Rebirth Online World

Polymath Redux – A fate better than death but worse than living
Chapter XL

“Ugh~ w, what…?”

Recovering from his unconscious state, Casec found himself with both his hands tied up behind his back against the spine of a chair in a dark room. A single source of magic light from above gave dim visibility and accentuated the grim and dreaded aura of his prison. A quick glance revealed that there were no obvious windows around the room meaning the possibility that he was currently being kept underground.

Surrounding him were four brick walls that were reminiscent of those seen in deep underground catacombs. At the very least this enclosed room carried with it perhaps centuries of history if not more. On one of the walls was a large steel door that had been inhabited by cobwebs and dust but appeared still sturdy enough to withstand magical artillery if given the chance.

Almost as though every brick was haunted with the ghosts of whoever died down here, the sounds of wind harrowing through the cracks gave off an ominous screech. However at the same time this was a good indication that even if he was currently underground there was still a connection to the outside, else wind would not flow. While both his hands were tied behind his back with some metal chains this level of ensnarement shouldn’t have been enough to keep the famed OMEGA ranked tracker tied for too long. Or so he had thought but no matter how much he tried to struggle out of those chains all it would do was rattle and inform his captors that he had become awake.

The most reasonable conclusion was that it was enforced with some kind of reinforcement magic or enchantment that prevented him for freeing himself. There were all sorts of magic in the world that were yet unknown to many people so it wasn’t too hard to believe that a new form of ensnare magic was developed. Especially if it was by that woman, Morgana Daltress who carried foreign magic with her.

“Tch…”

This wasn’t good; all he had accomplished trying to free himself was to reveal to his captors that he was now awake. No doubt they’d come to interrogate him now. Well, that much was fine; he didn’t possess any material products that tied him down to his group the Wayfarer council so his captors probably wouldn’t get too much information if he didn’t speak. The only worrisome aspect was that his face was fairly well known due to his high rank as an adventurer, but with careful manipulation of words that could be remedied.

“They’re coming, huh?”

Casec could feel the sound of footsteps drawing closer from the outside of his captivity cell. One… two… no, three? Three people were approaching his position and with every tap of their boots against the stone floor the tension in his heart began to rise. Usually the fate of any captive assassin would be suicide, at least the ones that kept their honor to their employer. However Casec was also a fairly willful man who believed that it was possible to weasel his way out of any situation and this time too he wanted to test his luck.

The sound of high heels across the stone floor, most likely this was his original target, Morgana Daltress. The other was the sound of metallic greaves, perhaps a bodyguard or personal knight? The last one wore heavy leather boots; the face of that butler who had defeated him had come to mind. Casec felt his heart racing faster just remembering what had happened before; the way that butler had carried himself and that smug attitude with those eyes that looked down on him as if he were a mere ant.

He wanted another chance to fight back and perhaps that chance may come very soon. Casec took a deep breath and swallowed to clear his throat. The small metallic knob of the prison spun slowly and opened the door which creaked ominously. Three people had entered the room and of which two of them could be instantly recognized.

The first of which was his original target, dressed elegantly with clothes that could only be weaved with the highest most quality threads. Her soft pale skin complimented the light blue dress she wore and her blonde hair tied up into a ponytail only accentuated the natural charms of her neck and ears. The nation’s beloved merchant that had recently become the minister of defense and the ‘champion of the people’.

She looked considerably young for having such a position, probably even younger than Casec himself. Actually how old was she really? At best she appeared to be in her late teens or early twenties; it was absurd for someone so young to become a member of the nation’s upper echelon and not just any but a minister. Most other ministerial positions were seated by people who were old enough to be her father; a testament to her intellect and talents but of course one couldn’t discount the possibility she was using appearance altering magic, if such magic even existed. With Morgana it seemed as though anything could be a possibility.

The second person was the butler that had stopped him from his assassination attempt. With an ever so smug look on his face he stared down at the tied Casec with his hands behind his back; a sign that suggested he knew he was open to attacks but still held this posture to show the difference in their situations and power. Casec wanted so much to punch him in the face but on the account that he was tied up it was currently impossible to do so.

