Chapter 55 (2 of 2) A Paladin, a Prophetess and a Perpetually Angsty Kid walk into the Aurelian Commission’s Headquarters. (Patreon)

“Lucy, did you finish all your paperwork?” a young girl completely free of any sort of responsibility asked the weary woman in front of her.

Lucille gazed flatly at the wilfully ignorant source of her issues, but the girl didn’t pick up on it. Lucy sighed and pulled out a chair from the dining table. “Just sit down already, would you?”

Annaliese grinned and pulled out a chair directly opposite from her. The Paladin behind her moved to take up a post directly behind the Prophetess… until Lucy pointed at him and shook her head.

“Sir Albrecht, please don’t go against your precious ward’s intentions by ruining the atmosphere of this meal with your disdainful attitude,” she said, smiling brightly. “As the Aurelian Commission Head, I don’t wish to gain a reputation among the nobility that the highest-ranking Paladin of Pledge wouldn’t even eat at my table.”

He narrowed his eyes at her. “There will be no such thing. It is my duty to guard the Prophetess and her brother. I am not here to partake in the formalities of-”

“Sir Albrecht, stop being so rude to Lucille and sit down!” Annaliese interrupted, frowning at him.

He raised an eyebrow at his ward. “This isn’t about rudeness. I’m your guard and-”

“You said you’d support my stay here, so do that and stop making things difficult,” Annaliese retorted. She pointed at the chair next to her. “As the Prophetess of Fate, I command you to sit.”

The wild-haired man rolled his eyes. “I’m not mandated to obey you, Prophetess Verdon.” Despite him saying that he begrudgingly pulled out a chair and sat down with his arms crossed. He looked across the table, narrowed his eyes at Lucille and jabbed an armoured finger at her. “This isn’t because of you. I’m only doing this because of my ward.”

Lucille hid her smirk behind a sip of tea but clearly, he still caught it, because he scowled. Before any comments could be made, the door of the dining room opened to let in Lucy’s slightly tired-looking aide, and the Prophetess’s scowling younger brother, who marched up to the chair beside Annaliese and sat on it. He crossed his arms, mirroring the Paladin on the other side of Annaliese.

Vincent pulled up a chair beside Lucy.

“That blighted snake has been driving me insane!” Raegan suddenly exclaimed. “Everywhere I go, he appears behind me to cast a flashy magic spell and shock me! Or trip me, or throw something random like a pillow at me, or send me going around in circles trying to find the exits!”

Lucy sent a questioning look at the silver-haired man next to her. Vincent sighed. “I have tried to question Scytale on his motives for antagonising Mr Verdon here, but he has avoided the question at every turn. The most I have been able to gain from him is that ‘we’ll find out later’.”

“Am I a test subject or something?!” Raegan stood up and slammed his hands on the table. “Why is it me who gets picked on? In fact, why do you keep such an irritating beast around you in the first place?!” he said, pointing at Lucy.

“Short of him being my bond there is little reason otherwise that I tolerate his presence, yes,” she replied dryly.

“Don’t be mean to Scytale, Raegan,” Annaliese said with a frown.

He whipped his head to the side to glare at her. “Are you siding with him over me now!? Really?! Can you honestly say that in all the time you spent here last year, that you didn’t find him annoying even just a little bit?!”

“Er…” Annaliese hesitated. “That’s not…” She coughed and snuck a look at Lucy. “Maybe… he can be hard to handle sometimes…”

Lucille rolled her eyes. “There is not a soul in existence that does not find Scytale to be incredibly irritating, and if there is someone who declares themselves immune to the flood of trash coming from my bond’s mouth, then they must be even more annoying than him by several magnitudes.”

“Yes, well, I’d like an explanation about why he’s decided I’m his target for no reason,” Raegan muttered. “We hadn’t even met before today.”

Lucille had her suspicions as to what Scytale was testing, and she was admittedly very curious too… but the way her bond had gone about it was utterly stupid and did not make up for whatever information they’d gain through this. As someone without a hint of interest in scientific methodology, Scytale decided the easiest way to find out what he wanted was to push the individual of interest into a situation where they were completely clueless as to what was going on and mess with them until Scytale realises it’s not working.

And of course, there was no way Scytale was willing to just ask what he wanted to know. That wouldn’t be very fun.

