Chapter 81 (1 of 2) Lucille used magic distraction. It was very effective. (Patreon)

“How old are you?”

Lucy tilted her head. Not because she was surprised at the question, but because the Trisroa she had heard about wouldn’t have asked her so frankly. Lucille never knew her personally, but…

She was supposedly a rather closed-off and cautious individual. She would’ve ensured that her hypothesis was correct before approaching me about it, and while approaching me she’d have something prepared in case I see her as a threat to remove.

“I thought it was common knowledge that I’ve yet to turn twenty. I’m still nineteen at the moment,” Lucy replied nonchalantly.

 Trisroa studied her silently and frowned. “I am not referring to your biological age. I want to know your mental age.”

Lucy smirked and leaned back. “Well, I’m certainly more mature than Scytale, so I must be at least mentally older than him.”

“That is… not what I meant.”

Lucille blinked, pretending to be ignorant. “You’re not talking about my maturity?”

The snow elf eyed her suspiciously. “Do you mean to say you are unaware of the characteristics of your soul?”

Lucy looked down at herself. “I have a unique talent for the soul if that’s what you’re wondering about. I’m no cultivator though, so if that’s what you’ve heard, you’re wrong. But how does this relate to my age?”

“I- No, that’s not…” The elf hesitated, looking perplexed. “Maybe I’m not entirely certain what I’m asking myself…”

Lucy studied her, mildly confused. Trisroa wasn’t one to approach someone without evidence. She had been the Vice-Guildmaster of the Hero’s Guild in the past and was their strategist. With her years of experience, she led some of the most powerful Users in the Tower into battle against worse creatures than Aberrants and –

Trisroa is younger than Marellen right now. She’s not the Frostfire Sorceress of the past.

She hadn’t faced nearly enough trials to gain the cunning and indifference of her future self. Nor did she need it yet.

Lucy hummed and crossed her arms, with Roa looking on oddly.

She wanted to meet me because she was curious about me. Roa only became fixed on the topic of my age because of intellectual curiosity. This snow elf finds me a puzzle to figure out.

Lucille smirked slightly.

Then to keep her distracted, I should add another layer of complexity to the equation.

“It seems like you might need more time to think about what you want to discuss with me,” she noted calmly. “I suggest sitting tight for the moment. We haven’t known each other for nearly long enough to discuss our Origin Skills with each other.”

“…indeed.” Trisroa sighed as she stood up and dipped her head. “I apologise for coming to meet you. I’ve jumped to a conclusion about a detail I should research before addressing it.”

She’s not apologising for prying into my secrets, but coming here without verifiable proof. Truly a mage, through and through.

Roa turned to leave Lucy’s living room but paused when Lucille clicked her tongue and waved her back over. “Don’t leave just yet. It would be a waste for us to split up so soon after having this rare opportunity to converse. You are the only member of Marellen’s party I didn’t meet beforehand, after all.”

Roa raised a white eyebrow. “But what shall we discuss? I have not considered anything else we could discuss.”

Lucy stood up and smiled, picking her cane off the coffee table. “What else besides magic? Personally, I wish to ask about your knowledge of spirit magic. I have an interest in it because of my spirit weapon.”

“I am a mage, a wielder of logical mortal-made phenomena,” Roa refuted. “I intentionally avoided taking the path of a sorcerer and spirit summoner due to my adversity to the incomprehensible nature of fae and spirits.”

“That’s perfect then!” Lucille remarked cheerfully. “What better way to learn about it than through the perspective of another mage?” She walked past the blank-faced snow elf and hooked her cane around her arm, dragging her along. “Let’s take a walk as we discuss it. I’m sure it would interest you to see the streets of Gilded Seat. I would also like to check on the construction of the Protection subdivision I authorised.”

“But I…”

The bemused elf’s words trailed off as she was pulled along by Lucille. A smirk never fell from Lucy’s face because she knew exactly what she was doing – pulling the elf into her flow of events to keep her from thinking too much about Lucille’s soul.

I’m not prepared to let any member of Marellen’s party learn I’m a time traveller yet. I can’t risk Trisroa learning this.

Because out of all of the Hero’s past party members, there was no doubt that he’d do anything to contact Roa again, regardless of her current motivations.

…

“Fascinating, isn’t it?”

Roa peered at the glass orb filled with psychedelic mana and marginally raised an eyebrow. “I see nothing extraordinary about this low-rarity elemental detector.”

“Exactly. It’s fascinating how such a poor-quality item managed to land in a shop owned by the Commission.” Lucy tossed the item back onto its shelf. The shopkeeper winced as the two women left the store, leaving the other customers to judge the items suspiciously. “I’ll have to arrange for an investigation into the current suppliers for the Commission’s stores. For a magical item shop on the main street, it’s severely lacking.”

