"AHhH!"

*Boom!*

War and bloodshed. None were spared from it. Strife was endless, as battles were fought till tooth and bone.

A cacophony of screams and wails of anguish permeates through the air. Ringing through the soul.

Scarlet fields and corrupted cadavers as far as the eye could see. Even the moon has shed its bloody tears on the shattered sky.

"Y-you Heretics!"

"Demon!"

"You'll pay!"

Dead men. They move once more.

Dragging their broken bodies, drunk fervour pushes them on. Their will as strong as their bodies are broken.

They swing their blades and fight once more under a banner flung high.

*Shing!*

I snap my eyes open. What the hell?!

My head's pounding as I sit up nursing my headache. A light sweat, leaving an icky feeling on my clothes.

Studying my surroundings, looks like I'm still in the same bed, my chair was in the same place, and I still had my bedside bread. That's good, it'd be terrible if I hadn't.

Though, what a strange dream that was. It seemed to be of the same trend of dreams that I was recently getting. Very odd indeed. And like all dreams, it was faint, a muffled din throughout.

I don't exactly remember the contents as they slipped out of conscience, but yet again, I distinctly remember being accused of being a heretic and a demon.

Godsdamnit man.

I'm probably being mentally assaulted by the Kingdom. And judging by how I was also called a demon, they were also likely aware that I'm harbouring one. I've recently come to terms with Lazari being a demon, and well, I've pushed my doubts away, so for this to pop up really downs my mood.

Tsk, stupid fate weavers.

I wait for the headache to subside.

"D'you have anti scrying magic here?"

"What?"

"Anti scrying magic," I intone flatly.

"Uhm, anti crying magic? Is it magic that stops you from crying yourself to sleep?"

"Yesn't, anti scrying magic,"

"Okay, okay, what is it?"

"It's magic that blocks scrying,"

Laffer looks genuinely confused.

Sigh, do these guys not have any anti scrying formations? I thought this was some kind of secret cult in hiding. Anti scrying was a must get for any secret hideout! It'd be dreadful not to have one, but a death wish in the Kingdom. With astrolabes capable of reaching every inch of the Kingdom, anything flagged under their auspices will be quickly identified and after going through a threat rating and multiple reviews, a subjugation force will be sent. And well, the location of a cult base would most certainly trip that flag and notify the relative officials.

Trust me, I’ve been sent on these kinds of missions multiple times.

So I would know that the Kingdom would’ve most certainly sent a subjugation force by now.

Yet again, I am once more amazed at how this cult even made it this far.

"No, we have something better. Valence cloaker," Lacer speaks up, "It is from the fatherland,"

Hmm, makes sense that I don't know what that is, but it sounds advanced.

I'm guessing that it functions similar to a cloaking formation?

"No, normal cloaking formation would usually leave an empty gap when prophetic scrying is used, however valence cloaker will still show the building, but it will hide leave us unregistered when scryed on,"

What?

Speaking at length with more technical terms, Lacer tells me the basics of the effects the valence cloaker provides.

So, what he meant before was that normal concealment arrays would usually leave a blank area when someone tries to scry the area and automated scrying processes may still flag us for being suspicious. However, from what I understand of the valence cloaker, it supposedly still shows the building but just hides us, the inhabitants.

So it could be thought of as a superior cloaking formation.

"Damn, how'd you even get something like that?"

"I used to work as government official,"

Okay, that was quite the divergent I went on, but going back on track. If the place is already rigged up with a form of concealment then that dream shouldn't have been a psychic attack, so was it a curse?

Likely. After all, that star summoner was an elite, and I wouldn't be surprised if fate weavers could bypass this valence cloaker.

Urg, now I'm paranoid. Where's the bread? Gimme some bread!

"Why d'you want bread?"

"It helps with paranoia,"

"Okay?"

It doesn't, I just have a habit of stress eating.

As I'm chewing at some grain, I notice an odd texture that normal hard bread would have. Why is it crunchy?

"Wait, have you never had toast before?"

"Toast?" The heck is that? I've always lived alone and prepared my own food, so other cuisine fares are beyond me.

"You're eating it!"

What? I look at the item in my hands. This is without a doubt bread, at least visually…

So getting this straight. Apparently, toast was basically bread, but instead of just giving me the bread, they bake it again. Which seems awfully redundant.

So much so, that the genius who thought of such an idea needs some goddamn medals! Some peace prizes!

Surely, that man was given a kingdom for his contributions to the world.

"Hm, I'm pretty sure the baker that invented this technique was awarded with a metric tonne of flour,"

He deserves much more than that! But whilst I'm stress eating Laffer thinks it's an appropriate time to start conversing with me.

"So how far have you gone with your skills?"

I swallow, "What kind?"

