92. Subtracted (Patreon)

I excused myself and pretended to go to the bathroom. Instead of going into the stall, I stopped at the hall and tilted my chimera ears like little radar dishes focusing on the conversation of the four teenagers sitting behind the table.

“Licor,” Triss said. “Are you certain that we can trust this youthful-looking... archmage? This honestly feels like… an extremely elaborate prank.”

“Do I look like I’m laughing to you?” Agatha growled. “Did I smile once? I don’t think you realize what’s at stake here Triss. Lady Ishenko IS more than a mere archmage. She might look like a child to you, but I’ve seen her do impossible things with my own eyes. I’ve personally watched her cut a thousand elbow-wide cliff with a kitchen knife!”

“A kitchen knife?” Triss repeated. “Now that really sounds like a joke…”

“Do not dare ask her to prove things to you,” Agatha snapped. “Just don’t. Don’t even try to question her. She’s going to tear your entire world asunder, make you think that everything you know is wrong!”

“Triss,” Licros said. “I’ve never seen Lady Amadea crack a single joke in five years at Nemendias. She’s not the sort of a person that would purposefully deceive me for a cheap laugh.”

“You’re a very stupid boy,” Emerald’s voice resounded, coming to my defense. “My Master can do impossible things. She can pull people’s souls out with a snap of her fingers. If you don’t want to learn things from her you can go sit in the children’s corner by yourself.”

“I’m just saying… there's something off about her,” Triss commented. “She looks like she’s thirteen.”

“Her current body is actually only four years old,” Agatha said. “Were you not listening to her words? Are you deaf? She’s been in our epoch only four years.”

“How old is she then?” The bodyguard asked.

“I don’t freaking know, okay?” Agatha growled.

“That doesn’t make any…” Triss began.

“She knows the Builders of Andross personally!” Agatha hissed out.

“What?” The bodyguard gasped.

“You heard me,” Agatha muttered. “Deal with it. Deal with it like I’ve been dealing with it.”

“All of my senses as a war mage are telling me that she’s somewhere around Level Seven,” Triss crossed his arms.

“That’s what I thought too,” Agatha said. “It’s just an illusion, a shawl she likes to pull over the eyes of unsuspecting morons. I watched her battle with an immortal that even my Mother could not best and win.”

“You’re having us on,” Triss said.

“I am not,” Agatha sighed. “I wish I was, but I am not. When Archmage Ishenko adopted me under her wings, made me her apprentice… everything changed. Since I met her, it’s like I’ve been put to sleep and dreaming of impossible things or... Perhaps, I’ve been dreaming before and she finally woke me up from the nightmare of my life.”

There was a tremble in Agatha’s voice. She was still afraid of me, terrified of the impossible things Endy could do.

“I think I understand how you feel, Agatha,” Licor said. “The future that Archmage Ishenko told us about sounds… absolutely terrifying.”

“Your excellency, please,” Triss said. “My skills have not failed me once. Something is very fishy here.”

“You’re fishy,” Emerald snapped.

“Nobody asked for your opinion, novitiate,” Triss snapped back at Emerald.

“Ju… my Master is very real! On the day we met she popped my personal defense hexagram barrier shield with just a glance. She didn’t even use a spell to do it!”

“That’s ridiculous!” The bodyguard sputtered.

“No it’s not!” Emerald shook her head.

“Triss, stop fighting with my fiancee’s sister please,” the future Emperor sighed. “If Agatha’s Master is a powerful archmage, she can undoubtedly hear our conversation.”

“Yeah, pretty sure she’s having a laugh at how dumb your bodyguard is,” Emerald said.

“Novitiate, it is not courteous to insult a Crest bearer who is above you by five grades!” Triss growled at Emmy.

“I’ll insult whomever I want to, I’m the daughter of a Baroness,” Emerald said with a pompous tone. “I very much doubt that your mother is a Prism Archmage.”

“May I remind you that you are at Nemendias,” Triss hissed. “Here the rules are different.”

“Do you see my face? Does it look like I care?”

“You will when I deduct points from you!” The bodyguard said, sounding extremely irate. “You’ll get to be in the negative before classes even start! Good luck attaining a Crest when everyone will look down at you.”

“Pfff,” Emerald blew a raspberry. “I am an apprentice of a Prism Archmage. I care not for your little shiny badge. You can stick it up your...”

“Minus ten points for Emerald Amadea for insulting a Crest-Bearer,” Triss said.

“Hey what in the Astral? What?” Emerald’s sputtered.

I emerged from the back of the cafe and spotted a large, red [-10] floating above Emerald. The little Princess was trying to swat at the number, but her hands simply passed through it.

I couldn’t help but laugh.

“You do know that I can just give my sister ten points, right?” Agatha raised an eyebrow. "I'm also a Crest bearer."

“If you do, I’ll complain to one of the teachers and they can ask the ward if she called me an idiot and get a confirmation of the act,” Triss made a victorious face. "You'll lose a ray for that one."

“Cool floating number,” I commented approaching the looming fight.

“J… Master, they’re bullying meeeee,” Emerald whined.

“I heard,” I laughed. “Remember what I taught you, my apprentice?”

“Uhhh…” Emerald tried to think.

“What is that,” I pointed my fingers at the number floating over Emerald.

