Chapter 106

Lies and Deceit

“We’ve woven the chains round their necks and we yanked them up and watched them snap. And we stood by the side and cheered.”

Fragments

A fragmented shadow dashed through a set of narrow and darkened alleyways, the sky above covered in ashen-grey clouds, streets still wet from the pelting rain. The shadow made no sound as it hopped and vaulted over the obstacles, on occasion pausing and inspecting its surroundings. Upon a closer look, one could notice a bulge over where the right shoulder ought to be, but it was impossible to discern what it was with a naked eye.

The shadow continued rushing for roughly a quarter of an hour before coming to a stop in front of the majestic-looking gates; steeled frame held within two molds of wood bound within a steel-cast, forty-foot long sword engraving. Eight guards stood at the front, six more positioned at the towers adjected to the gates, and further eight roaming the front ramparts.

Noah exclaimed softly at the security, though he imagined this was more of a recent thing as everyone's nerves were stretched taut with the King's murder, and nobody seemingly knowing anything about it.

He scouted about for a bit until he found a relatively isolated spot; it was still covered by two guards at minimum, but he’d grown decently confident in Dark being able to conceal him. This was especially so as the guards were the ordinary sort – he sensed no Light from within them, and he knew that, especially during the night, he was effectively invisible to the naked eye.

Easily scaling the imposing wall of stone, he vaulted over the top and gently landed on the dirt-laden edge of a moat; he was somewhat surprised by it, particularly because they were in a city, this was certainly not a castle… and the moat was within the walls. Eh, paranoid eccentrics, I suppose…

He mused humorously as he made his way through the compound. The land’s rough sketch was already given to him by Quickett which made traveling through and finding his way much easier. In roughly five minutes of moving amidst the shrubs and tall trees and a set of narrow paths, he landed in front of the main building of the mansion.

Much like the front gates, the mansion was heavily guarded – beyond just the guards standing on the surface of things, Noah also spotted almost a dozen hidden about. To his surprise, one of them even had Light. Though it was faint, it was still Light, after all, which immediately put him on guard. It would do him little good to be discovered, especially as he was trying to build up his identity as Skyler further as a form of shield for his day-to-day identity of a Dacent.

As the latter, he had no means of ensuring his head doesn’t get chopped off – but if people believed he was friends with the enigmatic Skyler, he might yet be able to avoid some trouble.

He spent a bit longer darting around the front of the mansion, looking for the easiest way to enter that didn’t entail him scaling the building and looking for tiny holes to crawl through. After all, he was not here alone – there was a limp body slumped over his shoulder, one that had already started decomposing despite his best efforts to slow it down. Luckily, Dark didn’t merely cover the sense of sight – but also of smell and noise.

In the end, he decided to simply shuffle through a pathway in-between three different sets of guards that, at a first glance, appeared randomly spread. At his closest, he would reach within four feet of another person, but as long as he avoided directly entering a spot under a source of light, he wagered he would be fine. This wasn't blind faith, as he'd already tested Dark in the city on numerous occasions, which not only led to a better understanding of it but also a better map of the city.

He moved carefully, stifling his breathing all the while, and ensuring he made no sound. One of the guards seemed to notice something as his brows furrowed, though even after his eyes looked over where Noah was crouching, he appeared to see nothing and merely shook his head.

Noah had come to realize that while the exterior architecture of Elucido may be worthy of praise, its interior design was… rather homogenous. Fyrost’s city mansion was virtually a replica of Olivia’s, save for the smaller scale and fewer flowery decorations.

Following the mental map Quickett gave him, he slowly made his way up the stairs to the second floor and toward the left. The floor curved at a sharp angle, walls bricked and decorated with hanging chandeliers and paintings, with occasional sculpture breaking the monotony. He eventually stopped in front of seemingly ordinary-looking wooden doors. Pausing for a second, he sensed two strong sources of Light from the inside, causing him to look oddly at the doors. Were… were they waiting for me every single day?

Shaking his head, he opened the doors, though didn’t dispel Dark just yet – instead coating the doors in it as well. May as well make a theatrical entrance…

Stepping into the room, he realized that it was a sparsely decorated one – save for the wall-long bookshelf to his right, there was but a table and a chair and a window further back. The room was lit up by a few candles on the table, but it was more than enough as it wasn’t particularly large.

He immediately spotted two figures in the room – one seated and one standing. Lymena’s silver hair appeared particularly queer underneath the candlelight as she stood by the Duke’s side, her hands grasping each other at her abdomen. She wore a simple-looking dress and had her eyes closed at the moment.

Duke Godwind, on the other hand, sat still, his brows furrowed, his dark eyes staring at Noah – no, rather than at him, it was through him. This has to be because of that Fake Gods versus Aspects nonsense, Noah sighed inwardly, thoroughly convinced that that was the sole reason he could so easily stand in front of the supposed experts of Light and go entirely unnoticed.

Right around then, he uncloaked himself, startling the two; the Duke shot up to his feet, ready to fight, though quickly calming down when he saw the hooded figure standing there with a body over his shoulder. The man’s eyes widened for a moment, a minute trace of sorrow flashing through them before the cold and indifferent gleam was restored. Lymena, similarly, underwent a bout of shock; though this wasn’t the first time the man in front of her did something like it, it was no less impactful.

“You waited long,” the figure said as he slowly put down the body on his shoulder, leaning it against the wall. “Apologies; I have been busy.”

