Chapter 224
A Bloody Mess
(Mallory)
“Okay, so what happened exactly?” Mallory asked Charlaine the new perspective handler for Cass. Yes, what had been a joke before was now actually becoming a real-life position within the Midnight Hunters.
Feelers had been put out and at first the position and title were seen with mostly positive feedback. As everyone thought they would be a glorified secretary for quite possibly the world’s craziest caster. The fact that she single-handedly apparently took down a discrete mining operation within Legrand Territory, a quest that Mallory had jokingly influenced her on.
Though to Mallory’s defense, what she pushed Cass to do was to do something relatively simple, that is find the missing parents of a little girl. It was going to be a memorable story about how the Midnight Hunters were there to help.
Mallory first became aware of the quest being there when she noticed in her guild management tab that a few odd quest tabs were forming by Cass’s name.
Rank: Doctor.
Name: Cassiopeia Spiritlight
Quest name: , , , The Mythical Bloodline Catalyst <98/100>, Specters of the Past (I) <1/4>, Curse of Cassiopeia II, Curse of Cassiopeia II-A, Calling a good Match, Judging the Boom, Healing the Boom, First Acanarus Tower Climber (V) <235/250>, Qi For The Dead, Saving the Litter of Godpuppies (Ongoing), Higher Education (Creating a College): Create Your Own School of Higher Learning, Inspiring the Next Generation (Repeatable) < Jayhalem>, Create The First Guild Created College, Establishing a Thieves Guild Foothold within newly identified territories (Ongoing), Migrant Rescue Mission (Ongoing), Becoming A Tenured Professor, Purposes for the Blight, Daily Repeatable Quest (Cassiopeia Spiritlight): Hourly Contribution, Daily Repeatable Quest (Cassiopeia Spiritlight): Quest for Knowledge, Daily Repeatable Quest (Crossroad Mage’s Guild): Cleaning the Guild Hall, Hidden Quest Complete (Repeatable): Curing The Blighted, Hidden Quest Found (Repeatable): Awakening One’s Magical Destiny…
Honestly looking at her to do list, Mallory almost thought about holding back, seeing as she had a lot of quests still up and running. This list didn’t even cover the upcoming wedding, the need to consummate said wedding, or many of her other various quests going around. Yet, it did show why Cass could often seem a bit stressed at times.
To be completely transparent, that was a lot of active quests. Yet, Mallory found that a lot of times she could help Cass out by assigning some of these quest details to others, to both share the experience, rewards, and accolades while Cass just found them seemingly out of thin air.
So when she pressed Cass into committing herself to awakening those hidden three quests that would have gone away. Yes, they literally would go away if Cass walked away. As good as Cass was at finding quests, she was just as good at walking away from perfectly good quests. Quests that could be outsourced to other guild members once they were identified and sent out accordingly.
Cass alone had accounted for a ten percent bonus in levels and leveling rates by almost all members of the Midnight Hunters. Even Mallory had to note the rapid growth rate of quests in that she herself had gained over fifty levels since moving out to the new territory.
Yet, despite everything the more Mallory pushed, the more Cass rose to the challenge.
A gentle nudge here, a press there, and next thing she knew Cass would be pulling herself and the rest of the guild right up with her to new and unprecedented heights.
That was why she and everyone else was willing to give the quirky but fun girl a few mistakes here and there. Even then most of her mistakes were mostly embarrassing for her, or at the very least made for interesting stories to tell. Of course, that was only if you could remember the stories, as every day there was always a new anecdote or interesting story of things either she did or things she got others to do for her.
Even getting pulled into teach the Legacy Bloodline classes was nothing as it meant that Mallory had to sacrifice an hour of her time a few times a week.
To Mallory’s surprise, all it took was Cass making a promise to bring the quests into existence. That was how the additional quests of Missing Parents (Ongoing), and Missing Parents 1A (Ongoing), came into being. There was still a third quest that was lying dormant but for the moment it looked like it would just have to remain that way.
However, once Cass left, Mallory saw the moment when that third and final quest came to life. Purging the Desecrators (Ongoing). The quest name alone made chills run down Mallory’s spine, as she saw a quest that Cass could never accomplish. At least that is what Mallory thought, until she slowly saw the numbers for each category of person climb.
New Quest Identified: Purging the Desecrators (Ongoing): You have come across a scene of absolute destruction. Magical Parasites have set up a dig site stripping the land of magical resources, which have in turn begun to poison the ecosystem. Eliminate the threat to the local area, and become a protector of the world. Current status Grand Mages purged (? / 9), Mage foreman (?? / 12), Mage Leaders (?? / 27), excavators (0 / 508). Rewards: Experience, Bloodline Evolution Markers, Badges, variables.
At that Mallory wondered if something fundamental snapped in Cass. For a moment she wondered if that one endearing quality within Cass had been irrevocably broken. Then worse, Mallory tried to figure out exactly what could have happened to make Cass snap in such a way.
Fortunately, a few quick inquiries found that Cass had not snapped and was instead eliminating people as mages and not from existence as was seemingly implied by the quest.
