Wandering Agent
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Chapter 87 Confrontation
🕑 Added 2022-01-19 08:10:07 +0000 UTCI needed a few moments to think, to organize my attack. In that vein I decided to go for the lowest of hanging fruits.
"The sphere is research that I'm not yet bringing forward. In fact, most of what you're on about is."
Rooke looked at my lamp. "I am inclined to believe that this is research, but my main concern here is if it's dangerous."
"I doubt that."
"I do not, because everyone who so far has looked at it gets the feeling that it is... off. What even is this thing?"
"You can surely understand the rune sequences," I huffed. They were written right there on the surface.
"There are ways to hide the true ones..."
"No, it's just a lamp."
"... then why does it..."
"Personal research, but harmless personal research. Which I will expect you to stay out of as per our agreement."
"Very well, I can ignore that so long as you don't do anything dangerous with it. It was incidental for us to find it anyway. The main concerns are your bouts of unconsciousness and the fact that you are appearing with unbelievably valuable materials that your explanation for is nonsense."
"Well, as for my laying unconscious, that is me doing research on my core, and also none of your business."
"Research? Without taking any kind of note or anything? Not recording any result? Even if it were in code in some manner that only you could understand that would make sense, but you've done none of that. You've just spent hour after hour laying there. That is the appearance of narcotics."
"Oh yes, let me take notes, because my room is so secure from intrusion. I'm sure nobody would barge in and search through such things." I let the sarcasm drip for a few moments. "As for what I'm researching, that should be obvious, it's the core. Which you already know I've spent a lot of time thinking about already. Since you've searched my room and found that I don't have any narcotics, that should do away with that suspicion as well."
Rooke picked up the phial that contained... my guess was potassium, and put it on the table.
I opted to head him off. "Another sample I acquired, and not one I would advise consuming. I opted not to tell Professor Hern about that one because I don't think it useful."
"Oh? And what would happen if it were consumed?" Rooke looked doubtful.
As way of demonstration I walked across the room, picking up a cup from my bedside and filling it with water. I then used a minor movement spell to toss the metal sample in, wherein it immediately started tossing out fire and sputtering around. "That. I found that one while trying to measure its density. Sadly I have no more of it, or I would invite you to have a bit."
Rooke actually seemed a bit put off as he looked down at the glass. I'd managed to easily demonstrate that the metal wasn't a drug. I'd also destroyed it quite nicely so he couldn't look into it any further.
"Very well, on to my final concern. The appearance of these materials is so far outside of the norm that I cannot ignore their making their way onto our campus. Do you know how rare sky-metal is?"
"Obviously not, that is why I took the sample to Professor Hern."
"It is uncommon enough that he has never seen it before. Professor Hern has seen diamonds the size of your thumb, pure gold plates inscribed with magic, magical items the likes of which you can hardly imagine. Never has he held a sample of that material. My understanding is that he thought that it might be a legend, only put in his reference books because others had it in theirs. Here you show up though, with a sample you 'bought in the market off of a merchant you didn't know.' it's not believable."
"I did buy it off a merchant whose name I do not know."
"Alana, that's bullshit." He seemed actually irritated by that answer.
"The truth is often stranger than fiction professor. That you cannot believe it is not my problem. Do you have any other concerns that would cause you to go through my things?"
"The bouts of torpor were our main concern. That alone was enough." Professor Lur spoke up finally, she'd spent the entire time sitting in the corner rather quietly.
"Care to explain?"
"There are... certain narcotics sometimes used by young wizards in an attempt to boost their power. The main side effect is visions which incapacitate the user for a period of time. Well, that and the fact that they tend to be fatal."
That sounded like some kind of psychedelic, not something I wanted. "There are drugs to make your magic stronger? That seems..."
"Did you miss the part where they are often fatal to the user? Every few years the school sees someone try, often someone who has failed their entrance exam before and wants that bit of extra boost to get through. They almost invariably perish from that effort."
"I'm already more powerful than most of my peers, I've no need to kill myself trying to gain more."
"Indeed you are. A girl from no noble family who is stronger than most. That does nothing to allay suspicion. In fact it serves as a point of concern," she continued.
"Well, if you lot must know, I've been looking into two pages in the core that Dean Lorrae told me of." I waved a hand to bring up the codes for the 'guide' and 'help' functions. "It was my understanding that these were well known enough to exist and they are extensive."
