Chapter 947: Just Following Orders

Zeth was missing a finger.

He’d just woken up from his nap to the sound of Baun’s voice echoing through the arenas, announcing the upcoming party — or whatever it was that everyone was getting pulled into — when he’d noticed there were only nine of what should have been ten.

Zeth had only just been registering the fact that one of his digits was no longer attached to its proper spot when he’d found himself teleported into the banquet hall. He’d still been staring at it when the lights had randomly snuffed out, and continued staring at it when they came back on no more than a minute or so later.

“Hm,” Zeth said, blinking one lazy eye at a time. “When did that happen?”

It hadn’t been during his fights. He was quite certain of that. Nobody had even gotten close to scratching him, much less taking a finger. And he’d been missing the finger before getting teleported to the banquet. That meant it had happened in his room.

And if that was the case, it meant someone had managed to get past Aqua Terra’s magical defenses, sneak up to him undetected, and removed his finger. And they’d done it without even pulling him from his rest. Well, that or it was one of Aqua Terra’s own people that had done this. But he doubted that to be the case. If they wanted to be rid of him, there would have been far easier ways to go about it.

Either way… the meaning was hard to miss.

Whoever had done this could have done far worse.

They were sending a message.

Zeth flexed his hand. There was no blood where his finger had gone missing. For that matter, the lost digit was only a minor inconvenience. He’d have it back within a few hours. He’d long since modified his body to the point where losing minor pieces posed little problem.

It was one an ability that he was quite proud of, developed after gathering runes from powerful draconic monsters who could shed limbs as easily as nails. Zeth could have lost every single one of his fingers and not suffered more than a day or two of mild displeasure.

No, a stolen finger was the least of his worries.

The problem was that finger’s meaning.

He ignored the chaos rippling through the ranks of the mages around him. They were all worried about whatever show Aqua Terra was putting on. Whispered rumors ranging from vaguely believable to complete and utter lunacy filled the room.

Idiots.

Anyone who thought that some malicious party had managed to pull off a stunt without the Prophet’s express permission was a complete fool. Aqua Terra was the seat of her power. Though Zeth had absolutely no doubt that the other Faction Heads would have loved nothing more than to find a way to stick a dagger in her side, they wouldn’t have tried to do anything like that so blatantly.

This was almost certainly just a stunt. He wasn’t quite sure what the Prophet thought she was accomplishing — it wasn’t like there was anyone here who wasn’t excited about the opportunity — but he also had his doubts that she had anything to do with the banquets at all.

She probably had people planning them for her. Chances were that she couldn’t have cared less about anything that happened in the party so long as it didn’t actively damage her reputation and let her wander around in search of the right mages.

Zeth looked down at his finger again. Then he glanced around. A frown crossed his lips. Nobody was approaching him. He hadn’t seen any form of note left in his room, nor had there been anything slipped into one of his pockets. His finger was just… missing.

Who leaves a threat without some kind of demand?

The moment that thought passed through Zeth’s head, a short girl wearing a pale white ceramic mask decorated with an insignia of a blue eye popped into his mind. His lips went thin.

Don’t tell me she’s still on my ass. That little monster. I did everything she asked. What does she want now?

He half expected to see her pop out from the crowd somewhere.

But she didn’t. The only things around him were a bunch of idiots trying to figure out what had happened. Their theories really were ridiculous. Have of them were convinced that it was a competitor who had managed to snuff out the room’s lights.

A few people had already started to mention something about an explosion somewhere else in the positively enormous halls. Zeth hadn’t heard anything of the sort — but his perception was nowhere near great enough to cover the immense banquet area. He couldn’t even see the far ends of it, much less sense what was happening on the other side of the room. There was a very real chance that he could have missed it.

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At the end of the day, it didn’t matter. He just had to figure out who the hell had taken his finger and what they wanted with—

There was a faint tug on his wrist. It was so small that he barely even noticed it. As lost as his thoughts as he was, it ended up taking half a second for him to actually register what had happened.

Zeth blinked.

Something wove through the crowd in front of him, little more than a white blur.

Then it was gone.

What was that? Did someone bump into me?

But nobody could have. He stood alone in his section of the room. There were at least a few feet between him and the nearest of the other mages. And yet, he was quite certain he’d felt something touch him. He looked down at his hand.

And then he froze.

“What the fuck?” Zeth asked.

He was missing another finger.

***

Vivian was quite proud of her party.

Contrary to the belief of most — including even the other Faction Heads — she’d actually put quite a bit off effort into her social events. There really hadn’t been a reason to. It definitely would have been smarter to entrust it to someone with considerably more free time.

