Chương 79: Book 2 Chapter 31 - House Council

Kiara was annoyed. Kane was right that his auric pressure didn't truly injure anyone, but it was emotionally jarring and possibly even traumatic for some. She was sick of him battering everyone with it every time she saw him. She wasn't sure why he had even come here today, and wanted to get everyone's thoughts.

"So, what do you all make of what happened today?" she asked.

"With Kane, specifically." Jaden spoke first.

"It was… unsettling, my lady. You seemed familiar with him?" Kiara's face clouded with dislike.

"I've only met him once. At a ball a couple of months ago."

"He made an impression at the ball," Dustin added.

"Very similar to what happened here today." Jaden nodded.

"It was wise to allow him to stay. If we had pressed him, I don't think it would have ended well for any of us." Zoey nodded her agreement. Kiara studied them both momentarily.

"Expand on that for me a bit. If the two of you were to fight a tier 4 like Kane, what chances would you have of winning, or being able to protect the estate staff?" Jaden's face paled, so Zoey answered for him.

"None, my lady." Kiara's eyebrows rose.

"Not even like a smidge of a chance?" Zoey shook her head.

"Not with just the two of us, Lady Yountal. Even without his aura, he is stronger, faster, and more durable than we are. He has more magical concepts developed than we do, and each concept increases the power density of your spells considerably in that area. His mana pool is larger, and his mana channels are thicker, allowing for faster cast times and for more mana to be channelled at once.

"Adding his aura on top of that, we wouldn't even be able to touch him. His aura enhances his own magical attacks and shields, while weakening ours. It also affects our physical abilities, decreasing our strength and mental capacity. It would take quite a few tier 3 mages to take down a tier 4 as strong as Kane. If he were newly advanced to tier 4, it might be a different story." Zoey looked at the ground as she bowed apologetically.

"I'm sorry for my failings, my lady." Kiara snorted.

"You didn't fail at anything. Just because that guy's a jerk, and walks around smacking people with his magic, doesn't make you any less of an amazing mage, house retainer, or guard. I didn't hire you to protect me from Kane, I was mostly just curious how that fight might go."

"You didn't?" Jaden asked in surprise.

"With all due respect, Lady Yountal, as ineffective as we would be, we really are your only line of defense against someone at that level. Or even against other tier 3s." Kiara smiled gently at both of them.

"I hired you to protect my estate, my staff, and even the other guards against threats beyond their own ability to handle, but only if it's within your own ability to handle. If a tier 3 attacks our house, or our people, and I'm not around, it's your job to stand up to them and keep everyone else safe."

"Understood, my lady," Jaden said, bowing. Kiara rolled her eyes mentally. These two were still bowing all the time. Her other staff still treated her respectfully, and oftentimes bowed their heads deferentially when she passed, but most of them had given up on the full body bows unless they were in public. She was sure the new guards would all get used to it eventually.

"Forgive me, Lady Yountal," Zoey said, "but how do you plan to protect the house from Kane, or other powerful threats? I know that today ended without any violence, but he certainly seemed capable of it, not to mention there are other tier 4 mages in Portish, as we expand our operations west." Kiara smiled.

"I'll take care of Kane. You guys worry about everything else." Both Jaden and Zoey looked at her sharply at that comment. Honestly, she wasn't even sure how she would perform in a fight against Kane, but she admitted to herself that she was curious. She didn't know Zoey and Jaden well enough yet to trust them with the secrets she had shared with Dustin, about her being able to nullify magic. Instead, she waved away their surprise.

"I'll take the matter to Count Dremond, if needed. For now, I want you two to focus on improving your skills, and work towards leveling up, if possible." Zoey seemed hesitant, and Kiara could tell she had something to say.

"What's on your mind, Zoey?"

"I uh… I want to level up, Lady Yountal, I really do, but I don't want to rush it. The academy drilled into us the importance of establishing a strong foundation. If I level up too soon, I might stunt my future potential."

"Ah," Kiara responded.

"There's truly no rush. For either of you. I want you to work towards tier 4, but don't compromise your foundation in the process. Just keep working on it, and make progress." She watched as Zoey's face melted in relief. Jaden was more stoic, but also seemed a bit relieved that she wasn't tasking them with rushing something that needed time and careful attention.

"For now, I was mostly curious to hear everyone's thoughts about why Kane might have come here today. It certainly wasn't just to watch our in-house tournament." Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. Dustin cleared his throat.

"Might I suggest a possible reason?" Kiara rolled her eyes at his formality.

"Yes, Dustin, that's literally what I just asked for." He smiled amusedly at her response.

"Well, I think that Baron Norshod is still troubled by the outcome of your tribunal. Maybe in part because of how it turned out, but probably more so due to the fact that he felt pressured to make the decision he did, because of the support of the nobility that we had. I fear that Kane is the baron's way of trying to establish dominance here in Easton." Kiara couldn't quite connect the dots.

"So what, he'll just walk around smashing his aura into everyone's face until people do what Baron Norshod wants?" Dustin shrugged.

"I'm not sure what their plan is, or if they even have one. I'm certain that things will become more clear in the coming months. For now, it may be best to simply wait, and see how things develop. As for his visit today, he may have been trying to startle us, or throw us off balance in some way."

"Or gauge our strength," Captain Soren added.

