Chương 150: Book 3 Chapter 28 - Asking For Help

Kiara leaned back against the nearest wall of her cell with a groan. The sharp pulsing in her temples was excruciating, so she closed her eyes to block out the dim light filtering in through the bars of the cell. She had ignored everyone's warnings about how dangerous Elsa Undril was, convincing herself that she would be fine. She hadn't realized that a full-powered aura could debilitate her so completely.

Even if she had, she thought she would be able to use her [Talisman of Temporal Deceleration] to lock Elsa in a bubble for an hour, giving her time to get away. Now, sitting in her cell with no clear way out, Kiara began feeling sick to her stomach. She was worried about what would happen to the people at her estate while she was here. What if Elsa attacked again before they had time to evacuate? Kiara was equally worried about her own situation. Why hadn't Elsa killed her outright?

What was she looking for in Kiara's memories, and what would she resort to, now that she couldn't break her way into Kiara's mind? Would Victor be willing to help? Kiara doubted it, he had specifically told her that he wanted to avoid any direct confrontation with Elsa herself. Even if he was willing, could he help? Was he strong enough to go against the full might of the Silver Serpent Clan here in Portish? He had implied that he would lose such a fight. Kiara was screwed, and she knew it.

She tugged at the cuffs on her wrist, but with her reduced stats, the metal was far too strong to break through. Even with her full Strength aiding her, she doubted she could break them with how durable they felt and looked. Even if she got out of the cuffs, the bars and walls on her cell were sturdy, and she likely wouldn't be able to get out of her cell. If she did, by some miracle, Elsa was far too strong for Kiara to get past, and she would either end up dead, or right back in this cell again.

Her situation settled on her mind, and combined with the pain from Elsa's mental attacks, Kiara slouched against the wall and began to cry softly. All of her plans had failed, her situation was bleak, and she didn't have much hope that Victor would be willing or able to help in any way. The crying made her head hurt worse, but that in turn just made her cry even harder. * Victor was busy working on an artifact that would allow for short-range teleportation.

Shian had put the idea in his head, and he'd spent many weeks thinking about it since then. Enchanting an artifact with an ability required the artificer to have said ability, which meant Victor was one of only a handful of people capable of producing such an artifact. There were only a dozen or so tier 6 mages in the whole of The Central Kingdom. Possibly a few more, but certainly less than twenty.

Victor knew most of them from his earlier days living in The Capital, and not many of them were interested in artificing. With how intuitive it felt now at tier 6, he was sure that many of them could make simple artifacts without much effort, but not something this complex. The mages in Singrasa could maybe turn something like this out, most groundbreaking artifacts were coming out of there these days.

Taishalov, one of Singrasa's neighboring kingdoms, routinely pushed their borders further south every year into Singrasa's territory, with little to no pushback from Singrasa. It was mostly empty wilderness anyways, and the powers that be in Singrasa preferred to stay in their towers in the Singrasa capital, doing their research. Victor couldn't blame them, since he himself preferred research over politics, but he did find it a bit strange just how apathetic they were to what was happening in the rest of the world.

In recent decades, communications in and out of Singrasa had dwindled to a mere trickle, with the occasional new artifact showing up in the auctions of the kingdom capitals around the world. They were the ones responsible for the enchantments that powered flying disks seen around The Capital from time to time. Others had studied and replicated the runes after the disks first showed up, but never quite to the same degree of perfection or performance.

The original flying disks that had come out of Singrasa had long-life batteries as well, having been infused with an insane amount of mana, something that could only be accomplished by a team of artificers working in concert. The disks were mostly a novelty item, a good way to waste an inexcusable amount of money. The requirements for creating one were extremely high, and they needed their infused mana recharged more often than people realized, until they were the ones paying for it.

Victor was certain they weren't used much anymore. Victor had never heard of a teleportation artifact, however. Only a tier 6 or higher could create such a thing, and only one that was well versed in runes and enchanting. Victor fit all of those requirements, but not many others would. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Even if he figured it out, he knew the mana cost would be vast, since his own domain teleportation ability ate up a large chunk of his mana reservoir. The item likely wouldn't be useful in a practical sort of way, a one-time or two-time use type of thing that only the wealthiest of families could buy. It certainly wouldn't be an idea that made anyone rich, but Victor wasn't in it for the money, he already had plenty of that. He was in it for the thrill of discovery. He just wanted to see if he could pull it off.

