Nero Walker, Book 2 Ch.2 (34) (Patreon)

Mage-Adept Cranston looked at the communication mirror with confusion.  “I don’t understand.  You want me to help him, but not be seen helping him.  Don’t be nice to him, or mean to him.  Help him a little if he asks, but don’t be too helpful.  Stay far away, but watch him closely.  Respectfully, you’re not making any sense,” he said.

He was in his private wing at the Mage Tower in Dorchester.  No one could trace this communication mirror, and it was only supposed to be used to contact the Mage Tower of Hennings when special circumstances demanded it.  Cranston had been called here by a secure signal, implying an alarming level of importance to this meeting.

In the mirror he could see the entirety of the mage council.  They all wore sever expressions, as though this was of significant importance to Oglivarch itself.  The head of the council, Arch-Mage Jennings, was leading the meeting in person.  That fact alone sent a shiver down Cranston’s spine.

Cranston had never forgotten the circumstances which caused him to leave Hennings.  After he had made a small mistake with a dungeon break calculation, Arch-Mage Jennings was furious.  Luckily, his father had called in a few favors, and Jennings wasn’t allowed to call him to a duel.  Seeing Jennings humbled by the Coucil of Leadership remains one of Cranston’s fondest memories.

Arch-Mage Jennings stood up and walked toward the communications crystal.  In a cold voice he said, “What is there to understand?  We have been watching the boy since he arrived on this plane.  He is a phenomena that must be carefully studied and nourished so he can grow.  I will not let some piddling nobles in the middle of nowhere cut his journey short with their stupidity.”

Echo’s of “Here, Here!” and banging on the table came through the mirror from the other council members.

“But isn’t he already off limits as a new noble?  No one will want to risk sanctions by the royal family by interfering with his path.  What is it you want me to do?” he asked, clearly trying to hide his annoyance with the situation.

Jennings could be seen visibly shaking in repressed anger.  He turned and went back to his seat while shouting, “Mathers! Talk to this fool.  I can’t deal with this crap.”

Mage Adept Cranston watched as Mathers calmed down Jennings.  The other council members were mumbling to each other and all of them carried looks of disapproval.  This was not looking good for Cranston.

Taking a spot in front of the communications crystal, Mathers folded his hands and took on the aura of teacher trying to get a child to see the bigger picture.  “By now you should have at least read SOME of what the boy has accomplished since arriving here 5 days ago.  His exceptional leveling speed, incredible deductive skills, an ability to cast spells far beyond what he should be able to cast, and most importantly… his perspective.  We want that talent nurtured, not smothered.  You must help him, but give him room to grow on his own.  Directly influencing his path is not what we want.  But we want you to protect his path from local forces that would like to see him stumble.  Do you understand?” He asked.

Cranston crossed his arms, and tried to choose his words carefully.  “I went over all the information that we have on him.  I can see why you think he is a bit unusual, but I don’t see what all the fuss is about.  He lucked into a position of nobility, and if he survives I’m sure he’ll grow into something special.  However, if his rapid rise causes the world around him to rebound and snuff out his life, that’s just his fate.  Respectfully, I refuse to take on this responsibility,” he said in a tone of utmost professionalism.

Mather’s shoulders sagged, and the entire council went silent.  The quiet was instantly blasted away by Arch-Mage Jennings shouting, “Enough!  Sending that little bastard out to Dorchester didn’t teach him anything.  I’m going there and putting a flaming foot so far up his ass his hair catches on fire.”

Mage Adept Cranston paled as he watched Jennings march out of the room.  The council remained in silence, but they now looked at Cranston in pity.

Trying to calm the situation down, Cranston said, “Fellow mages, you know I’ve served the tower for almost 80 years and in all that ti-”

Interrupting what was sure to be a grand speech, Mathers held up his hand for Cranston to shut up.  The council’s looks of pity were gone, and in their place was the cold disinterest Cranston was more familiar with.

