Chapter 54: Welcome to Ravenport

"This place is ridiculous."

Kai stopped in the middle of the street, Elias nearly walked into him.

"What now?"

Kai pointed ahead.

"That ship."

Elias glanced toward the river.

"What of it?"

"It’s enormous."

Elias shrugged as Kai stared, the enormous vessel was several stories high, its black-and-gold hull stretching almost the entire width of the river, magic crystals glowed along its sides powering enormous mechanisms that moved cargo between decks, another ship passed behind it, then another, then another, Kai slowly lowered his hand.

"I’ve officially decided this city is showing off."

Elias laughed.

"Welcome to Ravenport."

They continued forward from the gates, Ravenport was unlike Voltra, Voltra had been enormous almost impossible to comprehend, a city where dozens of races and cultures existed within one sprawling metropolis, Ravenport was different, it was sharper and faster, literally everything moved, different races and goods (especially) were on constant movement and above all was the river that ran through the city; it divided the city into districts and connected them all at the same time.

Kai looked around with genuine fascination.

"So everything here is trade."

"Yes and not only goods"

"What do you mean?"

Elias pointed toward a narrow alley.

"That district sells information."

Kai blinked.

"You’re joking"

"No."

They passed another street.

"That one sells illegal magical materials."

Kai looked at him and down another alley that looked eeirly evil.

"And that?"

"Assassins."

Kai stared.

"You know this city too well."

"I’ve worked here."

"Of course you have."

Elias smiled.

"You’ll like it."

"I already do!"

"And you’ve been here for ten minutes."

"And I’m making excellent progress, isn’t that what you want?"

Elias sighed "i guess..."

They didn’t go directly after Marcell Veyr, Elias insisted on that, their identities weren’t compromised yet and there was no reason to throw away that advantage, instead they first registered themselves with the local Guild office in thier pseudo names, the receptionist examined Kai’s A-Rank plaque, her eyebrows rose.

"An A Rank, huh?"

Kai nodded.

"Recently promoted."

She looked at the record.

"An Honorary one at that!" Kai didn’t say anything he just watched

Elias leaned against the counter.

"He doesn’t like talking about it."

"I don’t like people staring at me."

The receptionist smiled.

"That’s understandable. An honorary A-Rank promotion from the Central Guild is unusual."

Kai sighed.

"Can we just register?"

"Of course."

"There is literally an S rak beside me and she choose to be interested in me" Kai muttered, low enough for her not to hear but Elias heard it and let out a huge chortle.

A few minutes later their temporary Ravenport credentials were issued, Kai slipped his into his coat, the receptionist handed him a thin booklet.

"A-Rank adventurers have access to a restricted information archive."

Kai’s eyes brightened.

"Really?" He liked the woman suddenly.

"Within reasonable limits."

He looked at Elias.

"That’s useful."

Elias nodded.

"Very."

Their room was on the third floor of a modest inn near the river, it wasn’t luxurious but it was clean, Kai placed his bag beside the bed, Elias immediately sat down, Kai remained standing.

"Tell me, what exactly do you know about Marcell?"

Elias’s expression changed, the playful atmosphere disappeared.

"I know that he is forty-eight. Merchant by profession. Information broker by reality."

Kai sat opposite him.

"How dangerous?"

"Not physically i assume"

"That’s usually worse in my experience."

"Sometimes."

Elias pulled out the assassination contract.

"Marcell sells information."

"To whom?"

"Everyone."

Kai frowned.

"Everyone?"

"Nobles. Criminal organizations. Adventurers. Mercenary companies. Merchant houses. Occasionally governments."

"How does he stay alive?"

"He never sells enough information to make himself useless."

Kai nodded slowly

"Sounds like a smart guy to me"

"Well of course he is, nobody lives that long doing dangerous shit like that without the brains to keep themselves alive. He is not your usual guy that’s why he is still breathing "

"Why does someone wants him killed then??"

" Maybe Because someone has decided he’s become inconvenient or he somehow slipped i don’t fucking care."

"That’s trifling "

"That’s assassination work."

Kai leaned back.

"Do you know exactly where he is in the city?"

"No."

Kai stared, Elias smiled.

"We need to find him."

Kai groaned.

"You brought me across several days of roads to hunt someone whose location you don’t even know?"

"Yes."

"Wonderful."

"You’re welcome."

Kai grabbed a pillow and threw it at him, Elias caught it.

They spent the afternoon gathering information, The Guild archive seemed to somehow contain records of business and administrative entries from across the entire city ...unavailable ofcourse to ordinary adventurers,

"Well i see why these are restricted " Kai said atter going through the book and Elias whistled in turn.

"Sweeet"

Turns out Marcell had registered several merchant businesses across different cities, most were legitimate, several were suspicious, Kai spread the documents across a table.

"Three businesses."

Elias looked over.

"Go on."

"Marcell has legitimate interests in wine, magical textiles and transportation."

Kai tapped the pages.

"But these three businesses all connect to the same shipping company."

Elias leaned closer.

"The Redwake Shipping Consortium."

Kai nodded.

"Exactly.".

Kai pointed at the dates.

"These companies received shipments on the same days. Different cargo. Different destinations. But they all used the same warehouses."

