by Neven Iliev
“Yes.”
Fizzy’s eyes became even wider as she gazed at Boxxy in complete shock.
“Was this after the Cal– the destruction of Monotal?”
“Yes.”
He was convinced they were talking about the same thing. All merchant traffic going in and out of Erosa was logged, and that convoy was the only one that fit both the timing and the description. Well, it had taken a while to confirm this since they never found one of the wagons, but the personal effects recovered from the scene left no doubt as to the owner’s identity.
“So you were at the site of that ambush?”
“Yes.”
“Did you come upon it before it was attacked?”
“No.”
“After the attack?”
“No.”
“Ah, so you happened upon it while it was already under attack?”
“Yes.”
He scribbled some more details in his notebook while Fizzy listened intensely. She was so nervous she felt like her heart was going to leap through her skull.
“Did you kill everyone there?”
“No.”
She relaxed a bit ...
“But you killed some of them?”
“Yes.”
... then panicked.
“Did that include two male gnomes?”
“No.”
Then came relief ...
“So they’re still alive?”
“No.”
... followed by grim acceptance ...
“Then where are their bodies?”
“I ate them.”
... that instantly turned into rage.
“YOU BASTARD!” screamed Fizzy, unable to handle this rollercoaster of emotions.
A boot forced her down to the cold stone ground. It mercilessly pressed upon her back, squeezing the air out of her lungs. It was as if a mountain had just sat down on top of her, robbing her of the ability to speak or even breathe properly. Although it did little to stem the flow of tears streaming from her eyes.
She’d known they were dead. Even if the bodies were never found, she just knew. But hearing that this creature had brazenly eaten them felt like the ultimate insult to their memory.
“So they were dead when you found them?”
“Yes.”
“What about the adventurer escort? Did you kill them?”
“Yes.”
“Bandits as well?”
“Yes.”
“You ate all of those people, too?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because they were there.”
That was it. Nothing more, nothing less. Boxxy was a monster. A creature that attacked others without warning and for little reason ... the kind of thing that only saw the lives of others as an obstacle between itself and its goals.
The metal door outside of the Mimic’s field of vision opened up once more, followed by numerous sets of footsteps. A squad of several armoured guards stood in front of the Spymaster and saluted him respectfully.
“Spymaster Allen, sir!” said the one with the extra-shiny hat. “We’re ready for you.”
“Excellent. I think we’re about done here. Show this creature to the site, I will be there shortly. And do be careful with the cage – don’t want to lose any fingers.”
“Yes, sir!”
Edward picked the gnome up off the floor and left the jail cell to give the men enough space. Four men walked into the room and stared at the bizarre creature with looks of clear apprehension. One of them went over to the box that was stuck to the side of the cage, unlocked it, and flipped one of the switches on the inside. The electrical current coursing through the metal bars died down immediately. The cage was then picked up and carried out of the dank cell and towards the surface.
“Where are they taking it?” Fizzy asked in a quivering voice once they had gone.
Edward dropped her roughly on the ground. “Nowhere that’s of any concern to you, prisoner.”
Fizzy sat up and glared at the man. “Why am I even here?”
“You seriously don’t know?”
“No. Nobody has told me anything about it!”
“Why, it’s because you have to pay for your crimes, of course!”
“What crimes?”
“Let’s start with gross negligence that led to the death of others.”
“ … What?”
“Your incompetence sent that creature into a murderous rampage that not only cost the lives of at least twenty of the city’s protectors but also caused a riot that resulted in the death of fifteen more civilians and dozens more injured.”
“Wuh … what? You’re pinning that thing’s behaviour on me?”
“Are you saying your rash actions did not set that chain of events into motion?”
“B-b-but-but what was I supposed to do? Some monster was messing with my brain!”
“Did you not think to hire adventurers?”
Fizzy was struck speechless. Of course that had been the best possible solution. That much was painfully obvious now that someone else had pointed it out. Even if she was worried the guards wouldn’t believe her words, there was no way sell-swords wouldn’t believe her gold. Dealing with monsters was their speciality, after all. If one thought about things logically then, one could indeed say her failure to handle the monster had set off a dreadful chain of events.
She refused to believe it, though. “I’m not buying it!” she insisted. “How is any of that negligence? If anyone’s at fault it’s the shitty guards who can’t do the jobs my taxes are paying them for!”
It was a valid argument. Keeping monsters outside the walls or subduing them should they get in was the responsibility of local law enforcement. There was no way a peace-loving citizen could be expected to rationally handle a situation where they found themselves confronted with a monster. This victim blaming nonsense that was being thrown at her was ridiculous, to say the least.
Edward, however, completely ignored her protests and continued piling it on.
“You also taught it a Job without verifying its identity with an Appraisal. Moreover, you failed to register yourself as a Mentor, nor did you apply for the appropriate teaching license.”
Okay, he had a point there. Those things were undoubtedly illegal, but the treatment she was getting did not match those administrative misdemeanours.
“Then let me pay my fines and get on with my life!” she insisted.
“And it is the result of my observations that I have found you guilty of colluding with a foreign power to knowingly and willingly spread chaos within His Majesty’s territory.”
