Beneath the Dragoneye Moons

Chapter 305: The Most Dangerous Game I

Chapter 305: The Most Dangerous Game I

It was with no small amount of nostalgia that I looked at the walls of Aquiliea as I approached on foot.

The blasted thing about hunting a potential fake Ranger was I couldn’t go in wings blazing, announcing that Sentinel Dawn was here.

Well, I could.

I’d done a lot of thinking and muttering over the topic on my way over. On one hand, I could go in with pomp and ceremony, announce I was here, lock the city down, and go hunting.

However, that’d let my target know that a Sentinel was around. No matter what excuse I gave, he’d likely go to ground and hide. I’d get a bunch of extra resources, but then I’d be hunting a rat.

There was a slim chance that he didn’t know how Rangers and Sentinels interacted, and that he’d be brazen enough to approach me and offer to help with whatever the problem was. That would make the entire problem easy.

That also relied on my target being dumber than a sack of bricks. I didn’t like assuming my target was dumber than a sack of bricks, it’d get me killed. Granted, over-estimating someone’s intelligence too far could also cause me problems, but most idiots got themselves eaten by dinosaurs.

Now, if it was an injured Ranger, or someone who needed significant help, going in with trumpets and drums was again the right move.

Being discreet had advantages as well. I could poke around. Not spook the Ranger. Be something of a shadow, not have to deal with politics and formalities, or reassuring the governor that there wasn’t a deadly plague brewing. It gave me speed.

What tilted the balance was I could always go flashy. I couldn’t unring the “Sentinel Dawn is here” bell once I hit it. Like the reincarnation thing, way back when. I’d kept it quiet, until it suited my needs to talk about it.

Quiet had worked in the last three cities I’d visited, chasing down rumors.

Blasted primitive communication systems.

By the time the local guard, governor, or whoever got around to writing out their paperwork and reports, by the time a courier got it and delivered it to Ariminum, by the time the right pieces of paper made its way to Ranger HQ, then Ranger Command, and finally to Ocean and his analysis, the information was potentially months out of date.

“A Ranger stopped by.” didn’t get a priority stamp on it. Why would it?

All I had was he seemed to work in the southern cities, and spent a few weeks in one place before going onto the next. My quiet questions and eventually talking with the local guard had gotten me rumors first months out of date, then weeks, and now only days old.

Thank goodness I could fly quickly between most of the cities. As much as ‘track down a rogue Ranger’ wasn’t part of my nominal skill set, seat, or title - but it was part of the Sentinel job title - I had to admit my tools were absolutely perfect for this job.

I hadn’t brought my armor for once, although I had gotten the quartermaster to rearrange my gems into a low-key belt.

Plus, I was fairly happy that I was seeing Aquiliea again! I’d only briefly stopped by once since I left, and even that was mostly me trying to drown myself in a bath after that particularly ugly mess with Destruction.

“Here we’ve got Aquiliea!” I wasn’t alone on the roads, and walking and talking with other people was a solid way to pass the time. It would also make my entry into the city practically unremarked, although I had no real concerns in that direction.

Mostly just didn’t want to be a broody loner type, grumpily not talking with anyone. Still had that anger issue to iron out.

“Oh?” I prompted the [Trader] I was carefully walking next to.

I’d never gotten properly used to how I had to walk in a woman’s tunic. The whole thing felt like an impractical mess, doubly so after having experienced the wonders of Mistweave. The things I did for a proper disguise.

“Great dyes, terrible smell.” He summarized, and I refrained from wincing at how accurate the comment was. “The ports are nothing special, but the only city more colorful than Aquiliea is Ariminum! I’ve been there twice you know. Grandest city in the Republic - excuse me, Empire. Hope to make my way up the coast after this, and…”

I made the occasional polite noises as he rambled on, letting a slow smile cross my face as we got in line for the gates.

Aquiliea wasn’t home, not anymore. However, I’d spent far too many years of my life in the town not to have a torrent of memory and nostalgia assault me as I got closer.

