”Oakway? I don’t believe I’ve heard of it,” I said, my voice steady.

“It's a little soon for news to be widespread,” Parkes replied, “But they’ve recently had their dungeon core stolen.”

“That’s what you were doing there?” I asked incredulously, “Am I standing next to a criminal?”

“No, your respectability remains intact,” he reassured me. “I arrived after the crime.”

“Rumours do say that wizards like your master have a habit of taking cores,” I mused, “And you say you showed up before news of the crime had spread?”

“It would be more accurate to say that wizards who want to be like my master hunt for cores. I was looking for someone.”

“Why? What to they do with them?” I asked. I’d much rather hear about cores than who he was hunting for.

“I’m afraid you’ll have to ask them,” he said. “I can’t comment.”

I made a moue. “If you’re not going to spill the secrets of the Wise, then what am I doing here?” I said jokingly.

He chuckled indulgently. “Well I suppose I can let a few things slip.”

“Oh?”

“This will be common knowledge soon anyway,” he said, leaning in. “The Gods have chosen Champions again.”

I made myself pause, as if I had to think about what he was talking about. The Champions were well known, but it had been 200 years since they last appeared.

“The Champions?” I asked, “Is that who you were looking for?”

He nodded.

“Why?”

“Champions are only summoned when the Gods have some change they want to make in the world,” he said. “The powers in this world have a vested interest in finding out what that change is going to be - or shaping it.”

“Not stopping it?” I asked, “I’d have thought they’d want to keep things as they are.”

“No one is ever entirely happy with the status quo,” he told me. “There’s always something they think could be improved.”

“So you were there to…”

“Make contact, and invite them to meet with my master.”

“Is that all?” I asked doubtfully, “And how did that go?”

“Alas, by the time I got there, she was already gone, along with the dungeon core. Half the town is blaming the guilds, half some mystery ranked wizard - they’re probably still arguing.”

“She?” I said idly, but there was a metallic taste in my mouth. Turns out playing cat and mouse with the hunters isn’t as fun as they make it seem in the movies.

“If the reports are to be trusted,” he said, “Which they can’t, because they also suggest that they’re an illusionist.”

“How interesting,” I said. “Do you know, there’s supposed to be an illusionist causing trouble in this town.”

“I had heard that when I arrived here,” he said. “Quite a co-incidence no?”

“I suppose one of your duties is to keep an ear out for local rumours,”

“Indeed. I’ve been here a few days and there’s a lot to be heard. Can I assume that you’re the mysterious Enchantress that everyone is talking about?”

“Oh for… what are people saying about me now?” I protested.

“Nothing bad,” he assured me. “Some are calling you the Enchantress because they believe you’re the source of the Guild’s new product, while others assume that you’ve enchanted the Guild-master, but all of them agree about your beauty.”

I blushed, and wished that I had a fan to hide behind. Why didn’t I? An oversight. I thought about correcting it, and then blushed harder. Yes Kandis, go ahead and cast [Illusion Magic] in front of the guy looking for an Illusionist!

“Incidentally,” Parkes said. “May I commend your on your Odierian? You speak it like a native.”

Fuck what? As soon as he said it, I realised he’d switched languages on me three sentences ago. [Gift of Tongues] had compensated so smoothly that I hadn’t even noticed.

This must be like Finding World Walker Tricks 101, and I fell for it. Wait, were there any other language tricks in our conversation? I invoked [Memorise] - no, this was the only other language, but…

“Thank you, but I’ve never heard it called that,” I said. “When I learned it, it was called Lyran.”

“Ah, my mistake, I always get those two mixed up,” he said. In Odierian. I kept my face blank.

“I’m sorry, but you have the advantage of me there,” I said. “Was that Odierian?”

“Yes,” he said, giving me a speculative look. I needed to change the subject before he started asking me questions about… Lyrar. I knew the names because that was part of the language, but I didn’t have the faintest idea of where the country was or what the language was…

“Do you think this local [Illusionist] is your World Walker then?”

“It's unlikely. This has the feel of a plot more than a few weeks in the making.”

“Then why did you come here? Weren’t you hunting the [Illusionist]?”

“Ha! No. Unless you’re a priest of Tondeni, hunting an [Illusionist] is asking to go on a never-ending series of wild goose chases. Making friendly overtures to nobles is a much better use of my time.”

“So… Lord Shadthe has just given up?”

“He prefers Arcanist Shadthe,” he corrected me. “And no, but learning what magic they’ve chosen has changed our approach.”

“Oh?”

“An [Illusionist] works through people,” he explained. “It's a little re-assuring, we don’t have to worry about them descending on Master’s Ice tower riding a dragon and flinging fireballs. Instead of watching for the Champion, you watch for changes in the people.”

“And so you’re maintaining your contacts with the nobles.”

“Exactly. Of course, being the sort of person that works with people, the Champion may well decide to contact us on their own. My master has considerable resources, both material and arcane.”

He paused briefly. “Speaking of which, I understand you’re in the market for magical texts?”

