Chapter 150: Promise to a Bishop

Chapter 150: Promise to a Bishop

The bishop's face turned red with fury as he pushed himself off the doorframe. Immediately, Appy whispered to Mercury about the older man's stats. He had low strength and dexterity, but a surprisingly high agility score, and probably decent vitality. Maybe he'd even used to wield a sword or at least dagger, some time ago.

Now however, he was busy trying to make himself look intimidating. Mercury even felt another tendril reach out for his mind, this one much more violent than the last, trying to grasp some control of the situation. It wouldn't harm him, but it would take away his defiance, that much the mopaaw could tell.

Within a moment, the tendril broke. Nay, it didn't simply break at his mind, Mercury completely shattered the attempt. He deconstructed it so rapidly that some of the mana immediately decomposed to kinetic energy, creating a burst of air that blew his fur back.

He bared his fangs at the bishop, but the old man spoke before he could get his words in. "Individual Starlight, am I correct in assuming you are a seeker?" he asked, his tongue no longer betraying his annoyance.

"You'd be right," Mercury nodded, keeping his own voice steady with <Still Mirror>.

"Very well, then. I see you are part of a lot with little respect for rules, so I suppose I shouldn't have expected any better. Even here, despite the influence of Order, it seems seekers are still just as much on the side of chaos," the old man spoke, clicking his tongue disapprovingly.

"Truly Voice, I do not know how you can stand such individuals," he added, disregarding Mercury entirely.

Lucia grimaced at that, her lips turning into a frown. Mercury could see Iris trying to speak up, but the hot-blooded woman was faster. And… surprisingly reasonable? "Dear bishop, I believe it is quite uncouth for someone so intent on keeping polite conversation to so lackadaisically ignore the individual they are speaking of, no? If you wish to take issue with seeker Starlight, perhaps it would be prudent to wait until he has committed an actual sleight?"

Mercury almost blinked at her, having been fully ready to jump in, yet she was calmly protecting his name. Had she always been so reliable? Actually, even back when they travelled together, her outbursts had been getting less frequent.

The bishop wrung his hands at her words, looking for a reply, before he simply settled for now. "Fine then. Seeker Starlight has spoken with disrespect, but perhaps he has heard little of what I do to earn that which I expect. Nevertheless, I expect for you, seeker Starlight, to educate yourself some more on what tone of voice you wish to adapt when talking to someone from the church."

And for the third time, Mercury could tell the old man was trying to grasp at his mind. This attacks was more methodical, attempting to find a chink in his mental armor, to subtly invade and sway him.

Mercury was no longer kind to the attack.

So many of his Skills worked to absolutely destroy the attack. It went against <Unbroken >, the Skill forming an armor that kept his mind impenetrable. <Vast Mind> refused to let it find any purchase at all. <Unrestrained > howled against the attempt of control, the chain made from magic and mind. Even <Itinerant > and <Seeker Of Secrets> seemed to go against the attack, refusing control over Mercury.

Combining all of those with <Still Mirror>, <Clarity >, and his already high willpower and practiced mind, he didn't simply shrug off the attack. Once he broke apart the foreign mana, he pulled on his experience dealing with something like this. Attacks on his mind were nothing new, since the Starving Dream and what he guessed to have been one of the assassins targeted it.

So, he leveraged that knowledge. He opened up the collapsing channel, condensed his rijn, and struck back against Nemo's own mind.

For a moment, the old man's eyes rolled backwards, and he once again crumpled against the doorframe, but quickly recovered a moment later and caught himself before he fell. The air in the room grew thick enough to be cut with a knife.

Slowly, the bishop raised his back, straightened the folds on his robe, then stared at the mopaaw some more.

"Never try to touch my mind again," Mercury said, speaking clearly while looking up at the much taller figure.

The bishop only snorted at that. "I would never dare," he said, crossing his arms defensively.

Mercury simply stared at the old man for a while longer, then shook his head and turned to Lucia. "Honestly, it really was lovely seeing you. Next time one of your fellow churchmates tries to manipulate my thinking, I'm not gonna be as nice about it though, alright? Now, I'll be heading out," he said, flashing her a smile, and giving Iris a nod.

