Chương 85: (B2.21)

21) Leona Vinton The morning was largely uneventful, compared to the evening. Leona barely heard Theodore's words, largely mumbling agreement with everything he said. His thoughts were on what was needed to set up a permanent location here, and she didn't really disagree with him on most of that, so she let him figure things out.

"Are you even listening?" Theodore finally asked, glowering at her. He tapped his finger lightly on the table, making a loud enough noise to draw attention to it while he scowled. The elder mage wasn't used to being ignored. Leona just lifted an eyebrow at him.

"Yes, but I also have other things on my mind. You know the needs of a new branch starting out better than I do, I thought I would just let you flex your superior experience and soak it in." Flattery was something Theodore enjoyed, she knew… but she also knew he was sharp enough to see when it was being done to avoid a problem. He scowled again, but his eyes were thoughtful. After a moment he sighed and pushed himself upward, deciding not to pursue the matter for now.

"It looks like the adventurers are going to make a run on the dungeon," he declared.

"I am going to go observe how the entry is handled. Perhaps you could make yourself useful and scout out a place for our new branch."

"I think they'll want to pick that for us, but I'll see what I can do," Leona answered with a sigh. He was right though… the eager cluster of five youths were already gathering their things and eying the door. She wasn't worried about them, as they looked decently-equipped and well-balanced, if wet behind the ears. She hadn't realized it had been time for a new group.

Leona knew that the dungeon had a schedule so they could wait for it to respawn, but since she hadn't planned on going in there herself she hadn't checked on what it was. Seemed inconvenient to her, but as an academic she wasn't well-suited for dungeon delving, and hadn't gotten a full grasp on how that part of them usually worked. Leona let them all leave, considering how to talk to the ones she'd seen last night.

She couldn't very well pretend not to have seen anything, as the two had laid eyes on her without any invisibility or disguise. She presumed they lived in that little outpost she'd found, and from the way they said things there were others. Why had they been concerned about being found out, though? The common room emptied and Leona pushed her bowl away. Leaning back in her chair, she rubbed at her temples and let out a long sigh. Everything about this situation was deeper and more complicated than it appeared.

Gaspar was not going to be happy to hear about this. Before Leona could stand, she was joined with a heavy thump by the redheaded waitress she'd spoken to before.

"Someone had a pretty adventurous night, didn't they?" Bea asked with a smile, her face warm and eyes twinkling. Leona could swear she looked more energetic and flush with life than she did even before, almost as if she were excited to confront her. Leona stiffened, but given that the conversation she'd heard had clearly been aware of what was going on with her request, she had to assume that this girl knew everything. Not that Leona would admit anything that easily.

"I went out for a bit, it was a beautiful night," she said as casually as she could. Bea smiled.

"Yes, and you ran into two more of my sisters. Hunter and Scout, wasn't it? What did you think of them?" Giving the girl a slow blink, Leona considered the question.

"Pragmatic, but not unpleasant. I can tell you want to remain hidden, but I'm not sure why… yet…" She trailed off, an inkling of an idea in her head, but it was so ridiculous she wasn't sure. Yet the smile Bea had on her face lit up those bright blue eyes underneath the coppery bangs, and the feeling of familiarity hit hard enough that she managed to place it in her memory. An impossible answer but it was an answer.

"Hunter said we'd be revealed eventually," Bea pointed out, unwittingly providing further evidence to Leona's theory.

"Since you haven't told your companion about it, you're still thinking. It would be nice if someone who already knew there were more than two of us could be there to help when it becomes public. Once the road is finished it's going to be easy to get to Onroc, and I'm sure some adventurers will wander where they shouldn't and discover it even if we tried to keep it secret." Leona knew about some of this, but now she had to navigate the rest with guesswork. Fortunately, she was a pretty good guesser…

or so she thought. She grimaced with the idea of the group going public.

"That could be tricky," she admitted.

"You're all free-willed lycanthropes, aren't you? That's why you all look so similar. You're all from the same litter, but you gained human form. I've never heard of it happening that way, but I have heard theories of lycanthropes infecting normal wolves instead of-" Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Bea's peals of laughter cut off Leona's statements, the redhead nearly falling out of her chair.

She held up a hand, shaking her head several times to tell Leona to stop, the other hand clapping over her mouth with stifled giggling. From the kitchen, the innkeeper's wife Lauren leaned out to see what the fuss was about, then just smiled and vanished back to her cookery.

"Is… something wrong?" Leona mumbled, feeling a wave of irritation rise up. She'd thought her theory rather clever. Seeing Bea's eyes had triggered a memory of last night, and the wolf's eyes had been just close enough to make out the color… and full-grown wolves never had blue eyes like that, certainly not bright enough to distinguish in the moonlight. Combine that with the red fur and a full moon that night, and it had seemed obvious to her. Wheezing and catching her breath, Bea fanned herself.

