The Way Ahead - Chapter 123: The Right Ingredient

Edwin roused from unconsciousness to an absolutely massive headache and the vague sensation of being lightly on fire.

What… happened. Ugh.

He didn’t even have the strength needed to properly wonder out loud if this was what a hangover was like, and if so how he’d gotten drunk. That seemed… unlikely, so his brain poked at the general haze that was his recent memory. Unfortunately, all his effort only rewarded him with a headache, so he changed tactics.

Notifications? He cautiously pushed, ready for another lance of pain, but was pleasantly surprised to not have to go through it.

Level Up!

Skill Points 1184→ 1198

(Alchemy: 100; Stamina Manipulation: 29; 14/25 60-point Paths)

Adaptive Defense Level 52→54

Basic Thermokinesis Level 44→45

Fey’s Caress Level 46→47

Longstrider Level 54→55

Outsider’s Almanac Level 139→140

Overcharge Level 30→35

Skillful Assessment Level 55→56

Stamina Manipulation Level 28→29

Unbound Tether Level 34→37

When it rained it poured, apparently. He’d been struggling to improve anything since Lefi left, but you fight a few guys and then Skills just come raining down.

Oh yeah, he’d been fighting. And he’d used Overcharge a bunch of times in quick succession. That hadn’t been such a good idea, he was finding out. The fact that even after sleeping he felt this bad was not a good sign, but what else was he to do?

Well, he could have run away the first time he saw Niall, not that that was ever any kind of real option. He also could have slammed the door and run when he ran into Niall, but then he wouldn’t know all that he did now. Could he have just run when the guards showed up? Well, he basically did. Could he have talked his way out of the situation?

Edwin would have winced if it wasn’t too painful, his incomplete laugh providing more than enough additional agony for the time being. Yeah, that was never going to happen. Oof, did he hurt though.

A once-over with Anatomy told him that he didn’t have anything broken, but Stamina and Health were both working overtime trying to get his body cleaned up. Ritual Intuition didn’t have anything of note on it, and Perception didn’t help him get any clearer a picture of his surroundings.

Well, what could he do differently, then? He doubted Niall was actually genuinely immortal, and a chunk of white phosphorus shoved down his throat would definitely make him want to die even if he was, but there was no way he’d actually be able to get there, not if he had guards around him. He’d really screwed up, not going straight for the kill while they had been alone…

Edwin shook his head. He wasn’t going to just straight-up murder someone because they might be harder to kill later, what was he thinking? It was never going to have been an option to kill Niall while they were talking. But it did put him in a tough place where he definitely couldn’t fight Niall now, not when he was ready for just that and was unlikely to go anywhere without a bodyguard.

So then what could he do?

Edwin wasn’t entirely sure how long he laid in place, nor when he drifted off to sleep- if he even did, Watchful Rest always made figuring that out complicated- but when he woke up again, night was just starting to fall.

With a groan, Edwin hauled himself upright and blearily blinked awake. There was an Edwin-sized furrow in the ground, grass ripped up and stones displaced starting a little ways back and leading perfectly to, well, him. The city of… whatsitcalled was nowhere in sight, but Edwin could guess which direction it was in fairly easily.

Edwin, naturally, was filthy. Not only from the dirt slide, but also just from a layer of what almost looked like soot covering every inch of his skin. It was, of course, the black goop Overcharge overuse tended to make, just far more prevalent than normal. A bit of testing confirmed that his saliva was also inky black, his sweat matched, and while he wasn’t able to check he suspected his eyes were as well. Ick. He’d need a very, very long bath to get clean and… yeah, he wasn’t going to be able to get back into the city after that little stunt, would he? He could give it a go, and if he came in from the sky he might be able to, but the odds of a guard spotting him- and him having triggered Wanted List- were just so high.

At least he’d slept off the more painful parts of Overcharge usage, so he could walk and use magic again. There was a slight crick in his neck, but that seemed likely that it was just from sleeping in an awkward position.

