Simon stared at the crystal ball sitting on Cassandra’s table with wonder.
Although he had always believed in the Oracle’s power of foresight, he had never been too interested in divination magic. Every important person in Frightwall carried items protecting them from it on top of all the asures the likes of Shabram took to counter the Oracle; not to ntion that only specific Classes could cast the required spells.
The Witch thankfully counted among them, so the two of them had decided to craft a crystal ball for her personal use after Simon took a room close to her apartnt suite to keep her company in Whispermire. Since the crystal ball also had to include a curse due to Simon’s crafting Perk focusing on using on miasma, it would poison anyone touching it; a re detail for Cassandra, whose Brand of Gluttony protected her from the ailnt, and a security asure against anyone else.
The device allowed her to scry on people or objects from afar with remarkable accuracy. Attempts at tracking down Silk had failed miserably, but they had managed to check on various rooms within the Midnight Market.
“The Darkwood is shrouded in miasma,” Cassandra said. “I cannot pierce through the veil with my current power, though stronger spellcasters might be able to.”
“What about ?” Simon asked. “Can you see ?”
Cassandra waved her hand at the ball. Its surface began to reflect a mostly accurate picture of her suite, except she was sitting right next to a horrifying demon with folded wings rather than a man.
“I cannot see Simon Magnos, but I can see Belias the Fiend,” Cassandra said, which confird Anathemic Secrecy worked as advertised. She could only observe what he wanted her to see.
“Alright, I will alter my Perk a bit,” Simon said as he shifted his Anathemic Secrecy to blocking all divination attempts rather than sending false positives. He then grabbed a nearby potion off a shelf. “Can you see ?”
“No,” Cassandra confird, “but I can observe the potion floating in the air.”
As Simon feared. Anathemic Secrecy protected him from divination, but not necessarily the objects he carried on his person or things he interacted with. This gave credence to Shabram’s fears that sothing as precious as the rchant Crestone could be tracked down in spite of his defenses. This might beco another point in favor of claiming the Inventory Perk if it shielded the items within its pocket dinsion from divination.
“I believe I could craft a crystal ball capable of piercing through miasma with your assistance,” Cassandra told Simon. “It should at least let you observe events inside the Halls of the Minotaur. Divination becos more accurate the more familiar the scryer is with the target, and that Dungeon draws its power from you.”
“It would certainly help against unwelco visitors,” Simon confessed, “and those will beco more nurous by the day.”
Demand for monster parts and materials had exploded now that Louis’ army had begun to buy them in vast quantities, so incursions into the Darkwood were growing more and more frequent. Carrock the Treant had already wiped out a party of classless adventurers who had gotten a little too close to the fairy ring yesterday, and another group had reached the elven ruins surrounding the Halls of the Minotaur before being wiped out.
Most intruders were little more than glorified poachers, and none of them wielded any Vassal Classes, but they were growing bolder and more nurous. Every surviving group also helped map out the forest a little further, which in turn increased the chances that one of them might discover the Halls of the Minotaur.
Thankfully, Simon had been able to leverage his growing cult in Whispermire to implant one or two agents among the most threatening adventurer parties. His followers were locals familiar with the Darkwood, so they had an easy ti posing as recruits and then waylaying intruders by luring them towards dangerous creatures working for Simon.
Simon sensed Lady Shabram’s presence at the edge of his mind and opened himself to her thoughts. “The package will be delivered today at the agreed-upon place, Your Majesty,” she said, “I have also confird that a large military drill is being planned for the month of Prairial, though I am not part of it. Prince Louis ordered to focus my resources on the Church Party rather than in his backyard.”
Prairial… so right before the Sumr Solstice and second sacrifice, Simon thought before answering her. “Can you at least tell who’ll be involved in the operation?”
“I can already tell Your Majesty who is in charge of the program: Leonard Decarabia.”
What? Simon flinched in surprise. Leonard? Leonard was coming here as a representative of the War Party? “Why? His house answers to Lord Paimon.”
“It does, but Lord Leonard’s sister married Duke Flauros’ son, and that lineage supports Prince Louis’ claim to the throne. He chose his blood over his liege.”
Simon grumbled to himself. Of course the various power blocs would have accelerated Tiella’s engagent to the Flauros brat in order to snatch another House out from Lord Paimon’s orbit. Euphemia wasn’t the only one who could play the marriage ga.
Moreover, Leonard made perfect sense as a training camp’s overseer. He was of a relatively high level, talented, and with a Class designed to protect weaker allies from injuries. As powerful as he would be on the field of battle, he would be ten tis more useful to the War Party’s cause by ensuring multiple soldiers could level-up without risk.
