“I know.” Matilda said. “I do have a reason for acting now, you know.”
“And you’re willing to leave Ray?” Antasia asked.
“No, and I hope it won’t come to it, but I know that the day may come. I will have my revenge if it comes to it. In the end, there is little I can do to prevent it.” Matilda replied, her tone resigned.
“And yet you do things that would prompt that exact reaction.” Antasia said.
“Yes.” Matilda stopped sipping her tea and looked straight at Antasia “But I don’t have a choice there either. The Order of Mage-Warriors wants my bakery, and I like it the way it is. So, the Order has to go.” Matilda stated.
“I assume it wasn’t the dead leader's idea, then?” Antasia asked, folding her legs as she looked at Matilda.
“No, it was the new leader’s, this Erkland person. The man is clever, he saw what the bakery would become and moved to strike. But he messed with the wrong cripple. The bakery is not his to take.”
“Yes, the Tier 13 cripple.” Antasia said, rolling her eyes at her.
“Are you telling me that everyone else isn’t getting power too?” Matilda asked, sweetening her voice, looking at Antasia questioningly.
“Yes, we are, but not as much as you. The early levels in skills are easy for people like us. As soon as we know what to do, they get passed quickly, but you are different. What you did was make a new organization in a month, that is not something I could do.” Antasia said.
“Oh, please, what organization?” Matilda scoffed. “ The organization is just me and some people that occasionally come sell me information.”
Antasia just smiled. “Well, I’ve done what I came here to do. Now it's time for me to go tend my own fires. Do tell me if the fires in the light want to merge with the dark, we would be glad to help.”
“I will.” Matilda replied as she let her magic out, sensing at Antasia. But as usual, it failed. The element of knowledge, Matilda had found, had a hidden power. To get more knowledge.
But it took absurd amounts of mana to do so. Matilda hadn’t been able to activate it at all before, but she had figured it out when she became Tier 4. A thousand mana had led to her figuring out her first secret, and changing her future.
The first secret was that the man had secretly eaten the cookies he’d been asked to get for his boss and was now buying another box at his own expense. So she tried again, and again. The power worked, the more mana she put in, the better it did its work. But if the person was more powerful than her, then the cost rose sharply.
Now, Matilda had been faced with a choice, do nothing, or do something with her power. In the end, she decided to not tell Ray. The entire enterprise was too dangerous, especially in the early stages.
But she’d tried to help him a bit, guide him here and there so that he didn’t go astray, though she feared she hadn’t been doing a very good job of it. Ray must be quite confused over her actions. Matilda would have to tell him soon.
The Scholar of Afreial was born just a few days after she got her first secret, selling information for favors, mana coins and more secrets.
But she had rules, she would sell information on organizations, who was breaking laws and how many, but not personal information. Matilda knew better than to go into the mess of broken marriages and jilted lovers, after all, she still did not have any combat power at all. Just what the stats gave her. A simple fire spell would end her.
Antasia had helped her greatly, ensuring her safety and giving her a place to work. Matilda would pay her back one day. But what truly worried her was Ray. Oh, she knew that she had to step back. Ray had grown up and was his own person now. But she still worried. The Empire would not use force, no, not yet.
The bakery was just a symbol, and using force would make the ember an inferno. No, the way to crush this rebellion was to make it fail by itself, to make it seem hopeless. And Matilda’s job was to have it stand, even grow, showing opposition wasn’t just possible, it was the way to success. The battle had just begun, and the Empire had just lost a valuable piece.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
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Ray
Ray smiled as he boarded the bus to the College. The last few days had been a blur of making labs and spending time with his new friends. The bakery had become something of a meeting spot or his new rebellion, though they hadn’t done much of rebelling.
What they had done was make a lot of potions, Ray in particular had made dozens of potions. Alchemy had finally leveled up to five, becoming the second skill to level up. Ray had gotten 360 mana from that one. But nothing else.
