As we leisurely followed the blood trail, the sun had almost completely set.
The building we came to looked long abandoned.
It had a skewed sign with a hammer and anvil, and the windows were boarded up.
But judging by the sound of metal hitting metal, it seems that it was still a working forge.
Aphelia was the first to enter, opening the door with a sickening creak.
And it had to be said that the view inside was no better than outside. The room was completely covered in dust, with rare display cases filled with different quality weapons.
A massive man with a long white beard continued to forge, unaffected by our presence.
Just behind the counter was a downward opening hatch with a round iron handle. They could've at least tried to hide it decently, at least put a rug over it.
Before I even made it halfway to the hatch, the blacksmith stepped away from the anvil with a final stroke.
"Oh, customers! Welcome to Sid's Forge, you won't find better wares in the whole city!" The blacksmith, whose name seems to be Sid, walked across the room and stood directly on the hatch behind the counter.
I shifted my gaze from the man to a bent dagger in one of the display cases.
Is he talking about these wares?
"Actually, I'd like to hear more about the man who came in here recently, and where that hatch you're standing on leads to." I said.
Sid replied with a frown. "This is a store, not an information bureau, either buy or get out."
I tried to be polite, but now it's only a matter of seconds before he notices that blood is dripping from his hand onto the counter.
All the while, Aphelia was muttering to herself as she leaned over and examined the display cases one by one, but that didn't stop her from using her affinity at the right time.
"Didn't you hear me? Buy something or get out." Sid's irritation was palpable as he clenched his fist and was about to slam it into the counter.
Except that he finally noticed the dripping blood.
Unclenching his fist, he saw that his entire palm was red and wet.
The moment he took his eyes away from his hand and looked at me, there was nothing but fear in his eyes.
I just stepped aside and pointed my finger at Aphelia.
After following the direction I pointed, his eyes returned to me. "The man you're looking for came in here five minutes ago and went straight downstairs. They call themselves jackals, and they set up their hideout there six months ago."
Shifting his gaze from me to Aphelia, he rambled even faster. "I had no choice. They just broke in here and took over my basement, I tried to object but they almost cut off my finger, here." Sid raised his right hand where there was a scar on the phalanx of his index finger. "What else was I supposed to do?"
For the first time since we entered, Aphelia pulled away from looking at the weapons on display.
Placing her hands behind her back, she looked at him and said. "I don't know, I guess you could have gone to the guards or moved, and those are just the first things that came to mind."
Sid with a face that was growing paler with each passing second, looked at her and answered.
"With all due respect. Mis. But it doesn't work that way here. If I had the money to move somewhere else, I would have done it long ago, but I barely have enough to survive here.
And the city guards, even in the best of times, either didn't care or were bought, and now with all these beast appearances, they don't even stick around this area."
Aphelia lingered on his face for a second longer, then looked at me with her head tilted.
Uh, is she asking for my opinion?
Not all places are the same, and it's only my second day in this city, but I can draw some conclusions from the complete disappearance of the guards just by crossing a street.
I should probably nod.
That made her frown, and the next thing I heard was the sound of falling.
When I turned around, I saw that Sid was no longer standing on the hatch, but lying next to it.
Aphelia spoke as she walked past me. "Nothing to worry about, he's simply unconscious."
She stepped over his body and stood next to the hatch.
"Would you like to help this young lady?"
No, but what else I'm supposed to do.
Opening the hatch, we were greeted by a dark passage with a single wooden ladder attached. By the look of it, I have a slight doubt that it will not fall apart at the first touch.
Aphelia found a simple solution to this problem, she just jumped down. After waiting for a bit, and hearing the sound of her landing about two seconds later, I followed her.
There was a long tunnel below, poorly lit by lamps built into the walls. It wasn't wide enough for two people to walk side by side.
Aphelia had already moved ahead, and I had no choice but to follow behind.
For some time the only sound in the tunnel was our footsteps, until we could shouts and curses became distinguishable in the distance.
It was hard to make out anything at first, and by the time we got close enough to understand at least something, there already was nothing more but insults.
There was a single wooden door at the end of the tunnel.
Aphelia had her hand on the doorknob to open it when she hesitated for a second. Instead she pulled her hand away from the door, pressed her back against the wall and grabbed my shoulder, forcing me to do the same.
The next moment, the door flew off its hinges and a wooden chair flew into the tunnel at high speed. It went all the way to the end, hitting the stairs and shattering into pieces, causing the stairs to collapse as well.
As I turned my attention back to the now open room, twelve pairs of eyes met mine. Only one person in the room actually had access to the aether and had formed a core, and he was probably the one who had sent the chair flying.
His left eye was missing, and the right had a cross-shaped scar. He had brown hair and his only eye glowed purple in the semi-darkness of the room.
Amazing that I could find someone with an affinity for space in such a seedy place.
Aphelia was the first to react, she walked to the center of the room and crossed her arms over her chest under the stunned looks of the others.She theatrically shifted her gaze from one person to another until it stopped on the boss with the scarred eye.
"I suppose you're the leader of this motley crew of robbers?"
I'm starting to get the feeling that she's enjoying all of this. I may have missed a few signs, but either way, as long as it doesn't interfere, it's not my concern.
Meanwhile, there's no point in me watching all this while standing in the doorway. I might as well make a decent chair out of the shadows.
As I made myself comfortable, I simultaneously remembered why I rarely do this. Shadows have many advantages, but their main downside when creating something is their bone-chilling coldness.