Whatever! He could make it work. A literal pain in his neck and some dirt caked onto his skin was perfectly fine, it was just a shame that he didn’t have Cleaning himself.

…Actually.

His mana was a potion, and cleaning stuff was decidedly a potion-like effect. He could probably make some cleaning potions, actually. He’d just need to get some soap Essence and mix it with something pure, probably nonhomogenously. Then there would be the twin stages of cleaning and cleanliness, and… yeah.

If I make a bath bomb, would Bomb Throwing apply? Hmm. I’ll have to see if I can convince myself enough to make that work at some point. Bubbles everywhere!

In any case, that would require his full lab, and Edwin didn’t have half the stuff he’d want to make something like that. But he did have his magic, and that was what had gotten him thinking about this to begin with.

He started inside his chest. His mana didn’t exactly sit near his heart, but it was close enough to work as an approximation, and there he began his brew, sitting cross-legged in the Rhothos grasslands.

He was trying to make a solvent, and that meant taking the clear water that served as the basis of his mana and emphasizing that part of it. Its temperature was increased as its pH dropped, becoming not exactly corrosive directly but something adjacent to it.

Power flowed and boiled, but he wasn’t done. Here, inside his own body, he wasn’t strictly limited to physical laws. What mattered much more was his imagination, and he had a lot of that to go around. Nitrogen was stripped from the air and broken down, forced into his ‘watery’ mana and creating a proper acid.

To counteract its natural corrosive properties, Edwin drew on something a bit less chemical- namely, his Purify skill. Filtering his mana-acid through the Skill changed it to a gentler type of corrosion, one which only purified and refined instead of burning and destroying.

Not that it makes any kind of physical sense. I don’t know what the black stuff is made of on any level other than the atomic– predominantly carbon, not that that was any kind of surprise- so I can’t make a tailored solvent for it. ‘Removing filth’ isn’t a physical process, it doesn’t know what the impurities are, I’d just need to figure out something which dissolved what I didn’t want while leaving what I do.

Shut up, me. You’ll wreck the magic. Just… make it so it won’t dissolve skin or clothing, if you have to.

Magic made things so much more complicated than they had been on Earth. It was the observer effect magnified a hundredfold, where not only the presence of an observer could change the outcome of an experiment, but also the identity of the observer.

Still, he couldn’t help but think as he released the spell and watched the black layer of grime dissolve and drip away, it did make some things way easier.

Well, like any tool, it had its limitations. What mattered as he used it was he kept in mind its limitations and he didn’t try to… use it where it didn’t help.

Blight, he was an idiot.

Edwin dropped out of the sky like a stone, eyes shut tight and trying to fight back against the unpleasant sensation of freefall. Before he hit the ground, he caught himself and… not quite so gently as he would have liked, landed next to the stable where Bill and his carriage were being kept. Okay, so once he checked here, he’d go up to his room and then if none of his companions were there then…

His thoughts were cut short in a good way when he saw a familiar slender frame rummaging around in the carriage.

“Rillah!” he softly called out, his mind starting to race ahead towards all the things he needed to do.

She spun around, eyes widening in shock as she rushed over to him, “Edwin! You’re alive!”

“I am, yeah. How long has it been?”

“Just… overnight. What happened?”

“Ran into the guy I was looking for, had a bit of a chat, had to run from some guards. I launched myself out of the city, landed maybe a mile that way? Anyway, I passed out and wanted to make sure it hadn’t been too long. Doesn’t matter.”

“Sounds like quite the adventure you had out there.”

“You could say that. Where’s Inion?”

“I could ask you the same thing. Last I saw her the two of you were together.”

“Ugh, is she out looking for me?”

“No clue, but maybe?”

“I guess I need to leave and try to find her, then?”

“You need to get out of the city anyway. There’s been quite the stir this morning, and Atlas is warning me they’re on the hunt for an Adventurer, which I’m guessing is you.”

