novelraw Chapter 141: You Must Be an Idiot
Chapter 141: You Must Be an Idiot
The team arrived from the eastern edge where they had been watching.
Emily with minimum [Heal] — enough for his side to stop protesting.
Kira looking at Marcus.
Marcus with Aurum back on his shoulder.
---
Marcus spoke first.
"What are you going to tell him?" asked Alex.
"That the bearer of Fragment 1 operates at a level that the Temple’s current resources cannot handle without significant institutional cost." A pause.
"Cael will probably say the same thing, so that will keep them thinking for a while."
"Weeks. Maybe a month." Marcus. "Agustín is not impatient — he’s methodical. If he receives a report of tactical inviability, he will recalculate instead of acting rashly."
"It depends on what the team does during that month."
Several seconds of silence.
Maya made a note.
Alex looked directly at Marcus.
Marcus looked at him.
Alex smiled.
The same logic applied now.
Silence.
Marcus looked at him for three full seconds.
"You must be the biggest idiot I know."
Emily made a sound.
**"I agree with the diagnosis,"** said Grim.
**"It’s an objective observation."**
But something in his expression was the closest Marcus Steele came to finding something genuinely absurd.
"And you want to go in with active corruption, two Fragments without full integration, and a team that the Temple has documented."
"Why?"
Then at Marcus.
Marcus processed that.
"Fragment 5." He said it quietly.
"In the oldest building. Inside an object. Still without an active bearer."
"How do you know something like that?"
More silence.
"The Master Guild has had theories about Fragment 5’s location for years." Marcus measured his words. "None pointed to the Academy."
Marcus nodded slowly.
---
Alex looked at him.
The team processed that.
"Four days ago. After the Catacombs, Cael filed his operations report and returned to headquarters." Marcus looked at Aurum. "Father Agustín summoned all high‑level Inquisitors for the Fragment situation. Cael included."
"Cael is always in some kind of political trouble with Agustín’s faction." Marcus. "But Cael has been navigating that politics for twenty years. He’s not a novice."
Marcus looked at her.
"Are they different?"
---
Aurum adjusted his position on his shoulder.
"About what?"
Alex looked at him.
Marcus nodded.
He extended his hand.
The handshake of two people who aren’t exactly allies but recognize each other.
He turned.
Aurum returned to his full size and Marcus climbed onto him.
"Carter."
"If you manage to get into the Celestial Academy with what you’re carrying and come out with what you’re looking for..." A pause. The longest of the entire conversation. "I’ll be eager for the next round."
Grim looked back at him.
Aurum nodded his head.
---
The sun fully up now. The morning advanced.
Imperial City and the Celestial Academy to the south.
"Yes," said Alex.
Alex thought about Aurum recoiling in Imperial City. About Marcus arriving alone.
Raven looked at him for a second.
The boy from the edge of the group.
"Probably," said Alex.
"As Marcus." Alex picked up his backpack. "Which is both depending on the day."
He filed away the information with the same seriousness with which he filed away the rules of Crowns and Kingdoms.
The boy looked at him.
**"The previous bearer listened to them describe the world. I listened to the memories."**
**"As an obstacle."**
"It doesn’t seem like just an obstacle."
---
The team back at the inn to pick up the last things before leaving.
Emily distributing the remaining potions according to long‑travel protocol.
Alex by the window with the extinguished Anchor Stone in his hand.
**"Are you okay?"**
**"The fight with Marcus."**
**"I’m not asking if it went well. I’m asking if you’re okay."**
He thought about Battle Flow at 41% — contained, deliberate. About the difference between fighting to win and fighting to see. About what he had seen.
**"Yes."**
**"Does it?"**
"No." He put away the extinguished stone. "It reminds me that time passes for everyone."
"So you have to use it well."
**"Good."**
Kira counted them.
The team left Veltharr heading south.
Viktor.
The place where everything began.