Chương 43: Hidden Truth

Ch 43: Hidden Truth Sahirah was already waiting for me as I crossed the threshold connecting the staircase to the seventh floor of Elitha's tower. Maybe it was because of the boredom of someone who had been trapped in this tower for a few days in a row, but before saying anything she rushed toward me and attacked me with a warm kiss in a way that was unlike her. I forgot every important matter within moments. And I was caught utterly unprepared when she threw herself into my arms, locking her legs around me.

What followed was a breathtaking kiss that ended up with my lips marked by rows of tiny teeth.

"A girl missed you!"

"I can tell." She made that fake angry face of hers, rolling her eyes in protest at the way I had answered her warm words so casually. But in the end, her attention finally shifted to my fancy attire, to the coat and the shirt beneath now wrinkled by her own doing.

"Do I look good in rich Grey style?" With her legs still locked around my waist, she inspected the fluffy collar and the soft fabric that had been perfectly adjusted to my body.

"It suits you," she said.

"But knowing you the way I know you, Eric, you should probably change into something less expensive before you stain it with mana-conductive ink." She finally let go of me, using my shoulders as support as she released the grip with her legs. With my freedom of movement restored, I finally got the chance to check where Sahirah was staying. My gaze landed on a sleeping bag near the center of the tower right next to a round glass cylinder that stretched all the way from floor to ceiling.

Inside of it, mana rings flowed freely, moving in bursts from floor to ceiling in a chaotic pattern.

"What is this place?" Despite how many times I had visited the tower, this had not been a floor I had ever paid attention.

"The archmage says a girl has to learn how to control her mana." Her eyes of amber and green met mine.

"So she assigned me this room. She claims I can learn something if I observe those rings." The rings? I tried to find any logic behind them, but no matter how much I tried, they seemed to be just mana rings. In a crude attempt to replicate them, I reached into my mana, shaping it into a ring around my right arm. I stretched my arm, and despite noticing some instability, I relied on the control I had over my own mana and pushed the blue ring away from me.

It moved like a smoke ring, lasting perhaps two seconds before losing coherence and fading into the air as it broke apart.

"Well," I said, "that's a way to train control." To my surprise, Sahirah had crossed her arms, and she was pouting as she glared at me.

"How is that fair? I've been trying to do that for three days and you get it right on the first attempt!"

"You have a lot more mana than I do, of course you'll have a harder time than me," I said.

"By the way, how much mana have you gained in the third stage?" We hadn't had time to check her status after we reached the third stage, but she still smiled when I asked her this question.

"See for yourself," she said teasingly, reaching into her pocket to retrieve her copy of the system. [SYSTEM STATUS] Name: Sahirah Level: 276 Translation: Active ATTRIBUTES ‣ Strength: 16 (+9) ‣ Agility: 18 (+9) ‣ Constitution: 40 (+11) ‣ Mana: 756 (+450) I kind of expected that her mana would have doubled just like mine, but holy shit. Seven fucking hundred... That was just too much. Then again, my girl really was a kind of super soldier her people had sent to Navar with a mission of opening a portal back home.

And the truth was, the stronger she was, the better it would be for me too.

"Your loss!" I said teasingly.

"All of that mana only to fall head over heels for the very first greedy human who showed up in front of you!" If she had attacked me with a kiss when I arrived, now it was my turn to offer payback. I pulled her toward me by the wrist, the system sphere falling to the ground as my wandering hands got busy with her back. She undid the top button of my coat, and when her eyes met mine, not a single word was needed. I found the strength to lift her from the ground, and slowly pushed her down onto the sleeping bag.

Her long black hair spread around her head, her smile inviting me to go further. My only purpose in coming here today had been informing her of everything that happened during the meeting with Lord Krosak. But did I remember that now? Of course not. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. With my full weight on top of her, my lips slowly approached hers, so slowly I got to watch her eyes closing as she wrapped her arms around me.

