Chapter 145: 8-2 Allies of Convenience

Following Eris’ declaration, I was taken aback. Of all the things she might have said, asking me to turn her human again was just about the last one I would have expected. It was also the stickiest. Immediately, two thoughts entered my mind.

I could use her; she knows things none of my so-called allies and contacts do. But this is definitely going to result in putting me into a coma, can I afford that at this time?

“...You want me to turn you human?”

Dumbly, I repeated her words back at her.

“Yes!” Eris exclaimed, then took a step back out of my personal space, “Sorry. It’s difficult to maintain composure, you know… You remember when I told you that the Envy family all remember what we lost?”

I did remember but said nothing.

Strictly speaking, I don’t think that’s what happened to Sitri… More like, whatever compulsions and overrides the System was applying to her were stopped.

As I wracked my brain, I kept circling back around to a single point; using my Authority tended to cause me to fall asleep for long periods of time. If that happened now…

Franklin injected, “I’m not going to pretend that I know half of what’s going on… But, you are able to help her, right? What’s the catch?”

“The last time I did what she is asking from me, I fell asleep for several months; mortal bodies straying into the domain of gods and all that.”

“I see.” Franklin fell silent, whatever his thoughts on the matter, he knew better than to share them.

Probably, he believed that I should help Eris; he didn’t have any history with demons screwing him over and playing games with his family members. Likewise, he was a third party, detached from the cost.

And yet, I was hesitating. There was no reason, nothing preventing me from just waving her off. In fact, it would, strictly speaking, be far easier to just get rid of her. And something was telling me it was not entirely the rational acknowledgment that her information would be useful. Somewhere, I was wanting to help her, and I was running in circles to convince myself to do it.

The fact that I was waffling was not lost on Eris, “...If you decide not to, I get it. Just please, don’t hand me over to that vampire.”

So if I don’t help you, then kill you myself. It’s cliche. But, accurate in this case, I guess. At this rate, I may as well admit it; I’m going to end up helping her.

“...Sasha, please inform Lord Emmanuel that I will be moving out of his estate and back to the Drakan camp; a domestic matter has arisen that demands my full attention.”

My maid, still utterly confused by what was occurring in this tiny room under a flight of stairs, curtsied, “As you say, My Lady.”

The last time I had done this, to Sitri, there had been some highly extenuating circumstances. Firstly, my body was done for; I had actually died from my injuries and been brought back. Secondly, I had fully disconnected from the system at the time. It was a fair bet that quite a bit of my extended coma had been the result of that. Thirdly, Sitri hadn’t exactly been a willing participant, and I didn’t have the time to be surgical. It was a fair bet that I could do a lot better with more time, and a lack of resistance from the patient would mean I didn’t have to spend mana overcoming their resistance.

Plus, I have my [Divine Usurper] title now, which should help things along.

If I was lucky, the resulting coma would top out at a week. If I was unlucky, a month. Regardless, all I would be missing was travel, and I would be back before the start of the war proper. With those ideas in mind, I addressed Eris.

“I will grant your request, if only because of the potential it provides me. But, I will not abide your past crimes against humanity. Are we agreed?”

Eris nodded enthusiastically, “Of course! Honestly, I thought you were just going to kill me anyway, so if all I’m getting is a lifetime of punishment, that’s fine with me.”

I shrugged, “Well, as long as you understand. Now, I will not be able actually to do anything until we get back into Drakas proper; until then, you will be kept within sight of either myself or Franklin at all hours. Now, let’s go.”

I say all that, but it’s not like I can really hold her properly accountable; that would require either death, or an inhuman amount of torture. The former would defeat the purpose of saving her, and the latter would prove unpalatable… I’ll think of something, but it will never be sufficient.

At the end of the day, Eris was an Original Sin. One of the worst of all demonkind, second only to their Hell King masters in terms of atrocities committed. Finding a suitable punishment was an actual impossibility and, frankly, even approaching the issue was causing me a small headache. The least she could do was take the role of an encyclopedia, and we could proceed from there.

Strangely, nobody made any attempt to hinder my departure back to the Drakan camp. In fact, Emmanuel went so far as to organize a small impromptu procession; that made me feel a tiny bit bad, as though I was causing problems again. Regardless, I soon found myself back in my carriage, with a now-familiar journal lying open on a tiny, if not ornate, desk in front of me. This was the magic tool I had been using to send reports back to Rupert, Lord Gustav, and Lord Ferdinand; it was paired with another book, and anything written in one would appear in the other.

