Pegg stood at the entrance of the stone building with an old goatskin pulled over himself. He watched as a person approached the jetty from a distance with a lit torch.

Claude, is that you? yelled Pegg.

The figure climbed up the jetty with some difficulty. Yes, Uncle Pegg, its me.

So, you didnt find Eykes boat? What happened to you here? asked Pegg.

Claude seemed a little haggard in his gait. Oh, dont bring it up I circled the place a long time and didnt see them at all. I dont know where they sailed the ship to. And when Im on my way back, my crappy luck just had to come and bite me in the back when I slipped and fell hard

Are you alright? Pegg could see the mud on the boys body with the light of the torch. It seemed like he had taken quite the rough fall.

Im fine, Uncle Pegg. Claude made his way to the carriage parked at the jetty and loaded his backpack within. He then got into the drivers seat and hurried Jemmy to the entrance.

Thank you, Uncle Pegg, for waiting so long for me. Its a shame I didnt get to see Eyke and Wero. Since its Sunday tomorrow, theyll probably only return during the afternoon. Just tell them that I came. Im going to take a hot bath when I get back to wash off the stinking mud. Ill come over with some hares I hunted at the wood in a day or two for you, said Claude politely.

No problem, Ill be sure to let them know. Make sure you be careful on the way back. Dont drive too fast. Pegg proceeded to open the jetty entrance.

After bidding Pegg goodbye, Claude left for the wood without any obstructions. When he arrived, he put Jemmy back into the stable, filled up its feed and water before going to greet the Sioris at their chicken coop. They had come out after hearing the noise. He asked them whether something occurred during the night, to which they replied nothing, before he entered the small wooden hut with his backpack.

Claude lit the oil lamp and took out the materials he bought. He hung the hunting bow of the bearded man on the wall before getting a bottle of potion out and applying some on his wounds. After all that, Claude took a dark-colored robe from his clothes drawer and put it on, slung the shortsword he got on his waist, and loaded the magic crossbow before fastening it to his right arm.

After that, he took two bottles of gran wine which he bought to boil to make alcohol for his experiments. There were twelve bottles in a carton and he had used seven up so far. He put the two bottles into the now-empty backpack and left with it, not forgetting to blow up the oil lamp with him. He used the cover of the hut and trees to sneak away from the wood and headed down the hill.

Theres still so much to do, but so little time I have to make the best of it. He looked at the half-obscured silver moon in the sky and sighed before quietly resuming his trip.

Driving a carriage to the private jetty took around 40 minutes, but it would take around two hours to make that trip on foot. But given that it was already past midnight, the streets were completely empty. There wasnt a need for Claude to watch out for people he knew. He could travel quickly on the side of the main path and only had to be careful about the nighttime patrol.

It was around one at night when he reached the jetty. He didnt go in and instead went to the bank of the lake where the entrance to the alley was located, retracing his steps from before on the bank.

After ten or so minutes, Claude once more arrived at the small forest where he was assailed by the bearded man. He raised his magic crossbow as he gingerly approached the small forest, keeping his ears open for the slightest sound in the surroundings.

Taking a moment to make sure that nothing was amiss, Claude relaxed and passed through the forest to arrive at the other side of the embankment. After checking his surroundings once more to make sure, he climbed down into the embankment.

The bearded mans corpse was hidden down in the embankment. Claude had used his bloodied robe to cover him. He folded the dirty robe and put it aside before he used Featherfall on the corpse and tugged on the clothes it wore. The corpse was raised like a light feather and Claude walked along the embankment with the corpse in hand in the darkness.

He didnt have a choice. The bearded mans corpse could definitely not be discovered at the embankment, not even in the forest. Claude was worried that the town police would start investigating the matter once the patrols discovered the corpse. Word of him looking for Eriksson and Welikros boat near that area would definitely be known then. Even though he might not be treated as a suspect given his fathers reputation, it was still something to be suspicious about and Claude didnt want to draw any attention to himself if at all possible.

That corpse had to be dealt with.

While he could report that he had been robbed on the way and had to kill the assailant in an act of self defense, he would have to explain his reasons for being within the forest during the late night. Hurian would also find out about his identity if he found out about it, and that was something Claude wanted to prevent as best he could. Who knew if the bearded man had been tasked by the shopkeeper to rob him in the first place? Even if he wasnt, there was a chance that Hurian would tattle and leak his identity to the world. By then, he would no longer be able to spend his days in peace.

Though Claude wasnt capable of completely eradicating the corpse and all evidence, letting others take care of his trouble for him wasnt beyond him. In the slums and the public docks, there were many who could make one disappear without a trace. Claude was going to get one such person to deal with the corpse for him. He wasnt concerned, however, with whether they were willing to go through the trouble.