"Oh, sorry. It's just… I see where you got that from, but it ended up being so, so wrong! It's kind of funny, that's all. Our parents aren't werewolves, silly. We're Gabriel Greylan's granddaughters!" She paused for a second and tapped her lip.

"At least, I'm pretty sure our parents aren't werewolves. I think Uncle Anroll would have said something about that by now." Leona felt heat rising in her cheeks. She hadn't been this embarrassed in years! Though a moment later the feeling vanished as more questions entered her head.

"Why would that be revealed? And what does that have to do with last night?" she asked.

"I didn't know he had that many grandchildren."

"He didn't," Bea replied.

"I'm an only child. That's the big secret. That's also what's making your magic surge thingee… you'd have to ask Scholar about that, she's the one that's studying it." The girl gestured off toward the mountain.

"We've been called clones, but I've existed for half a year now. That isn't a clone. We're something else, and even we don't know what we are. We're pretty sure we're the cause of the dungeon, but we don't know why, and we don't know how it works, and we don't want everyone to know because the last thing we want is to fight people who want to figure out how to kill us." The almost casual confession made Leona furrow her brow and lean back, away from the redhead rambling such crazy things to her.

"I saw that wolf's eyes, and you spoke about what happened like you were there," she countered softly.

"If you're just copies of one another, then explain that. What was that wolf? Some kind of summon, then? I didn't detect an aura to match that." Bea shook her head.

"No, you're right, that was me, but I'm the only lycanthrope. And yes, I'm a free-willed one. I only admit this because you know they exist… don't spread it around. I'm trusting you because… well you already know enough to be dangerous. I didn't know they existed until it happened to me."

"Mm," Leona mumbled to herself. Then she nodded slightly.

"It's very rare, but there have been a few cases where the mental alteration didn't stick for some reason. Sometimes it is luck, other times it's a very specific Perk, but it doesn't seem to be something we can predict. I can probably get copies of a few papers on it if you're interested."

"I'm just a girl tending the inn, offer that kind of thing to Scholar," she giggled. Leona shook her head and sighed.

"Right, sorry… I'm not a specialist in that but I can hook you up with someone who might be able to help you. As for your other problem… that sounds fascinating and dangerous, and you're right it will be found sooner or later. I understand what you want, now." She paused and bit her bottom lip.

"Just keep the Greylan connection secret," she advised quietly.

"Theodore has… strong feelings about the family." Bookkeeper Ellen It had only been three minutes—two minutes and forty-seven seconds, to be precise—but Ellen already disliked this man. The mage had a terrible habit of scratching at his beard when he was thinking, and he did so often while looking over the unfinished station that the Ellens had been building outside the dungeon. It was complete enough for Ellen to sit there at a simple table under a roof, but it was still a far cry from being finished.

Doors and shutters and other finishing work still had to be completed. She knew he was a Grand Mage and she shouldn't say anything unless spoken to, but the way he looked over everything was distracting. As much as she tried to concentrate on scribbling down the next day's schedule and expected income, he would inevitably poke or prod something that made just enough noise or motion to distract her. This was incredibly annoying, given Ellen had passed on the Enhanced Focus Perk last Level Up.

Why did she always end up missing the Perk she didn't choose? It must be some law of the universe. It took another full minute before she finally gave up on propriety and spoke up.

"Can I help you?" Ellen asked in a frosty tone that seemed to lower the temperature a few degrees all at once. Even the mage looked startled, turning toward her and lifting an eyebrow.

"I was examining your structure," he murmured.

"Fascinating. Normally the imprints from typical builder Abilities fade within a few days unless some permanent effect has been imbued, but these look fresh, and somewhat unusual. Does that table have an enchantment?" Ellen scowled.

"It's waterproof. This has nothing to do with the dungeon, you yourself should know the region has higher than normal mana."

"Hmm, yes… but where did you hear of that? Have you spoken to any mages?" He leaned forward, staring at Ellen intently. She knew what he was doing. The mage was using some sort of analysis power on her and the structure. She started to get back to work, but then realized she'd missed an obvious opportunity.

With careful and deliberate motions that Ellen made sure the mage saw, she pulled out a sheet of paper and scribbled several numbers on it, then signed it "Ellen Tember" before folding it and handing it to the nosy mage. Ellen went back to her bookkeeping for only a few seconds before she heard the paper unfold, and the expected disbelieving snort from the mage.

"Fourteen marks? What is this invoice for? I didn't set foot in the dungeon!" he exclaimed, anger starting to grow in his voice. His eyebrow twitched and his jaw clenched.

"It's a fine," Ellen said in a mild tone.

"Privacy violation of private building techniques and personal aura reading. As the property owner, I am allowed to restrict use of such Perks and Abilities, provided I can detect their use, under article fourteen, section A, subsection four." She nudged her glasses up and looked directly at the furious mage.

"Unless you'd like to go back to the office in Merriweather and file a grievance?" He did not.