“Probably, yeah. Anyway, I’m here mostly to give you a heads-up. I need to get to Vinstead, and I’m going to be going fast.”

“Vinstead? Why Vinstead?”

“I… know someone there I need to talk to,” he admitted. He didn’t like bothering people and making them go out of their way for him, but sometimes…

“Okay, let’s go.”

“Oh.” Edwin’s brain short-circuited. He blinked, trying to reset it.

“Edwin?”

“Yeah, I’m okay. Um, sure? Like yes please! Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to have you come along. Um, but I don’t know how well it would work? Like I don’t want to leave my carriage and Bill here alone, and like where’s Yathal and Kyni? I also don’t know how to let Inion know that I’m alright and I can definitely do most of that stuff before I leave but like I just wasn’t really anticipating…”

“Edwin. Edwin, it’s okay. You seem stressed.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” he dismissed. A part of him hoped that she’d push past it slightly, for all that this wasn’t an appropriate time for a heart-to-heart.

“Hmmmm,” she eyed him suspiciously, “Well, okay. We’ll go do that stuff, and then we can go.”

“But Inion and Yathal and Kynigos will really slow me down. Heck, I don’t know if you’ll slow me down.”

She raised an eyebrow. “You think you’re faster than me?”

“Unbound Tether provides constant acceleration. If you have a top speed, I’ll pass it before we make it there.”

“How urgent is this really?”

“It’s… it’s,” he forced himself to breathe, “It’s moderately important, but a few hours… a few hours.”

“A few hours wouldn’t make that much of a difference?” she finished, voice calm and reassuring. He gratefully nodded. “Well then, we can find the others and let them know, and then we can fly off and leave them here.”

“I don’t think it’d be a good idea to be an adventurer here, though. They should probably leave.”

“That’s alright as well. Edwin, Edwin. Hey, stay focused on me.”

“Sorry, sorry. It’s just been a bit of a day, and being here and thinking about stuff and…”

“Edwin.”

“Yeah. You were saying, sorry?”

“It’s alright. They can leave, they don’t need to stay here. Look, they can take the cart, and then they have a place to stay if they go off-road.”

Edwin nodded, “Yeah. Yeah, that works. What did you find out yesterday, anyway? Wait, that was off-topic. Sorry, my brain is just in a thousand places at once. I was trying to make a plan, you see, but I wasn’t expecting to run into you so quickly so it wasn’t entirely formed and I…”

“Edwin, you’re just accelerating.”

“I know, but the more I think the more I realize that I still need to think about and this is a big deal, there’s people dying and being dissected and Niall really is alive and people are looking for me.”

“Right.” Rillah tapped his nose with a Skill-laden finger.

Edwin immediately felt a bucket of cold water wash over his thoughts. Without prolonged contact, it wouldn’t keep him calm, but the brief use of Calming Touch was still enough to get him mostly focused on what was important, which was of course….

Rillah grabbed his hand, and while the contact was distracting in its own way, it was more than offset by the sustained Calming that it provided.

He breathed a sigh of relief. “Thanks. I needed that.”

“No problem. Now, are you able to focus?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I think so. What did you learn?”

“Nothing relevant anymore, I don’t think. I learned that yes, Alchemist Niall did show up a couple years ago and has spent time since then acting as an effective physician for some of the nobility. There’s also rumors that he’s secretly a blood-crazed maniac and kidnaps children to eat them, as well as another suite of the standard rumors going around. No mention of him being an Outlaw or Adventurer though. Plus some more details I can fill you in on later. It sounds like you already know what you’re doing anyway, so I think what I found is mostly redundant.”

“No, no,” he reassured her. “That sort of thing is still useful and good to know, I just learned the most critical bit of information and wasn’t really anticipating that I might just… stumble into him.”

She chuckled, “It’s okay Edwin, you don’t need to reassure me. I’m more than happy to help you out, especially after you helped me out back in Sheraith.”

“I mean, it wasn’t that much, you don’t need to make a big deal about it, you don’t… I’m still getting distracted, aren’t I?”

