Change within slate city

After the twins were located and were identified to be safe and sound the guards of the city began to be informed of the incident that took place.

The twins told the guards truthfully what had happened including the sudden intrusion, the intruders wish to kill them and then the sudden animal attack which they used to their advantage to escape and barricade the door.

They began to clean up the store and put everything back in its place while the guards began to sweep through the city and any locations that a small animal could fit in.

The investigation and search was previously predicted by Rayleigh so she let her fox watch from a distance to make sure that no harm came to the twins and then she ordered her fox to return.

She then went to Lumi and got her to recall her own fox in case it got caught up with the investigation.

Since there were no eye witnesses of the animals appearance they could only vaguely search the city to search for any animals that may have breached the walls defences.

Never would they have known that the foxes were in fact being controlled by people so did not search places where people were living.

Not only had the sudden attack shed light upon the rival blacksmith bosses sudden actions against the twins but the city guards came to learn about several shady ongoings within the city which had been hidden from their eyes.

Although they could not help the twins with their lives financially they would at least be able to receive a little protection after the guards had learned what they had continued to suffer from.

They also began to further investigate the place where the rival blacksmith did business and found several incriminating evidence which lead them to believe that a third party was behind the harassment of the twins business but they could not find anything to identify who was the person behind the scenes.

After the failed assassination of Ki, the failure of the rival blacksmith and the sudden investigation that was launched several people who had some part in it had begun to be more careful in their actions in order to avoid being exposed.

Meanwhile the northern blooded merchants became increasingly more vigilant towards certain influences that had been rumoured to be mixed up in several bad happenings within the city and were not competing fairly according to the standards the merchants had previously set from the beginning.

Trade was important to the north and it had to remain stable and competitive for it to flourish and enrich the lands but the moment threats, intimidation and assassinations were involved many businesses would have no choice but to give up what they had or work under someone else under unfair terms.

Most of all the northerners hated their own people being oppressed and could not stand for it if it was happening within slate city and if it was done by outsiders they would be even more motivated to find out who is behind it so they did not take kindly to several suspicious elements.

In the morning Ki had woken up early and began her daily routine of training and then eating before she headed out of her room to go meet Rayleigh.

As she arrived in Rayleigh's room she found that Rayleigh had also just woken up and her fox was by her side.

She immediately knew something had happened since the fox was not keeping watch on the store. "What happened?"

Rayleigh looked away for a moment and then spoke after hesitating for a while. "I watch them according to what you said but several people broke in and began to mess up the store. I was unsure if I should act so I waited but as the brother and sister heard the noises they came to the room and witnessed who was behind it. The person in charge had decided to kill them then and there so I had no choice but to attack them and remove any witnesses. The brother and sister barricaded their door so they are safe and I watched as the guards arrived and began to help them while they began to investigate and search for the animal that attacked. I had no choice but to get my fox and Lumi's to come back right away because the risk of being found would be higher."

Ki thought for a while after processing the information then she spoke calmly. "This might be a good thing. If this was a planned attack on the store and it has been noticed by many people then there will be a further investigation into who is behind it and who they were working for. This will help to shed some light onto some of the mistreatment and unfairness that has been going on within the city and I have faith that certain people do not like the people from their homeland being bullied. I'm guessing you chose not to inform me because it was easily resolved by your fox and by the time I had arrived it would of already been too late to do anything about it. So.. well done."

Rayleigh nodded. "At first it was just robbery and vandalism but when the owners showed themselves the invaders seemed to stop what they were doing and decided to just kill them both so I had to act right away to let them get to safety."

Ki nodded and then walked out of the room leaving behind a final order. "For now both of you need to focus on training because it would be too risky to expose your foxes now but at least the targets were protected as I asked."

Ki also went to collect some information from Lumi and then went to see Alf and handed over the rough sketches. "Investigate into these peoples backgrounds and if they have any suspicious things that stand out or any signs that they are connected to anyone."

Alf looked at the documents and frowned. "More work for me huh… what is this all about?"

Ki calmly replied. "It's nothing serious. Just some potential spies or influences wishing to spread their influence within the north through various means. If this can assist the merchant alliance in uncovering the mask of some traitors then I am happy to help. Yesterday someone sent a man to tail me and watch me while waiting for me to reveal a sign of weakness and then they would remove me. Obviously the people behind that man do not know of my identity yet and acted rashly sending someone unqualified to handle the job but this is also an opportunity to expose them for their actions. I followed the man back to his meeting place and he met one of the members of the half blooded merchant heads in person and then was killed by him and his body was removed by using corpse dissolving powder. I have marked the location of the store he used as a hideout after he had left and also there should be a sketch of his facial features to help identify him. There are also sketches of people who visited that store after that which seemed to be suspicious but also last nights vandalism and robbing may have something to do with him or someone of a similar origin so it is best to investigate carefully or pass it onto someone that can handle it."

Alf's eyes lit up as he looked at them once again. "If what you say is correct then you have done us all a great favour. I will get this to the right people so that it can be handled discreetly. Thanks again."

Ki quietly left the room leaving him behind with his thoughts. 'This person is full of surprises… it's like they attract trouble or are able to spot it from a distance and then resolve it in an efficient manner.'

If Ki could hear his thoughts and known she was thought of as something similar to a walking calamity she would spit up blood in anger.

It wasn't her fault that stepping into the north would trigger several actions of various people, it just worked that way and the enemy had greatly underestimated her and her resourcefulness.

They can only be blames because they were not careful enough and chose to strike when they did not have enough information which led them to expose themselves.

The incident was just another example because she wished to make sure that the stores owners were protected and the invaders just so happened to change their minds and wish to harm them which lead to their deeds being exposed.

She didn't exactly plan for things to end up the way they did but the measures she put in place to protect herself and others she wished to recruit had unknowingly created a small disturbance within the balance of power within the city that also exposed some guilty parties.

Everything just seemed to be falling into place on its own after she had taken a couple of small actions.