Return of the Runebound Professor-Chapter 859: Familiar

The Mistress stared up through her window at the clouds blocking out the moon. Another day had passed. And, for the second night in a row, her domain had been cast into shadow. There was no mistaking the message being sent.

Someone was challenging her.

And they weren’t shy about it, either. There had been a dozen more deaths in the past day. Of those, nearly all of the b badges had been left behind. But this wasn’t some sport hunter. The kills were clean. Surgical. Like someone doing a job rather than something they garnered any enjoyment out of.

That annoyed the Mistress more than anything else that this mysterious perpetuator had done. The dead men were of no real concern. They hadn’t been much of men at all, for that matter, having been corpses long before they’d been cut down.

Taking tools from her and not even having a good reason for it… that was just rude. This was just someone annoying her for the sake of it. They weren’t getting anything out of it. This was just an insult for the sake of being insulting. It was disrespectful. And more than anything else, the Mistress hated people who had no manners.

Somebody wants my attention, and they want it very badly.

But if they were hoping to lure her out and into direct action, then they would be sorely disappointed. There were very few people that were powerful enough to challenge the Mistress directly — and fewer still who would be stupid enough to do it.

Anyone bold enough to try something like this was trying to push her hand. To enrage her into making some idiotic move that would leave her or her assets vulnerable. And she had to admit, it wasn’t a bad idea. The best way to deal with powerful mages was to screw with their ego.

It was the one weakness that was omnipresent amongst the powerful. And the Mistress was no exception to that rule — but she was smart enough to recognize when someone was attempting to pull her strings right in front of her. Having an ego did not mean one had to be hotheaded… though a number of the other mages her Rank hadn’t quite gotten that memo.

The person behind this is not someone who knows me. But for them to know of my existence in the first place… they’re either powerful or well-connected. It would be foolish for me to make any direct actions until I can determine exactly what it is they’re after.

The Mistress suppressed an annoyed sigh. Such things were unbecoming, even when she was alone. It wasn’t like this even mattered all that much. She was facing a minor annoyance. That was it. At the end of the day, this barely even mattered.

And even though assumptions were foolish to make without basis, she was pretty sure she knew what her annoyance was after. Even though she’d yet to confirm it, the tournament had always served three purposes. One was for those competing. One was for those watching. And the final — and most important — was for those who controlled it.

The tournament was just a few days away, now. And even with the unexpected annoyances, the vast majority of her preparations had already been completed. Worthwhile talent had been seeded. But seeds were worthless. Some would die before they even begun to sprout. And of the sprouts, only few would live long enough to grow leaves. To flower, to bear fruit.

But she was patient. A farmer who reaped his harvest too soon would find himself with nothing at all. She had finished her preparations. And now, all she had to do was wait. Wait, watch, and ensure that when a suitable talent made itself known, she harvested it before any of the others did.

***

Noah and Lee sat on their respective beds, staring down at the black badges vibrating aggressively on the floor between them.

And it wasn’t some faint vibration or a dull buzz. This was a violent shake, as if the badges were trying to rip themselves apart from within.

Noah couldn’t help but feel as if he should have expected this. Things had been too quiet recently. He’d avoided accidentally murdering anyone else or getting into any trouble at all. After he and lee had gone on their respective accidental-murder missions, the two of them had done a remarkable job of staying out of the way.

They’d spent their time just eating, wandering around Aqua Terra in vain hopes of running into any of their friends, and just generally killing time up until the start of the tournament.

And now the tournament was one day away. It was meant to start tomorrow. Given how close it was, both Noah and Lee had decided that they’d go through extra effort today to make sure that they’d avoid getting into any sort of trouble that could complicate things any further.

That decision had made it right up until they’d gotten out of their beds before the badges that they kept on the ground to avoid accidental contact with had started trying to shake themselves into the afterlife.

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“What do we do?” Lee asked.

“I don’t know,” Noah replied. “I really wish I’d gotten that Imbued case, now. These stupid things are definitely cursed.”

“I could destroy them,” Lee offered.

“And then we lose our way into the tournament.” Noah shook his head. “No. Not unless we have to. That tournament is definitely the only way we’ve got any chance at all of finding everyone again. We have to put on a good performance to get their attention. Unless your nose is working again?”

Lee reluctantly sighed. “No. It isn’t. It still sucks. So do we just wait until they stop… oh, hey. They stopped.”

And so they had. The badges now sat on the ground. They were as still as, well, badges. Normal badges. But something else had started to change within their matte surfaces.

Lines of dull gold were carving their way across the surface of the badges. As Noah and Lee watched, an arrow engraved itself into the surface of both of their badges. The arrows were both pointed in the exact same direction, even though the orientation of their badges were different.

The two of them exchanged a glance.

“Suspicious,” Lee said.