“Minus ten?” She blinked.

“It’s a symbol,” I said. “And what do we do with symbols?”

“Ohhhhhhh,” Emerald grinned, recalling our plans about Grogtilda's debitor tattoo.

Agatha and the two boys looked lost, our conversation went over their heads.

I stepped closer to Triss.

“It’s a pity you don’t believe my words, little war mage,” I shook my head. “It will be very amusing watching you flap like a fish when reality around you begins to unravel.”

The bodyguard frowned at me.

“As you can see not everyone is ready for the truth,” I sighed at the Crown Prince. “Your bodyguard is simply a microcosm of how most people in Illatius react to what I reveal to them. They don’t want to know that their world will end when their children grow up to take the reins of the Empire.”

“Surely you can prove things using your arcane authority,” Licor mulled. "Tell everyone what to do."

“I'm not a ruler of the Empire and authority is a fickle thing,” I shrugged. “Take you for example. On one hand you’re the future Emperor of the Basq. On the other hand you're a teenager that’s bound to the decisions of your father."

“You’re an archmage of the Prism Order,” Licor said. “Could you not order enough people to obey you?”

“People often make their own choices regardless of their orders,” I shrugged. “For example, I had a Master once too, but I disregarded her orders and cast her into the Chasm because she chose the path of evil.”

The Crown Prince frowned.

“What happened to Agatha in the future?” He suddenly asked.

“She was assassinated by Baroness Georgia,” I said. “You married Baroness Lerozia and then the city drowned in blood.”

Agatha shuddered at my words.

“From the war?” Licor asked. “Did Novazem attack us first?”

“No,” I shook my head. “Andross attacked Novazem first, vaporized their citadel-cities under your orders. Before the war escalated to the point of mutual destruction... there was the magitek revolution."

"A rebellion?" The Prince asked.

"Advances in magitek will uplift many of your citizens to new heights. They will challenge the Crown for power and you will order their execution. You will dip your fingers in blood and then drown in it. You will be forced to become a mass murderer, a tyrant… not because you chose it, but because you won’t have another path forward! Because, the price of securing order and law will be the deaths of millions. It's a pattern that many leaders have fallen into over eons."

Licor gulped.

“There’s still time?” He asked. 

“There is still time,” I nodded. "I'm here to interrupt the pattern before you are left without a choice."

“Do you know the names of these future rebels? We can cast the organizers of this magitek revolution into Undertown,” Licor said firmly. “They won’t be able to go past level twenty and won’t…”

“No,” I said. “If we do that others will simply take their place. You’d have to throw every future industrialist into Undertown and this would not stop progress, would only delay the inevitable catastrophe. What we have to do is take charge of the magitek revolution, lead it in a positive direction instead of one that leads to mutual bloodshed.”

“I see,” the Prince rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there to aid you,” Agatha said.

“I don’t understand… why would one of the Heroes murder you?” Licor asked, looking at Agatha in a new light.

“The other Heroes have become old and selfish over the centuries,” I sighed. “They lost their connection to humanity and won’t even go out in public anymore. Baroness Georgia did not see what she did as a crime, she had only a goal that she was trying to get to. Tell me, Prince, how many Prism Archmagi can you name?”

“Baroness Georgia, Amadea and…. Uhh… damnation!” Licor froze.

“See? They are hiding behind an Empire-wide edict,” I said. “I, on the other hand, am out in the world, trying to impart everything I know to the future generation of Nemendias leaders.”

“How did Baroness Georgia murder my fiancee?” Licor asked.

“A magitek bomb,” I replied. 

“Incroyable,” the Prince gasped. “A conspiracy!”

“More of a scuffle between archmagi. Baroness Georgia was mad that I stopped our mutual Master from gaining absolute power, and tried to hurt me first. She failed,” I sighed. “So… naturally she also went after the people I hung out with. To put it simply, if I didn’t bring Agatha to Nemendias today, she would end up dead.”

Licor reached out to Agatha on his own now, grabbed her hand.

“Forgive me for ignoring you for all of these years, my Lady,” he said. “I… always cherished your intelligence, but never told you this. I never considered that your life could be in danger, that one of our own Heroes could stoop so low as to hurt you!”

The bodyguard squinted at us. He saw that Agatha was getting awfully close to the Prince and that his own influence on Licor was waning. He was suddenly outshined by the silver-haired, blue eyed girl and he did not like it one bit.

I saw the gears in his head turning.

“Hang on,” Triss blinked.

He suddenly spun towards me, holding onto his crest with his right hand and pointing at me with his left.

“Minus one hundred points from Yulia Ishenko for impersonating a teacher!” He barked.

I saw a line of magical power leaping towards me from his finger. It struck my body before I could react. Another line stretched from the ward of Nemendias, weaving a blood-red minus and the number one hundred floating over my head.

“She’s a student! I freaking knew it! It was a prank, just a dumb, elaborate prank!” Triss declared jubilantly, basking in his victory over me. "They've made everything up, Licor! It's just a lie so that Agatha could get closer to you!"

The Crown Prince’s face fell. He looked at Agatha, let go of her hand, feeling confused and betrayed.

“Explain yourself, novitiate!” Licor stood up, turning to me with a deepening frown.

I smiled nervously, staring at his angry face.