Chapter 173: Aggressive Solicitors

Lead in with over-the-top compliments and physical flirting…

“Oh Travis, you’re so awesome!” Maybel said, hugging Travis’s arm, ‘accidentally’ squishing her generous bosom up against him in her enthusiasm.

“Eh, not that awesome.” Travis said with a shrug as they walked down the streets of Bakton Keep, drawing envious glares from about 95% of the population:

Male, single, and so traumatized by the constant loss of life that they had no hope of maintaining a relationship with another person, let alone a woman.

“Just because my powers will one day rival the gods of creation themselves doesn’t make me better than everyone else,” Travis said, head held high.

“So humble, too. I mean, you can literally create real things from nothing! That’s something to be proud of. And so handsome….” Maybel said, averting her gaze shyly, face reddening.

Okay, that might be a little much, Travis thought.

“I mean, you can make anything you want within the limits of your imagination! You can make illusions real! You could make a chair or a book, or…a fireball! You could copy the effects of other people’s Abilities, or conjure animals out of nothing to attack your enemies. Abyss, you could even make people!”

And then she realizes…

Maybel’s eyes widened minutely.

“Maybel, don’t-“

Maybel glanced around and scanned the surroundings: Older men, veteran Climbers with the scars to prove it.

She was completely out of place.

Travis winced with stage-chagrin as he saw the thoughts flicker behind her eyes. Pretty good eye-flicker. Engage existential horror.

“…Travis, am I real!?” Travis had Maybel demand, grabbing him by the shirt collar.

“Listen-“

Interrupt. Interrogatory question that implies sapience to confuse and horrify the audience.

“Why can’t I remember my childhood!?” Maybel demanded, her face going pale, eyes widening. “I don’t even know who my parents are!”

Shift in emotions is believable. Travis noted. Audience is invested. Simulate unravelling. Condensed tear-jerker ending.

“I’m losing my form…Travis, whether I’m real or not, these feelings are real. I just want you to know, that I Love yo-“ Maybel’s voice began to sound like it was coming through a distant tunnel, her body dissolving into motes of light that drifted away on the wind.

“NOOOOO!” Travis dropped to his knees, the last motes of his illusionary puppet slipping through his fingers.

Travis was left kneeling in the middle of the street, the other Climbers leaving a wide space around him and the disintegrating girl as they shook their heads and continued about their day.

Travis caught his breath and straightened his hair and clothes.

Well, that was fun, Travis thought, brushing himself off and climbing to his feet.

“Still…no…autonomy. May…need…Sacrifice.” Travis said to himself, opening his experiment log and making a note in the Maybel section. Which was a problem, because he also wanted a Sacrifice to increase the strength of his-

“…Wow.” Travis stiffened as Will’s voice came from above. “That’s…not really cool, man.”

When Travis craned his neck, he spotted Will standing in midair directly above him.

“She wasn’t real!” Travis said up at the Lord-to-be. “I was running both side of that. It was practice.”

“I don’t know if that’s sad, or gross.” Will said, waggling his hand. “A bit of both, I guess? I mean, there’s playing with yourself, and there’s ‘playing with yourself’.”

“Screw you, every girl in this Keep is over forty!” Travis said, pointing up at Will.

“Brianna’s seventeen.” Will said with a shrug. “Eolande’s sister’s are in their twenties. Loth is…well, I’m not sure how old Loth is, but I’m pretty sure kobolds don’t live long, so it can’t be much.”

“Every available girl.” Travis said, glowering.

“Point,” Will acknowledged. “Still weird though.”

“Why are you here?” Travis demanded.

“Ah. Right. C’mon, I need our exfil specialist.” Will said a moment before a scaled invisible thing looped around Travis’s waist and lifted him off the ground.

“I can fly by myself,” Travis muttered, arms crossed.

“Excellent. This way.” Will said, dropping Travis, his stomach lurching as he went into freefall.

Mirage

80 Charges remaining.

A carpet with the Oilton family crest and a pair of massive wings manifested beneath Travis’s feet. The wings flapped down once and arrested his fall. A moment later, he was soaring through the air.

Will glanced back and Travis saw an appraising look cross the Lord-expectant’s face.

“…Cool.” The kid’s tone suggested that his admiration was genuine.

“It’s no invisible telekinetic snakes, but it’ll have to do.” Travis said, his ride swooping in alongside Will.

“That’s your secondary?” Will asked.

“For now,” Travis said. His trainers had told him that there was wiggle-room to restructure your Class when you Advanced, and he was planning to lean way harder into the illusions.

“Sweet.” Will said, his gaze wandering across the horizon before finding its way back to Travis.

“…So is that girl your type, or do you just like-“

“Leave it!” Travis said.

