Chapter 17: Finding My Way
As Fay stomped away, I was concerned on a few different fronts. First, angering a vampire, or a "Drakul" was never a good idea. I tried to avoid angering potential allies, especially when they were immortal and unkillable. Secondly, I just felt bad. I didn't have a lot of experience with other Summons, and Isekai Hero didn't exactly have a leaderboard, so I had no way to gauge how rare my experience was. That said, boasting about something that was statistically rarer than…well, it was such a statistical anomaly that I didn't know what compared. Anyway, it had clearly been off-putting for Fay, and I couldn't blame her for being upset. I'd have thought I was being made fun of too, especially if my field of study was considered to be wishful thinking.
Third, and perhaps most important?
I didn't know how to find Aastor! It was only my first day, so it didn't really matter that the Manor was shifting and changing position, since I had no previous frame of reference to compare it to. What did matter was that it was impossibly large, and I had no idea where Aastor was. What kind of vague instruction was "come see me?" Did Old Wizards have an innate compulsion to be cryptic at every possible turn? Would a map have killed him?
I decided to take a quick look at the Quest Menu. I didn't know if it would give me any more information, but it was a start.
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ISEKAI HERO V2.0 Beta by XXXXXX
Name: Blanc
Level: 3
Class: Butler to a Disgraced Archmage
Employer: Magus Emeritus Aastor VII
Title: Boy
Fame: "Umm, who?"
Abilities:
• As You Command (Lvl 15)
• Business at Hand (Lvl 15)
• Conversations at Midnight (Lvl 1)
• Duty Calls (Lvl 1)
Equipment:
• 1 X Chunk of Living Stone (Stashed)
• 1x Wayfinder
Pets:
• Kel, ????? Spark (Lvl 5)
Active Quests:
• Day 1 Jitters (Employer Assigned)
Completed Quests:
• Highway Robbery! No, Seriously! (Employer Assigned)
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Ah, I also needed to pay the penalty for failing "Highway Robbery!", since it was an Employer Assigned Quest. Hopefully it wouldn't be too bad, since it was clearly meant to be a beginner level quest, and the Calamity had to be some kind of freak accident. The System wouldn't have…thrown a reality bending monster at me while I was level 1 right?
Right. I opened the screen and braced for impact. Instead, I was greeted by a small flourish of confetti and a joyful musical sting. XXXXXX needed to fix whatever bug this was, it was just disheartening and degrading to be greeted with cheery tones when I knew I'd failed the quest.
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Quest Completed: Highway Robbery! No, Seriously!
Main Objectives Completed:
✓ Protect the Carriage! (Employer Assigned)
Hidden Objectives Completed:
✓ Wake your Employer if they are in mortal danger. (Employer Assigned)
Total Rewards Obtained:
• 10x Free Stat Points (Main Objective)
• 1x Photographic Cufflinks (Hidden Objective)
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I let out an audible groan. I'd sunk so deep into the mindset that I'd failed the quest that I hadn't bothered to actually examine the outcomes from the night. Moreover, I'd woken up Aastor as he'd asked me to do. Clearly Isekai Hero was spying on me in some way, and expected me to pay close attention to all the instructions I'd be given. After all, why else have hidden objectives, instead of giving me all the information up front?
Still, I was glad I didn't need to pay the penalties for this quest. And 10 free stat points? 5 was a pretty generous reward, but since "As You Command" had likely kicked in, my reward had doubled. I momentarily shuddered at the thought of having to give up 19 Stat points if I'd actually failed the quest, before returning to the reward screen.
Cufflinks? I already had cufflinks! They were part of the uniform that Aastor had provided, and even though it had taken a few minutes to figure out how they fit into the ludicrously long sleeves of the dress shirt, they looked pretty fancy. I didn't need new cufflinks. Fairly useless reward, all things considered, but I could just hold off on them. In fact, it made sense not to claim the Stat points either. I wanted to wait until I had some more time before I allotted them.
Instead, I swiped the Quest Completion screen away, a smirk on my face. Unexpected good news and rewards? Who didn't enjoy those?
Still. I had a new Quest to complete.
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Quest: Day 1 Jitters
Main Objectives:
- Find and Meet Aastor (Employer Assigned)
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Now this was the Isekai Hero I knew and loved.
Useless.
As I closed out the screen, I realized I'd been laser-focused on the Quests. And I hadn't seen…
"Wayfinder?"
Okay, well, in hindsight it made sense. I couldn't see the item description, but I had a pretty good idea of what it likely did. If your manor shifts around every single day, you'll want some magical way of getting around. I just hadn't thought that Aastor was sensible enough to think up a mechanism that was quite as logical as that. Maybe he wasn't, and Fay had been responsible for that particular suggestion. I also had exactly one guess as to what the Wayfinder looked like, and fished out the golden pocketwatch from my brand new waistcoat pocket.