"You're looking into those? Have you learned..." Rooke began.
"There's no context professor. Whatever code or language they're in isn't ours, and it's not Atali. Similarly there doesn't seem to be any parts that are in either of those. Trying to gain insight is going... slowly. There's also an absolute mountain of that documentation, whatever it is, so trying to sort through it even lightly is daunting." That should be enough to get them off my back, and I even managed to put in that I was going into the core, but implied that I wasn't learning anything, a total win for me.
"Well... it seems I owe you an apology then Alana. I oversaw a rather serious invasion of your privacy, I do hope you'll understand my reasoning and forgive me." Rooke lowered his head a bit. While he spoke the words, I was still pissed.
"I understand, if you have any further concerns, do try speaking to me first professor." I let my tone tell him just how agitated I was. "As for the moment, I've a number of things that must be taken care of."
"Oh?" Professor Lur looked a bit confused.
"Why yes, firstly I need to retrieve my sample of sky-metal from Professor Hern, since he clearly can't be trusted with it. Then..." I looked over at my maid, who was trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. "Oh Emma, there you are. I have no need of a maid who cannot maintain my privacy. Get your things and get out by the time I return." I turned back to the two teachers. "Then I need to go complain to the Dean about people getting into my research. Finally I need to see about finding a new maid. I would appreciate it if you lot could close the door on your way out." With that I turned and left. The last thing I needed was any of them coming up with something I'd actually done wrong, or some suspicion that I couldn't easily deflect.
Professor Hern and the Dean would have to come first. I needed thinking time as I went. My main problem was the maid issue. I'd seen through her work how much I actually did need one while here, a few days wouldn't be an issue, but long term it would be a problem. Where to get one that wasn't a spy was the problem though.
Asking Kala if she knew someone was a decent option, but I couldn't be sure her Order wouldn't send me somebody to look over me. For the same reason asking The Shield was a low option on my list. They would certainly have a spy who they would send me, and probably would be happy to do so if I requested. As for others who might help... I knew most of the other bards in my year fairly well, but probably not well enough. Pinea also might know someone, but it might be the same issue as I had with Rooke. She was a rather high ranked noble, so she'd have connections, but anyone she helped me find might really be in it for her and her family. The only other nobles I really knew well were Dietrich's family, and that was a hard no.
Hern didn't even question anything. As soon as he saw me, and the angry face I was making he just handed over the little ball of sky-metal. I could, and would, test it later to see if I'd lost any in weight or volume, but I was fairly sure he wouldn't be that bold when he was clearly in the wrong. I wasn't sure how mad I should be at him compared to Rooke, but I wasn't all that surprised he'd told the other professor.
Dean Lorrae was also in his office when I came by. It occurred to me that I didn't know when any of my teachers actually went home, or if they did, but I managed to catch him.
"Good evening Alana. I suppose that your presence here, and that angry look on your face means that Professor Rooke didn't find anything incriminating?"
"Correct. I am quite irritated that after violating my privacy he found, and questioned me on, my research."
"Understandable, does this have to do with the sample of metal you 'found in the market' then dear?" I could practically hear the finger quotations.
"Why does nobody believe that?"
"Because it isn't believable. I've seen plenty of strange things though, so it's not a big matter. Since you're angry about his questions what exactly would you like me to do?"
"Do you have any advice on how to keep people out of my things?"
"Certainly, there are a number of magical chests and the like that can be opened only by the one registered as their owner. Can you find the issue though?"
"Anything you give me you will probably know how to bypass?"
"Mmm, quite so. My advice would be to think of something yourself, that will probably be the most secure."
I wanted to beat my head on a wall. He wasn't wrong, but that also didn't mean he was being particularly helpful. I would have to come up with something, something only I could follow if I really wanted it to be secure. That would be an absolute pain too.
I briefly considered if the one who'd made the core had the same issue, and what his solution had been. I knew there was no obvious answer, but I'd look and see if he had any advice on locks and the like that I might find useful later. There was probably something buried deep in there that would help.
"Any ideas on where to find a maid that would actually be loyal to me and not someone else?"
"That's probably impossible Alana. Everyone has their own interests, and you don't have nearly enough connections to get someone from your family or the like. No, I would take a different path."
"What's that then?"
