Return of the Runebound Professor-Chapter 657: Where

Noah watched Tillian with wary eyes. He didn’t have the best opinion of Inquisitors at the moment — and it definitely didn’t help that he’d just killed a few of them a short while ago. The circumstances were a bit too odd. Revin was definitely the type of person to bring an Inquisitor along because he thought it would be funny to get Noah in more trouble.

But why does Lee recognize this guy?

“You know an inquisitor?” Noah asked, looking from Tillian to Lee.

“I didn’t realize he was an inquisitor,” Lee said. “He gave me snacks.”

Tillian squinted at Lee for a moment before recognition passed through his own features. “I — oh, yes. I do believe we’ve met before. I wasn’t expecting to run into you here. You are affiliated with Revin?”

“No,” Noah said flatly. He couldn’t even begin to think of the horrible implications of Revin getting any influence over Lee. The small demon was already chaotic enough as she was. Forget them getting along poorly — he was more concerned about them becoming friends. That was the absolute worst case scenario. “She’s with me. Revin, why are you bringing an Inquisitor here?”

“Thought it would be funny,” Revin said.

Fucking knew it.

Moxie eyed Revin warily, then lowered her voice to a whisper. “What rank do you think he is? What are our chances?”

“Better not,” Noah muttered back without taking his eyes off Revin or his companions. “Should at least figure out what’s going on… but be ready.”

“Are you whispering? I’m an inquisitive person, you know. My feelings might get hurt if you’re talking about me and I don’t get to hear all the compliments. Besides, didn’t anyone ever tell you that whispering was rude?” Revin asked.

“I’m more than aware,” Noah said flatly. “I just don’t care.”

A burst of laughter slipped from Revin’s lips. “You’ve gotten snippier since the last time we met. Good. You do, however, smell vaguely of dog. That’s less good. I see the Apostles have sniffed you out.”

Noah’s eyes widened.

The Apostles? He knows them? That might be the worst news I’ve gotten all day. There literally isn’t a single scenario in which that’s beneficial. Why does someone like Revin know of the Apostles?

I’m pretty sure this confirms he’s strong. A lot stronger than we thought. Goddamn it.

“How about you just say why you’re here?” Noah asked wearily. “Because I’ve got a class to teach.”

“A rather interesting one at that,” Tillian said, letting his gaze drift over the students.

Noah’s lips thinned. Inquisitors finding things interesting was rarely a good thing, and his students weren’t exactly attempting to hide their demonic nature. Revin had managed to bring Tillian to the absolute worst place he could have. This was basically just asking to get attacked. “You have an issue with my students?”

“Naw, I don’t think so. Don’t know them, so it would be pretty difficult to have a problem with them. Why do you ask?”

Noah blinked.

What? Is this the dumbest Inquisitor in the history of their order? There’s absolutely no way he doesn’t realize I’ve got a bunch of demons mixed in with the human students. Or is he just pretending not to know to avoid getting ganged up on?

“We’ve had a bit of a problem with Inquisitors trying to throw their weight around in the past. They’ve threatened our students,” Moxie said, crossing her arms in front of her chest. “And we take our students’ safety seriously. Very seriously.”

“Don’t fault you for that at all,” Tillian said with a one-shouldered shrug. “And unless your students have anything to do with Orlen, I don’t think they’ve got anything to fear from me.”

Sticky winced.

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Tillian’s eyes snapped toward her in an instant — and Noah blurred. His Fragment of Self let him carve through the air in a split instant to arrive directly before Tillian, interupting his line of sight.

“Eyes on me,” Noah said softly. “Make any sudden moves toward my students and I’ll kill you. I don’t care who you are or if they’re aggressive or not.”

A flicker of surprise passed through Tillian’s features. He definitely hadn’t been expecting the speed of Noah’s reaction. But, instead of squaring up, he slowly raised his hands and took a step back.

“What kind of monster do you think I am?” Tillian asked. “That’s a little girl. I’m not going to kill her. What fucking Inquisitors have you been dealing with?”

“Dead ones,” Noah replied. “Do… you not know who I am?”

“Haven’t the faintest.”

What kind of Inquisitor is this guy? I’m not trying to stroke my own ego here, but I feel like the vast majority of them should at least know my name at this point. I’m the guy that’s supposedly working with Spider. I mean, I am Spider, but they don’t know that.