Raegan scowled at Lucy. “Well, Commission Head? Are you planning on explaining things to me or are you going to hide everything and use only the slightest bit of misconstrued information to lead me on like you did with Annaliese?”

Annaliese stared at him, aghast, but the Paladin behind her fixed his gaze on the boy and slowly narrowed his eyes. Lucille opened her mouth to answer…

“The Great Serpent King Scytale is coming! Make way for His Majesty!”

…when she got interrupted and decided to let the culprit do the explaining.

Raegan stood up and glared at the silver-haired boy. “You!”

Scytale proudly walked into the dining room and paused when he saw them all watching him. He nodded and walked over to take a seat at the head of the table. “I see my loyal retainers are patiently waiting for their lord. Please, be at ease.”

Lucille pointed her finger at the snake and wordlessly shot an arcane force ball at him. Scytale fell out of his chair with a yelp and crashed to the ground.

“What was that for?!” he shouted as he glared at her from over the edge of the table.

“That was to remind you of your place and to remove you from that chair,” Lucille stated calmly. She took a sip of her drink. “The food is placed in the centre of the dining table. How do you expect to get any food over there? And before you say it, no, your ‘retainers’ won’t pass you any.”

“Ugh. Fine,” Scytale grumbled as he stood up and walked over to sit next to Lucy. “Can’t you give me a break? I’ve been running myself ragged these last few hours!”

“Why don’t you tell everyone why you ‘ran yourself ragged’?” Raegan hissed through clenched teeth.

“Uh…” Scytale stared at him, then at the others. He averted his eyes. “Nah… it’s not that important… in fact, why don’t we ask Annaliese what she’s been doing these last few months!”

Annaliese opened her mouth but Raegan interrupted her. “You poured freezing cold water over me, led me through a massive garden and got that spirit mad at me, and then stole half my lunch! What is it that you have against me?!”

Lucy narrowed her eyes at her bond but Scytale just shrugged and leaned back in his chair. “It’s the Commission’s introductory event. We welcome every visitor to the Headquarters that way.”

“Scytale, please don’t let rumours spread that the Aurelian Commission’s members are insane,” Vincent commented dryly. “We do not greet our guests that way at all.”

“So then why was I treated that way?!” Raegan asked with anger.

Scytale gazed at the food and rubbed his hands together. “Mmm, I can’t wait for dinner! Oh, Lucy.” He turned to her. “Where’s Hargrave? I haven’t seen him around for ages.”

She raised an eyebrow at the snake. “He left last week to increase his strength. He has five months until he needs to defeat his first draconic monster.”

“Awww, and I wanted to let him meet Annaliese too-”

“Stop changing the subject you blighted snake!”

They turned back to gaze at Raegan after his outburst. He sat there, glaring at Scytale as Annaliese looked at him with astonishment.

“Raegan, I’ve never seen you be this angry at somebody for so long,” she told him. “Normally your anger dies out after a few hours.”

Raegan frowned. “But this time is different,” he muttered.

“I would’ve thought your brother had also inherited the ability to hold a grudge as you did,” Lucy wryly said to Annaliese. “Only a few hours seem like an extremely short time compared to the person who painstakingly waited five months before she could come to bother me again.”

“That wasn’t-” The Prophetess hesitated, and looked away. “That… wasn’t necessarily because I held a grudge…” She quickly shook her head. “Anyway, most of the time the people who irritate Raegan get preoccupied with other issues so they can’t continue fighting.”

Lucille raised an eyebrow. “Other… issues?”

The blonde-haired girl nodded. “When we were at the orphanage most of the kids who picked on him ended up tripping over and getting small scratches. Another shop owner in the town tried to cheat him and lost their customers to the much younger and nicer competitor business owner across the road.” Annaliese continued thinking. “Actually… I don’t recall anyone being hostile to Raegan for more than a week. One person who tried to shove Raegan onto a busy road broke their leg two hours later…” Her words slowed as a strange expression crossed her face.

All of them turned to stare at the dark-haired boy sitting next to his sister. Raegan averted eye contact.

“Um… Raegan…” Annaliese began.

He continued to look away from the table. Jasten Albrecht shot the boy a dull look as Lucille gazed flatly at Raegan. Vincent looked at all of them with confusion and Scytale covered his mouth to hide his muffled snickers. The silence drew longer.

