Published at 22nd of October 2023 9:42 am

Book 2: Chapter 36

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

Everything seems to require that I grow in strength. But that’s fine. I wasn’t planning on stopping any time soon.

Looking out the window as the carriage bumped along, Garrett saw the small exorcist’s office next to the much larger Adventurer’s guild, with Chief Fellix and Henri standing at its door. The carriage stopped and Marta and Grant helped Garrett down, getting him settled in his wheelchair before everyone hurried into the building to debrief the mission. For the most part, Garrett kept quiet, listening as the others spoke about what they had done and observed, and he wasn’t surprised when they began to talk about his performance as well. It had been clear to him that this was as much a trial run to see if he was competent as it had been an actual mission, since each of his team members were qualified to command a team on their own.

“I do feel like I need to apologize,” Chief Fellix said, chewing on his mustache. “We didn’t realize how dangerous the mysterious artifact was, otherwise we would have dealt with it more seriously. Artifacts on the disaster scale should be captured and sealed. In fact, I’m not sure how this one slipped through our radar, considering the potential impact.”

“How do you categorize them?”

Getting up, Chief Fellix got a small booklet and brought it back for Garrett.

“This is the handbook. Not a lot in it, but it has some of the better known spirits, and information on the current mysterious artifact categorization. Currently, there are fifty known disaster ranked artifacts, so this will be the fifty first, and one of four that are not sealed. If you flip to the back, you’ll see that mysterious artifacts have three levels. A mysterious artifact is any item touched by the dream that can impact a single or more people. Neutral artifacts have no known negative effects or costs. Threatening artifacts have a negative effect or cost, and impact a single individual at a time. Disaster artifacts have that negative effect or cost, and can impact multiple people at a time. The Ghost’s Mirror is categorized as such.”

Nodding, Henri gestured to himself, Marta, and Grant.

“When the Ghost’s Mirror showed the ability to freeze all of us at once and pull us in one after another, it demonstrated that it was a disaster level artifact, and not just a threatening artifact.”

“Exactly,” the Chief said, “and so long as no one breaks it, the impact won’t be that big, all things considered, but as soon as someone does, we are going to have some major issues. That puts finding out who took it at the very top of our list. Which brings me to an important question.”

Pausing, he looked at Garrett, his gaze calm.

“Do you recognize this?”

Slowly, he slid a piece of paper across the table with a rendering of Ryn’s mask. Taking the paper, Garrett looked at it closely before shaking his head.

“That looks a lot like the flower that the Klein family uses as our symbol, though we don’t use a vine, and we only use one. You said that this was on a black mask?”

“I didn’t say anything,” Chief Fellix said, his eyes narrowing.

“Oh, well someone mentioned it.”

“That was me,” Grant chimed in, earning himself a glare from the Chief.

“Right, when you were telling me about it earlier. Yeah, I’m sorry, I don’t think I can help with this one. I’ll keep my ear to the ground. It's a pretty distinctive mirror, so I imagine that it will pop up.”

“Unless someone took it out of the city,” Grant said. “In which case, it's someone else’s problem.”

“Sure, but remember, that someone stole it and got it into the hands of the count’s daughter, so there is someone out there with an interest in actually using it. They probably have no idea how dangerous it really is. We still don’t know what the cost is, so there is no way to pacify it.”

Raising his hand hesitantly, Garrett looked troubled as everyone’s attention turned his way.

“Yes?”

“I… I don’t know if I should mention this, as it's unconfirmed, but…”

“Just spit it out,” Henri said. “Never know when something will help us put the puzzle together.”

“True. Well, both the countess and her daughter had been transformed into Pale Fiends.”

“What?!”

“Are you serious?!”

“Quiet,” Chief Fellix said, silencing Marta and Henri as he looked at Garret. “That is a serious thing you’re saying.”

