Chapter 021: Grandma

Our guide led us to a decent-looking stone building that in normal districts would have housed lower class citizen or skilled slaves, whose high value was best protection against abuse and made them live in decent conditions. There were grafittis and visible damages here and there, but otherwise it looked almost shockingly nice when you compared it to the shantytowns surrounding them.

Besides, it was made of stone. That alone made it unique on a district scale.

“Please, wait here. I’ll inform Grandma.” The guide spoke when we almost reached the entry door. It was guarded - two humans that stood beside them with their backs on the wall were bulky and carried solid batons made from metal. Both were aura manipulators of Foundation Building stage, one had level 12 of Aura Conductivity, while the second was… 19?! Wow.

Now I’m curious. Neither looked like junkies. They definitely ate well. These weren‘t the type of people you found in slums districts. Besides, having two aura manipulators guarding your door was… well, it was a sign of some significance. Sure, they wouldn‘t even slow down city guards, but they would tear apart every inhabitant of the district with ease. The stronger one could probably murder everything alive here, our group excluded.

This explained the fear that the locals showed towards our guide. He wasn‘t tough, but if he had such a backing…

After a few minutes guide came out. “Grandma wishes to speak with your leader only. “He said.

AND WHO MIGHT THAT BE. Side effect of being the leader of an adventurer team was being send into such situations. Well, I doubt they were stupid enough to rob us or stuff like that, unless they had few more people like the guards waiting inside (unlikely), and besides there was an open quest, so…

I looked briefly at Leria, the only other person of the group that could probably be our leader, even if through might rather than knowledge. She shook her head. Ok. Besides, Vasyr (and most other Fallen) would die of laughter seeing a Player letting an NPC rule him, so that might have been for the best. Not the type of reputation I wish for us to build.

Alright.

“That will be me. Lead the way.”

***

The hall behind the entrance looked cozy and well maintained. Seriously, this building was an island of normalcy. It looked barely different from low class apartment blocks in either Ambryxis or Imperium. It looked more like Imperium, judging from the fact that people wore rather conservative clothing and there was nothing that could trigger Leria around.

There were stairs in the back and two sets of doors on both sides, leading to apartments. Guide waved towards one.

“Go in. Grandma wants to speak with you in private." Ok, now I really want to meet this ‘Grandma’. Person who keeps this level of order in such a place is someone interesting.

I nodded towards the Guide and then knocked on the door. Without waiting (I was told to get in after all), I opened them and walked into the flat.

Wow. It looked like a combination between a herbalist study and an official’s office. Lots of shelves, some of them filled with various herbs (a few I recognized were used for healing), some books, a desk covered in papers… I was so surprised with how the room looked that I noticed this “Grandma” herself sitting on the other side of it only after she loudly cleared her throat.

She was an elf. Low elf, to be exact, a subspecies of elves that was created through extensive interbreeding between their subspecies to the point of losing all of their special traits. They were barely different from humans, only the pointed ears, and the lack of beards. Their faces were also better looking, a heritage of night elves and long extinct domestic elves, whose genes long ago spread throughout all elves.

She didn’t have a single wrinkle on her face, but it was because elves aged differently. Mixed bloods like her could probably live up to a century, but their skin stopped aging when they were around 25 years old. But she had white hair, and this happened to elves when they were old. Elves dying of old age had skin that would make every young adult woman on Earth envious.

“Grandma, I assume.” She nodded.

“And you must be the adventurer I told Havian to fetch. I expected him to look outside the district, but it seems he got lucky. I have a job for you.” She waved her hand towards the chair on the other side of the desk. I sat there.

I raised my hand. “Before that, I have a question. I prefer to know something about my employers, and the way this buildings looks like tells me you are not an ordinary person." She chuckled.

“Not an ordinary person, huh? If I were fifty years younger, I might show you this in detail." … I’m speechless. “Well, if you are so curious. My family owned this building back then when this district wasn‘t what it is now. It survived miraculously when Featherclad assaulted Ambryxis. City didn‘t rebuild this area, but since this building didn‘t need rebuilding, I remained here.” She shrugged. “Some people who had nowhere else to go remained as well, and I’m the one tasked with keeping things in order. That‘s all.”