Yet, just when the outcome of today's teasing seemed set in stone, a voice interrupted us in the middle of the act.

"Did you forget my mana sense reaches everywhere in this tower, little lamb?" Sahirah's eyes widened. In a reaction of surprise, she suddenly tried to lift her head. The problem was my own head was in the way, and our noses collided.

"Gah!" Sahirah covered her nose with a hand to check whether anything had broken. Worse yet, I noticed her pale neck was marked by three drops of red. And when the fourth drop fell, I identified the source. My own nose.

"Damn! Are all archmages this fond of invading people's privacy? You could at least offer us a terms of service if you're going to spy on us." I covered my nostrils to spare Sahirah more blood, rolling around to her side and lying down so that the blood wouldn't run. Suddenly, as both of us covered our nostrils and struggled with the pain, a Grey face with its eyes covered by a bandana materialized in front of us.

"I can't say it's not entertaining to ruin your fun," she said.

"But we have something more important to discuss, little lamb." Sahirah and I exchanged a confused look, finally standing up and swallowing our pain just to prevent our suffering from becoming a source of entertainment for the archmage. While pretending my nose wasn't bleeding and my clothes were not a mess, I asked, "So... what's this important matter you want to discuss?" Elitha paced around the room. And then she stopped abruptly.

"You haven't told the girl yet that Lord Krosak has taken an interest in you, have you?" Sahirah glanced at me with a certain sharpness in her eyes.

"Not my fault!" I said in my defense.

"I would have told everything right away if you hadn't erased my memory with that kiss when I entered the room." The sharpness in her gaze melted with a long sigh. Yet, the moment her attention returned to Elitha, the archmage continued.

"There's something the two of you must see before you consider Lord Krosak's proposal." Elitha extended both hands forward, space itself distorting around her. For the briefest of moments, I thought she was about to teleport us somewhere, preparing myself mentally for the discomfort of sudden relocation. Yet something different happened this time. Two Driari women appeared beneath Elitha's hands, one blond, and the other with silver hair.

They were the same two Driari women I had seen inside the floating ship massaging Lord Krosak's feet. They exchanged a look and screamed, obviously shocked by the invasive teleportation. Elitha cast a spell that silenced them, a faint spherical barrier materializing around their heads.

"Who are they?" asked Sahirah.

"They are a future version of you, if you accept that deal," Elitha replied.

"Wait," I said.

"What do you mean?" Instead of replying directly, Elitha canceled her sound suppressing spell, freeing the mouths of the two Driari woman.

"No need to be afraid," Elitha said to them.

"I won't return you to Lord Krosak. And I promise I will destroy the power he has over you. But in exchange, you will show your backs to those two. Let them see for themselves what being under Lord Krosak's wing really means." I could see the discomfort they were experiencing in their eyes. Their pointy ears were lowered, their whole body language telling us they were terrified. Still, after about half a minute of hesitation, the blond Driari spoke.

"Are you the archmage Lord Krosak was talking about? You truly have the power to free us, don't you?" The silver-haired Driari was also paying attention, though she hadn't dared to open her mouth to say a word. Elitha Hearthstrong only smiled at them, neither confirming nor denying she had the power to keep her promise. To my surprise, Sahirah was the one who offered them some reassurance.

"A girl can vouch for her. She is the archmage. She is harsh, but she always keeps her word!" The two Driari women finally spared us some attention, exchanging a look right after recognizing me.

"You are that rich human..." The silver-haired Driari finally spoke, and I saw the hesitation dissolve in their expressions.

"Should we accept this deal, Nirila?" she asked the blond one. The blonde hesitated just a moment, then nodded.

"This might be our only chance," she said. Almost in unison, they turned around, and after exchanging one last look, they finally raised their shirts, exposing their backs to us. My eyes widened, and I forgot my bleeding nose immediately as two sets of active spells became the focal point of my attention. First, I recognized the individual runes tattooed on their skin. Mind Resonance. Heat. Vibration. Then I recognized a few modules. Mana Drain. Distance Communication. Relative Location.