Elias smiled.

"You’re learning."

Kai glared.

"I’ve always been capable."

"I know."

That simple answer caught Kai off guard, Elias looked back at the papers.

"The eastern docks."

Kai nodded.

"Let’s go."

The eastern docks were a completely different world, the air smelled of river water, oil and spices, huge cranes moved cargo between ships and warehouses, magic circles glowed beneath heavy containers, dockworkers shouted instructions, guards watched every movement, Kai and Elias walked among them without drawing attention, Kai activated Arcane Eye, the world sharpened, information appeared.

[Cargo.]

[Common.]

[Cargo.]

[Restricted.]

Kai stopped, he looked toward a warehouse.

"What?"

Elias noticed immediately.

"Something tells me that warehouse is housing some suspicious cargo"

Kai hesitated, he didn’t want to reveal too much, instead he quietly focused.

[Restricted magical material.]

Kai’s expression hardened.

"Something’s wrong."

Elias followed his gaze. "What are you talking about?"

"Follow me"

They moved closer, the warehouse was guarded, not heavily but enough to indicate that whatever was inside mattered, Elias leaned toward him.

"We watch."

Kai nodded, they waited, a few minutes later two men emerged from the warehouse, one wore merchant clothing, the other wore a dark hood, they spoke quietly, Kai couldn’t hear them but he could see, the merchant handed the hooded man a sealed document, the man inspected it, then another group entered the docks, six men, armed, not guards, criminals, Elias immediately recognized them.

"Interesting."

Kai looked at him.

"Who?"

"Rival faction."

The six men approached the warehouse, the merchant immediately became defensive.

"You were told not to come here."

The leader smiled.

"And you were told to stop using our routes."

Kai glanced at Elias.

"Should we leave?"

"Probably."

The leader drew a weapon and turned directly to them.

"Definitely."

"Oh! Shoot!"

The situation exploded, the first attacker charged, Kai stepped forward, his fist struck the man’s stomach, the impact launched him across the dock, he crashed into a stack of wooden crates.

"You couldn’t go easy on him? "

Kai looked at the man and shrugged "He’ll survive."

"That isn’t control Kai."

Kai sneered "you should be the last person talking?"

Another criminal swung at Kai, Kai ducked, the blade passed over his head, he grabbed the man’s wrist, twisted, the weapon fell, Kai struck him across the chest, the man flew backward, two more attacked together, Kai moved, one step, pivot, strike, the first fell, the second attempted to retreat, Kai caught him, he stopped his fist inches from the man’s face, the criminal froze, Kai smiled.

"Run."

The man didn’t need to be told twice, he fled, Elias stared at him.

"Who are you in this body?"

"Shut up."

Kai said.

The merchant was already running, Kai grabbed the back of his coat and shaked his head.

"Hey! Not so fast."

The man panicked.

"I don’t know anything!"

"You were just standing next to those crates."

"I swear!"

Elias stepped closer, the merchant went pale, Kai sighed.

"Relax."

The man looked between them, Kai pointed toward the warehouse.

"What’s inside?"

"Nothing."

Kai raised an eyebrow.

"I can literally feel the magical residue from here."

The man’s expression collapsed.

"Fine."

Elias crossed his arms.

"Talk."

The information came quickly, the shipment belonged to several merchants who operated through Ravenport’s underground trade network, the crates contained restricted magical components, but the shipment wasn’t what interested Kai, the merchant mentioned something else.

"The Black Ledger."

Kai looked at Elias.

"What is that?"

The merchant swallowed.

"A private gathering."

"Where?"

"I don’t know."

Elias stepped closer, the merchant immediately continued.

"It moves."

"How often?"

"Every few weeks."

"Who’s attending?"

"Merchants. Information brokers. Criminals. Sometimes nobles."

Kai’s eyes narrowed.

"And Marcell Veyr?"

The merchant froze, that was answer enough.

"He’ll be there."

"When?"

"Two nights."

Elias looked at Kai, there it was, their first real lead, two nights, a private meeting, and their target would be there, Kai looked toward the river, Ravenport suddenly seemed much more interesting.

They left the docks before the authorities arrived, the sun was beginning to set, the city lights reflected across the river, Kai walked beside Elias.

"That went well."

"You punched a man through a crate."

"He was trying to attack me, i had to defend myself "

"Fair."

Kai looked at him.

"Did you learn anything?"

Elias nodded.

"Marcell knows someone is looking for him."

"Meaning?"

"We’re not the only people searching for him."

Kai frowned.

"Who else?"

"I don’t know."

They continued walking, Kai suddenly stopped, Elias did too, his senses flaring, someone was watching them, across the street a man stood among the crowd, hood raised,

System run Appraisal

[Running....]

[Unidentified individual is tailing The host and his companion]

Can you identify him?

[The person cannot be identified]

Kai groaned

,

the figure turned, for a fraction of a second Kai saw his face then a carriage passed between them, when it moved again the man was gone, Kai looked around, nothing.

"We were being followed"

Kai stared at the crowd.

"Obviously "

"Enemy?" Kai asked.

"I don’t know but it most likely was."

Elias looked around, his expression became serious.

"But we’ll assume yes."