EV B2 Chapter 48 & 49:

// two chapters together as they both came out shorter than planed

EV B2 Chapter 48:

The reaction I received was not at all what I expected.

Astrid looked up at me with a sort of indignant look—the look of those with wounded pride, as if her father was crazy for saying something like that.

"Now fuck you!" She snapped, and I couldn't help but blink and stammer as she laid into me.

"I made this choice freely, wholly, and completely on my own. You didn't coerce me. You didn't force me. Don't you take responsibility for my actions? I did this because we needed it. I was not pulling my weight. And neither you nor I could afford to have you—or me—pull you down. And you need someone you can trust to watch your back."

She pointedly did not look at Alana while she said this.

When I glanced over at her for support, I found that Alana was not giving me the friendliest of looks. It wasn't exactly accusatory, but more of you did this to yourself. Now, you need to deal with it.

I looked back at Astrid, who was still working herself up.

"I suffered. I was beaten, tricked, lied to. I've had... potentially mind-altering gifts given to me. Things that promise only suffering and pain. And guess what?" she bit back. "Some sort of curse."

And I hoped that she was regaining sensibility, but she continued on.

"I don't regret it one bit. I got everything I wanted. Sure, the price was high, but Loki and his wife didn't deal unfairly. I was given the power I wanted—maybe not the specific power, but... the sheer magnitude of my abilities... well. I don't think you understand how god-blessed lucky you have been. But for me... well..."

She finally seemed to calm down slightly as she smiled and raised a fist.

"I finally got my class."

I blinked before I let out a low whistle.

Astrid said finally, "But if I remember correctly, Loki said most people didn't get classes till they were level 50 or significantly higher."

She was still only level 20.

Alana sent me one look that wasn't nearly as angry as before—she had vented most of her frustration—and I understood that I probably didn't deserve a lot of what she said. Though maybe I did. But likely, she was just taking out the trauma on me, and I could deal with it for a little bit.

Still, the mood began to change as Alana let out a delighted laugh and clapped, throwing her arms around Astrid, who froze in shock but returned the embrace after a moment and laughed as well.

"Congratulations," I said with an honest smile. "Mm. What's your class called? Did you get a choice? How many choices did you get?"

I felt questions bubble up, but I managed to restrain myself to just three.

"I sort of got a choice, but there was only one option," Astrid said over Alana's shoulder as she gently pushed the excited girl away. "The class is called... Widow of Mercy."

A chill ran through me.

And the name? It didn't exactly hold any specific significance. Still, an image flashed through my mind of a beautiful Norse woman sitting by the hearth of an empty longhouse, poking at the fire with a tear running down her cheek. And somehow, I knew that her sons and daughters were off dying in battle.

"The specific name of the blessing is... Cradle of Sorrow," Astrid said. "And then... one of the spells I got was... Veil of the Lost."

Astrid went over some of her newer abilities, and we talked for several hours. Alana and I brought Astrid up to speed on what had happened with us. I gave her a brief rundown of the job I did for Jorg, and we decided that before anything else, we would sleep and get some rest. Then, we would make sure that Astrid had completed the month's challenge before we ran out of time. Once we had some time to digest and think, we would consider the next steps.

***

We spent the night there on the floor—the three of us. I was pretty sure that Astrid didn't want to be left alone, and neither Alana nor I were that particular.

As a noble, Alana had lived most of her life in comfort. However, in the last several months, when she was on campaign with me, we were on the move. Sure, we had servants to set up our tents and camp beds to sleep on, but they were nowhere near as luxurious as her life in the palace. And a bedroll on the floor inside a warm room was not something unacceptable. I'm sure she wasn't exactly happy with the scenario, but I saw no evidence of that in her mannerisms, voice, or face. She simply stretched out next to me and was softly breathing.

Astrid, though, took much longer to fall asleep.

Myself—when I drifted off, I was beset with dreams. Dreams that left me confused. Used. About people left behind. Tricks and lies. The consequences of my schemes. Not that I ever really thought I had schemes, but in my dreams, I did. I was a political mastermind, manipulating events to fit my whims. And for every success I had, people around me suffered.

When I woke, it seemed absurd, but it kept me from getting a nice rest. None of us looked particularly happy that morning, but it was better than the bone-setting exhaustion of the night before.

Before we left, I spoke up.

"One thing. Astrid, we need to be concerned. The people who took you—you sure they didn't belong to some organization?"

She shook her head. "I don't think so. But it's not out of the... question."

I tapped my chin. "Well. The leader was level 43. That could pose a problem, no matter what. And... well, I don't think anyone got a good look at Alana. And I'm even more sure that no one... but... well, Astrid, you've been seen with me before. So I think for a while, at least when in public, we're all gonna have to wear disguises."

I closed my eyes and focused, touching each of their shoulders in turn and setting an illusion over all three of us. Just slight modifications—keeping us generally the same height and build but changing hair color, eye color, facial structure, and everything. Even the color of our clothes.

Stepping back, I saw two women who were in no way striking—unlike their natural appearances.

"Good. We'll have to maintain that and switch it up for a while."

