Chapter 90

Thanks to my ability to track the location of Cornelia and Helga, I managed to find their exact location in the town easily despite the chaos that filled the stress during lunch hour. They arrived in a street filled with inns, though, before choosing one, a small argument went between Iomene and Cornelia. The distance between us was considerable, but Cornelia’s body language was familiar. She was clearly unhappy with the quality of the inn, and demanding to go for a luxury one, only to be vetoed by Iomene, who ultimately won the argument, and led them into a more modest one.

Cornelia didn’t look too happy with that conclusion, as evidenced by her glowing hands like she was about to launch a fireball while Iomene walked away from her confidently. I shook my head in amusement at Cornelia’s attitude. It seemed that her rash arrogance was alive and well despite my lessons. She had just learned not to use that on me.

Rather than following them directly into the inn, I went for the back entrance —the windows. That close, I could find them with my eyes closed, so it wasn’t particularly hard to identify their exact location. An illusion spell allowed me to climb the wall of the inn while avoiding notice. The inn was warded against the intruders, of course, but to someone with my skill, it was no different than not existing. To the defense of the inn, it wasn’t exactly their fault.

It was hard to defend against someone that could erase the town itself singlehandedly if they were sufficiently motivated...

I expected them to be in their private rooms, and was trying to decide which one I should be talking about first, Cornelia or Helga. Surprisingly, I detected them staying close, even after they went into their room. Curious, I moved toward their room and perched under their window, once again relying on my magic to stay hidden.

A simple arcana mirror allowed me to spy inside their room, to check whether the whole team was sharing a room, only to realize Cornelia and Helga were sharing a single one, looking at each other silently, the atmosphere thick enough to cut with a knife.

To make things more interesting, neither of them was aware of my relationship with the other. Cornelia’s information about my greater aims had always been limited even though she had a good understanding of my abilities, and while Helga had a better view of both my abilities and my greater aims, I deliberately didn’t inform her about my relationship with Cornelia yet, wanting to leave that particular fight to a later, less sensitive time. Looking in hindsight, it might not be the best idea, as instead, it turned into a timed explosive at the most sensitive time possible.

Maybe I should stop procrastinating the important things.

I could have easily sneaked inside, but I stayed out, resting in a concealed spot in the outer walls, watching them through the spell. I was curious about how they would react to each other, so that I could resolve it more effectively. If I interjected immediately, I would suppress their argument, which would keep the issues suppressed until they explode.

Neither spoke until Helga quickly cast a silencing ward, missing the curious glance Cornelia sent to her way. Helga tried to keep her development hidden, but I knew from experience that it was hard to fake that after experiencing a comprehensible improvement. And Helga did so, both in Levels and in Stats. The fact that Cornelia had also experienced a radical jump in both, allowing her sensing abilities to transform significantly, made it virtually impossible for Helga to hide her abilities. At least, not without paying much more attention than the dismissive way she cast that particular ward.

“So, how have you been since our last meeting?” Cornelia asked, unable to prevent herself from adding a victorious and vicious edge to her smile despite the clear intrigue she felt at Helga’s proficient magical display. Her outburst against Iomene first, now this... It seemed that I failed to fuck mindless arrogance out of her, and simply taught her to never employ it against me.

Step by step, I sighed in surrender.

“I have been well,” Helga said curtly, sending Cornelia a haughty look before focusing on organizing her wardrobe, once again making me shake my head. Apparently, Cornelia wasn’t the only one suffering from excessive arrogance. I understood Helga’s point of view intimately, and to be fair, I had also experienced the arrogance of rapidly improving, which led me to rather ill-advised actions, but it was always easier to criticize the flaws of the others.

Unsurprisingly, Cornelia didn’t appreciate the lip Helga was giving her, not since their latest meeting had included Helga being wrapped in chains while being whipped by Cornelia. Though, she managed to react it better than she did against Iomene’s decision, and didn’t threaten her with a spell. “I see it has been a while since we had a session, if you have forgotten your lessons enough to bark,” she said instead. It was direct and combative, but from what I observed, it was closest to diplomacy Cornelia could achieve against someone she saw as inferior, which was an achievement in itself.

They weren’t resorting to spells yet, which was a fortunate miracle.

If it was before, I would have just walked in and helped Helga to suppress her, to help her take revenge against the previous indignity she had suffered in Cornelia’s hands, but things had since changed. For better or worse, Cornelia managed to earn a place in my life as important as Helga in my life, which meant I couldn’t just help Helga break Cornelia.

Helga huffed in dismissal. “There’s not going to be another lesson,” Helga said decisively.

“So, you found another ‘sponsor’ then,” Cornelia countered, her tone bitter. “How enterprising.” I snorted at Cornelia’s statement, as she herself had no problem acquiring a ‘sponsor’ to resolve her leveling problem or helping her to power-level. Trying to shame Helga for the same thing was rather ridiculous.

“I did,” Helga said with a wide smirk, prideful in her achievement. She opened her mouth to continue to brag, but a moment later, she stopped, smart enough to realize bragging might have endangered my secrecy. Of course, Cornelia was in the know for most of those secrets, but Helga didn’t know that yet. “Too bad that despite all your beauty, you have all the charm of a porcupine, unable to get anyone unless you buy their loyalty first.”

Cornelia snorted in dismissal, which was a rather uncharacteristic response. “If you say so,” she added, her disregard clear. I realized that Cornelia was measuring the imaginary new supporter of Helga, only for that portrait to come short against me severely.

I couldn’t help, a snort escaped my mouth as well, making the girls aware of my presence under their window. “Who’s there?” Cornelia jolted to action, her hand once again glowing with a flame spell, ready to lash out. Helga was not too slower, immediately crafting an arcana shield, reinforced by two ancillary wards and a third connection ward ready to connect it to the inn’s general wards, showing the extent of her development.

And impressive development, for both girls.

I could have easily escaped, but doing so would have been pointless. I had already learned what I wanted to learn by observing them. They didn’t have a burning hostility ready to explode, and the rest of their problems could be better mediated through my presence.

“Hi, girls,” I said as I pulled myself into the room.

[Level: 30 Experience: 442500 / 465000

Strength: 39 Charisma: 51

Precision: 33 Perception: 35

Agility: 33 Manipulation: 38

Speed: 32 Intelligence: 42

Endurance: 30 Wisdom: 44

HP: 5010 / 5010 Mana: 5765 / 6300 ]

SKILLS

Master Melee [100/100]

Master Tantric [100/100]

Master Biomancy [100/100]

Master Elemental [100/100]

Master Subterfuge [97/100]

Master Arcana [91/100]

Expert Speech [70/75]

Advanced Craft [50/50]

PERKS

Mana Regeneration

Skill Share

Empowerment (1/1)

Teleportation

COMPANIONS

[Cornelia - Level 17/25]

[Helga - Level 13/18]