Chapter 613 - Overthrowing the Tyrants VI (Patreon)

I wanted to say Arachne had planned it all out, but she hadn’t. She’d given me the knowledge and the tools needed, then let me plan out my infiltration. 

I had a number of traps in my thinking. My training as a Ranger and a Sentinel, overseeing SERE training, and the general grooves of thinking imparted to me were misleading. My critical analysis of Edhallond had me looking for weaknesses in the walls and structure, places where a team of one to eight people could slip in. Guard tower lines of sight, sewer entrances, weaknesses in the rocks and construction, and diagrams of the runic protections inlaid on the walls.

That was the wrong way to go about it.

“You must think about the people involved.” Arachne lectured, pointing to a pile of notes. “None of this requires breaking the city like an egg. It’s the wrong mindset. People.”

Blah. I didn’t want to work on analyzing people. Leave that to the social butterflies.

At the same time, it’s what I needed to do. I picked up the notes, grabbed my Big Book of Social Rules from memory, and started cross-referencing things, looking for patterns and behaviors.

I started off with the guards, the keys to the city, the bulwark against [Adventurers] running roughshod over everything.

Reading through the notes Arachne had on the various [Guards], I was both impressed and horrified. She knew which ones had rocky marriages, which ones had a gambling problem. The lazy ones who rose to the top, and the hard-working [Guards] who didn’t get properly noticed. The ones who had lost more during the Immortal War, and those whose families were nearly untouched.

Dear gods, what did Arachne need me for if she already had all this? I supposed that was part of the point. Intelligence was built on intelligence, and some of the files had last been updated decades ago. There was no telling if the elf with the rocky marriage was still married or not, for example.

Way, way too many incident reports about [Adventurers] clashing with the [Guards], even in the ‘current’ era. It made an obnoxious amount of sense to me thanks to their elven curse.

While I’d learned plenty about blackmail and coercion, I didn’t want to if I didn’t need to. And looking through the records, I found the perfect [Guard] to slip past. Tiris was excellent at catching [Smugglers] and anyone trying to dodge taxes, but didn’t stop anyone else, not even for a cursory talk or examination. I should be able to walk right past him.

Unless he had a skill to peer into pocket dimensions being carried around… but there was no sense in trying to work out every contingency, or play around every skill that might exist. My sanity would be even more frayed if divine blessings came into play. Mormerilhawn had gotten a blessing to ‘See Cheaters’, for all I knew there was someone walking around with the ability to ‘Spot Spies’ or something equally ludicrous. Iona’s blessing was another good example. It would reveal everything I could do in a blink, and while most of my skills played into the cover story I had, my stats and [Sentinel’s Superiority] would cause questions. Then there was Auri’s bond, and it just got messier from there. 

No, trying to play chess against opponents who could make up their own pieces on the spot was a fool’s errand. It was best to play assuming that a pawn wouldn’t morph into a hydra with ‘eat the entire board’, but also worth knowing it existed and to just flat-out run away if it happened.

While I had to plan it all on my own, Arachne had provided me with the proper ‘authentic’ supplies. Investigative and knowledge skills were common - I even had a few of my own, arguably, between my senses, [The World Around Me], [Astral Archives], and [Luminary Mind] - and the more ‘genuine’ I could be, the better.

I spent an hour circling around a dense thicket in the forest, carefully scanning for anyone, or any signs of a skill. Content that the biggest threat to my presence was a warren of rabbits, I uncloaked on the dirt, picked myself up, and started the 256 mile trek to Edhallond.

I couldn’t just run there, nooo. Arachne had a sense of humor, and my cover name was “Rabbit” in Creation. “Bunny” was too much of an overlap from when I was [Legionnaire] Bunny, but Rabbit worked.

I was already hoping this would be a relatively short infiltration. How long did it take to overthrow a few despots anyway?

Rabbit didn’t have 780,000 points of speed. Rabbit couldn’t run on strings. Rabbit was a strong [Healer] - there was no sense in trying to hide my tag long term - but Rabbit was about to have a miserable time.

Rabbit wasn’t an outdoorswoman. 

My trek was slow and stumbling. A branch was across the path, and I ran into it, letting it catch on my clothes and leave leaves in my hair. I splashed through a puddle on the path, nevermind that I had a dozen ways of getting over or around it without leaving a trace of mud on my tunic, and I slept in a cold and miserable pile overnight while dinosaurs made all sorts of growls and noises.

That had to be the worst part. Just lying there, staring off into the dark, bored out of my gourd just to properly sell the image.

The scariest part was about halfway through the trip. The elven woodlands were green and fertile, exploding with life. Fungal life wasn’t excused, and I froze in terror when I spotted a mushroom ring off in the depths of the forest.

It can’t hurt me. I repeated to myself. It’s over there, and I’m over here.

I was protected. One of my never-thought about Biomancy improvements had been to insert a small amount of cold iron into my body. I didn’t want to test it, and I was suddenly aware how alone I was. There was no Auri with me, Iona wasn’t holding my hand. If I ended up in the ring, I’d be lost without my friends and family.

Breathe. In and out. I reminded myself again. One step in front of the next.

Hesitating, my heart pounding so loudly I could hear it in my ears, I started forward again. I was nowhere close to it. I’d paid for my offenses. There was no reason for them to reach out and fuck me over again. They didn’t reach out of their rings. 

[Scribe] Rabbit didn’t have a history with the fae.

The issue distracted me until I was nearly at the gates of Edhallond.

I smiled inside as I spotted Tiris on duty, my timing spot on. He had the classic ‘farmer pose’ - in a tilted back chair, feet on a stool, hat over his eyes, with a long wheat stalk in his mouth. The only thing giving him away was his guard uniform. People were freely walking in and out of the open gates, and I joined the throng, simply walking right into Edhallond.

