Chương 161: 161

Aurora landed on the open air platform of the tram station, along with a man in white robes. They settled down several meters from Mark and Isoko. Aurora looked normal, all prismatic white and with sunset eyes. She didn't look or seem too mad. The man was Grand Mage Rekaro Solari. He looked like an older Tartu by several decades. He was not frail with age, but he was certainly wizened. And he was absolutely pissed, his face all harsh lines beneath his bushy grey eyebrows and beard.

Rekaro was furious, but his voice was not, "Not as bad as I expected. Worse than it ever should have been." He breathed, and then he handed down his sentence, "Tartu will NOT be confined to quarters for 2 days, you will be in the brig for a week, and all of your points are confiscated. You too, Miss Kanno."" Nope," Mark said, too readily, fury reigniting.

"You went too far with the points. Fuck you and fuck your son." Isoko sighed just a little. Rekaro's eyes went wide, his lined face turning red—" There will be no confiscation of anything," Aurora said. Rekaro rounded on Aurora, "I demand—"" Mark and Tartu are soldiers of the same rank," Aurora stated, voice loud, and Rekaro went quiet, his rage hidden beneath many layers of decorum.

Softer, Aurora continued, "To involve the personal grudges of superiors in conflicts among lessers is beneath us all, and I will not have these sorts of actions be made commonplace here in this settlement. The rules for breaking the rules are clear: For a fight which results in no lasting physical injury, Mark and Isoko will be confined to the brig for 2 days. They will have one demerit each and they will have to take shit jobs for the week following their release.

Further demerits will result in similar disciplinary action which will be determined on a case-by-case basis." She looked at Mark.

"I will not be enforcing the demand you made upon Tartu." That was fine with him. Mark would be enforcing his demands made on Tartu, if Tartu should fail to follow through. Mark didn't say that, though. Aurora frowned a little. … Oh right. She was a Telepath. Mark didn't have to say anything. Well then! Mark certainly thought about what he would do if Tartu should fail to follow through with the demand Mark made upon him, and it started with cutting off feet—" Stop it, Mark."

Aurora's frown deepened, and she looked to Rekaro.

"I suggest that you make peace with Tartu being confined to quarters for 2 days, and end this conflict with the peace offering you are being granted— Do not speak and interrupt this recommendation." Rekaro closed his mouth. He Looked at Aurora, and said, "We will have words later."" We shall," Aurora said. And then Rekaro walked past Mark and Isoko, toward Mage Society. Isoko called out, "Can Mark and I sign up for mage classes, Grand Mage Sir!"" Never!" Rekaro spat, and then he kept walking.

Rekaro got pretty far, pretty fast, because he saw Tartu. Tartu had walked away from the Potion House, Lenny trailing him, both of them walking toward the main building. But then Tartu glanced and saw his father walking toward him, and he cringed, looking down. Rekaro rushed his son, grabbing his shoulders, looking him over fast, to find him okay. There was blood, but Rekaro flashed a hand and the blood and dirt vanished.

Their meeting was too far and too quiet to understand much at all, except Mark felt Rekaro's rage melt away, replaced with concern, while Tartu's vector was a confusing jumble of embarrassment, attempted pride, and deep, utter humiliation. Rekaro ushered his son and Lenny away from prying eyes, beyond the guys in robes standing watch beside the entrance to Mage Society proper. Those guys standing watch were on full alert right now.

It was a marked difference from when they were shooting the shit and not really guarding anything at all. It only took 30 seconds for Rekaro and his son to meet and then disappear into Mage Society. Mark and Isoko both turned back to Aurora. Aurora had a disappointed, long-suffering sort of look to her. Isoko pretended to be repentant as she asked, "I had to check, right?"

Aurora sighed, then said, "He'll realize later that he gave up the right to control your education, but emotions are high and he does love his son very much. He is a good man…" She decided not to say whatever she was going to say, and then she looked at Mark.

