Adyr felt a flicker of satisfaction at Maruun's reaction and delivered his lie with careful precision.
"I stumbled upon a merchant caravan while traveling near the Outer Region," he said evenly. "Got these from a trader out there."
His tone was casual, truthful enough to avoid suspicion, but vague enough to protect the reality behind the gear's origin.
Among the many books he had studied, several contained crude maps of the known world and its fractured regions. While most were incomplete or filled with blank, uncharted zones, they had been enough to piece together a general understanding of the continent's structure.
The area Adyr currently resides in was known as the Eastern Region, a territory comprised mostly of minor kingdoms and practitioner groups who rarely exceeded Rank 4. The term Outer Region referred to the fringes of this eastern territory—wild, loosely governed areas near its borders.
