Chapter 193: Chapter 193: Cashed In

September 10, 624

“Shit.”

“Move over…”

Curses were muttered behind my back as I walked toward one of the rec centers on the second wall of Treehouse. Half-armored soldiers scrambled to be somewhere else as I made my way to a doorway.

A palpable fear oozed in the place of the respect I had spent so long cultivating.

A speck of snow drifted onto my Glimmers and I brushed it off, noting the attention of the entire center focusing on me. The anxiety was palpable… and only became more oppressive when the Chief previously behind me, a Knight in full plate armor, took another step to stand to my right.

I stood there and scanned the room, quickly finding my target. The set of dice on the table rolled to a stop, the soft clicks painfully loud amidst the silence. Something fell on the floor, then, collectively, many slowly, cautiously, stood themselves up and gave salutes. Even those higher rank than I straightened to attention.

I smiled a bit, hoping to ease the tension. Some man in the back, still in the logistics uniform, flinched.

“At ease, everyone. I’ve only business with one of you.”

My boots, dry despite the snow outside, clomped on wood as I made my way over a cluster of couches.

An Authority 7 Knight. Commander Ilmar still lounged on the couch, but his face and body were tight, and his Aura was filled with tension.

“Commander Ilmar, I’m going to need you to come with me.”

“Sir? I-I’m not sure what’s going on. I didn’t think the Envoy would have any business with me…”

He stood and took a step back, almost tripping on the couch. I lifted my brows. He was panicking, his Aura screaming with guilt, despite his desperate attempts at playing it cool.

I kept my face neutral.

“We need to ask you some questions about your recent mission.”

“W-What of it? I’m still recovering.”

“Commander, the matters we need to discuss are… sensitive. You need to come with us.”

The Chief took a step in front of me. We were trying to keep things subtle so people didn’t freak out, but people like this never made that easy. I also needed to get this guy before he tried disappearing into the throng of the base, or leaving altogether. This couldn’t wait until night, despite my worries about doing it in broad daylight – or what passed for it in this frozen hellscape.

This was his mistake, and I would take full advantage of it.

Ilmar took a side step, putting me between himself and the Chief just a bit more. The Chief shifted to match.

“I don’t know what’s so sensitive about my mission, but it’s nothing we can’t discuss here, no?”

“I’m not allowed to divulge the details of our investigation. Again, please come with us.”

“I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what this is about!”

My face fell as he raised his voice. The Chief beside me took a step forward, but I put a hand on his shoulder to stop him from going further.

Here comes another, trying to make a scene.

Instead, I chose to put a little pressure on his neck.

“Your entire platoon was wiped out on your last mission. I’m here to catalog the circumstances surrounding this tragedy, and since you’re not only the last surviving member of your former platoon, but also its leader, I need to bring you in and ask you some questions.”

“What is there to ask? I was the only one to survive precisely because I was the strongest in the platoon! I did my best, but even I was barely able to get away! There’s nothing more to say!”

“No? Are you sure you didn’t desert your soldiers?”

My brow had dropped earlier with the barest of sighs, but now lifted higher than ever. His Aura bristled with hostility, like a dog backed into a corner.

“Or, perhaps you’ve done something worse. I can’t say, but no matter what, this matter needs to be investigated. You’re coming with us.”

“No! You’re just trying to make stuff up so you can kill me! Just like you’ve killed all the others! You think I haven’t heard about what you’ve done?! I’m not going to let you frame me!”

“Haaah…”

I sighed and brought out a Model 77E shotgun, swinging the barrel around and planting it right on his kneecap.

The explosion rang in my ears.

“AAGHHH!”

His screaming made the ringing worse. Well, it took his leg off. I could understand.

I leaned over, peering down at him as I pumped it.

“I’m not asking. You’re coming with us.”

“Fuck you!”

I firmed up the trigger when he swung his arm, pulling it right when my barrel was near his elbow. His forearm and hand went flying, blood splattering across one of the nearby couches.

He screamed more while clutching his bicep. He didn’t have his armor; there was a lot less to be afraid of. I was going to have to spend some Psyka, but had plenty to spare; the 12 gauge slugs and the weapon itself made it easy to pack a lot of power in.

I racked it back, letting the shell fly out. Keeping it open, I took a good whiff of the gunsmoke before shoving a buckshot shell into the chamber.

I pointed the barrel at his other leg.

“How about now?”

“Haahhh!! Hahh… Fuck! FUCK YO-!!”

My trigger pull interrupted him. I was pretty sure buckshot hurt more, especially to the thigh. They always seemed to scream louder that way.

