(TLO) Chapter 121: The Role of A Driver (Patreon)

Seth held up an iron card with silver streaks. It was three inches long and two inches wide. Indented onto it was his name. Oden Jabari. Then beneath that was what was apparently his rank.

“What’s three stars?” he asked Jim.

They had left the guild hall and were in a vehicle driving faster than the one that had brought them. Unlike the one that had brought them, Jim hadn’t simply flagged the driver down. They’d stepped out of the hall to find the man waiting for them and Jim had walked into the vehicle without missing a step.

“The card is the representation of your authority,” Jim replied. “Iron because you are Iron. However, the stars are the guild’s conceived position of your power as compared to the other Iron adventurers under its banner.”

“And how many stars is the max?”

Jim looked at him as if he was stupid. “Five is the standard. Have you never heard of a star system of hierarchy?”

Seth hadn’t taken his eyes of his iron card so he pretended he didn’t see the look. “Amnesia,” he said. “Remember?”

“Oh.” At least he had the decency to sound chastised. “Well, three stars means the guild thinks highly of you as an Iron. Now four stars, that would’ve been sweet. I bet Fentil got four stars,” he muttered under his breath.

Again, Seth pretended not to hear it. “The examiner seemed quite adamant to test me. He even used skills.”

“That’s because I asked him to.” Jim reached for Seth’s shawl and tapped it. It remained rigid. “Good. I was worried it wouldn’t hold after the fight. Anyway, you’re a seminarian. The usual tests will not suffice for you.”

Seth’s brows furrowed and he raised his eyes from his card to look at the driver through the rearview mirror.

“Don’t worry about him,” Jim said, nonchalant. “He’s a seminarian through and through.”

It did little to calm his mind. Though it answered one question, it begged another. The man looked in his forties, almost his fifties.

“Shouldn’t he be a priest by now?” Seth asked.

Jim disagreed. “He’s not souled, Oden. He’s one of those people that want to live and die unsouled. His title as a seminarian is honorary. The seminary has cared for him for a long time so he assists the seminary with one or two things every once in a while. Today, it’s with playing the role of a driver.”

Seth still found it suspicious. But he kept his suspicions to himself and returned his eyes to his card.

The drive lasted an extra hour. During this hour he learned the driver’s name was Craig which for some reason didn’t fit his clean cut hair and pimpled alabaster skin. He looked like he needed more sun. He also learned the man was married with three kids. He wondered if the seminary took care of the entire family or just the man and left him to fend for his family.

They arrived at a dilapidating building on the outskirts of West Blue after a while. Jim paid the man when they stepped out of the car in silver coins and Craig drove off in a style unbefitting of a civilized taxi.

Does he always drive like that? One of his minds asked.

“We just met him together,” Seth mumbled a response.

“Do you know another name the priests have for you?” Jim asked as they climbed the stairs avoiding parts of it in places where it was considerably broken.

Looking at the massive building, Seth could only assume it had served as some kind of hall in the old world. It was tall with pillars as high as fifteen feet along what should’ve been its front porch and so wide it needed four men to hug it before their fingers touched. Each pillar was now cracked and falling apart. The roof of the building was equally disintegrating so that the pillars had little to no job to do now and held up nothing.

The building as a whole was browning. It wasn’t the brown of a paint; a chosen color of presentation. No. It was the brown of age and time and the absence of maintenance. Out of naught more than curiosity, Seth ran a simple hand along one of the pillars as they passed it, stepping around a particularly large rubble. His hand came away dirtied in brown.

“The broken mage.”

Seth looked at Jim. “What’s that?” he asked.

“Another title you hold amongst the priests.”

“So the priests think I’m soulless and broken.” It wasn’t a question and he made sure it didn’t come out as one.

Jim thought about it for a moment as they walked through an archway that had once been a door. “Not entirely. But they do believe you’re broken,” he said. “On account of—”

“—my talking to myself,” Seth finished for the priest. “Yes. In that regard I guess I can agree with them.”

Jim chuckled lightly. “You don’t take offense easily, do you?”

