Chapter 85: Promises (Patreon)

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The princess froze in place, looking impassively back at Cayden.

"...that is not something I can offer," she finally said.

Cayden fought against his surge of anger, acutely aware of the two powerful bodyguards in the room looking on. "Why not? You're the princess, aren't you?"

"I think you are overestimating my power," Valeria responded. "I am the princess, yes. Not the queen, or duchess, or even a countess. My official power is limited. And the fateweaver compound has been around since before I was born. Its rules I cannot so flagrantly flaunt -- bend, by allowing you to meet with your sister, yes. But completely ignore by promising your sister's freedom? That is not something I can do."

Cayden frowned. As angry as her rejection made him, he couldn't allow it to control him. He needed to look at this with a cool head, to consider what options he still had available. Valeria might not be able to free his sister, but he had the princess of the kingdom in front of him asking what he wanted -- there had to be some way to leverage that for Tiana.

He wished Elise were here.

But she wasn't, so he pushed away that desire, along with any other distractions. This was an opportunity -- a huge one -- that he didn't want to mess up.

What did he really know about the princess? He couldn't remember where she was in the line, but he knew she wasn't first in line for the throne. But she obviously had some power in the kingdom to be so targeted by assassins -- Cayden had no idea what that might be, though.

He frowned, wishing he'd been less ambivalent when learning about the kingdom's politics. That felt like a dead-end, at least with what he currently knew; so what did he know about the princess from a personal level?

She was heavily invested in charisma, but she managed to leverage that to be a combat-focused adventurer. And based on her team's ranking, a powerful adventurer. She'd been fighting against the eldritch monster even after two of her teammates had dropped, which spoke to her personal power as well as her honor -- though she was likely the target of the monster attack, she hadn't chosen to use her boosted agility to flee, leaving her injured and slower teammates behind. She'd also rewarded Cayden after he'd saved her life in the Lost Forest, which once more spoke to her honor. And in her description of Cayden's new position, she'd been careful to construct the offer in such a way as to avoid a possible falsehood, which spoke to her honesty.

"If you promise, in good faith and to the best of your ability, to try to bring about my sister's freedom, I'll be your man."

The princess didn't immediately respond, which was encouraging for Cayden. Trading his service for nothing more than a promise of an attempt at future help was already flimsy enough; that she was giving it some thought before agreeing encouraged him that she would at least hold to her word.

"I cannot promise success," Valeria replied, and Cayden grimaced, but begrudgingly nodded. "And I will not work against the good of my father or the kingdom to do so." Once more, Cayden grimaced. If she wanted to, Valeria could very easily rationalize keeping Tiana in her gilded cage for 'the good of the kingdom'. But thankfully, Valeria wasn't finished. "But barring that, I can promise to, in good faith, do my utmost to ensure your sister's dismissal from the fateweaver compound and freedom from any obligation to the crown and kingdom."

It...wasn't perfect. It was far less than what he'd been hoping for after the princess had made her offer of employment. Yet it was much more than he'd had previously, and Cayden only hesitated long enough to parse through the princess' words a final time for any hidden traps or double meanings.

"I accept."

--

The princess and her bodyguards didn't stick around long after that. Valeria didn't have any immediate assignments for him, but she promised it would only be a matter of time. In the meantime, she bade him heal and continue his normal actions as a student of the academy. Much of his usefulness as her agent would come from secrecy, from the fact that assassins and others wouldn't know he was her agent, and for that, he needed to act like nothing was different.

So, once again, Cayden found himself alone in his room. He had been annoyed that the healers demanded he stay in bed, as outside of a general weakness -- and his missing arm -- he felt completely fine. But sometime during his talk with Valeria, his arm had started itching, and the sensation only grew stronger as the minutes passed.

He fought the temptation to dig under his bandages to scratch at it, but his conviction weakened as the itching grew worse. Was it a result of [Resilience] starting the regrowing of his arm, or was it from something the healers had given him? He really hoped it wasn't [Resilience] -- he wasn't sure how he'd endure the itching for however long it would take his arm to regrow. Between [Resilience] and his increased vitality, he healed from injuries much faster than was possible on Earth, but it was still far from the rate that potions or dedicated healing skills could produce. It would typically take a day or two for small cuts to disappear, and he couldn't imagine regrowing an arm would be any faster.

The itching wasn't to the point that he felt he needed to call for a healer's assistance. It was just enough to be annoying and keep him from falling back asleep. He wished his friends could have delayed their visits, as the distraction of conversation would've gone a long way to get his mind off of the incessant desire to scratch.

Unfortunately, though his friends had promised to visit again if he was still recovering the following day, they didn't plan on returning later that evening. And it wasn't like he could expect anyone else to visit. Ignar and his two other roommates were the only other people he was even remotely close to, and his relationship with Ignar was more of a business relationship revolving around training than it was friendship.

And as for his relationship with Velic and Marvenal...

They'd made it clear where they stood by not accompanying him in his dash to save the princess' team. He didn't begrudge them that choice, but it would be hard to see them as 'friends' in light of it.

No, there was no one else who'd be coming to visit him -- he'd be on his own against the itching for the rest of the day.

Of course, it was right as he thought this when another knock sounded at his door.

"Come in?"