“And Duke Flauros married a sister of Patriate Malphas,” Simon recalled with a scowl. Was that a coincidence, or signs of a greater plan?
“I have inford Prince Louis of my suspicions when it cos to House Malphas. He ordered to put them both under close surveillance, but decided against taking direct action for now. I suppose he doesn’t wish to trouble Duke Flauros and Duke Eligos, both of whom are key to his war effort.”
“Keep inford, and try to look into the other people involved in the military drill,” Simon ordered before cutting communications and mulling over this new piece of information.
Leonard would be in charge of the raid… was that good or bad news? He was an Overlord loyalist, but they were nearly four months into the current reign and in the middle of a civil war. His allegiance had likely changed a great deal given recent events.
Should Simon try to approach him and recruit him to his cause in the hopes that he could cancel the raid, or at least prevent his trainees from assaulting the Halls of the Minotaur? But if he did reveal himself to Leonard and he ended up revealing the truth to Louis or the rest of his family, then the Seasonal Key ritual would likely go awry. Simon couldn’t risk discovery yet.
And what should he do if Leonard ever led a party straight to his doorstep? The idea of fighting his own retainer—especially one who had proved loyal to the death in several reigns—unsettled Simon to his core.
Perhaps a better option will present itself, given ti, Simon told himself as he shook his head and focused back on reality. “Sorry, Cassandra, I received an urgent ssage.”
“It is alright,” Cassandra reassured him. “I can tell when you ntally answer telepathic calls.”
“You can?” Simon chuckled. “I suppose we’ve spent enough ti together for that.”
“It is a good thing, no?” Cassandra asked. “I appreciate the fact that you stayed here to keep company. I enjoy it.”
“So do I.” Speaking of appreciation, Simon looked inside his belongings and brought out a gift he had been working on for so ti: a Crestone. “Here, I made this for you.”
“For ?” Cassandra’s eyes lit up with interest as she looked it over. “It’s a Witch Crestone.”
“You told you needed at least three Witches to form a coven,” Simon said. “We’re working on supplying you with a third Crestone, so you should be able to create one soon enough.”
“This is very kind of you, Simon. I will cherish this gift.” Cassandra took the Crestone and studied it closely. “I could ask Nora. She cos to often, and she knows her way with herbs.”
“Nora? Isn’t that one of the cultists?” Simon smiled. “Already on a first-na basis with so of them?”
“I hope they can beco my friends too,” Cassandra replied while returning his smile. “Shall we continue our divinations?”
“Yes, but not here. There is a package I need to recover outside town and experints I need to run with it.” He offered her his hand. “Would you kindly accompany for a pronade on horseback, Cassandra?”
“I would be delighted.”
True to their arrangents, one of Lady Shabram’s agents had placed the rchant Crestone in a box beneath a mound half a day’s ride from Whispermire. It didn’t take long for Cassandra and Simon to locate it, hidden under a gnarled tree’s roots, and open it up.
Almost all Vassal Crestones were translucent, but the rchant’s was as golden as the precious tal fueling its power, with a coin-like silver heraldry carved on its surface. A terrible heat coursed through Simon’s fingers when he touched it. He had never felt this way with any lesser Crestone before.
It rejects , Simon could tell. It loathes the Overlord.
“rchant,” he said, a flow of golden mana imdiately surging from the Crestone.
The energy flowing out of the device was incomparable to Vassal Crestones. Those pale counterfeits could only mimic a fraction of the Noble Classes’ power, and Simon could feel the difference. A thrill as pleasurable as that of a level-up coursed through his veins, bolstered by strengthened confidence. For a brief second, Simon was convinced he could do anything, fulfill any dream, overco any obstacle, and bend the world to his will.
That honeymoon period only lasted a second, as a wave of pure wrongness followed the Class outfit’s apparition. A rich and wealthy outfit, including a top hat, a formal suit with a small cloak, boots, and bowtie materializing over his skin. Such clothes should have felt comfortable, but they itched and burned his skin with a phantom pain. They weighed on his shoulders in a way the Overlord armor never did, pressing down on his chest. Even the Class’ phantom whip weapon seed far heavier in his hand than it should be.
The rchant Crestone didn’t harm him, but it would if it could. The intuitive knowledge it provided Simon was given against its will, and the Perk was coaxed from its archetype.
Level 1 rchant Perk: Eye for Treasure I (Passive): You intuitively grasp the average monetary value of anything you see.