But some part of her still enjoyed the rare occasion where she could just plan something out. Where she could pretend to be a worker, one of many cogs in the system, rather than the one in charge of everything. She’d taken a considerable amount of effort in picking out some of the best food in her empire. She’d hired many of the greatest chefs, worked to design the tables with master craftsmen, and been involved in pretty much every single part of the night.

Even the entertainment set to start in a few hours had been chosen by her.

In short, these parties were meant to be the exact opposite of the tournament. Completely under control, with every single aspect exactly as she wanted it to be. That was one of the main reasons she was so determined to ensure that the Truthseekers stayed the hell out of her way.

She couldn’t let them ruin this for her.

But tonight, she wasn’t too concerned. Both Maria and the Executioner were keeping an eye on things. Directly. Noah was there too — but all he had to do was infiltrate the Apostles. Given his abilities to bullshit his way through seemingly every situation, Vivian had a potentially dangerous amount of faith in his success.

The chances of the Apostles of actually trying anything tonight were very low. And that meant, at least for tonight, she could just relax and allow herself to absorb the fruits of labor while letting someone else work for once. All she had to do was make sure that none of the Rank 8 threats made a move.

That did mean she couldn’t keep an eye on the banquet itself. It was a bit disappointing to be unable to see everyone marvel over her efforts — even if they didn’t know it had been her who coordinated it — but it would be fine. She’d hear about it soon enough.

This was far preferable to letting her guard down far enough that the Apostle’s Prophet, Orlen, or some other powerful entity got an opportunity to try and stage a real attack.

But even with all of that considered, compared to all the responsibility she normally had, this was practically a vacation.

Vivian let out a content sigh.

And then her domain prickled.

Her eyes narrowed. She pulled her mind back into her body, turning as Maria’s shadowy form materialized in the room across from her.

“What?” Vivian asked. “You’ve got a report? Already?”

“Yes,” Maria said. “You told me to notify you after Noah managed to infiltrate the Apostles and gain their trust. I am doing as you requested.”

Vivian blinked. Then a grin spread across her lips. “I’ll be damned. He actually managed it? That quickly? That little shit is even better than I thought. Impressive.”

“Quite,” Maria agreed, though the tone of her voice didn’t quite match the implication of her word. “Would you like the rest of the report as well? Or is now a bad time?”

“It can probably wait for a little…” Vivian trailed off. Then her eyes narrowed. It was much, much too early for there to be a rest of report. The banquet hadn’t even been going for five minutes yet. Noah somehow gaining the trust of the Apostles should have been the only thing that possibly had time to happen. Vivian turned to fully look at Maria. “How much more is there to report?”

“Some,” Maria said.

Vivian’s eyes narrowed further. “What, exactly, possibly could have happened in less than a few minutes? Weren’t you overseeing everything?”

“I did as you requested,” Maria said. Her words seemed measured. “I worked with Noah.”

“How?” Vivian asked sharply.

“I cut the lights,” Maria said. “He said it would be instrumental to convincing the Apostles that he was with the Truthseekers. We had a show planned out, including a short fake fight between me and him that would have been meant to prove his strength. It was to be done in the dark, where only the Apostles saw, so cleanup would be minimal at best.”

Vivian’s brow furrowed. That actually didn’t sound too bad. If it worked, that was. “I… see. Well? How did it go?”

“I did not get a chance to start fighting,” Maria said. “Noah managed to convince them he was trustworthy after just the first explosion.”

“Well. That sounds like it went better than — wait.” Vivian’s eyes widened and she cast her attention back to the party in a wide sweep, scanning over it in an instant. “Explosion? What explosion?”

“Just one table,” Maria said. “Well, along with a few other things. There was no damage to any attendees. We did not get a chance to set off any of the others.”

“The others?” Vivian asked weakly. “What were you planning to do to my party?”

“A show,” Maria repeated. She paused for a moment. “Noah’s words. Not mine.”

Vivian pinched the bridge of her nose. “I don’t even know where to start. Has Noah at least learned anything useful yet?”

“No,” Maria said. “He appears to have the Apostles’ trust, but they will be meeting later. They parted ways.”

“The one job I gave you was to keep an eye on them,” Vivian exclaimed. “What is he doing if not that?”

“I believe he is standing on top of the table I blew up and playing his violin,” Maria replied. “He has quite an audience.”

Vivian stared at Maria for a moment.

Then she sighed.

“And the Executioner?” Vivian asked wearily. “What was he doing during all of this? He just let you blow up my party?”

“Not the entire party. Just a small piece,” Maria said defensively.

“What was the Executioner doing?” Vivian repeated. “I assigned him to you two for a reason, you know. That is one of the most competent and dangerous men in the kingdom. The Apostles could be double bluffing us to lower our guard so they can begin whatever it is they’re here for. Do you at least have him tracing them?”

Maria cleared her throat.

“I believe the he is currently pretending to be a coat rack.”