Chapter 256: Hidden Huddle

We didn’t anticipate grabbing up enough crystals to complete the challenge to be difficult at all.

I finished explaining to Erani and we woke up Sylvie and Ainash still with a good few minutes to spare before the challenge was technically assigned, meaning not a single person would be out there to compete with.

Sylvie was, of course, curious about where I got my information when I told her I suddenly knew exactly what the challenge would be before it was assigned, but I waved her questions off, and she dropped the subject.

“You’re seriously just gonna tell me nothing about this?” Sylvie asked as we walked through the city streets.

Okay, so she dropped the subject for about thirty seconds.

“I can’t tell you,” I replied.

“Oh forgive me for wondering exactly what my ally’s method of cheating is,” she said, exaggeratedly raising her hands in defense. “Clearly I am the one being unreasonable here.”

“Quiet down,” I whispered harshly to her. “Besides, it isn’t technically cheating. There was nothing in the rules to say you’re not allowed to pick some of them up a little early, and it’s not like I bribed someone for the information or anything.”

“If you acquired your information in a perfectly legal way, then why not tell me what your method is?”

“I’ve told you and everyone else before; I have an ability that can give me useful information semi-randomly. Is it that hard to believe this is one of those times?”

“Oh, come on. We all knew that was a bullshit excuse back when you first said it, and I definitely know it is now. If you’ve got this thing on your Status, then surely you can tell me its name? The exact way the ability is worded? Whether it’s a Spell or a Talent? What kind of Class gives this to you in the first place?”

“It’s a Title, actually, and it’s called Index,” I said immediately. The most believable lies were the ones that were based on a little bit of truth. “I can’t tell you its exact wording for obvious privacy reasons, but it’s a personified System fragment that can give me information under extremely specific regulations that are mostly out of my control.”

She squinted at me for a moment, as though looking at my face through her eyelashes would suddenly give her the abilities of a Truth Stone. “...So, you’re saying a special voice in your head tells you things nobody else could possibly know?”

I sighed. “Yes, that’s what I’m saying. Things that are always true, so—”

“Have you considered that you may be insane?”

“You know, I’m not sure that I like her tone,” said Index. “Can you tell her I don’t like her?”

Do you really think that’d do anything other than make her more disbelieving?

“Can’t I make a joke every now and then?”

I don’t remember you ever making a joke in the past, so…no? I honestly didn’t know you were capable of it.

“Well, I can, and I just did. Obviously don’t tell her I’m talking about her, as that would cause a rift in your party, and would cause her to waste your time with constant questions wondering what ‘the voice in your head’ has to say about this or that.”

I glanced over to see Sylvie leaning forward, staring straight at my face, and lurched back. “Gah, why are you so close?”

“Well, I asked if you’re insane, and then you just…stared…into space. For like, nine seconds. I counted. So now I’m trying to look into your eyes to see if my guess was right.”

“And what’s your conclusion?”

“A solid maybe.”

“How pleased I am to hear you haven’t quite arrived at the conclusion yet.” I looked over at Erani, who, as usual, was walking next to me and doing her best trying not to laugh. Which, with Distortion Strike active, looked to the untrained eye like she was some crazed void creature trying to eat your soul with just her gaze. But I knew underneath the Spell’s effects, she was just giggling to herself. “Darling, do you mind confirming to our companion that I have not lost my mind?”

“Not quite yet,” she said.

“Ooh, you’ve filled my heart with confidence,” Sylvie said with a fanciful tone. “I’m grateful to be led through this tourney by an only half madman and a woman who is only half addicted to blowing things up.”

“What?” Erani asked, seeming genuinely offended by the accusation. “What gives you that impression?”

Sylvie scoffed. “Oh, please, don’t act like I can’t see that glint you got in your eye when you threw that volley of Firebolts at the Young Dragon. You practically looked like it was the happiest moment of your life.”

“I was just happy to see my strategy worked in practice after spending so much time theorizing about it.”

“A plan that you spent countless hours perfecting, that is centered around…blowing things up?”

“Okay, okay, we get it,” I cut in. “I can personally vouch that she has a perfectly normal relationship with explosives.”

