Chapter 20: A Deadly Encounter

Unlike Aviada and the conspirators that were targeting her, I didn't have an arrangement with the guards to turn the other way, so it took a while for me to find a spot where I could fade unseen. After passing the border, finding their tracks took another minute, delaying me further. I walked as fast as I could while following the tracks of four men in the middle of the night, afraid that I was too late.

Luckily, I managed to arrive on time. I could see the men closing towards Aviada, their weapons weren't drawn yet, but the same thing wasn't true for Aviada. Even from the distance, I could see that she was ready to burst into action, but she held herself back. Even with her sword, one against four wasn't the best odds to take.

I moved closer, not only to be able to listen to them, but also to be near her in case things devolved into violence suddenly. But I was careful, because one of them had established a ward to keep the monsters aways, which unfortunately also worked against people. I needed to create a backdoor before sneaking into the perimeter. "Marcus," I heard Aviada saying. "What do I owe the presence of your ugly mug at this hour. Were you looking to have quality time with your friends? I heard that couples occasionally use the forest for that purpose."

The men were facing the other way, but one of them stiffened at Aviada's words, giving me a good idea which one was Marcus. Unfortunately, I still didn't know who the fuck was Marcus, or what he was trying to do. "I came to protect you," Marcus said, an obvious lie Aviada didn't bother to weigh, her sword still at its half-raised position, ready to burst into action in any second.

"Yes, that's obvious," Aviada said. "Four brave, strapping men, led by a former fiancee I humiliated by canceling the wedding after publicly beating him, following me in a dark forest... I never felt safer in my life." I had to admit, I was impressed with Aviada, even against the obvious mortal danger, there was no stopping her.

"Bitch," the one that I identified as Marcus shouted, preparing to charge, and from the way Aviada smiled, she was counting on that. Unfortunately, one of the others, the only one without a visible armor, grabbed his arm and whispered something, keeping him back. "The only reason you won was because of the unfair advantage given by your sword."

"Is this what you tell yourself when you cry yourself to sleep every night while trying to forget your humiliation," Aviada said, but this time, Marcus was expecting a taunt, and let it go with a shrug. Meanwhile, I managed to create a temporary gate on the protective field of the ward, slipping into the perimeter without alerting the mage.

"You wish," said Marcus. "I have no problems teaching you your place, permanently I mind you, but I'm feeling merciful. Relinquish your sword, and I'll forget the damage on my reputation due to your cheating."

I heard one of his hangers snort in amusement, clearly not buying the impression Marcus was trying to sell, but that didn't make him move. I didn't know who Marcus was, but considering the number of guards he managed to suborn, it was likely quite rich.

"Any time," Aviada said, lifting sword even higher, its edge catching the glint of the moonlight. Combined with Aviada's tall stature, and the ease she could handle her impressive sword, it was an impressive sight. Too impressive, because Marcus took a step back even as the others moved forward.

"Not when you still have that cheating sword," Marcus said. "I want a fair fight." His sneer made it obvious that the meaning he assigned to fair greatly differed from the common usage. "You're going to use this one instead," he added, throwing a steel sword towards her. It was a terrible sword, rusty with several chinks around its horribly maintained edge. It was more effective as a blunt weapon than as a bladed one.

"Are you sure?" asked the grunt in the middle, who had dressed as a mage. "What about the shadow wolf-" he tried to continue, but Marcus cut him off with an angry statement.

"Cut it out. How many times I have to tell you that it was your imagination. There is no way she would be alive if a shadow wolf actually passed the breach, and even by a miracle she managed to kill it, she would have more than a couple of wounds as a result."

I nodded, glad to discover the people behind that particular mishap. Meanwhile, Aviada was carefully examining the additional muscle he brought with him, trying to decide whether to take her chances against four of them rather than languishing her sword, but in the end, she sank her sword to the ground, and picked the one Marcus had discarded instead.

"I'm going to teach you a lesson, bitch! You'll pay for humiliating me," Marcus murmured as he raised his own sword, an enchanted masterwork, though obviously inferior to Aviada's ancestral sword. With that, he charged forward, and their swords connected with a loud noise.

The others spread out a bit, their hands on their weapons, ready to interject if things went bad. Aviada must be aware of it as well, because she was stronger and faster than her current display. She was trying not to give others an excuse to pull back. Marcus was a skilled warrior, but not on Aviada's level.

But their formation had a very important advantage. They were spread around, leaving their mage, the only one that could notice my spellcasting, alone.

