Assassin: An Isekai LitRPG Adventure (Ends of Magic Book 3), page 28
The Questor raised a sculpted blonde eyebrow. “What kind?” “It’s a Fortress of the Face! Fire-themed,” Stella said happily, eager to answer Brox’s question.
“Yes.” The Guildmistress shot warning looks around at the Heirs. “A large and powerful one.”
Brox pursed his lips, giving a faint nod. “Ah, Fortresses of the Face. Those are always interesting. I’d prefer ice to fire, but Algoa is a god of luck, not choice.”
“What about lightning? I’m great at lightning,” Stella offered.
The Questor turned to fully examine her, his face registering faint surprise. “Truth verified?”
Stella nodded frantically and held out a hand, where sparks danced between her fingers.
Nathan stepped forward to catch Brox’s attention and distract him from Stella. “You’re good to leave tomorrow morning?”
The man turned to Nathan, then panned around to scan the rest of the Heirs. “Yes, yes I will be. Wonderful to meet you all. I know your parents, impressive Adventurers all. I praise the divine that I have this chance to know their heirs.”
His attention turned back to Nathan, and he smiled charmingly. “And you, Nathan Lark. You are not an heir to power, but you hold it regardless.” He studied him again, carefully. “You have no history here. Are you of Davrar, or beyond it?”
What does he know? I’m not sure I want him digging into Earth. But he could probably find out if he asked around.
Nathan shrugged noncommittally. “I haven’t been here long – but Gemore is my home now. And Giantsrest is my enemy.”
The Questor nodded sagely. “I understand. Welcome to Davrar! I embrace our time as allies, and wish you the blessings of Oltia. Or I would, if I hadn’t killed her sister Quenfi.” His smile turned smug, and he spun back to Sudraiel. “When is our Patrol ended?”
She was glancing between him and Nathan with a worried expression. “Six days, though we will be in contact with [Message]. You can all move quickly. Be sure to get back for the battle.”
Brox nodded, then waved at the Heirs. “I will see you all at dawn in the courtyard for our Patrol. Be prepared for a race. I am off to find Olad for some more… company.”
The Questor jerked the door open and vanished, the speed of his movement kicking up a breeze that scattered papers around the room.
Everybody watched the open door for a moment to see if the Questor was truly gone.
“Dragon’s breath. He’s great. With him along we’ll make Giantsrest fart ice!” Stella said excitedly.
Sudraiel shook her head, meeting Nathan and Khachi’s worried faces, and then looking up to see a harried-looking Liluce approaching. “Go. You know your mission. Don’t die.”
The Heirs left the Guildmistress’ office as Liluce started going over issues with the process of training newly freed volunteers to fight.
Sarah shook herself as if snapping out of a [Daze] spell. “Brox is dangerous.”
Aarl looked at her strangely. “No, he’s just…” He trailed off.
“Dangerous,” Nathan and Khachi said together.
Aarl swallowed and sighed. “Yeah.”
Stella just looked confused. “What do you mean?”
Chapter 25
Charged Conversation
Nathan grimaced and opened his mouth, but Khachi interrupted him.
“Let us speak in our rooms.” the wolffolk said, shaking his head slightly at Nathan.
Yeah, probably better if this conversation isn’t overheard. I’m not even sure what to say. Tell Stella she was under the effect of a powerful social skill? Ask her to be more careful? I’m not sure that’s possible. She’s supposed to Develop a way to resist this eventually but clearly isn’t there yet.
The Heirs walked through the building in somewhat awkward silence. The two Halsmet elites that had been tailing them once more broke off to stand outside the door as they reached their rooms.
I gotta say, maybe I should protest being guarded around the clock. It just feels awkward, and I’m worried that they might overhear this. At least they won’t be coming with us on Patrol. Having Brox around is going to be even worse though.
They all sat down. Stella looked around suspiciously, seeing how everybody was focused on her. “What? Did you all decide to take up Hydra farming?”
