[Melas] Chapter 98: Bunker (Patreon)

Author's Note:

Sorry for the late chapsies. Bad connection and doing online classes at 3 in the morning is hard.

Salvos chap soon. 

I sat on the fluffed bed, just above the wrinkled blanket, scratching my head as I leafed through the thick tome half-sunken into the cushioned mattress. I paused at a page which showed depictions— illustrations— of what it was trying to tell me. However, I didn’t understand half of what it said.

“Geomancy is difficult,” I muttered to myself.

“‘Course it is. Did you really think magic would be so easy?”

I jumped and snapped in the direction of Gennady. The Dwarf was standing there with a grin on his face and his hands on his hips. I scowled.

“When did you get in?”

“When I opened the door,” he said, chuckling. “Can’t believe ye missed a noisy Dwarf like me sneaking up on ye.”

“My wards tend to keep my mind at peace so I don’t worry about checking under my bed for every waking moment of the day.” I shook my head and then said dryly, “And I’m not surprised you had to go in by the door. Any other way and you’d get stuck halfway through.”

“Hey, are you calling me fat?”

“What do you think, Mr Genius Scientist?” I shot him a smirk as he feigned anger.

“Alright, that’s it, get out of my house!”

“It’s not even your house. It’s a warehouse. And it’s owned by the government, but they’re lending it to you.”

“A warehouse is still a house! It’s in the name!”

I shook my head, laughing. “So, what did you want from me?” I asked, trying to put on a serious face.

“Well, I wanted to tell you that Lisa is looking for you, but maybe I won’t.” The Dwarf huffed and crossed his arms with a cross look.

“You’ve already told me.” I grinned, getting out of bed. “Now, where is she?”

“She’s downstairs gambling with the pirates— or should I say soldiers now. Since Ginah’s working for Erzhan and all.”

“He seems like a good guy. I hope it works out for them. I’ll try and help out whenever I can.”

“But you can’t now because…” Gennady waggled an eyebrow.

“Because I’m worried that an insane Saintess might kill me in my sleep. That’s why I learned all those ward and barrier spells— honestly, they weren’t difficult, just took a long time to set up.” I sighed, remembering the many hours over the course of the last few weeks where I had to constantly erase and redraw the runes with magic. It’s a good thing I learned tinkering first. That’s a really good basis for magic, huh?

Nevertheless, it had been three months since my encounter with Lilith in Qala’taw. Since then, my days had been spent doing Hunter jobs— usually on my own, but sometimes with Gennady or Elda— and studying magic, either from the times and grimoires Lisa had been getting me or…

“You went to the Library of Taw again yesterday, didn’t you?”

I sighed, glancing up at Gennady. So that’s the real reason why you’re here. Nodding, I responded, “Yes. Just to read a few books. And I didn’t even see Bertrand this time.”

Ever since I told him about my brief encounter with the head Scientist of Taw, he had been acting like an… ex. Or a jealous lover. And it wasn’t even towards me— but towards Bertrand.

“Really? You didn’t meet him? That’s a shame. I mean, didn’t you say he wasn’t feeling too well last time? I hope he’s getting better…” the Dwarf murmured more to himself than to me.

I shook my head. Aren’t you and Elda supposed to be a thing? Why are you so concerned about Bertrand.

I started for the door, ignoring his rambling to himself.

“You know, I thought you hated Bertrand.”

“What?” he sputtered, staring at me with wide eyes. “Of course I do! Bastard took my job and wants to create a super weapon! I hate his guts!”

“Then why are you so concerned about him? Shouldn’t you be cursing him instead?”

“Of course not!” Gennady scoffed and took a step back. “Despite my misgivings with him, he’s a genius. An actual genius. It’d be a shame for innovation to lose him because of stupid back aches!”

“He doesn’t have a simple back ache. He fell down some stairs and injured himself. Last I heard, King Adilet is procuring the best healing potion to get him back to 100%. They don’t want to risk a subpar potion to make him even worse.”

“Well, keep me updated on the situation. I don’t want to find out a week after he’s died if he died. Trust me, that’s not a good time to hear about someone’s death.”

I waved a hand dismissively and started out of the room. “Yeah, yeah. I’m sure he’ll be fine.”

I found Lisa waiting for me as she just lost a game to Elda. She was pouting and had her hands on her hips as the other woman gleefully took the stack of coins from her.

“You cheated!”

“Not like you don’t always cheat either,” Elda snorted as the coins jingled together in her pouch. “I just cheated better this time.”

“But at least I cheat well! All you did was a sleight of hand trick which everyone could see!” Lisa protested, not realizing how foolish she was sounding at the moment.

“Yeah, well, too bad for you.”

Jack was here too, and in addition to his face being twisted into the permanent scowl he always wore, he was also shaking his head at his partner’s reaction. “You lost, Lisa. Just accept it.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be on my side? That was our silver!”

“Actually,” I started as I walked up to them, “that was my silver. How are you doing Elda, Jack?” I nodded at the others and they murmured a greeting.

“It stopped being yours the moment you paid me!” Lisa threw her hands in the air, annoyed that no one was on her side.

I smiled and placed my hands behind my back. “So, what did you need me for?”

The young woman smiled and got up. She glanced over at Jack and nodded. “We need to talk to you. About a potential… meeting you might have to have.”

I looked between the two of them with a raised brow but they gestured for me to follow them instead. It as only when we were standing out in the hallway did I speak.

“What’s this about?”

“It’s about all these books you’ve been asking us to get,” Lisa said, turning to face me. “Jack has been the one setting me up with his past contacts— many of whom are quite connected in the Jahar’taw underworld. And my requests to buy books on magic… heresy… has attracted some attention.”

