The Conciege
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(TLO) Chapter 141: Potential Brother
🕑 Added 2024-01-30 05:47:53 +0000 UTCIt was maddening to think the seminary had sent a child that was unable to listen. He was Seth’s handler, which implied completely that all endeavors taken must be taken with his permission. So why in the name of growing religion would the stupid seminarian go into a fissure nest without telling him.
Jim’s mind raged as he waited for the contingent from the Baron.
Three days ago there’d been an alert from the readings from the building in front of him. Considering what it was, no one was allowed to venture into these parts of West Blue. At least not without the collective agreement of the adventure society, the hunter association, the Baron in charge and the government. So to monitor the place since adventurers couldn’t venture in to discover it, a device had been crafted. Over the years it had developed to a level of competence.
Its purpose was simple as was its use. It was an orb crafted from the fusion of multiple red beast cores. The result was a reia sensitive device that was linked to one of similar making. Each of the Dead Accords had one of these, and stationed away from the accords were those who were in charge of monitoring. Their job was to sit and watch the orb on their end check it for accurate readings and changes in rei levels.
The reia beasts within the dead accords were limited and they rarely ever left the area so the reia levels were usually the same. However, there were times when it rose to levels that everyone deemed unacceptable. At such times, the powers held a gathering and discussed on who would be sent in based on its most recent readings. As few as those times were, Jim was aware of only two. One was when the readings had reported a steady rise and they’d ventured in only to find the beasts had evolved to a level higher than they’d known. The other was when a fissure had opened within it. It had been an instant rise in a single day.
So how are we just knowing about the fissure now? He wondered.
The meeting he’d had with Lucas had told him the fissure had been there for a while judging by the readings. When he’d asked why no one had reported it the response was ludicrous.
“It wasn’t showing up on any of the devices,” Lucas had said. “It was when we studied the report over time that we found out. There was a sharp rise a few weeks ago that had gone down almost immediately. We thought it a glitch and continued to watch.”
“And nothing of the sort happened again?” he’d asked.
“Not really. After that it kept rising and falling. The rise wasn’t anything significant, though. In fact, it wasn’t anything new. It was what the dead accords did when new beasts begin wandering inside.”
“We’ve seen a migration before, Luke. This doesn’t sound like one.”
“Actually,” Luke had corrected. “We’ve seen a lot of migrations, and this sounds like one. Newer beasts flood the dead accords and try to take over the territory. Their presence raises the reia level of the place but the constant intrusions and deaths, the constant retreats and returns, these things lead to the constant rise and fall of the reia levels. It’s the reason we didn’t bother this time.”
Thinking back on it made his head ache.
The readings had spiked four days ago, revealing the presence of what the watchers had possessed the audacity to name a ‘hidden fissure.’ The very idea of it was a blatant concealment of negligence. A fissure had been festering under their watch and they had the effrontery to tag it as hidden.
When they were done with this nest all those watchers better be hiding because if the powers in charge do not give them a punishment he found acceptable, he would have to request permission from the Monsignor to mete out his own punishments. So those watchers best be as hidden from him as the fissure was from them.
But that wasn’t why he was here. It wasn’t the reason he’d argued with Lucas until the man had allowed him attend this operation. His reason for being here was different. According to Lucas, there were a series of adventurers at silver authority who’d been pawning off beast cores in the black market. Worse, the ones who weren’t very smart were selling of cores at the guild and hunter associations that didn’t tally with the records of contracts they’d taken from the guild.
At first he’d looked into the hunter guild to confirm if these adventurers had begun taking missions from them and found the answer in the negative. So he’d dug further, asked questions and sent out those he knew could ask questions. The answer came to him quickly. There were multiple silver teams unaccounted for at specific times. Eventually, the final answer had come to him. His adventurers were abusing a fissure nest in the dead accords here in West Blue.
It explained the steady fluctuations in the readings. The constant entry and exit of the adventurers was enough to raise and drop the reia levels. Then the fissure would respawn the nest each time the nest was empty and the cycle would resume. And a few of the adventuring teams present under his sponsorship.
Seth was trying to get him in trouble.
“The Baron’s contingent is five minutes out,” The leader of the government’s contingent told him.
He was a round man named Nikolai with more heavy fat that actual fat. Like Jim he was a gold mage, and from the little he knew, the man’s skills focused around power and strength. Judging by the heavy armor he wore it was clear he had given up on speed and focused more on his strengths. He would be a hard tank to kill in a fight.
Jim nodded to him his face never leaving the crumbling half palace in front of him. It was annoying to know Seth was in there and there was nothing he could do for the next five minutes.
If the boy died, the report on his death would shine badly on him. That he couldn’t handle an Iron seminarian was one thing. That his inability to manage an Iron seminarian under the attention of the Monsignor would spell years of disadvantages for him.
He checked himself as he waited. He wore the customary medium armor customary to his way of fighting over a pair of leather brown trousers and a grey shirt. In the seminary he had recorded his style of fighting as the way of the Winter Flame. No one had asked why because the reason had been simple.
A halberd was strapped to his back and he kept a shortsword strapped to his hip in case he found himself in a tight space. There was no way the palace in front of him would not put him in tight spaces.
Behind him was a group of silver adventurers, three ranks and higher. They were three in number as was Nikolai’s team. And as per the agreement, once the Baron’s team showed, they would carry the same numbers.
