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[LitF] 39. Lighting the Fuse
🕑 Added 2023-07-11 17:10:07 +0000 UTCPrevious Chapter - Table of Contents - Next Chapter
[A/N: This chapter is 40% larger than usual. Enjoy =).]
A hovercar detached from those flying around the League and approached Arthur. He slowed down and let it come. It stopped a dozen yards away. The three mounted machine guns and sixteen missiles, eight on each side, faced in his general direction.
The engines were deafening this close. It would be worse for awakeners who had not learned to control their enhanced hearing. The prince wondered if it was on purpose.
The vehicle's front window was made of reinforced glass. Arthur could see the three awakeners in the cockpit, all wearing standardized League light uniforms: enchanted synthetic fiber cut to look like an unawakened's elite military uniform. They had white camouflage white with the League's insignia visible in gold on the chest. The helmets were metal, with enchanted and reinforced transparent visors.
| Human — Level 5
| Human — Level 5
| Human — Level 5
The three awakeners were ridiculously weak. Howard's report once more confirmed to be trustworthy.
Their helmets also had small microphones and earpieces connected by cable to the hovercar, which was the pinnacle of magitech Arthur had seen to date. He had been wondering how a weak League could remain around for so long. This vehicle explained it. As a war machine, it should be able to take a beating, and awakeners didn't have to use too much mana while inside.
Hovercars were only one of the few war machines the Tome of Laws talked about. What hidden cards did the League have? Twelve hundred years was enough time to accumulate a lot of power, and a crisis threatening to upend the status quo was a good drive for awakeners to unite. Temporarily, at least. When the end was inevitable, the rats started abandoning the ship or wondering whether to help other rats enter and conquer it.
One of the three people in the cockpit pushed a button on the panel before them, activating the speakers imbued on the vehicle's exterior and letting Arthur hear what he said.
"Identify yourself," the guy demanded.
There was tension and aggression in his voice and brain. In fact, almost every awakener around was stressed. It wasn't something against Arthur, only that they expected things to escalate at any moment.
"I'm Arthur Boria," the prince said as he took his LID from a pocket and held it before him.
His name made them even tenser. Two looked at each other for support. One of them said, "Is that him?" Arthur didn't hear it because his microphone was off, but he felt the man's lips moving and read his lips with his Mana Sight.
The spokesperson said, "Please, remove your helmet for visual identification." Worried about Arthur's identity or not, his words and tone became much more polite.
Arthur had checked the levels of everyone below, and the highest person was a level 20 geomancer. So, while the prince didn't trust these people, he also didn't feel threatened. He took his helmet and head cover off.
Thinking about it, the prince always found it annoying to take his head cover off. His golden hair had been shoulder length from childhood as a commitment between his mother and father. The queen wanted the prince's hair to be long because she liked it so much, while her husband insisted kings should show a more austere look, hence short hair. The prince had just kept it as he grew up, but he was beginning to see the benefits of shorter hair, not for austerity but for convenience.
Hair wasn't alive beyond the follicle's base, and biomancy didn't work on most of it. Arthur had to arrange it physically, using his hands. It was... improper to care for his hair while facing the pinnacle of magitech in the form of a killing machine. Too casual, and thus, unbecoming of a prince except in intimate settings.
He decided to talk about it with his people later, especially Sophie. While he still had responsibilities as Head of House Boria, he didn't have to care for his image that much any longer. After all, he wouldn't become king. Looking agreeable to his future wife took priority.
"Please, stand by," the awakener in the hovercar said and turned the speakers off.
Arthur felt the guy press some buttons in what looked like a keyboard to his Mana Sight. It sent electric signals to multiple fist-wide rectangular glass implements imbued throughout the hovercar's exterior. They blinked white dozens of times for each key press at a rate of thousands of blinks per second. The lights were so powerful that they could be seen from far away.
The prince guessed it to be a way of sending messages without worrying about mana messing with wireless signals. Similar things had been done in the past, but automating it made things significantly more convenient. Sometimes, the same key made a different blinking pattern, evidencing it was also automatically encrypted.
Every hovercar also had all sorts of different sensors. A few seconds later, one such sensor read the answer sent through light signals by a landed vehicle. Whatever was said was decoded and displayed to the spokesperson, who then contacted Arthur.
