Just because Spirit Merchants claimed to be neutral didn't mean they were safe from the Spirit Hunters.
In reality, they were the first people the Order squeezed when an investigation hit a wall.
Right now, Old Man Russ was finding out just how tight that squeeze could be.
"Do you recognize this?" Edith asked, her voice dropping as she held out the leaf-shaped artifact.
Russ narrowed his eyes, leaning back into his driftwood chair.
He put on a great show of squinting at it, pretending it was the first time he'd ever seen the oily red light it emitted.
He had to.
A cursed artifact designed to hollow out a man's free will and turn him into a meat-puppet wasn't exactly a legal trade item.
"It might not be mine. I hardly recognize the shape," Russ said, his voice a raspy drawl. "But then again, in this business, everything looks like everything else after a while. Could be mine. Could be the fellow's next door."
"I'm not here to play games, old man," Edith snapped, her white eyes fixing on his face with terrifying precision. "My spirit compass pointed directly at your heart. This rot belongs to you."
Russ smiled, revealing a row of crooked, yellowing teeth. "It pointed at me? So what? A compass is a fickle thing, lady. It doesn't mean the artifact is mine."
"Do I look stupid to you?"
"No, you certainly don't. What I'm saying is that your little toy isn't evidence. If you can make that compass talk, make it testify in a court, then you've got something. Until then, a needle pointing at me is just a needle pointing at an old man."
What a weak-ass defense, Lou thought, shifting his weight. The guy is sweating through his beard.
If Russ was the one who supplied Debra with the hex, he was the bridge to the Noah Dann Cult. But Lou could tell the merchant wasn't going to squeal just because he was asked nicely.
There were only two ways this ended: Edith either used some genius psychological trick to break him, or she went the old-fashioned route.
He studied Russ's soul signature. Hmm. Deep orange aura, jagged edges. He's likely a Grade Four awakened. Edith is a Grade Two, but she's a Seer, not a brawler. And me? I'm basically a glorified observer.
Things escalated faster than Lou expected. Edith wasn't interested in diplomacy.
"This thing belongs to you," Edith said. "If you won't admit it, I'll pull the truth out of your throat."
Russ's grin widened. "You and the boy are clearly Seers. I don't see a Combat-type anywhere in this stall. You might want to go fetch some backup, blind lady, before you get hurt."
"The two of us are more than enough," Edith replied.
The two of us? Lou's eyes widened. Hey, don't drag me into your combat-stats fantasy!You are the one who chose violence!
"You are going to tell me exactly what you know about the Noah Dann Cult," Edith commanded.
The grin on Russ's face died.
The mention of the name seemed to turn the air in the stall to ice.
"You shouldn't have said that name, Hunter," Russ hissed.
Russ knew the name. That confirmed it.
"What do you know about the Noah Dann Cult? I will not ask again," Edith said. Her voice was flat.
"I'm not telling you a thing," Russ spat, leaning over his counter. He looked around at the growing crowd of shady onlookers. "You really going to start trouble in a place like this, Hunter? A place full of awakened? You never know who's allied with who."
Edith's black lips curled into a cold smile. "I'll take my chances."
She didn't ask again.
In a blur of motion that Lou's eyes could barely track, she covered the space between them. Russ's guard came up a second too late.
His hands were sluggish compared to Edith's fist, which was suddenly encased in a shimmering, violet spirit energy.
The blow connected cleanly with the old man's jaw. The sound of the impact was like a wet crack, sending Russ off his feet and crashing through his own stall into the neighbor's display of dream-root.
What the hell? Lou's mind raced. Is she both a Seer and a Combat-type? Did she actually master two techniques despite the ninety-five percent failure rate?
The market erupted into an uproar.
"What happened?" someone shouted from the back.
"A blind granny just punched the shit out of Old Russ!" another answered, sounding more impressed than shocked.
"Did the old guy scam her again?"
"He never learns."
Given how thin the old man looked, Lou half-expected him to be dead. But Edith needed answers, so she'd clearly pulled the punch just enough to keep his heart beating.
Sure enough, Russ crawled out from the debris, spitting a mixture of blood and broken teeth. He started laughing making a jagged, wet sound.
"Hahaha! Nice punch, lady. You're too good for a Seer," Russ rasped, flexing his neck until it popped. "Seems like you're burning through your reserves to physically enhance your body. Clever trick for a blind woman. But how long can you last before you run out of energy, Seer?"
So that's it, Lou realized. She didn't master a second technique. She's just burning her raw spirit energy to brute-force her physical stats to superhuman levels. Can I do that too?
His analysis was cut short by a cold prickle at the back of his neck.
"That's the boy who came with the blind lady," a voice whispered nearby. "Let's take him instead. Russ is fighting a suicidal battle."
Lou tilted his head, scanning the crowd. The voices belonged to a pair of thugs weaving through the mist toward him: a girl with short raven hair and sharp green eyes, and a bald, shirtless man whose muscles looked like coiled cables.
Are they working with Russ, or just looking for an easy target while the Captain is busy?
He glanced back at Edith. She was focused entirely on Russ, who was now on his knees with one hand pressed firmly against the stone floor, his eyes closed in concentration.
"Earth Mover!" Russ roared with a bloody grin.
At first, Lou saw nothing.
But then, in the blink of an eye, the space distorted. Edith, who had been standing five feet in front of Russ, was suddenly standing inches behind him. Russ swung a fist charged with sickly green energy toward her face, but it was as if she'd known exactly where she was going to land.
Before his punch could connect, Edith's fist came up from underneath, slamming into Russ's stomach and launching him into the air once again. The crowd roared with cheers.
What just happened? Lou stared at the spot where Edith had been. She didn't teleport. The old man did it. He shouted 'Earth Mover.' He switched the patch of ground she was standing on with a patch behind him. He tried to trap her, but...
Lou looked at the ground. A jagged stone sat where Edith had been a second ago.
He switched her with that rock. And that punch... it's like she anticipated the switch before he even finished the chant. Is that what she meant by seeing attacks before they happen? She's playing the fight on a five-second delay.
But the time for observation was over. He looked back at the raven-haired woman and the bald guy. They were closing in, their soul signatures flaring with a hungry, predatory light.
Great. She gets the boss fight, and I get the henchmen, Lou thought, his hand sliding toward the flintlock in his coat. Seems like I need to deal with these two before they realize I'm just a Grade Five rookie.