My SSS-Rank Grim Reaper System-Chapter 103: VELTHARR (1)
[Day 18 — Noon — Southern border of Veltharr]
Veltharr appeared without warning.
Iron Pass had ended in an abrupt descent between two rock formations, and when the last meter of the trail gave way to flat ground, the city was there.
Dark stone. Built against a rock wall that served as a natural northern rampart. Low, dense buildings stacked against one another with the logic of something that had grown without a central plan. Twisted streets. Irregular rooftops. Smoke from kitchens in the air.
And noise.
A permanent market on the outskirts — wooden and canvas stalls covering three full blocks before reaching the city gates. All kinds of people mixed together without the formal segregation that Empire City had. Humans. Beastfolk of various races. A few types Alex didn’t immediately identify.
Kira breathed.
Not deeply. Just a little.
"Frontier city," she said. "The people here chose to be far from what’s in the center."
"Do you know it?" Emily asked.
"I know the type." Kira was already assessing the market stalls with her tracker’s eyes. "They’re the same everywhere. The rules are whoever has the most power at the moment, not the Temple’s. And the information market is always better than in a formal city."
"No Temple?" Raven asked.
"No direct jurisdiction." Kira pointed to the city’s tallest tower — no Temple symbol. "Independent city-state. The Temple can pressure local governors but can’t make arrests here without prior political negotiation that takes weeks."
Raven: "I like this city."
---
[Outer Market Inn — The Split Rock]
The innkeeper was a bear woman in her fifties with scars on her forearms that could have been from work or combat — and were probably both.
She watched them enter. The team. Grim on Alex’s shoulder.
She didn’t blink.
"How many days?"
"Two," Alex said. "Possibly three."
"Double rooms or singles."
"Two doubles and one single."
The innkeeper handed them the keys without further questions. That was also one of the things about frontier cities — no one asked why you came or where you were going.
Grim looked around the inn.
"Smells like old leather and mountain sauce."
"Welcome to Veltharr," Kira said.
---
[First hour]
While the team dropped off their bags, Kira had disappeared.
She returned forty minutes later with a list in her notebook.
"Contact in the north market who has information on the upper levels of the Catacombs. Herbalist in the east district who treated three adventurers who came out of the Catacombs in the last six months. Blacksmith who reforged equipment for groups that entered the third level." She turned the page. "And a name — Heren — that three different people mentioned when I asked about survivors from level five."
Alex looked at her.
"How much sleep did you get on Iron Pass?"
"Enough."
"Number?"
Kira glanced at him sidelong.
"Four hours."
"That’s not enough."
"It’s what there was." She closed her notebook. "I’ll sleep more tonight. Right now there’s work."
---
[North market — 2:00 PM]
Veltharr’s market sold things that in Empire City would be on the black market.
Skill scrolls without Guild certification. Potions with no origin label. Maps of dungeon zones that official records marked as unexplored.
Maya walked through them with Akari on her shoulders and an expression Alex had only seen before when Maya was studying a new guild’s mission board.
Systematic assessment.
One stall had magical lighting equipment for underground terrain — lanterns that didn’t need a flame, running on low-consumption mana crystals.
Maya picked one up. Turned it in her hands.
The vendor — a middle-aged man with fingers stained by magical components — watched her.
"Lasts six hours with a standard crystal. Twelve with the upgraded one."
"Moisture resistance?"
"Sealed. For terrain up to four meters of water pressure depth."
"Temperature?"
"Operates between minus twenty and one hundred fifty degrees."
Maya put the lantern on the table and picked up another of the same model.
"Four of these. With upgraded crystals." She said it without negotiating the price yet because she finished evaluating first.
Akari on her shoulders had extended an extra tail — just one — and had it floating toward the lantern with delicacy.
The vendor looked at the fox.
"The fox has good judgment," the vendor said.
"Always," said Maya.
