Of Mages and Rogues

-20th of March (same day as the last 2 chapters), morning, near Silvana-

“Hello? Is anyone around?” she heard a woman’s voice call out near her tent. Within seconds, the sleepy haze was removed from her eyes, and she turned from her back and got into a position similar to low crouching.

Cecilia scanned her surroundings quickly and confirmed that nobody had gone into her sleeping place. The morning sun was casting a thin ray of light through the tent’s entryway, serving as the only light.

After a few seconds in silence, she heard a twig snap somewhere outside of the tent. Cecilia quickly fixed her sleeping garnets (consisting of a slick shirt and long pants, both hugging her body nicely but allowing enough freedom of movement for her tastes) and took a calculated step back.

“Hello?” a voice of a woman repeated. “Miss Storm Rogue, are you here?”

‘Someone’s here to see me?’ she thought as she made a careful step back, feeling the tent’s thick fabric on her hand as she reached behind. Within seconds, she was searching for a knife she had always packed near when she slept. Thankfully for her, it was just where she left it, still hidden in its sheath. Quickly rotating it in her hand, she slid it quickly into her pants, right next to her right leg, and did her best to cover it with her shirt. Then, she focused deeply, trying to pick up any sounds coming from the outside.

A few long seconds passed with no significant disturbance. Storm Rogue breathed half a sigh of relief, and she made a silent step toward the entryway. Her head within half a meter from the ray of light, Cecilia did her best to look for the person within the limited field of view, but the blazing light suddenly entering her eyes made doing so more difficult than needed.

"This is a waste of time," she heard a manly voice from somewhere nearby. "If you wanted to ask her some questions, you should've said so earlier. I'd have rallied a group and brought her to you."

"Chris, for crying out loud, we're not here to apprehend her," the woman's voice sounded, a bit of anger tinting her tone. "I swear, it's like you're trying to find Travis guilty in any way possible."

"I'm just being a realist, Aria," the voice of the man sounded again. Chris, as he was called, had a hearable edge of annoyance in his tone. "He's affiliated with her, and she's a complete mystery. Don't tell me you don't see a connection."

"Chris, he did not know I'm an Inspector."

'Authorities...?' Cecilia's heart sank momentarily at Aria's words. Her gray eyes flashed in the tent's dim interior as she turned her head, scanning over her belongings. However, a sigh of relief left her mouth when she realized nothing out of the ordinary was present.

"But don't you find it strange that all of that happened the same night Nimmel and Huran left for Poiri? He disappeared the next day without a word, and he's not even from around here. You can't tell me all of this is some kind of a coincidence."

"How would you know if he's from around here, Chris?" Aria asked, slightly quieter now.

"I... he didn't seem like a local, is all. All I want is to uncover the truth, Aria."

"*Sigh* So do I, Chris. Just... please, leave it for later. For now, why won't you let me work?" the woman's tone sounded a little defeated.

...

Cecilia heard a bit of movement, indicating that the man had moved slightly away. In the meantime, with soft steps, Aria approached her position carefully.

"Miss Storm Rogue?" the woman's voice sounded again, and she stepped into Cecilia's field of view. "Are you there?" she asked with a bit of uncertainty, but her feet clad in black shoes stepped near the ashes left of the campfire. "I do not have ill intentions, I promise."

“...who is there?” she asked cautiously, her hand slowly going to the tent's opening.

“I’m Aria Brinn, substitute Inspector working on behalf of Central Fornian Militia Service in Silvana. Your student is Travis Salliv, correct?”

"...what of it?"

“May I ask a few questions concerning his situation?”

Cecilia felt her veins pulse slightly. A slow exhale left her mouth as she reached for the entryway of the tent and made her way outside.

As her eyes were getting used to the brightness of the morning, Cecilia looked to her left and saw a rather small woman (or was she still a girl?), about a head smaller than herself. The white hair of barely shoulder length was cut slightly unevenly, and her green eyes were full of tiredness, bags under her eyes were evidence of the lack of sleep she must've experienced lately. Still, as etiquette would require, she was wearing an immaculate suit worn by Inspectors, consisting of a wide jacket of khaki color over a beige shirt, long pants covering her entire legs and her feet outfitted with neat, almost shining boots in black color. On her shoulder, she was wearing a rather small bag with a magic seal (given to all Inspectors to carry important items and sensitive documents when need be), dark brown in color.