And then all thoughts of his itching fled as Instructor Blyre stepped into the room.

She looked nothing like what he remembered in the dungeon. Her hair was pulled back into a tight, utilitarian bun and round glasses once more perched on her nose. She gave Cayden a small smile, and she gave off a vibe identical to that of a warm, trustworthy librarian.

Attempted mental manipulation from Guiding Hand.

And yet, for all that Cayden felt in his soul that he could relax around her, he had both his skill and his memories of her fight in the dungeon telling him the exact opposite.

This was not a woman to be taken lightly.

Instructor Blyre stepped into the room and closed the door behind her before turning to face Cayden. She must have noticed him tense under her attention, and she paused as her kindly smile slowly dropped from her face.

"Hm, a threat-sensing skill? Or is it a skill that detects outside influences on your mind?" The notification from [Mind is a Temple] disappeared, and while Instructor Blyre's appearance didn't change, she no longer exuded warmth and comfort, instead appearing to all of Cayden's senses as what she truly was: a wolf in sheep's clothing. Cayden tensed even further.

"Detects outside influences, then," Instructor Blyre nodded. "Try and keep that skill, if you can. It may not always seem like much, but it can be invaluable in the right circumstances." She gave Cayden a toothy smile, her wickedly-sharp canines on full display. "Trust me, I would know."

Cayden shifted uncomfortably in his bed and pulled the sheet that covered him a little further up his chest.

Instructor Blyre laughed. "Forgive me, I'm just having fun. It's not often I can reveal more of myself to first years. I typically find it best if students are relaxed around me, but I could see your mind almost being split in half from the mixed messages -- not literally, of course."

"...it's fine," Cayden responded as he felt himself relax marginally. While she was still threatening, he found her current appearance less off-putting than the conflicting vibes she'd been exuding earlier.

...which he immediately questioned, wondering if this was all another act to help him relax. He had no messages from [Mind is a Temple], but he remembered Elise's admonishment that no skills were infallible. And if there was anyone who could bypass his skill, it would be the woman who'd so easily handled an eldritch monster.

"Cayden Johannson," Instructor Blyre stated as she stalked to the chair next to his bed, either missing or ignoring his renewed tension. "I have to say, I was surprised to see your name come across my desk. It's not often we have an unknown adventurer sponsored for admission. And I was even more surprised to hear Instructor Barry's praise for one of his newest frontliners, all but demanding to be the team's advisor. He's reliable, but he can be known to exaggerate at times." She leaned forward over Cayden's bed, and Cayden had to crane his neck to maintain eye contact. "Which is why I was caught by surprise to find you keeping up with -- for a time -- a jubberop. Severely injured, yet still fighting."

Cayden felt obligated to shake his head. "I wasn't fighting at the end. I couldn't even move."

"Ah, but you were still attempting to fight. To me, for most purposes, that's the same thing."

Cayden sunk further into his bed. This close, he noticed the thin rings of red around the teacher's black iris' -- eyes that seemed to suck him in and pull him into her soul.

"Why are you here?" he asked. It felt rude, but he was desperate to move the conversation along.

Instructor Blyre sat back in her chair. And though the peaceful visage of a kindly librarian didn't reappear, the aura of a predator, one that saw all others as prey, was gone. Now, she was simply an instructor.

"To meet you. I have heard so much about you, and I felt it would benefit us both if we were to meet in person. And to apologize. As head administrator of this academy, I am responsible -- in part -- for the safety of my students. It's a responsibility I take very seriously, and yesterday, I failed in that responsibility. For that, I am deeply sorry." She paused. "Even worse, the danger was orchestrated by one of our own, an instructor who was tasked with your safety. We are taking steps now to prevent what happened from repeating itself, and I can promise you, the action will not go unpunished."

In that moment, for all that they had almost caused his death, Cayden felt pity for the one who had been watching over the boss room of the Gauntlet.

"I also want to assure you, personally, of future safety. I hope that the academy has not lost your trust entirely after our misstep."

"...I'm not planning on leaving the academy or anything like that, if that's what you're asking."

Instructor Blyre tilted her head to the side. "It was not, but I suppose that will have to suffice." She stood up from her chair with a sudden motion that had Cayden flinching. "Rest well and recover. After your performance against the Jubberop, Instructor Barry is eager for your return. And he is not alone."

With those slightly ominous words, the glowstone which illuminated the enclosed room flickered, bathing Cayden and the instructor in momentary darkness. And when the light returned, Instructor Blyre was gone.

The annoying itching only increased for the rest of the afternoon and evening, but Cayden found it much easier to ignore after Instructor Blyre's visit. Several healers checked up on him throughout the day, and Instructor Tilda came once more on the following morning, paying special attention to his itchy shoulder. After that final checkup, another healer removed the last of his bandages and dismissed him from the building with a clean bill of health.

Cayden walked silently across the mostly empty campus, ignoring the continuous itching coming from his still-missing arm. It was halfway through the first class of the day, but he felt no desire to rush to make the second half of frontline combat. And though he was still feeling somewhat lethargic, neither did he rush back to his dorm and the bed that waited for him there.

Instead, he made his way to a building that he'd yet to visit, one which sat almost in the exact center of campus.

It was time to upgrade his class.

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