Shades of the New World

Chapter 91: Robbery in daylight

A week had passed since then, and Evin was waiting inside the Artificer's shop for his new equipment.

Rona, beaming with the prospect of a huge income, brought out Evin's own personal Channeling artifact.

Evin looked at the device and saw a small fingerless brigandine-type gauntlet. He put it on, and the gauntlet almost reached his elbows. There were four colored metals embedded inside the gauntlet, lining up throughout Evin's forearm. Best part was, that it was completely weightless. Only the icy touch of steel reminded Evin that he was wearing a metal instrument on his arms.

"As you grow older, you can will the parts from your forearm to move downwards, until they all end up on the back of your palm. You can try them out now, and see,' Rona explained.

Evin willed it as Rona instructed, and the small metal sheets of the thing slithered around and the thin, long gauntlet turned into a much bulkier glove.

'It would probably fit Ssatsko's arms now'

"I suggest you get used to the thing, before you try it out in a fight. Some compare it to a second mana-core, and it takes some time to really feel it, yeah?" Rona reminded.

"Thanks Rona, and thank master Lorn for me as well," Evin replied.

"You too, child, us shopkeepers love rich customers. If you ever need fixing, or extra gems on that thing, make sure you come back to ours, alright?" Rona smiled happily.

Evin nodded in response.

The group went out of the shop and headed back to Kena's place and prepared for the journey ahead.

A day passed in the blink of an eye and Evin had gotten used to the feel of his gauntlet.

Evin wished to say Lord Kena goodbye, but was stopped at the door to his study by Iorn. 

"Lord Kena asked me to not have anyone disturb him"

Evin didn't feel offended and asked Iorn to relay his goodbyes to the old Cobfolk.

Ssatsko explained that the group had finished everything they needed to do here, in the City of Nevernight. One of his original intentions was to buy some refined sorbothium, after Evin took the Oath, but that became a bit useless, since Lord Kena gave away much more than they could've bought.

"Now, we'll head towards the Ekhri Tribe and spend the rest of our time there," Ssatsko explained.

"Ekhri Tribe?" Arza asked.

"Guess it means something like the Caretaker Tribe, they're one of the few branch tribes of the Paradra Tribe. Well, as you can probably guess, their teachings are mostly focused towards younger mages" Ssatsko explained.

The group didn't have any objections and they prepared to ascend the stairs.

"Oh, I should probably mention, some residents of the City above might come to find trouble with us," Ssatsko said suddenly.

"Hm?"

"Since quite a number of people saw that you stayed in the Lord's manor, their greed might cause them to try to rob us," the old man said.

"Guess we should be prepared a little then," Evin said and woke up Karan inside him.

[Best you wake up, there might be battle,] Evin told.

[Where the fuck are we? Why is it so dark?] the skinshifter groaned from Evin's shadow.

[We're ascending to the City of Smog. Ssatsko says that some greedy bastards might try to steal your stash of sorbothium,] Evin said with a chuckle.

Karan grumbled with frustration and got out of the coziness that was Evin's shadow. He turned himself into an armor and dagger, and Evin covered the metal body with shadows. The silvery hue that Karan took on lately due to the plentiful infusion of sorbothium disappeared. Now, Evin looked to be wearing a badly maintained, black iron armor.

Evin then wore his Channeling artifact, and started infusing some mana inside it as he walked the stairs.

He also ate the World Chameleon skin at the insistence of Rith.

The group reached the sturdy iron door on the surface and Evin could finally see the rays of sunlight across the corridor. Judging from the angle it was falling on the floor, Evin supposed it was morning. Ssatsko assured it was so, but Evin could never tell under the light of the sorbothium veins.

"Would you like to hire escorting guards?" one of the guards who stood beside the iron door asked with a knowing smile.

"It won't be necessary. Though, thank you for the suggestion," Ssatsko answered.

"Your choice, we'll stay round here if you ever change your mind," the guard shrugged.

The old man nodded and lead the group to the door. Before exiting, he turned to the two children.

"Arza, Evin,"

"Yeah?" the two asked, cocking their heads.

"Try not to kill anyone," Ssatsko said with a grim half-smile.

'?' Evin was genuinely confused. If the problem's so bad, just avoid it completely.

"If it's that bad, let's just have Rith portal us out of here, yeah?"

Ssatsko paused for a second and agreed.

"I suppose I'm too used to solving things the hard way," the old man shook his head with a bitter smile.

'Wait, does he just want to tussle a little with those barbarians outside?' Evin realized after seeing a tinge of embarrassment and disappointment in the old man's eyes.

'Well now, this is a pickle They did say indulge the old in what they love to do sometimes,' Evin thought with some amusement.

"You know, grandpa, I've been wanting to try out my new skills lately, on like, real targets you know? A mad mob of people wanting to rob us seem to be perfect targets, now that I think about it," Evin said, trying hold back a laughter.

"Oh, you think so too, I've been also itching to move my body for a while," Ssatsko said with a beaming smile.

After the old man touched the Velvet Contract, he finally felt his raw power increase in a long time. His horn was noticeably larger than before, and Evin could see him sometimes struggling to move his head with it.

'I wonder how my horn would shape itself,' Evin thought briefly, before focusing on the impending fight.

"Can I leave Arza to you?" Evin then asked Rith.

Everyone except Arza in the group would not lose their cool even if a bloodbath were to occur, so Evin decided to have Rith babysit the boy. The Cosmic nodded and the unusual group went outside.