I really enjoy that meal. I do so very much. There is plenty of crab stew after all. More than I can hope to eat by myself or even with the help of Sylwia. In fact most goes over the counter to other paying customers. I guess Pietr gets more out of this than just a workout for his skills. That's alright though. Credit where credit is due and he certainly deserves every penny and shilling as well as every compliment. He is a wizard in his kitchen.

When I leave a little later, I leave alone. I guess even a tough guild thug like Sylwia needs a home, and this seems to be hers. It's not bad either. And it might just earn her some additional skills she can fall back on if she ever decided to quite guild business. Not that I expect her to do that anytime soon.

With a smile on my lips and whistling a tune I picked up somewhere along the way, I head in the direction of the boardinghouse I usually frequent. I could spend the night at the adventurers' guild, but I still want to try something for which I need some privacy. The kind of privacy only solid walls can provide, thus I'm doing this here instead of out in the wilds, where there might always be someone watching me.

I pay the obligatory penny at the front door and receive a key as usual. The lady on duty shows me to my room too, for good measure. Then I finally have some privacy. I don't start experimenting right away. Instead I lie down for a moment. After a hearty meal like the one I just had I need a break before I can do anything else. Just a short one though.

I take this chance to plan what I have in mind in slightly greater detail. I'll use my [Change Shape] power once more to assume the shape of the young lord. Pretty much like I have done once before. Except this time around I'll use the recently bought mirror to use [Identify] on myself afterwards, pretty much like I did at the creek under the guidance of Fox shortly after my arrival.

Maybe I'll get some more insights into what exactly is going on in River Run that way. At the very least it should be a decent workout for skills I need to train anyway.

First I need to take some more precautions to ensure my privacy though. My cloak goes over the narrow window. Although no one should be able to peek in anyway I make sure like this. Beyond that my means are a little limited, but I double check that the door is locked and I hang my pack from the door handle to make sure no one can look in through the keyhole either for good measure. That's about it. That's what I can do with what I have available.

One last look around in the now rather dimly lit chamber, to make sure there are no peepholes in any of the walls, and I'm good to go. I take a deep breath and focus on the impression I have of the young lord who is not actually a lord but a lady, as I trigger my [Change Shape] skill.

My Mana reserves may have improved, but as some of my Mana drains away to power the change it's still a considerable fraction and I can't quite ignore the headache coming along with the feeling. At the same time my body changes and the skill improves a little. So far so good.

I look down at my changed body. I don't use my identification skill on myself like this though. You have to use a mirror after all to get a full status. Or at least that is my impression. Well, I'll find out in a moment. I raise the locket with the hidden mirror I got from Beldragor and open it. I suspect with a mirror this small the experience will not be quite the same, I'll probably have to strain my eyes, but I have to try anyway. Thus that is exactly what I do.

At first I only stare at the still slightly foreign face looking back at me from the mirror. Then, at last, I trigger my [Identify] skill. The skill improves a little as a minuscule amount of my Mana drains away and a moment later the results come in.

It's not the usual short notification I receive when identifying someone or something on sight either. No, it really is like the very first time I used that skill under the guidance of Fox. The mirror image clears up and becomes somehow sharper, like it really shouldn't in mirror this small and room this dimly lit. I can see my new borrowed self clearly now. And I can see various stats and lists of skills too.

Most of course are just my stats and skills, as expected. The important information I'm looking for is there too though. Compared to everything else it seems like an almost trivial detail with little consequence. Except, of course it has consequences.

Usually I'll identify as human, as my profile says that I'm human, only mentioning that I'm a doppelganger in parenthesis, which most identification skills seem unable to pick up. Now though my profile says that I'm a changeling, the child of a human and a doppelganger.

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That of course does still not explain why the young lady has to pretend to be a young lord, but it might explain why the city's lord seems overly cautious in general. Either he is a doppelganger himself and doesn't want to be found out. In my opinion that is the less likely option though. If it were the case the lord wouldn't have hired a highly competent person like the head maid. Or, which is more likely, the young lord's mother was a doppelganger.

I grimace a little. If the lord didn't know about it the birth of a changeling child might have come as an unwelcome surprise resulting in much drama and possibly some bloodshed or at least bad blood. I can't help it, the more I learn about the situation, the more open questions whirl around my mind.