Roa shook her head and followed behind as Lucy scanned the outside, thinking of where to go next. “Does the Commission own all the shops in Gilded Seat?”

“All? No. But certainly all the ones on this street,” Lucy replied. She stopped when she noticed two people and narrowed her eyes as she gazed at them. She pulled on the sleeve of the elven woman next to her and pointed across the road. “Look, your two friends seem to be putting their positions as my employees to excellent use.”

Roa spotted the Barbosas siblings laughing amongst several armoured warriors standing outside of a Chavaret-owned armoury shop. Garthe was pointing at the three-coin insignia on his shirt with an obnoxiously broad grin.

“Ah. Bragging once again,” Roa stated dully.

Lucy glanced at them once more and then shrugged, walking away with Trisroa beside her. “I’ll just have to ensure he works for his benefits.” She looked at the elven woman. “Moving on – spirit magic.”

“What would you like to know first?” Roa replied politely.

“How was the Pale Lady of the Sleeping Lake able to become an undead while retaining her spirit magic?” Lucy asked abruptly. “I believed that due to spirits being existences most in tune with nature, they’d be averse to death mana, but it’s well known that she managed to keep her power of Eternal Rest that she stole from the Winter King when she became an undead.”

“The… the P-Pale Lady?” Roa stiffened up slightly. Her pace sped up, revealing her hidden nervousness. “You wouldn’t be referring to… to the Queen of the Banshees, Clíodhna?”

“That is the name the fae refer to her with, yes,” Lucy continued brightly. “Acalypha, the Fae Damned Elven Sorceress. You seem uncomfortable?”

“She is… a forbidden name in Glenheim.” The elf fell silent as she walked beside Lucy, thinking over her words. Eventually, she replied, “Acalypha was technically a spirit guardian before she became a banshee of Tartarus.”

“Ah, yes. If she had the gift of Eternal Rest from the Winter King, she would’ve been part of the Unseelie Court when she returned from the spirit realm to become a… what was it again?” Lucy contemplated as she tapped on her chin with a gloved finger.

“Fomorian,” Trisroa supplied, her arms crossed. “That is the name for the Unseelie version of a former mortal who returned from the spirit realm and chose to become a fae after being a spirit. A choice only mortals may have, as true spirits have no connection to the mortal realms, unlike fae.”

“As opposed to the Tuath Dé of the Seelie Courts,” Lucy noted. “But then a banshee?”

“Due to being ‘Fae Damned’ after slaying the Winter King, Acalypha never gained any fae magic unique to her when becoming a fae,” Roa continued slowly. “As such, ‘Eternal Rest’ was her only spirit magic after becoming a fae and-”

“…Eternal Rest kills someone, preserving their body to appear as if they are merely asleep,” Lucille finished. “So, her aptitude for death-related magic caused her to learn how to use death mana, where she became a Sluagh of Tartarus instead of her former race of bean-sidhe.”

Roa nodded. “Yes, a Sluagh. ‘Evil spirits’ that aren’t ghosts or spectres and who can wield death mana.”

Lucy lightly clicked her tongue. “So it was a coincidence. That’s unfortunate. I wished to know how she combined an ability intended for mana with the death mana of Tartarus.”

“Do you have a reason to know such a thing?” Roa asked with a frown. “Acalypha was exiled from all the courts and is the sworn enemy of spirits and fae alike.”

Lucille glanced at the elf but just smirked. “I have both a spirit weapon and a demon weapon. I’m curious about all applications of their abilities.”

So, if I wanted to materialise the element I’m thinking of at Rank-3, I’d need an Unseelie or Fomorian ability. Something that would go against nature for long enough that something impossible will be conceptualised… would Winter work?

But Lucy’s priority for spirit magic was to find a way to include it in her second main skill so that she could defend against and reflect it like spellcraft.

“Well, I’m satisfied with that much for now,” she announced, speeding up. “But this makes me curious… why have you not formed a contract with a fire or ice spirit? Or even faerie?”

Roa shook her head. “I do not desire to become a sorceress or summoner. I would detest having to rely on others for strength.”

Lucy glanced back and cocked an eyebrow. “The highest tier of contract may require you to give up your runic model and magecraft, but couldn’t you form a low-tier contract with them? The spirits themselves don’t even need to be powerful. A contract like that would enhance your affinities’ strength.”

“I had not considered it,” Roa announced with surprising straightforwardness. “In Glenheim, a contract with a spirit or fae is synonymous with sorcery. I wished to avoid all relations to the world of sorcery expected by my peers.”

