Chapter 20: Genuine Deceiver

Subject: Caim Location: Maliscade - Gate District

“This was only your second time taking Tether Transit, but it looks like you adapted to it faster than I did in an entire year,” Mille remarked.

She cast a suspicious glance Caim’s way.

“You didn’t have it where you came from?” he deflected. “Or, was there some reason you weren’t allowed to use it? Are there age restrictions?”

It was hard to endure, traveling so fast around the city. Still, Mille needed to remember that Caim had gone a great deal farther when Vera sent him to Shimmerden. The magitech rail was more mundane by comparison.

“The older cities don’t have this technology yet,” she answered. “Factions in the government are pushing for it, but that would mean reshaping the cities and displacing many people. I usually don’t spend time thinking about something if it doesn’t involve Guild politics in some way, so my knowledge is limited.”

Caim tried to imagine these old cities, but visualizing without references was difficult. How would people travel vast distances?

“Shroud is vast, but you need to stay here in Maliscade,” Mille quickly added. “I hope you understand why.”

He nodded.

They were making the journey back to the Guild building slowly. Magitech lamps basked the main streets on the way back in faint violet light.

“The entrance to the city and the Guild headquarters are in the Gate District, and we were just shopping in the Commerce District… How many districts are there?”

Mille brought her hands together and formed a triangle.

“Public Tether Transit rails will take you between the stations in each of the three main districts. There is also the Residential District, but we have no reason to go there.”

In response to Caim’s puzzled expression, she went on.

“Guild personnel have their own residences in the outlying quads. I think I already mentioned that most seekers live close to the headquarters.”

Other people were traveling through the city. Not just the silent Shroud Enforcers, civilians also went about their pre-dawn activities.

Even though their conversation was mostly innocuous from the perspective of a casual bystander, they kept their voices low and strolled along. Mille had chosen this pace, and Caim made sure to keep his head respectfully lowered around the watchful eyes of Shroud’s Enforcers.

“Alice said Maliscade has 60,000 people living in the city. It must be hard to walk from the stations to wherever you really wanted to go. There are wagons… but-”

Mille giggled before immediately stifling her laughter. She looked slightly embarrassed by the outburst.

“She said 60,000? Well… for her, that isn’t so far off. The last census reached 93,600. Anyway... in the center of the city, you will find The Canopy. This administration district takes up some of the space. You can really think of it as ‘three districts and one’. The fourth isn’t really the fourth if you understand what my meaning, but it exists.”

Mille made the triangle with her hands again, taking them away to point a finger down onto her palm in the center of where the triangle had been. Caim nodded, understanding that this was meant to be The Canopy.

And I saw The Canopy with Alice from that Shrine to Arbe, the Pillar. It’s meant to be conspicuous.

“The larger distances can be traveled quickly by carriage or passenger vehicle,” Mille added. “Most seekers and Guild employees wouldn’t be able to afford it, though.”

Caim tried to rapidly review each critical detail he had learned in his head, so he wouldn’t forget. It was too much to learn so quickly, but he could manage most of it if he tried.

The day had passed at the pace of a crawl. The flood of new information had flowed at the breakneck speed of Tether Transit.

“You should sleep when we get back to the Guild,” Mille suggested.

“I’m not tired… really.”

“The way you fell asleep before, you looked like you needed rest,” she pointed out.

“I was exhausted before, but not now,” he said with a shrug. “Is it just me, or does it feel like the sun should have risen by now?”

Mille pulled a device from her pocket, glanced at it, and gently shook her head. It was a small silver metal object, a rounded triangle. He couldn’t notice any more before she pocketed it again.

“Culture shock must have disrupted your sense of time. We can still finish your registration before you sleep.”

It’s true that I’m still disoriented, but I don’t think I’m that out of it… Really, I’m not tired.

Subject: Mille Location: Maliscade - The Blightbane Guild

I can’t be this unskilled when it comes to reading humans. I barely even know other faron.

Mille was deeply conflicted. She had made a promise to the most important person in her world. Alice’s happiness was her happiness, it mattered even more than the success of the Guild.

Of course, Mille’s goal to see the Maliscade Blightbane succeed would never come into conflict with her affections for her best friend. It would not happen.

I promised to help a boy I suspect of being a danger to the nation. I am helping him.

