Chapter 83 (2 of 2) A skulking acquaintance. (Patreon)

“No! Unhand me, you low-born ruffians! I swear, once I meet that Captain of yours I will demand for him to fire you-”

The two city guards dragged Abbot Everett out in front of the shop in full view of all the curious observers. He tripped when they threw him to the ground and he ended up laying sprawled at the feet of another armoured guard. He looked up as Darvis McGarrod lifted his visor with a vicious grin and kneeled before the old man.

“Getting a taste of your own medicine, eh? Well, that’s karma for you.” Darvis straightened up and then unfurled a long scroll. “Listen up, all you folks!” He shouted, drawing the large crowd’s attention. “You’ll be witness to the City Lord’s command! Abbot Everett, you have ignored the Lord’s command to exit the premises of this shop! What do you say to this?”

“Bah. Nobody can force me out of my own shop.” Everett shakily stood back up and turned around to walk back inside. “Just tell me how much I have to pay and move on.”

 Darvis glanced at Lucy to his side. “Your move.”

She snapped her fingers with a calm smile on her face, and just as Everett was about to enter the shop, a thick white-blue wall of System authority materialised in front of him. He slammed into it and landed on his bottom.

“As the new owner of the Magisterial Treasure Emporium, I’ll be taking back this shop,” Lucille stated pleasantly. “Also, you’re fired for business malpractice.”

He turned around and went red as he recognised her, as she had put her mask back on. Lucy took a rose crown out of her pocket and threw it at him. “I’ll give you that as severance pay.”

“Ah, let me give it to him, Commission Head.” Darvis walked forward and smirked. He picked the coin up and crouched near Everett again. “Here, a rose crown. Quite generous, don’t you think? Only…” He held the coin up. “We need to take away the worth of the items you scammed off of people too. So, that young orphan five years back… his item was worth 10 silver crowns… and the young lady’s family inheritance was worth a hundred silver crowns…” He continued listing the people out, until the remaining value had dropped. “Oh, look at that. All your severance pay is gone. How sad.”

Darvis stood up as Everett glared at him and passed the coin pack to Lucille. “Here, as a thank you for your efforts.”

She smirked and casually tossed the coin as she glanced at Everett. “We seem quite cruel from an outsider’s point of view, don’t we?”

“Don’t worry.” Darvis scoffed. “He’s lined his pockets more than enough to keep him going until he finds a decent job in this City. We haven’t taken away his house.”

Lucy nodded. “It’s time I leave then. I have to go meet up with some people.”

Darvis held out his hands. “Good luck. I look forward to the changes the city will undergo with you sponsoring us.”

She took it to shake and then stepped back.

“Will I be seeing you again?” Darvis asked with an eyebrow raised.

“Maybe when I come to check on the enclave once I’m Rank-3,” Lucy replied with a smile. “Until we meet again.”

With that, they departed. Lucy had left the keys in the City Lord’s hands to pass them onto the next shopkeeper there, and the only thing left to do was meet with Marellen’s party. She walked a little further down the main street until she came face to face with Sedric and Scytale.

“Took you long enough,” Sedric complained.

“Have you found any materials you believe will be useful?” she asked, not inclined to respond to his attitude.

“Yeah. I should be able to do something with them.” Sedric nodded down the street. “Is it time for dinner?”

“Yes. Let’s meet with the others.”

…

“So that old guy finally got kicked out?” Garthe asked with a grin.

Lucy smirked and shrugged. “He still lives in the city, but it’s up to luck whether he’ll be able to get employment here.”

“Lucy,” Roa politely interjected. Lucy had made them all use her nickname to ensure it was that tad harder for interested third parties to find out about the avalanche investigation.

Lucille looked around and nodded when she saw that the number of people in the inn had gone down significantly, as it was still a work night. She snapped her fingers and the silencing barrier was cast on them all. She steepled her fingers and leaned forward. “Is everyone prepared to return to the Permafrost Glacial Abode Region?” she asked with a smile.

The others traded glances and nodded. “Do we have to bring any evidence back with us?” Larena asked seriously.

Lucy shook her head. “No, I trust your testimonies. You were all victims of the attack, so you don’t have a reason to hide the truth. This is an internal Commission conflict as well, so being caught with evidence could backfire.”

“Hey, Lucy.” Scytale walked up to their table. “Could I sit this one out? I don’t think I’ll contribute much. Sedric’s distracted with his crafting upstairs too.”

She waved him off. “Away you go. You’re officially an adult, Scytale. You don’t have to ask me about every little thing.”

“Cool. Bye.” He left the inn.

Lucille leaned back in her chair, tapping on the table. “Marellen, your task will be to confirm the mana signature of the Merkenia. It may have faded too much, but in the Beast Realm, it’s much more likely that the mana signature will persist. And I want you to confirm it at the source too. That means climbing the mountain to find the point where it was cast.”

