Chapter 215: 5th Hour

September 6th, 625

“Agh! You know, this is not a great way to get on my good side!”

“Not interested.”

I grunted as a knight threw his fist into my stomach. It made me vomit some blood, my organs feeling scrambled. I didn’t have my gear on to protect me.

They left me to stew there for a while before a healer came and whisked away all my wounds. 

I took some deep breaths once I was fine again, shaking my head. 

“That shit runs on fucking wishes and rainbows. Fucking hate magic.”

“Magic is what gives you all your money.”

“Please, I’d make just as much without it.”

“Hm, I suppose I believe that. With your intelligence, you’d do well anywhere.”

I lifted my head, spitting out some of the remaining blood in my mouth before looking at the summoner, still masked. 

“So what’s the plan here, huh? Gonna beat the shit out of me until I like you? I’m not a masochist.”

“No. I’m just buttering you up for my question.”

“Will you tell me what it is already?”

“Not until I have sufficient leverage.”

“What kind of leverage do you think you can get? You think this is making me fear you?”

“Just wait,” He nodded his head to a nearby knight, “Break his legs. I want to hear him scream.”

“Oh yeah?”

I eyed the summoner, my face falling flat as the knight walked over and raised his fists. 

He brought them down right on top of my thighs, hard enough that I could feel my femur snap in real time. 

There was a moment of blinding pain, and I used my Spark to spam my mind with information in order to get through the initial wave. Once I settled and the adrenaline kicked in, I focused back on the summoner. 

I started at him, silently. My breath shuddered a bit but I quickly made it smooth. 

Yeah, I was definitely going to kill this guy.

“They’re here.”

A voice rang out, both of us glancing over at another soldier. The summoner waved. 

“Bring them in.”

He turned back to me as the soldier went to go retrieve some people. I looked at the summoner. 

“Who’d you prepare for me?”

“Who else? Your family.”

“My what?”

I looked at him, baffled. 

Then the people came in, a full family of 5, two parents and three teens. They were shoved into a corner, obviously scared, and obviously not my family.

The healer came and repaired my legs. I hissed when the bone was realigned. 

“That fucking hurts, asshole.”

“John Cooper, I will now present my question. For the sake of your family, I suggest you answer quickly.”

“That’s not my family, dumbass.”

“I will admit that they were hard to track down, but do you really think that you can hide from us? Now, my question.”

He didn’t give me a chance to rebut, taking a rapier and pointing it at the neck of one teenage boy. 

“Who is your contact by which you communicate with the Church.”

“The fuck? What kind of stupid question is that? You think I have some super secret spy that takes my messages to the Church?”

“Well, the technology for your planes has been mimicked there. We want to know how you’re passing on information to them when you haven’t been seen giving them designs in the recent past. So tell me who your contact is or how you communicate with them.”

“Have you ever considered that they have smart enchanters there too? Or that they stole the design like you stole the method to make the bombs?”

“Wrong answer.”

He stabbed forward, sending the sword through the boy’s neck, killing him instantly. The parents screamed, trying to get to him, but knights held them back as he turned the sword to a teenage girl. 

I grit my teeth, “That’s not my family. I don’t know where you pulled these people from but you’re killing innocents.”

“We’ve never seen this man in our lives!” The father cried out, but the summoner didn’t budge. 

“Don’t think you can act your way out of this one Cooper. Hurry and answer.”

He ended his words by killing the girl. She dropped like the boy, the mother filling the room with her shrieks. 

He walked to the last teen, who begged. 

I looked at the summoner, “Even if they were my family, is this how you want to play?”

“I’ll play whichever way works. Answer the question. You’re about to be an orphan.”

“I don’t have a contact and I didn’t pass information to the Church. Nothing you do is going to make me say otherwise.”

“Let’s see about that.”

He killed the last teen, pointing his sword at the father. 

“Still?”

I looked at the two parents, the father being pinned, the mother uncontrollably crying. 

I sighed, “You two have my apology, for as meaningless as it is.”

Then I looked up at the summoner, leaning back against my chair with a neutral face. 

“Go ahead.”

“Hm?”

“Go ahead and kill them.”

He was silent for a few seconds before stabbing both of them, ending their lives. The knights dumped the bodies with their children. 

