. The building is also made out of Rathmerian Stone, and it has dozens of windows on each floor, with one marking every room within the floor.

After a brief glance down at the alley below to make sure there isn’t anyone within it, I back up a little bit before sprinting straight for the edge of the roof and jumping off. Within seconds, I clear the dozen or so meters of the alley and latch myself onto the wall of the building with a light grunt of exertion. I then look around to make it absolutely certain that no one saw me before climbing my way up to the third floor and entering through the open window into my room.

Without wasting a single moment, I immediately take my cloak off and hang it behind me whilst closing the window that I had entered through. I then lock it and make my way over to the dresser next to the bed located in the rightmost corner of the room, nearest to the window.

The room itself has nothing but a bed, this dresser, a simple closet holding the clothes I might occasionally need to wear for more formal situations, a large mirror, and a few armor and weapon stands. The armor stands are all empty, but the weapon stands have a few long daggers and short swords – similar in size and appearance to the ones currently on my person.

After a moment of clearing out the drawer, I use my telekinesis to turn a hidden keyhole without the use of a key, opening a hidden compartment of the drawer to reveal a nearly empty greenish-blue bottle containing a similarly colored paste, along with a small gray box.

I take out both the box and the bottle before placing them on the top of the desk and using my telekinesis to open the box’s lock in the same way I did the hidden compartment, revealing a large pile of coins ranging from the cheapest currency – copper bits – all the way to the second-most expensive currency – gold coins.

At some point in Aria’s history, almost all of the cities ended up changing to a similar form of currency to make things simpler. That said, not all of the floating cities changed to this form of currency, which really doesn’t help their economies.

Not that they matter to me.

I quickly pull out almost all of the gold coins from my pocket before stashing them into the metal box and taking out a few bronze and silver coins to make up for the price that I paid for Shade’s location.

Overall, excluding the most expensive form of currency – the platinum ingot – which is worth one hundred gold coins, every coin is worth ten of the type of coin directly below it. This means that one gold coin is worth ten silvers, one silver is worth ten bronze coins, and one bronze is – of course – worth ten copper bits.

It’s a very simple system, but it works none-the-less.

That said, it’s generally not considered wise to go around carrying large amounts of gold coin, as just five of them could buy you a nice house within the inner ring.

Not only is it a nice way to ask other people to rob you, but it’s just plain stupid.

I quickly close and lock the box again before stashing it back into the hidden compartment. After that, I grab the bottle and walk towards the large mirror standing next to my bed as I open the bottle.

Once I reach the mirror, I look at my appearance in it, including my pitch black, pupilless eyes, my pale white skin, and my completely black attire before I pour a little bit of the contents of the bottle into my hands. I then place the bottle onto a nearby table before raising my hands to my face and smearing the substance onto my closed eyes.

After waiting for about a minute, I open my eyes again to see them appearing completely differently than before. What once were the eyes of a reaper, now appear to be the eyes of a normal human being; albeit one with pale blue eyes and equally pale skin.

I take a moment to study my grim appearance before turning towards the bottle on the table with a frown.

“I might have to pay Sarai a visit soon for more…” I mutter whilst unconsciously patting my pockets where my coins are located.

If only the alchemist products weren’t so expensive…

Then again, there isn’t much I can do about it. It’s just how things are, and I’m just lucky that I know an alchemist at all; not to mention that I can afford her work. If I didn’t have this paste, then I would be hunted down or enslaved the moment I stepped into the public eye.

It’s honestly surprising how much slavery goes on in Rathmere despite it not being one of the biggest cities in that particular trade.

Now, when people speak about places such as Scrutira or Alchar, then that’s where slavery is at the point that the entire city practically runs on slaves.

Anyways, I make a mental note to visit the flirtatious woman for more holloweye before sealing the bottle and walking back to the drawer to put it away.

As long as I’m not the one enslaved, I don’t really care very much. After all, it’s not like they ever did anything for me.

After taking a few more seconds to lock the hidden compartment and stuffing my few non-work related articles of clothing into the drawer to hide it, I turn back around to make my way towards the spare weapons hanging on the weapon stands. Once I reach the closest one, I draw both my short sword and my long dagger before exchanging them with spares so as to hide any possible signs of blood.

While I know that the rain has likely already washed any of the blood away, it’s best to be safe now rather than sorry at a late time.

Not that the Pits generally cares if you come in with an already bloody weapon to fight.

Right as I am about to head towards my room’s door, I pause and purse my lips before taking out the throwing knife that I stuck the former-Guildmaster with and replacing it as well. After that, I walk over towards the door and open it to reveal an expensive looking hallway, with a fancy reddish-black rug spanning the majority of the floor.

Despite my soaked clothing, no one sends me any odd looks as I make my way through the inn towards the entrance; likely due to the heavy rain outside.

Right as I am about to leave out the entrance, I hear someone call my name in a rush, “Adrian Shaw!!!”

My eye twitches in irritation before I turn around to find my Pit handler rushing towards me from the rest area located on the bottom floor of the inn.

“Why do you never bother to even look for me here?” Tef-nakht – my Pit handler – asks with an obvious look of irritation as he gets close to me. The man has a thin build, brown eyes, short brown hair, and is wearing his usual headscarf on top of his head that – along with his name – marks his place of origin as Alchar.

“The reason is rather simple, and I have said it multiple times already,” I answer him with a barely concealed frown. “I don’t like you.”

I then turn around without another word to the sound of the man’s sputters as light chuckles resound from the people within the room who had heard us.

This hotel is one that serves the rich, and it costs an entire silver just for a single night in it, so everyone here is a regular and has already gotten used to my interactions with the infuriating man.

That said, the only reason I’m staying here is due to my status in the Pits, seeing as the Pits owns this inn and is paying for my stay entirely as part of my employment.

Although it’s also due to its proximity to the slums, and the lovely window that makes for an easy entrance and exit from the place without being seen.

I quickly hear the sound of footsteps catching up to me before my handler once again appears beside me with a less-than-pleased look on his face.

Sometimes I get the feeling that, if I didn’t make so much profit for the Pits, this guy might have already tried selling me to Alchar as a slave for his own benefit just to get rid of me.

He obviously doesn’t like me very much, despite his usual attempts at hiding it.

Also, why is he wearing that headscarf when it’s pouring down rain outside? It can’t be very comfortable to wear a soaked piece of wadded up cloth on your head.

Not that his comfort matters much to me.

After that brief observation, I proceed to ignore him as we step out of the inn into the heavy rain outside before walking off in the direction of the center Pit.