“You are, yes.”

Yathal and Kynigos were easy enough to find; they were just in the inn, sitting next to the fireplace on the main floor. Leaving was slightly more complicated, as when Edwin stepped outside of the inn, a pair of passing guards spotted him, calling out for him to stop and submit.

A brief but panicked flight later, Edwin had managed to lose his avior pursuers by diving into and hiding inside a near-ish river and pulling himself along underwater quite a ways. By the time he’d emerged, they’d apparently called off the pursuit. It had been somewhat terrifying, seeing how fast they were able to fly while clad in armor, but yeah.

As he emerged from the riverbank, he nearly had a heart attack when he ran into a figure inches in front of him.

“There you are. I’ve been looking all over for you. Have you been moving lately?”

“Good to see you too, Inion. You’ve been looking for me?”

“I felt you land out here somewhere, but then when I get out here you’re gone and you’re somewhere completely different! Then I see a few birds chasing a rock and well here you are. You have not been anywhere close to safe, and you should know better.”

“Sure thing. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that…” he gave a quick rundown of the situation, to which she didn’t seem happy about.

“You’re flying off with that woman all the way to Vinstead? You’ll never make it back. I’m coming with you.”

“I don’t think you can fly fast enough to keep up. I want to make it there today if possible, and it’s already getting late. If you can, sure, whatever. I don’t care enough to fight you. But if you were able to just keep Yathal and Kynigos out of trouble…”

“The dog can do that.”

“I don’t doubt it. Can he keep the cart out of trouble though?”

“I’m not babysitting.”

“Isn’t that what you already do with me?”

She narrowed her eyes, “That’s different, and you know it.”

“Okay, maybe it is. But… fine. Just do whatever you want, I don’t care. But I’m not slowing down for you.”

He didn’t quite manage to hit his goal of leaving the same day, but it was more important that Yathal and Kynigos got situated in their safe haven, a small indent in a rocky patch of the grasslands some ways from the main road, yet large enough for the carriage to fit- which admittedly required Edwin and Rillah to to pick up and carry the vehicle part of the way. It was apparently a frequent hidey-hole for the pair back during their shepherding days, and they would be fine for the day or two this trek should hopefully take.

Unbound Tether wasn’t exactly uncapped in speed, but the constant force the Skill provided still meant he could go ludicrously fast. He was flying at least twice normal terminal velocity at this point, and Rillah was struggling to keep up. She was practically glowing in wind magic, and the exertion was taking a toll, if not as much of one as he’d anticipated. Heck, at this rate he might have to break before she did. His Skill didn’t use much mana, but he’d also never used it for three hours straight before.

Inion had, perhaps predictably, fallen behind almost immediately. She might have turned around or might have carried on, but her flight seemed to max out at a quick run and she wasn’t even in sight at this point. He hoped she wasn’t bitter, but what choice did he have? It would be days of travel at her speed, and that was too long.

There was no gate guard halting them when they flew over the walls of Vinstead. Instead, he and Rillah simply joined the clouds of avior circling above the city before setting down on one of the empty balconies of the city’s garrison to catch their breath.

“That was… wow, that was a rush,” she gasped, then took a deep breath to center herself and allow a Skill to wash throughout her body in rejuvenation. “Do you want a hit?”

Edwin held up a hand, “I want to try by myself first.”

Closing his eyes, he reached for his Stamina. Because his flight was magical instead of physical, the attribute was relatively undepleted, meaning it was incredibly easy to pull on it with his Stamina Manipulation and wash across his body. It got rid of some of the lingering soreness, but didn’t do much to reduce his wariness.

He turned to Rillah to ask for her pick-me-up Skill, only to see her staring off into space.

“I leveled from that!” she exclaimed.

“You did? What, your flight?”

“Ya! Mercurial Shape too, but that’s the big one. One level away from my tier goal!”

“That’s awesome! Congrats.”

“Sorry, you wanted my attention for something?”

