The streets are full of life. Various humans and other races are walking through the bustling streets. Even though it is night, it is still full of life. Such a thing is normal in Gittrian, the city of gold. This is of course not in a literal sense. This city is the wealthiest city on the whole Kaledonian continent and 10 years ago the Yttroz industries which had its headquarters in Gittrian, increased the city’s wealth even more. But some architects decided to add to this and built a whole city block out of gold. Gold is not a suitable building material so they used magic to make this all work. It is a spectacle that no other sane city would attempt. But in the city of gold, everything was possible. For the right price of course.


    Tourists from all over the continent and beyond would visit this wealthy city just to see the golden city block “Aurum”. But also, merchants and individuals looking for job opportunities would visit this city. Because of this, the city was a melting pot of different races and cultures. The city was so successful because of this fact and racism, even though it was common in most parts of the country, was looked down upon in Gittrian. To deny one because of his or her race was to deny the reason for Gittrian’s success and the proud citizens of Gittrian would not accept that. Because of this no matter how weird or unusual the look, nobody would think anything of it. This is why nobody looks up at the shadow who is wearing a cloak and walking through the streets. It is common for certain races to cover themselves because they are used to being discriminated against because of their looks. Not because this doesn''t happen means that anyone can get over that hurdle instantly. Moreover, one has to get to this city which means traveling between cities that might have people shooting discriminating gazes. The shadow doesn''t care about any discriminating gazes. The shadow is more concerned because its race is very uncommon, it is even regarded as extinct in many places or people don''t even know it exists until they see it. The shadow found a dark corner in the luminous and noisy streets and sighed. The shadow had an objective but was met with misfortune again and again. According to a source, more information about Hourai rubies was more likely to be obtained here. And this is the problem the Shadow encountered. Suddenly all information and even knowledge of the existence of these Hourai rubies disappeared.


    “What is going on? Finally found a reliable source here in Gittrian and confirmed the existence of the Hourai rubies and a day later suddenly nobody has even heard of them.” The shadow slipped into another narrow corridor and headed toward the Yttroz industries headquarters. The shadow decided to infiltrate the headquarters because the information the shadow had was conflicting. One day the reliable source confirms their existence and the other day the same source didn''t remember anything even related to them. The shadow hunted down other assassins who might be in Gittrian for the same goal but even they didn''t know about the Hourai rubies.


    They do remember having a reason to come here but they didn''t remember what that reason was. The shadow used [Shadow meld] and slipped inside the walled-off area, entering the terrain of Yttroz industries. The shadow looked around to check if there weren''t any guards that specialized in detecting shadow magic. Most big companies aren''t afraid of spies and assassins because it is exceedingly hard to infiltrate them, the only exceptions are those that can use shadow magic. Not all spies and assassins can use shadow magic but those that can are a big threat to secrecy and keeping important figures alive. A company or industry cannot be taken seriously if it doesn''t invest in shadow magic detection. Unfortunately for Yttroz Industries, the shadow is very familiar with methods of shadow magic detection. In the past, the shadow has been part of shadow magic detection groups itself. The shadow creates effective shadow decoys. The guards that are skilled in shadow magic detection react and the shadow sneaks up on them and assassinates them. The other guards don''t seem to have noticed that their anti-shadow magic squad got assassinated. The shadow creates shadow clones which replace the guards that just got assassinated. Anti-shadow guards are quite expensive, especially in Gittrian so it is unlikely that there is more than 5 outside. There will be more inside but it will be easier for the shadow to just avoid them inside.


    The shadow swiped a keycard from one of the assassinated guards, thinks for a bit, and decides to carry all 5 in case situations might occur where the loss of one or 2 cards would be inevitable. The shadow approaches an entrance and sends a shadow under the door to make sure there is no anti-shadow guard on the other side. The coast is clear. The shadow [shadow melds] inside. This seems to be the area that accommodates the guards that are on shift outside the building. The shadow navigates the area and enters a corridor that leads toward other places in the building. The shadow hears footsteps. The shadow remembers that one keycard was different from the others, it indicated that this person was new. The shadow used [Shadow form] and mimicked the appearance of the new guard. 2 men in suits walked around the corner. They were deep in discussion. One seemed to be human and another seemed to be of the cat beast kin race.