“I know. And the chances of us proving it are about zero. But more importantly, I overheard some of the young noblemen talking about the count’s family, and it sounds like a wild history. The countess was already his third wife, and hated his daughter. He didn’t seem to care about her either, and it seemed that there was some foul play at work. Again, I hate to share an unsubstantiated rumor, but what if someone was using the mirror to eliminate rivals?”

Drawing a sharp breath, the chief nodded.

“That could very well be the case. That would clearly explain what has happened, and would also explain why someone was there to collect the mirror right after the countess vanished. Unsubstantiated rumors or not, I think that is an angle worth investigating. What are everyone’s thoughts for next steps? Marta? What about you?

“I can put a team together to try to uncover what was happening at the count’s home.”

“Excellent. And Henri?”

“I’ll comb antique stores to see if we can find the Ghost’s Mirror.”

“I think I can help too,” Garrett said. “Why don’t I put out the word that I’m looking for mysterious artifacts as a collector? That will lend some credibility to this new persona I am adopting, but might also turn up leads for people who might have some connection with the underground artifact market.”

“Good idea,” Chief Fellix said, giving Garrett an approving nod before turning to look at Grant. “Grant?”

For a moment Grant was quiet and then he tapped the table.

“Chief, do you remember that undead attack?”

“Which one? There have been a dozen in the last month.”

“The one with the widow and her daughter. The one Garrett and his men were involved in.”

“Mm, yeah. What of it?”

“The daughter described a woman appearing in her hand mirror. But not the ghost. I think that there might be a necromancer involved in this whole thing. I mean, and I know this is crazy, but hear me out. What if… what if there was a necromancer who was taking jobs to eliminate people by sucking them up into the mirror, and then turning them into Pale Fiends, which they could then control to be part of their undead army? They could be using that smaller hand mirror to control the bigger mirror.”

“You’re right, that is a crazy theory,” Chief Fellix said, shaking his head. “But the fact that you can use a smaller mirror to enter and leave the Ghost’s Mirror lends it just enough credibility that we should probably check it out.”

“Great!” Grant said, grinning. “I’ll put a team together and start hunting for that necromancer again.

“Honestly, if this turns out to be the work of a necromancer assassin who is using ghosts with long hair to kill people, I think it’ll be time for me to retire,” Chief Fellix said, rubbing his temple with his fingers. “I’m entirely too old for this.”

It was getting to be afternoon by the time that Garrett made it back to the Dreamer’s Inn, and he was incredibly happy to be back. The first thing he did was head for his office, where he got a rundown of everything that had happened recently, answering questions and signing off on the few issues that had cropped up. It was becoming increasingly clear to Garrett that he couldn’t continue to run the Family without starting to delegate, which meant looking for people who could accept more responsibility. After all the immediate problems were dealt with, he went to his room and started to review the organization.

There were three sides to the forces he had been building, along with an emerging fourth side that he wasn’t quite sure what to do with. First, there was the Klein Family, which included Ryn, Obe, the awakened who had not yet been invited to Dreamer’s Rest, and all of the mortal members of the Family. This portion of his forces was growing almost daily as more and more regular citizens saw the benefits of displaying the simple flower symbol and pinned it to their clothing or purchased one of the signs that Ryn had made. This was, in many ways, the easiest to handle, as almost everyone with any level of responsibility who was involved carried one or more dream flowers. And given that the dream flowers had begun to naturally propagate, the Klein Family would only continue to grow.

The challenge will be making sure that we don’t lose the core principles of how we operate as we add new people. Of course, the dream flowers will help with that, but I think it's important to start codifying this. I should have Ryn create some new signs. We can add principles to the petals, giving each a meaning. Green for kindness, blue for loyalty, purple for temperance, red for courage, and orange for initiative. Something like that.

Taking a piece of paper, Garrett began to list down names of members of the Family that could serve in officer roles, including Ryn, Obe, Luff, Maximus, Gavon, Abbius, and Helger. There were many others as well, though all of them were mortal, and Garrett had soon sketched out a clear command structure that took the various strengths of the different individuals into account.

