Chapter 244 – Something for smashing.

“Come in.”

“Lord Arthur.”

A smiling cat maid named Mary went into the city lord’s office. The door was opened by an armored man that she was familiar with as always. On the inside, the usual sight of Arthur Valerian buried under piles of papers greeted her. Mary could only give out a sigh while going for a stack of papers that was blocking her way.

“Mary, please don’t move those documents. I’m not finished with them.”

She could only give out a sigh while placing the pile back down. Luckily not many people entered this room besides her, if some saw the disorganized room of the city lord they could start spreading rumors. It was already troublesome to shove the ledgers and records to the side when the Runesmith appeared.

“Lord Arthur, perhaps you should take a break, you haven’t left the office for some time now…”

“Mary, you know well that I can’t do that, this is a chance to get some support, luckily my idiot brother estranged a large chunk of his residents. If I am able to get them to migrate here, we’ll be able to increase the budget for the coming year.”

The maid placed a teacup for her lord and was sure to push in some food as well. He had deemed this whole fiasco with the cult as an opportunity for growth. Arthur’s older brother prioritized the nobles and rich merchant side of the city which had a lot fewer citizens. Due to this blunder, the city of Reeka would have a hard time recovering after its workforce had been diminished.

“I must thank him the next time we meet, but perhaps father will order him back to the estate after what he did… but then one of the others will get that city instead…”

She gave out a chuckle after Arthur suddenly started getting depressed. It was a possibility that one of the other Valerian brothers could absorb Reeka into their side but the possibility was minor. While the city had suffered greatly, most of the moguls had survived and new workers could probably be enticed with better wages. This didn’t mean that he wouldn’t suffer a decline.

“Lord Arthur, I have come to make my report.”

“Ah yes… Please go on.”

Finally, she could speak up about the reason she had come here. She was trained in espionage and already had multiple ‘faces’ in the city. Thanks to her disguises she could mingle with the people in the city and get the uncensored scoop.

“First, our friend has a knack for getting involved.”

“Wayland did?”

“Yes, after his little story I went to the church to confirm everything. The person that was afflicted with the abyssal larvae came from the thieves guild and is a friend with one of his acquaintances.”

“Oh? Well, we already knew that he dabbled with the underground world but isn’t he only a black market merchant?”

“Yes but I managed to identify one of his associates, she is a member of the underground guild and probably the way he got in.”

“As long as he doesn’t go overboard with the black market it should be fine…”

Arthur shrugged a bit as he didn’t really care if the runesmith he was working with was an underground merchant. There was a limit to what he would allow, if the runic items were all sold on the black market he would not be able to make any money with his auction house.

“Ever since he started his work with you my Lord, he hasn’t been frequenting the black market but instead contacted me for any resources.”

Mary didn’t have anything specific to go off of, the underground didn’t like it if people asked many questions. Through various ways and rumors, she pieced a few things together to make an educated guess of how Wayland managed to survive through the feud with the union. Now that he had access to their merchant contacts there was no use to sell his items on the black market.

“Have you made sure to not get noticed? I don’t think Mr. Wayland would do anything drastic but those characters from the underground guilds can not be trusted.”

Arthur finally placed the piece of paper to the side while looking into Mary’s eyes. It was clear that he was concerned about the snooping that his little spy was performing. Even if she worked under the city lord, the thieves guild wouldn’t care. They would probably send her body parts to the estate if she stuck her nose where she shouldn’t.

“Are you worried about my safety my lord?”

Mary chuckled while performing a little bow of appreciation.

“Don’t worry, I won’t risk my life, I’m aware that it wouldn’t be wise to underestimate the underground guild leaders or their enforcers.”

“Good, then let’s switch to the main topic, how are our Runesmith’s devices working, have there been any more cases?”

“Yes, they have been surprisingly helpful and quite easy to use even for the guards. Still there have been three more afflicted that have been discovered!”

“Three more? Did they have anything in common?”

Arthur furrowed his eyebrows, if it was just one person then it could have just been a coincidence. Now on the other hand, with three more people getting sick it was clear that he had a problem. The news of this affliction couldn’t be contained for long, only thanks to Wayland was he able to react this fast.

“One was a merchant, another one was an adventurer and the third one was an escort. At first glance, it didn’t look like they did but of course, I investigated further!”

“And what did you discover?”

Arthur rolled his eyes slightly as Mary started swinging her hands around to pronounce her speech. It was as if she was some kind of game host that was trying to rile up the crowd.

“While the adventurer and the lady escort were clean, the merchant was actually part of the black market!”

“Is that so… is the guild doing anything about it?”

This was the second person that visited the thieves guild that had been afflicted by the parasite. The escort could have also had dealings with the underground trade as the redlight district was controlled by the underground organizations. This wasn’t a coincidence anymore, a pattern had emerged, and the cultists could be gathering underground.

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“Yes, the guild leader is aware and as we speak they are searching through the tunnels.”