I’m actually a little offended he doesn’t recognize me.

“Professor Vermil,” Noah provided.

Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freewebnσvel.cøm.

Tillian examined him blankly. “Never heard the name. Don’t take it personally. I’ve been rather focused in recent years. I’ve been after a person by the name of Orlen for years. My previous lead was a good one, but he vanished after picking a fight with Arbitage and running off to the Damned Plains. Set me back by more time than I can count — and forced me to seek Revin out. He was my last resort. I’m sure you can imagine why.”

“Hey,” Revin protested.

“If the girl has any information on Orlen, I need it,” Tillian said. “I promise I won’t harm her. Won’t even make her uncomfortable. I just need to know if she has anything I can use to find him. Orlen is dangerous. Incredibly so. I—”

“Hold on,” Noah said. “Your last lead. Wizen?”

Tillian blinked in surprise. “Yes. You knew him?”

I think I’m starting to get what’s going on here. Revin isn’t an idiot. He’s definitely loose in the head, but he’s probably the only person I’ve met that actually has a good understanding of Formations… not to mention he’s the reason I researched them in the first place. I’m pretty sure he’s doing a lot of this very intentionally, which means he’s got something to do with this whole Wizen - Orlen thing.

Great. Just great.

“I didn’t just know Wizen. I got him killed,” Noah said, pinching the bridge of his nose and letting out a sigh. “My bad. If I’d known that might have forced someone to interact with Revin, I’d have done everything in my power to avoid it.”

“You killed him?” Tillian’s eyes sharpened. “The Enforcer that got pulled into the Damned Plains with Wizen was you?”

“I’m not an Enforcer. I think some facts got twisted up,” Noah said. “But if you’ve got questions about Wizen, then I can front them. Leave the girl out of it. Wizen… well, I got more of his story during our fight. He was a bad man, but I know why he did what he did. I know everything she knows about Orlen.”

“That would be more than acceptable,” Tillian said with a nod. “I suppose that does explain all the demons here. What, did you bring everyone you met out of the Damned Plains with you? For that matter — how did you even do that?”

So he does know they’re demons. What kind of Inquisitor is this?

“It’s a long story,” Noah said slowly. “You don’t strike me as a typical Inquisitor. Not to intentionally seek out trouble, but isn’t your order generally not much a fan of demons?”

“The Inquisition has been fragmented and distracted for years. They’ve been distracted from their original purpose.” Tillian shook his head and let out a sigh. “Demons are only a problem when they act up. There are so many of them in the mortal plane that aren’t any worse than the other mages running around. No, I don’t care about demons because they’re demons. I care about threats to the general populace. And right now, that threat is Orlen.”

“He gave me candy,” Lee provided. “People that give you candy can’t be bad.”

You would get kidnapped so fast. I really need to set some time aside to teach Lee some basic stranger-danger stuff. Then again, I’m pretty sure she’s the danger, but it’s about the spirit of things. The younger demons look up to her.

“That is the most objectively wrong sentence I think I’ve ever heard,” Noah said. He examined Tillian for a few moments longer. “But perhaps we should talk after my class is finished.”

“After?” Tillian frowned. “I think—”

“No,” Noah said flatly. “My students take priority, and I don’t think an hour or two is going to change anything. We aren’t finding Orlen anytime soon.”

I’m really more interested in seeing how he reacts to being told he can’t have what he wants than I am in actually delaying the meeting. The way someone handles a rejection says a lot about them.

Tillian considered Noah for a moment, then inclined his head. “Fair enough. We did just interupt your class. Sorry about that. I’ll stay out of the way until it’s done.”

Noah smiled. “Perfect. And I’ve been wondering who the hell this Orlen person is myself. I have a lead on him, actually. Not a good one, but there’s a demon in my group that worked for someone he hired. You can speak with her while I finish things up here.”

“You do?” Tillian’s eyes lit up. “That’s perfect. I guess Revin actually knew what he was doing.”

“Why does that imply you thought I didn’t? I’m very competent,” Revin protested.

“I do,” Noah said as both he and Tillian proceeded to ignore Revin. “She should be…”

Noah trailed off as he scanned over his class again.

There was no sign of Linestra.

“What?” Tillian asked.

“Where the hell is Linestra?”