Ellake
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Chapter 136 - Fallout and Fame
🕑 Added 2024-09-19 20:00:07 +0000 UTCDeverell looked over the list again. The notebook that Kiri and Nate had recovered was clearly a delivery list. The map laid out on the table before him detailed all of the delivery locations. He was convinced that they weren’t encoded as there was one delivery point very close to the region around Helmfirth. The date even lined up near when the slavery operation had begun there. At first he had wondered if maybe the mercenary company Darren’s Riders, the name he had uncovered for those who kidnapped Nate, were in fact morons. But he had quickly realised they didn’t encode the logbook because they didn’t need to. There was no other information that was relevant or extractable besides the locations. The gemstones were likely codenames, but then they showed up at multiple locations. There were no details about what the crates contained or if they were picking up something or dropping off supplies. Utterly useless, except for the locations.
That was where it got interesting. There were enough locations and dates spread over two years that whatever they had been involved in was not a small operation. The fact that the most recent dates seemed to be along the border with Asmuisil, coupled with the rumours of tensions stirring with Etrua’s neighbouring country was an issue. He had hoped the Guild would manage to extract that information from Darren himself. Deverell had made sure he was captured and restrained after he arrived at the Guild courtesy of Kiri’s Skill. Unfortunately he had been unable to give up any information. Deverell had administered the torture himself to extract information and it had been clear that Darren wanted to answer. But every time he had clamped up. Even after they had used their soul cleansing enchantments on the man it hadn’t been enough. That meant the Soul Contract that had bound the man was incredibly potent and the Guild in Etrua lacked a Platinum level Adventurer with a Soul related skillset. Kiri might one day be able to fill that role, but she wasn’t there yet. In the end, that made Darren a liability and Deverell had disposed of the mercenary. Justice had been served and his Embodiment still hummed with acknowledgement of that fact.
The clean up of the rest of the mercenary company had been simple enough given they were all already corpses. Thinking back on the place he was still impressed with the kids. Kiri had managed to take out multiple individuals with an Embodiment. Sure, they were likely fragmented Embodiments, but still, jumping that level gap and the force multiplier that an Embodiment could represent was beyond impressive. Her assassination skills were improving and he might need to consider bringing her on a simpler job with him in the near future. Now, while he suspected the footsoldiers of Darren’s Riders only possessed fragmented Embodiments, the same was not true of anyone who went down the path of a Mana Suppressor. The Class wasn’t too hard to get but it was almost universally avoided unless the goal was absolute specialisation. A Mana Suppressor was only capable of doing one thing and that thing was in the name. Their Skills were all geared to enhancing that effect and they almost always had partial or perfect Embodiments. That made what Nate had done all the more impressive. Pushing back against not one but two Mana Suppressors at level forty or so was insane. He wasn’t even sure how it was possible but the proof was there.
Shaking his head slightly, his black hair barely moved. Those two kids were future gems. Of that, he was certain. Which meant he needed to keep them safe until they could do so themselves. The world was wide and deep and while they had perhaps the greatest of starting points, there were monsters with centuries and over a hundred levels on them. All he could do was try and get them far enough that they could stand on their own. At the rate they were going he expected they would surpass him in another year. Maybe even less if fate continued to throw them into situations like this.
He had done his best to clean up after them. If anyone came looking all they were going to find was a burned down warehouse. Perhaps an Inspector or similar might look into it, but while they would be able to tell that there had been a fight and people had died, they shouldn’t be able to glean more details than that. Caroline and the noble brat had been more challenging. He had needed it to look like their disagreement is what resulted in their deaths. That was made more challenging due to the Noble being desiccated. The crushed body of the Enchanter was far easier. In the end he had been forced to go with a catastrophic cascade of enchantments interacting that resulted in the Enchanter’s shop exploding with such intense flames that it knocked down both buildings beside it, the corpses of the pair at the heart of the explosion were almost completely annihilated and given the number of enchantments involved he hoped that it would be enough of an explanation for the weird state of the bodies.
