Music for today: Elephant Music - Grave
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cnMtnyTIyc
Mid Afternoon - Late Winter - Year 24 : Outskirts of Emporio
-----
"Could I get you something to drink?" Diane asked, her smile polite but forced as the tension in the air choked her. "We have some special tea from the merfolk in the Forgotten Islands, if you'd like to try it." Her eyes flicked between me and Chioni as she wrung her hands in thought. "My husband picked it up during his recent trip."
She wanted to do something to ease the tension, but I couldn't take something valuable from her. "Thank you but there is no need." Politely declining, I softened my tone and expression. "What was he doing over there? Work?"
She immediately hesitated before her voice dipped slightly, unsure whether her words would somehow be incriminating. "He is a newly promoted high-class butler, and through a series of recommendations, ended up being appointed by one of the maids working under Amphitrite Ouranós."
My ears immediately twitched. "Oh? How fortunate."
Her nervousness immediately washed with surprise. "I-Indeed," she nodded, flustered. "He was only hired a few months ago, but it's helped stabilize things here..." Her gaze fell as memories softened her voice. "For quite a long time, we struggled to get make ends meet—spending everything we had on Chioni's education in hopes she could escape the hole my husband and I dug us into."
"I see..." Understanding, I continued softly. "Then, Chioni's brother," watching Diane tense, I leaned back and spoke more lightly, hoping to disguise the weight of my words. "Did he follow his 'career path' because of your situation?"
"I.. believe it might have.. yes." Quickly gathering some idea of why I was asking, her gaze drifted downward with a deep-seated regret. "He always felt the need to lessen our burdens. Even as a boy, he was quite pragmatic—optimistic and kind... But, I suppose reality changes people... After leaving the nest we assumed he had just paved his own path..." Biting her lip in thought for a moment, she bowed with an ache in her chest. "If my son has done something.. I hope you will find it in yourself to-"
"Mom..." Chioni, afraid to upset the deal I made with her, immediately cut her off.
But Diane wouldn't have been able to finish her plea anyway. Before the silence could even settle, the sound of a key turning in the lock echoed from the front door.
The air inside froze instantly—the heat of the hearth going from warm to searing in a flash.
In that moment, both Chioni and Diane found their eyes glued to the ground.
Even as the patter of steps finally reached the living room.
"Hey, Mom," the youthful, approaching voice called out with a thought-laden tension, a mix of determination and warmth "I got everything needed to leave for Ampelos, so I'm going to head out." But it hardly lasted a moment. "Be careful while I'm-"
The moment he was about to step into the room, his voice was cut, his stride severed like a doll whose strings lost motion.
And in the silence, the crackle of the fireplace turned into the ticking of a clock.
In that silence, his mind raced, neurons firing like a chain reaction of dynamite.
One I was going to let fizzle on its own, until eventually, Diane cut it short. "Nikos," she called, forcing strength into her trembling words, "an important guest is here to speak with you."
Standing motionless, framed by the doorway like a deer caught in headlights, the soft glow of the hearth graced his face with a golden glow.
But even it couldn't bring color to his complexion.
Finally managing to move, he turned to throw himself into a rigid, trembling bow without daring to give me as much as a glance. "S-Sir!" His voice cracked with uncertainty. "I-I apologize for not reporting my leave in advance! I-I had an emergency I needed to address!" He spoke fast, with an accent-less formality.
But in it.. there was too a familiarity.
He mistook me as one of his superiors. A curious misunderstanding. -Perhaps.. I entertain it...-
Watching him tremble, the satchel slung over his should shaking with his uneven breaths, I motioned Diana and Chioni to remain silent before extending my aura toward him like an inspecting hand. "I'm not here because of your absence."
He flinched instinctively, his eyes mind racing but not panicked. "I," He opened his mouth before even taking a moment to think. "I'll repay everything I took, tenfold even... Just please.. spare me and my family..."
My eyes widened with intrigue as Diane and the man behind the boy froze, their expressions dawning horror. -Oh my~- Without even meaning to, I had caught a truly remarkable fish. -To think he's stealing from them...-
Taking a moment to probe his body, overpowering his aura's feeble resistance to make sure he didn't have anything to kill himself with, a predatory smile unknowingly graced my lips. "Have a seat, Nikos," I instructed calmly, unable to totally mask the pleasure in my voice as I waved him to the empty chair across from me. "We have much to discuss."
Slowly lifting from his bow, his sky-blue eyes darted between Diane and Chioni as if to cry for help, but both remained motionless and silent.
Eventually reaching the chair and sitting down, gripping his satchel like it was a lifeline, he finally raised his trembling gaze to me, seemingly finding nothing odd.
But my act was over. "My name is Vasilias, you may know me as Nott." Everyone but Chioni instantly jolted. "I'm currently looking to investigate the organization behind this insignia." *Vwoop* Materializing the iron-encased star with light magic, everyone's gaze raised toward it. "Thankfully you don't seem as.. broken, as the cultists it seems you work beside, so I do ask for your cooperation." *Flicker* "Not that it's much of a request."
The chill in my voice instantly frosted the room as I dissipated the magic.
