“Here, sign this,” Mousethief said and pushed some paperwork towards me in the morning. Getting my sleep schedule back on track was a bit annoying, but it always felt good to nap and rest up. Once things got crazy, I knew that downtime was important.
I looked at the paperwork. Basically, it was authorizing half a pay split from missions to go into his account. Confirming everything in writing. Double checking all the legalese, it was fairly straight forward. I signed the documents and passed them back to Mousethief who smiled at me.
“Good, now that is resolved. I will be sure to file these. It takes a while to get any money paid out regardless. The Leash is quite strict,” he replied.
“Really you call Maximilian the Leash?” I asked.
“He might be nice to you, since you are going to be his golden cat. Clearing critical missions left and right, killing apostates, but he is unrelenting to the lower ranks. Underneath that fur are all sharp edges. You don’t get to be a High Cleric without being a vicious creature in both combat and in politics,” Mousethief explained.
“Like what exactly?” I asked.
“Technicians that screw up don’t keep the position and are demoted based on the severity of their screwup. I get our job is serious, but he has punished technicians for errors outside of their control, when he wants to make a point to Assassins who don’t toe the line and cause problems,” Mousethief explained.
“What? Really?” I asked.
“You have dealt with the elite. But there is a lot of churn with assassins. Rushing in on low grade missions, killing creatures. Or missing something. High Cleric Maximilian is an accountant at heart. You are very big in the profit column. But if you switch over, well things will get very rough very quickly as he makes life miserable,” Mousethief explained.
“Oh. If he wanted me to have kittens…” I trailed off. Mousethief let out a sigh.
“I probably shouldn’t tell you. But your father is getting remarried.” My brain froze at that.
“Wait what?” I asked. Why hadn’t he told me?
“His new technician is another cat. A female cat. I expect you to have a brother or sister soon,” Mousethief explained.
“Wait, why?!”
“Mittens, there are costs and pressures to everything. He agreed to the deal with Maximilian so he would lay off you. What you thought the High Cleric was nice and cuddly?” Mousethief asked with a lot of scorn in his voice. “When the Leash tugs, it is hard to disobey.”
“I…I should have said something. He should have said something,” I replied.
“He loved your mother, but he also loves you. His missions are going to be a lot more low key going forward as well. Without me there he will be putting down kiddie cults. I am probably going to get more attention, but that ship has just about sailed. Especially once the paperwork is filed to split payouts.” He let out a long sigh and shuffled the papers in his paws.
“But it would happen regardless. As long as missions are completed successfully and don’t become a disaster then everything will be fine. Once I leave, hopefully you will have gotten a better handle on the internal politics of the Organization.”
“Any advice?” I asked.
“Stay out of the politics. Come on let’s go,” Mousethief said. After putting the paperwork into a secure delivery envelope to go back to the organization, we got into the car and took off towards the port.
“I didn’t want to keep talking earlier. Unlikely, but some creature could be listening in. I have surveillance sense and it was tingling slightly back there. What I wanted to say is that you just need to focus on improving with Mes. Eventually your power will eclipse anything reasonable.”
“What about the promises of the Organization and the Covenant Church? Will they really label cats as good creatures?” I asked.
“Yes. It will be painful and they will probably drag it out for a decade but they will follow through or the assassins will rebel. But think logically. Even with centuries of cats working, you are only a couple of percentage points along the way of fulfilling that end goal.” I closed my eyes and let out a sigh as Mousethief swerved around some cars and up onto the sidewalk, not hitting anything.
“It is an insane amount for very little they have to do,” I replied.
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“Hmm, it will be a hassle, but the thing is the High Cleric’s are politicians, all of them at heart. They don’t have to pay out the money to you. They keep it all for themselves. It is a key component of High Cleric Maximilian’s power within the Covenant Church. He is hoping to push the issue of relabeling a creature onto his predecessor, like all those before him and not have to deal with the fallout once the bill comes due if it ever does,” Mousethief replied.
“What a scam,” I muttered.
“Welcome to being an adult Mittens. The Covenant Church, while protecting creatures, is a hive of bureaucrats and accountants. Trust me, they are worse than snakes. At least snakes only eat you and get it over with. The Covenant Church will extract one bit of flesh at a time for your entire life. Until there is nothing left and then move on,” Mousethief explained.
“I always thought that they were more pious? Believing in the Warrior?” I asked.
“That is why the masses get priests who talk about piety. But Clerics and High Clerics run the administration of the Covenant Church. It is a simple and small distinction, but an important one. Priests have no real authority and if they get uppity, well that is what we are for. Those are the kind of missions that pay out points to keep us quiet,” Mousethief explained.
