Chương 100: Book 2 Chapter 52 - Hunker Down

After finishing with the upgrade to tier 3, Kiara stood and stretched. She really did feel well rested after bumping up her Sleep Fatigue Resistance stat. Interesting. Once again, it took her a moment to adjust to the sudden increase in Strength, but before long she was moving like normal again. Her mental processing speed had improved considerably as well with the increase to her Mind stat, and she could already tell the difference.

Excited to try out her improved Strength stat, she made her way downstairs and outside. The sun was just beginning to lighten the sky, but hadn't peeked over the mountains yet. It was light enough out to see where she was going, at least, so she started running. She started off with some light sprints, not going all out yet. She realized that the speed she had moved at before the upgrade, which had already seemed so incredibly fast, now seemed sluggish to her, both physically and mentally.

She was able to maintain her previous all-out sprint speed for an extended duration now, and could jog indefinitely at a speed almost as fast as her previous top speed had been. The movements that had seemed so insanely fast before, now seemed normal and moderate. Her new top speeds felt about as fast as they had before, due to her increased Mind stat. She knew instinctively, though, that anyone else watching would have a hard time tracking her movements now at her top speed.

Ecstatic, she giggled joyfully as she ran laps around the estate. She could do a lap around the entire twenty acre estate in around thirty seconds. She felt like she could have gone even faster, but cornering at that speed was somewhat problematic. She realized she needed some open ground so she could really let loose. She made her way outside the city and onto the main road to Portish. She didn't plan to run all the way there, but wanted a clear, straight path of hard-packed ground.

It took a few seconds for her to get up to her top speed, but soon the landscape was flying by at an incredible rate. She realized that if she fell at this speed, she would get seriously injured. She suddenly wished she had put more points into her durability stat. She would need to be extremely careful until she was able to do so. She slowed down to what felt like a comfortable jog, one that she could keep up indefinitely, and ran for a while.

Before long, she fell into the rhythm of the run, and was enjoying herself. The steady steps and breathing was euphoric in a way, and she ran further than she had originally intended. Half an hour later, she started seeing landmarks that she associated with being near the halfway point to Portish. That meant she was likely travelling at a speed of around 100 miles per hour, and it was a pace that she felt she could keep up for hours on end.

It was still early, and the sun was still making its way up over the mountains. She didn't want to miss breakfast, so she turned around and made her way back home. * About two weeks later, both of Kiara's parents formed their mana cores and advanced to tier 1. Belliston indicated that their advancement speed was on the slow side, and he lumped them in with the other servants who had advanced to tier 1 that didn't get any extra tutoring from him.

So far, he had only shown a special interest in Ava's advancement speed. For the others who advanced, he simply guided them on what exercises they should do to work towards their tier 2 advancement, and that's where his private tutoring had ended. It was up to them to do the work to advance, and if they did, they would need to seek instruction at a magic academy if they wished to continue progressing. Kiara wasn't sure why he was so adamant that he only teach the beginning stages of instruction, but he was.

Something about the work being too complicated at that point, and him being too old to deal with it. Luckily, Zoey and Jaden felt more comfortable helping teach mana handling and mana control exercises to the students that had already formed their mana cores, although they did say that attending a magic academy would be worlds better than what they could help with.

Kiara wasn't naive enough to think that it was pure coincidence that all three of her family members seemed to have an unusual affinity for magic while plenty of the other staff never formed a mana core. She wondered if this was another spill-over benefit from the World Engine having messed up her life by mis-timing her original death, or if her family always had a hereditary affinity for magic that they hadn't known about.

Reaching tier 1 wasn't some huge achievement in the overall path of power tiers, but it was statistically unlikely, as only around 30% of the other servants had achieved it. Only a percentage of those that reached tier 1 ever reached tier 2, so getting there would put her family members in a very small minority of the population. Ava was almost certainly going to get to tier 2, and was well on her way. Both of her parents seemed to feel like they would get there someday as well.

Kiara didn't know what it felt like, but the general consensus she had heard from mages was that you kind of knew once you had plateaued. You felt it deep down, that you had reached your personal peak, and could go no further. That was one of the reasons Jaden was still working so hard towards his tier 4 advancement, he felt deep down that he could get there. So the fact that all three of her family members seemed likely to reach tier 2 someday was noteworthy.

* Kiara entered Dustin's study for their monthly reporting meeting. It was early afternoon, a bit earlier than they normally would have had the meeting, but Dustin had asked if she could meet earlier today. He had some urgent matters to discuss. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Dustin's face was uncharacteristically serious, lacking the usual hint of a lively smirk.

He was sitting at his desk when she came in, and took a moment to finish sealing a letter he was working on before turning to her. Kiara had settled into a nearby couch while she waited. One of the house servants was standing by, and Dustin handed him a small stack of letters, the House Yountal logo pressed firmly into a wax seal on each one.

"Hand these to the courier in town as soon as possible. Pay for express delivery, and indicate that we'd like them all received by today." The servant, also uncharacteristically somber, due to Dustin's mood, accepted the stack of letters, bowed, and exited, closing the door behind him. The last few weeks in Easton had grown increasingly tense as the three-way feud of the upper class grew to a rolling boil.

Many parts of the city had stopped functioning altogether, and Kiara knew it would be a central topic of their discussion tonight. Dustin moved from his desk to a couch near Kiara, flopping down with a sigh.

