Chapter 92 A Mostly Successful Job.

  Through Isaac’s pounding headache, the world went by in a blur. He could do nothing but rely on his instincts and memories. Twelve feet to the ground, then the water was about four feet deep. He couldn’t make a splash otherwise everyone would know where he was so he had to soften his landing. Softening his landing meant expending energy of some kind, probably mana, which could alert those more sensitive to such things, not to mention wards and traps. It was with those thoughts in mind that Isaac held his shadow-cloak together in an iron grip and tried his best to slow his fall without expending any mana. It was an entirely mental effort that was stuck trying to wade through the fog of missing memories.

  Isaac tried to count his fall as he held his breath. It was one and a half seconds before his feet touched the nearly ice cold water. The water broke his fall and his shadows caused no sound as they impacted and carved through the water. The water itself did make a sound though. It was a clap and a burble which got the attention of the guard on the balcony. Isaac crouched with his fall which submerged him entirely below the surface of the water. His body threatened to lock up on him from the sudden shock of cold but it wasn’t too bad for him to handle. It was actually helpful for him, very helpful in fact as it took the edge off of his pounding headache.

  Isaac grabbed onto the large heavy stones that lined the tiny man-made river and turned over so he was facing upwards. His clothes were instantly soaked which helped to drag him lower and he waited there for a long moment. The underside of the water, looking towards the midnight heavens was a surreal experience. It made him feel like he was no longer on Primatia, like he was never supposed to be on Primatia.

  Isaac’s heartbeat slowed from both the cold and his conscious effort in an attempt to make his limited oxygen supply last as long as possible. As it did so, his mind was left to wonder in a near meditative state.

  ‘I’m not really supposed to be here, am I?’ Isaac’s mind asked his brain.

  ‘No.’ Was the reply.

  ‘I should’ve been dead, living through the afterlife of *****.’ His mind thought.

  ‘Yes.’ His brain agreed.

  ‘People have died who wouldn’t have if I hadn’t come here. People who might’ve done a lot of good in the world.’ His mind went on.

  ‘And many others have died who were doing no good at all.’ His brain amended.

  ‘Aria and Claus might still be alive.’ Isaac’s mind pondered. ‘And so would Esk’s brother.’

  ‘And so would those guards who tried to assault Lenna and so would Shamsha.’ His brain once again amended.

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  ‘Does that mean the scales are balanced?’ Isaac wondered. ‘Does the removal of two good pieces and a neutral one equate to the removal of four bad ones?’

  ‘That isn’t something we are responsible for.’ Isaac’s brain came to the conclusion and put it forth. ‘That is Justice’s job. Not even Judgment can decide that. That is why he has a skill that hits people with how tipped the scales are against them.’

  Isaac sighed and slowly lifted himself to the surface of the water. From the outside it looked as though a few bubbles had been spontaneously created and burbled to the top of the water. As soon as Isaac’s face was out of the water, he looked up to see the guard from before staring down directly at him with squinting eyes and his lantern held over the edge. He looked like he was trying to see what had made the noise and where the bubbles had come from but he couldn’t see anything.

  ‘This is really like cheating, isn’t it?’ Isaac asked himself only to wait for a reply. None came but he knew that it was. A combination skill that was an Invisibility, Protection From Divination, and a limited version of Illusory Counter Terrain Deformation spells all at once. From outside, it didn’t even look like the water had been moved even though there was an Isaac shaped space where there was no water. Isaac waited there, on his back, in the water, for the guard to leave. It only took another minute, which was enough time for the rest of the castle to go into lockdown, for the guard to leave. Once he did, Isaac extricated himself from the water and put his wet clothes into his Inventory. He then grabbed a towel and dried himself as he moved away from the small man-made stream.

  The cold and exotic feeling of being out in the open while naked and yet not exposed finished clearing his head as he made his way back to the visitors building. As he approached, he saw a few important looking guards begin heading that way. Isaac had barely managed to get his dry pair of pants on by then and sprinted the distance to get ahead of them. Once he rounded the corner to get behind the building, and out of sight of the guards, he shadow-stepped into the building through a window. Once inside, Isaac shadow-stepped again to reach the bathroom where his bath had been drawn. Once there, he took off his pants and made a pile of clothes as if he had just stripped, and then sank down into the tub while he let his shadow-cloak fade.

  “Ah, the feeling of a nice warm bath after a mostly successful job.” Isaac sighed into the water. “A hot bath is so much better than a cold one.”

  Isaac didn’t get to enjoy his bath for long before there was a knock on the door. “Lord Darkness, it is Sergeant of the Royal Guard, Flinn Jamison, I simply request confirmation that you are here. There has been an incident.” Isaac heard from the other side.

  “You may enter, but only one of you, I get shy in front of a lot of people.” Isaac called back in a voice leaden with boredom and just a hint of annoyance but enough jest as to not scare the guardsman.

  The guardsman cleared his throat and opened the door. Isaac cracked an eye open and gave him a lazy wave. “Grab the glow stone on your way out. It’s too bright in here for me to relax properly.” Isaac told the guard who immediately complied while taking as gentle and light of steps as his armor would allow for on the tile floor.

  “I apologize for the inconvenience.” The guardsman told him with a bow before he left. Once he was gone, Isaac fully settled in to enjoy the hot soak. Less than two minutes later, Lenna went upstairs and entered the bathroom.

  “Miss me?” Isaac joked with a half smile.

  “You look worn out.” Lenna told him as she closed the door behind her. The room was totally dark save for the light that shone in from under the door, which was more than enough light for the two of them to see clearly. If anything, Lenna could finally truly see clearly as the light wasn’t putting unnecessary pressure on her eyes.

  “You know, not knowing what the trigger conditions are for traps is frightening.” He confided in her. “Every move I made, each step and breath, I was waiting to get jump-scared by a lethal or near lethal trap. I was surprised that the only traps that measured the air itself were in her office.”

  “How was the escape? It seemed like they didn’t know how anyone had managed to escape after they had gotten in, not that they knew how someone had entered in the first place.” Lenna asked him and took a seat on the towel bench.

  “The water was cold.” Isaac grumbled. “And if it wasn’t for my shadows working better on people than on magical wards, then either I wouldn’t have set off any alarms at all or I would have gotten caught while sitting in the stream under the balcony.”

  “Well, walk me through it and tell me what you think you could have done better.” Lenna told him.

  “A debrief?” Isaac wondered and cracked an eye. He met her gaze and she nodded. “Alright.” He agreed. After a focusing breath, he began the tale of his five minute adventure.