Arch-Mage Jennings was sitting at his desk in the Mage Tower of Dorchester, going over the records of their operations. His feet were up, and he was sipping his coffee as one part of his mind was cycling through multiple reports. But a majority of his mind was preoccupied with analyzing the impromptu 'class', if he could even call it that, which he had just had with Nero.
Through his weak scry-connection to the Mage Tower in Hennings, he could still sense the mage council arguing and shouting at each other. Nero’s antics were enough to cause them to hold an emergency meeting. Shaking his head, he wondered if the boy was right. Have they just been stagnating?
Right as he was about to open a separate connection for a scry-meeting with the mage council, they beat him to it.
Sensing them reaching out to form the connection, he pulled his feet off the desk and stood up. He focused, then reached to complete the connection, a floating window appeared and he saw Mathers along with a few others standing there with looks of concern.
Jennings raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Judging from the looks on your faces, this isn’t about Nero’s theories?” he asked.
Mathers shook his head, and replied, “No. It seems the king had tried to warn me of something, but I didn’t realize it at the time. We just confirmed that House Cranston has paid the Assassins Guild to initiate a formal assassination challenge against Nero. The guards in Dorchester are escorting him to the arena as we speak.”
Jennings brow furrowed in anger, “On what grounds? And what type of challenge specifically?”
Mathers said, “A blood challenge. They used the old 'honor rule'. If you recall, they used it ages ago to dissuade noble killings. It was from back when we had that conflict in the north. It's still technically in the books, but it hasn’t been applied in forever since the new noble law trumps it. Lord Cranston found a loophole and somehow got the Cosgrave heir to go along with it.”
Jennings reached into his memory for the details. His face looked confused as he asked, “But that requires the challenger to be within one level of the challenged? Right?”
Mathers took a second to think, then burst into laughter. As the others in council room caught on, they all started laughing as well. Jennings joined in, but with some effort he managed to get out, “I have to get to the arena. I have some bets to place.”
Without waiting for a response, Jennings forced the connection to close. He caught his breath while still smiling. Walking over to the balcony attached to his office, near the top of the tower, he brought up the city plan on his link. Unfortunately, he couldn’t find the listing for the challenge. They must not have posted it yet. Frowning, he spread his senses out as far as he could, trying to find a hint of Nero’s essence trail. Lifting off into the air, he wrapped himself in a complicated shield of essence to appear invisible, and then flew off to follow Nero to the arena.
‘This is going to be great, I wonder what the odds will be,’ he thought to himself.
-----
As the room stood in silence, with everyone staring at him, Nero heard Nick’s whisper, “Vera’s in the building. She’ll be here soon.”
Nero looked over his shoulder and nodded. Showing no fear, he sauntered into the room. Looking around, he recognized the Cosgraves, the city lord with her two heirs. They were standing alongside Lord Bennings. And it seemed they even invited that general from his dinner at the keep. Unfortunately, he didn’t recognize anyone else.
Nero said, “In all seriousness, you guys wanted me here. So let's talk.”
Expressions varied, but Nero’s favorite was the city lord’s, she looked so mad that Nero wanted to take a picture. Although, her son’s was a close second.
Lord Bennings coughed lightly then spoke in a professional tone, “You have been called to answer a formal assassination challenge issued by House Cranston and executed by the Assassins Guild. Citing a blood grievance, the challenge was reviewed then accepted as an assassination challenge by Master Derek Cosgrave of House Cosgrave, representing the current holder of the city-seat of Dorchester. Until the challenge is resolved, your ascension to nobility will be postponed. Do you understand the challenge?”
Nero offered a blank look and crossed his arms. “Who the fuck is House Cranston?” he asked.
A lot of the people in the room paled, but Nero noticed the people on the left side of the room smiled. There was a giant guy wearing black leather, who was obviously the assassin. There were two teenagers with him, a guy built like a spring, and a chick that looked like she spent her free time doing squats. Nero looked over at her, and tried to appreciate her form without making it obvious.
Lord Bennings spoke up, forcing Nero to pay attention again, “House Cranston is a Great House from Hennings,” seeing as that meant nothing to Nero, she continued, “Hennings is the capital of Oglivarch.”
