Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

A human half-blood woman sat at her desk going over a handful of documents scattered about it. There was a small group of tiny dark scales at the corners of her eyes. The corners of her nostrils had slits where the flesh would normally connect.

Verona Fangorath of the Merchant Guild in Lelvern could be seen doing mental calculations regarding the potential profits or losses of this month's imports. As Head of Acquisitions, doing this type of work was her primary job. However, there seemed to be a handful of people requesting a lot of data relating to market fluctuations within Arcadios's branch of the Merchant's Guild.

Verona smiled because it seemed that someone had put a few things together and came up with the idea to look for signs of artificial control over market fluctuations. Normally their probe would have been a good idea and would have found the source of the gathering of the materials required to outfit the attackers against the Arcadios Royal Academy.

Unfortunately for whoever these people were, Verona was the best at what she did. On top of that, the potential for this kind of probe was known far in advance. That's why Verona carefully skimmed excess material off the top of shipments for the past several years.

In fact, the individuals present at the academy were only given old equipment that had been gathering dust. It was nothing compared to the stockpile that their group had amassed for the true soldiers.

Verona sighed and looked down at her left hand. Since she was a normal mortal, it was empty. She found herself wishing she had been gifted with the sacred power their more special brothers and sisters received. Mortals bashed and berated powers greater than anything they could fathom. For this reason, Marked Ones were scorned and hated. They were ridiculed, enslaved, and murdered.

Normal mortals feared what they could not understand. They could not see the truth. Mana was weak and simplistic, but the power of the Marked Ones was something far greater. The Flames recognized this. Their greatest warriors were those blessed by the Marks.

Thanks to her skills, Verona held such a high position in their organization, but she would throw it all away to be so blessed…

"Lady Fangorath?" A voice called through her closed door, preceded by a light knock. "You have a letter."

After a few seconds of fumbling, a small slip of paper was passed through the mail slot in the door. When working, she required her workers to disturb her as little as possible so she could maintain ultimate focus. There were few exceptions allowed, which meant this letter was rather important.

She glanced at the blank envelope for a moment before opening it and reading its contents. According to the sender, things were moving precisely as predicted. The organization's stockpiles had been topped off, and their numbers were swelling with new adherents by the day.

Some of the larger camps had to separate themselves into smaller ones and spread out so they could maintain a semblance of secrecy. Recently, they had spread towards the border with the Wisteria Concord and were trading with some of the other branches within that country.

Verona and the other leaders ensured that their respective branches maintained independence from one another. They gathered resources, built facilities, and recruited members specifically within their own borders. All of this was to guarantee that if one branch fell, it was isolated and would not impact them on a massive scale.

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One of the last lines of the letter indicated a location within Lelvern where an item was left. Verona quickly burned the letter in the fireplace on the far side of the room and secured the documents on her desk. The weather outside looked decent, so she left her coat behind and headed out.

Before she left, she informed her secretaries that she would be doing some scouting for a potential acquisition.

"Are you still trying to purchase that devil woman's store?" The secretary asked with an exasperated sigh. "Lady Fangorath, how many times will that woman rebuke you before you finally give up?"

"It is a prime location for material storage. The proximity to the main market is much better for transport than any of our other warehouses." Verona answered. "Ensure no one enters my office."

"As you say." The secretary nodded.

The sights and sounds of Lelvern greeted Verona the moment she exited the Merchant Guild's main office. Across the large open space was the Adventurer's Guild which was as busy as always. A few hundred individuals with different types of armor and weapons were gathered outside the massive building, seemingly discussing their upcoming missions.

In the past, the Adventurer's Guild was simply an organization that was useful for gathering materials. However, since the continent-wide change allowing Marked Ones to participate in guilds, it had become a major resource for gathering recruits.

Verona smiled as she gazed upon a few dozen of their adherents and quickly turned in the direction of the section of the market that had the smithies. One business in particular was a little out of the way, almost out of the market district itself. It was an infamous location known best for the poor attitude of its owner.

'Ironvein', called 'Ironvain' by the locals, was run by a shrewd woman named Molly.

For years, Verona had been trying to acquire the location for her own purposes. She personally invested in a small number of weapon smiths and jewelers in the area. Having Molly's shop would be a great asset for storage. It was the only building with enough space to house enough resources to be worth the acquisition space and that was thanks to her exceptionally large basement.

Verona quickly reached the outside of the store where the defaced sign had the 'ei' replaced with an 'ai'. She laughed a little before heading in. Thanks to Molly's excellent ventilation, a guest would have a hard time believing that there was an actual forge in the back of the building. However, it was impossible to remove all traces, so there was still a slight hint of soot in the air.

"What do you want, you damn snake?" Molly growled from behind the counter.

Many smiths had an employee handle the main shop while they focused on the actual forging, but Molly did not. Whether it was her pride over her work or the fact that she had an impossible personality, no one else worked in the store save the woman herself.

"Hello again!" Verona said with a smile. "Have you thought any more about our offer?"

"I'd rather watch the place burn." Molly replied with a stone-faced expression.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"What purpose would those Flames serve?"

"Only retribution." Molly answered while hiking a thumb to the door behind the counter.

Verona smiled and stepped past the counter and through the door behind her. It opened up to a stairway leading to the basement below. Unlike most other buildings, the basement underneath Ironvein took up the footprint of the store as well as the stores surrounding it. It was the only building with a lower level within the market district.

Per construction records, Ironvein and the surrounding buildings used to be a singular, large building that was once the estate of the Lord of Lelvern. However, an uprising nearly a century ago burned the place to the ground and the lord's manor was reconstructed in the center of the city. Only Ironvein was given access to the basement that once stored the old lord's personal effects.

A handful of recognizable faces were in the basement when Verona emerged into the enclosed space. They were organizing a large amount of goods that belonged to the organization. Among those goods was a box that had a familiar symbol that matched the one contained within the letter.

Verona quickly grabbed the small box and returned to the shop's main floor. The others in the basement nodded at her but said nothing as they continued to organize the space. Molly shot her an annoyed look but remained silent as Verona stepped back into the store.

"I'll see you again in the future. Maybe next time you'll be inclined to sell?"

"Don't let the door hit you on the way out!" Molly grumbled. "And maybe buy something next time!"

The merchant smiled wryly and tucked the box away in a storage ring before exiting the building to return to her own office. Since she was in a hurry, she took a few shortcuts through back alleys to return a few minutes quicker. The crowds began to thicken because of the approach of lunchtime and threatened to slow her pace. However, she was able to dodge the majority of them.

Because of lunch, the office was mostly empty upon her return. Her secretary seemed to be enjoying a homemade meal at her desk and greeted her with a bow.

"Welcome back, Lady Fangorath."

"Relax, I'll be in my office performing a working lunch. No luck on today's acquisition attempt, but maybe next time."

"As you say."

Verona stepped into her office and locked the door behind her. She slowly approached her desk and withdrew the box from her storage ring. After placing it in the center of her desk, she opened the lid to witness a familiar object inside.