“Just the… yeah, thanks. Oh, that feels good. Where are you going to be?”

“You don’t want me along?”

“Oh. Uhhh. Um. So, I’m still getting used to the idea that it’s an option.”

“I flew… how long exactly, and you’re surprised I want to meet with this friend of yours?”

“Uhh, yes, actually.”

She assessed him, expression unreadable, “We’re going to talk about that later.”

“Okay, sure. Later.” It wouldn’t come up again. It never did. “I’d just feel… I don’t know, awkward with you tagging along? I don’t know! I’m just… doesn’t matter.” he protested the look she gave him. Gah. He was doing so badly, but he didn’t know what to do better. Further testing required… though testing might also wreck a potential friendship so…

She shook her head, “Whatever. If you don’t want me along for this, it’s your business, your friend. I’ll visit my registrar while I’m here, see about some advice for my imminent tier-up. When you’re done, find me. I’ll go flying once I finish chatting.”

Oh yeah, registrars. That would be a good place to start.

“Do you know where Tara is?” he blurted out.

“Ah! Adventurer Edwin. It is most wonderful to see you again. I imagine you possess some new and exciting Skill for us to ponder over?” Rizzali was once again absent of any visitors; did he even do anything all day? He dropped in at odd hours, but the gnome was always available and only once had he seen any evidence of any other person meeting with him. Annnnd he’d been asked a question.

“Um, yeah actually. Two, but can that wait? I need to talk to Tara, is she around?”

The gnome nodded, “I do believe that Lady Tara is in, and if that is the case she can be found in the back court. You have some urgent message for her, then?”

“Well… kind of urgent? It’s not something I particularly want to delay over anyway. I’ll come back and tell you all about my Skills because yeah, they’re very cool and I want to talk to you about them.”

“Surely it would make more sense to speak with me now? Unless what you need to say has life and death importance and intense time criticality, will Lady Tara not come to find you as she has previously once she has completed her current tasks?”

That… was a good point. Though yeah, he couldn’t tarry forever, he also probably shouldn’t just go barging in on his Imperial liaison, particularly not after having been absent for so long. For someone as sword-happy as the Enforcer, it might not go particularly well. He checked himself for social Skills, but didn’t notice anything. He steadied his mind.

“It is kind of life-critical and I do kind of have people waiting on me.”

“Ah! But will taking a few minutes out of your day be such a harm? Lady Tara is already aware of your presence, I am certain, and she will come as soon as she is able as is her duty.”

“I… guess you’re right?”

“Of course I am, such is my profession.”

Was… that a joke?

“So, do tell of these discoveries of yours.”

“So, the first one I found is probably the less exciting one because it’s an evolution of Flight. At least, you know, for Empire stuff. But for me it’s awesome because…”

“So, with that I noticed with the right potion I could get my mana to kind of interact with my Stamina, and then when I leveraged that, I was able to get a new basic Skill. Namely, Stamina Manipulation.”

They’d already had a fairly long and fruitful discussion about Edwin’s Unbound Tether. Rizzali hadn’t known anything about the Skill, nor knew of anyone who’d ever gotten it, but was just as excited as ever to discuss possibilities with it. Apparently, there had been someone who’d gotten the same kind of Flight skill as Edwin, and they’d managed to leverage it into a Skill known as ‘Ablative Invincibility’ by tier four. It seemed unlikely that Edwin would get it, for all that Arcane Defender was a possible Path for him to earn, but it was still interesting to learn about.

Once that had wound down, however, conversation had shifted to Edwin’s new skill, and Rizzali barely seemed to contain his excitement.

“Do you know what this represents?”

“Nope. But if I were to guess, non-magical mages or something?”

“Yes and no simultaneously. It has long been theorized that there must be some alternative to magic, as once every few decades or so, someone with no magical talent nonetheless develops exceptionally mage-like Skills.”

“And the obvious answer isn’t they just… unlocked Mana and got Skills for it, like I did?”