“How did you know that?” I managed to not raise my voice, but [Charm] struggled to contain my alarm.

“My apologies, I made inquires after I heard about the Enchantress. Booksellers aren’t priests, they’re happy to talk for a few silvers.”

“It’s starting to feel like you’re stalking me,” I said uneasily.

“That wasn’t my intent,” he said. “If I hadn’t encountered you here, I was planning on making a social call.”

“I just wanted to offer my assistance.” He held out a small black card.

“What is this?” I asked, taking and examining it. As far as [Identify] and [Sense Mana] could tell me it was just an ordinary card. Embossed in silver was an address in Dorsey.

“My master’s mail drop in this country. If you wish to contact him, you can send a letter to this address.”

“Why would I - why would your master want to correspond with me?” I asked.

“As I said, he has the magical texts you’re looking for. He won’t part with them, but access can be negotiated.”

“What would the price be?” I asked suspiciously.

“Obviously, money isn’t a concern for him. I suspect someone with as many interesting rumours about her as you do will be able to find something to interest him.”

I made the card disappear into one of the dresses hidden pockets. One of the good things about having your dress made from scratch for an exorbitant rate was that you can insist on a few customisations.

“I’m starting to think you might deserve the wide berth everyone’s giving you.”

“I apologise again, I was just gathering information to find out what might interest you. I’ll take my leave.” He bowed, and slowly backed away. I didn’t have the courage to stop him, even if it meant he was making an opening for my erstwhile suitors.

Surely he just suspected - he can’t know. For my part, I didn’t know if he was serious about not hunting me.

Elodie arrived at my side then, with a drink and a look of shock and awe.

“That was Dark Winter’s man!” She hissed. “Do you know him? Was Dark Winter your… teacher?”

Oh God. This was going to be another rumour wasn’t it?

“No, and feel free to tell anyone who asks that.” I insisted. “He’s just another person who is far more interested in me than I would like.”

Elodie blinked, and then handed me my drink. “Maybe you should try to be less interesting then?”

I laughed, almost spilling my drink. “Well, you have me there,” I admitted. “Have you seen Aubert?”

“No, and I’ve been looking. He should have been standing behind his father for the greetings.” She saw someone coming from behind me, curtseyed and faded away.

I turned to greet the newcomer as he confidently approached. He was dark and somewhat handsome, lacking only tall from the trifecta.

“I’m Marcel d’Marleau, the son of the Baron there,” he said. “You’re very pretty, for a commoner. I’ll allow you to dance with me.”

It wasn’t a question. I felt the wave of pressure coming off his skill - and felt it crash against my [Charisma]

“[Intimidation]?” I asked scornfully. “Really?”

Since he’d started it, I fired up my own skill. My total wasn’t that much greater than his own - I think his skill was higher - but close counts for nothing.

“Do you have any idea of who you’re insulting?” Just a random statement, but it had the weight of my own [Intimidate] behind it. It shocked him, set him back, and then the notification came.

You have defeated Marcel d’Marleau in a Tier 3 Social Contest! You have earned 20 XP

Level four then, the same as me. I smirked at him and neglected to waive the penalty. Going down so easily, he must have had no willpower at all. Odd that willpower wasn’t an Ability.

Fuck it, I thought, and stuck my hand in my pocket.

[Phantasmal Object]. I pulled the fan out and covered my face. Fans weren’t in fashion, so I had embraced the anachronism and summoned an exquisite Japanese fan I’d seen in a museum. I used it to cover my shit eating grin as I stared Marcel down. He’d lost the contest, so there was nothing for him to do but retreat, which he managed with a modicum of grace.

What a maroon. I thought as he backed away. Tom had made my heart beat faster without needing to resort to any skills… wait.

Tom? Why am I on a first name basis with a guy who might want to kidnap or kill me?

Did he use [Seduction] on me?

I tried to think about this calmly. I hadn’t got a notification, so I was in the clear, right? Only… I wasn’t sure if [Seduction] did give a notification. [Bargain] didn’t. It seemed like it would be a bit of a buzzkill to get a notification of your loss right before you went to bed with someone.

Another thought struck me. You only got a notification when the Social Contest was over… so there might not be one if he hadn’t given up.

Or, my heart might have been thumping because I was as scared as hell during half of that conversation, and because he was tall, mature, self-confident without being arrogant… Arrggh!

I needed to seduce someone to see how this works. No. I needed to ask someone about it? I couldn’t ask a guy… I couldn’t see myself asking a girl either. Books were no use. I needed to talk to… Mr Parkes again and see if I ended up in bed? …No. That was definitely a dumb idea.

Priests were supposed to give advice right? The Nature goddess had an… earthy reputation, maybe I could talk with one of her priests? Of course I’d been avoiding the Gods and their followers for a reason…

It was then that I heard Aubert’s voice call out. “Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please.”

I looked over to the musicians’ platform, where Aubert was standing, trying to look relaxed. “We’ve had word from the walls that the city is under attack.”

Oh thank god, I thought.