Chương 32: An Unexpected Visit

Ch 32: An Unexpected Visit Our strangest night on Navar occurred after the tournament opening. Lathara knocked on our door when the school was quiet in the middle of the night, and when Sahirah and I realized what was happening, we had already been convinced to follow her outside the school wearing just our sleeping clothes. What prevented the whole thing from becoming too weird was that Lathara herself was also wearing something fluffy and not her teacher robe.

We continued following her in silence, and when the cold night breeze started to get annoying as we left the school building, Principal Zorik's loud voice broke the silence of the night.

"This is ridiculous," he said.

"Being the Mayor doesn't give you the right to show up uninvited in the middle of the night and demand a meeting with two of my students." When we finally crossed the large school gate, our gazes landed on Zorik who was gesticulating wildly as he screamed at the closed door of a floating vehicle. Inside Fernik seemed to be calmly listening to the Principal throw a fit, completely indifferent.

And since the Mayor was speaking at a normal loudness, his voice was too low for us to hear at this distance, so the principal's voice was all we heard.

"Just a meeting? You have no idea how much this meeting will cost me, Fernik," Principal Dickhead said.

"Those two need to be rested for their first fights in the evening, and if they lose because of this meeting, you can be certain I won't forget it. And believe me, I know how to hold a grudge!" With how butthurt Zorik was acting toward me for something another human had done twenty years ago, I totally believed he could hold a grudge.

When we got close enough that the individual runes etched on the surface of the two large circular slabs holding the vehicle suspended in the air became visible, both the principal and the mayor noticed our arrival.

"Eric and Sahirah," said the mayor from inside his vehicle, "I wish our second meeting could have happened under normal circumstances and at a normal time, but unfortunately something terrible occurred in one of the inns earlier tonight, and I'm hoping to get some advice from the two of you as fast as I can." Zorik interjected faster than I could reply, "Advice from those two? That has to be a joke. Lathara and I were the ones who drove the Mimic Queen away.

They just ran for their lives and yet got full pay for it." I took a deep breath.

"About that–""We never agreed to kill a Mimic Queen! And Zorik knows that but pretends that it's not true when it's convenient for him!" Sahirah cut me off, and then she stared at me apologetically, proving to me once more her words could be as sharp as her teeth, and how glad I should be that I was rarely the target of her fury. I smirked.

"Just like she said." Lathara shook her head, but despite her usually serious facade, I noticed a trace of amusement on her face. Principal Dickhead stared at us angrily as if about to shout at us, but the mayor spoke before he could.

"I believe you," he said, "and that's why I'm asking you for a brief private meeting. Do you mind coming inside?" Fernik immediately opened the back door of this wooden-framed hovering vehicle, and I instantly saw a driver in the front seat. What surprised me was that it didn't seem to have a steering wheel. Instead, it seemed to be guided by mana injection through a pair of input magic circles, one on the left and one on the right.

The other controls, like the throttle and brakes, likely worked through similar mechanisms hidden where the pedals would normally be. As my mind wandered through the technical aspects, Principal Dickhead decided to refuse the invitation in our place.

"You don't have the authority to invite students of my school to your private transport. If you take them outside school property, I'm within my rights to summon the city guards and demand your arrest." For the first time, I noticed the face of Mayor Fernik gaining a few sharp lines, his forehead frowning and his greyish lips pressing against each other. He left the vehicle and gestured for us to come inside.

"Rest assured, Zorik. We won't leave the school property." Sahirah asked me with a glance if we should go in, and I just grabbed her hand and slowly got us inside the floating vehicle. Sahirah immediately inspected the leather seats, basically two expensive couches facing each other, excluding the driver's seat at the head of the vehicle.

We chose the one at the back, and Sahirah adjusted her posture and got herself comfortable beside me, perhaps deciding in her head that we needed to buy ourselves one of those things in the future. I looked for seatbelts, but when I didn't find any, I simply wrapped my arms around Sahirah, hoping the Greys were better drivers than humans, and generously assuming this was why they never invented seatbelts.

Well, that or this thing had hidden safety features I couldn't detect, because a collision in a vehicle with a wooden frame was far from appealing. Mayor Fernik smiled at us from the outside, and after a brief victorious glance at Zorik, he also came inside, pulling the window shut while locking eyes with the principal. The driver didn't need to be told to get moving. He started the vehicle before the Mayor had even gotten himself comfortable in the seat across from us. Reading on this site?

This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Instead of saying anything, I turned around, and I got to see Lathara returning to the school, while Zorik seemed determined to stay alone outside. Maybe it was an attempt at ensuring Mayor Fernik would keep his promise to not leave the school property. Well, it wasn't like he needed to do that, given that Fernik couldn't really take us outside the range of the translation spell, or else this meeting would instantly become useless.

"I'm not here to ruin your sleep, so I hope you don't mind if I skip the small talk," he said. I nodded, already curious about the reason for this late visit.

"I believe the two of you know more than I do about the school tournament and all the wealthy people who traveled across the continent to visit Serenity Valley.

"But one thing you two are unaware of is how this sudden influx of people is causing trouble for the city as we try to hunt the Mimic Queen with all the inns full because of this tournament." The mere mention of that level 402 monstrosity sent my mind to the past, memories of Niori's old body with that glowing worm inside her throat inviting themselves to the present.

"Tonight," said Fernik, "the oldest son of Lord Krosak was killed after his escort was defeated in battle. And a powerful staff of the highest grade that was gifted to their family by an archmage had been stolen."

"If we're here," I said, "it means you believe it was the Mimic Queen who did it."

