Chapter 73
Game, Set, and Crash
Woosh.
I appear within the anti-magic and heavily warded prison cell just in time. Then with measured patience I go to my spot on the floor, right where I began this ordeal. I line my arms up directly with the six currently closed bands that line the floor. Then changing forms I immediately go to my true form for a moment, then moving quickly, I slide my now much slender wrists and hands through the different bands. Then once all six are back on the correct arms, and I can tell, I quickly switch back to the form of Tobias Spiritlight, and then double check my clothing, and everything else is exactly the same as when I first entered the cell, I take out a long sigh of relief.
“Phew.” I say to myself as I sit back, relax and let the fireworks come.
Realizing that I am trapped, and that I will likely need all my wits about me, I decide to do what I can. In this case, I wad up my shirt, and use it to rest my head.
During this time, I have also taken the time to remove all of my extra gear, items and clothing. For the rest of my time, this will be it, my soul bound items, and the clothes I wore to pass myself off as Tobias Spiritlight.
Nap time.
***
Whoom.
The door to my cell opens. The act awakens me, as I instantly climb my way to a quick sitting position.
“Rise and shine sleepy head.” Lady Legrand states, as she enters my cell, followed closely by two armed guards. “I have bad news for you. It seems that you have overslept and have lost all of your money on the small and big blinds.”
This is a thing, if you aren’t eliminated you must place small and big blinds, even if you yourself are not present. Miss enough hands and you will eventually be eliminated. This was confirmed a second later by the system.
Quest Failed: A Tournament Sponsor: You failed to live up to the opportunity afforded to you and have failed out of the Texas Holdem tournament held on the 50th floor of the Arcanarus Tower. Consequences: Restrictions of your Soul Contract have been enacted.
Warning: Soul Contract Initiated: You failed to place high enough in the Arcanarus Tower Tournament, as such you are now soul bound to Lady Legrand until the cost of your initial entry fee, along with a daily 1% interest rate is paid off in full. Current amount owed: 102% of initial funds used to purchase entry into the tournament. Legal Notice About Payments: It is illegal for Lady Legrand, or anyone acting on behalf of Lady Legrand to not take a payment from you. To include the full payment amount. Any attempts by Lady Legrand or anyone acting on her behalf will have negative legal consequences, which can include, but are not limited to the loss of Title, Privileges…
And on that legal note went, basically spelling out in triplicate the fact that Lady Legrand was unable to deny taking any form of my payment at any time, as that could be construed as a means of trying to increase my interest that compounded daily. I honestly was a bit touched by that, as it was a way for the system to look out for us little guys.
“Enjoy your time here while you can.” Lady Legrand states, as we look down at the tables and tables of people who are still alive and active in the tournament. Fortunately I was not the first to lose their spot in this tournament, as many people went all in within the first few hands to try to double up their money, only to lose.
With her command, I could feel the restrictions that had very subtly been working their way into my mind loosen, if only for a minute. This soul contract stuff was no joke.
“What? You’ve got nothing to say?” Lady Legrand boasts.
“Nothing really to say.” I admit, but I decided to sit down anyways. As I sat down, I realized my pillow, or my outer shirt was still in my hands. Not wanting to be too indecent, I decided to put the tailored shirt back on.
“Leave it off, I like to see what I am working with.” Lady Legrand says, and just like that, I became a slab of meat, as I felt the terms and conditions of the soul contract come into place.
Just a little longer. I told myself, as I took a deep breath, and did what she asked, going so far as to take the shirt and fold it neatly in my lap.
“You will acknowledge me, when I give you an order, is that understood?”
Chime.
And just like that, this is old. Then I feel my body move on its own, without my prodding. “Yes, ma’am.”
The system is going to make this tough, I can feel it, but I just need to endure a bit longer.
What am I doing? Why am I putting up with this? Well, it all goes down to the fact that I now have the perfect alibi. After all, I can’t be accused of stealing, while under the protection, care, and supervision of the very person I am going to be accused of stealing from.
Fortunately, I don’t have to wait too much longer. As the field is still in the early stages and people are shrinking down rapidly. After an hour or two of watching people slowly filter out, I decide to make a bit of a fuss, in order to double down on my alibi.
“Is there any way I can get these removed?” I say, holding up my wrists that are bound by the anti-Skill, anti-Attribute, and anti-Spell casting manacles.
