Vol. 3 Chap. 57 Happy Wife, Happy Life

Vol. 3 Chap. 57 Happy Wife, Happy Life

Truth got up a little before dawn and made his way back towards the village. The information he got from Merkovah had listed Doctor Borges’ address and included pictures of the house. Truth thought he would start his hunt there. Not because he expected to catch Borges at home. He was never going to be that lucky. His hope was more pedestrian- that Borges would fail to practice impeccable security hygiene, and he would take some of his work home. Something that would give him a lead on where on the research campus he was actually located.

Besides, he had come up with a backup plan during the night. If he could make it work. If it was even possible in the first place.

Less of a plan and more of a strategy.

A pretty sophisticated idea.

It was an idea.

A borderline insane idea, lacking the qualifications even to be a stupid idea.

It was also the best idea he had, so...

He picked his way through the surveillance net around the village. His preparation the day before had sped things up considerably, but that was only in comparison to yesterday. It was slow, painful going. The PMC was depressingly competent. They had changed the patrol routes of humans, golems, witchcraft creations, animal puppets, spell birds, eye-spies, and floating curses. The only mercy is that the overwhelming majority of them were Level One and Two.

It was a cost-effectiveness thing, Truth knew. No concealment system was perfect. Everything showed a hole at some point. It might be tiny and only there for a minute. Perhaps it was allowing a trace of smell to escape or a shimmer as you moved across a bush. The soft sound of grass brushing against legs. All you needed was something to catch a hint of a trace. It was much, much cheaper to flood an area with small, low-level things than a few high-level things. They could be kept moving around in the field at negligible cost.

Sooner or later, they would catch something. Then, the net closed in. More specialized, powerful hunters began their sweeps. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, they would find it. Even if it were just a tiny field mouse, they would find it.This chapter was first shared on the Ñøv€lß1n platform.

Truth had always told himself he was nothing special. Just another slumrat trying to make good. Well, for today at least, he was a one-in-a-billion slumrat. A big fat chance like one percent was too juicy to pass up.

It took time to pierce the surveillance cordon, but it was manageable. Soon he was on the edge of a backyard on the village fringe, and he had to make a choice. He could try to go in full unnoticibility mode, but the village was coated in recording talismans and those unnatural “birds.” He reckoned it was manageable- the population density was low and most of the spells were passive, low-level, and not targeted at him. The draw on Incisive and the Blessing would not be too excessive. However, they would burn through his energy significantly faster than he could replenish it.

Going around with an assumed identity would be much, much easier on his energy, so long as it was a plausible one. His concern was that the surveillance system would be based on a whitelist. Not like there were any strangers that came to the village. It wouldn’t be too crazy to command your spells to report anyone without a Starbrite sigil directly to security. And there wasn’t really any good way to test his theory.

He hesitated a long minute and decided he would have to split the difference. Go in as unnoticable as he could manage, try to stay out of sight to reduce draw, and if he saw someone whose identity he could assume, he would do so. He was about to hop over the fence when he spotted the recording talisman aimed at the backyard. Cheap little thing, mass-produced on an assembly line. It would barely put out the energy of a Level One spell. A Starbrite product, naturally, through a subsidiary that owned 35% of another company and had 100% functional control of it.

Truth slid his eyes over to the next yard. Same exact talisman, same exact placement. Must be a standard part of the security system for each house. Well. At least the fence and yard weren’t warded?

She stood there, looking around like she was expecting to find someone. Truth froze, wondering how he had been spotted, only relaxing when she marched up to the fence and said “Hi Tom!”

“Tom,” the next door neighbor, had been crouched behind a flowering bush, doing some kind of gardening work. Partially hidden, though there was nowhere to really hide in these yards.

“Oh, Hi Maysi.” His voice was full of forced jocularity, but Truth could see the eyes of a man wanting to run.

“I saw you working out here, and thought I would bring you some of my famous lemonade. Here, drink up.”

“Oh, now you didn’t have to do that. Really.” Tom said, backing away a little, waving away the glass.

“I know. It just seemed like the least I could do. Or something I could do. It really is good lemonade, you know.” Her voice went quiet.

“Please...”

“I have always loved you Tom. I want to have sex with you. Right now. Let’s cheat on your wife together. I know you want to cheat on your wife with me, Tom.”

“No.” He barely breathed the word out before he collapsed. His body started going into seizures. He was crying, soundlessly, as he tore at the immaculate grass. The tendons rose under his skin, as convulsions of pain ripped through him. Maysi started crying too.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I can only remember them when I hurt someone. There is another way, but I can’t remember what it is. Only that trying to think about it makes me want to kill myself. So I have to hurt you. I’m sorry. But I can’t forget Sarah. Or our son.” Maysi’s tears dripped over a smile now. “She is so beautiful, Tom. You can’t imagine how beautiful she looked holding our newborn son. Our beautiful boy. Or how she looked at sunset, or walking between the stalls in the market. She is so sweet. So, so sweet. And he only lets me remember her when I hurt someone.”

Tom was trying to say something, mouth something. Begging.

“Just... a little longer. I’m sorry. But just a little longer. I’m starting to forget things. I couldn’t remember Al’s fifth birthday last time. I don’t want to forget anything else. So please, just a little longer. I promise, it will be the best sex you ever had.”

She sobbed a little as Tom’s convulsions got worse. “Just a little longer, then you will get better and forget this happened. Mostly forget. You are remembering the pain, just like me. I’m sorry. I just can’t forget anything more. I’m sorry. I promise I will hurt Sonya tomorrow or Paul. You can rest then, OK? You can rest then. We'll both forget for a while. I promise. I promise.”

She kept him in agony for an hour, deliberately tripping his enchantments, turning them against him over and over and over, until her own enchantments kicked in. Truth could see the light drain out of her eyes as she picked up the two untouched glasses of lemonade and turned back toward the house.

“Whoops! I had so much fun chatting I lost track of time. I have yoga with the girls, then it’s straight into my spin class. You have a great afternoon now, Tom.” Truth followed her into the house. He’d had plenty of time to get on the list.