Amazon Apocalypse 2: Chapter 32 (Patreon)

"The pile was huge! You should have seen it!" Myrina gestured wide, miming hugging a pile the size of a table. "And that wasn't even all of it. Cyra transferred her entire balance with the Auction House first."

"I had to give them a few items as collateral, too." Cyra sighed. "Hopefully mother reimburses me. The rest can go, but I really liked that shield."

"I'm sure she will. Unlike me, Mom trusts you with the family purse." Myrina elbowed her sister.

"I'm sorry I missed it." I chuckled. "I was talking to the staff. Did you know you can appoint an agent to keep an eye out for items you might be interested in? If your balance with the auction house is big enough, they can even bid for you on your behalf."

"Really?" Myrina perked up, brows furrowed.

"Yes, really," Cyra replied. "I've got an agent who does just that for me. You've never saved up enough to make it worth their while."

"I saved up a lot to bring Carter over!" Myrina pouted. "I had to win a tournament and pooled a year's worth of allowance for that."

"If you'd been smart, you would have given him a teleportation destination array that time you visited him instead of just giving him the Patronage Token. Then you wouldn't have had to pay so much."

Myrina sagged. "I didn't think that far ahead."

I patted Myrina's slumping shoulder. "I'll pay you back for it someday, Myrina. With interest."

I turned to Cyra. "Speaking of debts... How'd you like your treats from Earth? I brought them, as promised."

Cyra frowned. "Oh yeah, I forgot about those. Where are they?"

"You mean you didn't get them?" I stroked my chin in confusion. And as I did, I sensed Myrina doing a very poor job of trying not to look guilty.

"Snacks? What do you mean by snacks? I don't remember any snacks..." Myrina glanced at the sky. She couldn’t have looked guiltier if she had started whistling tunelessly.

Cyra loomed over her little sister. "Wait a minute. What was it you were eating earlier while I was picking up the Mana Bombs? You pulled out some sort of pastry from your pouch."

"No I didn't."

I poked Myrina's cheek. "There's still some crumbs on your face."

"Uh... that's... uh... the blood and bones of my enemies. From those bandits we killed. Yep." Myrina smiled innocently.

"She's definitely got your snacks, Cyra." I shook my head.

Cyra reached for Myrina's waist and snatched Myrina's dimensional storage item from her belt.

"By the System... your Inventory is full of nothing but snacks. My snacks! Give me those!" Cyra immediately started transferring the baked goods over into her own storage item.

"No! I stole those fair and square!" Myrina tried to snatch her bag back, but Cyra held it high overhead and kept pouring baked goods from one pouch to the next.

I shook my head, chuckling to myself. Soon enough, we’d returned to the castle and were let straight through the gates.

"I'm going to see mother and deliver these Mana Bombs. And I’ll be sure to tell her about your thievery," Cyra said with a harumph.

"Well I'm coming along to plead my case. Carter! You're my witness, so you're coming too," Myrina declared.

Cyra smirked. "You think mother won't give you a spanking for your thievery if you bring him along?"

"Carter will profess my innocence. You'll see!"

I held up my hands. "I shall tell the truth and only the truth."

Our jovial banter continued right up until we entered Kyrina Samhain's office. I'd never been to her office before, but it looked surprisingly modern to my sensibilities, despite the lack of a computer.

The woman herself sat in a large chair behind a desk right in the center of the room. Sunlight streamed in through the windows behind her. A stack of papers sat on either side of the desk, but the middle was stacked high with a pile of Mana Bombs.

Before the matriarch sat a note. A very familiar note. One that I'd written myself.

Cyra and Myrina both went quiet when they saw their mother's pensive mood. While the siblings seemed happy, they could tell their mother was anything but.

The Samhain Matriarch rested her head on her chin as she stared at my note and its accompanying pile of Mana Bombs. She wore her worried frown openly and hadn't looked up when we entered.

Myrina and Cyra rushed right in, but I lingered at the doorway.

"What's wrong, mom? Is there trouble?" Myrina asked.

Cyra's eyes went to the pile of Mana Bombs on the desk. "Mother, I acquired more Mana Bombs for the clan. They went up for auction again. But... I see you already have some. Did some of the other auction winners bring them to you?"

Kyrina finally looked up from my note. "No. I didn’t have any of my agents there, and these were a gift. But I received them before the auction even began. They were waiting for me in the dungeon."

"In the dungeon? The one under the western tower?" Cyra asked, a look of surprise on her face.

Kyrina nodded. "Exactly so."

"Someone broke into your sex dungeon?!" Myrina exclaimed.

Kyrina sighed. "More like they waltzed right into our castle past all our defenses. The gates are enchanted to let us know if anyone unaccounted for enters the premises. Except the gates didn't log any visitors."

"Whoever left them for you was a skilled enough enchanter to fool our defensive enchantments. I suppose they would have to be, if they could create something like these Mana Bombs." Cyra crossed her arms and tapped her foot as she thought. "Have you checked in with the guards?"