"Please, proceed ahead and land beside the red flags."
"Understood," the prince replied, flying to an awakener who started waving two red flags.
The last time Arthur visited the League's parking lot, a lot of police had been cordoning the area, keeping the few hundred unawakened who had started a protest away. Now, a hundred awakeners created a significantly larger perimeter. They wore white plate armor instead of the light defensive equipment from the people in the hovercar and were all above level 5, up to 10. They wielded their weapons in their hands and were clearly prepared to use them. They left dozens of yards between each other, but only an idiot would believe they couldn't stop an unawakened from going through.
The police, now present in substantially greater numbers, had created a buffer space between the awakeners and the protesters, who were almost a thousand people strong.
The reporters had been removed from the area Arthur had left for them but were still inside the awakener-enforced perimeter. So were five ambulances and a few dozen health workers; all others had left. The League protected the two groups, but they were kept separated from the League's operation by five level 10 armored people who ignored all attempts at conversation.
The victims Arthur had brought until now were kept unconscious on beds inside three large white tents, monitored by ten level 15 biomancers. Whatever care they would receive would have to wait until they were in a high-mana region, or it would threaten the biomancers' life. Level 20 was considered high nowadays, meaning those healers should be the cream of the crop or close enough.
Lastly, Arthur's people were in another large tent, the only one that wasn't a sort of a field hospital. They were unharmed, though not looking happy. The guy with the red flags was in front of that tent.
Everyone wore the light or heavy versions of the League armor except the ten healers clad in white robes and an old woman in the command tent.
The prince kept a slow pace as he approached so as to observe things from his vantage point, not trigger any alarms, and be seen by everyone. Some reporters took pictures but didn't look as interested in what was going on as they had been. The League likely had taken things under control while refusing to say anything.
Arthur didn't expect to see anything special going on but was still looking for it, as he had been trained to do. He lacked the experience to easily filter useless data, but his high wisdom made up for it. In less than a minute, he had a passable understanding of what was going on and the more obvious undercurrents within the camp.
It was normal for the awakeners to feel stressed, especially the ones guarding the area, who faced the armed policemen. However, nineteen of them were highly anxious, distrustful of their colleagues, and self-conscious about everything they did.
To be fair, it wasn't only Arthur's training that let him locate these people. He couldn't watch them for too long but could feel them with his domain. On top of what he found inside, he also noticed external telling gestures like constantly checking their surroundings, never getting too close to others, being overly pleasant in conversations they were forced to have, and occasionally looking in each other's direction for emotional support. They were afraid of being exposed, though they could pass it as feeling anxious about being in a low-mana region surrounded by armed and unhappy unawakened.
Besides those, three awakeners were outstanding at not showing any external signs of the reasons for their anxiety. One was a healer in a medical tent, and the other two were in the command tent: a clerk and the old woman clad in non-standard clothing, also in the command tent. Arthur couldn't place them on either side.
On that note, he supposed there were two sides, but there might be more. His best guess was pro and anti-League factions. Howard had mentioned nothing about them being present among the regular League members, but it was a reasonable assumption, considering Howard himself had strong opinions about the current political environment. Most people should have picked a side.
Arthur landed where he was supposed to. A biomancer had already been called from the medical tents and quickly took the unconscious Colonel in her arms.
The healer who took Hester from Arthur's hands was in her late twenties. Her long black hair was held in a braid, and her black eyes were broad and sincere-looking. Her every move was proper and innocent. Her lips were unnaturally red despite her not wearing any lipstick.
Arthur immediately recognized the signs of a self-image composer, a kind name for social manipulators who precisely controlled every single detail of their image. Biomancers were excellent at that. They could feel and control their every movement to the tiniest detail. The prince himself was very careful about his every gesture, but there was a subtle line that, if crossed, told everyone that you were up to no good.
To her credit, the healer didn't try to manipulate the prince with her looks or gestures. She immediately prehended the Colonel and widened her eyes in genuine enthusiasm—at least as far as Arthur could tell. He could never fully trust his people-reading skills when it came to biomancers, much less self-image composers.
"His mind is also clear!" she exclaimed excitedly. "Of everything!"