“I’d suggest you put some thought into it,” Lucy suggested. “Mages and wizards frequently visit Glenheim in hopes of forming a contract with a spirit because of the basic magic enhancements it gives you. Human mages aren’t looked down on by elvenkind, are they? The only benchmark of significant status in Glenheim is a contract with a powerful spirit of some kind.” Lucille shot her a knowing look. “If you ever want to be able to hold your head high in Glenheim, you can compromise without forsaking your passion.”

The snow elf looked awkward, so Lucille shook her head and changed the topic. “I was only making a suggestion, as I don’t want to see you become a sorcerer either. But I think it’s time for us to do something else.” She walked into a store and came up to a shelf, studying the items displayed. “Roa, if you had obtained a dimensional artifact made of cloth and wanted to change its body, what would you choose?”

The elven woman looked surprised and glanced at Lucy to check if she was serious, then held her chin as she considered it. “Cloth is a difficult material. If this item was to be used when travelling, I’d have to disguise it somehow. This would be easiest if the object the cloth became was mundane in appearance.”

“I agree.” Lucille picked up a pouch made of leather before placing it back down. “But it can’t be too large or conspicuous. However, the larger the frame, the more stably anchored the dimension would be to the artifact. Even better would be if this object could be locked somehow as an added security measure.”

“An item made of cloth yet still fairly large, that can be locked, and mundane enough to not draw attention,” Roa summarised. “With that much, it will be difficult to find something to it your preferences.”

Lucille shook her head and planted her hands on her hips. “No, there is still one aspect that must be considered above all else. Even if I compromise on the other elements, this one element must not be compromised.”

Trisroa eyed her curiously. “And what would that be?”

Lucy raised a finger. “Aesthetics,” she stated seriously.

“…aesthetics?”

“Yes. I’m not going to go around with an item if it doesn’t have style.” Lucy looked around but then her gaze landed on a specific object carried by someone. She smirked. “And I think I found what I want my dimensional artifact to become. Roa, do you think turning the fabric dimensional artifact into the lining of an antique briefcase would work?”

__________________________________________________________________________

“Ha! Take that, you violent, heavy as a truck, stupidly tall mercenary!” a silver-haired snake shouted as he sent a punch flying towards his opponent’s face.

The red and blue-haired man grabbed Scytale’s fist with a strange expression, then swept his feet out from under him with his spear. “What’s a truck?”

Scytale groaned from his spot on the floor and sat up. “It’s like a carriage but one that drives on its own. It’s on Lucy’s home world.” He squinted at his opponent. “By the way, blue doesn’t suit you. You look weird.”

Hargrave eyed him strangely for one more moment and then shook his head as he walked off to the side to undo his armour. “I prefer my hair this way. I don’t match my bounty poster image anymore.”

“Yeah, well you look like one of those wannabe esper kids from Lucy’s world!” Scytale argued, pushing himself off the floor. “At least it’s natural in your case.” He began to snicker to himself. “Forget the Spear-Fiend, time for everyone to be scared of Attack Parrot! Those who see his striking hair will be defeated before they know it as they fall to the ground laughing!”

Hargrave sighed and proceeded to ignore the snake as he stowed away his armour and spear. He walked towards the exit of the hall, Scytale tagging along.

“Is that enough for you?” the man asked as he glanced at Scytale.

“I guess.” Scytale yawned and shifted into his snake form so he could twirl in the air and do fancy tricks. “I just wanted to brush up on my hand-to-hand combat, not that I think I’ll need it anytime soon.”

“Scytale… you gained a human form in January,” Hargrave replied. “Where would you have time to learn hand-to-hand combat before this?”

The amphiptere stopped spinning through the air and turned around to stare at Hargrave while he flew backwards. He coughed and turned back to fly off so that Hargrave couldn’t press.

Hargrave shook his head, expecting that response, and continued on his way to Sedric’s workshop, which he was sure Scytale was heading. Then something set off his senses and he frowned. He stayed still and looked around as he worked out what he was sensing that made him feel like something was off.

He slowly kept walking and then stopped when he noticed Scytale was on the ground, looking up. He looked up and didn’t see anything. “Scytale?”

“Did you feel that too?”

Hargrave nodded, his expression solemn as he realised that if even Scytale could sense it, then something was definitely wrong. “The mana hasn’t been disturbed in the Commission, so it can’t be attributed to Marellen or Sedric doing something.”

“Well, that’s because the person isn’t using mana…”

Hargrave fixed a stare on Scytale and dropped to a crouch. “Person?”

