After getting back to the rental house, Kay helped Eleniah prepare for dinner. Most of his life in Torotia till this point had been focused on adventuring and leveling his combat skills. He hadn’t had the chance to pick up the Cooking skill, but he'd made enough meals for himself back on Earth that he could at least help with the basics.

“I just realized.” Eleniah turned to him as he started chopping vegetables. “Have you looked at your class effect?”

“My what?”

“I think we talked about it before. Classes tier three and higher have effects to them, things that change or augment the related skills. Like how my Talent Scout lets me share Identify, Inspect, and Appraisal results. Your tier three Blood Manipulator should have one now.”

Kay set the knife down and focused on the class description.

[————————————————————]

Class: Blood Manipulator

- Blood Manipulators are experienced at magically directing blood to their will. Blood Manipulators have a much greater control and ability with their art as compared to their lesser brethren, and they have a greater degree of flexibility with the blood they control. Born of an act decrying the “evils” of Blood Mages, Blood Manipulators stand in defiance of them.

Class Effect: Blood Manipulators can compress blood more effectively, increasing the force and weight of their attacks.

[————————————————————]

“It says I can compress blood better, and that’ll let me make stronger attacks.”

“Same effect as tier three Water Manipulators then. That should let you use that pressure blade thing you were talking about.”

“Nice!”

The meal was delicious. It somehow reminded Kay of a quiche, but without any eggs. He’d never had a seafood quiche, and wasn’t sure if that was even a thing, but Eleniah’s dinner was fantastic. After finishing everything and cleaning up, the adjourned to the living room.

“So, lets talk.” Eleniah said as she sat down.

“There’s more? I already told you everything that happened yesterday.”

“Some of what happened to you could be related to my investigation, so I wanted to go over it. After yesterday there’s a chance that you’ll get more caught up in it than I would like, so you need to be informed and prepared.”

“Oh, the political stuff that’s related to the Nelamian plotting or whatever?”

“Right.” Eleniah marshaled her thoughts. “The gist of it is this: The Adventurer’s Guild believes that Nelam is trying to annex Tumbling Rapids non-violently.”

“Okay. Why did they ask you to investigate that?”

“Nelam is… a problem for the Adventurer’s Guild. Their most recent king has some unknown vendetta against them. So having Nelam take control of one of the most important and influential in the region would be bad for them. They asked me to look into it, and, if possible, interrupt their plans.”

“Why did they ask you? You don’t have an Investigator class or anything, right?”

“You’re right, I don’t. The reason that asked an outsider instead of using someone that belongs directly to the Adventurer’s Guild is easy, plausible deniability. The Adventurer’s Guild doesn’t have a real military, so starting a war would be a bad idea. And with the way the Nelamian king hates them, a war might be possible. The reason they asked me specifically is also pretty simple. I was the only interested party with enough experience to do a good job, and with enough strength to deal with any consequences.”

Kay leaned back in his chair as he looked at her. “Why accept the job? What’s in it for you?”

“Besides the money? I really hate Nelam.” She glanced off to the side and frowned. “They’re one of the few nations on this continent that use slavery. They’re also a society of asshole human supremacists. So when the Adventurer’s Guild stopped by and asked if I would look into their plans, I said ‘yes’.” She shrugged, “And I was bored.”

“So, to summarize, Nelam has plans for the city, you and the Adventurer’s Guild want to disrupt their plans. Because of that, I might get dragged into it because you’re my teacher.”

Eleniah nodded. “Right.”

Kay thought about it, then shrugged. “I was never going to get along with them, just from the asshole racist bit. The fact that they have slavery just makes me dislike them more.”

“I’m glad.” She hesitated, then waved her hands in front of her face. “I mean, I’m glad that you don’t seem that put out. It’s good that you dislike that they’re slavers, because I also dislike them being slavers, but-”

Kay laughed. “Calm down. I get what you mean. Being roped into being someone’s enemy is less annoying if I was going to be their enemy anyways.”

“Right,” She nodded and looked away.

“So,” Kay changed the subject slightly, “How's the investigation going?”

“Inconclusive. I haven’t found anything that really points me in a good direction.” She tapped at the arm of the chair, “The Illuminators are definitely a Nelamian group, but I’m not sure if they’re connected to the Nelamian government’s plan. If they are, then I’ll start trying to learn more, but it could be that Alice’s Harem ended up getting fucked over by some asshole, and it’s not part of a bigger plot.”