Nero shrugged, then said, “Cool. So what does that have to do with me?”
Before Lord Bennings could reply, the doors behind Nero opened and he sensed Mrs. Salvatore barge into the room. He couldn’t hide his grin as he felt her barely-controlled fury. ‘I should have stopped at a vendor for some popcorn or something,’ he thought.
Vera walked up to stand at Nero’s side, and in a cold voice that filled the room she said, “As proxy to House Walker, appointed in the presence of the city lord, why was I not notified of this farce?”
Although she addressed the room, Vera’s eyes made it clear that she was speaking to the city lord.
With a tight voice, Lord Cosgrave replied, “We only recently learned of this challenge. My son acted without my knowledge. Are you aware of the particulars of the challenge?”
Vera’s eyes took on an edge of violence, as she said, “I obtained the details of the challenge on my own. Your office must have forgotten to forward them to me. As this is obviously an abuse of loopholes within our laws, you as the city lord have the power to stop this. Yet, it seems that you are allowing it to proceed unimpeded.”
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Lord Cosgrave held Vera’s stare and replied, “To step in now would be an insult to House Cranston. My son made a mistake, I will not compound that mistake by making one of my own. House Cosgrave will abide by the law, and Lord Bennings has assured me that the challenge is legal.”
Vera nodded, then replied with venom, “House Walker has heard your words. We will remember them when our lord makes his pledge to Dorchester.”
With a cruel smile, Derek Cosgrave retorted, “If he has the chance, that is.”
Nero realized that the anger in the room was getting to the point that someone might start throwing chairs, so he decided to step in.
“OK, so I’m going to have a death match with an assassin. Since all the very noble 'nobles' are on board with it, I don’t have much choice. Now let’s get to the important part. What do I get if I win?” Nero asked while crossing his arms and smirking.
The room was staring at him, and Lord Bennings spoke as if she was reciting from a list in her link, “The rules state that a blood grievance can be called after the death of a noble with a direct lineage to the head of their House. In the event of their victory, the challenged will be entitled to the assets of the noble that died. The funds and interests are to be held by Tower of Law until an accurate accounting can be made. As the Mage-adept Cranston was the noble in question, his assets were offered as collateral for the challenge. In addition, the Assassins Guild has to offer one half of the contract price to take the place of the challenger.”
Nero returned a confused stare at Lord Bennings, then he turned to Vera and asked, “What the hell did she just say?”
Vera smiled, and said, “A lot Nero. You’d get a lot.”
Nero held Vera’s gaze, and then sent her a private ping. He could see her eyes slightly widen, but she accepted the connection without saying anything. Over the link, he asked, “Can I bet on myself? More importantly, can we keep it secret?”
Vera said out loud, “It is very expensive for a noble house to offer this type of challenge. It seems that someone really wants you dead. Even if the challenge is legal, the repercussions from the crown will be felt for generations.”
As she spoke out loud to Nero, she sent him a private response, “How much do you want to bet? As far as I know, you don’t have any money. It will be a while before your awards are processed.”
Nero nodded in response to both statements. Over the link he replied, “Didn’t I win a bunch from the Noble War? Can’t I use that as collateral?” And out loud he said to the room, “Well, some people just don’t like me being this attractive. It makes them feel threatened.”
Vera didn’t respond over the link. Closing the connection, she turned to the room and said, “When will the challenge take place?”
Lord Bennings replied, “The paperwork has already been filed, and Mr. Walker was just formally notified. We will head to the reserved central arena from here.”
Vera responded, “I’d like to request an hour to review our options and go over Mr. Walker’s estate paperwork.”
Lord Bennings nodded, then replied, “That’s acceptable. You can use the conference room across the hall. However, as the challenge has been formally ratified, guards will have to accompany Mr. Walker to ensure his participation.”
Nodding in acceptance, Vera turned and walked out. Nero smiled at the room and said, “I guess I'll see you all in an hour. Toodles.”
As Nero left, he saw Nick looking at Vera in confusion.
When they made it to their conference room, the guards kindly agreed to wait outside the door without issue.
Nero rubbed his hands with greed while asking, “OK. What’s the plan? How do I bet what I won from the Noble War?”
