My Best Friend is an Eldritch Horror - Chapter 266 [OOPS] (Patreon)

He accelerated into a jog as he descended the mountain and made for the portal courtyard. The sun had still yet to rise over the mountains, but faint orange hues painted across the sky as it was lit from below.

Damien ascended the mountain that he’d first arrived in and walked into the portal room, hoping that whoever ran the portals would still be present despite the early hour. To his delight, an old woman was sitting near the arch, reading a book with half-lidded eyes.

“Excuse me,” Damien said. “Could I use the portals? I need to get to Kingsfront.”

She glanced up from her book, a frown crossing her wrinkled face. “This early?”

“I’m afraid so. I hope that isn’t too much trouble, but I’m going on a mission from Professor Kat.”

Sorry, Professor. It isn’t technically that much of a lie. I did tell you I was doing it, at least.

The woman sighed, tucking a corner of the book in to mark her spot before snapping it shut and rising to her feet with a groan. She hobbled up to the old portal that Damien had arrived through and set her hand on it.

Ether gathered around her palm and poured into the stone, lighting the runes along it with a low hum.

“You said Kingsfront, boy?”

“Yeah,” Damien said. “Thank you.”

She harrumphed. A brown portal yawned open in the archway. Motes of Ether lifted off it, dissipating as they flew into the air. Damien grinned and gave her a wave before striding through the portal. His skin prickled and the world warped, shifting and pulsing with earthly colors. Then he was gone.

Damien had gone through quite a few portals in his life, and while he was getting somewhat experienced in dealing with them, it wasn’t the same as getting used to it. Ether buzzed in his ears like a hive of angry bees as the spell crossed leagues in an instant, spitting him out onto a gold tiled courtyard.

He staggered and the world spun around him for a few moments. Damien gritted his teeth, grateful he hadn’t had anything for breakfast. There was a nonzero chance it would have found its way back out into the world.

Gritting his teeth, Damien shook his head and gathered his bearings. It hadn’t been that long since he’d seen the extravagant, gold and purple colors of Kingsfront. Somehow, he was more excited to be here this time than he had been during the tournament.

The sun peeked through the clouds on the horizon. Kingsfront was set in a flat plain, so the sunlight washed over it despite the early hours. Students were already walking around the streets, and Damien wasn’t even the only one in the portal courtyard.

Several other portals buzzed around him, and a steady stream of students and teachers went in and out of them every few seconds. Damien shook himself off and walked off the platform.

Where do you think Sylph is?

“Probably training,” Henry replied. “She’s good at doing that. Doesn’t need to be reminded.”

Why does it feel like you’re about to throw an ‘other than you’ in there? I’m just as hardworking as she is! I even work through the night in my mindscape. This is slander.

“Boo hoo,” Henry said. “She beat your ass when you fought at the tournament. That means she tries harder.”

I beat her when we sparred in the forest.

“If a chump wins a fight in a forest, does anybody believe him?” Henry asked philosophically. “Get good enough to beat her in public.”

And you’ll stop making fun of me if I do? That seems like a good deal.

Henry burst into laughter. Damien sighed. He didn’t need an answer for that one to know Henry had absolutely no plans of stopping no matter what he did.

One day, I’m going to find something to hold over you. And, when I do, I’m never going to let it go.

“Good luck with that,” Henry snickered. “I’m looking forward to it.”

Damien shook his head. He’d been standing still in the middle of the road for a few seconds, and he was starting to get strange looks from passersby. He set off in a random direction, walking toward the largest buildings he could spot.

Right, let’s see. Kingsfront is fancy, so they’ve probably got housing that isn’t completely ridiculous.

“I find that doubtful,” Henry said. “Maybe just ask somebody and save us the time?”

Yeah, that might be for the best.

Damien veered, making for a short boy wearing glasses that was walking in the other direction. Like everyone else in Kingsfront, he wore clothes made with fine silk and covered in beautiful designs. They probably depicted something about the kid’s noble lineage or the like, but Damien didn’t know and couldn’t be bothered to find out.

