20

My stride was intentionally shortened so I wouldn't outpace Sekka. My arm had already healed enough that I could move it normally again, but the bone wasn't reattached enough to handle weight. My sleeve would stitch itself together later once I was alone. No one dared to mess with us anymore. I'd taken the guild leader head on in one on one combat.

The respect the mercenaries gave him told me that he was one of the strongest people here. He'd earned it from the look of it. A human that was as strong as me was something they'd probably never seen before. My muscles appeared lax as I walked in lock step behind Sekka. They were not lax.

I could bend steel with the tension in my muscles. I wanted more then anything to kill that sleezy lord, and today would be our last day in this city. I was sure the city lord would make one more pass at Sekka before we left the city, and that would be our chance to establish a solid alibi. I would leave my weaker double with Sekka, and I'd go ahead with my plan to kill the city lord. Sekka would insist on me serving him directly this time around.

I would have a solid alibi as the fox attacked the city. A false alibi, but a solid one. The city lord wouldn't suspect me, an apparent human, of being able to create a double. He wouldn't be looking too closely at the double, and he wouldn't recognize my mana fluctuations because I'd never shown them to him. We didn't have to wait long for a dinner invite from the city lord.

More like a dinner demand. A simple merchant wouldn't be allowed to decline without suffering some sort of consequences. Sekka's insistence to keeping me with him did irritate the city lord, but he was forced to cave into the demand when Sekka implied that he wouldn't be coming if I wasn't allowed to serve him. He was willing to take the negative consequences of ignoring the lords request for a meal. I think tonight is a good night to steal some slaves from this lord.

It would take the elves time to realize that the slaves were missing when they're owner was gone. Add on the fact that they wouldn't be able to accurately tell how many slaves were missing with the vast majority of their records stolen or burned. The dinner began normally. The room was full of this cities elite. Sekka was seated toward the end of the table.

There were multiple runes engraved into the table itself that allowed the lords voice to carry down the length of the entire table. You could even converse with someone across the table without interrupting the conversations of other table guests. The lords voice carried across the table easily. The controls to the com system were fairly simple only lighting up when they were in use. I know com system wasn't the actual name of the magical apparatus, but it was the easiest way for me to think of it.

I mentally nudged Sekka during a quiet moment in the dinner when the lord had stopped talking.

"I'm afraid I have to answer the call of nature," Sekka stood, and stepped aside so I could push his chair in, "I will return shortly."

I walked in lock step not far behind Sekka. It didn't take long for us to make it to the restroom. I set to work on creating the double immediately. Sekka could be gone reasonably for half an hour. They'd notice that his absence was odd if he took much longer then that.

I planned to allow Sekka to return ahead of me. Sekka could use the excuse that he sent me on a task or left me behind to clean the room since I'd touched it. I was completely focused on creating the double while Sekka was there. I noticed when Sekka left. That made me double my efforts.

It took me nearly forty minutes to complete my double. Most of the household was focused on the dinner so I remained undisturbed. I checked the double over one more time before sending it back to Sekka. I activated the modified rune that allowed me to teleport outside of the barrier. I changed my clothing first.

The short plain black clothes worked just fine for a slaves modest origin, but right now I was the fox. My shirt, and jacket became embroidered with with black threads looking like flames. The jacket lengthened so it was knee length. The shirt became button up, and my plain black pants changed into the sleek appearance of slacks. The fox mask was a nice finishing touch.

The gold markings on the mask made the features of the fox stand out. The mask covered my entire face, and prevented anyone from seeing any of my face except for the one brown eye. It was time to start taking this rescue mission seriously. I floated above the city, and raised my right hand over my head. I didn't exactly know why I raised my hand above my head since there was no one to see the show.

My mana spread out into the sky above the city. Clouds started to form over the city as I activated my eye of the storm spell. I knew the spell would only be able to prevent people from leaving as long as I had the mana to control the spell. I was mainly interested in the ability that came with the spell. The eye of the storm allowed me to control all the ambient mana within the area.

Then you add on the fact that I'm dominant over most elements, and you've got a problem if you're my enemy. Some fusion level casters would be able to get around my control over the elements. I didn't have time to create a proper barrier blocking all mana except for mine, but I wasn't in a hurry to let them know exactly what I was capable of just yet. First I would take down the barrier surrounding the city. Then I would take down the barrier surrounding the lord's house.