Chương 33: Lion's Den

Hiverock night passes. Some other hunter team is sent out to investigate the closest drop zone. My team is given a while to rest, with of course the exception of myself and Penelope. We're eating breakfast, anticipating the branch leader to come looking for us. Remus hasn't stopped being a problem just because another problem has been added on top of him. Sure enough, it isn't long before I feel the portly old man walking towards our guildhouse.

I tell Penelope as much, and swallowing the last of our meal we go to meet him at the door. The man grins jovially when he sees us waiting for him, walking right on over with his arms raised and open.

"Well hello! There's the two young hunters I was hoping to see!"

"I believe we're trainee hunters," Penelope corrects.

"Not anymore!" the branch leader answers happily.

"Your teacher did submit the forms for your promotion before leaving, after all."

"Our teacher who, at the time of writing those forms, would have been possessed by a Nawra," Penelope says flatly.

"Details," the branch leader says, winking.

"You all came back alive, that's enough of a recommendation for me. Now, could I get the two of you to come with me? The Templars want to speak with you." I'm not exactly a political sort of girl, but I get the feeling he also didn't want to present trainee hunters for the job.

"We figured," I answer.

"We're ready." Penta takes control for a moment just to take a deep breath.

'Were we ready?' being the implied message and... well, shit, I don't know. In truth, I'm terrified, and Penta no doubt feels the same. We've gotten really damn good at swapping control, which is to say Penta is technically always in control. She's just gotten good at doing the things I want to do without a time lag. Something about reading but not stopping signals? I don't get the biology of it, but we figured out a working system. We also have a rat sleeping in a pouch in case she needs to hide for a bit.

What else can we do? The branch leader just smiles happily and leads the way. I try to strike up a conversation to take my mind off things.

"So, uh, those black things Hiverock dropped on us. Any idea what they are? My bet is eggs." He barks a laugh. This guy is just all smiles. It must be easy to be happy when you eat as much food as he does, I guess.

"Another on eggs, eh? I should start a pool. What kind of eggs? We currently have calls on bug eggs, monster eggs, bombs, waste products, spore canisters, and drop pods."

"Aw fuck, I hope it's not the spores," I say. He laughs again.

"Don't we all!" As our walk continues into richer and richer areas of the city, one of the great temples to the Mistwatcher soon becomes visible. It's a huge building, half fort and half art sculpture. Twisting stone patterns line the walls, reminding me somewhat of the Little Disciples. Perhaps that's where they got their name; they're eerily similar to the Mistwatcher imagery that surrounds the temple.

Once inside, a pair of Templars greet us and lead us further into the building, past winding halls that seem almost purposefully disorienting in design. I can't bring myself to pay too much attention to all of that, however, because the inside of the temple has some of the most absurdly powerful souls I've ever felt. Just the idea of getting closer to them on purpose has me shaking. Many of them are on par with Remus, and one is far, far beyond him. That soul is different from any other.

It smells of ozone, burns like molten rock, and swirls like a hurricane. It's so large, it can't possibly fit inside a human. When we're led inside, the fear of encountering the holder of that soul overwhelms even my terror at being in the proverbial dragon's den. Remus is already so far above me I can't comprehend it, but this? This is even more! How far does this go? My panic mounts further and further as we're led closer to whatever holds that soul. I nearly turn around and bolt, but Penta stops me.

I send her a mental thank-you as we finally reach the room in which the soul resides. I spot the owner immediately. It is a human, despite the soul's absurdity. They're dressed like a Templar, face-covering helmet and all, yet with pristinely white scale-forged armor trimmed with red dye instead of the standard chitin plate. My assessment that their soul could not fit in their body is accurate; instead, the soul simply doesn't bother.

It's as though they glowed with spiritual light, their soul extending a solid two feet around them in every direction.

"Ah!" they say, their voice that of an older woman's, "the hunters. Welcome!" She— or what I now assume is a she— steps forward.

"I am High Templar Gladra Karthala. I am told you two are the ones who reported and briefly fell victim to the Nawra?"

"First Lady Karthala," Penelope says, nodding to the Templar with more respect than I've ever seen her give anyone.

"I didn't expect you to be overseeing this personally."

"Well! I suspected when I heard your name, but I must say I'm surprised! Third Lady Vesuvius, it is a pleasure. I had not heard that you'd become a hunter."

"If it pleases you, my Lady, I would prefer most people do not hear of it," Penelope answers, head still bowed. The High Templar— who is also apparently a noble, I guess— nods but does not answer. I have no clue how the politics here are working out, and am mostly busy trying not to sprint out of the room when she turns to me instead.

"And who might you be?" she asks, stepping in my direction.

"Oh fuck, you're so strong," I whisper. Penelope tenses up, and Gladra tilts her head.

"Hmm?"

"O-oh, uh, I mean...! I'm Vita, ma'am! Er, my Lady?" The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. She chuckles, taking a step closer. I step back, hiding behind Penelope.

"I'm not going to melt you, dear," Gladra says, a bit of mirth to her voice.

"It's quite alright."

"I-is that a thing you can do?" I ask, despite myself. She just laughs, not answering.

"Well, since I'm already acquainted with Penelope here, I take it that means you're our little anti-Nawra tool. You sense relative strength, I'm told? May I ask what you feel of me?" I blink owlishly at her, peeking out from behind my Penelope-shield.

"Big," I manage to squeak. She tilts her head.

"Big? Is that it?"

"You're... a force of nature," I say, struggling to give her more info without giving her too much.

"Every instinct I have is screaming that I'm about to die just by being near you. I didn't even believe you were a person until I saw you!"

"Ooh!" she coos.

"Interesting. And if you wanted to give a comparison on about how strong that is...?" I sputter a little. Come on! How much does she want from me?