Raegan eventually turned away with a scowl. “What are you all looking at? You can’t prove anything, and besides…” He looked down at Annaliese’s full plate and snatched food off of it, to her shock. “It’s lunch time isn’t it? Shut up and start eating.”

“But why are you eating off my plate?!” Annaliese exclaimed, flabbergasted.

“To shee if it’sh good enouf,” Raegan said with his mouth full.

Sir Albrecht gave the boy an odd look, but Lucy raised an eyebrow. “I don’t believe I’m suicidal enough to dare poison the Prophetess in front of her Rank-5 personal guard. Additionally, I believe it was Sir Albrecht’s job to test both of your food for poison before you eat it.”

Raegan paused and raised his eyes to stare at her.

Then Lucille looked down at his plate, which seemed to have sections missing. Her perception field revealed the boy’s stuffed pockets.

“Alternatively, if you find the meals here at the Commission’s Headquarters that tasty, then we can leave you with the recipe when you return to your estate,” Lucy added.

He flinched when the Paladin on the other side of Annaliese leaned back and saw the pockets. Sir Albrecht ran a hand down his face. “You… stole food from the Aurelian Commission Head’s table…”

“Yes, the Aurelian Commission Head’s table, also known as Lucille Goldcroft, who just so happens to be the woman opposite that you didn’t want to share a meal with,” Lucille said to the Paladin with a bright smile.

He shot her a glare but Annaliese stalled any comment by whacking the back of Raegan’s head.

“Don’t put food in your pockets! That’s disgusting,” she reprimanded him.

Raegan rolled his eyes. “So? The food at the estate tastes like garbage. Even if it went in my pockets, it’s sure to taste better than the slop at home.”

Annaliese opened her mouth, hesitated, then shut it again. “…hmm…” was what she eventually chose to reply with.

“Raegan, don’t speak about the estate like that to-”

“What, are you really going to say I’m wrong?” Raegan said, frowning at Jasten Albrecht.

All words from the blonde-haired guard were halted, and he grimaced. Sir Albrecht looked down at the table. “The food provided to us by the Citadel is powerful and rich in mana. Powerful…” He grimaced again. “But tasteless.”

“Yeah, and the few times there is taste it’s like an explosion of mouldy food enters my mouth,” Raegan complained. “Whoever taught that cook to put fire-element fish with mud-element cabbage should be fired. Oh wait-” He turned to glare at the Paladin. “Firing him is your job, isn’t it?”

Jasten Albrecht gazed wearily at the boy. “I don’t have the authority to make that decision. The Sages are responsible for placing people around you two.”

“You mean responsible for putting spies around us,” Raegan snarked.

The Paladin fell silent, glanced at Annaliese, and then sighed. He didn’t reply.

“It seems we’ll have to ask our chef for the dishes’ recipes,” Vincent said with a smile. “But please don’t steal Miss Verdon’s food. You can just ask for seconds.”

Raegan looked between Vincent and the food. Then he clicked his tongue and stabbed his fork into his food. “You better give me those recipes.”

The conversation in the room changed to peaceful silence as everyone ate their meal. Lucy snatched away the extra stat-boosting foods from her bond’s plate, making him glare at her, but the rest of the meal was mostly enjoyable.

“I still want an explanation about why your bond decided to dump a jug of icy water on me,” Raegan said once he was finished, crossing his arms with a scowl.

“I would appreciate an explanation as well,” Sir Albrecht added, frowning at Lucille. “This is highly disrespectful to the Prophetess and her brother.”

Scytale turned to stare at Lucy. She gave him a sharp jab in the side with her elbow. “Don’t look at me like that. You’re the one at fault here.”

The snake in human form clicked his tongue and kicked his feet up onto the edge of the chair. “Fineeee. Annaliese, last time you were here you told us about our weird anti-Fate stuff, right?”

Annaliese blinked at the unexpected mention but didn’t have a chance to reply as Scytale continued, “And you worked out that Lucy is some weird anomaly that’s ’dead to fate’ or something. But I still have no clue what my anti-Fate thing does for me.” He shrugged and pointed to Raegan. “It would be too suspicious if I came up to Annaliese and asked about it, so curious about her brother’s extra anti-Fate thing going on, I grabbed his attention. I had heard from Lucy that his abilities probably work against those he has a problem with.”