Mathers, however, looked giddy.  He locked eyes with Cranston, and said, “Good Luck, I’m sure Arch-Mage Jennings will be there within the hour.  I hope I’ll see you again, if not, that’s just fate.”

The Mirror in Cranston’s tower went out, and he just stared at the closed connection in confusion.  ‘What the hell just happened?’he wondered.

-----

Nero was brushing his teeth while staring at himself in the mirror.  A light application of air essence had cleared the fog on the mirror from his recent shower.

As he leaned forward to check on the little shrapnel wounds that peppered his face and forearms, he reminded himself that people healed faster here.  Most of his wounds were gone, and after his second shower of the day, he felt great.

After reminding himself that he had a dinner to get to, Nero finished up.  He applied some type of roll-on deodorant, then opened the door to his room.

Nick was standing over Nero’s desk and going through the various notes and papers that were lying around.

With a smile, Nero greeted him, “Hey Nick?  Where’s my threads?”

Realizing that someone was talking to him, Nick looked up from the notes in his hands.  “They’re on the bed.  Just do your best, and I’ll show you how to fix whatever mistakes you make.  You can’t go to the keep looking like an idiot,” he said with a dismissive gesture, then returned to his study of Nero’s notes.

Ignoring Nick’s attitude, Nero grabbed the pile of clothes and returned to the bathroom.

Getting dressed wasn’t all that complicated.  Nobles dressed in a slightly better version of what the people at the Center were issued.  Pants and a shirt, with a nice leather belt and soft leather boots.  The Robe was another matter.  It was two robes, one with no sleeves and some ties on the side.  The outer robe had big sleeves that ended at mid forearm, and was tied with a Thick leather belt.  Nero did his best, and admired his reflection.  Nodding to himself through the mirror, he returned to Nick for a second opinion.

Opening the door, he said, “Hey Nick, what do you think? Do I make this look good, or what?”

Glancing at Nero, Nick did a double take.  “Why didn’t you adjust it?” he asked.

“What do you mean? Did I miss a tie or something?” Nero asked while holding his arms up and looking for anything dangling.

“Just feel for it’s essence signature, and try to feed it what it wants,” Nick said.

Closing his eyes, Nero did as instructed.  He could feel a sense of anticipation from the his clothes, even his socks.  Trying to just ‘accept’ the feeling, he started pulling in some essence from the room.  The clothes seemed to not like that, and retreated.

“Use your center, the room doesn’t know what size you are,” Nick said.  Then muttered a quiet, “Idiot.”

Nero had a feeling of release and he felt himself ‘open’.  The clothes shrunk and tightened, changing their subtle dimensions to more accurately fit his form.  It felt like being hugged, the clothes even radiated a sense of ‘being complete’.

His senses started to spread out and he sensed the door behind him; it was patiently waiting for the opportunity to open.  The walls were strong and immovable.  The thin carpet was self satisfied, and wouldn’t allow anything to blemish it’s beauty.

“Stop that.  You’re going to empty your center, and you have too much to do today,” Nick reprimanded Nero.

Pulling his senses tight once again, Nero opened his eyes.  “What the hell was that?” he asked.

While organizing Nero’s notes, Nick said, “Everything has an identity.  You were just using yours to recognize and interact with the world in a more visceral way.  It’s called delving, didn’t you read about it?  I saw your notes on the subject.”

Nero’s eyes widened as he nearly shouted, “That’s delving?  I thought delving was using essence to inspect objects and people.  I set the shirt Captain Angelton gave me on fire when I tried it.  I thought I couldn’t do it yet.”

Nick gave Nero his ‘you’re an idiot’ stare, and said, “You obviously were trying to force ambient essence into the shirt, rather than using your own essence.  What did you expect to happen?”

Nero shook his head, “I don’t want to get into this with you right now.  Do these clothes look alright?”

Walking up to Nero, Nick gave him a once-over.  He adjusted his belt, and smoothed the fabric a little.  Nodding, he said, “It should be fine.  Now sit down and wait for Vera, I want to go over your study materials.  Some of this is very interesting.”

