Delivering Bad News

There was nothing nice about Agatha's words.

Everything she said was tinted with arrogance and a firm belief that she was above the one she was talking to. In this case Vincel.

"How did you even know I was ill? How did you know to intervene?"

Agatha shrugged.

"Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on how you choose to view it, I am burdened with a constant connection to my doppelgangers-"

"Doppelgangers? There is more than one? More than you and the Agatha I know?"

Agatha frowned at the interruption but she answered.

"Yes, boy. There are more because there are more Parallel Universes than two.

My connection to my doppelgangers has me occasionally paying attention to them for anything remotely interesting. When I discovered you and your disease, I had to bring you here. I had to bring you somewhere you had a chance to flourish.

Here, the core within you can have the chance to grow and we just might get the chance to understand it better"

Vincel's brows furrowed.

"And what part of the plan involved me waking up inside the D-rank Gate where I almost instantly got attacked?"

"None of it." Agatha said.

"I could have died. Again." Vincel pointed out.

Agatha shrugged.

"A loss but not a total tragedy. Your body might be useful even after your death. As long as the Core was intact."

Vincel looked outraged.

"What?"

Agatha sighed.

"You're more useful to me alive but if you died, I would just have to make do"

Vincel made a disgusted face.

"That sounds so sick. You were just playing god. Toying with my life!"

Agatha rolled her eyes.

"You were going to lose it without me anyway.

Breaching dimensional walls is not an exact magic or exact science as the people of your primitive world would say.

There were risks involved. For both sides.

Where you arrived was always going to be random but I had ways of keeping track of you so I wasn't worried as long as you dropped in this universe, in this world, but you didn't. You dropped inside a dimensional Gate instead."

Vincel shrugged.

"What's the difference? I was still in this World, right?"

Agatha looked at him like what he just said was the most unintelligent statement she had ever heard but her tone was normal when she spoke. Albeit as cold as ever.

"Dimensional Gates are portals into smaller dimensions. The dimensions might be smaller but they operate on their own laws. Laws that are different from those of this World.

That put you out of my immediate tracking range.

Not only is cross-dimensional tracking insanely difficult, but there are also hundreds of dimensional Gates that litter this World so it was a tough task finding your exact location..."

Agatha paused here and moved closer to Vincel.

There was a pressure coming off her that had Vincel's forehead covered in beads of sweat in a second.

"Imagine going through all that tracking just to be met with your snarky and ungrateful attitude. It makes me wonder if it was all even worth it."

'Well, I didn't ask you to do it' Vincel thought but he felt it would be unwise to say, so he held his tongue.

Gareth cleared his throat to help with the tension in the hall.

"Once the Sorceress was sure of the Gate you were in, she sent us there.

We arrived and saw those three waiting in front of the Gate for something or someone so we held them down before I went in to get you. But you got out before I did."

"And then you drugged me"

"And then I drugged you. It was easier than trying to get you to calm down and listen to me" Gareth said with a shrug.

The atmosphere had returned to normal now.

"After you drugged me, did anyone else come out of the Gate?" Vincel asked.

Gareth shook his head.

"No one. But also, we didn't stay long. We had you so we left"

"Oh."

'Kleon is alive and free after what she did.'

Gareth noticed the thoughtful look on Vincel's face.

"If you want to see your friends, I can take you to them. With the Sorceress' permission of course"

Agatha waved them off.

"Take him. I'm done with him for now"

Vincel looked outraged at her dismissive tone and gesture.

"Hey!"

Gareth ignored him and bowed to Agatha.

"Yes, my lady. This way, Mr. Grey"

With an annoyed frown, Vincel followed Gareth. Pausing once to look back at Agatha only to shake his head at how what he had just witnessed was completely different from how the Agatha he knew would act.

...

Within a minute, Gareth and Vincel were gone, and only Agatha and Zay'in were left in the hall.

Agatha sighed.

"So unassuming. Considering how much trouble I went through to get him here, I expected more."

"Oh, he's not so bad. I think" Zay'in said with a small chuckle.

Agatha's eyes fell on her.

"You know, I didn't want to mention anything earlier but what the hell are you wearing?"

