Chapter 36: Chapter 36: Unheard Pleas For Death

Tanin had sounded cheery, even casual. But deep down, my blood chilled. The Expedition Division was…harboring 6E12? Certainly, Tanin wouldn’t know about 6E12 being in the cave, right? But how much did he know?

"What's the cave for?" I ventured.

I noticed Tanin staring at me. His smile had faded. Did I overstep? I shouldn't have said anything incriminating yet. Things ought to be fine.

“Girl, you alright?” he asked. “You seem…very concerned.”

As I froze, holding my cup of coffee in the air, Tanin stood up. He patted me on the back.

"Come," he said. "Let's get somewhere with a bit more privacy."

Drat. My expression had given me away. Or perhaps my tone. I wondered how much he could tell.

He led me to a vacant classroom, and I followed in a daze. Once we entered, he bolted the door, then shut the windows and curtains.

"Relax," he told me. "You're not in trouble. But I'll need you to listen very carefully."

I scarcely relaxed at all. This was the perfect place for him to "take care of'' someone who just happened to know too much. Was that his aim here? I doubted it. But my judgment felt completely defunct right now, my sensibilities overwhelmed by revelations, as a man long-imprisoned in darkness would stagger when stepping back into sunlight.

I remembered the first time I followed Tanin into an empty classroom, back when he first invited me to the guild. Unlike last time, we were on the second floor now. And the windows no longer opened ajar for me to use for escape. But these windows' frames were wood, and a Vortex Shield ought to blow them apart. Add in Cold Grenade as disengage, and I had a chance, even in a one-on-one. Based on his 940 max HP, I'd assume Tanin was level 5 at the highest, and…

"Sophia, relax," Tanin repeated. "I'm on your side. As I have been all these months. Please trust me."

"Enough with the ambiguity. What are you getting at?"

He strolled across the front of the room, from one end of the blackboard to the other. "You're curious about the cave, aren't you? I don't know how you found that place. It's quite well-hidden. That makes me think it should be left alone. I'm not sure if someone told you, or if you caught a glimpse of something there. Perhaps something you weren't meant to see. I hope I'm not too far off?"

"Tell me what you know," I ordered. I didn't know if that made sense to say; my head felt light. My mind was practically operating on autopilot right now, and I hated it.

Tanin narrowed his eyes. "I am simply a wise man who knows nothing."

"That's an obvious lie."

He paced a small circle behind the lectern, each of his steps measured and silent. "Remember what I told you before? This is a death game. Your job is to survive. Not sate your curiosity, not get 100% completion. I've got an idea of what you're planning, my friend. And I can tell you right now, this is how you lose the game."

I backed away through the aisle left between columns of desks. Away from Tanin. His eyes stared into mine, piercing and stern.

“What do you think I’m planning?” I questioned.

“The Expedition Division is full of curiosities,” he said. “Numbers that don’t add up. Inordinate levels of secrecy. I don’t know what you saw at the cave, but you’re trying your hand at playing detective, aren’t you?”

“Tanin, I’m not trying to start trouble. I didn’t even know the cave was connected to the Expedition Division. But I just want to…”

“No buts!” He hissed. “Remember all the spy training I’ve put you through? The cyanide pills, how to spot assassins, how to survive torture? Because if you wanna sleuth against the Institute, that’s the world you’re getting yourself into. You know better than this.”

His words came out raw and pained, almost pleading. My chest felt tight. And yet…what if…

“Tanin, do you happen to know…” I began.

"– Nope, nuh-uh. Not another question for me. And if anyone asks either of us, we've never had this conversation today. End of story."

"Do you know about the Guild of Truthseeke—"

"I don’t care!” Tanin growled, and he slammed the lectern so hard I thought it'd break.

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It shocked me; I had never seen him angry before. And I hadn't expected him to lose his temper. But I…I knew this topic was important. What they were hiding in the cave. Who they were hiding. I wanted him to be aware. We deserved to know.

Moments passed. Tanin's rage gave way to a look of bewilderment, then a blank, empty stare. He grew pale and eased himself into one of the chairs, where he slumped down.

The room fell silent. No candles or lamps were lit here. The sun casted shafts of crisp light through the windows of the classroom, but we were both in the dark. Shadows hid his eyes. But he gave a single, knowing nod, as though he had pieced together what I was getting at.