I narrowed my eyes. “What kind of attention— the Dark Crusaders? Inquisitors?”

Jack grunted and folded his arms across his chest. “Both.”

Oh, you’ve got to be— I sighed and rubbed my temples. “I assume this means that the Dark Crusaders and the Church are going to investigate us but meet each other somewhere in the middle and duke it out instead?”

Lisa chuckled. “That’s pretty funny— but no. That’s not going to happen.”

“Of course it isn’t.”

Lisa walked up to a nearby window and glanced around. She closed it, and I immediately felt warmer as the mana heaters lining up the corridor were left in full force. “I hate the cold,” she muttered before walking back to me.”

I gave her an odd look and she shrugged.

“It’s winter. And I don’t want snow to come in.”

“But it’s not snowing?” I frowned and glanced outside. Then blinking, I realized what she meant. “Ah. Mhm, good idea.”

“You’re bad at this, you know?”

“I’m not the one who has been committing crimes and doing illegal activities for the latter half of my life.”

“Right. You’re just the one who has been wanted by all the major powers in the world for the entirety of your life.” Lisa grinned at me.

I threw my hands up. “I wasn’t even wanted— it was my mom! And she didn’t do anything wrong!”

“Alright, alright, calm down.” The young woman sighed, still smiling. “So, as we told you both the Dark Crusaders and some spies from the Church are inquiring about you, yes?”

“People who want to kill me are searching for me, correct.” I nodded in an overexaggerated manner.

“Well,” she said, turning to Jack, “we’ve thought about this, and we don’t want to get involved and die either.”

“Mhm, makes sense.” I accepted it without a comment. I reached into my pocket and produced the remaining pay I had for her and Jack. “I know your line of work is dangerous, but I’ll still pay you what I owe you even if we end the contract now—”

“Woah, woah, woah, calm down Melals. We’re not cancelling the contract.” Lisa shook her head and placed her hand on my palm. Then she raised a brow. “Although we’d gladly accept payment now if you want— maybe as a tip?”

“Uh… no.”

“Should have expected that.”

“What are you suggesting then, Lisa?” I faced her apprehensively.

She gave me a not-too-reassuring wave of the hand. “Nothing, really. I’m thinking that we should approach the Dark Crusaders. Show them your magic to reassure them that you’re not part of the Church. Nothing too extreme.”

“Wait— Lisa!” I stared at her, aghast. “You know I’m wanted by them!”

“Nope,” the young woman said simply. “Melas is wanted by the Dark Crusaders. Not Aria.”

She gestured at the mask tied around my waist. I covered it defensively, giving her a dubious look. “That’s… dangerous.”

“Everything we’re doing is dangerous,” Jack retorted from the side. “We’re risking our necks for you doing this.”

I bit my lip at the glare the man gave me. But Lisa shook her head.

“Now, Jack, we’re getting paid for this. It’s the best source of income we have!”

“We’d have more if you don’t gamble it all away.” He groused and leaned against the wall.

The young woman huffed and placed her hands on hips. “Now you’re just being a grouch.” She turned to me and smiled. “Listen, Melas, I like you. And I like your money and connections. But if we can get the Dark Crusaders on our side, we can use them against the Church like you said.”

“But if they find out about me—” I started but cut myself off.

“You realize it too, don’t you? You’ll be found out if we do nothing and let them dig for information themselves.” She lifted a finger. “But if you feed them false information yourself, it’ll be harder for them to figure you out.”

I felt my hands tense up as I clenched my fist. “That’s risky.”

Lisa shrugged. “No risk, no rewards. I’ve told them you’ll meet with them in three days. You can make your decision before then. Don’t worry, I’ve told them you’re a Goblin who prefers to keep her identity hidden. They’ll be curious, but I’m sure they won’t pry too hard.

I opened my mouth but she wasn’t finished.

“If you say no, I’ll just tell them you couldn’t make it. But that’ll arouse more suspicion.”

I stared at Lisa as she began to walk off. Jack followed after as she waved back at me. “Just let me know, alright? I’ll need to earn back my gold.” She spoke simply as she returned to Elda for round two.

I watched her leave— the door close shut— before I took a deep breath.

“Now what do I do?”

There was one thing for me to do— the first thing I had to do. I spoke to Gennady. We discussed what was best, and decided that Lisa’s plan would be best… if it worked. However, we had to take precautions.

So he led me to a secluded spot. Near the edge of Jahar’taw. Right as the white snow of winter slowly began to float down, I began casting my magic.

There was one thing in this world I excelled at the most. I might not be the best at it yet, however I was getting there. And as long as I continued working harder— if you continued digging deeper and deeper, eventually, you were going to strike gold— and I would become a master at magic.

Until then, I would have to be satisfied scratching at the surface.

I felt the mana in the air— Geomancy was a difficult but simple school of magic. I could use it to dig a hole, simple as that.. But to expand the hole? To cover it up without having it collapse? It required a lot of work.

It was a start. But for now, I reinforced the ground and left a few small holes poking through the earth, letting air come in. Then Gennady and I stood beneath the ground, with magical lights illuminating the dark soil room.

“This is pretty shit,” Gennady said honestly.

“Mhm… smells terrible too,” I agreed. Then I turned to him, and smiled. “But it’s a bunker, just in case anything happens to the warehouse. We can hide here instead.”

The Dwarf crossed his arms. “Well, nothing better happen to my house! I’ll be pissed, you know!”

I smiled, laughing. “Take your anger out at whoever destroys it. I’ll be here hiding from them, safe and sound.”