Scytale grinned at Lucille. “So, I went and did an amazing experiment without any of your help, Lucy! I helped test his abilities just as Annaliese wanted! Aren’t I wonderful?”

Jasten Albrecht stood up and glared at her as Lucille buried her head in her hands.

“Aurelian Commission Head, please explain your bond’s statement,” the Paladin requested.

Lucille lowered her hands to pinch her nose bridge as she glowered at the snake to her right. Scytale whistled nonchalantly and looked away.

Lucy glanced back at the angry Paladin and sighed. She turned back to him and picked up her drink to take a sip. “Before I say anything, Sir Albrecht, none of what my bond did was arranged before today. Annaliese’s intent to gain my help when it comes to her brother’s abilities was new to me as well.”

“Then how did you know about it?” he said through gritted teeth.

Lucy sent a flat look at her bond, who ignored it to pick up a bread roll from the table. She rubbed her temples before finally answering. “Jasten Albrecht, to answer your question I need to tell you an important part of my abilities. Can I ask you to try to avoid telling anyone else unless absolutely necessary?”

He frowned at her. “I have no reason to reveal this unless it’s a danger to the Prophetess, her brother, or the Citadel’s existence on a large scale.”

Lucille nodded and intertwined her fingers. “Well then, Sir Jasten Albrecht. My core strength is my vast spiritual energy.” She tilted her head at him with a smirk. “That means I was able to hear your entire conversation with Miss Prophetess here after my departure.”

“Wait.” Before Sir Albrecht could reply, Raegan interrupted with a finger raised. “Does that mean you can hear and see everything around you like you’re physically there? Like, a massive map of everything going on all in your head?”

Lucille nodded with a smile. “It seems you’re familiar with it.”

Raegan stared silently at her for a few seconds. He looked down at the table, then up at her. “Alright, you’re innocent. I’ll save you from Sir Albrecht’s anger.”

The Paladin scowled at the boy. “Raegan, this conversation doesn’t involve-”

“Of course it involves me!” Raegan complained, crossing his arms. “Have you ever experienced seeing and hearing everything everyone is doing around you without being able to shut it off? Have you? No, because you don’t use much spiritual energy but I do, because I was left on my bed without any sense of sight or touch for ages!”

He pointed a finger at Lucille. “I never wanted to know that much about everyone around me but I do.” He turned back to the Paladin. “So, as a fellow victim of this curse, I say you shouldn’t get mad at something she has no control over. It’s not like you could do anything once you found out about her spiritual energy thing anyway because it was your fault for not being more careful where you said stuff!”

Then Raegan narrowed his eyes at Lucy. “That doesn’t mean I trust her though.”

Sir Albrecht stared at the boy, then tilted his head back to stare at the ceiling with anguish. “This job is the curse…” he muttered. He sat back down and ran an armoured hand down his face. “Let’s move on.” He looked sternly at Lucy. “Have their sleeping quarters been arranged?”

She nodded. “Their rooms are next to each other for you to guard them.”

He sighed. “Good. If that’s the case…” He stood up and placed a hand on one of each siblings’ shoulders. “Then these two will retire for the night.”

The two teenagers stared at their guardian with horror. “What?! No, you can’t do that!” Raegan shouted.

“As the Prophetess of Fate, I- wait, wait, Sir Albrecht, I wasn’t done talking!”

The Paladin hoisted both siblings up by their arms and began to drag them off as they kicked and yelled. He looked back at Vincent. “Where…”

“The staff member outside the door will inform you of the location of their rooms,” Vincent said with a smile.

Sir Albrecht nodded thankfully and marched off, taking with him the two other ‘uninvited guests’ of Lucille. The door of the dining room shut, leaving only three people left.

After a few minutes of silence, Lucy slowly turned her head to smile brightly at the silver-haired man on her left. “Now, my dearest, most wonderful, spectacular aide~. I think we need to have a looong discussion.”

Vincent beamed and stood up. He pushed his chair in and gave her an Empire salute. “I believe I’ll retire for the night too, esteemed Count Goldcroft. Take care until we meet again tomorrow, my lady.”

“Vincent, don’t you da-”

He walked off at a fast pace, leaving Lucy standing up at the table with a scowl on her face.