The bishop did not try to stop him again.

He could feel the air heating up as he closed the door with <Telekinesis > and chuckled at that. Lucia believed him. The bishop was in quite some trouble, then.

Instead of listening in though, Mercury slowly made his way down the stairs, through the main hall, and out the front door, greeting a few priests and workers on the way. A couple of them recognized him and bowed, most simply stared at him weirdly. Such was the fate of looking like a cat.

By the time he made it to the Mages' Guild, it was already quite a bit later. Not quite night, but no longer bright outside either. Still, there were plenty of lights shining throughout the building's many windows, and the front door wasn't locked, so he let himself in.

Gilah was behind the counter in the lobby, as she usually was. In fact, the place was busier than he normally saw it, with quite a few people in robes and wearing funny wizard hats chatting away over drinks. His middle-aged friend, however, remained firmly behind the counter.

So firmly, in fact, that it took him hopping onto a barstool and calling for her to get some attention. Immediately, he saw her eyes go wide.

"Mittens, is that you?" she asked, walking over slowly.

"Sure is," he nodded.

"Holy fuck, you're back. How long has it been?"

"Too long," Mercury said, shaking his head.

She gave a slight chuckle. "Definitely. Can I get you anything to drink? It's on me this once," Gilah said, winking at him.

"Yes, actually. I got a fancy new Skill that lets me consume pretty much anything. Meaning I can finally have alcohol and stuff!" he smiled.

Gilah raised an eyebrow slightly. "Well then, do you want a menu?"

"I'd love one."

A few minutes later, they'd called for Elliot, who walked down the stairs rather groggily. Apparently, the kid had been doing inscriptions on some cores for a long while into the night. Which meant staying focused, then short naps, then focusing again. He didn't look very excited, well, until he saw Mercury that is. His face lit up.

"Mercury!!!" he yelled, charging at the mopaaw, who deftly stepped away. Elliot's agility couldn't contend with Mercury's anymore, and the boy wrapped his arms around empty air where the mopaaw used to be.

A frown of disappointment was visible on his lips, but Mercury quickly wiped it away. "Want me to get you some juice?" the srytfyel offered, and immediately, Elliot smiled again.

"Yes! Cherry juice please," he beamed at Gilah, and the woman obliged, putting the glass in front of him as well. Then, the three simply chatted.

Mercury went into his fourth recollection of his story. Suffice to say, he toned down the more gruesome parts a bit, and made himself sound slightly more heroic than usual. The sparkle in Elliot's eyes was more than worth it.

Then, he asked what the two of them had been up to.

"We were actually sent on a decently important mission together, quite a bit above what we'd usually do. Esmeya needed us to get some poison. Didn't tell us what it was for, but we know by now. She's used it in some alchemy, used it as an ingredient in some new fancy chalk," Gilah said, sounding disinterested.

When her speech ebbed off, the much more enthusiastic Elliot kept talking instead. "Apparently it holds magic really well! She's been using it to draw runes on cores. They can be inscribed, but it's delicate work, and with the chalk, there's no danger of breaking them!"

Mercury nodded along with a smile, letting the two explain. Elliot had been working on inscribing cores, mainly. Especially after the damage to the city, a lot of the sewer system needed repairs because of collapses, and so they had to inscribe a bunch of cores to move the water along.

They wouldn't work perfectly right away, but over time, the mana in them would increase its affinity to water, and become more efficient. Even without that, though, it was still more than enough to help it all flow along, and keep the city sanitary.

Gilah, on the other hand, was continuing her practice. After the most recent excursions and all the fighting, she'd been putting more effort into ice magic, trying to get better with moderate success. Improvement was slow for her, as it always had been, but she was keeping at it, apparently.

Neither of the two had gone outside the tower much. Seeing everything in disrepair was just depressing. They chose to sink into their studies instead, a sentiment many of the mages seemed to share.

But things had been getting better recently, and the guild was looking more lively bit by bit. They still hadn't cut down on the long nights though, which seemed a bit of a trend among them all. So much so that there was a small blackboard in the corner where there was a leaderboard of who had the highest <Insomniac > Skill.