The man wasn’t a complete fool, but his story didn’t make perfect sense. Still, every test she had tried on him had failed.

Caim wouldn’t take the bait when she made a casual comment about something a spy or saboteur might be interested in. Yet, he didn’t hesitate to share his controversial opinions about the theocracy’s policies.

He doesn’t make sense. He knows he is in danger here, but he seems all too trusting.

In a moment of frustration, Mille had mentally flipped a coin. She had chosen to trust him and ask for help.

That look of conviction on his face was too believable. He is afraid of blightbeasts, yes, but that is normal.

She invested a great deal of money in another trap. The Mage’s Carapace armor boasted incredible protection, but it also hindered a mage’s ability to command their magic.

Alice claimed her new friend could use incredible offensive magic. Caim himself said he had barely even used it before, but that he could indeed use a spell of that description. He called himself a novice mage if anything.

A novice mage wielding a spell from a previously unknown branch of magic with enough mastery to severely wound a ward varcer was a contradiction.

Now, Caim wore this “magic suppressing” armor proudly, without any signs that he suspected Mille’s intent. He really was acting like someone who lacked experience.

I’ll have to wait and see. The ritual will reveal the outsider’s true character.

Subject: Caim Location: Maliscade - The Blightbane Guild

“We will begin the preliminary registration process,” Mille announced to a device fixed to the center of the meeting room table.

This registration needed to be recorded to fulfill Guild protocol. The clerk had already filled Caim in on some key details.

“One magic catalyst, custom-calibrated for the registrant’s personal use.”

Mille was referring to the black plate, Caim’s only possession. He knew it wasn’t a catalyst, but he didn’t know what it actually was, and it had some connection to magic. He trusted Mille when she said that magic catalysts don’t typically raise suspicions.

“Initiate Caim has no other possessions. The Initiate has not opted to withhold anything. This concludes the declaration of job-relevant possessions.”

Mille tapped a rectangular groove on the table, and it changed color from green to gray. He suspected it controlled the recording system.

A curious magitech control to one is just a regular old button to another.

After a short pause, she tapped the groove again to turn the recorder back on. She was pretending to have looked over Caim’s registration files.

“Initiate Caim has no family name, but he has provided valid citizenship documentation. A copy will be stored in our records.”

No such copy would be stored.

“He claims that becoming a Blight Seeker was his only option for making a living. The Blightbane Guild will not turn him away.”

Mille read from a transcript she had prepared. Another was lying on the table in front of Caim, for when it was his turn to speak.

Mille was taking an enormous risk, but she was not doing it for Caim.

“Given that he has no money, Initiate Caim will sleep in the Guild bunkhouse until he can afford private accommodations. He has agreed to the conditions for his stay.”

The rest of the registration went exactly as Mille had described. Caim said what he had been told to and no more. When it was finally over, and the recording device had been deactivated, he breathed a sigh of relief.

“Don’t think this is the end of hardship for you,” she reminded him. “It is the beginning. You will be tested during the Initiation Ritual, and then you will face your first contract alone. You need to be ready.”

He wasn’t ready, but what other options did he have? At least that much was accurate about his fake backstory. Even so, he had already survived a day in Shroud.

This next day would be worse, but hopefully, it would be less dangerous than the events of Shimmerden.

Subject: Mille Location: Maliscade - The Blightbane Guild

Caim didn’t seem to have noticed that he no longer had the catalyst plate in his possession. Mille had switched it out for a piece of unenchanted stone. A hastily-procured forgery.

Dekker couldn’t even detect an enchantment placed on the item, nor any material abnormalities that might make it useful in magic! Could he merely be carrying around a sentimental keepsake?

This only added to the mound of questions Mille couldn’t openly ask.

Mille had only mastered a set of primitive utility spells herself. She was not a genuine mage, so she didn’t know whether it was possible to somehow conceal an enchantment from detection. If it was, Dekker would hopefully uncover it before she was forced to give the real plate back to Caim.

I want to like him... I really do. Not just for Alice, but for myself as well. He doesn’t seem to be a bad guy, but he is very suspicious.

Subject: Caim Location: Maliscade - The Blightbane Guild

“This is your Guild Badge, Caim,” Mille announced, holding up a small metal object.