I can see the moment Lady Legrand sees the bands, and is about to say something, but then holds herself back.
“No, I want you to know what it means to be an employee of mine. Consider this your probationary trial period, if you are good, then I will of course release you.”
And wow, a tyrant in power. Still, I can’t do anything as I am for the moment still willingly keeping myself bound here, but I can tell these last few hours are going to be painful. So, I decided to be quiet, keep my mouth shut and merge into the background as much as possible, all while being quiet.
Finally, a spark of hope is ignited within me at about the four-hour mark of my freedom from being incarcerated. I’ve been watching the flow of people slowly peter out, slowly, until finally it is clear we are in the last two hundred and fifty or so contestants. That’s when an announcer comes out and speaks loudly for everyone to hear.
“Guests and participants. I have some good news for you. We have just had our four thousandth participant get eliminated. You all know what that means, right? We have finally entered the portion of our tournament where you the contestants will start to get paid for your efforts.” The announcer said.
Cheers.
The audience down below all cheer in excitement at that, as they know what it means that at the very least they will be ending this tournament even, or at least not having lost any money in the process. This was to have been my goal, and frankly I was glad things had turned out as they did. Realizing this now, I honestly couldn’t have asked for a more advantageous start, especially as I try to keep my thoughts neutral as possible.
“You have been awfully quiet, what exactly are you thinking about?” Lady Legrand says, no doubt trying to see how I feel now that my chances of winning money are being realized and dashed. Unfortunately I have to answer her command truthfully, as the soul contract is all but demanding this form of obedience on my part. Fortunately there is a bit of wiggle room, allowing me to answer her question in a roundabout way.
“I was just thinking that a standard 10 foot by 15 foot offers 1,200 cubic feet of storage space, and that despite all efforts stating that two sets of 434 cubic feet is only 868 cubic feet, which realistically should leave you with three hundred and thirty-two cubic feet of space left, but that would be a lie, particularly if you take into account furnishings like a bed, a chair, and a dresser. Even a walk-in closet wouldn’t offer much help.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The spatial relations of objects and how they affect the world around you.” I answer truthfully, and I am answering truthfully, though at this rate I feel I might need to alter my plans before this goes too much further.
Fortunately, I am seemingly saved from further inquiries a moment later as an alarm goes off.
Ahnkh-Ahnkh-Ahnkh.
“Uh, ma’am, we seem to have a bit of a situation.” One of the guards says, relaying a communication device that begins playing directly in front of Lady Legrand.
“What type of situation?”
“We can’t find any money or experience potions in the storage room. Also, it would appear that the guards who were on shift were all hit with some type of sleeping spell that caused them to sleep while standing up.” The guard relays.
Honestly, I am surprised they figured that one out. Took me quite a while to weave a spell that would knock out the guards, while forcing their bodies into a form of stasis, while also making it so their minds didn’t register a single threat. Honestly, it might be the best sleep aid I ever created, as I guarantee those guards were able to reach REM sleep the entire time we were gone.
“What should we do?” The guard asks.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Lady Legrand looks flustered for a moment, but then clearly shakes her head. “Enter lockdown protocols. We need to find out who might have tried to steal that much money. Logically no one could have taken that much out, as there would still be magical traces of a Teleportation spell, even if they managed to have a non-standard variant of the spell.” The Duke’s Daughter says this last part while shifting her gaze towards me.
At her stare, I turn my head towards her and roughly assume I lock gazes with her, though most of this is based on me lining up my body with their own. Still, my glance seems to be enough as she looks at me.
“Did you do this?” She asks, and I can feel the compulsion of her commands, but there is a bit of wiggle room, as I can apparently still ask questions. I assume this is a standard loophole designed to get people like me to ask for clarifying questions on how to do specific tasks and the like, but here it seems to pay off in a great way.
“How? I have these on and was placed in your deprivation chamber.” I say, holding up my wrists that have the two sets of manacles still on them.
At that, Lady Legrand stares at me for a hard minute, before nodding to herself, and then turning to her security guards.
“Turn on the suppression fields. No one gets in or out, until we have this matter settled.” Lady Legrand says, turning back to her guards.