Nero hopped up onto the bed.  “What’s interesting about my notes?” he asked

“Most of what you wrote down are questions and conclusions.  I wouldn’t call these ‘notes’,” Nick said while slightly raising his voice and waving the papers around.

He continued, “Notes are concise rephrasing or simplified summaries of accepted information.  You, however, evaluate everything you read and try to extrapolate limitations.  Some of these theories you have here are completely wrong.  But, I have to admit, some of these theories are rather interesting.”

Nick flipped through pages and started talking about how these notes related to something-or-another.  Since Nick wasn’t paying attention to Nero any longer, he decided to treat Nick’s impromptu lecture like a high school science class.  After making himself comfortable on the bed, he started checking his messages.

Nero deleted a bunch of pings from Nick and Vera about the Noble War.  If he wanted information on the accords, he could just look it up.  There were several pings concerning his point totals and results from Dorchester’s Council of Leadership.  Those he saved, he might need them for reference.  Finally he got to his the several pings from Captain Angelton.

The first few were just demands for Nero to come to the compound.  After deleting those, Nero finally found some useful information. Unfortunately, just after he read about what being a noble means, Nick interrupted.

“Are you even listening to me?” Nick asked loudly.

Closing his link, Nero looked at Nick with fake interest.  Before Nero could try and spin the situation to his advantage, his dorm room door opened, saving him from Nick’s wrath.

Entering the room with a scowl, Nick’s wife started talking the moment she saw her husband, “What are you doing?  We need to get moving.  Here are your robes, get changed.”  Waving her hand, garment bags appeared and flew toward Nick’s face.

Then she walked up to Nero’s bed, snapped her fingers and pointed at her feet while saying, “Nero, get over here.  You’re hair is a mess.  I thought you’d be smart enough to prepare a little.  This is your first showing as a noble.  As such, everyone’s initial impression of you will be solidified tonight.”

Nero got up and suffered her ministrations, while Nick went to the bathroom to change.

“So, I was just about to read the ping about all this.  What should I be expecting?” Nero asked.

While Mrs. Salvatore was adjusting Nero’s robes, she replied, “From what I’ve been able to find out, you’ll be having dinner with General Branson from central command, two councilors from the noble court, the court mage, and the city lord herself.  I don’t know if anyone else will be in attendance, but I heard the servants at the keep were instructed to treat this event with all seriousness.”

“How did you find all this out?” Nero asked, shocked at her investigative prowess.

Sniffing to herself, as if the very thought of there being something she couldn’t find out. She replied, “I know everybody.  With a few pings, and I could tell you what anyone in the city is doing.  Now, send me a copy of your invitation.”

Nero was impressed.  He knew Mrs. Salvatore was a big shot around Gate 7, but he assumed that her position had no bearing in the upper class of the city.  He opened his link and forwarded everything that Captain Angelton had sent him, along with all the information from Dorchester’s keep.  He figured that should keep her happy for a while.

“Alright Nero, give me a moment, and we’ll see what’s going on,” she said as she turned the one chair in the room toward the center and sat down.  She resembled a queen holding court as she closed her eyes and started in on Nero’s pile of information.

Nero just smiled at her antics and returned to his seat on the bed.  Grimacing, he realized he was in that awkward period before an event.  He had nothing to do, but didn’t have time to start on anything.  So he opened his identity to see if anything happened with his growth in the past hour.  Maybe he could get some clues as to what caused his rapid leveling.

• Name Nero Walker Level 6   Race Human Growth 36%   Tier 1 Condition 94%   Age 14 Center 76%   Body 1 Mind 1   Soul 1 Confluence 10   Stars 2 Pillars 0/0

‘So no growth, but my center dropped a bit.  Must have been the ‘delving’ or whatever,’ he thought.

Nero looked over his skill notifications that he usually ignores.  There were hundreds of them.  He learned nothing from them, except for the fact that ignoring them was the right call.  He was about to open his expanded stats, when Nick came out of the bathroom.