I remember Leria mentioning Featherclad. He was an archdaemon that led his own host of lesser daemons and beasts against the city fifty years ago. Before a dedicated taskforce of veteran adventurers and magicians cornered and banished him (most of them died in battle) he devastated half of the city. To this day no one knew who was behind this attack. Pentagram? Unaligned Beyond power? Gods? Those That Were Before?

I was almost sure this wasn‘t all. Some herbs looked rare. There was a faint feeling of magic, but I couldn‘t pinpoint it or guess the type. But she obviously wasn‘t going to tell me anything more, so I stopped asking.

“I see. What is the job then?”

“I have a problem with one of my tenants. I’d like you to fix this problem.”

I shook my head. “I’m sorry, but I do not accept assassination contracts.” Murdering people was considered a crime even here. Unless you were a devotee of Dagger, but if you did, then killing you was a fair game as well.

“I’m actually hoping to avoid bloodshed.” She responded, not losing her calmness for a moment. “Ytar barricaded himself in the attic. I could send Botar and Rivar, the people you saw guarding the entrance to the building, to get him, but there is magic at work. I don’t know what he is trying to achieve there and I fear the worst. I want someone to break the door down and check it out.”

Sounded fair. Adventurers were someone you called for such things. Why bother risking anything by doing it alone when they were professionals around?

“This... Ytar. What can you tell about him?”

“Thirteen years old. Amateur sorcerer.” They were the worst. The only things that terrified Imperium more than amateur sorcerers dabbling in things they didn‘t understand were insane (or ambitious) magicians and children with magical talent. I‘ve understood her concerns. “Lived here since he was born, his mother died five years ago. Never knew his father. A recluse, did for the community exactly as much as he had to, and spent most of his free time in his room. He wasn‘t close with anybody here. I knew he bought some magical equipment, but I don’t know details. We searched his room but there was nothing interesting there.”

So he is probably trying to do something. Recluse amateur sorcerers, uh. Evil beings were queuing up for people like that. ‘Listen to me and make me your god and I will grant you power beyond your wildest imaginations!' and three weeks later everything around was dead. Or worse. There was a reason for every civilized areas using witch-hunters, inquisitors or their local equivalent. Grandma could probably call local ‘specialists’, but they were the type to not care about collateral damage and it could get ugly.

“I see. Did you try to make him surrender by cutting his water and food supply? He has to eat and drink, right?”

“We did. Unfortunately, I believe he prepared himself for that. There is a way into the roof, so he can gather rainwater, and I have suspicions he can sneak away using magic to avoid detection.” Damn, this Ytar was a smart guy.

“I see. Now, onto the payment.” I wasn‘t going to do this for free, after all. “My proposition in simple. It will depend on what we find there. If Ytar is consorting with the Pentagram and will actively resist it will cost… " I squinted my eyes. I got an idea. "… actually I have better idea. My group plans to visit the district regularly. Because of that I would like to have the cooperation of you and your... tenants. Place to spend the night in safety if we were busy until nightfall, medical help if something goes wrong, nothing that would endanger you.”

We would be frequent visitors because the tunnel outside wasn‘t far. Few hundred meters perhaps? A safehouse in the vicinity might be useful.

“I see. I believe I can arrange this.”

***

“Go away! I will not open.” The impatient voice from the other side was the only answer to my knocking.

“Listen up, kid. We are adventurers. Grandma hired us to make sure you aren’t doing anything dangerous.” I said towards the door. “We can do it two ways. Either you open the door, or we will do it. In the former case we will be much less angry. Your choice.”

Silence. I‘ve waited for five seconds. Then I made a step back and nodded to Leria. She raised the axe we borrowed from Grandma, empowered it with aura… and hit the door, almost cleaving it in half. She then gave the axe to Vaera, before grabbing the door and tearing off one side. The other survived a while longer because of hinges keeping it in place.