Zay'in smiled and twirled the skirt of her maid outfit.

"Do you like it? I thought a subservient outfit would be best to put him at ease"

Agatha rolled her eyes.

"Change.

Once he's done checking on those 'friends', introduce him to Arcane spell-casting. Also, gauge his battle sense and just how handy he could be with a weapon or if he even needs one.

I need to know just how much needs to be done to mold him into something remotely useful."

Zay'in bowed.

"Yes, My lady"

***

Not only did Gareth lead Vincel out of the hall, but he also led him out of that section of the Estate entirely.

'Damn, this place is huge!'

Vincel had a lot on his mind but he just had to take a break to really take in the size of the estate. It had so many separate buildings all impressive with a level of individualism and attention to detail only the rich would care for.

Although the buildings had individuality, there was a common theme in the white marble that was used to mold every single one of them so that the light of the sun gleamed off them in a magnificent way.

There were about three cars parked in the compound. At least Vincel assumed they were cars even though their design were different from what he was used to.

He couldn't even see any exhaust on any of them but he could see that they were made to look sophisticated. An obvious statement of wealth.

'I don't like this Agatha but I do feel somewhat satisfied to know she is doing so well for herself. Actually taking the time to enjoy life.

The Agatha I know would never go for these luxuries. Every bit of the money I left to her, she would be using to care for the kids. She might have even taken in more of them.'

"Hey Gareth, in this world, who do I report a crime to?" Vincel asked suddenly while they were walking.

Gareth looked surprised that Vincel would ask such a question but he answered.

"Well, every city has its City Patrol. They police any misdemeanors and uphold the law.

What crime do you want to report?"

Vincel lowered his head with his eyes staring at the ground as he walked.

"Murder. It happened in the Forest Gate. A friend- someone I know was killed inside the Gate."

Gareth shook his head.

"Yeah, that is not under the jurisdiction of City Patrol. Journey into Gates are dangerous and usually, whatever happens inside a Gate stays inside a Gate.

Unless your friend was well connected, no one will care enough to try and get justice"

Gareth spoke matter-of-factly and with each word, Vincel's frown got deeper.

"They're here"

As he announced, Gareth directed for doors to open with just a wave of his hand and allowed access into a lounge where Lea, Knowle, and Jilan were seated.

The three had been served snacks and Jilan had one in his hand that he was already eating up.

"Vincel!"

As soon as she saw him, Lea got to her feet and so did Knowle who instantly launched into questions.

"We've been here for hours. Why were you so injured when you got out?

Where is Aidan?

Where is Kleon?

What happened after Lea got out?

Where is this place? No one is telling us anything!"

Hearing Knowle say they had been there for hours made Vincel realize he had not even asked how long he had spent asleep.

Vincel looked from Lea's big brown eyes to the expecting faces of Knowle and face-stuffing Jilan. He barely noticed out of the corner of his eyes that Gareth had taken many steps back to give them space to talk.

"Um, I have bad news. Aidan is dead."

Silence met Vincel's words.

Lea broke the silence with a single word steeped in disbelief.

"What?

Vincel nodded and repeated his words.

"Aidan is dead. Kleon killed him and took the Dog-head Bat's core from him.

She tried to kill me too. I only barely made it out. I wanted to tell you right after I got out of the Gate but- I never got the chance"

As he said the last few words, Vincel glanced at Gareth out of the corner of his eyes since he was the one that had stopped him from delivering the news earlier.

Jilan had now put down his snack and taken a break from eating.

"I can believe he's dead"

Vincel exhaled.

"I'm sorry. You guys seemed close."

Lea shook her head slightly.

"We hadn't known each other long. We didn't even know much about each other's lives.

Aidan brought us together to form a party. He came up with the idea for us to train together as a group to face the dangers of the Gates.

He came up with group formations.

The Forest Gate was our first time in action together and he decided to employ Kleon's help to give us an extra edge.

He- He was a good man."

"I always knew Kleon couldn't be trusted" Knowle mumbled as he slumped back into his chair.

Jilan shrugged with a frown clear on his face while he clenched his big fists.

"Well, in all honesty, what else should we have expected from a filthy Assasin?

'Not necessarily a killer' my Ass!"