I stayed in the forge for a couple of hours, processing an incredible amount of material, enough for a small arsenal. A larger arsenal wouldn’t have hurt against the danger that was knocking on the door.
When I finally walked out of Oeyne’s room, the sun was finally appearing on the horizon, marking a new day. But it wasn’t just another day, because the guards were moving around with a great hurry in the courtyard, their alertness much higher. The magical sword gleamed on the waists of anyone on sufficient rank, signaling that the school had finally tapped into its legendary arsenal.
The headmistress must have decided that there was no merit in holding back completely, not after our little assault had already revealed our knowledge to the enemy. There were even several student teams dashing around, no doubt preparing for an incursion. Most of those teams were moving toward the training forests even though they were too strong to get any kind of benefit from a slaying few weak dire beasts. They were probably doing that to remove a potential weapon from the arsenal of the attackers.
The monsters in the training forest might not be the strongest, but if the wards that kept them separate from the school proper, it might prove a dangerous distraction at a critical moment.
Interestingly, however, despite the preventative measures, the school didn’t go to a full mobilization of the wards, which meant the classes would continue for any student without an assigned task rather than being pulled as a part of the standing army. Not yet, at least. Maybe it was about the politics, I surmised, not wanting to risk the students unless it was absolutely necessary. Or maybe, she was trying to bait them into attacking by showing she was underestimating them. A panicked attack from them before our intelligence about their plan had degraded —or they had discovered the changes made into the defensive wards of the school— could prove decisive.
Unfortunately, there was no undead presence out on the walls yet.
Funny, though, how quickly one’s perspective could change with power. I could never imagine preferring to have an undead army attack directly as soon as possible, so we could ‘handle’ them, rather than trying to escape as far as I could manage to avoid the backlash.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to waste on introspection on the physiological impact of overwhelming power, not when I was facing a danger that forced me to accumulate even more power.
Then, just as I was considering the relative merits of focusing on Marianne or Helga first to maximize the potential of our little group, I noticed something that made me shelve that little plan. A couple of familiar figures stepped outside as part of a small group. It was a group of students, a total of eight, following an instructor as they dashed toward the main gate in a great hurry.
Cornelia, and Helga.
That was a rather interesting combination, I noted as my suspicion tingled. As, other than Cornelia, every single student was a low-leveled commoner. Helga was the strongest of them in terms of combat potential, even before my help, and considering Helga’s reputation for combat abilities and the fact that her recent developments were still a secret, it was entirely too suspicious.
And the identity of the instructor did nothing to actually limit that suspicion. They were being led by was a young female instructor with a tight expression on her face, one that I recognized only through reputation. Her name was Iomene, and she was a part of the school of tracking. I knew exactly three things about her. She came from a distant corner of the continent that was outside of the Empire’s borders —which was more of a technicality rather than the actual ability to project military power— that was populated by many city-states, relying on trade to survive. She was an excellent tracker, and a decent warrior.
And, she was a complete outsider, her extreme standoffish attitude keeping her distant from everyone else, teachers and students alike.
In other words, the perfect candidate to blame for the loss of one of the most promising noble scions.
I had to admit, the ploy was rather incredible despite its transparency. With the chaos going on, it would be too late for anyone to notice any mistaken paperwork about the assignment, and in the aftermath, it was almost trivial to blame the mistake to one of the dead clerks —as it was almost certain to happen, and if by some luck all the clerks survived, the conspirator could easily nudge one of the less important ones to the other side, before destroying his reputation as a traitor, working against House Antony.
At first glance, it seemed like a simple ploy. Cornelia’s uncle was doubtlessly looking for a way to take control of the house without risking a duel. Cornelia’s lack of leveling was a conjecture of their part, after all, and even if that had been the case —as it would have been without my intervention— direct combat was too unpredictable, especially when facing someone like Cornelia, with a perchance toward overwhelming firepower.
House Antony was certainly important enough that more than one instructor would be interested arrange an assassination in exchange for future favors.
However, what made the trick really impressive was the quickness of implementation. It was almost like whomever responsible knew that a crisis was on the door, and already arranged everything, ready to be initiated!
Finally, a clue toward the identity of the mysterious owner of the shade, but whether direct or indirect, it was a mystery. It was a possibility that they were the same people —as someone would be willing to sell the defense secrets of the school wouldn’t have felt torn about sending a few more students to death. It might be also one of his subordinates, trying to create some ancillary benefit outside of the knowledge of his boss.
Unfortunately, it was unfortunately impossible to discount alternative possibilities, that either the plotter had learned the ploy accidentally, and decided to use for his benefit rather than reporting it. Moreover, it was always possible that he had a different plot in mind ready to go, and was adapting it for current circumstances.
Meaning, rather than intervening quickly, I needed to wait for the plot to unfold. And to prevent it from turning into a total disaster, I needed to follow them. After checking the general direction they were traveling, I dashed to my room, to see if there was any note from Helga. I found a quickly scribbled note from her, telling me that she had been assigned to an emergency mission, but they didn’t give her any detail.