“Having preferences is normal. Nothing to be ashamed of. Just because you play with dolls at your age-“

“You don’t know how sex works!” Travis shot back.

“Yeah, I figured as much after what Charnesa said. Maybe I should get some Anna’s to explain it to me.” Will said with a smirk and a brow-wiggle.

“…Fuck you!”

“Fuck you. Also, we’re here.” Will said, pointing at Bakton’s castle below them.

**William Oh***

The two of them arrived at Bakton’s office a few minutes later. They were let into a long hallway with a small office near the end. The layout reminded Will of the Oilton patriarch’s office, way back on the 3rd Floor.

“Come in!” Bakton said through the door, glancing up as they entered.

“Sorry, there’s only one seat,” Bakton said, pointing to the chair in front of his desk.

“He can make his own.” Will said, taking the seat.

Beside him, Travis sat down, an ostentatious gilded throne appearing beneath him.

“So what’s he for?” Bakton asked, glancing at Travis.

“Travis is gonna help me in a few minutes with surviving some hijinks. I wanted to ask for a favor.”

“Oh?” Bakton clasped his hands together. “What kind of favor?”

“You know those two civilians-“

“This seems like the sort of thing a Lord can handle on his own.” Bakton interrupted, already seeing where Will was going.

“This is me handling it.” Will said, releasing the Harbinger Relic Seed from his storage and placing the softly glowing teardrop gemstone onto the desk.

Bakton’s brow furrowed as he inspected the gemstone, then his eyes widened a nearly imperceptible amount before he directed his attention back up to Will, his focus suddenly laced with deadly intent.

“This is priceless, I hope you know that. Showing this to me practically demands that I acquire it.…One way or the other, this…relic seed is staying with me.” Bakton said.

“I was hoping you’d feel that way.” Will said.

“How much you want?” Bakton asked.

“Thirty favors.” Will said.

“Two.” Bakton replied.

“Six.”

“Deal.” The Debt swirled around them as Bakton reached across the table, and the two shook on it, with Bakton pocketing the gemstone immediately afterwards.

“Now, what exactly do you want? It’ll be a bitch of a time rescuing those two, because by now, they’re chained down by so much Debt that only removing them completely from the Tower will sever it. They could live a pretty comfortable life outside the Tower, being above level 40.”

“…Or I could kill Kincaid.” Will said.

“Ah...” Bakton said, patting the gemstone in his pocket. “You’re making me pay for the very thing I would use to accomplish your favor. Clever.”

“Oh, no, that’s not it. I don’t want you to kill Kincaid.”

“Eh?” Bakton cocked his head.

“I’m going to kill Kincaid tomorrow at noon. I want you to subdue the two civilians and remove them from his influence so that Kincaid can’t use them as shields or something similarly nefarious.”

Naturally he would have to subdue Eolande and Kearney to accomplish that, since they would be forced to obey orders from Kincaid.

“You’re gonna do it?” Bakton asked, his tone incredulous.

“Yep.”

“Without this?” Bakton asked, patting the gemstone in his pocket.

“Yep.”

“Well, I suppose everybody’s gotta bite off more than they can chew sometime.” Bakton leveled a calloused finger at Will. “You realize that when I have to step in and save your ass, that’s another favor, correct?”

“I’d be more than happy with that if the alternative is death or eternal slavery.” Will said.

“Good.” Bakton leaned over and grabbed a rope hanging beside his desk, and Will hear a distance bell ring in some other part of the castle.

“Yes, my Lord?” A young woman asked, peeking through the door.

“Ginny, can you get my dueling saber? The light one.”

“Right away, my Lord.” She said before disappearing.

Travis gave an offended gasp and pointed at where the woman had been standing.

“She’s probably older than she looks.” Will said to calm Travis down.

“No, she’s twenty. I had her bussed up here as a favor to her parents.” Bakton said. “Alright you two, if that’s everything…I have an enormous stack of papers that need my signature.”

“Alright, see you tomorrow.” Will said, standing up.

“No you won’t.” Bakton said, grabbing a paper from said stack and whipping a squiggly line across the bottom. “But you’ll get your favor.”

“Fair enough.” Will said, nodding and leaving.

Will glanced over at Travis, who was still sitting in his gaudy throne. “Alright Travis, let’s…”

Travis and the throne dissolved into motes of light.

I didn’t even notice him leave. Admittedly Will had been focused on his exchange with Bakton, but still. That was impressive.

“So do you live in the castle or…” Will heard Travis’s voice coming from the hallway, where he was talking to the secretary, who was carrying an obviously cursed saber in her arms.

