Return of the Runebound Professor

Chapter 864: Old Memories

Og took a slow sip of the bitter tea steaming in his teacup. It was far from the best he’d had. The seating arrangements weren’t much better. He’d been forced to hunch down into the tiny chair that the restaurant had provided him.

The table was pressed up against the tops of his legs and there was barely enough room for him to move his arm without knocking over the precariously perched plates set out before him. But still, the view was nice. He could hardly hold the size of the restaurant against it.

Space was hard to come by the closer one got to the top of Aqua Terra. And here, in the upper quarters, it was difficult to find a restaurant that wasn’t small. Difficult, at least, if one wanted to avoid drawing too much attention to themselves.

That wasn’t to say there weren’t better options. He knew firsthand that there were a number of far more comfortable restaurants just a stone’s throw from where he now sat. But none of those would have been suitable. Aqua Terra was positively crawling with talent-seekers right now.

There was only one day left before the Tournament begun. Just about every powerful player in the Coral Empire had long since placed their pieces. Everyone was watching. Waiting for talent to show up so they could scoop it up. This entire tournament was one giant recruitment event.

And even Og wasn’t in a position where he could afford to get drawn into the proceedings. The stronger players were powerful enough to give even him a great deal of trouble — and a number of them tended not to ask for permission when they found someone that they felt suitable to join their cause.

The one time when things get turned on their head. All the master mages gather like a swarm of hungry bloodflies searching for their feast. The combatants of this tournament don’t even realize what it is they’re truly competing for. There will be more than a few legends forged from this competition.

I don’t plan on allowing myself to become one of them.

As much as Og would have enjoyed the opportunity to play with the mages in the tournament, he had been given a far greater task.

The False Heralds had yet to have completed their forging. None of them were powerful enough to face Orlen yet. They would not be suitable whetting stones. Not for some time. But if the Coral Empire swallowed them up today, then they would never be of use.

Og took a slow drink from his cup again. His nose wrinkled slightly at the bitter tea. It hadn’t gotten any better in the past few minutes.

This will be difficult. There are so many mages that I can’t let myself get drawn into a fight against. The Mistress, the Prophet, the Hands… just about everyone more powerful than me in Obsidia has gathered in this very city. Thank the gods that there’s only a single Faction Head to worry about.

Still, I’m not sure how the Herald expects me to pull this off. The best options are all dead. I had a lot of hope for that one back in Arbalest. He had potential. That combination of runes… well, no matter. He’s dead. Can’t do anything about that.

Orlen knows what he’s doing. At least, he did at some point. I just have to trust that version of him. And that means competing with all the other bloodflies and making sure my talent doesn’t get swallowed up by some other mage. We can’t have our False Heralds getting sheltered from the coming storm.

Og set his teacup down. Information was a little more sparse than he would have liked. It was of little surprise to him that the Truthseekers had completely failed to manage much of anything at all. They’d found a few of the False Heralds and gotten themselves killed in the process.

Then again, that was their job. No fire stayed lit without burning a few branches of wood.

But he was going to need more than a few smoldering branches if he was going to track down the False Heralds. He’d have to do it at some point during the tournament. But, with the sense-muddling magic that the Prophet had surrounded Aqua Terra with, there was absolutely no way he could pull it off on his own.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

A shadow fell over Og’s back.

Then it passed him by. A hooded man pulled the chair on the other side of the table out and lowered himself into it and flicking his hood back in the process. The man’s face was plain, with a trimmed white beard framing square features. He leaned forward, crossing his arms and resting them on the table.

“You’re late,” Og said. “We agreed to meet at sunrise. The food is cold and the tea is bitter.”

“Better to be safe,” the other man replied. “And the food here isn’t worth crying over in the first place. If anything, aging it might make it taste better.”

“It doesn’t,” Og said.

“Does it not?” The other man tilted his head to the side. Then he shrugged. “No matter. My payment?”

Og placed a small bag on the table. The other man took it in what may as well have been the same motion. The move was so smooth and practiced that the bag was gone before anyone else even had a chance to notice its presence.

“Sufficient?” Og asked.