Simon glanced at Cassandra, with phantom numbers floating next to her belongings: her robe, her veil, her staff, and crystal ball… with the highest value being assigned to Cassandra herself.
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The rchant Class actually put prices on people. Simon shuddered as he quickly grasped the implications.
A slaver was still a rchant at the end of the day.
“The suit looks good on you, Simon,” Cassandra complinted him.
“You’re too kind,” Simon replied before casting aside the rchant’s whip—watching it vanish into mana the mont it left his hand—and instead grabbed his morning star. His Class gave him an intuitive understanding of its Perks. “Inventory.”
The morning star vanished without warning. A system screen popped up in front of Simon, showing his weapon placed amidst a sea of empty boxes. Most had a cross mark placed on them since he only had one level in rchant.
“Can you see the morning star with your crystal ball?” Simon asked Cassandra.
“No,” she quickly confird. “It beca untraceable the mont it disappeared."
So Anathemic Secrecy did apply to objects placed in the rchant's Inventory. This kept getting better and better. Simon only had to focus for the weapon to instantly reappear in his hand. He swiftly confird that he could easily switch items in the Inventory by having his ring and weapon move around in and out of the pocket dinsion.
Two reigns ago, when Simon first learned how to craft, Belzemine warned him against wearing more than one or two magical accessories at once because their mana would otherwise interfere with each other. This not only limited the amount of enchanted items he could carry, but also his tactical flexibility.
Inventory neatly solved that. He would be able to switch between weapons and accessories on the fly depending on the situation, the sa way Louis apparently used his Warrior Class’ armory to alternate between different weapons.
Once he had finished testing this innate Perk’s limits, Simon decided on a bolder test: placing the rchant Crestone itself in the inventory. The result was a predictable error ssage.
You cannot put the rchant Crestone in the Inventory.
Simon suspected sothing like that would happen; it would beco impossible to recover the Crestone otherwise. Unfortunately, that ant he could never extend Anathemic Secrecy to the rchant Crestone itself. It would forever remain a security risk. He simply couldn’t afford to keep it close for long.
“Let’s try out the other innate Perks, just in case,” Simon decided. Eye for Treasure held little use for Simon, and the Brand of Greed already provided more inco than the rchant’s Golden Rule, so only its Lootbox and Buddyguard interested him.
Thankfully, having branded Odette Kano and gaining access to an ancient elven treasury ant he had inherited a sizable amount of money this month. Simon and Cassandra first tested the Lootbox Perk by paying a hundred golden coins to it. The first ti he tried it, the coins vanished and transford into a healing potion in a bottle; the second attempt provided a set of high-quality lockpicking tools; and the third a small shield.
In short, Lootbox indeed appeared to be completely random. Even Cassandra’s gambling-enhanced intuition from the Brand of Greed didn’t appear to influence the results.
“Well, this might be the most unreliable Perk I’ve seen yet,” Simon complained.
“I find it funny,” Cassandra admitted. “Maybe we will get a good surprise if we keep trying?”
“We don’t have infinite money to burn on this exercise.” Simon stroked his chin. “Although, I do wonder how the Perk picks objects. Does it have a list of objects with an assigned price it picks from? Where does the gold go? Is it transmuted into the object, or is it teleported sowhere else? This ability has to follow so sort of paraters…”
Unfortunately, figuring it out would likely require ti and money he didn’t have, and for dubious benefits on top of that. Simon made a note to maybe explore the ability’s potential applications in a future reign and then moved on to the rchant’s final Innate Perk.
“Buddyguard,” Simon declared while holding a purse.
His funds imdiately vanished in a flash of light, and a mighty creature appeared in front of him in a puff of smoke.
The creature resembled a humanoid of stout stature, garbed in orange armor that was gilded at the edges, albeit with skin dark as night, a lipless mouth filled with fangs, and six red eyes glowing in a hexagonal pattern beneath a horned helt. Six arms each carried a different weapon in their clawed hands: a flail, a sword, a spear, a dagger, an axe, and a staff. It lood over Simon and Cassandra like an adult over children.
And it didn’t look pleased to be here in the slightest.
“Only a hundred golden coins, you jackass?!” the figure sneered in perfect Endymian, his masculine voice thundering with outrage. “What a cheapskate! You should be ashad to summon the great Xenophon with such ager monetary compensation!”
Well, they were off to a good start already. “My apologies… Xenophon, was it?” Simon replied, squinting as he noticed a floating number above the creature’s head. “Twenty-one?”