I glanced at the pile before looking back at the summoner. 

“So? Satisfied yet? Or are you going to kill me too?”

“No, I’m not.”

“Then hurry up and release me. I’m tired and I’d like to sleep in my comfortable bed for the first time in over a month.”

“I’ve also heard that you get tired often. Any reason why?”

“Maybe because I get fucking tired? You wanna go ahead and ask me the brand of soap I use to wash my ass too? Fucking idiot.”

That earned a backhand to the face, a few of my teeth loosening. I spit out some seeping blood. 

“We have a few requirements we want you to meet,” The summoner wiped his rapier, facing me with that blank mask, “First, you are to move out of the Black Spider Hotel. Second, you must dissociate with the Polaris Bank. Third, you won’t step foot into a black market ever again, including the grounds of the Hotel.”

I scoffed, “How greedy. Can’t stand that I didn’t pay taxes on a measly 100 million?”

“Just one of many reasons. And I know Maxwell Albarain is your teacher but you’ll have to find another way to communicate with him. I don’t care how, but you’re smart enough to figure it out. You have the next five hours to pack your things and leave for a proper residence.”

“Man, that’s barely enough time for my nightly jerk off.”

“Then buy yourself a whore.”

He turned his head. 

“Bag him.”

……

…

I was dumped onto the street, fully healed with my gear on my body, but still feeling the phantom pains from their beatings. 

“Remember Cooper. You can’t hide from us. I know you’ll remember that.”

“Take my advice and don’t be a stalker, creep.”

The surrounding cloaks disappeared, and I was right back to where I was when I was grabbed. I sighed, cracked my neck, and started walking again. 

It was already morning. 

I trudged into the Hotel, the Key Master smiling at me. It seemed a bit menacing but I was too drained to care. 

“Hey, Key Master.”

“Good morning, John. You look like you had an eventful night.”

“It was shitty, but yes, it could be considered eventful. Effective in about 4 hours and 43 minutes, I need to move out of my room.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, but don’t worry, I’ll give you what I can. How much has it cost to house me all this time?”

He was silent in thought for a second, “For a bit over 3 years… perhaps 55 million coin?”

“Done. Allow me to deposit now.”

“Hold on a moment.”

He stopped me as I took out my card, “How much do you believe your promises are worth, John?”

“I’m not sure. As much as I can give, I guess.”

“So with one promise I could take all your money?”

“I suppose.”

“Then, as payment for your stay, I’d like you to tell me where you were tortured.”

I looked at him silently for a moment. 

“I’m putting my life in your hands.”

“Indeed. I can utilize more promises, if you believe it too high a price.”

“No, no. Just one.”

“Then…”

He took out one of my bullets, handing it back to me. 

I grabbed it and activated my telepathy.

[Take 6th street down to a bakery just before the intersection with 8th lane. Once inside there’s a back room just behind the counter. Enter it and knock three times on the wall, spaced out by three seconds each, to the left of the entrance. Once through there, descend exactly 202 steps and turn left. The wall there drags open, revealing another tunnel. Walk down it for approximately 664 meters. There’s an elevator platform there that descends into another facility. The room I was brought to was 58 meters to the right, 24 meters left from there, and through a door on the right from there.]

[Very detailed. Thank you.] He responded, surprising me a bit.

I nodded, “Well, I better get up there and pack.”

“No need, Sir Cooper. Take what you need, but know that the room will remain for you when you eventually return in the future.”

“…I appreciate it. I still need to close my Polaris account though.”

“I will notify them in advance for you.”

“Thank you.”

“Then I hope the rest of your day is as good as it can be.”

He stuck out his hand, which I shook before walking off. 

I went to my room first, looking around at all the memories before whisking things away into my storage. It didn’t take long to empty the place of almost everything that I had bought for it, which wasn’t too much since the place had most accommodations in the first place. 

The only thing I left was a framed picture on one of my counters. It was the picture I took with the gang from Divine Distribution. Plex, Rayla, Libitus, and the drunkard in the background. 

I took one last glance at it before walking out. 

From there, I went to the market, walking down the street to the Polaris bank. 

The inside was as lavish as I remembered it. Lady Luna was there as well, standing in front of the counter as I walked in.

She smiled, “John, it’s good to see you. Come.”

