Arcane Innovator

I went on to send my message to Alaric first thing in the morning the following day, asking him for a meeting. And as I waited for his answer, I decided to make use of such a rare sunny day this time of the year to once again venture into the woods around the city to gather all the umbrifila herbs I might have previously missed.

I already had quite a large stockpile as I went on my shopping spree recently, buying every herb that I could get my hands on, but if I wanted to have enough to keep making the potions even during the entirety of winter, I still needed some more.

Thus I happily headed out of the city, still quite early in the morning, ready to spend the whole day searching, as I had taken a day off from the shop. I knew I wouldn't get many opportunities to gather any more herbs until the next year's spring, which is why I wanted to use this great opportunity to the fullest.

Fully absorbed in my search, I didn't pay any attention to the several people nearby. 'They are probably some hunters tracking their prey...' I thought as I carefully scanned the forest floor in front of me.

'Found it!' I thought with excitement as I turned to the left and located a whole patch of umbrifila right in front of me. I was getting ready to start gathering when I felt a strong sense of danger from behind me.

My heart skipped a beat as I tried to quickly jump away. The next moment, an arrow passed right where my head was just a second ago. Ever since I started filling my body with essence, I felt that my senses were getting better than those of other people. It wasn't too much of an improvement, but it still allowed me to somehow react in time.

However, the arrow still managed to scratch my cheek a little. I quickly turned around and tried to locate the hidden assailants. 'Wait, it's them?' I widened my eyes as the realization dawned on me.

'Hmm, it looks like the hunters I passed a short while ago actually managed to track their prey after all... I just never imagined it was me they were tracking. Did Dominic finally decide to betray me?' I thought briefly, but I didn't have the time to ponder this anymore as I saw several masked figures running between the trees toward me.

I decided not to bother with them for now, and instead, I hurriedly tried to locate the hidden archer who shot at me. 'It is much harder to avoid a flying arrow than a sword, so I need to deal with him first... Ah, found him!'

I located him hidden within a treetop a few dozen meters from me. I focused intently for a moment and sent a quick shockwave in his direction. I knew I couldn't hit him at such a distance, but that was not my intention. I just wanted to stop him from shooting.

In the next moment, the tree snapped in half like a toothpick, and the surprised archer fell down into the underbrush. It all took but a moment, but it was still enough time for the others to arrive, and they quickly surrounded me, cutting off any chance of escape.

'They are professionals...' I couldn't help but admire their skills. Even when their initial sneak attack failed, they still moved instantly, not giving me any time to react. Their ambush might have even worked—if it was anyone else, that is. 'Hmm, maybe I could try that...'

Ever since my confrontation with Chubby and his friends, I have become painfully aware that I lack any sort of area-of-effect spell. Although the shockwaves could affect multiple people at once, I could only send them in a single direction. And the fire explosion, although powerful, consumed a significant amount of essence, making it not very suitable for prolonged fights.

That is why I thought about it for a long time and, in the end, came up with a new spell, taking advantage of my otherworldly knowledge. Still, I hadn't had any opportunity to test it out so far on a real target. But seeing the hunters have formed almost a perfect circle around me, I decided this was a perfect opportunity...

I released my essence slowly in an omnidirectional wave, making the air molecules around me vibrate before sending them outward with me as the center. I hoped it would create a strong sound that would stun everyone who stood close to me, but I had no idea if it would work as I intended.

*hm...hmm...hmmm...HMMMMM* An intense humming sound gradually growing louder and louder stopped the masked men before they had a chance to lunge at me. They dropped their weapons before quickly grasping their heads. Their eardrums seemed to pop out as their ears started bleeding profusely. In the next moment, they dropped to their knees while screaming in agony.

I stopped the spell shortly afterward. I was actually very surprised at how well it seemed to work. 'This is actually pretty neat. I can just immobilize any attackers and then question them later about their motives...' I thought briefly while being quite pleased by the results of my experiment.

'But wait...' I suddenly stopped in my tracks. 'Since their ears seem to have been damaged, they wouldn't be able to answer any of my questions anyway...' I realized with frustration.

Well, unless I wanted to waste a whole healing potion on them. However, I decided it wasn't worth it, as I would still kill them anyway. Not only did they see me cast magic, but I wasn't planning to show mercy to anyone who would attack me. Besides seeing how professionally they acted during this short exchange, getting them to talk could prove to be quite a challenge.

'If they were ready to commit murder, they had to be ready to die themselves...' I thought with resentment as I sent a strong shockwave at each of them, killing them in an instant. I then run up to them to search their bodies for any clues as to who might have sent them. But when I removed their masks, I instantly realized they weren't members of Dominic's gang.

