175. Noted: Wiremu

There were seven people at Otto’s house now. An older lady was in the guest room. The problem wasn’t the lady it was her bond, a parrot. Her bedroom was on the second level. It took ages for it to settle for the night. The lady left the window open for it to come and go. It came and went several times before settling down for the night. I am curious as to where it went. I assume it delivered messages. The parrot will have keener senses than most, so this will be more difficult.

Otto’s house had a ground level of stone and then wood for the other two stories. It also went down two levels. My Granite Sense mapped out the basements, and Treasure Sense said one of my key targets was in the first basement. I went directly there through the stone. It was a safe. It was larger than I had practised on, but it had the same maker's mark on it. It was easier to get in as the lines of Sprirtual flow were further apart.

I sat there and read the documents Otto considered Important. There were title deeds to the house and Ranch. There was a will. Otto’s heir was the first child who successfully awakened an affinity. If no child had awakened an affinity at the time of his death, the estate was to be managed by his sister until that happened. In this house, we have two rival siblings and an aunt who has arrived to take charge. What a fun house to live in.

Then I found the good stuff. First was a monster core, probably a griffon. Then it was his notes on attempting to awaken affinities. They were last updated six months ago. He had mostly been experimenting on animals. There were long periods between experiments while he sourced Monster cores. He only bought a couple. Mostly, he hunted them, and they were mostly Griffons, as it was easier for him to work with Air affinity cores. Then I had to skim pages, and there were various rituals described and his results. It seems Otto became quite knowledgeable about rituals. The ritual for testing a core and a user’s compatibility was there, and then the variations he had made to it. There were a couple of books mentioned that he got some rituals from and tried variations of. At one point, he even vented his frustration at the King not allowing him access to his Ritualist. The King having a Ritualist is definitely not common knowledge. Very little about rituals is common knowledge.

I decided to keep the notes and the Monster Core that was in the safe. I put everything back and left it looking untouched. Tabitha had raided the safe at the ranch. She might have the more recent notes. They are best kept away from this family. Best, they think it all burned with the ranch.

I would need to watch this family for a while and make sure no one abuses others, but letting the remaining family members squabble over the inheritance seemed like a good result to me. I didn’t investigate any further and left the way I had come. Fire Lady was next on my list. Mary was a long-term lover. She would know if Otto had any close accomplices that might carry on the work. Or any backers who might be looking for his results. That might need a personal interview. How would you interrogate a fire affinity user? Could I use Hale against her?

Hale and Mary were keys to investigating Otto. Samantha and Gilbert were leads in what the Duke of Khirgiz might be planning. Next stop, Samantha’s safe. Gilbert was probably just a social climber and playboy, but I will also check him out, as maybe I can use him against Samantha. The first week is almost gone, and I only have two more before we leave.

Samantha’s safe showed she owned a lot more properties and businesses in Beitemark than she let on. The funding for this seemed to have come from Terry, Duke of Kirghiz. She is not a bad businesswoman, and they have been making her a tidy profit for a number of years now, allowing her to diversify. I couldn’t figure out any pattern to the ownership. Making coin is reason enough. She did send some profits back to cousin Terry.

Gilbert seemed simple to understand until I looked in his safe. Luckily I did. He reported to Duchess Isabella. He kept a close eye on Samatha and three other nobles whose loyalty was questionable. A letter in his safe from the Duchess asked him to find out about the Elemental Traders, as they were causing trouble for Duke Terrance. I had all but dismissed him as a simple man being manipulated by Samantha. This was someone who I could learn spycraft from, except he would not be open to teaching me.

I was putting everything back into Gilberts safe when I stopped. An experienced spy will not just rely on a safe to keep his things safe. There will be extra triggers or warning if it was accessed. Possibly even tracking. I remember Tabitha and the thin spider threads she encountered. I haven’t been close enough to Gilbert to see whether he has a bond.

