They clambered up the pipes and scaffolding from the constant construction to stand in the same spot that Vye had stood earlier and been unable to see the sky. Unfortunately, the cloud cover was still present, making the coming dawn a rather bleak affair. But the dawn also finally brought some light to Kharon, which continued to puff out clouds of smoke from its almost eternally active furnaces.

For several long seconds, Garrett simply pursed his lips and looked over the uneven skyline. Vye had a sinking feeling in her chest that this brooding silence would take quite a while when all she really wanted was to curl up in bed and try her damnedest to get some sleep. But she could very easily imagine what Garrett was going through right now.

Even though she hadn’t been directly involved, Vye seemed to slog under the weight of guilt for every second of her day since Aldo had died. She couldn’t imagine what Garrett must be going through, being the one who Aldo had protected in his final moments. It was perhaps that empathy that caused Vye to open her mouth to speak first.

“...Aldo would have forgiven you. He would have said it was nothing much. That he would have gladly done it, because it was something that the Ghosthound-”

“Oh please,” Garrett shook his head. “It’s not that. It’s sad that he’s died, but no, I wanted to talk to you about something else. Doesn’t it seem like… our direction is too exact? Wasn’t Kharon supposed to wander? And yet it seems to proceed so directly toward all of the natural resources… Like our route was already planned. I had wondered if you noticed the same.”

For several seconds, Vye could only blink. It was immediately obvious that the two of them were having extremely different conversations. “You… wait, what are you saying?”

“I’m saying that our movement is anything but random; it was planned. Like we knew what was coming.” Garrett’s eyes were intent as he turned his gaze from the sky and looked meaningfully at Vye. “I think it’s time we stop behaving like the actions of Randidly Ghosthound are normal. Even now, we have no idea where he is. The Orders were originally designed to restrict him, but now he simply casts us aside-”

“He’s not casting us aside!” Vye gasped. How had they shifted from talking about Aldo to talking about Randidly?

Garrett sighed. “Then where is he? Why did he let Aldo die in such a pointlessly?”

Vye opened her mouth. Aldo died because you always bite off more than you can chew when we fight Raid Bosses. If you want to say his death was pointless… then you are saying the same about your life. But then Vye closed her mouth with an audible snap. Even if it was true, she didn’t want to be the one to put that on Garrett’s conscious. And there was no point in arguing him when he was like this.

But still, it did give Vye the tiniest bit of a revelation. That’s why the Order Ducis existed. To protect the people of this world, because life has value. Each and every life.

It wasn’t because Garrett had trained and was an applicant to the Order Ducis, Aldo had leapt to his aid because he needed help. That was all the reason he needed. Because that was what the Order Ducis was.

And if she was being honest with herself, that was the strength she had been seeking her own life. Independence, yes, but the strength to see something was wrong and instinctively act to help. It didn’t matter if she had the ability to protect both of them.

It was the strength to step up and face the threat of the moment.

Instead of trying to explain any of it to Garrett, Vye turned sharply away. Already, the way he was speaking had her very wary. “...Aldo’s death is a tragedy, and I think we are both dealing with it right now. So let’s talk again after the ceremony-”

“Let’s be honest, the ceremony is exactly what I’m worried about… but I can’t run away now.” Garrett folded his arms across his chest. “Even if I’m deeply suspicious of the Ghosthound’s actions, I cannot deny his power. And there is power in the image he injected into our training camp. So much so that Naffur delayed the promotion to give more opportunities for recent arrivals to experience the images. So that we were all thoroughly influenced by that image.

“It’s it just such a coincidence? The exposure made us susceptible, I see that now. And the timing of this death... With such a loss… the entire of the Order Ducis will come together.” Garrett shook his head disdainfully. “It’s a common enough tactic. Sacrifice a non-essential part so that the masses will be swept away and agree to any measures you suggest. And when Aldo died on that mission, it suddenly hit me; this was all part of the Ghosthound’s plan…! Which is why I refuse to back down. I’ll make it into the Order Ducis… So I can be the watchdog. If he wants to treat us all like pawns, I’ll be there to stop him.”

Vye cocked her head to the side. Following what Garrett said was difficult.

But suddenly Vye saw it. Like a puzzle, Vye felt she could feel the beating heart of the man. The way that Garrett’s guilt put him under so much pressure that his innate suspicion for Randidly had evolved into a full-on conspiracy theory. To make Randidly Ghosthound the villain who secretly orchestrated everything.

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

Anything was better than accepting that Garrett was the one at fault.

Seeing the way that Garrett’s mind had partially fractured meant that Vye felt sympathy for him. But just as quickly as the sympathy had arrived, it was swept aside by a cold fury. Because twice now, Garrett had rather blithely referred to Aldo’s death like it wasn’t the thing that mattered.

And no matter how broken Garrett was by this loss, it didn’t excuse his behavior. So Vye favored him with a chilly glance and spoke slowly. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. And it’s unnecessary. Quit the Order Ducis, Garrett.”