Her voice somehow sounded both mature and naive. She was good at creating a perfect facade of innocence and competence. Arthur didn't think he could accomplish it without at least a few days of practice.
The biomancer looked at Arthur. "Are you him? The guy with the special mana-absorption skill?"
Arthur raised her guard and got on high alert. The way she said it was too direct and targeted. An untrained eye might not notice it, but she immediately mentioned a skill. That was unnatural, considering everything else Arthur had done. That had already been on her mind, and she wanted to confirm it.
That said, her attempt was pathetic. If she weren't a self-image composer, he would assume she was being used by someone else. She was one, though, so he instead assumed she knew what she was doing, despite not knowing why she had elected to be so obvious about it. Was it a test? A probe attack?
She had to know what she was doing. You couldn't become that good at controlling what you looked like to others without understanding the signals you didn't want to show. While learning that, you learned to see it in others. Manipulating self-image composers was challenging even for masters of social manipulation.
Well, there was one other possibility that Arthur was willing to pursue: someone else had molded her. They had taught her to appear innocent and naive, to sound somewhat mature, and stopped precisely there. It fit much better what he felt from the girl with his domain. Although he had to be cautious about his magic senses, they had yet to fail him even once.
He held back the impulse to look at the old woman inside the command tent.
Arthur replied with a neutral tone, "Is that what they are saying about me?" He was blatant about his interest in knowing what she knew about him while allowing her to broaden the subject and look less obvious herself.
"Isn't that it?" she insisted. "Sixty-nine unawakened freed from mind control within hours, plus the awakener girls. No mana toxins in the victims, too, as if they just awakened today! And the criminal..." She shivered at recalling Howard. "No matter how high your magnitude stat, that's too much mana. You should be running dry by now! You have a special mana-absorption skill, don't you? One that works even in low-mana regions!"
Her answer confirmed she was digging for a specific answer and was terrible at it—or pretending to be. He would assume the former because there were no signs of the latter besides her being a self-image composer. She deserved to fool him if she was this good—though he would keep it at the back of his mind.
Arthur decided not to waste more time with a pawn. "I have been very patient with unawakened since I arrived at this strange new world," he said, speaking louder than necessary so the surrounding people also heard his words. "I won't extend the same courtesy to awakeners. You are supposed to know better than to pry into people's skills. Ask me about my skills one more time, and I'll consider it an espionage attempt against House Boria. I'll react accordingly."
The girl's face distorted in absolute shock. She repeatedly opened and closed her mouth for a few seconds, unsure what to say. When she finally got her bearings back and said, "I—" a man in the tent interrupted her.
"Mister Boria, a moment of your attention."
Arthur immediately turned from the woman, ignoring her and the people within earshot who pretended not to have heard him, and entered the tent. Or so he made it look like. He paid close attention to everything he felt with his domain and heard with his enhanced senses, especially the girl's actions.
The command tent had three sections. To one side, low leveled people in light uniforms sat by desks, checking papers and taking calls on the dozens of telephones that had found their way in there. On another side, twenty level 15 awakeners in plate armor stood ready for action.
"A sighting at the Seventh Avenue with the Fifty-First Street!" one of the clerks shouted, and two level 15 plate armored awakeners left swiftly.
Almost at the same time, two others entered the test with a sad countenance and proceeded to inform a clerk that the lead they had pursued had led them nowhere.
The tent's third and final section had only six people. Three unhelmeted League individuals sat by one side of a rectangular table while Arthur's people sat by the other.
The level 20 geomancer was there. The man was over one hundred years old but looked to be only in his late thirties. He was tall and muscular, with brown eyes, spiked hair, and a goatee. A sheathed longsword rested on his waist. He wore standard League plate armor.
The second League member was another level 15 biomancer, like the healers in the medical tents. She looked middle-aged but was the oldest person present, almost two hundred years old. By her short black hair, black eyes, and facial features, she was evidently related to the girl who had tried to spy on Arthur. She was staring daggers at the prince. She wore a silver robe with black tribal drawings, the only League person present without a standard uniform or the white healer robe.
Arthur had been called by the level 17 firemancer sitting in the middle of the other two. He was almost ninety but looked to be in his early twenties. He was short and muscular, with shoulder-length red hair and blue eyes. He had a mace on his waist, and an enchanted shield rested on his back. He also wore plate armor.