Then other details came in, details that Mallory would need to deal with almost immediately. Namely, why a member of the Midnight Hunters Guild was actively conducting tactical operations against Legrand Empire forces.
Up until that point, the Midnight Hunters had managed to avoid being drawn directly into the heart of the conflict. Though it was only a matter of time before their independence would have been tested. Also, with taking in so many refugees it was almost a given that they would be pulled into the war and against the Legrand Empire.
The fact that Cass went out and made such a decisive first strike was both a blessing and a curse. It was a blessing in that it showed what the Midnight Hunters were truly capable of, even while clearly holding back. The curse came from the fact that the Midnight Hunters only took out one minor mining operation, though the fact that it was clearly in the heart of the Legrand Empire, and that everyone was able to get in and get out before the Legrand Empire truly knew what happened was surprising.
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It also showed Cass’s commitment to being prepared before striking.
To be honest, Mallory almost thought that tabbing Cass as the Thieves Guild Hall Master for their new city World’s End, was something that Mallory was initially hesitant about. Yes, they had a vote on the City’s name while Cass was gone. This was by accident, but it probably worked out for the best given Cass’s propensity for naming things poorly. Knowing her, she probably would have named it The Midnight Hunting Ground, which of course everyone would shorten to the Land of Midnight HuGs. That or something equally as absurd like the Spirit of Valhalla.
No, keeping Cass away from naming things was the only way to make sure people wanted to stay. Also, the name did kind of fit as it was essentially the land where the World Ended, thus the name seemed sort of fitting. Even though Cass was adamant that they could now spread further west. Which would mean more future cities that might need to be developed and planned out. Which would mean even more people would be tabbed to head more Guild Halls. Which made Mallory wonder yet again if letting Cass be the Guild Master for the Thieves Guild was the right choice? Especially as her being outed as the Spy Master for the city would mean she would have to go into exile, as a failed spy master.
Which of course led Mallory back to her initial thoughts that Cass being tabbed as the Mage Guild Hall leader was always the obvious choice. Especially with her being the head instructor for SVC.
Yet, the more she thought about it, the more the separation made sense. First, who would think that the leader of SVC, one of the world’s most talented Mages and energy users would be the Guild Hall Master for the city’s Thieves Guild. Also, with Octavia De’Arcaneri being the Mage Guild Hall leader, it effectively meant that Cass was the leader of both. That or anyone who Cass appointed as being Octavia for the day would be the Mage Guild Hall leader.
After realizing that Cass would be both, and would not be forced to compromise the school’s integrity to the Mage’s Guild, Mallory felt better about the change.
Then after hearing from multiple reports and seeing the constrained and highly focused destruction for herself, Mallory realized that Cass was a classically trained Thieves Guild Operative. Her calm and playful demeanor merely hid the fact that underneath she was a cold and calculating being that would stop at nothing to right an injustice.
Seeing the devastation, and the fact that despite the seemingly insurmountable odds, Cass had effectively eliminated forty-eight mages, while cutting off all forms of communications, warning systems, suppression systems, and freeing 508 prisoners of war.
If Mallory had any doubts about Cass’s effectiveness as a Spy Master, she found that they were all assuaged after seeing the end results of her seeming tantrum. Then the eyewitness reports who then retold in great detail about an avenging angel of justice that released bursts of lightning down that struck each mage and caused them all to slump over in pain.
By all accounts, the entire time Cass took to take out the forty-eight mages. Including a three-minute monologue where she tortured and caused Lady Legrand to cower in fear at her antics.
The entire thing almost seemed unbelievable, complete with the fact that everyone could hear her mad cackles as she tormented the enemy forces. Until they all said, she then reappeared before them all and said something to the effect of “oh, you heard all that?”
Honestly, it was only that last part that made everything before that believable. Well believable in that Cass did it all with ruthless efficiency.
If Mallory had any doubts about her Thieves Guild Hall leader being Cass before that, all doubts were quickly dispelled. While her guild likely wouldn’t specialize in assassination operations, that was a minor aspect of the Guild and something that had been far too dramatized to her liking.
There was the added benefit of ruling a city with a Thieves Guild that was vehemently opposed to assassination events or requests. Knowing that the Thieves Guild would not support assassination events was oddly comforting to Mallory and something that only now that she was the ruler of a blossoming city did she fully come to understand and respect.
That said, the quest list assigned to Cass was rather long, and it was clear that she could use some help in knocking out a few of those quests.
Also, it was clear that Cass was getting to the point where she would need someone who could be a secretary one minute, and a voice of questioning reason the next. Thus, why Charlaine was the current candidate for the job.
Charlaine for her part looked every bit the new intern given an impossible task and then looked like she was about to be fired, even though she tried to answer truthfully.
“Um, I’m sorry,” Charlaine began, nearly crying at the fact that she clearly lost her one and only charge for the guild.
