Return of the Runebound Professor - Chapter 522 (Patreon)

As Noah paced back and forth at the top of a roof overlooking the Web’s camp, he felt pride. Aylin and the others had been doing a wonderful job of starting to bring the rest of Treadon’s underground under their control. More and more demons flowed in and out of the Web’s camp in the market square, delivering reports on the state of the city and what information they could gather.

The majority of them ended up speaking to Violet, though the ones that she didn’t like got sent directly to Aylin. As it turned out, delivering reports to a Knowledge Demon was generally a slightly less than ideal role to find oneself in. It certainly kept Aylin well fed and growing in strength at a steady rate.

Time slipped by and hours turned to days. Noah continued to observe his growing ranks, remaining largely hands-off from the entire process. He didn’t have anywhere near the understanding to actually manage running an entire camp of demons. Vrith and Yoru both came in incredible help there.

Vrith seemed to know exactly what was needed for a gang to function, while Yoru just scared the living hell out of everyone that she looked at. Noah hadn’t even seen her say a word. Even though she was a child, everyone could tell with a single glance that the demon was a monster hiding within a tiny body.

He still wasn’t sure if Yoru had started getting along better with Violet or not. Neither of them had voiced any more troubles with the other, and they were still sleeping in the same tent at night as far as he knew, so Noah was hopeful that they’d grown to somewhat tolerate each other.

Rumors of their motions had long since wound their way into Treadon. They didn’t quite have an army, but it wasn’t far from it either. There were a whole lot of demons that had been forgotten by the city and slipped through the cracks. If the average demon in the gangs had been even Rank 3, they would have been quite formidable.

But that wasn’t what the Web had. Their soldiers were a group of ragtag demons desperate to avoid starvation, with only a few that had managed to make it to Rank 3 — and of their lot, the majority of them had runes that were so poorly combined that they might as well still have been at Rank 2.

I can’t complain. They aren’t even here to be cannon fodder. I need them for information. Knowledge about Wizen, the city, everything. My bullshit can only go so far if I don’t have strings to pull to make it look like I’m stronger than I actually am. The more I know about the underbelly of the city and the more blackmail I can get on some of the stronger demons, the better.

Noah stopped his pacing and sat down at the edge of the roof, one knee pulled up against his chest and his chin rested in his palm. He definitely wasn’t in any lack of information anymore.

A shadow shifted behind him, but Noah’s domain and tremorsense told him who it was before he even turned around.

“Spider,” Vrith said, her head inclined respectfully. “I have compiled more information for you.”

Noah nodded to the spot beside him. “On with it, then. Anything useful?”

“I think so,” Vrith replied. She hesitated a second before making her way over to the edge of the roof and sitting down a few feet away from him. “I believe we’ve found the demon that has been sending assassins for you and Aylin. A giant demon with a gravelly voice isn’t exactly the most unique creature to live in the Damned Plains. But when we only looked at demons more closely affiliated with Lord Belkus and in this general area of the city… well, I’m pretty sure we’ve got him. It’s a Wealth Demon by the name of Igris. He’s Rank 5. Fairly accomplished, and renowned for his physical strength.”

“I think I can see why he’s chosen to send people after us instead of doing it himself if he’s a Wealth Demon,” Noah said with a dry laugh. “Any idea why he started so early? Those first assassins came before we even started stirring too much shit.”

Vrith nodded. “Yeah. I think it’s because of the original demon that ruled this camp — Golon. He was in pretty deep debt to Igris. We would have found that sooner, but he’d kept it pretty well under wraps.”

“Ah. I see where this is going. Igris stopped getting payments or the like from Golon, so he got pissy and decided to set about getting me and Aylin out of the picture.”

“That’s my thought process as well. He hasn’t sent anything recently, but nothing we’ve heard about him implies he’s likely to give up easily,” Vrith warned. She drummed her fingers against her knees in thought. “I suspect he’s likely going up the ladder. Igris may have realized you’re stronger than expected, especially after the auction.”

“Are there any rumors of him planning to make a move himself?”

“It’s possible, but he tends to just have people do things for him. I don’t have any good information about his personal capabilities,” Vrith said. “If he actually gets Lord Belkus involved, we’re all dead. Well — you might be fine. The rest of us won’t stand a chance against a Rank 7.”