Finally, all the time I had spent struggling to understand Magica Principia seemed worth it, as I made sense of the whole thing. I remained silent still.

"An active spell? What is this?" When Sahirah asked, I finally managed to find my voice.

"This spell always tracks them. It can induce pain remotely. And it can even burn them alive with their own mana even from a distance." Elitha nodded in approval of my assessment.

"That's enough," she said.

"Cover yourselves." The two Driari women lowered their shirts immediately. The blonde one, Nirila, turned around, and looked me in the eyes.

"This is what happens to everyone who works for Lord Krosak," she said.

"Even the other nobles from the small houses." The silver-haired Driari joined the conversation.

"I've never seen anyone get punished, but everyone knows that loyalty to the Krosak family is forever." Sahirah grabbed my hand. Even without exchanging a single word, I knew that discussing how good or bad this deal was didn't matter anymore. We just couldn't accept becoming Lord Krosak's subordinates. Elitha noticed the subtle gesture that passed between us, and smiled.

"I'll keep my word, but removing the spell is going to be painful." She placed both hands on the backs of those women, and their faces instantly went red as every muscle in their bodies contracted at once. Still, neither of them moved, resisting without even screaming as the skin on their backs glowed under their shirt. When the archmage was done, it didn't even take two seconds for the duo to turn around and say.

"We can't go back in there."

"What are we going to do now?" Before I could even think about how screwed they were, Elitha spoke.

"The Driari of the east are always pleased to take care of their own people when they have been mistreated."

"But that's on the other side of Navar."

"How are we going to get–" Elitha Hearthstrong just touched their shoulders, and the duo simply vanished, a violent spatial distortion embracing them. I wasn't even surprised. Elitha had already done the same to me so many times that I wasn't even impressed anymore. What actually impressed me was the way she had just helped those two without asking anything in return. Could it be that her heart was a little softer than I thought?

Or maybe this was just her way of getting back at Lord Krosak because of the way he anchored his floating ship right next to her tower.

"What are you going to do now, little lamb?" Elitha asked me.

"Will you rely on me to solve your problems again, or will you do something about it yourself?" Even Sahirah was looking at me, waiting to hear what I had to say about this seemingly impossible situation. I considered my options for a moment, thinking of what it might take to solve the problem in case Lord Krosak gave up civility and tried to take us by force in case we declined a spot under his wing. I replied to Elitha with another question.

"When you first gave me a copy of the illusion spell, you promised you would keep my existence hidden from the royal family." I said, "Can I count on you to keep someone more powerful than him from coming after us if I ensure Lord Krosak and Principal Dickhead are out of the picture?" The plan being born inside my head was a nasty one, the kind that I would avoid under normal circumstances. The only requirement for it to work was that Elitha kept that one promise.

"You keep your side of the deal and help me regain my sight," she said.

"And I will keep my promise." I smiled.

"We will deal with this adoption problem ourselves then," I said. Elitha Hearthstrong smiled back at me, and vanished, leaving Sahirah and me alone once more.

"A girl and you solving this? Are you out of your mind, Eric?" Sahirah looked extremely worried, holding my hand like someone who still trusted me, but demanding an explanation with her gaze.

"Earth is a place with a long history of war and tech that goes beyond what the Greys understand," I said.

"Believe me, I have a plan, and I guarantee it will work as long as we capture Lord Krosak and Principal Dickhead alive." The inspiration for the plan came exactly from the nasty spell I saw on the back of those two Driari women, though I would accomplish something very different with my design. A spell that worked in ways that were not that different from a computer virus, using the mana of the very person it was tattooed on to do something malicious against them.

"I really hope you know what you're doing." I took a step forward and kissed her forehead, seeing both doubt and the wish to believe me in her eyes.

"We survived the Mimics last time with a vial of cheap ink and your back as a canvas," I said.

"Trust me, we are going to be fine this time with a million credits and a few days to prepare."