Chương 19: Exit Sewer Left

Evelyn waited in the bushes with Private Bradley from the city watch, keeping watch over the sewer outlet. A slow trickle drained into the river from the large pipe, which was more aptly considered a full-size pedestrian tunnel for how large it was. She supposed it had to be that big because its main purpose was actually a stormwater drain. A barrier used to be installed to keep miscreants from sneaking in and out, but it was long gone.

With the light rapidly fading from the sky, she realized that this could end up being a long vigil. But if Lady Amberlin believed that this was necessary to get Amy back, she would stay up all night if need be. Captain Hughston had explained everything to her. There had been a jailbreak, and the criminals who had taken Amy were expected to escape through the sewers tonight.

"Are you nervous?" Bradley whispered. They were lying side by side, peering out from under a netting of leaves to help them blend in.

"A little bit," she admitted.

"I am too. I know that third-circles are a big deal, but just how dangerous are we talking?"

"Do you know platinum-rank adventurers?" she asked.

"I've never met one. They're quite rare, aren't they?"

"A third-circle mage is equivalent to a plat. A full third-circle could be considered a ruby." He let out a long breath.

"To think that someone like that is operating in Lorelark." It had surprised her too, when she heard it from the captain. But it all made sense, didn't it? Lady Amberlin was in Lorelark, and she must have come here for a reason. It had to be about more than the cakes. What better reason was there than to hunt down an evil third-circle mage? Evelyn knew that it wasn't her place to delve into the business of plats and crystals.

Heroes of that caliber acted on their own accord, and even nobles had to tread carefully around them. She was just glad that the hero showed up when she did.

"At least we have a powerful mage of our own," Bradley said.

"It sure is," she agreed.

"I'm a bit worried though. A third-circle against another third-circle. An even match-up, but there's no guarantee of our success, is there?"

"Third-circle?" Her impression of Lady Amberlin had been of something far deeper. She didn't think that someone personally familiar with the Amber Mage would be a mere third-circle.

"Your briefing was a bit rushed, so Captain Hughston forgot to mention, but our mage was the one who captured those kidnappers last night." Last night, when Lady Amberlin only arrived in Lorelark yesterday morning. The speed and efficiency of a crystal-ranker was on a completely different level.

"I don't think you have to worry. I'm sure a third-circle won't be a match for her," she assured him.

"Her?" He sounded confused.

"The mage I'm talking about is a man." After a moment he added, "Does this mean there's a third third-circle running around? Just how many high-level mages have decided to come to Lorelark?" Something suddenly clicked for her.

"Is the mage you're talking about Havlo from Restford?"

"I think that's his name. Though lots of mages are named Havlo, and I don't know if anyone mentioned if he's from Restford." So Lady Amberlin's apprentice was a third-circle mage. That sounded about right. Who else but one already so accomplished would be worthy to apprentice under such a master?

"Who's the mage you were talking about?" Bradley asked.

"I think they'll want me to respect their privacy," she replied. She'd probably already said too much and regretted betraying Lady Amberlin's kindness like this with her big mouth.

"I hope this isn't a sign of something bigger to come," he said.

"You know how in the stories, whenever the big heroes appear, it's always precedes the darkest of times."

"You've been reading too much fiction," she said.

"Real life isn't like that."

"I know it isn't," he replied.

"That's why I'm glad I live in the real world and not a fictional one. Like a story I've been reading about this lady named Amy-Lynn."

"Let's focus on the job," she said.

"I think the main character is based on the regular guild receptionist," he added. She turned to him.

"Really?" After thinking about it further, she ventured, "Do you have a copy on you?" He pulled the pages from his coat.

"I don't have the latest chapter, but this is the one I'm up to." She eagerly accepted the chapter, but it was already too dark to read, and she didn't want to cast [Light] in case it alerted anyone coming through the sewers.

"Can I borrow this to read later?" she asked.

"Go ahead, I've already finished it." She stuffed the paper into her backpack, which lay beside her.

"If you like it," Bradley said, "I hear there's a whole bunch of later chapters out there, but they go first to the people who give the author a couple of coppers every month. I'm really tempted to do it, but I haven't been in this job that long. Maybe once I've paid off my helmet and boots and have some coppers to spare."

"A couple of coppers would hardly pay for the paper," she observed.

