LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 84: Call
"Damn! Two hundred golds?" After picking up the note from the table and giving the paper a look Chief Healer Ardaivel'cas whistled a little louder this time, hurting my ears. "Not bad, lass. Reminds me of the days when we had bounties on our asses, doesn't it San? How much was it?"
"Too much, Marcus, too much. Enough to buy you a noble title and live without worrying about money for the rest of your life."
"Yeah, what a time..."
'Huh? Wait a minute. Did they used to be criminals? Was this city run by thugs?'
Horrified, I froze, wondering if I had escaped from street thugs only to fall into the hands of thugs in uniforms. Were they going to sell me? Fund City Guards with the money put on my head?
"Are you sure you don't want me to use my auras, Grey? You look..."
"No!" I blurted out, getting the creeps at the thought of her messing with my mind again, even if only with the best of intentions. "I mean, I'm fine."
Obviously, neither of them bought my lie, so I did the smartest thing I could think of: I asked a stupid question.
"T-that bounty on you? Were you.. .you know...?"
"All right, I'll stop you there, Grey. This..." Rayden said, pointing to the note in Chief Healer's hands. "...is how mind mages operate."
"True, lass. They love to get others to do their dirty work for them."
"If they can't get control of you directly, they use your friends, family, acquaintances, neighbors - in this case, anyone who's desperate enough for money."
"Th-that's..."
"Not the worst of it all," Chief Healer cut me off. "People under their sway can be brought to their senses, whatever the bastards put in their heads removed, their minds healed - in time. No, the worst is the mistrust. Once you start doubting those around you, they won."
"But..."
Rayden held up her hand to stop me. "By no means are we telling you to trust us. Trust is something that has to be earned. Just don't look for the shadow of a mind mage in everyone you meet. It'll only drive you crazy - seen it happen more than once. And more than once, the suspicion and distrust cost the Empire a battle."
"A battle? Were you...?"
"In an army?" Chief Healer cut me a grin. "Yes. We served and fought like many others. Terrible times. An endless stream of the wounded and those mind-fucked flooding the healer's tents. Let me tell you, lass, that having time to sit in a chair, put your feet up on the table, and enjoy a hot chocolate in peace is a luxury few people appreciate these days."
"So, it's over… those wars, I mean."
'It sounded like they were.'
While I wish I could say that Earth was better in that regard and that resolving conflicts with wars was a thing of the past, sadly, that was not the case. Even in the present day, or at least up to the day of my abduction, various countries were still waging wars as they had in the Middle Ages. That in no way meant that the notion of being closer to the war than ever before left me at ease and feeling like I was back home. Quite the opposite, a shudder ran through my body, and I had to seek solace in a mug of hot chocolate.
"You mean, you've never heard of Mind Wars?"
"No," I whispered into a mug, shaking my head.
"She's not from Sahal, Marcus. I granted her citizenship yesterday."
"Personally?"
"She used to be a slave to the Alchemist of Potions."
His eyes widened as he took his feet off the couch, sitting up straight. "Slave to that little shit? Ah, I see… he hasn't abandoned that asinine idea of his."
"No," Captain Rayden affirmed, as the Chief Healer Ardaivel'cas now surveyed me with a renewed interest in his eyes. "And apparently, he's found a backer. Want to guess who, Marcus?"
"Hey, I'm not a hound like Blaine. I'm a healer. How would I know… ah. No, you can't be serious, San? Those mind fuckers?"
"It seems so. Grey here had the pleasure of meeting one of their Cognizants."
"Damn!" Chief Healer whistled with sympathy, his eyes dropping from me to the paper in his hands. "Hang on, San. Are you saying this is a legitimate Hunting Call from those mind fuckers? I thought we were just, you know, reminiscing about old times."
"I wish we were - I really do, Marcus. But it looks like we have one of them sneaking around closer than we thought."
"It could be just one of their thralls."
"You mean, sent here to spread the Call? No, too fast. Without me asking him, Blaine has already done some digging, and it seems to have been posted on notice boards around the city for three days already - counting today."
"He takes his job too seriously. We're not in the military anymore; he's no longer an intelligence officer."
"Not in rank, but… it wouldn't hurt if you took a cue from him, Marcus."
"Maybe he should be the one to take the time to relax a bit. Seriously, though, if what you say is true, then… hold on," Chief Healer said and paused with his gaze falling on little me huddled under a blanket again. "How long has it been since you escaped, lass?"
'Huh? What now? How long?'
A little busy digesting all that I had just heard, it took me a while to understand what he was asking and even longer to count the nights I enjoyed free. The one I spent dead in the morgue made a bit of a mess of things and time in my head.
"F-five days? Yeah, I think this is the fifth day since… since I found myself in Esulmor."
"In Es… hold on, am I missing something, or did the little shit set up his lab under our asses?"
Captain Rayden sighed, massaging the bridge of her nose. "I said she was Lost, didn't I? Well..."
─◇─◇─◇─
"So he might as well be on the other side of the continent," Chief Healer said more to himself, after listening to the summary of what I had gone through. "Damn! I can see now why you'd think one of them must be near Castiana - or even in it."
"And if they're not, they soon will be. Grey is not exactly one to blend in with the crowd. The word will get out - if not already."
"S-sorry," I whispered from under my blanket, ears down.
"Don't let it get to you, lass. Not your fault. Instead, you should see it from the bright side. It makes you unique."
"Isn't that the problem?"
He chuckled. "I really like you. But tell me, why do people dress differently, wear jewelry, paint their faces, do their hair?"
'To make them feel human?' Definitely not the answer, but what was on the tip of my tongue, on my heart.
"Well, there are actually many reasons for that, though, in the sense, to make yourself or your group unique, different from the others. It does beg the question of what is so unique about you, lass, that it made mind mages want to find you so badly to use open Hunting Call."
"My thoughts exactly. I haven't seen them take such risks since the Wars," Captain Rayden said, leaning toward me, resting her elbows on her knees. "You see, Grey, despite what most would like to believe and sadly believe, Mind Wars aren't over. We have not defeated the mind mages."
"You d-didn't?"
"No. We defeated their armies but managed to kill only some of them. Most went into hiding."
"Pretty easy when everyone they look at is basically their friend." Chief Healer added somewhat tartly.
"Everyone? C-can no one resist them?"
'I know I did. The beast, that is.'
"Of course there are such people, but the mind-fuckers aren't stupid and the general population isn't that strong.”
“During the Wars it wasn't hard to convince everyone to take precautions, to train their minds, but now that they're officially over… look, Grey.I know you didn't tell me everything, and I respect that. Despite all the shit that’s happened to you, you've been truthful with me, so I'll be straight with you. If you want me to go out of my way to help you, I need to hear why they're after you."