Chapter 43: The Bureaucracy of Survival

The bounty poster sat on the polished oak table of our suite.

Ten thousand Infamy was no longer just a metric on my Status Panel. It was a massive price tag on my head.

Even the luxurious private rooms we had rented could not keep the reality of that target out, especially knowing the cost of this suite and my surgery had drained the very last of our Academy stipends.

We were broke, hunted, and out of time.

Rolf paced the woven rug.

"We need to leave. If we scrape together what little coin we have left, we might be able to pay off a smuggler in the lower levels and get out of the city before the real killers track us down."

"No," I said, folding the poster and sliding it into my coat pocket.

"Running just makes us prey. Valerius has deep pockets, and the Union has a small army of hunters."

Kaelith leaned against her doorframe, her daggers spinning idly.

"Then we set traps in the industrial districts and bleed them out."

"We would run out of blood first," I countered.

I looked over at Nyssa, who was carefully rolling up the parchment containing our steam turbine blueprint.

"Valerius expects us to fight like cornered animals in the mud. So, we are going to step into the brightest light this city has to offer."

Nyssa smiled, catching my drift immediately. "The Grand Registry of Innovations."

I nodded.

"The Kingdom of Iron and Steam values utility above all else. If we patent a machine that revolutionizes their entire energy grid, we become protected state assets. The Assassination Union does not attack state assets without declaring war on the Forge itself."

"A political fortress," Kaelith mused, a hint of genuine respect in her voice.

"Exactly," I said.

"Our invention will be helpful in securing the foothold we need in this Kingdom. I can guarantee that this technology is revolutionary and will go down in the history books. It has enough potential to change the world itself. Let us go make some history."

We cloaked ourselves heavily before stepping into the smog-choked streets.

The walk to the central district was tense, but my [Phantom Tread] and Kaelith’s expert scouting kept us off the radar.

The Grand Registry of Innovations was a towering monolith of polished brass and blackened steel. Inside, the air smelled of hot ink and ozone.

Hundreds of inventors buzzed around like insects in a hive.

We waited in line for nearly an hour before reaching the elevated desk of a Senior Inspector.

His nameplate read: Inspector Morvath.

He was a portly human with a monocle fused directly into his right eye socket. He wore dark velvet robes and did not even look up.

"Name, trade, and submission type," Morvath droned, his quill scratching lazily.

"Grik and Nyssa," I said.

"Arcane Engineers. We are submitting a patent for a closed-loop, high-efficiency steam turbine."

Morvath finally looked up.

His mechanical eye focused on my green skin, then on Nyssa’s pointed ears.

A sneer of absolute disgust curled his lip.

"A goblin and a half-breed playing at engineering," Morvath spat.

"The Registry does not accept crude mud-hut blueprints. Take your scrap metal ideas to the slums."

Rolf growled and stepped forward, but I held up my brass-plated left arm to stop him.

The pneumatic pistons hissed quietly.

"I strongly suggest you look at the blueprint, Inspector," I said, keeping my voice dangerously polite.

"Unless it is the habit of the Grand Registry to turn away technology that could double the city’s power output."

Morvath’s face turned mottled red.

He snatched the parchment from Nyssa’s hands.

"The arrogance of you primitives is astounding. Let me see this garbage."

He unrolled the blueprint.

For ten seconds, the only sound was the ticking of the grand clocks.

Morvath’s eyes darted across the elegant curves of the turbine blades and the complex equations Nyssa had mapped in the margins.

The sneer vanished, replaced by a pale, sweating shock.

He knew exactly what he was looking at. It was a miracle.

But then, his gaze shifted. He looked up from the parchment, his eyes locking onto my face.

He looked at my dark olive skin, my sharp jawline, and finally the heavy mechanical arm bolted to my shoulder.

A different kind of recognition flashed in his eyes.

"This..." Morvath stammered, his voice trembling before he forced it into a loud, booming shout.

"This is stolen property!"

The surrounding inventors paused and turned their heads.

"Excuse me?" Nyssa said, her academic pride flaring.

"That is original theoretical physics. You cannot possibly find a single predecessor to that design in your archives!"

"Silence, thief!" Morvath roared, slamming his fist onto the desk.

"Do you even have any evidence to prove your claims?"

I asked.

"You are seriously accusing us of stealing with absolutely zero evidence! We made this technology by racking our brains day and night. And you dare to call it stolen property!"

I acted dramatically, trying to pin all the blame back on him.

But he was quite short-tempered.

"This level of sophisticated engineering belongs to the High Forge! You filthy scavengers obviously murdered a state engineer and stole his life’s work! Guards!"

Two towering clockwork sentinels stationed near the pillars turned their glowing furnace-eyes toward us.

Heavy, metallic footsteps began to close in.

’He literally called the guards on us! If someone tries to silence your voice with force, you can smell the corruption from miles away.’

"I am confiscating this stolen contraband as evidence," Morvath declared, clutching the blueprint to his chest.

"And you upstarts are going to the detention cells for high treason!"

Rolf bared his fangs. Kaelith dropped into a low stance.

The hall descended into a tense silence.

I did not draw a weapon.

My mind raced. Morvath was not just a racist bureaucrat.

His reaction was too forced.

The way he recognized my face meant he knew exactly who I was.

"Stand down," I ordered my squad through the [Sovereign’s Chain].

"We do not fight the city guard. Not here."

I looked Morvath dead in the eye.

"You are making a very expensive mistake, Inspector."

"Take them away!" Morvath shouted, pointing a trembling finger at us.

As the heavy iron doors of the detention block slammed shut behind the goblin and his crew, Inspector Morvath let out a long, shaky breath.

He sat back heavily in his velvet-lined chair, smoothing out the edges of the confiscated blueprint.

His greedy eyes devoured the genius of the turbine design.

He could easily put his own name on it and secure a seat on the High Council.

But that was just a secondary prize.

Morvath reached under his heavy mahogany desk and unlocked a hidden compartment. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

He pulled out a small, jagged crystal that pulsed with a toxic, purple light.

It was a communication stone, strictly forbidden within the borders of the Forge.

He tapped the crystal.

The purple light flared, casting eerie shadows across his sweating face.

"Lord Valerius," Morvath whispered into the crystal, his voice dripping with sycophantic eagerness.

"It is Morvath. Your intelligence was correct. The anomaly has surfaced in my district. I have confiscated his assets, and I currently have him locked in the lower holding cells."

Morvath smiled, a grotesque twisting of his features. "The Assassination Union will not even need to hunt him down. He walked right into our hands."