"Please, get out." He said after a while. "I already know your sll and your presence just makes things harder for ."
'I will sll this stuff in my nightmares!' Protector inwardly added.
"Fine, but don't go snooping in my drawers. I an it." She grunted and left, making him wonder what she could possibly hide.
The lingering scents in the room were still strong but at least now Ryman could perceive even the subtle difference between the bundles of the sa herb based on their drying stages and sniff around for anomalies.
'The good thing about this situation is that any musky or manly sll will stick out like a sore thumb.' He thought, moving toward his best shot: the laundry basket. 'Damn, Jinx is no slob. Nothing here is older than a day or two.
'I have only one arrow left in my quiver.'
As a married man, Protector knew that socks were the most common piece of clothing to end up in the wrong drawer when living with a woman. Selia wore his shirts as dresses and if she ever fit in his pants, she would cry for days.
Many tis he had put on a pair of clean socks thinking it was one of his own just to find it too small. Then, he would just put the sock in Selia's drawer and make no ntion of it.
'Let's hope this doesn't count as snooping. Whatever Jinx is hiding, I don't want to see it.' The gods smiled on Protector and he found the sock drawer on his second try.
All of them slled clean but one. It had the strong scent of a Rezar and had clearly been used for a few days.
'Why did he put it here instead of the basket? This makes no sense unless…' Ryman morized Salmar's sll and examined the soft fabric, confirming his suspicions. 'He borrowed a pair of comfy socks and made a hole with his toe.
'The dear old "The moths did it" trick, hoping she doesn't find them long enough to give you plausible deniability. Sotis laziness pays off.'
After he was done, he cleansed the sock with darkness magic and shoved it in the back of Jinx's drawer to give Salman more plausible deniability.
'I have your back, brother.' Ryman then took a clean sock of the Rezar to show it as his prize.
"I have what we need." He said, patting his breast pocket. "What's our next move?"
"We keep looking, of course." Lith said. "Deception and misdirection. We must appear as clueless as our competition. Friya, Nalrond, and Protector. You scour the village borders for snails, rainbows, unicorns, whatever you want.
"The important is that you look busy and can sell it. Solus, with ."
"Where are we going?" She asked with a puzzled expression on her face.
"To the nearest city to look for refugees and issue an arrest warrant for anyone matching Salman's description." He replied. "I must use my connections in the Kingdom or the other Awakened will understand we are on to sothing."
"Isn't it a waste of ti?" She asked.
"That's the point." He shrugged. "Our intentions would be obvious if we left imdiately after our arrival. The other apprentices, even those who don't care about the Rezar, are still here. Do you know why?"
"Because their masters would punish them if they returned empty-han- Oh." She said in realization. "They are putting up a front so that once they return ho, they can say they've tried."
"Correct." Lith left Jinx's house and Solus followed him.
They took flight and reached Leylis, the nearest city, in less than an hour. No one followed them but, right after leaving the local constable office, the Eyes of nadion spotted several familiar energy signatures.
Most of them wore cloaking items but Lith had examined his competition back in Gabash and once the apprentices moved close enough, the Eyes pinpointed them anyway. The Awakened changed their appearance with Body Sculpting and hid amid the crowd but all those precautions were pointless against the Eyes.
Lith had set the artifact to scan solely for known energy signatures and ignore everything else. It gave Lith and Solus no headache while they walked around Leylis and acted as an alarm.
They talked with the local guards and visited all the places in the slums where soone who didn't want to be found might hide. They gained nothing from the trip and made sure their tail heard how frustrated they were.
"How long do we have to fool around until we can tell Faluel to fuck off without being rude?" Lith asked while looking for the mysterious Rezar at the bottom of a mug of a good Maekosh ale.
"A couple of days. Minimum." Solus sighed heavily and Lith groaned in reply. "I know this is a waste of ti, Lith, but this is how you keep good relationships in the Council. Thank the gods the mission didn't co from the Overlord or we'd have to travel around for at least a month."
Her alias was from the Desert and a quick call to Salaark had told them everything a local was supposed to know.
"You know what?" Lith grunted. "Here's how we'll play this out. Tomorrow, we find a lead, follow it to the nearest hotel worth its na, and keep looking until we are tired of room service. Deal?"
"Deal." Solus nodded.
'Seems that Supre Magus Verhen isn't as skilled as the rumors say.' Shala sneered from a corner table of the tavern. 'I have to admit I like how he thinks, though. That's my kind of plan.'
"Faluel should have paid sothing for our trouble." Lith sounded annoyed. "I don't like working for free. On top of that, what are the chances that a legendary creature no one has seen in a thousand years popped out in the middle of nowhere?
"About the sa as finding Grandma Ripha's tower." Solus replied.
"Are you sure your ancestor has no clue about her tower?" Lith asked. "None at all?"
"So she says." Solus shrugged. "Let's be honest, either soone found the tower already or it has turned into dust. Artifacts don't last that long without an owner. Either way, it's lost to us."
"I couldn't defeat ln and his knock-off mage tower. I would have no chance against a real mage with a real tower." Lith admitted bitterly.
"You and the Council both." Solus patted his shoulder to cheer him up. "Numbers and talent don't matter when fighting a mage inside his tower. The only outco is death."
***
Lith and Solus returned to Gabash after wasting the rest of the daylight in the tavern and complaining loudly enough to be heard. Protector and the others searched thoroughly every nook and cranny of the village's surroundings and found exactly what they were looking for.
Nothing.
It was hard for them to act whiny and incompetent but they did their best.
Jinx proved herself at dinner, cooking a small feast that was t with everyone's approval.
"Are the apprentices still watching us?" Nalrond asked while taking seconds of a delicious stew.
"They take turns, but yes." Lith nodded.
That night they slept well knowing the Awakened apprentices were still outside, wasting their ti and energy.
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