“It’s okay, tell me what happened.” Mallory said soothingly, knowing full well that keeping track of Cass was a full time task in and of itself and that barring having a constantly ringing bell on her, finding Cass when she was prowling about was nearly impossible.
Of course, this only went to show how tabbing Cass as the Spy master was the clear and obvious choice as well.
“Well, I was talking to Cass one second. She had just gone through the portal that brought her back from the Legrand Empire.” Charlaine paused there and Mallory just nodded. That was all the girl needed to go into a full detail of what was happening.
“I was asking her about what she did, what spells she used. Any information on the layout of the Legrand Empire bases, details of the magical suppression units that were installed. Did you know that Dr. Spiritlight claimed to have used magic to defuse the magical suppression wards and the magical sensing alarms?”
Hearing that, Mallory could only nod.
“Yes, I heard, and you should do well to believe her when she makes such statements in the future,” Mallory noted.
For anyone else, such comments could be considered bragging, or at the very least embellished in some way shape or form. Yet, knowing Cass, that was likely her way of being subtle about what she actually did. Wincing for a moment, she almost wanted to have a team go back and retrieve samples of the alarms that were systematically dismantled.
At the very least, while the details were still fresh within her mind, Mallory intended to try to get Cass to write down the layout of the base and areas to avoid. Though thinking about this, Mallory knew this would almost be like getting a cat to recite its morning activities. While others that observed the cat could possibly paraphrase the activities down, getting someone as hyper attentive as Cass to recite every detail would be nearly impossible.
“Well then, she seemed to get a distant look on her face. I mean, I know she is blind, but normally she has a way of looking you directly in your eyes, even though you know she can’t actually see. But…” Charlaine trailed off trying to think of the exact words to use.
“But she still does and can tell your facial expression and by your body posture if you are lying to her or not.” Mallory noted with a head bob. Yes, this was good, as it meant that Charlaine had read the complete dossier on Cass before coming out here.
“Right. Well, she then looked away. Right during the middle of her debriefing with me. One second she was looking me in the eyes. Then the next second she was looking away. I then proceeded to ask her what happened. To where she then held up a finger as she turned away from me. It’s odd seeing how the slightest flapping of a wing is all that is needed to get her to rotate about slightly.”
At that Mallory could only nod in agreement.
“Then she said, ‘calm down, let’s see what is going on,’ clearly speaking to someone else. It was at this point that I tried to get her attention once more, but that apparently annoyed Cass causing her to wave her hand backwards at me in a shooing motion.” Charlaine stated, as she demonstrated the exact gesture performed by Cass. “Then she just disappeared.”
“Disappeared?” Mallory parroted.
“Yeah, one second she was there, right where you are. Then the next she was gone. That’s when I called it in just as requested, but I’m sorry. I tried.” Charlaine said, now her calm façade clearly breaking as she all but admitted to failing her one and only task for the guild.
“Look don’t worry, I’m sure she will show up…” Mallory began, but was then cut off.
Pop, pop, boom.
Overhead there was something that sounded like fireworks going off. Then looking upward, Mallory could only gasp in awe at seeing the dark speck above tremble and quake, before letting off what almost looked like tiny bursts that one might expect to see from a…
“Fireworks?” Charlaine asked.
At first, Mallory was going to agree, until she saw that said fireworks were coming from a bird. Not just any bird, but one with what appeared to be four wings in total.
“No that is…” Mallory began, but she found that here words were soon cut off as a world message flared to life.
World First Message: The First Mythical Bloodline Holder Has Awakened.
Mallory took this exact moment to confirm her suspicions about Cass and saw that a number of Cass’s quests were all complete and ready to be turned in for their final rewards. This was sad as most of these seemed to just be self-acknowledgement quests, but still the rewards for these quests were right there for the taking.
Rank: Doctor.
Name: Cassiopeia Spiritlight
Quest name: Missing Parents (Completed), Missing Parents 1A (Completed), Purging the Desecrators (Completed), The Mythical Bloodline Catalyst (Completed), Establishing a Thieves Guild Foothold within newly identified territories (Completed), Migrant Rescue Mission (Completed), New World Quest Received: Don’t Expel the Foreign Energy (Completed)…
That was seven quests that Cass had either been too lazy or too distracted to turn in. Knowing Cass it was likely the latter, as she often got singularly focused on completing certain tasks to the disregard of all others.
Then Mallory saw the seventh quest, or rather its marker as a New World Quest, at that Mallory could only wonder what horrors Cass had simultaneously discovered and then seemingly fixed, if the Completion notification was anything to go off of.
Pausing for a moment, Charlaine and Mallory both looked up with slack jawed amazement. Then finally after a minute, Charlaine asked, “do those sorts of things happen often?”
For a moment, Mallory didn’t know if Charlaine was referring to the random explosions happening around Cass, or the World Announcements, but ultimately found that her answer for both would be the same.
“Sadly, it happens more often than you would think,” was all Mallory could honestly offer. Then pausing for a minute, she finally asked the question that had been on her mind, “so you good with your new position?”
At that Charlaine could only stare incredulously at Mallory.