Most of the criminals kept their heads shaven, and there were often tattoos on their arms. Some were simple lines showing how many people they had killed; others were marks signaling which gang they belonged to.

These men, on the other hand, had long braided hair, and their arms were clean. In fact, they looked like any other beast hunters in the city. I furrowed my brows as I continued searching. Then I found a folded note in one of their pockets. It described how I looked and where I worked.

'Hmm, I'm pretty sure Dominic doesn't know my real name or anything else, as I made sure of that.'

That leaves only one option... Which I confirmed by looking at the neat handwriting on the note. Criminals who never attended some fancy school weren't capable of such writing skills.

'So in the end, Chubby didn't keep his mouth shut...' I thought bitterly but wasn't much surprised by the fact.

More than anything, it made me angry. I was angry about the fact that, despite my trying to maintain a low profile all this time and avoid any kind of trouble, I still had to deal with such unreasonable people.

It seems that both Chubby and his father are the sort of people who can't take a hint. They think that just because they have money and influence, they can do whatever they please and get away with it.

Well, not this time. This time, they picked the wrong target. If they want a war, I will give them one...

'Oh, I almost forgot about the archer,' I suddenly realized as I quickly made my way to the broken tree to look for him, as I didn't want any loose ends to come to bite me later.

It took some time, but in the end, I managed to find him. It seems he broke his neck as he fell from the tree, dying instantly. I released a sigh as I started heading back to the city.

I didn't bother with disposing of their bodies, as we were quite deep inside the woods and I was sure the local animals would take care of them. I only kept their coins because they didn't need them anymore. I also made a quick stop along the way to finish gathering the patch of herbs from which I was so disrespectfully disrupted earlier.

I arrived back at my apartment late in the afternoon. It took me a long time to get back, as I was feeling quite paranoid after the incident, so I carefully scanned every nook and cranny on my way back.

When I opened the doors to my room, I found a note that had been slipped under them. I quickly skimmed it, and my mood instantly improved, as it seems Alaric got my message, and I could meet with him tomorrow.

'Wonderful...' I thought happily as I unloaded today's spoils into the storage area. But before that, I have some unfinished business to take care of...

***

It was a quiet night. The moon hung high in the cloudless sky, casting an ethereal glow on the wide cobblestone streets of the Western Quarter. In front of a big mansion somewhere inside the quarter, two guards dutifully guarded its entrance. The night had been quite uneventful so far, the silence broken only by the distant chirping of birds.

The guards were already bored after many hours of standing watch, but they were experienced mercenaries, and they knew that they had to remain vigilant for a few more hours before their shift ended. Their eyes wandered aimlessly, scanning the quiet street in front of them. Suddenly, one of them straightened up.

"Do you smell that?" he asked.

The other guard caught off guard, glanced around in confusion. "Smell wha—" But before he could finish his sentence, a colossal torrent of fire erupted from the very heart of the mansion.

In an instant, an inferno devoured the grand structure with an insatiable hunger. Flames danced wildly, transforming the residence into a towering pyre of destruction.

The guards looked at the scene in front of them. Their eyes widened in horror. In the next moment, the more experienced of the two broke out of his stupor and started shouting.

"F... Fire! Fireee!"

At first, the guards wanted to run inside the burning residence despite the dangers to search for their master and his family, but the intensity of the flames was too great. Instead, they were forced to move back all the way to the street if they didn't want to burn too.

The city's guards posted on the walls quickly spotted the fire, and the tower bells started ringing an alarm. Soon, many guards came running to the scene, but when they arrived, there was nothing they could do.

The whole residence was enveloped in flames, and there was no way to save it. All they could do was set up a perimeter around it and make sure the fire didn't spread to other buildings. After a few hours, when the residence turned to nothing but ash, the city's Magistrate arrived to investigate.

"What happened here?" He asked the two frightened mercenaries who were being kept here for questioning with an authoritative voice.

"W... We don't know. Suddenly the whole house started burning; there was nothing we could have done!" one of them exclaimed. He then asked them a few more questions but didn't learn anything more.

The city guards who arrived at the scene later confirmed their story: the residence suddenly turned into a huge fireball, and none of the residents managed to get out in time.

'Did he store barrels with lamp oil in his house?' The Magistrate thought while furrowing his brows in confusion. He knew that houses wouldn't normally start burning like paper out of nowhere, so this whole situation was very confusing, to say the least.

He knew the former master of this house. Many did. He was one of the most prominent residents of the city, owning several flourishing businesses in the Southern Quarter.

'This will be a great tragedy for the whole city...' Even more so, his whole family seemed to have perished with him, so there was no one left to take over his business.

'Many people will be asking questions, so I need to properly investigate this matter...' were his last thoughts before he disappeared into the night.