Chapter 26: Offer

Toren Daen

I shifted into a more stable stance, but resheathed my dagger. "And what makes you think I need the help of a group of... 'wealth reinvestors?'" I asked, using the Young Rat's amusing rationalization for thievery. "From where I stand, we have nothing to do with each other."

The Rat shook his head. That comical mask had no right to look so good on a person. "You're forgetting something, Dusk. We do have something you need. In fact, I think you need it very much."

"And what would that be?"

"Information," he responded, a glimmer in his eye. "The most valuable of currencies. Everybody needs it, and nobody has enough. And you, my young Daen, are in most dire need of it."

I finally pinpointed why the Rat felt so wrong to me. I couldn't sense him at all. Sure, I could see the man and he made noise, allowing me to negotiate. But the ever so slight tingling sensation of being watched; of having a person's attention on you? The constant weight in the ambient mana that indicated a mage stood there, unconsciously pressing onto the ambient mana with their intent?

That just didn't exist for the man. I could sense the subtle gaze of the Young Rat, and even the older axe wielder. But not their leader.

His relaxed air irritated me. I felt my brow twitch under my mask, his casual utterance of my true identity reminding me of my situation. It was a subtle barb that proved his point remarkably well. He had information about me and about my circumstances. He used that to highlight the fact that I had none.

I narrowed my eyes, then sat down in a nearby pew. The wood creaked under my weight, but it thankfully held. I nonchalantly slung an arm over the back, relaxing my posture. Internally, I ramped the mana from my core. I would be ready to move at a moment's notice.

"It is a universal truth that everybody wants to know something about somebody else," I said casually. "But one must always be careful of the source. After all, every informant has their own goals and aspirations." I looked across the trio. "I admit my ignorance in regards to many things, but there are a dozen different ways to alleviate that ignorance." I centered my attention back on the Rat. "Yes, I need information. But what makes you think I should bargain with you?"

My answer seemed to please the Rat. He nodded, taking my reply in stride. "Well, as reinvestors in the economy, we tend to hear very interesting things through the underground. We keep an eye on our customers, after all. And one interesting thing was the recent announcement from Blood Joan themselves, sent to all their internal forces and allies." The Rat's mask of good cheer fell and he regarded me with utter seriousness. I felt a shiver crawl down my spine. "You've got a kill-on-sight order, Toren Daen, from half the Bloods in Fiachra."

"What did you say?" I asked in shock, leaning forward.

The Rat leaned against the altar. "Pardon my impropriety, but you… kicked a hornet's nest by interrupting that acidbeam nest expedition. Blood Joan has some weighty connections, and they pulled in a lot of favors in the past couple of hours setting a watch across the city for your hide," the thief said. "Something that would've been amazing to know at the time, I'd think. A benefit of information."

I blinked incredulously, entirely thrown by the event. "But I helped save what was left of that expedition!" I said, baffled. "Why the hell would they want me dead even more?" I added, my composure broken by the news. If what the Rat said was true, it had dangerous implications.

"They don't particularly care, my friend-to-be," The Rat replied, a bit of his previous guile returning to his face. "Luckily for you, you've just so managed to be in the least-regulated district of Fiachra for the last afternoon, entirely away from the majority of Bloods keeping an eye out for you. Isn't that a happy coincidence?" He gave me a winning smile. I couldn't see it under his bandana, but I swear I could feel it.

I wanted to punch his smug teeth in, but I owed him one for that. If what he was telling me was correct, I likely escaped encirclement by immediately following his letter.

"This isn't going the way I thought it would," I said at last, slumping in my seat. The need to maintain a mask and put on airs in my meeting with the Rats felt wholly insignificant in the face of a manhunt looking for me. My patience for posturing vanished like mist dispersed by the wind.

The Rat shrugged. "These things rarely do," he said jovially. "But there's a bright side to all this, I promise."

