The sun had rested long ago, with the moons not yet in sight. The people of the city were merry as they followed their everyday periodic path, resting from the morning's hard work and enjoying themselves in the evening.
The lights illuminated highs and lows of Arveich except the slums located at the south, where hunger, poverty, death, thievery and orphans were as common as the pebbles of the long river that traveled through from Ordell empire to the border of Ekiya kingdom.
On the run down rooftops of the slums. A blurry dark figure jumped from one house to another with agile and quiet movements. Coy had been tailing the demon for 3 minutes, yet he still hadn't got a glimpse of its face yet.
{Left,} said Chóros. He has been guiding Coy towards where the demon was going. They returned to their usual conversing method, which was using the link between their contract as a safety measure lest someone heard them.
Picking up speed, Coy asked Chóros, {You said that I had an affinity with the space element, right? Is it rare to have that? Furthermore, what other elements do I have if we exclude fire, which I know I have.}
The reason he could confidently say that he possessed fire was due to him making a contract with an elemental spirit, which so happens to be fire. He also had some suspicions about having an affinity with the Dark element or Wind element, which both of his parents had.
As for why he had not been told about this, only his father who had shielded him from learning magic could answer. Since his mother usually dealt with the affairs of the duchy, he was the one responsible for him and Luna's path towards strength, but father still assisted her often. Maria and Thomas tutored him about the etiquette and knowledge that a duke's son should possess.
Coy noticed something very crucial to his current state. The foggy memories that were not relevant but filled his childhood years with life were slowly becoming clear as time passed by.
{You wouldn't have an affinity to the space element if it weren't for me making a contract with you. Artefacts such as I are ineffable artefacts that can change the life of a crippled person destined to not be a mage. As for the Eight known elements in Mundus, you have fire, dark, and wind. Balanced and impressive, you can combine all of them to create devastating effects,} Chóros said. It was actually impressive to have four elements that were compatible with each other at any given moment. He was glad that his partner had such unique abilities, though he won't say that to the person in question.
'I see...' With space, he could lock a certain region from the outside space and snuff out the air from it, or just lit the whole place into a never ending, tormenting cycle of fire. Regarding the dark element, he could only speculate its uses. Strictly speaking, they were all suitable for destruction, but it depended on how he used them. Coy was looking forward to testing out his ideas.
As he hopped from building to building with his momentum not decreasing, he peered down at the ground filled with rubbish wastes and muddy pounds. In every vacant space he passed by, a glimpse of malnourished children or adults caught his eyes: it was as if he was watching a record that showed one picture frame at a time. These people huddled in groups as they used their body or torn blankets to warm themselves from the gelid night. Some used scraps of paper to light up a fire that could only last for a brief moment before being snuffed by the unbothered free wind, while others embraced the cold with sheer will.
'The norm of a city I guess. You can't have all good things in one place.' Coy only cast them an eye and didn't intervene. He saw no benefit in helping them. Rather, they would only waste his time and he might potentially endanger them if he did so. Just imagine, overnight, the people living in the slums were all blessed by a passing blonde haired person with dark clothes who gave them solace and money? The officials would most certainly be alarmed by this. Extremities might even think it was someone who wanted to start an uprise by manipulating the poor and weak, trying to use numbers to their advantage.
Someone might say it was an excuse, but it was the bitter truth. Life was cruel to the weak, and he was not the saviour they pray for. It was as simple as that. But if you look at it from a different perspective, they were fortunate as they had the free will to do what they wanted to, either good or bad. At least that's what he thought.
{There, to the right. He is heading towards a second story building,} pointed Chóros as he pulled Coy from his thoughts.
Coy took a sharp right and leaped onto a second story building that was quite a distance from the one the demon was standing. A foul smell permeated the area, but thanks to his current position, the wind blew it away before it could reach him. Looking at the building that had rotten and broken woods with vines covering it, Coy finally saw his object of pursuit with his heightened eyes.