    “Excuse me, I think I lost my wallet on my last shift and I can’t find it, is there a lost and found?” The two men look at the shadow who is disguised as a guard.


    “Oh, you must be new here, head over to the reception and they might have your wallet if they found it.”


    “How do I get there?"


    "Just turn around the corner where we came from and take the second turn right, you will enter the reception hall, there is a map on the wall next to the reception, you can use that to navigate your way back here.” The shadow followed the path described while still looking out for anti-shadow guards. This seemed to be a relatively public area so there were none close by. The shadow studied and memorized the map. Anything below the 5th floor was public so nothing of importance would be found there. The shadow pressed the button for the elevator. The elevator doors opened and there was another guard inside.


    “Going up?”


    “Yeah” the shadow answered.


    “Which floor?”


    “The 5th floor”


    “Do you have your card?”


    “My card?”


    “You must be new; you need a special card to head to the 5th floor and higher.” The guard showed a card that the shadow didn''t recognize.


    The elevator arrived at the 5th floor but only one guard stepped out of the elevator. The shadow had decided to drop the disguise of the current guard, assassinated the guard that occupied the elevator with it and to take on this guard''s identity. There was no sign of a battle or a body in the elevator. How did the shadow do this and where is the body? That is unfortunately an occupational secret.


    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    The shadow detected an anti-shadow guard and sedated him and stuffed him in a cabinet. The shadow realized that at a certain point, there would come a limit to how many guards the shadow could impersonate with shadow clones so for now it would shift to sedating guards. The shadow clones in the public area would notify the shadow when something is amiss and would also serve as extra ears. The shadow approaches 3 men who are passionately talking about gemstones.


    “Excuse me my wife works in the upper circles of jewelry and she heard something about ‘Hourai Rubies’ Do any of you know what this is about?” One of the men takes a pensive stance.


    “Hourai rubies, I can’t say I''ve ever heard of that, Try asking Blugbert on the 6th floor, if there is anyone who would know about rubies it would be him, where has your wife heard about them?”


    “One of her friends seemed to be unable to shut up about it.”


    “Oh, I see.”


    “Good luck with your search and be careful, word has gone around lately that a lot of spies and assassins have entered the city!” Another man said. The shadow waved at the 3 friendly men and took the elevator to the 6th floor. This floor had a different vibe there were blacksmith stations everywhere, also there were stonecutting stations at the far back, and welding stations to the side. All these men seemed to handle their crafts well while being in suits. The shadow was honestly impressed. The shadow knew nothing about these crafts but what it did know was that these normally didn''t get done in suits. Half of the men here were dwarfs. They somehow managed to keep their beards and suits clean. It was impressive, It almost looked like an art of how they were going about their craft. The shadow made quick movements to sedate and hide 2 more anti-shadow guards. The shadow asked a dwarf who seemed to take a short break for Blugbert. The shadow went back following the dwarf''s direction to the stone-cutting section.


    “Are you Blugbert?” The shadow addressed a man who was about 3 meters tall, with pointy ears and red hair and was inspecting some red-colored stones.


    “Yes, what do you want?”


    “My wife heard about some rumors, it’s about ‘Hourai Rubies’ she works in the upper rings of jewelry you see, she asked me to ask around.”


    “I hope you are doing this in your break time! We can’t have guards wasting their time asking about everything here!”


    “Yes, my break ends in 10 minutes so if you could answer my question, I might still have some time left to rest” Blugbert put down the rocks.


    “Whoever told you about these ‘Hourai Rubies’ was talking out of their asses. If any ruby gets bought by Yttroz industries I’m the first one to know and receive them! No rubies have come in for about a month now! And before that, this stupid elf swordswoman plundered our caravan because we didn''t deliver her rare materials on the same day that she ordered them. The gall!” The man slammed his desk with his fist.


    “Thank you, I will tell my wife.”