Seth shrugged. “I don’t see the point in taking offense against someone two authorities higher than me.” He looked up at Jim with quiet eyes, his minds taking stock of the man. “Taking offense when you can do nothing about it is a waste of time and strength.”

“Wow. Those priests really did a number on you.”

Seth shrugged and returned his attention to his front. “They were Barons.”

“True. Now enough talk of the past and not too distant future,” Jim said dramatically as they stepped into the roofless insides of the massive building. “It’s time to meet your new colleagues.”

Seth stopped walking as they came into view. Five adventurers clad in varying attires. The first thing he noted was that all of them—all three boys and two girls—were taller than him.

Will he ever stop with this obsession over his height? One of his minds complained. At this point it’s like that’s all there is to his life. He’s taller than me, she’s taller than me. Oh, wah! I’m so short.

“Can someone shut him up?” Seth mumbled. “Anyone.”

On it, another mind replied.

And how are we going to… hold up! Seth sensed panic in the thought. We can’t tell us we’re going to use it like that. That’s a dot of supremacy. That is rare. No, don’t—

The mind went silent and he frowned.

“What was that?” he asked, worried.

Just disciplining the new guy.

His expression dimmed slightly. He thought of addressing the subject, getting an explanation. Then he remembered he still didn’t like them much. That they were a part of him did not mean he had to deal with their madness. So he kept his silence and returned his attention to the physical world.

“Oden,” Jim said, already a few steps ahead of him. “Meet your new teammates.”

Seth touched the shawl around his face unconsciously. Certain it still rested above his nose, he stepped forward and into sight.

“What’s with the scarf?” one of the girls asked.

Seth took a few more steps forward so that all five of them fell within the range of his senses. The girl had bright yellow hair that ran down her back with fringe bangs at the front to cover her forehead and rest just above her brows. She had clear pale skin and she stood like someone spoiling for a fight in her tight jeans and body fitted vest.

That must be Beth, one of his minds thought, pulling her face from the file Jim had given Seth.

He ignored her question, taking note of the rest of his new team, reminding himself that each of them had enough strength to beat him in a fight.

Beth carried a massive mallet with an exaggerated large head that was held above her head. Beside her, with heavy set brows and a scowl that belonged on an abusive father was William. His fair skin was on the darker side. His liquid brown eyes watched Seth, assessed him, as his mouth chewed loudly on what Seth surmised was gum. He was taller than Beth by a few inches and wore simple clothes. On him, Seth didn’t bother looking for a weapon. According to his file, he was an unarmed mage. His choice of violence were his skills and his fist.

Jaola sat off to the side, resting his back on a massive rubble and reading a torn book. He raised his hand in a casual wave but never lifted his eyes from the book. With his shadow black hair and matching black attire, he had a goth look going for him. Apparently, he used a staff, however, Seth couldn’t spot one near or on him.

“Hiiii,” a girl shrieked, shooting out from beside a rubble. She rushed him with an enthusiasm that had no place in the real world and he found himself stepping out of her reach as she went for his hand.

Her face fell at his action but he refused to allow it bother him. Her file had speculated her as the strongest in the team, vying for the position with Drew who stood like a mountain, somehow situated at the center of their chaotic positioning with arms folded over his chest.

He took stock of Drew in the periphery of his attention even as the loud girl named Taomei picked her bubbling personality back up and began rambling.

He was tall for a boy. His height reminded him of Fin and he wondered which of them would be taller.

Fin, a mind answered immediately. By an inch and a quarter.

Seth raised his brows at that. “That’s quite precise,” he noted.

“Thank you,” Taomei bubbled. “Jim always said my bubbling personality counteracts their moodiness. I’ve always been the life of the team. I’m Tao Mei by the way. Tao. Mei. Two words but one name. It’s an Asian thing so don’t worry too much about it.”

She stepped into his personal space and Seth took another step back.

“You’re short,” she said. “Most magi are tall, but you’re short. Is it a defect or something? I’ve never seen a short mage before. Is it a normal thing?” She turned to look at Jim who had a hand over his face. “Is it normal? There’s nothing wrong with his core, right?”