The most obvious thing was to examine my hands, especially the fingers that had been touching the documents. I should be wearing gloves, but since moving Puia through my stone finger, I don’t anymore. I had my Snakeskin active on my hand as I used the oil glands to help slip it through the small hole. I have left oil residue in the safe. In all the safes. This is sloppy of me. This is the safe where someone might check. I think I need to stop and reassess what I am doing. I was slack because I didn’t expect someone to know what I was doing and have counters in place. Potentially have counters in place.

First things first hands. Yes, there is a light powder on my hands. I train my senses on it. It is not rock based. I can’t tell if it is Spiritual. If it is, there is not enough to affect the Spiritual flows in the room. Even if it is just a powder, between that and the oil, he will know someone has been in his safe the next time he opens it.

Does he have a way to tell that I have been in this room? I didn’t come in by the basement door this time, but I did last time. This time I came through the stonewall. Did he know about my previous visit? If he did, he would know I didn’t access his safe then. Am I getting too paranoid? The powder on my hands suggests not. Is there other evidence?

I move to the door. I don’t open it. Fortunately, the basement is stone, so I crawl through a hole in the wall next to the door. I examine the door. It looked the same as last time. Last time I was only looking for standard locks and alarms. This time I am looking for anything unusual. I spot it at the top of the door, jammed between the door and the frame. A hair. Just an ordinary hair, as far as I could tell, but definitely not a place it would get naturally, and anyone opening the door would disturb it.

Gilbert knows he had a visitor who didn’t steal anything and found his safe but didn’t access it. Would he be expecting a second visit? The hair says yes, but it could just be part of his normal security.

I followed him from the gate to Samantha’s to here. I had no indication he saw me, but he might have. I had Veneer running and changed it while he was with Samantha. Did he see me? I didn’t put a Hunter's Mark on him but followed him by scent. I purchased that very same cologne for tonight, thinking it would not be an unusual scent at Samantha's or here. The hair in the door will mean he won’t know I have been back until he opens the safe. That could be tomorrow or next week. I exited the building the same way I entered it tonight.

He has probably found my window catches. If somebody has been in his house, as evidenced by the disturbed hair, they must have gotten in somehow. That could clue him into my affinity, although a stone tool is possible.

The next question is can I trust what was in the safe? Could he have planted the document that said he worked for the Duchess? He definitely works for somebody, but it may not be for the Duchess. Shit, I feel like an amateur being shown up by a trained professional. The information I found on the first night is probably more reliable. He owns a ranch and is undermining a next-door ranch. Finding out the owner of the next-door ranch might give me a clue as to who his enemies were. The fact he is the known owner of the aggressor ranch is suspicious. I am going to need to go and look for myself. First, I need to clean this powder off thoroughly and catch a few hours' sleep.

The first stop, though, was the Duchy Land Records. They have a copy of the deeds of ownership as the Duchess issues them. Better yet, they have a map where the owners and ranches are laid out in one document. It is not a very detailed map, and physical features are only noted where they are a property boundary. Lord Gilbert's place bounds a river, a set of hills, and a road. He has two neighbours, and I note down the names. Neither are nobility, just ranchers, and they don’t have residences in town. There is a lot of communal grazing land also shown, which makes for potential conflict between ranchers.

What I discovered was my Map Skill was updated with this information. I queried who drew this map, and it was developed and added to over many years by many cartographers. That seems to be the key. The cartographer who trained me in the Map Making Skill said it was superior to the Drawing Skill, which will be one benefit. Skavt has a mapping Skill. I need to test whether her map updates from one of my maps. My Map Making Skill is at the top of the Apprentice levels. I used my Identify Skill on it, and it needed to be in the Journeyman levels to work on its own. I had the sense the Skill was incomplete on its own. Cartographers must have other skills that work with the Map Making Skill to do this.

It was probably a full day’s ride out there for me. I would need a horse, or I would stand out as unusual. Everybody rode around here. Did I borrow or hire a horse, or is it time to get a permanent horse, like I had Rocky, who the Lavaman killed? A horse is too fragile for the lava. Tāoke is not big enough to ride yet and would stand out even more. Then Puia made a suggestion, and shit, I need to try that, but I don’t want to set the prairie on fire or be noteworthy.