Prismatic Spiral - Chapter II.L (2.50) (Patreon)

Chapter II.L (2.50)

Mitsuko spent the remainder of the loop as a spectator. She still had her four striped robe in perfect condition, thanks to her magic, so accessing the lesser libraries was easy. She kept her ears open for news about Kouis Fribbolt’s assassination, but all suspicions were thankfully on Deelina Zuinn. Rightfully so, as the explosion was par for the course with her usual modus operandi. According to the local newspapers and rumors, the wizard had never shied away from sharing her love for explosions. In fact, her book on the subject of elemental explosives was flying off the shelves in every bookstore across town, the most sold publication that week.

Deelina Zuinn, in custody and under interrogation, did not reap the rewards of those sales.

During all that fallout, Ruurin, Eisen’s sleazy acolyte, slipped into Hazbaz’s good graces as his campaign manager. That hiccup made it near impossible for Mitsuko to return to his side. Unless she found a means of disposing of the man, she needed to keep her distance.

“At least these wizards like to gossip,” Mitsuko said to Sterling. They were sitting in the back of a restaurant, her new go-to spot for information gathering. This place sold a stew that could be manipulated with magic to taste like your deepest passion. Mitsuko, who was avoiding foods that heavily relied on the island’s water supply, did not partake, instead nursing a bottle of imported wine. She simply listened, Sterling lounging by her side. With the election so close and the explosion not long ago, the subject dominated the restaurant’s conversations.

“I can’t believe Hazbaz, of all candidates, is leading in the polls.”

“It’s a grand conspiracy! Deelina Zuinn is framed! She’s no fool to use her own magic.”

“They traced the magic back to her blood. She certainly made the bomb.”

 “You notice Hazbaz hasn’t been releasing any more discoveries since the assassination? You think it’s a coincidence?”

“A coincidence that he focuses on his campaign when his two greatest competitors die and get locked in prison? Really? What sort of conspiracy could possibly connect his studies to the assassin?”

“I don’t know. Just something I noticed.”

“Corilation, causation.”

“Hazbaz really does look to be the favorite.”

“We’ll know tomorrow.”

Mitsuko sipped her wine. Tomorrow the votes would be tallied. Soon after the announcement, the loop would reset.

Unfortunately, she assumed that Hazbaz had likely outed her identity to Ruurin. She’d heard more than one rumor about a mysterious old lady who’d granted the wizard the great wisdom needed for his research breakthroughs. As a result, Mitsuko had Mended her age further. She was in her mid-thirties now. A bit of an oddity on the island, but still a decade older than her normal body and nobody questioned whether she might be the fabled old woman.

“You know Ruurin, Hazbaz’s manager?” one of the wizards said to his companion. He wore a jacket over his robe, from which he drew out and poured something over his soup bowl. He slurped up the liquid, his eyes glossy. “I heard he met with Deelina not even a day before the explosion went off. There was talk that he would be her campaign manager.”

“Man’s a snake. Everyone knows it.” This wizard beside him was younger, comparable to Mitsuko’s current age. His muscles bulged from under his yellow robe and every movement he made threatened to tear the fabric open.

Both men were four striped, the same rank as Mitsuko’s stolen robe. One serendipitous response to all the news on the island was that she never heard a word about her theft. It wasn’t nearly the same magnitude of exciting event as Hazbaz’s research, his rise in political power, and the explosion of Kouis Fribbolt.

“It would make a lot of sense if Ruurin convinced Deelina to send me the bomb,” Mitsuko muttered to Sterling. “Eisen surely noticed what was happening with those rocks I Mended and knew it was me. The impact of the explosion would have pulped my heart. Though I’m uncertain if I would have been dead already.”

“You likely would have opened it on your table, so the rock would have been chest high. The odds of your death being a result of your heart being crushed were high,” Sterling replied.

“Hm.” Mitsuko nodded and refocused on the two wizards slurping up stew and chatting. They were discussing Deelina Zuinn’s trial and possible sentence. They thought it likely Hazbaz would have the power to change her punishment after he rose to governorship. Since her research and knowledge was an asset to Amber Island, she’d likely be detained and sealed away in some sort of underground prison, near the bottom of the floating island.

“I do sometimes wonder what your previous sponsor believes happened to you,” Sterling commented. “Ruurin is clearly attempting to locate you to cut open your heart. Do you think Hazbaz and Apricot believe you to have gone rogue and committed that assassination?”

