The Legend of William Oh-Chapter 221: The Guest List

Once upon a time, William Oh went to a party where dozens of young women of fine lineage were presented to him by their mothers.

William Oh didn’t take any of the young women as lovers, but their mothers were left blushing and weak in the knee.

“So are we running or what?” Bess asked, flopping into her cot after a long day of being harassed by William Oh. The barrier mage had a habit of using her Charge on any little thing, but right now she was letting it max out in preparation for a fight.

They all were. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

“I’m not.” Kyle said. “He already killed Mark for trying to run.”

“Yeah, but can he kill all of us at onc-“

“About that…” Roger interrupted Bess, earning a stern glare that bounced off of him. “Did you notice him asking about how brave Mark was, right before he went back to giving us humiliating bullshit tasks?”

“Mark probably stood up to him before he died. I mean if I were Will, I wouldn’t kill anybody on the first day. Maybe break some legs. But if the guy had a spine, I suppose I’d be forced to make an example of him.” Kyle mused, staring at the ceiling.

“Do any of you think Mark would do anything other than grovel?” Roger asked. “The guy had a pretty clear-cut way out, which was to deny any knowledge or involvement with how we screwed William Oh over. It wouldn’t even be wrong.”

That’s right. Mark was convalescing in Ashwood the entire time.

“Was that actually Mark?” Kyle mused.

“What do you mean?”

“What if Mark used a clay replica to take his place and fake his own death?” Kyle said.

“He can’t do that.” Bess said. “His golems are made of clay. Even if he painted them, it wouldn’t be nearly accurate enough to fool anyone. No body heat, no heartbeat…no blood.”

“Do you know what Mark’s last three Upgrades were?” Kyle asked.

“Umm…no.”

Mark had kept the finishing touches of his Build under wraps. Most Climbers weren’t willing to share the last handful of upgrades before they hit Advanced, because those last few upgrades were responsible for the most differentiation between themselves and their original class.

The last few upgrades were trump cards and secrets, and they never learned Mark’s.

“So it’s possible. That’s the only way I could see Mark standing up to a Lord…if he wasn’t anywhere near them at the time. So either he’s dead, or he’s not. And if he’s not dead, there’s a slim chance he might throw us a bone out of some misguided loyalty rather than hightailing it out of here like a sane person.

“Pretty slim chance.” Amy said, resting her chin on her palm.

“Yeah, so we’ll do our own thing.” Kyle mused.

“Which is…” Bess asked, glaring at their leader.

“Running away.”

“Obviously, so let’s-”

“But we have to make an opportunity or else he’ll just track us down immediately.” Kyle interrupted Bess again, which made the barrier mage audibly grit her teeth.

“What kind of opportunity?” Roger asked, ignoring the fuming woman.

Kyle stared at the ceiling for a moment, thinking. The only person who could stand up to a Lord was another Lord. Luckily for them, there were a lot of those present, and not all of them liked each other.

The whole place was a powder keg, just waiting for a spark.

“…We’re gonna pick a fight. Who would bother looking for mice scurrying away while giants are stomping around?”

…

……

I might. Will thought, taking the map away from his ear.

According to Ghoul sound was vibrations travelling through the air, and when they hit the terrain, they would vibrate that as well.

Since his his map updated automatically, it must vibrate in tandem as long as it was within twelve miles.

The problem was, the scale was so distorted that the vibrations in the physical map were too small to make anything out.

So if Will manifested a physical map about the size of his ear and zoomed in on one single area enough for the map to be a 1:1 scale, then placed the map directly against his ear, he was able to pick up the sounds vibrating the terrain. It was as if he had his ear pressed against the floor in the room they were in.

The sound was extremely faint, but Will’s Acuity made up for that.

Picking a fight between Lords then using the distraction to run? That would be a good plan, if I didn’t know about it.

Now the question was…who should Will steer them into picking a fight between? Hopefully someone whose death would benefit Will.

Is there anybody like that? I don’t really have any direct enemies as a Lord. I have a few..complicated relationships, but there’s nobody I’m directly opposed to. I need to learn more about the other Lords invited to the wedding.

Will paused, thinking back to their earlier words.

They’re convinced that I’m the one who killed Mark. Mark would’ve grovelled, according to them. But the man didn’t feel any fear.

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A clay decoy, huh? Will mused.

It didn’t…seem possible. Will had sensed body heat and a pulse when he first met Mark, and when he found him in the alley, there were all the signs of a real death. The scent of blood and viscera. The crap in his pants.

How could that have been fake?

Kyle and company were building their theory on a false assumption: That Will killed Mark.

But they did have a point.

Was that really Mark?

Will had never met anyone who simply didn’t have any fear at all. Maybe someone like that could exist, but how long would they last against monsters? Fear motivated you to take extra precautions and play it safe. Logically, people with no fear should be dead long before the 11th Floor.

And they mentioned that Mark was a relatively fearful person in the past.

Which is more likely: that the man I saw had no fear, or simply wasn’t a man at all?

I would guess the second option.

That doesn’t explain what killed him though. It simply asks more questions.

What if he was being controlled by a Charm archetype?

From what Will had heard of them, they were able to hollow out large portions of heir victim’s minds. Rendering them incapable of feeling fear shouldn’t be impossible with enough time.

But that didn’t really make sense.

Mark the golemancer was so-so Advanced Class, a wanderer without strong ties to anyone or anything, in a Party of middling adventurers with few notable features other than a particularly strong survival instinct.

A Charm archetype would have had to follow along with the group, slowly eroding Mark’s mind over a long period of time as they bounced around the tower.

It would’ve had to be one of the other four. And none of them were Charm archetypes. Will had directly or indirectly witnessed all their Abilities.

Although the priestess is still a little suspect.

Plus, why? He’s not important enough to risk revealing yourself.