With a completely deadpan voice, this human had just said the most ludicrous thing she’d ever heard. Fizzy understood at once that her imprisonment was never a matter of guilt or innocence but simply this man’s whim. And she couldn’t do anything about it. After all, if someone in power wanted a commoner – especially a non-human like her – thrown in prison, then they could make up any myriad of reasons and nobody would bat an eye.
“Why?” she asked with a shaky voice. “What do you want from me!”
“Ah see, we have a good, old-fashioned war brewing, and I would very much like your assistance with the war preparations.”
As wondrous as they were, the vast majority of an Artificer’s creations were weapons. Instruments of death and destruction that could be used by anyone after a bit of training. It was a relatively young profession whose military applications had not been fully explored yet. Edward was quite keen to get ahead of the curve in that regard, and this pink-haired gnome was the perfect pawn to assist with unlocking that potential in secret. Granted, it wasn’t a project high on his priority list, but he wouldn’t pass up the opportunity that presented itself to him.
“You can’t make me do that!” Fizzy insisted.
“Oh, but I can,” answered Edward. “You’re a convicted prisoner. Military service is your sentence.”
The gnome’s heart sank.
Her father always believed Artificers could be more than merchants of death. That their craft could be used for the betterment of life, instead of simply ending it. He dedicated his life’s work towards that noble goal. All of his research and experiments were simply intended to create devices of convenience and nothing more. And while he did design and build a few weapons, those were only meant as a means of self-defence with the intention to stun and incapacitate, rather than kill. He was no pacifist, but that did not mean he wanted to be a murderer.
A naive and foolish ideal that had been hammered into Fizzy since her birth.
“Don’t worry,” said the old man with a rotten smile on his face. “I’m sure you’ll work off your debt to society after a few decades of hard labour!”
He tossed her inside the cell Boxxy had been in just a minute ago and shut the door, then walked off after the other guards.
Part Three
The Emperor’s Spymaster walked out of the dungeon and into the courtyard of Erosa’s central castle. The ground was hard-packed dirt with not a scrap of vegetation left after being trampled on by countless pairs of feet on a daily basis. He made his way across the open space and went into the seventeen-metre-tall white stone tower that housed the city’s branch of the Arcaneum.
The Arcaneum was a government-controlled guild in charge of magical study and research. Although Jobs and Skills came ‘pre-packaged’ with their own crafting recipes, enchantments, and Spells, that did not mean it was impossible to develop new ones. It was considerably difficult, time-consuming, and expensive, but it was definitely possible. This was the Arcaneum’s primary function but by no means the only one. The organization’s secondary duty was to investigate, document, and, if necessary, contain and/or dissect the bizarre and illogical.
In a way, it was an oddly fitting place for Boxxy’s upcoming Appraisal, as it was clearly an anomalous creature. Initially, the Spymaster had foregone analyzing his monstrous prisoner’s Status because he thought it a waste of time. After all, it was borderline impossible to properly assess a monster’s natural Job and Skills if the one doing the inspection was an enlightened.
‘Enlightened’ was the general term used to collectively refer to the civilized races of this world. The ones that flocked together, hid behind walls and achieved their goals as a species mostly through wits, intelligence, and tools. They had a completely different way of thinking and understanding from the predominantly violent and highly instinctive monsters they shared a world with. It was a gap between their mental states that was impossible to bridge, which was why Appraisal – be it Basic or Full – tended to be mostly useless on monsters. If attempted, the only outcome the appraiser would get was a head filled with garbled gibberish.
There was one exception to this, however. If the Scribe performing the check was extremely knowledgeable about the monster being appraised, then it was possible to lift the veil on its Skills and Jobs. The catch was that such a level of understanding could only be achieved after years of study, research, and autopsy of that specific species of monster. Unfortunately, Edward’s personal Scribe was no scholar, so the most she would normally get out of a monster’s Status was its HP and MP. Maybe the Attribute scores if they were lucky.
As it turned out, however, the Spymaster’s box-shaped prisoner had two enlightened Jobs. The interrogation had revealed that it was both a Warlock and an Artificer, in addition to somehow being involved in the Calamity. Hence the reason Edward found himself very eager to find out exactly what the Appraisal might reveal.
He walked into the Arcaneum tower and went to its basement. This served as a ceremonial chamber used to perform the various rituals and rites the tower’s residents required. It was a wide open space about ten-by-fifteen metres in size and an abnormally high ceiling almost four metres tall. Stone support columns dotted the inside and rows of bookshelves lined the walls. Tomes, parchments, paints, bushels of dried herbs, bowls of powdered substances, chunks of ores, jars of pickled monster parts, and a plethora of other resources, ingredients, and reagents were all lined up and waiting to be put to use. Plain-looking chandeliers adorned with white magical lights dangled from the ceiling, bathing the subterranean chamber with so much light it appeared brighter than the outdoors. The floor itself was covered in dull grey brickwork, almost like the dungeon Edward had just left. A significant part of it was charred, scratched, cracked, or otherwise stained with various dried up substances – likely remnants of past rituals.
