Chương 302: Limitless Path Chapter Three Hundred Twenty-Six

Beth stood and immediately found herself confronted by the Young Scions, or rather, D and Andryn tried to move towards her before both being tripped backwards by Tera. The old woman walked by the two boys as they tried to disentangle themselves from the chairs they had fallen over while she approached Beth and Mortaine.

"You finally remembered there's a normal universe out there, you daft codger," Tera said, swinging her cane in Mortaine's vague direction as she stopped in front of them. Even though she affected a slightly stooped posture, she was still head and shoulders taller than any in Beth's group, looking down at Mortaine to speak to him.

"I do pay attention to what's happening," Mortaine said, only drawing a snort from Tera.

"I see you two have gotten caught up in it again," Tera continued, promptly ignoring Mortaine.

"It's no wonder, considering the company you keep."

"I resemble that remark," Mortaine said in a lively tone, holding up a single finger as if to signal it was him.

"What do you mean we've 'gotten caught up in it?'" Beth asked Tera, also ignoring Mortaine.

"Well, well. If he hasn't deigned to tell you anything, far be it for me to ruin the surprise," Tera said calmly. Instead of getting angry at Tera, Beth turned to glare at Mortaine until he wilted, dropping the finger he was still holding up and saying, "Yes, well, there are some extenuating circumstances. Surely, you didn't think I had you come over here just to kill a few beasts?"

"Well, I mean, it's what I'm good at?" Beth replied perplexed, scratching at her temple.

"There's more than one reason to be here," Val said, joining the conversation.

"Everything's gotta be complicated," Beth muttered.

"Not so complicated," Val said, glancing over her shoulder to see that Blue Wave had distracted the boys for the moment. Turning back, she said, "This is a big operation and contest being conducted by a major power of the Milky Way, so of course there are plenty of us here for the publicity. Beyond that, the prizes, as mentioned before, are pretty significant for just two months of work."

Val looked around a bit before leaning in and whispering conspiratorially, "I've heard, through someone, that the United Stellar Hegemony got their hands on an interesting artifact. An artifact, apparently, that might be too hot for them to handle, though I haven't heard more than that."

"And that's why all these old monsters are here?" Beth asked with a raised brow.

"One of the reasons, for sure," Val nodded calmly.

"Where's your gaggle of reporters, by the way?" Beth asked, scanning the room.

"Oh, they're here, never fear," Val replied with a brittle edge to her tone and a long sigh.

"You should tell them to fuck off more often, if they make you sound and feel like that," Beth said.

"I'm committed to seeing this through," was Val's only reply.

"That's quite enough, Granddaughter," Tera said, though her voice was calm. Val nodded and turned to corral the other three, Beth a little surprised that they were the picks for this event. She would assume the stoic sword Expert Tyrael would have been a better choice, but she didn't really want much to do with the Young Scions as long as they were a publicity circus. She gave Val a wave as Tera finished berating Mortaine and turned to shoo her four charges out the door.

Beth turned back to Mortaine, who seemed to be lost in thought, before asking him a question.

"Say, Mortaine, is there a way to bet on this?"

"Bet on this?" he echoed a little dazedly before focusing.

"If you mean, is there a way to bet on the outcome of the competition, then of course there is."

"Cool. How do I do that?" Beth asked.

"I am not sure I want to encourage such behavior but let us make a stop before heading to our lodging," he said, turning and leading them out of the hall. He walked briskly and confidently as he led them through the drab building, appearing to know exactly where they were and exactly where they were going. They left the building entirely, Beth finding they were in a drab part of an industrial-looking city.

Many of the cities she had been in while traveling the Milky Way had some real beauty to them, certain sections being more focused on beauty and comfort than cold, economical functionality. Not so for this city, as everything was sharp lines, harsh angles, and brutal efficiency. It wasn't the worst she'd ever seen, but there was little greenery, few places to stop and relax, and little ornamentation.

"While I am all for stopping to admire the roses, there are no roses here, so let us be about it," Mortaine said with a chuckle, snapping Beth out of her observations.

