Chương 21: A Deal

Ch 21: A Deal The sun was already sinking behind Navar's horizon when I left my room in search of Principal Dickhead to negotiate our Mimic extermination proposal. Sahirah and I had agreed not to reveal either the Presence Erasure spell or our little rule-breaking nighttime visit to his office, so I'd be handling the negotiations alone to avoid of us being seen together. That also meant ditching the pair of Grey guards assigned to shadow me.

If I could walk across half the school unseen despite the increased security, I'd have a rather convincing argument for just how incompetent the current Mimic hunters really were, which would hopefully help me sell the extermination idea to someone who hated me as much as the principal did. I started by reactivating the paper version of the Presence Erasure spell and checking the principal's office. He wasn't there, but it wasn't empty either.

A single Grey sat behind the surveillance globe, lazily fighting off sleep. Judging from his clothes, he wasn't part of the academic staff, just another exhausted employee from the Mimic hunting team, assigned the glamorous task of staring at magical security feeds all evening.

"Easy life while the rest of us are getting eaten by Mimics, isn't it, buddy?" Naturally, he didn't answer. The Presence Erasure spell prevented his mind from acknowledging my voice in the first place. I lost interest in him the moment I noticed an opportunity. If the principal wasn't here... his own surveillance system could tell me where he was. Curious, I approached the glass globe. The moment I got close enough, I forgot all about finding Principal Dickhead.

Despite the fact that the lack of even a password was concerning, to say the least, I had to admit that the thing was incredible. Instead of displaying dozens of tiny camera feeds, the globe projected a single location in detail. It wasn't quite a hologram and not quite an illusion like my system. It looked more like someone had cut a circular hole through reality, letting me peer through a magical window. Even better, it responded directly to thought. The instant I imagined the library, the image shifted.

Then the food court, the classrooms, the dormitory corridors. Even the training grounds I'd never visited were available. Thankfully, student rooms seemed exempt from surveillance, as was the principal's own office. Using the globe, I searched methodically until I finally found Zorik. He stood inside a large storage building I didn't recognize, looking unusually pale as a massive floating wagon drifted through the open doors. I had to admit...

For someone who'd lived in Navar for nearly two months, I knew embarrassingly little about how this world actually functioned. Seeing that wagon reminded me that I'd become so obsessed with my garage-company dream that I'd barely explored anything outside spells and business. Maybe it really was time to spend a day wandering the city. Or the forests. No, not the forests... even if I stumbled across a monster and killed it, I wouldn't level up or gain a skill. This world still stubbornly refused to have a system.

For now... Still, it looked interesting enough. Using the surveillance globe one last time, I traced the quickest route from the library to the storage building before leaving the office. The trip took about five minutes. Occasionally I activated Haste to shorten the distance, the breeze cooling my freshly branded arm just enough to dull the lingering burn. When I finally arrived, the floating wagon immediately caught my attention.

Its body was built from dark wood reinforced with black iron bands, large enough to carry several people. What truly held it aloft, however, were the two enormous stone circles beneath it. Each circular slab was nearly as tall as I was and looked heavy enough that four grown adults would've struggled to lift a single one. Yet neither slab touched the ground, instead serving as platforms that held the wagon suspended. Unable to resist, I crouched beside one of them.

A large crystal rested at its center, surrounded by concentric rings of runes unlike any I had studied before. Even without recognizing every symbol, the purpose of the crystal at its center was obvious. Fuel. The crystal continuously poured mana into the runic array, producing the force necessary to keep several tons of wagon suspended in the air. Well... Even if the deal failed, that alone made the trip worthwhile. Maybe exploring this world once in a while wasn't such a waste after all.

Satisfied, I stepped inside the warehouse. Only to freeze. The wagon was empty. And it was empty because it was waiting to be loaded with something. A body. A Grey lay wrapped in white cloth atop a wooden stretcher, his lifeless hand dangling over the edge as two workers pushed him into the wagon.

"What are we supposed to tell his family?" The question came from a Grey woman wearing light armor over a dark-blue uniform. A badge shaped like crossed shields rested on her chest, while a rune-inscribed dagger hung from her belt. Her companion didn't even hesitate.

"We tell them the truth," the man said grimly.

"Dareth died because this school failed to contain the infestation. Another good person buried while the school has an archmage stationed here, doing nothing but sitting on her ass and translating language for a bunch of Riftstorm arrivals. Record it exactly as it happened." My eyes drifted toward Principal Zorik. He simply watched. Not a word. The warehouse fell into an uncomfortable silence. I stayed hidden behind a stack of supply crates, watching as the officers finished loading the body.

Eventually, the female officer approached Zorik carrying a thick folder. She opened it. He signed one page after another without reading them twice. Meanwhile, her partner climbed back into the wagon, and the massive vehicle barely dipped beneath his weight before stabilizing again. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. When the principal was done with the papers, she nodded and also entered the wagon, which glided forward immediately.