The third person was of an unknown quality, he wore a set of full plate standard issue state armor that all front line knights received. His head and thus identity was covered behind a matching metal helmet, and from the way he carried himself he didn’t seem like anyone too important. Perhaps he was just filling in for the role of Morgana Daltress’ guard? Though it was unlikely since if it was just for protection then that butler was more than enough to fill the role. The next likely answer was that the knight was some kind of officer that was sent by the state to investigate a potential assassination plot on the treasured minister of defense.

If that was the case then most likely his allies at the Wayfarer council should have learnt of his predicament. Even if the information didn’t go public, the fact that he hadn’t contacted them back means that they would have at least realized something had gone wrong. Though whether they’d try to mount a rescue attempt was questionable as Casec was one of the stronger members of the council and the others would hesitate to charge in on a place that could stop him.

“Greetings, Mr. Casec I believe it was? I recognize your face as an OMEGA ranked adventurer. It seems that we’ve found ourselves at an intriguing situation.”

Morgana Daltress spoke with a soft voice, almost as though she was taking this situation lightly. It could be that she was just that confident at how safe she was right now that she was able to speak in such a tone. Casec couldn’t really say that she was wrong, given his own predicament.

“I won’t talk so it’s probably better if you kill me now.”

A bluff; there’s no way he would want to perish here. He knew that his captors wouldn’t kill him and tried to act tough. However that single line was a mistake on his part as evident by the smile at appeared on Morgana’s face.

“That you won’t talk means that if you do it would be to the detriment of someone else. To be quite honest, with that information I’ve gotten all I wanted out of you and any more would just be a bonus. In the end I only wanted to confirm if this was really an assassination attempt.”

“…”

Casec’s eyes widened with disbelief. No, that couldn’t have been all that she wanted. She should need more information about him, about the Wayfarer council, about his allies. Just want kind of interrogation was this?

Realizing his confusion and disbelief Morgana gave further explanation.

“It’d be best not to underestimate my information network; those defensive siege golems and sentry cannons aren’t merely for defense, they also act as my ears and eyes on the city. I have near unanimous support from the population so any voice of disapproval will be known to me.”

Of course this was merely just one method of finding out the ones behind this assassination attempt. The requirements of another method was fulfilled the moment they captured Casec, and that was to transform into Casec using [alter: appearance] and wander around town aimlessly. Doing so will no doubt alert his allies and have them come to him directly once they notice that he hasn’t checked in with them.

In summation, it was fine to get rid of Casec here and now, though if they could get bonus information that could also be a boon.

‘I see, not just eyes and ears everywhere but also her sword can be pointed to whomever in the city at a moment’s notice…’, Casec gave a bitter smile as he understood the depths of Morgana’s intellect and cunning nature. She had used the recent catastrophe to her advantaged and in the name of security scattered a vast army of automated soldiers around the city; she had effective silently taken the entire city hostage without anyone realizing it.

He could understand now why the Luminary said she was the primary threat instead of some clumsy hero who may or may not have been rejected by the holy sword. At the very least he wanted to inform his allies just how scary Morgana Daltress truly was but from the current situation it was obvious that this wasn’t possible anymore.

Then there was only one choice left.

“Well, just enjoy this place as you’ll be staying here for quite a while.”

Morgana told him but a determined grin came to Casec’s face.

“No thanks, I see that staying alive will just mean I’ll inadvertently give you more information.”

He didn’t want to die but he also didn’t want to stay here any longer with such a monstrous woman. If she truly had gotten all of the information she wanted out of him then there was no other reason to keep him alive. As a skilled tracker he understood that she wasn’t bluffing about this, she really meant to keep him alive just for any potential information. A degrading thought.

“What? You don’t mean-”

For the first time Casec had seen Morgana at the flustered and confused end of the stick. This made what he was about to do far more worth it and gave him one last chuckle before he went through with it.

“Yeah, exactly… I’ll take at least one of you down with me.”

