I wasn’t exactly surprised, per se. The moment I laid eyes on Sarah’s little medallion, I knew something fishy was afoot. No, despite the old man disappearing before my eyes, in the middle of a crowded plaza, the only thing I felt was an ever-growing pang of annoyance.

Fucking gods.

At least this whole debacle confirmed my assumption that Thaos’s master, the one he’d referred to as the Fox, was indeed a god because only a god would resort to this kind of overly dramatic cryptic riddles.

I pocketed the three figurines, while a still wide-eyed Sarah, still beside me, echoed my feelings with a quiet “What the fuck?”

“Fucking gods,” I repeated out loud, in lieu of an explanation.

“Ah. Makes sense,” she nodded wisely. “So, what now?”

It was a good question. What I should have done was to go home and put all the murders and wars and mysteries behind me. Return to my tower, focus on researching magic, use it to make life better for everyone, and then live happily ever after.

And yet I couldn’t. As much as I didn’t care for the politics of it, the Fox had dangled before me a most enticing bait. The figurines hinted at a whole field of magic that I had never even heard about — one that I increasingly believed the gods had been working hard to keep under wraps.

I sighed as I mulled over the dilemma. Even if I decided to pursue the mystery of the figurines, I could only do that in a proper environment and with the requisite equipment.

“We’ll be returning to the tower in a few days,” I told the young knight. I’d make the decision when we got there.

Three days later, I boarded the skeleton-horse-drawn carriage along with my two young minions. Shiro was relating stories about his romantic conquests in Ardenburg — according to him, the young lady I’d seen him with during the festival had only been one of many. Sarah looked about as doubtful as I felt, but neither of us interrupted his boasting.

I used the opportunity to practice some more magic. It was a tad ambitious, but I thought I’d be able to handle two Dimension spells at once. Bracing myself, I Hasted the horses, causing the carriage to speed up dangerously. After confirming that the spell was stable, I split my focus, casting a Slow on myself and my two companions.

Sarah and Shiro yelped in surprise at the sudden blur of motion from outside, but I waved my hand at them to assure them nothing was wrong. While the carriage was moving much faster thanks to the Hasted horses, the Slow spell only made it look like it was going faster from our perspective. This way, while the trip would take just short of two days in real time, to us it would seem like a little more than half a day had passed.

Half a day of Shiro’s amorous adventures would hopefully be short enough for Sarah and me to stay sane.

As we got close to the coast that housed Ravenrock and the tower, Sarah perked up.

“Hey, Boss? Can we head into the town first?” she asked all of a sudden.

“We can, sure. Any particular reason why?” I asked, already sending the horses a mental nudge, changing their course to one slightly more northward.

“Well, remember how you introduced me to Leon the first time you took me to Ravenrock?” she asked, her face splitting into a grin. “I think it would be… nice if we did the same to Shiro.”

“Why am I getting ominous vibes from this?” Shiro asked from his corner of the carriage, voice tinged with worry.

“Oh, you have nothing to worry about,” she replied, her grin becoming even wider. “He’s a friend of the Boss. Really nice, honorable guy. After all your tales, I’m sure you’ll get along just fine. You can learn a lot from him.”

“I really don’t like the sound of this…” Shiro tried.

“Yes, I believe you’re right, Sarah. We’ll stop by his compound,” I said, lips quirking into a smile. The girl could be vicious when she wanted.

***

An hour later, we were disembarking in front of Leon’s sprawling estate. Before I even had time to ring the doorbell, my old friend rushed through the front door, greeting us with a cheerful look on his face.

“My friends! It’s good you’ve come — it has been too long, already!” Leon announced while enveloping me in a bear hug.

“It hasn’t even been two weeks,” I tried to say, the sound somewhat muffled because of the crushing embrace.

“A very long two weeks! I’ve heard some crazy news coming from the east. I was worried you’d gotten yourself into trouble again,” he frowned, finally releasing me from the hug.

“Yes, well, it was an… eventful trip.”

Sarah snorted. “Yeah, eventful.”

“Oh, and what’s this? Picked up another stray?” he asked, taking a good look at Shiro, who was looking quite uncomfortable under the boisterous man’s attention.

Sarah answered before I could say anything. “Yup, this is Shiro! You’ll teach him all you’ve taught me, right, Leon?” she asked, lips curling into a devilish grin.

“Hmm, I don’t know. He doesn’t look strong enough for this type of training,” Leon frowned as he pondered, scratching his stubble.

Shiro bristled at his words. “If she can do it, then so can I!” he exclaimed indignantly.

Leon’s frown turned into a grin. “Well then, who am I to refuse you? Let’s go, then, no time to waste,” he said, grabbing Shiro by an arm and dragging him further into the compound.

