"Wait are those scales on my chest?!" Marcus thought as he closely observed the reflection of the scales on the mirror and saw strange symbols in green, white and silver that suddenly made him feel nauseated.
Marcus noticing this change removed his gaze from the mirror and felt a weird sense of familiarity with the feeling he had. Suddenly he remembered where he got that feeling;it was when he stared at the strange symbols in the River of Fate.
"So these scales have some involvement to the River of Fate. Maybe they are a side effect of being sent to the past using that mercury river. Then again I have never been sent back in time so I wouldn't know," Marcus thought as he looked at mirror again cautiously and saw that the scales slowly but surely disappearing.
"Thank the Great Law it is temporary otherwise this may have ended up as a great thorn on my side. Though I don't think I had the scales when I first arrived but then again I did not check to see if that's the case.
"Now time to check the trophies I received from the attacker,"Marcus thought as he started to inspect the items he got.
First he observed the five bottles that he got from the intruder's corpse. The first liquid was another bottle of a healing potion. The second was a brown liquid that seemed to change shades at every moment. Marcus recognized it as an appearance shifting potion. The third was a purple liquid that Marcus recognized as the poison used on him. The fourth was a clear liquid that Marcus recognized as a strong perfume and the fifth was a fire resistance concoction in the form of a red-yellow liquid.
"The liquids he carried are very typical for an Assassin Path Treader but he could have spared some cash to buy a proper fire resistance potion instead of a mere concoction if he wanted to go against Arbus' flames,"thought Marcus as he put aside the bottles.
In the Path Treader world if one wanted to make it through some consumables such as potions,scrolls, weapons and charms were beyond essential in order to make up for their short comings in some areas. However potions are considered expensive for no reason especially since ingredients can be obtained and mixing them together is seen as a basic task. Together this ignorance on the importance of a person on the Doctor Path in making it leads to a substandard product known as a concoction.
"People really shouldn't be cutting costs on such important items. Speaking of money..." Marcus thought as he then took the wad of cash and counted it summing up that he currently held 58,700 shabaardi(currency of the Shabaard republic)and a note that read,"9th October,1503 Yarko Pavilion" and a bunch of cryptic letters that made no sense to him.
"So this guy was paid a huge amount of shabaardi for this job. I already knew this line of work pays a lot but this is ridiculous,"Marcus thought as he safely stored the money in a drawer in his room containing paper mache.
The Shabaard republic has a basic currency system comprising of three levels. The lowest level are cents which are the in the form of coins in denominations of 1,5,10,20 and 50 cents. They are the most commonly used since they are used to buy day by day essentials. The second level are shabaardi of which one hundred cents make up one shabaardi note. Workers of all kinds are the ones that see this type of money and a decent family can live of a salary of 700 shabaardi per month and if you earn above 3,500 shabaardi you are considered well off. The final level of the currency is a gold shilling which is in note form and is made up of 10,000 shabaardi. Most citizens of Shabaard can finish their entire lives without holding one since only high level civil servants, government officials and business moguls can earn such money and yet Marcus had just held over 5 five gold shillings in shabaardi notes.
Marcus then took the revolver and the iron case containing more bullets and thought of where he could safely hide them since it was clearly illegal to have an unlicensed firearm much less a minor carrying one. He then decided he would carve out a hole in his study table to hide it and make a cover that blends in with the table.
Lastly,he took the dagger and fake ID and started to analyze them. The dagger seemed to emanate some mystic energy leading to the conclusion that it was a mystical artifact but he had to go to an Artisan to properly appraise it to know its abilities and the fake ID showed that he went under the name of Benji Mariko,a normal 27 year old man with normal dark skinned features characteristic to Shabaard citizen. He used the dagger to tear a hole in his mattress to hide the revolver, iron case,fake ID and the dagger itself. He then went to sleep since he was exhausted from the fight.
On the next day Marcus was woken up by the bells of the early morning service in the St. Vilad Cathedral of the god of law and order. The bells also reminded him that it was Sunday and he had to prepare to go for the second service mass as a family tradition. As he got up he saw that there was a group of police officers patrolling the streets and visiting different houses.
"Oh, they are probably investigating the corpse of the man I killed yesterday. Wait why I am talking about murder so casually?"
Marcus thought as he went to the living room.
Feigning ignorance, he asked,"why are there officers patrolling the area especially during Sunday?"
"From what I have gotten from the neighbors,a murder has occurred just a few houses down. What's strange about it though is that the killing was executed using a military grade shotgun at point blank range but no sound was heard by anyone,"Katelia explained as she straightened out her church dress.
"That's strange indeed. The killer may be at large so I would suggest being careful when going out,"Arbus suggested as he tucked his military ID into the long coat he was wearing on top of his suit.