“That would be a stretch of the imagination. They saw what I was capable of. I’m not an explosive kind of person.”

“I suppose.” Sterling’s tail flicked.

The two wizards she’d been listening to stood and stretched. Out of the corner of her eye, Mitsuko admired the form of the muscular one. His jawline perfectly suited his clean shaven and closely cropped hair. And those arms… but no, she could allow herself to get distracted by pretty boys.

The next pair to sit down at the same table were both less appealing to look at and less talkative. They were two older women who chatted about knitting enchantments and discussed techniques on how to crochet with monster quills.

After the ladies made it clear they had no intention of leaving the restaurant anytime soon, Mitsuko gulped down the rest of her wine and departed. She left a generous amount of doubloons on the table. Part of her worried that become desensitized to spending money in the timeloops, but that was a problem for later. She could relearn how to be frugal after she escaped from the Prismatic Spiral.

“This isn’t the direction of the library,” Sterling commented.

“That’s good, since it’s not where I’m planning to go.”

Mitsuko arrived on the edge of the overgrown center of Amber Island. She stepped up to an alleyway where the yellow foliage spilled into the abandoned street.

Normally, this alleyway would require something like a flame elementalist to penetrate the thick flora. Mitsuko simply walked forward and the vines, bushes, and plants leaped backwards whenever they got within a meter of her.

“You should close it behind you,” Sterling said. “Unless you wish to leave a trail straight to your location.”

Mitsuko did as he suggested, casting Deteriorate as she walked on. The plants in her wake regrew to their previous state, leaving no clear sign of her passage.

She stuck her head in a few of the buildings as she wandered through the overgrown neighborhood. The building interiors were less overgrown than the open streets, but still covered in a layer of yellow moss and flowers. There were pockets of livable spaces throughout the forest, a fact proven by her encountering a dog napping under a scribe’s desk.

He was old, with white whiskers and a tired attitude. He had big eyebrows and a bushy bit of hair on his chin, like a beard.

Sterling hissed at the dog but he simply raised his head and barked a hello at them.

“What are you doing in here?” Mitsuko asked the dog. She crouched down next to the desk he sheltered under and held out her hand to the pooch. He licked her fingers.

A quick investigation turned up a small painting of the dog and his owner, a wizard with equally bushy eyebrows. It seemed that the wizard had regularly brought his dog to work.

“Poor thing,” she said. “You must have gotten left behind while everyone was evacuating.”

“He’ll be fine,” Sterling said. “Look, you see those gnawed on roots over there? He’s getting plenty of food. And there’s a puddle he’s clearly been drinking from as well. Happy dog. You should continue on your way to your mysterious destination.”

“I’m going to the tower at the center where the governor died,” Mitsuko said. “I figure that there’s a good chance the sage is sealed in there.”

“There’s no point in finding the sage’s location if you haven’t first bested the island’s guardian. You won’t be able to see the sage until after the enemy is vanquished.”

“I know. But I want to explore it regardless. It will give me something to do.” She scratched the dog on his brow and the dog leaned into her touch. He closed his eyes and panted.

“You were doing something before as well,” Sterling pointed out. “You were gathering information through both texts and word of mouth. A far more effective use of your time. If you stay out here, you will miss the election results.”

“I don’t think they honestly matter that much,” Mitsuko said dismissively. “Once I slay the guardian, the island will no longer suffer the death of their governor at the start of every loop.”

“After her banishment, Eisen could force her acolyte to tread the same steps she took,” Sterling said.

“To what end? There’s not going to be much of a point to it. Eisen needs to cut my heart out. If I revisit the island later, Ruurin will have better odds of sneaking up on me if everything is different than all my experiences in past loops.”

“You’re coming at it from a far too rational point of view,” Sterling replied. “Wizards are not rational. These are not the mages that you’re familiar with from your journeys. Wizards are singular-minded to a fault. They will do anything to achieve their fixation.”

Mitsuko patted the dog on the head and stood up. “I hope that’s not the case. All this death and suffering is getting old. This dog shouldn’t be stuck in here. Regardless, I still want to investigate the tower. If you expect me to stick around in the city center for the election results, so too will Eisen. If I’m in here, I’m not where she expects me to be. Plus, this tower might be key in uncovering a few of the island’s secrets.”

The dog didn’t bark or even bother to stand as she departed. It simply laid its head back down on its crossed paws and went back to sleep.