Chương 546: It's not always Sunny in Gadobhra

Diego had, for his last three decades, judged days by how much his joints hurt as he went to bed. It was a silly thing to think about, but his days of daring raids on slavers, revolutionary cells, and rogue warlocks were long in the past. His adventures had become fishing expeditions into piles of reports and paperwork, looking for the irregularities that would show him the signs that told him when to send a younger man to investigate, and when to send a battalion.

And while he still found his share of people actively working against the Emperor, it was far from exciting. And so, a good day became when he was well enough to walk through the halls and streets to a dinner at a favorite place in the Capital. A bad day was sending a servant for soup and eating it in his small room, followed by a hot bath and bed. His quiet, semi-retirement had ended with a bell tolling the awaking of Gadobhra, and a stormy night when he had met a young Courier from an interesting family.

While his joints still hurt these days, it was from dodging monsters as he roamed about Gadobhra, or was dragged into one of Benjamin's adventures. Luckily, those adventures, strenuous and dangerous as they were, had come with some lovely enhancement points and enough levels to advance past the third tier, something he hadn't thought to achieve in his lifetime. His joints rarely hurt now, there was a spring in his step, and he felt more alive than ever. Especially during the most recent encounter with the Old Wolf.

He was still amazed to be alive, let alone to be working to ensure that a grand statue of the wolf was erected in Sedgewick. Ben's desperate plan to appeal to Wolf's vanity had paid off in more ways than one. Not only was Sedgewick safe for a time, but from the reports the Shepherd was providing him every two days, Winter had a new foe to deal with. Diego smiled, thinking of just how annoying an opponent the Wolf was, and how glad he was to have him pointed at someone else.

The Wolf and he would always be foes, but not this season. And it was good that things were stable in Sedgewick for the moment. A message had come to him, and today and he had another job. He needed to travel far and fast, so rather than walking to Rowan Keep and using the teleporter from there, he made the quick trip from Sedgewick to Gadobhra. The sun was shining down, with only a few clouds in the sky. Those dark clouds were hovering above the ACME building and pelting it with lightning every hour or two.

He had spoken to the academics in their new school about that, coming away with a dozen conflicting theories. They all agreed that it had started with the construction of the arcane apparatus they used to channel the storm mana from the clouds to charge the Baron's squad of golems. What they couldn't quite explain was how the weather patterns had changed. A day didn't go by without a storm of some kind forming and pelting the city.

He strolled down the main road, past the ACME building, to the impressive teleport stone set behind the ACME tower and between the two Collegiums. He looked from one to the other, smiling and shaking his head. Only in Gadobhra could these strange outcasts come together and forge such institutions of higher learning. He'd had quite a few interesting conversations with some of them, and once he'd come to Johannes with questions about a strange case that no one in the inquisition had any idea how to solve.

The tall professor had looked at all of the clues and solved the case for him in an hour.

"It's elementary, my dear professor. The bottles in the spice rack are not all culinary ingredients. Fish scales, mealworms, and Catfish Oil are quite out of place in the kitchen, but not in my laboratory. Someone was concocting a Potion of Piscian Transformation. Lord Baltingham was an avid angler who loved to eat his own catch. But according to his physician, his gout was acting up. The cook didn't attend the Fish Market that day, and there were no visitors to the estate. Yet the meal that night was baked salmon.

I would arrest Lady Baltingham, the physician, and the cook before someone else is served for dinner." He'd been right, and the Barony of Baltingham would be holding a coronation for the new Baron this month. He hadn't been invited. Just as well, he was quite busy these days. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. Two men were taking measurements with the strange, mechanical devices that engineers always packed around.

They greeted him as he walked up slowly. The smaller of the two, named Vladimir, and obviously of non-human descent, gave him a half-bow.

"How can we aid you today, Inquisitor? A small trip somewhere? Or do you need a message sent through?"

"A trip, if you please. I need to get to the Capital, the closest destination to the Imperial Palace that can be arranged. Official business, so please charge the cost of the mana to the Inquisition. I'll be on my way when it is convenient for you." The larger of the two, Junior Engineer Bamfbuzzle, smiled, showing his large, white teeth. The man had an enormous nose, half hidden by a bushy red mustache.

His engineer's goggles were always firmly in place, and he had a small patch on his coveralls that read Safety First.

"Well, for such an important person, I think it's acceptable to pull rank and insist on the next opening. I'm sure someone will complain, but what good is power if you can't abuse it?" Diego actually was in a hurry, but hated to appear so. An old man on a leisurely trip was nothing. An Inquisitor using his rank would make someone take notice.

"I'm just an old man, with no power to speak of, let alone abuse."

"HA! I wasn't talking about you. I referred to my ability to cut off their flow of mana until they begged on their hands and knees and apologized. You're an important man, and I'd love to force an emergency teleport down their throats." Vladimir cleared his throat, "As much fun as that would be, Junior Engineer, I think we can handle this politely. I see an opening coming up in twenty minutes, would that be acceptable, Inquisitor?"

"That's just fine, I'll sit over on that bench, in the sun. We rarely get a nice day lately." Diego crossed his arms and pretended to sleep, a simple trick that had worked so many times. Back at the teleport stone, the two men began to argue.

"Idiot! We are laying low, remember? You know who that is."

"Oh, I know. I was debating where to send him. I think somewhere in the western ocean is the best, or the Wasteland of Typhon."

"What? NO! I forbid it. My wives are finally settled. If he disappears, someone else will come looking. Most likely your own nephew."

"Hmmmm, that might be difficult. I wonder if I could convince Ben to go after Diego in the Wasteland? Travel is always good for the young."

"Is this another plan where you disappear anyone who comes looking? Those never work?"

"That doesn't mean I have to stop trying! That's an Inquisitor!" Vladimir pointed to Diego.

"Who is an old man with failing eyesight, who has been fooled by your terrible disguise. He's actually the best Inquisitor we could get. Seriously, you're just bored. You have everything you could want for. A massive laboratory, the Baron's protection, and a city filled with monsters to experiment on. Even a few interesting people. Tell me you didn't have fun blowing up Daemons with the new explosion maker." Damien scowled, then laughed.

"It was fun. We need to make a half dozen of them, give them to a group of adventurers, and let them test them out in a dungeon. What could go wrong?" Vladimir rejoiced to have turned the situation around. Even mentioning the possibility of moving would have his wives tossing flames at him. They were growing quite attached to their quaint house in this little town.

"That's the spirit. We'll start as soon as we get the old man on his way. I'll go wake him, you can threaten the idiot at the other end and set up the teleport. But I'll be double-checking your work."

"Are you in your paranoid phase again?"

"With you? Always."

"Good. I worry about you going soft on me." Within minutes, Diego found himself stepping down from a teleport pad near the main gate of the Imperial Palace. A trio of mages went from annoyed to scared as they saw that it actually was a High-Level Inquisitor. Two of the Emperor's bodyguards appeared from out of nowhere, flanking Diego as he walked. Captain Darman nodded once to the mages, then said, "He's waiting for you."

"Well then, lead on, please. I'm anxious to see what I can do for the Emperor today."