Though, he did get around to testing blue and yellow glitter together. The glitter encircled each other just fine until they turned into their respective elements. The water and fire would then act just like normal water and fire.
“Did you hear?” Rena asked, suprising Ray.
“What?” Ray asked, turning towards her, trying to shield his eyes from the sudden glare of the sun.
“The head of the Mage-Warrior order was killed a few days ago, his death apparently has something to do with the bakery.” Rena said.
“What?” Ray asked, bewildered, “But how could we have something to do with it? The bakery doesn’t exactly have thousands of men at its command, Rena.”
“I know, it’s probably just a malicious rumor, but it spread like wildfire. To make things worse, the entire Order is dealing with a mess. The new head was revealed to be hunting talented children, so they wouldn’t pose a threat to him. Not to mention he'd taken bribes and a plethora of other crimes.
The Order had to depose him hours after he took his seat, but that’s not all. The Scholar of Afreial has been revealing the secrets of every head, she’d been giving them to every customer who comes to her.
Just about everyone that ever suspected the order of any wrongdoing has been visiting her, and she’s been giving them what they want. The higher ups of the order are leaving in a hurry, Ray. The Order might just be finished. Well, if the Duke decides to bring them to justice anyway.” Rena answered.
“Wait, what Scholar?” Ray asked, confused. Wait, the System had mentioned something about it…
“I forget you’ve been living in that lab of yours sometimes. The scholar came out a week after the System and has been selling secrets and answers. I think someone paid her to spread answers.” Rena said.
“But who would do that?” Ray asked.
“Well, the old head did target the bakery…” Rena said.
“Are you saying that the bakery had something to do with it?” Ray asked.
“No. But you have to admit that it's suspicious. A few days after the Mage-Warrior order head dies, the Scholar starts a massive campaign against the order. The bakery’s name is written all over it.” Rena said. “I just wanted to warn you, it might get a bit violent in the College. A lot of people lost their livelihoods in the change. A lot, Ray.”
Ray just sat there shocked. As much as he wanted to deny it, his mind went to only one place, Ma had ended the Rawson family within a day of them opposing the bakery. And her element was knowledge. Wait. The System had called her Scholar. Ray hadn’t thought much of it then, but now, he knew that they needed to have a long conversation when he returned today.
The bus landed and Ray got off, walking towards the library. The only reason he’d come today was to see what other potions he could make, there was no reason for him to come to the College, especially in this situation. Ray had not expected to have to get so high level portions so fast.
The only thing he could do now was go to the library and try to sneakily take some books and recipes. Ray could only hope he did not run into any professors while doing so.
Ray headed to the library, set on getting his recipes. On getting there, he approached the understudent there. Though Ray had no idea who he was, the gray robed student clearly did.
“Ray, I take it that you are here for the recipes.” The gray robe said.
“Yes,” Ray said, "Do you know when I can get any? "
“Yes, I have them set aside.” the student said, giving Ray a stack of books. “I think it would be best if you memorized these in a corner somewhere. A few too many people were related to someone that was affected by the Mage-Warrior debacle.” the student whispered.
Ray looked around and found students staring at him and whispering. Well, he was used to sitting in a corner anyway. Ray made his way to an empty seating place and sat down to memorize the recipes. The gray robed student had thankfully gathered the recipes for all the other years. At this rate, it was only a matter of time before Ray was banned from the College.
So he sat there and tried his best to memorize a dozen books worth of recipes. Ray knew that he would forget a lot of it, but the more he could remember, the more he could do. After spending a few hours doing this, Ray went looking for Marcus.
The search didn’t take long, Marcus was just a few pillars away, retrieving some book. But there was another person with him.
“Ah, there you are.” a voice said, making Ray look at the face of the white robed disciple he’d humiliated.
“Did you really think that you lot would get away with acting against your betters?” the disciple said as a gout of fire headed towards Marcus face.