The tavern at the docks, Mermaid, was an L-shaped, three-story building made of stone and wood. The longer wing of the building was the lodging and the first two floors of the shorter wing made up the tavern. The third floor on the other hand was where the owner and his family lived.

Even though Claude hadnt been to Mermaid before, he heard from Eriksson that the owner, Aleksim, was a powerful man in the underworld society of Whitestag. It was said that he used to be the captain of a whaling ship in his youth and had even took up life as a pirate for a time. He only returned to start Mermaid after one of his legs was crippled.

The building itself was located on part of the lakes embankment. Claude could walk all the way down and arrive at the bottom of the building. As the embankment was slightly lower than ground level, it would be hard for anyone to spot him. Instead, he would easily be able to detect anyone walking on higher ground and hide so as to not be noticed.

His walk to Mermaid required twenty minutes given the corpse of the 1.8-meter-tall bearded man he had to carry with him. Though Featherfall came in rather handy and made the corpse light as a feather, each cast lasted only a short two minutes.

Claude had cast seven Featherfall spells and felt his mana drying up. In the end, he had no choice and had to carry the corpse on his back to the part of the embankment where Mermaid was built upon.

The lodging wing of Mermaid had two entrances. One of them connected to the tavern wing. A guest would have to register at the counter of the tavern and pay before getting their key to their room and making their way to the other wing from within the building itself. The other way to enter was located at the other end of the building, but it was guarded 24 hours a day.

Claude circled Mermaid twice and carefully inspected the terrain and the paths he could take. It was around two thirty at night and most of the people that went drinking had left. There were two drunks who were sleeping on one of the tables and another worker at the counter, who seemed to be on his shift. He ignored the sleeping drunks and went about his business without looking up.

Claude didnt want to pass through the tavern to the lodging wing. Even though there were few people there, it was darker inside than out, with the hall almost fully lit with oil lamps. His true form could easily be seen under such lighting.

When he turned to the rear entrance of the building, he could see that even though the building was lit, it was considerably darker. Perhaps he could pretend to be one of the drunk patrons to make his way through. After some consideration, Claude removed the robe, pants and shoes of the bearded corpse, gave them a check, before he wiped them off with the bloodied, dark-colored robe.

Only after the bloodstains on the pants and the robes were completely wiped away and the clothes no longer smelled of blood did Claude put them on over his own. He took out the two bottles of gran wine from his backpack and sprinkled a whole bottle on himself and on the robe.

Claude took out another charcoal pen from his backpack and scribbled his face to make it seem like he was bearded like the man. He wasnt counting on being able to look completely identical to the man; all he wanted was to be able to pass as him in front of others.

After that, Claude opened the other bottle, poured half of it on the ground, before climbing out of the embankment. He inspected his empty surroundings before pretending to be a bumbling drunk, stumbling with a bottle of gran wine in hand and mumbling incoherently for more wine and toasts as he made his way towards the rear entrance.

A metal gate had been pulled over the entrance. Claude patted on the gate and called out in a blurry voice, Open up!

A huge man stepped out of the building. Who are you?

Claude obscured his face with the wine bottle and pretended to be drunk. Oooh Ooh I need a key to open m I right?

He took out the bronze key numbered 219 and handed it to the man. He here ya go Key O-open the door

The huge man looked at the number on the key and smiled. Ah, Mister Edmigar, why have you returned so late and so drunk? Please wait a moment, Ill open the door for you now. Thats your room key for the door upstairs, not for this gate.

Claude pretended to choke from some alcohol vapor and lowered his head in a coughing fit. He blocked his face with his hand. As long as the man didnt see his face directly, he wouldnt realize that Claude was an impostor.

The huge man pulled the gate open. Seeing Claude coughing so badly, he asked with concern, Mister Edmigar, do you need me to take you upstairs?

Claude replied in a hoarse voice with his head lowered, I I aint drunk Gim gimme one more bottle you.. you drink too

He pushed the bottle in his hand to the man, who looked at it and was glad to find that it still contained much gran wine. Make your way upstairs then, Mister Edmigar.

The man couldnt be bothered to send Claude upstairs, lest he snapped alert and took his wine back. Seeing Claude slowly make his way to the stairs, the man closed the gate and returned to his room. With such a large bottle of gran wine left, the rest of his shift would be much more pleasant than before.

Claude intentionally stumbled his way upstairs. There wasnt anyone walking in the corridor. Sounds of humping and women moaning on the other hand could be heard from the guest rooms on both sides. The soundproofing of the rooms doesnt seem good

When he found the door labeled 219, he took out the key and unlocked it. After turning to both sides of the corridor to make sure nobody was there, he zipped into the guest room.