Proper prior planning prevents piss poor performance. Good intelligence and a good plan let me literally walk right in. The auras hit me like a wave. There were at least two… no, make that three potent auras in the city, and a few dozen minor ones. The improved eyesight one was subtle, given my existing modifications. The mud simply fell off my sandals, and every breath of air felt fresh and crisp. I could get used to living like this!

I was going to add mine to the mix right… now! Ahha! Elaine, destroying the medical economy of Edhallond! Prompt, free medical attention for all!

As many people as there were going in and out of the gates, Edhalllond felt like a ghost city. It was built like it could host two millions souls, but there were maybe ten thousand in it. The streets wanted to be packed full of people, but there was enough room that I could freely dance and spin my way without worrying about hitting anyone. Alleys that should be crowded with vendors hawking their wares were left to the strays. Several massive buildings had collapsed into rubble. The city hadn’t been entirely spared the ravages of the Immortal War, and I paused for half an hour to watch an elf single-handedly repair a building alone. Each block levitated into place, then the cracks sealed themselves over as the next set of blocks moved into position.

I knew the math, I knew how heavy all of that was. I wanted to whistle to show how impressed I was - but the place was too quiet for me to do that.

From there I needed to find the administrative building. I barely got any looks from the passing elves. I was just another non-elf in the city that claimed the inheritance of Remus. One of the more famous claims was the multi-nationalism. Everyone was welcomed in Remus, from the smallest gnomes to the tallest giants, from the short-lived goblins to the Immortal races. It didn’t stop the elves from being the majority, but I wasn’t getting too many strange looks. Most of them I was willing to chalk up to my slightly disheveled appearance.

“Excuse me deary, are you lost?” A matronly elf planted herself squarely in my path as she asked me in High Elvish. “Oh! Where are my manners, you might not speak the language. Excuse me, are you lost?” She repeated in a dozen different languages, rapidly shifting between them. She started to fuss over me, picking leaves out of my hair and fixing my torn tunic with a wave of her hands.

It was like the overbearing mother I never wished for.

“No, no, I’m fine, thank you.” I waved her down in High Elvish, then had a thought. “Unless you know where I can rent an apartment?”

I already had a place in mind, thank you Arachne, but Rabbit shouldn’t know.

Also, being able to rent an apartment was wild to me. Orthus was doing extremely well, but we were still in the ‘community comes together to help build the newcomer’s farmstead’ stage, not nearly to the point where we were considering apartment buildings, landlords, and rent! The scale and speed of progress was dizzying.

And somewhat depressing. No wonder people got into spats… thirty seconds after the Immortal War was over, someone had erected apartment buildings and was going to charge rent to people to live there.

Forever.

The war was barely over and a small part of me was wondering when the next one would be. Like, come on. This was ridiculous.

“Oh yes! Minastan over on Lasse street. Are you sure I can’t help you with anything else? A good meal, perhaps? Hot tea?”

“No no, I’m fine, thank you.” I said, trying to politely extract myself from the smothering elf.

“Well… if you’re sure…” She said doubtfully, looking me up and down again. “If you need anything, ask for Fugri, I’ll do what I can for you.”

She left me with a concerned pat on my shoulder, and I continued on.

I found the administrative building at last. It wasn’t like they put guards on everything. From what I understood, there weren’t a lot of guards in the first place. The army had conscripted most of the fighters for the war against the demons, leaving the city undermanned. Plus, it was still picking itself up after the war.

I walked right in, already reading the thousands and thousands of documents lying throughout. Even if this failed, even if I didn’t get the job, I’d still done my job.

Heck, the backup plan was for me to walk to a nearby park every day. The administrative building was on a large road, I’d just be one more face among thousands, able to read everything inside thanks to [Scripture Savant] and [The World Around Me]. In many ways, my job would be easier if I took that route. The major downside would be agency. I couldn’t influence things to nearly the same degree if I simply peeked at the new paperwork once a day, versus potentially changing things around.

“Hi! I’m looking for Tecindo. I’m hoping there’s a [Scribe] position available?” I asked the man at the front desk. He eyed me doubtfully, visibly shrugged, and gave me an answer.

“Second floor, take a left, first door on the right. Can’t miss it, look for the waterfall. Knock and wait for a response. Please promptly leave if he asks you to.”

I beamed at him, letting the insult wash right over me.

“Thank you!”

I mentally reviewed my backstory one last time. The [Healer] tag was impossible to hide. Wandering healer, managed to barely survive the Immortal War, looking for a calmer place to live and a change of pace. My third class would be mentioned on the reading aspect and memory. I could sell my speed and dexterity as writing-related skills. It was all planned out! 

I was a little excited for my first foray into spycraft and espionage. 

I hesitated before I knocked on the door. Not out of any concern of the mission, but because it was a gorgeous work of art. Even in a boring bureaucratic building, an [Artisan] had spent countless hours of labor on every door, each one worthy of being preserved in a museum.

Or a library-museum, as the elves did it.

It was a mountainous view of a thundering waterfall pouring down into a serene pool. Flowers and trees dotted the side, and I swear I could see the wind rustling the ferns. The details went down to the tiniest grain. I could see little beetles on the roses. I could see the fine mist off the spray. 

I searched for a place where I could knock without fear that I’d break something, finally tapping a finger on a mostly flat surface. 

“Enter.” The elf said, putting away his quill.

I slipped into the room, closing the door behind me.

“Hi! I’m Rabbit! I know this is out of the blue, but I’m hoping I could get a job as a [Scribe] here. I-”

“You’re hired. Let me show you around.”

What.

That was way too easy!