It maneuvered surprisingly smoothly through the warehouse doors before accelerating down the road, quickly reaching a speed comparable to a police cruiser back on Earth. Only after it disappeared beyond the school gates did Zorik finally move. He raised one hand. A ring of glowing runes rapidly assembled around his wrist, each symbol forming directly from mana. The enormous warehouse doors rumbled shut on their own. Watching him alone now only strengthened my resolve.

If there was ever a time to pitch a solution to the Mimic problem... it was now. I took a careful step forward.

"I swear to every ancestor who still watches this kingdom..." The sudden roar made me freeze. Zorik's voice echoed through the warehouse as another ring of runes materialized around his wrist. A deafening blast followed. The crate near me exploded into splinters. Wood fragments, shattered barrels, and several vegetables I couldn't name shot through the warehouse like shrapnel. I instinctively ducked, worried my illusion had failed me this time. Had... he seen me? No. His furious gaze wasn't on me at all.

It stared toward the ceiling, toward nowhere.

"Elitha Hearthstrong!" he shouted.

"I know you can hear me! Three minutes! Maybe less. That's all it would take for you to exterminate every Mimic in this school!" Silence answered him. He clenched both fists.

"Is there not even a single drop of gratitude left in you for the kingdom that raised you into the monster you are today?" Nothing. Just more silence. Eventually, Zorik let out a defeated sigh. He straightened his robes, smoothed the wrinkles from his sleeves, and slowly walked toward the rear exit of the warehouse. I hesitated, thinking that maybe I should wait. Maybe this wasn't the right– No. This was exactly the right moment. The man had just admitted he had a problem he couldn't solve.

And I happened to have the solution... for a price worth the risk, of course. Without a second thought, I raised the sheet of paper with the Presence Erasure spell inscribed on it and tore it into tiny pieces. Better to destroy the evidence now than risk revealing one of my trump cards if the principal decided to search me or ask how I'd managed to find him here. Just as I was about to clear my throat to get his attention, the Grey man suddenly spun around, somehow sensing my presence.

"I sincerely hope you're here because a Mimic has taken over your body and is trying to assassinate me."

"Nah," I said.

"I'm here to propose a deal I'm certain you'll love. Let's negotiate the extermination of the–" To my surprise, a malleable strip of mana materialized across my mouth before I could say another word. All I caught was a ring of runes flashing around Principal Dickhead's wrist.

"Preposterous," he said, slowly stalking toward me. His gaze drifted to my tattooed arm and lingered there in open disgust.

"You're shameless enough to scar your own skin with those hideous cheating implements, and you expect me to negotiate with you?" I'm not going to lie: having my mouth magically covered before I'd even finished my opening sentence pissed me off. Mana flowed into the Standby Awakening module of my Mind Library, and my awareness shifted to the illusionary library. I reached the writing desk almost instantly, sketched a crude variation of the Mana Drain spell, and returned to reality with a smile.

Before Principal Dickhead could question what I'd just done, I activated the Casting Assistant.

"What are you–" The rest of his sentence died as I painted the runes with mana. The improvised Mana Drain spell came into existence, and I aimed it straight at the mana gag covering my mouth. The construct lost its shape immediately, its mana siphoned away before it could resist. Yup, the whole thing cost me more mana than the gesture was worth, but I didn't regret it. And judging from the look on Zorik's face, dismantling his spell in front of him had wounded his pride badly enough to be worth the price.

"As I was saying," I continued, "I have a proposal. You have a Mimic problem you can't solve. Sahirah and I are the only two people who've actually managed to kill one. You can see where I'm going with this, right?" Principal Dickhead let out a humorless huff.

"You were never supposed to know that, human." He stepped uncomfortably close again, his nose almost touching mine as tiny droplets of spit landed on my cheeks.

"Which teacher told you?"

"Look," I said, taking half a step back, "nobody told me anything. Those two guards you assigned to shadow me? They lose track of me all the time. And I overheard the staff talking about how two first-years were the only people in this school who'd managed to kill a Mimic." Putting a little more distance between myself and his personal splash zone, I continued.

"So the solution seems pretty obvious, doesn't it? You pay us to eliminate the Mimics, we eliminate the Mimics. Mimic barbecue guaranteed, or your money back." I spread my hands.

"Thirty thousand credits sounds like a fair price." When I named the price, Principal Zorik's eyebrows moved up and down repeatedly. And for several long seconds, I thought the amount itself had offended him. Then he exploded.

"The same human who melted part of the dormitory wants me to pay him to set the rest of the school on fire!" He began pacing furiously, throwing his hands into the air.

"Of course it had to be another cheating human. It was exactly the same back at the academy twenty years ago! Except you, instead of being a drunken nobody obsessed with a Driari woman who rejected him, are a rune-obsessed lunatic who somehow gets along with the mana freak girl!"

"... what the fuck?" That was... a lot to unpack. Had Principal Dickhead just admitted he'd dealt with another human before? One who'd been obsessed with an elf woman? Was that why he seemed to have a personal vendetta against me? He was an asshole to everyone, but with me, every punishment felt especially creative. I'd always had the impression he spent an unhealthy amount of time thinking about new ways to make my life miserable.

