Ch. 32 – Mercantus (III) (Patreon)

Felix waited for the person to step out. It was a short woman who looked to be quite sleep-deprived. He grabbed her from behind and held the knife to her throat, wrapping his hand over her mouth to keep her quiet. “Don’t move.” She froze and held up her hands. “Is there anyone else here?” She shook her head. “I’m going to move my hand from your mouth, no sudden movements.”

You’re being very thuggish, Lucifer noted.

Rather this than get ambushed, Felix thought back as he pulled his hand away and grabbed his badge, putting it in front of his temporary hostage. “We know you made the trap device that killed Billiam III in his room. Cooperate, and I’ll put in a good word for you.”

The woman nodded slowly, “May I put my hands down?”

Felix put the badge back, kept the knife to her throat, and quickly patted her pockets, pulling out a screwdriver-like tool and a set of pliers. “Yes.” He put his knife away as she relaxed. “Down the ladder,” he instructed, and she did so. Felix clambered down after her. “I assume you are Tinkersmith Julia?”

The short woman nodded. She was pale with fear as Tinuriel held a firm hand on her shoulder to keep her from running, “How’d…how’d you find out?”

“We found your trap,” Tinuriel growled, causing the smaller woman to shake in fear as the elven warrior gripped tighter, ensuring that the shorter woman knew there was no escape.

“And we had someone disassemble it. I need to know who employed you. Who paid you?”

The woman had silent tears running down her face, cutting through a light layer of grime from the workshop and sniffled. “It was a woman. She didn’t give a name. Just a sack of coins and instructions to use a specific type of wood that she brought to make a strangle-sleeper trap.” She put her hands to her face and cried, “I needed the money! Please don’t take me away!”

Felix felt a pang of sorrow for the woman, wanting to dig deeper, but Lucifer rebuked him. She used her free will to make a decision, and now someone is dead because of it. Part of free will is living with the consequences. If you let her run off, she won’t learn how to properly utilize her free will.

I don’t want her killed. Execution seems like the punishment they would dole out for someone who killed a monarch.

That is likely. Here’s an idea…

Felix frowned, putting on a face for the woman. “Alright, you’re going to come with us as a protected witness. Help us find the people who hired you, and I’ll advocate for you to have a lesser punishment.”

The woman looked up at him with confusion, “But…Investigators don’t do that.”

Fallen Flight.

Felix’s wings manifested. “I’m just doing the job temporarily.”

She gasped, “An angel?”

“No. Versewalker. Now, where is the bag of coins?”

The woman pointed behind the counter and Felix rummaged behind the furniture coming up with a hefty bag of coins. “How much did she pay you?”

“Two-thousand five-hundred coins.”

Felix held his hand over the bag, “Detect Object.”

He focused his will on finding the owner of the bag. The golden line shot out of the building.

Must be really well hidden. He walked outside. The gold line went across the canal and to a building in the middle of a busy trading depot. Odd. Why would they stay so close?

Felix looked back at Tinuriel, “Stay here with her. Keep her safe – she’s our witness. I’m going to check this out.”

“Come back safe.”

Felix nodded and pulled up his hood, pulling the mask up as well, and keeping Ghostwalk active...

...he vanished into the crowd.

He approached the trading depot amidst the crowd of tinkerers who were hawking their inventions and the wealthy upper crust who were perusing the various oddities. Felix followed the golden line through the building, only warranting a single rapid glance before his Skill allowed him to blend into the background once more. He arrived at a back door, and exiting it, found a cellar door that was locked – the golden line pointing him right to it. He knelt and picked the lock before he pulled the door open. He gingerly went down the stairs and closed the door behind him, re-locking it. The basement was cool and dark, his sight once more switching to Lucifer’s red-hued dark vision.

The room was empty save for a corpse. A woman, whose neck was twisted all the way around. Well, found the owner.

Dead end.

Not necessarily. Felix went over to the body and looked at the bruising around her neck. She doesn’t smell that ripe, so it couldn’t have been that long ago. And it is cooler down here, which would have slowed the rate of decomposition. He looked closely at her neck, but the red-tinged vision prevented his ability to see any bruising. “Hellfire Wick,” he muttered as the flames appeared above him providing regular illumination. Her neck was heavily bruised with a palm-like shape. Someone snapped her neck. One-handed, also. Freakishly strong.

Want me to fill out those evidence sheet things while you do that?

You can?

Mhmm. Felix heard pen on paper in his mind. Taking notes as you go.

Thanks, he rifled through her pockets and removed several scraps of paper that had written in some form of code. She also had a small pocket-sized book titled Rullinor’s Rowdy Recusal. She had no other items on her person that he could find. He took the scraps of paper and smoothed them out on the ground. There were a series of numbers written out, and he chuckled to himself. This is too easy.

What is it?

A book cipher. I used to make these for fun with my grandpa. We exchanged hidden messages with each other. He spent several minutes flipping through the book and rewriting the various words he found in the correct order.

[Experience Awarded = 10]

The message read:

"If you find this, they trapped me in a cellar with a guard outside. No one above hears my cry for help. My name is Annalise Fuegra. I was hired by a man named Basilio Verjor, in the Harbor district. He’s the one who killed me."