When Jim said nothing, she turned back to him with a beaming smile. “I’m sure there’s nothing wrong with your core. It’s just that I’ve never seen a short mage.” She measured their heights with her hand, moving a ground facing palm from the top of her head to his. “That’s a lot of height you’re missing. Doesn’t matter though. We’re an accepting team. Right, Drew? Right?”

Drew sighed were he stood. But like Jim, he said nothing.

“Don’t mind him,” Tao Mei told Seth. “He likes to brood. He thinks it makes him look cool. I keep telling him it’s a good look on Jaola but not him, but he never listens. Oh, by the way, Jaola’s the broody goth sitting at the rubble.” She pointed for effect. “He’s the one brooding works for. Just look at him with the hair in his face and the cross tattoo under his eye. Very swoon worthy, don’t you think? It’s a pity he’s gay.”

“I’m not gay!” Jaola raised his voice without looking up from his book.

“That’s what he likes to say,” she whispered conspiratorially. “But we know he’s gay. He’s just too shy to come out of the closet. But we’re rooting for him.” She turned to Jaola and pumped her fist in the air. “We’re rooting for you, Jaola.”

She’s bubbly, a mind commented.

And noisy, another added, irritated. Won’t one of them shut her up?

Seth listened to them bicker as he watched the lithe Asian girl with the single long braid of brown hair and teal eyes chatter on.

That nobody had bothered to stop her smelled like a test. What exactly they were testing him for was the unknown. Were they trying to rile him up; see how he responded to provocation? It was a reasonable thought considering she had pointed out his height then the possibility of him being defective in her rant.

And why does William keep staring at us like we kicked his grandma? Another mind observed.

Seth reached out through his senses and found the boy still scowling. And his mind was right, his eyes were focused on him.

Did we offend him? a mind asked.

Seth held back a tired sigh. “Not necessarily.”

The man’s scowl was familiar. At twenty, it reminded him of Forlorn. It was an odd feeling to find a copy of his brother here. The arrogance. The belief that he was better even when standing amidst his betters. It was laughable. But he hadn’t laughed at Forlorn in the past so he would not laugh at William now.

“Come on,” Tao Mei cooed in front of him. “You have to cheer him on. We’re going to be a team, aren’t we?”

He spared her the briefest glance, shifted silver eyes to teal. While her smile met her eyes, it was only so little. Perhaps while this act was fake, her bubbling personality was not.

“I guess everyone wears a mask,” he said.

Tao Mei’s brows wrinkled briefly as he stepped around her. He took his steps gently, simple strides guiding him forward. Since becoming Iron people had talked about how he moved slowly, almost as if he was scared of something, suspicious. He’d never understood what they’d meant. But he did now.

His steps, in this moment, were purposeful. Intentional.

He stopped eight feet away from William, and Tao Mei’s continued silence proved whatever games they were playing was coming to a sudden end.

“What do you want, runt?” William spat. His voice was as arrogant as his face, but it lacked the sense of royalty Forlorn’s had carried in his earlier years in the seminary.

Seth breathed in deeply, then let it out. He would have to get this over with quickly. It seemed this was his curse. The curse of Jabari. To face those more powerful than himself.

Against a mage of gold authority, it was a delusion to seek victory. But against a Silver mage…

“Is it going to be you?” he asked.

“You itching for a fight, runt? Huh?!”

He ignored William as he turned his head to Drew. “Or you?”

Drew met his gaze without inflection. It seemed he wasn’t going to be the one. And the collective information on the team he’d gleamed from the file led him to doubt they would allow William test him. The man had anger issues that could rival Igor’s cruelty. When he looked to the next possible person, only his eyes moved.

“Or is it you?” he asked Beth.

A slow, feral smile spread the length of her lips. But when an answer came, it was not from her.

“I like you.”

He turned to look behind him and found Tao Mei waving excitedly.

She beamed like a girl in love. When she spoke again, her voice never lost its bubble.

“I guess it’s going to be me.”