    “Make sure that whoever told her gets their fact straight! And only big loads of gemstones get named before they get appraised here so if it already had a name before it came here means that it is 7 carats or higher!” The shadow showed its gratitude and headed toward the elevator. In the elevator, the shadow used [Shadow swap] and swapped places with a shadow clone that was pretending to be a guard outside. Whatever happened caused the Hourai rubies to disappear from the face of the planet. The shadow thought to itself if there was a possibility that this was a prank but that idea got dismissed. Coordinating a prank like this on such a scale is impossible.


    The shadow ordered a salmon pizza and ate it at a local pizzeria. At first, the shadow had difficulties eating while being cloaked but after enough practice, it mastered this skill. Some people in the pizzeria seemed to be impressed with how the shadow could eat efficiently without removing the hood. The shadow looked up at a screen that seemed to play some local news.


    The shadow started to get a ringing sensation in its head. The shadow has experienced this multiple times over the last month. The screen got some static as it suddenly started talking about the discovery of a large number of ruby crystals which were to be called ”Hourai rubies” The shadow choked and coughed. It managed to get the pizza through its throat properly. The shadow didn''t understand. What is going on? The shadow thought about the series of events and decided that it might have been related to the ringing in its head. The shadow was familiar with the ringing in its head but nothing like this had happened before so this was new. The shadow didn''t know what was going on but its lead was back. It paid for the pizza and headed off. The shadow didn''t dispel the shadow clones in Yttroz industries yet. It used [Shadow Swap] and retraced its steps from before and used a different guard appearance this time. The shadow approached Blugbert, it was the same location but his race seems to have been changed to a human.


    “Are you Blugbert?”


    “Who else! What do you want?” This human was looking at red-looking stones? There was a big pile of similar-looking ones behind them. The shadow counted 15 crystals in total. The shadow asked the same question. “I hope you are not wasting time during work hours to come here and poke your nose around!”


    “I am using my break time.”


    “Then that is good, well aren''t you a lucky man, you’re looking at the Hourai rubies, all 15 crystals.” Blugbert showed off the rubies as if it were his.


    “Did anyone come here before and ask a similar question?”


    “Why would you ask something like that? Of course not! I don''t know who the friend of your wife is but she must have very good connections, I got these in this evening but I didn''t have any time to look at them yet!” The shadow was genuinely confused. It couldn''t understand what was going on.”


    “What can you tell me about the origin of these rubies and the seller?”


    “Interested in gemstones, eh? I can’t blame you, especially these babies! Look at them! Look how pure they are! I''ve never seen anything like this in 32 years in this field!” The man pulled the Shadow closer to give get a good look at the rubies. “There seems to be a funny story behind these rubies, the seller seemed to have been a 12-year-old kid that even managed to defeat Brock who was in charge of picking up the rubies and paying the kid. Brock is quite strong, people in Boshi town are built different.”


    “Boshi town? I have never heard of that place.”


    “I don''t blame ya, it is in the middle of nowhere, and also has some peculiar barrier that traps whoever gets inside of it, I wouldn''t recommend ever going there. They do provide top-quality products from time to time though! Here feel! It is still in its crystal form but feel how smooth it is! That kid surely had the skill to cut them from the vein this smooth!” The shadow felt the surface of the crystal. It was cold and smooth, it felt like touching glass. The shadow could detect slight traces of dimensional magic being used on it.


    “How did these rubies get transported?”


    “Oh, in these bags.” Blugbert handed the shadow a bag. The shadow inspected the bag and determined that the traces of dimensional magic weren''t caused by these bags. “So, are you a ruby fan now?” The shadow returned the bag.


    “They look pretty but I’m more of a fan of Jade. I will have to take my leave; my break is almost over.”


    “If your wife ever hears more rumors come and see me!” The shadow swapped back with a shadow clone outside and decided to head toward the library. The shadow was a bit excited. It had narrowed down the location of its targets it was also 100% sure that the one who sold these rubies is the shadow’s target. It was still unsure how at one moment these rubies didn''t exist and then popped back into existence as if nothing happened. The shadow took out an atlas of Yabia and located Gittrian. From there the shadow tried to find Boshi town. It took 10 minutes of searching to find it.


    “Close to the Umbra and Lucidus mountain range, eh? That is quite far.” The shadow decided to turn in for the day. The next day it would restock on supplies and start the journey to Boshi town.