"It's getting pretty bad out there. We've had to close three more shops in the past few days alone. The Benson district is pretty much a no-man's land at present. The fighting is spilling out into nearby areas as well, people are starting to hole up in their homes to wait it out."

"Should we?" Kiara asked.

"Hunker down, I mean?" Dustin massaged his temples and made a noncommittal noise.

"Mmm, tsk. Yeah, it's probably best if we do." He gestured towards the door where the servant had just left.

"I get letters every single day from other houses, asking which side we're on, begging for support. I've had to be firm in our stance of neutrality. Nothing good can come from getting involved in something like this. It would only stoke bad feelings and make future dealings with the other houses more difficult." Kiara mused on that for a moment.

"I do wish there was something we could do to help." Dustin paused and stared at her.

"Help who? Help how? Anything we do will be seen as an act of aggression towards two thirds of the city." Kiara furrowed her brows.

"Hmm, that's true. Could we call for some kind of public meeting, an intervention where we arbitrate some kind of solution?" Dustin shook his head.

"That's the baron's job, something he should have done months ago." He sighed.

"He has been steering clear of any public involvement far more staunchly than anyone, except maybe ourselves. Any attempt we made to try and mediate would look like an attack on the baron's authority, and even if it wasn't, I doubt anyone would listen. We have a lot of social capital here in Easton, but not that much. There's too much on the line for these houses." Kiara nodded.

"I understand. So how do we keep our people safe?" Dustin stood to grab a paper from his desk, then handed it to her. It was a map of the city, with some points marked on it.

"These are the locations of our storefronts. The ones that I've already closed are marked with red. At this rate, they'll all be closed by next week." He searched through some papers before handing her another.

"Here are the addresses of the employees that don't live here at the estate. Maybe the ones that are closest to the danger zones should be invited to live here temporarily. We could set up tents and cots in the yard once the servant quarters are full." Kiara looked over the list. There were just over a dozen homes, and a total of ten storefronts here in the city, seven of which were already marked with red.

Two of the three that were still open were far enough from the Benson district that Kiara was surprised they might close down. The other was in the heart of the Benson district, and she found it odd that it wasn't closed already.

"You think we'll need to close these other three down as well?" she asked. Dustin nodded.

"The fighting and riots started in the Benson district, but it's spilling out now, with increased distance and frequency. Small groups of ruffians have started roaming the streets city wide now, especially at night. The trouble they're causing will bring reinforcements from the other houses and their allies." Kiara ran a hand through her hair. Things were escalating faster than she would have imagined.

A few weeks ago, the 'fighting' was still mostly verbal between the three houses, and any of the actual violence had been small skirmishes contained to a small portion of the city. It seemed that things had past some kind of breaking point now.

"And what about this other shop here in the Benson district?" she asked curiously. Dustin's face turned grim.

"Ah. That one we haven't been able to reach."

"What do you mean?" Kiara asked in alarm.

"Once the real fighting broke out, I started pausing operations at the nearby shops, but that one is in the heart of House Goren's territory. Err… the territory they've staked out ever since this all started. I've been working with them in a diplomatic fashion, trying to gain access, but they've locked us out of the area.

"They promised me no harm would come to our store or our employees there, and up until a few days ago I didn't want to press. Now that real violence has begun spreading throughout the city, though, I'm pretty worried. Hopefully the store employees made the decision on their own to lock up the shop and stay in their homes, but I can't be sure. Even if they did, I'm worried now about their well-being, even in their homes." Kiara was confused.

"What do you mean they locked us out?" Dustin shrugged.

"They won't let me or any of our guards through. I guess we could fight our way in, but that seemed unwise. I sent Jaden to see if he could convince them to let him in by flexing his high tier, but House Goren and their allies have a few tier 3 retainers of their own, and they wouldn't let him in, either." Kiara narrowed her eyes. She felt like they were being bullied, and she didn't like that.

"Okay," she said, "I'll see what I can do."

"Huh?!" Dustin asked with a look of alarm.

"I wasn't suggesting you should go over there." She waved away his concern with her hand.

"It's fine, I won't do anything stupid." He stared at her.

"I promise," she added, seeing his face.

"I'll be on my best behavior. In the meantime, let's invite any of our employees to come live here temporarily that want to. How long would it take to get tents set up in the yard like you suggested?" Dustin did some quick mental planning.

"Mmm, probably only a day or two. I'm sure anyone who wishes to come stay here before then could sleep in the dining hall. I'll prioritize getting clots or bed rolls first, then tents second, that way anyone that gets here early isn't sleeping on the ground." Kiara nodded.

"How long will our food stores last if we really do have to lock ourselves in?"

"Months," Dustin replied.

"Plus, we have the fruit trees on the grounds to help supplement if needed. The stream that runs through the grounds gives us access to plenty of fresh water, so that won't be a concern either. If it even comes to that."

"Perfect," Kiara said.

"Anything else we would normally discuss in our monthly report, let's save it until next month. I want to start working on this as soon as possible." Dustin nodded his agreement.

"Perhaps I'll close down those other two stores prematurely, just to be on the safe side."

"I'm going to go see if Lord Goren will let me in to see our people in the Benson district," Kiara said.

"Once I'm back, let me know if there were any other problems reaching any of our other employees and I'll see what I can do." Dustin locked eyes with her one more time.

"Be careful, Shian." She smiled.

"When am I not?" He didn't deem that question worthy of a response.