ushernet Chapter 75: A Dangerous Class
Chapter 75: A Dangerous Class
Chapter 75: A Dangerous ClassAlexander GrayAlexander sat quietly surveying the dingy tavern, almost deserted in the midafternoon. Lyton did not have much in the way of proper amenities, but at least they had an adequate ale. He was currently the only patron, and he had had to reassure the waitress that his tailored suit did not mean that he was a noble, and she could simply address him as ‘sir’. The ‘my lords’ were getting annoying – just now the useless girl was probably slacking off in the kitchen rather than fetching him a well-deserved tankard.
The rough wooden door slammed open with an abrupt bang, surprisingly remaining attached to its hinges, and in strode a handsome man with short blonde hair, blue eyes, and an expensive white robe.
Unlike himself, Roderik actually was nobility, which is what made him such a useful asset. Who else would have the connections to acquire the vial he needed on such short notice?
“What the fuck do you want Dreamcloud extract for? Are you trying to kill an entire village?” While his voice sounded angry, Roderik’s eyes danced with a barely suppressed excitement at the idea.
Alexander thought, reminding himself to be civil. He was, after all, a ranking member of the Shadow Council.
“I just want to knock out one Dryad.” It was crucial to his plan that she be unconscious for a couple of days before he used her for his purpose – and setting it up was going to be the culmination of a rather devious and exquisite plan. He was quite proud of it.
“Why don’t you just use Valerian root like normal people?”
“She has at least a third-tier evolved class.” He had done his re
Mieriel caught Vivian’s eyes, but Calen continued.
“At first, I didn’t believe it, because it’s Ali, you know? We were in the middle of this other dungeon – the Ruins of Dal’mohra. It’s incredible, did you know it’s the real ruins of the ancient city?”
“That is amazing,” Vivian said. “What do you believe about your skill and Aliandra now?”
“Oh, I’m certain she is a dungeon. We all had a talk about it, but we decided not to tell her. She has had enough trauma already, and we didn’t want to burden her with that too.”
“I see, thank you Calen. You can go join your friends now.”
Mieriel let her skills drop as soon as he left. Calen’s emotions clearly told her that he was sincerely worried about his friend, and he was eager to help Vivian with all her questions. He believed the truth of everything he had said.
“I knew it,” Vivian said, clenching her teeth. “I knew it was too good to be true.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Get Aliandra in here, we need to verify it at the source. We need to find out when she’s planning to destroy the town and how to stop it.”
“She will be harder than Calen,” Mieriel warned. She didn’t know exactly what it was, but Aliandra’s mind was very hard to shift. Either she had a mental defense skill, or her wisdom was incredibly high or enhanced.
“We just need her for a few minutes, can you do that?”
“Ok,” Mieriel answered, straightening her shoulders. She retrieved a mana potion and downed it before she left to invite Aliandra to her interrogation.
***
“Vivian, stop.”
“I can’t stop, we have to find out the truth! Why did you ask her to sleep? Wake her up.”
“Vivian, you’ve interrogated the girl till she’s ready to break down. She can’t take any more.”
“I don’t understand how she can still be resisting.”
“Vivian, she isn’t resisting. I told you that already. Everything she said is true.” Mieriel’s heart had broken when she heard Aliandra spilling her tale about the Blind Lich and the death of her mother and father. Connected to Aliandra’s mind with her magic, she had her pain, she had lived it with her. The tears Aliandra had spilled onto the table as she desperately recounted her life were not even nearly enough.
“She’s a dungeon. Why are you being so soft, Mieriel?”
“Vivian, ” she yelled, finally snapping Vivian out of her single-minded focus as she stared at Mieriel in surprise. “You forget, I’m her mind when you do this. I can feel what she feels. She doesn’t know. She really doesn’t.”
“She’s a dungeon, Mieriel. We cannot let her roam free. Dungeons are evil, devious, and incredibly dangerous. If we don’t stop this here, we will be too late to prevent the disaster when it happens! And it will happen! We both know that.”
“So, you’ll kill her? Just because she has a dangerous class?” Mieriel managed through clenched teeth.
“Yes. I have no choice.” Righteous anger and fear poured from Vivian’s heart like a storm.
“A dangerous class, like a Mind Mage?”
Vivian’s eyes shot up connecting with hers, but this time Mieriel held her gaze, refusing to look away.
“I remember when they came for me,” Mieriel whispered. “When they wanted to kill me because I have a dangerous class. Mind Mages are too dangerous, they said, when they tossed me into that dungeon, naked and bleeding, food for the monsters.” Mieriel held her locked gaze until she felt the flutter of uncertainty in Vivian’s anger. “I will never forget the sight of my savior – my knight in shining armor – fighting her way down into the depths of that dungeon to save me. Do you remember what she said?”