She grabbed it with her both hands and ripped it off, almost breaking the doorframe. Aura was scary.

On the other side of the now absent door was a wardrobe. With her back towards us.

“If you stand on the other side of the wardrobe…” I said loudly as Leria retrieved the axe from Vaera. “…then I suggest moving back. Or vacate the room.”

Leria used the blunt side and targeted the upper part of the wardrobe. It falls over, opening us a way. Leria immediately charged inside the room. For no reason though, for Ytar was already apprehended.

I avoided the threat of him escaping through the supposed escape route to the roof. I had Simea climb up through the wall, find the way inside and then charge when she hears the entrance door breaking. She did so, and when we moved inside Ytar was already pinned down on the ground by her.

He was a beastman. A wolf-morph one. His ears looked like wolf ones.

“Unhand me, dammit!" He was still struggling. Well, as a level 6 hedge wizard he had similar chance of winning against Simea as a snowman had to survive in hell. Especially in close combat.

“It’s inspection time, then.” I said after coming in after Leria. “And you better be happy, boy, that we aren‘t witch-hunters.”

***

I had Leria keep Ytar safely pinned down to the ground by the entrance - she was stronger than Simea and I wasn‘t going to take any chances. Then the rest of us began the search for the beastman‘s study. It didn‘t take long.

Few shelves with various objects of some value in amateur sorcery. Large magical symbol on the floor. A square divided with two perpendicular lines that made its insides look like four smaller squares.

I laughed. Loudly. Simea looked at me like I was retarded. Vaera would have do the same if not her hijab.

“This is... unbelievable.” I uttered, before I once again broke into laughter.

Simea had enough. “What is it? And stop laughing, dammit!”

“I can‘t!” One last laugh and I pulled myself together. “Listen. A little question. Imagine you are living in an average place in this world. You are a sorcerer with some skill, but you are also a recluse that dislikes the society. What do you do?"

“Ehm… try to get stronger to change the society or something?" I nodded, urging her to continue. “By... I don’t know, summoning a daemon? Like a familiar.”

“Precisely! But since the society is based upon the laws of the good gods, you need to look for the help of those bad ones to overturn them, right?” She nodded, urgently awaiting the conclusion. “Now, last question. What do you do when you live in a Doomplace but as a recluse that dislikes society whose laws it wishes to overturn?”

“You... summon something even worse?" I shook my head. “You… summon something good?” Her eyes widened. “You don‘t say…”

“Yes.” I chuckled. “This symbol is a used in a summoning ritual for servile daemons of White Pantheon. Outside square and the four internal squares symbolize the twenty gods that belong to it. In short - this guy tried to summon the local equivalent of angel."

Which was much easier than summoning evil daemons. There were no defensive spells because the way this summoning was aligned only bright side daemons could come. And they never murdered their summoners. If you were unworthy they wouldn‘t answer. Since their standards were so high, only twenty percent of summoning attempts led somewhere. The rest were just a waste of time.

“Let‘s go back.” I said. “We might have found a recruit.”

“What?” Simea seemed bewildered by my idea. “You can‘t be serious! It’s a child!”

“I’m not planning to use him as a party member. But if we leave him like that, locals will discover him eventually. And they won‘t care about his age. Deals with White Pantheon are a crime. Not the same level as worshipping Pentagram, but still. As a slum kid with no backing he will get enslaved. Executed, if witch-hunters make an example out of him. If we get him on board, he can help Kytar or keep the place clean.” I shrugged. “It‘s a better outcome, isn’t it?”

***

“Well, kid.” I said after we returned to the entrance. “You are in trouble."

“Fuck you.” Despite Leria sitting on his back and holding his head almost at the floor he remained defiant.

“You know this is something the witch-hunters deal in?” I continued. Leria gave me a questioning look, but I ignored it. She wasn‘t good at pretending. Not letting her into the plan made her acting natural.

“Fuck them." Not very original, but I liked his stubborness.