"Find someone skilled, and accept that they are going to report on you to others. If you go into it knowing that then you need only hide the things you want hidden. You can even feed others misinformation if you do it skillfully. It's what I do, and it is quite fun," he said with a chuckle. Dean Lorrae might be a bit weird, and very prone to bouts of laughing at others, particularly Professor Rooke, but he did know a whole lot of things.
As I left his office I had new things to think about. I would need a new maid. I could, and should, use this to build a connection between me and others. All I needed to do was accept a lack of trustworthiness.
Comments
Deinos
Btw loved the last chapters, I'm eager to see if and how she will proceed with distillations and other stuff
Sky
True, but that is mostly contraband, whereas here it feels more like a thinly veiled excuse to steal her intellectual property. Still though I agree, they'd probably do the same thing in modern day if they had the chance.
Kitty Chan
It sounds like that may be an advanced function of the core, and the instructions for making one are sitting in the 'guide' just waiting for discovery.
Stephen
I wonder if this world has dimensional storage items? eg. in certain fantasy subgenres storage rings are incredibly popular trope. The rings have an extra dimensional space anchored to them, of a limited size, (eg. 20x20x20 cm^3 space or 1x1x1 m^3 so they aren't overpowered) that bind to the user and can you expend mana to safely store/retrieve objects into. Or a Bag of Holding if you're into D&D.
Jan Verner
I stand corrected. I re-read the section and classroom is mentioned there.
Can’t help but think there should be societal and matrimonial fallout for a certain professor given that Emma was recommended by his wife for their own personal political gain as well. Not to mention that Emma has just been used and discarded with great personal consequence to her and her family.
Findell
What a waste.
Jan Verner
I like the chapter. I also think Rooke missed the fact she was not surprised by the existence of runes that can hide the true sequence underneath them. I think she read about them in the core and I’m expecting that this knowledge is not something students have. But I might be wrong and he just didn’t want to ask her about this.
Deinos
Yep but i imagined she bought a little bag, eg a rucksack's worth, with 1 chunk being a cube (for easy math's sake) of 10x10x10cm. 5% would be a cube with 0.5cm³. But yeah if she bought less or if she boiled everything down she could have nothing left. Maybe I just interpreted too much into the subtraction process?
Wandering Agent
Even in the modern age schools can and will search student belongings at the lightest suggestion.
Wandering Agent
I ran the numbers while doing that chapter, there is fairly little aluminum in alum, like 5 percent ish.
Deinos
She used one sample that boiled to very little. But she didn’t keep supplying big chunks.
David Brims
It sounded like she used a massive amount to get very little aluminium
angie bell
so stressful and a let down i wonder if she want to do a fun project after all that drama? ooh she can make a bard band for a project or get dras to help to restore her faith and trust after that let down! i could see her core gaining a music library soon and her doing a music editing artifact being a bit of fun venture to try in the future like can her experimenting with sounds boost her spells or improve the quality effect? right lyrics with the right sound tone go together along with a fun dance being some serious magic synergy all natural to boot~!
Sky
Good points. Logically, I agree that this is her best option for advancement, but I still find it quite galling just how cavalier they are to violate her privacy. If she were a high noble, they wouldn't have dared, despite Rookes stance on personal work ethic. I have to say that I think that was a good piece of subtext to flesh out Rooke's character. Thanks for the chapter!
Deinos
Hm I'm wondering where she kept the rest of the alum, didn’t she just keep it in her room or did she really use it all up? By the sounds of it she had more than the one she used in her experiment.
Wandering Agent
Some bridges are too big to burn. They didn't actually steal anything, so there's no real theft. They also didn't learn anything about her research, other than that some of it is weird. If she were to cut and leave, she would leave one of the most secure places in the country with one of the highest concentrations of important knowledge. Not to mention two of her friends.
Stephen Pearson
Thanks for the chapter! Glad she was firm and made it very clear what she thought of their behavior:-)
Mike G.
Good chapter! I'd go nuts quickly in that kind of environment...
David Brims
Nice resolution! While it would have been more satisfying if she'd booted Rooke to the curb, she may figure she still needs him? Maybe if he does something like this again... at least the Dean seems neutral, though he didn't stop the search or get Rooke to talk to her first. If the end result is a) The Crown doesn't get involved with sticky fingers b) Her research is better protected with secure storage and c) The Professors (including Rooke) are more wary of offending her, maybe she can count it as a win? Rooke at least loses Emma as a spy/pawn.
