Chapter 24 : Draw out his prey

Nikolaï was standing next to the entry service. He didn’t need his face mask anymore but kept it, it made him feel safe. His little burglary almost took him 1 hour so he could still move under the cover of the night. He went to the place where he had hidden his swords and normal clothes and changed back.

This time he didn’t leave anything behind and took the uniform with him. He needed to get rid of it but it was better to do it somewhere nobody could find it. Nikolaï plunged into the gardens once again. Even with the clear sky, he didn’t see much and contrary to before, he couldn’t just follow the top of the Tower.

He was still using the Tower as a way to orient himself and he had done his best at finding significant landmarks on the way.

Nikolaï got rid of the uniform when he judged he was deep enough. It didn’t matter if it was eventually discovered but it was better if it was not too soon. He continued this way but it was hard to navigate with so little light.

He hadn’t found night-vision spells in the library but he was pretty sure it existed and right now he would have given all of his savings to know it. He was relying on his Third Eye to avoid any creatures but it was only forcing him to make more detours and for each of them he had to find back the right direction.

When Nikolaï glimpsed the light of the fire camp he almost cried. He had found his way back after more than 2 hours of travel. He was not going to try anything like that for a long time. He followed the shore in the direction of the camp.

He eventually found the place where he left his bucket. He had struggled to find the exact spot. He took his things and went back to the camp while trying to look more natural.

“_ Hey !” Said the girl who apparently kept a lookout. “We were worried you had been attacked ? What happened to you ?”

She had asked the second question once she had seen the state of Nikolaï's clothes. Even with a cape over them, they had been caught in many obstacles hidden by the night on his way back.

“_ I wandered a bit too far.” Said Nikolaï. “When I tried to come back there were creatures on the way so I tried a detour but they were not alone.”

“_ What kind of creature ?”

“_ I’m not sure, I didn’t get too close. One tried to chase me and I lost my way while I was ditching it. It feels like it took me hours to find my way back.”

“_ It probably did.

”_ How about you ? Did you have any problems ?”

“_ No, the others are sleeping. Is that your part ?” Asked the Aspirant while pointing at the bucket.

“_ Yes. How was yours ?”

“_ The guys took care of it but I think they have enough.”

“_ Good”. Said Nikolaï before an awkward silence where he realised he had forgotten the girl's name. “I don’t feel like sleeping so I will try to fish a bit more, just in case.”

The girl just shrugged as an answer and Nikolaï moved away in the direction of the dock. He was tired but at the same time incapable of sleeping. All throughout the night his adrenalin had spiked up and down, leaving him exhausted and in a state of excitement.

Rather than trying to rest on the uncomfortable ground with nothing more than a blanket, he decided to do something. His plan was done, or at least the bigger part was, and he could finally let go of some of his worries. Fishing was not Nikolaï thing but he had been so obsessed with his true purpose that he had forgotten the value of the fish.

Having some of them for himself wouldn’t be bad so Nikolaï focused on that as a way to avoid thinking about the rest. He used his Spectral Hand this time too, not even caring about what the other Aspirants might think of it. Since he had already used most of his baits, it would be a lot harder to attract the fish. But Nikolaï didn’t mind. He wanted to pass the time, it didn’t matter if he failed to catch a lot of them.

When the sun rose Nikolaï had successfully caught 4 more fish. The rest had swum away before the morning light and Nikolaï had taken some rest, seated on the dock looking at the sun rising. It was quite beautiful and he almost woke up the two lovebirds to give them the chance to enjoy this moment. He didn’t, he doubted they would be responsive after the way he had behaved.

***

Nikolaï and the others arrived at the Tower when the open market was starting its activities. Not every shop was open but there were people around preparing for the day.

The group approached the outside office next to one of the Tower warehouses. It had just opened and they brought their trophies while explaining the mission to the employee. The 10 fish counted 2 of Nikolaïs and they had killed all of them. It was not just because it made them easier to carry but also because their scales were light-sensitive when they were alive. They had to kill them before the sun rose to avoid spoiling their value.

The employee was currently inspecting the ten fish.

“_ What do you have here ?” Asked the employee to Nikolaï, pointing at a craft bag under his arm.

“_ It’s some fish that I took for my personal use. It’s not against the rules.” Said Nikolaï.