“Hey, do you know where the dorms are?” Damien asked. “I’m trying to find someone.”

“They’re over there,” the boy said, pointing over Damien’s shoulder to a pair of tall, square buildings on either side of a lush garden. “Boy’s dorms are on the left.”

“What about the girl’s dorms? They’re on the right, I guess?”

“They are, but visiting hours aren’t until sunrise.” He pushed his glasses back slightly. “You aren’t allowed in there until visiting hours. Also, you aren’t wearing Kingsfront colors. Are you not from here?”

“Just visiting,” Damien replied, setting off toward the dorms on the right. The boy gaped at him, but he didn’t bother saying anything else. He’d managed to narrow down where Sylph might be, but there was still an entire building to check.

Oh, I know! I bet I could find her with the sense thing we were learning. She’s got a bunch of Corruption in her, so it shouldn’t be too hard.

“If only you’d thought of that a few minutes ago,” Henry laughed. “You might have spared yourself the effort of bothering some random kid. He’s still staring at you, by the way.”

I don’t care. I guess they’re kind of strict about the visiting hours here, but that’s hardly ever stopped us from doing anything before. It sure would be nice to have Sylph’s invisibility spell, though.

“Camouflage,” Henry corrected. “And you could learn a real invisibility spell with Light magic if you bothered studying it.”

I’ve got better things to do with Dark and Space magic. No point spreading myself too thin. Now stop talking and let me concentrate. This is a little difficult.

Henry scoffed, but fell silent while Damien sat down on a bench near the front of the garden. He closed his eyes, drawing in a deep breath and letting it out slowly. Tendrils of mental energy stretched out and trailed through the air, seeking the familiar feel of the Corruption.

Several seconds passed. His senses spread out further, passing through the square building before him and slowly rising up through it. A grin stretched across his face and he stood.

Got her. She’s near the top.

“Good job,” Henry said, and he didn’t even sound too sarcastic. “Now you need to get in.”

That’s not that difficult. After all, I already know what room she’s in.

Damien walked into the garden, ducking behind a wall of shrubbery so nobody walking by would spot him. Then he looked up at his target – a window on the top floor of the dormitory, and Warp Stepped.

He grabbed the windowsill as soon as he popped into existence, then used his other hand to try the window. It was shut.

Damn it. Henry, do the honors?

Henry let out a loud mental sigh, but he extended a thin tendril of darkness from Damien’s hand. It slipped under the windowsill, worming straight between the runes, then wrapped around the latch.

There was a click and the window popped open. Damien pulled himself through it, dropping inside the room behind the curtain. He landed lightly and straightened back up behind the curtain, brushing himself off with a pleased grin as glanced outside – nobody was looking in their direction, so he closed the window.

See? Perfectly executed. Maybe I’m the one with the assassin training.

Henry just howled with laughter. Damien rolled his eyes and pushed the curtain out of the way. Like his senses had told him, Sylph sat the huge, extravagant bed on the other side of the room.

What his senses hadn’t told him was that she wasn’t alone. Yui sat beside Sylph, and blonde boy was in a chair in front of them a book in his hand.

“Ah, Planes,” Damien said. “Oops.”

Henry laughed even harder, and Damien pushed him into the back of his mind.

“Damien!” Sylph exclaimed, launching herself off the bed. He caught her in a tight hug, laughing.

“They really do just do this, don’t they?” the blonde boy asked Yui.

“First I’ve heard of it, but evidently,” Yui said wearily. “Hello, Damien. I wasn’t expecting to see you break into my room today.”

Sylph pulled away from him. “What are you doing here? Is everything okay? Don’t tell me…”

“It’s fine,” Damien said wearily. “Do I really only show up when things are going poorly?”

“Of course not. That’s just usually how things end up being,” Sylph said. She turned back to the others. “Carson, this is Damien.”

“I gathered,” the blond boy said with a sigh. “You two were made for each other. Do you both just break into people’s rooms at random hours? At least this time it isn’t the middle of the night.”

“Ah. I thought this was Sylph’s room,” Damien said, rubbing the back of his head. “Whoops. Wait, did Sylph break into your room?”