Graham had removed his helmet but kept it on his legs. As soon as Arthur entered the tent, he stood up, put the helmet back on, and remained still. He was making his stance clear: he would attend as Arthur's knight.
Tamara also stood up. Instead of waiting for Arthur, she walked to him, bowed, said, "Your Highness," and then followed a little behind him.
Sophie just smiled at him. She had giggled when Arthur told the biomancer outside the tent off, being rewarded with a glare from the old woman.
Arthur nodded to Graham and Tamara, said, "My lady," with a slight bow of his head to Sophie, and turned to the level 17 firemancer. "I don't believe we've been introduced."
Before the guy could say anything, the old woman spoke. "You arrogant boy! My granddaughter was just impressed—"
Graham stomped on the ground. He used no skills but had a lot of strength. The ground shook slightly.
"You will remain respectful to His Highness, Crown Prince Arthur Willoughby Naerith-Tracey Boria the Third, Head of High House Boria, or leave his presence," he said firmly.
Arthur didn't react to Graham's gesture but approved of it. The League was posturing, so he would posture back. Tamara and Graham's actions made it clear that the prince had backing and power. Calling a House Head "boy" was unacceptable in any formal setting as this one. The prince wouldn't bow to the first unsatisfied granny who tried to use seniority against him, and he didn't fear the supposed authority she had because she belonged to the League.
Graham's stomp and words weren't well received by the League. The twenty armored level 15 people immediately unsheathed their weapons or prepared to cast spells. The few dozen clerks turned and stared, surprised or scared. The old woman widened her eyes and reeled back on her chair as if trying to escape the grand knight. The level 20 geomancer cast a discrete spell on the ground below him and his two companions, preparing to escape. The level 17 leader didn't react, though Arthur sensed his fear.
"As I told the lady outside," Arthur said as he calmly sat beside Sophie, "you are awakeners. I won't treat you like children, as I did to most unawakened until now. Howard should be evidence enough of that." Mentioning the man made the three uncomfortable. "And as my level 68 grand knight said, I'm the head of a High House. We'll discuss things as gentlemen and women or not at all."
The prince wanted to hear what the League had to say, but only if it wasn't there to offend or try to suppress him. He still accepted their authority, but even then, it was within the boundaries of their rules and propriety. That woman had no right to talk down on him.
She opened her mouth to say something but closed it. It seemed that ran on the family.
A tense moment passed, and Arthur could guess from the level 17 leader's body language that he was waiting for the level 20 geomancer to try to defend them. The geomancer seemed to understand the situation better than the others, though, maybe because he was a bodyguard. Further antagonizing the prince would serve no purpose.
Not getting that protection surprised the firemancer, who gently placed a hand on the granny's shoulder.
"Forgive us... Your Highness?" the guy said uncertainly. "Everyone, at ease." The clerks obeyed almost instantly, but the armored people took their time. "I'm Maximiliano Hill, Head of Operations in Sector 3, which Luvy is a part of."
A Head of Operations was an awakener who commanded all law-related actions in a Sector, a bunch of nations grouped together by the League for operational purposes. Despite the man's low level, he was a big shot. His presence here meant the League was taking Arthur seriously.
The prince nodded. "I'm Arthur Willoughby Naerith-Tracey Boria the Third, Head of House Boria," he reintroduced himself. Graham had already done it, but he was showing respect by doing it again. "You don't need to call me by my royal title, as I understand the Golden Kingdom is gone, and you weren't a part of it. What you called me earlier, Mister Boria, is fine. May I refer to you as Mister Hill?"
The old woman huffed but crossed her arms and kept quiet. The prince's relaxed words also seemed to calm down the level 15 awakeners, though the level 20 geomancer was still prepared to flee.
"That would be perfect," the man said with a smile and gestured to the man by his side. "This is Joseph Wilkins, my bodyguard." He gestured to the old woman. "Madam Londyn Haynes is Sector 3's Chief Medic. You met her granddaughter outside." He sighed. "Head... Maid... Lauquenbur helped us understand a few things about how to interact with you, but we failed to warn Healer Jodie Haynes. I apologize."