The saber was plain wood and steel with no ornamentation, but the matte texture of the steel, and the way the wood of the handle had tiny splinters missing that were worn smooth with the oil of a thousand palms…just felt dangerous.

It had the dilapidated feel of a haunted house. A drab exterior designed to conceal a predator that ate souls.

It was light, fast, sharp. Designed to kill. Humans, specifically. After today, Will suspected that would include Fae.

“Stop distracting her.” Will said, grabbing Travis’s ear and dragging him away.

“Ow, leggo, damnit,” Travis said as Will pulled him back out to the courtyard.

“Okay, we’re about to do the thing where I need your help.” Will said. “Once we’re done you can go back to harassing that girl, but don’t blame me if Bakton pushes your face in.”

“’Bout fricken time. Alright, what are we doing?” Travis asked, straightening and fixing his clothes as Will let him go.

Will pursed his lips as he considered how to condense his plan down to a few words.

“You know that Fae Lord who kills everyone who steps foot onto their territory? Onacona?”

Travis’s eyes widened.

“No way. NO.”

“Relax,” Will said, throwing an arm around Travis’s shoulder so he couldn’t make an illusionary decoy and escape. “I’m pretty sure I’ve got a good way to get in and out of their territory without dying, I just want you as a backup, to distract them with decoys just in case we wind up having to run for our lives.”

Travis’s eyes narrowed.

“I want you to make me a soft-set Relic for my Mirage Ability. A good one. To be determined when we hit Akul again. If you promise that…I’ll go with you.”

“Deal,” Will said, feeling the Floor hang the debt around his neck.

“Now here’s the plan:” Will said. “These fae have routines like humans. They eat – when they want – and sleep, and take care of their own petty business over the course of the day. Do you think the Fae Lord of the north is standing at the border ready to pounce one hundred percent of the time?”

“…no?” Travis said.

“No. Probably not. They get bored just like we do. They must have some kind of early detection system. A sign buried beneath the dirt that applies Debt to those who cross it, or a series of animal spies that report ingress to their Lord. Whatever.”

“So how are you gonna get past it?” Travis asked.

“Speed. We’re gonna fly in faster than word can reach ‘em.”

“…Huh?”

“You’re gonna want to make yourself a suit of armor and a helmet so your skin doesn’t get peeled off.” Will said. Travis’s Resistance wasn’t great, all things considered.

“…How fast are you talking?”

“Fast,” Will said with a grin.

Once Travis made himself a suit of armor to Will’s satisfaction, Will said a small prayer to Holdna that he wasn’t getting them ingnoramusly killed.

Homefield Advantage.

If whatever system that detected intruders made use of Debt, this should allow them to bypass it. If it was word of mouth, then moving faster than sound should also do the trick.

Will looped a snake around Travis’s midsection and neck, and did the same to himself, before lifting them up into the air and orienting them both to the north.

Will wasn’t sure exactly how fast Phantom Hand could move nowadays, but it was FAST.

Their inertia felt like it was going to jam their brains into the bottom of their skulls, and the air itself formed a literal wall that was battering at them like a thousand angry fists.

Then the air broke, cracking around them in a strange conical shape made of compressed air that looked something like mist, but definitely wasn’t.

Travis seemed strangely calm as the land slid by underneath them with stunning speed. He wasn’t screaming or anything, and not wiggling nearly as much as he’d expected.

Good for him.

There!

Will spotted the signs that generations of Climbers had erected to warn other Climbers not to go past, on pain of death.

They shot past the signs in a heartbeat.

There!

Will spotted a cabin in the distance.

In another heartbeat, Will and Travis arrived at the Fae Lord’s doorstep, the verdant greenery around them turning to ice as Will’s Homefield Advantage effect arrived. All told, the trip took about a minute.

“aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!”

Will frowned as he heard Travis’s screams catch up with them from behind. A moment later a blast of air slammed into the two of them and launched them through the door, knocking the cabin door off it’s hinges.

Will groaned, pushing himself to his feet, the light streaming through the open door revealing a modest hunting cabin with a single fae taking a bath in a wooden tub.

…Which seems to have frozen over with them inside it because of Homefield Advantage. Whoops.

Will spotted a hunting bow and a cloak made of grey feathers hanging up against the wall above folded clothes and a pair of boots.

Yep definitely the right person, Will thought, glanced over at Onacona. He-SHE glared at them as she climbed out of the bathtub, looking mildly furious as the ice sloughed off her skin.

“Whoops! Sorry ‘bout that, I’ll just…” Will blocked his sight with his hand, turning around and heading back outside the door, two snakes turning Travis around and marching him back out, while the other two picked up the door and set it back up in the doorway.

The fifth snake stole the bow and the cloak before she could reach them.

No sense getting disappeared in an explosion of feathers.