She pointed at Roa. “You were the most sensitive to the mana of the convoy, correct? I need you to locate all the items and determine their characteristics. Once Marellen returns from the mountain with Garthe, he’ll help you document their details.”

Lucy spread her hands. “And then you’ll be responsible for restoring it to how it was before you dug up the convoy. It doesn’t need to be perfect, because very few people have the perfect memory I have,” she said with a smirk. “But just enough for it to appear undisturbed at first glance.”

“But what if the site has been disturbed since the avalanche?” Larena pointed out. “For instance, they dug up all the items to take back.”

“That’s fine too.” Lucille shrugged. “It means the items were too important for them to take a loss. Then we’ll have another clue to track.”

Garthe tossed his fork and caught it. “Are we looking for something in particular? Like, a hint at what the Archmage was trying to do?”

Lucy shook her head. “Not at this stage, at least. I’ll have to do some investigation on my side, and then I might need you to follow up on some information. We don’t know enough yet for that.”

“If the items have research purposes…” Marellen spoke up hesitantly.

The others gave him dull looks while Lucy observed him. Then she gave him a bright smile. “You may keep them if you wish. But I hope you know that will be your neck and the neck of your party on the line, not mine.” She raised her chin in mock pride and pointed to herself. “I am the Aurelian Commission Head, and so I’m valuable. But you four are mere raffle in comparison. Who do you think they’ll kill first?”

Marellen shrunk down. “Okay… that was a bad idea…”

“Do you have any apprehensions about the mountain climb you’d like to make clear?” Lucy asked him. “You haven’t said anything about it yet, but I don’t want to pressure you into something you feel incapable of doing.”

He blinked and shook his head. “Oh, no. I’ve nearly reached Level 299 and will soon be Rank-3, so I’ve been considering this as a kind of trial for me to undergo before Rank-3.”

Lucille blinked. “Rank-3? You’ve made more progress than expected.” She looked at Roa and Garthe. “If you don’t mind, what about you two?”

“I have reached the maximum level for Rank-2 before arriving at the Commission,” Roa announced calmly. “I have been working to consolidate my gains through evolving my skills. I presume that when you give Marellen leave to go to the Tartarus Realm, I may go as well to advance my Rank.”

“Max level for me too,” Garthe said while raising a hand. “Larena’s been stingy and won’t let me Rank up.”

Larena rolled her eyes and Lucy hummed. “Then perhaps September will be when you should go.” She paused and gestured to them. “Ensure you have familiarity with expelling elements outside of your affinity from your body. When in Tartarus, you need to continually push the death mana out of your bodies to survive.”

It must be because of all their combat with monsters on the Sundown Continent plane shard. This makes me miss having a class, as they gain additional experience from combat. I guess I’ll have to start putting the Casket of Boons to work.

They glanced at each other and nodded. Lucy considered something else and leaned forward. “You all have access to my finances, but none of you have the authority to purchase skills at noble auctions. Are there any known skills you’d like me to buy for you?”

Surprised, they slowly began voicing what they were interested in. Their discussion continued for a while.

____________________________________________________________________________

“Three for ten bronze crowns,” the stall owner offered.

“Eight bronze crowns,” Scytale shot back.

The stall owner slowly narrowed her eyes. “Nine bronze crowns.”

“Okay, how about this – five for thirteen bronze crowns,” he countered.

The stall owner considered it and then smiled. “Fine. Five it is.”

He handed over five skewers of meat which Scytale gleefully took and thanked the man for. Then he wandered into the marketplace, looking for somewhere to enjoy them. He spotted two Truth-Seizing Serpents in human forms in front of a stall, arguing about why the storekeeper wouldn’t give them a cut of roast me in exchange for the low-grade natural treasure plant they had.

Would it be fine to help them? Probably. Their bloodline purity is pretty weak, so they might live in the outskirts of the enclave and don’t know me.

He walked up to them and tapped the male of the two on the shoulder. “Hey, guys. Humans use these things called ‘crowns’ to trade.” Scytale held up one for them.

The male blinked his indigo eyes and gave him a grateful nod. “Any idea where we could get these ‘crowns’?”

Scytale pointed across the marketplace at a vendor who was trading monster parts and natural treasures for money. “Those types of humans will give you crowns for treasures. Some humans still trade in natural treasures and materials, but they’re the crafters. Humans can’t eat natural treasures.”

The couple thanked him and walked off to exchange their bounty, and Scytale wandered for a while, enjoying the scene of the city he spent time in when he was younger. He spotted one of his clan sneak a snack off of a shelf while cloaked in their invisibility bloodline magic in their serpent form and slither off into the shadows of an alleyway.

Scytale rolled his eyes.

Whenever a clan gets introduced to a human city for the first time, they always forget they’re not allowed to go around in their beast forms. Not even if they’re an intermediate beast- wait, intermediate?

