My hands shake from the adrenaline rush. That was a close one; I only had barely enough time to escape before the assassin was at my room's door. If she had known which room was mine, she'd have caught me jumping out of the window.
I had thought my laser warning system foolproof, having set it up like the spy movies from my past life, except I didn't allow for ‘spy acrobatics’ to sneak past them. I would have noticed the mana being blocked even if I couldn't see the person, but that did not happen. Instead, the mana was sort of passing through her; I only noticed her because my [Sense Mana] was so high I noticed the very slight disturbance in the mana beams, an almost imperceivable shimmering as if it was light passing through hot air.
There could be more assassins out there; I need to be very careful. I keep watch over the entire village, looking for any disturbance in the mana. I send a clone each to the two elders' homes; they will be targets too. I stay up all night hiding and waiting for anyone to come to look for the assassin or to assassinate the elders, but my fears of more assassins prove to be unfounded. I kept a sleep spell around the assassin and heal her wounds enough that she won't die.
When morning comes, I return home, checking every inch of the house for assassins before undoing my invisibility. I wake mom and dad while my clones wake the elders, and then I tell them all what happened.
After waiting for several Kheshamo fighters, the assassin is detained. We take no chances and strip her of everything except her mundane clothes. That is when we discover how she managed to escape our sensing skills: an old ring, presumably found in the ruins.
Ring of Anti-Clairvoyance
(Major) (Archaic)
This ring, passed down from the members of the Hidden Dagger, serves to hide the wearer from all sensing skills.
I had never thought something like this was possible, but I know there is a possibility that other beings can have items, or maybe even skills, that can hide even from me. I can see the ring when it's not being worn, but the moment I put it on I vanish from my own sight. I take the ring off and pop back into view. It will be challenging to move around when invisible to myself, so I am not keen on using it. It'd be like walking around with my eyes closed and arms outstretched to feel for objects.
The assassin also wore enchanted items, every one of them pertaining to stealth, from sound nullification to invisibility.
After removing the assassin's magical and enchanted items, I return home to let my real body sleep; I've been up all night. Then, with a clone, I wake her up. I'm not taking any risks, no poison in teeth, no suicide bombing, nothing. There is no way I am letting my real body be anywhere near her.
"What...? Where?" The assassin seems confused, looking around. She is tied to a chair with two warriors standing next to her, weapons drawn and at the ready.
"You tried to murder a child," Tusile says, glaring down at the woman.
"She's the only one who can make spell crystals for the airships. Without her, this war is over; without her, we can bring Myrou back to the people!" The assassin speaks very fast, as if trying to say everything at once.
"Excuses!" Guklaro spits out. "All of you are murderers and criminals!"
"How many died in the dungeon?! How many more would have died?" The assassin shouts, interrupting Guklaro. However, before she can get another word in, Tusile slaps her, rage on her face, a vein threatening to burst on her forehead.
"How many people did you murder?! And for what?! Just so your 'Grand Priestess' can have more power? How many more people are you planning to kill? All the heretics? You call everyone not on your side heretics! That's thousands. Thousands!"
Silence swiftly sweeps through the room, dominating the atmosphere. I've never even heard of Tusile shouting like that. Even Guklaro is looking at her, shocked.
"And yet you prattle on about how 'good' you are, 'Myrou' this, 'Myrou' that, it's sickening because you don't even know what you are saying!" Tusile says through gritted teeth. "How meaningful is your life now? Are you fulfilled? Are you happy now that things are this way? Yes, people died in the dungeon. Do you know how many people die building houses every year? Hundreds! I would know; I was once a priestess myself! Every day we would get up and attend funerals, at least one but more often four or five." Tusile takes a moment to breathe before continuing.
"Death happens! Some jobs are more dangerous than others. Children playing in the orchard farms can and do occasionally have bamboo fall on them. Loggers are obviously the most at risk of this, and yes, they do die if they’re unlucky. Would you abolish these professions because too many people die?! The dungeon is a place we have yet to figure out; we have yet to find an optimal way to navigate it and slay monsters, but as we get better, fewer people will die. Eventually, it'll be just as dangerous as any other dangerous job, but we have too much to gain from it to ignore it!" Tusile sighs and collects her thoughts.
"I left the priesthood because most of them see ‘serving’ Myrou as their only duty. They wouldn't make dedications, they neglected their arts, they rarely crafted anything and just lived on our donations. They are hypocrites! Ask Papuyo when was the last time she made a dedication, then ask yourself how her answer makes her more devout than anyone else!" Tusile turns around and leaves, still grinding her teeth in anger.
Silence is left in her wake. It is a long time before anyone speaks.
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"I... I didn't know..." The assassin mutters.
"Even if you didn't, the fact that you committed the crimes you did means your morality is lacking," Guklaro says, not a hint of sympathy in her voice. "But you can do something to start redeeming yourself. You can tell us if there are any more of these rings; you can tell us the state the Temple Island is in and how ready they are for an attack."
The assassin looks down in shame, but, after a few minutes of contemplation, she starts talking. There are two more rings that they found and they are setting up their infrastructure, getting a village built, building houses and workshops and everything that is necessary. They rely on sabotaging our airships because if they don't, they will lose the war. They may have the support needed to fight a war but don't have the means to fight our technology.
