Chapter Thirty-Five: There Was No Help, No Help From You

Ba’eth stood there appraising the group for a moment, the silence creating an awkward tension in the room. Her mood was unreadable from her stone-like gaze and demeanor. Then she directed them to take seats at the head of the table.

Understanding the protocol of the situation, Meservi quickly moved to the seat directly to the right of where the Guild Head had previously sat. Grenn, stood by the seat to the left, then motioned to Marc to stand by the seat to his left. No one sat down however until the intimidating woman went back to her seat and sat down. Without a word, Meservi, Grenn, and then Marc all took their seats.

Again, an awkward silence dominated the atmosphere in the room. Marc looked to Meservi, who managed to keep his smile in place but had somehow suddenly learned how to keep it shut. Finally, Ba’eth spoke.

“What am I going to do with you idiots?” She roared.

The color drained completely from the faces of Meservi and Grenn. For his part, Marc shot immediately to the verge of panic at the roar.

Noting his reaction, she quickly followed up.

“Not you boy. These two dimwits here. I doubt you had anything to do with their <#####> err, shenanigans.”

“Guild Head, I umm-“ a cowed and meek Meservi attempted to break in.

“You? You what? Did you forge documents? Did you bypass immigration and customs? You- what were you going to say?” She growled.

“Ah, yes. About that. You see-“ Meservi continued meekly, only to be shut up by a steely glare.

“You didn’t think I would see through your lies? What do we have so far, Forgery, Interference with City Official duties, Misuse of Guild Resources, Dereliction of Duty, and-“ Then she stopped.

“And?” Meservi parroted back.

“Sentient Trafficking!?” She roared

Grenn was frozen like a block of ice, and Meservi looked like he was going to faint in his chair. Then the Dwarf turned her attention to Marc.

“As for you. Tell me your story.” Her cold gaze trapped him like a hunter’s snare.

Marc wasn’t sure what to do. She seemed to know everything. What good would the cover story they made up do in this situation? His companions were out for the count it seems. He was on his own.

“Kira? Any ideas? We are kind screwed now.” He thought to his interface.

No response.

“Kira? Seriously not a good time for jokes.”

Nothing.

Marc tried to pull up some of the status windows. His inventory window, even the clock.

Nothing. While the windows that he kept up all the time like his map or the new health bars were still there but they appeared to be locked in place. Meanwhile, he could not access any other items or manipulate his interface at all.

Out of options, Marc defaulted back to the original plan. What else could he do?

“I’m from Ba’Samur. My family was attacked and-“

“Stop! Try again.” Ba’eth interrupted, leaning closer to him across the table.

Marc was in a full-on panic. There was no way out. He had no support, no power. No idea what to do or what to say.

Sensing the young man was as done as his companions, the Guild Head leaned back into her chair. Then she asked him directly.

“How long?” The question hung in the air for a moment. Then she asked him again.

“How long have you been in the world, Traveler?”

Shit. She knew everything. How was that even possible?

“Well?” Impatience growing in her voice, she demanded an answer.

“Uh, A year… Almost a year.” He finally stammered out.

“A year? Hmmm.” She repeated. Then started to scratch her chin under the heavy beard.

“Grenn! You are the one who found him I assume?” She barked.

“Hup! I mean, Yes. Yes, I found him.” Gren unfroze enough to respond to the question, his back still straight as a flagpole.

“Where and when did you find him?” She asked impatience in her voice.

“SecondMonth, Last year. As he said. Out in the Western Plains, near the forest.”

“A year ago? The Western Plains? So the Witch is involved?” She leaned into Grenn.

“No!, I mean, yes. I mean, She wasn’t there. But…” Grenn was fumbling.

“Ah. So you took him to the Witch after you found him.” More chin scratching.

“But you did not report this to the Guild?” She said accusingly.

“No. I did not.” Grenn appended to his testimony clearly, but glumly.

“And you? Adjutant Sen-Tari?” She turned to her right, enunciating clearly each syllable.

Meservi cringed at the invocation of his family name and title.

“I knew as well, Guild Head. I did not report this to you.” Meservi responded without shame or apology, but cowed and a bit saddened it seemed.

“I see.” The Guild Head turned her attention back to Marc.

“And your intentions are? Why are you in Clearwater?” Marc wanted to flee. He wanted desperately to escape from this room.

“Intentions? I don’t know. I don’t have any. I just wanted to see it.” He said lamely.

“To see it? For what purpose? Why are you here?” She pressed.