The man had trouble calling Tamara a maid. She appeared to be level 30 to him. Although a low level, it was higher than all League personnel present, and according to Howard, only lower than dungeon owners or elite troops.
If they were unawakened, Arthur would just let go of the girl's actions. But they weren't. Awakeners could think faster and scheme better than the unawakened, and they all knew it. Therefore, each of them should always be mindful of their actions. Moreover, only weak awakeners would let go of attempted espionage with a half-assed apology like this.
So, he replied, "Before I accept your apologies, I would like you to clarify what you mean. The Tome of Laws contained a small section on cultural expectations. Privacy is less valued today than in my time, but the Tome stated that directly asking about stats and skills in an informal setting is still significantly rude. Is Healer Haynes uneducated, or is the League supplying false information to awakeners who return to the world?"
Chief Medic Haynes got upset and ready to lash out when Arthur called her granddaughter uneducated, but he spoke in a way that left no doubt that he was asking a legitimate question. Indeed, unless he accounted for her having an agenda in her questions, which none would acknowledge, those were the most likely options: she was stupid, or the League had lied to him. The old woman only pursed her lips and kept quiet.
Hill replied, "Head Maid Lauquenbur explained you were born in a time of much more rigid social structure. That is frankly a surprise, as much information about the past has been lost to time. The informal setting the Tome refers to is something like what we are having. This is not an official hearing or anything of the like, only people of some status discussing things. If I understood Head Maid Lauquenbur correctly, this is what you would consider a noble party in the past?"
It was Arthur's turn to raise an eyebrow at that. "How is this informal? We have no relationship with each other. Until we do, our every meeting should respect formal rules. Observing propriety is the only way to guarantee no misunderstandings occur." He was almost quoting Tamara word by word. "A potential example is what transpired between Healer Haynes and me."
Hill shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "I'm afraid that's not how things are done nowadays. Healer Haynes... If I classified your conversation with her, I would call it... casual banter?"
The man ended many statements as if he was asking questions. He was feeling out of depth and having a hard time. Arthur wanted to feel sympathetic, which might be a ploy, so the prince raised his guard. That's what he had been trained to do.
The leader continued, "It's difficult for me to even place a name on your interaction with Healer Haynes. It was just small talk, nothing serious. Asking about a skill was rude but not as grave as you seem to believe. I won't discount the possibility of her being rude on purpose..." The Chief Medic frowned as she looked at the guy, who only smiled apologetically and continued, "...but I wholeheartedly believe that it was a cultural misunderstanding."
Arthur believed the guy. Everything about him was genuine.
So, whatever had happened, he wasn't in on it.
Time to learn who was in on it, starting with a subtle threat to put them off-balance.
The prince squinted his eyes. "I interrogated Dwight Howard. He felt offended when I asked about his stats and skills, even though the setting was very far from formal. Well, at least he did feel offended before I made him more amenable to my questions."
The three tensed again. Mentioning Howard never failed to make them almost ready to flee. The prince's mind control was more impressive than he had assumed when Tamara guided him through the motions.
Hill swallowed. "I... I might be overstepping, but from the way Head Maid Lauquenbur and Miss Brimstone reacted when I introduced the healers, you three received some social training, correct?" As he realized what he was asking, he quickly added, "I don't mean to pry!"
"What's your point, Mister Hill?" the prince asked unamused.
"I think you can see how Healer Haynes is in tight control of how she looks and what she does. Sure, I can't see shit— I mean, I can't perceive it, but I received warnings about her before. When I investigated, I learned what's going on, and it's not what you're thinking." He paused. "She... She underwent... severe psychological trauma as a child. She is overly conscious about her appearance and actions because of it. Her voice is the only thing she ever allows to show any maturity. Her... She... How do I say this? She crippled some of her... body development in some areas to avoid getting the wrong sort of attention." He paused. The silence felt heavy. "Healer Haynes uses her life magic and social training so everyone can see what she looks like on the inside. How she feels about herself, at least. She is as innocent as she looks, or so I have been told by people much smarter than me."
The Chief Medic became furious at the mention of her granddaughter's trauma, but it didn't look directed at anyone there. Hill's body displayed all signs of disgust, sadness, empathy, and anger. Wilkins reacted like the prince, showing it was the first time he heard about it.