Charm archetypes who abused other Climbers weren’t well received. If someone was going to take that risk, the ideal strategy would be to work your way up the ranks of a stationary organization and control it indirectly through manipulating important members.

Like what that monster did to Amanda Akul.

Charm users were not attracted to some rando who wanders around in a Party living hand-to-mouth.

So what? Probably not human, right?

Will was back where he started.

Will sighed and shrank the physical map down until it could fit in his ear. He locked it to track the terrain directly under ‘Kyle Fontaine’ mark on his map, and then stuffed it in his ear.

Might as well not overthink it until I know more.

Will mentally shelved the Mark mystery, tagging the memory with ‘Mark probably wasn’t human’ and directing his focus towards thwarting Fontaine’s ‘clever’ escape plan.

About as clever as throwing sand in the eyes.

Not particularly smart. But effective.

“How do I look?” Will asked.

“Like you’ve only got one good suit left,” Anna muttered, straightening his collar and turning him this way and that to inspect every inch of his clothes.

They were headed for the evening meet-and greet among the attending Lords and people of high repute – rich people who weren’t quite Lords – who had all come to curry favor with Zodiac and with each other.

Shortly afterwards, the valet arrived to escort them to the meet-and-greet.

It was surprisingly informal. There was no assigned seating, or even seating at all.

It was intended as a mixer, and so there were no tables.

Instead, servants flitted around the room with trays of delicious finger-food and tiny shotglasses full of surprisingly tasty booze.

If there was one issue, it would be the open ceiling that revealed the constellation snake above actively trying to eat them all.

Will glanced down from the continent-sized snake and refocused on the pre-wedding party.

There’s Carrie and her crew. There’s Zodiac, Marksman, Bakton, Akul, Wyrd and their crew.

The biggest tangible difference between the two groups was the cling-ons.

The Climbers clustered around the established Lords looked like they came from old money. There was a lot of wealth on display, including kit that couldn’t be bought.

Grandaddy’s Relics.

On the other hand, the people gathering around Carrie’s New Blood looked…less impressive in terms of money, but they had the fire of ambition in their eyes.

The two groups avoided each other in a tense standoff, seemingly unable or unwilling to consort with the other.

Around the room were other small knots gathering around people that Will didn’t recognize and-

“You must be William Oh!”

And around me, I suppose. Will thought sourly as a seemingly young woman approached. The brown-haired woman was wearing an emerald-studded dress that put Brianna’s to shame.

“It’s such an honor to make your acquaintance,” She said, offering her hand.

“I’m flattered, Miss…?” Will asked, taking it for a polite shake. She seemed to wait for something for a moment, then dropped her hand and cleared her throat.

“Mrs., actually. Mrs. Hart. I haven’t been a Miss in a long time!” She blushed, waving Will’s perceived complement off.

She must gained a lot of Resistance at a young age. Will thought.

“I hear you’re the man to talk to if you have a young one you’d like to get to an Advanced Class.”

“Our prices are reasonable, provided you can afford a bus to the Tenth Floor,” Will agreed.

“Well, wouldn’t you know it, my daughter was hoping to-

Will began to retreat mentally as more and more people began to swarm around him like flies on shit.

There were all kinds of offers, requests, requests disguised as offers, and everything in between. Will tried to handle the business deals as simple transactions, being as polite and businesslike as possible, but he couldn’t help but notice how many of these people had daughters about his age that they’d like to have him personally assist with reaching level 50.

Like fishhooks glittering in a still lake, Will thought.

They benefitted greatly from getting a daughter to level 50 without risking losing her, and if they snagged Wiliam Oh himself, more the better.

Will would happily take their cash and send their daughters back to them with Advanced classes.

Everyone wins.

“What’s so great about that brat!?” a Climber who looked to be roughly in his forties shouted from the center of his own little cluster of cling-ons.

“He just got lucky and found a set, then used that to become a Lord. Luck!”

Will raised a brow as the people around him tensed and glanced between Will and the newcomer.

Let’s see, slightly older, salt and pepper hair, brown eyes, lean muscle from hard labor, wearing a full kit decorated with fire opal.

A set?

Behind the shouting man was a…fae? Carrying a tray of food and drink.

Can they even go up Floors or is it a summon of some kind? Will thought, staring.

The fae was wearing a servant’s garb, with bright, warm colors, and it’s eyes blazed like fire as it stared straight back at Will.

Interesting. Probably a summon. I’ve never seen a fae with eyes like that.

“Who’s that?” Will asked, pointing.

“Fabron Faefire. He led a small revolt and started a successful Stronghold on the ninth Floor by freeing the debt-slaves of Bakton Keep.” Mrs. Hart whispered. “Apparently he has a way to remove Debt, so he’s become rather influential there, now.”

Bakton had the Harbinger Relic Seed that would allow him to cut Debt, but shortly afterwards someone else shows up that can do it, too, destroying his monopoly.

“So he and Bakton don’t get along, I imagine,” Will mused.

“That would be an understatement. He doesn’t have much support currently, but a few people on the outs with Bakton are currying favor with him in case he’s not a flash in the pan.” Mrs. Hart said.

“William Oh is a child that stumbled into a Set item and rode that momentum from the first Floor to where he currently hides in the burned Stronghold.” Fabron said, his voice slightly slurred. “Another shot, Sebastian.”

The fae with the burning eyes handed Fabron another drink, gaze still locked on Will.

You know…I think I may have figured out who Fontaine is going to try to pick a fight with.

“Get your hands off me, you popinjay!” Fabron yelled, pushing away someone trying to stabilize his wobbling.

Might as well nip this in the bud, Will thought, taking a couple shots before politely disentangling himself from the island of rich folk surrounding him, striding across Zodiac’s ballroom floor.