Nick tried to speak up, but Vera held up a hand, silencing him. “Nero, are you really going to bet everything on this?” she asked.
Nero gave her a surprised look. “You expect me to wait for an opportunity to spend it? Isn’t this a death-match? If I lose, I’m dead anyway. You worried about what I'm leaving you?”
Nick couldn’t hold in his questions any longer and blurted out, “What the hell are you two talking about? Are we not going to try and put a stop to this insanity?”
Nero looked at Nick with a grin and said, “Some assholes went to a lot of trouble to try and kill me. But like most people here, they’re idiots. First, I’m going to kill their assassin while laughing at them. Then, I’m going to go collect my winnings and send them a thank you basket made up of assorted nuts. Salty nuts. Do you understand what I’m hinting at?”
Nick just shook his head and replied, “I hardly ever understand what you’re saying.” Turning to Vera he asked, “We’re just going to let this happen?”
Vera’s eyes were hard as she said, “We don’t have a choice. Too many powerful people want to see this to happen, and even Lord Cosgrave is staying out of it. We’ll just have to rely on Nero to win. Can you do it Nero? Can you kill a man in the arena, in front of thousands of people, and in cold blood?”
Nero’s smile fell, but he replied, “Look, I’m not a murderer or anything. But since I’ve come to this world, I’ve come to realize that this is the way it is. And I’ve already killed men during the Noble War. Yes, it was unpleasant, but they started it. I’ll meet aggression with aggression. Don’t worry about me. I’ll win.”
Vera held his stare for a moment, then nodded. “Very well. As your proxy, I can place a bet for you with the arena bank. They’ll have an auditor on hand to confirm the availability of funds, and we can offer your winnings from the Noble War as collateral. Although I'm sure they won’t offer full price of your assets, it will still be a substantial sum. Do you want me to put it all on you to win?”
Nero’s smile returned as he said, “Yup. Everything I have, put it on me to win.”
Vera offered a quick nod, and then turned to leave. As Nero and Nick watched her go, Nick said seriously, “Nero, just because you survived some mercenaries, it doesn’t mean you’ll survive an assassin. These people have trained for years in the art of killing.”
Nero responded easily, “Can we just take a minute to acknowledge how ridiculous it is that you people have laws governing assassinations? When I found out that you guys regulated kickbacks and standardized rich people appointing their friends to impressive positions within the government, I was impressed. Finding out about Noble Wars, and that you regulated fighting to avoid impacting the lives of the commoners, I was amazed. But regulating how to assassinate people? That’s too much. Do you have laws on how to legally do everything?”
Nick was taken aback at Nero’s question, and replied, “Of course we do. Isn’t that the point of laws? So that the best way to do something is agreed upon, and everyone follows the rules?”
Nero shook his head and said, “But isn’t there something that is truly banned? Like morally wrong? What about prostitution or cannibalism?”
Confused, Nick said, “What’s morally wrong with prostitution and cannibalism? Prostitutes are protected by the same laws as everyone else. Their industry has some more regulations because it affects public health, but calling the industry morally wrong is illogical. And why would anyone want to eat people? Nero, you’re not making any sense.”
Nero looked at Nick as if he couldn’t believe the words coming out of the straight-laced man’s mouth. “So everything is approached in a logical manner? What about how people feel about things?” Nero asked.
Nick was getting frustrated. “Nero, what the hell do feelings have to do with governance? Everyone feels differently about things, that’s free will. Laws based on anything other than logical arguments, backed up by verifiable data, would lead to chaos. What the hell kind of world did you come from?”
Walking over to a chair, Nero took a seat and thought about how to answer that question.
Looking at Nick, he said, “Right and wrong was determined by belief systems and social pressures. There were arguments all the time. Everyone chose sides and debated the validity of their side using whatever facts they wanted to consider true. People got to pick and choose the argument that they felt was the most accurate representation of their world-view.”
Nick gave Nero a look of pure horror. “How did that not lead to madness?”
Nero nodded with a fond smile, and replied, “It did…. and it was awesome.”
“That’s the craziest thing I think you’ve ever said,” Nick said.
“In less than an hour I’m going to walk into an arena for my scheduled assassination attempt, which will be overseen by the local government. Now THAT’S crazy,” Nero said in response.