It was a man who donned a black butler suit and had round glasses. His complexion was of light skin.
Coy observed the man as he knocked on the door 6 times with a solid strike, and 1 subdued tap.
In terms of senses, vampires were one of the highest on the chart, and they could manually adjust their range. To a young inexperienced vampire, that may be difficult, but Coy was a thousand years old vampire in his previous life. To him, it was child's play.
One thing the vampires on Earth and the ones on Mundus had in common were their senses. Other than that, they went their separate ways. An example was the blood arts: Coy had noted that down when Chóros mentioned it back then at the moon castle. Blood arts were unheard of on earth as they didn't exist there, however bat swarms did exist both on Earth and Mundus. As a vampire, he can use bat swarms which he is already familiar with, but not the blood arts; he was clueless about that one.
As for the reason he wasn't using bat swarms currently was to not foil his disguise.
Back to the present, heading Chòros's advice, he heightend his ears to pick on any useful information that might come out of the demon.
He heard a faint gruff voice which he assumed to be the one behind the door as the demon's mouth was shut tight. "Are you the new cook?"
The demon replied with a flat tone, "No, I'm here to bring the game."
"Boar?"
"A phoenix," answered the demon with an empty voice.
'It seems like I have stumbled across a secret code, well now that I know of it, it's not so secret anymore is it, heh.' Activities like this were Coy's way of enjoying himself when he gets bored.
{Hmm, he is either a low ranked demon, or he is using an artifact to hide his identity,} surmised Chóros. The higher ranked they were, the harder it would have been to observe them. Since they could easily creep up behind this one and eavesdrop on his conversation, he assumed it might be a low-ranked demon. However, the possibility of him being a higher ranked demon was also an option he couldn't ignore.
Coy further observed the two individuals' interactions as the one behind the door opened it, before instantly bowing to the demon clumsily
"Had I known it was a phoenix who would be coming, I would not have asked you these bothersome questions. Please forgive me, Lord!" spoke the man who was brown and wore a navy shirt with brown trousers with a pallid face.
The demon, scunnered by the man's behaviour, which Coy judged from his cold look, ordered with a sigh, "Take me to Zakar. "
The man stuttered an affirmative reply before guiding the demon into the building.
Lord? {Do you think this is a secret assembly of demons?} Coy asked his partner in action.
Chóros took his time as he thought about different scenarios. He said with a sense of calm and ease, {That is not possible. I can only sense one demon. Even if it were an assembly of demons, they wouldn't be this close to the capital city of Biskar, the city of trade. The neighbouring rulers would not like that since there is a high possibility of harmful substances or cursed artifacts imported into their territory by demons who insinuated into the business world, impersonating as normal humans or other species.}
{I see… What now? Should I head back? I don't know when he will get out of the house, and there is a risk of Aelfryn finding out about my outing,} reminded Coy. Although he said that there was a risk of Aelfryn finding out, he had this nagging feeling that Aelfryn might already know about him going out.
Coy had been preparing for a good excuse to offset him when he went back to the Inn. Although the probability of him buying that excuse is embarrassingly low. 'I will just have to find out later, haa.'
He then said it with a sense of urgency, {I think that we should go back. Maybe we can come back here another time and check what it hides with our own methods. I mean, we already know of how to infiltrate this place}
{Hmm, alright then. I believe you know the way to this building right… Crouch!}
The moment he heard Chóros yell, Coy crouched and rolled to the side, leaving a crisp sound of the air being slashed which assaulted his ears.
'Wha—'
Before he even had the chance to think, another one attack came from his back, which this time, he was prepared for as he narrowly escaped by twisting his body. In that instant, he caught a glimpse with his peripheral vision of the assailant. It was a grey pellucid creature with four eyes and sharp sword like arms.
He somersaulted away with that image imprinted into his head, he leaped from the building he was standing on to another which was close, before bolting from the vicinity with great speed.
He was afraid that the demon might notice the fight that was inevitable, so he wanted to at least take it somewhere inconspicuous.