“Well, that didn’t work,” Scytale commented cheerfully, taking another bite of his bread roll.

Lucille slowly turned to stare at him.

Scytale looked up from his food and flinched when he saw her gaze. He looked away and quickly stood up from the table. “Actually, you know what, I’m still a bit tired after my bloodline advancement. I think I’ll head off to the living room and take a na-”

A lightning-quick arcane spell wrapped him up in immaterial chains and he yelped as he collapsed to the ground, struggling futilely. He watched with despair as Lucille walked closer. She crouched down with a gentle smile on her face.

“Scytale, I’m not ready for you to leave just yet.”

She may not have been able to talk to the main cause of the problem but she sure as hell could take her frustration out on the second primary cause of her problems.

…

A few hours later, around midnight, Lucille sighed and pushed her completed paperwork away on the desk. She rested the back of her head against the armchair.

Instead of getting a break to level up, she now had to babysit a teenage girl who was far too curious and trusting for her own good. Politically speaking, having the Prophetess of Fate on her side was a major boon. Even though the Sages regulated all usage of her Fate essence, just being known as being on good terms with one of the most famous figures in the Empire would make many people want to form connections with Vincent who was known to ‘control’ her.

And Scytale still hadn’t collected the two secondary skills needed to tier up or evolve his first primary skill. So, it wasn’t like they could instantly go and increase their strength. But it was still incredibly annoying to have Annaliese’s sudden visit thrust upon her. The fact this had even occurred didn’t bode well for the future either…

Lucille was mostly just annoyed about all the additional paperwork. Just when she felt that things were finally progressing, she got stuck in the Commission’s Headquarters for what seemed to be the next five days.

She rubbed her neck to relieve the tiredness and stood up from the desk. She decided to have a bath in her room for a change, to relax herself.

Sometime later she was sitting in the tub of hot water, the psychedelic magical bubbles frothing up the water’s surface and drifting about. Lucille dunked her head under the water to wet her hair and she resurfaced again. Then she held out a hand.

With a slight nudge to her second main skill, all the bubbles gravitated towards her hand, her manipulation of the water element controlling them. Then, strongly imposing her will on the bubbles, they scattered with the sound of crackling and minute floating embers replaced the locations of the bubbles. A second later, the embers burst into showers of brilliant gold sparks.

The Essence Transmutation Conduit granted her a deep-seated sense of the presence of all the elements in her vicinity. It was different from her spiritual perception, which granted her a general awareness of them all. With her main skill, the mana all felt intrinsically connected to her, an extension of her mind that required little to no thought to move. In that same fashion, the speed at which she could change one element to another was near instant. Using the illusion element in her main skill was an excellent decision. All the mana in her vicinity was in this strange state where it was only whatever she chose at any one point in time.

She knew she’d be in a contest over the mana around her when another User used a spell or skill near her. She wouldn’t be able to control any skills as they would have Influence she couldn’t manipulate, but for spells that only had the spiritual energy signature of the mage, Lucy could dominate them as long as her MENT was higher than the opposition.

Lucille could think of numerous ways she could improve the skill, however. She wanted to know the elemental integrity of the elements around her as they would give hints about when a User was going to use a spell or skill, and she also wanted to incorporate some way of the elements in her vicinity automatically balancing themselves to suppress her enemies in combat with their contrasting elements.

At the very least, Lucy planned on adding all four of those Rare-level skills of Saufren Lestial’s she had contemplated gaining. She had several skill books to use, and perfecting her second main skill was a useful way of spending her time for the next five days.

However, the arrival of Annaliese’s brother and his main skill reminded Lucille of a certain mage currently exploring the Sundown Continent plane shard. Efratel was giving her frequent updates on the well-being of her sponsored party, although information transfer had slowed after the party had entered the research facility on the plane shard.

Lucy didn’t recall any information about the Sundown Continent plane shard in the past timeline, so she could only presume there was nothing particularly interesting or dangerous there. Not dangerous in the sense it wouldn’t affect her plans for the Hero. Marellen and his party may still have difficulties, but Lucy doubted anything major would go wrong with both the Raven’s Wing and the past – and possibly future – Sovereign Sorceress of Frostfire on their side.

