Gathering Husbands with a System in a Game Like World [BL]

Elias dropped from the window into the narrow alley and kept walking without looking back. The morning air in Voltra already carried the mixed smells of spice, smoke, and too many people living too close together.

He moved like a man with nowhere important to be, hands in his pockets, pace easy. Only the occasional shift of his eyes showed he was counting exits and watching reflections.

The place he needed to find sat under a collapsed laundry house in the lower mercantile district. Most people walked past the boarded entrance without a second glance. Elias stepped through a gap in the boards, descended a short flight of damp stone steps, and knocked twice on a door that looked like it belonged on a ship rather than under a city.

A slot scraped open. Beady black eyes stared out.

”Password.”

”There is no password. You just like saying that.”

The slot slammed shut. Locks turned. The door opened on a low-ceilinged room packed with shelves, drawers, and hanging nets, half-finished masks filled every surface. Behind the main counter stood a creature that looked like a bipedal rodent stretched into rough human shape. Coarse brown fur covered his arms and neck. His nose was long and constantly twitching. Two large front teeth showed when he spoke. His voice came out low and growling, like the sound of gravel dragged over a wood.

”Well look who it is.”

Elias grinned.

”Friday, my man.”

Friday’s whiskers flicked.

”You can have ten thousand disguises but I would still know that annoying scent of yours.”

”Always the same way with you. Nothing gets past you, fucker.”

They stepped in at the same time and shared a brief, rough hug that was more shoulder-checking than affection. When they pulled apart Friday already had his arms folded.

”So. Tell me what brings you here. You only come to see me when you need something. What is it this time?”

Elias put a hand over his heart in mock offense.

”Ah, come on. That is not true.”

Friday stared at him until Elias dropped the act. The rodent-man sighed, the sound long and tired.

”What do you need, Elias.”

Elias’s smile turned thinner, more honest.

”I am looking for something for my disguise. I want to perfect a look.”

Friday barked a short laugh.

”Heh. The master assassin is having trouble with disguises. What a joke.”

”You know... you are right. So can I have something?”

Friday studied him for another second, then turned and disappeared into the back of the shop. Elias rested an elbow on the counter and looked around while he waited. The place never changed. Same oil lamps. Same smell of old glue, fur, and metal polish. Same feeling that every item on the shelves had already been used to commit at least one crime.

Friday returned with a plain silver ring held between two clawed fingers. He set it on the counter.

”That will be fifty gold coins.”

Elias picked it up and turned it toward the light. The metal looked ordinary. It was not.

”Ah, come on. I always pay you back.”

”No. You do not.”

The words sat between them without heat. Friday’s black eyes stayed steady. Elias’s mouth twisted in something closer to a real smile.

”Still keeping count?”

”Someone has to.” Friday leaned his weight on the counter. ”You disappear for months. Then you show up needing a miracle and expecting credit. One day that habit will get you killed.”

”Not today.”

”You always say that.”

Elias rolled the ring across his knuckles.

”How does it work?”

”Put it on. Hold the face you want in your mind. Clear picture, no doubts. The ring does the rest. It will hold until you take it off or the mana runs dry. Should last you two full days if you do not waste it on party tricks.”

”Good enough.”

Friday’s whiskers twitched.

”You in trouble?”

”When am I not?”

”Worse than usual?”

Elias slipped the ring into his pocket and did not answer directly. Instead he reached into his coat and counted out twenty gold coins, stacking them neatly on the wood.

”Partial payment. I will get you the rest next time.”

Friday looked at the coins, then at Elias.

”You said that the last three times.”

”And I am still alive to say it again.” Elias’s voice dropped into something quieter. ”Take care of yourself, Friday. This city is getting uglier.”

”It was always ugly. You just notice it more when you have something to lose.” Friday swept the coins into a drawer. ”Go perfect your face. And try not to die before you pay me the other thirty.”

Elias gave him a two-fingered salute and headed for the door.

”No promises.”

”Get out of my shop.”

Elias climbed back into the daylight with the ring secure in his pocket. The streets had grown busier. He walked without hurry, letting the crowd close around him.

Then suddenly, about three blocks later the feeling arrived; the light pressure of eyes that did not belong to an ordinary pedestrian. The feeling of being watched.

”Hmmm...”

Elias smiled to himself.

He kept walking another twenty steps, turned into a narrower lane, and then moved.

One instant he was in the middle of the lane. The next he stood behind a tall figure in a long coat who had been watching from the shadow of a side arch. Grey skin. Red hair. Single horn. Night-blue eyes that showed no surprise at all.

Nox Ravish turned his head just enough to look at him over one shoulder.

”Hello, Elias.”

Elias’s smile widened a fraction.

”You know my name. That saves time.”

Nox’s expression remained calm, almost polite.

”ofcourse i would ”

”Flattering.” Elias tilted his head. ”You have been following me and my friends.”

”I have been following a trail. You and your friends happen to be at the end of it.”

The two men stood a few paces apart in the narrow lane. Neither reached for a weapon. Neither needed to. The air between them already carried the quiet understanding that both were capable of ending the conversation permanently if they chose.

Elias slipped his hands into his pockets, fingers brushing the new ring.

”What do you want?”

Nox’s night-blue eyes stayed steady.

”Answers. A destroyed warehouse. Corrupted beasts. A beast that should not exist inside city limits. And three people who walked away from it unharmed. I was hired to understand what happened and You are part of that understanding.”

”I am also busy.”

”I can see that.” Nox’s gaze flicked briefly to Elias’s pocket, then back to his face. ”Disguise work. An auction, perhaps.”

Elias’s smile did not change, but something colder settled behind his eyes.

”You are well informed for a man who only started looking yesterday.”

”I work quickly.”

A cart rattled past the mouth of the lane. Neither man looked away from the other. When the noise faded Nox spoke again, voice still even.

”I am not your enemy yet. I am simply doing the job I was paid to do. If your business tonight does not create another crater in my city, we may not need to have a harder conversation later.”

Elias studied him for a long moment.

”And if it does?”

Nox’s mouth curved in the smallest suggestion of a smile.

”Then I will find you again. You already know I can.”

Elias laughed once, low and genuine.

”I think I might end up liking you. That is inconvenient.”

”lets hope you don’t ”

Elias took one step back, then another, still facing the demon.

”Stay out of the way tonight. For your own sake.”

”I will be where the truth is,” Nox replied. ”Wherever that happens to lead.”

Elias turned and walked out of the lane without further comment. He did not look back. Behind him he felt the weight of those night-blue eyes until he turned the corner and let the crowd swallow him again.

In his pocket the illusory ring sat cool against his fingers. He already held the memory of Gorran’s face clear in his mind. By the time he reached the rented room again the disguise would be perfect.