[Bonus chapter] Unholy Transmutation - Part 1

Ratko eyed the young man before him. He couldn't have been but twenty-three winters, and he had this perturbing habit of flashing others with a dorky grin whenever he crossed their gaze. And it was starkly obvious he had no official training. Even now, as he sat on the other side of Ratko's desk, his posture relaxed into a light slouch, his eyes wandering whenever there was a break in what might as well have been an interrogation.

"You don't have Medeni's features."

"Ah," the kid exhaled, bringing a hand up to rub the back of his head. "Well, yeah, I take after my father."

"And he was Krovic?"

If he wasn't Krovic, they'd have a serious issue. The last thing Castle Mechi needed was more golden, Casterian blood in residence. And the last thing Ratko needed was to be mopping up the dead bits of this kid that Rostya hadn't a taste for.

"Yes sir," Maksim assured, straightening a bit. "Trofim Artemova. From Province Tomiti, hence the..."