He was so focused on his work that he didn't notice Zoey Trellen approaching his shop. Only the little bell above his shop door alerted him to her presence as she walked in. As he looked up and saw who it was, he instinctively checked on her progress. He smiled when he saw that her mana channels were already larger than they had been when he'd spoken to her about her next steps a few months ago. She was making good progress.

Another six to eight months ought to be sufficient to get her ready for her tier 4 breakthrough. His smile faltered when he saw her face, and noticed what a rush she was in. He narrowed his eyebrows in concern.

"Zoey, is everything okay?" She shook her head, the raw alarm on her face causing his heart rake to spike.

"Shian is missing," she said in a rush.

"The Silver Serpent Clan attacked again, both the estate in Easton and the one in Portish. Shian went to see Elsa Undril, to try and work something out, but she never came back." Victor stroked his chin without realizing it as he processed that information. He harbored no doubts that Shian was fine, Elsa Undril wouldn't be able to touch someone as powerful as Shian. Some unanswered questions popped into his mind though. Why hadn't she returned? And why was Zoey here telling him about it?

"Hmm," he replied, trying to calm Zoey's frantic energy by remaining calm himself.

"How long ago did she go see Lady Undri?"

"Yesterday afternoon," Zoey said, a bit more calmly. It seemed that Victor's relaxed attitude was helping, if only a bit.

"She said if she wasn't back in a day, I should come find you and ask you for help." Victor scratched the back of his head.

"Why me?" Zoey looked at him like he was dumb.

"Um. Because you're tier 6. You're the only one strong enough to do anything about this. We filed reports with the city, but the red tape prevents us from speaking with the count directly, and we don't think he'd help even if he knew about the situation." Victor nodded.

"I think you're right, Count Dremond would have a hard time reigning in the clan here in Portish as long as Elsa is around. I do think you may be overestimating my own strength though, I'm not certain I'm strong enough myself to intervene with Lady Undril's agenda. She is… quite strong." Seeing the loss of hope in Zoey's eyes, he smiled reassuringly.

"Don't worry though, Miss Trellen. Lady Yountal is far stronger than she appears. I am sure that she will succeed where I might have failed. I have the utmost confidence in her." Zoey gave him a look of disbelief.

"You think Shian can fight Elsa Undril where you can't? Shian Yountal? The same one I work for?" Victor's confidence faltered momentarily. Did Zoey know something that he didn't? Then again, as a tier 3, Zoey's ability to properly gauge the true strength of high-tier mages was limited. They would all just look "really strong" to her senses. He placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"Yes, Shian Yountal. She is far stronger than she lets on. Trust me on this." Zoey clearly didn't trust him on this.

"Then why did she tell me to come ask for your help if she didn't make it back?" Victor paused. She had him there. Was this another one of Shian's tests? A way to see if he would hold true to his word about not getting involved with the Silver Serpent Clan's dealings? If so, why? What did she want from him? He mentally hummed and hawed for a moment. He was interrupted by Zoey's next comment.

"I understand if you don't want to get involved. Shian said you likely wouldn't, I just… well, it doesn't hurt to ask. She said if you refused to help, or were unable to help, that we were to evacuate everyone from both estates. Should I… inform Dustin that we should begin the evacuation?" The look of hope in her eyes was genuine. She was grasping at one final straw, hoping to persuade him. It was working. He looked at her very seriously.

"You will truly begin evacuating both estates if I can't help?" Zoey nodded. He believed her, and that was concerning. Victor didn't think Shian would uproot so many people from their daily lives just to mess with him or test him. Was she truly in a position where she needed his help? If so, he found himself surprisingly more willing to help than he had realized.

His previous hesitation had been out of a sense of self-preservation, back when he assumed Shian could handle things for herself, and his own involvement would be unnecessary and risky. If she truly needed him though, that was different.

"Where would you evacuate to?" he asked out of curiosity. Zoey hesitated before answering.

"Lakeshire." Victor gave her a confused look.

"So far north?" She nodded.

"I can't say why, but it's where Shain told us to go if things fell apart." That certainly piqued Victor's interest. She would uproot everyone from both cities and send them on a month-long journey north? For what purpose? He sighed, tapping his finger on his nose.

"Okay, accompany me back to the estate, let's speak with Dustin."

"Really?!" she gave him a look like he was offering her the world.

"I'm not promising anything just yet," he said. He needed to get Dustin's take on things first.