Blood Magus

Chapter 59

Down in his base, Zeth spoke to Astrys.

After giving her precise orders on how he wanted her to move, he nodded. “So, those are your orders. Go up into the forest,

When she knocked on her first door once she left the tavern, finding an older balding man opening the door, she immediately went into her speech, having spoken it so many times by now it had almost become rehearsed.

“Excuse me, sir. I am an adventurer from out of town, and after coming here, I made a horrifying discovery. There is a cabal of Blood Mages operating underneath your town, and they have amassed a large amount of power. It is possible they may even have a hand influencing various governmental institutions. Please, I urge you to—”

The man chuckled. “Well, that makes sense.”

She blinked surprised at his response. Normally, people shut their doors in her face at what she’d just said, muttering about how annoying it was to be bothered by crazy foreigners in the middle of the night. Or, at the very least, if they believed her, they’d look horrified. But this man, what had he said? “Excuse me? It makes sense?”

“Well, considering the news, y’know? Makes sense that’s what’s going on. I was confused there for a minute.”

“Confused about what? What news?”

“You haven’t heard? I guess I only saw them a few minutes ago. Inquisitors have come to town.”

Rosalie’s heart dropped. “They’re already on their way?”

“They’re already Saw a squad of them marching around the streets when I was getting dressed to head into the mines. Then you showed up. Thought it makes sense they’d call in the Inquisitors so fast, if what you’re talking about is true.”

“That makes no sense. How did they arrive so quickly? Did they fly in? Or teleport?”

He shrugged. “Hope they clear out that bandit camp you were talking about, or whatever it was. Anyway, gotta eat or I’ll be late.”

Before Rosalie could correct him and remind him of how serious this was, he shut the door.

She turned around to face the street, and that was when she heard it. Synchronized footsteps—metal boots on cobblestone road. As she stared ahead, a whole squad appeared in her vision, walking perfectly side-by-side, like they were mere golems being controlled by a Skill. And the perfectly identical uniforms they wore, covering every bit of their skin from head to toe, certainly didn’t help with their inhuman looks.

Inquisitors. A lot of them. And from the looks of them, they were busy.

Rosalie thought.