Chapter 8: Limiting Options

Chair, lurch, tapestry. Everything was back to the start and she’d been pulled out of the disaster.

Suria’s heart was pounding as she remembered the tension, and she blushed when she realized that she had been shouting “Sleep!” like a villain in a play. There was no need to speak aloud to cast, of course; she was just unused to using spells offensively and not thinking properly. It was much, much easier to be logical when she had time to sit and think instead of in the heat of the moment.

Now that she was back in the waiting room, she wanted to shrink away from everything and just let herself calm down. No, she shouldn’t. There was a very good chance that someone else would discover Lirngelf’s body and lead to chaos again, so she needed to stay active.

Speaking of… Suria got to her feet and walked past Lirngelf, taking his potion out of his pack when her body was blocking Maut-mai’s view. She had an excuse planned, but when she turned back, the other woman wasn’t even looking at her, lost in her own problems as usual.

Suria could try to steal the other potion as well, but one additional rune wouldn’t make any difference for her plans this cycle. Her primary goal was to get access to the office under less chaotic circumstances… until she could arrange that, she would try to advance some of her other objectives.

First, before Maut-mai could get bored and go bother Rije, Suria went out to talk to the guard first. When she met him in the corridor he smiled at her and she struggled to smile back – even though she had left behind those consequences, she had a hard time forgetting the emotions on his face when he’d thought she betrayed him. As much as she didn’t want to see those emotions again… she would need to learn to suppress such feelings.

“Are you alright?” he asked gently.

“Just nervous for my interview.” Suria wasn’t sure where the excuses were coming from, but she lied easier than she expected. “Darkmoon University seems too big for me… on my way here, I saw several professors and they seemed so strong, I just…”

“Some of them can be intimidating,” Rije said with a chuckle. “Don’t worry, though, most of them are very kind people. Darkmoon prides itself on actually caring about teaching, unlike some universities.”

“But what if I’m stuck with a bad one? There was a man who looked like he was made of a statue…”

“Professor Rhamsolk? He’s the Throne of Transmutation – that means head of the whole department. Don’t worry, he’s a bit stern, but he’s one of the fairest professors here.”

“Oh, thank you.” Since this was working so far, Suria decided to press further. “There were some others, and I was just so curious. There was an old woman wh-“

“Ah, you shouldn’t ask me, I’m just a guard.” Rije shrugged awkwardly. “If you’re curious about the professors, I have a suggestion for you: go to the Hall of Thrones – there’s a whole room of portraits there. And if you want to find someone understanding, just ask the library staff. They’ll give you an honest opinion.”

That was very helpful advice… for someone who wasn’t trapped inside the building. Since she didn’t want to make too large of waves, Suria thanked the guard and moved on, tucking away the information for some far-off future where she could walk outside. That sounded like a good avenue to investigate the professors without raising suspicion.

Was she trying to investigate them? The battle in the basement seemed far too large for her, and part of Suria still wanted to just escape. But it seemed there was a very good chance she couldn’t simply do so… no, she shouldn’t distract herself with questions about things she couldn’t affect at all. She needed to remain focused.

Whatever Shuguja was doing in her office, the proctor took a while before she came out. On the first cycle, Suria had been preempted by Lirngelf and Maut-mai, so she had ended up there very late. She might be able to do better this time, but rushing could still lead to trouble, so she had some time to kill first.

Instead, Suria headed north to check on Eluauna and try to find a way to steal her glasses. It seemed the old woman was there from the start, working on her books, and early in the cycle she actually had the glasses perched on her nose. When she noticed she was being watched, she grew even more suspicious, so Suria abandoned that idea for now.

Back in the waiting room, she was surprised that no one had noticed that Lirngelf was dead. He really did look asleep… Suria felt a surge of panic as she stopped acting to really think about what had happened and so forced herself to look away. It wasn’t as if he had died because of her. But if she had been good enough, perhaps there was something that she could have done…

While she waited, she inscribed a new and improved sleep spell on her talisman. She hadn’t noticed before, but when she began to work on her old glyph, there was immediate tension as the spell disengaged. That made sense, as otherwise people would simply create complex glyphs a rune or two at a time. Yet the fact that she could dismantle a glyph and change it suggested that there were some exceptions, so there might be more.

“Ahem!” Shuguja appeared in the doorway, examining them as if they were personally offending her by waiting in the waiting room.

“I’ll go next,” Suria said before Maut-mai could make a move. She stepped inside and closed the door behind her.

“I’m Proctor Shuguja,” the middle-aged woman said sternly. “And you are?”

“Suria Northbrook.” She took her papers out of her satchel and handed them over.

“Oh, so you’re the scholarship. Listen, we-“

While Shuguja was looking down at the papers, Suria cast her enhanced sleep spell. The proctor slumped forward onto her desk immediately and Suria breathed a sigh of relief.

Given the fragility of her spell, Suria didn’t want to disrupt her too much, which meant that the proctor’s body was blocking easy access to her desk. Suria delicately fished out the woman’s necklace and found the key, just as she remembered. Up close, she could see that it was made of alchemical silver and had tiny glyphs inscribed on it.

Most likely a key like that was only for the hidden compartment. Suria found a ring of ordinary metal keys in the proctor’s pocket and tested them until she found the one for the main door, locking them both inside. Given that the first interview had been extensive, they probably wouldn’t be disrupted, which gave her more than enough time.

Suria returned to the hidden panel and held her breath as she turned the key… the compartment opened without a sound. She’d been afraid there was some hidden component, but Shuguja didn’t seem like a powerful enough mage to handle multiple levels of security.

Most of the supplies within weren’t particularly useful, but the proctor’s runebook was all she really needed. Suria hefted the stone book carefully, then hesitated. Now that she had time, she looked through the compartment more carefully.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

There was a certificate in Shuguja’s name, signifying her as a one seal mage with a runic capacity of twelve. Her seal had been earned in Naturalism, which was a more academic field that didn’t require much strength. The certificate was placed between protective slates of stone as if it was a prized possession and Suria hesitated, looking back to the slumped woman before continuing her search.

There were no mana potions in the compartment, unfortunately, and the only other notable thing she found was a sack of oss. It would have been enough to make her eyes bulge just yesterday, but money couldn’t save her life or get her out, so she ignored it. Best not to make herself look like a thief, anyway.