Immediately after I interfered, I vaguely regretted my decision. This man likely had no idea of our past encounter, and I could’ve just monitored the connection to make sure he didn’t pay attention to anything he shouldn’t. Now, however, I could see the man’s shock and confusion at the apparent evasion of his inspection. His expression shifted from exasperation to seriousness as he began to try again. I could tell from the sharp look in his expression and the subtle signal he gave the butler that the man was now on guard.
I carefully tracked what the man paid attention to as he felt the outer edges of my being and the construct that was the system. It’s hard to describe how the metaphysical inspection went, but it started at the surface of the general details that likely would’ve been sufficiently deep had I not alarmed the man, but soon he moved deeper to inspect my traits. That was a no-go zone for me. I broke the harmonization again, and this time, just as I was about to speak, the old man cried out first.
“It’s interfering! I only saw the surface, but its physique was only similar to a human!” The old man scrambled back while the butler immediately interposed himself between me and everyone else. I slowly raise my hands and carefully back away to try to deescalate the situation.
“I’m familiar with the nature harmonization skill. It’s important to my work as an enchanter. I instinctively resisted the unfamiliar use when he started, and when he started digging into personal secrets, I interfered. Let’s take a deep breath and calm down.” The inspector was taking none of it as he began screaming to kill the monster in human skin, and the butler seemed torn between the two of us. However, the shouts immediately went quiet as the massive form of the lord entered the room and separated the two of us.
“Inspector Nalen, leave immediately.” The deep voice of Lord Meccas rumbled menacingly. The man let out a shrill screech as he scrambled out from the room and likely left the castle entirely. I felt the hairs of my arms rise in alert as the man turned towards me.
“Prove you are not a body snatcher.” The pressure of his command fell down on me like a tide, and my mouth was already opening to spout out the first thought that came to mind regarding proof.
“I have a twin soulbond with my sister. Both Hew and Callia can vouch for it.” His gaze shifts over to the others, leveling an equally commanding gaze, and they both nod eagerly in agreement. The lord’s attention shifts back to me, and the weight seems lighter but still very intimidating.
“For the duration of your stay in my city, you will reside in the guest quarters of my keep. Should you need to visit the city for any business or decide to continue your journey, you will request an escort.” With the statement finished, the lord turned and left the room, leaving the butler to handle the follow-up. I heaved a sigh of relief the moment the man had left. The butler led us into the guest quarters, and everyone just waited briefly in silence, digesting how badly that encounter could have gone.
Now that the moment has passed, I can feel Callia’s interest in what had triggered my hostility to the inspector. Out loud I vaguely explained the nature of the inspection and what had happened to the mayor, while internally I shared what I had remembered about the inspector with Callia. Hew and the guard team seemed sufficiently satisfied with my explanation about the old man digging for secrets I would rather not share, and Callia was quietly fuming at the realization of who that man was. Honestly, now that some time had passed and the heat of the moment was gone, my temper had died down, and I was ready to leave the whole matter behind.
I had more pressing concerns to deal with. Making myself a new arm was something I definitely wanted to get done before we moved on to the next town. While casting magic didn’t need hands, I wanted every advantage I could get to even the odds between us and whatever Lexia had become. Just in case she wanted to finish what she started.
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Conveniently the castle was stocked with just about any fundamental tool I could ask for, and I still had plenty of materials leftover from fighting the bird. An arm similar to the leg I made for Philip was in order. I would almost assuredly redo the whole prosthetic when we got back home. I already had new ideas involving artificial blood veins, different enchantments, and even experimenting with Callia’s growth affinity to see if there might be a more effective solution. However, out here I would have to settle for something less experimental.
It’s probably not much of a shock, more of a realization of just how much having two hands can make a difference when trying to hold metal to hammer or when holding the eagle bones still so I can engrave them. Luckily Sis was keen to help me this time. With her holding the parts in place and with considerable adjustment on my approach, it was just barely manageable. I went into the project expecting at most a couple days, but trying to carve out fingers on an unfamiliar material (eagle bone) with only one hand and an assistant to hold it in place was a real pain.
As the third day came to an end, my arm was finally done. However, another issue came up. I didn’t have Nightshade's enchantment to measure our stat capacity anymore. It had been around the wrist of the arm that I lost. My last check had maybe 40 points from reaching our mutual capacity, so this week and next week we were safe to add stats, but every point beyond that would put us at risk of whatever danger overflow might cause.
I sigh in frustration as I stretch out my prosthetic and adjust to the lack of sensory feedback. It was easy enough to tell if I hit something since it would jostle my whole arm, but fine control was something I would definitely need practice for. I did, however, add an enchantment I was excited to try out. Callia cooperated long enough for me to engrave her supernatural grip skill into the enchantment. I had super sticky fingers on demand!
The lord, despite the instinctive feeling of danger he gave by his sheer presence, proved that everything the maid had told us about him was right. His words tended to be read as something bad, but his actions definitely showed a great deal of care for his people. Ever since our warning, the man had spent frequent hours out on patrols inspecting both the town and the nearby forest. He had teams led by knights sent to the neighboring towns to alert them, and despite how much trouble we caused him, he and his staff treated us with respect throughout the duration of our stay. If Port Town was ever lost and unrecoverable, I could easily see myself moving here.
Still, it was time to move on. We had a capital to visit and a home to return to, preferably sooner than later. I waved back with my artificial hand towards the new friends we had made among the castle staff and set off on our way. Our next stop would be the first town alongside the Great River. Personally I was a bit excited to see what the river that shielded humanity looked like.
Grudge
Nalen left Lord Mecca's castle, his face burning with rage. He had done just as the man had requested, but that didn’t satisfy him. No, the lord was never satisfied with his work, always telling him to leave and never appreciating or acknowledging everything he had brought to this dingy backwater.
Nalen had grown up in the capital and was trained by an elvish inspector but had offended a noble and was banished to the frontier as a result. When he originally reached the frontier, he visited most of the major cities. He paid for his passage by offering inspections to the heirs to determine what skills the child had picked up early on. Early skills often reflected aptitude and talent, but babies didn’t know how to share a status, so it was hard to determine what activities should be encouraged.
Nalen eventually settled in Meccas city where the lord was less overbearing on a rare talent such as himself. Several years ago he had a close call in which a number of dwarven patrons whom he sold information about the talented children of Meccas resulted in a massive raid that almost implicated him. Ever since the survivors of the raid had slowly recovered and resumed their research. Nalen wasn’t inclined to alert the lord because most of his luxuries were paid for by his side business of selling secrets.
The day following his humiliating dismissal, he found out the lord was sheltering not just the half-human byproducts of experimentation but had disregarded his warnings about the boy. Quietly he contacted the dwarven researchers and sold information about Callen, who was a traveler that nobody would notice disappearing before reaching the neighboring town. The dwarves seemed strangely excited to meet a natural half-breed instead of the byproduct of their research. Nalen, along with the dwarves, waited in their hideout, eagerly awaiting the capture of Callen.
