Chapter 88: ~Chapter 29~ Part 3

"Blackcloak?" I repeated the arch-mage's words after an uncomfortably long pause.

"Indeed," he smiled mirthfully as he slowly stood up from his seat. "I wonder why you look so surprised?"

"Well, it wasn't something I expected to hear from you," I admitted, eliciting a self-satisfied chuckle from the old man.

"Truly? I believe your name is on the lips of countless people right now," he told me as he walked over to the cabinet on the left with leisurely steps. "You might be currently unaware, but you are quickly becoming a household name in the world of mystics." At this point the old man fell silent as his hand gently tapped on the side of the cabinet, which then flashed with the now-familiar patterns before swiftly opening, revealing an entire smorgasbord of liquors and spirits. "But before we start, can I interest you in a drink?" Saying so, he picked out a small, round bottle and showed it to me. "This is one of my latest acquisitions. It is an herbal liquor called Unicum. It is said to be a great digestif."

"I'm technically a minor," I answered him as bluntly as the broad side of an axe, but he only chuckled in return.

"Technically? A truly peculiar choice of words once again. But alas, it would be uncouth for me to leave the laws of the mundane world unobserved. I shall put some of this away in preparation, so that we may enjoy it in the future while reminiscing about this day," he mused as he poured some of the dark, thick liquid into an elaborately designed shot-glass before sealing the bottle and closing the cabinet, then he leisurely walked back to the desk, glass in hand, and after taking a small sip he turned to me and asked, "What shall we discuss first?"

I could only stifle a groan in response. The old man managed to grab the reins of the conversation right from the start, and I had no choice but to ask the obvious question to get it moving. It was truly infuriating, but I only let it slightly show on my face.

"I want to hear about this 'Blackcloak' thing first," I told him, and he immediately beamed at me with the countenance of a cat who just got a mouse walk right up to its mouth.

"It is a truly amusing story," he answered between two sips from his glass. "Believe it or not, the title itself comes from none other than the Lord of Innana himself."

"Really?" I frowned at the unexpected answer.

"Indeed. As they say, no denizen of the abyss can overcome their heritage; the deviousness of the Celestials and the pride of the dragons."

"That's kinda racist, but go on," I interjected, but my words didn't seem to faze the old man, as he did just that.

"Unlikely as it might have been at the time, the young Lord of House Innana came to me on his own, and he paid a substantial price to secure his own welfare on my lands. He wove a beautiful tapestry of cooperation and peace, but I naturally knew that he would have a hidden dagger behind his back." He paused for a moment, took another sip, and then he continued with a shameless smile. "I knew he would cause trouble, but curiosity won me over. Once you are my age, you will understand that there are not many things that can interest an old man, so I was not going to miss this opportunity to see something unusual. Of course, the materials he generously provided for research were a substantial boon in and of itself, so I reckoned I would not turn a loss even if he attempted to do something extravagantly unwise."

"Does trying to open a gate to the Abyss right on top of your School count as that?" I interjected, earning me another supremely grating chuckle.

"Indeed it does!" the old man agreed with me before tilting his head back to down the last of his drink. "His plan was by no means the work of a genius, but his preparations were thorough and careful. Of course, I also made my counter-measures in the shadows. It was a game I truly enjoyed, but to my eternal shame, I completely misread the gameboard. I thought he would try to break into my School, so I set an elegant collection of traps for him if I say so myself. I could not in my wildest dreams imagine he would completely ignore it in favor of kidnapping a seemingly ordinary young student. A serious blunder by any measures, I would say."

"Yeah, a 'blunder'. I bet that's what the French called the battle of Agincourt too, but it doesn't make it any less of an abject cock-up," I answered his non-question, but instead of getting angry, the old geezer's smile only widened.

"Harsh words, but not unreasonable." After saying so, suddenly the arch-mage's eyes narrowed into a squint, which was actually a little bit unsettling, with his one red eye and everything. "However, in that moment of blunder, a group of youngsters presented themselves. My own granddaughter, a member of house Dracis, a hidden Celestial, and a pair of mundane youths, all of them working together as one. And on the forefront of this extraordinary event was none other than you, Leonard."