It had only been a day since then and he hadn’t seen anything to make him more wary or paranoid than he usually was, but it was still early days. The worst thing he could do would be to try and monitor the situation. He would just keep an eye out for any tails or anyone unusual or unexpected entering the Adventurer’s Guild compound. That did present a challenge for assisting Kiri and Nate. There was nothing else for it though. They would be on their own at the University for the next few days. Hopefully it would all work out and he wouldn’t disappoint Aisling. Glancing out the window towards the harbour he was reminded of his own youth for the barest of moments. A time best left forgotten, he thought, turning back to the table and trying to tease out the relationship between the delivery points and the codenames within the notebook. Something told him this was important.
*************
Headmaster Verian Thavian Mazet frowned at the message on the table in front of him. The news, while not terrible, was incredibly inconvenient. Prince Bordain would be along shortly for the weekly report and the simple fact was it was not going to be a positive one. How those morons had gone and gotten themselves killed was beyond him. Their job, their only job, was to deliver supplies and collect any profits returning them to the Capital and the Prince’s coffers. How fucking hard was it to be a glorified errand boy? Or crew.
The door to his office opened and he prepared to give his report. The only person on campus who would not knock before entering was the Prince himself. Bordain walked in, looking every bit a titan before the blocky man took a seat, making himself comfortable across from Verian.
“How is everything progressing, Verian?” demanded his liege.
“The news on the border is that Asmuisil will declare war within the next few months, though I don’t have a report from Sapphire about how the second incursion went and if they managed to escape with a third Dungeon Core. Topaz has been successful and all manerium mining has been diverted to your coffers. That brings me to the first major issue. The mercenary company we were using to ferry the takings is dead.”
“Do we know who?” asked Bordain, his tone giving no hint as to how the royal felt about this development.
“We do not. The warehouse in the docks they have been using between deliveries burned down and the initial assessment indicates people died. I have not been able to divine their location, which means they’re almost certainly dead and disposed of. Do you want me to organise an investigation?”
Bordain stared at the Headmaster in silence until Verian felt it had become uncomfortable before answering, “No. I will task one of the Guard Inspectors loyal to me to investigate. Your methods are more likely to be noticed. Secrecy is more important than an answer and your methods may get noticed.”
“What do you want to do about the delivery problem?”
Bordain tilted his chin in thought, “Have Garnet recalled. Delivery work is beneath her, so she will still know I am displeased with her. However she will find it preferable to working with Sapphire, and he can do without the backup now that tensions are suitably stirred. Have him implement the second stage of the plan within the month.”
Verian nodded his agreement.
“Was there anything else?” asked Bordain.
“The boy you had leave the University. The second son of the Earl of Dralogne? News is he has died in an explosion at an Enchanter’s shop in the Noble’s district.”
Verian watched as Bordain leaned back in his chair, curious about what the Prince was thinking about. A dead nobles son was at worst an inconvenience, but to have him die so soon after the Prince had ordered him off the University grounds could reflect poorly on the Prince. What would he do, wondered the Headmaster.
“Leave it with me. I will approach the Earl and will look into this personally. You focus on our other tasks. It’s almost time for our plans to bear fruit.”
The Headmaster nodded. All his work and sacrifice would soon pay off. He would finally be given access to that which he had been for so long denied. A Legendary Dungeon and a path towards a Mythic Class. No longer to languish at level a hundred and twenty while he kept mana at bay to prevent an evolution he knew he could not yet achieve. It would all be worth it.
*************
Duchess Charlotte Desmarais held a sheaf of paper from the latest report in her hands. The twins were as detailed as ever, the full report over forty pages long. The girls had detailed many of the students of the Royal University, focusing on their talents, weaknesses and associations. There were a few merchants noted that the Duchy might benefit from working with. To be Noble was to be wealthy, but there were grades of wealth. The Duchy she ruled over, with her husband's occasional assistance, was rich. But not rich enough. They held two less Dungeons than their slightly more elevated peers and if they were to contest that fact they needed the gold and mana to pay for such. Even petitioning the crown would come at a cost. That was why she had sacrificed her youngest. As twins the pair were almost perfect for taking on roles as Unseen. Roles that were finally to supply the desired returns.
After the twins' frankly abysmal performance at the Adventurer’s Guild Tournament she had started to wonder if she might need to sacrifice the pair to recoup the investment spent on developing them. Thankfully they were finally paying dividends as they ferreted out ways to harm the standing of their fellow Dukes and Duchesses and those who paid them homage.
