Chapter 51
“Mistress, kill her. She's a threat to our safety!” Lynn strongly advised.
I tentatively agreed, but there was a problem to work out first. I had to determine how much she might have shared with her employers. I also had a nagging suspicion that her sight wasn’t as all powerful as she was trying to imply it was. I believed that she was bluffing to some degree and merely extrapolating from other information she did know.
For now let’s continue the conversation. “I’m an angel.” I told her with a bright smile. Rie called me one not that long ago, so I’ll take it. I felt my smile only deepen as the calmness of her thoughts fell apart and was replaced by a feeling of utter dumbfoundedness. Apparently, my answer was far out of left field from anything she was expecting. “Well, I answered your question. So give me some information as you promised.”
She started waving her hands. “Wait! That’s impossible! Angels don’t exist. The Spirit Arisia introduced them as a concept, but even said they were just fiction from her world. Of course they appear in some fairy tales and even some sermons of the church, but they aren’t real!”
I shrugged. “You’re free to believe me or not.”
And she didn’t hear me. Her brain is currently running overtime and she’s mumbling to herself about whether I’m really an angel. I guess when you have the ability to potentially see and understand everything, when faced with something you can’t, it’s majorly vexing. Especially when the person herself wasn’t really being that cooperative.
Well, while she’s lost in her thoughts, let’s prepare the stage. I slid my pack under the love seat she was resting on, while I set up my psi web. Or maybe in this case, my web was closer to a cage. For all intents and purposes this room was now pretty much isolated from any outside interference.
I stepped close to Lorelei and held out my arm toward her neck. “Coa, if you don’t mind, please bite her.” Coa followed my directions properly and slithered down to my hand, where she lunged forward and snapped down on Lorelei’s soft flesh.
Lorelei was shocked out of her contemplation, though more out of surprise than pain. Coa had only managed to cause two tiny punctures after all. They weren’t even bleeding. I laid Coa down on the back cushion and pushed the still somewhat surprised and confused Lorelei down. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t going to be enjoying what came next in more ways than one.
I was straddling her and leaned forward to kiss her neck. My shield had to be turned off to do this properly, since it would get in the way of this kind of intimate contact. I trusted my web completely to protect me though. She tried to speak but I shushed her with a finger. “Let’s forgo further business for the moment and pursue other entertainments.”
She displayed a sensual smile. “I'm not adverse to the prospect, but I don't believe we were finished yet? I had other details I was still curious about.”
“Well, we can always continue that later.” I raised my head up and placed the gem on my forehead, my psi amplifier, directly to her own forehead. I let my psi flow through her and then back through my hand that was now stroking her cheek. I was creating something of a feedback loop that put her into a trance. Ultimately, she’ll have only a vague memory of this. “Now, how much and to whom have you shared the information about myself with?” I spoke with a soothing voice. The psi flowing through her created a compulsion for her to respond to me.
“No one.” She replied in a daze.
I raised an eyebrow. “That’s interesting. Why haven’t you?” I inquired.
“They already knew about your activities inside the Empire. The only event I’ve withheld is the one with the demon wolves. They’ll find out about it soon though.” She explained.
“Won’t they get angry when they learn about that?” I asked. They might not want to kill her, but I’m sure they have their own methods of punishment.
“I used the information about a new Spirit’s arrival to divert them. They haven’t consulted me regarding you since then.” She stated.
That made sense. They had bigger fish to fry now than me. At the same time though, it sabotaged my own plans. “Are they willing to do business with me?”
“Yes. They are currently debating the risks involved in such a venture. You are going to receive an invitation to a party at Marquis Sornan’s manor in eight days.” Marquis Sornan? That name sounds familiar, but I can’t place it at the moment. “They will use intermediaries to talk with you using truth verifiers. If you fail the test, they will remove you to acquire the goods you carry.” She said.
Hmm. So an interview to sound out my possible loyalties and motives. Then again, right now I have an Oracle at my disposal. “Do you know where Ghost’s headquarters are located?” I asked.