"It's just a bit grim," Beth said.

"Not every planet is wealthy," Mortaine commented.

"Nor is the wealth evenly distributed everywhere." If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

"That's nothing new, sadly," Beth replied with a slight frown.

"Best not to get too bogged down in politics if you don't have to," Mortaine replied.

"If there's something too out of pocket happening, the CRA will interfere, and that's always nasty business. Best to just stay in your lane if your hand isn't forced."

"That's a depressing take," Beth replied.

"It's a realistic take," Mortaine explained.

"If you want to crusade for people's rights, get stronger and get to Platinum or Diamond in the CRA. They'll send you out to crack some imperial heads at that point."

"Does not sound fun," Beth said.

"A lot of necessary things are not fun," Mortaine commented mildly. He led them to a large building on the outskirts of the city with quite a few guards loitering about, though Beth gave them a long side-eye. The group gave off a rather… unsavory appearance, though she knew that one shouldn't judge a book by its cover. Still, the sloppy look to their clothes and armor, disheveled appearance, and lackadaisical attitude didn't inspire a lot of confidence, unless it was confidence that she could kick their asses.

Not that she would need to worry about that with Mortaine nearby, as he would likely be all too amused to send anyone threatening into a dimension filled with only bubbles. They entered the blocky, square, utilitarian building to find a huge front room taking up more than half the first floor, supported by thick, square pillars. There were quite a few people gathered in the hall, many in small groups that cast constant, suspicious glances at those around them.

Counters were set up at the rear of the room and in both of the back corners along the side walls, small lines of people waiting at each of them. Mortaine led the way to a specific counter and Beth was unsure of how he always seemed to know exactly where to go, though knowing him, he had some kind of skill that could peer through dimensions to see things about a person that no one else was able to see.

The line moved very quickly, allowing them to get to the attendant, if the messy and glowering elf was even an attendant, in short order. He simply glared at them, and Mortaine turned and looked to Beth, gesturing for her to go ahead. She took another step forward, frowning at the man's glower, but decided to ignore it for now.

"You do bets here?" Beth asked, glancing at Mortaine.

"How'd you get in here without even knowing that?" the elf snarked back.

"That wasn't a yes or no, asshole," Beth sniped.

"Yes, bitch, we handle bets," the elf growled.

"I'd like to bet on a team for the upcoming competition," Beth said, crossing her arms as she glared at the dude.

"What team and how much?" the elf asked, his voice taking on a much more rote feel and tone.

"Our team," Beth said, pointing back and forth between herself and Blood.

"Your…team?" the elf said, glancing between the two of them and looking a little lost.

"Who are you again?"

"Beth and Blood Bell," Beth explained.

"We're a team for the competition."

"And who's sponsoring you?" the elf asked incredulously, eyebrows at his disheveled hairline.

"Mortaine," Beth said, gesturing at the man. At the elf's continued blank look, she said, "The Lord of Traversal? Heard of him?" The man glanced back and forth between Beth and Mortaine, his eyes slowly widening, and Beth figured she wasn't exactly dealing with the sharpest tool in the entire toolbox. He scrabbled to get some documents out then, reading through them and glancing a few times at Mortaine surreptitiously as he did so.

When he confirmed whatever he wanted to confirm, he got another paper out and tapped something on a small tablet he had on his right on the counter.

"Alright, got it. What bet and what amount?" he asked.

"I'm betting on a top five finish, if there are odds on that?" Beth first confirmed.

"Yes, that's a betting pool," the man nodded.

"What are the current odds on that, if I can ask? Want to know what's worth betting."

"For you, an unknown team? Even with the illustrious Lord of Traversal's sponsorship, you ain't got a chance in hell of makin' top ten. It'll be fifteen to one for you getting top five," the elf replied with a slight smirk.

"Then I'm going to bet on my team making top five. I'd like to bet five mithril on it," Beth said calmly.

"F-five mithril?!" the elf squeaked.