"I don't know, you're like... a million starving orphans! Do you ask everyone who can sense strength to stroke your ego?" She leans down close, her soul pressing into me. It contorts and flows around my and Penelope's body, filling in the gaps. Where it touches me, it burns, tearing at my skin like fire. It's excruciating, although Penelope seems not to notice so I pretend the same.

"Yes," she tells me, then steps away again. I have to check my hand to make sure I didn't actually get charred.

"Anyway, on to actual business," Gladra continues.

"As a national asset, Remus is someone we'd like to retrieve alive if at all possible. Failing that, we would like to at least retrieve his sword before I frustrate our cartographers by removing Litia Village from the map. So! How would you two like to try and poison your boss?" How… direct.

"I mean, I don't really want to at all, but do we have a better option?" I ask.

"Mmm, not really," the High Templar murmurs.

"Being who he is, Remus is a rather difficult man to capture. All the people I'd prefer to bring on this mission are abroad. I could kill him, but we want him alive. Send enough people on my level after him and we could probably disable him, but we can't have that many High Templars leave the city at once. So lacking those with actual qualifications to do the job, we'll have to settle for random children."

"M'not—""With respect, First Lady Karthala, that doesn't exactly seem like a solid policy," Penelope comments, cutting me off.

"Humor aside, I can fully understand sending Vita against Nawra. Why me, however? Frankly, I have no desire to assist."

"Ooh, that's problematic, then. There aren't any biomancers living in Litia Village. If Remus doesn't have a biomancer in his thrall, he's liable to eventually go out and find one, which would be bad for your friend here. As one of the few biomancers in the city that knows about the Nawra..." Remus getting his hands on a biomancer other than Penelope would definitely be bad, but amusingly it's bad for the reverse of why she probably thinks it's bad.

Since biomancers can detect Nawra, Gladra thinks that Slime-Remus getting his hands on one will reveal to him that I don't have one. What it will actually do is reveal that I do have a Nawra, which Slime-Remus will just mistake for Vitamin and be fine with… but it'll cause problems once I free everyone else.

"I see," Penelope says flatly.

"How accurate is this information? I find it hard to believe a village of Litia's size wouldn't employ a biomancer."

"We know for certain, at least as of two days ago." Gladra explains, smiling.

"Litia Village is frequently monitored. An abnormally large number of incredibly powerful individuals make it their home, which we suspect is exactly why Remus chose to head there first."

"That sounds bad," I say.

"Do we get extra pay for this?" Gotta keep my priorities straight, after all. If I can squeeze more money out of the Templars, I'm fuckin' doing it.

"Pay will be based on performance," Gladra responds.

"Bring Remus and/or his blade back to us, and you will be suitably rewarded for your efforts to recover a priceless treasure of our nation. Do neither, and... well, you'll still be paid if you somehow live, but I'll be very cross with you."

"Ah," I comment.

"No pressure."

"Oh, feel free to be pressured," Gladra helpfully clarifies.

"Of course, if you think this is completely beyond you, we can just not risk it and I'll go vaporize everyone Remus has had contact with in the last several days."

"That doesn't strike you as an overreaction...?" Penelope asks. The High Templar shrugs.

"Okay, we can probably get away with nonlethally poisoning most of them, but Litia Village will still have to go." Was this lady crazy? The next time my instincts say 'run the fuck away,' I'm going to listen to them.

"No you won't," Penta whispers. I hate that you're probably right, but it'd be super great if we NOT talk to each other in front of the High Templar. Penta near-imperceptibly shrugs my shoulders.

"... I'll give it a shot," I agree, responding to Gladra.

"I want to save Remus, and it sounds like we're low on options. You don't have to if you don't want to, Penelope. I know you're not a, uh, fan of those things."

"I'll be fine," Penelope comments.

"I can play this sort of game. I think we may have a chance."

"Great!" Gladra says happily.

"So, which one of you wants to hold a practically limitless supply of poison?"

"Ooh! Me!" I say immediately. That sounds awesome! Besides, Penelope can poison people with her mind, so why would she need it? Although...

"If it's practically limitless, why can't we each have half or something?" I ask.

"What, you think I have two Everfulls to give away? Greedy punk." She flips a coin at me with her thumb, which I manage to catch. It's heavier than I expect, cold and shiny. It looks like two small circles flat on top of each other, one of which is an engraved ring, its center missing.

"Is this... metal?" I ask, trying not to be bowled over by awe.

"Yep. An Everfull. Kind of a stupid name, frankly, since it can absolutely run out. It's just a tiny spatial enchantment— twist the ring clockwise and turn it upside-down and it'll link to a big container we keep back here. As you deplete the container, we can refill it safely and soundly in the city. Though if you somehow manage to use all of the poison we currently have in that thing, I'll be a little concerned."

"How... valuable is this?" I ask quietly.

"Well, let me put it this way," Gladra remarks.

"If you lose it, either make sure to retrieve it or don't bother coming back to Skyhope." Wow, that sure sounds like a death threat! Why was I being employed by someone so casually murderous?

"Imagine being trapped inside her," Penta subvocalizes. Not now, Penta!

"Anyway," Gladra continues, "you're both ready to go, then? Our escort squad should be finished getting the wagon ready." Oh, great! Even more Templars. Nothing quite like being surrounded by all the super powerful people who want me dead!

"Gee, imagine that." Penta murmurs.

"Penta!" I hiss.

"Hmm?" Gladra asks, raising an eyebrow.

"I said yes!" I squeak.

"I'm ready! Ma'am! Lady Ma'am!"

"Then right this way," Gladra says, turning and marches out of the room. I follow. I guess I don't have any other choice now.