Villain: The Play of Destiny

"The word surely travels fast here," Alana commented as she heard the whispers from afar.

It had only been an hour since they had left the Tower of Realms and started exploring the city, and people were already calling Keith a Poison Master.

The girls were not sure exactly what he did when he touched the faces of those Mercenaries, and he had only told them that he was fixing their faces; yet the way the rumour had spread made them wonder if he had used some Curses in addition to Poison as well.

Alana felt that his reaction was rather excessive at first, but after seeing how people were keeping their distance from them now and no one heedlessly approached anymore, she finally understood why he had chosen such a hard measure.

Might was right.

If not for him, they would be viewed as sheep in the den of wolves in this place, where you could find dozens of Aurors in the First Martial Realm at every corner.

And unlike the City of Azensday, this place was not peaceful in the least.

The City Watch, the Men in Blue, did not seem to care about the travellers at all.

As long as you did not harm the infrastructure or the locals, you were free to kill each other.

They had already seen two "Death Rings" in the Central Square, where people were fighting and settling their feuds. The chant of the crowd rolled like thunder, and even little kids were cheering and rooting for bloodshed.

All in all, Crystal City was the total opposite of the City of Azensday, and they also understood why the Tower of Realms in both Cities only allowed one-way travel. If these savages and fools were free to enter the City of Sin, they would definitely cause trouble there.

"This place is fun!" Kiara finally gave her assessment, and Alana deadpanned at her words.

"Please tell me you are kidding." She looked at her in disbelief and watched her smile in reply.

"Do you know why this place is so chaotic?"

"Too many foreigners? Too many travellers? Too many savages?" she asked, and Kiara rolled her eyes.

"That is all intentional. Take a look around. Look at the establishments and the locals who run them. Do you see all these Mercenaries and Adventurers being rowdy toward them or harming them?"

Listening to her words, Alana decided to pay closer attention to the surroundings. The streets glittered with reflected light from walls of crystal and glass; traders in white and blue brought out trays of food and trinkets; wind chimes resounded and lanterns swayed in the breeze. The locals did not look unhappy in the least. And even the Savages were very polite to them.

"That is because of the City Watch."

"Indeed." Kiara nodded. "The locals are protected. The land is protected. And that is good enough for the City Lord," she said. "The very appeal of this City is that it is a paradise for Adventurers and Mercenaries. If this place had the same rules as the City of Azensday, not as many Adventurers and Mercenaries would visit. Most importantly, the Crystal City needs this chaos."

"Why do they need it?" Alana frowned.

"Because it is a beautiful prize and is constantly surrounded by enemies." She smiled meaningfully. "Why is it still an Independent City? Because the Vulcan Kingdom does not dare to attack it. Why is it so vibrant despite being hemmed in by the Grimgrove on two sides? Because there are too many Adventurers and Mercenaries who do not let the Beasts attack. Even the locals and the City Watch are very strong. Do you think a peaceful and quiet place would breed such soldiers? If these soldiers were weak, and the locals were scared of bloodshed, they would have long since lost their status as an Independent City, and this place might not even exist or would be even more chaotic."

Her words prompted her sisters to look at the City in a new light.

Ingrid and Ingvild already did not mind being here, but now they quite liked this place.

At least, as long as you were deemed strong, even the Savages respected you and kept their distance, just as they were doing now.

Alana, on the other hand, sighed as she realised the truth about the City.

Unlike the City of Azensday, this place was created and managed by Mortals. It was unfair to expect it to be the same as the Cities of Sin. By Mortal standards, it was already one of the most successful and richest Cities in Westesia.

Kiara was right. This chaos was the need of this City, and it was also what made it attractive to Mercenaries and Adventurers and to people who loved chaos.

"Qingyue would hate this place." She smiled as they passed by an Auction House where people were being sold.

"We should bring her here." Kiara grinned, and Keith chuckled at her antics.

The five of them soon reached the Tower of Loki, which was not as magnificent as it was in the City of Sin, yet being completely made out of crystals and standing a couple of hundred metres tall, it still looked beautiful and intimidating. The air inside was cool and faintly metallic, touched by the clean scent of polished stone.

Alana was relieved to see that the premises were very peaceful and everyone was mindful of their actions.

