Ch 98. The Pact of Order (Patreon)

“Soooo?” I smiled at Amber as she finished the pastry.

“So, what?” She asked disdainfully. “Do you think I’m going to be your friend because you gave me a tart?”

“Yes,” I nodded. “I do believe that’s how this works.”

“Do you think I’m stupid?” Amber crossed her arms. “You literally announced your plan to make friends via the use of snacks ten minutes ago!”

“My policy is openness,” I shrugged.

Baroness Snippy exhaled.

“Is it working?” I asked. “Are we friends now?”

“No, we are not friends,” Amber shook her head. “Don’t get any ideas.”

“But you ate my offering,” I frowned.

“We’re never going to be friends,” the redhead suddenly snapped. “I didn’t ask for a snack. I didn’t ask to be bothered and I certainly didn’t ask to be roommates with a lunatic lowborn that's inciting insurrection!”

She didn’t finish her angry speech because a small, gold vase cluttered from her shelf, rolling across the floor.

Amber’s head snapped to the shelf in question. Captain was sitting there, pawing at another item.

“Hey! Get off my shelf, you dumb cat!” She growled.

The purple-eyed kitten tilted its head at the angry girl.

“Do NOT push that chalice off,” Amber hissed out. “I will…”

Captain disregarded her words. A black paw slapped against the cup and it went flying and rolling across the room.

“Arghhh!” the redhead rushed to save her things. She picked the chalice and the vase off the floor and cradled them in her arms, staring daggers at me.

“What?” I asked.

“Control your DAMNED cat or ELSE,” she hissed.

“Or else what?” I blinked.

“Or else I’m going to call the Keeper and get you kicked out!” She growled. “I’m at my wits end here!”

“I can’t control Captain,” I shrugged. “Captain does what Captain wants.”

“Ha HA! You've all fallen for my cute facade! Your shelf items belong to gravity now!” Captain’s adorable face expressed as the kitten shoved another one of Ember’s things off the shelf.

“That’s it! I’ve had it with you!” Amber barked. She rushed towards her shelf and shooed Captain off it.

Then she angrily tapped her armacus, activating the voicecast hexagram. “Keeper Antienni!”

“Keeper, I would like to request a transfer to another room,” she said into her wrist.

I didn’t hear the other side of her conversation but it was easy to guess what the keeper was saying.

“On what grounds?! On the grounds that Novitiate Misem is insane… look, I don’t know what rules she’s breaking exactly, but I’m sure that she’s broken at least twenty of them by now! She’s at minus one hundred points! I demand to be relocated at once!”

She saw that Captain was back on her shelf.

“NO! Get the frig off, you damned beast!” She howled, chasing the kitten away for the second time.

“Um, sorry… that wasn’t addressed to you, Keeper Antienni. Look, just come to our room and see for yourself what she’s done! She’s added an extra bed and hung a banner here for Gods’ sake!”

Having concluded the call, Amber glared at me with an absolutely vicious look.

I grabbed Captain from the floor and tried to contain the kitten on my lap. “Amber, I…”

“No,” she growled. “Nobody gave you permission to speak to me, lowborn! It was a mistake to acknowledge you to begin with. Soon I’ll be in a new room and you two can set this one on fire for all I care. I’ll be VERY glad when you’re expelled, Misem!”

I sighed. 

The tart was a Pyrrhic victory. My initial evaluation was wrong - Amber seethed with dislike for me for reasons I couldn't entirely pin down. Maybe she simply didn’t like Undertown lowborns, presuming that I was a criminal.

In about ten minutes of awkward silence the door to our room opened, letting in the purple-haired Nora Frid Antienni. The keeper stepped forward. She didn’t look pleased about having to walk up to our tower from wherever she was at before. 

Her brown eyes that looked down at me with polite acceptance during the interview were now full of irritation.

“Well, novitiate Snippy, what's the pro…” She started to speak and then her eyes saw the second bed and the Soviet-style banner.

“What?” She blinked.

“I told you,” Amber stood up. “She got another bed in here and hung that stupid banner and her cat keeps dropping my things!”

“Out,” the Keeper said.

“What?”

“Step out of the room, Novitiate Snippy. I wish to speak with Novitiate Misem about her… violations,” Nora said with a very stern face.

Amber cast me a victorious glance as she rushed out of the room with her rule-book, closing the door behind herself.

“Is that a bed… from Palais De La Solstice?! How did you get it in here?” The Keeper turned to me as the thick, magic-reinforced door clicked shut.

