Published at 16th of February 2024 2:21 pm

Chapter 31. Pursuit of Profit

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It was almost lunchtime when Nox and Lillin entered the cafeteria. The mimic-woman let him sleep in until she grew concerned. She had already finished washing up, letting him have time with his washroom. Nox had no appetite and wanted to delve straight into visiting shops. His money worries weighed heavier than spell weaving. However, Lillin insisted they eat first.

After a lifetime of early rising, Nox expected an empty cafeteria. In his experience, most people ate early before they started their work day. Instead, the tables were packed. Then he remembered it was Seventhday. While the noble-born students could afford to take time off between their classes, regular students and staff didn’t have such luxuries. It was likely the one day of the week they got to relax.

All the stalls were busy, and Nox had to wait in line to get his food. The many different aromas stirred his appetite, and he avoided the usual porridge. Instead, Nox opted for pancakes, fried eggs, thick-cut bacon, blueberries, and thickened cream. Much to his surprise, Lillin only got half her usual volume. He guessed she still needed to digest Victor and the giant worm in her mimic belly.

The pair had to wait for seats to clear before they got a chance to eat. They took their time eating and made a game plan for the day. Lillin was furious when she learned of his conversation with Kris. Nox waited until they were almost done with his meal before telling her everything.

“Do you want me to sort her out?” Lillin asked, leaning in and whispering in his ear.

“What? No!” Nox laughed. “She’s not entirely wrong. It is my fault Roque and Victor are dead. I doubt we’d find a party right now, anyway. No one wants to group with delvers who lost almost half of their team.”

“So we have to peddle hard?”

Nox nodded. “You go around the market ring clockwise. I’ll go anti-clockwise.”

“I’ll wear something pretty.” Lillin grinned. “Maybe something low-cut. These general and delver merchants are lechers. It shouldn’t be too hard to get good prices.”

“Maybe I should leave all the shops outside of campus to you,” Nox said.

“My talents are no good in the apothecaries and alchemy stores,” she replied. “They like to talk potency, toxicity, and allergies. I’d rather you talk to them in case they want to discuss contracts, too.”

“Fine.”

“Maybe you should wear something low-cut, too.” Lillin giggled. Her body language and tone no longer matched the mimic-woman Nox knew. Instead of acting like a human, she genuinely felt human. “In all seriousness, if you shave and run a brush through your hair, I’m sure you’ll fare well.” Lillin tenderly brushed a stray lock out of his face. “You’ve got a nice face, and the high-end merchants like dealing with good-looking folk.”

Nox took a moment to process the change in his friend. Over their eighteen years of friendship, she had consumed no less than thirty-six humans. Her understanding of human customs and norms improved with every meal. As a mimic, she excelled at copying her shell’s nature. It no longer felt like she was pretending. Her speech inflections, hand waves, and arm touch felt natural. Before consuming the Rift Lord, the only genuinely human part of her was her carnal desires. They oddly mingled with her appetite, making sex a part of her biannual meal.

Nox didn’t mind the change. It made passing Lillin off as a human easier. He wouldn’t have to explain her oddities as often. However, the flirtatious words and touch unnerved him. Lillin Grey was a beautiful woman, but Nox wouldn’t want to climb into bed with her even if she wasn’t a monster. She was like a sister to him even when they were toddlers. He couldn’t imagine anything besides a platonic relationship.

“By the way, I had an interesting encounter this morning after Kris left.”

“Are you perhaps talking about Pudge and his rotation of gorgeous bed warmers?”

“You knew?” Nox asked.

Lillin nodded. “It’s been going on since the night we arrived. I haven’t sensed the same essence more than a couple of times.”

“How does he manage it, you think? His room smells awful, and all of those animals must be distracting while they’re in bed. Besides—” Nox hesitated. Feeling guilty about what he was about to say next.

“Pudge looks like a fat troglodyte? It looks like someone cast a softening spell on his face and then smashed it with a frying pan. If the boy were any worse looking, he’d be a sandwich?”

“A sandwich?”

“You know. He’s a sandwich.” Lillin snorted. She bit her upper lip, clearly trying to suppress a loud laugh. “Because he’s inbred.”

“That’s going too far, I think,” Nox said. The bad joke caught him off guard, and he almost sprayed icy tiger-nut milk out of his nostrils. It was a rare beverage only available on break days. “Pudge seems nice. Let’s not be horrible about him.”