“The more you pay, the stronger I beco,” the creature explained. “Every zero you add increases my level by ten. You paid a re hundred golden coins, so you get at level twenty-one. Pay ten thousand, I’ll be level forty-one and so on. And I only accept valuable currency.”
“I see,” Simon replied. The chanic surprised him a little. “I thought the Perk would have summoned a different creature based on the price.”
“Nope, you only get , and now I’m stuck as a weakling until our contract expires.”
“What are you?” Cassandra asked with curiosity. “Are you an Eidolon?”
“Yup, that I am, lass,” Xenophon replied. He sounded awfully casual and down to earth for a summoned spirit. “Don’t think I let just anybody summon , though. I’ve been in an exclusive summoning contract with the rchants since the Crestone’s creation.”
Simon struggled to imagine that creature standing up to the likes of the Phoenix in battle, but appearances could be deceiving, and a large enough paynt might make him a match for the likes of Louis.
“There’s sothing wrong with you,” Xenophon told Simon, his six eyes squinting at his employer. “I sense darkness stirring beneath your skin. Did you kill my previous employer? I think I felt his demise through the Crestone.”
“Would it matter?” Simon asked. Wait, if Patriate Malphas had summoned this creature, then he might know sothing useful.
“Nope,” Xenophon replied with a rcenary shrug. “My only loyalty is to my current employer.”
“Then what does our contract entail?”
“I’m lawfully contracted to protect you for the next day and night. I’ll kill anybody who tries to harm you or die trying. A likely outco at my current level, I might add.” Xenophon rolled all six of his shoulders. “Thankfully, I’m an Eidolon, so death only temporarily banishes from this plane of existence. You can also end the contract by simply dismissing .”
“Wait.” Simon frowned as an idea crossed his mind. “I could dismiss you, then summon you again at a higher level if I increase the paynt amount?”
“Now you’re catching on quickly. Pony up if you want to see the good stuff. On the plus side, any experience I earn goes to you, so you’ll be the only one to benefit when I kill sobody.”
“What do you do with the money?” Cassandra asked out of the blue. “Why would an Eidolon need money?”
“Uh…” Xenophon cleared his throat, suddenly embarrassed. Simon suspected nobody had asked him that question before. “It's a professional secret of the highest confidentiality.”
“Mmm…” Simon replied with skepticism. Then again, he didn’t really care what a bodyguard used his pay for. He was more interested in other intel. “Is there no way to extend your contract’s length?”
“Yes, if you renew the paynt after it expires.”
Then he wasn’t worth wasting a Devour Crestone Perk on. Having an additional bodyguard with a modulable level could co in handy against a powerful foe, but Xenophon required so much money, and for such a short duration, Simon couldn’t see himself summoning him much, even for grinding purposes.
However, if Xenophon had indeed served rchants since the Crestone was created, then he knew their secrets.
“Does your contract prevent you from discussing your previous employers?” Simon asked.
“Uh… no, I don’t think so,” Xenophon replied after so hesitation. “Why’s that?”
“Does the na Elios Magnos ring a bell?”
“No, not really. I don’t rember having contracted with soone called that.”
Simon scowled. “A Librarian with three eyes then?”
“Ah, yes, I recall soone like that,” Xenophon said, which imdiately piqued Simon’s interest. “It was the third and final ti my first employer contracted , right in the middle of a battle. He and a few other Class users were fighting so kind of winged goatfish archfiend on a floating island in the sky. That Librarian was trying to seal it or sothing, but they needed extra muscle to keep the creep down.”
Simon’s eyes widened in utter surprise. “A goatfish?”
“Yeah, a goatfish,” Xenophon replied with a shrug. “Half winged goat, half fish, all an with a black crystal in the middle of its sorry face. Nasty critter.”
Could he have fought the Zodiac Fiend of the Goatfish sign? And on a flying island?
Could it be…
“Can you describe the island to ?” Simon inquired.
“I was in the middle of a battle, so I didn’t pay much attention, but I recall winged humans fighting on our side,” Xenophon explained, confirming Simon’s suspicions. “Like I was pumlling the Abyss out of that goat before it threw off the island’s edge, and I fell down for minutes on end. My employer had paid enough to bring to level seventy-one, so I survived the fall, but my contract expired before I could find my way back. I think my contractor was slain.”
He had t the kish people, and Balzam Magnos’ docunts ntioned a floating continent as a potential location for a missing demonbarrow.
Which ant a Zodiac Fiend might be sealed away sowhere in Eole’s Sanctuary in the sky. It didn’t sound that safe all of a sudden.