After that, I waved.

“Keep him alive until I get there.”

“Understood.”

The Chief beside me nodded and stepped forward, grabbing Commander Ilmar and dragging him out of the rec center. He left a trail of blood on the unpolished wood tiles.

Once his screams died in the distance (and it was quite a distance. Knights had impressive lungs, after all) I looked around and saw everyone staring.

I waved away my shotgun, eyeing a few people before smiling.

“Apologies for the unsightly interruption, gentlemen, ladies. Have a good day.”

I turned on a heel and walked out, a few people stiffly saluting me when I went past them.

I went to the relatively new prison near headquarters. I called it new because there used to only be two cells in a surface-level structure. Now, it was a dungeon with two dozen cells.

To say that I had cracked open a can of worms four months ago was an understatement.

After getting promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, I was put in charge of a new division, specifically created so that I could do the new job that nobody in this world had thought necessary.

Counterespionage.

The Scourge, through temptation, corruption, or otherwise, had sunk its claws into various levels of the military. It picked out certain people and used them to sabotage our operations. The Treehouse was not the only base to have this problem, but apparently, we were the first to do something about it. I had to give my respect to Marshal Boores; even if he wasn’t too sure what I was doing, he understood we had a problem and even assigned a division under me to do something about it.

He headed the division in name, but I was his enforcer and executioner. He wanted the problem solved, and I solved it. He had to make the final calls, such as whether we interrogated, killed, or even released certain individuals, but everything else was basically left to me.

Why was I the one to get this job? Well, like with my handbook on how to handle hazardous materials, toxins, and other contaminants, I had put together a text on what it meant to carry out counterespionage. It wasn’t like I had training in the subject from Earth, but I had taken glimpses into the field, and, in the end, it all came down to surveillance and psychology. My rudimentary knowledge on the subject was more than anything anyone in this world had thought to formalize.

I had to remind myself, but the Kingdom of Dragon Tongue seldom had infighting. The eternal threat of the Scourge did a good job of forcing humanity to hold a united front. That’s why the only two governing entities in this world, encompassing all of humanity, were the kingdom and Church. There weren’t dozens of nation-states-... No, there were. The Duchies, and all the smaller powers scrabbling for position underneath them. But why didn’t the Kingdom have proper counterespionage, then?

The answer was relatively simple. The enemies were monsters, not human, and most people assumed that humans would always be on the side of humanity. In a perfect world that would be the case, but unfortunately this perfectly imperfect world bred heroes and villains alike. There were always those unsatisfied and willing to stoop to any level to get what they wanted even at the cost of those around them.

The worst part was how few people dared to think such things. It was hard enough fighting an inhuman enemy that outnumbered you a hundred to one. Nobody wanted to think about the possibility of enemies being right next to them as well. And of course, the traitors felt no need to change that mindset.

That left me to wade into that untouched darkness and start plucking people from the shadows. Thankfully I had a leader who cared enough to let me.

When I put down nothing more than the basics, things I treated as common knowledge, they were treated like gold. Marshal Boores really liked it, and I was placed in charge of our new counterespionage division under intelligence.

I had been given an entire company of intelligence agents and soldiers to utilize as I saw fit, responsible for educating and managing them. Apparently, leading a company wasn’t that far from normal Lieutenant Colonel duties anyway. And since everything was left up to me, I got valuable experience being a leader.

A bit of walking took me to the prison. There was plenty of screaming when I opened the door, a healer keeping our new friend alive.

The Chief that brought him here saluted me.

“Sir. What shall we do with him?”

“We shall get answers from him.”

“Understood. How much longer do we need him?”

“Today is good enough.”

I looked at the dismembered knight, feeling the familiar pangs of anger rise. I knew what this man had done and I wanted to know why he had done it. Three dozen soldiers were dead at this man’s hand.

The Chief gestured at the healer.

“Come.”

“Yes sir.”

The healer stopped working on Ilmar, leaving with the Chief. Now, I was alone in the cell with him.

I stepped over. Ilmar had been stripped to his underwear, revealing certain tattoos that looked to be engraved across portions of his skin. They were red, fresh with the power of vitality, and particularly demonic. That alone was enough to condemn him to death.

A Ka-Bar appeared in my hand. It was a good knife, and I liked the way it felt in my hand.

I smiled just a bit as I stabbed the blade into Ilmar’s thigh, the one that had been turned to mush from my buckshot blast.

“AAHH! Fuck!”

“Why did you do it?”

“Fuck you! I didn’t do anything!”

