Beast Devourer: I Grow Stronger by Eating Monsters

Too slowly.

Raven recognized danger.

”What?”

”Nothing.”

”That expression always means something.”

Valeria’s smile remained.

”I just remembered House Helmont is hosting a private reception tonight.”

Raven waited.

”Why do you know that?”

”Because I received an invitation this morning.”

”When?”

”While you were arguing with a merchant about why everything has a price.”

”Everything has a price.”

”Except, apparently, your license.”

Raven ignored that.

”You can get in?”

”Naturally.”

”Then we go.”

Valeria didn’t answer immediately.

That was the second warning.

Raven looked at her.

”What?”

”It isn’t simply a dinner.”

”What is it?”

”Helmont is negotiating several mining concessions and strategic-material contracts this week. The reception is where the important conversations happen before anyone signs anything publicly.”

That was better.

”Edric Helmont will be there?”

”Yes.”

”Then we definitely go.”

Valeria kept smiling.

Raven narrowed his eyes.

”There’s more.”

”There is.”

”Say it.”

”Representatives from most of the companies involved in restricted-material production will also be there.”

”Keller Mining?”

”Yes.”

That mattered.

Transfer Station Four had fallen less than a day ago.

If Keller Mining already knew, Raven could walk directly into a room with people trying to determine who had destroyed one of their operations.

Valeria continued.

”And House Orbrecht has a delegation attending.”

Raven stopped walking.

There it was.

”The same House currently interfering with my license.”

”Yes.”

”The House investigating Cassian’s death.”

”Yes.”

”And you waited until now to mention that.”

”I only received the confirmed guest list an hour ago.”

”That was an hour in which this information existed.”

”You were busy discovering that bureaucracy is stronger than you.”

Raven ignored the insult because the tactical problem was more interesting.

”So Edric Helmont will be there. Keller representatives will be there. Orbrecht will be there.”

”And several people capable of authorizing your Black Mithril purchase.”

Raven considered it.

That wasn’t a reception.

It was a room containing his objective, one probable enemy, one confirmed political obstacle, and several people who could become either.

Much more familiar.

”We’re going.”

Valeria blinked.

”That was faster than expected.”

”You should have led with the dangerous part.”

”I was trying to.”

”You started with reception.”

”Most people consider entering a room full of hostile nobles dangerous.”

”Most people haven’t fought a Broodmother.”

”That comparison explains several things about you.”

Raven started walking again.

Valeria followed.

”There is another problem.”

He stopped for the second time.

”You’re enjoying this.”

”A little.”

”What problem?”

”My invitation allows one companion.”

”Then I’m your companion.”

”Yes.”

Raven waited.

Valeria did not continue.

That smile returned.

”No.”

”I haven’t said anything.”

”You’re about to.”

”The identity of my companion matters.”

”I’m your bodyguard.”

Valeria shook her head.

”That puts you against a wall with the other guards while I attend the conversations you actually need.”

”Hired mercenary.”

”Worse. Helmont employs mercenaries constantly. You become invisible.”

”Business partner.”

”Too easy to investigate. And if Keller has already learned what happened at Station Four, the last thing we want is someone checking your commercial history.”

Raven considered that.

”Adviser.”

”No recognized expertise.”

”I have expertise.”

”In killing things.”

”That has commercial applications.”

”Not the kind Helmont lists on invitations.”

Raven’s patience thinned.

”Then invent something.”

Her smile widened.

”I already did.”

Raven stared at her.

”I don’t like that smile.”

”That’s because you’re learning.”

”Valeria.”

She stepped closer.

”My partner.”

Raven remained silent.

Then:

”No.”

Valeria laughed.

”I haven’t explained it.”

”I don’t need you to.”

”Apparently you do.”

Raven resumed walking.

She matched his pace.

”Listen before refusing.”

”No.”

”Raven.”

”You’re going to say that if I enter as your partner, I won’t be treated as hired help. They’ll assume my presence has von Nacht protection, I’ll be allowed into the same conversations, and instead of asking why a foreign mercenary is standing beside you, they’ll ask why you chose him.”

Valeria went quiet.

Raven looked at her.