“Understood.” The guard captain says, this is the same one from the train that followed us here. The guard seems to be one of the elites sent to be constantly around the young Duke’s daughter. I make note of this, and the placement of the other elite guards that also came from the golden train car with us here.
I am in the process of evaluating my next move, when I feel the moment the wards on this building are put into place. I can feel a suppressive cloud of magic come over the whole building. Instantly, I understand these to be the alerting and locking wards of a high-end security system. These will both tag anyone caught in the wake of them as having been tagged, by the magical residue, thus proving that they were inside the spell’s radius of effect, when the alarms went off. That is the first set of wards that are activated, and they are tough to dodge, and take even longer to wear off. As part of my training by Hector and Golum for the Thieves Guild I got sprayed with that and was sent to evade capture for a week, while the effects wore off. The residue is tough and guards are taught to look for people that have that marking on them, as it is a clear sign they are thieves of some kind and should therefore be taken into custody.
The second set of wards that are also going off are magic suppression wards, again these are great for stopping most forms of spells, but are largely ineffective against Traits of individual users. Also, this second set of magic suppression wards are completely unnecessary, well for me and others like me that are still bound by magical manacles, they are completely unnecessary.
There is a bit of a commotion as everyone begins to run around for a moment. Seeing the chaos, she has just created by powering on the lockdown runes, Lady Legrand goes into semi-crisis mode.
“Nobody panic, this is just a security precaution for the moment.” Lady Legrand says.
I hop up to my feet, “should I go with you?” I ask.
Lady Legrand looks at me, then shakes her head. “No, you are to stay here and not leave this place, is that understood?”
“Yes.” I manage, though the word is forced.
“Good.” She says, then turning to two guards, she first gestures to them, then to me. “You two, guard him.”
“Yes, ma’am.” The two guards say snapping to attention.
With that, there is a moment of silence as Lady Legrand and a half dozen of her finest guards leave the private booth we are in. Seeing the two guards, I decide to make my move.
“Hey, you two work for Lady Legrand right, meaning you currently represent her power and authority?” I ask, trying to clarify.
“Yes, it is our understanding that you are currently soul bound to her, meaning that for the moment, we are in charge of you.” The guard states, a note of challenge in his voice, as he looks like he is one step away from trying to exert his newfound proxy-authority over me thanks to his relationship with Lady Legrand.
“Oh perfect.” I say, not giving the two guards a second to think about what is happening. Instead, I just reach into my pocket and pull out a sealed letter with a single copper piece rolling around inside it. “Will you please give this letter that states my true intentions and feelings towards Lady Legrand to her?”
I say, holding out the sealed letter.
The guard pauses for a moment, but then grabs the letter. The moment he does, I am met with a series of system messages, the first of which is the following:
Item Lost: Formal Letter of Intent. Item Lost: 1 Copper Piece.
From there, the messages go on, but the first two are the most important, as it proved I did read the wording correctly. Wording is oh so important in this game.
Seeing the message and the other ones, I wish I could connect to my Simulacrum using one of our budding skills. I of course cannot use any of my skills thanks again to the use of these suppression cuffs. Logically I could use Telepathy, to speak to her, but that would imply she was on the same floor as me. But she is still far away on the second floor, while I am here on the fiftieth floor, patiently awaiting the next time I will need to make a cameo appearance in this whole ordeal.
A few minutes later, a very flustered Lady Legrand comes into her booth and stares around angrily.
“You, did you do this? No more deflection, no more questions for answers. Answer truthfully, did you do this?”
“Did I do what? Steal your money and your experience that you offered up as prize earnings for this contest? A contest you have seemingly rigged, locking away a contestant for no valid reason?” I ask.
“Yes, now answer, did you do this.” She demands.
“No.” I answer.
Lady Legrand just stares at me for a moment, then opening her mouth like a fish out of water she waits for a second, then asks again. “I am ordering you to answer truthfully, did you do this? Are you in any way shape or form responsible for this?”
“No.” I respond again, “can I ask why you would assume it is me?”
“You seem far too calm about this. No protesting your innocence, how you would fight your conviction. How you were falsely imprisoned in order to be effectively made a slave. Your whole personality is off.”
Dang it, she’s right. I will of course have to remember this for the next time.
“The truth is, I wanted this.” I respond.
“You wanted this?”
“Yes, to be with you. Because despite all of this, I still hoped that you and I had a chance, that we could be something together. Something real.” I say.