“Mhm, yes, a vote of confidence from the man who hears voices in his head.”

I rolled my eyes. “How long are you gonna keep this joke going?”

“For as long as you keep being bothered by it.”

As we approached the city walls, I spotted something strange. A group of six or so adventurers, all mulling about near the border chatting with each other or otherwise making themselves busy. Not particularly abnormal to see—out in this low-income area, plenty of people had taken up the job for some extra money. The strange thing about these people was that they were decidedly not poor.

They all wore custom-fitted plate armor, perfectly shined with a layer of polish, their weapons looking like they’d never seen a single drop of blood in their life. The people mulled about with perfectly-straight backs, like they were all balancing an invisible stack of books atop their heads, and though I was too far away to make out their words, their voices alone carried with them a certain poshness to their tone that told me they certainly didn’t grow up around here.

But they weren’t blocking the way or anything, so I was content to just pass them by as we went on our way.

They didn’t seem prepared to let me do that, though.

As I walked by one of them—a tall one with a helmet resembling a face with a jagged mouth—he stepped in front of me, putting a hand out to prevent me from going any further. I silently prepared to throw out some Crippling Chills and put everyone in the vicinity under the oppressive power of Gravity Well.

But then the man spoke. “Ah! You’re getting here a little late, aren’t you? I do believe we were supposed to be here forty-five minutes before, were we not?”

“...What?” I asked. Erani gave me a questioning look, clearly wondering if I had some sort of knowledge from another timeline that told me who this guy was or what he was doing here. I had no more idea than she did, though.

“Oh, I do hope I didn’t bring my wing of the family here early,” he said. “I believe I noticed the Mullinses a few paces over there, but you know how it is, we’re not really supposed to be talking with all this going on. Ah, I suppose I should let you know who I am; this helm thing really gets in the way of socializing, huh? You are speaking to Mikael currently, and Lauri is back there with the rest. And, if you’ll forgive me, could you please let me know your name?”

I frowned. “Um…I think you’ve got me confused for someone else. I’m not here to meet anyone.”

He chuckled. “Oh, come on. You aren’t exactly being subtle, bringing your servants around fully armed like that. I mean, really, I thought I might have been pushing things in the realm of subtlety asking my wing to put our armor on before they left the house, but here you are looking ready for battle this instant! So if we aren’t going to be following the little protocols with that, then why pretend not to know each other? I’m just trying to pass the time before we’re allowed to go out there without looking suspicious, you know?”

“No, like, I really don’t know who you people are. I’m not here for whatever this get-together is.”

He chuckled again. “Hah, you cheeky dog, you just don’t want the embarrassment of admitting your name, ah? It’s quite alright, we’re all friends here, I’m not going to shame you like cousin Maggie, or anything.”

“Dude, I don’t know how to tell you this, we’re seriously just—”

Sylvie suddenly stepped forward, a strange, forced smile on her face. She spoke in a fancy voice I’d never heard her use before, suddenly two octaves higher. “Apologies, could you repeat that? Did you say ‘cousin Maggie’?”

“Hm? Yes, yes, she went on quite the tirade when she found out about our meetup last week. Did you not hear?”

“Ah, thank you,” she said, smile suddenly looking even more forced. “Well then, we’ll be on our way, thank you for the chat.”

With that, she grabbed onto my wrist, hand gripping around me much more tightly than it needed to be, along with Erani, dragging us with her past the group of people. Ainash followed in a jaunty jog.

“What’s going on?” I asked once we were out of earshot. “Did you recognize them, or something?”

The guards opened the gates and we walked out into the desert. I could just barely hear mutterings of the people behind us as they watched us leave.

Sylvie leaned over and whispered into my ear once the gate was closed behind us, “That guy mentioned a cousin Maggie. If he was talking about the person I think he was talking about, and he wasn’t pulling that out of his ass, we do not want to get involved with them.”

“What? Why? Is there some Maggie who’s a crime boss or a serial killer or something?”

“Worse. She’s a noble.”

I stared at her. “...Am I just supposed to ignore the person that statement is coming from?”