Cornelia’s note, which was in her room, hidden under a new ward —no doubt to prevent her maid from investigating its contents. Her note was marginally more detailed than Helga’s, which was a good indicator of their relative difference of authority. Cornelia mentioned that they had been assigned with a mission to reinforce one of the nearby towns as a precaution, then scout the surrounding area for any dangerous monster build-up. She also mentioned that she didn’t know who would be in her team, but since the team was led by Iomene, she wasn’t too concerned, as she knew that Iomene was one of the instructors famous for staying away from house politics.
I shook my head at her lack of awareness. For an heiress that was about to be deposed, she could be dangerously optimistic in certain topics. On the surface, Iomene’s apolitical stance seemed to be in her benefit, but she failed to think that together with her lack of support, also made Iomene a perfect scapegoat for the loss of a noble scion —especially if she was unfortunate enough to fall under the ambush as well. Since Iomene wasn’t really famous for her strength and her skill set leaned toward tracking and hunting, I wouldn’t bet on her surviving an ambush that was designed to take down Cornelia.
Sneaking into their rooms and reading the notes barely took two minutes, which meant that the group was still visible from the gate. I followed them. Since Iomene was a dedicated ranger, it was difficult to follow them closely under the bright sunlight unless I started relying on my spells, so I let them open a bit of distance first. Yes, Iomene was skilled in erasing their tracks as well, but due to the nature of the mission, she didn’t bother to do so. Which meant that following them was a trivial job.
I was experimenting with my magic in subtle ways to kill some time, when I noticed that by focusing on Cornelia or Helga, I could actually detect their location. I didn’t know whether it was a benefit of one of my perks —like Teleportation, which I didn’t dare to use yet considering the disaster Empowerment had almost created— or just a feature of the completed companion system, but regardless, it was convenient to feel their presence.
Since I didn’t have anything else to do, I tried to replicate the same feat with Marianne and Aviada, but had mixed success. I could barely feel a subtle presence, but actually deciphering the location was much more challenging, strengthening the assumption that it was another benefit of the Companion system. So, I focused back on Cornelia and Helga, to understand the limits of the connection. To my surprise, it wasn’t limited to just location, but also I could sense their general state of mind. It wasn’t exactly detailed, but at least I could separate immediate fear from low-level combat awareness.
However, despite my convenient alarm system, I didn’t let them open the distance too much. I didn’t know whether there was an ambush waiting for them, or the spy had sent them away in the hopes of a lucky accident as the undead started to act. I followed them from a mile away, which was distant enough that I could subtly hunt whenever I noticed a worthwhile creature, while close enough that I could intervene with an elemental mount in seconds in case of an emergency.
Conveniently, at this point, it wasn’t too inconvenient to remove myself in case of an actual emergency.
They traveled for almost half a day before they arrived at a small town, Tertullian. While Iomene spoke with the guards at the gate, I sneaked into the town by jumping over the wall, using illusions for temporary invisibility. Invisibility wasn’t the best solution to stay unnoticed as it created shimmers as I moved, especially under bright light, but it was good enough to trick the lazy guards on the wall, who were more interested in their lunch than any possible intruder in the middle of the day.
Who would be crazy enough to jump over the walls in the middle of the day, after all?
The town itself was decently large considering the lack of farming or other direct economic activities. Essentially, the town was an overgrown trading post, standing on one of the main roads that connected Silver Spires with the nearest big city. It wasn’t enough to be classified as a proper city, or even a large town, though the strength of its walls and wards, as well as the military presence in the town, was worthy of a city. Likely, considering the proximity, the town was being supported by the Silver Spires, to make sure the trade flowed without a problem.
It was an interesting place to arrange an ambush. The town itself was supposed to be safe. Considering the relative safety of the town, and its location —it was to the North of the school, while the undead camp was to the South— it wasn’t likely to become a sacrifice under the undead horde as well.
Interesting, I surmised. So, either the spy didn’t know too much about the necromancer plot, or there was something else under wraps…
[Level: 30 Experience: 442500 / 465000
Strength: 39 Charisma: 51
Precision: 33 Perception: 35
Agility: 33 Manipulation: 38
Speed: 32 Intelligence: 42
Endurance: 30 Wisdom: 44
HP: 5010 / 5010 Mana: 6300 / 6300 ]
SKILLS
Master Melee [100/100]
Master Tantric [100/100]
Master Biomancy [100/100]
Master Elemental [100/100]
Master Subterfuge [97/100]
Master Arcana [91/100]
Expert Speech [68/75]
Advanced Craft [50/50]
PERKS
Mana Regeneration
Skill Share
Empowerment (1/1)
Teleportation
COMPANIONS
[Cornelia - Level 17/25]
[Helga - Level 13/17]
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