The heavy iron doors of the Luminous Knight Bureau Association had barely finished swinging open before I stepped into the grand, polished lobby, with the real Zenni following hesitantly a half-step behind me.
The morning rush hadn't started yet. The air inside was still crisp, smelling faintly of old parchment, floor wax, and freshly brewed coffee. Sitting behind the expansive mahogany front desk was the registrar, Sydney Popov. She was casually sipping from a steaming ceramic mug, her spectacles resting on the bridge of her nose as she reviewed the early morning logs.
Hearing our approaching footsteps, she set her mug down with a soft click and offered a practiced, welcoming smile.
"Good morning! Welcome to the Bureau. What can I do for you two today?"
Just as I expected, her eyes drifted completely past me. Between the heavy shadow of my traveler's cloak, my missing left arm being tucked away, and the deep, rich desert tan permanently baked into my skin from the grueling Sisiphon sun, I looked like a completely different bounty hunter.
Since we were safely inside the secure interiors of the building, away from the prying eyes of the public plaza, I reached up with my right hand and pulled back the heavy fabric of my hood, exposing my face.
Sydney gasped, her eyes widening behind her lenses as she jumped slightly in her chair.
"Wow, Eirene! I completely didn't recognize you there! Your skin... you've changed so much since you left Caria last week. You look like you've been marching through a desert wasteland. Anyway... it's good to see you back in one piece. What can I do for you today? Did you find a lead on a contract?"
She shook her head, trying to snap herself back into her professional demeanor. I didn't waste a single second on pleasantries. My expression remained entirely cold, an icy mask framed by the jagged ridges of my Glasgow smile.
With a heavy, deliberate thud, I hoisted the bound canvas bundle onto the smooth mahogany counter using my lone right hand. I unknotted the thick layers of merchant cloth, peeling the fabric back to reveal the grim prize hidden inside.
There, resting on the desk under the bright chandeliers, was the severed head of Oksana. Her violet-dyed elven hair was matted with soot and dried gore, and her pale face was frozen in a motionless, wide-eyed expression of absolute horror, the exact look she wore right before my blood blade claimed her life.
The entire lobby instantly fell into a suffocating, dead silence.
Sydney's face went entirely pale, the healthy color draining from her cheeks until she looked like a corpse herself. She stumbled back a step, her hands trembling as she stared at the unmistakable features of the continent's most wanted syndicate leader.
"O-Oksana...? This... this is impossible. The Bureau just authorized this hunt... Eirene, you took down the Drug Lord of the Sisiphon Alchemist Guild in less than four days?!"
Sydney stammered, her voice cracking as she checked the high-priority bounty ledger on her desk, then looked back at the head.
Right next to me, the real Zenni let out a sharp, choked gasp. He stumbled backward, his eyes practically bulging out of his skull as he stared at the severed head of the monstrous woman who had held his entire home district in a chokehold of addiction and fear. To find out that the scarred, quiet silver haired girl who had handed him gold in an alleyway was actually a legendary executioner capable of decapitating his former master left him utterly paralyzed with shock.
The commotion quickly rippled through the rest of the building. A few early-rising Luminous Knights, low-tier adventurers, and passing Bureau staff members stopped dead in their tracks, turning their heads toward the front desk. Whispers broke out instantly like a wildfire.
"Is that... the Emerald Spire's boss?"
"No way... four days? She bypassed the entire cartel?!"
"Who is that cloaked girl?"
I paid absolutely no attention to the audience or the sudden wave of shock washing through the room. I simply pulled out the Registry of the Condemned ledger from my vest, slid it next to the head, and fixed Sydney with my sharp, lone right eye. The message was silent, but crystal clear:
"Validate the kill, and pay the Crimson Phantom her toll." I thought
Sydney quickly regained her professional composure, though her fingers still trembled slightly as she pulled out a specialized magnifying lens to inspect the severed head. She picked up my Registry of the Condemned ledger, flipping through the pages until she reached the official, magically stamped file for the Drug Lord.
"Well, we need to confirm it first, Eirene, the official registry states that Oksana is a strawberry-pink-haired elf. But the head you've shown me has deep purple hair. Because of this discrepancy, we need to verify it directly with Chief Anton Kif." Sydney said, her voice laced with bureaucratic caution as she compared the document to the prize on her desk.
I narrowed my lone right eye, letting out a sharp, irritated hiss through my ruined mouth. I reached into my cloak, pulled out my charcoal pencil and scrap paper, and furiously scribbled down a swift explanation:
"Dye. She infiltrated the Caria Academy as a noble instructor named Miss Sasha. She altered her appearance to fool the High Mages."
Sydney read the note, nodding slowly, but her expression remained rigidly firm.
"I understand what you're saying, Eirene. But rules are rules. We've had instances where desperate bounty hunters molded severed heads out of clay just to claim massive rewards easily. The Bureau absolutely loathes fraudulent claims, especially for high-profile syndicate targets. A major bounty like Oksana must undergo a strict, magical verification process before a single coin is released."
Accepting the delay with a silent, heavy exhale, I watched as Sydney temporarily turned her attention away from the gruesome display. She tilted her head toward the trembling boy standing beside me.
"You there, lad, what can I do for you today?" Sydney said, her tone softening as she addressed Zenni.
Zenni swallowed hard, forcefully tearing his eyes away from Oksana's matted purple hair. He cleared his throat nervously, stepping forward.
"I-I need to register for a standard identification card, ma'am. I just arrived in the capital."
"An ID card? Perfect,"
Sydney replied with a quick, efficient pace, pulling out a blank parchment slip and stamping it with a blue rune. She handed it to him, pointing toward a grand arched hallway to the right of the lobby.
"Go straight down that corridor to the measurement room. They'll take your magical aptitude, height, and core resonance so you can establish your status card right away."
"T-Thank you," Zenni muttered, taking the slip.
He gave me one final, deeply awed look of gratitude and terror before scurrying off toward the testing rooms, eager to finally secure his new life.
The moment Zenni disappeared down the hall, Sydney shifted her grim gaze right back to me, her professional smile completely vanishing. She carefully scooped Oksana's head back into the canvas bundle, tying it up securely to hide it from the growing crowd in the lobby.
"Eirene, come with me at this instant, we need to report this directly to Chief Anton. If this truly is the head of the Emerald Spire's boss, the entire political landscape of the lower districts is about to fracture."
I nodded curtly, pulling my traveler's cloak tightly over my shoulders and matching her brisk pace as she led me toward the grand, heavily guarded stairwell leading to the upper executive offices. My heart remained entirely cold. Elias was somewhere out in the world, believing I was safe in Town Allure… completely unaware that I was currently marching up to his boss's office with the head of a drug lord under my arm.
"Now, I will claim my four gold."