“I am Hugo Rebane and I am not a spy,” he blurted out. Hugo hadn’t consciously chosen to speak. He must be under the influence of magic. Knowing the dean’s aversion to shadow magic, he must have been given a truth potion or something.

“What?” the dean said, clearly expecting a different answer.

“Yep. I am a time-traveling, body hopping, wonderful guy. I am trying to save everyone on the wheel from certain death. The end of the year will kill us all because of the the shimmer veins exploding. If we don’t do anything that is. I’m not trying to save everyone this time around, I am trying to steal mana cores so I can end up in my own body. Oh hey. I didn’t mean to tell you that. I guess I can’t really stop talking. That’s funny, hey?” Hugo said.

“... What?” the dean said and sat down on a nearby chair.

“Good idea, sit down for this. I gotta tell you the whole story. Beginning to end, you know? It will take a bit. Settle in.” Hugo said. He gave up on trying to resist the effects of the potion and just leaned into it, telling the dean everything that had happened from the first trip back in time. He demonstrated each domain as he got to that part in the story.

When he was mostly done with his story, he felt the effects of the potion wear off. He finished his tale anyway and explained why he needed the mana cores. “And as long as I am being honest I will tell you that I think the potion has worn off. By the way, can I have a glass of water?”

“Sure. I need to tell command what is going on. A short version of the facts anyway,” the dean said.

He left and came back with a glass shortly after. Hugo greedily drank. The two of them sat in silence for a while. The dean had a dazed look on his face and Hugo was done with talking for a while.

“This wasn’t what I was expecting. At all. We were so convinced that ... it doesn’t matter what we thought. I guess we will let you go,” Dean Artjom said.

Now that the drugs were out of his system he could think more clearly. Hugo said, “I have spent the last several years working on saving everyone’s lives. You get a letter from me that stops saboteurs just a few weeks ago. You repay me by drugging me? Shame on you.”

To his credit, the dean did look shamed.

Hugo continued, “I am going to spend the next few weeks on something important to me. Are you going to help me?”

Dean Artjom thought about it for a minute and said, “I don’t think I will. I can’t risk it in case you aren’t able to travel back in time again. I am going to stop the hedge mages and help the sentinels suppress Deva. However, I won’t stop you. Best of luck to you.”

He handed Hugo a bag. A look inside showed that it was his own money. They must have assumed the obscene amount of money was funding from a foreign government. The dean opened the door and nodded to the sentinels stationed outside.

It turned out, he was in the basement of the sentinel headquarters. Hugo walked up to the main room. Sentinel Colonel Sebastian stood at the top of the stairs with Mia.

“Artjom told us we were wrong. I am sorry we misjudged you,” Colonel Sebastian said, “I hope you can forgive us and work together.”

“Thank you. I am going to need some time. It may take me a few months, but I am sure we can work together soon,” Hugo said.

Hugo turned to Mia and said, “Walk with me?”

She looked back to where the dean was talking with a sentinel, “I think I will wait for Dean Artjom.”

Interesting. It just goes to show how important first impressions are. She knew now that he had been telling the truth, but she still didn’t trust him. He mentally readjusted his priorities and plans. He fabricated a rod of mithril and handed it over.

“That’s just for goodwill. Would you be interested in accepting some commissions from me? I need a few tools made and you are the only one I know that could do it,” Hugo said.

She took the rod and said, “Is this what I think it is?”

“Yep.”

“Yes, I would be very interested,” Mia said.

As they talked about what Hugo wanted, Hugo continued to fabricate thin rods of mithril. He was up to ten of them when he decided to stop so he would have a sizable buffer of mana left in his pool. He was developing a healthy paranoia. She took the rods and promised to meet with him again in a week or two. He gave her a few more requests and wished her well.

He hopped on the train and headed north again. He passed through Tallinn and Tembisa before stopping at Paarl. He needed to make some preparations. Since he would be doing this job on his own, he would need to hire some help.

Hugo knew the town well, not only had he lived here, he had done numerous errands all over Paarl. With a purposeful gait, he walked around the tidy lines of nox towards his destination. He knew just who to hire for this job.

They refused to work with him. The back up option refused as well. Humans in a nox town were second class citizens, no matter how much money he had to offer. He just kept trying until he had everything set up. It took him the rest of the day and most of the next before he had plans and people in place. The hassle meant that he would have to leave this job for last.

Talking to that many people exposed him. There would be an investigation afterwards and it was much more likely that someone would remember just how he looked. The Paarl heist would have to be last so that he could go up the mountain right afterwards.

He headed back to the Gilded Lily. He was already starting to consider it his home. Well, home base anyway. The hotel room was pleasant and well appointed, but never felt “homey”. Having learned from his experience with Mia, Hugo made an effort to get his next first impression right.

If he was going to make this whole thing work, he would need the Acomarian ritual that only Commissioner Binh could provide. He dressed up in his best outfit and called his favorite hotel employee up to his room. Aria seemed a little confused at first, but soon she was excited to help him out. The fifty silver tip just helped increase her motivation.

...

Perking up, Hugo finally saw his target. He had been betting on songbirds for the last two hours, and had almost given up. He had already lost two gold worth of chips at this point, and had only been using small bets. Thankfully, Commissioner Binh was here now, and Hugo sprang into action.

He converted a full platinum into dragonbone chips and walked up to the bloodthirsty mahjong tables. This was one of the risky parts of the plan. There were three bloodthirsty tables and the commissioner could choose any of them. Hugo walked over and sat at the far one. He nodded to the dealer and two other players joined him at the same time. He covertly slipped them some chips.

