But it’s part of the problem of serving another. When you subsume your own needs for others, you also reduce the speed of your Leveling. Certainly safer, certainly more likely to survive, and as a Master Class, he probably has a very comfortable life ahead of him. Not one filled with pain and suffering, danger and tragedy around each corner like we have lived for so many years now.
And the reward for all my emotional toll, for all the risk-taking, is in the widening of his eyes, the twist in his lips as he begins to sneer then stops himself. When he realizes the vast difference between myself and him now. Because even if I have adjusted my Levels and hidden my Heroic Class, he knows the truth. As does his mistress.
She sweeps into the room, proceeded only seconds ahead by her Aura. The Aura of the Frozen Winter Queen pings off my resistances, reminding me of who she is. Like her servant, the Duchess Kangana is not a Heroic, just a late Master Class. Though she might gain experience from doing her duties, from ruling, such experience gain is much slower and less plentiful, if steadier than throwing oneself into the middle of a Forbidden Planet.
As interesting as her Class is, so are her looks. The Duchess is gorgeous. And I’m talking gorgeous in relation to other Master Class level Charisma-influenced individuals. She’s tall, nearly six and a half feet tall, with the dark skin of the Truinnar and the striking, bright eyes that come with her kind. Her hair is long and lustrous, swaying just above the swell of her behind in a tightly wound, compact braid. Legs for days, and a shapely figure like a model underneath a sharp, angular face.
As for her dress, it’s a flowing, multi-layered cloth piece that reminds me of a saree—the more risqué kinds that reveal as much as they hide. She draws more than one hungry gaze, but I know it’s from the Aura she uses as much as her beauty.
Snorting, I turn from her with a visible yank, moving away from the woman. How the hell we’re supposed to meet without people noticing, I have no idea.
After half a dozen steps, my pace slightly slower than hers, a slight touch on my arm startles me. I turn my head even as I drop a Toothy Knife into my palm.
Beside me is a young lady, another Truinnar. Plain-looking, just about as tall as me, dressed in Adventurer chic. She bobs her head, and I feel a slight shift in the Mana around us. A Skill kicks on, but it’s so subtle you wouldn’t realize it was there if you didn’t pay attention. A new condition appears in my Status display.
Condition: Secret Liaisons
Sometimes, midnight assignations have to be done during the day. Secret Liaisons allows a lady to speak and interact with her lover in public without drawing attention. A combination of magical, psychic, emotional, and System influence makes others ignore the interactions within the field of the Skill.
“A pleasure meeting you, Redeemer.” The greeting is whispered, a simple low, throaty growl that makes me shiver and pings my Mental Resistances.
My eyes narrow as I read the Skill notification, the Resistance notification, then her Status. Which, surprisingly, is filled with question marks. Even for her name.
“Duchess,” I say in conclusion.
“Good. Graxan did say you were smarter than your actions would lead many to believe,” the Duchess-in-disguise says. She steps forward, making sure we keep walking, pulling away from the fake-Duchess but still within proximity.
“Smart. Doppelganger and Skills to take away attraction. Add in the Shrine’s natural abilities to hide scrying and a routine for coming in, and I’m surprised more people don’t use the Shrine for their meetings,” Ali says.
I can only send a mental shrug to him while I speak with the Duchess. “I’m sure you’ve had time to consider my request.”
“So direct…” The Duchess smiles and nods. “I have. I have spoken with your Earthen representative too. He has offered much, but all of it dependent upon successfully seeing off this challenge to the World’s sovereignty.”
I grunt a little in surprise that she talked to Rob. When she sees my surprise, the Duchess sniffs.
“Did you think I would deal with a middleman in such matters? I am loath to waste my time.”
“Then why are you talking to me at all?”
“Maybe not as smart.”
I growl in response to her taunt.
“You have something they do not have, of course.”
“My Class.”
“Insignificant.” The Duchess shakes her head. “I can acquire one of your stature if necessary. Credits do have their own strength. As do favors.”
My eyes narrow as she falls silent. I walk with her, crossing one hallway after the other, eyeing the various supplicants. I see one golem-like creature made of sand pushing its fist into the wall, the Mana crystal dissolving to take his arm. When he pulls back, the wall hardens, leaving his hand within, where it slowly transforms into crystal too.
Eventually, the Duchess speaks, naming what she wants. “Answers. You have answers to why the Council acts with such impertinence. They have upset centuries of political norms, attacking diplomatic locations, making their wishes known.”
“It’s a dangerous secret,” I say.
“All secrets worth having are dangerous.”
And once more, we walk in silence as I mull over my options. “Fine. I’ll let you know what they want to keep hidden, what this is all about.” The start of the lady’s smile is squashed as I continue. “After the vote.”
“You’d have me waste political resources for a promise?”
“Or for me to provide a secret on one?” I counter.
She turns her head, and I meet her gaze too. Violet eyes bore into mine, an unyielding will pressing against me. But I find it easy to dismiss the pressure she exerts. I’ve faced down an Empress before. A mere Duchess is nothing—even if she controls as large a volume of space as the Empress does.
“You could use your Skill,” she offers.
“As you said, Credits have their own power. Be a simple matter for you to break it, with the right kind of hire. Or using the System.” I shake my head. “This secret stays with me until you vote. But whatever the result, I promise you this. I’ll tell you the truth.”
The Duchess turns away, staring at the walls as we walk. Behind us, a loud thump, then a body comes flying past me. Hondo strides after the body, but the walls of the Shrine act first, picking up the plastic-creature that dared to approach the fake-Duchess and absorbing it.
As I reel with surprise at the actions, Ali slides into my mind. “Relax. It’s just depositing him in another corridor. No killing.”
I nod dumbly, relaxing. Only to tense as the Duchess speaks. “Very well. I shall take your word. I expect you will make arrangements that such information passes on, no matter what happens to you?”
“As best as I can.”
The Duchess nods and, without bidding me farewell, takes an off-shoot passage. Leaving me to stroll on alone. Hondo and the fake-Duchess make their way over to her passageway. And just like that, our meeting is over.
“She never did say how much help she’d bring,” Ali muses.
“Nope. Also, another important question,” I send.
“What?”
I stare down the featureless blue crystal walls, the passageway that splits and splits again as it leads me through the multi-hectare, multi-story building. Packed with sapients, praying, chanting, singing, and exuding pheromones.
“How the hell do we get out?”
Chapter 15
If this was a Hollywood story, when I finally deposited my little nugget of information, my crystallized warp of Mana and information into the Shrine, it would have bestowed upon me some great Skill, some nugget of information that would have solved all my problems. Sadly, even when I left the Shrine with my most closely guarded secret, it offered me nothing.
Not even a feeling of pleasant exchange.
Forced to join the exiting throng of disillusioned supplicants, I move in the crowd of hopping, floating, walking sapients. Two transits and one long walk to verify I’m not being followed later, I’m relaxed enough to check on the status of the team. Since they aren’t home yet, I divert myself to a nearby Shop sphere, accessing a private room and using Extra Hands to form another copy.