She and Kiara went to pick up some Quests for their Guild, and Keith accompanied his Carmilla Princesses to purchase some gadgets and tools.

"Welcome to the Tower of Loki! My name is Hans, and I am at your service." An old man, very well-mannered, greeted them with a smile.

"We need the best Tracking Devices for Guilds, the ones that cannot be spied upon," Ingvild informed him with a smile, and the man respectfully bowed before leaving the station and entering the backroom.

A few minutes later, he returned with a case that contained different designs of Trackers.

They were in the form of rings, bracelets, brooches, cufflinks, pendants, and even pocket watches that also served as compasses. The metal gleamed in tidy rows, each piece etched with fine Runes that seemed to breathe.

"All of these are the finest Trackers with an effective range of 100 kilometres. They are bound to you by your Aura, so the chances of someone stealing them for their use are low. They also cannot be spied upon since they are linked to each other with unique Runes. However, the numbers of sets vary. You cannot purchase just one or two devices. You will have to purchase the entire set. The sets can have two to twelve Key Devices, depending on how large a set you choose."

"We understand." Ingrid nodded and then looked at the pocket watches with interest. The glass faces caught the light, and the weight of one in her palm felt satisfyingly solid.

"How many of these do you have?" she asked.

"The biggest set we have of these Pocket Watches is 300 units. The smallest set is 50 units," Hans informed them. "Each unit costs 3,000 Stones. They can be attached to the armours, cloaks, or your garments. You can, of course, keep them in your pockets as well." He smiled. "All units have Runes that protect them from getting destroyed. They can survive a couple of direct attacks by a Peak Martial King. The Tracker will initiate a self-destruct countdown if the person it belongs to dies. It can also be blocked, reset, and destroyed by the Keys in case someone deserts the group or is expelled. It also leaves a Runic Mark on the armour or clothes it is attached to, so you can track the user if you have their Tracker. You can also tag people, Beasts, and places with the Runic Mark, and you can track them with these Pocket Watches. Please keep in mind that these Runic Marks can be detected by people."

"Still, these are quite handy." Ingvild smiled.

"Created by our best Dwarven artisans," the old man happily informed her. "The Watches also set the time automatically. You cannot manually change it. However, you can keep a timer and a countdown. There is also an alarm feature, which serves as a communication feature. You can send a distress signal from this Pocket Watch, and the others in the group will be alerted."

"No discounts?" she asked, and the older man chuckled.

"Our Dwarven friends do not like talking about discounts, Miss. My apologies."

"It is okay." She giggled and then glanced at her sister, who nodded.

"We will take the set of 300. How many Keys are in it?"

"Seven Keys." Hans nodded and then bowed before taking the display case away.

He returned a few minutes later, carrying three beautiful, metallic attaché cases, and then he opened them on the table.

There were 293 Pocket Watches, similar to the one they had chosen, all in silver-black, and seven Golden Pocket Watches, which were the Keys of the set.

Additionally, there was a small Crystal Orb next to the Keys, which served as the manual, containing information on how to use these devices. Also, every single Pocket Watch had a metre-long chain coiled beside it, cool to the touch.

"We also have a set that is all black, but this one certainly looks better," Hans said, and the girls shook their heads.

"We are fine with these," Ingrid told him. "What happens if we lose some or need more of these Pocket Watches?"

"We can create more of them for you, as long as you have all seven of these Keys with you." He pointed at the Golden Pocket Watches. "But if you lose even one of the Keys, then you will have to buy a new set."

"Is there a limit on how many Trackers can be bound to these Keys?" she asked, and Hans nodded.

"Certainly. With these seven Keys, you can, at best, have a set of 700 Trackers. Each Key can be bound to 99 Trackers. In the future, if you need a bigger set, with Keys that can be bound to up to 999 Trackers, you will have to place an order for it. Custom orders can be expensive as well."

The girls asked him a few more questions, bought some more things, and then turned to look at Keith, asking him to pay for everything.

Hans found it quite funny, though he kept only a polite smile on his face.

"Thank you for your purchase."

"Have a nice day!" Ingvild wished him, and then she grabbed Keith's hand, pulling him away to another floor, where they had to purchase some more things.