Sarah made to follow him, then turned around and waved me goodbye. I waved back, shaking my head at her and Leon’s antics. The two were a perfect fit in terms of shenanigans, and I almost felt sorry for Shiro. Whatever they had in store for him, it would not be pleasant.

With a thought, I directed the carriage to wait for me outside of the town gates. Since I was already here, I thought I might as well pay another visit to my favorite bookstore.

The bell announced my entry with a pleasant clink, and this time Davos, the shopkeeper, was standing at the counter, helping another customer check out. He nodded to me in greeting before turning his attention back to the elderly woman and her… romance novels? Well, I’m not one to judge, I thought as I shook my head.

I shuffled through the books displayed near the entrance, but I couldn’t find anything of interest or that I didn’t already have. As I was inspecting a book on artistic hedge trimming, the woman started in the direction of the entrance. I stepped slightly to the left, allowing her enough space to pass, and I heard her suck in her breath when she finally noticed me.

I nodded in greeting, but the woman quickly wove her hands in some religious gesture and left without looking back.

Sighing, I made my way to the counter.

“What spooked her like that?” Davos asked, brows raised.

“Myself, probably,” I replied, though I didn’t elaborate. I liked how Davos treated me, and although I didn’t want to lie to him, I was also afraid he’d change if he knew who I was.

“Eh, makes sense. You do look downright spooky,” he agreed.

“Is that how you talk to all customers?” I asked, bemused.

“Just the strange ones. You know, if you just wore something more colorful, I’m sure people wouldn’t give you a second thought.”

“Doubtful,” I replied, shaking my head. “How’s your son doing?” I asked, trying to change the subject to something more benign.

“As well as can be,” he sighed “He lost a few of his friends during the riot, and he’s struggling with the grief. I wish I could help him, but…”

“Some things they need to learn for themselves,” I said, quoting from the book we’d bonded over.

“Yep. How about you? You said you picked up a… stray girl, last time?”

“If only it were just that,” I replied with a snort. “We went on a trip recently, and somehow I managed to pick up another kid. Both of them are pretty traumatized, too, though they try to hide it.”

“Another one? Are you starting an orphanage or something?”

“Or something,” I agreed. “I’m not sure yet, but I feel like these two are just the first of many.”

“Hah. I don’t envy you. One is hard enough,” he said as he shook his head. “Anyway, is there anything I can help you with?”

“I don’t suppose you’ve had any new arrivals in the meantime? I think I already went over all your stock last time.”

“Hmm, well, we just had a delivery early this week. Most of it was romance novels, though. I don’t suppose you’re interested in that—”

I shook my head.

“—but luckily, there was some stuff that might be more to your taste. I haven’t had time to sort it all out yet, so it’s still in the back,” he said while pointing over his shoulder. “It’s the big box on the right, if you want to check it out yourself.”

“I’ll take a look, then, if you don’t mind.”

“Enjoy yourself.”

I made my way past the counter and into the cramped backroom. It had just enough clear space to be able to shimmy around, otherwise, the entire room was simply shelves upon shelves of books. Most of them I’d seen displayed outside, though I spotted a few titles that I was pretty sure were kept hidden unless somebody specifically asked for them — they were racy enough to make my ears red.

Ignoring the pile of erotica, I shuffled my way around the shelves until I found the box Davos had mentioned. I recognized the sigil on the box — it was the Mages’ Guild Publishing House. They had a monopoly over any kind of magical literature. Even I had had all of my theses and treatises published by them. Curious, I carefully went over each of the tomes. Most were older works that I’d already seen before, including two copies of a particularly famous book — On Conversion between Force and Matter, a revolutionary work that had greatly advanced our collective understanding of both Aspects. Some of the others were newer works, mostly touching on specific use cases of greater discoveries such as On Conversion.

I frowned when I came upon a newer book, released barely two years ago. The title seemed familiar, although I didn’t recognize the name of the author.

As I leafed through the pages, my frown deepened as my suspicion grew. By the time I reached the conclusion, I had already begun to see red.

Right before I was branded a villain, I had just submitted a thesis to the Mages’ Guild Publishing House touching on some aspects of my magnum opus, specifically on the relationship between Mind and Soul. I never heard any response from the Mages’ Guild and assumed they just decided to cut ties with me. I had not given it any thought at that point, but it seemed that my trust in their professionalism had been misplaced.

I didn’t mind them giving me the cold shoulder.

But one of theirs copying my work and passing it off as their own? That was wholly unacceptable.

For a moment I wondered if this was another ploy to get me to act rashly, but I discarded that thought as soon as it popped up. Trickery or not, trap or not, they would not get away with stealing my work even if it was the last thing I did.

Bringing the raging tempest in my head under control, I planned and plotted my course of action. I was fighting against a company owned by the greatest gathering of mages on the continent, and given the gravity of their transgression, I had a single path available to me.

I would be writing some very strongly worded letters.