Kyrina nodded. "I have. They saw no one enter, either. Our guards are understaffed, but not to the extent that people can just walk right into the castle… let alone to the dungeon under the western tower. That's one of the deepest regions of the castle."

"What does this mean?" Myrina asked, worry in her tone.

Kyrina flipped the note on her desk around.

"See this? It says 'This is a gift. Don't come looking for me.' It's a gift, an order, and a threat all rolled into one." Kyrina spread her arms out. "It means that these things mean nothing to them since they gave away so many—despite the incredible quality of the raw materials and the complex enchantment.”

She pinched the bridge of her nose. “It also means that whoever this was could bypass our castle's defenses and go wherever they please. If they wanted to plant a magical bomb that did physical damage and take down the walls of our castle, it would be a trivial task."

"I don't get it. Do we have a new enemy or a new ally?" Myrina asked.

Kyrina sighed. "That's what I've been trying to figure out. Who gave these to us, and what are their motives? The only thing I can think of, is that they represent a faction that would benefit from seeing us and the Shadefall Clan continue fighting. They're skilled and have access to incredible resources, so if they wanted to give us weapons to end the war right away, they probably could. At the same time, they gave us all this as a gift."

She drummed her nails against her desk in thought.

I stood awkwardly in the doorway, fighting to keep my face as neutral as possible.

I'd left the Mana Bombs for Myrina's family as a gift. I hadn't meant anything by leaving them where I had. I certainly hadn't intended to send a message—other than to kindly asked the Samhain Clan to stop looking for me. Instead, Myrina’s mother now pegged me as some mysterious third player in their war with the Shade Fall Clan, with an agenda of my own.

This was starting to get a lot more complicated than I'd signed up for. I bit my lip. Maybe I could nudge Kyrina in the right direction?

"Does he have to be someone plotting against you?” I asked. “Maybe he just wanted to help."

Kyrina's eyes locked onto mine, and she combed her fingers through her long red hair. “Maybe... maybe... It's also possible that this is one of the Ancestors taking action.”

She sighed. “Many of them live with their husbands on worlds filled to the brim with magic and enchanters. It would be a trivial thing for them to acquire items of the caliber of these Mana Bombs and to send them over in our time of need. But in that case, why the secrecy? If one of the Ancestors asked me not to pry into the details, neither me nor the elders would dare disobey them. There's no need for tricks for women as mighty as the Ancestors."

I'd been hearing more and more about these ancestors and the Samhain Clan’s elders. While I'd seen neither, it was becoming increasingly clear that each had a lot of influence within the Samhain Clan. Maybe more influence than the matriarch herself.

"I..." I struggled to come up with an explanation that might be believable. "Maybe it was an acquaintance of yours? Someone just trying to help out without getting involved personally?"

Kyrina shook her head. "I can't think of anyone who'd expend this kind of effort... not without gaining something from it. And right now, whatever it is they are gaining isn’t obvious to me. That is what troubles me."

I let out a long breath, going silent. There really wasn't anything else I could say. Not without giving myself away.

Cyra presented her Mana Bombs, though seeing the pile already on her mother's desk they were received with less fanfare than she'd hoped for on the way over.

"Thank you, Cyra. I'll see that the clan compensates you for these. Take this lot back with you to the front lines. I heard Elder Yema is only barely holding her city together, with specters running wild through the streets. Take these and a squadron of guards to reinforce them," Kyrina ordered.

"And when you return, consider the mission to investigate the origin of the Mana Bombs suspended. Whatever their intentions are, they're providing items of great value to us during this time of war. We can't risk losing that."

Cyra nodded. "As you command, mother."

Cyra departed, leaving just Myrina and I in the room with Kyrina. She set my note aside and the burden on her shoulders seemed to grow a bit lighter.

"As for you two,” Kyrina said, “I hear you took care of a dozen monsters and a few bandits. Congratulations. It seems rewards are in order."

She opened a drawer to her desk. From it, she pulled out a bag of holding. "I understand that Myrina has racked up quite a bill in the local alehouses under our Clan’s name. For your next quest, please pay off all of Myrina's debts. Whatever is left in this will be your reward for clearing the roads."

Myrina held her hands out for the bag of holding, but her mother ignored her and passed the bag to me, instead. "Myrina, I'm trusting Carter with the money."

"Aww..." Myrina grumbled.

"Don't aww me, young lady. We're at war! The least you could do is not send angry merchants our way thinking we'd opened a credit line with them!" Kyrina’s brow drew together. "If it weren't for Carter being here, I'd take you over my knee like I did when you were a little girl! Keep acting up and I might just do it anyway!"

"I get it..." Myrina grumbled.

New Quest Available!

Pay back Myrina's Debts: Myrina has racked up an impressive debt with nearly every merchant in town. Protect the Samhain Clan's reputation by paying off her debts and explaining that Myrina isn't allowed to open lines of credit in her clan's name.

I accepted the quest, and we left the castle as quickly as we'd arrived. I felt the weight of Kyrina's gaze on my back as we departed. I wondered just how long could I keep my secret.