Wolf of the Blood Moon: A Blood Magic - Book 3: Chapter 67: Child

The Trade Room at the Weaving Market

What is this thing?

Ravena can’t help but think this as she politely speaks to her latest customer, negotiating the supplies they seem to want. Supplies meant to last for an entire month without stopping at any other cities. Something that Ravena thinks is a little too hopeful of an outlook, but she isn’t one to judge her customers.

Unless they’re robbing from her, of course. But even those only lose an arm or two before being politely shown the door.

The shadow weaver continues speaking, surprisingly finding the demon sitting on the chair across from her in the trade room to be a capable negotiator, if clearly still new in some ways. And the demon – who Ravena couldn’t tell was female through her cloak until she turned around fast enough that the rather low hanging hood blew back to reveal her face – is also rather polite.

Something most demons visiting the city are not.

Ravena continues the negotiations for just about ten or so minutes before she eventually sells the she-demon an entire month’s worth of supplies, along with a map of the northern part of the continent. Which made Ravena aware that the woman isn’t likely even from the Southwestern continent.

As the two are standing up from the chairs and beginning to walk towards the door to the main room, Ravena’s middle claw twitches, signaling another thief. So she pulls down on it, locking the item being stolen in place before opening the door to the room and sending out a thread of shadow to bind and then relieve an arm from the current thief. Following which they run screaming out of the building.

But Ravena doesn’t pay them any mind as she focuses on the she-demon, finally letting her curiosity get the better of her as she asks, “Would you mind telling me your name? You were a better negotiator than I was expecting.”

The she-demon pauses on her way to the door before turning around and answering, “Scarlet.” But she doesn’t say any more than that, instead turning back around and heading to the door of her store.

Ravena blinks.

Probably shouldn’t have expected a full name anyways. But…

Unable to handle it anymore, Ravena activates a skill, letting her see through the cloak on the she-demon. And what she sees has her eyes widening in shock.

The she-demon is wearing full blood metal armor and is very clearly a blood lycan despite her messed up identify result. Which in hindsight would explain why someone would hide her name.

I didn’t realize it was possible to mess with the species in an identify though… whoever did that must’ve been powerful.

Ravena can’t help but feel glad that she didn’t treat the she-demon poorly.

Scarlet, was it? I should keep an eye… wait, Scarlet?! She couldn’t have been… could she?

The shadow weaver watches the she-demon leave her store and continues staring even after she is no longer in sight, completely ignoring her other customers for longer than she should. Eventually though, she just shakes her head and turns her attention back to her store again.

The mistress might be interested to know about this she-demon, regardless of whether or not she’s that Scarlet.

Scarlet

After leaving the store with all of my food and supplies stowed away in my spatial pockets, I immediately begin heading towards the best inn I found in my research. And once I make it there, I open the door and go inside to find dozens of demons laughing and drinking all around the inn, likely due to the fact that the sun is going to be rising in the next couple hours.

Most of the people in the main lobby ignore me, simply continuing to drink whatever versions of magical ale they’re drinking as I walk through the center of the many tables towards the reception desk. But some of them do pay attention to me. And most of those are class III or Class IV.

Hmm. Starting to wonder if choosing the nicest inn in the city was a bad idea or not, considering that it’s also the one most of the stronger demons passing through or visiting seem to use.

Either way, the receptionist at the desk is just a Class III demon at about the same level as me. And to my surprise, they’re actually an undead.

|Lyria de Clare – Shadow Weaver Draugr – Level 252|

Interesting. A draugr is a higher form of zombie. One that retains its intelligence and is quite a bit stronger but can only turn someone into one of them by quite literally giving them an organ from their own body.

And this is a draugr of a shadow weaver.

Come to think of it, I’m running into a lot of shadow weavers in this city. Probably because the Baroness ruling over it is one herself.

Anyways, the draugr is just like the other shadow weavers in appearance, just with her skin being a bit of a grayer color than the pale skin the other shadow weavers had. Almost like it’s dying. And her hair is paler too instead of the completely raven black they had.

“Hello, would you like a room or dinner?” the lady asks with a smile on her face, showing her fangs as she gestures with her hand towards a plate of food that someone else is walking up to grab right now, likely after ordering it. She is wearing a purple apron over a regular tunic and a skirt, and actually looks rather cute, with the appearance of a young teenager despite something about her making me think she’s older than I am.

“Well, demons age slower than humans,” Tar comments, and I nod my head to both that and her question as I answer her out loud, “A room please.”

Right. I almost forgot about that whole ‘blood lycans aren’t adults till they’re 30’ bullshit.

“I mean, it makes sense when you consider that the typical blood lycan lifespan without the blood lycan being contracted is about a thousand years old,” Tar states, making my hand pause as it reaches for my pocket.

“That’ll be twelve coppers per night, including the day beforehand thrown in,” the draugr says with a cute yet terrifying smile thanks to her fangs.

Okay, a thousand years is a long lifespan without the System. I was expecting something more along the lines of a few hundred years.

But a thousand?

That’s a lot.

I grab the coppers from my spatial storage pockets and hand it to the lady before she hands me a key that I can feel mana coming out of. Then she says, “Your room is room twenty-nine, and it’s on the third floor at the back of the left side.”

I nod my head at her before beginning to walk towards the stairs.

Now I kind of understand why thirty year olds are still children to blood lycans. In fact, I’m a little surprised the bar isn’t a little higher considering some of the other races of demon.

“The ghouls are considered children until they’re one hundred,” Tar comments, almost making me stumble in my walk towards the stairs.

Stupid undead and their endless lifespans.