Granted the mana cost was a bit high, but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t afford. The benefit of having two-way private communication far outweighed the cost, and since the book appeared to be a journal or diary, there was little chance of anyone attempting to read it over my shoulder. That alone was a great boon, as it meant I could be frank and not have to fret over codes and ciphers.

As I considered how best to make this particular report, I rolled the quill between my thumb and forefingers. Out of the corner of my eye, Eris was sitting on a chair, fidgeting uneasily.

Right, well, I should just go and do it.

I put pen to paper and wrote.

“I have successfully vassalized Zesten, without the knowledge of the Alliance. Furthermore, the puppets of Queen of Envy have been excised, bar a single exception; Eris of Envy, Original Sin has requested political asylum. It is my intention to grant the request, as well as take all available measures to seal her skills and class.”

“Additional to the above, I will be returning to Drakas post haste; we have uncovered a lead as to the location of the new Champion of Winter. I believe said lead to be worth pursuing, but require ships to transport my party across the East Seas.”

“I will need to seek the advice of Lords Ferdinand and Gustav as soon as possible.”

The last line was a sort of key-phrase; while still appearing to be a line in a diary entry, it would alert the recipient that I needed to speak with them immediately. I set aside my pen.

“Frieda, please fetch Sir Franklin for me.” I had been favoring Sasha over much recently; even if she was my head maid, it wouldn’t do to heap everything on her.

Upon his arrival, I dismissed everyone save for Sasha, Jacqueline, and Felicity. Despite having just acknowledged my general favoritism, it wouldn’t help things if I went on to confuse my other maids as well; Eris’ presence had already spoiled Sasha.

Speaking of the demon in question, I looked her over once, causing her to sit up straight and stop fidgeting. She had so far stayed true to the stipulation that she remain in either mine or Franklin’s presence at all times, even if it had only been a handful of hours.

“Sasha, Jacqueline, Eris is here with us. It is my intention to grant her request for asylum within Drakas, as well as to exercise my Authority to return her humanity.”

Jacqueline, upon hearing of Eris presence, grasped at a fold of her dress where she kept a hidden dagger, and scanned the room, her eyes eventually settling on the small seat Eris was using. Even if her perception slid right off of the demon, her experience allowed her to pick up on the discrepancy of a seemingly empty seat, once she knew it was a discrepancy. Regardless, she was merely wary, and did not protest my decision.

Sasha, likewise, did not protest, but she did express some disquiet, “Are you certain, My Lady?”

I nodded, “I am. If the demons wished to assassinate me or anyone in my vicinity, they would not approach me so openly, nor would they have surrendered Zesten as they did. Besides that, I have reason to believe that the monsters have largely exterminated the demons of Envy… and Aaron has not informed me of such.”

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Sasha bowed her head, “I see you have given this a great deal of thought; my apologies for my impertinence.”

I waved her off, “Say nothing of it; I appreciate the candor. Now,” I turned to face Eris directly, “I will not do anything regarding your status before re-crossing the border. That said, I want to appraise your status.”

My reasoning was two-fold; I could begin to think of a way to minimize the duration of my coma while we traveled, and it would go some way towards cementing Eris’ sincerity if she allowed this much.

She nodded, “I understand, give me a moment to disable my defenses.”

Following that, she shut her eyes, and I could feel the air in the room change slightly. A fact which caused me to raise an eyebrow.

I never considered setting up passive measures with Blood Magic, the few times I encountered it. I just used brute force to force my way… I guess that’s another reason for granting her request; Sitri was proficient with it as well as I’m sure Eris is. I could learn a fair amount beyond what limited techniques Gustav has shown me.

There was something to be said for finesse, especially if it meant I could spend less mana on a given task. I would know, as my enhancements had gotten progressively more and more fine-tuned, so had the cost of maintaining them decreased. The thought of just keeping a small current of mana constantly active though… I shook my head; there was time to consider it more later.

Eris had leaned forward, placing the top of her head within reach of my hand. My brow furrowed; by physical appearance, she was the same age as me, so patting her head was a bit… I leaned forward and grabbed her wrist instead. Then, I began the process of pouring my mana into her, circulating it over her body, and then pulling it back into myself. She jerked slightly, and grit her teeth.

“Invoke Authority: override appraisal restrictions.”

As usual when invoking my Authority, my voice seemed to reverberate through the air. This much at least would at most just leave me tired; there would not be a coma from bypassing restrictions like this. At least, there had never been previously. Eris’ status information flowed into my mind’s eye. An immediate stab of mental pain caused me to pull back slightly and I discarded her talent list.