“No, that’s impossible. Nonetheless, it has been a mystery for centuries, but the knowledge that there are indeed Skills which enable manipulation of other Attributes does answer that question most handily.”

“I do not understand why you all are so certain you can’t unlock magic through the System. Blight, I know there are Skills which are basically magic anyway. Honestly, that might be all of them. Anyway. That’s not what’s important. I’m still somewhat figuring out how Stamina Manipulation works, but it seems to be largely based around, well, physical Skills. I’m not actually sure if it could be used to mimic magic more than anything else?”

“What do you hope to upgrade it into?”

“I’m still somewhat undecided, honestly, but I’m thinking that Health Manipulation might be the way to go. I don’t really have a good way to unlock that, despite trying a few times, so getting it from stamina manipulation seems like a good possibility.”

“Not a terrible goal. For that, I would say those Paths which might normally grant the Regeneration attribute might aid you in that regard. Alternatively, Automedic might be what you’re looking for, as well as Stubborn Survivor. I will need to investigate beyond those, however. If you return tomorrow I may have more information for you.”

“Awesome. I guess, while I’m here, my current plan is to tier up after Alchemy reaches level 120 and I get the Alchemy Specialist path.”

“Ambitious. Are you prepared to spend multiple years dedicated to this pursuit? And what of your magical Skill? I daresay that it would be ever more useful than mere Alchemy Specialist.”

“Maybe,” he confessed, “If I do get Mana Infusion Specialist that might be cool, but I also don’t really want to spend even more years of my life trying to maximize it when I could use the Artificer path on it or something and get something similarly cool….”

“That’s not a bad idea, no, and to be honest I was kind of thinking about that to begin with. There really isn’t a strong reason I’d need to take all my Paths at the same time and…”

“I am unsurprised to find you here.”

“I mean, I did stick around for that very reason. I need to talk to you.”

Tara had changed in the time since he last saw her. Not that much, but she nonetheless had. Normally he might not really notice, but Visualization and Memory combined to highlight every new line on her face- two- and a faint scar running along her arm. She also seemed a bit less… something, but blight if Edwin knew what.

She had the same Class, too, but now Edwin was able to get a better glimpse of the Skills she had running. There weren’t many, but the unmistakable shape of her authority Skill was constantly lit, as were a few other general physique-enhancing abilities.

“Lady Tara, always a pleasure.”

“Good to see you, Rizzali. I wasn’t interrupting, I hope?”

“Of course not, Lady Tara. We had already finished our primary discussion and were speaking about a potential future.”

“Good man. I never understand how you manage to get so much done in so little time.”

“Registrar’s Seal,” he smiled.

She gave a small nod in response before fixing her piercing silver gaze onto Edwin once again, “You had best have good explanations.”

“I probably do?”

She spun on her heel, flicking her wrist to get Edwin to follow her up the stairs.

“You’ve assaulted guards recently,” Tara stated once they had found a private room.

“It was in self-defense,” he protested.

“Such is no guard. If a town watch seeks to apprehend you, there is no self-defense, merely resisting arrest.”

“They were going to lock me up to have that one Outlaw alchemist I told you about dissect me.”

Tara froze. “Explain,” she commanded. “You informed me he had been executed.”

“Yeah, well that’s what I thought as well. Apparently he wasn’t though, and has spent the last couple years grabbing random people and pulling them apart for, well, parts. He also claims to be immortal, but I’m not sure I buy that.”

“I cannot speak for what sorts of Skills one such as he might possess. Did you discuss it with Rizzali?”

Edwin shook his head, “I’m never sure what I should tell him.”

“I commend the thought, for all that it is not needed in this case. Registrars know most of the secrets of the Empire, and only rarely is dispensation given to hide a Skill from them.”

“Like with me, and my… stuff.”

“Indeed.”

“How sure are we that Registrars aren’t part of a giant conspiracy to control the Empire, given how important they are to, well, everything?”