“Your chest tells me otherwise.”

“Aaahhh!”

He screamed as I carved a circle around the demonic symbols.

“I know exactly what you did. Now I need to know why. These inscriptions give you greater power, but I didn’t think that would be enough to make you turncoat. Then again, you suddenly advanced so maybe that was worth it to you.”

I ripped the knife out, making Ilmar scream again.

“That tired of being in Authority 6, huh?”

“Fuck you!”

“I mean, you are 54. I can imagine being frustrated, especially since you’re still in the military. Old, worn, not enough talent to go any farther.”

“Shut it, fucking punk! Your worthless brain could never understand!”

“You’re right, and I take pride in that.”

“AGGH!”

I stabbed again, pinning his arm to the wooden bed underneath him, staring into his eyes.

“I’m too fucking good to sit around worthlessly like you. And unlike you, I don’t need demonic power to get better. But at the same time, I guess I do understand a bit.”

I stabbed again, pinning his other arm.

“No matter where you go, worthless piles of shit like you will always stoop to the lowest in an attempt to take power they don’t deserve. Thankfully, all of you are also idiots. It’s been almost too easy to catch you all!”

I ripped the knife down his arm, drawing more guttural screams.

Then I pulled it out and stepped to the side, grabbing a wet cloth from a fresh water bucket and wiping down my blade.

“So, Ilmar, tell me when, where, and who.”

“Haah… You’re going to kill me anyways. Why should I tell you?”

“I’m sorry, do you not fear the pain I’ll put you through? Since you know you’re going to die, then give me the information and let me end you quickly, painlessly. You wouldn’t want your last few hours to be spent in sheer agony. Besides, who the hell would you be fighting for? It’s not like the Scourge cares about you.”

Once my knife was clean I looked over, seeing the blood stream out of Ilmar’s body. He was a knight so I knew I had a few hours left with him. If I had locked away his Vigor, that time would’ve been measured in minutes at best.

A blessing and a curse, being so tough.

I walked over, tracing the tip of my knife over his body. I didn’t draw blood, didn’t even scratch him, yet he shuddered. I could practically taste the fear, the anticipation for what I would do.

Guns were great tools to induce fear, but they hurt too quickly. Most often, it was the anticipation that got to people. That meant you had to brandish these slow, deliberate tools like a blade in order to grow that anticipation.

Let them scare themselves. Let them imagine all the things I could do.

“First question.”

I placed the knife near one of his fingers.

“Where did you meet the Royal who offered to help you?”

“...”

He was silent, looking at me and breathing heavily.

Seven seconds passed. I sliced the knife across the wood bed, taking off half of his index finger.

“Aaggh!”

“Answer me, Ilmar.”

“Just kill me, asshole!”

“When I get my answers, I will. Same question. You have seven seconds.”

“Dammit! Fuck!”

He cursed a few times, counting down. His breathing grew laborious when the limit approached, and he grit his teeth when it arrived.

That’s when I suddenly reached over and grabbed a chunk of flesh on his scrambled thigh, twisting and pulling.

“GAAHHH! Shit!”

“Answer me, Ilmar.”

My face fell, my anger rising. This guy had no reason to withhold this information from me beyond sheer spite. The stupidity was driving me up the wall, and I didn’t want to deal with it.

I let my Aura spill into the surroundings before concentrating it entirely on him. His eyes widened, probably because he could actually feel me reaching into his mind.

He didn’t have a powerful Aura. His talent ended when he reached Authority 6, which is why he sold his soul to acquire demonic power and reach Authority 7. It had been only yesterday, right before he left for his mission, that he advanced.

I knew that my Aura trumped his own by magnitudes. However, there was one particular… ability, if you could call it that, that I acquired that only four other people I knew could boast of.

Anarchy.

My triumph over Anarchy meant I could somewhat wield its power. In a way, Anarchy never left my mind or the minds of my squad. We had just rationalized it, so used to suppressing it it was natural to us. It was never a worry, and I had never thought about it much after those days following Purple Sky.

But there was no reason I couldn’t utilize that insanity. I had experienced it. I had succumbed to it. Now? I could wield it.

Anarchy permeated my Aura and with my power of the mind, Ilmar’s psyche began to warp. The same insanity that Anarchy spread throughout Purple Sky began to take root in Ilmar’s mind. While it was severely watered down compared to the real thing, Ilmar was also facing one of the most powerful summoners in the world, someone who utilized illusions and mental trickery.

