The following day and a half went by in a near blur for Jack. He had far too much to do and only a small amount of time to do it in. His attempts at getting at least a small bit of planning done for just how he would infiltrate the Adventurer’s Guildhouse were only causing him exorbitant amounts of stress and little to show for it. If only he still had everything from his old office. During the previous case he had made some basic plans for infiltrating the building already due to their denying him access to their mission records. Sadly, he was certain that those plans had been thrown out along with everything else of his when he failed to show up for four months.
Between his frantic attempts at planning and his worries over how well the ritual that he was soon going to undergo, Jack felt stretched thin. Even so he did his absolute best to keep any indication of it from being shown. He felt that he couldn’t afford to be wasting any of his time dealing with his “family’s” overzealous staff messing with him if he showed just how overwrought he was. While he was fairly certain that they wouldn’t directly interfere, he wouldn’t be surprised at all about minor unexplained issues. Such as the final ingredient’s delivery being delayed, again.
Eventually, the next Jirday came, bringing with it the arrival date of the final piece for Jack’s ritual. Even as Jack paced impatiently for news of its delivery, he couldn’t help but to fret over the fact that he would only have a single day to prepare himself and the site. It was bad enough that he would be forced to do it during the summer rather than the spring, but if he missed the longest day of the year tomorrow, he would be forced to do the ritual without the increased abundance of natural mana that the solstices and equinoxes offered.
He would still be able to do the ritual but the outcome would be significantly diminished. If he was lucky, he could potentially do it again a second time in the future in order to make up the deficiency. But it would be difficult to collect everything again and less effective than simply doing it correctly in the first place. And while yes theoretically he could simply wait until the fall equinox Jack was certain that he would not be able to withstand the mental strain for that long. In fact, he was more than a little shocked that he had managed to keep himself together as well as he had up until this point.
Jack took a deep steadying breath. It didn’t matter if things weren’t prefect. What mattered is that the ritual would help. No matter how diminished the effects, it would still be significantly better than how things were now. At least that’s what his hurried tests back while he had been imprisoned had indicated. The ritual now was far more robust and intricate then the one that he had designed during his sleepless nights while hiding his work from the orderlies and doctors who staffed the complex where he had been taken.
As Jack paced around, he looked over at a mirror in the corner of the room and sighed. That was another thing he needed to do today. Sadly, the ritual would require markings that covered his entire body, head included. He would need to shave everything. He pulled lightly at his pony tail. His hair had certianly gotten long over the last eight months. Jack chuckled briefly as he imagined the expressions on Dilacy and Charise’s faces when they saw him next. They were the ones who kept encouraging him to grow it out after all. Saying that the longer hair made him look statelier and more sophisticated.
As Jack did his best to keep his mind concentrated on more pleasant thoughts a knock came at the door. “Yes?”
The door opened, showing one of the maids, “Sir, I came to inform you that your package has been delivered.”
Jack moved so quickly it almost seemed like he had teleported as he raced out the door toward the front of the mansion. Leaping down flights of stairs and over railings to keep his momentum going. It felt almost like an eternity until he finally reached his destination of the manor’s foyer. Looking around frantically Jack saw nothing out of place or added to the room. He was about to call out to the staff to ask where his package had gone when he paused, took a deep breath and let himself calm down. Taking a second look around the room at a more sedate pace he spotted it. A small non-descript brown wooden box sitting over on one of the side tables. Lengthening his stride, he walked over to it as quickly as he could.
Jack’s hands trembled slightly as he stood over the box. Excitement, nervousness, and paranoia, warring within him. Taking another breath to steady himself, he reached out and opened it. There it was. The final ingredient that he needed was here at last. A deep red uncut gem sat there pulsing every few seconds, giving the feeling as if it was alive and still beating. It was the heart of a blood elemental. An extraordinarily rare magical creature that only could come into being in very specific environments. As Jack stared at the disturbingly beautiful thing in front of him a dark part of mind couldn’t help but to wonder if it really was sourced naturally or if because it was requested by a powerful clan like the Bertrand’s that someone out there had artificially created the monstrosity that the heart came from.
Jack sighed and forced the thought away. It was something he could look into later, but for the moment he needed it, no matter what the source. With that he closed the lid of the box and picked it up, putting it into the crook of his left arm. Walking swiftly, he made his way back to the room that he had been staying in. Everything else that he needed was being kept there in a safe provided for him upon his request.
Setting his current box over on one side Jack started to work the lock to open the safe. In his barely contained excitement, he flubbed the it twice before inputting the correct combination. Pulling the safe open Jack smiled at the collection in front of him. Everything was here, all the bits and pieces for the ritual that he had designed and redesigned over and over again to achieve the best result that he could. Finally, he soon would be free of that damn parasite’s curse and his mind would work properly once more. Differently perhaps, but still properly.
Jack started pulling everything out of the safe and setting it into a pile so that he could attempt to carry the lot in a single load. He wrapped his arms around the resultant stack of objects and grunted as he shifted it to the side rather then successfully lifting it up. Holding back a groan of pain Jack channeled his mana into his body to strengthen it. With a grunt Jack once more attempted to lift the awkward and heavy mound. This time, bit by bit the pile lifted up until Jack was able to stand straight with it in his arms.
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Taking a quick look behind him just to make sure that nothing had been left behind Jack headed back out the door into the hallways beyond. His footsteps loud and ponderous as he trudged forward to where he wanted to go, laboring to move everything in one trip.
