Suspicion

At the area where Coy was battling with the soul gorgers. Two men with brown robes were probing every corner of the place to find the source of that light they saw.

They had arrived at the place a minute after the light receded, as such, hope that they could capture the culprit and whoever was associated in the fight was in their heart.

But when they came, their hope was shattered: there was no one. Although the place was somewhat untouched, traces of a battle could be seen from the broken wooden shingles on the roofs.

At the moment, One of the guy who had a sturdy build and an axe on his belt was crouching next to a clean cut 'arm' with no sign of blood. It laid on the roof like a piece of art, as he examined it with serious eyes. With a furrowed brow he said to his colleague, "This arm, It belongs to the ethereal soul gorgers right?"

The person who was inquired by that question was puffing on a cigarette that looked like it was lit recently. He replied with leisure, "Looks like it, since the structure of the saber matches their arm build. Also these guys don't have a single drop of blood in their ethereal body... But this one, it doesn't have the glimmer that an adult soul gorger should have, and here, it still hasn't developed the shade of black that runs along the upper side of the arm. This arm belongs to a young soul gorger. The question is what was it doing here?"

The man with a cigarette said with confidence. Showing that he had a history with the soul gorgers, and knew the difference between the adult and young, and how their body was structured.

He had a lean body with a long nose. He posed a relaxed smile on his lips, puffing his cigarette.

"If not for your lazy attitude at work most of the time, you would have been promoted to be a third level enforcer long ago with just your analytical skills. Anyway, have you seen any unusual oddities on the ground?" inquired the sturdy man.

The man threw the cigarette he finished on the wooden roof, before snuffing the embers with his leather boot. He grunted and crouched to better inspect the severed arm. He said while grazing his hand above the surface of the cold sharp arm, "On the ground next to this building, I found a guy knocked out cold with his head bleeding a bit. His baggy clothes were soaked in blood that didn't belong to him, and he had a broken bottle that was also covered in blood on his hand. Fucker must have killed someone on his way before collapsing like a starved dog."

The man with the axe stood up from his initial position. "I will go down and search for whoever he killed around the perimeter, while you explore up here a bit and see if you can find any other clues." As he said that, he jumped down from the roof.

Left alone with a severed arm as company, the man with the lean build scratched his head before leaping to another building's old wooden shingles roof. This one was in one piece, free from any physical damage; there were also traces of mana lingering in the air. He walked on the roof towards its middle section, before crouching.

There was some itty-bitty amount of reddish black liquid plastered to the roof. He had noticed this a while back, but he kept quiet about it.

He swept across his hand the red stain and smelled it, seemingly in thought.

'Blood?'

He conjured an idea of whom this blood might belong to. Every race had peculiarities and unique characteristics that they had concerning their blood colour, smell, and other factors.

He ruled those that lived on water or other habitats, such as the merfolks and giants.

He ruled over the blood of the elves, humans, and dwarves since theirs were reddish brown instead of reddish black. Besides, dwarves were a race fixated on honing their craftsmanship: Although they would want a piece of this arm, they would not risk themselves but would hire someone else to do the dirty work for them.

It didn't belong to the demons because theirs were corrosive. It also didn't belong to the beast-men and demihumans since their blood had a stronger rust smell unlike the others.

Furthermore, it didn't belong to the fairies too as they had a different blood colour all together, nor to a dragon since these young soul gorgers wouldn't even make a dent on a dragon's scales.

The selection came down to the Vampires… Creatures of the night. This blood definitely belonges to a vampire, but he can't be complacent about who was behind the fight. There was a possibility that another race splashed it to the roof, so that they can mislead whoever wanted to snuff out the truth, since there was not even a trail of where the source of this blood went. Or whoever it did belong must either have an insane regenerative system, or quickly covered their wound with an external item.

'Anyways, better get rid of this before that dofus comes back,' thought the man. He cast a tier 1 neutral spell called cleanse on the reddish black stain. It was a spell derived from the tier 1 light spell, purify. The difference between them was that purify used pure light, while this one used plain mana only.

A small white circle with noticeably enchanting runes appeared over the stain. It gently spewed mana onto it and rubbed against it, ultimately erasing the blood.

"Oi, Carmen! Come down here!" Spooked by his loud colleague who was calling for him, he stood up and alighted from the roof. "Tch, do you want to burst my eardrums? I'm coming down!"

***

A young boy with black hair and crimson eyes went around the dazzling statue of Biskar Hakim. He headed straight for the street leading to the north.

It was Coy who had reverted to his original form. He had nearly escaped from getting his legs severed by a third soul gorger who hid its presence below the building he tried to cast Radiant on. If he hadn't leaped forward, he might have used the goatskin parchment paper with no lower body left and teleported back to the alley at the inn.

He would have remained there until his legs regenerated back, since he couldn't afford for Aelfryn to faint out of shock by letting him think that the boy he was left to care for, returned with his lower limbs gone. 'I bet his reaction would have been one to look forward to if that ever happened.'

Thankfully, only his left calf was slashed superficially. After he dodged the attack, he cast Radiant, before leaving the waning soul gorgers who quickly dispersed in all directions, as if they met their natural enemy.

Although his calf has already healed, a slight tear was added to his black pants at where he was slashed at, which itself was not noticeable. As such, he left it as it is, since he will be leaving Biskar tonight, and didn't have the leisure to get a new tailor made pants. The blood that got stuck to that region dried up, and people would only spot if they specifically focused on his legs, since the blood blended nicely with his black pants.