A few minutes later,two officers came into the Muhandi household and asked all of them for a few questions involving the murder before allowing them to go for mass. The family got out of the house and after ten minutes of walking they had finally arrived at the cathedral.
The mass was in the same familiar format he had known for years. First was the praise session followed by hymns recital then the preaching session. When the preaching session ended the priest said,"as you came here safely,may the Great Law be with you and guide your way."
"Lascia fare,"the congregation responded as they said their final prayers and got out of the cathedral.
In the church of the god of law and order, the deity is commonly referred to as the Great Law showing 'his' grand dominion over the laws that govern the universe. Hence the church can also be referred to as the monastery of the Great Law. As the religion started to spread on the nation of Fuimi,most phrases used in the religion are derived from their language such as 'lascia fare' which is a phrase commonly used after prayers,sermons and religious greetings.
"Mom,dad. I am planning on staying a bit longer at the cathedral. I will catch up with you soon,"said Arbus as he returned to the cathedral.
"Okay, make sure you don't stay for too long," Atlen said as he walked with the rest of the family towards their house.
In the cathedral, Arbus went to one of the confessional booths and sat at the chair nearest to him.
"Hello,my child. Do have anything to confess in front of the Great Law?"an old raspy voice came out from the booth.
"The west shall never meet the east but life has its ways of making you doubt it,"Arbus said and soon an old man came out from the booth and guided him to a door at the back end of the cathedral which led to its basement.
The two men went down the stairs and was met with a middle aged man with light skinned features,well kempt greying hair,deep brown eyes and had donned a priest's robes. The man gestured at Arbus to sit down and excused the old priest to return to the surface.
"Hello Arbus. I'm guessing you did not come here for the sake of passing a greeting," Peter Hadha ,the middle aged man said.
"Yes, you are correct. Just yesterday I was attacked by a member of the Blood Iron Order and in the morning there was a corpse of what I assume another member of the Blood Iron Order. I am hoping the Arbiter Hounds keep up their guard of the area and the greater Maziwa region,"Arbus explained.
"Okay. I will tell the Hounds and the neighboring churches and organizations to look out. Anyways,do you have a clue as to why the Blood Iron Order wanted to eliminate you?"
"I have a speculation but it involves military secrets so I can't divulge the information. I also have something I wanted to drop off,"Arbus said as he removed a small cuboid container and opened its cover.
He then reached into the box and pulled out an item that clearly should not have fit in the box and set it on the table. It was a 2 meter rod with a sharp tip and a series of net like patterns covering it. Peter took the rod and placed it at a vault behind his desk.
"I believe that is a Mystic Artifact stolen from the church. I have got to ask a question before we part ways; how did a Mystical Artifact from your church end up in the hands of the Blood Iron Order?"Arbus asked.
"I suppose you are bound to learn about this sooner or later. Do you know of Bernard Agrovo?"the middle aged man asked.
...
In a police station around the Kiwu district a small group of police officers carrying files which contained the information from the investigation of a murder that occurred in a neighborhood in the district entered a room that had the label 'Special Investigations Department '.
"Senior Detective, this is all the information we have gotten from the investigation but we could not go further due to some abnormalities in the case itself,"an officer said.
Bosmin,the man that the officer was referring to, took the files and perused its contents. He then took a glass filled with liquor and took a sip before saying,"although there was clear indication that there was a gun fight,no one heard gunfire and the corpse displays strange symptoms. Call the other Special Investigation Department officers in the county and tell them we have quite a case in our hands."
The officers left to carry out Bosmin's orders, leaving Bosmin alone in the office staring at his drink before taking a sip again. He then looked outside the window where he saw the sun setting and its rays clearly brought out his light brown eyes, chocolate toned skin and a distinct mustache that went well with his trimmed hair.
...
In the Muhandi household, Marcus was in his room writing a bunch of potion formulas on a piece of paper before folding it and putting it in his pocket.
"If I am to proceed with my plan to stop the Access eruption, I first need to investigate the outside causes of the eruption but in order to do this without dying I would need resources and strength to aid me in this endeavor.
"I should get materials to make potions,a place to do so and some Mystic Artifacts to make up for some of my weaknesses. Luckily I don't have to worry about advancing my strength for a while due the boons obtained from the assassin,the myriad of stories that potentially have combat or mystical knowledge and lastly information on my next Path Advancement, Elixir Maker.
"As for resources,I can take advantage of my previous life knowledge to make investments,mark material buying spots and lastly my favorite finance advisor,my sister,Sheba,"Marcus thought as he took the revolver,cash, appearance shifting potion, fake ID and wore a jacket before muttering,"but first I need to sort out my potion problem."