"Yeah, this sort of business model would only work if there was a way to get the product out to customers faster," Bradley agreed.

"Like some way to make lots of copies really fast. Or maybe a place where customers can return their copies once they're done with them so that other people can read it."

"You mean like a library?"

"Yeah! A library where people can rent books." They turned their attention back to the sewer. It was getting harder to see, but that was why she was here. As soon as a third-circle mage appeared, she'd be able to sense them by their mana alone. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. In fact she sensed someone approaching right now from another direction. She got Bradley's attention and pointed. The guard stiffened and reached for his blade.

"There's no need for that, young man." She recognized the voice.

"Havlo?"

"From Restford," the confirmation came. Both she and Bradley were able to relax. Havlo still had his mana suppressed to the Tier 2 level just as he had when they'd first met at the guild. It was low enough that as long as he wasn't actively casting a spell, most mages wouldn't notice him at all until he got close unless they were particularly sensitive like her. He joined them under the netting and cast a very weak [Light] to reveal that he'd been carrying something wrapped in cloth.

"What did you bring?" Bradley asked.

"Weapons? Tools?" Havlo smiled and unwrapped the bundle to reveal two wooden meal boxes and then offered one to each of them.

"I thought you'd be hungry," he explained.

"I brought you some pot roast." Evelyn realized that she'd skipped dinner in order to help out with this surveillance job. From the way Bradley was staring at the boxes, she guessed that he had too.

"You're too kind," she said.

"Go on, eat up. I'll keep a look-out." While she and Bradley dug into the meal, Havlo pulled a fabric sheet from his inventory and laid it on top of the netting to further conceal their light from outsiders. It also blocked their view of the sewers, but that didn't matter since he was keeping watch.

"Are there more of you out here?" Havlo asked Bradley.

"Just us two," Bradley replied.

"The captain wanted to keep our numbers low so that we don't draw too much attention. We are only meant to be doing surveillance after all." Once they were done eating, Havlo stowed everything away in his inventory.

"I'm going to keep a watch from another direction," he said.

"This is a good spot, but be sure to keep your head low in case the enemy mage has [Infravision] active. You've got a lot of good cover, so I don't think they can see you, but we can't rule out the possibility they're higher than third-circle and can cast an elevated [Infravision]." It hadn't even occurred to her that they could be dealing with a fourth-circle mage. There were so few of them, and it made no sense for someone with that kind of power to be involved in a kidnapping operation in Lorelark of all places.

"When you sense them, you know what to do, right?" he asked. She nodded.

"Stay out of visual range and follow them using my mana sense. Bradley will be mapping the path."

"I will be following too, and I'll re-establish contact once we reach their hideout. If for any reason you don't hear from me, you know what to do?"

"Return to the city. Don't try to engage." Not that they had any chance against a third-circle mage. Satisfied with their answers, Havlo left them and made his way deeper into the woods. He moved without [Light], so she knew he must have an elevated [Infravision] active, which he must have cast before coming here, as she didn't sense any mana flux from a spell. It was another two bells before Evelyn sensed mana from the direction of the sewer.

She tapped Bradley to let him know, and the two of them focused on the outlet. A third-circle mage was either Tier 5 or Tier 6, and their mana was on a completely different level from her classmates. Even at this distance she could sense where they were in relation to the sewer outlet, coming down the tunnel. This person was definitely Tier 6. A full third-circle, equivalent to a ruby-rank adventure. She feared that even Havlo was going to struggle. She hoped that Lady Amberlin wasn't far away.

It wasn't long before they reached the outlet. Her eyes had gotten used to the dark, and in the starlight she could make out four people jumping out onto the muddy embankment and then proceeding along the river, following it downstream. She and Bradley slipped out from under the net and prepared to follow them. Out of visual range, as Havlo had instructed. Fortunately it wasn't going to be hard to do. This mage was like a shining beacon of mana.

They continued along the river for about a mile before cutting into the woods. She couldn't tell if there was supposed to be a trail. This was the downside of tracking by mana rather than by sight. It was another hour before the mana source stopped moving. She and Bradley closed in until they found themselves looking at the entrance to a cave cut into a small hill. She dimmed her [Light] to the barest level to keep from giving themselves away.