“She never did anything wrong. She doesn’t deserve to die.” Vivian answered quietly, echoing the words she had spoken all those years ago. “Damn dungeons!”
“Vivian, don’t turn into those people you stood against. I couldn’t bear it, you’re better than they were. This Fae girl has a dangerous class, just like me, and she doesn’t even know it. She deserves a chance.”
“I… I’m sorry Mieriel. I’ve lost so many good people to dungeons, and I’m terrified to lose the few I have left. I don’t want to lose you, too.”
“Nor do I want to see you turn into the monsters you stood up to,” Mieriel said, holding firm. Vivian was stubborn, and this was the only way to make her see. But inside she was scared, too. She still had nightmares of the warped and twisted monsters that had lurked in that dungeon.
“Can you take her to her friends? Make sure they take care of her? I need some time… time to think,” Vivian said, her voice rough and subdued and her face blanched to the color of a sheet. Her heart was a maelstrom of conflicting, agonizing emotions. Self-loathing and guilt mingled with fear and anger to crash up against her Empathy. For all her skills, Mieriel had no idea where Vivian might land in the end.
Bending down, Mieriel drew the small, frail Fae into her arms and carried her out into the guild hall.
“What did you guys do to her?” Malika asked, leaping out of the couch and snatching Aliandra from her arms.
“She’s just exhausted and needs some rest, will you take care of her for me?” Mieriel asked, channeling a little mana to increase the weight of her words, and layering in a little of her Misdirect Attention skill, drawing Malika’s attention to Aliandra instead of herself. She wove a little of her Memory Coercion more broadly to encourage their minds to forget.
“Ok, I’ll take her home,” Malika said, turning her back and walking to the door.
***
Malika
“There is definitely something fishy about her. I don’t trust her at all!” Malika was adamant about it. Something was off-kilter. They had most certainly done something to Ali – and that made her furious.
“I don’t know what you mean. Mieriel is nice – she seems perfectly trustworthy,” Calen answered.
“That’s the problem. She’s too nice.”
“You just don’t trust anyone,” Mato chipped in. He was already making some soup at their campfire, just in case Ali woke up.
“Yes. Other than you guys, I don’t trust anyone.”
“See, you should try trusting people more. That’s what normal people do,” Mato said.
“I don’t think you’re getting it. I don’t trust normally. So why do I feel that Mieriel is as trustworthy as you guys? I don’t even know her well enough to know her last name.” It was honestly the strangest feeling. Every time she thought about Mieriel, which was strangely infrequently, she felt uneasy. But when she was in the guild hall, Malika felt like she could trust her with anything.
“Oh,” Calen said with a soft voice. “That’s what you mean.”
“Yes, it’s weird.”
“So, a normal person wouldn’t notice someone messing with their trust because they trust many people by default. But for you, that trustworthiness is incongruous against the backdrop of a default distrust?”
“Yup, but I don’t know what we can do about it if she’s fucking with us.”
At least Calen was smart enough to figure out what she meant. It had been hard enough to explain it even to herself. The minute the words came from her mouth, she realized the truth. Mieriel was dangerous. She had hurt Ali. Hurt her! What surprised her most was the sudden rage, the vengeful thoughts, that had her picturing wrapping her fingers around that woman’s neck! No. She was not Tala and never would be – but damn, she would –
“I have a few ideas for this kind of thing,” Calen said, pulling out his notebook.
“Like… what kind of things?” Malika asked.
“We plan things out down here, and we write it down in the book. Then we try it out up there and compare notes after the fact. The notebook will remind us of what we planned in case we’re made to forget anything,” Calen explained.
“I haven’t forgotten anything,” Mato said firmly.
“You’ve Identified Mieriel?” Calen asked.
“Of course,” Mato answered confidently.
“What level is she? What kind of class does she have?” Calen asked.
“Yes, it’s …” Mato blinked. “I know I’ve identified her…” A look of surprise and confusion flickered across his face. “I can’t – why can’t I remember?”
“Yes, same for me,” Calen said, writing something down in his notebook. “That’s our first test. Can we Identify her and remember what we see?”
“How do we fight something like that?” Malika asked.
“Wisdom is the mental fortitude attribute,” Calen said. “When we go through the remainder of the dungeon, and level up, you should all spend points on wisdom. Especially you and Ali.”
“Wisdom will help?” Malika asked. If it was just a matter of spending some more points that was something she was definitely going to do. Wisdom was one of her class’s primary attributes.
“Yup,” Calen said. “And Ali should wear her adventuring gear that mom made for her. Magic resistance will help a lot too.”
“I’ll tell her when she recovers,” Malika said. If wisdom and magic resistance were their defenses, she’d keep an eye out when she visited Weldin too. Perhaps a few items could help.
Malika thought. Mieriel would not get away with this. She and Vivian were up to no good, she knew it! If they suspected her, why hadn’t they just killed her?