I'd assumed that the pocketwatch was just broken, but what if it wasn't a watch at all? What if it was meant to direct me towards Aastor, or to any other room in the Manor? I hadn't seen Fay using anything similar, but that didn't mean anything. Maybe she knew how the rooms moved around, or maybe she had a Wayfinder that worked differently than mine did. I flipped open the watch, and examined it carefully.
On the face of it (heh), a normal watch. Two slim black hands against an ornate golden background. It had a nice heft to it, and the back was delicately carved with swirls and whorls in a pattern that I couldn't quite understand. A dial on top was probably meant to help set the time?
Kel had apparently decided that the sack of grain was too large an opponent for her to finish off in one sitting, and had returned to the table where I was examining the Wayfinder. Looking her over, she was dusted all over in a fine coating of broken golden grains, which made her look a little bit like she'd been caught in a particularly polluted snowstorm.
Chirr-upp.
"Had a good meal, did you?"
Chirrup!
"Well, make sure to tip your waiter."
Apparently my humor was lost on her, since she nudged gently against my palm and looked confused. When I didn't reply, she nudged again, more aggressively, and her nose touched the Wayfinder.
Ah. I'd completely forgotten that Excelsian magic relied on Sparks. Well, not completely. But Kel was more than a magical tool, at least as far as I was concerned. I'd known her less than a day, but I already felt boundless love for her. And since I'd been thinking of her as a pet first and a Spark second, I'd completely missed the obvious. It came to me pretty quickly once she touched the Wayfinder though, since the face of the watch began to glow blue so suddenly that I dropped the Wayfinder on the table.
When it didn't seem to react or explode, I figured it was probably safe to pick up. I still had no idea how to make it work however. Neither did Kel, apparently, since she was sniffing at it, and preparing to take a bite of the metal. I watched on in curiosity, and also because…well, it was either going to be funny or enlightening. I didn't know anything, and maybe biting is how the Excelsian's activated magic?
It was not and Kel looked rather put off by the fact that the metal was too hard for her to bite through. Meanwhile, I was just glad she hadn't broken a tooth.
Picking up the Wayfinder, I rotated it for a few seconds, studying it. Aastor knew I had no idea how to use magic in this world. But he also knew I had some experience with magic, and with being a Hero. Clearly, he'd seen Kel at some point while I was asleep, so he'd likely have assumed that she would activate the Wayfinder. Given the simplicity of the activation, it couldn't possibly be too much harder to use.
I blinked. I was overthinking things.
"Aastor."
The face of the pocketwatch lit up again, and the hands began to swivel until they both pointed in the same direction, heading outside the pantry. Well, hopefully I hadn't kept Aastor waiting too long. Didn't want to make a bad impression on my first day!
****
After climbing up a fairly steep flight of stairs, I found myself facing a long, black hallway with wooden torches and suits of armor lining the walls. Great. Not imposing or intimidating at all. The hallway itself was cold, gray stone but at least it didn't have the damp and musty smell that stone hallways often did. Whoever Aastor was using for cleaning services was doing an excellent job. Kel didn't seem to be a big fan though, and hid in my breast pocket. I covered her with a handkerchief, just so she wouldn't be too cold. I didn't know anything about Spark biology, but it felt right.
I walked down the hallway, following the hands on the Wayfinder, until I finally found myself facing a large, black wooden door. No knocker, and no handle. Well, the hands wanted me to go through, so there was nothing for it. If Aastor was playing a trick of some kind though, I'd personally set Kel on him. I cleared my throat and knocked.
"Sir, you wished to see me?"
"Aye. Come in, close the door, and sit down."
Aastor's…Office? Study? Whatever it was, it was rather tastefully furnished and decorated. There was an empty fireplace on end of the room, which made sense since the Manor didn't seem to have central heating. Aastor himself was sitting behind a long, walnut desk, books and papers scattered everywhere. A giant star chart was placed on an easel next to him, with scribbles all over it. I didn't recognize the stars, but I didn't expect to either, since every world had it's own astronomical oddities. Behind Aastor was another floor to ceiling window, something the old man clearly had a penchant for. It was admittedly quite a handy feature, since it let in a lot of light and gave Aastor a commanding view of the area around the Manor. On the sides of the room were large bookshelves. I sometimes wondered if Wizards really read all the books they had, or if they read a few and kept the rest for show. Maybe it was an addiction, collecting books that you'd never read?