“You can keep cursing. If they want to, they will still break you. Mind magic, life magic, plain old torture… I guess… a week in the dungeon. Before they break you, I mean.” He remained silent. Even Glorastia sometimes resorted to pretty terrifying ways of interrogation. I knew Ambryxis had even worse things up its sleeve. And he knew as well. “Let me guess. You decided to summon a daemon... before discovering that you didn‘t have enough mana to power up a summoning, hmm?” The source of my guess were the number of cheap herbs useful in recovering mana and the low grade mana crystals he used to store his mana. “Am I right?”

“Y…yes.” I guess that mentioning the torture rooms of witch-hunters helped him be more... open. Damn, they must be scary.

“How about a bet?" He looked at me with a sliver of hope hidden well behind his eyes. “I’ll provide you with necessary magic. You will attempt a summoning. If it fails, we’ll free you as you will be no threat to people around you. If it succeeds... well, then we will discuss other options.” I deliberately left this ending open. I wasn‘t even lying. Technically.

This was the sort of deal he could refuse.

***

We escorted him to the study and let him do as he please. Just in case he tried something funny we placed Simea between him and roof entrance and Leria beside the front door. He knew he had no chance to escape. He couldn‘t fight the rest of us either - he already guessed I was a better sorcerer than him by immediately guessing what he was doing and his problems with that. There was also Vaera, an enigmatic person in a robe that made him more afraid than rest of us combined.

So rather than fighting he surrendered. He got his magical catalyst - supposedly a staff, but it looked like a simple stick - and began the incantation. I stood behind him, with my hand on his back, ready to provide him with my magic.

“That‘s weird.” I heard Simea’s voice. I turned my head to see her standing by the door leading towards the roof entrance. “I don’t remember you doing any incantation when using magic.”

“You don‘t have to use them when you want to cast a spell.” I whispered to her, to avoid interrupting Ytar. “But when you want to construct one from scratch, you’ll have to use them. He has to improvise because White Pantheon summoning rites are rare around here, and because of that he uses them.” I shrugged.” Incantations are an advanced magic rather than a simple one in this world. If you ever see someone using an incantation in combat, flee.” I could guess her question from the look on her face. “He is casting in thaumaturgical aevarian language, and as a sorcerer I know enough about it to know he isn‘t trying to pull something weird.” She nodded.

The fact that he constructed a working summoning ritual from scraps of knowledge was impressive. Especially in his age. His manapool was abysmal, but he had a talent for mana manipulation and spell construction. Might have made a good theoretical sorcerer or a magician.

I supplied him with magic earlier than his manapool hit the bottom. He wasn‘t even asking for it yet, but I wasn‘t going to risk him getting too much magic and losing control. Instead I slowly increased it. It wasn’t long before a small rift into the Dark was open and he sent the standard inviting magic spike. It was a familiar summoning, only done differently.

I was about to say something alongside the ‘now we wait for something to show’... when something showed up. Wow. A small ball of light levitated in the rift.

Spirit of Light

Familiar of Ytar Vahn

Category: Holy/Light

Type: Daemon/Spirit

Threat Grade: Copper V

A lowest grade of daemons inhabiting Skyhaven, hailing from the power of its divine ruler, Shimmer, Imperial Goddess of Light, Order and Sun.

It is a zealous hatred towards disorder and darkness manifested in semi-material form, capable of using weak holy magic dedicated to Shimmer to attack enemies and suppress black magic in the vicinity.

...oh shit, he got a Shimmer’s servile daemon. I expected something from Mercy or Audacity, maybe Warmaidens if we were lucky. But Shimmer?! She was White Pantheon version of Overtyrant in dealing with the darkness. Only Embe, the Imperial Religion chief deity and God of Honour and Loyalty would be a better pick. Wow. Seriously, wow. He must be really angry with locals.

Wait a second, isn‘t Lena‘s daemon a Shadow-aligned one? Shadow and Shimmer were twins that hated each other to the bone. This would be fun…

I gave Ytar a pat on the back. He turned his head towards me, his face almost frozen in fear. Oh, right, I forgot about it, he thinks we will hand him over to witch-hunters now that his summoning succeeded. Time to fix the mess.

