Adept of Chaos Ch. 22 (Patreon)

Sorry about the late chapter, I somehow lost track of which day of the week it was, and thought it was Tuesday for some reason. Here you are! Incidentally, I'm up to ~142,500 words, and on Chapter 70 of the book. I think I'll finish the rough draft next week. Maybe.

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Chapter 22

“What has you all wound up?” Ilyra finally asked, looking at Evelyn in confusion.

“Hm?” Evelyn asked, looking up from the gear they were examining.

“You’ve been acting weird ever since we left the exam room.” Ilyra said, flushing slightly. “Did something happen?”

“Ah, of course. You’re good at reading people, and I’m not the best actress in the world.” Evelyn said, grimacing slightly. “I suspect that all of you noticed, for that matter.”

“When you go stiff as a board, it is rather obvious.” Moon agreed, and Star nodded, holding up a set of gauntlets with a dubious look on her face.

“I’m mostly surprised that he didn’t notice. Too busy gushing about you to notice.” Moon said, hefting the gauntlets as she frowned. “These feel… heavy.”

“Not as good of materials as what I equip you with.” Evelyn said, letting out a heavy sigh as she glanced at Vaneryth, a note of resignation entering her voice. “You too, I assume?”

“I expected that if you wanted to share, you would. And if you didn’t want to share, there’s nothing we could do to drag it out of you.” Vaneryth said, weighing the competition sword with a frown of her own.

The shop they were at catered to people who competed in the arenas, and Ilyra was honestly stunned at the sheer variety of gear on hand. Unlike most clothing stores, they couldn’t simply manufacture appropriate equipment on-site. Not without significantly better fabricators than what most shops like this could afford, at least according to Evelyn. That meant they had a wide variety of plain armors of different types, as well as weapons. All of the armor was designed with protection foremost in mind, along with sensors that would be synchronized to the arena.

Ilyra was a little surprised at how everything worked, honestly. Apparently, local custom was to take competition weapons, which was designed to not hit so hard that it’d punch through competition armor, and synchronize it to the specifications of a competitor’s equipment. When someone was shot with a pistol, the arena systems would evaluate how badly the weapon would have injured the defender, based on the armor they’d synchronized with. That would determine the match, in the end. It was more complicated for mages, but in the end it came down to similar rules. Of course, that meant that finding a suit that met the arena’s requirements while allowing the same mobility you were used to was rather important. Evelyn had already rejected several of Ilyra’s choices, muttering something about them not giving her the flexibility she’d need.

Evelyn didn’t say anything for a minute, examining a row of collapsible batons critically, then picked one up, hefting it twice, then nodded, handing it to Ilyra. As Ilyra tested its balance, the elf spoke again, but not regarding the baton.

“I made the mistake of looking up the fan club that he mentioned. Let’s just say that I dearly hope Fya doesn’t find out about it… but with her luck, she’ll almost certainly manage it.” Evelyn said, grimacing slightly. “There was artwork and other material on the front page that was just cringe-worthy, in my opinion.”

Ilyra opened her mouth, then shut it, blinking as concern warred with curiosity… then she gave in to temptation and activated her implants, searching for the fan site in question. As she did so, Star spoke.

“You do realize that we’re going to have to search for it now, right? Curiosity and all of that.” Star said, sounding amused. Then Moon’s eyes went wide.

“What… is that?” Moon asked, sounding stunned as she asked. “Is that supposed to be you?”

Ilyra opened her mouth, but at that moment she found the page, and a semi-translucent image of it popped up in her vision, and Ilyra froze, as front and center was an elven woman. She vaguely looked like Evelyn, but her eyes were a brighter red, her hair was more exaggerated as it fluttered in an invisible wind, barely not covering one of her eyes, she had eyebrows that… Ilyra didn’t understand why an eyebrow would somehow extend almost ten centimeters beyond the skull, let alone be that pointy. But the woman was also busty, and the majority of her suit was… tight. Very tight.

“I don’t understand. That does not appear to be armor.” Vaneryth said, frowning deeply. “It is… thin. Flimsy.”

“It looks like it’s painted on!” Ilyra protested, and saw Evelyn visibly wince.

“And that pose… that can’t be comfortable.” Star murmured.

“You’re telling me.” Evelyn said dryly. “I daresay that her eyebrows are probably some sort of prosthetic. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re some silly form of weapon… maybe you could put someone’s eye out with one.”

That actually made Ilyra giggle, and she quickly scrolled through the page, then paused, internally incredulous at the information she found there. There were articles ranging from what sort of weapons Evelyn had sold on Rakal to an analysis of her attack on the Daggerhound, to discussions of her performance in the arena… and then someone mentioned in a chat that Evelyn was on the planet.

“Um, someone just said that you were on-world…” Ilyra said, a touch nervously. “I’m not sure what you want to do about it.”

“There’s nothing I can do, unless I want to be declared a terrorist. For some reason I think that the local government wouldn’t take it kindly if I vaporized a pile of civilians.” Evelyn replied dryly. “It was just a matter of time, anyway. All the more reason to get your gear, so we can take it to the arena and get it properly tuned and registered.”

“What about you?” Star asked, frowning at the elf. “You need gear if you’re planning to compete, don’t you?”

“Ah, but I have gear.” Evelyn said, grinning back at Star as the subject changed. “I got it a while back, and I intend to take it to get rated for the arena later. I’ve participated in both this style of arena as well as the more lethal ones on other worlds.”

Ilyra laughed, smiling as she drew the attention of the others and blushed slightly. “Sorry, I just… I don’t know why that surprised me as much as it did. You’ve mentioned that you’ve been in arenas, so I don’t see why you wouldn’t have gear for it.”

“Well, I could’ve lost it in my abdication, that’s certainly true.” Evelyn conceded, inclining her head. “Fortunately for me, Fya grabbed it before leaving, along with most of my other things. It was useful when I was recovering after the resurrection.”

Perking up, Ilyra thought that she sensed another story and opened her mouth, only to be interrupted by an employee poking her head around the corner. The woman was, unsurprisingly, an orc, but more petite than Ilyra had expected an orcish woman to be.

“Hello, ladies. I don’t suppose that there’s anything I can help you find?” the woman asked hopefully.

“Yes, as it happens. We’re looking for four suits of armor, one with the same flexibility as a mark three Arturian Seta, and three that match the mark seven of Braden Armory’s Armored Avenger series.” Evelyn said, not even blinking as the woman paused, seeming to be a bit taken aback.

“Ah… I think we have some armor that would fit your requirements, but it’s not out here, it’s kept in the back due to the price tag. Would you like me to get the manager to help you?” the woman asked, a little more hesitantly.

“Please do.” Evelyn replied pleasantly, and the woman nodded, turning and vanishing without a word.

“Why was she so flustered?” Vaneryth asked after a moment. “You were just asking about their products, no?”

“Yes, but the models I requested are rare and expensive.” Evelyn explained, shrugging. “Getting competition gear which matches its abilities isn’t easy, and it’s probably going to cost five thousand mythrite or so per set.”

Ilyra froze in shock, and Star audibly choked. After a moment the redhead asked, her voice strangled. “Five thousand for a competition set? How much is the armor itself worth?”

“If you want to know that, you’re going to have to look it up yourself. I just mentioned the models, though I’m afraid the numbers will be off. The suits I assigned to each of you are enchanted as well.” Evelyn said, moving toward the front of the store. “In the meantime, I need to find gear for each of you. You’d better not die in the arenas. It’d be terribly embarrassing.”

“Believe me, I want to avoid that.” Ilyra said, her eyes wide.

It always stunned her just how much Evelyn was willing to spend on them.