“_ Your mission is the priority.” Argued the employee. “Show me them !”

Nikolaï wanted to retort that they were his but he was too tired to do so and unpacked the one he had saved. Because Nikolaï had fished them with a hand there was no trace of hook or harpoon on them and the employee knew it.

“_ Alright I’ll take those and you can take your extra from those ones.”

“_ It’s not fair.” Complained Nikolaï.

He knew there was no point in arguing but he couldn’t help. It was them who had spent the night in the garden, the employee could at least let them choose what they wanted to keep. Especially because the other fish were not in bad states.

“_ It’s that or I would have to reduce the reward for bad quality.” Declared the employee with unnecessary smugness.

“_ Fine !” Said Nikolaï under his teeth.

He took the fish and his share of the tokens before leaving without another word. Not even to his fellow Aspirant. It was not that he needed to maintain his persona but their silence when the employee had tried to rip them off had annoyed him.

He rented a butchering bench in the next building and started to gut his spoils. While doing so he cut one of his fingers and started swearing. Luckily the cut was not deep but he realised that it was a bit stupid to manipulate a sharp blade when being tired and angry.

He still gutted all the fish and threw away the bad parts before leaving. He went to the Bourquet Brother shop and found Emile, the apothecary. Before anything Aspirant Bourquet offered him a bandage for his hand and Nikolaï thanked him.

He rapidly explained his situation and Aspirant Bourquet agreed to extract the resources from the fish. Nikolaï was only interested in the oil and the eyes so, in exchange for the scales and some coins, Aspirant Bourquet would take care of everything.

Nikolaï left the shop in a lighter mood and went to the Tower. He stopped at the dining hall and ate some breakfast. He wanted to wash from the fish smell but knowing what was waiting for him in his room he had chosen to fill his stomach first.

After a night out it wasn’t a strange behaviour, especially by taking into account the small diner that he had packed the day before and eaten at the camp.

After breakfast, Nikolaï climbed the stairs leading to his room and when he arrived at his door he stopped for a second. He took his key from his pocket and breathed in and out before readying himself to put on a mask. He opened the door while attempting to act as carefree as possible.

He showed surprise and disbelief as he glimpsed at the state of his room. He moved closer as if he was discovering its complete state. Nikolaï tried to display his most scared face but he was worried about overdoing it, he was not even sure if they were looking.

The room was upside down, not in a way of someone looking for something but in the way of being deliberately ransacked. Bedsheets had been sliced and some clothes too. The chest hadn’t been forced but a bottle of ink had been poured on it. The books previously on the desk had been trampled on the floor. Pages had been torn off and so were some of Nikolaï’s notes.

Nikolaï turned around to look at the disaster that he had created during the night. He finally saw the highlight of the show. On the wall of his washroom, where he could be seen by the mirror too, was a huge message written in black ink.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“THIS PLACE DOESN’T NEED AN AMATEUR FORGERUNE”

Nikolaï tried to act as scared as he would be if someone had really threatened him that way. He checked in a panic the contents of his chest and the rest as if he was making sure he had not also been robbed.

This had been his plan. What Nikolaï truly needed was to defend himself against Arcanist Amos and Julius's surveillance without revealing that he was aware of it. So he had created a fake threat, one against which he could pretend to defend while actually fighting Orsana’s assistants.

If he went overboard with his burglary it was only a testimony of how seriously he was taking the assistants. A threatening letter or such wouldn’t be enough to rival the danger that they represented.

He had thought about this shenanigan after Aspirant Soreco told him about being in more than one crosshair. It wasn’t close to what she had meant but it didn’t matter, only the result did.

Nikolaï had given himself a reason to be openly on his guard and he doubted anyone would be twisted enough to think that Nikolaï did all of it himself.

***

Arcanist Julius was in his quarter, to be precise, in the common area, holding a book that he was pretending to read. He enjoyed the show too much to be interested in some words on paper. He was looking at a mirror showing what was happening in the room right under him.

It was a bit blurry as if he was looking through a window covered in thin frost, but he could still see decently. He looked at Aspirant Orwood trying to get rid of the graffiti on the wall with some sponge. He thought it was hilarious. This past few weeks he had been surprised how entertaining it was to look at people without their knowledge. Not that Orwood was particularly interesting to watch, the guy was spending all his time working or meditating.

