Polymath Redux – The line between gaining everything or losing everything
Chapter XVIII
“… Hah? Disciples? You almost kill us and now you want us to become your disciples? Don’t screw with us, to hell with that!”
Wolf shouts out angrily, loud enough for Morialia to understand his displeasure about the situation. While not as verbose as Wolf was, the other members of the Hywel Knights were silently in agreement. After all, it was Morialia that tricked them into coming here and tried to have them fight against some insane monster. So in light of that, why should they just accept being her disciples?
“Well… it’s fine if you don’t accept it, but I think it would be a win-win for all of us if you did. I apologize for trying to kill you, I don’t know what came over me back then but that was never my intentions. All I wished to do was simply test your strength to see if you were worthy enough to become my disciples.
A blatant lie, however relationships were a fickle thing. Often times truth can be much more detrimental than a lie. Caution was advised; Mordred knew almost nothing about this world but at the same time the reverse was also true; this world knew nothing of him. It was for this reason that he went with an alternate form to begin with, so that even if this form was compromised it was fine since it was a false one.
Even having tested the power of these people, it would be foolhardy to drop his guard now and say that this was the best this world had to offer, there was no way that was going to be true. However that too was fine, since for the moment this amount of information was adequate, this entire situation was a net gain for Mordred; he had not revealed anything about himself, not his face, not his identity, nothing.
One could say that Morialia revealed her power, but ‘power’ had three components, ‘strength’, ‘wealth’ and ‘influence’. Even if these people had figured out her power they could not act without understanding how much influence she commanded or how much resources she had at her disposal. Still, she had to be careful with the amount of information that she leaked about herself.
It would be easy to tell them the truth. About her identity, about the real reason why she was testing their powers, that it was because she knew nothing of this world. However once she did that the next logical question would be ‘why not?’ The answer to that question was because she was a foreign element to this world, while that fact itself may not have been too groundbreaking it did drive a fundamental wedge between them a difference in class and of kind, once it was out that they were different it would be that much harder to form long lasting relationships and alliances.
The dragon king raised his hands to halt the conversation.
“Before we you get into this topic, why don’t you explain who you really are. Human or not, it would be difficult to find any being with the amount of power you posses.”
A sound and logical detour from the topic to find out more information on this mysterious little girl who possessed more power than the dragon king. Of course Morialia’s one issue was with the presence of a mysterious stranger known as ‘Casec’. He was not part of the deal to become her disciple and thus he did not need to know what was being said.
“I’m fine with revealing more about myself, but only if that man leaves.”
Morialia pointed towards Casec.
“Casec? He’s trust worthy, he’s an OMEGA rank adventurer like us and has worked with a few times.”
Leona vouched for him.
“Why is he here?”
Morialia asked, though in truth she was a little thankful that Casec came just in time to snap her back to reality. If not for his appearance then the Hywel Knights would’ve been crushed to oblivion. However that was then and this was now, if he had no further connections with the Hywel Knights then he wasn’t necessary in this conversation.
“I came here because I felt the presence of a strange monster in the chasm. Though I would never have guessed it to be a Spectral Eater.”
He answered in a gruff and deep voice. Indeed, rangers often had better senses than most other classes so it would be understandable for him, an OMEGA ranked ranger to have felt the presence of a Spectral Eater. If that was all then fine, but Morialia felt something else, it was a similar feeling to when she met the adventurer ‘Sven’.
“I see, then since you have confirmed the situation with your own eyes, it should be time for you to leave.”
Everyone stayed silent, though the members of Hywel knights wanted to cut in and say ‘don’t be so rude’, they weren’t able to, frankly they were scared of the repercussions of what Morialia would do. Even Wolf had decided to shut his mouth, his earlier attitude was justified because they were the victims but this time was a little different, in that it was Casec who was facing the brunt of it.
Though in truth Casec wanted to stay and hear more about this mysterious little girl, it was true that he had no other reason to stay now that the Spectral Eater was dead. With a sigh Casec accepted that line of reasoning and decided to leave the premise and once he got back to the capital he would be reporting everything to the Wayfarer Council.
After confirming that Casec had left the premises using [intuition] Morialia returned to the topic at hand.
“As much as I would love to tell you more about myself, that’s a bit impossible. ‘Morialia’ is a fake name that I picked for myself, as for my real name, I no longer remember it.”
She started to explain and made it look as though she was starting to reminisce about something.
“No longer remember it? Could it be some sort of amnesia?”
Rio asked to which Morialia nodded.
“Along with the rest of my past everything had been forgotten. The truth is I found myself awoken from a deep sleep only recently. No knowledge of my past, my age, no friend or families either. I know only my own power and that I am human.”