“Did you happen to forget who I am, Nora?” I shrugged, rubbing my fingers together in a casual gesture. “Need I remind you? I’m the Eighth Hero of the Prism Order. Porting a bed from your Master’s Estate was as easy as snapping my fingers. I’ve literally unmade Eunice's domain over a week ago and you’re surprised about a mere bed?”

The Keeper paled at my words, taking a step back. I simply smiled at her, letting gold spirals of mana dance in my eyes.

“There are rules,” she finally said, having recomposed herself. “You can’t just add an extra bed into the student res…”

“Look at the brave little Keeper, questioning my authority,” I yawned, looking at Voltara. “What do you think, Volty? Should I smear her across space-time now or give her a minute to come to her senses and beg for mercy?”

“I don’t think that it’s wise to challenge my Mistress, Lady Keeper,” Voltara said, staring down at the pale-faced administrator. “I was there when archmage Eunisii fell into the Chasm with a desperate scream clawing to the remnants of her tower. I was there when she exploded. I saw everything.”

The Keeper gulped.

“Let's get some things straight, Nora,” I said. “If I wish to add a bed, I will add a bed. If I wish to declare this room as the Headquarters of the Revolution, then I will. You have no power to stop me.”

“I… I can deduct points from you until you are expelled,” Nora muttered.

Whatever confidence she possessed when she entered into the room had shattered against my self-made illusion of absolute power.

“Go ahead,” I stretched.

“W-what?” Nora blinked.

“Go ahead,” I said with a sly smile. “Expel me. See if I care. It was your Master’s wish for me to go to Nemendias, not mine. I never asked to be here. Call her if you want to check. I’m sure you don't want to be scalded by your Lady for making a wrong decision.”

“Voicecast Baroness Amadea,” The Keeper uttered as she brought her armacus up to her mouth.

“My lady, may I expel Miss Misem from Nemendias? She won’t obey the rules,” Nora briskly spoke into her communicator.

“Voicecast Baroness Amadea,” I spoke into my own armacus.

[Yes, my dear?] Amadea’s sweet voice resounded in my head. [Are you being a little rapscallion?]

“I am,” I said. “I hung a pretty banner on the wall and your Keeper is mad about it.”

[Is that all?] Amadea asked.

“No, that’s not all,” I copied her overly-sweet tone. “We’re both busy archmages, my dear. I’m sure you don’t want your adorable, little, dumb minion bugging you every time I move a chair or something. How about this - I’ll do whatever I want to in Nemendias and you can do whatever you want to in Illatius. You can organise the city for the next six years as much as you want to - I won’t even get in the way.”

[Oh?] Amadea asked. [Are you offering a division of influence? A pact of Order?]

“Yes,” I said in English. “I do like it here, but it is rather messy… not like an office at all.”

[Not like an… office?] Amadea replied to me in English. Her voice became perfunctory, each syllable cold, dry and inhumanly perfect.

“Indeed,” I said. “There’s a serious lack of Order in this place. It suffers from human errors of laziness, unproductivity, turmoil and disarray. Everyone’s so incompetent, so disorganized. I wish to impose order on Nemendias, make the place… more accountable, add some elevators, cubicles and desks. Can you believe it? There’s not a single water cooler for miles around!”

[Well, why didn’t you say so?] The shard of Eureka spoke with the lips of the Baroness. [You have my permission to bring Order to Nemendias!]

“Thank you, Baroness,” I said in Basq. “And you have my permission to bring Order to Illatius.”

[No problem at all, my love,] Amadea replied. The ungodly sweetness in her tone had increased by about a thousand percent.

“My Lady? What should I…?” The keeper asked, her voice trembling.

[You are to leave the Eighth cendai alone,] Amadea said. [No, scratch that. You are to aid my love in her desire to make Nemendias Orderly. Do we understand each other, my pet?]

“Y-yes, Baroness,” Nora replied, her hands shaking.

[Good,] Amadea said. [I hope to have you visit my palace soon, my love. I’ll be waiting… There are so many wonderful things I could show you.]

[I’ll come visit you as soon as Nemendias is made presentable,] I sighed. [You know how it is. Humans and their incompetence. I do love the little fireflies in my garden, but they drive me nuts half the time.]

[I know exactly how it is,] Amadea sighed. [Good Tomorrow, my love.]

