Malcolm Tent
patreon
Wish upon the Stars chapter 770
🕑 Added 2024-12-04 01:47:45 +0000 UTCIt always amazed me how stratified the Ascendant world was. I’d stolen from a Count, but a wealthy one. He should have been able to hire some C-rankers to send after me, but the custom of separation between ranks was so thoroughly ingrained in Ascendant culture it probably hadn’t even crossed his mind.
The only force I’d run into that used a C-ranker since I arrived was Bad Millie’s criminal organization, and their C-ranker was honestly pretty mediocre.
That said, the D-rankers that had been sent to apprehend me were even worse. A bunch of rookies who were barely at Master level. Two dozen of the bastards. And they didn’t stand a chance. Limbo billowed out from me, fog filling the street and coiling around the nearby buildings. I could see the forms of the enemy through the mist, blindsided by my domain, and I grinned as I sent my clones forward.
I couldn’t trigger a second form, sadly, nevermind a third. Trying to process potential futures through a dozen extra heads meant I needed a substantial number of parallels running, more than I probably could have managed without help from Callie.
A dozen staves swinging at breakneck speed destroyed future after future, corralling all of the enemy combatants into a small area without them even realizing. Before long, they started bumping into each other, and as soon as one of them shoved another they turned on each other, thinking they were feeling one of us.
It took less than five minutes for them all to put each other down, and a series of Belial hits from my clones in between their brawl helped make sure they wouldn’t be getting back up, all of them twitching on the ground devastated by poison that ate away at them enough to prevent them from healing.
I managed it just in time to drop Limbo, and once it was gone, I was left standing in the street in front of the guy in the tricorn. To my surprise, he hadn’t been part of the mess that had felled his friends, and he was just standing there, staring down at them dispassionately before he looked up at us. “I’ll admit,” he said calmly. “Most talented thieves aren’t that good in a straight fight. That was moderately impressive. I hope you don’t think it’ll be so easy to defeat me.”
Normally, I’d have shrugged him off…but I could feel my Danger Sense screaming at me still, and it hadn’t gotten quieter since we dropped the others. It had gotten louder.
“Mind if I ask something?” I said quietly. “How exactly did you find me? Where did I fuck up?”
He shrugged. “It wasn’t anything particularly damning. We simply took precautions. The stone emanates a very particular type of energy. Rather than build in defenses that might be detected, we simply built a device to detect the emanations from the stone itself. It sidesteps most of the countermeasures the majority of Ascendants think to use.”
I blinked. That was…brilliant. A tracking ability or enchantment might have been detected, but designing something that could detect a specific energy signature most people wouldn’t even be aware of would be nearly impossible to counter. Except… “I don’t have the stone,” I repeated. “So how the hell did you find me?”
“Because you carried it with you out of the manor. Your stealth dropped a few streets over. We were able to cobble together a description from nearby witnesses. Luckily incredibly tall armored figures with horrific obsidian masks aren’t particularly common.” His voice was bland, as if he did this sort of thing every day, but my Danger Sense was still screaming.
“Well, like I said, I don’t have the stone, which you must KNOW, so why are you really here?” I gestured at the pile of twitching bodies. “Because you didn’t bring that pack of half-wits here expecting to take me out, combat specialist or not. No one who could breach your security would be so easy to take down. So this was almost definitely some kind of test.”
For the first time since I saw him, the man in the tricorn smiled. “Well, it seems you’re not just a horrifying face. Yes, this was a test. We wanted to see if you would be worth employing. If not…well the Count’s Griffon Guard is about five times this number of combatants and all much more skilled. Even you have to have limits.”
“So, what? You think I owe you now, and if I don’t give in you’ll send all your people after me?” I asked waspishly. “Because that would depend what you want. If you expect me to get you that stone back you’re out of luck. I told you the Raxus priesthood has it.”
“We aren’t,” he said placidly. “Steps have been taken in that direction independent of your involvement. We’ve actually approached you about something a bit more relevant to you. Specifically, we’ve approached you to do what you’ve already done to us, just to someone else. Someone involved in your trials for Felicity.”
Callie cocked her head. “We’re not…NOT interested. We’d need some guarantees first. We don’t want any innocent people getting hurt because we stole some kind of doomsday device.”
“If there were a doomsday device on this planet,” he said dryly. “It wouldn’t be anywhere that he would be able to reach for us. And if it was and we knew about it, we’d tell someone more powerful in exchange for considerations and THEY would take it. But we’re willing to share the target with you, of course. You’ll need to know what it is to steal it.”
“And how does stealing something from someone involved in the trials actually help me win?” I asked skeptically.
“Jacob Skelgren,” said the tricorn man. “Part of the Skelgren family, known for being the sole possessors of the secrets of the Royal Slime racial trait. Contrary to the impression you may have gotten, Mr. Skelgren is one of the favorites for winning the position you’re aiming for. He’s quiet about it, but his results have been outstanding.”