The way he slowly spoke my name made shivers run down my spine, but I didn't let it show on my face.

"That's all jolly fine, but what does it have to do with this 'Blackcloak' business?"

"Everything," he answered me with a mysterious glint in his still narrowed eyes. "As I have told you, the denizens of the Abyss are ruled by their stubborn pride as much as their ancestors, and none more so than the Lords themselves. Come on, lad; try to put yourself in his shoes for but a moment! Imagine you craft a most elaborate plan in order to gain both prestige and a profit for yourself, yet at the last moment, all your preparations are made naught by an eclectic group of children! Not only that, but you lose a rare beast, your sister, and your very dignity to them in the process! What would you do?"

"… Is this a trick question?"

"No, I am quite serious," the old man told me, though his weird grin made the validity of his statement a little questionable. "Go on, share your thoughts!"

For a few long seconds I only gave the expectant old man a wry look, but then I let out a tired breath and resigned myself to fall into his pace once again.

"Fine, let me think. … So I got beaten by a group of high-schoolers, all my plans are FUBAR, and the rest of the Abyss is watching me for signs of weakness. I suppose the first step is damage control."

"Such as?"

"I would either make the loss seem less significant than it was, or hide it altogether. Since you told me I somehow became a 'household name' or whatever, I guess it wasn't the latter. In fact, it almost seems like…" I paused for a moment as I realized something, and for a moment I almost forgot to breathe. "Please don't tell me he did what I think he had done?"

"Oh, I am afraid you are most likely correct in your deduction," Lord Punchable told me with a shit-eating grin plastered on his face. "He must have also realized that he couldn't keep his failure a secret for long, so he did something unexpected and told a new story. It was a tale where he was lured into a devious trap, devised by his treacherous sister, the heiress of the venerated Dracis family, the genius granddaughter of my humble self, an operative of the Celestial intelligence, and led by a certain Leonard Blackcloak, the Chimera Slayer. Quite an illustrious title, if I may say so."

"Oh, you've got to be shitting me!" I exclaimed in frustration, but the old man only chuckled at my display of indignation.

"I am afraid not. News like this travel fast among the mystics, and when those news come directly from the mouth of a Lord of the Abyss and his loyal retainers, they do so even faster. It is actually quite ingenious, would you not agree? With just a few rumors, the Lord of Inanna turned his shameful defeat into a daring escape from the grasp of his traitorous sister and her alliance of powerful accomplices."

I took a few seconds to bury my head in my palm, then after I felt reasonably calm, I simply stated, "I swear, next time I see that son of a bitch, I'll beat him to within an inch of his life!"

"Oh my," the annoying arch-mage shook his head with an amused expression. "No wonder people think highly of you. Few would dare to threaten a Lord of the Abyss like that, even behind closed doors." He paused for a second, probably just to see if I would find some more colorful expletives to express my distaste, but since I was silent, he ultimately crossed his fingers on the table and said, in a slightly more serious tone, "Exaggeration aside, I believe the rumors about you are still just that; truth magnified by design. They could not exist without a kernel of truth, and you have killed a Chimera, have you not?"

"Well, yes," I grudgingly admitted. "But I didn't do it alone, and it sure as hell wasn't as easy as a walk in the park."

"I would be quite troubled if it was," gramps stated with a small laugh in his voice. "However, the fact that you did is not only remarkable in and of itself, your actions on that peculiar night not only foiled a plan of the Abyss, but you also helped our School avoid humiliation. For this, I would sincerely thank you."

"You are welcome," I stated dourly, though he didn't seem to mind

"However, as thankful as I am, there are some things I find hard to overlook." Saying so, he casually reached into the pile of papers and produced yet another sheet, without even looking. At this point I was fairly certain those pages didn't have anything to do with any of this and he only waved them around for showmanship. Anyways, he continued, "A remarkable young man like you should have been known to me, would you not agree? Yet here you are; one day a mundane student with an unusual group of friends, and the next day a fabled Chimera Slayer and the sworn enemy of a Lord of the Abyss. Yet, when I attempted to look into your history, I found nothing. Average parents. Average grades. Average interests. A truly average person, who is at the same time a hero. How curious. So, I let my curiosity take the better of me once again and I inquired about you from my granddaughter and your Celestial friend. You know what they said? Smart. Daring. Strong. Reliable. A born leader. Calm under pressure. A real—"

"Could we skip the part where you try to butter me up and get to the damn point?"