[Good Tomorrow… my love,] I replied in perfect cadence to her words, matching her resonance with my own Intelligence-maxing, finally ending the call.

“See?” I looked at Nora with a wide grin. “I'm not locked in here with you, you're locked in here with me!”

The Keeper looked absolutely aghast at my words. 

She gulped again and recomposed herself.

“This could be a problem, m-my Lady,” she said, pointing at the red banner.

“In what manner?” I asked.

“Novitiate Snippy could complain about it to the Instructors,” Nora said.

“I fail to see how that’s my problem,” I shrugged.

“But,” Nora said.

“Are the teachers allowed in student quarters?” I asked.

“They are not,” the Keeper shook her head. “Only the maids and I are permitted to enter the dorms.”

“Well then, you best tell everyone who asks that there is NO Revolution Headquarters, banners or extra beds in here,” I said with a smirk.

The Keeper looked at me with wide eyes.

“Children are so imaginative these days! They make up all sorts of ridiculous stories to impress their friends,” I said with a wink. “Am I right?”

“Y-you are ab-absolutely right,” Nora stuttered.

Emerald couldn’t help herself. She started to snicker from her bed.

“You’re dismissed, Keeper,” I waved at the terrified woman before her stress of dealing with me caused her to have a stroke.

“Thank you, Mistress,” the Keeper pulled the door open and stepped out of the room.

“Lady Keeper? Is Misem expelled?” Amber stepped in front of the Keeper before the purple-haired woman could flee from me.

“What?” Nora stopped. “No, she’s not expelled.”

“Can I relocate to another room then?” Amber asked with a frown.

“No, you may not relocate to another room, Novitiate,” the Keeper hissed out, taking her terror and anger out on the redhead.

“But the banner and the extra bed and the kitten,” Amber whined.

“You are in school, novitiate, learn to deal with roommates like an adult and grow a spine,” the Keeper snapped. "This is YOUR room for the next six years, whether you like it or not!"

“Grow a spine? I’m not the one breaking the rules, Keeper!” Amber declared.

“Novitiate Snippy,” Nora leaned towards the redhead. “I will only tell you this once - so you best listen well. There is nothing wrong with students redecorating their side of the room as they see fit and hanging a banner or two. There is nothing wrong with keeping a pet.”

“But the bed,” Amber said, shaking her copy of 'The Rule Book of a Nemendias Novitiate'. “Surely that can’t be legal! She’s letting her maid sleep next to her! Surely, that’s against the rules!”

The Keeper of Keys snatched the book from Amber’s hands.

“There is absolutely nothing wrong with what Novitiate Misem is doing,” she hissed at Amber. “If I hear any more of these ridiculous accusations again, I will deduct points from you, so help me Emperor!”

“What… but… you can’t take my book… I haven’t even finished reading all of the rules!” Amber gasped. “I’m certain I saw something there about students not being allowed to bring in their own furniture from home!”

“Minus ten points from Amber of Snippy for accusations against a fellow Novitiate,” Nora said.

“What?!” Amber stared at the floating [-10] red number above her head. “You.. can’t be serious! I’ve done nothing wrong! I will complain to…”

“You will complain to no-one, Miss Snippy,” the Keeper hissed.

“Give me back my book!” Amber cried out.

“Minus ninety points from Amber of Snippy for being a loudmouth,” Nora snapped.

Amber’s mouth fell closed. She stared at the Keeper with eyes filled with anger and despair.

“Speak another word about the bed to ANYONE, sully your noble peers with nonsensical accusations just one more time and I WILL expel you,” Nora growled.

“N-no,” Amber froze. “I don’t have anywhere else to go… my Estate is gone…”

“Your Estate’s business isn’t my problem, Miss Snippy,” Nora shook her head. “Good day.”

She briskly walked off with the rule book under her elbow, leaving Amber standing there.

“It’s not fair,” Amber whispered, closing and opening her fists. “It’s not fair. I’ve done nothing wrong!”

She turned to the bedroom door and I saw that her sky-blue eyes were filled with tears.

It was at this moment that I realized that I had screwed up, made myself an enemy instead of a friend.

My machinations against the system, my desire to break as many things as possible had hurt a completely innocent bystander, trampled over the feelings of a girl who was already hurting and was dealing with the loss of her parents.

Amber's hand wrapped around her arcane locket as she stared at me. Her glacier-colored eyes were burning with absolute hatred for me, revealing a whole ocean of animosity that was no longer held back.