Malcolm Tent
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Wish Upon the Stars chapter 594
🕑 Added 2024-04-02 00:07:21 +0000 UTCA week flew by, leaving me at twenty days remaining and up to ten D-ranked chits. We put every single wish into building, setting foundations and getting plans, with the occasional wish for a full building to be built when we were dealing with things like houses and markets. With all that out of the way though, the construction workers made great time, and by the time we hit one week the territory was starting to LOOK like a real town.
“This place is really shaping up.” Benny said, echoing my thoughts unknowingly from where he sat next to me on the hill overlooking the valley. All of us were lying out enjoying the sun which managed to come through the concealment formation on the wall perfectly despite us having confirmed the valley wasn’t visible from outside.
Callie, who was laying in the grass on my other side nodded. “It does look good. I’m still worried about Spencer attacking though. We got lucky last time. The chances of us pulling off another D-rank kill are infinitesimal. We have two D-rankers on our side now, but who knows how many Spencer has?”
“I don’t think it’s just two.” I disagreed. “Clairdon’s territory was rich as hell. A lot of the payouts Camden promised hinged on success, but he’s had it. With a month to dig up assets I’m betting he’ll be able to hire a few more for backup.”
Jessie made a sound of agreement. “Plus you can tell how well this place is going based on how close to ranking up Celine is getting.”
“I think it’s nice.” Said Bethy from further down. “The cats love the buildings here. They say they make excellent scratching posts.” She seemed…lighter, recently. Like she’d always been a bit wacky, but that had been almost forced. Her manic exuberance had calmed somewhat, and while I would never call the tiny vampire NORMAL exactly, she seemed like she was having more fun.
Which I was happy about until I processed what she said. “Wait, was that YOU?” I snapped, sitting up to glare at the vampire. “The contractors have been furious because something keeps carving up the materials.”
“No!” She said, looking offended. “It was Donuts. He’s been acting out because Luggage has been getting more attention.”
Gabe cleared his throat. “Um, Bethy, I think it might be more that he’s been being terrorized by Chalk. Randall is getting harder to push around. The cats are E-rank now too, but they’re smaller and weaker.”
We all turned to my sister, who was snuggling her rabbit. She shrugged. “Chalk gets jealous of other animals. We’ve been working on it. Speaking of work, I heard Nat has been over at Camden’s helping out. Anyone talked to her?”
“I have.” Said Jessie. “She’s been doing…better. Not amazing, but better. This mess has given her something to focus on besides losing Perit. Camden has been a machine preparing for Spencer’s attack. He has a lot to lose now that he’s actually taken over Clairdon’s territory. Speaking of…” She looked at me. “Do we have a plan?”
“We do.” I said delightedly. “In fact, it’s one of my better plans. Spencer is rich, entrenched, and willing and able to declare war on two different territories at once. I considered dozens of potential defensive options…and then I realized, defense is the wrong way to go.”
Benny turned to face me with a flat look. “What?”
“Think about it.” I said excitedly. “We just got these new territories, we have a month to prepare, we used walls to beat the lions. There are so many indicators that we’re going to be taking a defensive stance in the upcoming battle. In fact, just about the only thing Spencer can reasonably count on is that we’re going to be reacting and not acting.”
He threw his hands in the air. “You don’t get to just state common sense things like they’re an example of us being predictable and then claim we should do the opposite to throw off the bad guy? That’s not clever, it’s five year old logic.” He turned on Callie. “Just because you’re marrying him doesn’t mean you need to agree to all his stupid ideas now!”
“I talked him out of the meteor plan didn’t I?” She said with an eye roll. “Hear him out though, this one isn’t really as stupid as it seems. He actually thought things out.”
When Benny finally looked back to me, I grinned. “Ok, so first off Anna will be the one doing the deed. With a few supplementary Skills and artifacts to enhance her stealth abilities, and a decent weapon, taking out Spencer should be easy.”
“There’s no way he doesn’t have a dozen different countermeasures for that.” Benny said slowly. Not like he was rejecting the idea, but like he was trying to work through problems.
“Yup.” I confirmed. “But we have a workaround. He can’t use any items more than two ranks higher than he is. In fact, even using anything C-rank will be tough. The difference between soul strain from E to D is substantial as we’ve seen. The main issue is that even shutting down the security is going to set it off. We need to give him something else to focus on while she gets in position.”
He groaned. “You mean that we need to break into his manor in parallel with the assassin we’re sending and get noticed, possibly putting ourselves in mortal peril, so we be BAIT?”
“Exactly.” I nodded. “And bait is a good word. We need him to remove himself from the built in security, and he’s a vicious little fuck. He’ll come out to kill us personally, just to demonstrate he’s the better man.”
Callie spoke up to reassure everyone. “Don’t worry. We have an actual plan, and we’ll be using wishes to support. Every step will meticulously controlled and influenced externally to give us the best chance of pulling this off. It’s safer than it sounds.”