Arcanist Julius wouldn’t admit that he would have been a little curious if Orwood had brought some female company into his room. He kept repeating to himself that it was not his thing contrary to his fellow assistant. Arcanist Amos was the one who had created the mirrors and set them up with her invisible talisman and he suspected that she was a bit of a voyeur. After all, she had come up with the idea of the spying mirror pretty quickly.

Speaking of her, Arcanist Julius had just heard the door of their quarter and a few seconds after that, Arcanist Amos entered the room.

“_ What did you find ?” Asked Arcanist Julius.

“_ Not much. There are too many suspects.” Answered Arcanist Amos, annoyed.

“_ Really ! We know it’s probably a Forgerune and there is not a lot of you.”

“_ Maybe but we all keep our secret close to each other, so if one of the big ones had ordered this they would have covered their tracks.”

“_ What about some low-level rival or an angry fencer ?”

“_ What do you think I did all this time ? I checked but didn’t find any serious leads.”

There was a moment of silence and reflection while Arcanist Amos took her coat off and sat down in front of Arcanist Julius.

“_ The merchant told you that he had a mentor, right ?” Started Arcanist Julius.

“_ Yeah but we don’t know who.”

“_ He also said that Orwood was starting to ‘fly on his own’. Maybe his mentor didn’t want to lose his lackey.”

“_ Possible." Said Arcanist Amos still thinking.

She looked at the mirror displaying Aspirant Orwood scrubbing his wall. She was the first one who discovered his place had been trashed. At night the mirrors were useless so she had taken to a habit of checking them in the morning. Contrary to Arcanist Julius she hadn’t found it funny and became worried. Her first thought was that they were not the only ones to keep an eye on Orwood and it was concerning because that meant that the others were able to do it without her being aware of it.

After a bit of reflection, Arcanist Amos realised that it was not necessarily the case. A rival could have kept a distant eye on Orwood and when they had seen that he was going to be out all night they had found a lucky opportunity. Everyone who had simply checked the atrium board could be aware of Orwood's absence, after that, all you had to do was to confirm that he had left. It didn’t require advanced spying.

“_ Whoever did this wanted to send a message.” Said Arcanist Julius, half-laughing while watching the mirror. “A rather clear one, haha !”.

“_ I’m glad that you are enjoying the situation”. Sarcastically retorted Arcanist Amos. “But it’s troubling.”

“_ What !? We were looking at a way to get rid of him and we finally found out that he had an enemy. We could use it as a proxy ?”

“_ First ! It’s not the initial point of our surveillance. Second ! We found nothing ! And third ! Our Master had shown support to him ! What do you think would happen if we approach his ‘enemy’ and offer help ?”

Arcanist Julius didn’t answer. As assistants, their actions had a knock-on effect on Expert Orsana and if they put him in a situation where he could be exposed they would regret it.

“_ What did he do while I was away ?” Asked Arcanist Amos, taking Arcanist Julius's thoughts away from Orsana's possible grim retribution.

“_ He just cleaned up his room. He went out once and I followed him but he was just visiting his neighbours to ask if they heard something last night.”

“_ Did they ?”

“_ Apparently not and when one had asked why, Orwood didn’t say.”

“_ So maybe he already knows who it is.”

“_ Yeah or he wants to keep this thing quiet. Look how he is trying to get rid of it.” Pointed out Arcanist Julius.

“_ Won’t you ? If you were in his position.”

“_ Nobody would try something like that on me.” Said Arcanist Julius with a smirk.

Arcanist Amos rolled her eyes, it wasn’t the point and it wasn’t about him. She started to massage her temple, a habit that she had taken since she was sharing her position with Arcanist Julius. They were definitely not friends, not that she wanted to, but his massive ego could make some conversations rather painful. Like if she was arguing with someone trying to be an idiot.

Once again she felt as if he didn’t measure the consequences of what had happened last night, for them.

***

The next day in the evening, Arcanist Amos and Julius were in their Master's office, ready to give him an update on the situation. He already knew about the attack.

“_ Did you find the culprit ?” Asked Expert Orsana.