I took a breath before dashing forward, molding mana to create the quickest illusion I had to construct in my life. The mage noticed the surge of mana, but the veil of illusion hid him from the view, and his cry muffled by the silencing spell that followed. Both were simple spells that he could dispel in a second, but a second he didn't have. My dagger was in hand when the distance between us dwindled into nothing, and the dagger sank into his throat, while my fingers pressed against his mouth, preventing him from shouting.

[+3 Melee]

His fingers clamped around my wrist, trying to push me away, but even with the adrenaline, his strength was nothing. It didn't take long for him to start moving, and I dropped him on the ground, another illusion allowing me to steal his guise. I modified the veil of illusion to hide the still-bleeding body on my feet, and continued to watch the battle.

Aviada was still fighting defensively, and she didn't have a scratch on her, but the same couldn't be said for Marcus, who had two bleeding gashes, one on his arm, the other on his cheek. I started to gather mana, to be used in a surprise assault, while Aviada abandoned her defensive stance for a ferocious assault. Marcus' sword flew away, but he managed to avoid the assault. Aviada rolled to get her enchanted sword.

"What are you waiting for, you numbskulls!" Marcus shouted in anger. "Kill the bitch!"

It was the sign I was waiting for. I turned all the mana I had gathered into a mana blast, and threw towards the nearest target. It wasn't a spell that was preferred despite its strength, because it was slow to cast and easy to avoid, not to mention it didn't work well with magical resistance of the monsters.

But it was an excellent spell to get rid of a surprised human opponent, my target grunt realized a second before his head disintegrated into a pile of ash. I stopped maintaining the illusion over me, and Marcus' eyes grew when he noticed two of his grunts were already fallen.

A mistake, because Aviada used the opportunity to get rid of the other grunt, leaving Marcus with two-to-one odds, with him at a disadvantage. A bad matchup for a guy that needed three helpers just to feel confident enough to fight against Aviada. "Please," he whined, his earlier confidence nowhere to be seen. "We can-" he tried to continue, but Aviada cut his words with a slash of her sword, separating his head from his body.

[Achievement: Speedy Saviour. Arrive at the last minute to save the life of a paramour. +500 Experience, +2 Speed]

"That was interesting," Aviada said as she looked at me, still breathing hard.

"I'll say," I said. I thought about calling her on the unscheduled midnight trip, but after a moment, I decided to let it go. She didn't have a personality that could take criticism, and for better or worse, the issue had been resolved. There was no need to create an argument that would break the mood when I was receiving a grateful look for saving her life. A more suspicious person would have explored the possibility of my involvement considering my lucky appearance, but luckily, Aviada had a more direct personality, which made the situation more fun.

"So, what now," she asked.

"We need to put things in a way that would look like a fight between them," I said, pointing at the four bodies lying in the different levels of dismemberment. Without saying anything else, I used my arcana abilities and levitated all four of them, shuffling them around it created a convincing crime scene, and another spell to remove the signs of our presence, including the footprints. I even changed the shapes of their wounds to make it more convincing. It wasn't enough to trick a good ranger, but I was willing to bet that the guard that allowed them to pass would do his best to stick to the most obvious explanation, not willing to reveal his own involvement.

[-85 Mana]

[+2 Biomancy]

After that, we left the forest, keeping silent, partially to reduce the chance of getting caught, partially to give Aviada the time to process the situation. I was tempted to ask her to spend some time together, but unfortunately, that was not a possibility, not when there was a risk of escalation. Things were complicated enough without being caught out in a state of undress.

"By the way, why are you dressed like a servant," Aviada asked, not bothering to whisper since we were alone in the corridor. Another careless mistake, as just because she couldn't see anyone didn't mean that there was no one around.

I sent a pulse to make sure we were alone before answering. "Nobody really notices a servant," I explained, but chose not to elaborate further until we arrived at the crossroads. "As much as I would like to spend some time with you, tonight is not the best for that. I'll see you in a few days, okay."

She nodded, and before she could say anything else, I turned and left, annoyed by the necessity of letting the damsel go after saving her from distress. Still, I had a better place in her mind. And hopefully, she would remember her gratitude in our next encounter.

**********************

The next couple of days passed in a blur. Once again, I walked around the school, dressed as a maid, trying to get the latest information, but it turned out to be a challenge. The death of four students, two of them heirs to their houses, had managed to create quite a bit of stir. Thankfully, from what I could gather, the guard did the smart thing and used the story I had kindly prepared for him, which kept Aviada's name out of the proceedings. All the gossip was about a duel gone wrong.