Jack’s thunderous steps soon attracted the attention of one of the maids. She asked in a soft and earnest voice, “Excuse me? Mr. Bertrand? Is there some way I could assist you? Perhaps I could carry some of your load or make sure you don’t run into anything?”
Jack did his best to keep a scowl from showing on his face. Perhaps she was truly simply offering her assistance but could he trust that? His knowledge that most of the staff didn’t simply answer to the owner of the house but also usually to at least one other member of the family meant that each one was a potential spy or enemy agent based off of how their hidden masters decided to view him. Already he had seen the many tricks that the servants were willing to do for their secondary masters and he was certain that many of them would go far further if they felt the benefit was large enough. Jack let out a silent sigh as he forced himself to relax. While it was true that many of the staff had other people commanding them they still were loyal to the family overall, with his father still wishing to meet him it was highly unlikely that they would do anything to disrupt his ritual more then they already had by delaying several of the shipments needed.
Jack cleared his throat to answer the young woman. “Sure. I’m taking all of this down into the basement to the third ritual room. If you could also have someone bring me a shaving kit along with a mirror it would be appreciated.”
“Of course sir. I’ll just nip over and ask Melody to take those to your room and be right back to help with moving everything.” The woman nodded pleasantly.
Jack shook his head, “No. Please have her take them down to the ritual room instead. I will be using them there.”
There was a slight pause before the maid nodded her head and agreed, “Very well sir. Would you also like a basin and shaving cream sent as well?”
“Yes. Thank you. I had forgotten about those. I would indeed like those as well.” Jack sifted the pile in his arms awkwardly in his embarrassment.
“Of course sir, I will take care of that immediately. I will be back momentarily.” The maid replied and then turned and hurried off.
Jack watched her walk away a short distance before shifting his attention back to continuing on his way. With the slow speed that he was moving at he had only gotten a short distance before the maid returned.
“I’m back sir, what can I take?” the voice of the maid called out from behind him.
Jack stopped moving and gestured to the top of the pile with a tilt of his head as he replied, “Just take a few things from the top. The lift was this way correct?”
Moving quickly to pull off several of the items before she answered the maid nodded. “Yes sir. It’s all the way down this hallway and then to the left at the end of the small passageway.”
With that the two made their way to the elevator and then down into the basement levels below the manor where the third ritual room lay. The walk and ride were filled with an uncomfortable silence that Jack refused to break. As they approached to the chamber Jack finally spoke. “We will be putting this in the antechamber for now. I need to sort everything and prepare some of these ingredients in specific manners in order for them to be fully ready for the ritual. I will likely need to occasionally send for various mundane ingredients such as chalk and sand. I was told that the manor would already have whatever I would need in terms of this type of material on hand already.”
The maid replied, “That shouldn’t be an issue. When Molly arrives, please inform her that she is to attend to your needs for the day and I shall make sure that she is excused from her other duties around the estate for the duration. Are there any of those materials you would like to be sent down now?”
Jack groaned in relief as he set his cumbersome load down, letting the body enhancement magic go as he did. Straightening, his body produced a multitude of loud pops and snaps as his joints were free of the weight. Jack leaned back slightly to stretch his back as he pondered the question. “You know what? Sure. I don’t remember all of what I need in terms of the mundane items off of the top of my head and I’ll send Melody out for the rest as they come up but I know that I need a good bit of chalk as well as some pure water. Oh, and I need about two pounds of fine grain sand. Thanks.”
The maid nodded behind Jack before checking with him one final time. “Of course sir. I’ll make sure that those items will be here shortly. If there is nothing else, I will be on my way.”
“Yes. That’s everything I can think of at the moment.” Jack agreed absentmindedly, his attention already turned toward pulling out the various materials and sorting them.
It was still shocking to Jack that the either the Bertrand clan or one of his relatives was willing to buy these various rare items. He was well aware of the cost of some of these things was so astronomical that he could only have gotten ahold of them in his dreams. By the Agier, some of them were so rare that even if he could afford the items, he wouldn’t even begin to know where to look for them.
Jack sighed forcing those thoughts away. He could ponder the wealth and power disparity all he wanted later when time wasn’t so tight and what he was doing was less dangerous. It was time that he started getting everything prepared. With that thought he looked at the two nearly equal piles he had made in front of him. The ones in the left pile he could simply situate within the ritual room as they were. These ones simply needed to be placed in the correct positions or used at the correct time during the ritual with no other effort needed. The pile on the right however… well, all of those needed to be prepared in various exacting manners for the task ahead.
Jack sigh and wished that he could have prepared some of them further in advance, but he hadn’t felt safe taking that risk when he was usure of when exactly the final ingredient would arrive. Many of the tinctures and tonics if not used quickly enough would loose the essence that made them necessary in the first place. Others still would actually absorb power and take in far too much causing imbalances and dangers to the ritual goer.
Shaking his head, he pushed the thoughts of just how dangerous what he was about to undergo was and began to move the first set of materials into the ritual room. As soon as that was done, he opened a small door on the side of the antechamber. There sat a small room containing a workbench covered with various alchemical devices, a small anvil and a board on the wall with various tools hanging from it. Looking back over at the remaining materials Jack grabbed a pair of gloves from within the workroom and selected the first item. A small spongy green sack that wobbled in his hand as he moved it. Seemingly about to rip apart at just the slightest bit too much force.