[30]

Including Elaine, there was a notable absence of students for the second meeting of the physical fitness class. Roughly a quarter was missing from last time. I understood their feelings perfectly; even envied their laziness a little.

But I knew that the current trajectory of my life promised danger and missing a class designed to increase my attributes would only hurt or get me killed in the long run. My mind was full of worry about what trials I would face at the dwarf’s hands, sure, but my heart was resolute on this.

Izzy’s presence made Cen-Boleman resemble a person with a soul, but only for a moment. The hardass dwarf gave his wife a peck on the cheek, and they exchanged words too quiet for the rest of us to hear. Raxx might have heard them if he did not lay his ears down and look away. The Harak knew better than to eavesdrop on the couple.

Cen-Boleman turned to us, “All right, my heart is here, so we are going to work extra hard today. Can’t be slacking off in front of the missus.”

Looks of fury from close to everyone in the class found me, but I only wanted to weep for myself.

Much as I hoped, my increased constitution made things much easier. We started along the sands, going the opposite direction from last time, and I felt hale by the end. Complications began during the next portion, however, when I discovered that the poleaxe I now carried was a constant detriment to the obstacle course. Having to maneuver it to avoid hitting others, or catching on the environment was tiring enough to almost entirely negate the bonus. The haft slapped and struck rocks during climbing, caught on trees during the woodlands, and the terrain forced me to carry it on my shoulder during the swamp portion. At no point did carrying the weapon prove to be an advantage, and by the time we finished I hated the damn thing.

I tried to distract myself from exertion by organizing my enemies. Living in constant fear of another attack took its toll, and I needed to make sense of things. I have never been a person who ignores my problems. When my wife-to-be disappeared, I did not simply accept that as the normal course of life in Ergentein. I gathered what resources I had and rectified the problem.

Categorizing them into three camps, I decided that there was the Kestevs, the demon summoner, and the orange-headed boys that invited me to their party.

Florence was a distant fourth possibility, because I knew what she did to Angelina, but I had neither seen nor heard the girl since we got to Ashmere. Likewise, the goddess of love and marriage would surely frown upon snuffing out a person for knowing secrets.

It was workable that Reynold was the common link for all three, but I did not think that credible. Administrator Marwin would have identified Reynold’s association to demon summoning right away. Meaning, the only way the unknown party sent a demon on his behalf was if Reynold did not know they could do it. And even if he had, for instance, sent out a blanket order to “Kill Harald” to someone, both Reynold, and thus Marwin would have been able to figure out who was responsible. At the least, Marwin would have a lead.

So, I reasoned Reynold unrelated in direct association, if not necessarily motive. It was possible that a friend of Reynold, namely Tedric or Sibilla, was a secret demon cultist that sent the monster on his behalf. But why risk the exposure? That was the question my mind kept returning to.

A person with the skills and abilities to summon a demon beneath the notice of the top ascended in the world had to use powerful resources. It could not have been a random attack, because the creature could not bypass the wards on campus without help—Marwin assured me of that. What it came to is that the cultist really wanted me dead, either for personal reasons or gain.

Another theory, albeit far-fetched, was that the summoner was simply unhinged or incompetent. I knew little of demon worship, but one thing I knew was sure of was that demon lords did not suffer fools. They offered a clear path to power that rivaled the classes of the gods, and they twisted those that failed to be found worthwhile into nightmare creatures like the bug that tried to kill me. Recklessness seemed an implausible trait useful for those subversive beings.

As for the orange-headed twins, I knew nothing of their aims. The politics of Ankest nobility concerned me about as much as how to best tune violin strings, which is to say, not at all. Know thy Enemy did not reveal the extent of their spite, only that they held it behind smiles. It could have been as elementary as wanting to mock an Ergenteinian in front of their guests, or as terrible as a visit to a private torture chamber.

My plan to deal with the twins, despite Raxx’s egging to crash their party, was to just avoid the fools until I had a reason to do otherwise.

