25 Suspect

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Hewet sat on a chair as he looked through various files of local criminals and thieves. On his side was Albert mechanically spotting noticeable coin transfers.

"Oh how the gods have forsaken me! What do I have to do to anger Mercy? For her to throw me into this bureaucratic hell!" Angelica whined and balanced her chair on one leg.

"What can I say Angelica, every other lead we had was a dud. The masks, clothes and bags you could buy from anywhere." Hewet dumped another file to the side. "The guards couldn't even track where the other thieves had run to. The only hope we got so far is to catch someone spending their ill-gotten gains."

"As if a super duper spy would make such an amateur mistake!" Angelica huffed.

"Irregularity here." Albert suddenly spoke up, startling Angelica and making her topple backwards in her chair.

"Gods Albert, at least give me a warning." Angelica picked herself up and leaned over the old man to look. Hewert also came around to inspect the paper.

"One Alexander Hunter was fined five gold coins for collusion to illegally obtain medicines." Hewet's eyes widened and he took the paper from Albert's hand. "Two days later, he pays the fine and obtains a Proof of Affluence document. The note here says that he is a slum resident."

"You think he is the guy?" Angelica inquired with an excited smile.

"We do have a motive, let's go ask the officer who delivered the fine." Hewet said and the two other mages followed after him. They were in the central military command building, so it wasn't hard to request for an officer to meet them.

A while later, a hair greyed man wearing officer guard armor walked up to the group with two cadets behind him. The guard officer and cadets stopped and saluted.

"At ease." Hewet said and passed the document over to the officer. "I want to inquire about this Alexander Hunter whom you have delivered a fine to two days ago."

Hewet noticed from the corner of his eye one of the cadets freezing for a moment at the mention of Alexander.

"Cadet, do you know this person?" Hewet ignored the officer and marched to the cadet.

"Sir yes, he has been a friend of mine for many years, sir." The cadet was straight as an arrow.

"And can you explain how he can fork out a sum of six gold coins in two days?" Hewet smiled and patted the cadet on the arm, making him deflated.

"Sir, Alexander is a son of a deceased strong vanquisher. It wasn't long ago that his father passed away, he may still have a sizable inheritance." The cadet continued. "He has a sick mother at home that needs constant medical supplies to stay alive."

"Oooohh! What a poor boy, come on Hewet, no way this boy is our disappearing spy." Angelica grabbed Hewet's arms and tried to pull him back. Hewet didn't budge and went into deep thought.

"How would you describe Alexander, cadet?" Hewet asked, his mind whirling with ideas.

"Lonely, doesn't talk or make friendships with people. And, maybe his worst and best trait, willing to do whatever is necessary to keep his mother alive." The cadet chuckled to himself. "Like father like son."

"Thank you cadet, officer you are dismissed." Hewet dismissed the trio of guards and summoned his blue flames. "Albert, stay here and keep looking through the record. Angelica, let's give this guy a visit."

A firm knock sounded out of Alex's door, breaking him out of his reading stupor. On his lap were three skill books, each detailing the requirements for three amazing skills he would have never even thought existed.

[Last Hurraw] is a berserker skill that sacrifices the user's health for a moderate temporary boost to strength, agility and speed. As the clerk at the skill book store had said, it was to be used in life or death situations as it basically puts whoever used it into unconsciousness.

For him though, it was amazing. Just the image of him constantly summoning berserk clones that could crumple a man into a ball with their bare hands made his inside warm.

Also, it was his first-ish ever active skill. Yay? [Singular Focus] didn't count.

The second skill he had acquired was [Basic Disguise], it wasn't an exciting skill by any measure, but it was potentially critical for his dream of making his clones look different then him. If he was ever captured, his {Cloner} ability would be revealed and everything would come down onto his head.

At the moment, it only grants basic knowledge. Stuff like how to fake a limp with gravel in his shoes, and how to look taller. They were simple things, yet he could already see their usefulness.

His last skill was [Solid Footwork], it was a simple skill that aided him in staying steady, in attack and defence. All around, it wasn't a flashy skill, but it was necessary for a warrior. The clerk at the store agreed with him for all that it was worth.

Alex purged those thoughts from his mind and hid the three books below his mother's bed. The last time someone knocked on his door it was to stick him with a stupid fine, and he had wished he carried with him his twin rapiers, Venma and Veleya, for the intimidation factor.

Now, put the two rapier in two newly bought holsters on his back and opened the door. To his confusion, he saw that they were no guards but two weirdos in robes.

"Who the fuck are you and why are you knocking on my door?" Alex asked, his hands ready to slam shut if the freaks became mad.

"Greetings Alexander, we are the College's Affiliate Protection team, we have come to simply ask you some questions." The front man, a guy with a military haircut and a blue robe with flames knitted into it, said.

Alex's heart skipped a beat and his face deformed into a scowl, his hands quickly skipped to his rapiers.

"Hold on hold on fast hands, we are totally not here to hurt you if you are innocent." A woman, with the biggest bust Alex had ever seen, budged into the conversation.

Still laying his hands on his two rapiers, Alex gritted his teeth and motioned with his head for the guy to speak.

"Thank you for your understanding." The guy at the front said. "Where were you yesterday afternoon?"

"I was training in the yard with all the other folks." Alex shut his yap, not willing to go into further detail fearing he would slip something.

"Quite good rapiers you got there, you bought them?" The lady with huge tits butted in.

"Nah, my dad bought them. Still sharp even after a lot of abuse." That sentence made the military guy's gaze blunt, whatever he wanted to find was gone.

"Sorry for the bother, Alexander. May Mercy forever grace you with her light." The two mages quickly summoned wings and fires from their hands to fly away into the distance.

Alex closed the door and collapsed into his knees. That was close, somehow they had suspected him.

He laughed, yet in the end, he had come out unscathed and wealthy.

Fooled the infamous mage kill squad.