At that, Lady Legrand looks taken aback, as I can tell her vitals are clearly rising from that. This speech did have some form of effect on her, proving she is not a completely heartless monster. Of course, this only makes what she did that much worse.
“Well, good, you will likely be a loyal dog. I can do something with you yet.” She said, as she then spun about, and began enacting damage control.
What followed next were six hours of misery for Lady Legrand and her staff, as they somehow misplaced ten million in gold and experience. Only empty boxes remained.
“We can see residual traces of Telekinesis being used on each box, and these are traces that are non-standard uses of Telekinesis, but there are no signs of Teleportation being used on these boxes.” A magical expert states.
Hearing that, Lady Legrand turns to me. “What do you think?”
I just hold up my wrists, “if you’d like me to give my honest opinion, then I would likely need these removed. Otherwise it is just me taking your examiner’s word for this.”
At that Lady Legrand just stares at me for a moment. Then finally she seems to come to some form of solution. “Fine, but you are not to do anything other than cast any spells you need to interpret what is happening. Do you understand?”
“Perfectly.” I state.
With that Lady Legrand nods her head, and the guard that has the keys to my cuffs comes forward and unlocks them. At that, I rub my hands.
“You know you can’t pay for your release with stolen funds, that is illegal and would be against the terms of your Soul Contract.” Lady Legrand says, from behind me, whispering into my ear, in a gesture that might otherwise be considered intimate, if not creepy based on her recent reactions.
“I know.” I answer, not rising to the bait of how close she is to my human ears.
“So regardless of how this plays out, you will still be mine.”
“Until I can pay for my release with funds obtained legally, I know.” I answered truthfully.
Then with that, I begin casting a few spells. At which point, I see a few signs of the activity, I do a bit to alter the initial readings slightly, but then decide to answer truthfully, knowing that others would likely notice the same residue eventually.
“I see the traces of Telekinesis quite readily. Additionally, I see traces of a unique spirit magic spell.” I say, this much is true, as my Simulacrum and I both made liberal uses of my Telekinesis trait, while using my recent Simulacrum Master Trait, Positional Switch, which allows me to switch places with my Simulacrum. The Positional Switch, is what made it so we could make this change between our locations. Each of us going grabbing mental hold of dozens of boxes and transporting ourselves and what we were carrying to the Guild Master’s hall, then teleporting back with the same number of empty boxes, boxes that we then sat up in the exact place where we got them from. We did that for hours, like clockwork, moving and taking load after load, and trip after trip. In fact, there were so many trips taken that we had to rest not once, but twice. Each time, I went back to my cell to wait, while my different energy pools refilled.
By outing myself like this, and the strange residual magic I was doing two things. First, I was making it so my use of Positional Switch, and my own unique form of Telekinesis would likely be heavily warded against in future poker tournaments. This was fine, as I didn’t expect to make the same getaway plan again. This was fine, as I figured I could still use the badge turn in for its true purpose, so long as I ended this last part amicably.
Finally after hours of breaking down the crime scene, where I effectively give an account for what happened, all of which was confirmed by her crime scene investigator, not that he really had much of a clue of what happened, and clearly just went with me, mainly I think due to my new Title and Diploma. See kids, an education pays for itself, when using it as a way to help cover up crimes and other illicit activities.
Anyways, after a few more hours where we searched and found nothing other than the same magical residue, where the lead detective that I was assisting came up with the idea of a dimensional spirit pocket that was created, I went along with it. It was a stupid theory, one that was not backed up by any signs of magic that were present, but one that everyone believed as there were absolutely no signs of teleportation magic being used at all. So, the next logical conclusion was a trans dimensional storage rift that could be created at will.
“The culprit opened up a trans dimensional rift, then using Telekinesis, he opened up the different boxes, and poured out their contents into the rift, then replaced the empty boxes back where he got them from.” The lead detective said.
Honestly, it wasn’t a half bad theory when he said it like that.
“What do you think?” Lady Legrand asked me.
“It sounds plausible, and is better than any other idea that has been tossed around here.” I admit, and I meant it, especially as I was not going to state the real set of circumstances that I used to pull off the crime. As such, the random dimensional doorway idea that could store an infinite amount of material was the one we went with.
