Chapter 161: Honesty

Chapter 161: Honesty

Not too long after his first bit of ice magic, Mercury showed it off to Zyl, who praised him and gave him a hug for it. Irrithuriel just so happened to see it as well.

"You're a little freak, aren't'cha?" the old lady asked in her coarse voice.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I'm calling you a monster," she elaborated, and mercury narrowed his eyes, almost hissing at her. "Now, now, not that kind of monster," she said, waving him off. "You learnt that fast. Did you find some patterns that helped in the library?"

"No?"

She raised an eyebrow at that. "Huh, I thought I had some. You reverse engineered the patterns yourself?"

"Sure did," Mercury said with a small sigh. "Took me a while to get how to go from my normal mana to ice affinity. Then from there, I used the pattern of a system spell to get a general gist of it, and got through the rest of it with some trial-and-error and a good bit of intuition."

The old lady shook her head at him, gesturing with a spoon. "See, I told you, absolute monster."

Zyl couldn't help but look at Mercury. "Yeah, that's… pretty crazy."

"I'm not a monster," Mercury said forcefully.

"Starlight. I mean that you have monstrous talent in magic. Seriously. It takes most apprentices two pages to even cast their first elemental spell, and that's when they have the patterns available. The fact that you had to come up with those yourself tells me that your general understanding of magic is quite good, and the fact that you so easily managed to get your mana to cooperate tells me you have an incredible handle on it."

Mercury paused for a second. "Still not a monster," he grumbled.

"Yes, you have my apologies. I was just impressed. Among dragons, it's used as a compliment," Irrithuriel explained.

The mopaaw looked at Zyl for a moment, who nodded in agreement. "Was called a monster all my childhood, and I was quite proud of it, too. It means… being a prodigy, or something," he said with a smile.

"Okay. I'll try to take it nicely, and you guys try not to use it too much?"

They both nodded in agreement.

"Now, where did you learn to handle mana that well?" Irrithuriel asked him.

Mercury thought back to his time in Treyno, when he simply worked himself to the bone for a whole chapter. "Self taught."

The old dragon barely held back a scoff at that. "Self taught? You mean to tell me you managed to get this proficient by yourself within a year?"

Without hesitation, Mercury nodded. "Yes. Handling mana this way is something I learnt by myself. Though I later learned how to improve my mind to handle it better, it was just a lot of practice, bending it into patterns, separating it into strips."

And he had done just that in casting the spells. Each ystir of his was tasked with a small bit of the pattern, holding edges and curves in place. It made it much easier for Mercury to mainly focus on just feeding it the mana. He hadn't even needed all his ystirs to fully hold the pattern in place, just about half did fine.

"Crazy," Zyl muttered.

"And that magic intuition? The way you were able to look at ice mana and think 'so that's how it's done'. Is that also self taught?" Irrithuriel asked. There was genuine curiosity in her words, without any malice.

"No, I learned that from… a friend," he said. He wondered where Ruvah was for a moment. Where the realm had brought them as it broke apart. "One I hope to see again very soon," he added.

Irrithuriel chuckled at that. "You sure like to keep your secrets, hmm?"

Mercury hesitated, then nodded with a crooked smile. "It's half of what makes me so special. But this is from someone called Ruvah, who I met in the blood eclipse. I learned a lot about them, and they're kinda closely related to ice magic."

Again, the old dragon raised an eyebrow. "Oh? I thought I felt something special about you, some kind of understanding. Could it be that?"

"Huh. I guess it could be, honestly. It's an ability I now have, just called <Water >," Mercury said.

"Seems about right. That's part of what I felt, then." The dragon nodded again.

"What, you're not upset about that?" Mercury asked.

"No. It's not like you're controlling my mind or something. It's more like… my instincts tell me that you understand a part of me. Nothing more, nothing less," she explained.

"You don't get anything like that, Zyl?"

"Nothing." The dragon shook his head. "Just feel like I like you as much as always," he said, petting Mercury's back again.