The grey symbol of the Blightbane Guild looked like Alice’s badge, but it was slightly different. This badge was a hollow circle with lines of webbing inside it. Caim recalled that Alice’s badge had the same general pattern, but consisted of two horizontally overlapping circles.

He slowly reached out to take it, but Mille moved her hand away from his. She grabbed a loop of fabric in his cloak and used it to attach the badge.

“This is proof of citizenship. It is not as legitimate as an ID Plate, but it will help you get around alone without suspicion. Do not lose it. It is difficult for most seekers to get a replacement. It will be much harder for you to get one without putting my job at risk.”

Touching the front of the badge with one hand, Mille pressed the groove on the table with the other. Her eyes cast a golden glow, and Caim felt the badge resonate.

“It is now activated and registered to your ‘Seeker Identification Number’,” she explained.

“Can’t they track this back to you?” Caim wondered.

“Yes and no. The Guild will know that I’m the one who registered you, but document filing mishaps happen more often than we’d like to admit.”

Caim’s worried frown broke through Mille’s serious demeanor for a moment. Her conduits cast a gentle green, and she forced an awkward half-smile.

“Alice should be arriving at the Guild in around an hour. She left a message with a coworker of mine that she wants to see you. You’d like that, right?”

Caim couldn’t figure out what Mille was getting at. If anything, seeing Alice would only make things worse when he died on his first contract. That was what he was focused on. He just wanted to get it over with, to see what it was like.

“However, before we meet up with her, I need to tell you about your badge.”

Mille produced a familiar-looking model of a small black pillar.

“Where have I seen that before?” he wondered aloud.

“In Shimmerden, no doubt. These are Wayfinder Pillars, sometimes called Seeker Pillars. They are enchanted to link up with your badge. Pillars can track your movements in the festerfonts, and they will record your progress as you complete contracts.”

“How in the world do they do that?”

“Using sensory data, they will register blightbeast deaths. If a blightbeast is tied to an assigned contract, the badge will update and notify you with a gentle pulse. While registered with a contract, a badge will glow blue. If you complete a contract, your badge will change to violet. It will also hum for a short time to notify you.”

“That’s how seekers get paid? Incredible!” he blurted out.

He needed to know more about this curious device.

“What if seekers are closeby or attacking the same target? I suppose the enchantment could prioritize seekers who have already undertaken a contract specific to the blightbeast, proximity, and possibly the attack that finished it off. Wait! There must be more pillars throughout the festerfont. That way, the closest pillars could triangulate the positioning of the seekers and the enemy. Maybe?”

Caim’s enthusiastic outburst surprised Mille, and she knocked over the model pillar. She returned it to an upright position.

“Triangulation? It seems you know more about the enchantments than I do. Your teacher Vera, I presume?”

“Indirectly, maybe,” Caim replied.

The vague words seemed to draw Mille’s eyes for a moment, but she didn’t say anything.

“I should probably clarify that only seekers who take on ‘Cull’ contracts need this system to get paid. Those that harvest resources inside Blight tainted land can turn in those materials at the Guild to complete their contracts. Other types of contracts have other means of tracking progress, but you are only equipped for Culls.”

Mille was right on that account.

“This system is more advanced than previous generations. If you learned anything about loopholes in these systems, rest assured that our mages have corrected them. There should be fewer ‘lost’ kills, as well. Do not abuse the tracking system, and especially do not fight your fellow seekers for targets.”

“I would never,” Caim promised. “If I can make it as a seeker, I want to help you with your dream. We can win if we work together.”

“You’re starting to sound more like Alice…” Mille said under her breath.

The Guild Clerk put away the model.

“One more thing… That badge is for Initiates. Your rank determines the appearance and quality of your badge.”

“Quality?”

“Higher ranked seekers can register simultaneous contracts, and even use the badge to check whether they have completed them or not. They are more expensive to enchant, but they are important tools.”

“I can only register one contract? To protect me from taking on more than I can handle?” Caim asked.

“A Seeker Initiate who gets it…” Mille sang, projecting a deep green. “What did it take to impress this caution? You don’t come across as a naturally cautious person.”

Caim felt a pit forming in his stomach. He touched a hand to his badge and another to the black plate in his pocket.

“A series of mistakes.”