Nero Walker, Book 2 Ch.14 (46)

Arch-Mage Jennings was sitting at his desk in the Mage Tower of Dorchester, going over the records of their operations.  His feet were up, and he was sipping his coffee as part of his mind was cycling through reports.  Another part of his mind was going over the class, if he could call it that, which he just had with Nero.

He could sense the mage council arguing and shouting at each other.  Nero’s antics were enough to cause them to still be at it.  Shaking his head, he wondered if the boy was right.  Have they just been stagnating.  As he was about to open a scry-meeting with the mage council, they beat him to it.

Sensing them reaching out to form the connection, he pulled his feet off the desk and stood up.  Offering his aid to complete the connection, a floating window appeared and he saw Mathers and a few others standing there with looks of concern.

Jennings raised his eyebrows in surprise.  “This isn’t about Nero’s theories?” he asked.

Mather shook his head, and replied, “No.  It seems the king tried to warn me of something, but I didn’t realize it at the time.  House Cranston has paid the Assassins Guild to initiate a formal challenge against Nero.  The guards in Dorchester are escorting him to the arena as we speak.”

Jennings brow furrowed in anger, “On what grounds, and what type of challenge?”

Mathers said, “Blood challenge.  The old honor rule, ages ago it was used to dissuade noble killings.  Remember, it was from back when we had the north in conflict.  It hasn’t been applied in forever since the new noble law trumps it.  Lord Cranston found a loophole and got the Cosgrave heir to go along with it.”

Jennings reached into his memory for the details.  With confusion he asked, “But that requires a challenger within a level of the challenged?  Right?”

Mathers took a second to think, then burst out in laughter.  As the other in council room caught on, they all started laughing.  Jennings joined in, and with some effort he managed to get out, “I have to get to the arena.  I have some bets to place.”

Without waiting for a response, Jennings forced the connection to close.  He caught his breath while still smiling.  Walking over to the balcony attached to his office near the top of the tower, he brought up the city plan on his link.  He couldn’t find the listing for the challenge.  Frowning, he spread his senses out as far as he could, and got a hint of Nero’s essence trail.  Lifting off into the air, he wrapped himself in a shield of light to appear invisible, and then flew after Nero.

‘This is going to be great, I wonder what the odds will be,’he thought to himself.

-----

As the room stood in silence staring at him, Nero heard Nick’s whisper, “Vera’s in the building, she’ll be here soon.”

Nero looked over his shoulder and nodded.  Striding into the room, he recognized the Cosgraves, the city lord with her two heirs.  They were standing alongside Lord Bennings.  Even that general he met at dinner was invited.  However, he didn’t recognize anyone else.

Nero said, “In all seriousness, you guys wanted me here.  So talk.”

Expressions varied, but Nero’s favorite was the city lord’s, she looked so mad that Nero wanted to take a picture.  Her son’s was a close second.

Lord Bennings coughed lightly and spoke in a professional tone, “You have been called to answer a formal assassination challenge issued by House Cranston and executed by the Assassins Guild.  Citing a blood grievance, the blood challenge was accepted as an assassination challenge by Master Derek Cosgrave of House Cosgrave, current holder of the city-seat of Dorchester.  Do you understand the challenge?”

Nero offered a blank look and crossed his arms.  “Who the fuck is House Cranston?” he asked.

A lot of the people in the room paled, but Nero noticed the people on the left side of the room smiled.  There was a giant guy wearing black leather, who was obviously the assassin.  There were two teenagers with him, a guy built like a spring, and a chick that looked like she spent her free time doing squats.  Nero looked over at her, and tried to appreciate her form without making it obvious.

Lord Benning spoke up, causing Nero to pay attention again, “House Cranston is a Great House from Hennings,” seeing Nero was still looking confused, she continued, “Hennings is the capital of Oglivarch.”

Nero shrugged, and said, “Cool.  So what does that have to do with me?”

