The journey to the capital took three days by carriage, and I used every moment to study the intelligence reports my father had provided. The files on Luna Shadowmere were particularly fascinating, not for what they contained, but for what they deliberately omitted.
According to the official records, Luna was a common assassin who had murdered Lord Percival Thornwick in his sleep for money. She had been captured attempting to flee the scene and was scheduled for execution in two weeks. An open and shut case, if you believed the paperwork.
But I knew the truth. Lord Thornwick wasn't dead—he was hiding in a brothel three districts away, having faked his death to escape massive gambling debts. Luna had been hired to "kill" him as part of an elaborate scheme, but she had been betrayed by her employer and left to take the blame.
The real mastermind was Minister Aldrich Blackwater, a corrupt official who had been embezzling funds from the Royal Treasury. Thornwick had discovered the theft and threatened to expose it unless he received a cut of the profits. Instead of paying him, Blackwater had arranged this elaborate frame job, getting rid of both a blackmailer and a skilled assassin who knew too much about his operations.
In the original story, Magnus had stumbled upon this conspiracy by accident and used his discovery to secure Luna's release. She had been so grateful that she became his most devoted follower, handling all his dirty work while he maintained his heroic image.
But what if someone else exposed the truth? Someone who could offer Luna not just freedom, but the chance to destroy everyone who had wronged her?
As our carriage rolled through the capital's gates, I felt the familiar thrill of a perfectly planned strategy about to unfold. The city was exactly as I remembered from the novel's descriptions—a sprawling metropolis of gleaming towers and shadowy alleyways, where nobles played their games of power while the common people struggled to survive.
The Darkmoor family maintained a mansion in the nobles' district, a testament to our political influence. My father had arranged for me to stay there, along with a small retinue of servants and guards. But I had my own plans for the evening.
"Young Master," said Captain Garrett, the grizzled veteran my father had assigned as my bodyguard, "Duke Darkmoor instructed me to ensure your safety while you're in the capital. Where will you be conducting your... business?"
I smiled, appreciating the man's discretion. "I'll be visiting some of the city's more interesting establishments, Captain. The kind where information flows as freely as the wine."
"Ah." Garrett nodded knowingly. "Intelligence gathering. Very good, sir. Shall I arrange for additional security?"
"That won't be necessary. In fact, I'll need you to maintain a visible presence at the mansion. If anyone asks, I'm indisposed with a sudden illness and cannot receive visitors."
The captain's weathered face creased into what might have been a grin. "Of course, Young Master. You'll be too ill to see anyone until tomorrow evening, I'm sure."
Perfect. That would give me the time I needed to execute my plan without drawing unwanted attention.
As darkness fell over the capital, I donned a set of common merchant's clothes and made my way through the city's winding streets. The system's map function was invaluable, highlighting the most efficient routes to my destination while avoiding the main thoroughfares where I might be recognized.
The Royal Prison was an imposing fortress of black stone, surrounded by high walls and patrolled by elite guards. Getting inside would be challenging, but I had advantages the original rescuer hadn't possessed.
First, I made my way to the Drunken Dragon tavern, a notorious establishment where criminals, mercenaries, and corrupt officials gathered to conduct their shadier business. The air was thick with smoke and the stench of unwashed bodies, but I pressed on toward the back corner where my target was waiting.
Aldrich Blackwater sat alone at a small table, nursing a mug of ale and looking supremely pleased with himself. He was a thin, weaselly man with thinning hair and the kind of face that screamed "untrustworthy" to anyone with half a brain. In the original story, he had been a minor villain who was eventually exposed and executed, but not before he had served his purpose in Luna's backstory.
I approached his table with the confidence of someone who belonged in this place. "Minister Blackwater, I presume?"
He looked up, his eyes narrowing with suspicion. "Who's asking?"
"Someone who knows about your arrangement with Lord Thornwick," I said quietly, sliding into the chair across from him. "And someone who knows that Luna Shadowmere is about to become a very expensive problem for you."
The color drained from his face. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Of course you don't." I leaned forward, letting my voice drop to a whisper. "You don't know anything about the missing treasury funds, or the brothel where Thornwick is hiding, or the fact that Luna's execution is scheduled for tomorrow night instead of next week."
His hands started shaking. "How do you—who are you?"
"I'm someone who can make this problem disappear," I said. "For a price."
The system screen flickered in the corner of my vision:
[INTIMIDATION SUCCESSFUL]
[TARGET: ALDRICH BLACKWATER]
[FEAR LEVEL: 85%]
[COMPLIANCE PROBABILITY: 92%]
"What do you want?" Blackwater whispered.
"Two things," I said. "First, I want the guard rotation schedule for the Royal Prison. Second, I want you to arrange for Luna Shadowmere to be transferred to the interrogation chambers tomorrow night."
"That's impossible. The execution is—"
"The execution is tomorrow night, yes. But executions can be delayed if new evidence comes to light. Evidence that you're going to discover, suggesting that Luna might have had an accomplice."
Understanding dawned in his eyes. "You want access to her."
"I want to clean up your mess," I corrected. "Luna knows too much about your operations. If she talks before the execution, your comfortable life comes to an end. But if she happens to escape during a carefully planned riot, taking her secrets with her..."
"She could disappear forever," he finished.
"Exactly. And you get to play the hero, bravely fighting off the mysterious accomplices who helped her escape."
Blackwater was sweating now, but I could see the calculation in his eyes. This was a man who had built his career on finding ways to escape responsibility for his actions.
"What guarantee do I have that you won't expose me anyway?" he asked.
"You don't," I admitted. "But you do have the guarantee that if you don't help me, I'll expose everything tomorrow morning. Lord Thornwick is drunk out of his mind at the Golden Rose brothel on Silk Street, by the way. I'm sure the Royal Guard would be very interested to learn that he's been alive this whole time."
The silence stretched between us for a long moment. Then, slowly, Blackwater reached into his coat and pulled out a folded piece of paper.
"The guard rotation," he said. "And I'll arrange for the interrogation. But after this, we never speak again."
"Agreed." I took the paper and stood up. "Oh, and Minister? When this is all over, I'd recommend finding a new line of work. Your current career path has a very short life expectancy."
I left him sitting there, staring into his ale with the expression of a man who had just realized he was in far deeper water than he had thought.
The next step was reconnaissance. I spent the remainder of the night mapping out the prison's layout, identifying guard positions, and locating the interrogation chambers. The system's analysis function was invaluable, highlighting weaknesses in the security and optimal routes for infiltration.
By dawn, I had a complete plan. It was risky, but the potential rewards were worth it. Luna Shadowmere wasn't just a skilled assassin—she was someone who understood betrayal, who had been abandoned by everyone she should have been able to trust. She would be the perfect first addition to my growing network of allies.
As I returned to the Darkmoor mansion, I reflected on how different this felt from my gaming days. In a game, failure meant starting over. Here, failure meant death. But somehow, that just made the victory sweeter.
Tonight, I would save Luna Shadowmere. And tomorrow, I would begin building an empire that would make the original Aldric's petty schemes look like children's games.
The system screen appeared one final time:
[PREPARATION PHASE COMPLETE]
[MISSION: RECRUIT LUNA SHADOWMERE]
[INFILTRATION PROBABILITY: 78%]
[RECRUITMENT PROBABILITY: 85%]
[WARNING: MISSION WILL INCREASE NOTORIETY]
I smiled. Let them notice. After all, the best villains were the ones who made sure everyone remembered their names.
The game was about to get very interesting.