“Have you asked around at the Adventurer’s Guild?” Kay asked. “If there’s a lot of fake identified magical items rolling around, then it might mean there’s more to it than one asshole. Or if you can trace them all to that one guy, it’ll let you close off that avenue faster.”

Eleniah pointed a finger at him. “I asked the guildmaster to ask around for me, quietly. I don’t want to draw attention to myself if I can help it.”

The conversation about political manipulation and investigating it slowly trailed off, and they talked about less pressing things for awhile.

Some time later, Kay remembered something. “Hey, when I was fighting that Blood Mage, he was ranting about some ‘Great Ones’ that he wanted to impress, or something like that. I thought it was just crazy people stuff, but is there anything to it?”

“Maybe?” She thought about it. “I mean, there are a lot of different beliefs or followings that call someone or something ‘Great One’. Various religions that worship gods, cults that worship powerful monsters, other cults that worship eldritch beings… Since he was a Blood Mage my best guess would be Vampyr.”

“Vampeer?” Asked Kay. Not Vampire?

“Right, Vampyr.”

“Can you write that out for me?” The translation magic that let Kay understand people also worked with writing, transforming words into their English counterparts in Kay’s vision.

“Sure.” Eleniah walked into a different part of the house and came back with a scrap of parchment. The word ‘Vampyr’ was written on it.

“Huh.” He looked over the paper again. “And you say ‘Vampeer’?”

“That’s right.”

“Are they humanoid monsters that drink blood and are killed by the sun?”

“They do drink blood. They start as other races, then if they get infected by another Vampyr they eventually turn into one. They start off looking like their original selves, but over time they go insane and mutate into more horrific forms. They don’t like the sun because it makes them weaker, but they don’t get killed by it.”

“Interesting. Back home there are legends of beings like that, although a lot of them vary from one to the next. This,” He tapped the paper, “Is an old way of spelling the name of them, although I don’t know if it’s pronounced that way. Nowadays we call them Vampires.”

“Huh.” Eleniah shrugged. “From what you’ve been telling me some things are similar to stuff from your world, and some isn’t. Maybe this is just one of those things.”

“Could be. Tell me about Vampyr, please?”

“Sure. They lose their sanity over a period of a year or two after being turned. They don’t start to mutate for decades, so the younger ones can blend in with regular people, as long as they hide their fangs. None of them go crazy in the same way, but most of them become cruel and sadistic. Probably because of their race getting changed, they tend to have a good affinity with blood magic, so many of them become Blood Mages. The one’s that aren’t tend to have blood mage around to make it easier for them to feed. A lot of them become Necromancers too. Because of the insanity and a preponderance towards banned classes, they’re considered a very dangerous species. There are lots of organizations dedicated to hunting them, although the Intarian Crusade is the biggest one. They also try and help those turned against their will, and they use volunteers from that group to try and research a cure, if there is one.”

“Since they hang out with Blood Mages, you think that’s why one or more of them might be the dead Blood Mage’s Great Ones?”

“That, and most Vampyr are narcissistic megalomaniacs. Every one I’ve ever encounter had some kind of title they made up for themselves. The Doomlord, His Royal Majesty of the Red Fluidity, shit like that.”

“You met a Vampire who called themself ‘the Doomlord’?” That sounded like a thirteen year old roleplayer to Kay.

“Right? Ridiculous title. Plus, the Lord of Doom would destroy them if they ever heard about it.”

“What?”

She glanced over with a confused look. “What? It’s a dumb idea to give yourself titles that sound like someone else’s real title. It’ll just piss them off.”

“No, I’m surprised there’s someone who calls themself ‘The Lord of Doom’.”

“It’s the name of their class. Why wouldn’t they call themself by their class title?”

“Do you call yourself the Indomitable Fist?”

She shook her head. “I don’t call myself ‘the’ Indomitable Fist. But in formal settings it’s considered the correct thing to do to refer to yourself by your name, then your highest tier class. So I’m Eleniah Selthoran, Indomitable Fist. If you’re being really formal, and you can, you use the Voice of the World when you give your class.”

The conversation soon sidetracked from Vampyr, on to formal events, when it would be appropriate to use the Voice of the World, and when it was possible, and smart, to lie about your classes and levels in formal settings.