Being able to have access to their innermost thoughts sure is useful. But I really need more people like Ryn. Anyone whose flower has grown with mental energy tends toward loyalty rather than initiative, and I need an equal mix of both.

After revising his document a few times, Garrett turned his attention to the second face of the Klein Family, the shadow that lurked under the family’s feet. This was easier to organize, as everyone in it was absolutely loyal to Garrett. Viper led the group, and Vale served as his first lieutenant, replacing Pax who had not been suited to the underground world. With them were the converted assassins from Black Raven, and the flower ghouls, who had been continuing to expand, quietly taking over the passages that Viper and Vale used. There weren’t many people trying to smuggle goods anymore, because all the entrances and exits to the city had been locked down, so the service that Ghoul’s Tooth used to provide had mostly dried up, but Garrett expected that to change once things in the city returned to normal.

I need to prepare for more volume. Once again, I have to choose between immediate loyalty and the ability for my subordinate to think on their feet. But regardless, I need more people. It's too risky to use ghouls to move the goods in the more commonly traveled passages, and it will take too long to dig another tunnel system lower down. Though, I should probably start working on that just in case.

There wasn’t much to decide about regarding the team in the crypts, except that Garrett knew he wanted to start cultivating Viper’s group into a more formidable force. He was confident that if he took his time, he would be able to grow a powerful group, but the key was going to be in cultivating the individuals who entered it. Dream flowers were not the only way to create loyalty.

The other thing that I should start experimenting with is the nest stones. Supposedly, they can create any sort of monster, so revisiting this idea of mixing other creatures with the flowers seems like a top priority. It would increase our security in the swamp if I had some aquatic creatures under my control. Hah, I’m turning into an evil villain, aren’t I? Let’s focus on establishing the human arm of the gang before I go wild on experimentation. Besides, that’s going to take a lot of work.

There was nothing to write down for the shadow group, so Garrett moved on to the third, and in his mind, most important facet of the Klein Family, the awakened dreamers of Dreamer’s Rest. Unlike the other two groups, this was the group that was most closely tied to his success and failure. It would be these people, above all, who would allow him to stand against the aggression of the Great Rulers who sought to pull him down. They would pioneer a new age in the dream, establishing humans as a formidable force that could stand against the nightmares that stalked the fog.

Of all of the groups, this was the one that held the seed of Garrett’s grandest ambition, and also required the most care. Unlike the other areas, Garrett was incredibly careful about how much he influenced the people who entered the dream. The dream flowers were a requirement to enter, but he avoided, as much as possible, forcefully growing the flowers. Of the awakened dreamers, only Viper and Pax were bound to his will in any significant way and the others were participating of their own wills.

Garrett’s hope was to create a web of interconnected benefits that kept them, and in the future, hundreds of others, coming back to the dream night after night. And so far, it was working. He created the mask, and the dream items for the awakened dreamers, and they repaid him with experience points, gaining strength for their soul sparks in the process. Though he took the lion’s share of their reward, he didn’t feel bad at all, as it was only through the dream flowers they carried that they could even access the opportunity in the first place.

The current group that was hunting in the dream was allowing him to learn a lot of different things, and slowly the final form of Dreamer’s Rest and its awakened dreamers was starting to take shape. There were still many mortals coming to Dreamer’s Rest, and more would soon arrive as the flowers started to seed, but Garrett was even more excited for when the first of the new awakened showed up. Until then, he would continue as he was, working to establish the current team firmly, creating precedents that new awakened dreamers could operate under smoothly.

Hopefully this subjugation of the meat plant goes smoothly.

The final part of the Klein family, and the part he wasn’t sure about yet, was his own public persona. He had joined the exorcists, in what he thought was a highly ironic situation, as he considered himself the greatest threat the dream world contained, and had made it his mission to spread the touch of the dream to everyone. But he was also beginning to expand his own personal network, making connections under his new persona as a merchant and petty noble. Though it would have been more efficient to retreat to the shadows and just build his influence a little at a time, the idea of playing in both the light and the dark appealed to him.

I’ll just have to see where it goes.

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