“Haven’t we all?” the Duke said, glancing at Ludwig’s corpse once again before focusing back onto the hooded figure. “House Fyrost thanks you.”

“Gratitude is unnecessary,” the figure said. “It was a business transaction.”

“Nonetheless,” the Duke said. “Good will is hard to build.”

“… perhaps,” the figure said, its eyes smiling. “Though I can’t claim either way.”

“… have you killed the King?” Lymena suddenly asked, causing Duke Godwind to glance at her and sigh apprehensively before stealthily stealing a look at the figure. He didn’t appear offended by the question, which was good enough. Even the Duke was interested in the answer, perking his ears.

“… assumptions really are uniform, huh?” the figure chuckled, shaking his head. “No, Lady Lymena. I was too busy protecting the Princess from the onslaught of assassins to care much for what the King was doing.”

“It is true, then? The rumors?” the Duke frowned.

“Hardly rumors if they are true,” the figure said with a nod. “Unfortunately, even I am having trouble identifying who hired them.”

“Was it not the Order?” the Duke asked with a faint surprise.

“… no,” the figure looked at him meaningfully, and the Duke quickly realized he had given up a bit more information than he intended. “Though, from what I hear, Princess Maria had quite a bit of trouble with them.”

“… she hired you?” Lymena asked with a frown.

“… you could say that,” the figure’s eyes smiled once again. “So, now, I have two dens of schemers to unveil. No rest for the wicked, I suppose.”

"… how much of your plans did we earn an ear to?" the Duke asked after a brief silence.

“Plans? I am afraid you overestimate me, dear Duke,” the man said, shaking his head. “I have no plans past my Master’s mission; as for what that is, I’m afraid I cannot divulge.”

“Either way,” the Duke said, changing the line of questioning. “I am head of a House, Lord Skyler. My first priority is ensuring my family’s name gets passed on, and that my house prospers while I head it. Are you implying the risk we took in the Brightfort was unnecessary?”

“No,” the man said, shaking his head. “Your help, though too overt, was welcome. Princess Olivia needs to stay alive and, as of the recent events, every member of the Royal Family shares the same necessity.”

“… you want to prevent rebellions?”

“I want to prevent pointless chaos and death,” the man said. “You should know best that the cornered animals are the most dangerous sort.”

"Though I admire your intentions, ensuring all of them survive until the Holy War… is virtually impossible," the Duke said, sighing as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I do not doubt your skill, Lord Skyler, just the number of hands that you have. And, I am sorry to say, but my House is unable to help you in that regard; if we overtly support the Royal Family, it would only serve to further isolate us from the others. Saying nothing of how much what little business we have would suffer, we'd be frosted in terms of information and their plans."

“I don’t need your help protecting the Royal Family,” the man said, shaking his head. “If I am incapable of ensuring none of them die, then I dare say nobody in this Kingdom could have prevented it.” The Duke’s eyebrows arched, his eyes flashing in a strange glint; though it was merely implied, the man in front of him did just say he was, at the very least, as strong as the Lightbringer herself. “It is not a hollow statemen, dear Duke,” seemingly noticing his gaze, the man added with a chuckle. “Unlike me, the Lightbringer has dipped her fingers into the jar of political power. She has touched it and it has taken her; someone like that… is unworthy.”

“… you sound less and less like someone of the Kingdom, Lord Skylar,” the Duke said, using his Light fervently to ensure they weren’t being spied on. If the words that the man spoke were to get out, he himself would have his head chopped just by the implications. “If you can so overtly disrespect the Light Mother herself, not to mention the Doctrine.”

“I hardly said anything about the Doctrine, haven’t I?” the man said, his eyes smiling once again. “Though I can’t say I care much for it, I don’t have anything against it either; those who supposedly uphold it, however, don’t impress me. Flaunting power and status as impervious shields has long since stopped swaying me. You can relax; nobody is listening.”

“… how can you be sure?” the Duke asked. “Just… who are you?”

"… I'll visit you in a few weeks. By then, I should hope you've prepared names for the members of the Order; you can exclude by your judgment. Don't, however, use this as a means of exacting your personal vengeance. I'll afford you tools to get it done by your own hands, eventually. Also, get in touch with Prince Evon and relay to him that you have means of contacting a certain merchant; a week from now, you two should meet him in a private room of Echol’s Inn. From now on, avoid directly contacting either Princess Olivia or the Dacent with her. If necessary, he will come to find you.”

“What… merchant…” just as the Duke was about to ask, the man vanished, once again right in front of their eyes. The Duke immediately activated the mansion’s array, yet still failed to find even a trace of the man, as though he was merely an illusion. Godwind would be inclined to believe it were it not for the corpse of his son lying still on the floor. Sighing, he glanced at Lymena whose self-control finally faltered as she began shaking. “Speak nothing of what you’ve heard today,” he warned. “And avoid appearing in the public for the time being. Though he hid it well, I could see that he was angry.”

“… angry?” Lymena asked.

“For better or worse,” Godwind sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose again. “Many people have abused the situation that he had created in order to reward themselves. Not to mention that a person of interest for him was repeatedly targeted by assassins. And, there is also the fact that he will start hunting the Order. Soon enough, many-a-dead will appear in the city. Distance yourself from it and avoid speaking to anyone about it.”

“…”

“… just what in the Light’s name are you planning?” the Duke mumbled aloud. “And why now?”