“I don’t have a reason. I just wanted to see the city. I just want to live my life. I don’t want to cause anyone any trouble.” He was on the verge of tears.

The Guild leader stared into his eyes, her silver pupils freezing him in place. Then she blinked and relaxed back into her seat again, scratching her chin as if in deep thought.

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Immediately Marc could feel the blood rush back into his extremities. He gasped as if he had been holding his breath for minutes. It was as if a huge pressure that had been pressing him down in the chair had suddenly vanished.

He looked at Grenn and Meservi who likewise seemed to be relieved of a heavy weight. Marc breathed in the air like a swimmer coming up from a dive.

《Wow, that was intense.》

“Kira? Where were you? What was that? What’s going on?”

《Don’t worry. Everything is fine, I think. I’ll tell you later. But for now, I think things are ok.》

“Huh? Kira? What do you mean?”

“So you acknowledge you are a Traveler?” She asked, calmly this time. “And you two. You both knew and hid this fact, from me and from the Guild?” She continued, a bit more icy chill in the second question.

Marc looked to his two escorts, hoping for a hint as to how to respond. After a moment, it occurred to him that they were actually waiting for him.

“I am, and they just did it to help me. To protect me.” He said, more confidently now that the strange pressure he felt before was gone.

“Protect you from who?” Ba’eth asked, turning again to look at him directly.

“No one? I don’t know. Just… Anyone who would hate Travelers, or be afraid, or… or try to use me.” He tried to come up with a better answer, but he was having difficulty even remembering how things came to be this way in the first place.

“She still doesn’t trust me does she?” She looked over at Meservi.

The Elf clenched his jaw, as though he wanted to say something, but was biting it back forcefully.

“It’s not like she trusts me either. You should have seen how she welcomed me. I almost died!” He finally blurted out, starting to regain his old composure.

“I’ll bet,” Ba’eth said with a chuckle. Then she continued.

“Well, I suppose trust must be earned. The Witch has always had her secrets, but so have I.” She then drew out a small object from under the table and placed it in front of Marc.

It was a small metallic box, about the size of those fancy mints they sell in the metal tins. It was smooth, but had an intricate pattern etched into the face. A pentagram with complicated characters and patterns forming a five-sided shape. At each of the intersection points was a tiny colored jewel. A ruby, sapphire, emerald, garnet, and amethyst. In the center was a larger stone that looked like a diamond.

《Those are not gemstones.》

“Huh? What are they?” Marc asked Kira, already starting to suspect he knew what they were.

《Mana Cores.》

“Mana Cores, you mean from people?”

《Originally, yes. Only sentient beings can create Mana Cores.》

“And the center stone? Is that a Mana Crystal?”

《That is a Mana Core as well. But it is from a Dimensional Traveler. The same as you.》

“What? I thought Travelers don’t have Mana Cores.”

《They don’t, you don’t. But all I know is that the center stone is a Mana Core from a Dimensional Traveler. I don’t know what that means either.》

Marc looked at the object closer. He noticed that three of the stones were glowing slightly. The red, the blue, and the green stones.

“That,” Ba’eth explained, “is the device that I used to block your interface. It is also the item I used to confirm that you are indeed a traveler.”

“What is it?” Marc moved his head around to look at the device, afraid to pick it up.

“It was a gift. A keepsake from an old friend of mine. It allowed me to have a short conversation with your Interface, Kira.”

“What? You spoke with her?” He thought at Kira.

《Yes. I don’t quite know how it works, but that device allows the user to open a channel of communication. It’s quite special. We could speak freely, Ba’eth has told me much about her and the other Traveler.》 Kira said cheerfully.

“What? Other Traveler? How long have you been talking with her?”

《Well, in relative time it was less than a second. Instantaneous actually. The tool lets us both act and think clearly at my maximum processing speed. In relative time it would have been a few hours.》

“So when she shut you off…”

《Well, more like she asked me not to interfere.》

Marc was concerned that his interface was listening to other people and doing things that affected him directly. He remembered that she even shut off his vision this morning.

《Don’t be so paranoid. I already knew everything she was planning to do. Besides, there was an added benefit.》

“Benefit? What do you mean? What benefit?” Marc asked her testily.

《Look at the crystal. They are reacting to you, reflecting your own Mana levels.》

Marc looked again. The lights were very weak. Probably because of his low development level. Then he realized that there were three little stones. The Red and Blue ones, but also the Green ones.

《The update helped a bit. It’s easier to unlock the elements now.》

“When? How?”

