Return of the Runebound Professor

“An auction?” Pirren’s confusion was evident in her tone.

For a moment, Noah was forced to wonder if demons actually had auctions. It would have been strange if they didn’t. While their culture was far more primally driven than the one back in the mortal realm, when all the niceties and lies were stripped away, demons didn’t structure themselves all that differently than the noble families did.

“I trust you know what an auction is,” Noah said, gauging Pirren’s expression to try and figure out if she was trying to pull something over his eyes.

“I — yes. I do,” Pirren said. She hesitated, clearly not wanting to say more, but Noah remained silent. She was forced to continue speaking or risk drawing his ire. “I was just caught off guard. I can get you into an auction, but I’m not sure if it would hold your attention. I’m… not the strongest of the Rank 5s. I generally try to avoid the others.”

That’s probably a smart move from her perspective. If you bluff someone strong enough to easily call your bluff, it’s not going to go well. Better to stick to easier targets if you want to avoid getting caught.

“It isn’t your concern if it holds my attention or not,” Noah said with a small chuckle. “All you have to do is get me in under your banner — and stay throughout it, I should add. I don’t know the inner working of the politics in this city.”

“You’re an outsider?” Pirren’s voice held more than a tinge of interest. “You… aren’t one of Belkus’ enforcers?”

Belkus… that was the guy that controlled Treadon, wasn’t it?

“I serve no man.”

“A Rank 5 that doesn’t serve Belkus?” Pirren muttered. Her eyes widened and her back stiffened as her tongue flicked out to taste the air. The tone of her scaled face lightened in fear as understanding washed over her features. “You serve no man. Yoku.”

“I’m sorry?” Noah’s confusion was hidden by the wrappings covering his face.

“Nothing,” Pirren said hurriedly, drawing the middle of the word out as she struggled to form the proper sounds through the fangs jutting out of her mouth. “I will do ask you ask. I will warn you that the other demons may not take too kindly to my presence. I have… abstained from previous auctions for this reason.”

“Are they going to stop us from getting in?”

“Nothing so overt, but they may attempt to put pressure on me. You might find it easier to access the auction through someone else — or just under your own banner. Someone like you would have no trouble entering.”

Not a bad strategy if I didn’t want to keep people confused as to who I’ve got on my side. Going in alone focuses everything on me. If I show up with another demon, even if they’re just a Rank 5, a few well-placed words should get them wondering who else I’ve got on my side and what my goals are.

Also, weak demons are probably more likely to work together. I don’t want anyone assuming I’m too powerful, so might as well fit into their expectations until it’s time to break them.

“You don’t have to concern yourself with why I wish to enter the auction under your banner,” Noah said. “You will just arrange it, and as quickly as possible. I am not a particularly patient individual. When is the next auction?”

“I’ll have to check.” Pirren’s tongue flicked out nervously. “I haven’t kept up with them, but I think there was usually one every two days.”

That sounded like a lot until Noah reminded himself that given how long the day-night cycles were in the Damned Plains, two days here was the equivalent of something around eight days back home.

“That’s fine,” Noah said with a nod. He hadn’t even needed to take out his specially made Rune to sway her over to his side. Ironically enough, she’d saved him some effort by trying to threaten him. Now he could save the rune for the auction. “I trust you know where to find me?”

“The Web’s camp?” Pirren guessed.

Is that the name they decided on? Damn. Really all in on the Spider bit. Can’t say I don’t like it, though. Cool, in a slightly cheesy way.

“Yes. Just come normally next time, would you?” Noah’s eyes narrowed and he held her gaze. “We don’t take kindly to spies, even when they claim to just be messengers.”

Stolen novel; please report.

Pirren swallowed and gave him a sharp nod. “I understand. I will come myself once I have news.”

“Then I will look forward to it,” Noah said, turning to the closed doors before looking over his shoulder at the snake demon slouched in her chair. “I’ll look forward to it then. Do try to make sure you show up sooner rather than later. I don’t want to have to come find you a second time.”

This works out pretty well for me. It would have been nice if there was somehow an auction happening right this moment, but I should really probably stick around camp to make sure nothing goes too poorly at the start. Even though I told Aylin he’s responsible for everything, having a trump card is definitely a good move.

