Unruly Summon Chapter 59: Troubling (Patreon)

"Many thanks for hosting us at such short notice," said Minoru.

"It's no trouble at all. I'd already made the preparations, in case you were found out, although I must admit I never envisaged you being found out in such a troubling manner," replied Claw Bryklynt, who had a pair of tall, multi-pronged antlers. I wasn't quite sure what animal he was based on—some sort of deer was my best guess—but I did know he struggled with doorways more than the rabbit-man had done. The ceilings of a mansion were generally tall anyway, but in his, all the doorways were a couple of feet taller than usual too.

I also wasn't sure I could trust him. Minoru seemed to, and I saw nothing suspicious in his face or behaviour, but I'd been deceived too many times in this world to ever trust someone I'd only just met, whoever vouched for them.

Naturally, I hadn't let up on Maius Omnia Visus for a moment since the arena, so I was confident there weren't swarms of assassins hiding behind every wall at least. That didn't mean they weren't waiting just out of range, though.

"Troubling doesn't even begin to describe it..." said Wendy. "Witnessing the behaviour of the 'seed' was utterly terrifying. Never mind why someone would use such a thing, I'm more concerned about the how. I couldn't even begin to imagine how to create a weapon like that. Doing so must have taken an extensive amount of seriously disturbing research. At least your devil-fire was a blunt instrument, that required little more than gathering and lightly processing soil from the corrupted lands."

"Yes... I'm no expert in such things, but perhaps troubling was understating the problem. But, perhaps I can answer both the who and the how. Tell me; have you ever heard of the Seekers?"

"No," I replied. Mary looked equally baffled, as obviously did Eve.

"Oh boy..." muttered Wendy, who obviously did know of them. "Yes, I can certainly see them doing the sort of research that would be required to build such a thing, but what possible motive could they have?"

"Indeed," agreed Minoru. "Unleashing a miasma-corrupted monster in the middle of a crowd would be an act antithetical to their entire organisation."

"Not if they knew Thomas was there. It may have simply been a means to force him to cast Miraculum in a known area at a known time, to permit them to perform some form of analysis on it."

"So, is anyone going to tell me who the Seekers are?" I asked.

"Their tag-line is 'seeking a way to save our world for the next generation," snorted Wendy. "It's not inaccurate, either; they're an organisation of mages dedicated to solving our miasma problem, very much like me. It's just... well, if you were to combine the worst parts of me with the worst parts of Stephanie, they're what you'd get. You've made your opinion known on whether the ends always justify the means. Their opinion is the opposite, and, to them, 'saving the world' justifies a lot of means. In their heyday, they would raid and kidnap entire villages to use as experimental test subjects. They'd deliberately infect them with miasma so they could research the effects and experiment with ways of curing them. They weren't allowed to get away with that for long, and the organisation was dealt with in a coordinated assault on their bases by all four kingdoms."

"So if it's been dealt with, why mention it now?"

"Because 'dealt with' isn't the same as 'destroyed'. They've been taught not to go around kidnapping villagers, and to keep their activities more subtle, and in return for remembering that lesson, they're left alone."

I frowned in confusion for a few seconds before what Wendy was saying clicked. After all, all four kingdoms were desperate to solve the miasma problem. Wendy had, in the past, mentioned clandestine research organisations and hinted at unsavoury practices among them. The Seekers must have been included in that batch. The countries' leadership probably agreed that the ends justified the means, but they couldn't just say 'feel free to use these villages for your experiments'. Such a thing would result in the leadership changing quite swiftly, unless they ruled the country with a fist of such hard iron that even horrors of that level would go unchallenged by the populace. I couldn't speak for the dwarves or elves, but the humans or demons certainly didn't seem to be in such a state.

I was trying to solve the miasma problem myself, and had made a decent start, but an organisation like that with such a singular purpose would be unlikely to simply disband and leave the problem to someone else. Then why would the Seekers want to spy on me casting Miraculum, rather than simply asking? If they knew me, they'd know I disapproved of their methods, which could explain a reluctance to make official contact.

Again, there was too little information.

"Have you ever heard of the Fallen?" I asked. "Any relation to the Seekers?"

"No, I've not heard of them, sorry," replied Bryklynt.

"Oh well. It was a long shot, anyway. Another random question, but I was wondering why miasma weapons aren't as much of a taboo as mind control. Anything to do with the Seekers?"

"You guessed it in one," sighed Wendy. "Their activities are completely, one hundred percent legal, even if that meant changing what was legal in a few cases. Heck, I've even heard a rumour that the Seekers have official representation on the dwarven senate that rules the Commonwealth of Kalolamenz."

Sometimes, when I heard things like that, I got angry. This time, I found it difficult to get worked up. I was simply so... unsurprised. I was growing numb. Just another little way in which the Earthling known as 'Thomas' was getting eroded away.

Rather than getting worked up that there was a group of murderers being tolerated simply because of the reasons that they murdered, the louder thought was along the lines of 'if it was the Seekers just wanting a look at Miraculum, they have no reason to launch a follow-up attack'. Instead of outrage that the local leadership tolerated the existence of such a group, I was glad that it meant our little group was safe.

Not that I had any intention of relaxing. The guard captain hadn't mentioned the Seekers. Was that from racism, not knowing they existed, or because he really had a reason to believe they weren't involved? If Bryklynt was involved in it, he could simply have mentioned the Seekers to throw us off the scent.

"Were any other settlements hit?" asked Minoru.