“Yeah, uh… I’m not as good as Lucy at doing this, but just let me…” Scytale swayed from side to side a little as something swept over the floor, making Hargrave shiver as he sensed the spiritual perception of the serpent brush over his soul. “Okay, so… yep. We’ve got an intruder.”

Hargrave silently withdrew his spear from his dimensional skill. “Location, strength and characteristics.”

“The floor below us, the strength of a dry twig, and shady as hell with all those black robes covering him,” Scytale announced.

“…dry twig?” Hargrave asked, confused.

The serpent shuffled his wings in a shrug. “No joke. I’m ninety per cent certain that all his stats went into stealth because his cultivation level feels around… early Spirit Reflection? Maybe peak Nascent Soul. Something like that.”

Hargrave racked his memories for the cultivation stages of the Heavenly Realm. “Above Level 150. So, a cultivator…”

Scytale nodded and looked up again. “Yeah. Lucy knew that something funny was going on with their lot and her, but this is the first time one of them snuck in here. It might have something to do with that flute thing she got as a gift, but I don’t know.”

Hargrave slowly nodded, tightening his grip on his spear. “Do we kill them?”

“Uh… I don’t-” Scytale paused as a message was sent through his bond with Lucille. “Lucy says we need to go and make sure Sedric is safe. The intruder is making a beeline for the nearest stairwell to his workshop and we can’t have them using him as a hostage.”

“I’ve got it.” Hargrave shifted to change the distribution of his weight. “What about the others?”

“The Barbosas siblings are out, Lucy is with Roa, Marellen is at a café with Efratel, and Vincent is off the premises.”

“So we only need to consider ourselves. Alright then.” Hargrave glanced at Scytale. “Ready?”

He nodded. “Let’s go.”

…

Scytale and Hargrave crept around the corners of hallways,  aware that they could be caught in a confrontation now that the intruder was on their floor. The snake had enlarged his form but cloaked the two of them in his invisibility spell. It was clear that something was definitely wrong when as more time went by, they still hadn’t met another servant of the Commission.

The intruder had yet to enter Scytale’s perception, but if it did, that meant he was too close. Scytale’s perception was only the length of one hallway and they needed the intruder to be as far away as possible.

“Are you sure he’s heading this way and hasn’t taken a route to search the Commission Head’s quarters?” Hargrave asked in a hushed voice.

“Certain.” Scytale let out a soft hiss. “My spiritual perception may be small, but the sense of smell of a magical beast is never weak. I can tell he’s approaching.”

“He didn’t disguise his scent?”

Scytale and Hargrave stiffened up as they heard voices, but a look through the closest window revealed it was only some people on the balcony several stories below.

“He couldn’t. I recognise the scent. He’s using a type of powder that prevents spiritual beings detecting him for a limited amount of time. It’s a costly and rare Seven-Star Xuan-Grade substance. I reckon it’s to avoid attracting Ashale’viaf’s attention.”

Hargrave nodded. They kept silent until they entered the hallway of Sedric’s workshop. Trading looks, they approached the door and slowly entered. When the door locked behind them, they dashed down the stairs.

Sedric frowned when he heard them enter and looked up. “Really? Both of you? Let me have some peace for an hour or two, please-” He yelped as he was hauled off his feet by Hargrave and then pushed under a table. Hargrave slid next to him. “What the hell are you-”

“Sedric, I know your opinions of me, but you need to take me seriously in this instant,” Scytale hissed as he guarded their little hiding spot. “There’s an unknown intruder on this floor and he’s heading this way. Lucy knows but won’t be here for another ten minutes.”

Sedric stared at him. His gaze slowly drifted to Hargrave, who nodded. “It’s true. They’re a cultivator, so spells can’t detect them easily.”

“The good thing is that Hargrave or I could easily kill them,” Scytale grumbled. “Bad news is that this guy is probably from some hidden assassin Sect and they’re a hired hand. He’ll kill himself if caught and is willing to die for his goals.”

Sedric gulped and shakily backed up into the wall. “O-Okay… what do we do?”

Hargrave and Scytale looked at each other. “Nothing for now,” Hargrave replied solemnly. “We don’t know if they want to find you or if they’re just scouting out the Headquarters. It’s possible they intend to kill a target in this building.”

Scytale hissed. “I know that whoever they are, they waited until Lucille left the building before doing this. That means they know part of her true abilities.”

Sedric winced. “This is for real, isn’t it? I don’t think I’ve heard you call her Lucille… ever.”

Scytale rolled his eyes, but the crafter seemed to shrug off his fear for a second and began looking around, pulling the closest chests and boxes towards himself.

“What are you doing?”

