Chapter 1392 (Patreon)

Affecting a completely nonchalant mien, I simply continued forward. It was always amusing to act as if the world hadn’t changed at all, as if I was simply walking along a street without a care in the world. As if the world were still as it had been before the Change, generally safe and secure, with laws and police to protect the general public.

When I walked up to the houses, I was met by a small group of people, likely those who had been on guard during the night. Above them, luckily still hidden behind the horizon, the sun was just rising, casting the world in a dim light. The sky above was already a pale blue, with a few clouds sitting up high, promising a wonderful spring day, exactly the sort of weather that drove me indoors to hide from the hated sunlight.

“Good Morning,” I greeted the people who had come out to meet me, still acting completely unconcerned, as if I were simply going about my day, maybe heading to get my morning coffee, or already heading into work. The looks on their faces were quite amusing, especially as I made to go around them, still largely ignoring them, just like one would have essentially ignored strangers in the streets before the Change.

“Where do you think you are going?!” one of their group, a relatively young guy, asked, his hackles already up because I had ignored him.

“What is it to you?” I asked, my voice placid and bored, as if I wasn’t taking them seriously at all. Which I didn’t, but to emote my lack of concern and respect so strongly was a calculated choice. Suddenly, I felt the familiar and incredibly uncomfortable sensation caused by the Observe skill and instantly moved to squash it, drowning the attempt in darkness. There was a faint distortion in the air around me, and the face of one of the older guys twisted into a pained grimace, but he didn’t comment. Not that he had to announce what had happened, the group noticed the distortion and his grimace, drawing conclusions from there. 

“Stop right there,” the same younger guy demanded, stepping right into my path. They hadn’t drawn weapons just yet, but maybe they were confident that four guys didn’t need weapons to deal with a single woman. Foolish, given that we were living in a world with levels now, but it would likely take a little longer for common sense to change and catch up. Maybe an entire generation would have to come by for people to shed their old, biology-rooted instincts. 

“Now, why are you accosting me?” I asked, deciding to stop rather than push the guy aside or deviate from my path. “So very impolite,” I idly added, as if speaking to the air around us, just to needle these guys a little more. 

“Well, Miss, we just want to know who you are and why you are coming into our home,” another of the guys asked, not the one who had stopped me, nor the one who had tried to Observe me. 

“You may call me Jade, if you must. And I’m not here for your home; I’m here for the Shrine,” I replied, not really caring about the introduction. A part of me still wondered whether I should have concealed myself, even though they had already seen me. Maybe they would have dismissed my sighting as an apparition of light caused by fatigue, or come up with some other explanation.

“How do you know about that?” the guy who had tried Observe’ing me asked, looking slightly uncomfortable, as if I had asked about something private. 

“That is for Lady Hecate and me to know. She knows why I’m aware, and that should be enough for the likes of you,” I shot him down, letting a smidgen of my power leak out, just to make a point. The guy looked rather uncomfortable now, while the other three were visibly trying to keep themselves psyched up. It was fairly obvious that they were getting frightened by my projection of power but didn’t want to appear craven. A part of me wanted to use a bit of Mind Magic, just to see if I could break them thoroughly, but I refrained, at least for now. I wasn’t here to make enemies out of these people, and I certainly wasn’t here to destroy them. Not if they honoured Lady Hecate’s Shrine and increased the knowledge contained within. 

“Leave her be,” the guy who had asked about the Shrine commanded, though the tremor in his voice betrayed that he didn’t do so out of anything but fear. For a moment, the younger guy who had stepped into my way looked as if he was about to argue, but then, he visibly restrained himself and stepped aside.

“Thank you,” I nodded before walking past them, doing my best to project a completely unconcerned mien. They weren’t worth consideration, at least as long as they didn’t try to get in my way. 

The guy who had commanded them then decided to follow along, simply walking next to me. For a moment, I considered simply ignoring him, but then I decided on another approach. 

“You are aware that a lot of people would have attacked you for the foolish stunt you pulled earlier?” I asked, my voice conversational, as if I were addressing nothing more important than the weather. 

“You mean when I tried to learn more about you?” he asked, trying, but failing, to match my unconcerned behaviour, a faint tremor in his voice betraying his worries. 

“That is one way to describe an act I consider as invasive as a strip-search,” I chided him, allowing my disdain for the act to be obvious in my voice. “There are ways to make it less offensive, but you deployed none of them, so you are either ignorant or simply didn’t care.” 

I paused for a moment, curious if he would offer any defence of his actions.

“You should know,” I continued, when he did not, “that there are people who would have attacked you for it. People strong enough to level this entire little village, turn it to cinders with little more than a thought,” I exaggerated, though my words weren’t that big a stretch. I had reached that level of power a year ago; it was quite possible that others had caught up to that level. Since then, my efforts hadn’t focused on raw power. Instead, I had worked hard to broaden the scope and flexibility of my abilities, giving me a massive variety of options.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” the guy promised, sounding a little choked up at the idea. It was likely a little frightening to hear just how close he had come to having his entire village destroyed because he couldn’t rein in his curiosity. 

“Oh, and even if there are ways to conceal what you are doing, or make it less unpleasant, I wouldn’t rely on that,” I added. “For every method to conceal, there is one to perceive; for every way to obscure, there is a method to divine. Nothing in magic is absolute, not even power. It all comes down to ability, creativity and a dozen other factors that are difficult to predict,” I explained, a part of me slipping into the role of the teacher with ease. 

“That being said, I am actually curious why you are so concerned about the Shrine and its contents. Are you one of Lady Hecate’s faithful?” I asked, curious why he was following along. 

“My sister,” he admitted, his voice a little uncertain, “She believes- well, she knows that Lady Hecate can bestow guidance. It brought us here; she stumbled across another Shrine and learned about this one. Wanted to know more, wanted to learn as much magic as she could.” 

Hearing him, I couldn’t help but laugh, which made him look at me with rather offended eyes. 

“Apologies,” I said, trying to keep my giggles under control, “That other Shrine, did it happen to be near the edge of a somewhat strange forest, filled with unusually deadly plants, and hidden between the roots of a large yew-tree?” I asked, causing the offended look on his face to morph into a confused frown. 

“I thought so,” I nodded to myself, “Then I believe I will talk to your sister at some point; it might be worth her while,” I suggested, before adding under my breath, “And be quite entertaining for me.” 

The guy, who still hadn’t introduced himself, making him rather rude, still hadn’t come up with a coherent reply by the time we reached the Shrine. Just to keep messing with his head, I reached out magically, taking control of the doors I had created almost two years ago and making them swing open for no visible reason, as if the Shrine itself were welcoming me home. It made for an excellent display, and the look on his face alone meant it was worth it. That it would also cement my reputation here was only a bonus.