Wearing a burgundy and black robe, Nick looked very proper.  Seeing Vera using the link, he turned his attention to Nero.

“About ready to go?  Did Vera fill you in on the plan?” He asked.

Raising his eyebrows in surprise, Nero replied “There’s a plan?”

“Vera always has a plan.  Get whatever you need together.  She’ll tell us what to do soon enough.  It’s best to be ready before hand,” Nick said quietly.

Nero got to his feet, and collected his satchel.  Joining Nick near the door to the hallway, they both watched Vera sitting by the desk with a frown on her face.

Opening her eyes, she smoothed her robes and stood up.  “I’m perfectly capable of hearing you while I go through the relevant data.  We’ll be among nobles once again, so I’m going to ask you both to try to reign in your personalities,” she said.

Nero and Nick exchanged a look, both implying that the other was the one she was talking about.

With a sigh, she said, “Let’s just go, we’ll talk on the way.  Captain Angelton will be meeting us at the Center entryway.”

Following her out of the room, Nero and Nick waited for orders.

Walking down the hallway, Vera said, “Now Nero, I went through everything you sent me.  First I’d like to -”

Nero interrupted, “I sent you like 10 pings, how the hell did you go through all of them?”

“Mr. Walker, do not interrupt people.  It’s rude.  And although you sent me a great deal of information, my first pillar is ‘efficiency’.  I have progressed far enough to have the ability to go over paperwork with an enhanced speed.  You’ll have to hold your followup questions, as there is a lot of information that you need, and we don’t have a lot of time.”

Nero snorted as he matched her quick walk.  “I know that saying this is a mistake, but aren’t you being a little dramatic,” he said.

Nero could hear Nick chuckling as Vera just sighed and replied, “Nero, there is a lot happening that you don’t understand.  You are technically a noble now.  The moment the paperwork was filed, you became a ‘new noble’.  That title ‘new noble’ has several important factors that you need to be aware of.  First, you cannot be attacked, targeted, or be the subject of a Noble War for the next 100 years.  This was put in place because the life expectancy of new nobles was less than a week,  unless they found a Major house to back them.  Around 2000 years ago, the crown decided that if they wanted to keep the upward viability of the new noble system, they would step in and act as a backer to all ‘new nobles’.

“Second, tonight’s dinner is to introduce you to the city lord and have her receive your pledge of conduct.  The pledge is something all noble houses have to abide by.  Since you constitute a new noble house, you are the house head.  As the head of a noble house, you must make the pledge.  Hopefully, we can get that done tonight.

“Third, you will have to schedule your noble trials.  As a new noble, you will not be allowed to put them off.  They must be completed in a reasonable time frame.  This is a problem, because you are only 14.  The trial of combat would result in your death.  The trial of knowledge is impossible for you; you don’t know anything.  The trial of service is a possibility, but you don’t know how the systems of the city actually work.  Which brings us to the trial of legacy, which although possible, is also a really bad idea,” she finished with a grimace.

Nero was digesting everything she just said.  His tentative plan had been to refuse the title of nobility and request a payout.  But if that wasn’t an option, he’d have to move to plan B.  Nero’s problem was that he didn’t have a plan B.

As they reached the Center entryway, she said, “I see you’re starting to understand the gravity of the situation.  If you’re not careful, you could very well die in the next few days.  And I for one, do not want that to happen.”

Nero looked at her, and could see the worry in her eyes.  Nick placed a hand on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze in support.

“Don’t worry Mrs. Salvatore.  I’m very hard to kill.  I’m like a cockroach.  I’m sure I’ll fit right in with the nobles,” Nero said with a smile.

Cracking a smile, she said, “I’ve taken the liberty of using Nick’s position as your advisor to get both him and I into the dinner with you.  You don’t have to face this alone.  We are well versed in dealing with the noble court, and we’ll do our best to support you.”

Nick nodded along with Vera’s words.

“Well, thanks in advance.  Let’s go find the captain and get to the keep.  By the way, how do we get there?” Nero asked, as he moved the group toward the entrance.