"The point, my young friend, is that I found you interesting even before we first met. But now…" He didn't finish his sentence, instead he pulled out a drawer and took out a large manila envelope.

"You see, young Leonard, this was something I prepared ahead of time, but I was not sure whether I should give it to you. I could not be sure whether I could trust the rumors about you. Whether I could trust you. But alas, the curiosity of an old man, once ignited, is hard to quench." The old guy grinned at me again and placed the envelope on the desk. "Please consider this as a small token of my appreciation, and maybe a something of an investment."

I cautiously eyed the packet for a few seconds before asking, "What's in it?"

The Arch-mage's lips widened even further, like a fisherman who just got a huge catch on his hook, which made me quite uncomfortable, considering I was the fish in this analogy.

"I was told you wished to protect the peace of this city in general and the lives of your friends in particular. In this envelope, you will find a number of leads that might point your eyes towards potential threats to that peace. What you do with them is entirely up to your discretion."

"… So your idea of a 'token of appreciation' is giving me leads to some kind of supernatural trouble so that I would have to deal with it instead of you?"

"Indeed."

"And you expect me to just take it?"

"Can you afford not to?"

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For a second or five I stared daggers at the old man, but no matter how I looked, his friendly, grandfatherly smile never wavered. I was still hesitant, but then he tilted his head to the side like a curious cocker spaniel, so I let out a long and pained groan and reached out towards the envelope.

"Crafty son of a bitch."

"Now, now. There is no reason to lose your guise of civility," he told me with another chuckle that made me want to roll up the package in my hand and stuff it down his throat, but then his expression finally lost the grin and he told me, "You might also consider this a test. I have a feeling that you and I should be able to enter into a mutually beneficial relationship, but I want to see your talents first-hand. Who knows? Maybe one day we may even work together as equals?"

"I sincerely doubt that will ever happen," I hissed through clenched teeth as I took a step towards the door.

"We shall see. For the time being, I shall keep a close eye on you."

Hearing those words, I stopped mid-step and whipped my head around to give the man a glare.

"So long as you keep those eyes out of my home," I told him in a voice so cold it even surprised me. Even more surprisingly, the old man's smile abruptly twitched, which he immediately tried to cover up with an embarrassed cough.

"Duly noted," he awkwardly told me. In the meantime I reached the door, and he quickly added, "I shall open the way."

"Don't stand up, I'll let myself out," I told him.

"I do not actually have to—" he began, but then I placed my hand on the entrance and pushed.

It didn't seem to work at first, so I tried again, harder, and when I did, I could feel a familiar, numbing buzz at the fingertips, following which the door made a clicking sound and swung right open. The strange part was that, unlike before, only one wing of the door moved. For a moment I was afraid I broke something, so I glanced back at the old man, but he was only looking at me with a wooden smile, so I hastily grunted something that could, under certain circumstances, be interpreted as a goodbye, and then carefully closed the door behind me.

It was only after I was sure that the door stayed closed that I let out a long breath in relief. It didn't last long though, as the irritation quickly crept back into my mind the moment I glanced at the manila package in my hand. I stared it hard for a couple of seconds, my frustration growing until it burst out with a subdued "Damn…" under my breath.

I was pissed. No, I was more than pissed. I was totally, irrationally enraged. The old sod led me by the nose through practically the entire discussion, if you could call it that, and he even tossed some extra work on my shoulders with an excuse of it being a 'test'! Test my bloody arse! I had more than enough problems on my plate! I came here to fix some of them, not to get even more heaped on me! Bollocks!