At the same time, what Vye was saying to herself was that she was not going to quit. And she felt warm and confident about that decision. This moment might be hard, but the reasons Vye had chosen to put herself through such hell didn’t change. She might be slowly extending her Fate, but hurrying wouldn’t help anyone. Sometimes patience was the correct Path.

Immediately, Garrett laughed at Vye’s suggestion. “No. No way. Not in a million years. Not when I’m finally so close…! When I finally found out the truth, I can prove-”

“Garrett.” All of the softness was gone. This time, Vye’s voice absolutely burned. Even if her Fate hadn’t provided very many additional Stats per Level, her Fate had grown faster than any other of the Order Ducis applicants. Which was the proof that her images weren’t just for show. When Randidly seemed to have reached across worlds to grant them his image, Vye had forced herself to use every opportunity she could to hone her Willpower against it. The fact that her Fate had become Level 17 was the System’s acknowledgment of her accomplishments.

So when she said Garrett, the air was filled with the faint reverberations of vast spaces, cloudless skies, and rugged mountain ranges. Garrett’s voice caught in his throat.

Vye leaned forward toward him and took the edge off of her voice. “I don’t care how you deal with guilt. But you better fucking never reduce Aldo’s death to the phrase, ‘it was sad that he died’. Or I will kick you out of the Order Ducis myself.”

As he licked his lips, Garrett looked genuinely shocked. “I… I had thought-”

Then he stopped, likely frozen by the look in Vye’s eyes. Shaking her head, Vye turned away and hopped down off the building. She walked back through the streets of Kharon, nodding to the citizens who slowly woke up as dawn arrived. Even if her anger toward Garrett had burned away a lot of her grief, Vye knew it was a short term thing. The grief was pushed away, but it hadn’t left.

So she followed her previous instincts and returned to her tent for a nap. It was difficult, but Vye struggled for several hours to empty her mind. Instead, the small moments of their interactions just flashed against the backdrop of her closed eyelids. Fighting against monsters. Sparring against Ajax.

Aldo’s body being left in the circle of Randidly’s images to test if prolonged exposure was dangerous.

Aldo’s head poking out of the train car luggage compartment above Vye’s seat as she headed back to Erickson Steel to join the Order Ducis.

Eventually, Vye got up; trying to sleep didn’t have any meaning any longer. Because she had reached a half-dreaming state and where she could drift through the rest of the day like a falling leaf on a fall breeze. It was like none of it was real. She would blink and she would be somewhere else, still with buzzing in her ears and with sadness in her heart.

The gathering, Naffur speaking.

Aldo’s body, his hands folded across his chest.

The moment of silence, where Vye looked numbly down at her own feet.

Naffur again, accepting her official as a Knight-Errant of the Order Ducis.

Garrett straightening, shooting Vye a rebellious look as he accepted his own appointment. Vye’s face didn’t even twitch. I’ll deal with you later. Today is for him.

The sound of people leaving, Valor’s hand on her shoulder. He squeezed, then pulled his hand back and walked away from her.

When Vye came slowly back to herself, night was falling and she was standing in front of Aldo’s tombstone.

Aldo Ghosthound

“When we pick the way we live our lives, we can’t complain about the deaths we find waiting for us at the end.”

Vye wiped a tear from her face even as she felt something change inside of her. Almost unwillingly, she opened up her hand and produced her Fate. Just as she had suspected, there was a new landmark on her Fate, marked on a small hill in the shadow of a medium-sized mountain range. The Grave of Aldo Ghosthound. And it gave her an additional +1 Willpower per Level.

“I want to hate that quote, and that we put it on his gravestone, but he’d be grinning like a fool to see it.” Naffur walked slowly up next to Vye. Then he shook his head. “We found out his name, but… it didn’t fit him. It didn’t fit how he lived. Ghosthound does. So… this is what we are left with.”

Shaking her head, Vye could only manage to say. “That quote… it’s perfect. Even at the end, he didn’t flinch. He didn’t even look scared. He just-”

Vye brought her hand to her mouth. It was the only way that she could keep from sobbing.

“...which is why what I’m about to say is so hard.” Naffur shook his head. “You shouldn’t have to deal with all of this at once. But you are in the Order Ducis now. And the only one of the new applicants promoted directly to Knight-Errant. So now you need to help us.”

“...did something else happen?” Vye whispered. Suddenly she was weirdly thankful for the fact that her hand still ached from her attempted Reject earlier. Now that pain helped ground her. Because Naffur’s tone made it clear that something couldn’t wait.

“No, not exactly. But Madelyn has some rather specific Skills for detecting this sort of thing, and… it seems clear that Aldo shouldn’t have slipped. Someone forced him to slip. Likely someone present. Someone who wanted to either seize another spot in the Order Ducis for an ally or who wanted someone so staunchly in support of Randidly Ghosthound out of the way. There didn’t seem to be any point in announcing that I was onto the foul play, so things should settle down, but… be careful, Vye. Someone has a knife to our throats.”