"Did I stutter?" Beth said.

"No, uh, it's just…that's a lot, even for someone so well-connected," he replied nervously.

"But, you can handle it, right?" Beth asked with a frown.

"Yeah, no problem, we can process it," the elf said. Beth made five mithril coins appear on the counter, holding her hand over them while the elf processed the paperwork. Eventually, he handed her a paper, her receipt for the transaction, and took the five coins from her. Beth reviewed the receipt and noted the signature and terms, making the receipt disappear into her storage when she was satisfied.

"Pleasure doing business with ya," the elf said with a huge grin.

"I'm surprised you didn't bet on yourself for the top spot," Mortaine said mildly.

"I didn't want to be too cocky," Beth said, still at the counter and grinning at the elf, who was now wilting a bit listening to their conversation.

"Well, you've just made quite a bit of coin," Mortaine said drily, the elf at the counter looking decidedly nervous now.

"Gotta take the easy wins somewhere," Beth said with a shrug, giving the elf one last glance. Mortaine led them back out of that fine establishment, heading across the city again to find where they would be staying for the night. He had a place booked as, despite his wealth and influence across the galaxy, he didn't own places in every city or on every world. He did rent quality, however, as the suite very much reminded Beth of the one on the Battle World, only bigger, as Mortaine was staying with them tonight.

He would stay with them until they were dropped on the world, and then show up some time a couple months later to pick them up after the competition. That night passed quickly, and they followed Mortaine to the spaceport the next day after spending a little time in the suite relaxing. The spaceport was its own beast, but not quite in the way that Beth might have expected.

As they were still on-planet, there weren't any massive ships at the port as many of them weren't capable of atmospheric entry or even landing on a surface. The spaceport wound up largely being airships that could go exoatmospheric and shuttles. The place they went to first was a large landing area with four gleaming white shuttles sitting on pads.

They were met by one of the people in blue robes and led to one of the shuttles immediately, finding it nearly full of other participants, though it was still a little before the meeting time. It seemed they were simply leading people to one shuttle first to fill it before having it take off, and it wasn't long before two more groups were led onboard, sitting in the spacious cab amongst the comfortable seats.

The shuttle launched with almost no feeling of inertia or movement, rapidly leaving the atmosphere and heading towards a starship the size of a small town. Beth looked up the specs on her communicator, finding the ship was nearly a mile long, more than five hundred feet wide at its widest, and over two hundred feet high. The amount of resources used in such a juggernaut was staggering, and the whole thing ran off a combination of advanced technology and magic.

The shuttle moved into a bay at the rear of the ship that was the size of a large building, located near the engine nacelles that were equally enormous. They landed on a pad at the rear of the shuttle and disembarked to find the bay doors still open, Beth stopping to admire a view of the planet from high in orbit. The clouds in particular were striking, like huge piles of cotton and daub drifting through the sky, hundreds of miles wide and miles high.

The oceans had a greenish hue in their blue color, and the cities showed up as a massive web-work of lights and square segments. Beth was also interested to find that her increased visual acuity let her see more details and made the view of the world crisper and even more beautiful. She turned after a minute and followed the others into the heart of the ship, finding that they were taken to a middle deck near the front of the massive construct.

It was clearly an area for guests to be transported in luxury, an area that was well away from the bridge and other vital areas of the ship. The whole front of that deck was split into a handful of large common areas with suites branching off of those. Whether it was chance, or people had arranged it that way, one of the other suite occupants was Val and her team.

The common area was ridiculous in consideration that it was on a damn starship, with couches and individual seats that were incredibly plush and immaculately upholstered. Yet again, Beth was glad that she had the storage item, as she didn't have anything to unpack. If she needed to change or do anything with any of the items she owned, she only had to think about it.

And thinking about it, she did need to do laundry soon, but it was probably better to wait until after the thirty days on an unsettled planet before taking care of all the cleanup. She stuck her head in their suite to check it and the few bedrooms before returning to the lounge and sitting on a couch beside Blood, waiting for people to get settled.