"Are you trying to be a problem?" It was a simple question. Mark said, "I was hoping to end problems, actually. If Tartu doesn't stay inside his house then I'll do this again until he does. It's only fair, right? He stole at least 200 million goldleaf from me, and it's not like I stole anything from him. This was just a beating—"" A spar," Isoko quietly offered." A spar," Mark said.

"Spars are fine, right?" There was logic in those statements. Aurora did not want to deal with any of that logic.

"… You'll wait until my moratorium on the HVP is over, then whatever happens will happen. Two months. March 20th. Set a date if you have to, because if something happens before that date then everyone involved is getting demerits and bitch work. I've already told Rekaro all of this, though he and I will be having a larger conversation later. Thanks for that." That was not a sincere thanks. There were no questions in any of that. It was all orders. Mark said, "Yes, ma'am." Aurora looked to Isoko.

"You want those mage lessons?"" Yes, ma'am," Isoko readily said, standing tall.

"Mark, too."" Me too, please," Mark said." Of course." Aurora glanced back at the tram tracks, and at the tram headed their way. She said, "You'll both be reporting for mage classes from my mother starting after your time in the brig. I'll have her throw you a message. Both of you turn yourself in to the brig by 8 PM tonight, though earlier is fine. You'll be staying there for two days." The tram stopped where it was supposed to stop. Aurora said, "Get going." Mark and Isoko both bowed and rushed onto the tram.

They were the only ones on the tram again. The three women who were waiting at the tram station decided to take the next one. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. As the tram pulled away from the station, Mark watched Aurora fly into the sky in a burst of rainbows, and then he looked down and saw a hovercart rushing in from the east. It was going fast and headed right for Mage Society, and it didn't seem safe to drive like that.

Mark wasn't sure who was on the hovercart exactly, but they looked in a real hurry, and they drove right onto the grasses between the buildings— Oh. It was Kardi and Shawn. Mark hmm'd, then sat down. The tram was too far away from Mage Society to see the place anymore. He looked to Isoko who had been looking out the window with him." That was Kardi and Shawn, yeah?" Isoko asked. Mark joked, "I guess we got lucky that Shawn and Kardi were absent."" More like they got lucky," Isoko said.

"Things would have gone a lot worse if we had to pull some real maneuvers." Mark hummed.

"… Yeah. Maybe. They would have had more power, but they would have had more weaknesses to cover, too."" Also true." Isoko grinned.

"Good shot with that rock throw. I distracted his hovershield, though!"" You did! It was great. You made a good shot, too! Right into the window. I was a little worried that it was going to be overkill."" That's why I called out and warned them."" I thought it was to make sure those vectors on the third floor were actually them." Isoko spoke proudly, "It was a multi-purpose taunt." Mark smiled. Isoko said, "I was pretty sure Tartu was out of his anti-Union Domain for a good moment there in the beginning.

Why no alpha strike?" Mark winced.

"Ah… Well. I could lie and say it felt wrong to do that, but honestly… I forgot."" Thought so. It's probably better that we beat him in a straight fight, anyway. Less room for misplaced feelings there." She asked, "You feel better?" Mark luxuriated in the glow of that question." Yes. 100% better. Thanks for being here with me." Isoko grinned a little.

"So you sat on him and punched him?"" He couldn't throw me off at all! Needs to do more weightlifting, for sure. Also, I think he can only do one Domain at a time. I thought he could have overlapped them?" Isoko raised an eyebrow, her vector pointed in one direction… and then she shifted directions and said, "He was probably focused on power, or density, or whatever. That's a thing, right? Purity of intent in magic seems like it might be a thing…"

They spoke for a little while about the fight, and about everything around the fight. - - - - The brig was located down a simple tunnel at the bottom of Castle South, the administration center of the settlement. The brig was solidly made, with thick walls and no windows. And yet, it had clean air, kept that way by cleaner plants in planters here and there, and circulating systems that could be turned off or on as needed. It was a modified emergency bunker.