Runes stashed all over Casec’s body and hidden away in his clothes started to glow. It was obvious to any casual observer what he was trying to do; what any assassin would do in the situation that he was caught. ‘Self destruction’. It wasn’t for any honor or loyalty, he just wanted to at least die with dignity instead of by the enemy’s hands down in this god forsaken tomb.

“Wait!”

Morgana shouted out in panic and tried to reach him and stop him. However she was being held back by the butler and shielded by the knight. As his life force was being used to fuel the runes on his skin it seemed to him that time was slowing down, giving him a chance to reminisce on his life. The earliest memories he had was his life in a forest as an infant, he lived amongst wild and powerful monsters, giving him some of their attributes as he grew up. It was because of this trait it was possible for him to become a top tier adventurer and tracker.

Friends? As far as he knew he didn’t have any. Then a purpose? For the longest time his only purpose was to grow stronger and expand his abilities. He joined the Wayfarer council only as a means of accomplishing that goal; the adventurer guild’s quests were far too tame and straight forward, while if he worked with the underground organization he would fine more daring quests.

It was as simple as that. No parents, no sibling or friends. Merely the need to grow stronger without a purpose; somewhere down the line power was no longer a means but the goal.

“Heh.”

Engulfed by a bright light the room turned from an underground cell to something akin to a nuclear blast zone. The walls had been knocked over, clearing at least 10 meters in all sides and at the center was a horrible sight with the charred remains of what used to be a chair.

Mordred walked up and stared down at the remains in contemplation.

“Loyalty?”

He asked himself. Was Casec’s last actions taken by loyalty to his organization?

“I doubt it; if that was the case he would have killed himself before we came. Perhaps he felt the futility of his situation and decided to take his own life. Give a man a purpose and he would sacrifice himself, but often times the exact opposite can lead to the same result. A man with no purpose can easily take his own life as well.”

Morgana answered with a bitter smile. She could somehow feel as though she could relate to him, a man who had no purpose other than to become stronger. Morgana had a purpose, that was to live for Mordred’s wishes, but take that away from her and she could easily understand the man’s feelings.

“A purpose is it?”

Mordred drew his hands forward and started activating a spell. In an instant Morgana recognized what type of spell it was; a high tier [cleric] spell known as [resurrection]. As the name implied, it was a revival spell. Would it even work in this world? Death back in the game was little more than a binary system but this world was real. Would a revival spell that was tuned to a binary death work on the literal dead?

Once more light had engulfed the room; this time not by the light of destruction but by the light of resurrection. After a few seconds the light had subsided and lying down on the floor was the materialized body of Casec who had just blown himself up with pre-casted magic runes.

Slowly opening his eyes once again for the second time Casec looked around to see what had just happened. His last memories was that of blowing himself up, yet how was he still alive? What was going on?!

“W… what?”

He checked his body for any irregularities and noticed at once that the magic runes on his body had disappeared. This was immovable proof that he did indeed use that magic to blow himself up and take his own life, so then how was it that he was still standing here? Of course a single answer came to him but he dreaded that thought, ‘no, it’s impossible’ he thought to himself, he didn’t want to believe it.

He hastily looked around the place and there, three people who he had tried to take down with him were still standing in front of him, unharmed. His eyes widened once more as he came to fear their power, he had thought that at least one person would have been taken down with him but not only have they all survived but all of them unharmed.

“Welcome back from the domain of the dead.”

The iron clad knight had spoken.

“What… did you do?”

Casec asked with widened eyes.

“I revived you.”

“Revive…? No, that’s impossible. Such magic… only ancient gods should know such magic!”

The iron clad knight remained silent as if to affirm that suggestion that he was some kind of ancient god. Casec’s mind was filled with more questions than ever before but he had now realized one thing. It wasn’t Morgana Daltress who he should’ve been wary of but this unknown knight! A being who could cast resurrection magic!

One memory had come back to Casec at this moment. It was only a memory from a few hours ago but the words that the butler had spoken to him.

‘You who have intruded upon ‘his’ domain, you have sealed away your fate.’

‘His domain’. At that time the butler had said that, and not ‘her domain’, meaning the true mastermind wasn’t Morgana but this person!

The Iron clad knight offered a hand.

“Casec. Work for me.”