Dawn had since broken, Harlan had breakfast with Sepul and missed two classes already, but he expected to just do the night classes, he had been meaning to take advantage of that so he had more time for his friends if they asked.

“Well, I do believe there is just one question left, do you regret telling Dearil what you did, and why?”

“That’s two questions, but yes, I have no idea what he is going to do, but if he is like me and lost everything, it won’t be pretty, and it won’t be small.“

“What would you do if you lost everyone?”

“I’d make an army of the dead, give them living weapons like Lugh, and then set them loose across the country to cause as much bloodshed as I could, probably commit false flag attacks against the surrounding nations as well, drag the world down with me. If I get my transformation magic working I could custom build monsters unlike anything this world has seen as well.”

Harlan didn’t know where that all came from, it was the first time he tried to lie since he and Sepul started talking.

“I think it would be best if you stayed here for the rest of the day, clearly the truth potion is having a much longer lasting effect than I expected. Most confusing, you should’ve metabolized it out faster than a normal person, I’d use my own spells to flush your system but I’d like to watch what happens.”

“Truth potions are real? You had me drink one? I’d kill you if I could.”

“Yes, I am one of the very few people who can brew them, I don’t even write the recipe down anywhere. I trust my friend as long as I know what he can do. But I fear if I looked away for a moment he would dose the entire upper noble class and clear house in a single night. It might do some good, but it would be chaos. Sometimes it is best to go slowly with these things.”

“I wouldn’t doubt it, he disturbs me but from what I hear nobles hate him and common people are either ambivalent or they actually like his policy changes. How many of those ideas are yours?”

“Very few, he saw his father corrupted so deeply by other nobles that he felt he had to remove him, so he has been slowly putting checks in place to keep that from happening to whoever takes his place. He is the poorest king in generations, but the nation has never had so much wealth. His father had a party every week with the dukes and counts being brought in by gates, food from the corners of the world. Make no mistake, my friend is morally flexible. I've had to reign him in on many occasions, but that doesn’t make him a bad leader, because his choices are made for a greater good of the nation. I joined the war with the confederacy because I believed that shock and awe would bring a clear and sudden end to the war, that both sides would cower at my might and the border would be redrawn to give Ragne what was now worthless land that had been destroyed by the war.

But instead the king wanted to push more, he wanted me to do slaughter for the sake of it to get a better deal for him and his noble friends. He had even run the idea of fully conquering the confederacy by me once, doing so would’ve crippled the nation, we would’ve expanded to far too quickly and Reino would’ve broken us. We did what we did because it was the right thing to do, a boy king is worth far more than a rotten one.”

It was now Sepul’s turn to wonder what he was saying.

“Harlan, did you switch our cups?”

“Yes, you tend to lose some of your perception when you reminisce like that, plus you drop your guard around me for some reason I don’t yet understand. So I figured I should at least try, I am quite petty like that, Cynthia is a big part of why, I miss her.”

“We are both going to spend the day here until the effect wears off, and you are spending it locked in the cellar before I say something I don’t want to.”

“I expected this, The Darkness said that the champion of light would protect me, so I decided to push my luck.”

“You are playing a dangerous game.”

Harlan couldn’t sleep, so he did what he could, push ups, pull ups, anything else he could think of.

Lugh meanwhile was practicing his shifting, he didn’t know why Balor wanted to be a person, but he thought he would try it too.

He only stood about 2 feet tall with a hollow inside, his hilt stuck out of his head like a ponytail, most importantly he lacked any facial features, he didn’t want to copy other people since Harlan said it might be rude, so he just didn’t have a face.

There were two shallow indents where eyes might go, but he didn’t form a nose or ears, a chin was inevitable since otherwise he would just forgo a human shaped head entirely.

“Does this look good? Would sister Ava like it?”

“I think she would like any face or lack of one that you could possibly make. You are you whether you are a sword or a doll. I wonder though, do you want to be a person? You aren’t tied to that form, you also don’t have the memories that me and Balor have that make that form desirable.”

“I would be scary if I was something else.”

“Probably. I can’t ever see you as scary however because of your immature and childish demeanor. I've been meaning to try and force you to interact with the rest of my friends because it seems sad for you to sit in silence for so much of your life.”

