Chapter 58: The Season of the Minotaur (7)

Simon stared at the crystal ball sitting on Cassandra’s table with wonder.

Although he had always believed in the Oracle’s power of foresight, he had never been too interested in divination magic. Every important person in Frightwall carried items protecting them from it on top of all the measures the likes of Shabram took to counter the Oracle; not to mention that only specific Classes could cast the required spells.

The Witch thankfully counted among them, so the two of them had decided to craft a crystal ball for her personal use after Simon took a room close to her apartment suite to keep her company in Whispermire. Since the crystal ball also had to include a curse due to Simon’s crafting Perk focusing on using on miasma, it would poison anyone touching it; a mere detail for Cassandra, whose Brand of Gluttony protected her from the ailment, and a security measure against anyone else.

The device allowed her to scry on people or objects from afar with remarkable accuracy. Attempts at tracking down Silk had failed miserably, but they had managed to check on various rooms within the Midnight Market.

“The Darkwood is shrouded in miasma,” Cassandra said. “I cannot pierce through the veil with my current power, though stronger spellcasters might be able to.”

“What about me?” Simon asked. “Can you see me?”

Cassandra waved her hand at the ball. Its surface began to reflect a mostly accurate picture of her suite, except she was sitting right next to a horrifying demon with folded wings rather than a man.

“I cannot see Simon Magnos, but I can see Belias the Fiend,” Cassandra said, which confirmed Anathemic Secrecy worked as advertised. She could only observe what he wanted her to see.

“Alright, I will alter my Perk a bit,” Simon said as he shifted his Anathemic Secrecy to blocking all divination attempts rather than sending false positives. He then grabbed a nearby potion off a shelf. “Can you see me?”

“No,” Cassandra confirmed, “but I can observe the potion floating in the air.”

As Simon feared. Anathemic Secrecy protected him from divination, but not necessarily the objects he carried on his person or things he interacted with. This gave credence to Shabram’s fears that something as precious as the Merchant Crestone could be tracked down in spite of his defenses. This might become another point in favor of claiming the Inventory Perk if it shielded the items within its pocket dimension from divination.

“I believe I could craft a crystal ball capable of piercing through miasma with your assistance,” Cassandra told Simon. “It should at least let you observe events inside the Halls of the Minotaur. Divination becomes more accurate the more familiar the scryer is with the target, and that Dungeon draws its power from you.”

“It would certainly help against unwelcome visitors,” Simon confessed, “and those will become more numerous by the day.”

Demand for monster parts and materials had exploded now that Louis’ army had begun to buy them in vast quantities, so incursions into the Darkwood were growing more and more frequent. Carrock the Treant had already wiped out a party of classless adventurers who had gotten a little too close to the fairy ring yesterday, and another group had reached the elven ruins surrounding the Halls of the Minotaur before being wiped out.

Most intruders were little more than glorified poachers, and none of them wielded any Vassal Classes, but they were growing bolder and more numerous. Every surviving group also helped map out the forest a little further, which in turn increased the chances that one of them might discover the Halls of the Minotaur.

Thankfully, Simon had been able to leverage his growing cult in Whispermire to implant one or two agents among the most threatening adventurer parties. His followers were locals familiar with the Darkwood, so they had an easy time posing as recruits and then waylaying intruders by luring them towards dangerous creatures working for Simon.

Simon sensed Lady Shabram’s presence at the edge of his mind and opened himself to her thoughts. “The package will be delivered today at the agreed-upon place, Your Majesty,” she said, “I have also confirmed that a large military drill is being planned for the month of Prairial, though I am not part of it. Prince Louis ordered me to focus my resources on the Church Party rather than in his backyard.”

Prairial… so right before the Summer Solstice and second sacrifice, Simon thought before answering her. “Can you at least tell me who’ll be involved in the operation?”

“I can already tell Your Majesty who is in charge of the program: Leonard Decarabia.”

What? Simon flinched in surprise. Leonard? Leonard was coming here as a representative of the War Party? “Why? His house answers to Lord Paimon.”

“It does, but Lord Leonard’s sister married Duke Flauros’ son, and that lineage supports Prince Louis’ claim to the throne. He chose his blood over his liege.”