I pushed past thinking of a dozen countermeasures and the dreaded possibility of vanishing into the Clarwood Forest again. "I am struggling to see anything good about this."

"I think you'll bite once we show you what we know," he said. "Here's a nugget of info for free: the woman you want is named Kaelan Joan, sister of Lawrent Joan, the patriarch of the family. She's a conniving witch who rarely leaves the protection of their territory. We can get you close and give you an opportunity to fulfill that mission of yours."

The stick, then the carrot. "What's the catch?" I asked. If there was one thing that was a constant between worlds, it was that everything was done for a reason. What did the Rats have to gain from me fulfilling my revenge?

"Have you ever considered switching out that mask?" The Rat asked instead. He ran a hand over his own mask.

Ah, a recruitment offer. I furrowed my brow. I had somewhat expected this. I mulled over my next words carefully. "First of all, why me?" I said, genuinely wanting to know the answer. I thought I had gathered a vague impression of this group, but I didn't see where I might fit in. "What do I have to offer that you want?"

"You're fast and quiet," The Rat said. "What better talents for a wealth redistributor? And besides, you're not the only one who has a grudge against the Joans. Our merry little band has only failed a heist once, and we aim to fix that. Plus, you'd be surprised how few mages apply for membership here."

I could sense the truth in his words, but there was more to it than that. Something gnawed at me about that.

It was ironic. I had arrived here hours in advance to scout for traps, but I didn't even realize I was already penned in before answering the call. If I declined the offer to join this crew, I was left to my own devices to fend off the advances of Blood Joan and the other houses. I wasn't sure it was even true, but would he lie to me with something so easy to verify? If the man was telling the truth, I would be left to shelter myself again, back to square one.

But if I joined these 'wealth redistributors,' I would have the protection of an experienced group. They had some sort of information network, considering the information the Young Rat gave me. I wouldn't be flailing blindly in the dark. My actions would have more direction and a stable foundation of planning. Furthermore, I wouldn't be alone.

The last point burned in my mind the most, despite its relative insignificance. I didn't want to admit it, but I was terribly lonely in this new world. My unique circumstances made me one of three reincarnates on this entire planet, and I doubted Nico and Arthur would be able to relate to me over the intricacies of my previous life. I was a unique kind of isolated, and it burned me with every day I spent alone.

I craved human interaction. But I wasn't willing to break my principles for this.

"I won't help you steal from people who can't support themselves," I said, remembering the rundown nature of these slums. "If you steal from common people, I'm out."

The Rat shook his head. "We aren't savages, Toren. Our targets are all people who won't miss the coins we take. A mark here, a crest there, and they can't even spot the difference amidst their stores of wealth."

So they stole from the rich alone? My one meeting with the Young Rat seemed to confirm this, as they were caught leaving the Joans' estate. I mulled it over a bit more, considering my options.

"If I agree to this," I said slowly, clasping my hands together as my elbows rested on my knees, "I want a guarantee of information that I can use, as well as the right to leave after the job with the Joans is done."

I couldn't let myself be locked in with these people, either. Once I was finished with my revenge, I would need to turn my attention to Scythe Nico. I couldn't be chained to one place.

The Rat looked me over. "We'll have to work out the finer details a bit later," he said. "In the meantime, welcome to the Company of the Rat," he said with another flourish. He withdrew a mask from his dimension rune, tossing it across the room. I caught it, inspecting the artifact. I could sense slight waves of mana from it. "I'm certain you'll have a blast."

—

It turned out that the mask was enchanted in some way. It would stick to my face without the need for straps, according to the Rat.

I sat in the same pew, turning the mask over in my hands. It was stark gray, with an exaggerated snout and painted whiskers. It barely covered more skin than a domino mask, but these people had a theme.

The Rat had left a few minutes ago, claiming to need to get a few things in order before taking me to their hideout. The Young Rat and the axe wielder stayed behind, awkwardly looking anywhere but toward me.