Which was both funny and depressing.

Well, mainly funny, really. And it wasn't like it hadn't already been common in the past. These days, Esmeya was just cracking down on it less because she, herself, had been embracing the sleepless life.

All of them were doing their best to help the city get back on its feets as fast as possible, which made Mercury smile. Quite a few of them also created heaters for the tents, which were now being used to stave off the winter chill in the temporary residences.

It didn't exactly make them comfortable, but at least things weren't as bad as they could be. Honestly, hearing about it all made Mercury want to learn about inscribing cores quite badly. It seemed like the main way to create magical items. Well, of course he knew that it wasn't the only way. Yasashiku could probably have made plenty magical things without any cores.

In the end, it was more or less just about the skill of the crafter and the quality of the ingredients. The same result could be achieved in different ways, as was with most things in the system. It was more about picking your own path, anyway.

Eventually, Elliot excused himself. One by one, most of the mages headed out, and some time past midnight, it was only the two of them in the lobby, accompanied by the occasional clanging of tools from above, as mages worked away in their workshops.

Once things had emptied out, Gilah herself also had a drink or two. Nothing too heavy, she didn't exactly want a hangover tomorrow, but just enough to enjoy it some more.

Mercury ended up mainly entertaining her with stories from Earth. He didn't wanna go into much more detail about everything in the ashen plains. The people here honestly didn't need much more depressing shit, having the city damaged like this was more than enough sadness for a little while.

Instead, he told her about his brother, and a couple funny things from work. Supervisors being silly, and all that, but most of it was just on his incredible big brother, Jack, and his stupidly big heart.

The man had been nothing but kind to Steve, always. He hadn't just taken him in after his parents threw him out. He'd also protected Steve back at school, when they were still kids. He wouldn't stand for anyone being unkind to his little brother back then.

Throughout his entire life, his brother had proven nothing but loyal. Of course he had his own struggles, when he was exhausted and tired, or done with life in general. And he wasn't always available. But he was there when it counted.

After all that, he went back to the gloryhall, into his room, and headed to bed.

- - -

The next morning, Mercury woke up feeling a bit groggy, but energized. He'd left the window open overnight, and the air brushed against his fur with a light breeze, though he quickly closed it to stop the entire guild from getting cold.

By now, he'd apparently outpaced some of the seekers here, especially newer ones who'd come to help with repairs and not seen the war. Quite a few of them struggled a bit with the winter chill. Mercury hardly even noticed it.

Another benefit of levelling, he noted with a smile, then stretched out for a bit. Sleeping in a bed felt quite strange these days. Maybe he'd sleep in his log again today, but that was up to future Mercury.

For now, he decided to head down the stairs into the main part of the hall, grabbing the Blanket of Dreams from the foot of his bed before he was off. He was planning to stay in Stormbraver for a bit, before he went to check on Zyl, for a few reasons, so he wanted to check out the noticeboard once he'd had breakfast.

On one hand, he just wanted more time to catch up with everyone. It had been a while since he'd last seen them, and a few hours weren't quite enough to hear about everything. He also wanted to just help a bit with rebuilding. Seeing a place he'd lived in broken down like this was dejecting.

Finally, there was still the bit about bishop Nemo. The old man had tried to manipulate his mind. Mercury thought he'd been more than patient, letting two attempts slide entirely. But at the same time, he was almost hoping Nemo would try again, because he wouldn't be as nice about it anymore.

Before any of that, though, Mercury had to eat breakfast. He decided to actually order at an inn, rather than hunt for himself. Having actual meals was a luxury he'd only recently gotten back, and wasn't willing to give up again so soon. So, he had stew. It made him unreasonably happy, and that was good.

After eating, he headed back, and grabbed a job to help with cleaning away rubble. The day was somewhat long, but he heard lots of gossip from the other workers. Little to do but talk when you were lifting rocks, it seemed.

To Mercury, the work wasn't as hard as expected. He could break the bigger stones apart with his rijn, or lift a whole sheet of smaller pebbles and dust all at once with <Telekinesis >. So, he had plenty of time to listen to the others talk.