“Harlan, would you be mad at me if I asked you questions since you are only telling the truth.”

“That depends on the question but in general I find this a deep violation of my free will.”

“Are you going to use me to kill people?”

“Not if you don’t want me too. But if I absolutely needed to, I would, because I might need to save others at the cost of both of us. I could always find another sword to carry if I needed to.”

“No, I will stay with brother Harlan. I don’t like hurting people, but if it is good, then I will help you.”

“What if I wanted to hurt someone and it wasn’t good?”

“I don’t like questions anymore.”

“That’s alright, I don’t like thinking about that stuff either.”

It was a few hours before Sepul let him go, the potion had faded from his blood and he had to make sure Harlan could at least stop answering every question before he was willing to send him back to the academy.

“Would you kill your friends for magical knowledge?”

“Yes.”

“Good, it seems that it has finally gone away. I’ve already received a visit from the headmaster about you missing your classes and explained what happened. You have my word that I will not use a truth potion on you again without warning you beforehand.”

“That would’ve been more convincing an hour ago.”

Everyone jumped back as suddenly Harlan was sitting at his usual spot in the cafeteria, he was actually pretty hungry so the timing was perfect.

“I’m going to get some food, can’t tell you guys what happened anyway.”

He returned with a double serving of chicken breast and vegetables covered in some sauce he didn’t recognize served with rice and flatbreads on the side.

Harlan was still getting used to them, but after Adina showed him how to use them more like an extra piece of silverware he warmed up to them.

“So, you really can’t tell us? You aren’t actually Sepul’s apprentice, right?”

Claudia and Claude still seemed to be feuding, she spoke with more vigor than he often heard from her.

He had figured out at some point that she was a fire that Claude needed to keep from flaring up and vice versa.

“Sister, please don’t badger him so quickly before we know the story.”

He spoke somewhat slowly, as if he had just rolled out of bed, his eyes were ever so slightly more closed than normal.

“Fine, Harlan, we need to talk, you never got paid by Willow and she has been bothering me about it.”

“I don’t have anything planned until night classes start, so anytime before then will be just fine.”

Zella and Adina had decided to stay out of whatever was happening between them.

They couldn’t tell if Harlan did something wrong or if Claudia was just having her first that time of the month, if she was like this for a third day in a row Zella would see about having that talk with her like Amber did with her.

After everyone finished an awkward meal they split up so Harlan could have whatever conversation he was supposed to have, Zella and Adina would be going to train with one another, mostly it was Adina training her sight by having Zella’s hair come at her from many directions at once and trying to figure out what the order of attack was.

Claude would just go back to his room.

Claudia walked the halls of the girls dorms like she owned the place, none of the others there dared challenge her as she barreled down the halls with Harlan following behind her.

She knocked on the door to Willow’s room, Harlan read the nametag and cringed, he was sure he should’ve known this, but getting blindsided by the Greenfield name twice in a row made him want to actually read a book of nobility at least once.

“Oh, Claudia? You brought him here?”

Harlan could still feel that she was afraid, but he wasn’t entirely sure if it was at him or just general near death paranoia.

“Can we come in or do you want to talk in the halls.”

“Ah, very sorry. Please, come in.”

She already had tea on, vanilla, he could smell it all over the room. He wondered if Claudia mentioned the calming properties of it or if the girl already knew about it.

“I assume that Claudia already told you the reason for our meeting?”

“Yes, it seems you think you need to pay me something.”

“I was always told never to leave a deal unsettled, it is harder to negotiate after the other person has already done the work, one of the parties will end up unhappy with the deal.”

“Well you don’t need to pay me, I never mentioned it because I believe that I was just doing something for the friend of a friend.”

Judging by the glare he was getting, that was the wrong answer.

“Harlan, my father has always told me that if a boy wants nothing, then that means he wants something. Tell Willow what the price is.”

“I’m serious, I don’t want anything from either of you.”

After a few more minutes he gave in and thought of something.

“I want to ask questions about your family. You are the same Greenfield as Cynthia Greenfield, right?”

“Yes, my youngest uncle is named Grenwald, he is the current duke and she is his wife.”

“Where does Grenth fit into this?”

“Ah… He is my cousin, the son of my older uncle.”