If Hill was telling the truth, the prince had been overthinking things. However, just because the man himself believed what he was saying, it didn't mean he was correct.
Tamara had trained him to immediately distrust things that made so much sense that it suggested he was making a storm in a teacup. He might be that wrong, but it was unlikely. Arthur couldn't live in paranoia, but he had to double-check everything, especially attempts at lowering his guard.
Not that it was hard to find the signs of something wrong in this case.
Wilkins was a lousy actor. He had known about the girl's trauma despite pretending otherwise. The Chief Medic was much better, but she still used magic to rouse her false anger. She had been excellent at it, barely using any mana, and in a way that only his natural mana sense couldn't pick. So good, in fact, that the prince only noticed because of his Mana Sight and domain. Without one to confirm the other, he would've believed he had imagined it.
To make things worse for them, Arthur had been focusing his hearing on Healer Haynes ever since he separated from her. What he heard, coupled with other things he had noticed, was painting a clear picture to him.
The prince sighed theatrically and gave these people more rope to hang themselves with. "That is one reason why formality, propriety, and rules are important, Mister Hill. Everything I say or do is binding, even if you ever believe me to be pretending or lying. My every word and action officially reflects my stance on any matter I discuss. As a stranger, you can't guess everything I have gone through or why I behave the way I do. Likewise, I can't be expected to guess whether someone is naive or scheming at first glance. Every awakener must mind their actions for society to function."
Chief Medic Haynes frowned and replied before Hill could. "Boria..."
Hill tried to touch her shoulder again, but she dodged and looked angry at her. "What? If I can't say anything, why I'm here? I'll not stay around just to waste my time!"
The prince raised a hand for Hill and said, "Yes, Madam Haynes?"
She kept her eyes defiantly on Hill for a few moments, then turned to Arthur. "You're a hypocrite. All this talk about taking things at face value, but that's not what you did. You can't guess what happened to my granddaughter, but instead of taking her words at face value, you were very quick to call her a spy, weren't you?"
She was being rude, but a basic level of civility was maintained. She didn't demean Arthur or shout. Tamara's face twisted, but Graham didn't react.
Arthur nodded. "You're not entirely wrong, Madam. But you fail to see I seasoned my actions with kindness." She looked baffled at his claim. He smiled. "I mistrusted your granddaughter based not only on her words but also gestures and actions. Communication is more than added meaning of each word. Yet, despite my suspicions, I never did to her what I would to a spy. I warned her instead. She's walking freely instead of being interrogated. I assumed the worst but acted as if she was just a manipulative and overall unpleasant person. Had she insisted on her line of questioning after my warning, then we would be having an entirely different conversation now, if at all."
She became furious again. It was false again. She was so afraid of Graham that she couldn't find the fire within herself to grow truly angry. "Are you threatening my granddaughter?" Her voice was cold.
Arthur was surprised at her reaction. She was trying to use three cards to move this conversation her way: the League's authority, her seniority, and victimization. Or so it seemed at first glance. However, it was too poorly done. Unless she was an idiot, which he doubted, he guessed she was feeling threatened because the subject wasn't changing and wanted to find an excuse to leave if Arthur insisted.
That changed things a little. The prince had to dig for more information before she left. The best way he saw was by attacking.
"Madam Haynes," he said, "your granddaughter was very insistent on figuring out if I have a special mana-absorbing skill. Maybe it wasn't clear to you, but as Mister Hill guessed, I have training on noticing social cues. It was very important for her to learn about it."
"You're just being obnoxious! And you know it!" she half-yelled, accusingly pointing a finger at him.
Arthur kept talking as if she hadn't said anything. "After I left her, I used my hearing to follow her footsteps back to the hospital tent, where she shared her talk with a colleague and said she was sorry. From their dialogue, it appears that if I had such a skill, I could somehow save the colleague's sister. That part was confusing to me, but I'm sure a naive girl like your granddaughter would be fooled."
The Madam frowned in confusion, and this time it looked legitimate. Maybe she hadn't been on the know about that. Wilkins, on the other hand, was hiding his discomfort well, but not from Arthur's domain.
