Chapter 21: Confrontation

Name:Edge Cases Author:
Chapter 21: Confrontation

"Uh," Sev said. He glanced at the rest of the team, and they all seemed equally stumped. Except for Misa, but the expression she was wearing was her 'punch this problem until it goes away' expression, which more or less translated to being stumped. "I don't suppose I can convince you you have the wrong room?"

"With a mana surge like that?" Jerome chuckled. His tone was almost casual. "I doubt it."

The paladin wore an easy sort of smile but it was a smile that carried with it an edge of danger. His stance was casual, with his legs crossed and his arms folded, and yet his sword was within an inch of his fingers. Sev had no doubt that he could draw his sword and attack them almost faster than they could react, and he also had no doubt that the sword wasn't Jerome's real method of attack. It was intimidation.

Attacking at all would be a terrible idea, of course. The Guild was enchanted against exactly that sort of thing, and while Jerome likely had ways around enchantments at his level, there was always some kind of backlash from ripping through high-level enchantments. He wouldn't get away scot-free even if he tried. Even a Platinum ranker wouldn't.

The threat was there, though. And the threat was more than enough, in most cases: The protection of those enchantments didn't extend beyond the grounds of the Adventurer's Guild, so they weren't completely reliable.

Whether that threat would work on this team was a different story.

Sev had no idea what Jerome wanted with them. Presumably, he wanted to learn who it was that had actually discovered the dungeon and then... what, intimidate them into keeping their mouths shut about it? But he'd only found them after they'd joined the meeting with the Elyran delegates, so that didn't make any sense.

Then again, Jerome didn't have any way of knowing how the meeting went.Updated from novelbIn.(c)om

...Well, when in doubt, confuse the enemy. De-escalation 101!

"Well, alright then," Sev said with a shrug. "You wanna hang out?"

"Why do you thi" Jerome started, clearly expecting a different response. He stopped mid-sentence as he parsed what Sev had actually said; the cleric could almost hear the gears in his brain slowly clicking into place. "What?"

"I said, do you want to hang out?" Sev repeated. "If you're going to be in this room you might as well, right? We were going to help Derivan here train a bit. Derivan, why don't you introduce yourself?"

"Hello," Derivan said. He didn't see a particular need to repeat what his name was, so he opted to wave instead.

The clang of his armor sounded awkwardly in the room as he did so.

"...Are you an idiot?" Jerome frowned. "That's not why I'm here."

"I had to give you the benefit of the doubt. Personal policy." Sev grinned, shrugging like he wasn't at all concerned about the very dangerous man in their room. There were four of them, and Misa had her skill... and if Jerome was a paladin, then he'd have a rather unique advantage. "It's not like we've actually spoken to you, so there was always the chance you could actually be kinda cool, you know? Are you sure you don't want to just hang out?"

The paladin paused. He frowned slightly, then straightened up so he wasn't leaning against the wall anymore. "...I am here to talk about the dungeon."

Almost at the same time, Vex blinked and furrowed his brows, staring closely at Jerome. Sev glanced at his friend. Good. He remembered.

"What about it?" Sev asked, raising an eyebrow. "And will you get more comfortable? I don't know about you, but standing in a closet and talking is kind of uncomfortable for me."

As he spoke, he was already climbing out, the rest of his team following suit behind him. Truth be told, he had no idea what he was doing his heart was hammering in his chest. Where were Jerome's teammates? He was, in a way, grateful that they weren't here; they'd almost certainly be outmatched in a four-on-four fight. But he was also worried that they weren't here.

That said, four-on-one, they had a bit more of a fighting chance, depending on the specifics of Jerome's class. But he still didn't want this to get to a fight.

Fortunately for him, Jerome seemed to have no idea what Sev was doing, either. He'd been knocked-off balance, and was off his game. He actually let Sev and the others take up various seats around the room, like the premise of this entire conversation wasn't an implied threat.

Every single member of his team made sure to sit in a way that made their weapons still easily accessible, though. Sev was proud of them for that.

"You just came back from speaking with the Elyran delegates," Jerome finally said. "I'm sure you have questions."

"Like why you pretended you were the one that discovered the dungeon?" Misa raised an eyebrow, her voice challenging.

"I needed access to the dungeon, and political weight only carries me so far." Jerome shrugged. "They wouldn't even have heard me out if I hadn't said I found it. Which means we have a problem here, wouldn't you agree?"

"I'll say," Misa muttered.

Turning around, Jerome left, pausing just before he strode through the door. "Have fun with that," he said sarcastically, slamming the door shut behind him and after another moment, whatever suppressive ability he was using switched itself off.

Almost instantly, Misa flung herself at the door. "That fucker!"

"Don't!" Sev said, trying to pull her back; Derivan reached out for her, too, grabbing the struggling half-orc by the arms and hauling her away. "Don't go after him. It's not worth it right now."

Vex was pale. "Derivan, are you..."

Derivan cocked his head. "I am fine, I think," he said, sounding slightly... amused?

"You... don't sound worried," Sev said, furrowing his brow. The horror in his heart lessened just a bit.

The armor paused, glancing at the door. "Yes, well," he said. "I suspect that skill of his will not do what he believes it will."

"Are you sure?" Misa said sharply. "This is important."

"Not certain, perhaps," Derivan said. "However..."

He flicked them his status screen. In gold letters, hovering underneath Physical Empathy, was a new stat entry.

Golden Geas: 50

"I am reasonably certain that that should not have manifested as a stat," Derivan said.

Sev stared.

"What," he managed.

"What does it... do?" Misa asked. The four of them sat on the floor, with Derivan in the middle. Vex hadn't stopped fretting, even knowing that whatever skill Jerome had used apparently hadn't attached correctly to the living armor. The wizard was casting all sorts of diagnostic magic even now, just to make sure that there was no trace of Derivan being forced to turn into gold.

Derivan had pointed out in turn that even turning into gold wouldn't necessarily harm him the way it would anything organic. He'd be a lot softer, which might have been a problem, but it didn't seem to be something they needed to worry about even after waiting for a while, Vex could detect no change.

"I am unsure," Derivan said. "I believe it gives me a sense for where Jerome is."

"...I don't even know where to begin with that," Sev said with a groan, burying his hands in his face. "Are you serious? Why would it I have so many questions."

"I think I understand, sort of," Vex finally said softly, though his voice was still timid and a little shaky. "I mean... I was checking Jerome over for magic while we were talking. Remember how Tarilex mentioned that to fool the truth spell, he needs some sort of mind-altering magic?"

"Right," Sev said. "Did you find something?"

"It was a little hard to tell underneath all his protective enchantments," Vex said with a frown. "But I think he was under some sort of geas, too. Maybe even the same type of geas. If he is, then that's probably what you're sensing."

Derivan frowned, then nodded. "This seems correct," he agreed. "I sense... other, smaller presences, I think. They are less noticeable than Jerome."

"So we have a Jerome detector now?" Misa said. "I don't know how to feel about this."

"I would prefer not to know where he is at all times, yes," Derivan said. "From a cleanliness perspective, you understand. From a tactical standpoint, knowing where he is is quite useful."

"We're really lucky he went for you," Sev said with a frown. "I'm sorry, guys. I feel like I kind of fucked up that whole interaction."

"I honestly feel like this is one of the better outcomes," Misa muttered. "Now we know where he is, and... I dunno. Is he under a geas? Should we worry about that?"

"Honestly," Sev sighed. "I don't know."