"Why would a Mimic want a fancy item?" Sahirah asked. Fernik smiled at us, crossing his arms as the driver made a sharp turn around the school, Sahirah leaning against me as I supported both our weights.

"Simple," he said.

"With a body that meditated for a lifetime and a casting item that was a gift from an archmage, I don't think even my chief guard could defeat her alone anymore, and out of everyone currently living in my city, only the archmage stationed here in this school could easily eliminate her threat for good." This strong? I exchanged a look with Sahirah, realizing that if that monster still remembered us and decided to come pay a visit, we would be truly screwed.

Summoning Lathara would not be enough anymore, and perhaps our only chance would be hoping I was valuable enough to Elitha to the point where she might decide to intervene personally.

"So..." I said.

"Why are you talking to us instead of knocking on that tower's door and trying to get Elitha's help?" I knew the archmage well enough by now to know she would not just kill someone for a stupid reason, and even if I suspected that Fernik would be utterly ignored, the attempt still felt like the right thing to do for someone in his position. He let out a hard huff.

"You think I haven't tried?" he said.

"I offered her a fortune, but the only reply I got was being teleported back to my vehicle without my clothes in an undignified manner." Sahirah couldn't control herself and laughed, immediately covering her mouth. I was thankful when Fernik remained indifferent to her faux pas, and simply waited until she managed to swallow that cute laughter with a few too many sharp teeth showing.

"If I'm understanding this correctly," I said, pretending that the laughter incident hadn't happened.

"You're paying us a visit because you think we're your second-best shot at solving this unfortunate situation." A smile covered his face.

"The third-best option. The city's best spell maker is also traveling with his family and I would be seeking him if he weren't on another continent."

"Third best is fine for three months on Navar." What I didn't say was that third was more than fine. It was flattering enough to make me feel very good about myself. I cleared my throat, and said, "How many copies of my system do you want?" The Mayor's posture relaxed, his back leaning fully against his seat.

"My associates in the school did some digging," he said.

"They told me Zorik is certain you have two versions of your detection spell. I'm interested in the version you used during the extermination attempt." Damn. How could he know so much? Sahirah gently held my hand from above, asking me without words if I really was going to sell the privacy invasion version of the system to the mayor. Under the pressure of both Sahirah and the mayor's gaze, I gave it some thought. There was a simple solution.

I could likely design the spells in a way they only worked for some time, with a mana crystal inside that when depleted it was nearly impossible to be replaced. I could also glue the modules together, and design them in a way a small explosion would occur in case someone tried to be a smartass and attempted to undo the gluing. And if I was able to think of those three solutions so quickly, I could certainly do even better with more time.

"I hope you understand this," I said, "I might not care about tricking rich people into parting with their credits, but I wouldn't feel good about selling something that can be used to pry inside people's homes and tell exactly who is inside and where exactly they are." I grabbed Sahirah's hand, holding it tightly.

"So if you buy my spheres, they will only work for three months, and after that they will become useless." Fernik said nothing, and kept staring at us in a way that made us feel some pressure. And yet, neither Sahirah nor I made any effort to break the silence, letting it endure as long as the Mayor wanted. Suddenly Fernik burst out laughing.

"If the two of you were fluent in our language, I would invite you to a dinner with my family. It's not every day I meet someone who cares even a little about people they don't even know." Sahirah and I exchanged a look, and finally the pressure started to ease. Yet, when Fernik reached into his pocket to get his credit crystal, pressure of a different nature started to build.

"I want one hundred copies, and I want them by the end of the week."

"But..." I said, "There's the tournament and Principal D–""She can participate, but your time is better invested helping the city, and coming up with ways to defend yourself in case the Mimic Queen goes after you. You can just forfeit your battles, they are not as important as your lives and the lives of many others you could help save." Forfeit? It wasn't like I didn't love the idea, but Zorik would become insufferable.

He would undoubtedly carry out his threat of transferring Sahirah and me to schools across the continent if I were to disrespect him so blatantly. Also, it was quite possible that the Mimic Queen would get really angry if my creations continued to corner her, though arguably, it also could make us safer if the Mayor's team managed to finish her. Still, one fact was true regardless. This deal. It was very, very dangerous.

When the driver took yet another sharp turn around the school that threw Sahirah away from me to the other side, I finally expressed my concerns.

"And what are we supposed to do in case that old monster comes after us? Zorik is also butthurt. He has already threatened to send us to schools across the continent if we don't participate." As Sahirah recovered her balance and returned to my side, I got to watch the Mayor think, giving some serious consideration to our problem for the first time. Eventually, when we were nearly finishing our first lap around the school grounds, he offered a solution.

"I'm willing to do something to help you with both problems." The Mayor leaned across his seat, reaching for a leather briefcase, where he retrieved a pile of paper, offering a copy of what looked like a contract both to me and Sahirah.

"Instead of getting paid all at once for the spheres," he said.

"I can hire both of you for a position as city officers for one year." As our eyes landed on the benefits section, our jaws dropped. Realizing this, the Mayor smiled and explained the details to us.

"City officers can get assigned professional protection in case their lives are at risk. And city officers obviously can't be transferred to another city in case the Principal of the school they attend doesn't like them." As we kept reading, we both smiled and the decision was made then and there. I would say goodbye to the tournament. Well, perhaps not completely since I was pretty sure I could copy the spheres quite fast through stamping the modules once I finished the first one.

And then, I would have a lot of fun keeping this new role a secret until the day Principal Dickhead tried to do something against us. We signed the contract smiling, and just by seeing Sahirah's expression, I knew a few kisses awaited me in our room, even though we hadn't sorted out our problems yet.