“I think I, of all people, am completely qualified to talk about the horrible nature of nobles. Plus, I’m no longer a noble, technically, since I don’t have a last name anymore. So I get to say things like that while still maintaining my sky-high ego.”

“Great. So, what’s up with this Maggie person? What’s wrong with her?”

“Anyone in Barinruth knows her name. At least, anyone who grew up in the sphere I did. And, well, they don’t really know her name as much as they know her family’s name. The Peersguards are the family with, like, the second most influence in the entire empire, after Emperor Etrin’s bloodline. I don’t really know much about Magdalene herself, but her family is probably considered the second most bloodthirsty, ruthless, power-hungry group of people on the planet. Also after Etrin’s bloodline.”

“And why do you think they’re specifically talking about Magdalene Peersguard and not any other cousin Maggie out there?”

“Did you see those people? Did you see how expensive their gear was? Did you see the way they held themselves? Did you hear the way they talked? They were nobles. And there’s only one cousin Maggie a noble would be talking about.”

“You’re doing a lot of speculating.”

“And I’m always right, so my speculation is basically just facts. You’re welcome for my perfect clairvoyance. Though, I suppose you’re the one with the magic future sight powers. So tell me, what was up with them?”

I looked at Erani. “What do you think they were talking about? They kept saying I was there to meet them for something.”

She frowned. “Hm. They were armed, and clearly hush-hush about everything going on. Do you think they could be assassins?”

“Certainly a possibility,” I replied with a nod. “I mean, I doubt they’d just be going monster hunting if they were trying to keep everything a secret. Organized crime would be likely, but I could also see them arranging some sort of revolt. Sylvie, you said there’s been a lot of anti-Etrin sentiment going around in the past, so maybe they’re leading a secret insurrection to overthrow the current emperor. We’d need to watch our backs in either case, since they might come after us to tie up loose ends after their slip-up assuming I was part of their group.”

I glanced over at Sylvie, who was looking at us like we were insane.

“...What?” I asked.

“Really? Secret assassins? Martial coup? What kind of a life do you have to lead for those to be the immediate things that jump to mind? Have you maybe considered that they were just, like, planning a surprise birthday party, or something?”

“They were holding weapons, Sylvie,” I said. “What kind of birthday involves impaling the guests?”

“I dunno, maybe it could’ve all been decorative. Not everyone is as murderous as you, y’know.”

“Didn’t you just say nobles were worse than crime lords and serial killers?”

“Yeah, but they’re worse because they’re, like, annoying. I’d certainly enjoy a conversation with a serial killer more than some cheating noble. Think about how interesting that’d be!”

“Wait, what did you say?”

“Oh, yeah, I mean you could ask them about the most interesting people they’ve killed, and about how they manage to avoid law enforcement, and about what kind of Class you even take to give you the abilities necessary to—”

“No, about nobles? What did you call them?”

“What, ‘cheating nobles’? Don’t you know that phrase? Pretty much anything they participate in is rigged because they just bribe anyone involved.”

“So then what if they’re doing exactly what we’re doing? Going out to get crystals before the desert gets picked clean.”

“Oh. Yeah, I probably should’ve thought of that earlier. Just waiting a bit to ensure nobody gets too suspicious about them being out there before the announcement goes out at all. They’ll probably wait until the minute it gets delivered and then leave, that way they technically have deniability that they knew beforehand.”

“That’s horrible,” Erani said. “Is it going to cause any issues that they’re cheating?”

“Maybe for all the other people who aren’t cheating,” Sylvie responded. “But we are too, so it’s all good.”

I shook my head. “I’ve already said, we aren’t cheating.”

“But the nobles, who are doing the exact same thing as us, are?”

“They got the info through bribery. We got it in a completely fair way.”

“Oh yeah, because ‘the voices in my head that only I can hear told me’ is a completely fair thing. Sorry, my bad, all those other losers should’ve just played around the possibility that their competition might be possessed by the voice of the gods, or whatever.”

“Hey,” Index said, “five minutes until the fliers got handed out in the previous timeline. Desert’s about to get flooded with people.”

I nodded. “Alright, let’s grab some of these things before it gets too late.”