She chuckled slightly, “You are not the first to think as much, and you are not entirely incorrect. They are, after all, one of the few branches of the Empire which reports directly to the Emperor himself, and embody his wisdom and experience.”

“Sure, whatever. Not important. Anyway, I’m getting distracted.” He quickly gave a breakdown of the situation as best as he could summarize.

“So yeah. There’s a former bandit who used to be kidnapping and dissecting random travelers now doing the same to random people, with the support of the local government.”

“What sorts of individuals?”

Edwin shrugged, “Didn’t really stick around long enough, given he was trying to make me join them, but like adventurers and outlaws I guess?”

“Are you certain he is actually violating any laws?”

“I have… no clue, you kidding? I would have stuck around longer to try and figure it out- heck, I wasn’t even trying to let him know that I was around- but when we talked and he called the guards on me all those plans kind of went… well, out the window.”

“Hm. Presuming he is playing according to the rules, I see little problem with his endeavors. I will need to investigate that he is not actually pursuing adventurers, however.”

“What? He’s kidnapping and torturing random people and that’s just fine?”

She held up a finger, “I said assuming he is being careful, which I do not know for certain is true. Should he satisfy himself using outlaws, it is unlikely there is substance for me to intercede over, depending on the nature of his supposed torture. Adventurers, however, do have value to society.”

Edwin raised an eyebrow, “Seems more generous than last time you talked about us. Also seriously, torture?”

“It is largely thanks to their sacrifice that we are able to continue our expansion of Skill knowledge.”

“Oh, is that it?”

“You provide valuable exploratory research, yes. Beyond that, the Empire is more than capable of taking any findings and utilizing it optimally. That you may have a few years of additional usage of a particularly new Skill does not make you the master of it. That someone chose to abandon reason for madness does not change even if that madness has some utility.”

Edwin sensed he wasn’t going to win this particular exchange and pulled back, “Anyway. Why is it fine if it’s just outlaws? They’re still people!”

“They provide no value. If he is capable of forming some value from them while remaining within the law, why would we care?”

“I don’t know, don’t you see any value in human life? Well okay, not just human life, but you get my point.”

“Edwin, every individual who does not contribute to society is simply a drain upon it.”

“Rhothos has an insane amount of food, it matters that much if a few people don’t contribute?”

“That we have extra is not cause to be foolish with what we do possess. Besides, it is not as though we forbid them from purchasing food, we simply do not give it to them.”

“And turn a blind eye whenever someone decides to cut them open for parts.”

She rapped the desk suddenly, re-sharpening Edwin’s focus, “It is not challenging to become an Adventurer. If they desire aid from the government they may provide their knowledge back to it. Otherwise, they are responsible for their own protection, is that not fair?”

“There’s just… so much in that. And… I don’t know. But they’re still people. Can’t you get that? Whether or not they’re ‘your’ people, how can you stand back and just let them get hurt? Don’t you have any empathy?”

“There are thousands of hurting citizens as well. Do we ignore them for the outlaws?”

“Why does it have to be a choice? Why can’t you help both? Heck, why aren’t you already helping the citizens?”

“We are, yet….” she took a deep breath. “Very well. Regardless of our differences in opinion, it is important both in my role as liaison and Enforcer that I investigate this situation to ensure there are not adventurers involved, and that no other laws are being violated.” She stood up, and Edwin got to see her armor Skill flare and assemble around her. It looked a bit like Sapper’s Apparatus, interestingly. Though that did make sense, given they were both Trophy Skills.

“Awesome. So, uh. Should I…”

“You are coming with me.”

“Is there something you can do to get rid of this thing that apparently tells everyone I defended myself from guards?”

“If what you’re telling me is true, yes. Otherwise, I’m leaving it.”

“Oh come on.”

“I will ensure you receive a fair trial.”

“So not like what happened when I met the governor.”

“Let us… not discuss that here.”

“Okay, what should we talk about then?”

“You are most welcome to simply remain… By Xares, how long have you been able to fly?”