I was totally going sightseeing.

I should bring Auri down here one day. Maybe buy a vacation home? Might be fun to slowly watch the city change and morph over the centuries.

Then again, I’d need to know a lot more people changing, morphing, and dying over the years…

Maybe just an annual shopping trip for cheap dyes. Spruce up my wardrobe. Nice flying time with a slightly older Auri to save a few rods?

“Name and purpose of visit?” The guard asked, and I snapped out of my daydream.

“Elaine, just visiting.” I reflexively answered.

“Visiting who?” The youngish guard asked, and I narrowed my eyes at him, trying to place him. I’d shadowed almost all of the guards at one time or another as a kid, getting whatever small scraps of healing experience I could. Light healers had a terrible time at early levels, and frankly, nobody wanted a little kid treating them.

[Pristine Memories] wasn’t the most helpful. People changed all the time, and I would’ve known him as a kid.

Focus. I’d place him later.

I couldn’t say my family, because they’d moved out. However, I did know a few people…

“Some friends!” I answered.

“Who are you traveling with?” He asked, and it clicked. He was Euterpe! I’d had such a crush on him as a teenager, and he’d stomped all over it when I got burned.

I had the last laugh though - I’d gotten [Detailed Restoration] out of it, fixed myself up, and promptly fled to join the Rangers. Might explain why he didn’t recognize me though.

“Oh, I’m by myself.” I answered, and he nudged the guard next to him.

Ah rats.

I forgot that the Aquiliea guards were exceedingly competent. My vague non-answers had been good so far - I’d never lie to the guard - but my story seemingly had enough holes in it that I’d get booted up the chain.

Again.

I gave a great big sigh.

“Yeah, yeah, whoever’s on duty, just lead the way to the room.” I muttered before Euterpe could say anything.

I could get out of this easily, but not quietly. Lots of people at the gate and everything.

He gave me a slightly puzzled look, and I shrugged.

“I’ve spent a lot of time around guards.”

The other guard on duty barked a laugh, and I was swiftly led to an interrogation room. A table, two chairs, a pair of torches and stone walls. The works.

I’d ended up in these rooms a suspicious number of times for a relatively law-abiding citizen.

A few minutes later, another familiar face entered the room.

“Catonus!” I leapt up to greet him.

“Uh, do I know you?” I’d taken him completely off guard - pun intended.

I grinned.

“It’s me! Elaine!”

“Elaine!? I thought you were dead!” His face lit up, then fell.

“Oh, but your parents aren’t here anymore. They moved… I’m so sorry.”

I rolled my eyes and lightly punched his arm.

“Yeah, they’re in Ariminum with me. They didn’t say?”

He shook his head.

Weird. I would’ve expected mom and dad to crow from the rooftops that I’d been found alive, made Sentinel, and that they were moving to Ariminum with me. Maybe they kept a lid on it to protect my privacy or something?

“Anyways.” Catonus’s face turned serious. “I do need your reasoning why you’re trying to enter the city, friendship with your father or not.”

I loved the Aquiliea guard. Annoying as they were right now, this is how guards should be. No excuse for friendship. No bending the rules because they knew me.

With a thought, I nudged the level on my Deception Ring to my true level, and slipped my hand inside my tunic, grabbing my badge.

“Sentinel Dawn on an investigation.” I slapped my badge down on the table.

“You’re shitting me.” Catonus poked at my badge incredulously, then looked back up at me.

“Double check my level.” I couldn’t keep the grin out of my voice.

He looked, blinked, then poked my badge again.

“But you’re just a kid!” He complained.

“I grew up!”

“Yeah, but Sentinel?!”

I huffed at him.

“I’m a healer-mage. But watch.” I said, starting to poke him at high speeds. Not enough to hurt, just enough to demonstrate that I was fast.

A bit childish, sure, but it got the point across.

“Ow, stop that, ow.” Catonus tried - ineffectively - to catch and stop my annoying pokes.

