Depthless Hunger

Chapter 187: Unmasking the Servant of Romastir

"Let's just fight them," Zae Zin Nim said flatly. "They only have about eight crystalliers, and none of them have close to 200 Power. That would be much faster."

"We don't know that for sure," Kai told her. "It's been most of a year, plus as things get more dangerous they may have invested more money in their cultivation or new weapons."

They hovered far above the city, at the very peak of the diamond star's range. From there, using their qi senses, they could get a good feel for the city. Once Kai had learned about shrouds there, but not many seemed to be using them now. Maybe in dangerous times it was easier to remind everyone how strong you were.

"You said that before, then you beat three of them with just your human half." Zae Zin Nim eyed him suspiciously. "Why don't you want to use the direct approach? I know you're not afraid of a fight, and you've been pushing us harder all this time."

"But not with everything. It's about this Servant of Romastir."

"If he's on our side, then he'll see that we've won and come out to thank us. Problem solved, no time wasted."

"That's assuming we know everything, which we don't." Kai clasped his hands together and met her eyes. "Please, Zae Zin Nim, let me try things the subtle way first. If it doesn't come up with anything, we can still fight our way through."

"Hmph, fine." She sat back and began to cultivate. "I don't like all these schemes, but I can live with them. Did Omilaena put you up to this?"

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..

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"Let's just poison them," Omilaena said cheerfully. "Crystal cultivators are usually weak to poisons, and we can even make it look like an illness if you want."

"If we just wanted to take the city, you could have done that yourself," Kai told her. "The goal is to make this another foundational step in changing Krysal."

He'd met her just outside the city, where she'd caught up to them in a smaller crystal vessel. She didn't seem at all put off by having to travel on her own or following his orders, but she definitely wanted to murder everyone. Now she lingered at the outskirts, tinkering with what he now knew was her Lethal Artisan ability.

"I'm willing to wait, but only so long." Omilaena tapped her fingernails sharply along the side of her crystal vehicle. "I know you're excited about lifting up the workers or whatever, but it's only a matter of time before they make a mistake or act impulsively. You need to have made your move before that, or you'll have stabbed yourself in the back."

"You mocked me before for not knowing what was going on in Krysal. I'm just trying to make sure I don't make a similar mistake."

"If you insist." Omilaena waved him off and formed another syringe in one hand. "Just don't open your heart so wide that all your blood falls out."

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..

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On his own, Kai set about evaluating the military condition of Romastir. The city still struck him as primarily decadent, with no new fortifications or precautions for its inhabitants. In a battle between armies it might struggle, but they didn't expect to face an army.

Their crystalliers displayed their true preparedness. There were nine of them now, and they seemed to have built up their strength. Given the decreasing returns from crystal cultivation, he had still outpaced them and he didn't anticipate that a direct fight would be too difficult. Even if he truly believed that caution was wise, that was more of an excuse to focus on the non-combat side of things.

Cragrila had given him all the information they had about the Servant of Romastir, which mostly amounted to a few locations for dead drops or occasional meetings. If this person was cautious enough to operate in the middle of the city, they had to know what they were doing. Still, he had no choice but to follow the protocols and see if he couldn't find this potential ally.

He left a message in one of the stated locations, a loose paving stone by the side of an abandoned building. Because he wanted to get off on the right foot, and because he suspected that the location would be watched extremely carefully. His message had been basically honest: he was here representing Cragrila and New Laeneria, they had access to new allies from mines and pits, and they needed greater coordination. He left out the specific details in case this was all a long setup, somehow. Since he planned to go himself, if they were looking to arrest a weak worker, they'd get a surprise.

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After waiting the designated amount of time, Kai went to the next location and looked for a message. Just as he'd hoped, there was a strip of paper with the appropriate counter-symbol at the top. It struck him as unusually brief and just told him to wait at a specific time and place to be contacted.

With no other leads, and two women eager to attack the city, Kai decided to comply. The location proved to be a large restaurant on the lower end of the city. Still expensive, especially compared to the mines, but designed for local workers instead of crystalliers.

Kai bought a rough cloak and tried to look small before waiting at the table they'd indicated. It put him in the center of an open courtyard, with tables all around him and also clear lines of sight from the second floor around the yard. That area could be filled with archers and other combatants, if they intended to attack him. If so, the best bet was probably to leap directly up... though they might have plans for flying crystals, so he needed a backup.

He arrived over an hour early, just in case anything was being set up, and bought only a beer. As that hour passed, he spent the time carefully analyzing the spirits of everyone around him. Most were untrained or had small amounts of crystal cultivation, and the few shrouds he saw were primitive.