“So, the High Clerics don’t believe in the Warrior?” I asked.
“Belief left long ago. The Warrior exists, but as a foundation of their power. Not as an object of reverence. Maybe some truly believe in the Warrior, but there are ancient texts that are locked away that highlight how the Covenant Church has changed over the centuries from the original goal of the Warrior, of all creatures working and living in peace.”
“What?! Even the bad ones?” I asked.
“Even the bad ones. But that came from the crusades and the Covenant Church slapping that label on their enemies. Long ago, there were no labels like that. Just peaceful and warring creatures. But that is all but lost to history.”
“And the Paladins?” I asked, since it seemed odd that such strong warriors would obey accounts and bureaucrats.
“A merging of interests. Badgers have a hard time having kids with how much they fight and enjoy fighting. The Covenant Church has isolated communities where they can be raised in peace and helps out the adult ones become Paladins if they wish, which almost all of them desire to do. It is in their blood. They act as a check on the Covenant Church from the worst impulses, but the advent of technology is changing everything.”
“Guns,” I replied.
“And bombs, and vehicles. It is a growing faction of power within the Covenant Church. As the old is swept away with more powerful and precise weapons. If snakes weren’t so stupidly powerful the Covenant Church would have won long ago. But that gap is decreasing every day, and the snakes know this. Some are centuries and the elders are rumored to be millennia old. They aren’t stupid and have observed the military using newer and better weapons.”
“Thanks for explaining all of this,” I told Mousethief.
“Most of it you don’t really need to know, but the context is important to be aware of. That is why High Cleric Maximilian is trying to showcase his organization as necessary long term. Since how we do directly impacts his political capital and position within the Covenant Church,” Mousethief explained.
“So just get so good and dangerous, he can’t say anything?” I asked.
“Yes,” Mousethief said as he swung onto a road next to the port and then came to a stop. “Off you go,” he said. I got off and snuck onto the cargo ship and to the container.
Mousethief soon showed up with freshly cooked fish and sat down with me at the table in the container. “And why not have our own boat?” I asked.
“Speed and discretion. With just us two there are less questions and your father preferred to be discrete. The poisons you wanted,” Mousethief said and pulled out a case from nowhere and set it on the table. He opened it up and there were twenty glass vials.
“This is the first type I got. Diluted low grade snake venom, very dangerous. Do not take these a day before we reach our destination and only if I give the okay. Since I will be looking for other work in the area.” I nodded at this.
“Got it,” I replied and picked up the eye dropper that was also in the case.
“One drop at the start and then increase by a drop each session, is my advice.” I nodded at this.
“I will be careful,” I replied.
“Hmm, you are young. Don’t be reckless. While you probably will live, the missions are critical. We will arrive in three days. So, you can train for the next two days. Leave the case in the container.”
“Got it, and thank you Mousethief,” I said.
“Not a problem Mittens. We are a team. If you need anything to train your skills, let me know,” he said. I nodded at this and he went to see to other things in the container. I carefully opened up a vile and extracted a single small drop of the poison.
I closed up the vial and put it back. I then put the drop of poison into my mouth. My entire body began to shake. I focused on my Purge Poison, as the poison entered my throat and stomach. Muscles began to cramp up. I put the eye dropper back in the case and closed it. I then stumbled to my bed as my body shook and twitched.
Once I was laying down. It was time for the next part. ‘Avatar,’ I mentally called out.
‘Hello Mittens,’ Mes said while holding up a clipboard and making a note on it. ‘Very impressive dedication to improving your skills to better integrate and attune them with yourself.’
‘Thanks. I was hoping to see my interface and then purchase some skills with my EXP,’ I replied.
‘Of course Mittens.’ I called up my Interface.
Experience: 5,363 EXP (+7,812 EXP)
Features: Interface, Avatar, Skill Attunement
T1 Skills: Movement (92/100) +1, Balance (72/100) +3, Listening (58/100) +1, Breathing (45/100) +1, Smell (25/100) +2, Sea Legs (13/100) +12, Sea Stomach (11/100) +10
T2 Skills: Danger Sense (51/100) +2, Purge Poison (23/100)
T3 Skills: Claw Combat (66/100) +4
Minor increases across most of my skill. Most of my skills were tied into my combat style. Purge Poison wasn’t which was why I was training it separately. ‘Any suggestions after seeing my fights?’ I asked Mes.
They paused writing on their clipboard, whipped out a pair of glasses and looked at me. ‘Hmm. That is hard to say Mittens. Your base level of melee combat is decent for the threats you are facing. A movement skill would be best. But you should max out Movement first before you get a tier two skill at a discount.’