His struggling began to fade, and after a dozen seconds, picked back up. He was already locked down to the bed and couldn’t move anywhere, but he pushed out his knightly power as best he could anyway, grinding against the metal cuffs and drawing blood as his skin tore.

“Let me… Kill me!”

“Answer my question, and I will.”

“No… Please, I just… Kill me!”

“Answer my question!”

I pressed the knife against his throat. Now though, it wasn’t a threat. He wanted death, severely, and I was witholding it from him.

“If you want what only I can give then you’ll answer my question. And don’t think that I can’t keep you alive. There’s a healer right outside that door.”

“Argh! Fuck!”

“Where did you meet the Royal who offered to help you?!”

“On a mission! When we went out to push back a contingent in the field! I met her on night watch…”

“Who’s her?”

“She… was a temptress.”

“No shit.”

I felt like rolling my eyes. Of course it was a temptress. Half of the people I’d caught were tempted by them. It was no wonder they got that name. It felt like I’d have to start blindfolding my troops so they didn’t get seduced by demonic whores.

“Go on. When did you meet?”

“It was during a night watch. She said she could help me… Not just power, but she would pull back her troops and let us clear the area.”

“And it did it out of the goodness of its heart?”

“Well… She wanted me to help her… and then join her.”

“Yeah.”

I knew exactly what she wanted him to do. Kill off his platoon before ditching the base to join her. Except, he fucked up by returning to base and letting me get my hands on him.

I thought about the records I had sifted through, well over a year’s worth of records that had taken me nearly two months to go through and find out how many people weren’t marked as killed in action, but were still missing. People that never came back, but never had their deaths confirmed. There were a few dozen of them, all of them in the middle ranks like this Commander.

Well, Commander Ilmar had been promoted to Commander not because he had reached the Authority 7 standard, but because he was old, experienced, and a good leader. He was trusted and so he earned a rank one step higher than his Authority warranted.

Seemed like he wasn’t satisfied and bit at the first sign of bait. That Temptress hooked him in and used him. He would’ve been another Corrupted with the Scourge if I hadn’t gotten my hands on him first.

Of course, we’ve also lost three dozen soldiers due to him. An entire platoon whose combat power we could no longer use.

I felt my anger rise. I was getting just about everything I needed from this guy. I was a few questions away from killing him.

“So what, you just saw the temptress and left with it? Did you sneak out? Did it slip you a message somehow?”

“... It talked to me… In my mind.”

“Telepathically? Like a voice in your head?”

He nodded, making me narrow my eyes. That was new information. I had never been told that before.

“It was the temptress that spoke to you in your mind?”

“... I think so.”

“When you met with it, were there any other beasts or monster with it?”

“There was a Scout… and some weird mushy thing that she carried. It was alive, but had no eyes or ears, not even a mouth. It was… like a ball of flesh with arms.”

“What did it do?”

“I don’t know…”

I closed my eyes and let out a long sigh, feeling my blood pressure rising. Another species and I had no idea what it did. Part of me wanted to assume but I really couldn’t. Maybe it was the thing that was communicating with Ilmar telepathically. Maybe it was some kind of concealment species. Maybe the Temptress had telepathic powers and that thing was like some kind of pet. The pet part was unlikely since there was no way it wasn’t a specialized species, but I couldn’t know. I’d have to either watch or capture one to figure it out, and I doubted that would happen anytime soon.

For now, all I knew was that the Scourge was drawing out troops via telepathy. It was a brilliant way to communicate and leave no trace, safe for both the Scourge and potential traitors.

Did the Kingdom not have magic blockers or jammers or something? That would make my life so much easier.

After calming myself a bit I resumed asking questions. I tried to get finer details out of him but the insanity was getting to him by now and his answers were marred by grunts, groans, and pleas for me to kill him.

When I was finally done, I simply put a pistol against his head and pulled the trigger a few times.

I closed my eyes again, taking a few deep breaths before walking out of the cell. The Chief on standby saluted.

“He’s dead. Get rid of him.”

“Yes sir.”

“I’m going to bathe. Got that swine’s blood on me.”

“Sir, General Viskar has asked for your presence.”

“...Why?”

“The messenger didn’t say, but the Marshal is there too. They’re waiting.”

“Then they better like the smell of blood.”

I muttered while walking off. I had a feeling I knew what they wanted but I was too pissed to care whether they were upset or not.

Since headquarters was right next door I simply popped over and went to the Marshal’s office. Inside was General Viskar.

Marshal Boores eyed me when I walked in.

“Envoy. How was the prisoner?”

“He spilled what he knew. Another temptress, another weak willed man. They can speak into minds now. And there’s a new species. It’ll be in a report soon.”