Name: Eris of Envy

Age: 2,999

Species: Demon(Envy)

Class/Level: Void Witch 60

Social Strata: Refugee

Ability Values:

•         Strength: C: 395
•         Endurance: C: 395
•         Dexterity: C: 395
•         Intelligence: C: 395
•         Charisma: C: 395
•         Mana: C: 395

Talents: Page 1/113: [Blocked]

Skills: Evy, Talent Void, Void Body, Queen’s Vassal, Shadow Walk, Obfuscator, Skill Mimic, Apathy 2.0, Memory Guard, Null Mind, Jealousy, Envious, Royal Candidate

She had a surprisingly limited number of skills considering her level, and her stats were also quite low considering her species; it was likely that Franklin actually could have killed her if he used the Summer Champion’s Limit break. The real deciding factor would have come down to how she applied Blood Magic in the fight.

Well, she has about what I expected… This is probably a special class sort of thing; that explains why sealing Sitri’s caused her so much pain, it was literally all she had.

“Hmmm.” I nodded my head from behind closed eyes, “This should be doable, thank you for not resisting.” Following that, I released her hand and she collapsed back into her seat gasping for breath.

“...You’re welcome, but did you have to be so rough…? You only needed to read my head, not force Divine Element through my entire body!”

“Ah.” Apparently, there had been a reason she had offered me her head in the first place, “Well… Sorry; I didn’t know I only needed to check your mind.”

I shrugged her off; I really hadn’t known that, and wasn’t entirely sure how I could have known that, considering I was largely self-taught. However, it did explain why everyone always reacted to my touch when I was using appraisal. Something to keep in mind for the future. Not that touching someone’s head would be easy, and they would still feel my intrusion, probably, so it wasn’t like this knowledge would enable stealth appraisal.

At the very least, I can use it to save mana when checking a target that’s resisting me.

“Regardless, I think helping you will be fairly easy. I will not be able to make you human again, but I should be able to return your humanity.”

Her expression was difficult to read; a mixture of sadness and hopeful relief, “Well, I’ll take that much; I’m ready whenever you are.”

She was certainly eager to proceed at least, “Patience. I told you, I’m not doing anything on this side of the border. In fact, it would be best to return fully to the capital beforehand.”

Eris pursed her lips, but didn’t voice any objections.

I could turn her human again; the race field is within the definition of the status sheet, so my Authority might cover it. But, that’s just asking to go into my longest coma yet. The fact is, I can probably just disable a few of her skills, and it would accomplish the same effect while leaving her abilities intact.

[Envy], [Jealousy], and [Envious]. The three sin skills she had were obvious; each one of them made her progressively more… envious. Then, [Void Body] and [Obfuscator]. Both of them had the effect of suppressing her presence, so they would need to go so as to make her visible to my allies. Then “[Apathy 2.0];” the name pretty much screamed that it was a unique skill explicitly designed to torment the demons of envy.

“[Apathy 2.0]: The user’s empathy and righteous emotional responses are dulled to the point where they are easily ignored.”

It had a similar effect to [Cold Hearted], though I had a sneaking suspicion that the description was not wholly accurate. Regardless, disabling that would effectively return her humanity. [Memory Guard] was a skill version of my old [Eidetic Memory] Talent; it was probably what was protecting her original memories. I would leave that one in place.

Lastly, [Queen’s Vassal]. This one I would be removing to protect myself from betrayal. This skill seemed to be the one responsible for binding her to the orders of whoever held the title of Queen of Envy. It was likely that every demon had a version of this skill unique to their species. Well, every normal demon, or perhaps only demons above a certain stage in their evolution or above a certain rank in their hierarchy. Whatever the case, Felicity did not have it.

Those aside, she had two more skills that were of greater interest to me, and the latter worryingly so. The first, [Null Mind] had an identical description to my own recently acquired [Psychic Shield]. Most likely, it was the demon version of that skill. While it hadn’t been indicated, it made me consider the possibility that [Psychic Shield] may very well have been an Undead skill; I was able to take those, after all.

Of more significant concern was [Royal Candidate].

“[Royal Candidate]: Following the death of the Ruler, worthy descendants are granted this skill to mark them for ascension candidacy.”

My eyes strayed invariably to Felicity, propelled by a nagging at the back of my mind; it had been some time since I had last appraised her, and something told me she probably met the criteria to be a worthy candidate. After all, imagine just how interesting that would be.

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