I remembered Jacob, and his slime body. I didn’t know what a Royal Slime was, but it was clear it was effective. “And you want me to what? Steal his lunch money? What could I take that would require him to drop out?”
Reaching into his pocket, tricorn guy ignored my tension as he withdrew a small golden hourglass. He flipped it in midair, and it pulsed with golden light as he withdrew his hand and left it sitting there hanging in space, slowly running down.
“We have five minutes,” he said in a slightly more urgent tone. “I need you to accept before I tell you what you’ll be stealing.”
I weighed the pros and cons here. I liked Jacob, but I had to win this to make my family safe. Not to mention that I might die if I didn’t do it, or at least they might get underfoot enough to fuck my chances of passing the trial. I didn’t know how the point system worked, and for all I knew the last task was weighted extra heavily, or failing it would put me down enough points to miss the mark.
Contrary to what Callie had said, I didn’t think she cared TOO much about me playing thief. She’d mostly just been riffing. If I’d stolen food from a poor family or something she’d have been appalled, but taking a magic diamond necklace from some rich guy’s manor wasn’t a huge deal, and this probably wouldn’t be either.
Not to mention I wanted to get out of this and warn Ray, just in case they came after him directly. Finally, I sighed, nodding slowly. “Alright. I’ll do it. Now what exactly am I stealing here?”
“The Skelgren family are in possession of the sole instance of the catalyst to make the Royal Slime racial trait. The exact specifications of this trait are complex, and suffice to say you’ve barely scratched the surface. But we know HOW they make it. A very rare and coveted species of bee in their possession. We want you to steal the bee.”
I blinked at him. “The bee that their whole family bases their abilities on? The one that gives them the racial trait that is the source of their power? Because that sounds…complicated. Not just to pull off, but in the aftermath. It sounds like that would cause them extreme vulnerability.”
“Not in the short term,” he said, waving me off. “The process takes decades. Fermentation, enchantments, it’s an involved production method. Which means they have quite a few stockpiles of it saved up, currently processing, not to mention plenty in storage. The catalyst they have on hand is enough to last for generations. After that…well, that’s not your concern. The point is, if that bee goes missing, all family members will be recalled to search for it. So unless you get caught, you’ll be drawing off your competition.”
Sighing, I gave him a grudging nod. “Alright, fine. I’ll need their location and it’ll take me a few days. I have a week until my last trial, and I can commit to five days of prep before pulling this job for you. Agreed?”
“Acceptable. We look forward to working with you Mr. Mephistopheles. You’ll be contacted with a delivery address before the preparation period expires, so you’ll know where to deliver the bee.” His tone was businesslike. “Is that acceptable?”
“It is,” I said cheerfully. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m on a date. So why don’t you scoop up your cannon fodder and take them with you when you go.” I snapped my fingers, letting the poison fade from their bodies even as I dismissed my twelve clones. “They should heal up fine, but it might take them a while.”
I’d avoided killing anyone, and redirected any lethal shots from them as well. I didn’t need to put down rookies like that, and they were here in retaliation for something I did, so it hadn’t seemed right to butcher them for no reason. Tricorn looked amused, and he reached out, pulling some kind of coach from his ring, opening the door and starting to load bodies in.
“Wait, one more thing,” I said, interrupting his movements. “I want to know your name. You never mentioned it.”
He turned to regard me with interest. “Aloysius Brendel,” he said after a slight delay. “I act in the Count’s stead on matters of a discrete nature. I’m pleased to be working with you, Mr. Mephistopheles.” Then he turned and finished loading the twitching bodies into the coach. “Apologies for interrupting your day out. I hope you enjoy your visit. I recommend the singing pillars, they’re lovely.”
Then he climbed in after them and shut the door, the coach taking off down the street at a fast clip despite not being pulled by anything or seeming to have a motor. “Well,” I said in amusement. “That was certainly dramatic. I like him.”
Callie turned to me with a scoff. “You would. Now, why don’t we find a cafe or something where we can sit and eat as we talk about everything that just happened.”
I smiled, knowing that she wasn’t going to yell at me. She was going to try to help. It was what she always did. One of the things I loved most about her was that she always had my back. When she wasn’t around she could pretend I didn’t need the help, but now that she was here and had seen that whole mess, there was no way she wouldn’t try to get involved.
Offering her my elbow, I sent a pulse of affection through the bond as I escorted her down the street, looking for some kind of restaurant for us to eat and plan at. I wasn’t turning down any help I could get. I wanted this over with fast so I could focus on my last trial. I had a feeling it would be a doozy.
Comments
CamChains
tftc
George Campbell
Damn, it's always a good workday to wake up to a chapter!
Michelle Ray
Thank you for the chapters. 💚 Shane shoulda made his pay for his services. 🤣 he's over here being a good guy though.