Lucille hadn’t quite decided how she was going to interact with the snow elf, especially considering she was aware the elf’s lineage granted her spiritual energy and the ability to see Lucy’s soul age…

But she still had a few months before they would meet, so all she would do for the moment was breed goodwill in the snow elf by supporting Trisroa Vel-Winteridge’s adventures.

“Hey, Lucy! Are you done yet?!”

Lucy sighed and looked up at the roof as she heard the voice of a painfully annoying magical beast that happened to be her bond. She stepped out of the bath and pulled on a bathrobe as she replied, “Just wait a few minutes.”

Once she was dressed again she walked over to the door of her bedroom and opened it to reveal a golden-eyed boy with sticks in his hair and smudged dirt marks on his clothes and skin. He wore a scowl on his face.

Lucy crossed her arms and leaned against the doorframe. “Did Ashale‘viaf let you go or did you run away from him before finishing your tasks?”

Scytale glared at her. “I finished everything. You’re a worse demon than the Demon Emperor for making my punishment being working for that spirit.”

Lucille rolled her eyes as she stepped away from the doorway to let her bond past. “It was either that or being made to work for Sedric for the rest of the week.”

Scytale shuddered as he walked over to her ensuite. “No way. That crafter would torment me more than that vindictive rose spirit.” He walked into the bathroom, leaving the door open, and grabbed a face towel to wet under the tap.

“Why are you using the towel in my bathroom? Go to your own room,” Lucy complained.

Scytale used the towel to rub his face clean of the mud and stopped to stick his tongue out at her. “No, because I want to be petty and use your stuff after what you put me through.”

Lucille narrowed her eyes at her bond as he walked out of the ensuite to sit down on her bed. He reverted to his serpent form and flapped his wings as he got comfortable.

“And why are you now on my bed?” she asked dryly.

“Because I’m 90% sure that Annaliese’s brother found some insects and worms to put in my bed once he found out where my room was.” Scytale shook his head as he let out a yawn. “He’s like Annaliese’s opposite in every way. I don’t know how two blood-related siblings can be so different.”

Lucy huffed and sat down on her bed. “Yes, well, if he had lived to adulthood in the past timeline then I’m sure we would’ve heard quite a few things about him. Not necessarily good things either.”

“What are your plans for tomorrow?” Scytale asked, rolling upside down.

Lucille laid back on her bed. “Avoid any blonde-haired girls and find a way to give Vincent overtime.”

“You really don’t want to have to deal with her, do you?”

Lucy’s expression went flat. “I don’t have much experience with overly curious teenagers and would rather spend my time doing more worthwhile things than entertaining them.”

“Why don’t you use this chance to get some experience now?”

She tilted her head back to stare at the amphiptere. “You have as much experience as me. Why don’t you entertain the two kids for the rest of the week?”

“Aren’t you forgetting, Lucy?” Scytale flickered his tongue playfully. “I’m one of those teenagers too.”

She scowled. “Don’t remind me of your earlier fun or else you’ll be stuck with Ashale’viaf for the next month too.”

Scytale shut up.

Lucy sighed and rolled over to climb onto the bed more. “There will be more attention on me after Annaliese’s visit. I would prefer to have as few limitations on our actions as possible when we’re already treading a thin line when it comes to the Hero, the Empire, and the Authorizer.”

“I’ll be utterly useless when it comes to the Demon Emperor but if the Hero comes after you then I’ll be sure to support you wholeheartedly!” Scytale replied blithely.

Lucille ran a hand down her face. “Helpful as always, I see.”

“I try.”

She didn’t deign to respond and just gazed at the roof. “Vincent is getting my share of the work this week.”

Scytale yawned again. “I thought you did all your work already, which is why you’re annoyed.”

“Then I’ll make something up for him to do.” Lucy sat back up and flicked the head of her bond. “Anyway, get up. You’re not sleeping in my room tonight.”

Scytale pretended to snore. She grabbed his tail and dragged him to the edge of the bed.

“Ack- alright, alright! Sheesh, be more patient.” He jumped off and turned to face her. “What are you going to do about Raegan though?”

Lucy went silent. Her voice was quiet when she replied, “I… don’t know yet. But maybe if Annaliese ends up visiting us often… then nothing bad will happen.”

When a User’s Origin Skill was born from their personality then one had to wonder why Raegan earned the ability to grant other people misery.