"No. Every message I sent out has been responded to, and every response claimed nothing out of the ordinary."

"Then I know Talon Larxx is unconvinced, but I find it hard to imagine the timing was coincidence. It's very likely something to do with me, Seekers or otherwise," I said.

"I agree," nodded Bryklynt. "Talon Larxx lost several family members in the war, so I have given him some leeway, but if his biases are interfering in his job, perhaps it is time to have him replaced."

"Oh..."

I'd never really thought about what casualties the demons had suffered from the war, given how thoroughly they'd dominated it, but naturally they wouldn't be zero.

"Anyway, let us put such things aside for the moment," continued the Claw. "You've already been in our empire for days, and yet you've been hurrying from inn to inn, barely even stopping to take in the sights. I know you're leaving here tomorrow, but for now, a feast! Let us give a proper reception to the one who brought an end to the fighting and has brought the world so much hope for the future."

"Wow. That's a bit of whiplash, right there," said Wendy, echoing my own thoughts. "Not that I have any intention of saying no."

Bryklynt turned to lead us deeper into his mansion, but I hung back a little, hopefully out of earshot. "Hey, Wendy?" I whispered. "Do you know any spells for poison detection, resistance or neutralisation?"

"Deprehendere Venenum, Tolerare Venenum and Remedium, but Remedium is a little pointless. Just blast your target with Maius Sanatio. Not very trusting of authority, are you? You've not had a problem scarfing down the food at every inn we've been to, but now that there's a banquet in your honour, you've suddenly got cold feet."

"...," I replied, which, despite the lack of audible words, took me some time. Not only did I need to cast resistance on the entire party, but I was prefixing everything with Maius. If, as Wendy so often claimed, heroes were bullshit, then I was going to milk that bullshit for every ounce it was worth. "We hadn't been attacked in demon territory until today," I pointed out once I was done.

"True. I always wear a ring enchanted against poison, but I doubt anyone trying to kill a hero would be using anything of a level it could possibly protect against."

"Weren't you keen on teaching me enchanting when we first arrived? We really should pick that up at some point. Anti-poison rings sound like something I'd quite like to be able to make."

"And here's our banquet hall," said Bryklynt, pushing open a door and pulling my attention from my furtive little conversation with Wendy.

The banquet beyond was, if I had to be honest, rather lacklustre.

It was obvious enough why; food was in short supply, and this had been prepared 'just in case'. No way would they have wasted vast amounts of food for an event that likely wouldn't happen. As such, it was largely a cold buffet, mostly filled with things that wouldn't spoil if not consumed immediately. The little that did look more carefully prepared was small enough in quantity that Bryklynt probably could have consumed it on his own. Had we not turned up, it quite possibly would have been his dinner.

I was actually quite glad; if there had been big piles of meat and carefully prepared dishes, I'd have been more suspicious. It would have implied he knew we'd end up here.

"Let me introduce you to my family and some of the higher ranked officials of the city," he continued, before introducing a score of people in rapid succession that I had no hope of remembering the names of. Great, more people to be paranoid about.

————————————————————

In Bonehill, Claw Thazremath knocked on the door of an office.

"Come in," came the voice of Fang Zorzomon from the inside.

"I thought you were gifted with some time off, in recognition of the overtime you dedicated to the war," grumbled Thazremath. "Spare a thought for your subordinates. If you're working, then we need to, too."

"Ah, but I'm not working," smiled Zorzomon. "I am completely engaged in a personal hobby."

"Really? And what might that be?" asked a very dubious Thazremath.

"Fishing."

Thazremath sighed the sigh of someone who knew the nearest body of water that contained any fish was dozens of miles away. "If you say so, sir. Anyway, the reason I'm here. You asked me to keep an eye on all reports coming out of Vaynx, and to bring you anything suspicious. Well, suspicious doesn't even begin to cover this one."

He chucked a document onto Zorzomon's desk.

"Finally," beamed Zorzomon, without even looking at it. "I was starting to worry I wasn't going to get a bite. Managing not to attract attention until after Thomas had arrived suggests a high level of professionalism, which is good. It implies the fish circling my bait is a big one indeed."

"... Oh, I see. The fishing was a metaphor."

"But an accurate one! Did you really think our emperor would lay aside one of his useful and loyal pawns so easily? No, this 'time off' was nothing more than a ruse to permit me to carry out an operation that is, by necessity, somewhat clandestine. Now, shall we see if I can identify our fish?"

He spent a few minutes perusing the document.

"I see both the town guard and the local Claw are on completely the wrong track," he sighed, once he was done. "Still, that can't be helped. They're lacking in information, and right now, educating them would do nothing to improve matters."

"You think Claw Bryklynt is wrong? I couldn't think of a better suspect than the Seekers myself. Yes, it's odd that they'd target the arena—hiding magical equipment there would be far harder than setting it up in a random street somewhere—and the highly complex seed was an odd choice when they could just throw a handful of corrupted dust into the air, but who else would have the knowledge to build something like that?"

"Our elusive quarry, and the entire reason Thomas has been permitted to enter our territory despite the draconic threat he brings with him. Or, perhaps it would be more accurate to say that we wanted him here because of that threat. I'm sure you've heard of the Cult?"

"Yes? A bunch of doomsayers, preaching on street corners, collecting the desperate."

"If only that was all they are, but alas, they are more dangerous than you know. The few who know of their secrets call them the Cult of the Fallen."