The conversation ebbed after that, and Mercury simply enjoyed spending some time with Zyl, his tail lazily drifting through the air. They eventually talked some more about future plans, how they would be proceeding.

By now, Irrithuriel's potion had worn off. Zyl was looking better, colour having returned to his skin, and he felt better than before even the party. It had been a strong elixir, so that much was to be expected, but her asking nothing in exchange had come as a bit of a surprise.

Soon, though, that peace was interrupted by a knock on the front door. It was already night outside, a starry sky visible through the cottage's windows, and everyone was growing sleepy. Mercury did, too, having long since shifted to sleeping through the night again. <Adaptable > made it much easier than it used to be.

Irrithuriel slowly rose from the chair she'd been sitting on, chattering away, and walked towards the door. "I'll get it," she mumbled sleepily. "Who would be visiting me at this time?"

After a couple slow steps, she grabbed the handle and pulled the door open inwards. "Hello?" she asked, her eyes narrowing.

"Hey. Hey. I smelled something. Zylnareth. Mer. You're housing 'em, right? Can I speak to 'em?" the person in the doorway asked, a voice that Mercury distinctly recognized.

Irrithuriel immediately slammed the door shut, and there was a groan of disappointment from outside. "Hey, c'mon! I didn't do anything! Hey!"

The old lady gave a suddenly much more awake look to Mercury and Zyl, who both had equally wide eyes. "How did she find us??" Irrithuriel hissed, to which both of the men shrugged.

"Scent, I guess?" Mercury added tentatively.

"But how?"

"Tracking Skills," Zyl said with a shudder. "She probably learnt them or bought one at the ball, once she saw us come in."

"And that just completely went past my <Thousand Snowflake Illusion>?"

"It's called 'illusion' for a reason," Zyl muttered.

"Hey. I can hear you," Nir said from outside, softly banging on the door.

"What do we do?" Irrithuriel hissed.

Then, Mercury opened the door. He'd hopped off the bed and walked up to it without the dragons noticing. "Heya, Nir," he said.

"Hey!" the wiry girl replied with an entirely too big smile, showing off razor sharp teeth. "Good to see you!"

Zyl and Irrithuriel just stood there, stunned.

"Yeah, just a little surprising, I suppose. Could you tell us how you tracked us here?" he asked calmly.

"Oh, yes, of course. Mother had me train my smell Skills up. I've got a good nose on my face," she explained.

Mercury turned back to the others, giving a half-hearted shrug. "Told you so." Then, turning back to Nir, he continued. "And why, exactly, did you come here?"

"Ah. I, uh. Wanted to… talk," she said, scratching the back of her head.

"Talk?" Mercury asked.

"Apologize," she specified with a nod.

"I see."

"No. You don't. Uh, I mean. Sorry," she said awkwardly.

"You're okay, Nir. Forgive the others for not being trusting. Are you sure no one trailed you here?"

"Why would anyone trail me?" she asked, cocking her head to the side.

"You know, your parents and brother want me dead."

"My brother is dating you."

"Your other brother."

"Ah, Ber? No, no. Coward. He would hide in a cave before facing you, kikiki." She giggled as though it was the funniest joke she ever heard.

"He tore out Zyl's spark."

"No. He tricked him into handing it over. Because he's a coward." She nodded confidently.

Mercury gave another glance at the two dragons, both of whom just stared at him, occasionally opening and closing their mouths.

"Right. Well, still, did anyone trail you?" he asked again.

"Oh, I didn't check. Let me just…" she trailed off, and a moment later, Mercury felt a torrent of mana wash over him. Enough to make his hair stand on end, like his entire body had been under static electricity.

"Hm. Hey. You were right, Mer! There is someone!" she said, with a huge smile on her face, then vanished. Mercury could hardly follow her thanks to <Night Vision>, but most of her remained blurred.

A few dozen meters away, she stopped, then reached her hand inside a sheer cliff face, withdrawing a suspiciously humanoid rock-shadow thing. Then, Nir proceeded to take the figure, and slam them into the ground hard enough to crack the surrounding rocks.

