Nero Walker, Book 2 Ch.19 (51) (Patreon)

It was after dinner, and Sergeant Blackwood was annoyed. He should be at a bar trying to get laid, or anywhere that wasn’t here. The city wasn’t in danger, and there was no reason for him to be here. Whatever it was, it could wait for the morning.

Blackwood tapped his fingers on his chair as he looked around the waiting room. The large room had paintings of battles, and weapons on plaques. It was exactly what he expected a general would have tried to use to intimidate his visitors. Glancing at Captain Angelton, who was sitting next to him, Blackwood saw that the man was meditating. Of course he was, the man would train in a snowstorm.

The general’s aides were both sitting at their desks, flanking the wide doors to the general’s office. They looked harried, but Blackwood could tell it was busy work. Their psychic auras were not stressed at all.

Deciding that he was not going to wait in silence any longer, he elbowed the captain and asked, “Why are we here?”

Captain Angelton opened his eyes and gave Blackwood that cold stare of his. “You know as much as I do. We were requested to be here by command, so we’re here. Don’t ask questions you know the answers to,” he said.

Blackwood grimaced, “You must have some idea as to why he wanted to see us. Take a guess.”

The captain grunted, and replied, “Guessing is pointless. It could be anything. Just wait patiently, I’m sure the general will be here soon.”

Before Blackwood could respond with what was sure to be some scathing retort, the outer doors opened and in walked General Branson along with a young girl and two Hunter-Captains.

General Branson saw the two of them waiting but kept up his stride toward his office as he said, “Good, you’re here. Come inside and let’s have a chat.”

Blackwood shared a look with the captain and they followed the group into the general's office.

The general took a seat at a conference table off to the side of the large room and gestured for everyone to sit down.

Once everyone was seated, he said, “All right. So rather than ask you individually how much you are aware of, I’m just going to tell you all what’s going on.

“First, after the Populators decimated the mercenary army outside our walls, essence knots and spawn points are showing up all over the place. Two former estates are now teeming with monsters, and the animals in the wilds to the east of the city are mutating at an alarming rate.

“Second, we are starting up elite monster hunting teams again. Monster hunting squads are being retasked, and new training programs are being initiated. The environment is a perfect whetstone for the elite teams to hone their skills.

“Third, there is a new noble, named Nero Walker, in Dorchester. He just fought an assassination challenge and didn’t break a sweat. His situation is unique. He’ll need training, but he is already dangerous. I want to foster his strength, but I also want to keep an eye on him. Some of you already know him. But for those who don’t, I’ll be sending you everything I have on him.

“Fourth and finally, a preliminary warning was sent out by a division of the Research Center in Gate 7. The warning stated that there is a very real possibility of a monster wave being accelerated by the events of the past few days. They don’t know much yet, but they’re working on it. The faster we clear out the spawn points, the better it is for everyone.”

Looking around the table, the general saw a lot of grim faces, and one confused one. Smiling at Rose, he said, “This is Rose Vikander. She has been trained as a hunter, and she’ll be on whatever training team our new noble is assigned to.”

Turning to his left, he said, “Captain Angelton, and Sergeant Blackwood. You’re being reassigned. Both of you have served on monster elimination squads before, and you both know Lord Walker. You’ll be on his team too.”

Turning to his right, the general addressed the two hunters, “Sergeant’s Jackson and Peyton, you’ll also be trainers for the squad. You’ll have a total of 20 cadets. Break them up however you want, but I want Rose and Lord Walker in the same squad. The Captain has command, Blackwood is his aide, and you are the trainers. Look through what I sent you, and fill out the remaining positions. Questions?”

Rose just sat in silence, looking around like she didn’t know how to feel about what was happening. The Captain and the hunters just nodded. Blackwood however, was not happy. He didn’t want to spend months in the woods. He had hated every minute of serving on the monster squads.

Tentatively raising his hand, Blackwood said, “Sir, I have some questions.”

Leaning back in his chair, the general folded his hands on his stomach, “Go ahead, ask them.”

Clearing his throat, Blackwood said, “Why all this trouble for the kid? Why is a new noble going monster hunting anyway? Who is she?” he pointed his thumb at Rose, then finished, “And why am I here?”

With a smirk, the general said, “Read your information packet. You’re all dismissed. Not you, Rose. Let’s get you set up with a room at command. You’ve got a busy couple of days ahead of you.”

Standing up, the general caused everyone else in the room to shoot to their feet out of reflex. He offered a final smile and led Rose out of the room.

As the hunters exchanged grim looks, Captain Angelton opened his link to review the files they had been sent. Blackwood just sat back down in his chair and muttered, “Why the hell am I here?”

-----

Nero refilled his water as he listened to Mrs. Salvatore.

“I’ll lend you a thousand valens for your personal account. As your proxy, I’ll pay myself back from your main accounts when they receive payment,” she said.

Nero nodded, and instead of Mrs. Salvatore moving on to another topic, she paused. Her eyes scrunched and she seemed to be deep in thought. Nero took a sip of his water, and wondered what had caused the lull in conversation.

“I think it’s time I formally resign from my position as the director of Center-Intake,” she said with finality. She seemed to firm her shoulders and take on an air of determination.

Surprised at the change of subject, Nero responded, “Why? Didn’t you say this was your 'passion' or whatever?”

Giving Nero a look of annoyance, she responded, “Yes, I like working here. However, as a proxy to a noble house, I’ll be too busy. As it is, I’ve been neglecting my duties since I’ve met you. You are a full time job. And I've always planned to focus on running a noble house, though I thought it would be my husband's. But, you have a lot to learn before you can run a house on your own. For the time being, I’ll be focusing on helping you and Nick complete your trials and founding your houses. I think it’s for the best.”