Their instructions were to wait for Havlo, and it turned out that they didn't have to wait long at all as she could already sense his mana approaching from the side. She turned to wave him over but stopped when she felt that something was wrong. This mana was a bit too strong. She grabbed hold of Bradley's arm to warn him, but it was too late. A [Light] sprang up at their feet at the same time as she felt a mana flux from the direction of the approaching mage.

The crunch of footsteps from behind her and also on the other side meant that they were surrounded.

"Thought you were being sneaky, did you?" the mage said. From the voice, it was a woman beneath that hood, whose mana Evelyn judged at the Tier 3 level, making her a second-circle.

"How did you know?" she asked, trying to keep her voice from cracking. Havlo was out there. She just had to buy time for him to arrive.

"[Infravision], my dear." This time the answer came from the cave, from which the third-circle mage now emerged. Beneath the shadow of his hood, Evelyn thought she could see a faint red glow from his eyes. By his side was the fifth member of this merry band. A bard, by the gittar he was holding. And a beastkin, by all the hair on the back of his hands.

"I saw you the moment we left the sewers," the boss mage continued.

"And I had a suspicion you would be following us."

"We were far enough away and concealed well enough that you couldn't have seen us even with [Infravision] elevated to Tier 6," she said. The bandits tensed up, and their hoods all turned to look at their boss. It seemed they expected him to take offense at being questioned. But when he spoke, he sounded more curious than anything.

"That's correct. I'm surprised that someone like you is able to make such an accurate assessment of the capabilities of a Tier 5 spell. What are you, Tier 2? But I suppose you must have a special gift. It's how you were able to follow us all this way, wasn't it?"

"Maybe I do have a gift," she replied.

"And that's why I know you're lying about [Infravision]. You've got another trick that you're hiding."

"This one's got a real mouth on her, doesn't she?" the second-circle mage said. The boss mage turned his hood toward his subordinate, who seemed to shrink back a little. Back to Evelyn, he said, "I wasn't lying about the [Infravision]. Since you're so smart, can you figure out how I did it?" She racked her brain. She only knew about higher-tier spells in brief, in the way that any magic enthusiast would read up on the capabilities of the masters.

Havlo had seemed confident that they wouldn't be seen under that netting. Unless... The blood drained from her face.

"You're at Tier 7." She felt Bradley stiffen at her words. Even he knew what that meant.

"Wrong," the boss mage said.

"You get two more tries. Get it right and I'll spare your life." It didn't escape her attention that he said nothing about letting her go. But as long as she kept him from hurting them, it meant they could wait for rescue.

"You aren't suppressing your mana?" she asked cautiously.

"Why should I?" Then there must be another way. A way to improve [Infravision] beyond its capabilities at Tier 6 without elevating it to Tier 7. But was such a thing really possible? Wasn't that fundamentally what it meant to elevate a spell? If one could get Tier 7 performance at a Tier 6 level, that would upend everything she knew about magic. She couldn't think of what it could be. But instead of admitting that she didn't know, she tried for a trick.

"It's impossible," she said.

"It violates all the fundamental theorems."

"Yet it happened," he replied calmly.

"You have one guess remaining." Was this some cruel joke? Was he just toying with her? Dangling a carrot that he never intended to let her have? Her suspicions must have shown on her face because he said, "I'll give you a hint. Imagine two mages cast [Haste] at Tier 5. I tell you that one runs faster than the other. Can you tell me why?"

"There are lots of reasons," she said.

"The most common is that one has better spell proficiency and mana control, so less mana is lost through flux. The one who casts the spell better gets closer to the full effect and will run faster than the one who does it sloppily." Then she added, "But they still can't exceed the theoretical optimal Tier 5 performance without elevating it to Tier 6."

"Everything you said is technically true," the boss mage said. For the first time, the impatience showed in his voice.

"I want an answer, and I'm not going to accept any more stalling." Where was Havlo? Why wasn't he here yet? Evelyn could feel the moment slipping away from her. There was no answer, and if there was, she wasn't smart enough or knowledgeable enough to figure it out.

"Time's up," the boss mage said with a sigh.

"I knew that the standards of magical education in the human territories was bad, but I never expected it to be truly dismal. All the beastkin would have gotten it right away." He took a step forward and pulled back his hood.

"The answer is innate ability. If you can already see well in the dark, that stacks on top of the boost provided by [Infravision]." But she was only half listening, as all her attention was fixed on the demon horns on top of his head.