Seth's current status screen certainly had a few questionable, and possibly worrying, elements to it. From the constantly glitching question marks where his elemental score should be, and whatever that meant, to the fact that he had seemingly lost his [Telltale Heart] Requital and it had instead been replaced by the oh so informative [??? Heart]

As if yet more question marks weren't irritating enough, it was the only Requital that, for some reason, Seth couldn't summon. He had tried, multiple times, but nothing appeared. Not even in his chest, where the [Telltale Heart] used to manifest itself.

It was, as far as he could see, a complete and utter dud. But that just made it all the more irritating to him, like a jigsaw puzzle that was missing a piece, except this one was a puzzle without a picture he could use to guide him.

He also hadn't missed the fact that it seemed to list his species as 'Hybrid' instead of human. No doubt because of his wonderful, completely healthy looking tar blood. Hybrid with what exactly? He had no idea.

So many questions unceremoniously dumped onto his lap by that stupid goth lizard, and no sign of any answers or where they might come from. What an absolute pain.

At the very least, now that she was gone, scared away by his unexpected new chest tattoo, Seth could finally get some well deserved rest. If he was going to find the answer to his puppet problem with a simple walk tomorrow, then that at least make up for everything that had happened to him. At least it was just a simple walk though, it should be easy. Right?

***

"A walk around the city, hmm? I'll join you."

"Are you sure that's a good idea? I know that you aren't all that good with crowds."

"Yes, I am sure."

Astra bobbed her head and smiled softly, at least he thought it was a smile. She was still difficult to read, but over the last few months as she had been spending time with Seth, even if it was almost completely through his alternate persona, he had become a bit more versed in understanding the nuances of her unintentional poker face.

Of course, it was because of this that she wasn't actually talking to Seth, but Corvus who was standing next to Seth and taking all the attention off of his actual self.

Was it silly to feel like a third wheel because of your other self? Or even jealous of them because they were getting all the attention, despite that being their entire purpose? Perhaps, and most likely. But Seth put those thoughts aside and focused on Astra, trying to pick out those subtle signs he had come to know.

Let's see... Microscopic movement in the lips that gave her less of a frown, but only by the smallest margins. Little sparks of electricity in her eyes, like twinkling stars, and slight fidgeting in her hands.

Yeah, she was smiling alright. Quite a bright one by her standards, she must have been excited about something. So what the hell, if she was confident that she wouldn't cook anyone just by brushing past them in the crowds, then Seth should just accept that it wouldn't happen. So far, he had no reason not to trust her.

Thus, that was how the two most influential figures in the city of Ravenkeep, Astra and Corvus, were seen walking throughout the city shoulder to shoulder, with Seth trailing behind them like a little dog being taken on his morning walk.

It was a sight that added new fuel to the fire of the gossip mill. While it didn't send it into overdrive, it definitely spread a new wave of a familiar rumour. Even after the collapse of civilisation, and in the midst of a new one's rise, humanity still loved to ship their favourite celebrities.

As if the gossip about who was having secret night time fun with who wasn't enough, many of these people took the time to write various fictional stories involving these torrid love affairs, and the many forms they took, and posted them through the communication item. An item that was steadily showing itself to be a serious mistake, just like the internet before it.

Just this simple walk alone inspired a new wave of short stories, that took some serious creative liberty with the purpose of this walk. These stories would have enraged Seth's spectre, but not more than the sight itself would have, but fortunately for him she was too busy writing her own stories about a brooding, dark man and a character that resembled herself by pure coincidence.

Free from the haunting of his spectre for the day, Seth ignored the not so subtle gossiping occurring around them as they walked and simply chatted with Astra through Corvus as they travelled.

Trying not to think of whether this could be considered cat-fishing or not, Seth observed the buildings, street, people, stalls and basically everything that he passed by as if he was playing the most intense game of 'I-spy'.

He had been told that this walk would make him aware of the solution to his issue, but he had absolutely no damn clue what he was looking for. The dragon had conveniently left that part out before spiking him with a magic blood disease and bailing on him.

So, Seth had to look at everything and anything, in desperate hope that something would lead to his inspiration. As he was cursing that lizard in his mind, for choosing to be coy instead of helpful, he remembered something that she had said that could actually be useful.

'She mentioned the marketplace, right? The answer must be there, a store maybe.'

"I have been meaning to inspect the marketplace. I want to see how it is doing. After establishing the new currency, our economy is still growing after all and I need to make sure the pricing isn't too expensive.

I would hate for people to be getting taken advantage of because we aren't doing our jobs properly."

"Yes, That would be fine."

As Astra agreed unenthusiastically, Seth mentally fist pumped and gave himself a few metaphorical pats on the back for his wonderful excuse. Sure, he could just say 'we are going to the market' but why miss out on the opportunity to make people further respect his personas character?

As they made their way to the marketplace, Seth filled the silence by having Corvus ask a question that Seth had been wondering about since the beginning of their journey, since he could relax his searching for the moment.

"You said that you would be fine with the crowds, and while I trust you on that, I can't help but wonder where this confidence comes from. After all, before you were practically shouting at people not to touch you, so what has changed?"

"I evolved, and I learned to control it. Even if I don't do so, the damage isn't as bad. Unpleasant, but not fatal. But I can control it now."

She kept her eyes forward as she spoke, unable to bring herself to look at her travel companion, yet Seth gazed at her through Corvus' eyes. He stared without shame, looking at her hauntingly beautiful face, and couldn't help but notice the extra sheen in her eyes which made her dazzling blue pupils sparkle even more and enriched the rich depth of her brown irises.

There were quite a few emotions hidden within those eyes, but the one that triumphed over all was the one Seth respected the most from this woman. It was the reason he was so confident with her as his second in command. Her determination.

While he had spent his months studying and focused on the city, she had been hunting every single day. Not only had she caught up to him and transcended, but she had surpassed him not long after. Shooting to the bottleneck of her current level, where she had stopped and consolidated her power.

How could he not respect a woman like that?

Dragging his eyes away from her dazzling eyes, Seth focused back on their surroundings as they finally arrived at the Ravenkeep market.

The marketplace itself wasn't exactly big. It was a bit more than a dozen buildings built around a main square, and most of the dealings weren't done out of those buildings. Most sellers were only here out of convenience, creating stalls or laying down blankets to display their wares simply because they wanted them gone, or needed money, rather than because it was their job.

The buildings instead belonged to important, more permanent stores such as the local butchery, which purchased the kills of most hunters. It was because of the nature of this market place that Seth expected to find the answers in a stall or resting upon a blanket.

Perhaps it would be some cheap junk being sold which turned out to be a mysterious item that only he could identify with his runic knowledge. Maybe it would be an ancient scroll unearthed by the chaos of the new world, or even a ring that whispered dark secrets into his mind.

Glancing around idly, Seth quickly scanned the contents of the stalls and blanket sellers, looking for his diamond in the rough. When something finally caught his eye, he didn't even realise it at first, his eyes moving faster than his mind, but when his mind finally caught up Seth immediately halted in his tracks and did a double take, staring at the solution with wide eyes.

However, while Seth was right about the location of his clue towards the solution, he was completely wrong about the form it would take. Of all the things he had imagined, what he saw was one that had never entered his mind.

Yet as he was looking at it, he couldn't help but ask himself why he hadn't thought of it. After all, it just made sense.