“Jeez.” She sighed. “You must be really stressed. It's just us joking around. We’re always horrible.”

“Maybe it's about time we change that.” Nox studied Lillin closely, studying her expression and tone. She rarely timed jokes well, let alone set them up. Nox hadn’t heard the turn of phrase before and wondered whether she had made it up herself. “Or be more selective about the targets of our jokes.”

“You’re no fun.”

“I’m not saying we can’t crack horrible jokes anymore. Let’s just not make nice people the butt of them.”

“Is it Annabelle?” Lillin asked. “You two spent a lot of time together over the last couple of days. Did something happen? Did she rub off on you?”

“Annabelle was lovely, but this isn’t because of her,” Nox told her. “Eddie and Louis might be here, but that doesn’t mean we’re surrounded by hateful people that are out to get us. They are too focused on the war to target us. We need them on our side. Alright?”

“Can’t even joke around when we’re alone and out of earshot?”

“Maybe then, but within reason. I’d prefer it if we limit our targets to unknowns, distant acquaintances, and people we hate.”

“Do you think Edward is overcompensating for a—”

“That’s enough. Let’s dress like we work directly for the merchant queen and get to work.”

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As Nox explored the market ring, he passed artificers, blacksmiths, and various other artisans. His thoughts drifted to Victor and Roque. Nox still felt he had done the right thing. The lordling and his silver-spoon-raised thug were horrible people. If they treated Annabelle so poorly, he was sure they treated people that weren’t their sister or future wife considerably worse. He could picture Victor abusing servants, beating them, and being needlessly cruel. However, that didn’t mean either of them were murderers.

In the past, Nox had always ensured that Lillin’s targets deserved to be devoured. The people he went for were unwanted and hated. Most were suspected of multiple murders. Hunters regularly died or disappeared under mysterious circumstances during their expeditions. Often towns on Golden Isles’ path would report alarming numbers of violent crimes. Many of which targeted women or children. Nox would let Lillin use her mimic senses to track down perpetrators, and she’d feast on them. It was the first time she hadn’t confirmed whether Roque and Victor fit the usual criteria. Because of his disgust at the pair’s behavior, Nox hadn’t asked.

Guilt was the wrong term for what Nox felt. He still believed the pair deserved death. Instead, he wondered whether it was worth the trouble. His already difficult circumstances were now more challenging.

Nox often wondered whether his relationship with Lillin was worth the trouble. Even though they hadn’t written anything out on paper, Nox knew what they shared wasn’t an ordinary deal but an arcanically enforced verbal contract. He had fed Lillin a drop of blood and remembered the lights that followed.

For the first few years after the incident, he kept an emotional distance from Lillin. Since the godfall killed the Greys, too, Mou took the mimic-child in and raised her, not knowing her true identity. Nox had no choice but to play along and excuse her strange behavior. Fortunately, the adults wrote off the oddities as normal for a traumatized, parentless child. Then somewhere along the way, as Lillin grew more human, their relationship changed. They weren’t partners bound by a contract anymore but friends. Nox wondered whether that meant she’d agree to end their contract.

Lillin had gained enough strength to survive by herself. She knew enough to pass as human, too. Nox doubted anyone would stand in her way now if she continued to train as a mage while she searched for the power to steal or create a domain. He would never say it to Lillin—even though she was a mimic, Nox was sure she had developed some human emotion—but he believed that he had outgrown her. Nox had the power and skill to protect himself now.

However, he didn’t know how to broach the subject or whether he wanted to. It wasn’t the contract that made him hesitate but the friendship. Over the years, Lillin had gone out of her way to do things not outlined by their contract. Nox wanted to believe that it meant she also saw him as a dear friend. Then his brain told him that mimics weren’t capable of such emotions. After some thought, he decided to find some time for the library so he could research the dungeon-born beasts. Mimics absorbed the knowledge and some memories of the people they consumed. Nox wished to find out whether that eventually led to developing emotions and personalities.

After visiting five alchemists and apothecaries, Nox had no results. Despite his dapper clothes, groomed face, and trade-empire-taught mercantile skills, no one wanted to buy from him. All the businesses either had their own alchemists or contracts with prolific names around the city. They refused to disclose the identities of the artisans that supplied them. However, Nox saw flasks bearing Professor Das’ insignia. It used a couple of alphabets from his homeland. He also spotted a handful of vials marked with a snake wrapping around the letter V. They contained a clear unidentifiable solution, but Nox guessed they contained poison. The emblem belonged to Vys, after all.