"Huh? I'm obviously referring to the dark arts you dunce!"

Whoa, rude.

“Doing alright," I give him the simplest answer I can.

"So you got the basics down?"

"Mhmm,"

"Good, I feared you may not be compatible with the arts but it seems I was worried for nothing,"

Wait, why wouldn't I be compatible with the arts? As far as I could see, there was no special aptitude and prerequisite that was required to practice them.

"Well, you see, these arts aren't like other arts where everything is laid out, from what I understand, a specific mindset or disposition is needed to comprehend and actually practice them,"

That makes no sense. It's not like it's divine magic that required faith in the gods to use nor is it like some kind of evil magic that required one to abandon their humanity so this seems to be quite the leap in logic. Or, there actually is some criteria, and Laffer being the absolute sped that he is, cannot actually pinpoint it.

"Hey, Lacer knows more about it, this is something I conjectured when the new guy was strugglin',"

Hm, so it's as I thought, Laffer just was being a sped.

There was no way that these 'dark arts' that I'm practising could be limited by persona or mentality, as for one. It did not draw off the power of the divine, like gods and deities. For such, divine magicks, it required one to have faith and belief in those entities, if not then one cannot use said magicks.

For the evil magicks, these differ from the dark arts which are, as mentioned previously, arts. The evil magicks draw from the abyss or the 'beyond' as they like to say, and grant them powers, but usually at the cost of their sanity. This also extends to any arts associated with evil magicks.

So bringing up such theories made no sense as to why the new guy couldn't perform the dark arts. And it was highly more likely that he was incompetent, considering his non combatant background rather than not being ungifted in some mental department. Such conjecture was built with no requisite to back it and didn't even have a logical flow. Only idiots would say something like that.

"Wow, you really beat the man down," Wills commented.

Of course I did. I had to, after all…

"Don't think I don't know what you were trying to do my bird,"

"What?! How did y-" He yelled impulsively, "Ahem, I mean, I don't know what you're talking about,"

"My bird isn't for eating,"

"C'mon man, think about it, it'll only be a small piece, ahem, not that'd I'd ever think of eating your bird. As if mate,"

I ignore his guilty look. After all, I couldn't do anything to him even if I tried. Plus, Laffer's not really that bad of a guy so I'll let him off this time.

"Okay, because you're an arse, can I ask for your help in getting a curse off me?"

By that I mean, I use this incident as leverage for a favour.

Though I can tell that this was a favour wasted.

"I'm tellin' ya, you don't have any curses on you,"

Horse shite. It's probably because you can't see them.

"Wow, this the thanks I get for trying to help a guy out,"

I roll my eyes, taking another bite of toast.

I might be addicted to this stuff.

"You know what, I've had enough of your shenanigans!"

My shenanigans? Really?

"I challenge thee to a duel! I'll settle my seniority once and for all!"

"Modest talk for someone two ranks above me,"

"Urg," He flinched, "Tsk, not my fault you always treat me like garbage,"

Oh, I wonder why, I roll my eyes.

"I've always treated you with the best intentions in my heart,"

"Really?"

He looks sceptical and he's right to be so.

"Yesn't,"

"Sigh, in that case, let's try something else," He grins.

"In two days, there's gonna be a tip top auction. How about this, whoever gets the better stuff, wins,"

He extends a hand.

"By get, you mean robbing, right?"

Laffer's smile freezes, "Y-yeah,"

"So, I'm guessing it's a competition of who gets the more expensive stuff? Or are we trying to get items with greater usefulness?"

"Uhm, I haven't thought that far," He scratches his head.

What a sped.

"How about we make it a competition to get practical useful items, rather than just cost?"

"O-okay, sure,"

Heh, you fool. You've fallen for my trap!

Loitering around vendors has its perks as I've also caught wind of this latest auction. It's apparently going to be a large mix, varying from rare materials and artifacts to prestigious works of art. And because we're going by practicality, it doesn't matter how many people you rob, because if you only come back with artworks, I'm sure to win.

"Hm, it's good you are doing something productive for once," Lacer assented with this friendly competition, "It would be good if you can restock our supplies,"

"I'm guessing you would also evaluate the winner of this?"

He agreed.

"Oh yeah, you can't bring anyone else with you,"

"I wasn't planning on it,"

I was planning on it.

"Tsk, do you take me for a fool?"

Well, yes I do.

"I know your gonna try to bring your bird along on a practicality as she ain't a person,"

"I wasn't planning on it, but sure,"

Again, I was planning on it.

"Tsk, then that meant you were planning on bringing the little demon along weren't you?"

"It's Lazari and unlike you, I do consider her a person, you obnoxious prick," I say with the straightest face I can manage.

I can feel the toxicity on my tongue, but I reign it in.

I breathe out. Self control, buddy. Self control.