Noah nodded thoughtfully. “Which means it may be wise for me to have a chat with him myself before things can go much farther. What a disappointment. I was really hoping someone would come to me, not other way around.”

On the bright side, it seems I’ve found my Rank 5 target. I’m going to have to bring a Mind Meld potion with me when I visit Igris.

Vrith jerked her head around to look straight at him. “You’re going to take on Igris directly? If he dies, then Lord Belkus may get involved himself. Igris is well connected.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, but we can’t just sit around and wait for them to act forever. You say Igris is well connected — but does anybody actually care about him?”

Vrith blinked. Her brow furrowed and her head tilted to the side. “I’m sorry. I’m not sure I understand your question.”

“A lot of people are well connected,” Noah replied. He leaned back on his hands and looked up at the twisting smoke swirling through the sky above them. “I’ve heard some demons in the Web talking about who you used to be. Vroth’s Executioner. They would argue that you were well connected. They would argue that Vroth was too — but did anybody act when he died?”

There was a long pause. Then, almost reluctantly, Vrith shook her head. “No. None of his allies made any move to back him up, but that was because Lee was too powerful. Nobody is foolish enough to challenge her — or you.”

“Exactly,” Noah said. “That’s the difference. Some connections only work when you’ve got the strength to enforce them. Fear doesn’t do shit when they aren’t scared of you anymore, and it’s real hard to be scary when you’re dead.”

A thoughtful expression passed over Vrith’s features. “I don’t mean to be impudent… but is there an alternative? Power always bears fear.”

“You fear me,” Noah said. It wasn’t a question.

“Only a fool wouldn’t. You could kill me with little more than a flick of your hand. And even that might be too much effort. My death could be a mere word from your lips to Lee or Moxie. I am aware of my power and the limits of my freedom.”

“And Aylin?” Noah asked. “He has grown strong as well. All the knowledge he’s consumed, in addition to my own meddling… he is far more than a mere Rank 3. He could kill you as well.”

Vrith started. Surprise flashed through her eyes. A small grin pulled across Noah’s features, though Vrith couldn’t see it because of his face wrappings.

“He most likely could,” Vrith admitted. Her brow furrowed and she leaned forward, bracing her elbows against her knees as she looked down at the camp below. “I did not consider that properly. Perhaps my thoughts still recall him as the weak demon that I first met.”

“I highly doubt it.”

Vrith glanced at Noah. “Then you have lost me.”

“You’re not stupid. You know strength, and you’re aware that Aylin is more than powerful enough to kill you if he wanted to — but he doesn’t want to. He cares about you. Just like he cares about Violet and Edda and Torrick.”

Well, perhaps not exactly like them.

Vrith shifted position, the confusion in her features growing stronger. “I… forgive me. I still don’t understand.”

“Aylin trusts you,” Noah said with a shrug. “And you trust Aylin. You don’t fear him because you know that he wouldn’t hurt you and you have no desire to hurt him. There is no reason for fear to be present in a relationship like that. And, because of that, if Aylin were in a situation where he needed help, I suspect you would help him. Even if it were likely that he would fall and you would gain some modicum of power as a result of it. That is the difference between being cared for and being feared.”

Vrith blinked, and Noah pushed himself to his feet and stretched his arms over his head before shaking them out. It looked like the time for waiting really was over. That was just fine — he’d been starting to get a bit antsy.

“You mean to say that people will only care about Igris while he still lives, and if you provide sufficient compensation or an alternative path, Belkus will not care when you kill him?” Vrith asked, rising beside Noah.

“Something like that,” Noah said with a nod. “I suppose we’ll have to find out.”

“I see,” Vrith said softly. She examined the palms of her hands, then rubbed them off on her dark clothes. “I… it seems you know more of my thoughts than I do.”

Something told Noah she wasn’t thinking about Igris. His smile quirked slightly larger before he got a hold of his expression again.

“You start to figure things out when you get old enough. There’s a lot of power to be found in others, but not always the kind that helps you fight.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ll have to find that one out yourself,” Noah replied with a chuckle. “Now, go let Aylin know that I’m trusting him to keep the camp under control. I suspect the city might be getting a little more exciting quite soon.”

“Of course,” Vrith said. “When?”

Noah smiled, and this time he made no move to keep the motion from showing even through the bandages covering his face. “Immediately.”