{Outer Valekar Capital – Eyes on Ice Bar}
Jackson stepped into the 'Eyes on Ice' Bar, he was fidgeting a bit when a voice sounded from right beside him.
"Hope you remember the emperor's order… should you do anything to jeopardise it; I will peel your skin alive and feed you your organs." Alfred voice sounded right beside his hear even though there was no one there.
"Yes, my Lord," Jackson replied as he immediately put on his best poker face and looked around the bar.
Jackson took a slow breath and forced his shoulders to relax.
He moved away from the entrance and picked a random table near the centre of the bar, sitting down like any other patron.
He was looking to waste sometime and blend in while waiting for his required seat to become vacant.
Alfred remained beside him but unseen observing everyone coming and going.
Jackson ordered a snack and a small beer, and he ate while he waited.
Minutes passed. Ignoring the laughter that rose and fell around him, Jackson tore out a small part from a page from his notebook, scribbled something and dropped the note in his coin purse.
When the required stool at the counter finally freed up, Jackson stood and made his way over without hesitation.
He leaned against the bar and ordered again.
"Eyes on Ice."
The bartender gave him a brief look, nodded once, and turned away.
While waiting, Jackson placed two gold coins on the counter, side by side. Far more than the drink required.
He rested his fingers lightly on the coins, casual enough to pass as a drinker's habit.
Then he began.
One tap on the left coin with the middle finger of his right hand.
Two taps on the right coin with the same finger.
A short pause.
One tap on the right coin with the middle finger of his left hand.
Two taps on the left coin.
Another pause.
Then both hands moved together. Two taps, simultaneously, on both coins, this time with the ring fingers.
When the sequence finally ended, Jackson didn't look up or check for anything… no, he simply waited.
Alfred watched everything.
The bar was loud enough that sound-based signals were useless... taping coins with one's finger wasn't exactly loud.
'This had to be visual confirmation.' Alfred thought as he inspected everybody's reaction to Jackson action.
Yet no one was looking.
'Interesting… since it not visual… maybe a rune array.' Alfred's gaze swept the counter.
He examined the wood, the grain, the faint stains of spilled drink.
He checked the chair, the floor beneath it, even the shadow cast by the bar itself.
'Nothing.' There was no sign of any etched symbol or even mana disturbance.
'Then where are they watching from?' Alfred wondered.
His attention widened, scanning the room again, faster now. Jackson's drink would be ready any moment.
Once he took the shot, the Eye Freeze sensation would set in and once he was done, they didn't have any reason to linger for long.
Alfred was just about to pull back when he noticed it.
A rat.
It scurried along a beam near the ceiling, directly above Jackson's position, pausing as if to sniff the air.
Its beady eyes reflected the lantern light for a fraction of a second before it vanished into a narrow crawl space between the walls.
Alfred's eyes narrowed.
'A bar this busy, at midday, with no one reacting to a rat?'
He followed the creature's path with his gaze and noticed the subtle detail he had missed before.
The crawl space wasn't random.
It was positioned perfectly above the counter, exactly above Jackson's position.
Alfred smiled faintly, 'I see.'
However, he didn't make a more towards it, for all he knew the summoner could likely see through the eyes of the pest.
***
{Outer Valekar Imperial City Market}
Jackson walked through the market at an unhurried pace. He paused at stalls, picked up cheap goods he did not truly need, asked idle questions about prices.
To the crowd just another haggler going through the market trying to find the best price for his items.
Alfred moved next to him in silence, not bordering to search for the handler since he would be coming to him.
Beggar after beggar approached as the afternoon wore on. Occasionally Jackson would drop them a coin and other times he wouldn't.
Then one more stepped into his path.
The man wore aged rags covered in grime with a battered hat that was held low in both hands. "Spare this poor man some change, good sir."
Nothing about the words stood out but it was what came next that mattered.
The beggar tilted his hat and gave it a small upward jiggle.
A pause.
Two quick jiggles.
Another pause.
One. Pause. Two. Pause again.
Then a brief flurry of erratic movement, as if his hands had lost their rhythm.
Alfred locked in and watched the supposed beggar more closely.
The clothes were filthy, but the smell was wrong. Old fabric and dust, yes, but none of the truly terrible smell that clung to men who slept in gutters.
The hat was stained and cracked, yet its inner lining was only lightly soiled.
The man's eyes were dull and unfocused, but the closer Alfred looked, the more the emptiness felt forced.
And though he was thin, he wasn't sickly or malnourished.
One of this might have been nothing but coincidence, however, all of them…
This was definitely the handler.
Jackson nodded once he confirmed the rhythm.
He reached into his coin pouch and dropped a coin into the hat. Along with it went the folded piece of paper, hidden beneath the clink of metal and the beggar's practiced gratitude.
Alfred's voice slid into Jackson's ear, low and calm. "This is him. Two of my men are close by. They'll follow you back. I hope they don't have to remind you of your duties?"
Jackson did not react nor did his expression change.
He simply nodded once and turned away, resuming his idle browsing as if the exchange had meant nothing at all.
Alfred did not linger, he peeled off after the beggar, hoping he led him back to their main base.