This was rapidly turning into a three-ring circus act. Not the usual grace and aplomb that Sentinels usually carried out their missions with. Then again, my first Sentinel mission? I’d ended up rolling under tables with kids, playing “monsters vs soldiers”, so I suppose I’d set the bar fairly low.

“Never really invested in physical stats, remember?” I asked him, continuing to move faster than he could properly handle.

“Alright! Alright!” He cried out, and I stopped.

His face went from disbelieving, to somewhat serious.

“Alright, pretending for a moment that it’s really you, a Sentinel, on an investigation, and Icthyus’s fish wasn’t bad last night and I’m not in the grips of a fever dream, tell me what I can do, Elaine.”

Usually my title came at the end of that, not my name, but eh. He’d known me as a bratty, scared kid, and wasn’t giving me any grief.

I thought about how much I wanted to tell him. I could tell him I was looking for someone claiming to be a Ranger, but that had the risk of hurting our reputation. Much better to present it as “we found a fake that you didn’t catch”, instead of “we don’t know what’s going on.”

Keeping it in the house, so to speak. Maintaining our illusion of invincibility. The smoke and mirrors.

“Mostly just let me in the city, and keep quiet. The situation isn’t urgent or big, but it’s important to us. There’s a few different things it could be, and given the wild disparity from best case to worst case, I’m keeping a lid on it.”

Catonus looked like he was struggling with that.

“Right, alright.” He finally concluded. “Enjoy your stay.”

I swept my badge back up, and tucked it into my impractical tunic.

“Little Elaine.” He shook his head in disbelief. “Sentinel.”

“Catonus.” I called out as he was at the door.

“Yeah?”

“I’m completely serious about the secrecy thing. Nobody. Not even your wife.”

There must’ve been something in my face or tone that got through to him.

“Sentinel.” He saluted, and I felt a few knots in my back loosen.

I grinned at him. “It’s great to see you again. Really. That day you and my dad took me to see things and learn skills? I’ve never forgotten it. Thank you.”

I lowered my Ring’s displayed level back down to around 130, and left.

I’d managed it all without my temper flaring up.

In no time at all, I was wandering the streets of Aquiliea, gracefully navigating through the pale white roads, smiling at the kids scampering over barrels and crates in the grey zone.

To think, I’d been worried that I’d be stuck in that section my entire life.

I had a half dozen different ways I could gather information. The public baths were one of my favorites. Lounging in the hot water, letting it soak in and relax my muscles as I eavesdropped on all the conversations going on? That was the life, and I probably spent more time ‘investigating’ than strictly necessary.

The guard was always a font of knowledge, and if a Ranger team was in town, they were high priority.

Gossip in the marketplace was another good spot, but I was in Aquiliea. I was feeling nostalgic.

I slowly moved through the city, my heart warming as I saw old, familiar haunts, and was taken by surprise more than once at the changes I saw.

Six years sounded like nothing, but it felt like multiple lifetimes. The city thought so as well, numerous changes here and there reminding me that this was no longer home. I debated spending a few hours visiting all my old haunts, home, park, and more, but no. I had a job to do.

After it was done, I could relax a bit more.

I quickly bought a few cheap tunics, not caring about the size or haggling over the price, rubbed some dirt in them, then headed down to the river.

The place where a third of the households congregated to do their laundry was, in some senses, the beating social heart of the middle class of Aquiliea. There was only so much riverbank winding its way through the city, and only so many spots that were easily accessible. A [Governor], many centuries ago, had studied the river when Aquiliea was founded, and sensibly decreed what spots along the river could be used for which purpose.

Helped prevent all of us from drinking tannery run-off, or spilled dyes from inadvertently dying our clothes.

Given how long doing the family laundry took, and how free everyone’s mouths were? Naturally, it was a chattering hub. One I hadn’t appreciated as a kid, and had grumpily tried to avoid.

There were still pivots in the crowd. Women who, by grace of a useful aura skill or sheer popularity, everyone wanted to be near. I picked a likely group, made my way down to the river, and shamelessly listened in as I laundered the clothes I’d just bought.