“Good work everyone.” Lady Legrand said, after a time. We were all tired, and it was clear that Lady Legrand might actually be somewhat compassionate about her employees, as she made this next statement to all of us. “All right, those that have been here since the beginning, you are dismissed, go and get some sleep while you can. The rest of you that are just coming on, try to look for more clues. Let me know if you find anything useful.”
With that, we were set free.
I now had no hand cuffs on me, and had been given the order to leave and get some sleep. And that is what I intended to do. In a bed that was now far away from here.
With that, I focused my will on a section of the wall that had the tracking runes activated. Going towards it, I walked right past it and off into the sunset. At least I think it was a sunset, always hard determining the location of astrological bodies when you are blind.
“Good night.” I said to the guard who was on duty standing outside the doorway.
“Hey, you can’t leave here, this is an active crime scene.” The guard said.
I look at him, then back to the wards that were active, I even make sure to pull back my spell so it is no longer in the area.
“There are active quarantine wards up right now. If I did leave, I would have been tagged with their energy spikes, right?”
“Yeah.” The guard answers with a twinge of confusion in his voice.
“Well, if I did that, then wouldn’t I be marked by said wards?”
“Yeah.”
“So therefore, I couldn’t have come out from the quarantined building.” I state, as a matter of fact.
The guard opens up his mouth to protest, but then closes it again as he can’t refute my words. “Right, have a good day.”
“Have a good day.” I say and nod my head. With that I turn the corner and leave the area. Just in time, as I saw the second guard that was standing watch with the junior guard I just confronted come forward.
“I miss anything?” The second guard asked.
“No, someone making rounds, but that’s about it.” The first guard said.
“Good job. You will make it through your probationary period no problem at this rate.”
“Thank you.”
And like that, I left the area, and the town that rested so prominently on the fiftieth floor of the Arcanarus Tower. As I went out, I found that I had two options. The first and easiest path would be to take the train down to the second floor and finish out any remaining quests I had left. The other was to go off on my own and continue climbing ever higher in the Arcanarus Tower, a tower that no longer seemed so difficult to climb.
Now that I was out, I mentally connected my mind to that of my Simulacrum’s and told her my plans for the future.
“Commence Plan A.”
“Affirmative. And your plans?” My Simulacrum asked.
“I think I’m going to get my Master’s Degree.”
“Good luck, and let me know if you need anything.”
“Will do.”
And like that, I left behind my greatest caper ever, with no signs of my involvement, or anyone seeming to piece together the fact that I had pulled off the greatest caper ever. With a quick stop, I went to a local tavern where I went to the male’s room. Whereupon I did a quick Positional Switch, with my Simulacrum. At which point I changed clothes into that of Sabrina, then with my new gear back on, and my standard operating equipment on, I switched back, and began trying to explore higher in the tower.
***
“Where is my man servant?” Lady Legrand asked.
“Oh, Lady Legrand, I have a letter for you from that Spiritlight fellow.” A guard said, as he turned over a letter.
“Huh, what’s this?” Lady Legrand asked, as she took the letter and then looked around the area, trying to see where that new assistant of hers had gotten off to this time. Not seeing him, she opened the envelope to find a letter and a single copper coin.
Dear Lady Legrand,
It is with bittersweet resignation that I find myself writing to you now. Please see here within the remainder and outstanding balance you are owed from sponsoring me during your gambling competition. I want to once again express my heartfelt gratitude for you and the Legrand empire, but feel that my future lies elsewhere. Till our futures cross paths once more, know that I will always remember the lessons you taught me.
Very Respectfully
Tobias Spiritlight
P.S. Don’t spend it all in one place.
Then looking at the envelope, Lady Legrand saw one copper piece in the envelope. Holding out her hand she tilted the letter until it fell out. At which point, she was met with a system message.
Notice: Soul Contract Ended. Your active soul contract with Tobias Spiritlight has ended, due to full payments received of 102% of initial investment received. Price paid for initial entry: 0. At 102% of initial investment, payment expected to receive 0. Actual payment received 1 copper piece. The arbiter for this contract has found the terms and conditions for both ends of the soul contract to have both been met, and able to be absolved.
Seeing that, she held the coin and then visibly began to shake with rage as she saw the message before her.
“Find Tobias Spiritlight NOW!”
But she never would, as he had disappeared like a ghost in the night.