”Did I miss anything?”

”I was looking forward to explaining it.”

”Then no.”

”You also missed the dangerous part.”

Raven stopped again.

Valeria looked far too pleased with herself.

”Of course there’s a dangerous part.”

”If you enter beside me as my partner, Orbrecht won’t see an independent mercenary anymore.”

Raven understood immediately.

”They’ll see von Nacht protecting me.”

”Possibly.”

”Which turns Cassian’s death from an inconvenient incident into something between Houses.”

”Potentially.”

”And if Helmont believes it?”

”They become much more interested in you.”

”That part sounds useful.”

”It is.”

”And Keller?”

”If anyone there is connected to Station Four, they’ll have to decide whether approaching you risks involving my House.”

Raven considered the angles.

It gave him status.

Protection.

Access.

It also painted a larger target on him and attached Valeria’s family name to whatever he did inside.

”You’re using your House as armor.”

”Temporarily.”

”Without asking them.”

Valeria smiled.

”Now you understand why I didn’t lead with that part.”

Raven looked toward the noble district.

He didn’t like the plan.

That usually meant it was effective.

”What happens if Orbrecht challenges the implication?”

”Then I smile and refuse to clarify anything.”

”That works?”

”With nobles? Ambiguity is practically a weapon.”

Raven thought about that.

”I prefer knives.”

”I know.”

”And what do you tell Helmont when they ask who I am?”

”Enough truth to make lying unnecessary.”

”That sounds dangerous.”

”Foreigner. Awakened. Mercenary. You arrived in Asteria recently and have already killed creatures well above your Level. You travel with me. Greyhaven knows your name. House Orbrecht is interested in you. And now you’re seeking access to strategic materials.”

”That makes me sound suspicious.”

”It makes you sound valuable.”

”Those are often the same thing.”

”Exactly.”

Raven looked toward the mansions above the city.

”I’m not noble.”

”Tonight, that may actually help.”

”Explain.”

”If you were from another House, everyone would already know where your loyalties belong. You’re not.”

”So they won’t know what I want.”

”They’ll know you’re close enough to me to enter on my arm and important enough that Orbrecht is already applying pressure.”

Valeria smiled.

”They’ll spend the entire evening trying to determine what they missed.”

Raven considered it.

That was infiltration.

Not through shadows.

Through curiosity.

He disliked that less.

”So the plan is to walk into a room with Helmont, Orbrecht, possibly Keller, and several people controlling the material I need, then deliberately make them interested in me.”

”Yes.”

”And we’re doing that while pretending to be romantically involved.”

”Yes.”

”That seems unnecessarily dangerous.”

Valeria’s smile became brighter.

”Now you understand noble society.”

Roland reacted worse than expected.

”You’re going to what?”

Raven placed the rejected licensing forms on the table.

”A reception.”

”I understood that part.”

Roland pointed toward Valeria.

”I meant the other part.”

Valeria was examining one of her dresses across the bed in her room.

”He’s accompanying me.”

”As your...”

Roland wisely stopped.

Raven looked at him.

”Don’t.”

”I didn’t say anything.”

”You were about to.”

”We’re all thinking it.”

Valeria smiled without looking away from the dress.

”I don’t understand why everyone finds this so complicated.”

Raven opened one of the stolen Keller Mining documents.

”Because it creates unnecessary variables.”

”It solves more than it creates.”

”It potentially puts your House into a political dispute.”

”Only if someone is foolish enough to force me to define our relationship publicly.”

Roland looked between them.

”That sentence somehow made this worse.”

Raven agreed.

”I can enter as an adviser.”

”No one will let you near Helmont.”

”Then I find another entrance.”

”And waste a legitimate invitation because your personality has an allergic reaction to pretending you like someone.”

Raven looked up.

”I like you.”

Silence.

Roland slowly turned toward him.

Valeria stopped moving the dress.

Raven understood too late.

”That does not mean what both of you are making it mean.”

Roland raised his hands.

”I did nothing.”

Valeria turned around.

Her smile was smaller now.

”You like me?”

Raven frowned.

”We’ve been traveling together for weeks.”

”That wasn’t an answer.”