Yes, if anything, this raises more question than it answers. I come to one conclusion at the very least though. Especially I need to be extra careful around the city in general and around the young lord even more so. I'm probably already getting involved in something quite by accident. I need to figure out what exactly it is. Intrigues are no fun if you are the expendable pawn after all.

First and foremost I need to be careful though. I close the locket again and focus on my usual appearance before activating my [Change Shape] power once more. Once again a considerable amount of my Mana drains away and as the change washes over me the skill improves another bit. It's pretty close to the next level up now, but I don't feel like draining my reserves any more right now. I need to make sure to always have enough Mana for real emergencies after all.

After making sure my clothes sit properly again, which is always a bit of a hassle after a change like that, I remove my pack from the door and my cloak from the window to arrange my rather modest sleeping accommodations. My brows furrow a little as I lie down. My makeshift leave bedding out in the woods actually was more comfortable than this. The only real upside is that I don't have to worry about hungry wild animals or sudden downpours waking me here. Still thinking to myself I quietly resolve to take advantage of the adventurers' guild's accommodations tomorrow instead.

I need to do a quest or another anyway to fill my purse again. Either that or I go out and find myself a nice and juicy purse I could cut. I don't get to follow that particular line of thought any further though, as a knock on my door interrupts it. This, I have to admit is unexpected. Who could it be? Well, there is only one way to find out. For me anyway. I'm sure wizards and the likes could cast some fancy spells instead. I though, I have to open the door and risk a look.

I hesitate just a moment. It wasn't a very forceful knock at least. That in itself is already reassuring. I can't hear anyone out there either and not for lack of trying for sure. In fact my [Perception] skill improves a little as I strain my ears. Is it the landlady? Anyone else I know? It might be an acquaintance from the thieves guild. In the end I call out, softly, as not to disturb anyone in the other nearby rooms.

"Coming. Just give me a moment."

For a moment I consider doing a Kick-Up or Flip-Up, but I'm still feeling entirely too full after my last meal. Doing a fancy move like that probably would be a bad idea right now. I'll have to give it a try sometime soon though. Who knows, maybe I can get one of my skills to evolve like this? For now though I just roll over and get up much less gracefully and with a slight groan. A moment later I'm at the door.

Beyond it, leaning against the opposite wall is Matylda. She is alone and by the looks of it not exactly in a hurry. The latter is not unusual though. In fact everything but this air of calm would be unusual. As the door opens she flashes me a smile.

"Viviona! I heard you are back in town. I'm so glad I caught you here! Say, do you have some time? Could you help me out with something?"

I shrug as I open the door further.

"Sure, I have some time. I'd appreciate it though, if I could get some actual sleep tonight. As for the other thing, I guess that depends. What exactly do you need my help with?"

The young dwarf woman immediately perks up and begins to explain.

"Well, you see, I heard rumors of someone organizing pit fights. Someone who isn't one of us. Someone who isn't giving us a cut either. Can't really have that, even if it isn't unexpected. There is some decent money in this kind of venture after all. Especially if the betting pools are rigged as I suspect. And would you believe it, I just found out that, whoever the people behind it are, they have set up some kind of tournament for tonight. The way I see it, this is a prime opportunity to either wring their neck or squeeze their purse."

I tilt my head slightly, as I think about it, but in the end I just nod. That doesn't sound too unusual after all. In fact I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often.

"So which one will it be? Necks? Or purses? And we aren't the only ones in on this, right?"

Sure, I have little doubt that I can knock some sense into a few thugs and even if she isn't that much of a fighter, Matylda probably can hold her own, but I'd still rather have some more backup along, just in case.

It seems my retort is not unexpected.

"Oh! Sylwia is already on board with this! The two of you together could probably wipe the floor with whoever is behind this fighting ring and all their fighters to boot. I'd like to try for a different, slightly more subtle approach first though."

I look behind myself and decide against bringing most of my gear. My sword, the buckler, my pack and the cloak remain where they are. I just grab my utility knife and my purse, since I'm obligated by the local law to wear a bladed weapon and I don't want to leave my scarce money unsupervised. Then I lock the door to join my dwarven friend on the way to tonight's job which might just double as entertainment.

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