“Probably best I don’t say anything either way,” he said.
Humphrey looked at Jason, about to speak, but stopped at a slight shake of the head from Jason. Confusion crossed Humphrey’s face, but he stayed silent.
The other candidates who had already passed the assessment joined Humphrey in declining, leaving Mobley and the young woman who, like Jason, was yet to pass or fail. They looked at each other and also declined. Humphrey turned to Vincent.
“There’s our group,” Humphrey told him. “We choose no one.”
“Very well,” Vincent said, his face betraying nothing. “then I guess you should all get back in the wagon.”
As promised, the town at which the group rested for the night had a large building for adventurers, with a common room, dining hall, and bedrooms enough for a dozen people. It was situated on the edge of a pond, with a covered terrace. They didn’t arrive until after dark, and most of the group were gathered in the common room.
Jason explored the sizeable kitchen, but the cupboards and cooler box had no food, only crockery and cutlery. Jason made a salad with ingredients from the market towns they had passed through. He left a stack of bowls and forks next to the big salad bowl, filling two and taking a fork for each.
He made his way through the common room, where the other candidates were discussing the day’s events. In the end, Jason had killed both monsters, aside from the trap weavers they had left alone. He had no interest in the circle of unwelcome looks, instead making his way out to the terrace. The night was lit by a bright pair of moons, shining high over the surrounding wetlands.
There was patio furniture on the terrace, Vincent casually reclined as he looked out into the night. Jason put a bowl and fork down on the table next to him, before taking a seat himself. He pulled a couple of glasses from his inventory, along with a bottle. He poured a little bit of blue liquid into each glass.
“I think you’ll like this,” Jason said. “It has a fresh, crisp flavour that should go nicely with the salad.”
“Thank you,” Vincent said.
“For being so handsome?” Jason asked. “It’s attached to my face, so I had to bring it with me.”
Vincent shook his head.
“Rufus told me you’d be trouble,” Vincent said.
“He told me you were worth showing respect,” Jason said. “Sounds like disparate treatment to me.”
Vincent nodded at the door Jason had emerged from.
“What are they doing in there?”
“Talking about the trap weavers,” Jason said. “Humphrey’s idea, of course.”
“He’s a diligent young man,” Vincent said. “Have they figured it out, yet?”
“That we were never meant to fight them? They might get there, they might not. The rest are more interested in clamping onto the Geller family’s leg.”
“You haven’t given them much of a chance,” Vincent said. “He seems to value your judgement, for reasons that escape me.”
“My judgement is excellent, thank you very much,” Jason said. “Also, I think his mother wants him to learn something from me.”
“Why?”
“You mean ‘what.’”
“No, I meant ‘why,’ Has she actually met you?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact, she has. You really do think my judgement is suspect, don’t you?”
“You tried to start a fight with Thadwick Mercer the first time you met him.”
“If I tried to start a fight,” Jason said, “then there would have been a fight. What I was doing was getting you to prevent a fight.”
“For what conceivable reason would you do that?”
“Social advancement,” Jason said. “If I get into it with Thadwick Mercer, then people see me as someone who operates at that level.”
“Doesn’t wandering around with Geller do that for you?”
“No, that makes me look like a hanger-on.”
“I’m not sure outwitting Thadwick Mercer puts you any higher,” Vincent said. “He’s not one of the great minds of the younger generation.”
“The point was to engage with Thadwick Mercer. Just that much puts me above a certain threshold, socially speaking,” Jason said. “As for how far above, what do people see when they look closer?”
“They see you standing next to Humphrey Geller,” Vincent said, realisation dawning.
“Rufus has been very good to me,” Jason said, “but he takes a somewhat top-down view of society. Due to his upbringing, from what I understand. He wants me to reach a level of basic capability as an adventurer before certain facts come to light, but he’s rather oblivious as to building social standing.”
“I’m not sure your approach is the best way either,” Vincent said. “In fact, I’m confident it isn’t.”
“Is that so?” Jason asked. “Less than two months ago, I walked into Greenstone with no name and no background. Two weeks ago, I watched the symphony from the private viewing box of one of the city’s most prominent families. Two days ago, aristocrats were giving me death stares for my friendship with the son of the city’s most powerful adventurer. Two minutes ago, you and I started discussing my conflict with the nephew of the city’s ruler.”
“I’m not really sure what to say to that,” Vincent said. “You realise there will be consequences for the way you’re going about things.”
“Of course,” Jason said, “but nothing is more impressive than handling the consequences of one’s actions with grace and aplomb.”
“And you can do that, can you?”
“I have absolutely no idea,” Jason said with a laugh.
“Rufus warned me about you,” Vincent said. “He said you were a man of malevolent intellect.”
“That may be the nicest thing anyone has ever said about me.”
“That’s the nicest thing?”
“What we find complimentary is often subjective.”
“You are a very strange man.”
“That’s just cultural differences,” Jason said. “Where I come from, I’m perfectly ordinary.”
“And where is that, exactly?”
“Maybe it is possible that I'm slightly unusual,” Jason conceded, instead of answering the question.
“Thank you, in any case, for not interfering when I told you to go after the trap weavers,” Vincent said. “Pointing out what I was doing would have been easy points for you, socially speaking.”
“No worries,” Jason said. “It’s not the easy points that win the game.”
“You know why I haven’t passed you, yet, don’t you?”
“I don’t care what you tell us. You won’t pass or fail anyone until the assessment is over.”
“True enough,” Vincent said, “although I don’t see Humphrey dropping down this time. He did well, taking leadership today. He had a similar chance last month and second-guessed himself into silence.”
“Did Rufus ask you to fail me? Or did he just ask you to set the bar high?”
“If I was going to fail you arbitrarily, I wouldn’t have brought you along.”
“Professionalism,” Jason said. “I can’t ask for more than that. Wait, yes I can. What is it going to take to get a pass?”
“You’re an affliction specialist,” Vincent said. “Something like the bark lurker would be trouble for most adventurers, but you handled it easily.”
“So why put me up against it?”
“You tell me.”
Jason thought it over.
“To make sure I can actually use my own specialty?” he ventured.
“There you are,” Vincent said. “So what will it take before I pass you?”
Jason rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
“Affliction specialist is a niche role,” Jason pondered out loud. “Just the thing to deal with a certain flavour of monster, but against ordinary ones, I'm just a slower version of any middle-of-the-road adventurer.”
He glanced over at Vincent, whose expression gave away nothing.
“If I want to pass then,” Jason reasoned, “it isn’t about beating the unusual monsters, because that’s basic stuff for my ability set. It’s about showing I can dominate the ordinary ones as well as any other adventurer. Am I close?”