“So that’s what it is," he sighed. "Couldn’t blame you for being curious, I guess.”

Maybe I owed him an apology.

On second thought, no, I didn’t. 6E12, the one prophesied to put an end to all these meaningless death games, was right outside our town. How despicable would it be, to bury our heads in the sand. To turn a blind eye, to flee from the sunlight and cower back into Plato's proverbial cave, content to gaze at mere shadows.

“Well?” I asked.

Tanin slowly stood back up. He held onto the edge of nearby desks for support.

"Take care of yourself, kid,” he said. “I'm rooting for you."

Tanin often spoke like that, in vague phrases with inscrutable intent. I used to ponder over them, and had spent much effort deciphering the phrases he used to utter to me. But now I simply couldn't bother to. Did he want to ally with me? Or leave me be? If he had anything important to say, then he should've made it clear.

Still, I think he liked me. Enough to not want to actively screw me over, I'd imagine.

He walked out of the room, leaving me alone in the darkness.

In the afternoon, I returned to my research office. I hadn't much work to do, except make a few edits to my book. Several mages had already bought and used it, and my royalties were trickling in. But so was feedback. People spotted mistakes, pointed out inconsistencies, and asked for clarifications. And Professor Phoenixcourt tasked me with making the necessary corrections; we'd release a Second Edition version soon. He estimated that the revisions would allow the book to provide two additional Arcana Points on top of what it already did.

Before getting to my edits, I left a message in my team notebook. I asked everyone to get together for a meeting. All of us had cultivated a habit of checking our notebooks semi-regularly now, at least once a day. We used it like a group chat, something like a Discord channel.

The Winter Challenge and the discovery of 6E12, combined, had exhausted us. We hadn't even gotten together to talk about next steps yet, and right now we desperately needed to. A meeting between Hei, Saber, and myself would be easy enough to set up; we were usually all home by 11 P.M., plus we all worked at the Institute. Not that I'd want us to discuss anything 6E12-related while we were on Institute grounds.

I had always respected the Institute a little, but my attitudes were quickly shifting to one of distrust. Or at the very least, uncertainty.

Mr. Atlas, meanwhile, left the house around 5 or 6 P.M. on weekdays. Jack's presence in the house had no discernable patterns. Those two were the most difficult to get a hold of.

Saber and Jack responded to me within the hour, agreeing to meet as a team. Atlas and Hei replied a few hours later, and we managed to set up a meeting tomorrow afternoon, at 4 P.M. Those of us working for the Institute would need to leave work early.

I folded my arms atop the desk, then leaned forward and buried my face in them. I had been sleepless much of last night, and though wearied right now, I wasn't the slightest bit drowsy. Tiredness blanketed over me, fogging over my mind and trapping me in a wakeful but dream-like state.

It had been half a year, almost, since I arrived in Silver. The moment I had begun to feel a sense of stability living here, the Seekflower appeared. It changed everything. I knew I still had the option to ignore it, to go on and live life as I once did. But how could I? Sure, like Tanin pointed out, trying to get to the bottom of this mystery had its risks. And yes, I could very well die. There was a chance of that happening. But then again, how much better were my odds of surviving every single Challenge, all the way up to Diamond?

If I found 6E12, maybe I wouldn't need to get to Diamond. Maybe he'd end the game, right now, for myself and for everyone else. And we'd all go home alive. That was what the Guild of Truthseekers told everyone. I didn't want to trust them fully; who knew how reliable they were. If I had to put a percentage on it...would the chance of them telling the truth be 50%, at least? These were the things we'd have to figure out at our team meeting.

Eventually, the time for that meeting came, the next day. All five members of our team gathered in the basement. We had shut and bolted the door leading outside; not even wind seeped through. A pair of oil lamps, hanging from the ceiling, flickered and illuminated the stone walls and dirt floor of the room. We sat in cold chairs that circled a wooden table. In one corner of the basement, sitting upon a dusty shelf, was our Seekflower.

"The cave apparently belongs to the Expedition Division," I began simply. "Of the Combat Institute. At least, that's what I've heard."

“That confirms it then,” Saber muttered. "It’s the Expedition Division,"

“Wait,” I said. “…Are you sure it's them?”

Saber’s lips trembled. Her blue eyes, unfocused and unblinking, stared down into the table’s surface.

“They came for me today,” she confessed. "They came to find me."

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