There were 10 other emergency bunkers located under Castle South, and elsewhere in the settlement, but this was the only one that was a brig. It was more like a day spa than a brig, and it was huge inside with a bunch of options for relaxation. A hot tub and a running yard and a weight room, and some big screens with movies on tap. The bunk beds were big and just the right amount of hardness and softness at the same time, and the blankets and clothes were comfortable, though it was all Basic Brown.

It was quiet, save for the flow of water. The food was gruel and water, delivered by drone, but that was fine. They were the only ones in the brig, and the door was simply left open. There were no guards. It was the honor system. Mark imagined that brig wasn't actually as open as it appeared, because a servitor drone at the entrance warned them that they needed to stay inside, but that was the only interaction with any 'brig staff' that Mark and Isoko would experience for the next two days.

Eliot and Sally visited both nights, but they weren't allowed to come inside, according to the servitor at the front. There was a clear wall between the brig and the hallway outside, though, with places to sit and visit for a while. The visiting area was right beside the open door. Eliot showed off the video of the fight that he had cobbled together from various sources, talking about how he needed to actually be there next time and he'd get better video.

Sally also lamented that she wasn't able to be there, but she would be there next time. And then Eliot showed the end of the fight, with Mark sitting on top of Tartu, and the video turned into hearts and little rainbows, and Isoko started laughing a laugh she had been holding in for days. Mark was, apparently, getting 'shipped' with Tartu online, in various hero/villain forums—" I don't want to hear about it!" Mark exclaimed, "No no no!" Eliot laughed and changed the subject. Sleeping in the brig was okay.

Isoko slept in the bunk beside Mark, so it wasn't nearly as lonely as expected. Mostly, it was boring. Isoko and Mark took to pumping weights in competition and also sparring a few times, but both of them were crawling at the walls by 5 PM on the second day. Mark and Isoko raced out of the brig at 8: 01 PM, two days after entering, both of them rushing into the tunnel under Castle South, and then slowing down as soon as they were past the clear visiting wall and they couldn't see the damned brig anymore.

They chuckled and laughed, and then they walked easier, eager to get back into the world. They hadn't even left the tunnel yet before Isoko asked the question that their entire team had been avoiding for the last two days." Think Tartu stayed in his house?" Mark felt his anxieties tense as he brought out Quark and asked the question, "Where has Tartu been for the last 2 days?" It would be weird for Quark to be able to answer that question, but Mark and Isoko both expected that question to be preapproved.

They didn't know if it was a question Quark could actually answer until this moment here, though. Quark flickered silver as he thought. And then Quark said, "Tartu Solari entered his mansion 2 days ago at 7: 23 PM and left for dinner with friends at 6: 01 PM today, for less than 47 hours of self confinement." … Well then. … Mark hummed as he tried to figure out how he felt about that. It was almost 48 hours. Was that good enough? Isoko said, "We entered at 6: 50 and left at 8; over 49 hours."" But 47 hours is…

is good enough, right?"" He still snubbed you, but it wasn't as much as it could have been. So yeah. It's not that bad. We could go have a friendly chat with him?"" No no." Mark put Tartu out of his mind as he put Quark back into his pocket, saying, "We got shit to do. Demerits. Shit work." Isoko frowned.

"I think it's actual sewer cleaning."" Well that's easy, right? Purity/impurity."

"… Maybe. So maybe it's not that?" Turned out there was magical shit in the sewers of Daihoon, and only a little bit of it was actual shit. Yes, even in the clean sewers that Eliot had built last week. They were pretty big sewers, though, meant for an expanding population, so there was a lot of ground to cover, and a lot of places for tiny not-really-monsters to breed. Mostly, it was slimes that moved and ate things, and that tried to eat Mark and Isoko, but that's what big electrical prods were for. Zap zap!

The slimes exploded into a very weak miasma which offended the sense of smell more than anything else. And then came purity/impurity work. That was only for an hour in the morning, though. Mostly, the 'shit work' of those with demerits was basic brawny work, moving boxes and cargo around for the various guilds of the settlement. It wasn't that bad at all.