The three of them played a quick game, not really looking at their tiles. A few rounds went by. Hugo had to keep reminding himself to be patient.

“Is this seat taken?” Commissioner Binh said.

“It’s all yours,” Hugo said with a smile. He had a feeling that the man would sit at the only table with women gambling. His plan had paid off. He smiled to himself and grabbed a tile.

“I know that smile,” one of the women said and pushed her tiles into the center, “I am out.”

“Me too,” the other woman said.

Hugo took his meager winnings and said, “Aw nuts. My poker face sucks.”

With a laugh, the commissioner said, “I don’t think any of us are going to complain about that. Binh’s the name by the way.”

“Hello Binh, nice to meet you. My name is Hugo, and we are having a great time here. This is Nastja and this is...” he paused, he had forgotten the other woman’s name.

“Victoria,” the blond haired woman helpfully supplied.

“Sorry,” Hugo said and turned to Binh to add, “Just met them tonight.”

“Victoria, Nastja, wonderful to meet you,” Binh said with a little flourish, “And Hugo, I suspect you and I will soon become great friends. Bad players make wonderful friends.”

Everyone laughed and Hugo motioned for Aria to come over. “A round of drinks for everyone. I have just gained three new friends and it’s time to celebrate. A gargleblaster for me.”

“Gin and tonic for me,” Victoria said.

“Tallinn Rice Wine for me,” Nastja said.

“As long as my new friend is paying, I will take a Blue Bastellus,” Binh said. He turned to Hugo and said, “Helps with the mana thirst.”

“Oh, I guess that makes you a high ranked visitor from outside the wheel?” Hugo said and started the betting.

“Half right, I am a military man in the Durban army. Not terribly high ranked though. They mostly keep me around because I am a good negotiator,” Binh said.

Hugo was sorely tempted to ask him what rank he was. That would be impolite, so instead he said, “I raise ten gold.”

“Look who’s a big spender,” Nastha said, “I think you are bluffing, little man.” She matched the bet.

Hugo hadn’t really been paying attention to his tiles and ended up losing that round. Later that night Hugo switched drinks to red wine. That was Aria’s cue.

A different server came by with the drinks this time. She flirted with Binh a bit. While his attention was on her generous assets, she snuck her hand forward and quietly took a stack of the commissioner’s chips.

Hugo waited until it looked like she was going to get away with it then he jumped up and grabbed her hand. “Thief! She stole your chips, Binh.” He curled her wrist to show him the stack of dragonbone chips. She wrestled with him convincingly, with a look of panic in her eyes.

“No no, this isn’t what it looks like,” the server said, terror in her voice.

Binh stood up and said, “That’s my chips. You stole from me!”

Aria came up and said, “What’s going on here?”

“She stole from me!” Binh said, indignant. Hugo took the chips from her hand and gave them back to Binh.

Aria got confirmation from Hugo and the dealer and she turned to the server and said, “You are fired. Come with me into the back and we will discuss how you can make it up to us.” She called over a pair of security guards and they dragged her to the back.

“I apologize for the unseemly behavior of our former employee,” Aria said with a bow, “Drinks are on the house for the night, and the dealer will match the amount she tried to steal from you.”

The mahjong dealer grabbed a stack of dragonbone chips and set them in front of Binh. It took everyone a moment to calm down.

They got back into the swing of things and Binh said, “I can’t thank you enough, Hugo. You saved my winnings, and now I have more money than I started with. That hardly ever happens. Thank you so much. You are a wonderful gentleman.”

“It was nothing,” Hugo said.

“It wasn’t nothing. You saw what no one else did, you acted before I knew something had happened. You are brilliant,” Binh gushed.

“Thanks. If only my parents could hear you say that. They still think I am an idiot after my ritual domain debacle,” Hugo said.

“Debacle?”

Hugo looked embarrassed and then said, “Did you know that you aren’t supposed to pact with the Acomarians?”

“Yeah?” Binh said.

“Well, I didn’t. Now I am stuck with a domain I can’t use. My parents have bought all of the Acomarian rituals available in all of the wheel and I am still mostly useless,” Hugo said sadly.

“What about outside the breadbasket?” Binh said.

Hugo shrugged, “They tried that. No one wanted to work with us. We don’t have any good contacts outside the wheel.”

Binh smiled and said, “Now you do. I might be able to get ahold of some Acomarian rituals for you.”

“Really? That would be fantastic. I would happily pay you for them. If you could get me anything related to golems, I would happily pay you a full platinum.”

Binh’s eyes went wide, “That’s a lot.”

“My dad’s a life mage that creates golems. I just want to show him my pact isn’t useless,” Hugo said.

Binh held out his hand and said, “It’s a deal.”

Hugo shook his hand and said, “Thank you so much.”

“It’s the least I can do for my friend,” Binh said.

Hugo cashed out an hour later, slipping Aria an extra gold on the way out. He couldn’t stop himself from grinning as he left the casino. That had gone better than he expected. He would probably have the ritual he needed in a week or two.

The next morning, Hugo made a trip down to the mundane blacksmith to pick up his lead boxes. The old riese didn’t seem to believe him that he was using the boxes for harvesting monster parts, but he also didn’t care. He was happy to sell them to Hugo once he saw the badge from the Metal Guild.

With that detail squared away, Hugo was ready to put his plans into motion. Within the next three weeks he should have all eight mana cores and be on his way up the mountain. This was going to be easy.