Return of the Runebound Professor

Moxie was already gone when Noah woke the following morning. He’d somehow slept through her leaving, but he could still smell the scent of her hair on his skin. Noah nearly let himself vegetate in place so he could avoid the responsibilities of the morning, but sunlight rudely poked through the window and prodded him out of bed. It probably wouldn’t be long before it was time to meet Otto’s attendant. He set about getting ready for the day, then paused before he could head out the door.

Hold on. How is she going to find me? I’m in Moxie’s room. Oh, crud.

Noah hurriedly pulled the door open and stepped into the hall. He hurried over to his own room, but his fears were correct. It was too late. The door was cracked open, and he could hear voices coming from within.

He strode over and pushed the door open. Contessa and Karina sat in bed, Mascot curled between them and monopolizing two different petting hands. A dark-haired woman stood across from them, doing her absolute best not to look completely befuddled.

Goddamn it. I really need to let the school know I’m not living there — though, if I do that, Contessa and Karina might get kicked out. For that matter, when the hell did Karina move in too? I swear it was supposed to just be Contessa.

Contessa had small bags under her eyes, but at the same time, she looked more content than she’d been in the past. The tension that had once held her shoulders taut had faded and she clearly hadn’t gotten a chance to comb her hair since waking up.

Karina was surprisingly similar. She also looked like she’d only woken up a few minutes ago and was wearing a uniform that looked a little bit too large for her.

“Oh, there he is,” Contessa said. “Vermil, someone came looking for you. I didn’t know what to do so I just asked them to come in.”

“You could have sent her over to Moxie’s room,” Noah said dryly. He extended a hand. “Professor Vermil.”

The woman’s eyes flicked over to them, then back to Noah as she mouthed, ‘three?’ to herself. Noah winced. He wasn’t doing his reputation any favors.

“They’re just living in my room,” Noah said, more than aware of how lame his excuse sounded. “I’m… living elsewhere.”

The woman coughed into her fist. “It’s none of my concern what you do in your spare time, Magus. Otto sent me to meet with you.”

“I gathered. You were the one with the bird mask, weren’t you?”

The woman tilted her head to the side. Her eyes widened slightly. “You’re the one I’m meeting with?”

“He didn’t tell you?”

“He just said to find you here. I thought you were going to lead me to him. Bastard was playing a joke on me,” Bird muttered. She adjusted her jacket and coughed into a fist. “I — uh, should we go somewhere more private?”

“Sure. We can go back to the other room.” Noah glanced at Contessa. “How are things going, by the way? I haven’t had a chance to check in.”

“As well as they could be. I think Mascot is a sadist.”

“Drop the think. He definitely is. You’re surviving?”

“He could wake me up by ramming his claws through my eyes every morning and it would be better than working for Evergreen,” Contessa said with a weary smile. “I’ve never slept so well in my life. I don’t have to worry about politics or showing off or how I look in front of the other Torrins. It’s nice. I just spend all day chasing after Mascot with Karina.”

Noah opened his mouth to ask when exactly Karina had decided to move into his room, then caught himself. Contessa and Karina were both leaning back on the bed, supporting themselves with their free hands — hands that were overlaid on top of each other.

Huh. Who would have thought. Bringing the Torrins and the Linwicks together, one step at a time.

“Well, let me know if anything changes. I’ll do a more proper check-in later,” Noah said. He nodded to Bird. “Follow me.”

They headed back out into the hall and down over to Moxie’s room. She hesitated for a second before stepping into the room, making Noah wince inwardly. That whole scene definitely hadn’t done much to score him points in her eyes.

Noah headed over to the bed and sat down on it, gesturing to the chair beside the desk. “You can sit there. Are we doing any bargaining, or is this just a cut and dry swap?”

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“I was under the impression the bargaining was done.”

“It is. Just making sure. Here’s the Monster Rune.” Noah grabbed his grimoire from where it leaned against the bed and plopped the huge book down. He flipped it open. The pages were blank. His eyes narrowed and he cleared his throat loudly, flicking the book in the spine. “Sorry. Something in my throat. As I was saying, here’s the Monster Rune.”

He turned the page over — and was greeted by an unfortunately detailed drawing of a woman who seemed to be in great want of clothing. Noah swore and slammed the book shut. He could feel Bird’s stare boring into the back of his neck.

“You little shit,” Noah hissed. “Give me the goddamn rune and stop throwing a fit. It hasn’t been that long since I fed you, and if you don’t give me the rune, the only thing you’re eating for the next year is rocks.”