“Yes,” he said, watching Damien’s expression carefully, as if he was waiting for something.

“Did you get what you were looking for?” Damien asked.

“Yep.”

“Ah. Nice,” Damien said. “And, to answer your earlier question, I got bored at Mountain Hall. Nobody was worth sparring against anymore, so I came to visit you here.”

The blonde boy gaped at them, then looked at Yui. “She was right. He didn’t care at all.”

“If you spend any amount of time around them, you’ll get used to it,” Yui said, rolling her eyes. She cocked her head to the side, as if registering Damien’s words for the first time. “Wait, you got bored? At Mountain Hall? Why not just fight some of the people in the higher years?”

“I already did that. Promptly after I fought a bunch of their students at once,” Damien replied. “Got bored with it. I guess I could have looked for some of the other Advanced Classes to practice against, but I figured that if I was done with one of them, the rest were probably about the same.”

“Hold on,” the blonde boy said. He set his book down and squinted at Damien suspiciously. “What year are you?”

“Two.”

“And you got bored fighting Year Three and Fours?”

“Also yes. Sylph, who is this?”

“His name is Carson. He’s thing I was looking for,” Sylph replied. She nodded at Yui. “Yui wanted me to find her a boyfriend.”

“Ah. That makes sense.” Damien nodded.

I did save Nolan from that particular fate, so I suppose she needed a replacement. Also, she’s calling the princess by her first name. That’s new.

“Sylph!” Yui exclaimed. “You can’t just… say that to people! It sounds terrible! Not to mention it’s also meant to be a secret.”

“I’m not keeping secrets from Damien,” Sylph said. “And if you think it sounds bad, maybe you should have done it yourself. Who asks somebody else to find them a boyfriend?”

“She does have a bit of a point,” Carson said with a snicker. “Sorry, Princess.”

“I told you to call me Yui,” Yui said, rubbing her forehead. “Damien, please try to keep this on the downlow. It would cause me some trouble if my mother found out what I was doing.”

“Sure. That’s no problem,” Damien said with a one-shouldered shrug. He was still struggling to keep his eyes off Sylph. She looked… different. He couldn’t quite place what it was, but she’d definitely gotten stronger since they’d last met.

Sylph had always been lithe, but her muscles looked more defined now. Considering the amount of time she’d spent training in her life, Damien doubted the new growth was just due to practicing more.

“They’re just going to stare at each other like that for a while, aren’t they?” Carson asked.

“Sorry, sorry,” Damien said, waving his hand. “I haven’t seen Sylph in months, okay? I think this is allowed. You look like you’ve gotten a lot stronger, Sylph. Have you gotten a breakthrough while training or something?”

Sylph scrunched her nose and shot a pointed glance at Yui. “I was making progress, but I did waste several days researching nobles for a certain princess.”

“You’re not going to let me live this down, are you?” Yui asked wearily.

“Not a chance,” Sylph replied. “I have to get at least something out of it, even if it’s just amusement.”

“Excuse me?” Carson asked, looking at all of them like they’d just eaten a frog. “Are we really going to gloss past the fact that Damien said he wasn’t having any trouble defeating Year Four students? He’s a Year Two!”

“Yeah, but he’s Damien,” Yui said, squinting at Carson as if that was supposed to answer the question without leaving any room for doubt. “You realize he and Sylph won the Intermurals, right?”

“They won among the Year Twos! There’s no way that translates to beating Year Three and Fours,” Carson protested.

“Damien and Sylph aren’t normal,” Yui said. “The less you worry about it, the better. You’ll just have to get used to it.”

Damien raised a hand. Yui glared at him. “Don’t treat me like a teacher. I’m just a student.”

He laughed and lowered it. “Sorry. I just wanted to check – so Sylph actually found you a boyfriend?”

Yui sighed. “Yes, I guess. We’re just trying things out right now, but I wasn’t with many options and she helped me out. It was a bit of a debacle, but it turned out that Carson and I relate about enough things that we might be a decent match.”