Most of it were more personal stories, which he didn't pry into, but some were general. How Lucia and the church in general had been incredibly helpful with healing people. Nemo had been directing the other church staff to supply everyone with food, and setting up tents to sleep.

Foss and the Merchants' Guild in general had been investing frankly silly amounts of coins into reconstruction, trying to get the economy rolling again instead of forcing people to hold onto money. Their loans had barely any interest, either, basically lending money with no real profit incentive.

Perhaps it was a move to build trust, but Mercury doubted it. <Seeker Of Secrets> and <Intuition > both told him that Foss actually cared about the state of the city. Some parts of the merchant's plans were selfish, surely, Mercury didn't doubt that. But not all of it was.

Once the day's work was over, he went back to the gloryhall, with a couple more glooms in his pocket. More than enough to afford the day's food, and some extra on top of it.

Sadly, his mood was going to be ruined a bit when he came to the Guild. Avery was standing outside, talking to a whole gaggle of people wearing white robes, the old bishop at their very helm. Nemo was apparently already beginning to stir up trouble.

One of the geezers heard Mercury approach - he hadn't bothered hiding it - and turned around. One by one they faced him, and Avery, from behind the gaggle of clerical folk, raised an eyebrow at the mopaaw.

"Seeker Starlight," the bishop greeted, not offering a hint of a gesture.

"Bishop Nemo," Mercury replied.

Silence hung heavily for a few seconds, as Mercury waited. The bishop had come to seek him out, yet now he and his gaggle of followers simply stared at him. It stretched on for an uncomfortable amount of time, before the bishop snorted. "Aren't you going to invite us in?"

"No," Mercury replied immediately. "You didn't schedule an appointment, did you? Hah, no respect anymore these days…" then he began trudging past the group. One of them attempted stopping him, but <Itinerant > ended that very quickly.

The follower slipped, and harmlessly stumbled into the next person, doing little more than embarrass them.

"I was not told I needed an appointment, seeker Starlight," Mercury heard the bishop's voice behind him.

"Well, now, neither was I. Yet here we find ourselves, in front of a building, in the middle of winter. If you wanna talk about anything, then talk," he hissed.

The air filled with tension again, before it was suddenly broken. "Kahahahaha! I can't believe this! Mercury, you're back for one day and already pissed off the bishop? My man, my guy, you need to relax a bit before you start making enemies!" Avery laughed, buckling and holding his stomach.

The bishop grimaced a bit at the interruption, but spoke anyway. "I am glad you agree with me, master Beckham. I-"

"I don't agree with you, bishop," Avery interrupted, still chuckling to himself. "In fact, if Mercury says you're not going into the hall, then you're staying outside. This is my guild, and what I say goes, alright?" he said, crossing his arms. "But that doesn't mean I don't chide my members for acting silly. Any good reason for this, Mercury?"

"Very good, actually," the mopaaw in question replied. "The bishop attempted to exert his influence over my mind."

When the words left his lips, Mercury could feel a chill settle in. Avery's stance had gone from lazy and resolute to full on tense, like a bear trap ready to snap shut. The glare was clear even beneath his sunglasses. He stared down Nemo even as he spoke to Mercury.

"Bud, that's a serious accusation you're leveraging. Are you completely certain about this?" he asked, all humor gone from his voice.

One of the followers of the bishop spoke up before Mercury could reply. "Nemo would never do such a thing!" he yelled, taking a step towards the guild master, before his knees buckled and the man fell to the floor.

"Nobody's taking a step closer to my guild until this is resolved," Avery said, the threat of violence clear in his voice. His fear effect would force anyone to think twice before acting. "Bishop Nemo. Did you try to tamper with the freedom of one of my seekers or did you not?"

"Never," the bishop replied, his voice not shaking despite the pressure. He hadn't endured dozens of years of politicking to fail now!

Avery faced his feline friend, then. "Mercury, has the bishop attempted to tamper with your mind? Answer honestly, please."

"He did," Mercury said resolutely. Twice had he shown restraint. The third time was the time for action. Despite that, the bishop tried for a fourth time.