I’m definitely not just going back because I don’t want someone killing the kid or any of the others. I am not letting myself get attached to even more demons. Lee is more than enough to handle. There are too many things that need to be done for me to get any more caught up with them than I already am.

Noah’s words sounded hollow in his head as he shoved the doors open and strode down the stairs of Pirren’s egg-shaped mansion. He wasn’t going to convince anyone if he couldn’t even convince himself — but that was the purpose of strength.

There was no point in being powerful if he couldn’t be a little bit selfish.

***

Father’s goblet was empty. He set it down on his table with a gentle clink. The bottle beside him had been emptied as well. It was the last one he’d had in his office, and it would have been a shame to waste it.

Janice stood before him, her arms crossed behind her back and features as flat as a sheet of paper. He’d taught her well. Her emotions were perfectly concealed. Not even he could tell what she was thinking.

“You’re quite certain of this, Janice?” Father asked. It was a question more for show than any other purpose. Janice wouldn’t have told him if she wasn’t certain, and he wouldn’t already prepared everything for her arrival if he hadn’t already known she was coming.

Father didn’t engage in pointless frivolities often. They were a waste of time and energy when not put toward a purpose. But, just this once, he savored the moment. A moment he’d been waiting to experience for years — for longer than most people could even begin to comprehend.

“I’m certain.” Janice’s words were measured. “I verified the information myself. After our branch was inducted into the main branch of the Linwick Family, I’ve been digging for every scrap of information I could gather. It wasn’t easy. Magus Jalen is so disorganized that our records are borderline nonexistent from more than a few hundred years ago.”

Disorganized to the point where I suspect it may not be purely coincidental. Jalen is a madman, but he is no fool.

“And?” Father asked. “You told me you found it.”

“I did,” Janice said with a nod. “Or rather, I’ve found a complete lack of information where information should be. Over the course of the past weeks I have been going through every record our people could gather and rebuilding the history of the Linwick family.”

Father’s fingers pressed into the flat of his desk as he leaned forward. He would have loved more than anything to have done exactly what Janice had done himself. To have discovered the information with his own hands.

He couldn’t. The risk was too great. Not to himself, but to his cover. To the delicate structure he’d spent so many years erecting upon his back. The perfect defense. The perfect disguise — and at the cost of a perfect victory.

But a victory was still a victory, even if he had to puppet the hands of others to achieve it. And now, after all these years, it was only a few moves away.

“What section was missing?” Father asked.

“A patch of three years that came shortly after the Long Night,” Janice said. “There are relatively detailed reports from both before and after it, but for those three years, there is absolutely no information. Every thread that led back to those years has been burned.”

“Purged,” Father said, a smile pulling across his features even though the skin around his eyes didn’t so much as crinkle. “Very good, Janice. What more did you discover?”

“The Linwick Family guarded the one we seek. There are mentions of a crypt that slipped through the purge in the records. Not the crypt that the family established around a hundred years later and used as a decoy, but the original one. There is no record of its creation, which I believe happened in the patch of lost history. I believe your target still resides there.”

“And the location?”

“Almost confirmed. There was little information left to work with, so I have been investigating the potential locations one by one. There are not many left. I will locate it by the end of the month.”

Father rose from his desk and drew in a deep breath. The air was stale. Not noticeably, of course. The room was covered with so many imbuements that almost nobody would have even realized. But, after he’d spent so many years within its confines, the air’s quality was so apparent to him that it was impossible to ignore.

“Do not enter it once it has been located,” Father said, his words razor sharp. “I do not wish to lose my only competent assistant this early on. As soon as you discover a location that you believe may be the one I seek, find me immediately — even if you aren’t certain.”

Janice’s eyes widened. “Are you certain, Father? There are several likely places. Revealing yourself too early—”

“Your purpose is not to show concern. It is to follow my orders. Do not waste your energy on showing fear. Especially not for me.”

Janice swallowed. Then she nodded her understanding. The door ground open for just long enough to let her leave before grinding shut once more. After so many years, the search was finally almost over.

In the solitude of his room, a smile crossed Father’s face. His eyes crinkled in the first signs of excitement that he’d properly felt in centuries.

Soon, his time in this prison would finally come to an end.

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