I sat in one of the straight backed chairs in front of the desk. For some reason, instincts told me to sit with my back ramrod straight, hands in my laps, looking straight at Aastor.
Well. Almost straight at Aastor. I could see that the desk was cluttered and musty, and for some reason, it was really distracting. I'm not a neat freak, but the clutter and the mess in the room was awful! It could do with organization. I wasn't sure if the books were organized correctly or not, but Aastor would have so much more space if he just shifted the desk a few feet in front. And the shelves could be rearranged to be within easy reach and-
"Aight, welcome to yer first day as a Butler. I'm yer employer and Summoner, etc etc. Ya know the basics already, yeah?"
"Yes Sir."
He leaned back in his chair, and squinted at me. "And how do ya feel? Ya almost got eaten by a Calamity, can't imagine that was easy on ya?"
"I'm fine Sir. Anxious to begin my duties, however." My voice was surprisingly level. Well, surprising to Aastor probably. Being in a near death situation wasn't particularly new to me, and while I didn't appreciate it, I wasn't about to turn into a shell-shocked rookie.
"Ah, 'course. Yer a Legendary hero or something, right?"
"I was, yes Sir. Twelve different worlds, to be specific."
He let out a whistle as I said it.
"Good. Good, good, good. I'll be honest with ya boy."
"Yes Sir?"
"I didn't expect ta get anyone competent. Mainly, I just needed ta be there when they Summoned the Chosen One."
"Yes Sir." I had already guessed that Aastor hadn't really counted on me being…me. His rush order had clearly been designed to get him someone who wasn't going to cause too much trouble. "Well, I'm happy to be of service, Sir."
"Ach. Aye, okay, you'll be of service all right." Aastor's eyes were glinting, which made me wary. At the same time, I didn't have a lot of choice in the matter. "Last night, how did ya do that?"
"Do what, Sir?" I had done…rather a lot last night. I wanted to know which specific thing he was talking about.
"Bein' around ya made the spell easier. My Spark was stronger, mana flowed better. How?"
"Ah." I didn't really have a good way to explain it. Not without telling Aastor about Isekai Hero. And if I did, he probably wouldn't take too kindly to being a part of something that seemed similar to a high level magic spell that he hadn't consented to. "Well, Sir, since you're my Employer, it's my duty to aid you. And that's exactly what I did."
He grunted, unsatisfied and waved his hand impatiently.
"Ya don't trust me fully. That's fine. Can ya do that thing consistently?"
"Yes Sir. Whenever you need." It was a fair question. If Aastor was going to make plans that involved large scale magic, he would need to know if my skills were a result of a fluke or something I could control. Moreover, since he didn't know the exact mechanics of my skills, he had probably assumed it was some kind of general magical skill buff. Well, I didn't plan on correcting him.
"Good. What else can ya do?"
"Sir, if I may? What exactly will you be asking me to do?"
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a counter appear and tick up to (1). Ah, Business at Hand. Well, it was nice to know that it also worked in a conversation between only Aastor and I. While I didn't think Aastor was evil, I also didn't think it was a good idea to give him a detailed list of my abilities.
Aastor didn't seem particularly flustered at the change of subject.
"You're a Butler boy, so your main goal is helpin' me. Ask me the question you really wan' ta."
Perceptive old man. Okay. I took a deep breath.
"Sir, whose in charge of Excelsia?"
"That would be the Queen. Anastasia the "Wise"." He made exaggerated air quotes around "Wise", distaste evident on his face.
"Yes Sir." I looked him in the eye. "Sir, are you planning on overthrowing her Majesty, Queen Anastasia the Wise?"
He grinned.
"Why boy, what ever gave you that idea?"
"Well Sir, you don't like the system of Summoning Chosen Ones. Fay, who is working with you, appears to be collecting histories and stories from Summons, which means you're in contact with a fair number of them. You've been very humane towards me, even though I'm a Summon, which I'm given to understand isn't the normal course of events." I paused and took a breath. "You also offered to save the Bandits last night, simply because I asked. And you don't like Grigori."
Aastor was beaming at me like a proud parent when I finished, and he clapped his hands together.
"Excellent. Excellent analysis, and I see you've met Fay. I didn't think ya would have yet." He was looking pleased, although I couldn't tell if it was with me or with himself. "Well, I'm still not just plannin' on overthrowing Queen Anastasia."
"Well Sir, what else are you planning?"
"I'm plannin' on breaking Summoning itself."
I looked at Aastor and sighed. Not because the plan was insane. It was, but that wasn't why I sighed. No, I sighed because this crazy old wizard was going to get me stuck on Excelsia forever. And I was going to help him.