I could feel the draw on my mana, but it was negligible.

"For now, though, let's get some food and head out to the challenge."

Both of them nodded, looking at each other with raised eyebrows before we left to go find some food.

It wasn't long before we were entering the challenge once more.

EV B2 Chapter 49:

We had talked about it, and I watched as our plan unfurled. Astrid stood alone in the center of the circle as Alana and I stepped back. I crossed my arms and shifted my weight onto one hip as I slightly leaned away from where Alana was, pressing her shoulder into me. We settled back and watched as Astrid began testing her new skills.

A cloud of mist sprang up and blanketed the area, completely blinding the weird plant monsters. This was the Vale of the Lost that she had told us about last night, and within it, she received near-perfect information about where everyone was standing. If movement was a bit delayed, it didn't hinder her sight. I heard whistles and explosions as elemental arrows streaked from her bow. The level-one plant monsters didn't last long.

And just as level two was beginning, Astrid didn't stop. She seemed to be favoring fire as she worked, refamiliarizing herself with combat abilities that had lain idle for the past week or two, mostly working to integrate her veil into her combat. But as the levels got higher, her class came into play. A black tether reached into one of the more powerful vine monsters, and it began a surprisingly human scream, despite the fact that it did not have a mouth.

The scream only lasted for a handful of seconds before fading off as the tendril gradually faded from black to white, starting with the monster and working its way into Astrid, who grimaced slightly. But then her next arrow exploded with a blinding flash, sending three other plant monsters to their knees.

Alana went up on tiptoe, cupping her hands and whispering into my ear. "This doesn't seem like mercy or patience or anything. I expected more healing and, well, less... obvious evil." The last bit sounded as if she was intending to make a joke but didn't quite believe it.

I bent down to whisper in her ear in return. "It is called Widow of Mercy, but I don't think it's exactly evil. If anything, what she's doing seems to involve her blessing. She's taking on their pain and sins, but it seems like she's maybe able to redistribute them or something."

"How do you plant monsters that have sinned?" Alana whispered back at me, and all I could do was shrug.

As the 20th round started, we watched Astrid manage to hit significantly above her level, and I didn't have to step in until the mid-30s, in which case we started to work together. I had a feeling this challenge went all the way to 100, and while I was massively overpowered for my measly level, I wasn't about to fight something that was level 100.

Even if they didn't have the benefit of the additional stats that classes gave you. Maybe. Actually, I was, but it didn't seem like they were only getting the two stats per level. And if they were, they were incredibly focused. From everything I heard, clearing a challenge wasn't quite enough to move on to the next hall. That was a little bit further away or involved something else, as I had heard of teams working to clear all challenges and get special rewards.

But well, maybe when I was level 50, and I had a team like myself, I'd be able to clear this. Still, now that I had Astrid back, I had to work towards my next goals, which seemed like the next logical step would be to gain enough power to clear a challenge. It just probably wouldn't be this month.

It wasn't because I didn't think I was powerful enough to challenge. Depending on the challenge, I might be able to get it done, but this seemed like a pure power check. There were no clever solutions or anything like that. It was just feeding monsters of a particular kind, easy and predictable. And with the right amount of preparation and money, most people could clear it.

But. Actually, I paused, my thoughts nearly getting struck with Kindle. Should I try to clear it? I probably could get some better spells, and if we grind it a bit higher in level, Alana and Astrid could likely do that.

Okay. I looked over to where Alana was, pinning a few in place for Astrid to bombard with fiery arrows. Okay, let's get her leveled up a bit.

And then. My thoughts hit another wall. My initial way of learning about what happened would have been to talk to Loki. But right now... well, I wasn't sure. I was sure that I couldn't trust him. And it wasn't that I had forgotten about Astrid's capture, but... well, I would need to. I was—I didn't know how to handle that at the moment. I wasn't sure who I would look for, how I would get back at them, or even what Astrid would want to do.

I suppose that would have been up to her, but, well, Loki hadn't been entirely honest with me, both with sending me to help her as his cult was somehow connected—business rivals of the gang that had captured her or something. And, well, I struggled to recall exactly what I was mad at him for. For making the introduction? Introduction that he asked for? Was I annoyed that his wife—I stumbled over the thought—had treated Astrid too harshly? I mean, she was a god. What was I to expect?

And Astrid, well, she wasn't exactly pleased. Well, actually, she was pleased. She just wasn't angry. So should I really hold that against him? I frowned. My attention was only half on the fight in front of me.

So when it really came down to it, it was that Loki hadn't told me everything. He had intentionally held things back. Was that enough to really hold the grudge? I swung the sword in front of me, slapping aside a tendril coming for me and slicing through another before putting the monster down.

Yes, yes, it was, but I suppose I need to talk to him again? I didn't know enough. I didn't have enough resources. I couldn't really handle Valhalla without someone's backing. Not with how complicated things were getting. And I didn't for a second believe that Loki was ready to leave me alone to do just my own thing. So it's better to do it on my terms.

So what would I need to do to make sure that I wasn't misled again?