Family Business 15 (Patreon)

Family Business
Chapter 15: The Turn of the Tide

-VB-

The devastation in the Great City of Demacia left by a single condemned mage changed the mood of the people.

The news spread, mostly because I let it to avoid being looked at with suspicion, and even within my own city, there was a hidden caution towards magic that people haven’t had before.

I was not, however, going to take this escapee’s mess.

No. I wasn’t going to just sit here and let someone else ruin my goddamn reputation. I spent years making sure that I could bring as much of Demacia’s non-asshole magicians to my side! Now, the magicals would be fearful of reprisal!

“Marris, I would advise you to not take any action.”

I paused and turned to look at my father from within my office. He was just walking in and had a stern look to his face.

“Father-”

He nodded to me as I gestured for him to sit. He did so and I sat down after him. “The nobles and merchants who hate magic will see your charity as nothing more than a self-serving trap from a magician.”

“But they don’t know that, now do they?” I sneered.

“No, but they guessed correctly,” he sighed. “They know that you are personally involved in some kind of magic, but they don’t know what, so they are keeping it to themselves.”

“So I just have to let my reputation tarnish along with that of my people just because we are connected twice-removed due to magic?!”

“No, but you are angry right now that someone messed up your pie, Marris. You are not thinking things through.”

I stopped before slouching as I admitted defeat. “Right. Right. I guess I am if I am shouting at you, father.”

He nodded resolutely. “Good to see you control yourself. Don’t expect me to take it so calmly. This is an unusual situation, after all, so unusual grace is required of both of us.”

“Yes, father,” I said, chastised by his words. “Then what should I do?”

“Hunt the escapee yourself, but do not do so with flashy magic. I know you have access to subtle ones that will not show itself or become restrained even by the petricite.”

I froze before glancing at him. “I didn’t even tell Lux and Sona that. How?”

Father didn’t say anything as he pulled out a pulsing gem with petracite inside of it. The fossilized tree’s characteristic white body and cracks were distinct.

“This supposedly undo’s magic in a small room. An artifact devised by one of our ancestors, and yet, here you stand, completely ignorant of its abilities.”

What he said was true. I didn’t notice it.

On a whim, I brought out a potion and drank it. I felt its cleansing flow slip into every corner of my body as well as the invigorating properties of feeling my blood getting hotter and pumping faster, turning my skin a little flush.

“It’s because most of the magic I use on myself are on the inside,” I explained. “I don’t think my Guardian will become active with that around.”

Father grunted as he stashed the pulsating petracite pendant. “I’ll have to go back home to calm the people down there. Can you handle your people here?”

“Yes,” I said confidently.

“Good. I’ll talk to you again in a month. Let’s hope this issue doesn’t turn into a crisis at that point.”

Father stood up to leave.

And then I had an idea.

“What if … I send healers?”

He stopped and glanced over his shoulder in curiosity. “Healers? Magical healers?”

“No, no, no. Just regular healers. A lot of people are upset with magic, so what if I send healers baring my heraldry or my county’s flag on the herald they wear? To show my support for the people of Demacia?”

“Is it faked?”

“It would be legitimate. It is my country, and I doubt that Freyjord and Noxus like me because I am Demacian.”

“Hmm. True. I still suggest you do nothing for at least a week.”

“... Alright, father. I wish you a good and safe journey.”

“Stay strong, Marris. Now, where is Lux and my grandchild?”

-VB-

Father stayed for exactly one day, and I got to see a side of him that I hadn’t seen before.

Namely, he was absolutely smitten with our son.

He spent exactly one hour with Lux, congratulating her on a good, healthy looking child, and then spent the rest of the day cooing and staring at our son.

You’d think that my son was his.

While the rest of my family conversed happily after dinner, I found myself back in my office instead.

“Fahan.”

“Yes, sir?”

“Bring the Black Guards to me.”

He stiffened before he hesitantly spoke up. “Are you sure, sir? While they will certainly complete the job you will give them…”

“The consequences of their exposure are much greater, yes. But the longer that escapee continues to prowl, it is that much longer that I have suffer from the actions of others. I will not have it.”

By rough estimation alone, I knew that my effort for a different Demacia had been delayed by this escapee. Hell, I suspected that the escapee had a greater effect on magiphobia than Noxus would have with another direct war.

I needed this escapee dead, though it would be preferable to catching him to present to the court in Demacia. It would provide a solid reputation boost to offset the earlier losses.

“Have you learned of the escapee’s name?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Well?”

“His name is Sylas.”

I gritted.

Even without Lux being there to unknowingly assist in his escape, he still escaped and even went further to create problems for me.

No doubt the bastard would start gathering the dissident forces sidelined by the Demacian majority for a rebellion.

The Black Guard had to be used for this.

“Bring the Black Guard.”

They were my secret weapons. The spear tip that would have ended so many things before they had a chance to hurt me once I rose to higher prominence.

My KGB, if it was appropriate.

It was, after all, only appropriate that a secret police hunted down a dissident.