He leaned back to peek into the alleyway and stared at the serpent who was munching away on their meal. It was definitely an intermediate beast of the Truth-Seizing Serpents, and clearly a kid too. Adult Truth-Seizing Serpents would be too big to fit in the alleys, even with Incongruity Inversion.

Kids aren’t supposed to be in human cities. What are they doing here?

He hesitated and looked around for any hapless parents looking for their missing child, but nobody from his clan was in sight. Scytale grimaced as he scratched the back of his head, considering what to do, and then let out a groan.

I can’t leave them there. They’re still a member of my family.

He threw his finished skewers aside and ran into the dark alley. “Psst! Hey!” he called out to the young serpent, crouching down behind them.

The serpent yelped and spun around to stare at Scytale.

“What are you doing here?!” Scytale hissed, glancing behind him. “Forget that, stop stealing from people! Don’t you know how much trouble you’ll be in if the enclave hears you’ve been stealing from humans?! If this blows up too much, the city might not want to trade with us anymore!”

“But I was hungry!” the young serpent exclaimed with indignance, his voice unnervingly familiar to Scytale. “What was I supposed to do? I don’t have any money because I don’t have pockets!”

Scytale froze when he realised who was in front of him. “Wait, Skulker?”

The snake hesitated. “Do I know you?”

“…it’s Scytale, as in formerly Glimmer.” Scytale mentally facepalmed as he should’ve recognised Skulker from his magic signature alone, but the thought didn’t cross his mind because he never expected to meet someone he knew.

“Don’t lie!” Skulker yelled, hissing at Scytale. “Glim- Scytale wouldn’t look like you, his hair and eyes would be-”

“Would be what?” Scytale rolled his eyes when the younger snake backpedalled, realising he shouldn’t be saying anything. He sighed. “I disguised myself with illusion mana, because I can’t be seen going around with my normal appearance.” Scytale passed a hand over his face and showed how his eyes briefly flickered gold. “There, see?”

“…you’re really Scytale?” Skulker blinked and then raised his snout haughtily. “I-I knew it was you all along! I was just fooling you and-” He let out a gasp and quickly wound himself around Scytale’s foot. “Scytale! Scytale! You need to help me! Dad worked out I snuck into the city and now he’s here looking for me! I saw him! Please, you have to help me sneak back out!”

“Verdilast is here?” Scytale looked back and then tried to shake Skulker off his foot. “I’d say you deserve what’s coming for you. I just caught you stealing.”

“But this time I’ll really die! Come on, you’ve GOT to help me!” Skulker thrashed around frantically. “I’ve been a really good boy and kept your secret all this time. I only wanted to see how humans lived! Please, help me just this once!”

Scytale hesitated and was about to refuse when-

“There! That’s the snake who stole from me!” a voice cried out.

They spun around to see a tall woman with a rolling pin in her hand, gesturing to Skulker with it. On either side of her were two city guards.

The guards looked at each other. “The boy is another one of their clan, ain’t he?”

“Must be in on it,” the other grunted. He pulled out his sword. “Stay right where you are and don’t move!”

Skulker went wide-eyed and stared at Scytale. “If Dad hears of this, I’ll never be able to leave the enclave for the rest of my life!”

After a split second of thinking, Scytale gritted his teeth and picked up Skulker. He speed down the other end of the alley with the shouts of the guards close behind.

“Forget Verdilast, Lucy’s going to kill me after she hears about this,” Scytale muttered. “My first act as City Lord is to help a thief because he’s my distant relative. And why are you so damn heavy?!”

“Wait, Lucy’s here?!”

Scytale shot Skulker a withering look. “Do you think she’ll be happy to see you after all of this mess?”

“…oh.” The young snake sagged.

Scytale took a sharp turn, putting Skulker on the ground in the process. “Why did you even think you could sneak into the city? You do realise that every single Truth-Seizing Serpent is immune to our illusion bloodline spells? I could instantly see you stealing from that shop.”

“What! Our invisibility spells don’t work on members of our clan?!” Skulker yelled in shock.

“What do you think our eyes are for?” Scytale grumbled, ducking low under a hanging strip of silk. “We can see through any illusion. The only clan who are better at using illusions than us are the nine-tails, and they’re a royal bloodline.”

“…but I’ve used invisibility so many times to sneak past my grandparents!”

“Obviously they were pretending to be unaware.”

“Ugh…”

Scytale skidded to a stop when a third guard dashed out to cut them off at the pass. Skulker slowly pulled back and then tried to lunge at the guard.

Scytale hastily pulled the snake away. “What in the realms do you think you’re doing?!”

“Attacking a threat!”

“We do not attack a human in a human city!” Scytale argued back. The guard made a move to grab them and Scytale looked around for the nearest exit. He grabbed Skulker by the neck – who made a choking sound – and leapt onto the canopy of a shop. He threw Skulker on top of the building and jumped up after him.