With the confessions of the assassin, the elders organize a meeting. I am brought along to help discuss ways to catch the saboteurs.
"Before we can make the warships, we need to catch all the saboteurs," Tusile says.
"There's something else I've been worried about too,” Guklaro says, looking at me. “It's been getting colder, and the days are shortening. The abundance of fire mana is quickly draining, and dark mana is growing in higher amounts."
"It's not anything bad,” I reply. “We've been collecting the liquid mana that the Mana Arc produces; we need a lot of dark mana, but that means switching the liquid mana production from fire to dark. It's been months now, so the reservoir of fire mana is probably running dry and being replaced with dark mana."
"I see, so in order to return things to normal, we need to take back the Temple," Guklaro says. "Then that gives us all the more reason to win this war."
We begin our long discussion on how to catch the saboteurs, but the best we can come up with is to use the ring we got to hide and catch them in the act.
Back home, I am being smothered by Mom, the incident with the assassin not making her worries any better.
"That's why I put up all of those mana crystals," I try to explain between a whole set of new rules. Always be in a place with at least three other people, always be invisible and use a clone to interact with others, always stay in the village, and don't leave for any reason.
Even Yafe and Yafel are getting caught up in some of the new rules.
I can't blame Mom; of course, she will be overprotective if someone is trying to kill her child.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"Where is Yae? She should have been back hours ago!" Papuyo paces back and forth.
"Maybe she got caught?" Gutaly suggests.
"Caught?! And how do you think that is possible? As long as she doesn't trip over half the village, getting detected is impossible! Invisible, inaudible, and immune to sensing skills!" Papuyo huffs and slumps down into a chair.
"Then she might have run away, betrayed us?" Gutaly shrugs her shoulders. clearly not taking this seriously.
"That's the only possible explanation... Which means we'll need to send someone else to kill Alysara."
"Hmmm, I've been wondering about that..." Gutaly doesn't seem to agree. she is using overly exaggerated movements, almost in a mocking way.
"What do you mean?" Papuyo says, annoyed.
"Well... that girl is blessed by Myrou, so why do you want to kill her?" Gutaly puts a finger on her lips in contemplation, with overly dramatic movements.
"Blessed? What the hell are you talking about?! That girl is a heretic!"
"There are records in this temple that Alysara was set before Myrou's Likeness and was blessed, even being allowed to have a Kyhosa made from a nexus gem, which would normally be reserved for dedications.”
"Lies!” Papuyo slams her fist down on the table in front of her. “That girl wants to reopen the dungeon that was sealed by Shara; she is a heretic!"
"Papuyo... you have to see reason. We aren't going to win this war. My spies have already confirmed that Yae has been captured, and now they know about the rings." Gutaly says grimly, ending her act.
Papuyo grinds her teeth. "You knew?! And yet you held this information from me?!" Papuyo stands up in anger.
"Yeah... I mean, ever since the ruins, we've been questioning your sanity. Well, I at least was questioning your sanity before that. Killing the elders was possibly the biggest setback you could possibly have caused us; not only will you have to die, but most of the warriors who participated will have to too. It is the only way to survive." Gutaly says with a dark smile.
Papuyo is shaking in fury. Gutaly is talking about betrayal!
"But... at least we can give you a chance, a chance in the briny waters outside of the Nexus." Gutaly returns to her mocking tone. She knows that being exiled means death, there is no survival on the ocean, not with the leviathans.
"You think you can betray me?! I have dozens of warriors on my side, there is no way you can fight me!" Papuyo clenches her shaking fist.
"And why do you think you haven't been able to get more?” Gutaly grins. “Over half of the warriors on our enemy's side are sympathetic to us. Over a hundred never returned to the dungeon and many more refused to ever go in from the start. I'll tell you why; it's because they've joined under my leadership, not yours."
"GUTALY!!!" Papyu screams and summons forth her Bond, but pain erupts over the back of her head, and she is sent sprawling to the floor. Papuyo turns around only to see Thyka! She is completely invisible to her [Sense Mana]!
"Your tale ends here, Mad Priestess. You have done enough damage to our cause already," Thyka says with a disappointed look.
Betrayal! BETRAYAL! These fools dare to betray her!
However, what Thyka does next shocks Papuyo. Thyka grabs her hair and drags her out of the Temple. Papuyo kicks and screams, but no one comes to her rescue. Being dragged into the main hall, Papuyo can see unfamiliar faces, all staring at her, judgingly.
Papuyo is dragged outside, where she sees all of her followers bound, with dozens of warriors surrounding them, weapons and spells at the ready.
"Boats have been prepared. Do not come back; we won't hesitate to kill you, Mad Priestess," Thyka says. Then she is tossed in front of the bound group where three warriors pounce, and before Papuyo knows it, she is bound and gagged as well.
Rage seethes inside her, a fury she has never felt before, as she gazes upon the traitors.
"You are all judged as murderers and are hereby banished from the Nexus!" Gutaly calls. "But worry not, for your dreams will not die today; we will keep living on as a sovereign state! We will keep Myrou’s faith true and untainted by heretics... and by Mad Priestesses. Today is the dawn of Lynakhery Village, the new centerpiece of our faith!"