Felix put the woman’s body into his inventory before exiting the cellar and going back across the street under the effect of Ghostwalk. He stopped as he crossed the bridge, as several men who looked like rough business stood around the door to Tinkersmith Julia’s shop. He could barely make out someone crouched behind them. No doubt picking the lock as I did. He walked up to them and pointed to his badge, deactivating Ghostwalk. “Official business. I need you lot to clear out.”

One of the men sneered and held his fist up, sliding it through a circle made by his fingers. “Up yours, coppa.”

That’s their version of flipping you off.

Yeah, I got that.

Felix manifested his Fallen Flight as his wings flared out.

“I’m a Versewalker working for the Watch Investigators. Clear out if you know what’s good for you.”

The man who had made the rude gesture grinned, “Oi? ‘Der’s a blyke Oi’d wuna poonch.” The man cracked his knuckles as the other surrounded him.

Felix raised his hands into a fighting stance – his body moving on instinct from the Warrior Class. “Last warning, or else I’m calling in my backup.”

The men pulled out various truncheons and bludgeoning weapons, “Get ‘em boyz!”

“Tinuriel!” Felix shouted. He ducked one blow and drove his fist into the man’s chest. He felt ribs snap under the powerful blow and the assailant was launched back a few feet before collapsing in a heap. This gave the other ruffians pause. And that hesitation cost them, as Felix wheeled and slammed his fist into another one’s cheek, shattering his jaw and sending him spinning through the air to crunch into the side of the building, groaning in pain but alive.

Then Tinuriel busted through the door, kicking it off its hinges as the wood slammed into the face of the smaller brute picking the lock, and knocking him out. She leaped forward and grabbed two of the brigands by the heads, slamming them together with a loud crack that made Felix wince in sympathy. They collapsed to the ground.

The two turned on the last one – the one who had made the rude gesture – and the man turned to run. Tinuriel grinned and tackled him to the ground, slamming his face into the paving stones. Within seconds, the two had knocked out or incapacitated several enemies. Felix looked over and saw a group of Watchmen down the road. “Stay here, don’t let them escape,” he told Tinuriel as he flew over to the Watchmen. He showed them his badge as he flew over, “Come with me. Now.”

The men followed without hesitation and within a few minutes the ruffians were all gathered up and placed under arrest, carried, or marched back to the Watch Investigator building. Tinuriel went back inside, grabbed Tinkersmith Julia, and hauled her outside. “Sorry about the door,” the elven warrior muttered to the woman.

[Experience Awarded = 10]

When they arrived, Investigator G.H.W. met with them in a conference room. Felix handed him the headboard trap, the evidence log, and put Annalise’s corpse on the table, which took the man aback momentarily before he regained his composure.

“You’ve done a massive amount of work here.”

“Yes,” Tinuriel said as she grinned, cracking her knuckles. “I want to interrogate those weaklings.”

G.H.W. laughed, “You’ll get your chance. But first,” he pulled out a sack and handed it to Felix. “This is the money you were promised by Commander Lazlor.”

“Thanks,” Felix said as he added it to his inventory. “Julia – the Tinkersmith that made the trap – any chance that you can go easy on her with the punishment?”

The Investigator leaned back in a chair, “Well, based on what your report describes, it sounds like she was just paid for labor. She’s guilty of bad business decisions. I think a fine and some community service is reasonable. What I want, what Mercantus’ higher-ups want, is the responsible party. You found this go-between,” he gestured to the corpse on the table, “And you solved her dying declaration-coded message. This Basilio Verjor.”

“Have you heard of him?” Tinuriel asked.

“No. But, it’s a big Tier, and people come and go all the time.” He looked at Tinuriel, “We have those you rounded up downstairs if you want to have a go at them. They’re not talking.”

She smiled, “They’ll talk.”

Felix stood outside the small cell block as Tinuriel and the Investigator were inside, trying to get information from the men. I don’t know how to feel about this, Lucifer. The whole beating up prisoners thing.

Actions have consequences. They don’t want to give up their employer? That’s their choice.

This is torture. His thought was punctuated by a snapping noise and a muffled scream.

I can’t assuage your consciousness. You have to live with it or stop it.

Felix frowned, I’ll live with it, I suppose. They did try to hurt me, after all. As you said, actions have consequences. Another snap, another scream, and he winced again. And Tinuriel seemed enthusiastic.

Elves on Heficyre are a warrior race. Not like in normal Fantasy ‘Verses where they’re all dainty and focused on the arts or Magic.

And thank God for that.

Tinuriel came out, wiping her hands clean of some blood on a towel. “They also work for this Basilio.”

The Investigator came out right after, using the same offered towel to wipe himself clean, “Do you two still want the case?”

Felix nodded, “I want to see it through.”

“It’s getting late. I’d recommend a fresh start in the morning. The Harbor district closes up around sunset normally.” The Investigator walked past them up the stairs.

Felix looked at Tinuriel, “What do you want to do?”

She had a glint in her eyes. A desire for physicality. He wasn’t sure what kind until she spoke, “I want to crack more heads.”

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