Published at 23rd of July 2026 9:57 am

Chapter 1867: Old Habits

This chapter is updated by JustRead.pl

Rain painted the skies above Davos.

Yet the Trade Ward bustled onward. It was always alive. Whether day or night, hot or cold, fair weather or rain. The district never slept.

Inside the secluded alley, however, the atmosphere was considerably more tense.

Adam sensed some of the tension leave the man’s body. Still, the blade remained at his throat.

He let out a forced chuckle. "Come on, now. Haven’t I said the magic words already?"

There was no reaction from the hooded man.

Adam added, "Lower the dagger now, would you?"

At last, the man said, his tone cold as ever:

"After you."

Adam grinned.

When these four individuals had abruptly surrounded him in the alley, he had already sensed their presence. Yet he made no attempt to flee, for he sensed no hostility from them.

If he wanted to join the Brotherhood, he had to be willing to make certain concessions. He had to make it appear that he was willing to place a measure of trust in them.

After all, no secret organization welcomed members who treated every interaction as a potential ambush.

So he stayed where he was and allowed events to unfold.

Still... old habits died hard.

Almost instinctively, he had drawn his own dagger and aimed it squarely at the man’s liver.

"Yes, but..." Adam gestured upward with a raise of his brow. "Tell that man to put away the arrow first."

A long silence followed.

There had, in fact, been four people surrounding Adam. The last one had scaled the building and had taken a position directly above him.

The hooded figure standing before Adam intently studied the youth. Then he let out a strange whistle.

A moment later, Adam sensed the fourth person stow away his bow. The man then dropped from the rooftop and landed gracefully behind the hooded figure.

"That’s some spatial awareness you have there, kid," the archer remarked.

"It’s the one redeeming quality of a coward, you know," Adam replied as he slowly lowered his dagger and put it away.

"First time I’ve seen someone take pride in being a coward," the hooded figure said as he, too, put away the dagger.

Adam smiled and replied, "Cowards live long."

"And brave men?" the archer asked, amused.

"Usually end up as stories." Adam shrugged.

A few of them exchanged glances, their thoughts unknown.

Adam didn’t care about their reactions. He said with an eager smile, "So you’ve finally deemed I’m clean, eh?"

He knew that he had been followed for the past two months. He couldn’t quite pinpoint his pursuers, as they had hidden their presence expertly. Yet wherever he went, he could always feel a pair of eyes watching him.

Moreover, he had discovered signs that someone had entered his room and attic at 7 Dutton Street on more than one occasion. They were professionals, leaving almost no traces behind. But Adam had noticed the subtle marks regardless.

"You’ve passed the preliminary checks," the hooded figure said.

"Only preliminary?" Adam sighed exaggeratedly. "And here I thought we were already friends."

"You have a strange sense of humor for a man with a knife to his throat," the archer said.

"Had a knife to my throat," Adam corrected. "There’s an important distinction, man."

The hooded figures exchanged strange glances.

The one standing before Adam offered him a potion. "Have this."

Adam frowned. He didn’t ask what it was. Instead, he examined it from outside the vial first. Then he uncorked it and took a long sniff.

"Sedative?" He asked with a frown.

"You really are a Herbalist!" the archer exclaimed.

"As if one of youse didn’t follow me to the Herbalists’ Guild when I went to obtain my license," Adam replied with a snort.

"Hey, I wasn’t there!" the archer protested.

"Sure, sure." Adam rolled his eyes. "And I suppose none of you were there when someone broke into my attic either."

An awkward silence followed.

Adam then turned to the hooded figure standing before him and asked solemnly, "Is this necessary? I’m uncomfortable with drinking this."

"Protocol," the man replied succinctly.

"Dragonshit!" Adam cursed.

He took a deep breath, then drank the entire potion in one go.

Of course, a potion like this would have little effect on him. His transformation had done strange things to his body. Whenever a foreign, harmful substance entered his system, his blood neutralized it almost immediately.

That was why he could hardly get drunk anymore.

Adam acted flawlessly.

He coughed and made a strange face.

"This... this is strong!"

His legs wobbled as he began to lose balance. His eyelids drooped, and he pointed a shaky finger at the hooded figure before him.

"You guys... better not... do anything..."

Adam never finished his sentence.

He slumped forward and was promptly caught by the hooded figure.

"Let’s go."

The man gave the order as he hoisted Adam over his shoulder.

The following moment, they disappeared amid the rain and darkness.

***

Adam believed they were still in Trade Borough.

Or rather, beneath Trade Borough.

They had traveled through the sewer channels. The winding tunnels and crisscrossing routes were deliberately confusing. Very confusing. After a certain point, Adam stopped trying to memorize the path.

They’re very cautious, he thought.

After several long minutes, they emerged above ground. After several more turns, they entered a building.

Adam sensed several more people inside.

Some were weaker than him. Others were considerably stronger.

He was taken to a private room and stripped of every piece of clothing. An artifact was activated to scan his body for concealed items or hidden artifacts. Another was used to determine whether he was under any form of mental manipulation or control.

Adam was given another potion that brought him out of his stupor but kept him in a suspended state of consciousness. Someone arrived and questioned him for nearly an hour, repeatedly asking the same questions in different ways to catch inconsistencies in his answers.

Of course, Adam played along, inwardly marveling at how cautious they were.

A second artifact was brought, one capable of detecting shapeshifters, illusions, and disguises. Adam felt its sweep across his body several times.

Even his belongings were inspected individually. His clothing, boots, coin pouch, and every mundane item he carried were examined and catalogued.

At one point, they even compared his answers against information they had gathered about him over the past couple of months.

Adam understood that the Brotherhood was trying to determine whether he was an infiltrator. A spy. A puppet. Or perhaps something even worse.

It was already morning by the time they finished the inspection.

On que, Adam slowly opened his eyes.

He pretended to be puzzled as he glanced around at the plain room he was in. He was sitting on a chair, wearing his own clothes. A table lay before him. And on the other side of the table, a middle-aged man stared back at him with an impassive look on his face.

Adam frowned. "Who are you?"

Of course, he already knew who this person was. Judging by the conversations going on around him throughout the night, this person was to be his handler.

The man ignored his question. Instead, he asked in a solemn but curious voice:

"I can find no record of your arrival on Carina. Why is that?"

Carina was the name of the second-biggest moon.

Adam frowned. "What do you mean?"

"It means that every otherworlder who arrives in Myrrandor first passes through Carina," the man explained. "From there, they are transported to Centerra after a series of inspections."

His eyes narrowed.

"You, however, appear to have no record whatsoever."

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