---
Alex had followed Maya without a specific plan — the market was large, and walking alongside someone who knew what they were looking for was more efficient than exploring alone.
Maya didn’t tell him to leave.
Alex took that as sufficient invitation.
Three more stalls. Maya evaluating climbing gear adapted for wet rock, magically reinforced ropes, enchanted grip gloves.
At the fourth stall — an unbranded potion seller — Maya took two flasks of dark green liquid and placed them in front of Alex.
"What’s the difference?"
Alex looked at them. Smelled the stopper of one. Then the other.
"This one has a southern plant base — sweeter. The other has a mineral base." He thought. "What are they for?"
"Environmental poison resistance. The lower levels of the Catacombs have decomposition gases that accumulate toxins." Maya pointed to the mineral-based one. "This one is more effective for that type of toxin but tastes horrible."
"And the plant-based one?"
"Works at seventy percent but tastes better."
Alex looked at her.
"Which one are we buying?"
Maya was already putting both into her bag.
"Both. The mineral-based one for a real emergency. The plant-based one for preventive use that we can’t argue about making them take because it tastes horrible."
Alex didn’t ask who specifically would argue about it.
They both knew it was Raven.
They walked to the next stall.
"How do you know all this about the Catacombs?" Alex asked.
"I’ve been reading the files Viktor sent and the ones Kira got on the road for two weeks." Maya looked at a crystal lamp. "And I asked."
"Who?"
"Seraph." No emphasis. "She has information on levels three and four that no other source had."
Alex looked at her.
"You asked Seraph directly?"
"Remotely. I left a note at the edge of camp four days ago." Maya lowered the lamp. "She answered. The information matched Viktor’s files." A pause. "I don’t trust her. But the information is verifiable."
Alex processed that.
Maya kept walking.
"Do you have a problem with that?"
"No," said Alex.
Maya nodded.
They continued.
---
[Artisan district — 3:30 PM]
Raven had found Veltharr’s blood magic practitioner using the same method she found most things — following the residual energy that her own Fragment detected in the environment.
The man lived above his workshop. Forty-something years old. Hands with ritual scars similar to Raven’s but with a different pattern — different tradition, same concept.
They had been at it for an hour when Alex found them.
The practitioner was crying.
Not from pain. In the specific way that some blood magic techniques required the practitioner to open emotional channels to access certain types of energy.
Raven watched him with the expression of a tutor satisfied with her student’s progress.
Alex looked at the scene.
"What’s going on?"
"Professional exchange." Raven didn’t take her eyes off the practitioner. "He showed me the blood vector amplification technique they use in the northern tradition. I’m showing him how the Circle tradition handles emotional suppression during the process."
"He’s crying."
"Part of the process." A pause. "Suppression first requires feeling what you’ll suppress later. It’s counterintuitive but it works."
The practitioner took a breath. The tears stopped.
The energy around his hands shifted — from erratic to stable.
"That," said Raven. "Exactly that."
Alex left the workshop.
---
[Outside street — Moment later]
Raven came out five minutes later.
She wiped her hands on her clothes and walked alongside Alex.
"Did you know him?" Alex asked.
"No. But northern tradition blood magic has specific stability problems that the Circle tradition solved decades ago." A pause. "Sharing that solution costs me nothing."
"And what did he teach you?"
"Vector amplification." Raven looked at her hands. "It allows directing Blood Weapon with more precision over long distances. Useful for underground terrain where direct range is limited."
Alex looked at her.
"You spent an hour with a stranger learning a technique specific to the Catacombs and you called it a professional exchange?"
"That’s what it was. Or are you jealous?"
"Raven."
She looked at him.
"Thank you," Alex said.
Raven smiled and kept walking. But before she could say anything else, she told him:
"I think you know how to thank me. It’s been a while since last time."
And she kissed him hard — with tongue. Alex barely managed to free himself while holding her waist.
"Raven, not here."
"Relax, the girls haven’t returned to the inn yet."
---
