Veraltet Wants To Know

***

Somewhere in the Estate...

The room was large with a lot of space but it was far from being empty.

The walls were lined with shelves that were decked with books and scrolls while all about the room, there were different extraordinary-looking instruments.

The instruments went from spindly to globe spinning all on their own and were etched with designs that did not match any possible landscape.

One of them just had limes drawn all about it with those lines glowing with the Mana that was powering them.

At first glance, with the book and scroll shelves in perspective as well as the limited furniture usually all serving some intellectual purpose, the room looked like a study.

It was currently occupied by only two people. Well, actually, it was occupied by one person and one hologram.

Agatha sat behind a massive ornate desk littered with all manner of documents, a majority of which had interesting designs drawn on them.

She was speaking with a hologram that was projected out of the orb on her desk.

The hologram was in the shape of a man whose clothes had the visage of importance. In fact, everything about the man just screamed importance;

From the monocle, he had over his right eye to the handlebar mustache over his lips that were currently contorted into a frown.

"I'm sorry Lady Harkness, but what you did was utterly irresponsible. You put the fate of the entire dimension at risk" the hologram said.

Agatha leaned back in her high-backed chair as she replied.

"It was only irresponsible if I failed. But I didn't. I would expect you to know me better than to think I'd breach dimensional walls without being sure I'd succeed. I did the calculations- I knew what I was doing"

The hologram shook his head.

"Confidence in your calculations is not the point. Breaching dimensional walls is a very tricky business not to mention expensive. You allocated our resources to do something so dangerous without going through the proper channels"

Agatha's brows furrowed suddenly.

The temperature in the Study went down so fast and so low, the atmosphere became deathly.

As a hologram of someone not actually in the room, the man should have been unaffected by the change but he shook visibly while beads of sweat could almost immediately be seen forming on his holographic forehead.

When Agatha spoke, her voice was cold but calm.

"'Proper channels?' Lumen, I AM the proper channels!"

Lumen appeared to be shaking where he was and it was even causing disruptions on the holographic feed but he held his ground.

"You WERE the proper channels. You gave that up when you left us, remember?

Our plans require a world and with reckless plans like yours, this entire dimension would be destroyed. It's already a shaky balance with all the Gares that have been appearing for Millennia"

The atmosphere in the Study got back to normal somewhat and then Agatha sighed.

"Are you done? Is this conference and ineffective talking-to finally over?"

Lumen was at a loss for words and as he stammered, his mustache shook.

"I-I-"

Agatha rolled her eyes.

"Alright then. Goodbye Lumen, it wasn't a pleasure talking to you"

Agatha made a move to cut off the feed and as Lumen saw, he hurried to get his words out.

"Wait! Veraltet would like to know why you did it?"

"None of your business!"

"You used our resources to do it so it IS our business"

"This conversation is over!"

"Hold on! We know you used it to bring someone over.

And as you have already admitted, your moves are well calculated." Lumen said and then cleared his throat.

Agatha furrowed her brows.

"What are you getting at?"

Lumen cleared his throat and adjusted his monocle.

"Veraltet would like to meet the person you risked the Stability of our dimension for. He must be one special someone"

Agatha said nothing.

"This isn't up for deliberation so you are allowed to stay silent," Lumen said.

Agatha's expression became angry again.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" she asked.

"It means, we will meet the visitor whether you like it or not. It would be much better if you cooperate."

Agatha chuckled. It wasn't a jovial chuckle but a mocking one and it lacked any kind of mirth.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say that was a threat."

Lumen replied immediately.

"Oh, it is. But it's not coming from me, No, I wouldn't dare threaten the Mad Sorceress, No.

This is coming from Veraltet, I am merely the messenger."

Immediately after the last word, Lumen cut off the feed and left an angry Agatha staring at the orb the hologram had appeared out of.

Eventually, Agatha's face relaxed and she let out a sigh.

"Eh, I can't say I didn't know that was coming but it certainly came earlier than I expected."

Agatha started pulling together the scattered documents on her desk while also looking through them. Ten minutes passed before she heard knocks at her door.

*Knock* *Knock*

"Come in," she said knowing already who it was.

The door pushed inward and Zay'in stepped into the Study and immediately bowed.

"My lady"

"How was your day of fun?" Agatha asked and she sounded just a tad bit sarcastic.

Zay'in detected the sarcasm and ignored it as she went over to a couch in the study and lay down on it.

"Oh, it was great. Weapons shopping was cut short though cause he found what he liked almost immediately."

"Anything out of place?" Agatha asked.

Zay'in paused but it was clear she understood what Agatha was talking about.

"No. Nothing. I was on the lookout all through."

"Hmm, they're taking more precautious to hide themselves than I would have expected,"

Zay'in let out a small chuckle.

"Or maybe we were just not being watched," she said and shook her head at her Lady's lack of trust in her.

"How combat-ready is he?"

The question took Zay'in by surprise.

"Hmm?"

"According to Gareth, he has experience in battle already and you've been with him for hours, so I ask again, how combat-ready is he?"

Zay'in adjusted herself on the sofa.

"His dagger work is shabby. He barely qualifies as a beginner but I think he's well on his way. He also has good instincts and has a genuine talent for Spell-casting."

"Do you think he could survive a Gate-raiding as he is currently?" Agatha asked.

Zay'in shrugged.

"Adventurers worse off than he is have gone into Gates and lived to tell the tale so I don't see why he shouldn't"

Agatha nodded with a somber expression.

"Good. 'Cause a Gate might actually be the safest place to be for him right now."

—

. . .

In his room,

Vincel became very much aware of the fact that his clothes were not stained. The sweat that had been coming off his body profusely all through his training seemed like they had not touched his clothes at all.

'No, they touched them. The clothes are just clean now. Ah, Self-cleaning Enchantments huh?'

Vincel took off his clothes and stuffed them into his Satchel which was apparently, also sweat-proof.

'I don't remember the Satchel having Self-cleaning Enchantments as well?'

With a nonchalant shrug, Vincel pushed the thoughts aside and went into the bathroom.

The water of the bath was as refreshing as ever. It soothed Vincel's aching joints and he could feel the fatigue melt away from his body.

When he was done, he put on casual wear that had been set aside for him in his room. Most likely by the same maid who prepared his bath.

A large food tray was also waiting for him on a table in his room when he got out of the bath.

The smell of the food was mouth-watering and Vincel wasted no time digging in and eating it all up while also taking sips of the juice he had been provided.

His HP had not been depleted all that much despite the pokes he had gotten from Zay'in. It was almost like his body or maybe the system, knew it was all for training.

Anyway, the food refilled his lost HP but just like at 'Tamira's', Vincel was eating for the taste and not for HP recovery.

After a hearty meal, Vincel lay down in his bed and despite deciding he would stay awake for a few more hours and ponder the recent changes to his life, he almost immediately found himself dozing off.

'I blame the training. I'm still exhausted'

...

"... Zzzzzzzzz..."

"Wake up!"

"... Zzzzzz..."

"Wake up right now!"

The voice was so stern that it traveled into Vincel's subconscious and pulled him out of the aimless dream he was having.

He sat up in bed suddenly, completely startled, and then he looked to the side and found himself face-to-face with an impatient-looking Zay'in.

"Finally! I could have killed you many times over by now" she said.

"What's going on?" Vincel asked.

Although he had been woken up suddenly, he didn't feel groggy or have the urge to rub his eyes.

"Get dressed," Zay'in said.

"What time is it?" Vincel asked as he got out of bed.

"Just get dressed. Now!"