“_ Not yet, but I think we can rule out the top Forgerune, Orwood is not important enough for them.” Answered Arcanist Amos.

“_ We’ll keep looking.” Added Arcanist Julius

“_ The more time passes, the more difficult it will be to find something.” Commented Expert Orsana for no one in particular.

Expert Orsana was tapping on his desk, annoyed but composed. Even if he had burst out of anger last time it had been a rather unusual behaviour for him. He had a more cold-blooded temper and was thinking properly about the problem.

“_ There is something else.” Said Arcanist Amos. “Someone posted an announcement for a veteran Shielder. It’s anonymous but I’m positive it’s from Orwood.”

Arcanist Julius didn’t know that. She hadn’t shared with him because having so little to update on she wanted to be the one with the more valuable intel.

A Shielder wasn’t a real title but it was how they called people who had specialized in security spells in the Tower. Having a lot of alchemists it could be a very lucrative job to protect their laboratory and such.

“_ And I’m guessing that it could be compromising for you.” Said Expert Orsana calmly.

He didn’t know about the mirrors. He was the one who had ordered them to “keep an eye on Aspirant Orwood using any means necessary” but he was unaware of the detail willingly. The assistants had understood that and it was their role to give their Master some cover, a chance at denial.

Still, Expert Orsana wasn’t an idiot and could guess that whatever they were using could be uncovered by a Shielder and may be linked to them. He sighed.

“_ We still had a theory about how he recovered so quickly.” Said Arcanist Julius, eager to not disappoint his Master.

“_ A theory ?”

“_ From what we had gathered.” Answered Arcanist Amos.

“_ Go on.”

“_ We discovered that he supports himself by selling Forgerune products but we couldn’t find out since when.” Started Arcanist Julius.

“_ With shops often changing owners or just closing down it’s nearly impossible to track it if he used small ones.” Explained Arcanist Amos.

“_ Which he would have done as a beginner in the field.” Backed up Arcanist Julius, taking the floor again. “We believe that it is how he had the funding for potions and such that could help him.”

“_ What about his mentor ?” Asked Expert Orsana.

“_ We are not sure yet. Aspirant Orwood doesn’t seem to have connections and he is not really follower material.” Answered Arcanist Amos.

“_ Not at an official level.” Retorted Arcanist Julius.

He was way more at ease with political and social matters than his fellow assistant.

“_ One could have held out to him the prospect of taking him as a follower after a ‘tryout period’. It’s not new and a good way to have lackeys without the need to provide anything for them. Perhaps, Orwood had used this connection for accessing higher healing material.”

Expert Orsana raised his hand, stopping his assistants before they started fighting over his attention while he was trying to think. They had assumed that Aspirant Orwood had taken part in his experiment because he had needed the money to postpone his tests, after all that’s why it had been scheduled during this period, but they never confirmed it. It was one of the reasons Expert Orsana had been so irritated when Aspirant Orwood succeeded in his new and toughened examination. Maybe Aspirant Orwood had been able to pass his test the first time but needed the money for something else.

Something like launching his Forgerune activity. It would have required initial investment for materials but also books and maybe advanced tutoring. None of them were cheap.

All of this was making a bit more sense even if Expert Orsana was not completely convinced. The main point of the surveillance had been to gather enough information to understand how he was still here. They couldn’t do better than some hypothesis but at least they had assessed the risk he was representing. Which was very very little.

“_ All right, you wasted enough of your time on this. Your assistance had been lacking here and work is piling up.” Finally concluded Expert Orsana.

He was talking as if they were responsible for that and not following his directives.

“_ You’ll keep a distant eye on the Aspirant but resume to your duties.”

“_ As you wish Master.” Agreed both of the assistants.

“_ Go take care of it, I will see you tomorrow morning.”

The two assistants saluted their master and left the room. “Keeping a distant eye” meant that they wouldn’t be involved directly in the surveillance but could use others as long as they could be discrete.

“_ I’ll keep in touch with his fencer and the market.” Offered Arcanist Amos after checking that the corridor was empty.

“_ We’ll still need someone for the potential leg work. I know someone I can trust.”

“_ One of your duel fans ?” Asked Arcanist Amos.

“_ I’ll arrange a meeting later.” Simply said Arcanist Julius.