A slim shadow crouched at the edge of a rooftop, Aven came to investigate the disappearances.
The dark attire she wore contrasted her silver hair, deep blue eyes revealing themselves as her white locks flowed with the wind.
Those blue pearls tracked the factory below her following the baleful shadow as it massacred the cloaked figures.
"That's…" A frown replaced her cold expression as she noticed something.
The assassin who beat her there was nothing short of exceptional in his silent extermination. He appears from the shadows, gets rid of all enemies in a single movement and disappears right back into the embrace of darkness.
His reliance on his left side, the use of the target's blind spots, the swift precise strikes.
It was an assassination style that she was deeply familiar with.
Cael's style.
His movements were slower and there was another element implemented to it that left a bad taste in her mouth, but the basics were undoubtedly Cael's.
Her mind raced and her brows knit even further as the shadow disappeared once more.
"Staring at people is rude ya know." An ominous voice snapped her out of her stupor.
Before she could even turn around, Aven instinctively shot daggers at its source.
"That's even ruder." Dodging the blades with ease, the voice almost sounded cheerful.
"Who are you!?" Finally facing it, she saw the same shadow she observed.
"Me? Hmm…" Putting his hand where his chin was supposed to be, he seemed to fall into deep thought.
Aven was shaken.
She couldn't detect his presence when he snuck up behind her and even now when looking straight at him, if he wanted to he could've killed her without her even knowing.
"Call me Eidolon," He said with an exaggerated bow. The shadows thinned revealing some of his features. "Nice to meet you, Blight."
A black mask stared back at her, its golden cracks reflecting the moonlight.
'He knows who I am.'
"That doesn't really answer my question. Forget it, How did you sneak up on me?"
Aven was in a disadvantageous situation in every way possible. She scanned his figure for any opening but his height and build changed and his outline moved. Only the mask, glowing eyes and crimson hair were certain.
"I wanted to greet you as soon as you came but as you saw I was a little preoccupied and then you went and got distracted on me! Good thing I got rid of all those guys otherwise you could've been in danger, and we couldn't have that could we?" He spoke nothing but nonsense waving his hands around with his dramatized reactions.
'I was found out from the start.' She bit her lip.
"What are you doing here?"
"Isn't that obvious? We slum dwellers have to look out for each other, no?" He cocked his head to the side as if confused.
'There was someone like this from the slums?' This was the first time she saw or heard of someone like him and he even used Cael's style too.
"What was that style!? How can you use Cael's style?" Her tone was impatient.
"I was quite a big fan of Wraith and what he did for the slums, and then I heard the news…" The darkness around him writhed, his cheerful tone fading, "The Hero came back alone and started hiding his shame behind a mask. So I'm going to do it too, why can't I use a mask and save people? Hell I'll do it better than he could ever hope to!"
"You were a big fan…?"
"Yes, I idolized him. I watched him closely. Did everything he did, the same places, the same weapons, his moves, even the same food. I might know you just as well as he did, Blight."
A shiver ran down her spine.
'This guy is a lunatic.' She clutched the dagger in her hand tightly.
"But that's not important right now. I want us to work together."
"What? I don't need a replacement."
"Replacement? That one hurt, but it's not what I'm offering." He pointed his finger towards the factory, "These guys aren't a one time thing I assure you. It was a pain in the ass but I found out where they came from, Rotmere. I plan on stopping whatever they are doing there and I'm going to pull some string and make the knight go there to investigate."
"Why get those dimwits involved?" She questioned his plan.
"Hmm… I guess it's only fair, you can't trust someone you know nothing about. I'm a knight."
"A knight!" Her eyebrows rose, that's the part that irked about his style, "How? It's impossible to become a knight if you're from the slums."
"It was quite easy, I just had to replace a commoner and enroll as a special student in the knight academy."
'Easy? He had to either find a completely unknown person or kill the commoner and everybody that knew of him.'
"That narrows it down quite a bit." Not many commoners were able to join the academy.
"You're free to dig as much as you want."
"...What does your plan have to do with me?"
"Now that I told you where the ones kidnapping the kids are, you will go anyway. Don't you think having me around might help you?"
"..."
"The children are by the factory's gate, I told them auntie Aven was coming to get them."
"You…!"
"I'll be waiting for you there~" Jumping off the roof he disappeared into the darkness of the alley.
Aven stood there dumbfounded.
Now that Cael was gone, she had to protect the slums on her own.
'He is definitely weaker and slower than Cael, but could I beat him?'
***
The moon had sunk low by the time Cael slipped back into Arlen's room.
He was tired.
Hiding the mask and clothes back under the floor board his hair turned back to its original color then he collapsed on the hard bed.
"Why was she just looking…" He complained as he stared blankly at the roof.
Although he took care of it on his own he wouldn't have minded her help. She showed up not long after him and sat in the same place the entire time observing him.
And even with his improved stamina, having to scout the entire factory on his own multiple times to figure out the exact number of enemies, their placements and any potential magic circle traps ate at his energy.
He wanted to get information out of them but when the second guy he asked foamed at the mouth like the first, the curse placed on them became apparent.
If they even tried divulging information they would die.
So on top of having to deal with them as fast and as quietly as possible, Cael also had to figure out a way to undo or at least weaken the curse.
After inspecting one of their corpses he found the magic sigils carved on their backs anchoring the curse, and with that it was as easy as a shallow slash to disturb the anchor and weaken the curse.
Then there was the shadow act; a performance that drained mana like blood. By the end of it, he was spent.
"Now to deal with the knights…" It was about the time he went to the training grounds.
Getting the knights involved in a slum matter was impossible and with Cael acting as the Hero he couldn't disappear to Rotmere for a week, thus the most efficient way to get the knights to go with him was taking a few unconscious cloaked men and scattering them around the patrol routes so they stumble on them.
"And if I claim that I also came across one and got him to talk as Arlen they would bite."
He also brought the corpse of the guy that spoke as evidence.
"Rotmere, huh…" He had heard stories of that place, where even the wind sounded drowned.
It was a well-known ghost town not too far from the Grieving Lands.
It wasn't its proximity to the Cradle that brought it fame but because of Eryndor Thale the Drowned Knight.
He is a famous platinum adventurer that got his title from his background with Rotmere, the reason for it becoming a ghost town was a massive flood that killed most of its inhabitants, but Eryndor with his water magic was able to single-handedly stall the water enough time for evacuation. And he did it as a child.
"I wonder what that stick in the mud would think, knowing his hometown now shelters kidnappers."