The prince continued, "That colleague briefly comforted her, scribbled something on a paper, then took a walk to another medical tent. He dropped the crumbled piece of paper on the ground. A third awakener picked it up, and he is now coming into this very tent. If I'm not mistaken, he'll deliver the note to the clerk who keeps tapping his feet on the floor. I guess the note will inform that clerk that the girl didn't realize she was manipulated into asking me about my skill. The clerk will then subtly tap on the desk with his finger."
The Madam was feeling more lost and angry by the second. Wilkins, on the other hand, was having a hard time hiding even external signs of his discomfort. Even Hill tensed and did a lousy job at not looking a Wilkins; Hill had an idea what this was about and didn't approve of it.
The healer, clerk, and old woman were the three people who showed no external signs of their anxiety. Arthur had first assumed them to be connected somehow, but the reactions he got now told a different story.
Arthur decided to take a small logical leap to better impress his audience. "Spymaster Wilkins probably thinks no one will notice the clerk's taps on the table over all the noise. He probably also assumes that the continuous anxiety the clerk is showing by tapping his feet on the ground will make the desk tapping appear innocent. He is mistaken."
The prince smiled slightly and pointed with his thumb over his shoulder to the man in a light uniform who entered the tent. "There is the messenger." The guy realized something was wrong when everyone except Arthur looked at him. He froze on the spot. "To answer your question, Madam Haynes, I was not threatening your granddaughter. I was threatening Mister Hill and Mister Wilkins. But your question and anger made me realize I was being too subtle. For that, I thank you."
He turned to Hill. "Let me crystal clear, gentleman. The next time you try to spy on me will be the last. That said, your apologies are accepted. I'll consider Healer Haynes's words as unintended rudeness, meaning I won't hold her accountable for it. I'll also strive to adapt to the times. But beware: I care a lot about privacy and integrity. And never, ever, offend my suitress." He offered his hand to Sophie, who took it with a smile. "Those are my bottom lines."
Hill paled. Wilkins looked more prepared than ever to escape but raised his hand in the form of surrender. "Fate, Haynes is right. You are obnoxious, Mister Boria. Hill has nothing to do with it. I did it on my own."
Arthur believed him. Hill was confused, afraid, and angry. Wilkins was feeling more guilty than she should have been if found out by someone he considered an enemy, so it had to do with going behind his boss's back. Madam Haynes had been entirely clueless and was slowly starting to get angry at Wilkins for using her granddaughter.
"Grand Knight Graham is my subordinate," the prince replied, reverting to a conversational tone. "His actions are my own. Likewise, Mister Wilkins, your actions are your superior's. Training and setting expectations of your subordinates is part of being a leader. That, or finding people already properly trained, I suppose. I admit I never trained anyone. Whatever the case, he's responsible for your actions and owes me answers. How he'll deal with you later is irrelevant to me."
There were a few seconds of silence before Madam Haynes stood up. "You scoundrel!" She shouted at Wilkins. "I trusted you! You just wanted to use her to manipulate her! Use her! What was your goal? Me? Her father?" Her anger was mostly genuine.
The man felt even guiltier—which was paradoxically not something he should feel if he had planned what he was being accused of. "Madam, I swear this has nothing to do with your family—"
"Screw you!" She bellowed. "Her engagement with your son is over! You... You monster! To my sweet little Jodie! After everything she went through!"
"Madam..." Wilkins tried to say, but the woman stormed off the tent.
Arthur refrained from smiling. Tamara's training had been on point: the Chief Medic had wanted to leave. Now that the prince displayed his competence, she didn't dare to spend more time close to him.
No, it was more than that. From what he felt her doing outside, she was going all out. She was sure he would see through her guise or prevent her from acting later, so she was moving on with her agenda.
The tent became silent for a while. No one had expected that outburst. Arthur didn't let it extend for too long.
"She is good," he said. "She escaped as soon as she realized I can see through her mask and did it in a way to make it awkward to accuse her; after all, she's only caring for her poor granddaughter. From how almost everyone in this room is looking at me, she succeeded.