She was right. We’d been planning out step by step instructions for everyone, using a combination of Callie’s spying, and Anna’s sources. Callie was even going to consult Nat to try and squeeze out what few bits of information she could glean around the inherent disadvantage wishes had towards secrets.
We were doing our best to confirm who, what, when , why, and where. All the mercs Spencer had would be uncovered, as would their abilities, placement, schedules, motivations, and locations. With all that info, we’d be able to plan everything out perfectly. Breaking in, securing a room, setting our trap and then making sure they discovered us and came after us would become infinitely simpler.
“So…did you guys tell Anna about this?” Asked Jessie. “Because we might need her input.”
I nodded. “We brought her in last visit. The valley is the only safe place to talk about this stuff. The defenses protect from notice, which is its own form of isolation, plus Celine had a blank room like Camden’s set up below the inn.”
“So…why aren’t we there right now?” Asked Bethy curiously.
I shrugged. “No point. Anna isn’t here so there’s no reason to spy, especially not at a level that would get past the wall.” I glanced up at the hulking structure that created the obfuscation effects over the valley. “Anyway, this stay between us. We need to keep this on the DL because the valley is still going to be fielding a defense.”
“You’re worried about what Camden said about traitors.” Callie said softly. “You don’t want anyone knowing to minimize risk.”
“Basically.” i admitted. “But its more than that. Since Celine is the owner of this territory we aren’t expected to be front and center. She is, and Benny will be with her, but the rest of us don’t need-”
Benny smashed a fist into the ground. “You want to repeat that again?” He said quietly.
“I said.” I repeated slowly, purposefully dragging it out to piss him off. “That you aren’t coming with us. If everyone important vanishes at once it’ll be obvious. It’ll be me, Callie, Bethy, Abel, and Mel.”
Chelsea’s head snapped around. “Wait what? I’m not going? That’s absurd!”
“Of course you aren’t.” I said patiently. “Callen needs to make an appearance here, or if necessary at Camden’s place if they don’t find the valley. He’ll be tracked without a doubt. Anna will be too, but we’re taking steps. We can’t take both of our best D-rankers with us, it would draw far too much attention. Same with Gabe.”
The Adamant looked upset, but he knew I was right, so he didn’t argue. Chelsea didn’t have any such compunctions, but I dismantled her points pretty easily, and eventually she had to admit staying behind was the smarter call. Even if she hated it.
“You’re doing your research?” She finally asked when she’d given in. “Like, blueprints and detailed plans? I know how much you like to wing it.” She smirked at Bethy, who gave her a fang filled grin and a wink. “But that isn’t going to cut it here. You’ve gotten a few rough outlines for dealing with any problems that come up, but you need for info.”
“You can even help.” I consoled her. “Talk to Anna next time she’s here. Ask her if there’s anything you can do. I’m sure your nerdiness will come in handy somehow. Like you probably know how like…deadbolts work, or whatever.”
Everyone looked at me. “Shane…do you…not know how deadbolts work?”
“What?” I was surprised. “Nobody does. They’re some scientific bullshit with magnets or something.”
Callie sighed, pinching her nose. “Honey, no.”
Benny, meanwhile, was snickering. “Dude, it's literally a crossbar inside the door. You turn the knob and it shoves a piece of metal between the door itself and the frame, holding them in line with each other.”
“Duh.” I snorted, looking away and grateful my face was covered. “I was…totally messing with you guys.” I let out a bark of strained laughter. “I can’t believe you bought that. You’re all so easy to trick.”
Callie patted me on my shoulder consolingly. “It’s ok, hon. We all have little things that we never learned for one reason or another that seem obvious to other people.”
“Fine.” I grumbled. “But we never locked our doors. Probably because Zeke was B-ranked. All the buildings I’ve been in that did have locks used electronic fasteners.” I climbed to my feet, dusting myself off. “Anyway, this is lame. Who wants to go watch the rookies get their asses kicked in the sword barracks.”
That seemed to distract them all well enough, and we all hopped up, heading to take in the site of the two hundred soldiers Callie and I had brought with us when we came receiving training. They were technically ours, not Celine’s but she’d signed mercenary contracts with us and we were using this place as a garrison. Paying for room and board with manpower made this a business arrangement, which removed any of the obligations that might have interfered in the wishes Celine had been making.
Looking around, I took in the sight of the village, beautiful, peaceful, and new. I’d never been somewhere so serene, though that had something to do with Callie too. I’d been chatting with Abel about the losses in the first battle and was feeling much better lately, and this place had definitely been part of that process.
Soon though, it would be time to go. After the fight with Spencer we only had another month before we had to leave. The trip to the conclave would take time, and we only had six months on Stratholme total, though it felt like it’d been much longer.
For the first time though, I wasn’t worried about what was coming. God wars, evil deities, assassins, or cultists. I’d dealt with it all before. Soon enough I’d be a Master, and a real power player in this universe. And I wasn’t alone either. I had my friends by my side, and I truly believed there was nothing that could stop us.
