Chapter 742 – Tonett (Patreon)

Tonett greeted Sol outside a large building by the centre of the city, accompanied by a couple of Yellow attendants. Percy guessed that it was some kind of mayoral office, though he couldn’t help but wonder why Sol didn’t have one if she was also a city leader. Or maybe she did, and she just preferred sending out her signals from within the privacy of her home.

In any case, the Green-born didn’t bother inviting Sol inside to have a seat. Either the very concept of hospitality went over the brutish woman’s head entirely, or the younger mage had done something to annoy her. Percy guessed that it was a little bit of both.

Tonett was taller and burlier than most male Melodians that Percy had seen, standing a full head above his host. She wore a similar uniform to Sol’s – only with even more badges and decorative pins, which Tonett had undoubtedly accumulated over centuries of service. Her shirt was a few sizes too small, the buttons looking like they were about to pop as the bottom edge of the overstretched fabric stopped above her navel, revealing a bulging set of abs.

The soul affinity typically wasn’t very compatible with physical combat – not unless fused to another element to gain substance – but the Green-born woman had obviously been strong enough to pummel Red and Orange beasts to death with her bare fists even before her promotion. Judging from the many scars marring her obsidian knuckles, she had slaughtered countless weaker creatures in her long life, and Percy wouldn’t be surprised if she had graduated to Yellow beasts after reaching Blue.

‘She has the Brawling trait, making her supernaturally gifted in all forms of hand-to-hand combat,’ Sol explained through their connection. ‘It’s not too useful when it comes to dangerous beasts, but you’d be surprised by how much mana it can save her when surrounded by a pack of smaller creatures.’

Percy nodded, recalling how seriously these people took their traits. Even those who ended up with useless abilities made it their life’s mission to take advantage of their gift.

‘Brawling might be a good match for me or Archibald,’ Micky speculated.

‘I think you’ll be better off with a proper weapon once we figure out how to make you one,’ Percy disagreed. ‘But you’re not wrong about Grandpa – this trait might synergize well with his clones. Unfortunately, he’ll only have one shot at getting it in the near future, since I’d rather wait a few years before asking Zoris to give anyone else the blessing.’

Oblivious to the soundless conversation taking place inside Sol’s head, Tonett regarded the younger woman sternly. The Blue’s furrowed eyebrows, coupled with her shaved scalp gave her a rather intimidating appearance.

“Sol. How many times do I need to tell you not to travel between cities on your own? You have envoys to send or guards to accompany you for that. I know you’re strong enough to handle the wildlife with ease on most days, but your life is too important to be taking unnecessary risks.”

“I’m not on my own, and this was urgent,” Percy’s host replied.

“Is your fiend buddy back?” the larger woman asked, putting two and two together.

‘Not this again!’ Percy grimaced inwards, struggling to keep himself from swearing.

“He’s here,” Sol confirmed. “I think that you should start by giving him the ring back and apologizing for taking it.”

A humourless smile formed on Tonett’s lips as she rubbed the grey ring on her clenched right hand with her left. Even now, she had her boosting art active, constantly circulating augmented mana through her core. At least she wasn’t wasting everyone’s time – Percy had to give her that.

“That won’t be possible,” she said. “You know how important the blessing is for us. We have dozens of children falling sick every day. My next trait might help us cleanse the lake a moment sooner.”

“It’s not like Percy was planning to grab the ring and abandon us!” Sol protested. “He’s brought elixirs for the rest of our Green-borns. An extra forty Blues will help us a lot more than a single Blue acquiring another spectral trait or two!”

“Of course,” Tonett admitted, before shaking her head. “Unfortunately, our Greens will need a couple of years to take advantage of the resources. Our cities will suffer irreparable damage by then. We’ll have to attempt the mission a lot sooner, even if my new trait proves useless.”

“You don’t have to worry about that,” Percy interjected. He’d been this close to exploding at the Blue, but the mention of sick children had caused him to deflate. “I have other ways to help you take the lake immediately.”