He watched the crumbling palace with gold eyes as it fell apart and the tremors shook the ground beneath his feet. The cacophony of disagreeing reia was chaotic, filled with silvers, human and not. But there was something odd about it. Judging by the frown on Nikolai’s face, the man was seeing the same thing. Something was keeping the reia’s suppressed, contained. It was like an invisible bubble he’d only noted because none of the reia’s ventured farther than a specific point on all sides of the building.
From his experience there was no way this was naturally occurring. He’d seen Barons attempt such a feat with things as little as active artifacts the size of his hand. Often times they did it to mages beneath their authority, suppressing them with the full force of their aura, but this was on another level.
For the first time in a long while, Jim found himself worrying for an existence that could threaten the seminary other than the order of the Vatican priests.
When the Baron’s representatives arrived, Jim turned to him with a false smile and bowed at the neck.
“My Lord,” he greeted as was customary in the presence of the territory’s Lord.
Nikolai, for his own part, gave a simple nod. his greeting was as curt as his nod.
“Lord Darnesh.”
Lord Jonathan Darnesh returned his greeting with silence. Turning to Jim he bowed in the same fashion.
“If I’m not mistaken, you’re one of the Houses of the adventurers,” he said.
Behind Jim and Nikolai, their subordinates bowed at the waist, keeping their heads down for fear of offending a gold.
Jim lifted his head and nodded. “House Fifty-eight, my Lord.”
Jonathan nodded as if comprehending a guru’s path. “You’re the one I’ve heard rumors of,” he said. “The one that sponsored an Iron mage in a silver team. Do you think that was the right decision? A reasonable decision?”
Jim met the boy’s eyes, for as powerful as Lord Darnesh was, he was still just a boy. Twenty-five years did not give him the right to question his decisions. Some would argue his quick evolution to gold in four years was special, but here he was, five years later and still gold. He’d come to the same wall as all others. And people only called him a genius because they didn’t know better.
There was no priest or seminarian over the age of twenty that wasn’t at least a gold.
However, as much as he did not like the insinuations of incompetence, he was still an adventurer. Unlike Lucas who headed the adventure society branch of West Blue in the authority of Barony, he answered to the young Lord to an extent.
“If you pay attention to his team’s track record,” he said. “You’ll find that he’s doing just fine amongst his silver teammates. I only place my beneficiaries in positions where I believe they will thrive.”
“And you believe the adventurer will thrive in a silver team?”
“I do.”
“Perhaps you are right,” Jonathan mused. Then his expression changed. Gone was the understanding façade he’d worn. In its place there was a seriousness of a man who knew the power he had. “I also heard—and mind you this is the only reason I take interest in an adventurer of Iron—that he has amnesia. That he doesn’t remember what happened to him any earlier than six months before he took his adventurer’s test.”
Jim nodded, knowing he now stood on deadly grounds. Not that it truly scared him.
“Oddly enough,” the young lord continued. “I’ve also been informed that he is always masked. That no one knows what he looks like. Except, perhaps…” he paused for dramatic effect. “You.”
Jim held his tongue in silence and Jonathan waited a while before continuing.
“If you don’t mind, House fifty-eight, I would like to see this young adventurer.”
This was a problem. Seth had already confirmed he’d grown up in West Blue, but not which part of it. He could as easily be a child of someone insignificant or a member of House Darnesh. But considering the Lord never paid attention to things that were neither the business of the Baron or the government, he’d been fairly certain he wouldn’t have to explain it to House Darnesh.
Now he saw the error in the process of his thoughts.
“And, if I may ask, why have you taken interest in the young adventurer?” he asked, feeling his refusal to be spoken down to rise.
Lord Darnesh stepped forward eyes glowing. Jim could not sense it as all Barons can, but he could see the white smoke as it rose from the young lord.
This child was cycling his reia; preparing for a fight.
“I don’t think it should come as a surprise,” Jonathan said coldly. “There is none within my territory that doesn’t know house Darnesh had one of its own taken from us a few years ago. I merely want to confirm if the child is ours.”
“And I would like to let you know that there are better ways to make your request.” Jim stepped forward so that they stood within violent reach of each other. He did not cycle his reia yet he prepared for what would come. Fighting a lord was not beyond the actions he was permitted to take.
He would fight any mage that wasn’t a Baron.
“Or do you disagree, my Lord?” he finished.
“As much as I’d like to see this happen,” Nikolai interrupted, stepping between them, his huge size forcing them apart. “We have a job to do. And if you pay attention to that job, you’ll see that half of it is already gone. So let’s get it over with. Save,” he turned to Jim, “your adventurers, and,” he turned to Jonathan, “scold our subordinates. Then you can make your request or whatever and see this adventurer of yours.” He turned back to Jim. “Where even is this famous adventurer?”
Jim nodded towards the collapsing building. “In there.”
Nikolai clapped loudly. “Then we best hurry,” he said heartily. “That way we can save your beneficiary and your Lordship’s potential brother.”
He clapped Jim on the arm and turned away from them. Walking towards the building he raised a finger high above his head and twirled it in a single circumference. At the command his team formed up on him immediately.
Jim spared Lord Darnesh a final glance before turning away. He wasn’t certain of a lot of things, but one thing was for sure. He needed to get Seth out of West Blue.