Before Lord Bennings could reply, the doors behind Nero opened and he sensed Mrs. Salvatore barge into the room.  He couldn’t hide his grin as he felt her barely-controlled fury.  ‘I should have stopped at a vendor for some popcorn or something,’he thought.

Vera walked up to stand at Nero’s side, and in a cold voice that filled the room she said, “As proxy to House Walker, appointed in the presence of the city lord, why was I not notified of this farce?”

Although she addressed the room, Vera’s eyes made it clear that she was speaking to the city lord.

With a tight voice, Lord Cosgrave replied, “We only recently learned of the challenge.  My son acted without my knowledge.  Are you aware of the particulars of the challenge?”

Vera’s eyes took on an edge of violence, as she said, “I obtained the details of the challenge on my own.  Your office must have forgotten to forward them to me.  As this is obviously an abuse of loopholes in our laws, you as the city lord have the power to stop this.  Yet, it seems that you are allowing it to proceed.”

Lord Cosgrave held Vera’s stare and replied, “To step in now would be an insult to House Cranston.  My son made a mistake, I will not compound that mistake by making one of my own.  House Cosgrave will abide by the law, and Lord Bennings says that the challenge is legal.”

Vera nodded, and replied with venom, “House Walker has heard your words.  We will remember them when our lord makes his pledge to Dorchester.”

With a smile, Derek Cosgrave said, “If he has the chance, that is.”

Nero realized that the anger in the room was getting to the point that someone might start throwing chairs, so he decided to step in.

“OK, so I’m going to have a death match with an assassin.  Since all the ‘nobles’ are on board with it, I don’t have a choice.  Now let’s get to the important part.  What do I get if I win?” Nero asked while crossing his arms and smirking.

The room was staring at him, and Lord Bennings spoke as if she was reciting from a list in her link, “The rules state that a blood grievance can be called after the death of noble of direct lineage.  The challenged can demand the assets of the noble that died.  The funds and interests to be held by Tower of Law until an accurate accounting can be made.  As the Mage-adept Cranston was the noble in question, his assets were offered as collateral for the challenge.  In addition, the Assassins Guild has to offer one half of the contract price to take the place of the challenger.”

Nero returned a confused stare at Lord Bennings, then turned to Vera and asked, “What the hell did she just say?”

Vera smiled, and said, “A lot Nero.  You’d get a lot.”

Nero held Vera’s gaze, and sent her a private ping.  He could see her eyes slightly widen, as she accepted.  He said to her over the link, “Can I bet on myself, and keep it secret?”

Vera said out loud, “It is very expensive for a noble house to offer this type of challenge.  It seems someone really wants you dead.  The repercussions from the crown will be felt for generations.”

As she spoke out loud to Nero, she sent him a private response, “How much do you want to bet?  As far as I know, you don’t have any money yet.”

Nero nodded in response to both statements.  Over the link he replied, “Didn’t I win a bunch from the Noble War?  Can’t I use that?” And out loud he said to the room, “Well, some people just don’t like me being this attractive.  They feel threatened.”

Vera didn’t respond over the link.  Closing the connection, she turned to the room and said, “When will the challenge take place?”

Lord Bennings replied, “The paperwork has been filed, and Mr. Walker was just formally notified.  We will head to a reserved arena from here.”

Vera responded, “I’d like an hour to review our options, and go over Mr. Walker’s estate paperwork.”

Lord Bennings nodded, “That’s acceptable.  You can use the conference across the hall.  However, as the challenge has been formally declared, guards will have to accompany Mr. Walker.”

Nodding, Vera turned and walked out.  Nero smiled at the room and said, “I’ll see you all in an hour I guess.”

As Nero left, he saw Nick looking at Vera in confusion.

When they made it to their conference room, the guards agreed to wait outside without issue.

Nero rubbed his hands and asked, “OK.  What’s the plan?  How do I bet what I won from the Noble War?”

Nick tried to speak up, but Vera held up a hand, silencing him.  “Nero, are you really going to bet everything on this?” she asked.

Nero gave her a surprised look.  “You expect me to wait for an opportunity to spend it?  Isn’t this a death-match?  If I lose, I’m dead anyway.”

