Chapter XLV (45)- Questionable Motivations

Mort perched on his shoulder while Kizu sorted through all his supplies. The monkey appeared especially interested in the abundance of dried fruit Kizu had been ordering at meals throughout the previous week. Kizu had never intended to eat it himself. He had been stockpiling it for Mort, and it was a good thing he had, as he wasn’t certain an owl monkey would be able to process the potions he had taken from the kitchens.

Satisfied with his preparations, Kizu stuffed everything into a pack. The only equipment that wouldn’t fit was the wooden box containing his enchanted items.

He slipped the chain necklace over his head, now a familiar weight around his neck. The book he studied carefully. Every day, the passages in the World Dungeon shifted. He decided to spend the rest of the evening studying the current layout. While it shifted, it usually took a few days for the changes to transform it into something unrecognizable. Once midnight arrived, he would take his leave.

While he studied, he kept Sojan locked away in the wooden box. He’d wavered for days on whether or not to take the dagger with him. A bloodthirsty weapon could jeopardize the mission and he still didn’t know what the weapon could actually do. There might be some unforeseen drawbacks to using it in a fight. Especially since he didn’t know how it would react to monster blood. But it was also the only real weapon he had and it had mentioned being able to tear through incorporeal creatures, something he was incapable of. His offensive spells were still weaker than an average first year’s, and he couldn’t rely on the explosive potions for everything. The dagger knew things, too.

What finally ended up convincing him to bring the dagger wasn’t its utility, but the thought of leaving it behind unsupervised. If he was gone for too long, faculty would undoubtedly search his dorm and find it. And that was only if Basil didn’t root it out first. Better to avoid the problem altogether and just take it with him.

When he heard the distant chime of a clock striking midnight, he packed up his dungeon atlas and took a deep breath. He could do this. Mort hummed supportively on his shoulder as he left the dorm behind.

Upon reaching the door to the dungeon, Kizu ducked under the stairs and began setting up his divination ritual in his usual study nook. While he worked on drawing the complex ritual with a piece of chalk, Mort scampered off. Kizu wasn’t worried though. Mort would be back before they needed to leave. Instead, he focused on the ritual, pinpointing and studying the location of his sister for almost an hour, trying to burn it into his mind while also flipping through his atlas and doing his best to match its location to the pages.

“Hope you don’t mind me crashing this party,” Basil said, panting as he rounded the corner. Kizu knew it was Basil from the smell of his perfume, though he looked unlike any previous version of himself. He had the blond hair and blue eyes of a Tainted but without the scales. Mort, the treacherous monkey, sat smug on his shoulder. Mort cocked his head and smiled at Kizu.

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“You’re not coming,” Kizu said. He didn’t need anyone else with him, especially after seeing what his friendship with Harvey had got him. Better to go it alone. Better for them, better for him, better for his sister. Better for everyone.

“You aren’t getting rid of us that easily.”

“I won’t get rid of you, but I don’t have the rations for more people, it would be silly to go now-” Kizu paused. “Wait, ‘us?’”

Ione poked her head around the corner. “I’m very irritated with you, just so you know.”

Kizu rubbed his temples. Of course, Mort hadn't just stopped at notifying Basil. “Why are you here?”

“I still want to learn more about the bloodspawn. I told you this already, researching monsters, especially magical ones, does wonders for my summoning ability.”

“And it’s now or never,” Basil said. “You’re not sneaking off without us again. I already sent the headmaster a letter explaining your plans to break into the World Dungeon. You think you’ll get another chance after this with the faculty breathing down your neck?”

Kizu closed his eyes and heaved a frustrated sigh. “Why do you even want to go? Ione’s reasoning is insane, but it at least makes some sort of sense. What’s in this for you?”

“It’s personal,” Basil said flippantly. He flashed Kizu a pristine smile and winked.

“You are not dating my sister after this.”

Basil gave him a wounded look, offended by the very implication. “Why are you so convinced I have some ulterior motive beyond wanting to help my dear friend?”

“What was your plan for the door?” Ione asked, examining it. “It’s locked tight.”

“Might as well just break it down now,” Kizu said with a sigh. “Won’t make much of a difference. Thanks to Basil, they’ll know where I am no matter what I do.”

Basil rolled his eyes. “No need to be so dramatic.”

The changeling put his hand against the doorknob. A click followed a moment later and it creaked open. Basil raised his hand, some flesh protruding from his palm in the shape of a key.

“Just a moment,” Ione said. “I want to summon something.”

She plucked the chalk out of Kizu’s hand and began scribbling on the ground beside his divination circle.

Moments later, a gecko the size of a pony climbed up out of her summoning circle. It was proportionally longer than a normal gecko, an extra two legs accompanying the added length, and slimy flabs of loose skin hung over its sides. Ione flopped onto its back. Then she pulled its skin flaps over herself like a blanket. They secured her in place.

“Okay,” she said with a yawn. “Your monkey woke me up. I’m still exhausted. My summon will follow you down into the dungeon. Don’t wake me unless it’s an emergency or you found a cool magical creature.”

“Mort broke into the girls’ dorms to wake you up?”

“Eh, of course not. I almost never sleep there. I was under a bench in the cafeteria.”

Kizu asked her what she was talking about, but she ignored him. It took him a moment to realize she was already asleep.

“Well then,” Basil said cheerily. “What are we waiting for? Let’s head down. There’s a damsel in distress that needs saving, and bloodthirsty monsters that need stabbing.”