My view darkened as the Unseen World overtook my vision. Lady Dawn stood in the center of the aisle, her gaze intent on the basilisk mosaic at the end of the room. She was invisible to everyone but me.

"You are impulsive, Contractor," she said at last. I spared her a side-eyed glance. The words were harsh, but rarely did Lady Dawn offer criticism emptily. I learned that in my training very quickly.

"How so?" I asked quietly, genuinely wondering how. I wouldn't call myself impulsive, but I also wasn't sure how much of me was still me after my merge with Toren. I used to have a good idea of who I was.

"In agreeing to join these thieves," she said. "You know nothing about them, while they know much of you. You do not know if they can be trusted, or if their words are genuine. You agreed on the spur of the moment, without giving the offer time for consideration." She tilted her head. "You do not know if they are even thieves."

"You're right," I said, looking over the runes on the inner side of the mask. "But it didn't take much for me to realize I didn't have a choice. I've been running around blind, striking at shadows, hoping each would pull me closer to my vengeance. But only now have I learned that horrid woman's name." The Rat mask wouldn't hide my eyes very well. My current mask cast my face in a shadow, shielding that part of me from observation. "The fact that I know so little proves my need to learn more. I need to take some risks here."

Truth be told, I had been very impulsive. Thinking it over, I suspected it was something I'd gotten from Toren. First I tried to bargain with Lady Dawn. Then I rushed headlong into a dangerous forest with barely more than the clothes on my back. After that, I tried to spy on a noble family with no espionage experience. And finally, I attempted to interfere in that expedition. All were textbook impulsive.

But I finally had an opportunity for some concrete direction. I knew that Kaelan Joan was the woman who killed my brother. I had suspected it from reading the book on Blood Joan, but this was surefire confirmation. It lined up. I finally made progress.

Lady Dawn turned away from the mosaic, staring at me with her burning coals. I didn't sense judgment from those eyes, at least not in the conventional sense. "Perhaps this rogue did tell you the truth. But the Rat could be running to alert your enemies himself as we speak, guiding them here to you. You would be trapped like a rat in a pen, dependent on their mercy."

I considered that for a moment. "No, I don't think he is," I said with surprising surety. If there was something I trusted about myself, it was my ability to read people. And while the Rat held an irritating level of confidence, he didn't strike me as two-faced. That was quite ironic, considering he was a thief who hid behind a mask. But I trusted my instincts around people. "He has reasons for recruiting me beyond my skills," I said, thinking back to our conversation. "But in the end, it doesn't matter. The Rat was right. I need information and I need backing. I can't go this alone."

I was surprised to feel Lady Dawn's hand brush my shoulder. It was gone in an instant, but I turned to the side. She was staring into the piercing scarlet eyes of the Vritra mosaic once again. "You are not alone in this, Contractor."

My next words caught in my throat, but my train of thought was interrupted by the Young Rat striding over. The Unseen vanished, taking Lady Dawn with it.

"So, it sounds like you managed to be a complication for the Joans after all," she said conversationally. She looked at the pew but wisely decided to keep standing. I wasn't sure it could hold both of our weights.

I took a deep breath, pushing down my reservations. I stood up, stretching to work out the aches in my back. "I think I ended up looking a lot more like a complication than I actually was," I said with mirthful amusement.

I ignored the images of men dying under my watch that pulsed under the surface. The truth was that more would've died if I hadn't helped at all, and I needed to grind that into my skull. I'd believe it eventually if I kept repeating that.

"Oh?" the Young Rat said, amused. "It sounds like they're blaming you for the failure of the entire thing, from what we've heard. Some little shield scampered back, claiming that right after you popped up, they got swamped by hundreds of hornets. Apparently, you drew another nest to the expedition."

I blinked. Meera? That bitch! "I am going to dump that woman back into the Clarwood Forest," I decided. Yeah, that'd be a fitting punishment. "See how she likes fighting her way out."

The Young Rat side-eyed me. "Have you ever actually stolen anything before?" she asked lightly.