Simon interrogated Xenophon on the matter further, but the rcenary didn’t have much insight to provide. The first rchant had apparently been a human male called Waybright, but he had only called upon Xenophon thrice: once to interrogate him about his contract, once to protect him during a business deal with a dragon—which ended without violence—and a final ti for that battle in the sky. The Eidolon knew nothing about Elios Magnos beyond that mont, or even how the battle concluded.
In fact, it seed like most rchants only summoned Xenophon once when testing the Buddyguard Perk, and rarely called him again unless they were facing an imminent threat to their lives. This likely explained why none of the texts about past rchants ntioned him. Calling him was a last resort.
“What about Patriate Malphas?” Simon inquired. “What can you tell about him?”
“I don’t know any person with that na.”
“He was your last employer,” Simon insisted. “A black-haired sliball?”
“Yes, yes, I see who you’re talking about now,” the Eidolon replied. “But Patriate Malphas wasn’t his na. He was called Barthandelus.”
Simon’s eyes widened in surprise before his mind put two and two together. “What’s my na?”
“What a stupid question.” Xenophon scoffed. “Simon Magnos.”
“So you instantly learn the true na of anyone who summons you,” Simon guessed. Which ant Patriate had infiltrated the empire under a false na. “Barthandelus… that na sounds strange.”
Cassandra, who had mostly listened so far without saying a word, provided the answer. “Barthandelus is an elven na.”
That brought even more questions than answers. Was Patriate a half-elf like his daughter, raised in Illusea and sent to infiltrate the empire? Or so adopted spawn of an elven couple? Simon had the intuition that this information mattered, but he didn’t see much use in it right now.
“Did he ever summon you, Xenophon?” Simon asked. Any detail could help.
“Yeah, twice; the first ti to ask questions about my contract, the second to assess my capabilities,” Xenophon replied. “He showed a magical sword and asked how much money it would cost to make strong enough to slay a level ninety-plus Overlord with it in one strike.”
Simon squinted at the Eidolon. “And what did you answer?”
“That he should summon with a nine-zero paynt, and that I couldn’t guarantee it anyway,” Xenophon replied. “Don’t get wrong, I can kill anybody for the right price, but the last Overlord I fought crushed under his stinking dragon foot. They’re a tough lot. Barthandelus thanked for my honesty, then dismissed and never called on again.”
So Xenophon hadn’t slain Balzam Magnos. Simon briefly wondered what would happen if an Eidolon or summoned creature were to kill an Overlord. Would the Class go to their master? Or would it transfer to soone else?
This also implied that Malphas and his employers had considered other alternatives before sending the assassin who eventually slew Balzam Magnos. Was their chosen killer so weak the Oracle feared they wouldn’t be able to pull it off?
Further questioning yielded little results. Patriate Malphas’ interactions with Xenophon had been too short for the rcenary Eidolon to learn much about his personality or goals. Simon had the nagging suspicion that the man intentionally avoided summoning his bodyguard during his tenure to keep him as a trump card.
“Night’s falling,” Xenophon noted upon staring at the sky. “If you want to use , you should hurry up. You’ve got until sunrise until I take my leave.”
“I think we’ve covered everything I wanted to discuss, except one thing.” Simon clutched the rchant Crestone. “Will your contract co to an end if I destroy the rchant Crestone?”
“Uh… probably.” Xenophon scratched the back of his helt. “I don’t think anybody has ever tried.”
“Let us check then, shall we?” Simon shed the rchant outfit for the Overlord armor, stunning the Eidolon. “Devour Crestone.”
The rchant Crestone burned like the heart of the sun in his palm, and then it shrieked.
A scream rippled across the fabric of reality as the Noble Crestone illuminated the darkness, its radiance causing Xenophon to decompose into nothing. A torrent of miasma swirled between Simon’s fingers and smothered the light to death. The rchant’s heart drowned in darkness and then disappeared with a final wail, its demise filling Simon’s bones with power and a rush of experience. The Overlord in him rejoiced at the conquest and destruction of an ancient foe, however temporary.
You have assimilated the Inventory Active Perk. It shall now replace Devour Crestone II.
Inventory (Active): You can stock up to one item per Overlord level that you own in a unique pocket dinsion only you have access to, and bring them out at will. Should you die, all items in your Inventory are released at the spot of your demise.
He didn't receive any vision this ti. He could feel the rchant Crestone resisting him even in death, refusing to be robbed of its knowledge, denying him its help; and he wasn't strong enough to compel obedience yet.
Simon nonetheless smirked from ear to ear. As he had guessed, the newly assimilated Inventory would scale with his Overlord level.
Ti to stock up.
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