The Spymaster looked around and spotted a group of five individuals in the far corner, huddled around the familiar black cage. He approached them briskly, eager to move his interrogation of the monster to the next step. He’d given the order to prepare this space the instant he realised his prisoner was a Warlock, but it took a while to have those wand-twirlers vacate the chamber. It would not be an exaggeration to say this was a national security situation, so minimizing potential intelligence leaks was a given. Ideally, he wouldn’t have done this in such a relatively public place, but this spot was necessary for what he planned to do.
“Sir!”
The four guards that had escorted the monster there saluted him respectfully when they noticed his approach.
He returned the salute. “Thank you, gentlemen. That will be all. Leave us, and inform the rest of the Arcaneum we are not to be disturbed. Do not let anyone in here unless it is literally a matter of life or death. Or else it will become one. Understood?”
“Yes, sir!”
The guardsmen quickly made their way out without uttering another peep. They didn’t quite know who this stranger was, but none dared speak up against him. They’d been told he was their superior in both rank and ability, which was all they needed to know. Besides, it was common knowledge around the keep that he had subdued that vicious creature with a single blow. He was far more intimidating in person though, to the point that a few of them were inwardly questioning which one was the real monster.
Edward waited for the men to leave the basement, then turned to face the last person remaining in the chamber. She was a woman of average height and build, shoulder-length black hair and slanted yellow eyes. Her face was mature and attractive, but her ice-cold expression was severe enough to send chills down one’s spine. Her outfit consisted of an armour set nearly identical in design to Edward’s, clearly marking her as one of his subordinates.
“Zone, are you ready for the Appraisal yet?” he asked matter-of-factly.
The woman nodded.
“Get to it then, and give me the short version.”
The female operative walked up to the caged monster, which studied her curiously with its out of place head. She unlocked the powered-down cage and walked inside. She reached out over its head and placed a hand on its lid, an act which caused Boxxy quite a bit of distress. It instinctively wanted to lash out and hurt this woman, but an overpowering glare from that man quickly erased any such rebellious thoughts. Besides, it wasn’t like it would hurt, right? Adventurers supposedly did this sort of thing all the time, after all.
The woman called Zone opened her mouth and quietly chanted two words. “Full Appraisal.”
Boxxy immediately felt an extremely disturbing sensation. As if countless tiny insects had come out of her hand and spread out across its surface, then burrowed into its faux-wood shell. The invisible bugs that weren’t actually there enveloped it completely, crawling and tasting it all over. A few seconds later, the woman started reporting on its Status in a quiet, monotone voice.
“Name - Boxxy T. Morningwood. Greater Mimic, 3 months old. HP at 1,524. MP at 1,210. Monster Job – unknown. Assumed Level 40 to 50 based on the number of unknowable Skills. Level 25 Warlock. Summon Familiar 7, Power Overwhelming 6, Demonology 6, Crystallize Magic 5. Level 12 Artificer. Clockwork Expertise 3, Explosives Handling 2. General Skills consist of Stealth 7, an unknowable Skill assumed to be Shapeshift and a total of six Mastery Skills, ranging from 3 to 8.”
Having finished her duty, she
took her hand off the chest. The disgusting sensations permeating Boxxy’s body stopped instantly, leaving it with a feeling of somehow being violated. It was not a tasty sensation.
“Hmm … It’s quite tough for its Level isn’t it?” mused the Spymaster. “I’m starting to see how it could kill so many guards so quickly. Also, a total of over seventy-five levels in three months? Well, all things considered, that’s perhaps even a little low. Zone, is that there?”
“Yes. Butcher of Humanity Perk is present.”
“So it was that after all, huh?”
The Slayer series of Perks were received after killing hundreds upon thousands of beings of the same species. The first rank, known as ‘Slayer,’ was awarded after one had killed 500 of a specific species. Getting that kill count up to 2,000 would upgrade the perk to ‘Hunter.’ Racking up 5,000 would turn one into a ‘Butcher,’ and 20,000 would turn them into a ‘Natural Enemy.’ However, although these Perks did raise one’s prowess when fighting a specific species, they also had an additional side effect that was not readily apparent.
Much like Taboo, the Slayer series of Perks altered the way others perceived the holder, and it grew stronger with each upgrade stage. In this monster’s case, humans would feel an instinctive fear that caused them to shy away from it. Edward himself felt it, although it took him a while to notice since his Nerves of Steel Skill dulled the effects of external mental influences like that. It wasn’t until he had spoken to the creature for a few minutes that he did start feeling an odd sense of unease, followed by beads of cold sweat forming in his palms for no apparent reason. It affected him even though he had reached Job Level 100 and Ranked Up to become an ascendant – a being significantly stronger, faster, and smarter than a regular human.
Edward rubbed his temple. “I should have just started with the Appraisal,” he grumbled.
He felt foolish for thinking it wouldn’t yield any useful information. He trusted his common sense and wasted his own time, but it was hardly a bad call. After all, who would’ve thought this simple creature would be capable of gaining not only one, but two Jobs that would normally be inaccessible to such a monster? The Artificer one had clearly been taught by the gnome, which meant the Warlock one was likely taught by some equally naive Warlock trainer. Or a malicious one.