"Damn," I said slowly.

"You can't be serious." My mind finally accepted the absurdity of it.

"So you hate me because some other human hurt your feelings twenty years ago, and you're still butthurt about it?" He locked eyes with me and walked closer once more, much to my despair.

"Hurt my feelings?" he repeated quietly. The way he said it made me think he was about to snap.

"That filthy cheater destroyed my future." For just a moment, I thought he might actually cry. The corners of his blue eyes glistened before his expression hardened again.

"Thomas Smith." He spat out the name as though it tasted bitter.

"That's the cheating bastard who ruined my life twenty years ago." He laughed bitterly.

"I devoted years of my life to creating a long-range communication spell that was ten percent more efficient than every existing design..." His hands clenched into fists.

"... and on the very day I unveiled it, that human published a spell capable of producing breathable air from water." Understanding hit me like a truck. A magical version of electrolysis. Of course. That single spell would've revolutionized underwater exploration, rescue operations, naval warfare... Compared to that, a slightly more efficient communication spell might as well have never existed. So that was it. Now I finally understood why Principal Dickhead hated me.

Some guy named Thomas Smith had used high-school chemistry to steal the spotlight twenty years ago, and Zorik had been carrying that grudge ever since. I let out a long sigh. How the hell was I supposed to negotiate a Mimic extermination contract with someone who'd spent the last two decades blaming humanity for losing an academic rivalry? Before I could come up with another offer, Zorik smiled.

He casually wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes with the sleeve of his robe before staring at me with a gaze so sharp that it hurt.

"You've got yourself a deal, human," he said.

"Thirty thousand credits. And I'll even allow you and that mana freak to see each other again." I didn't even react to the fact that he had just given Sahirah and me our freedom back without being asked. I just swallowed. Why did this sound far too good to be true? The confirmation came right away.

"But killing the Mimics isn't all I want." His gaze drifted toward the ceiling, absentminded, as though he were already picturing the future.

"If you and the mana freak survive the hunt," he continued, "I'll organize an inter-school fundraising event to cover your payment, the inevitable property damage you'll cause, and the compensation owed to the families of those who died to the Mimics." A slow, unsettling smile spread across his face.

"And you two..." he said.

"You'll participate of that event. If you win, you get paid." His smile widened.

"If you lose, you get nothing... and I'll have both of you transferred to different Rift schools on opposite sides of the continent." I froze. We'd have to risk our lives hunting Mimics... Then participate in some sort of competitive event to earn the payment... And if we lost, we'd be separated all over again. Fuck. I couldn't accept something like that without talking to Sahirah. No. Even if she somehow agreed to it, I couldn't accept it myself.

"Not a chance," I said.

"You can solve your Mimic problem yourself. I'm no longer interested in helping you." I turned to leave. Before I managed a second step, Principal Dickhead blurred forward. The movement resembled Haste, but far faster than anything I could currently achieve. One instant he was behind me, the next he was blocking the doorway, towering over me.

"If you walk away," he said calmly, "I'll fire the Nadiri girl from her job with the children." He raised one finger.

"I'll forbid you from selling your little system." A second finger.

"And every Zufi, Granar, and Driari who already made deals with you will have their credit crystals confiscated." I heard every single word. For one reckless moment, I seriously considered risking my life to force myself to cast the nearly two-hundred-rune Presence Erasure spell without paper. Just to teach Principal Dickhead that some threats were hazardous to one's health... Then I remembered the surveillance globe. This entire storage building was under constant observation.

Any violence here would land me in prison, leaving Sahirah and everyone who had trusted me to deal with the consequences alone. I swallowed my anger.

"Come on, those conditions suck," I said.

"If you're forcing us to take that much risk, then at the very least I expect half the payment upfront to cover the cost of the ink, plus a few teachers on call all day and night as backup in case things go sideways. That's non-negotiable." It was unfortunate that Sahirah wasn't there to voice her own opinion on the matter, but since she had trusted me with the negotiations, all I could do was secure the best deal possible for both of us. Principal Dickhead crossed his arms, considering my demands.

"I'll pull the staff I assigned to tail you and the girl, and you can have a third upfront payment," he said.

"And I'll inform Lathara and the few other teachers who sleep at the school that the human might need them to clean up his mess." He pointed a finger at me and added, "But I'll be watching your little team, and if you or any of your friends take the payment only to run away at the first sign of danger, consider your lives even more ruined than mine was when that human destroyed my future."

"I'll do what you want," I said, meeting his eyes.

"Just leave the others out of this." What I didn't tell him was that, from this moment onward, Principal Zorik was permanently removed from my list of people who deserved petty pranks. No more ridiculous status titles. No more bugged skills. No more unskippable advertisements before checking his status. If the opportunity ever presented itself... I'd settle for something much simpler. I'd do everything in my power to make sure Principal Zorik never held that office again.