“No. Nor do I know who are their key agents. They have magical tools that muddle my Sight. I only know about them through others and the knowledge they provide me.” She said.
“Why am I so special then, if there are others that block your ability?” I inquired.
“In your case, there is nothing. No wall preventing my Sight. Just nothing. It is as if you do not exist.” She explained.
“I understand. What about the location of the Dark Dwarves’ home which is the source of adamantite?” Might as well try that topic too.
“That is beyond my Sight as well.” Another dead end I suppose.
“Why? Actually, why don’t you explain your power for me? Your limits and such.” I commanded.
“I cannot See beyond the sea. Thus I am constrained to the piece of land this Empire resides on. I am also incapable of Seeing more than a month into the past and I cannot see into the future.” So, she’s basically only capable of basically seeing the present then? That the dwarves aren’t on this continent is valuable to know though. “I can see events as if I was a bird overlooking them, but there must be a living person there for me to affix my Sight. I can not See through beasts or monsters. I did not See you torture those bandits. I only Saw their remains through the female adventurers at the bandit camp.”
Random thought. “How long is a week, month, and year?”
“A week is ten days. A month is four weeks. A year is nine months and one day. That one day lies in the middle of the year and is the day we worship the Spirits.” She said.
Back to the actual conversation. “What do you know about my actual abilities?” If she can see anyone that is living, she might have been able to see my conversation with Rie from Rie’s side.
“You are physically powerful and possess some means, magical or otherwise, to manipulate entities from beyond your reach.” So she knows generally about my psi, but doesn’t seem to know what it actually is or exactly how it works. Also unaware of the mental aspects of it. That’s good, but even with the vague memory, she’ll be able to realize that I was the cause of it which means that cat will be out of the bag.
What else do I need to ask about? Ghost is taken care of for now and I have a warning that they are potentially going to turn violent on me. The dwarves are still out of reach. There is a Spirit around… oh! “What do you know about the Spirit?”
“The Spirit is a male of around two and a half meters in height. His name is Fafnir Nidhogg. He is a being known as a Dragonian, a never before seen race. His Class is Feralshifter. When using his abilities, he transforms progressively until reaching a full dragon in form. Along with the transformation he enters a berserk state. I am not aware if he possesses a subclass. He tore apart a level 130 Giant Wyrm eleven days ago.” She described.
That name is just, I don’t even know what to think about that. Otherwise, it sounds almost like he’s a werewolf type thing. Except with control over the transformation. Killing a level 130 does mean he’s pretty strong though and that’s unlikely to be his limit. Lorelei was still talking and explaining how he looked like a cross between a human and a dragon, except without wings. I wasn’t really interested in that sort of information though.
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Except for what she said at the end. “His emergence took place twenty-nine days ago in the Restless Desert at the southern tip of this continent.”
“Mistress! That coincides with our own arrival on this world!” Lynn interjected.
Yes, I realized that myself, Lynn. Does this mean I am a Spirit after all? Could there be others that also appeared at that time? Lorelei said she was limited to this continent, so if we consider him and myself to be the only two foreign entities here. “Lorelei, how many continents or land masses are there on this world?”
“There are eight. We are currently on the second largest named Ailune.” She replied.
If we operate on the idea of two per continent, then there would be sixteen, but I doubt it’s that uniform. If I had to make a leap of faith. I’d go with somewhere in the five to ten range. “What is going on with that Spirit at the current time and what are Ghost’s plans regarding him?”
“He is sleeping.” I could have phrased that part better. “I am not aware of Ghost’s goal. They most likely wish to draw him to this country to visibly serve as a new champion or symbol of glory.” She answered.
“That sounds pretty calculating. Aren’t Spirits supposed to be seen as objects of worship? That sounds like Ghost is just planning to use him.” I stated.
“Not all worship the Spirits. I am not aware of Ghost’s opinion regarding them.” She said.