It was possible that his contact couldn't make it, but then again... what was the fundamental purpose of having him wait at a location he hadn't known beforehand? Clearly to put power in the hands of the Servant of Romastir or his allies. But he'd been thinking about it like a warrior, expecting an ambush or another attack. If he thought like a spy, the far more likely explanation was that they wanted a chance to see him and decide whether or not to engage.

So Kai devoted himself entirely to observation, both his qi sense and his monstrous hunger. Soon he grew accustomed to the workers at the restaurant, and he also filtered out the large groups that seemed to be at their tables all night. Technically one of them might be a spy, in which case they'd probably slip past him, but he guessed that the real spies chose this chaotic environment so they could slip in and out.

There were several walkways and other attachments to the upper floors, making it easy for people to come and go. Kai focused especially on them, wondering if any felt suspicious. If the person coming to meet him was a completely untrained person, his special senses would do him no good, but he had a hunch...

Someone entered the upper floor, a little stronger than the others but without any crystal cultivation. Kai shifted his spiritual sight, drawing on the lessons he'd learned trying not to "eyeball" fighters in the wilderness. Whoever they were, they were advancing toward the hand rail on the second floor.

As they got closer, Kai pretended to brood over his drink while shooting glances around the first floor. Never close to the person approaching him, as if he didn't suspect the second floor. But he extended his senses, as gently as possible. It was a woman, and her soul appeared almost completely normal, except for a strange blurred symbol...

Acid cultivation.

Kai hid his surprise by taking a drink. Not only was this person his contact, she had come from one of the acid pits. That definitely counted as evidence against this being an ambush.

The woman moved along one side of the courtyard, even spoke to a few people, while observing him from the corner of her eyes. Kai kept up his act in case she didn't want to be seen, because he was a lot more conspicuous than she was. He expected her to talk to him at best, maybe just leave a message with another location at worst.

Instead, she turned and left the restaurant.

He froze, considering his options. If this was a test, pursuing might be failure, but he thought that was the less probable option. Most likely, they had chosen this location in order to observe him, and she hadn't liked what she'd seen. Even if they expected him to wait, Kai was tired of waiting: he got up to hunt.

Even though the woman's acid cultivation was weak, it was nearly unique in the city, so he was able to track her soul even with many walls in between them. Once outside the restaurant she began moving quickly, passing through the city toward the more expensive estates.

This was definitely the trail of the Servant of Romastir now. The only question was whether the woman herself was the Servant, whether she was going to meet them, or just fleeing. He stayed back in case it was the meeting option, but kept her in his senses to interrogate her if necessary. Ideally, he would have a friendly meeting with their contacts, but Zae Zin Nim and Omilaena were right, they didn't have time to play spycraft for days.

When the woman moved into familiar territory, Kai was mildly surprised. It seemed she had some sort of mercantile license, to move freely here. In fact, she was getting closer to Unklian's estate.

Kai hadn't thought about the first merchant who had purchased his services since leaving Romastir. It would be ridiculous if he turned out to be the Servant of Romastir the entire time. Then again, it might make sense: Unklian had sent him to New Laeneria with a shipment of crystal weapons. It was possible that he fully intended for them to be captured by the workers.

The absurd theory started to seem more likely when the spy actually entered Unklian's estate. Kai pursued her in, easily avoiding the familiar guard patrols. She wasn't headed to the central buildings, though, instead one of the administrative rooms. It was night by this point, everything lit only by crystal-light, so there wouldn't be many awake.

When she finally stopped, Kai had crept so close he was on just the other side of the wall. The spy was meeting with someone who didn't have any acid cultivation, in fact they either had an absolutely perfect shroud or they weren't trained at all.

"Well?" The other person spoke, a man's voice, quiet and controlled.

"I saw him and I didn't like it. Definitely a crystallier."

"Then we may have lost our allies in New Laeneria. Make preparations to cut our losses."

Kai stepped into the room and said, "Not exactly." He'd been planning to confidently walk closer, apologize for tracking them, and explain the situation. Instead he found himself staring at the spy and the man she had gone to meet.

It was Krainuun. Kai hadn't seen the servant since Romastir and still remembered his servile blubbering. The man was as middle-aged and portly as he remembered, and he still looked like he might offer to polish Kai's shoes with his tongue at any moment. Except that now, there was a flinty steel in his eyes.

"Well," Krainuun said in a voice nothing like before, "this is unfortunate."