I remembered one time when I was a child, stealing a candy bar from a grocery store. My parents had marched me right back to apologize to the minimum wage employee at the customer service desk.

I suddenly felt a lot more unsure about being a thief, especially because I never considered actually taking things from people.

Yeah, maybe a bit impulsive, I agreed with Lady Dawn.

"Well, I once stole a bit of food before I got my magic," I said honestly. I frowned. "Got caught, though."

"I'm not surprised," the Young Rat said. I think I would've felt good when somebody told me I didn't look like I'd make a good thief, but somehow this young woman said it like it was a character flaw. Should I be insulted or flattered? "You don't have the hands for it."

"Hands how?" I asked, confused. My hands were covered.

"They don't twitch whenever you see something expensive!" she said, as if that explained everything. "All those goons you clocked back in North Fiachra, and not once did you look at their jewels!"

Then she did something that honestly surprised me. She took off her mask. The woman had an attractive face, with inquisitive eyes and thin features. "I'm called Naereni outside work," she said, offering me a hand to shake. "It looks like you've been recruited."

I looked at the offered hand. The fact that the Young Rat–Naereni–had revealed her face to me cemented my guess that the Rat wasn't rushing off to turn me in. But then I also noticed an ever-so-subtle twitch of her hand, her eyes laying intently on my dimension ring.

I was not going to shake with the hand that was wearing my ring.

I took off my own mask, unfastening the clasps that wrapped around my head. I pulled it into my dimension rune, then offered my non-ring hand. "Toren," I said. "Though you already knew that."

Naereni seemed to pout when I offered the wrong hand, forcing her to change which hand she proffered before we shook. "You learn fast, at least," she said sullenly.

The axe wielder finally approached, his build noticeably bigger than either I or Naereni's. "I'm sorry on the Rat's behalf," the man said. I shook his hand as well, unsurprised by his sturdy grip. This man's eyes didn't wander to the jewelry I wore. "He can be… grating at times. But don't let him hear you say that. I'm called Hofal, by the way."

Under the mask, Hofal had thinning dark hair and rugged sideburns down the side of his face that weren't so easy to see with a cloak obscuring them. He lit another cigar as he continued. "If you want to get back at the man, call him Karsien when he returns." He puffed the smoke to the side. "He enjoys these skits too much. The rafters of this building are too old for him to be jumping around them. Any more, and he could've actually damaged the structure. Good architecture, this."

I raised a brow, a lot of my tension easing at last. "Does he do this often?" I said, gesturing to the altar. It was an obvious bit of showmanship in retrospect, one that didn't fail to impress. "I think that Basilisk was judging him worse than I ever could," I said with amusement, referencing the towering mosaic behind the altar. It felt so good to talk to people again.

"I personally think the Sovereigns encourage him," Naereni said, crossing her arms. "I don't know how else he could pull off the stunts he does without some sort of divine assistance."

"Stunts?" a voice said from directly behind Naereni. I jumped with a curse, getting ready to draw my dagger once more. Hofal groaned, but Naereni squeaked, whirling on her foot to face who had spoken.

The Rat stood there, shaking his head. He was still wrapped in mist. "I'm wounded, my dear protege. I think you're giving me a bad reputation with the new recruit."

I frowned, irritated that he had snuck up on me. Again. "I think the Rat is a lot more accurate than Karsien," I said, voicing my thoughts. "It fits you better."

Hofal puffed out a ring of smoke. "He's got a point, Kar."

The Rat–Karsien–rolled his eyes. "You'll never appreciate my genius." He waved a hand dismissively. "No matter! Well, we're going to our little Rat's Den, and it would be in your best interest to join us, my friend," he said, gesturing to me. The man hadn't unmasked yet.

A bit of unease pressed from my gut. "And why is that?"

"Because you managed to be spotted on the way over here, that's why. And it would be poor form to lose a new hire so soon after the interview."

I was beginning to realize that this man would drive me insane.