Tonett raised an eyebrow, probably realizing who had spoken. “Percy, was it? Let me start by thanking you for everything that you have done for our people. I understand that none of us would be alive today if not for you. I’m sorry that we took your ring without involving you in the decision, but you weren’t here, and I cannot return it at this moment.”

Percy didn’t appreciate the woman’s response one bit. Forcing himself to remain calm, he tried to exhaust every civilized option before doing anything that he might regret. “Why not?”

“Because I’ll die if I do. If what you said about the lake and the elixirs is true, I’ll be happy to return the artifact as soon as I’m done with it, even though most of our Green-borns haven’t had a chance to use it yet. The problem is that I’ve already absorbed my second trait, so I need to finish internalizing the blessing.”

Percy was tempted to tell her that this wasn’t his problem. He could empathize with her eagerness to acquire a new trait, but she should have waited for the blessing to become permanent before absorbing a fiend, just like Percy himself had done. Fortunately for the foolish woman, he wasn’t cruel enough to demand her death.

“How much longer?” he asked.

“A few months.”

Percy frowned. The timeframe was acceptable, since he was planning to stay on Melodia longer than that. The issue was that he didn’t trust the Green-born not to hide the ring or try to cheat him in some other way.

“Well… Tonett… I hope you enjoy Sol’s company, because you aren’t leaving my sight while that ring is on your finger. I’ll also need your Green-borns to sign a spectral contract before they get their hands on my elixirs. I was originally planning to give you the resources for free, but it looks like gratitude and mutual respect won’t be enough for a smooth collaboration.”

The Blue’s features contorted in anger. “A little rude, don’t you think?! The ring was discovered by our expedition, on our planet. I won’t deny that you were an extremely important member of that expedition, but letting you keep the ring after we’re done with it is gratitude enough. And let’s not pretend that you’re getting nothing else out of this.”

Percy snorted. “First of all, the ring doesn’t belong to anybody. There’s a god inside it – over a thousand times older than both of us combined. Zoris only ever offered to stick by my side until I figure out a way to give him a new body – he doesn’t want to be passed along from one greedy finger to another. Secondly, you’re right that I’m also benefitting from your people, but my terms are more than reasonable. If you don’t think so, just put it to a vote. I bet that most of your Green-borns will jump at the opportunities that I’m offering you.”

“Most of our Green-borns aren’t Blues, nor city lords,” Tonett insisted, a vein throbbing on her forehead. “This isn’t their call.”

Percy couldn’t help but scoff at the woman’s shamelessness. She actually had the gall to use the higher grade and status that she had only obtained because of his elixirs to win the argument.

“No, but Sol and Doh are, so you’re outnumbered by your peers as well,” he corrected her, not willing to back down. “Now, do you want to keep butting horns with me to preserve your dumb pride, or do you actually give a shit that your people don’t have clean drinking water?”

The stubborn woman clenched her fists until they released faint popping sounds. She tried to pressure Sol and him with her domain, but Percy had seen the go-to move of every arrogant Blue in the universe coming from a kilometre away, blocking Tonett’s willpower with a wave of his own.

With the dispute on the verge of devolving to violence, Percy would have expected the Green-born’s attendants to take their leader’s side. Instead, the poor Yellows awkwardly took a few steps back, clearly unwilling to get involved in a disagreement between city lords.

Tonett spent a couple of minutes glaring at Percy, trying to get him to water down some of his harshest terms, before eventually realizing that it wasn’t going to happen.

“Fine. Have it your way.” Clicking her tongue, the Blue shot her cowardly subordinates an admonishing glance. “Pitch. Timbre. Send word to Doh’s city, telling him that Sol’s fiend is going to help us clear the lake out. Ask him to have his strongest mages rest well within the next couple of days, and prepare as much manpower as he can spare by the third.”

Turning back to Sol, she gave her and Percy a complicated look. “I hope that you can deliver on your promise, and that offering to help with the lake wasn’t just a cheap bargaining tactic. If we fail to eliminate the creatures hiding in the water and our mages end up flanked from both sides of the barrier, we’ll have much bigger problems to worry about than polluted water.”