The Legendary Fool

120:

“We should probably get out of here,” Tom muttered as his gaze swept over the damage that they had done.

Aleph’s gaze turned from the lifeless corpse at her feet and she gave him a pointed look before asking, “Are you just going to gloss over what you did?”

Tom’s lips thinned. Neither Aleph nor Zirel were people he could trick and for that matter, he didn’t want to. They deserved the truth. But Tom wasn’t sure if giving it to them was the correct answer, if the fool card was even going to let him.

He seen an entire army across the cosmos that was almost certainly searching for him. He didn’t want to bring them into it, not yet.

“This isn’t the place. And it’s not what you think,” Tom added, lying through his teeth. He was going to give them an answer as close to the truth as he could, but he wasn’t going to delude himself into believing that it was.

“What about them?” Zirel asked from somewhere to his right, his tone placid. If the former prince was shaken by the extent of his abilities, he didn’t show it.

“They were surprisingly strong,” Aleph muttered. “Not stronger than us, sure, but we’ve got multiple rare cards between us. I don’t think they were expecting us to put up such a fight, especially since their leader seemed to think that we snuck past him instead of fighting him.”

“Can you blame him?” Zirel asked. “A teleportation card that takes you directly to the blasted tower. If I had known such a treasure existed, I would’ve done everything in my power to get it. Sneaking abilities sound a lot more sane.”

“Teleportation powers aren’t that rare,” Aleph replied, though her argument sounded weak to even her.

“Short-teleportation, sure,” Zirel replied with a snort. “I’m not talking about trash cards that deplete your SP just to take you a league away. We saved years of travel, Aleph. Years. I’m not sure where your family got that, but I’m not complaining.”

“I guess you’re not wrong,” Aleph conceded. “Well, as for them, they still come from a guild of assassins. I don’t think burying them is going to trick the guild they mentioned, but it might buy us a little more time.”

“Well, I guess I’m taking the big guy then. We’ll leave him in the forest, there are beasts within it. Remaining stationary and digging a large hole would be inadvisable,” Tom said.

“And just how do you know that?” Aleph asked.

Tom winced, before offering, “Will advanced geographical knowledge suffice as an answer?”

Aleph rolled her eyes.

“Then you’re going to have to wait until we’re somewhere with a little more cover.”

No more words were exchanged as Tom, Zirel and Aleph rushed towards the forest with a corpse slung over their shoulders.

It appeared that Zirel’s cloaking did not apply to objects that he touched and Tom didn’t know if he was supposed to be impressed by a floating corpse that was keeping pace with them or horrified.

Time ticked away before the foliage of the forest enveloped them, it’s shade and darkness both welcome.

They continued to move deeper into the forest until Tom signaled for them to stop.

“Dump the bodies here,” Tom said, his words tinged with distaste. Over and over, Artezia forced him to change and with it, forced him to realize that kindness was a virtue reserved for the strong.

Zirel and Aleph did as he asked, though they did give him curious glances as they did.

Tom nodded and began to climb a tree, his physical and proprioception making it no challenge at all as he scaled it with unnatural deftness. He seated himself on a thick branch that was easily thirty feet above ground level.

Zirel and Aleph took their places on two branches flanking them.

“What now?” Zirel asked, a flicker of excitement leaking into his tone.

Of course, Zirel’s end goal had been to reach the Tower of Endless Horizons and for all intents and purposes, he was already there— years and years before anyone would’ve expected him to.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“Do you know why that man called himself the Gatekeeper?” Tom asked, his tone thoughtful while his gaze remained angled to the three corpses on the ground.

The beasts in the vicinity probably come around knocking sooner rather than later.

“Because he was a pompous fool who overestimated his abilities?” Aleph offered.

“Well, that was certainly part of it,” Tom conceded. “And no, I can’t read minds. I told you, I got visions that revealed things to me. Well, I can also direct those visions to reveal what I want, but it doesn’t always work and even when it does, it takes away a large chunk of my power.”

“No shit,” Zirel replied, a lot less graceful than he usually was. “If a power like that didn’t rip away most of your SP, I would be terrified of it more than impressed.”

Zirel’s attempt to lighten the atmosphere was appreciated, but Tom knew the questions they had running through their minds.