”Yes, it was.”

”I’d like to hear it again.”

”No.”

”Then I’ll preserve it as a unique historical event.”

Raven returned to the documents.

”This operation is deteriorating.”

”I think it’s improving.”

Valeria crossed to a suitcase they had purchased shortly after arriving in Dunvar and pulled out a dark bundle wrapped in cloth.

Raven looked at it.

Then back at the ledger.

”No.”

”You haven’t even seen it.”

”It’s formal clothing.”

”Yes.”

”Then I’ve seen enough.”

She unfolded it.

A long black coat, dark gray shirt, matching trousers, and restrained silver detailing.

Nothing extravagant.

That made it worse.

It looked like it had been chosen specifically for him.

Raven looked at Valeria.

”When did you buy that?”

”While you were trying to convince the third merchant that regulations were negotiable.”

”That took forty minutes.”

”I have experience buying clothes.”

Roland inspected the coat.

”It’s good.”

Raven looked at him.

”Don’t help.”

”I’m only saying it’s good.”

Valeria held the clothes out.

Raven didn’t take them.

She waited.

”You’re going to need these.”

”I can wear this.”

He indicated his travel coat.

Valeria examined the dust, the repaired shoulder, two bloodstains that had never fully washed out, and a claw tear from several weeks earlier.

”Of course. Walking into a private Helmont reception dressed as though you buried someone on the way there will create exactly the impression we need.”

”I didn’t bury anyone today.”

Roland looked at him.

”Why did you add today?”

”That doesn’t help,” Valeria said.

Raven finally took the clothes.

She smiled.

”Excellent.”

”This still doesn’t make us a couple.”

”For several hours, it does.”

”No.”

”You’ve used false identities before.”

Raven stopped.

She had done that deliberately.

”That was low.”

”It worked.”

He looked down at the coat.

Black Hound had demanded worse performances.

He had entered embassies under false identities, fabricated alliances, accompanied targets, and pretended to belong in places where discovery meant execution.

Pretending to be close to one arrogant noblewoman should have been easy.

The irritating part was that he would barely need to pretend about the closeness.

”I need everything you know about Helmont before we enter.”

Valeria smiled.

”There it is.”

”What?”

”The moment you stopped asking whether you were going and started planning how to survive it.”

Raven didn’t answer.

She was right.

That made it worse.

”I need Edric’s priorities, who competes with him, who controls strategic-material authorization, which Keller representatives are attending, and whatever you know about the Orbrecht delegation.”

Valeria’s amusement faded slightly.

Now they were planning an operation.

”I can give you most of that.”

”Most?”

”I don’t know which Orbrecht representative arrived. Only that their delegation confirmed attendance this afternoon.”

”So we identify them inside.”

”Yes.”

”And if Keller recognizes the Station Four documents?”

”We don’t carry them.”

”If they recognize me?”

”They shouldn’t.”

”Shouldn’t isn’t useful.”

Valeria considered that.

”Then we assume someone might.”

Better.

Raven looked at the invitation lying on the desk.

A room full of nobles suddenly seemed much less ridiculous.

One man could give him legal access to high-purity Black Mithril.

Another faction wanted to obstruct him because Cassian Orbrecht was dead.

Someone connected to Keller Mining might know that Transfer Station Four had been compromised.

And Raven was going to enter openly, beside Valeria, under an implication neither of them intended to explain.

That was sufficiently dangerous to feel familiar.

Valeria pointed toward the formal clothes.

”Good. Now that you’re treating this like an operation, there’s one final skill you need.”

Raven picked up the coat.

”If you say etiquette, I’m going back to the forest.”

”Dancing.”

Raven went still.

Roland started laughing.

Valeria was enjoying this far too much.

”You expect me to dance while watching Helmont, Orbrecht, and Keller?”

”Yes.”

”That reduces situational awareness.”

”It also stops everyone from realizing you’re watching Helmont, Orbrecht, and Keller.”

Raven looked toward the door.

Then the window.

He calculated roughly how long it would take to leave Dunvar and return somewhere the problems had teeth.

”I can still go back to the forest.”

Valeria smiled.

”Not before you learn how to dance.”