"Hey. Why did you trail me. Hey. Answer me. Hey!" she yelled the last part, smashing the figure into the rocks a few more times, to the point Mercury saw blood begin to flow.

"Nir, if they fall unconscious, they won't be able to tell us anything," he gently reminded her.

The dragon froze in the middle of the motion, stopping so quickly it actually caused a small gust of wind to stir some dust. The figure in her hand had its hands wrapped around her wrist, blood streaming from it. "Ah. You're right. I forgot."

She got up slowly, motion jerking a little, like she didn't have her strength dialled down perfectly. Mercury realized that it was what made her look so unpredictable. Her movements were often so swift, with pauses in between each one. Her legs would snap forward, then she paused, then snapped forward again, unnaturally matching the pace of a normal walk.

It felt like she was living in a different timescale from him, almost. A few moments later, she dropped the figure in front of Mercury.

"There. I'm not good at asking. Can you ask them? For me?"

"Of course," Mercury said, almost pitying the figure on the ground. Much of the rock around them had cracked and broken off, revealing greenish skin and tusks. The kind of face Mercury would expect from an orc, with relatively rough features. They had dark eyes that shook, seeming disorientated.

Mercury still didn't invite Nir inside, simply looking at the spy. "Hey," he said, and the orc flinched at the word. "Why did you trail Nir."

"Yeah, why?" the dragon asked as well.

The orc took a long time to reply, coughing up some blood. By then, Zyl and Irrithuriel had gotten closer to the door, having somewhat regained their wits. Still, neither butted into the conversation, letting Mercury handle the talking, since, miraculously, Nir hadn't broken any part of the house yet.

"Orders…" the spy eventually croaked, coughing again immediately after.

"Whose orders?" Mercury asked.

"Ber… thorn," the orc said.

"Brother Ber?" Nir said, stunned.

"Alright, here's how this is going to go, buddy," Mercury then said, talking before the three dragons around him could. He then triggered his new Skill, <Witnessed >, against the orc. Immediately, the spy's expression changed. It went from wide-eyed, to a grimace, to a series of low, painful grunts.

Mercury felt a slight pressure against his mind, as though he was manifesting his rijn and lifting something, but it was almost hard to notice. Still, he followed that pressure to the orc, and placed a mark, letting him access the spy's dreams if there was any need to.

"What… are you…?" the orc rasped between gasps of air, almost suffocating.

"Just a mopaaw, don't worry about it," Mercury said smugly. "Right, you're gonna go back to Berthorn. You're gonna tell him that Nir simply went out hunting. Killed a few wild beasts. That is all that happened today, right?"

"Yes, yes, all," the orc agreed instantly.

"Good," Mercury said, releasing the Skill. "Irrithuriel, can you give him something that patches him up? We don't want our messenger to fall apart before he makes it home."

After a couple blinks, the old lady nodded. "I suppose so," she said with a shake of her head, and took out a vial from her inventory. "Drink this, orc."

The spy had little time to protest and quickly obliged, gulping down the red liquid. His wounds mended, and before there was a chance for more commands, he already ran off, seemingly terrified for his life.

"Was that… a Skill, Mercury?" Zyl asked after a long pause.

"Sure was. The evolution of <Bloodlust >. I, uh, didn't exactly expect that, either, but it probably scales with my mind, and I have a couple Skills to make it stronger."

"Right," the dragon said, shaking his head.

"Crazy," Nir added, a grin on her face again. "Mer, he was more scared of you than me!"

"Yes, yes, we're sure this is the only spy, right?" the mopaaw asked.

Irrithuriel nodded in reply. "Yes, I checked. No one but us here, now."

"So, Nir," Mercury continued, and the girl focused on him, wiping the smile off her face. "You wanted to apologize."

"Yes," she said matter-of-factly.

"For?" Mercury asked.