Meanwhile, as I quietly fumed while my fingers on the hand holding the envelope went white with exertion, the lift door on the other end of the hallway opened. To my sincerest surprise, I found the rest of my little band of misfits on the other side. I naturally attempted to walk over to them, but before I could even take two steps, I was practically tackled by a certain blonde dragon girl.

"Leo! Are you all right!? Are you hurt anywhere!?"

"I wasn't, until you head-butted my spleen," I grumbled while massaging my stomach.

"Sorry, but that's beside the point!" she told me while she frantically patted me down, and before I knew it, a certain Celestial girl also joined the fray.

"Let me look at him! I'm better at this!"

Saying so, she grabbed hold of my wrist and began humming, which was the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back.

"Would you just calm down and let me go already?" I growled as I snatched my wrist out of Angie's grasp. "What's wrong with all of you?"

"Chief, are you sure you are all right?" Judy joined in, prompting me to groan in exasperation.

"Of course I'm fine."

"Good, then please lean forward a bit."

"Um, sure?" I replied somewhat suspiciously, and when I did so, my girlfriend suddenly caught hold of my ear and twisted it.

Now, to be perfectly honest, as with most of her attempts at physical violence, Judy somehow managed to accomplish that without hurting me the slightest, but I felt obliged by the situation, so I gave her a confused "Ouch?"

"Chief, what did I tell you about picking a fight with an Arch-mage of the Assembly in the middle of his School?"

"I didn't pick a fight!" I protested. "I was only looking out for Josh and Snowy."

"It doesn't change the fact that you made him angry."

"Right!" Angie piled on while she grabbed hold of my wrist again. "I was more scared for our lives than when we met that Chimera for the first time!"

"It was hard to breathe, like there was a mountain on my chest," Snowy agreed, her face still pale.

"Snowy's brother had something similar going on, but I would face him a hundred times over meeting with Ammy's grandpa ever again," came the next testimony from Josh.

"Grandfather is not that scary," the class rep cut in to defend her elder. "Actually, I've never seen him act like that before. He must've magnified his presence and pressure."

"But why?" Joshua spoke up again with a truly perplexed voice. "Why did he want to scare us?"

"I think he only wanted to scare one of us," Ammy spoke while giving me a flat stare.

"I'm sorry, but I have absolutely no idea what you guys are talking about," I told them honestly, earning me several confused glances.

"How could you not feel it?" Elly burst out while placing her hand on my forehead to take my temperature. "I could feel my skin tingle from the moment we stepped in the study, and it only got worse over time."

"Still doesn't right a bell," I told them, then glanced down at the Celestial girl and asked, "How long are you going to keep doing that? Could we at least get going?"

"Um, sure," Angie finally let go of my wrist and told everyone, "He's fine, I think."

"Good," Judy spoke in a flat voice and then tried to twist my ear again, so I rolled my eyes and straightened myself. She tried to stand on her tiptoes to keep holding onto me, but once it became obvious she wouldn't be able once I started walking, she grudgingly let go and added, "Don't think you have escaped, mister. Once we are back home, you better get ready for an earful."

"Yes," my other girlfriend agreed enthusiastically as she grabbed hold of my arm as usual. "We can't take you anywhere without causing a scene! I will not let you go until…" Her worlds suddenly trailed off as she glanced down and noticed the large envelope in my hand. "What's that?"

"This?" I asked innocently, then gestured towards the lift. "I will tell you on the way up. We should really get going."

"Oh, now you are in a hurry," the class rep fumed while scowling at me. "Could it be that mister 'I'm not affected by the presence of an Arch-mage' is getting a little jittery?"

"Nah," I answered off-handedly as I began walking, practically dragging Elly along. "I just want to get as far away from the School grounds as possible before your grandpa realizes I probably broke his door."

"I see," Ammy answered absent-mindedly at first, but then her eyes widened in shock. "Wait, you did WHAT?!"

"No time to explain, just get in the lift," I gestured for her, and she quickly walked after us, all the while loudly explaining how hard she was going to kick my butt for giving her even more paperwork to deal with. What can I say? She really, really needed to take a break from doing administration.

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