All of the Heirs looked at each other, nobody wanting to be the first to speak. It felt like an intervention, where everybody knew what needed to be said except the person who needed to hear it.
“Stella, you trust us, right? You trust me?” Nathan finally said, meeting her eyes.
She blinked at him. “... Yes. We’ve stared the Ghoul in the eye, together.” She snorted. “A lot.”
He nodded. “What do you think of Brox?”
Confused by the non-sequitur, she answered. “He’s dragon’s breath. It’ll be great to go on patrol with him. I want to follow the path he blazes – we could learn so much from him.” She broke off, grinning widely.
“What did you think of Brox before we met him?” Nathan asked gently.
Stella shrugged. “I didn’t know him then. He’s a Questor, so I was apprehensive. But he’s on our side, beyond the hold of prophecy. Did you hear what he said?” The mage lowered her voice, mimicking Brox. “I would wish you the blessings of Oltia. Or I would, if I hadn’t killed her.”
She turned towards Khachi. “Seems he’s got things to teach you of the divine.”
“Smoke and blood.” Sarah’s words were bitter, and she rubbed at her forehead in frustration.
“What?” Stella said, turning back to her friends, her forehead creasing with confusion. “What’s your target?”
Khachi was about to speak, but Nathan held up a hand. “Stella, Brox has a social skill. A powerful one. It makes him seem cool and friendly. You’ll want to agree with him on everything. It’s that kind of skill.”
“No. That’s not true. I would know if that were true.” Stella sounded offended, but not entirely sure of herself. Her tone firmed. “Brox is on our side. He’s here to save us.”
“Trust me, just for a moment,” Nathan said. “He’s got a skill that’s making you like him. Why would you like him? He implied he wants to fight the dungeon for no reason.”
Stella still looked unsure.
Nathan looked around at the other Heirs. “We all have mental defense skills. None of us like Brox, right?”
Aarl nodded firmly.
“Muckgrabber’s asshole, that’s what he is,” said Sarah.
Khachi raised up a placating hand. “He is a foe to our enemies. But that makes him our ally, not our friend.”
Nathan turned back to Stella. “What did your parents say about Brox? Remember it. Why did they say that?”
The mage was rubbing at her temples, looking down at the ground.
Nathan had a vague sense of pushing at an ephemeral barrier with a limb he didn’t have. It was like his control of antimagic, but somehow orthogonal. It was yet another new sense. He tried to exert control over the feeling and nothing happened. Acting on a hunch, Nathan continued speaking.
“Trust me, and trust yourself. Ask yourself, why do you like Brox? Do you have a reason for it?”
His words pushed at the intangible barrier, and Nathan could feel it tearing. “It’s a skill, Stella. Recognize it for what it is.”
Her face grew strained, teeth gritting. Then she looked up at him, visibly furious. “At least Taeol’s magic didn’t lie.”
Leadership 6 achieved!
Khachi released a deep breath of relief, before holding up a restraining hand. “Hear me, hold yourself still. We need him against Giantsrest, and his skill would not be able to force you to attack your teammates as Taeol’s spell did.”
Stella’s eyes sparked, and her hands lit on fire. “Do we need all of him?”
Hoo boy. I’m not sure she’s wrong here. What he’s doing is not only a dick move, but also dangerous. His skill clearly compromises people’s judgment, which is not a great thing to do while Adventuring. But I’m not sure what to do about it. Should we confront him about it? Ask him to turn it off? Can Stella develop her skill in time?
“We don’t have to accept the shit he’s pouring on us,” Sarah said.
Khachi’s lips peeled back from his teeth, but it looked more apprehensive than aggressive. “He’s a Questor. We cannot drip blood in his eyes.”
Aarl had been silent in this conversation, but his face twisted with sudden animus. “Maybe we should trap him, demonstrate we could kill him.”
Stella and Sarah both nodded excitedly.
Nathan sucked in a breath. “That seems like a terrible idea. It’s a great way to die or at the very least make a powerful enemy where we don’t need to.”
“What then? Let him hold this edge without answering it?” Stella snarled.