"Overstepping boundaries," she said. There was a brief silence, which she took as a cue to speak more. She turned to Zyl, then bowed at the waist. "I'm sorry. Sincerely," she said, facing the floor. "Zylnareth. I failed you. As a sister. As a person. And I apologize."

Zyl just looked at Nir, stunned. "What?"

"I have been a poor… acquaintance, now, I guess," she said bitterly. "Didn't see how hurt you were. What was going on. I was just inside my own head. Didn't see further than myself. I'm sorry."

Her brother stood in stunned silence for a few more seconds. "What?" he repeated dumbly, making her grimace.

"I-"

"No. I get that. I heard you," he interrupted, taking a couple deep breaths. "Why, I guess, is more appropriate. Why?"

"Because I saw you," she said. "Saw you smile Zyl. Zylnareth, sorry," she corrected herself.

"That's… all?" he asked.

"Yes," she grimaced. "I should have noticed sooner, I'm sorry, I-"

She stopped, when Zyl pulled her into a hug. "You're an idiot, Nir," he said. "A stupid, dumb, brainless, fucking idiot. And you're the kindest member of this family."

Nir stopped, swallowed heavily for a moment, then slowly brought her hands up. "Can I…?"

"Yes, you can hug me back, idiot," Zyl said with a small laugh, and Nir wrapped his arms around her.

"Missed you," the girl murmured, squeezing tightly enough to shatter an ordinary person's ribs.

Luckily, Zyl wasn't an ordinary person, and squeezed back just as tight.

"Mercury walked back inside the hut, gesturing at Irrithuriel. "Could you maybe make them some stew? I think they have some… catching up to do."

The old lady shot him a crooked smile. "Yes, Starlight. I suppose I can whip up a batch of stew."

- - - - - -

After the lengthy "conversation" with his mother, Berthorn had returned to his main residence. The ballroom was gone now, entirely wiped away by his father's grace. He scoffed at the memory of it.

He had people trailing all members of his family. Some had been removed from his mother. After her most recent display, she didn't seem nearly as frightening anymore. Certainly hungry for control, desperately reaching out to see whether she could take life into her own hands, but not someone immediately threatening his plans.

The spark had her attention fully. He knew that much about her, now. The weapon from it was all she could think about, and it made her lose her sharpest claw in exchange. Being this obsessed with a project made her neglect other avenues.

Just in the last five days he had taken over a branch of her network. Established relations with other dragons, and even a whole clan, and filling a role for them his mother used to. And she didn't even notice.

Berthorn shook his head at that, leaning far back in his chair. Right now, it was once again his brother who cast the largest shadow. Zylnareth and that mopaaw he dragged around. Mercury was its name, right? He remembered it.

Dreamt of it, even. Nightmares.

The wound around his eye healed poorly, leaving a faint scar despite receiving treatment. The nightmares were worse. He'd been losing sleep because of them, waking up, bathed in sweat, checking to see whether his eye was still there. In the dream, night after night, he lost it.

Sometimes, when it was especially bad, he would wake up in the middle of the night, and his vision was blurry.

He hadn't had trouble seeing in decades, much less expected it to happen from such a tiny creature. Someone so insignificant he could wipe them out with a single stomp. And yet! All his attempts had failed! One after another, that creature ruined his plots. Ruined his sleep, too, recently.

Berthorn bit his fingers on how to deal with it. He didn't even know how they got away. Simply that Nir, for some reason, had irritated their shared father, and ended up destroying the entire mountaintop. Because why would he bother leaving anything of Berthorn's intact.

A long sigh escaped Berthorn's lips. He slowly activated each of his Skills again, just to calm himself down. So many of them were related to premonitions of some kind, and so many of those reacted.

Dozens of tiny snippets of information entered his mind. The weather tomorrow. An alliance which could go poorly. Two people who would soon meet; a relationship he could exploit.

His Skills whispered to him, telling him bits of the future, each one incredibly likely to be true. They were too high in level to be inaccurate, with how often he poured all his resources into the abilities when he panicked.

