Once we were a safe distance from the tailor shop, Alta stopped under the shade of a stone archway. She turned to me, her expression softening from her earlier tense standoff with Olive.
"Well, this is goodbye then, I'll be handling the contract completion and collecting the rewards at the Bureau. I hope we meet again soon, Eirene."
With a final, respectful nod, she turned on her heel and proceeded toward the 8th District to log our S-rank success.
Left to my own devices, I watched her disappear into the crowd before pulling my canvas cloak tighter around my shoulders. I had my own goals to focus on now. Since the fire-resistant crimson trench coat wouldn't be finished for a whole week, I had a valuable window of time. I needed to prepare for Cameron's high-stakes bounty, track Vanessa's movements down, and ultimately figure out a way to infiltrate the main base of the Luminous Knights.
First, however, I needed to head toward the Bureau myself. Going back to my house right now was out of the question. It was rapidly approaching high noon, the brightest and most dangerous time of day for someone with my condition, and chances were high that eyes were watching my usual haunts. To stay entirely off the radar, I made a conscious effort to stay far away from the residential streets of the 3rd District. Instead, I carefully routed my path through the bustling thoroughfares of the 4th District, the massive, heavily fortified sector that served as the main base for the Luminous Knight Bureau Association.
Keeping my head down and my single jade eye scanning for patrols, I proceeded deeper into the heart of the Knights' territory.
The transition to the 4th District was smooth enough, but as I reached the massive stone arches leading into the 5th, the atmosphere soured instantly. Betch was flicking his fingers at me, his sneer widening as if he were trying to shoo away an annoying fly. But this time, he didn't just stop at calling me a slum rat.
His eyes traveled up and down my tattered commoner dress, and a vile smirk broke across his face. He spat out a string of degrading words, loudly insulting me and accusing me of being nothing more than a cheap prostitute trying to sneak into the upper tiers.
A hot wave of pure, unadulterated fury spiked in my chest.
"I am a gold-ranked hunter, an S-rank contractor, and a literal demon of the night. I don't have to take this from a low-tier gatekeeper." I thought
But Betch just couldn't leave well enough alone. Even as he held my S-rank status card, his eyes darted from the glowing verification stone back to my tattered dress, and a vile smirk crawled across his face.
"An S-rank? Right, more like an S-rank bedroom worker. How many high-ranking hunters did you have to lay under to get a card like this, you little prostitute? A slum rat like you doesn't earn this kind of rank with a weapon."
The word hung in the air, and a cold, blinding fury snapped inside my chest. I had tolerated his classist remarks, but this crossed the line.
I didn't say a word. Instead, I hacked up a thick, wet glob of phlegm and spat it directly onto his pristine, polished silver sabatons. The wet splat echoed in the tense silence of the gatehouse.
Betch's face turned an ugly, violent shade of crimson.
"You miserable, impure bitch!" he roared, completely losing his mind.
He pulled back a gauntleted fist and swung a heavy, reckless punch straight at my jaw.
To a normal commoner, the punch would have been devastating. To a seasoned S-rank hunter who regularly dodges hypersonic neospider strikes, his movement was practically in slow motion. I effortlessly slipped inside his guard, ducking beneath the trajectory of his fist. As his arm sailed past my shoulder, my hand shot out like a striking viper. I clamped my fingers around his extended index finger, twisting and snapping it backward with a sharp, sickening CRACK.
Betch immediately dropped to his knees, clutching his hand as he screamed like a terrified little girl. The high-pitched wail echoed off the stone walls of the checkpoint, drawing startled looks from the distant crowds.
Tired of the pathetic commotion and wanting to get out of the high noon sun, I leaned down and ripped my status card right out of his trembling, uninjured hand. Since he was too busy crying on the floor to do his job, I stepped up to the counter, took the card, and tapped it against the mana stone myself. The gate mechanism groaned and clicked open, granting me access.
I cast one final, freezing look down at the sniveling knight as I pocketed my card. I truly hoped the agonizing pain would finally teach him a lesson about respecting the hunters who actually keep this city safe, or at the very least, teach him to keep his mouth shut. Turning my back on his pathetic groans, I stepped through the gates and proceeded deeper into the district.
The moment I stepped deeper into the 5th District, I realized the situation was far more dangerous than I anticipated. The entire area was swarming with inspectors and guards, squished altogether into the tightly packed streets and alleyways. They were conducting a massive, systematic sweep, inspecting every single house in a desperate bid to track down the Crimson Phantom. With a massive bounty of 15 gold coins on my head, every mercenary and knight in the city was hungry for my blood.
Fortunately, I had a few tricks up my sleeve.
Ducking quickly into a dark, narrow alleyway before any of the patrol squads could spot my canvas cloak, I tapped into my blood magic. It was time to use my shapeshifting ability. I chose the form of a normal girl I used to know, Miera Amber, the quiet maid who used to work at the Town Allure.
[Analyzing genetic data... 100% match found in blood reservoir. Commencing Morphological Shift.]
I closed my eyes as the magic surged through my veins, completely restructuring my anatomy:
My dark hair faded, turning into soft, pristine bits of white.
My empty eye socket healed as a healthy eye grew back, both of my eyes turning a deep, innocent black.
My missing left arm fully regenerated, flesh and bone knitting together flawlessly.
My severed tongue grew back completely, restoring my ability to speak if necessary.
The gruesome Glasgow smile carved into my cheeks smoothed out into flawless, unblemished skin.
My massive, heavy blood-wings retracted entirely, disappearing into my back.
[Visual confirmation: 100% accuracy. Heart rate, scent, and vocal cords successfully calibrated. Successfully shapeshifted into Miera Amber]
Once the transformation was complete, I reached up and pulled off my leather eyepatch. With both of my eyes fully intact and my monstrous traits hidden, I blended in perfectly as a regular commoner girl in a simple dress. Navigating this massive, 15-square-kilometer district of crowded houses was going to be a lot safer now.
However, even though my appearance had changed, my underlying biology hadn't. I was still a creature of the night. Because the district was heavily shaded by the tall, overhanging buildings, no direct sunlight bounced through to my skin, which was a relief, because even while shapeshifted, the high noon sun would still burn me to ashes.
I stepped out of the alleyway and was immediately intercepted by two heavily armed guards.
"Ma'am, we're inspecting everyone in this sector, we need to see your body. Remove your cloak."
I complied without a word, letting the heavy canvas cloak slide off my shoulders. Beneath it, the heavy Death Chant Shotgun was still strapped securely to my back, but to them, it just looked like a common hunter's self-defense weapon. What really caught their attention, though, was the smell. I had been wearing this exact same commoner dress for four straight days through desert caves and dusty carriages without a single wash.
The guards instantly recoiled, wrinkling their noses at the sour, bad odor wafting from the fabric. Just as I hoped, they immediately mistook me for a penniless, unfortunate girl from the lower slums.
"Ugh, forget it. You're good to go, ma'am," the lead guard gagged, waving his hand dismissively to shoo me away.
I threw my cloak back on and quickly walked past them. As I hurried down the street, I could hear their muffled voices echoing in the shaded alley behind me, laughing and talking trash.
"Man, she smells like the slums, but did you see her face? That girl is actually pretty cute. If she cleans up, we should definitely find out where she lives and sleep with her." One said
"Yeah, yeah, I'm pretty lonely doing a knight, I would fuck her if necessary."
I kept my eyes fixed ahead, a cold, silent promise forming in my mind.
"Enjoy your disgusting jokes while you can, boys. You have no idea how close you just came to being a demon's lunch." I said