A Bored Lich

Doevm walked over the cracked stone path, making sure to keep his distance from the pickpockets and other unsavory characters. He kept one hand in his pocket to hide the valuable spatial ring. Since he didn't have an escort like a noble, he was free game if someone found him out. Luckily, the mask and his modified stature was enough of a deterrent. For additional effect, he stumbled like any random drunk. He was just another nameless face in the crowd.

Although he went through the effort, he didn't expect it to be as effective as it was. No one bothered him. The most attention he received were some glances from men in dark coats. 'That's odd,' he thought. 'It's not just me. Everyone is keeping their distance from each other.'

He searched through his memories from his time. There weren't any more orphans begging for money. Instead, they hid away from people. There were no homeless sleeping on the sides of streets. Everyone glared at him, but from the adopted sense of collective hostility which everyone down here had always worn. They looked at him and turned away. There was no jostling in the crowded street. Things were spaced out, distanced. Doevm put that matter aside for now. It wasn't his problem. The little amount of light from the scarce light crystals were just enough for him to navigate through the mess of buildings.

Eventually, he made it to his destination. While it was a little ironic for the black market to have a large sign over it, like it was any other business, there was a point behind it. For while it was an illegal establishment, it had nothing to fear. The king and his faction wouldn't dare to come down here, or much less demand it to be torn down, not with the multitude of nobles who helped finance everything. That wasn't to say the black market relied on the support of nobles to defend itself. It didn't need it. That was because, other than the giant skeletal arm, the black market was the only thing holding the Capital together. It went around the law, bringing fortune to everyone smart or lucky enough.

It was at the center of the Underground, hanging over everything much like the skeletal arm did on the surface. It was less of a building and more of an opening inside the skeletal arm's socket, which extended even to these depths. The arm's socket had long since been hollowed out and outfitted with all sorts of windows and doors barred with magic and thick steel. Before Doevm walked through the front door, he took a quick look behind him. With his weak human magic sense, he couldn't tell if someone in the crowd was following him by feeling.

The black market was much bigger than it appeared thanks to spatial magic and various other spells similar to how spatial rings worked. There were a few wooden benches, but that was all the furniture apart from the desk which sat at the back end of the room. A bored-looking clerk sat there, not even bothering to welcome him. The bone walls were covered with bulletin boards of the latest requests. Assassination, bounties, trade deals, hunting, there was a board for everything. Almost every board, however, was blank. There were no assassination missions, no trade deals, no hunting missions, barely anything. 'There's a lot more people than I remember,' Doevm thought as he scanned everyone in the room. More of the dark coated individuals were crowding the space, staring at the empty boards as if a request would appear out of thin air.

They crowded almost every board, the exception being, the board to Doevm's immediate right, the missing person board. It had been so many requests that more boards were placed around the main one, yet even those were filling up. Papers which were nailed down flew off just by the front door swinging open.

Doevm picked up one of the papers, which read: "He went missing a few days ago. He vanished without a trace. Please find him. Reward is 5 gold." There was a picture of a handsome fellow in a luxurious hat. He picked up another, barely making out the words: "Three weeks ago this person vanished without a trace. Find her and I will pay 10 gold. She is very dear…" On the back was a little girl, crudely drawn. She was skinny and her clothes were rags. Tear stains dotted the bottom. He put the papers back, careful not to start an avalanche.

"Don't bother with those," a voice called. Doevm turned around to see a man at the front desk, the clerk from the commoner's quarters.

Doevm walked over, ignoring the stares from the other people in the room: "What's the situation?"

The clerk leaned forward: "You can see it out there, can't you? People aren't acting the same as usual. They're scared. In the Capital, they try to keep this on the down low, so it's no wonder you don't know. People have been disappearing. It happens in the Capital and the Underground, although it mostly happens down here."

"There's something going around, something inhuman. I haven't seen it myself, but you should see the people who have. They can't sleep anymore. They jump at the tiniest thing. Their eyes are always jumping around like there is something just around the corner. That's just from seeing its shadow."

"I've heard reports of some who say they hear screams, but when they go out, they don't see anything, not even blood or any other evidence of a fight. Rich, poor, noble, commoner, knight, mage, they all go missing. Anyone who tries to investigate those cases winds up right on the bulletin board as a missing person. Stay away from this, that's my advice."

"Got it. I'll stay away."

The clerk smiled. "You're smart. You'll go farther than most." He leaned back and took a breath: "I take it you're new around here. I haven't seen that skeleton mask before."

Doevm shook his head: "I was here a long time ago. I still remember how everything works." He pointed to the rest of the bulletin boards, which were completely barren. "Why isn't there any missions out except for those missing cases?"

The clerk shrugged again: "They are taken as soon as they are given out. You could ask those gentlemen who they work for," He pointed to the men hovering around the boards. "but they're not the talking type. Since you've been here before, I'm sure you know that I can't reveal who took those missions, not without a price." He held up three fingers and smiled.

Doevm glanced at the bulletin boards again, to the one way over in the corner with a little slip of paper on it. "And what's the story with that mission?"

"That one's new," The clerk didn't even glance at it. "You have to heal a girl's legs. Since she's the daughter of a wealthy merchant, who was recently elevated to noble status, the job pays well. No one has been able to do it so far and those vultures don't take it. That's all I know about it. You interested?"

Doevm nodded and held out his hand: "I need a card."

The clerk raised an eyebrow and pulled out a metal card from under his desk. "I thought you've been here before. What happened to your card? Did you lose it or something like that?"

’Something like that," Doevm pressed his finger to the metal and imprinted his mark into it, an image of his mask. The card was a material like Frey's shield, except it could only be changed once, and was as fragile as glass afterwards. Beside the skull was the word: Lich.

"Lich, that's what you're going by? That'll be one gold for the card."

Doevm coughed. "What happened to the price. One gold has…decreased in value over the past hundred years." He handed over a gold and got his card.

The clerk hand wrote a copy of the mission and handed it to Doevm. "Her name is Elero Mech. She is over at the noble's quarters, but she won't be available today as per her schedule at the tournament. Go there tomorrow night. I'll get someone and let her know that you're coming."

Doevm glanced behind him. While the men looked busy, their eyes occasionally met with his. A magic circle formed around the clerk's ear and Doevm's mouth, making it so his whispers didn't reach unwanted attention. "Alright, who are they?"

"That'll be five gold, but because I don't particularly like them, I'll cut it down to three."

"I don't have that on me right now," Doevm kicked himself for spending most of his money on that card. "And are there any books on advanced holy magic?"

"Mr. Lich," the clerk laughed. "if you don't have the money for the group, you certainly don't have the money for those books."

"How much?" Doevm asked.

"One thousand, you happy?" The clerk waved his hand at the magic circles. "Get rid of these things now." The magic circled disappeared. Doevm turned and left.

…

One of the men walked up to the clerk and slammed a bag of gold on the desk. "Who was that?"

"He goes by Lich," the clerk said as he pocketed the gold. "And he just took the mission about that Elero girl. He also asked about who you guys were and for holy magic books, but he didn't have enough gold for them."

"Good work," The man turned to his men, who stood up. "Men, we just got a job. Hunt him down."