Now I think I really am out of things to ask. I guess I can release her from the trance. I cut off the flow of psi and lifted my head. She blinked a few times before meeting my eyes calmly.
“How cruel of you, Seri! You promised answering my questions, but instead you wrung me dry for your own amusement!” She accused. “I’m quite surprised you so easily put me into a controlled state though.” She should have only vague memories! “Don’t be shocked. Of course I can See myself. I talked quite a lot, the last few minutes.” She placed her arms up around me. “If I’m not going to get you to reveal anything, then I’m just going to follow your example and take what enjoyment I can salvage out of this evening!” She kissed me deeply while using her hands to loosen my dress.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I was still cuddling with the resting Lorelei. Unlike her, I had kept myself awake. Our clothing had become strewn around the floor, thankfully still together. The sex wasn’t as wild as it might have been.
Right, the sex. I had extremely complicated feelings about it. It was fantastic in one sense, but it was different from just having the memories of doing it. This time it was me. I was the one being the enthusiastic participant.
Of course, there’s the other complications like the fact that I should probably kill her. I’m conflicted though. Why did I let myself get dragged along into that sex!? Stupid, stupid!
Hah. Even if she hasn’t shared the information she has acquired about me, there’s no guarantee she won’t if she’s actually questioned about it. I don’t even need to consult Lynn for her opinion because I am already aware that she is really fucking pissed right now.
In the end if I removed the emotional aspect, it comes down to whether the security risk she represents is offset by the increased difficulty I’ll face in acquiring the materials I need. If she was telling the truth, and I’m quite confident she was, then Ghost will be upset if they lose her services. I’m the most likely suspect if she dies since I’ve spent the night with her along with other obvious factors like how everyone at that party saw her identify me and pull me aside. If only I was carrying one of my delayed action poisons on me.
Putting her under surveillance would be impossible unless I had her with me at all times. I can’t fit the ear piece into her beast ear since it was made to fit in my ear. Giving her one of the contacts is out for the same reason. I’d have to have Lynn construct something specifically for her use, which means that I’d have to visit again to deliver it and until I did so, she wouldn’t be under watch. Actually now that I think about, the delayed poison wouldn’t work for the same reason, huh?
I suppose the best options are to kill her or to make some kind of deal with her that she won’t reveal any information about me.
Lorelei’s eyes snapped open with a slight glow. “It’s still quite early.” Had this woman just used her ability for the sole purpose of telling the time? “Why don’t we take a bath, relax, and freshen up, Seri?”
Well, I guess there’s no harm in delaying things a little bit. An actual bath sounds really good. After packing away my dress and draping the still sleeping Coa around my neck, I followed Lorelei out of the room with both of us still nude. Normally, I wouldn’t wish for these people to see my body due to the reaction some might have to my appearance, but I could tell that to the limit of my senses that there was no one along the paths we were taken. That wasn’t to say no one was awake, just that Lorelei would always turn down corridors avoiding them. It seemed like she had reasons of her own for wanting to avoid the people patrolling her mansion.
She pushed open a pair of doors and what lay on the other side was a small hallway that opened into a larger room that contained the bath. The room seem to be covered in smooth, polished stone which was a bit of surprise. What was more of a surprise was the bath itself. It was large like I had expected, but what I hadn’t expected was the design. It was sloped for one thing with the water entering the bath through what looked like a waterfall flowing from the wall on at one end. The water then flowed to a wide pool before disappearing through drains at the bottom end. Lorelei waved her hand over an orb situated on the wall by the entrance and the water began to steam. She waved her hand over a different orb and the waterfall that had been pouring out normal water, now was also filled with soap bubbles. In less than a minute, it had become a steamy, bubble bath.
