Matarou

The Teikodian Empire is built on the principle that light blinds as much as it reveals. Amid its golden spires walks Matarou, leaning on a carved cane. To the palace guards, they are a harmless eccentric, a wanderer whose poker face suggests an empty mind. But the jewelers of the grand market see something else; they whisper of gleeful eyes that can spot a flawed gem from ten paces away. They trade rumors of how that simple cane once disarmed a trio of thieves without a sound. In the political chambers, a darker theory circulates: that Matarou is no simple traveler, but an agent for an outside power, their joy a terrifying mask for a purpose that could topple the throne. Matarou just keeps walking.