Swallowing audibly, Nikos was quick to shift gears, determination mixing with his anxiety as he forced himself to look at me. -Hoh?- His fear was no longer suffocating him. "You mistook me as your.. employer, I assume?"
He nodded immediately. Somehow, he was less scared to confront a god than his boss.
"For you to only meet my eyes after finding out I was a god rather than a higher up..." *Vwoom* My aura closed around him in an instant, blades of mana pressing into him from every angle. "Am I really less scary than them..?" Expecting him to freeze up, my gaze turned skeptical.
And yet.. he remained calm... "N-No.. sir..." His voice was still shaky, of course, but also carried a tone I hadn't heard in some time... It was reverence and.. acceptance...
Like a man in church ready to confess their sins, yet to a god he's never worshipped.
A boy whose fear was eclipsed by the opportunity for his prayers to be heard. -What a fascinating boy...-
Leaning back, I finally pulled my aura off him, letting him ease in the silence before opening my mouth. "Lets start from the beginning then, shall we? I assume the organization behind the insignia is your employer?"
He nodded.
"How did you come to work for them?"
Hesitating a moment, his eyes darted around to string together words. "Th-They approached me first. After spending some time working at a guild here in Emporio, they came with offers for me to work at a guild overseas as a financial management assistant. Bookkeeping, essentially."
"Was there anything odd about them?"
He hesitated again. "My gut told me something was off.. but things weren't going well at the guild I was with either, sketchy payments that they were trying to bury, and I needed money." So, he jumped ship, venturing across the ocean to a human guild to work as their bookkeeper. "After getting more comfortable, not finding anything odd about their actions, I started embezzling some funds, scraping rounding errors off the top pad my pockets.. hoping to send some gold back home to help Mom and Dad..." He looked toward Diane and his Father, still standing in the doorway, shellshocked.
My eyes quickly narrowed. "Was there anything odd about the recruiter, a threat or perhaps a vision you saw after meeting him?"
He firmly shook his head.
-So he wasn't shown anything...- It was odd, but certainly understandable... If the organization could coerce people without showing them an oracle, it'd certainly save their effort. -But...- "What was the reasoning behind your words in this letter, if you found nothing odd?" Pulling out the letter to Chioni, I tossed it to him.
"A-Ah!" Anxiety churned his gut instantly. "I-I meant odd as in the fact nothing was hidden... All exchanges were done through public channels without any encryption. Back then I didn't even know the names of the things they were ordering and assumed it was fine. It was for research purposes... The issues arose when I started getting comfortable. Although I was told not to, I started speaking to others and.. it all crumbled from there... Leaving the scope of my work against strict orders, I dug into tons of matters, figuring out they were researching world-power-shifting explosives and well.. found an experiment tied to Ampelos."
"And when you heard about, you wrote the letter."
He nodded fervently. "I always kept close contact with Chioni, and when she said she was going to investigate the experiment area, I panicked."
I wasn't buying it. "Why would you panic if it was just for research? Were you just being cautious?"
"Uh.. no..." Fiddling with his fingers, his gaze fell. "The more I dug into the organization the darker it got..." The fear in his voice thickened as he continued, "Stories of people having visions of the world's end, and executions of those who even caught a glimpse of the organizations movements in Bahamut really.. told me a different story from the outer appearance of the guild. Hearing Chioni was going to investigate one such experiment.. I panicked... If I got caught, me and everyone I knew would vanish, but I also couldn't just do nothing..."
-I see...- His voice trembled at the edges, his actions not born of courage, but of desperation.
He was a normal kid without the power to defend himself. Someone who could disappear without a trace the moment he was caught stepping out of line.
But in my eyes, he seemed more like a small fish on an oversized hook—live bait I could leave in the water to lure something bigger...
Fortunately for him, that meant he was still useful enough to protect.
Leaning forward, I lowered my tone with a calm breath. "So I take it you're still in contact with them?"
"Y-Yes," He nodded with a fidget, "I did a few days work before I left so they shouldn't notice anything."
"Good..." I let the silence linger just long enough for the weight of the word to sink in—just long enough for Nikos to feel the teeth behind the calm. "I take it you have a good memory, yes?" Waiting for his nod, a smile stretched across my lips. "Then I'd like to propose a contract. Your family receives protection, and more money than you or them can fathom, and you get me information."
Everyone instantly tensed. "W..What kind of information."
"Everything you know about the organization, but right now, and as an initial payment, I'd like a simple mark on a map." Leaning back, I motioned a few fingers, only for an unfathomably detailed map of the world to appear in front of him. "Where is a place the organization's operations hinder on.. a laboratory, perhaps a warehouse.. outside of the capital."
My smile widened as a spark of intent appeared in my eyes. His expression growing dark with the weight of my words.
"Know of anything?"
-----
Read up to 5 chapters ahead of schedule, and get early access to artwork on My Patreon!
(In case Embedded Link doesn't work: https://www.patreon.com/TDOD )
-------------
Also, please feel free to check out our discord for all updates related to TDOD releases! https://discord.gg/Dv7G5bQD4v
All are welcome!
---
Also if you are looking for a new story, check out my new novel! Re: The System's Harvester
On RR, SH, and now Webnovel!