With that closed, I decided to went back to the library, but not before I sat in my room, penning a rather long letter, using careful penmanship that wouldn't go remiss in a love letter, except for the complicated diagrams underlying the magical calculations. In the letter, I had detailed a rather complicated issue I was having on creating arcana bolts that would be effective against high-resistance monsters without wasting too much mana. I still remembered the danger I had run against the shadow wolf. I would have likely died if I had missed my attack.

But the technical challenge I was facing wasn't the only reason for the detailed breakdown of my own experimentations, as I had no doubt that Helga would require only a day or two at most to discover most of the things I discovered. No, I wrote a detailed explanation simply because, it was complicated enough to show my credentials, which would impress her more. At the end of the letter, there were several instructions for her to take for our meeting as well.

I felt a strange mixture of stress and excitement as I joined the usual morning meeting of the library staff, listening to the head librarian to distribute the tasks for the day. A wrong move here would have ruined everything I had worked for, but I couldn't help but watch her in appreciation since I had discovered the femininity that laid under her carefully-crafted serious facade. Too bad that I lacked the ability to make a move on her.

Maybe soon.

With that done, I once again moved to the back of the library, where I was once again tasked to gather the books that lay forgotten on the desks. One of the benefits of being known as an idiot, I was able to finish the tasks that were expected of me in a few minutes, and started walking around, searching for my targets.

Helga, I was able to find first. I used the same trick, examining the books she was studying to deploy the letter I had written for her. She looked around when she received it, but unlike the last time, it was a look resigned to failure, not expecting to see anyone around.

But the way her face brightened by every word on the letter was a sight to see. She was barely able to hold back shivers of excitement as she finished the letter, and dashed away to find the books she was looking for. The fact that she enjoyed the task I had given her was a positive development, meaning I would have more space to push in other areas before making her crack.

That task complete, I moved onto my next one, namely, finding Marianne, which, unfortunately, took quite a bit longer than my first self-appointed task. It was well past noon when I finally saw Marianne in the library, walking towards the less-occupied parts with a clear determination. Feeling curious, I walked towards the main corridor, close enough to alert her to my presence, but she continued to walk despite her intensifying blush, her gaze occasionally lingering over me.

She clearly wanted me to follow her, which meant I pointedly ignored her presence and continued my job, until a cough had disrupted my concentration. I turned towards the noise, only to see Marianne standing there. "Yes, sweetie," I said as I turned a not-so-gentle smile towards her, carrying the full brunt of my rather impressive charisma score.

"May I talk to you for a moment, M-" she started, only to come to a sudden stop. She didn't know my real name, and she was smart enough to realize that referring to my unflattering nickname wasn't the best way to start a discussion. "Please," she added instead, trying to recover ground after her near-disaster.

"Sure, go ahead," I said confidently, because I knew there was no one else nearby, thanks to the low-powered proximity wards I had set up around us. Thanks to my growing strength, hiding my situation was not the number one priority anymore, because I had to option to claim that I had been hunting alone during the night, as I was finally strong enough to survive such an ordeal. But the fact that I could survive the impact hadn't meant that I was willing to announce my situation to the whole school just yet, hence the wards.

"Maybe in somewhere less crowded," she whispered nervously as her eyes darted around. "Meet me around the storage rooms, the ones that are after the kitchen." At that moment, I was glad for my observational capabilities, because, without it, I would be too afraid of a trap to follow her. But she was like an open book, and I could read everything through blue depths of her eyes.

"Whatever you wish for, my queen," I said, tackling an exaggerated bow to the end, which wasn't a cure for the shyness she had been displaying. She managed to give a trembling nod before dashing away, leaving me free to return my task; even if it was for just a few minutes before I disappeared after her.

I wondered what awaited me at my destination...

[Level: 10 Experience: 47225 / 55000

Strength: 11 Charisma: 15

Precision: 11 Perception: 11

Agility: 12 Manipulation: 15

Speed: 9 Intelligence: 12

Endurance: 10 Wisdom: 18

HP: 530 / 530 Mana: 650 / 710 ]

SKILLS

[Advanced Subterfuge (50/50)

Advanced Arcana [50/50]

Advanced Biomancy [39/50]

Advanced Melee 29/50

Basic Speech 25/25 ]