"How so?" Kiara asked.

"Well," Soren replied, "you said you saw him once at a ball. But that was before you hired all of these new guards. It's a shift in the power dynamics here in Easton, especially if the baron has his eye on you because of your tribunal." Both Dustin's and Soren's suggestions made sense. Kiara thought for a moment.

"Okay. For now, we'll wait, and see how things develop. In the meantime, Zoey, Jaden, you two work on your tier 4 progression." They both bowed in response.

"Captain Soren, make sure they have as much time as they need for that, even if it means taking them out of guard duty rotations."

"Aye, my lady," he replied with a shallow bow of the head.

"Dustin, we have that party at the Norse mansion in a few days, you do whatever it is you do, and see if you can find out what the baron and Kane might be up to." Dustin smiled in response. A large, genuine smile, with all of his teeth showing.

"I'm looking forward to it." Kiara nodded to herself, pondering what else they could do. If it came down to her fighting Kane at some point, she really needed to know what to expect. She knew his aura impacted her stats, and Victor's soul contract had affected her as well. [Personal Spell Negation] really only seemed to protect her from mana-based attacks. She wasn't sure if a tier 3 had anything that she needed to be worried about, but was keen to find out.

She liked Jaden, he was a nice guy, but she trusted Zoey on a deeper level. The girl simply didn't have a deceptive bone in her body. She didn't trust her fully yet, but if she was going to experiment with sparring against a tier 3, Zoey was her first choice. She turned to face her.

"Zoey, would you be open to helping me test something out?" * They travelled a few miles outside the city, to avoid drawing any unnecessary attention. Kiara didn't think she needed to worry about any of her new guards spreading any rumors or information around that would cause her problems, but it was better safe than sorry. Until she better knew her own limitations compared to the other mages in the city, she would take precautions with who she let know about her abilities.

Along the same vein of thought, Kiara wanted to know how she would fare against a tier 3 mage should the need arise. Also, if she had some glaring weakness she wasn't yet aware of, it was better to learn about it while practicing with Zoey, instead of during a life-or-death fight. Zoey had agreed to help without knowing what she was signing up for, and now she was waiting patiently in front of Kiara.

Kiara had picked a location where Zoey could really let loose, without worrying about hurting anyone or destroying any property.

"I want to try a few things out," Kiara began.

"Of course, Lady Yountal," Zoey answered without hesitation.

"Shoot me with a fireball." Zoey stared at her in shock.

"Come again, my lady?"

"A fireball," Kiara repeated.

"Start with something small, just to get used to it. I promise it won't hurt me." Zoey studied her for a moment, then understanding filled her eyes.

"Ah, you have some kind of protective artifact?"

"Mmm," Kiara said, nodding.

"Something like that." Zoey took a few steadying breaths, then conjured what was quite possibly the weakest spell Kiara had ever seen in her life. It was actually quite an impressive display of mana control, she doubted many mages at Zoey's level could let out such a small quantity of mana and shape it into a spell. The fireball meandered, more than launched, until it slowly touched Kiara's chest, where it promptly dissolved.

Interestingly, she noticed that [Personal Spell Negation] seemed to extend past her body just slightly, as the fireball didn't affect her clothes, either. Come to think of it, none of the spells Lord Grivalt had launched at her had done much to her clothes, either. Zoey looked monstrously relieved when the spell fizzled out, and let out a breath she'd been holding.

"Okay, now do it for real," Kiara said.

"Hit me with a real fireball. Really blast me." Zoey narrowed her eyes, but complied. The subsequent spell was the size of a melon, and came at her much more quickly. Still slow enough that she could have dodged it if she wanted, though. That was fine, Zoey was still acclimating. When the spell failed to do anything, Zoey's posture straightened somewhat.

"How much mana does your artifact have imbued, Lady Yountal? Are you certain it won't run out of mana during one of our tests?"

"Oh, I'm quite positive," Kiara replied.

"Now hit me with something real. Hey, hit me with that lighting bolt you used earlier!" Zoey looked troubled.

"How much damage can your artifact soak up in a single blow?" Kiara shrugged.

"So far, I've never had anything make it through. In fact, I fought some tier 2 bandits a few weeks back, and one of them hit me with a massive lightning bolt. I'm curious if yours is stronger." Zoey narrowed her eyes in disbelief." You fought against tier 2 bandits my lady?" Kiara's original contingent of tier 1 guards had all sparred with her back in the day, and they all knew she wasn't really a mortal.

Captain Soren and Estella had both fought alongside her at Lord Grivalt's estate, and both knew what she was truly capable of.

Her new tier 2 guards would likely have an easier time believing she had fought against tier 2 bandits precisely because they were tier 2, and from what Kiara could tell, lacked the magical ability to gauge her own tier, or anyone else's. So far only tier 3s had been shown to have that ability. Zoey, as a tier 3, would see Kiara as a mortal, someone without any magical ability whatsoever. In some ways, she was someone without magical ability. In others, quite the opposite.

The World Engine certainly granted her some magical abilities, and the fact that she could allocate stat points however she chose meant she was considerably faster and stronger than any tier 2 she had met. She was actually curious how she stacked up against a tier 3 in that area. Maybe a demonstration would help ease Zoey's worries about hitting her with a spell.