Something Faline had said stuck out to Nathan, and he furrowed his brow as he repeated it. “He seeks true companions.”
The rest of the Heirs looked at Nathan like he was crazy, but Khachi spoke first. “Explain.”
“I think he buys his own story.” Nathan said. “He’s got this whole ‘invincible demigod’ thing going on, and whenever he walks into a room people either love him or hate him. But that means he doesn’t have friends, just followers.”
Nobody responded, not sure where he was going. Stella shook her head. “This is a dungeon for fools.”
But Nathan wasn’t done positing his theory. “What if what he wants are teammates? Peers. People who will work with him, but also stand up to him?”
Sarah’s frown did not abate. “He’s a Questor. He doesn’t seek peers. Only glory. We’ll repeat the past of our parents with that path.”
“Being a peer is not something offered.” Khachi spoke slowly, as if feeling the way forward. “We cannot force him to do anything, and threatening him will end in smoke and blood.”
“Then what?” Stella asked. She was still pissed, but her hands were no longer literally on fire.
Nathan sighed. “I don’t know. I think he’s mostly interested in me. Maybe I can go ask Sudraiel to change the patrol so it’s just me and him.”
“Not even as a game,” Aarl said, tone hard. “We won’t allow you to bait the castlebear for us again.”
Sarah snorted. “You’d leave us behind in levels. Further behind.” She turned to Stella for a moment, frowning. “Stella, you trusted us now, to tell you that Brox was influencing you. Trust us again.”
The mage frowned but didn’t say anything.
Sarah continued. “The skill won’t work as well now that you know about it, and know how it feels. If it does influence you, we’ll protect you. It seems like Nathan and Khachi are entirely protected.” She shot them questioning looks, receiving nods in return.
“They will deal with Brox. Aarl and I must spend our class resources to resist, but we can. We’ll try to stay farther away from the Questor. You should do your best to stay away from him and work on Developing your own skills. We protect you on the battlefield, and we can protect you here.”
Khachi spoke seriously. “Until such time as we are his peers. To that aim, we must be as impressive as possible.”
“And not be impressed.” Nathan said wryly. “He’s used to everybody fawning over him and his deeds. Let’s not be too taken in by his legend. Sure, he’s a Questor. He says he’s conquered empires and killed gods and whatever. But we took down a city, and more than one dungeon. We won’t let him walk all over us.”
Stella still looked upset, but it was less furious and more resigned. “Yeah. Don’t let me mess up my build.” She paused, then shook her head. “He’s going to wake that dungeon. That’s clear to us all, right?”
Aarl sighed. “Yeah.”
The Heirs spent the rest of the day on various preparations. They ate together, then dispersed to spend some more time with their parents. The Guardians were on watch, but Nathan saw Stanel walking Aarl and Sarah through some advanced weapon practice atop the wall around Exea’s mansion.
We really should stop calling it that. This building won’t survive if Giantsrest takes the city back. But not sure what else to call it. Not my problem.
Nathan sought out Liluce, remembering that the administrator had a list of magic that needed to be broken around the city. He spent a good portion of the afternoon with her, breaking into magically sealed vaults with her pair of freed elites by his side.
Each of the grand homes was crowded with recently freed citizens of Halsmet, and they treated Nathan with an awe that he found uncomfortable. There was some tension about what would happen to the contents of the vaults – but Liluce had been prepared. She used the elites and Nathan to be sure that nobody got pushy, handing out itemized lists of the contents as each vault was opened and the contents carted back to the central mansion.
She repeated the same spiel each time. “We’re all weaving the same color. Some of the value will return to you, but these valuables are to be used against Giantsrest to ensure our freedom.”
This didn’t placate everybody, but whenever there was disagreement, Liluce simply raised an eyebrow. “Do you want to hoard this wealth for yourselves? Or share in the wealth we found in Exea’s vaults, instead?”