"Alas, I'm not scared of ugly looks. Jodie Haynes wasn't abused as a child. She has no signs of trauma, which would be visible if she remembered it enough to change her entire persona. I'm willing to bet Madam Haynes never let anyone except her check on her granddaughter, or people might realize the ruse. Madam Haynes displayed enough anger when the girl's trauma was mentioned, but I spotted her using minute, almost imperceptible amounts of life mana to rouse her feelings. Jodie Haynes is just a guileless puppet Madam Haynes crafted to advance her goals."
Arthur was taking a few logical jumps, but other possibilities were too unlikely to be true. He knew Jodie Haynes's memories were unaltered, and if he assumed she couldn't fool his senses, which looked more likely the more he thought about it, she had to be as naïve as she looked. As he had previously assumed, Madam Haynes had taught her granddaughter everything the girl knew about social manipulation.
Of course, Jodie Haynes was somewhat in on it. She had no altered memories, so she had to know her grandmother was lying about the abuse. She had also likely lied to others about it. But Arthur could see how she could be convinced, considering how much of an airhead she seemed to be.
There was another awkward silence, and Wilkins broke it this time. "A puppet? What do you mean?" He was the most interested individual present, considering his son had been engaged to the girl.
"The League is in disharmony," Arthur replied. "Howard noticed nothing wrong beyond the obvious, but anyone with a head on their shoulders can guess a single Human Commander isn't enough to cause the levels of distrust he mentioned. That's especially true when everyone seems to know to be cautious of said Human Commander."
If even the unawakened Colonel had suspected someone influential in the League was behind Howard, League members would have to be willingly blinding themselves to the truth not to see it.
Wilkins frowned. "Explain."
"You're astoundingly oblivious for a spymaster. You took the position recently, didn't you? Or was there a reason the real spymaster couldn't be here? Perhaps that's why Madam Haynes was here instead of the real spymaster?"
The man was getting angry. "Stop speaking in a roundabout way!" He almost yelled. Almost. Graham placed a hand on the hilt of his sword, and the man immediately calmed down.
Arthur replied, "Mister Wilkins, tell me which one is correct. Did someone from another race abuse Julie Haynes, causing racial tensions to escalate? Or was it a human with so much influence that they could only be taken down by grinding their reputation to dust over a long period of time? Or maybe both?"
"One of the Dwarven Commanders," Hill replied instead.
The prince continued, "Both, then. I'm sure this was just one of the things he did but denied involvement in. The evidence was inconclusive, but the victims suffered a lot. They also seem to sprout out of thin air."
The man nodded unwillingly. "I told you to get to the point."
Arthur almost rolled his eyes at the man's stupidity. "Mister Wilkins, if you think about it, is there any way for more than one of these episodes to be linked to Madam Haynes?"
Hill and Wilkins thought about it for a few moments. Wilkins got furious quickly. If the woman was behind all that, she obviously had designs for Wilkins himself, too. Hill took longer to connect the dots in his memories, but his bafflement eventually became worry.
The firemancer stood up and asked, "Where's she?!"
"Killing the witnesses," Arthur replied. "Trying to, at least. She's very bad at it."
Madam Haynes was using her life magic to kill people unnoticed by the other healers, but Arthur was countering her with his domain. She went from victim to victim, prehending them, stopping their hearts, and crippling the muscle. Arthur allowed it, then reverted her changes. Unlike him, she had to prehend people to feel them. Moreover, she ignored her hearing in her hurry to silence the witnesses, so she didn't notice their hearts were still beating.
"Witnesses?" Wilkins asked urgently as he also stood up.
"The unconscious victims. Also, I would get rid of those four clerks and three guards if I were you." He pointed at them. "They didn't react well to Haynes's departure and are feeling worse at every word coming out of my mouth. It's unthinkable that you wouldn't find a single extra victim on your own. You're obviously arriving there too late. Someone is using your information to beat you to the places they were sighted."
There was a moment of shocked silence and uncertainty.
Then, chaos descended.
People suddenly attacked each other with weapons and magic. The ground swallowed Wilkins as he left in a hurry to capture Madam Haynes. The Head of Operations grabbed his mace and shield and stepped back.
"Stand down!" he ordered.
No one obeyed.
Distrust had been sown for too long, the tensions had grown tall and robust, and it was now the time for harvest.
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Comments
Elizabeth Marrelle
Nice chappy