Nick couldn’t hold in his questions any longer and blurted out, “What the hell are you two talking about?  We’re not trying to stop this insanity?”

Nero looked at Nick with a grin and said, “Some assholes went to a lot of trouble to try and kill me.  But like most people here, they’re idiots.  I’m going to kill their assassin and then laugh at them.  Then I’m going to go collect my winnings and send them a thank you basket made up of assorted nuts.  Salty nuts.  Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Nick just shook his head and replied, “I hardly ever understand what you’re saying.”  Turning to Vera he said, “We’re just going to let this happen?”

Vera’s eyes were hard as she said, “We don’t have a choice.  Too many powerful people want this to happen, and Lord Cosgrave is staying out of it.  We’ll just have to rely on Nero to win.  Can you do it Nero, can you kill a man in the arena?  In front of thousands of people, and in cold blood?”

Nero’s smile fell, and he replied, “Look, I’m not a murderer or anything.  But since I’ve come to this world, I’ve realized that this is the way it is.  I’ve already killed men during the Noble War.  Yes, it was unpleasant, but they started it.  I’ll meet aggression with aggression.  Don’t worry, I’ll win.”

Vera held his stare and nodded.  “Very well.  As your proxy, I can place a bet with the arena bank.  They’ll have an auditor on hand to confirm funds, and we can offer your winnings from the Noble War as collateral.  Although they won’t offer full price of your assets, it will still be a substantial sum.  Do you want me to put it all on you to win?”

Nero’s smile returned as he said, “Yup.  Everything I have, put it on me to win.”

Vera offered a quick nod, and then turned to leave.  As Nero and Nick watched her go, Nick said, “Nero, just because you survived some mercenaries, doesn’t mean you’ll survive an assassin.  These people have trained for years in the art of killing.”

Nero responded, “Can we just take a minute to acknowledge how ridiculous it is that you people have laws governing assassinations?  When I found out that you guys regulated kickbacks and standardized rich people appointing their friends to impressive positions in the government, I was impressed.  Finding out about Noble Wars, and that you regulated fighting to avoid impacting the lives of the commoners, I was amazed.  But regulating how to assassinate people? That’s too much.  Do you have laws on how to legally do everything?”

Nick was taken aback at Nero’s question, and replied, “Of course.  Isn’t that the point of laws?  So that the best way to do something is agreed upon, and everyone follows the rules?”

Nero shook his head and said, “But isn’t there something that is truly banned? Like morally wrong?  What about prostitution or cannibalism?”

Confused, Nick said, “What’s morally wrong with prostitution and cannibalism?  Prostitutes are protected by the same laws as everyone else.  Their industry has some more regulations because it affects public health, but calling the industry morally wrong is illogical.  And why would anyone want to eat people?  Nero, you’re not making any sense.”

Nero looked at Nick like he couldn’t believe the words coming out of the straight-laced man’s mouth.  “So everything is approached in a logical matter?  Where do feelings come in?” Nero asked.

Nick was getting frustrated.  “Nero, what the hell do feelings have to do with governance?  Everyone feels differently about things, that’s free will.  Laws based on anything other than logical arguments, backed up by verifiable data, would lead to chaos.  What the hell kind of world did you come from?”

Walking over to a chair, Nero took a seat and thought about how to answer the question.

Looking at Nick, he said, “Right and wrong was determined by belief systems and social pressures.  There were arguments all the time.  Everyone chose sides and debated the validity of their side using whatever facts they wanted to consider true.  People got to pick and choose the argument that they felt was the most accurate representation of their world-view.”

Nick gave Nero a look of pure horror.  “How did that not lead to madness?”

Nero nodded with a fond smile, and replied, “It did…. and it was awesome.”

“That’s the craziest thing I think you’ve ever said,” Nick said.

“In less than an hour I’m going to walk into an arena for my scheduled assassination attempt, which will be overseen by the local government.  Now THAT’S crazy,” Nero said in response.