“Right, so he is bitter over being passed over despite being first born, probably took it out on Grenth, maybe even played a part in why he was passed over.”

She choked on her tea, she had heard that Harlan was blunt, but this was past what she expected.

“I wouldn’t phrase it like that, but perhaps there is some truth in your words.”

“Doesn’t matter anyway. Do you see Cynthia often? Does she look like she has taken well to her life as the wife of a duke?”

“Do you have a crush on my aunt?”

“Nope, we are just friends. Haven’t been able to see her in a while though. If you would carry a message I would consider this debt a thing of the past, perhaps I’d even owe you a favor.”

She gripped her cup, tapped her fingers, walked around the room, then she sat back down.

“I cannot guarantee that you would get a response, and if there is a response I hold no responsibility for it. I also hold the right to refuse this request should I believe it would be improper to pass it along.”

“No problem, I just wanted to tell her I am doing fine, I hope she is well, and that I lost the bet. She will know what it means.”

“Very well, I hope that when I call in this favor it is for something that doesn’t call for bloodshed.”

“I would be bound by it anyway, if you don’t mind I think it would be best if I left now. I am a magnet for stupid rumors and I wouldn’t want to drag you into my mess.”

“Thank you for your discretion.”

Harlan was going to go back to his room when Claudia grabbed his arm and dragged him to her room.

“What do you have planned with her? I’d hate to believe the rumors are true about you being some kind of lady killer.”

“What part about what happened back there makes you think that? I cleared her debt to me.”

“Men who want nothing always want something they can’t have. You’ve started a cycle of favors now, she will call it in and you will do something that makes her feel the need to give you something, you’ll asking for something small, act the gentlemen, and then she will feel pressured to respond to your feelings.”

“I thought I was the paranoid one. Is the idea of me wanting to just help a friend selflessly really so crazy? What is up with you lately, you’ve been angry with me in the back of your mind ever since you heard how good my divination is.”

“A baseless accusation. Back on topic, you’ve saved the niece of a duke. The Unseen would never admit to letting her be in danger in the first place; The story that will come out if it ever does is that you killed a man to get a locket back for her. What do I need to do to clear her debt?”

“Nothing.”

“Harlan, don’t force me to do something you don’t want me to do.”

“What exactly are you even threatening do to?”

“Fine. Just don’t be disappointed that whatever gift you receive isn’t worth as much as what you wanted.”

Harlan needed to get her back together with her brother, she was getting erratic, Harlan was sure she would regret whatever she did when they got back together.

“Fine. There is something, why are you spreading rumors about me?”

She froze with fear.

“Is it simply petty jealousy? Can’t handle being third place in divinations? Is it related to you and Claude not mentally linking up like before?”

“I have no idea what you are talking about.”

“Don’t bullshit me.”

Any attempts at joy left his tone.

“I talked with Taren, our issues are settled for now. We hate one another but we will keep that to ourselves now, so who else would spread rumors? I know you are linked into those rumor mills, more tightly than Taren was even. If you lie to me I will leave, I think Claude is nice, but you seem to actively hinder my attempts at kindness.”

“You dismembered a man without blinking, you took in that cripple as a pet, you did who knows what when working under the crown, and yet you wonder how you have the reputation that you have as you surround yourself with women? All I say is what I see, either you are the stupidest boy I’ve ever met or you are a lecher waiting for his moment. I will not let you drag my brother into whatever it is that you are doing.”

“I understand now, you don’t believe in kindness. Everything is a game, people are pieces to be won or lost.

I’d say that I hate you, but no, I pity you. I hope that you can pull that blackened thing you call a heart into the light. I’ll leave Claude alone, because you at least believe that it will be safer for him, so you and him need to fix whatever is wrong between you. Goodbye.”

Harlan returned to his room and cried, he couldn’t even be angry with her, she was another him, a misguided idiot trying to stop those close to her from coming to harm whether they liked it or not, he hated looking in that mirror.

Several days later the king received a letter from Sepul, he wanted a dozen death row inmates for some tests Harlan wanted to conduct and that it was unlikely, but they may not return them.

After everything that had happened, the king fulfilled the request without a second thought.

The report had mentioned it was part of Harlan’s ‘web theory’ and even the chance of making the range of soulspeaking longer without the need for arrays or telekinesis would be well worth the time.