That, plus the presence of Nathan and the elites, was enough to head off any conflicts before they erupted, and they cleared out a mind-numbing amount of wealth from the assorted vaults. Only a small fraction of it was in coinage and precious metals. Most consisted of enchanted items and magical crafting materials.
“What are you going to use all of it for?” Nathan asked, watching an elite carrying a dimensional pouch loaded with enchanting tools and valuable ingredients.
Liluce smiled at him. “Outfitting our own Adventurers, and hiring more from Gemore. Myrla’s got her finger set on starting our own Guild, though it’ll have the handprint of the Gemore Adventurers Guild.”
She gauged him, and when he seemed interested she continued. “It’ll be a time before Halsmet has the crafters and money to do that by itself. It’s my blasphemous hope that this treasure will let us create a guild fit to hold a hand against Giantsrest, and safeguard farms in the way that Gemore does.”
Her tone became grim. “It’ll need to, if this city is to survive.”
“Is Egall starting a school for mages part of that vision?” Nathan asked, genuinely curious.
Liluce looked over, surprised. “Oh, you had a hand in that? It shines light in my eyes that she’s agreed. We need mages of our own, like your own Tower of Trickery.”
“Do you know what she’s going to call it?”
The thin scribe shook her head. “She was suggesting the Ghosts of Halsmet. Name doesn’t matter much, does it?”
Nathan shrugged. “Seems fine to me. Where to next?”
He reconvened with the Heirs for dinner, after which they had another more subdued gathering with their parents. The Guardians seemed like they wanted to eke out every moment of time with their kids.
After dinner, Stella turned to Nathan. “To raise the past – can you teach me about plasma?” She shook her head. “It feels like it’s been an age, but that was only weeks ago.”
Nathan smiled. “Sure, thanks for being patient. I hope the other stuff we’ve been talking about has been interesting.”
Dalo looked over, his eyebrows raised in surprise. “Would you like a more private place to share this Insight?”
“Nope,” Nathan replied, his faint smile still present. “You’re welcome to listen in. But keep in mind the benefits of freely sharing information, if I ask for Insights in the future.”
Dalo shot a significant glance with his wife, considering the offer.
She just scooched over on the couch to wrap an arm around her husband. “Hear me, but I’m happy to learn whatever you have to teach.”
Excellent. I’ve got the edges of a plan for when things are a little calmer, and some Insights from these two will make it a lot easier. It’s also an ego boost to have these two excited to learn magic from me. I still remember them dismantling a monster the size of a hill right in front of me.
Nathan pursed his lips, thinking for a minute. “Dalo, Kullal. Before we get started, I want to warn you. Some of what I’m going to talk about depends on things I’ve taught Stella that you haven’t heard before. It also might conflict with your current Insights. I don’t want to get into a debate about who’s right. Your Insights work, mine should too. Once I’ve finished laying them out, you can describe yours if you think Stella needs to hear them. But it’s important she not be split between two conflicting methods.”
Dalo frowned and opened his mouth, but closed it after Kullal gave him a squeeze. Instead, he just nodded. “Please, proceed. I am curious to learn more about the fuel of this blaze.”
Nathan turned back to Stella. “Right. So, you made plasma earlier by making a cage of force, magnetism and light and then heating up the inside, right? You wanted to trap all of the energy in a small space, then release it in a targeted way.”
She shrugged. “About on target. I wanted to get all of the output of the fire mana – light, heat, hot gas, everything, concentrated on one spot. But the gas inside got weird. My air mana couldn’t hold it in anymore. Then I started experimenting with it.”
Nathan pointed a finger at her. “Yes, we call that plasma. The fourth state of matter. It’s fundamentally different from a solid, a liquid or a gas, but you make it by superheating a gas.”
“How is it different?” Kullal said, frowning. “I have noticed this thing. It acts strangely with lightning mana.”
“Yup.” Nathan nodded. “In normal substances you have both positive and negative charges bound closely together. So closely that the overall material is neutral. But when you heat a gas hot enough, the charges separate from each other and you’re left with a soup of both positive and negative charges floating around. They’re both still present, but they can move independently from each other.”