“Trying to be helpful. I know I can’t do anything in a fight, but I’m not completely useless. Here.” He threw Hargrave a small ball of coiled-up wire mesh with a button on the front. “This is a trap I made. It will wrap the target up in a net made of metal. And this…” He placed a brass canister of… something in Hargrave’s hand. “I was thinking of what I could use to defend myself one day and had the idea of a device that could spray stuff in people’s eyes. That one’s full of pepper.”

Scytale glanced back. “Wow, reinventing the wheel, huh? Never thought I’d get to see the day that magitech pepper spray was made.”

Sedric raised an eyebrow. “What?”

The soft sound of footsteps outside the workshop made them still and Hargrave covered Sedric’s mouth up. The door handle slowly turned and Scytale reacted on instinct. He enlarged his body and activated his camouflage spell and Incongruity Inversion, pouring most of his mana into the later of them. The two men under the table were hidden by his outstretched wings that blended in with the background.

The intruder crept down the stairs with light footsteps. When he was at the bottom, the air rippled slightly, revealing the activation of his spiritual sense. Scytale spread his spiritual power to cover Hargrave and Sedric, whose weak souls would hopefully be shielded by his own. The silence was tense when the intruder slowly turned to scan their section of the room, and Scytale waited as he trusted in the effect of his Incongruity Inversion to work.

Eventually, the man took a small jade pendant out of his pocket and it lit up with a green glow. The air pulsed once as the spiritual message was sent out, and then the man swiftly ran up the stairs. The door shut behind him.

The three of them didn’t move an inch until Scytale finally nodded, the man having exited his perception. Sedric let out a long sigh, pressing his hands to his chest. “I felt like my heart was about to explode.”

Hargrave patted his shoulder. “You did very well for someone unused to these experiences.” He looked at Scytale. “What was that about?”

Scytale continued watching the door for a second longer, and then he shrunk with a golden glow. He turned into his human form and sat cross-legged in front of them. “A bloodline spell called Incongruity Inversion. It makes the watcher pass over minor mistakes in illusions and stuff. I used it to make sure he glossed over the spiritual signature of someone here when Sedric is a crafter with no knowledge of the soul.”

Sedric crossed his arms with a grimace. “So… what now?”

Scytale shrugged and leaned on his arms. “We wait, I guess. Lucy knows where he is and she’ll get back to us with any info. But I doubt that even she can get anything out of him.”

__________________________________________________________________________

The black-cloaked man silently snuck past the porters of the Commission responsible for delivery and crept into the back of a work coach. With a mental message to the coachman, the coach set off, taking a detour through the quieter and less frequented alleyways of Gilded Seat.

The sudden flare of orange light seared the eyes of the coachman and startled the horses. The coach toppled over as its base exploded into flames. The cloaked intruder stumbled out while coughing and quickly looked around for his enemies.

The smoke scattered to reveal the form of a white-haired elven mage holding out an ash-grey staff topped with a flaming stone, her elegant face frozen in icy indifference.

Beside her, a dark-haired woman with one violently violet eye and a black mask held in one of her hands slowly stepped forward. She tilted her head at him, the magic array in her right eye slowly rotating. “How interesting. I never expected the Five Heavenly Sects out of all the factions of the Tower to be interested in me.”

The figure stiffened and then prepared to run. As soon as the first motion to move was made, ice-encased his feet to the ground and he gritted his teeth as he toppled backwards, burning pain in his lower legs. Two shards of razor-sharp had shot through his shins and pinned him to the ground.

The dark-haired woman marched up to him expressionlessly and kicked him hard in the chest. She leaned forward and placed the blade of a pitch-black serrated dagger next to his neck. “Who was it?” she asked coldly.

Instead of answering, a wild grin appeared on the intruder’s face and his veins began to bulge. Hissing energies pooled out of his body as his foundation collapsed, willing dissolved to grant him a quick death. A vein on his neck bulged and burst, spraying blood everywhere. The figure collapsed.

Roa walked up to Lucille and studied the figure. Lucy knelt and placed two fingers near his nose to feel for breathing. “He’s dead.” She stepped back up and used her cane to slide his shirt up, revealing the black tattoo of a serpent above his left hip. She frowned.

“Someone you recognise?” Roa asked.

“No.” Lucy whirled around and swiftly walked in the direction of Ravimoux’s Black Lily Casino. “Come with me. A certain Count has a lot to answer for right now.”

Trisroa wordlessly nodded and followed her, only stopping when Lucy paused and took one look back at the body. Lucille absentmindedly tapped the spot on her left hand where her contractual sigil was burned in, thinking of the person who offered to remove it.

It’s about time I pay another visit, isn’t it?

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I'm back :P