“Quite,” Noah agreed. He slipped out of bed and edged closer to the badges. He nudged his with the tip of his foot. The badge rotated around — but the arrow remained pointed in the exact same direction. It was magical. Not that such a thing needed to be said. Non-magical badges didn’t tend to get arrows appearing on them out of thin air.

“I think they’re telling us to go somewhere,” Lee said.

“Astute observation,” Noah drawled. He crouched beside his badge. Even though the creepy basement woman hadn’t tried kidnapping him again after the previous incident, he wasn’t too keen on figuring out if she was still waiting for him or not.

“It might be to finish registration for the tournament,” Lee said. “Maybe we’ve got to prove that we’re still here or something.”

“Yeah,” Noah said. He pursed his lips. “Maybe.”

They were silent for a moment. Then Lee scratched the side of her neck.

“So… are we going to go find out what it’s pointing at?”

“Yeah,” Noah said through a sigh. He scooped the cloth he’d wrapped around the badge re-wrapped it, rising back to his feet. “But use yours. They’re pointing in the same direction, and my badge is cursed. At least yours came from one of the official vendors. Not that I trust them all that much more… but I didn’t get the sense that the kidnapper lady was snatching people in broad daylight. She seemed too polite for that.”

“That isn’t a very good reason,” Lee said. “But it’s good enough for me. I’m bored and curious, so I’ll accept anything.”

“Then lead the way.”

She grabbed her badge and raised it into the air, moving it back and forth. The arrow remained pointed in the exact same direction. Then she stepped to the side. The arrow shifted, ever so slightly.

“I think it should be pretty close,” Lee said as she started for the door, still watching the arrow. “It wouldn’t have moved much at all if we were far.”

“Lucky us,” Noah said as he fell in beside her. The two of them headed out of the tavern and down into the winding streets of Aqua Terra.

Lee led the way down the road and toward the main areas of the city, weaving through the alleys with her eyes firmly affixed on the magic arrow within her badge.

Thoughts swirled through Noah’s head as he trailed at Lee’s side. They were so close, now. It wouldn’t be long before they got a chance to meet everyone again. All he had to do was make sure he performed well enough in the tournament to get their attention.

He hadn’t quite managed to get all the runes he’d been hoping to. He was still a Rank 5. That was slightly less than ideal. It would have been better if he’d gotten up to the next rank. His section included Rank 6s. And this wasn’t Arbalest anymore. The Rank 6s showing up to this tournament were going to be powerful. A lot of them would, at least.

No use worrying now. I’m basically broke. Aside from the Crystals we have in Lee’s ring, I don’t have anything else. Well, there’s the ring I got off the idiot that tried to hire me to assassinate someone. But I haven’t figured out how to open it yet. So I don’t have the funds to just straight up buy the last few Rank 5s I need.

Well, that’s something I’ll deal with later. No use regretting what can’t be changed. Maybe I’ll bump into someone who conveniently has a bunch of useful Rank 5 Runes for me to harvest with —

The sound of a thump yanked Noah out from his thoughts. His eyes snapped up as Lee took a stumbling step back. She’d just walked right into the back of a huge man. He loomed a head over them, the massive muscles covering his body ill-hidden by the tattered black cloak hung over his shoulders. Across his back was a long, curved obsidian blade. Veins of some purple ore pulsed within it, bearing a sickly energy

Ah, shit. Lee was watching the badge and her nose isn’t working. I should have been keeping an eye on the road.

“Sorry about that,” Noah said, putting a hand on Lee’s shoulder and moving her to the side. He drew faintly on his runes even as he apologized. There was a heavy aura around the man that had absolutely nothing to do with his magic at all — and it screamed danger. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

“We didn’t see you there.”

The man turned toward them.

He didn’t say a word for a long second. His hood hung low over his face, obscuring his features. Noah nearly sighed. It was around then he registered the fact that they were still in the side alleys of the city and there weren’t any other people at all. There was also quite a bit of free space on either side of the man.

They easily could have walked right past him if they’d been paying the slightest bit of attention. It totally looked like they were just trying to pick a fight.

“Hold on,” the man said, his voice gravely and low.

Of course. Well, such is life. I hope he’s got some good runes.

“Lee?” The man asked.

Noah froze.

“Huh?” Lee asked. She sniffed, frustration arcing across her features as her nose clearly failed her once more. “Who are you? Do I know you?”

“Gods,” the man said, a deep laugh bubbling up from his chest. He reached up to his hood and flicked it back, revealing rough, familiar features. “Lee! It’s you! I should have known you’d be able to sniff me out!”

Noah’s eyes widened. It was a man that he knew well, though he’d changed greatly since the last time they’d run into each other. He was bigger. His voice was rougher — but this wasn’t the kind of man that could be easily forgotten. Family, no matter the sort, never was.

“Brayden?” Noah breathed. “Is that you?”