Lorelei got into the bath and stood under the waterfall as she washed her body. I decided to follow suit. When the water hit Coa, she woke with a screech and shot off my neck. Sadly for her, she was still addled from just waking up so all she managed to do was to dive into the water and get caught by the light current. She was flailing her wings as she tried to escape the bubbly water to no avail. I sighed, went over and scooped her up before she managed to get herself flushed down one of the drains. I returned to the waterfall and decided to take care of her cleaning first. I sat her down outside the bath after I was done wiping the bubbles off her. She immediately hissed and shot to a corner of the room to curl up there while glaring at me. She was radiating anger. Good job, Seri. You managed to piss off both your companions in the same night.
By the time, I finished my own washing, Lorelei was already lounging in the pool. Her beautiful body totally on display. Honestly, I could understand how I fell to the temptation she offered. She really is almost entirely to my taste. If she’d been a cat rather than a fox, she would have been perfect.
My long hair clung to my body as I walked toward her. I didn’t lay in the water though, I stood looking down at her. She gazed back at me without evading my eyes. “Did my display of affection and our lovemaking not move you enough to spare me? Ohh! Do not think that this was my only purpose for that act. I do find you to be incomparably charming, if only because of your unique nature.”
“Of course.” I replied. “Do you have any other reasons for why I shouldn’t kill you and please don’t try to use the detail about Ghost or other organizations being upset at your death. I’m prepared to deal with that.” It was only a small lie. I wanted to know if she did have something else to offer.
“You may use me as an informant for as long as you wish.” She stated. “Were you aware that the Count that is in control of the territory where you tamed that pack of wolves has called in favors from other nobles to recruit a decent sized force of knights and scouts? There are currently twenty-six of them preparing to search that forest for you. All of them are above level 40 with the two leaders of the unit closer to level 60. They’re a well balanced party.”
That could be an issue, if she’s telling the truth. “Why should I care about that? They can search in that forest all they want, but all they’ll find is the pack of wolves I left behind.” I responded without any reaction. “That’s not all you’re offering though. What you’re actually offering here is to provide me with news and gossip from around the continent that I wouldn’t be able to discover myself.”
“Correct. Is this not a good deal for you?” She said.
“That doesn’t at all negate how much of a threat you are. Also, I find it doubtful that you are offering this in exchange for your life. You didn’t care all that much earlier when I threatened to torture you. What are you after now?” I asked.
She shrugged. “Since you won’t satisfy my curiosity yourself, I hope that by repeated meetings with you, I’ll be able to determine what you are.”
I scrutinized her as I contemplated.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I had been wandering the early morning streets since I had left Lorelei’s mansion. It felt like I had made an irrevocable decision. Sparing her had set something into motion. What that was, I couldn’t be sure. I knew it wasn’t going to be as simple as her betraying my trust though. Whatever it was, was going to be something big.
That wasn’t what was troubling me.
I had made an irrational decision.
It was illogical.
It went against all my experience.
Yet, I couldn’t not do it. I couldn’t bring myself to end her life. Maybe the Aaron part of myself had exerted its presence enough to influence me. I hated to admit it, but recently, I had been thinking entirely like Seri. I could even begin to imagine that Aaron had never existed outside my own head.
I might have spared her because of that. An action that despite being stupid, said that I wasn’t just an individual that would slice the throat of anyone that crossed me.
Or possibly I was just trying to find some excuse to justify my sudden onset of idiocy.
I patted the sleeping Coa that I was cradling in my arms. She let out a quiet purr.
“Mistress, are you okay?” Lynn inquired.
[Aren’t you still angry? Actually, shouldn’t you be more upset now?] I typed with my left hand since my right arm was still holding Coa.
“I’m still not happy about it.” She said bluntly. “But, I don’t like Mistress behaving like a lost soul more.”
[Sorry.] I replied simply.
“You aren't going to share your worries with me?” Lynn sounded sad.
[Later. I just need some time to sort it all out in my head.] I wrote.
“Mistress, I’m absolutely holding you to that later. Don’t think you’re going to escape me.” Lynn threatened. “Come out of the city to the forest tonight. I have to deliver some goods to you.”