Simon grumbled to himself. Of course the various power blocs would have accelerated Tiella’s engagement to the Flauros brat in order to snatch another House out from Lord Paimon’s orbit. Euphemia wasn’t the only one who could play the marriage game.

Moreover, Leonard made perfect sense as a training camp’s overseer. He was of a relatively high level, talented, and with a Class designed to protect weaker allies from injuries. As powerful as he would be on the field of battle, he would be ten times more useful to the War Party’s cause by ensuring multiple soldiers could level-up without risk.

“And Duke Flauros married a sister of Patriate Malphas,” Simon recalled with a scowl. Was that a coincidence, or signs of a greater plan?

“I have informed Prince Louis of my suspicions when it comes to House Malphas. He ordered me to put them both under close surveillance, but decided against taking direct action for now. I suppose he doesn’t wish to trouble Duke Flauros and Duke Eligos, both of whom are key to his war effort.”

“Keep me informed, and try to look into the other people involved in the military drill,” Simon ordered before cutting communications and mulling over this new piece of information.

Leonard would be in charge of the raid… was that good or bad news? He was an Overlord loyalist, but they were nearly four months into the current reign and in the middle of a civil war. His allegiance had likely changed a great deal given recent events.

Should Simon try to approach him and recruit him to his cause in the hopes that he could cancel the raid, or at least prevent his trainees from assaulting the Halls of the Minotaur? But if he did reveal himself to Leonard and he ended up revealing the truth to Louis or the rest of his family, then the Seasonal Key ritual would likely go awry. Simon couldn’t risk discovery yet.

And what should he do if Leonard ever led a party straight to his doorstep? The idea of fighting his own retainer—especially one who had proved loyal to the death in several reigns—unsettled Simon to his core.

Perhaps a better option will present itself, given time, Simon told himself as he shook his head and focused back on reality. “Sorry, Cassandra, I received an urgent message.”

“It is alright,” Cassandra reassured him. “I can tell when you mentally answer telepathic calls.”

“You can?” Simon chuckled. “I suppose we’ve spent enough time together for that.”

“It is a good thing, no?” Cassandra asked. “I appreciate the fact that you stayed here to keep me company. I enjoy it.”

“So do I.” Speaking of appreciation, Simon looked inside his belongings and brought out a gift he had been working on for some time: a Crestone. “Here, I made this for you.”

“For me?” Cassandra’s eyes lit up with interest as she looked it over. “It’s a Witch Crestone.”

“You told me you needed at least three Witches to form a coven,” Simon said. “We’re working on supplying you with a third Crestone, so you should be able to create one soon enough.”

“This is very kind of you, Simon. I will cherish this gift.” Cassandra took the Crestone and studied it closely. “I could ask Nora. She comes to me often, and she knows her way with herbs.”

“Nora? Isn’t that one of the cultists?” Simon smiled. “Already on a first-name basis with some of them?”

“I hope they can become my friends too,” Cassandra replied while returning his smile. “Shall we continue our divinations?”

“Yes, but not here. There is a package I need to recover outside town and experiments I need to run with it.” He offered her his hand. “Would you kindly accompany me for a promenade on horseback, Cassandra?”

“I would be delighted.”

True to their arrangements, one of Lady Shabram’s agents had placed the Merchant Crestone in a box beneath a mound half a day’s ride from Whispermire. It didn’t take long for Cassandra and Simon to locate it, hidden under a gnarled tree’s roots, and open it up.

Almost all Vassal Crestones were translucent, but the Merchant’s was as golden as the precious metal fueling its power, with a coin-like silver heraldry carved on its surface. A terrible heat coursed through Simon’s fingers when he touched it. He had never felt this way with any lesser Crestone before.

It rejects me, Simon could tell. It loathes the Overlord.

“Merchant,” he said, a flow of golden mana immediately surging from the Crestone.

The energy flowing out of the device was incomparable to Vassal Crestones. Those pale counterfeits could only mimic a fraction of the Noble Classes’ power, and Simon could feel the difference. A thrill as pleasurable as that of a level-up coursed through his veins, bolstered by strengthened confidence. For a brief second, Simon was convinced he could do anything, fulfill any dream, overcome any obstacle, and bend the world to his will.