The attempt was different this time, much grander. Magnified dozens of times over, like the bishop was drawing power from all his subjects. Appy popped in for just a second to confirm that theory.

[Bishop Nemo appears to be siphoning mana from his supporters. A fealty-based Skill is likely in use. Be wary.]

Despite the change being so clear to his eyes, Mercury knew it wasn't obvious. Avery was no mage, and even then, the mana was almost invisible. Instead, Mercury had a much easier time seeing it as something similar to his rijn. A mental attack, fueled by mana.

It had turned from a tendril to a hammer, aiming to subjugate him.

Mercury looked at the attempt. Peered at its core, his mind working fast to let him take it all in. He saw its connection to the bishop and his followers, spread out over the space.

"Look closely, Avery," the mopaaw whispered, "he's doing it right now."

He felt the guild master's eyes sharpen just as the attack threatened to reach his mind. Then he struck back.

It was two dozen people, perhaps, against just him. Odds which weren't in his favour. Yet, only one of them had the Skills to properly support the attack. A dozen batteries were still just batteries.

Mercury gazed at the attempt against his thinking, saw it for what it was. A collar, a chain, a binding. And he refused it.

Within the span of a <Breath >, he'd entered ihn'ar. Recognized the threads of the attack, each one unique and different, yet each one another seal. It wasn't properly woven or constructed, and clearly not made from dreams, but the ihn'ar seemed flexible enough when it came to this.

Mercury tore the ideas apart, just like threads of the weave.

The very thought of him being subjugated was ripped to shreds, as his formidable mind bore down on Nemo's, The bishop was old, stubborn, and extremely convinced of his ideals of Order. Fanatically so, even, and Mercury knew he would not change the man's opinion of him.

But that wasn't the goal. Instead of striking at Nemo's core ideals, Mercury did something very different. His mercy was spent. When he fractured the attack, carving its bits out of reality, the tunnel took a moment to collapse. Mercury left his mark, then, two of them.

First, a tiny little thread he suddenly knew how to use, one that connected Nemo to his dreams. A promise for the future.

Secondly, he claimed retaliation.

An attack on the mind went both ways, and Mercury wasn't inclined to suffer another one today. So he made sure he wouldn't.

His mind was stronger than that of most, having been torn apart and rebuilt. His rijn could shatter stone and forge metal.

Nemo had made the fatal mistake of challenging Mercury on his preferred playing field, using an attack that he was almost built to resist. So, he slammed the entire weight of his mind against the bishop's, sending the man sprawling to the floor in the blink of an eye.

His followers stood in stunned silence for a moment, Avery's forehead wrinkling. "I suggest you take the bishop back to the church," the guild master growled. Mercury could smell a hint of fear in the air as the worshippers took the old man and began to hurry away.

Avery shook his head at the mopaaw. "That wasn't your best choice," he said, before heading through the door into the gloryhall. Once inside, his tone changed, and his lips curled into a smile. "It was funny as hell though, kah! Old bastard has been a pain in the neck for ages. All manners and formalities. Did he seriously try to tamper with your head?"

"Sure did. If he hadn't, it wouldn't've been nearly as easy knocking him out. Mental stuff leaves a kind of tunnel, and once I disarm his attack, I can hit back," he explained.

Avery half-winced at that and chuckled. "Well then, I hope this doesn't cause too many issues. If we're lucky, the bishop learned his lesson. If he hasn't, well, you'll always be safe here. I'm not letting anyone who's trying to cause trouble into my guild," the guild master said with a confident grin.

"Thanks, Ave. Means a lot. I think I'll be heading to bed, this has me tuckered out," Mercury said, walking up the stairs.

"Alright, talk to you tomorrow."

Soon, the mopaaw was in his room, laying down in the bed with the blanket of dreams draped around him. Sleep came so very easy, and when he awoke, his realm awaited. A colourful sky with a silver sun, one dark and one bright star, and a pale moon over a field of green.

Old Uunrahzil wasn't there that day; instead, another visitor sat underneath Whisperstar's gaze.

"Greetings, bishop," Mercury said, grinning at the man who kneeled in the grass in front of him. "I think we have a bit to talk about."