“Did you…,” Aleph began and then shook her head. “I shouldn’t, you’ve done too much for me. You’ve taken revenge on the Nottrakon Family even when you were not powerful enough to do so. It all makes sense now— how you knew about the assassination plot, how you melded into the Academy and I suspect, how you killed the Nether Lich.”

“I knew there was something seriously wrong with you, but I never felt any malice from you after we agreed to ally. Which was pretty weird, mind you. If you could really see my past, then you’d know that my uncommon is pretty darn nasty. Men have killed for less,” Zirel revealed. “If you weren’t tempted then, I doubt anything would sway your mind now. Besides, I can’t beat you, can I?”

Tom blinked.

That was one hell of a question to ask.

“Probably not,” Tom admitted.

Zirel began to snicker.

“You wear your emotions on your face. If you’d intimately poked into either of our heads, no matter how you did it, we’d be able to tell. I don’t know which hole it is that you crawled out of, but there’s not a single speck of noble blood in your veins. From as soon as I could read, the importance of mastering my own emotions was drilled into me. Whatever your upbringing was, I doubt it was similar.”

“I need to teach you that, one of these days, “ Aleph conceded and the heaviness enveloping the group shattered.

Tom’s cheeks stung a little from embarrassment, sure. But it was much better than losing Aleph and Zirel’s trust.

“I’m going to get back to the topic now,” Tom coughed into his fist before continuing, “The Gatekeeper picked off weaker groups that tried to get into the tower. Apparently, the entrance is only one of dozens, but that’s besides the point. His logic was pretty warped, but he wasn’t entirely wrong— he believed that anyone that fell to his blade wouldn’t have survived in the tower.”

“How did he scope out his targets?” Aleph asked.

“The tower is surrounded by three kingdoms, yet the number of people trying to get in it is shockingly low. The powerful ones came with entourages to announce their presence or just flew over directly with artifacts or card abilities. Either way, getting in won’t be very challenging.”

“Do we want to get in?” Aleph asked. Their initial goal had been to escape the Syrelore Kingdom and they had gone far enough to be tracked. There was no compulsion to entire the tower.

“I’ll let the clairvoyant answer. Though I guess I can’t call you that if you can see the past, too.”

Tom pursed his lips before answering, “I don’t want to get involved with kingdoms again. We can be strong enough to rip buildings out, but that wouldn’t matter if they send a thousand knights after us. But we can’t go in. Both of you can’t level up your Rares because of the severance glyph. Or more accurately, because you couldn’t afford to lose all your stats up until now.”

“What about you, though I suspect I already know the answer,” Zirel said.

“I don’t need the severance glyph. That means I can protect you. There are plenty of beasts in the area. One of you can start leveling your rare first.”

“The assassins?” Zirel asked.

“Four more are patrolling the area. I don’t know their exact locations, but they should be swinging by soon enough.”

“You’re terrifying,” Zirel replied.

“I’m on your side,” Tom pointed out.

“Fair. They’re not going to be too difficult to handle?”

“No,” Tom replied. “But the leader of their guild, that guy is trouble. We probably should leave them alone for the time being.”

“For the time being?” Aleph raised an eyebrow.

“Well, they did try to kill us,” Tom replied with a shrug. “I’m not messing with anymore kingdoms, but considering that I know exactly where their guild is and that it’s in neutral territory unclaimed by anyone….,” Tom’s lips curled up into a smile. He could only imagine the resources that were stashed away in a guild of glorified thieves that had never known a fair fight.

“Who’s going first then?” Aleph asked.

“It should be me,” Zirel replied. “I’m not deluded enough to rush straight into the tower, but it’s been a goal for as long as I can remember. As strong as my uncommon is, that was only true while I was in the Syrelore Kingdom. It couldn’t even touch the Nether Lich. If I keep clinging to safety, I’m going to die the moment we come across someone immune to my paralysis.”

“That’s convenient. Your stealth is ridiculously powerful, so we don’t need to worry about you getting killed by assassins if they somehow manage to get the drop on us.”

“I’m not planning on dying this close to the tower,” Zirel dryly replied.

A subtle rustling sounded out in the distance, but all three of them were more than capable of picking up on it.

“Better get on with it then, your free experience just arrived.”

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