“Barely,” the other said. “I have kept tabs on your request. I suspect you will not be all that pleased with the information I have gathered. There is precious little. The Empire is busy. Tracking a few people with nothing more than vague descriptions—”

“Just tell me what it is you’ve found,” Og said. “I need nothing more. If I expected absolute success, I would have hired a better informant.”

The other man’s lips twitched. “There isn’t one. Not available for hire, at least. They’re all in the pockets of someone or another.”

Og inclined his head. “Then I shall hope that you are sufficiently talented. I was not exactly asking you for the most impossible of tasks. Now out with it. What do you know?”

“Just keep in mind that the information is little more than a gathering of rumors, yes?” The informant ran a hand through his hair. “I’m doing what I can with what I’ve put together. Patterns. But patterns can be misleading without the whole picture.”

“It’s my problem to worry about that, and yours to tell me what they are,” Og said. He gestured impatiently. “Now what are you waiting for? You aren’t paid by time. Just speak.”

Unease passed through the informant’s features for a split moment. Then he cleared his throat and leaned back in his chair. The motion was casual, but there was nothing at all relaxed about his posture. Something had the man on edge.

“Of the 5 you requested me to seek out, I was only able to reasonably determine the paths of 3.”

“Three?” Og’s lips thinned in displeasure. “That’s it?”

“The others… well, they’ve either kept a low profile or their powers were just too generic for me to pick up any useful information on. Maybe they managed to make it to Aqua Terra. But even if they did, the city is huge, and tracking anyone once they’re within the walls is practically impossible.”

Og grunted. “Tell me of the 3.”

“The first didn’t even try to hide his path. He took a direct path through the center of the kingdom. People aren’t even sure if his wake is that of man, monster, or some horrifying disease. He has not yet been discovered.”

The lizard.

Og fought to keep even more displeasure from his features. He wasn’t much a fan of that particular False Herald. Those who slaughtered indiscriminately were of no real worth. Man could only be forged into something greater when sharpened with purpose.

But perhaps he will evolve beyond his current constraints. I cannot limit our options. Not when they are already so gaunt.

“And the others?”

“Both in Aqua Terra. The rumors of their path here have been considerably easier to watch. The Death Mage has drawn the Prophet’s ire. They’ve been calling on their powers repeatedly, and Death Magic is banned within the Coral Empire. I expect she’ll remove that one quite soon. If he uses his powers within Aqua Terra… well, that’ll be the end of him. And as for the fire mage, he’s kept largely to himself. But there were a few big fights. Enough for me to track him. He’s in Aqua Terra.”

The information reached into his pocket and pulled out a small slip of paper. He slid it across the table to Og.

“What’s this?” Og asked.

“The best I could do to approximate their location within Aqua Terra,” the other man replied. He shook his head. “Don’t expect too much from that. It’s little more than a starting point. But it’s better than nothing. Especially in a city this big.”

He actually managed to follow them that closely? If these are even somewhat accurate, that’s quite impressive.

Og took the slip of paper. “I see. Thank you. Is that all?”

There was a moment of hesitation. Then the informant cleared his throat.

“Well… there’s one thing. It’s got me a bit confused. You gave pretty strict parameters about who I’m looking for. But when you said 10, did you miss one?”

“Miss?” Og’s brow furrowed. “No. Why?”

“Because there’s another mage that fits the requirements of the people you’re looking for,” the informant said. “He might fit them better than the 3 I did manage to catch. Carved a path right through the kingdom and made absolutely no attempts to hide it. There’s no information at all on his origin, but a number of eyes are already on him.”

Og’s head tilted to the side.

Could Orlen have missed one? Surely anyone like that would be worthy of being at least considered to be a False Herald.

“Who?” Og asked. “Tell me of them.”

“Well, I wasn’t tasked to track this one, so I couldn’t tell you where they are now, but it’s easy to guess that they’ve come to Aqua Terra.”

“Just a name will be sufficient,” Og said. “Who is it? I will compensate you for the extra information. I do not need to scam a few meagre crystals to make my living. Speak.”

The informant paused for a moment longer. Then he shrugged.

“It seems that he goes by the name of Spider.”