Hopelessness threatened to take over until Nox happened on an interesting conversation. He was passing a general store, of all places.

“The Wall Maker is your only option unless you can find a decent Shaper,” the shopkeeper said. “I can guarantee you can find nothing better. Just put it in the hands of someone with decent mana control and visualization. It will raise a wall within a couple of heartbeats using whatever material you target.”

“That’s useless to us even if we could afford the two-hundred gold,” a woman in a long coat said. She wore the university’s colors, and the badge on her lapel carried the sheen of polished iron. “Creating a barrier isn’t enough. We need the ability to remove it afterward without wasting too much stamina or mana.”

“Your Wall Maker will get us stuck,” another woman said. She stood taller than her companion and wore a full plate of armor. A hammer hung from her hip, and she carried a kite shield on her back. “We’re on the fourth floor. I’d like to create temporary barriers when the worms pass or if we get the swarms’ attention. This just won’t do.”

Nox took a quick sip of the Sniper’s Eye brew at his hip and got a closer look. The team of four only had female members. One of the two silent members wore a silver badge. She was an adept delver. The dress and coat didn’t tell him a lot about her. The armored woman was obviously the vanguard. The woman Nox heard speaking first carried a wooden staff decorated with flowers, and her outfit had a strong nature motif. Since they were still looking for a barrier maker, he guessed she was more a healer than a plant mage. He waited until they exited the store before approaching them.

“I might have a solution for your problem,” Nox told them.

The party paused. They looked him up and down. “Are you with the production department?”

“Yes,” Nox replied. It wasn’t a complete lie. Advanced Alchemy made him a part of the department, after all. Telling them about recent events and explaining his missing delver badge would benefit him in no way. “I’m an alchemist. I believe one of my inventions could potentially fulfill your needs.”

“Go on,” said the woman Nox identified as the leader.

“Perhaps in the alley?” Nox pointed at the space between two buildings behind them.

The party exchanged looks. “You do realize we can eliminate you in a heartbeat if you try anything, right?” asked the armored weapon.

“I might be able to run away from most of you,” Nox said before nodding at the adept mage. “I doubt I’d escape her, though.”

“Overconfident,” commented the third journeyman delver. She carried a rapier at her waist. “But lead the way.”

Once in the alley, Nox smashed a vial of trap foam against the wall. A mound of foam grew rapidly in the enclosed space, rising one-and-half times Nox’s height in a couple of heartbeats. It hardened instantly. The armored woman tested its hardness, punching it and smashing it with her hammer. The latter cracked the material but didn’t break through. Nox guessed her magic focused on defense more than offense.

“That’s good and all,” she said. “But if we can’t remove it without wasting too much mana or stamina, it's no good to us.”

Nox held up a smaller vial and smiled. He hadn’t disclosed its existence to anyone except Lillin. He used a dropper to sprinkle some on the foam wall. It dissolved within a minute. “Removal takes a while longer, but I can guarantee it will hold. You can use the concoction to trap beasts as well.”

“Impressive,” said the silver-badged delver. “And this is your invention?”

Nox nodded. “Forty gold will get you a batch of ten.” He sensed the advanced party knew more about the markets than his green classmates. Nox also wished to win their favor. “And I’ll throw in the dissolver for free.”

“That’s a steep asking price.”

“True, but it's better than investing in a device that’ll only serve you well on one floor and requires expensive materials for recharging. You’ll probably need a second device for breaking the wall without wasting mana.”

“Thirty gold,” the healer said.

“Thirty-nine.”

“Thirty gold,” the adept reiterated.

“Thirty-nine.”

Nox and the party haggled for a handful of minutes before settling on thirty-six gold. He had enough on his person to complete the order immediately. The party handed him his payment and took his address.

“If it performs as well as your demonstration, we’ll be back for more,” the adept delver said.

“I’d appreciate it if you tell your friends, too,” Nox told them before parting ways. “Starting a business without a rich sponsor or connections is challenging.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” The woman shook his hand, and the party followed her out of the alley.

The dissolver used the same base and leftover materials from the Trap Foam recipe. Nox considered the cost negligible and walked away with a huge profit.

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