Before he left the scene, a strong smell of human blood invaded his nose, which he paid no further attention to. The Radiant spell was eye-catching with its brilliant light, and he was apprehensive of someone getting attracted to it, leaving him exposed with another problem if he tried to satisfy his curiosity.

'Be curious in life, but know when to resist it. Terrick was indeed someone with great wisdom...' Coy thought as he reminisced about one of his friends back on Earth.

Walking on the jarred comfortable pavement, he asked a passing plumb girl dolled with makeup with a curious tone, "Excuse me miss, do you perhaps know of where I can find a good bakery? It is my brother's birthday, and I want to get him a birthday cake as a present."

The girl peered her head at him. She first thought the cute boy was talking to someone else before she pointed at herself, in which he nodded.

"A good baker house, you ask? Hmmm… Ah! I know of a very good one I often go to with my husband. It's at the end of this street. Just walk straight and look for a shop with an exaggerated sign board to your right that says, 'The Garveys bakery'. You won't miss it since a lot of people order from that place in the evening," answered the lady as she humoured the little boy's question

With a slight smile on his cheek, Coy thanked the girl, "Thank you miss. Have a great evening."

"Thank you dear. Oh, how I wish to such an adorable child like you in the future."

"I'm sure you will. Bye!" bid Coy farewell.

"Your mother must have taught you well, child. Bye bye!" The lady responded with a comely smile and wished him well as she went along her way.

{Brother your arse. Why lie to such a lovely lady like her? And what are you trying to archieve, asking for directions to a bakery?} questioned Chóros with a judging tone.

{This is good social interaction, Chóros. You might have noticed it, but by simply asking a question, I have made that lady's night. It was an innocent question which led to results that made both parties satisfied at the end of it. As for the baker house, I need something to bribe Aelfryn. That guy surely knows that I left the inn. It could also be considered to be a cover-up for where I have been to if he ever asked me questions,} answered Coy.

{Tsk tsk, how come you didn't have a wife on Earth with such social skills?}

Ignoring Chóros, he looked for a sign board that read 'Garvey's bakery.' He found it and went inside. It was a moderate-sized bakery with a brown and white theme full of people separated in three lines, as only a few sat on the chairs on the sides. He tried to line up behind one of the columns of people of mixed races, before he was spotted by one of the waiters, who came to him and asked what he wanted.

Taking up on the offer, he ordered a small red velvet cake and a box of biscuits. The waiter requested him to sit tight for a moment before heading to the front.

The people on the lines didn't complain one bit as an order was placed before them, who was waiting. 'Maybe a privilege for children? I don't know. If it were like that, these people should have sent their kids, if they had one,' thought Coy as he chose a seat, which he stood up from minutes later because his order was already ready.

The waiter asked him for two silver coins as payment.

He put his left hand on his pocket before injecting mana into the spatial ring, taking out two silver coins and handing it to the waiter. The waiter took it with a smile and left.

{You actually know how to use the space ring?} asked Chóros, surprised.

With a calm voice, Coy responded as he left the bakery with a special package in his hand, {I remember asking Luna who used it once in front of me when my memories were sealed.}

He headed to the north-west, left from where he was at.

…

At the Inn's entrance.

With a steady heart, Coy glanced at the signboard with a jug and a heavy sword, which below it read, "VisCarel's inn.' Talk about simplicity. He pushed the door with his tiny but strong hand and entered it.

The inside was as rowdy as ever as they indulged themselves with food and beer. The group who were arguing about who was going to be the captain was nowhere to be seen, presumably gone. No one troubled Coy as he headed to the counter with his short legs.

VisCarel who was mixing a drink looked at the little boy with a questioning gaze.

Coy asked with hope, "Do you have fresh blood, and berry juice?"

Surprisingly, this world had done a great job at working on interspecies relations. Each of them completed the other's needs. For example, a vampire needed blood, but that blood was in another species. The other species would sell a share of their blood to the vampires with money, so that both sides could benefit from it. Every other species' needs were met by following these principles. But of course, outlaws who wanted to do things in the primeval ways existed.

With his striking slit eyes, VisCarel, turned around and picked two different bottles from his back shelves full of drinks. He placed them on the counter and wrote down some words on a note near him, sliding it towards Coy.

Coy looked at the note. It read, "4 silver coins."

Following the previous actions, he put his hand on his pocket, took out 4 silver coins from his ring and gave it to VisCarel by putting the money on the counter. He then grabbed the bottles with his free hand. "Thank you," he said, and left to the stairs, Leaving VisCarel going back to finishing the pending order after he took the money off the counter into his pocket.

It was at that moment his peripheral vision saw something off about Coy's left leg

…

Flipping to another page of the book, 'A crow's jealousy', Aelfryn thought with a troublesome look, 'He is late.'

'I didn't expect him to slip past me perfectly. His antics are almost comparable when I was his age, almost'! He understood Coy's feelings of having freedom because he was also like him when he was a child. That is why he gave him the grace to do as he wished since this city was quite peaceful for a child to run on the streets without supervision since the law enforcements were paid their due worth. As such, they took their job seriously.

Otherwise he wouldn't have let him do so. One thing that also further solidified his stance was that vampires were an intelligent race, and in terms of Intellect, Coy appeared to be above his age.

As he tried to focus on reading the book, he heard a knock from the door. "Finally." He let out a relieved smile. This kid would have gotten him into trouble if he was late by a little more time.