The book flipped itself back open and he let out a relieved sigh. The Monster Rune sat in its pages, glittering with energy. It was the Thickened Fur Rune they’d gotten a little while back while hunting — not a particularly useful rune by any means, but it was still a Monster Rune. His smile faded as he spotted a much smaller version of the inappropriate drawing on the bottom corner of the page.

He cleared his throat and kept it covered as he tilted the book back so Bird could see the rune. “Here it is.”

There was so much derision on Bird’s face that Noah had to look back at the book to see what was wrong. His eye twitched. The drawing had somehow traveled up the page so his hand was no longer covering it.

Considering that Bird wasn’t showing even the slightest signs of being impressed, the drawing had moved before he’d finished raising the book so it looked like it had always been there.

“I — oh, forget it,” Noah said with a weary sigh. “Do you have a piece of Catchpaper I can transfer the Rune onto?”

Bird wordlessly pulled a strip of paper out of a coat pocket. She held it out to Noah with two fingers, as if touching him would infect her with something.

At least Moxie doesn’t have to worry about any competition. Not that anyone could give her competition if they wanted to.

Noah plucked the paper from Bird’s hands and absently set it in his grimoire, closing it and setting his hand on the top cover. A shimmer of energy swirled around the large book and, when he opened it again, it had transferred the Monster Rune onto the piece of paper.

It had also transferred the drawing.

The urge to hurl the book through the window gripped Noah, but he settled for a weary sigh. It wasn’t like he could have thrown it even if he’d wanted to. It was too damn big to fit through anything but the door.

“Here it is,” Noah said weakly.

Bird stared at the page. He waggled it. The longer it was in his hands, the more chance someone else would somehow stumble in and see it.

Once she’s holding it, I’m putting all blame on her without the slightest ounce of shame. It’s not my fault she gave me Catchpaper that she doodled on first.

Lips pursed, Bird plucked the paper from Noah’s hands. She then pulled out two more pieces of Catchpaper and handed them to him. A Rank 2 Rune shimmered on each of them. And, even despite his grimoire troubles, a grin stretched across Noah’s lips.

Well, hello there.

They were a little more complex than he’d expected a Rank 2 Rune to be, but they were still nothing compared to Rank 4s. Noah drew both of them into his soul without so much as a second of hesitation.

They took form beside his other Rank 1 Space Rune and Natural Disaster and he returned his attention to Bird before she decided to make a run for it while his eyes were closed.

“Alright. All done. Thank you,” Noah said. “Now… about that location I was promised?”

“I am to guide you to it,” Bird said. She adjusted her jacket, as if affronted by the debasing task of having to act as a babysitter. “Is now a good time?”

It should be a good bit before Moxie gets back. If Bird is offering to take me anywhere, I assume the transport cannon is functional again. I should stop by Tim on the way out and fix some more of his Runes — but I’m getting ahead of myself. If the transport cannon is up and running, Moxie should probably be hunting until around midday or early evening. I’m sure she’ll be back before the meeting with the Enforcers.

“How long do I get?” Noah asked.

“One hour. We can’t justify letting you spend any longer in it.”

“One hour?” Noah demanded, his eyes going wide in disbelief. “What the hell am I meant to do in one hour? Do you have any idea how long it takes to trap a rune on Catchpaper? Forget actually finding the monsters, I’ll barely get one fight in before you pull me out.”

“Trust me, you won’t have any trouble finding things to fight,” Bird said. “And you won’t survive longer than an hour. You’re a Rank 4. Otto wants you coming out of this alive.”

Technically, I barely need any time at all to get Runes aside from the time it takes me to actually kill the monster, but I’m not letting her know that.

“I feel like I’m getting scammed here.” Noah crossed his arms in front of his chest. “I was promised a hunting ground I could use to get some Runes, not a peek at whatever fancy shit you lot have in attempt to get me to marry into your house.”

Bird choked on her own saliva and doubled over coughing. She got a hold of herself and straightened back up, staring at him. “Otto wants you to marry into the King family?”

“Don’t get your hopes up,” Noah replied. “And I’m still not sold on only getting a bloody hour for this.”

“Otto said you might feel that way,” Bird said. She re-straightened her coat for what must have been the third time. “He said that, as long as you were able to survive the experience, you would not be disappointed.”

“Not the most reassuring promise.”

“He also said to tell you that he wouldn’t sacrifice his path to get more Monster Runes for something as worthless as this.”

Okay, that’s a pretty fair point. Otto doesn’t strike me as the type of person who would pinch pennies that hard. I don’t see why he’d lie about this… which means he genuinely believes an hour would be enough time for me to get whatever I need from this place. He’s certainly got my interes;t. If a normal Rank 4 could get something worthwhile in an hour… what would I be able to get?

“Alright,” Noah said. “I’m sold. Let’s see this special hunting ground of yours.”

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