A Jaded Life

Chapter 1337

After the confrontation with Joshua turned into a public lecture, I kept an eye on him, even after he had scurried off. Or rather, especially after he had scurried off. It wouldn’t do for him to come up with a way to squirm out of the situation I had managed to put him in. And he was trying, that much was obvious.

However, given the very public declaration I had given, there wasn’t much he could do, not with the new rumours my lecture had created, spreading at a fairly impressive speed. It was fast enough to make me wonder if someone was assisting the spread of rumours, or if they circulated that fast naturally, something I could scarcely believe. No matter how it happened, it was quite impressive.

While his initial attempts were met with a bit of good humour, as the day continued and I worked on different projects within Maggie’s Community, helping where needed and answering a few more questions regarding magic, some of them very publicly, his attempts were getting a little desperate. By the time night was falling, it looked like he had made up his mind and was planning to head over to Jademoon Tower, but he thought he would be clever, mainly by not going alone. He had managed to convince a few people to join him, ostensibly so they could learn magic as well, but I had a feeling his primary motivation was to have witnesses and someone he could sacrifice to preserve his own life if something bad happened in the forest. Not that it would help him, I had made my plans.

During the evening, I had a few conversations with Lia, Luna and even Maggie, though nothing substantial was decided during those. Our topics were focused on the weather, mainly because I was getting a little stir-crazy and wanted to get back on the road, as strange a sensation as that was.

A while back, before the Nexus Tower was built, I had thought that I would settle down once we reached the Nexus. Bury myself in research until I found a way to revive Sigmir, but I wasn’t sure if that was the way to go. In all honesty, I doubted that I would find it that way by sequestering myself; I felt as if I needed to go out and keep travelling so I could continue learning.

Not because I thought it would raise my level, that seemed to be a little stuck, at least until we found enemies strong enough to be challenging beyond the rare oddities, as the Tallest’ Guardian had been one. However, I doubted there would be a lot of enemies with the required strength for quite some time, simply because it took time for them to develop.

Instead, I hoped that meeting different people, maybe fighting exotic enemies, and overall having new experiences would give me the pieces I needed to complete the puzzle that was Sigmir’s resurrection. Or maybe I would meet someone who could add pieces to it; there were undoubtedly people out there approaching Arcane Magic from a different standpoint and with different preconceptions, thus creating vastly different techniques compared to mine. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t learn from them, or they from me, just as I theorised Lady Hecate was doing with me. Letting me learn and gain experiences, draw conclusions and create techniques, all from a different origin and along different paths to her own. Initially, and likely for a while, my path was too simple and fundamental to be of great use to her, but eventually, that wouldn’t be the case. As long as I kept going forward and continued learning.

During the next day, the scrying construct watching Joshua followed him and a small group of people into the forest, keeping its distance and remaining inconspicuous, just there to observe. The group wasn’t large, but they seemed to be capable enough to make the journey, though it would likely take them most of the day. Or all day, and requiring them to rest for the night, if I covertly hindered their progress a little, which I was planning to do. I wanted them to sleep in the forest for a night, as it would give me the perfect opportunity to separate Joshua from the group and make it look like an accident. Or rather, like the hubris of an arrogant fool, who had decided to wander off during the night and got himself eaten by a bear.

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There were a few of those in the area, and the majority were still in hibernation. But not all of them, I had already spotted a few in the general area, starved from their hibernation and rather desperate to grab a few easy meals to get back into good form. Easy meals, like a fool who had separated from the group he was with. It would be a proper tragedy.

As it turned out, I didn’t even have to help them get into trouble or find a way to delay them; they managed that all on their own. First, one of them slipped on some ice shortly after their midday break, causing him to limp for some time, until he managed to get that back under control. But it took time and slowed the whole group down, leading to grumbling and, possibly, to their next problem.

Namely, that a pack of wild dogs had started stalking them. They obviously used to be pets that went wild after the Change, adapting to the fact that they no longer had humans to feed them. Instead, they had taken up hunting, similar to some of the packs I had seen in the past, and they appeared to have done quite well for themselves.

Not well enough to dare attack a group of humans, but certainly well enough to stalk them, forcing the humans to be exceedingly careful about everything, slowing them down even further. Quite tragic, and completely natural, with no interference from my side required. I couldn’t help but smile at that, causing Luna, whom I had been talking to at the time, to look at me inquisitively. Not that I was about to tell her about my actions, at least not anywhere we might be overheard.

During the night, I kept watch over the group in the forest, pleased that they had prepared well enough to get to my tower, even after their original plan to make the trek in a day fell through. Such prudence should be rewarded, which was exactly what I had in mind. At least for those that weren’t Joshua, or gave me similarly creepy vibes. In cases like his, it was best to nip the problem in the bud before it could sprout into a serious hassle in the future.

Biding my time, I waited until it was Joshua’s turn to keep watch, which he did diligently. It almost seemed as if he was a little paranoid, ready to wake his companions up at the slightest suggestion of trouble. Maybe he had an inkling that I was scheming, or he had some other indication that there might be trouble; I wasn’t sure.

Ultimately, it didn’t matter.

In the middle of his shift, I used all my concealment and obfuscation skills to sneak up on him and, before he noticed or could alert anyone within their camp, I dragged him into the shadows, a massive blast of Mind Magic striking him right as I attacked. I wasn’t sure if his affinity for that particular art would have given him some resistance, but it also didn’t matter. Not when Overflow was active, boosting my already far more powerful attributes even further, all employed to render him unconscious.

Then, I briefly poked out of the shadows, making sure that none of his companions would wake up for a few minutes before dragging Joshua over to Jademoon Tower, dropping him into one of the cells I had prepared in that tower. It wouldn’t be his permanent home, but it would do for a few minutes.

Back in their small camp, I made sure to gather up everything of Joshua’s before creating a trail of footprints out of their camp, making sure to make it match his shoes and gait. The snowy forest was easy for me to manipulate, thanks to my Ice Magic, so making it look like he had wandered off on his own was easily doable. Especially as I had taken the day to observe his movement patterns, so I could match them easily.

The false trail, complete with scent markers, continued for some distance until I decided it was far enough and added the coup de grace. Bear tracks weren’t as easy to produce as those of Joshua, but luring a bear into this area was easy enough. As was baiting the bear into attacking some deer meat, creating the pattern I needed. Sure, I had to police the scene a bit after the bear went off with a full belly, making sure that no deer blood, tufts of fur or anything of that sort remained, but it was well worth it.

When I was done, the scene of the attack looked just about right for a bear attack, and Joshua’s stuff, at least the parts that wouldn’t interest a bear, were right there, strewn across the snow.

Such a terrible tragedy.