Reynold did not concern me for the moment. He could do nothing with Izzy following me everywhere, and I would dispatch Rollo and Saewulf to protect my father. I planned to avoid him too.

Finally, for the demon summoner, there were two things I decided on. Most important was that I would continue to throw myself into my training. Admittedly, that is an obvious plan of action, and one that I already decided on doing. A secondary plan occurred to me in an epiphany, while staring at my now hated poleaxe. I resented spending my skill points on Read and Write, believing that I would principally do scholarly work at Ashmere. When it dawned on me that I could use those skills to research demon cults!

Tactics, strategy, belief, I needed to understand it all, and I had access to the greatest fount of knowledge in the entire world. I would devote spare time to research, then I would know how to better protect myself.

Class ended, and I ended up needing three stamina potions this time. I almost passed out during the swamp portion of the map, but Raxx's help kept me on my feet. Others were not so lucky. During the muscle training portion of fitness, one fellow passed out during rock lifting, dropping his burden on his head. He ended up needing a healing and a stamina potion. Oddly, Cen-Boleman approved of his dedication to strength training, saying, “That’s the spirit!”

Dinner was a quiet affair. Raxx and I did not have the energy to speak, and Joy implicitly understood. Izzy rarely said anything unless she needed to, spending most of her effort on watching our surroundings. I genuinely wondered how she could live like that, but was too afraid to ask.

Heading home gave me a wind of energy. The thought of taking a nice hot bath and spending the rest of the evening working on my presentation for tomorrow sent a shiver of anticipation down my spine.

Of course, because I desperately wanted that so badly, it was not to be.

Elaine stood in my doorway, leaning against the sidewall. Air escaped my lungs, releasing a tension I had been holding the entire day. My eyes pierced the shadows pooled around her and took in the elegance of that wondrous, heart-shaped face. I sped up to speak with her, but Izzy stopped me.

“Harald!” Elaine waved after spotting me, giving me a beautiful dimpled smile.

Izzy approached her, pointedly asking her questions, which Elaine hurriedly answered in rapid one-syllable words. I heard the words “Marwin” and “Ministerium” come up frequently during their conversation, but because Izzy bade me to keep a distance, I could not hear much else. A few minutes later, Izzy seemed satisfied with what Elaine had to say, and let her approach me.

During the intervening talk, I cast Detect Magic and Detect Poison, and checked Elaine out. She had an arsenal of magical items! Her daggers shone with magic, rings on her fingers, a necklace, even the little decorative pin she had holding back her hair was magic. Elaine walked around with an absolute fortune in enchantments! Thankfully, there was no poison; not that she would need it to kill me either way.

“Harald, I need to speak with you privately,” Elaine said.

“All right, let’s go inside, we can talk in my room,” I said. Because of the wards, if she said “no” it would have made me suspicious. She did not.

“Sure thing,” she said, and gave me a reassuring smile. Her blue eyes gazed into mine and made my heart speed up.

I mentally instructed Ugz to hide, letting him know there was another visitor, and he sent back an acknowledgment of the order.

Filthy as I was, I did not want to sit on my bed, but I motioned for Elaine to do so. There was no other furniture in the bedroom, so I just leaned against the wall and waited to hear her out.

“We need to talk about what happened last night,” she said after a moment.

“Okay,” I said. “I’m glad to see that you are all right, I worried about you all day today.”

“I apologize for that,” she said, sighing, looking embarrassed. “I would have sent you a word if I had been able, but circumstances being what they are, I could not.”

“Those circumstances being?” I asked.

“I need to tell you something, but I need you to swear an oath that you will not reveal what I am about to say.” Elaine started.

I thought about it for a bit. “Will the information you tell me hurt anyone around me?” I asked.

“Potentially,” she said. “You are already in danger, but what I tell you might put you in more. I am asking that you trust me. It isn’t fair, I know, but it is important.”

“Very well, I will trust you, Elaine.” I said, staring into her imploring, serious eyes.

Reluctantly, I swore an oath.