Skulker raised his tail to look at it and let out a sob. “I think I have a bruise.”

“Small price to pay for freedom.” Scytale dragged the snake behind him and climbed onto the next rooftop. He looked around, trying to come up with a plan to escape their situation.

Skulker let out a whine. “See, this is why I want to have wings like you! Then I could fly anywhere I want and nobody could catch me.”

Scytale stared at him. Skulker blinked. “What?”

“I’ve got a plan, but it’s going to look really dumb…”

…

“Weee! We’re flying!”

“Stop making noise or you’ll draw attention to us!” Scytale told him.

Scytale, still using illusion mana to disguise his body as a normal Truth-Seizing Serpent, had turned into his serpent form and wrapped himself around Skulker, lifting him into the air with the force of his two pairs of wings – wings which were invisible to anyone else.

With Skulker being 20 metres long and Scytale needing to increase his size to 30 metres just to lift the massive snake, they were both flying in the sky as one tangled, inelegant mess.

“I swear this has been the dumbest thing I’ve ever done!” Scytale complained, trying to haul Skulker over to the distant city walls. “I knew it. Snakes should never fly! Not unless they have spectacular wings to show off, and my wings are invisible right now!”

“I’m sorry…”

“Well, it’s too late for that! I just want to eradicate this from my memory as soon as possible,” Scytale grumbled. His body shimmered and then matched the colour of the air. “There, I used my invisibility magic to hide me, so nobody can see me. You should do the same.”

“Um, okay. By the way, Scytale, is that a bir-”

“And if you get put in charge of babysitting your siblings until you become an advanced beast, you’ll have deserved it!” Scytale yelled, ignoring his younger companion.

“Scytale, it looks like there’s a bird heading-”

“If by chance you happen to meet Lucy before we leave this city, you will tell her nothing, you hear me? Understood?”

“I understand but the bird is-”

“No buts! I’ll never be able to touch a natural treasure again if she knows about this! While usually I don’t care, I will excersize my one right of mental privacy to prevent her from knowing what happened today! She’ll definitely mock me for this stupid plan, I just know it!”

“Scytale!”

“Ugh. Fine, Skulker. What is it?” Scytale looked down onto to notice Skulker was looking in a different direction altogether.

“There’s a bird right ahead that we’re about to crash into!”

Scytale looked up and noticed the colourful bird of paradise lookalike, then hastily attempted a dive to get out of its flight path. Unfortunately, the bird tried to do the same.

They both slammed into each other and were sent tumbling through the air, the invisibility spells flickering out of existence. Scytale wriggled and squirmed, trying to let go of Skulker so he could fly again.

“Skulker, let me go already!”

“You’re the one hanging onto me!”

“I can’t fly like this and- look out!”

Scytale’s yell made the people below look up and let out shouts of shock before they quickly ran out of the way. The two snakes slammed into one of the shops below, smashing it to pieces and leaving a small crater in the pavement.

With groans, they slowly got up and shook their heads to remove the disorientation. Then Scytale stiffened when he realised where they had landed.

“Huh? Scytale? What’s wro…. Oh.” Skulker noticed the five guards and one woman with a rolling pin staring at them. He looked down to see the remains… of the shop he had stolen from.

“Skulker, I give up,” Scytale said in a dead voice. “Any bruises and injuries we receive because of Lucy or Verdilast will be nothing compared to the eternal shame that comes with this failure.”

Skulker let out a sob.

…

“Haaaa…..” A dark-haired woman let out a long sigh, standing in front of a cell while she pinched her nose bridge. Standing behind her were the City Lord and Darvis, both with strange expressions on their faces.

In the cell was Scytale in his human form, manacled and sitting on the stone floor with his back against the wall, and Skulker, crying quietly in a corner while inside a single handcuff that was too big for him.

“Is this the part where we explain?” Scytale sheepishly spoke up.

Lucy didn’t answer and just glanced at Skulker as he let out another sob. “Does he even realise he can slip out of the handcuffs?”

Scytale glanced at the crying snake and shrugged. “Probably not. But he’s resigned to his fate ever since he heard Verdilast is coming.”

Lucille rubbed her temples and turned around. “How much do we owe the shopkeeper?”

“…three hundred silver crowns should cut it,” the City Lord replied.

She passed him a rose crown. “Tell her to keep the change as an apology for the scarring this event has caused.” She turned back to the two snakes. “I don’t know what to say. You two seem to understand how stupid you both were, otherwise, you wouldn’t have stayed here.”

“…yeah. We’re taking responsibility.” Scytale glanced at Skulker. “Uh, Lucy, do you think you could put in a good word about Skulker to Verdilast for me?”

The pitying look she gave him made him wince. “Not happening, huh? Figures…”