“If that’s what you think is best, I’ll just say ‘thank you’ and shut up,” Nero replied easily.

“That’s one of the things I like about you, Nero. You don’t pretend to know what you don’t know. I will help you become a powerful noble, because you’ll listen. The most dangerous thing in the world is pride, so make sure to keep yours in check. You’ve had some successes, but don’t let them go to your head,” she warned.

Chuckling, Nero replied, “I’m well aware that I’ve survived by luck and stubbornness.”

With a nervous but sincere look, Nero forced out, “Mrs. Salvatore, if it weren’t for you and Nick, I wouldn’t be here right now. I’ll make you proud.” Nero felt a little uncomfortable. He wasn’t comfortable with serious conversations, and wanted to change the subject.

Noticing Nero’s twitching, she smiled and said, “I’m sure you will. From now on, please call me Vera. Now I’ve decided to go with you tomorrow morning for the pledge. It was mistake to think you should go alone. They’ll address your trials, and you don’t know enough about them to make any informed decisions.”

Nero nodded, “Alright, I’ll meet you on the Center steps at 7?”

Vera made a note on the pad on her desk. “That will give us plenty of time to make it the keep. Make sure you wear the robes Nick brought you for last night’s dinner. You can change the colors, and make sure you give them a light essence wash. You don’t have any house colors, so I recommend a neutral gray. It won’t align you with anyone, and the last thing we want is a misunderstanding.”

Nero was confused. “What do you mean change the colors? And can I just use one of the household spells to clean them? Aren’t they like enchanted or something?”

Amused, Vera replied, “You just connect with them and ask them for a different color scheme. Very similar to the link. They have been enchanted with a rudimentary identity. As for cleaning, a simple spell like this will work. I’m sure you’ve read about them.”

As she finished speaking, Nero saw her carve a spell-form above her hand and direct a flow of several essences to her own robes. Up until now, he’d avoided using spells that he didn’t fully understand. However, he knew that eventually he’d have to rely on more complicated spell-forms for casting.

Standing up, Nero asked her to hold the form so he could look at it. Vera raised her eyebrows but did as Nero requested. Concentrating, Nero looked over the different sections of the spell-form. Deciding that he had it correctly memorized, he slowly copied it into his own hand.

Vera watched as Nero carved the spell-form with his center. As it drew in essence, he directed it and the thin white fog rolled over his robes. Looking over his robes, Nero gave a nod of success and returned to his seat.

“Did you just learn that spell now? Hadn’t you seen a cleaning spell before?” she asked in interest.

“Kind of. My book on household spells had a purging spell for dishes. That was kind of similar, but your spell had a lot of other inputs I didn’t recognize. I just copied what they looked like and let the spell-form collect what it needed,” Nero said as though it wasn’t a big deal.

Shaking her head in exasperation, “You really aren’t a typical mage, you are aware of that, right?”

Shrugging, Nero replied, “I wouldn’t know. And, to be honest, I don’t really care. Anyway, let’s get some sleep, we have a lot to get done tomorrow.”

Vera agreed with the sentiment, and collected her things. Nero stood up and started playing with his new spell. Vera just let out a huff of annoyance and soon forced him out of her office.

They walked back to the courtyard together, the entire time Vera was trying to pack in as much information as she could about what Nero should expect in the morning. All too soon, they were at the courtyard where their paths would diverge.

Nero offered her a polite wave and wished her ‘goodnight’. With a nod and smile at his awkwardness while ending conversations, she walked off. Nero still wasn’t used to their only offering a nod in lieu of a ‘goodbye’, and walked back to his dorm room annoyed with the situation.

He was soon showered and ready for bed. After making sure to set his alarm and lay out his clothes for the morning, Nero found himself staring at the ceiling again.

As he laid in bed, he connected to his link which was sitting on his desk. He went over the paperwork that Vera had sent for his accounts, and connected easily to each of them. Nero marveled at how the kingdom had set up their banking system. It only took a thought to bring up his account information. Since they used his unique soul signature as a login, the entire procedure was effortless.

Laying in bed, with his arms above his head, Nero felt like he was finally getting a handle on his new life. He could cast magic, now he had money, and tomorrow he’d finalize what he had to look forward to. Not to mention, the trials seemed like they could be considered a job, so he could consider himself employed.

Making plans, he made a mental note that he had to visit his ‘estate’ and deal with the employees he didn’t know anything about. The amount of money involved with his future decisions was a little daunting, but he thought he could handle it. ‘If I can fight off assassins and mercenaries, I can fire some people if I have to,’ Nero thought to himself.

Deciding that he was just avoiding sleep, he checked his identity.

Name Nero Walker Level 7   Race Human Growth 27%   Tier 1 Condition 100%   Age 14 Center 92%   Body 1 Mind 4   Soul 1 Confluence 10   Stars 0 Pillars 0/0

Nero noticed that today was the first day he hadn’t leveled. It seemed he finally started to slow down a little. Maybe he just didn’t reflect enough on the recent events. Either way, he was too tired to think about it.

Realizing that he still was holding his mage-armor active, Nero was surprised that his center was so high. ‘Why did Jennings think this was difficult? Am I missing something?’ he wondered. It didn’t matter, Nero wasn’t going to ever let his shield drop. In fact, Nero tried to calm his mind and go to sleep while keeping the shield active.

Less than ten minutes later, while Nero was asleep, the essence in the room started to vibrate. For the rest of the night, small winds were caused by Nero’s mage-armor expanding and contracting. As he slept, his psychic field gently pulsed, affecting the world around him. He didn’t know it, but his actions caused havoc for his fan club at the Tower of Magic in Hennings.