“I see.”

He nodded, pondering a second before looking back at me.

“You’ve been doing great work, Envoy. Your performance has always been exceptional, and the amount of traitors you’ve caught, while not yet affecting significant numbers like casualty rates and the like, has brought us great peace of mind. We know there are far fewer traitors in our midst and we have you to thank for that. So tell me…”

He leaned forward, anger marring his brows.

“Why have I received orders from the rear saying that you’re going to be spending half your time back in the capital?”

I looked down at his desk when he threw forward a small bundle of papers, a letter from not just a general, but a Sovereign. I recognized the insignia stamped on it.

Marshal Boores was not pleased.

“You’re going into enchanting? That’s the only reason for you leaving I can think of after hearing Sawn’s name.”

“... Yes sir. I’ve studied enchanting before and I feel I have valuable ideas to bring to the field.”

“You’re a smart man, and I don’t doubt that you do. But you’ve taken on a lot of responsibility here, you’re managing an entire division, and it’s producing results. My question is, why are you doing this now? Unless you’ve trained someone to take on your role, your division will cease to be effective and I’ll likely have to disband it since you’ll be gone every other month. It’s a waste of resources, manpower, and most importantly, you’re throwing away everything you’ve built up! We need you here, not crunching designs at the Spire! So why do I have a transfer notice on my damn desk?!”

He slammed his palm into the wood, standing with his outburst. I was honestly surprised that he was so mad.

“... I’m sorry, sir. I’ve had a prior arrangement with Sawn for a while now. I can’t renege on our agreement.”

“No fucking shit! And here I thought you were going to be the one to succeed Major General Quill! You could say that’s the main reason I didn’t mind promoting you to Lieutenant Colonel! You’re a damn fine soldier, and an even better intelligence agent that’s earned my trust! I can trust in your competence and your integrity, but now I find out that you were never going to dedicate yourself to this base despite me giving you so much power! I’d expect something like that from any other summoner, but not from you!”

He suddenly reached out an arm and grabbed the side of the desk, sending it to the side of the room with a simple throw. Then he stepped up to me, getting in my face. I could feel his Aura bear down on the entire room.

He was livid.

“Tell me something, Cooper. Were you ever invested in this place? You’re the one who brought us here. You’re the one who’s tried so hard to give us the advantage. And yet you have no problem leaving just as you’ve started to shape this place up for the better. So tell me why. Tell me why and give me a damn good reason not to strip down your rank right here and now.”

I could feel the anger in his breath. I tried to keep as rigid as possible, as straight a face as possible. It sucked getting chewed out like this.

“... I don’t believe that my work here is doing enough good. I believe that I’ll be able to create machines that can help turn the tide of the war altogether. What I’ve been doing here has done nothing more than mask the real problems.”

“We’ve been fighting off the Scourge, much better than most other bases currently, I might add. That’s not good enough for you?”

“No. We should be reaching into their territories and sieging their nests like they do our bases. Yet we’re constantly on the back foot, doing nothing but defending because we can’t surpass their numbers advantage. That means we need to create weapons that render numbers obsolete.”

I looked down, straight into Marshal Boores’ eyes.

“Unless you can provide us with a feasible plan to not just push the incoming Scourge armies all the way back beyond the Pass, but march our legions over there and burn their nest to cinders, then I won’t spend my time here when I could be doing more in the Capital. Unfortunately, I’m not a knight, and regardless of whether I’m here or there, I’m a summoner and my progress will be steady and constant. I’d prefer an environment where I can produce the most value. Sir.”

I concluded, the two of us staring at each other for what felt like hours. It felt like my Aura was battling back his in an attempt to make him realize that I was confident in my decision.

At some point he stepped back, walking to his desk and yanking it back over to its original spot. I remained rooted in place, waiting.

“Leave.”

I said nothing and saluted, turning and leaving the room.

He was still pissed. As I walked back to my office for the counterespionage division, I had the feeling that I had just cashed in on all the respect, influence, and renown I had accumulated over my time here just to keep my rank. While I may not have plummeted all the way back down to the level of most ordinary intelligence agents, I didn’t feel that much farther above it.

I’d have to make preparations for my absence. I’d still be returning every other month, but those months I was gone would mean that I could no longer exercise control over anything or anyone. These systems would have to operate completely independently of me.

I decided to start writing. I had this next month or so to train people to fill my shoes before I left for the capital and started my new schedule. That was my deal with Sawn, and I had already drawn out the six months as long as possible precisely because of this issue with the Marshal.