Chương 78: New Ringleader

Ryland hadn't realized the day he had chosen to go out and about in Arcoryx City would be a holiday. Well, he had. Since he had no real tasks as a graduate student sub-Academ, he could take the day off, so to speak, and take care of any outstanding business. What he hadn't expected was for it to be an actual holiday for the whole city. In fact, as he went out, he learned it was a national day of celebration for the entirety of Androvia.

"It's Accords Day!" said one shopkeeper selling the tiny, coloured flags that everyone seemed to be waving around.

"We're celebrating the signing of the Accords!" Oh. Accords Day. Ryland had long since lost track of dates, so he hadn't realized today was the day that the nations of Vyrd had signed onto the Accords along with all the other Realms. Not that he had paid attention to whether it was a big holiday in other places or not. But at least now he knew why everyone was out and about just like him. Hmm. Was the occasion of a nation-wide holiday going to impede his investigations today?

Ryland took a moment to consider but couldn't find any reasons. He supposed he'd see when it was time. Strangely, Ryland's destination was in a celebratory mood as well. The undercity of Arcoryx City was as extravagant as the rest of the city, but that hadn't indicated that they would be holding their own little festivals and whatnot. Though, Ryland wasn't surprised. The undercity had been involved with the Realmbreaker Wars just like the rest of Arcoryx.

It was just odd seeing people carousing through the normally shady streets, being no less boisterous than they would have been in the rest of the city.

"You're not welcome," said the seedy innkeeper of the seediest inn Ryland knew. Ryland shook his head in bemusement.

"What about me makes me unwelcome? I have been nothing but affable." The innkeeper stopped wiping his mug with the dirtiest rag he had scrounged up from somewhere.

"Take a long, hard look at yourself and then take a long, hard look around you." Ryland did so. He had pulled on a worn cloak, but apparently, that didn't quite hide his cleaned and pressed academy robes and he was the least scruffy person in the entire room. Something that had garnered nearly everyone's attention, for it wasn't just the innkeeper giving Ryland a look. Almost everyone was staring at him. Hmm. Maybe he shouldn't have rifted right into the middle of the room.

"I just want some questions answered and then I'll be on my way," Ryland said pleasantly. It was the innkeeper's turn to take a long, hard look at him.

"You aren't going to leave peacefully till you've got your answers, are you?"

"I would prefer not to leave unanswered, yes." The innkeeper sighed mightily and put everything down. Then he shot a glare over Ryland's shoulder.

"What in the blasted Realms are you lot thinking? Go back to your drinks. It's Accords Day. Everything's on the house, isn't it? Why you all looking for trouble?" Ryland turned around only to be duly impressed. Several of the patrons had risen to their feet, looking like they were ready to confront Ryland. A few had some Glyphs and spell circles at the ready. For a shady, seedy inn, the innkeeper clearly enjoyed a rather loyal clientele. Something to be proud of.

"But Jarson!" one of the patrons said. He was holding up a bottle like it was his preferred weapon for brawls in an inn.

"This magicker—""No buts, Yorg. You blind? This magicker just popped into the middle of this room through a Calamity-cursed portal—""Rift," Ryland politely corrected.

"Rift!" The innkeeper stared at Ryland as though he had gone mad. Then he turned back to poor Yorg.

"He pops out of a rift from nowhere and you think you can do what, intimidate the fella? Stop drinking if your brain is turning into booze, you worthless imbecile!" He might have been yelling at just one person, but in reality, everyone got the message. They all quickly fell back to their tables, nursing their drinks while shooting Ryland furtive looks.

"What can I help you with, High Academ?" the innkeeper asked.

"Please," Ryland said.

"I'm not even a proper Academ yet, much less a High Academ. But yes, I'm looking for information about debts. I want information on all the collectors, on all the gambling dens and loan sharks and everything in between. I suspect that even if you don't have all the information, you can at least guide me to where I should go." The innkeeper looked like he was performing a few hasty mental calculations only to arrive at the glaring problem that Ryland could rift everywhere and nowhere.

And because this was the undercity, Ryland didn't even need to be all that careful about using [Translocate]. The administration wouldn't want to have to investigate every time some unknowable and potentially problematic magic went off in the less savoury areas of Arcoryx.