《The pressure from before. That’s an Earth Mana Skill, a handy one at that.》

【SKILL ACQUIRED: INTIMIDATION 】

《Won’t be able to use it for a while. Going to need to raise your Earth Mana proficiency, but I think you recognize how useful it could be.》

Marc was still catching up. “You unlocked my Earth Mana and got a skill, and didn’t tell me?”

《Well, she wanted to punish Meservi and Grenn for being stupid, and I agreed not to ruin her fun. No way you could have kept up the charade.》

“I assume that Kira has told you where it came from?” Ba’eth broke the silence. Marc realized he had just been staring at the small box for a while in silence.

“Another Traveler.” He said aloud, both Green and Meservi responding with surprised looks. Then they all turned to look at the Guild Head.

“That was a very long time ago. She is gone now. She left that to me, and now I give it to you. It’s not like I am likely to ever encounter another of your kind in my lifetime.”

Marc was stunned. Another Traveler. He had so many questions, but one that forced its way out of his throat almost unconsciously.

“Gone? Where?” Blurted out.

The Dwarf woman looked at him, and her stone-cold eyes softened a bit.

“Home. I hope. That was what she said when she left.” She said, a sadness now noticeable in her voice.

A thousand questions in his mind head exploded into a million. Home? A Traveler went home? What did that mean?

“I can see there is much you want to ask. Unfortunately, there is very little I am able to tell. This was a very long time ago, and I understand little. But at a later time, we can talk and I will share what I know.” She spoke, trying to placate Marc’s obvious excitement.

“For now, however, I still have the matter of Guild discipline.” She barked and the two men beside her shot to attention in their chairs.

“I understand what you were doing. I even agree with most of it.”

Marc noticed Meservi relax a fraction.

“At least the non-idiotic parts. But agreeing and forgiving are two different things. Meservi, we are going to have a long discussion about proper procedures, and correct use of authority. Do you understand?”

“Yes Guild Head.” A deflated and pitiful-looking Meservi answered, drooping like a child who had just been scolded for stealing cookies from the cooling tray.

“I am sure assisting the City Administration with customs inspections at the docks for a few weeks will help re-instill your passion for proper procedure.”

A horrified reaction from the Elf was met with a withering glare.

“Yes Guild Head. Thank you!” He sat up straight and stared straight ahead.

“And what to do about you?” The Dwarf looked over at Grenn.

Still frozen solid, Grenn looked every bit like a stone statue.

“Grenn, Your request for retirement from the Guild has been rejected.”

Grenn broke free of his petrified state.

“What? You can’t. You don’t have the right to-“ He protested.

“I do, I can, I am. Grenn, I have reviewed your application and find the reasons stated for your retirement from your position as Instructor and the Guild were not complete or honest. As such the application is rejected. You are free to resubmit a new application, which I will personally review before it will be accepted.” She said in a strict, businesslike manner.

“But…” Grenn gritted his teeth, his jaw flexing so tightly Marc thought the veins on his neck would rupture.

“Grenn, You will be put on sabbatical for the next five years. Your position as Officer and duties as Instructor will be suspended until you officially apply to reactivate your full duties at the completion of your sabbatical. Your Guild membership will remain in active status and your membership dues and Guild oaths will all be considered active and in full effect.” Ba’eth continued while Grenn looked shocked by the pronouncement.

“Furthermore, during your sabbatical, you will report directly to me. You will be given tasks commensurate with your abilities and experience. Specifically, you are to manage certain activities that are considered highly sensitive, and which require delicacy and confidentiality.” She added while staring directly at Marc.

Grenn held his breath, looked between Ba’eth and Marc, and then finally let it out, slumping a bit. Then he straightened his back and barked out a soldier’s response.

“Understood! I accept your judgment, Guild Head.” He said, staring straight ahead.

Then the Dwarf reached out and grabbed Grenn’s sleeve in a surprisingly gentle gesture.

“Keri will understand. What has happened was not your fault. Not your responsibility. It is and always was my burden to carry.” The softness of her voice felt strange, but at the same time, Marc felt he was seeing a hidden and private part of this intimidating and powerful woman.

Grenn did not answer, but his frozen composure seemed to crack a bit, like a frozen lake starting to thaw.

“For now, I suggest we go down to the Main Hall.”

Meservi and Grenn both twisted to look at the Guild Head in confusion.

“The Main Hall? Why?” Meservi asked, perhaps a bit too forcefully.

“To look for a task for our new prospect of course,” Ba’eth said while staring Meservi back down.

“I want to see what our new recruit is capable of as soon as possible.”