That however, was not the report that had caught her attention. The twins had details on some of the Adventurer’s attending the Royal University. The subjects they were taking, their initial gradings, their Classes. The fact that the Guild had produced four First Evolution Epic Classers was worth noting. It was evidence of a rise in the Etrua branch of the Adventurer’s Guild strength, as well as their increasing capability and a promise of future power. That alone was cause for concern, but it was the additional information that had her worried. The twins had been trained since they were children to recognise the Skills and Stats of others. Identification Skills were useful, but they could be deceived. The twins' own obfuscated class cores were proof of that. But with enough practice and Perception, one could estimate the Stats of an individual, or the potential rarity of a Skill.
That was why the twins' suspicion that the top two Adventurer’s from the Tournament were both hiding their true Classes was of such concern. Class concealing at a level that could deceive the Royal University was doable, but expensive, and the Adventurer’s Guild would never pay for such unless they had good reason to. A reason like the twins' second conjecture. The pair held Legendary Classes after their First Evolution. Something that would put them beyond the twins’, herself and her husband. Something that would put the pair on par with the Royals themselves. If that was true then they represented a potential threat to the future of Etrua. It was well known that the Adventurer’s Guild disapproved of how the country of Etrua was run, and while they might not bring in external Adventurer’s, they were also unlikely to censure natives of the country. No, she thought, it was better to kill this child in the cradle rather than let it grow and fester until it consumed them all.
Ringing a bell she waited for her husband, Duke Quentin Desmarais, to attend her. While she waited she went over the rest of the reports, noting some opportunities to subvert some of the Earls and Barons that reported to the other Duchies. Nothing earth shattering, but definitely worth further investigation.
Finally, after almost an hour, the Duke entered his own office. His in name only, as the only time he used it was when giving orders to the twins’ or entertaining visitors. The rest of the time it was hers.
“I hope it’s important,” Quentin huffed.
With an effort of will she suppressed the urge to roll her eyes, proffering the relevant report for him to peruse. Watching him read over the report, she got to enjoy the slow widening of his eyes as he was made privy to the twins’ assessment, culminating in the man gulping for air. She knew how proud he was of his own development and the fact that he had achieved a Legendary Class at his second evolution. Something which put him ahead of his fellow Dukes, if the rumours were true. After all, Evolution was not guaranteed and more than one noble had been stuck at Rare even after their second evolution. To find out that the Adventurer’s Guild may have produced not one but two individuals comparable to the Royals was likely a blow to the man’s ego.
She watched his throat ripple as he swallowed before he finally did what he had always done and would always do. Seek her advice.
“What do you propose?”
“Kill it in the cradle. We send a Kill Squad. A team of six. All second evolution with at least a partial Embodiment. The twins’ can tell us when and where to strike. We end this threat before it can come back to bite us.”
“Should we inform the Royal family?”
She shook her head at the foolish question.
“If they don’t already know it would be in our interest to keep it that way. They may not take the same stance as us, instead choosing to marry them into the Royal family or worse, elevate them to the Nobility. The Royal family only sees two options when presented with power. They will try to possess it, and only if that fails, will they try to destroy it. If the twins’ are right, these two could rise to challenge us for our position. We have not stabilised since the death of your Father and would be the easiest Duchy to target. And anything less than a Duchy for a First Evolution Legendary is an insult. No. We tell no one.”
“As you say,” agreed Quentin, just like he always did.
“Good. I will have a team assembled. I will keep you informed of their progress.”
With that handled she looked back down at the reports, letting her husband know in no uncertain terms that she had no more need of him. He was out the door a moment later, which she was thankful for. She had much work to do to restore this Duchy to its rightful place and she couldn’t do that with distractions like foolish Dukes looking over her shoulder. She was just thankful that her children had inherited her resourcefulness and intellect, and not those of her husband's bloodline. Though, if they were perhaps a little less intelligent she wouldn’t have needed to go to the trouble of soulbinding the twins’. An expensive cost, but finally, after over a decade, it was showing returns. The smile on her face lit up the empty room. It was just a shame that there was no one present to see it.
Comments
Eleeyah
Lots of apostrophe errors in this chapter :P Do you have a docs or sth where those could be commented?
Ellake
It was, but since one of them was dead before Nate completely broke free Deverell is working under the assumption it was only two.
Sam
Wasn't it three mana suppressors, not two?