I followed silently, walking to a back room. Inside was Maxwell, who frowned at me.

“What did they do to you?”

“They warned me, and killed a family of 5 doing it. How did you know?”

“You think the Church isn’t also watching you? Someone like you doesn’t just disappear without several important people knowing.”

I sat down on a chair and sighed, “You know, I’m starting to think that I need to move around in secret. I’m not enjoying the paparazzi treatment.”

“I don’t think you’d be capable of that.”

“Fucking watch me.”

“How about you just come to the Church instead of trying to prove something?”

I went silent, Luna sighing and stepping between us. 

“I was going to ask a little less obviously, but I have the same recommendation, John. This place doesn’t appreciate you. The Key Master didn’t say much but it’s not hard to fill in the blanks. The 3rd Claw got to you.”

“That’s who they are?”

“Yes. The Kingdom has 4 Claws. The Crown, Special Operations, and Counterintelligence. The 4th Claw is a mere rumor but it’s real as well.”

“Fun.”

I slumped onto a couch, taking out my Polaris Platinum Card and tossing it onto the table in front of me. 

“Cash me out, if you don’t mind.”

“Are you so against joining the Church?” Maxwell asked, making me sigh again. 

“It’s not about being against the Church. I’ve got things to do here. I need to arm these people with weapons that will destroy the Scourge. Speaking of,” I turned to Luna, “I’m going to be passing you my designs for everything. The planes and bombs, as well as the weapons I’ll soon develop. I need you to promise me something, though.”

“What is it?”

“You won’t let the Kingdom find out you have them. If they find out, the 3rd Claw will finish what they started. They already know that you guys are attempting to make the planes yourselves. They thought I gave you designs. Sure, I gave Willow some hints, but the progress you guys are making landed me in trouble.”

She frowned, “That would be difficult. They would want to use the weapons once they were developed.”

I waved, “It’s either you exercise self control or I give you nothing. I would prefer the Church to have these weapons because they are going to give the Kingdom an incredible advantage over the Church as a whole, but I’m not going to die for it. Just figure something out, and I’ll contact you via Aerial later.”

“…Are they really so powerful?”

“We figured out a way to create Elemental Crystals that can release all their power in a single burst. These bombs hold the ability to annihilate entire cities in mere moments, so if you don’t want the Kingdom conducting a one sided war against you, then figure something out.”

“…I understand.”

She nodded solemnly, picking up my Card. My point seemed to get across. 

“We’ll pack the money into a storage. One moment.”

She left the room, just Maxwell and I within. I rubbed my temples. 

“I can’t come back to the markets anymore, so we need to figure something else out.”

“I can come to whatever shack you find yourself in. Don’t worry about that. Just worry about keeping yourself safe. Stop attracting trouble.”

“No promises.”

I replied dryly as Luna came back in. 

“We can implant this storage, John. Would you like to? It’ll be bigger than what you have now.”

“Sure.”

I simply nodded and stood, following her out and to another room. They did the implant quickly, the storage going next to my ribcage. 

“All 124 million coin has been exchanged.”

“Thank you, Luna. I appreciate you.”

“Of course.”

She gave me a quick hug. Then Maxwell stepped forward when I turned to leave, “Consider going to the Church, John. I’m serious.”

“I know.”

I replied and left the room, walking out of the market and passing through the Hotel. 

Another quick goodbye to the Key Master, and I left. 

I stood outside, feeling the cold morning breeze wash over my face. We were nearing winter again and it was starting to feel like it. 

I closed my eyes, sitting there for a short time. 

That bag they put over my head was quite the piece of equipment. I memorized the enchantment it used, how it diverted and confused my Aura as I tried to see through it. My Mind Palace made it easy to take in that information. 

I sighed, not able to recreate the effect with my Aura. Not yet, anyway. I would work on it, and then those people from the 3rd Claw would no longer be able to escape my senses. Whatever equipment they used to scramble Aura would be rendered useless, and if I improved it, nobody would be able to track me with theirs. 

I opened my eyes again. The 5th hour had passed. 

With a turn of the heel, I went to go find another nice hotel to stay at for the day. I’d have to go house hunting tomorrow. Didn’t think it would happen so soon. I had wanted to do it with Umara.

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