"Since you're from the academy," the innkeeper finally said.

"I'm going to assume it was someone else from the academy you're investigating. If that's the case, you should look into these areas." The shrewd man scribbled down some information on what looked like an old receipt, in handwriting that Ryland figured he might need an interpreter to figure out.

"Thank you," Ryland said.

"I will be sure to corroborate this information and get back to you if I have issues." The innkeeper looked like Ryland had said he'd hang a mountain over his head.

"Of course, not-High-Academ." With a nod, Ryland took his leave. That had gone more smoothly than he had expected. But then, that had been the point of rifting into the middle of things in the first place. The only point where luck had been a factor was that the innkeeper had turned out to be a clever enough fellow. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Ryland wasn't fully paying attention where he was going because he was a little too absorbed trying to decipher the list. He had identified a couple of names, and it wouldn't be difficult to check any of them out, but one name kept coming up over and over again, tied to the others that he was supposed to look into. He was so distracted, he only peripherally noted someone coming straight for him. Until the voice belonging to the accoster turned out to be surprisingly familiar.

"Ryland! What a surprising pleasure!" Ryland blinked up at Kendren.

"Isn't it supposed to be a pleasant surprise?" Kendren laughed.

"I should have taken another [Snapshot] of your face. You were so confused." Ryland shook his head with a smile.

"To what do I owe this pleasant surprise?" Kendren grinned.

"Oh, woe is me, Ryland. I am a slave to my own creations."

"Oh no."

"That was perhaps the most apathetic oh no I've ever heard, but since it's you, I shall magnanimously let it pass."

"Hmm, I was trying to project mild curiosity rather than apathy."

"How generous of you! But now that I think about it, it's as much your fault as it is mine." Ryland blinked in slight confusion.

"My fault, you say? I don't even know what the fault is for."

"Well, you see, reporting about you and your activities has given me nearly a thousand percent increase in readership. You'd think this is a good thing, and it is, but it also means I have to actually work hard to retain that readership. And reporting about your madness in the academy tends to get stale after a while." Ryland processed that information with a few blinks.

"So you've decided to report to your tabloid audience about the workings of the undercity? Your articles must be riveting."

"I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not, and you know what, I think I prefer it that way. But yes. There's a lot of good scoops in the undercity. Illegal Glyphboxing rings, black markets selling the most exotic pieces of Manabeasts you could ever imagine, and even magical co—""Yes, I think I get it." Ryland deliberated for a moment.

"Would you like to accompany me, Kendren?"

"Wonder of wonders, I was going to ask you the exact same thing."

"You wanted to ask me if I wanted to accompany you?"

"I…" Kendren blinked, then laughed.

"Alright, yes. I would have asked you to accompany me to, uh, a gambling den. But I suspect your idea is far grander."

"Well, I'm not so certain about that, but I was going to visit several places, actually. Although, my main target—" Ryland's revelation was interrupted by several footsteps dashing towards his and Kendren's location. He turned his head just to see half a dozen men and women who had some of the most overtly hostile expressions Ryland had ever beheld. Ah. They were about to face the mob.

"There he is," the widest one in front said.

"The odd one from the academy." Ryland turned to Kendren.

"What did you do to these people, Kendren?" Kendren choked on air in surprise." Me?" Unfortunately, they were all actually staring at Ryland.

"We're here for you, you crackpot!" shouted the wide one. Ryland faced them.

"Really? Me? But I haven't the faintest clue who you're supposed to be."

"You don't need to know us. All you need to know is that you've been poking around in the wrong neighbourhood and now you're about to answer for your mistake!" Kendren tutted.

"I see how it is."

"Is this encounter about to turn into an article for your tabloid, Kendren?" Ryland asked.

"Oh, what a dreadful accusation. I would never stoop to such a low level as to turn this life-or-death moment of traumatic importance into a mere article." Kendren paused.

"You don't mind me taking a few [Snapshots] though, do you?" Ryland laughed. Beyond them, their impromptu guests were growing rather apoplectic.