One specifically though, sent him a rather big bit of intel. A spy of his would return soon, the one he had sent to track Nir. An old orc, one he had employed for decades now. And despite that, the Skill told him that this loyal servant would lie.

Curious.

Berthorn rose from his chair, and set about preparing for the spy's arrival. He gathered a mage he employed, one skilled in divination, and a few other servants and items. Then, when the orc came to the door, knocking on it, he simply waved his arm and the poor sod left in.

Not that he was a poor sod yet, but Berthorn was about to make him into one.

"My lord!" the spy said, quickly dropping to his knees.

"Yes, yes, no need for the formalities," Berthorn said, slowly prancing to the side of the orc. He still kneeled. At least he knew his place. "What is so important that you would come here in person?"

The orc flinched at that for a moment. Well, perhaps flinch was too generous. The movement was tiny, almost imperceptible, and Berthorn may well have missed it if he didn't have Skills for that.

For a few moments, the spy's eyes flitted about the room, as though looking for help, but he found none. Simply Berthorn, standing alone in the humongous entry hall. The white of the walls seemed to be pressing on him.

"W-well…" the spy started, then trailed off again.

"Please. Do not waste my time. If you came here, it was important, yes?"

"Yes…" the orc stammered.

"And you were sent to watch Nir, were you not?"

"Yes, my lord."

"So then. What is the important thing that has occurred involving my sister?" Berthorn asked, suddenly very close to the spy's face.

"I- my lord, she went out to hunt," the orc answered, his shoulders slumping in defeat.

"To hunt?"

"Yes, my lord."

Berthorn loudly scoffed, kicking the side of the spy, hard, sending him tumbling onto all fours. "Hunt for your disloyalty perhaps?"

The orc shivered. "No, my lord," he said, cowering on the floor. "Simply… hunt."

Berthorn squatted down next to his employee, watching as the old orc held his ribs where Berthorn had kicked him. His eyes were impassive. "Remove your hand," he commanded.

The spy did as asked.

Berthorn slammed his fist into the same spot with a resounding crack. "Ah, I believe that may have been one of your ribs. I do apologize," he said, entirely deadpan.

"Ugh…"

"Now. Let me ask you again. My sister. Where did she go to?"

"My lord…"

"Where. Did. She. Go. To?"

The orc was only silent for a moment, but it was too long. Berthorn kicked him again, making him grunt in pain.

"I will not ask again."

"The… mopaaw," the orc said, then gasped, as though drowning. Perhaps one of the ribs had pierced his lung, Berthorn noted. It did seem to be deflating, maybe.

"Yes. The mopaaw. Is that who my sister went to see?"

"Yes, lord. That… monster…"

"Monster?" Berthorn asked, his voice tinged with idle curiosity.

The orc gasped for air, but found none of it entering his lungs. Berthorn gave a long sigh at that. "Fine, fine, you have proven your use." He clapped twice, and a healer suddenly stepped forth, having been hidden within an illusion before.

The lady dragonkin kneeled down next to the orc, and hovered her hand over his chest. Soon, there was another crack as the bones went back to their rightful place, and a scream of pain from the orc. Right, Berthorn remembered he had said not to dampen the pain of the healing. Well, as long as the orc didn't pass out, that was fine.

Luckily, he didn't. Instead, the spy was left crumpled on the floor, gasping and coughing to empty his lungs out.

"You have exactly ten seconds before I break your ribs again. Speak. Why did you attempt to keep this secret from me?" Berthorn asked.

"Lord… that mopaaw-" He hacked out a cough for a few moments before resuming his speed. "It's a monster. Something about it. It's eyes… fuck, it's eyes."

"Hm. Would you say it would give you nightmares?"

The spy swiftly nodded.

"Curious," Berthorn said, nodding along. He was somewhat sure he'd killed greater monsters before. "Truly curious. Say, you wouldn't mind telling me more about that, would you?"

Desperate sweat began flowing down the orc's face.