Chapter 223: Blood HuntKonstantin smiled as the room scrambled to prepare for training to resume. The gleam in his eye told me whatever was planned would not be fun.“I hope you all enjoyed your time off and followed the first rule of being a Hound.” There was confusion around the room as everyone looked at each other for help. Konstantin resumed with an uncharacteristic smile. “The rule is that you should always be aware of your surroundings. I am sure you all walked the outer wall, explored all the streets in Sierra, and didn’t just spend your coins in the brothel and taverns.” That was exactly what everyone had done, as indicated by the dead silence.Hearne grinned as he asked, “A Hound never rests and is always on watch. Can anyone name the four streets in the upper district?”There was a spell of silence, so I offered, “Pegasi Way.” Hearne nodded and waited for more. The thing with Roman cities was that there were no street signs. The city maps named the streets, and the citizens knew them. So, if you didn’t ask the locals, you would never find the names. I had noticed a tiled mosaic of black-winged horses around the fountain at the street’s intersection but couldn’t recall other mosaics at intersections, so I guessed a common street name next, “Fortuna Street.”Konstantin jumped on the answer to call me out. “Wrong. Fortuna Way is in the lower city. It looks like none of you are prepared to be a Hound yet.” He sighed like a disappointed father and reached into his pocket, producing a silver-plated-looking pocket watch. “This is a blood compass.”Everyone was instantly mesmerized by the object in his hands. We were finally getting our first Hound artifact, and excitement rippled through the room. Konstantin turned it over (...)