That honeymoon period only lasted a second, as a wave of pure wrongness followed the Class outfit’s apparition. A rich and wealthy outfit, including a top hat, a formal suit with a small cloak, boots, and bowtie materializing over his skin. Such clothes should have felt comfortable, but they itched and burned his skin with a phantom pain. They weighed on his shoulders in a way the Overlord armor never did, pressing down on his chest. Even the Class’ phantom whip weapon seemed far heavier in his hand than it should be.

The Merchant Crestone didn’t harm him, but it would if it could. The intuitive knowledge it provided Simon was given against its will, and the Perk was coaxed from its archetype.

Level 1 Merchant Perk: Eye for Treasure I (Passive): You intuitively grasp the average monetary value of anything you see.

Simon glanced at Cassandra, with phantom numbers floating next to her belongings: her robe, her veil, her staff, and crystal ball… with the highest value being assigned to Cassandra herself.

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The Merchant Class actually put prices on people. Simon shuddered as he quickly grasped the implications.

A slaver was still a merchant at the end of the day.

“The suit looks good on you, Simon,” Cassandra complimented him.

“You’re too kind,” Simon replied before casting aside the Merchant’s whip—watching it vanish into mana the moment it left his hand—and instead grabbed his morning star. His Class gave him an intuitive understanding of its Perks. “Inventory.”

The morning star vanished without warning. A system screen popped up in front of Simon, showing his weapon placed amidst a sea of empty boxes. Most had a cross mark placed on them since he only had one level in Merchant.

“Can you see the morning star with your crystal ball?” Simon asked Cassandra.

“No,” she quickly confirmed. “It became untraceable the moment it disappeared.”

So Anathemic Secrecy did apply to objects placed in the Merchant’s Inventory. This kept getting better and better. Simon only had to focus for the weapon to instantly reappear in his hand. He swiftly confirmed that he could easily switch items in the Inventory by having his ring and weapon move around in and out of the pocket dimension.

Two reigns ago, when Simon first learned how to craft, Belzemine warned him against wearing more than one or two magical accessories at once because their mana would otherwise interfere with each other. This not only limited the amount of enchanted items he could carry, but also his tactical flexibility.

Inventory neatly solved that. He would be able to switch between weapons and accessories on the fly depending on the situation, the same way Louis apparently used his Warrior Class’ armory to alternate between different weapons.

Once he had finished testing this innate Perk’s limits, Simon decided on a bolder test: placing the Merchant Crestone itself in the inventory. The result was a predictable error message.

You cannot put the Merchant Crestone in the Inventory.

Simon suspected something like that would happen; it would become impossible to recover the Crestone otherwise. Unfortunately, that meant he could never extend Anathemic Secrecy to the Merchant Crestone itself. It would forever remain a security risk. He simply couldn’t afford to keep it close for long.

“Let’s try out the other innate Perks, just in case,” Simon decided. Eye for Treasure held little use for Simon, and the Brand of Greed already provided more income than the Merchant’s Golden Rule, so only its Lootbox and Buddyguard interested him.

Thankfully, having branded Odette Kano and gaining access to an ancient elven treasury meant he had inherited a sizable amount of money this month. Simon and Cassandra first tested the Lootbox Perk by paying a hundred golden coins to it. The first time he tried it, the coins vanished and transformed into a healing potion in a bottle; the second attempt provided a set of high-quality lockpicking tools; and the third a small shield.

In short, Lootbox indeed appeared to be completely random. Even Cassandra’s gambling-enhanced intuition from the Brand of Greed didn’t appear to influence the results.

“Well, this might be the most unreliable Perk I’ve seen yet,” Simon complained.

“I find it funny,” Cassandra admitted. “Maybe we will get a good surprise if we keep trying?”

“We don’t have infinite money to burn on this exercise.” Simon stroked his chin. “Although, I do wonder how the Perk picks objects. Does it have a list of objects with an assigned price it picks from? Where does the gold go? Is it transmuted into the object, or is it teleported somewhere else? This ability has to follow some sort of parameters…”