I was going to blast the entire area in a heal when I was done, but not before then. For all I knew some wizened old crone only had one arm, and had kept it that way for decades. A new arm suddenly sprouting would be a little obvious… but I wasn’t going to stop healing just because of a mission.

I had my priorities in order.

My vitality had sharpened my ears many times over, and with a bit of focusing, I could pick out different conversations from the babble.

The quiet whispers promised all manner of delicious gossip, but alas, it was unlikely that people would be talking about the Ranger in those tones.

“Ship arrived from Genua. All the alchemists are frothing at the mouth, waiting for the ship to unload.”

“Mail courier came the other day.”

“And there won’t be a letter from my son in it, the ungrateful lout. I’ve got half a mind marching over there myself and twisting his ear about it!”

“Did you see the new [Potter] from Virinum? He’s cute.”

“I heard he bottoms though!”

“No!”

I tore myself away from the delightfully scandalous conversations I occasionally found myself listening to, keeping in mind that I had a job, and my fill of scandal when I was bored at the market.

“Hey, you look new here!” A friendly voice attached to a friendlier person kneeled next to me. I’d noticed her coming, but I pretended to jump anyway. Someone with the level I was displaying wouldn’t have the awareness that I’d need to hear her coming, not with how soft her footsteps had been.

I think.

I was occasionally under the illusion that I was good at sneaky deception, then remembered that every time I thought I’d gotten away with it, it was because people let me get away with it.

Bah.

“Kind of! I used to live around here, and now I’m back!” I turned towards the voice, squinting slightly. “Do I know you?”

“Flavia. I’d shake your hand but…” She trailed off, and yeah. Kid in one arm, laundry in another, and a belly showing a second well on its way.

The face and name clicked.

In retrospect, I’d been a grumpy, depressed, antisocial, annoying teenager way back when, with a superiority streak a mile wide.

I still had more of that than I was willing to admit, but upon genuine reflection?

Flavia had constantly reached a hand out to me. Had constantly tried to be my friend, and like an idiot, I’d kept slapping it away.

I had no excuse, besides being an idiot.

“Flavia! Hey, it’s me, Elaine!” I brightly said, trying to return just a fraction of the cheer she’d sent my way once upon a time.

“Elaine, Elaine…” She trailed off, thinking.

“Left here like six years ago? Was a healer?”

She snapped her fingers.

“Yes! I remember you now! Your level is weird though.”

Shit, had I screwed up the Deception Ring? If a random person on the street was calling it weird, then-

“You were, like, level 100 six years ago. Only 30 levels in that time? Did you do a reset or something?”

I breathed a small sigh of relief.

“Something like that, yeah. What’s your kid’s name? Who’s the lucky guy?”

“Kolius! Hated the whole idea at first. So did he, to be frank. We sat down, discussed it, and figured we were in it together for the long haul. After that, we…”

I spent longer than was wise making small talk with Flavia. Reveling in the normalcy of it all.

She was, weirdly, a touchstone.

I wasn’t rich. I wasn’t famous. I wasn’t terrifying. I wasn’t changing politics, fearing lurking assassins, or wondering when the next shoe would drop.

I was just… me.

“What happened to you?” Flavia asked. “One day you were here, the next you weren’t. When you didn’t come back, we feared the worst…”

“Eh… I found my own way. It’s worked out well enough.”

Sadly, I had to deflect what I was actually doing… which, painfully enough, brought me to the main topic.

“By the way, is there a Ranger in town?” I asked her.

Flavia shot me a quick, pitying look. What was that about? Then she answered.

“Yes. Set up near the Drunk Stallion. Right around the corner from where we live.”

My lead secured, I made a bit more polite smalltalk before making my excuses and leaving.

Right near the edge, with everyone still in range, I blasted a full-range heal.

The total accumulated experience must’ve been enough to finally push the skill over the edge, and level me up.

[*ding!* [Celestial Affinity] has leveled up! 473 -> 474]