“Don‘t worry, we don‘t plan to gave you to witch-hunters. Or to anyone else, in fact. We aren‘t on best terms with Ambryxis, to be honest.” I gave him a warm smile I hoped looked sufficiently genuine. “We might have a job for you. But I’m afraid you can’t stay here. You have ten minutes to pack everything you want to take with you. Simea, watch him. I will have a talk with Grandma.”

***

"We finished the inspection." I said to her after entering her study. "It wasn't the Pentagram, thankfully. He was trying to summon a servant of White Pantheon. Since making witch-hunters sentence him to enslavement or execute would be a waste of a talented sorcerer, I decided to employ him in a safe distance from their jurisdiction."

Grandma nodded. "I see. That's a relief." Her eyes wizened. "You will not enslave him the second you disappear from the city, right?"

I shook my head. "Nah. I prefer voluntary co-workers. No amount of slave collars can force enthusiasm." That was the excuse I used when people from the area noticed my lack of enthusiasm towards slavery. It was an approach known in Dragonspine Mountains (and in Glorastia Empire), it made up for a significant minority. There was a reason there were free low class citizens in the city.

She nodded again. "That's a good motto." She said, her eyes drifting somewhere beside me. And beside this room, most likely. Made me wonder if she wasn't... thrilled about slavery. Might be a potential ally... one day, when I'll confirm it beyond doubt. Unless old age claims her first.

I've waited for a while before interrupting the silence. "What about the agreement?" She shook off her deep thoughts.

"Of course. You are free to enter this building any time. If you want our help, we'll be happy to provide it as long as you won't require something crazy. Don't expect us to storm the Woe, please." Woe was a nickname people of Ambryxis had for the fortress where the Lord lived. Curious is the namemaker art.

"No problem, I don't plan to attack any fortresses. Especially not Woe." ...For now. It was a matter of time, really.

I also got an information about the quest being finished. Nice.

***

Right after we left Grandma’s house - together with Ytar with all of his belongings in a bag - I received a Nexus message.

Lena Simeon [P]: We have a problem, master.

Huh, her active effect must have worked again. We tried it earlier and the ‘master’ worked even used via Nexus.

Avhar Khan [P]: On a scale of 0-10, just how troublesome is this problem?

Lena Simeon [P]: 11.

Fuck my life. WHAT AGAIN?! Can’t I have at least a week of simple grind, to grow stronger, earn money and so on? I know I wanted to roleplay, that I used to dislike monotonous actions, but… IT WAS TOO MUCH. Something went bad every thirty seconds (more or less). Ugh.

Avhar Khan [P]: … What is it?

Lena Simeon [P]: Kytar unearthed the stairway into second level of the Hold. It’s inhabited. They are hostile.

FOR FUCK’S SAKE, KYTAAAAAR! You damn work-a-holic. I told you to take it easier, dammit.

Lena Simeon [P]: I’m holding the line for now, but only because they failed to notice the disappearances near the stairway. If they push for real, I’m toast. I need you here, asap.

Avhar Khan [P]: Who is the enemy?

Lena Simeon [P]: ...You won’t like that.

I don’t like everything you said to me thus far, I don’t know how exactly the enemies identity might make it worse than it is already.

Lena Simeon [P]: It’s the Pentagram.

KYYTAAAAARRRRRRR!!!

Lena Simeon [P]: You there?

Avhar Khan [P]: I think I’ve got a cerebral hemorrhage. Or a stroke.

Avhar Khan [P]: Jesus Christ.

Avhar Khan [P]: Tell Kytar that I’m going to have Leria spank his ass for working too much.

Lena Simeon [P]: K. How fast you can get here?

Avhar Khan [P]: Less than day. We will hurry. If it looks like they are about to charge you for real, warn us, we will commit suicides and respawn in the Hold. We have a new recruit and I’d prefer to avoid it though.

Lena Simeon [P]: Yes, master.