"How dare you ignore us!" said the widest one yet again. He grunted, his arms rippling with naked Inscriptions tattooed right on his skin.

"Looks like we're going to have to teach you lot a good, hard lesson. Here I— argh!" The big, brutish man had just started rushing towards Ryland and Kendren. But he had taken only a single step before he had come to a screaming pause. For as his body started moving, as his arms had started swinging, he discovered that he had left his right hand behind.

"Wha- what is this?" the wide one wailed. He swung the bloodless stump of his right arm around wildly, a black rift edged with gold at the end of his forearm. Somewhere behind him, his actual hand was stuck in space, the end that should have been attached to his body instead resting on another gold-edged dark rift. And that was just the beginning. As he moved around wildly, the next one that went off was his head." Aaaaahhhh!"

his disembodied head yelled, stuck in one place on a dark rift just like his hand while the rest of his body moved around like a headless chicken.

"You!" the scruffy woman accompanying the rest of the gang glared at Ryland.

"You're doing this, aren't you?"

"They said something about portals," shrieked another, horrified eyes taking in how their leader's second hand was now bloodlessly chopped off his body. Ryland tutted.

"Rifts!"" Rifts?" the woman said.

"Curse you and your rifts to the Calamities."

"How rude." She clearly wanted to answer, but her eyes went wide. The next second, she spat out her tongue." Almost gruesome," Kendren said, nearly with relish." [Snapshot]." Ryland had to admit that he had technically ripped off their limbs and such, so from a certain perspective, he had conducted a bit of brutality on these unsuspecting mobsters. That said, it was biologically harmless. The [Translocate] he was using had his Soul Glyph of Genesis right there alongside the rest of the spell circle.

As such, the bits and pieces he was "cutting off" were still perfectly attached to their main bodies' correct locations. In other words, all of them were fine.

Just extremely scared. Kendren skipped over to an almost dangerous level of proximity to one of Ryland's victims.

"How does it feel to see your heart in action outside of your body?" The man forced his head away from watching his beating, pulsing heart only to stare at Kendren. Then he screamed in Kendren's face.

"Aaaaaahhhh!"

"Indeed." Kendren shook his head, admirably not wincing despite receiving a full-on shriek.

"A very relatable reply." He chuckled before turning to Ryland for a moment.

"You don't mind me pantomiming you, I hope." Ryland was minutely taken aback.

"You were mimicking me? Don't tell me you're going to start pulling pieces off these poor souls." Kendren laughed.

"No, I'm mimicking your mannerisms, not your Realms-damned crazy magic." That was eminently fair. Ryland wouldn't leave it to anyone to mimic his magic of all things. In fact, he wouldn't have been surprised if others had called him a mimicker. After all, there were scant few things in the universe he couldn't call upon with the power of his rifts. It was one of the reasons he had learned the Soul Glyph of Rift.

"Stop!" the wide one said. Tears were streaming down his ruddy face.

"Please stop this! I want my leg back." Oh, yes. He was also hopping on one leg now that Ryland had [Translocated] away the other one.

"We made a mistake!" another of the crooks shouted.

"We'll never attack academy mages who pop out of portals again, we promise!"

"Rifts," Ryland said with a mild sigh.

"Rifts!" the crook corrected. Ryland took a moment to deliberate. It wasn't that he was being needlessly cruel, but he let the lesson stick for a while longer. Then he turned to Kendren.

"As I was saying," he said.

"I intend to investigate the source of my local problems."

"Sounds perfect to me," Kendren said. He took another few [Snapshots] of the scene, looking like he was trying not to laugh at the plight of the crooks.

"Count me in!" Ryland nodded, then finally turned to his would-be lesson-teachers.

"Alright, then. I suspect you all came from a certain place. If you agree to take me there, then I will be willing to overlook this little slight of yours and return you to your regular condition. Does that sound good?" They practically fell over themselves in their haste to agree with Ryland's demands. He certainly appreciated their ability to change their tune when needed.

"Where exactly are we headed?" Kendren asked.

"Simple." Ryland began returning the disembodied body parts back to their owners, who were very, very grateful.

"We are going to visit the people who are aiding and abetting the rise of another Calamity."