Morialia decided to make a fitting back story for herself. Though it really wasn’t that far from the truth; she really did get up from a deep sleep and found herself on top of a mountain, no knowledge of this world nor its past and no family or friends.
“But then why do you want us to be your disciples?”
Leona asked.
“To put it simply, information. I remember very little of this world, and you are the city’s best adventurers, meaning that information flows through you exponentially. Perhaps you may even come upon some sort of information about my past. I merely wanted to make use of that and in exchange I would teach you some of my skills.”
Indeed as the most famous OMEGA ranked adventurer group they too had a certain degree of influence that could be useful. Leona Crom, who was publicly known as the 3rd princess of the realm, that especially could come in extremely useful.
That wasn’t all, the reason why Morialia chose this specific group was because she had gotten information about being recognized by the dragon king. The dragon king was known to be friendly to humans and has some sort of working relationship and even some influence. If that were the case then it could only be a good thing to be allied with him, with it she can have access to some of the dragon king’s knowledge and influence herself.
The Hywel knights was for that connection.
The members of the Hywel Knights turned towards each other and gave a hesitating look. They had understand now what the ‘situation’ was. In fact all things considered, this was a fairly good prospect for them to become stronger. They had even seen the extent of the powers she was capable of.
“The deal does not seem like a bad one, and as you say you can make use of the adventurer network through us and we can become stronger through your guidance. But we would like some time to think about it.”
Leona answered on everyone’s behalf. Morialia smiles.
“Of course, if you have decided on an answer please use this.”
Morialia threw a small token at them, it was a [communication token], a one-time-use model. She then turned towards the dragon king.
“I would also like to extend a hand of alliance to the dragon king. As an apology, I will lend you my strength if the time comes for the need.”
Out of everyone here, the dragon king himself was the most well versed with her powers. However the dragon king was not merely known for his strength but also his wisdom, instantly recognizing her ruse.
“You want to make use of my influence for more information too?”
Morialia paused for a bit before laughing it off.
“Haha… I guess that was too obvious?”
“Indeed. Well, I don’t mind, but under one condition.”
“Oh~? Do tell.”
“You’ll have to spar with me from time to time. It had been too long since I’ve had a good match like this.”
To ‘fight’, for the first time Mordred’s life he had gotten serious in a fight. Not even when playing his character had he been that serious, but this one time exhilarated him. To the point where he almost lost himself in the ecstasy of it all, if not for this [song of clarity] clearing his mind.
However he had also ‘enjoyed’ it.
“I guess I wouldn’t mind.”
“Excellent. Then you have my full permission to make use of my territory. I welcome you as a special guest from the dragon king, Aurendra Sinclair.”
“Most appreciated.”
…
A knock on the door to the empty Vardis inn, Rena perked up, wondering who it was. It certainly could not have been Morgana’s group or Mordred and it was too early for Irina to return. Perhaps a new customer?
“Yes, coming.”
Rena opened the door in anticipation, it had been years since she had so much company. However once she opened the door she had almost immediately regretted that decision for she knew the kind of men that were standing at her entrance wasn’t the kind ones.
She had seen the hatred in their eyes, and in their hands weapons that did not look like the ones used for adventuring purposes. Tools made especially to harm another being like herself. Was it time already? Had the revolution to finally rid the city for the neutral demons come? If there was one regret, it would be that she was unable to see Mordred once more before her time. That kind man who had shown her what it means to be cared for.
The men standing at the door were numerous, perhaps around 6 or 7, each in hand with a weapon. They pushed aside the demoness matron and entered the inn. Started breaking things, making a mess of things, as though they were letting out their pent up stress they destroyed the interior of the inn.
“Please stop!”
Rena cried, but the men ignored her… no they did not ignore her, they stabbed her. A sword through the chest, she bled from the mouth. Her voice no longer came out, but she still struggled to stop their rampaging but they did not listen to her. Tears rushed down past her face, she wanted to know what she did wrong to have this happen to her.
She cursed the fact that she was born a demon, but at the same time was thankful, because without it she would never have met that kind man. Still, this situation wouldn’t do, if she died here she would never meet him again. ‘I have to… clean up before they come…’ such thoughts ran through her head but she became unable to move.
If she knew she was going to die like this, then she should’ve at least told him her feelings. It was strange, she had only met the man for a few days but to her those few days were much happier than all of her days combined.
“I… don’t want to… die…”
She spoke, chocking on her own blood. Her vision becoming hazy.
Would Mordred be sad that she was gone? Would he mourn for her? Or did he just see her as another demon; a monster? At the very least, she wanted for her last thoughts to be about him.
Cold…
Dark…
Lonely…
‘Help…’ she thought just as her mind went dim.
Rebirth Online World 