7 Investigation (1)

After having tea with the mayor, Drake and John booked rooms in the Colossal Hand Inn, the best tavern in the city in terms of security, service quality and people.

Drake was used to medieval times, but the life people led was very unhealthy. It wasn't unusual for the average commoner to only wash once a month. It's not like soap was a common good either.

While living as a noble was not that different than living as a modern man in terms of hygiene, the same couldn't apply when he wasn't in the Ivory Tower, the ancestral keep of his family. The roads were dirty, and there was a very strong stench in the city.

The meal was quite good and refined though, as the inn was often booked by wealthy merchants and itinerant knights seeking fame and glory. They weren't your average commoners. Thus, the standard of food and service was quite high. It was a fine establishment, one that was recommended by the Household.

Investigation was not easy, and it could take weeks, or even months. It was part of the reason why the head of the Moonfall Household decided to give out such a big reward for it.

The opportunity to investigate in the Frozen City was very appealing to Drake, though. After all, he not only had to find the necromancer, he also wanted to learn more about the unusually high vitality of knights in the city.

John would have never let Drake roam in a city where a necromancer roamed free before. However, the encounter with the barbarians and his magnificent display of overwhelming strength convinced John to trust Drake's fighting prowess. Drake was thus allowed freedom.

Unlike John, Drake possessed a tremendous advantage: his biochip. He could easily scan people near him. Analysing their movements, it was easy to evaluate their strength, agility and vitality. Better still, the mana fluctuations that were usually filtered by the human brain were interpreted by his biochip and could roughly evaluate the magic power of any magical being.

While John would have to investigate the incidents one after the other, and look for the necromancer's mishaps to uncover the place where he hid, Drake merely had to scan the people in the street, and he would hopefully find some magically gifted individuals. Since acolytes were beyond rare, this was quite an efficient method.

After roaming through the streets for five hours, he could accurately tell that all the guards, preparatory knights and knights in the city had incredible vitality. Even average guards had more than 1.5 point of vitality, which was the realm of preparatory knights.

'If such a vitality-raising method was used in the Moonfall Household's personal army, the strength of the family would increase by leaps and bounds'

Still, Drake found no trace of the necromancer whatsoever.

Almost giving up, he was enticed by a small building of ice. The signs read: "Red Carpet Shop", which belonged to a relatively famous tailor in the region. His cousins back in the Ivory Tower wore a few dresses from the branding.

Knowing the value of gifts in relationships, and more importantly, the interest of his cousins in clothing, Drake decided to invest part of his savings. If he was strong and in addition received the support of his cousins, then his standing in the family was bound to improve over time. It already had. Few in the younger generations hated him. Some scorned him, but no one hated him because he was discreet, good-willed and strong. The more he reinforced those traits, the better his reputation would become. And reputation was the greatest tool to earn the family's support.

Still, he never expected such an encounter.

[Name - Moundir Yale | Age - 56 Years Old

Race - Human

Attributes:

Strength - 0.8 | Agility - 1.2 | Vitality - 3.0 | Magic Power - 3.8

Perks: ø

Skills: Tailoring (76), Magical Knowledge (22), Etiquette (28), Accounting (20)...

Spell: (?)]

Who would have thought that the famous tailor Moundir would possess magic power?

Drake had scanned the records of all the official acolytes residing in the territory. Although no one had bothered to do so, it had only taken Drake a command to do so. That was the power of his biochip.

Wandering acolytes were not forbidden in the territory, but they had to declare their presence to the magus family controlling the territory. After all, wandering acolytes were similar to explosive. If not checked and controlled, it would blow up.

Moundir Yale was probably very good at hiding, and never bothered to declare his presence to the Moonfall Family. It was a crime, one punishable by death.

"Welcome to the Red Carpet Shop, young master!", Moundir suddenly called out, recognizing Drake's identity instantly.