Nearby, she saw a tall, powerful man standing in a militia uniform, a hand near the handle of his sword. He stared at her with caution, ready to act in an instant. His bulky body was just barely hidden underneath the armor, and his gaze was sharp and cautious.

“…what’s the matter?” Cecilia asked, her gray eyes looking at Aria.

The young woman answered, “Three days ago, there was an incident involving your student. He has been apprehended under the accusation of owning a counterfeit MID.”

‘A counterfeit? I never thought he’d be the type.’ “Did he really have one?”

“Unfortunately, the said MID was destroyed in the process of apprehension, so it’s impossible to either prove or disprove that claim. He has been questioned using an Orb of Truth, and his claims suggest that his MID was legitimate. That was confirmed by the Orb."

“So…?” Cecilia asked, urging Aria to continue.

“Orb of Truth is not an all-powerful tool. It only reads whether the person speaking believes in what they’re saying. What I’m saying is, it’s possible that mister Salliv indeed had a counterfeit MID in his possession that glitched out, but he wasn’t aware of that.”

“And you’re assuming it was me?" Cecilia squinted her eyes slightly. "You are aware he has had many class changes, no?"

“Well, we are aware of at least a few,” Aria nodded. “But that doesn’t change the fact that you were his latest teacher, for 5 months no less.”

“…what do you mean?”

“It means, Miss Storm Rogue, that you are the first person we should ask about the situation.”

“Not that. I ‘was’ his teacher? Did he die?” Cecilia tilted her head a little, doing her best to not make it seem like she'd heard the conversation before. Shooting her eyes toward the man called Chris, she noticed that he appeared to be scanning the surroundings with eyes that were... a little out of place for a guard. He looked like he knew what he was looking for. However, Cecilia's attention turned to the white-haired woman before the man noticed her glance.

“What? No, no,” Aria quickly shook her head. “Mister Salliv gave up on being Rogue three days ago. Has he not told you, Miss?”

“…no,” ‘Him, changing to a different class...?’ “Did he tell you what class he changed to?”

“Last time I spoke with him, he was a level 1 Classless.”

‘Changing to Classless out of the blue? After being sent on a quest? No… that doesn’t feel right.’ thought Cecilia but decided against speaking her mind. Her expression turned slightly sour.

“Miss Storm Rogue, I understand that this situation does not look well from your point of view, but I don’t have any ill intentions. All I’m asking for is answering a few questions under the Orb of Truth.”

“…fine,” Cecilia frowned as she looked away in dismay. “You’ll find nothing anyway,” 'Something about this situation feels off... she's not revealing everything.'

“Let us hope it will be like that,” the Inspector replied, getting her hand into the bag she was carrying. Within a few seconds, she was holding Orb of Truth, the same one she had used a few days ago to interrogate Travis, and a notebook sitting on the bag, a small scribing tool in her hand. Having ensured before this meeting that it was working properly, she was holding it out for Cecilia to put her hand on it. “May we begin?” she asked, to which the taller woman nodded quietly. "Please state your name, class, and level."

“...Cecilia, level 125 Elemental Rogue,” she said with an indifferent voice, and the orb glowed white momentarily.

Aria quickly scribbled something on a piece of paper and asked, “Is it true that Travis Salliv has been your student for the past five months?”

“Yes," she replied quickly, the artifact glowing white for half a blink.

“Have you been teaching him skills and techniques belonging to the Rogue class?”

“Yes.”

“Have you, in any way, influenced any of Mister Salliv’s belongings?”

“As training, yes, but only temporarily. Otherwise, no," Cecilia answered, and the Orb glowed white once more.

“Is there any possibility that you might’ve swapped mister Salliv’s MID for a fake one, be it consciously or subconsciously?”

“Absolutely not,” white color.

“Is there anyone you would suspect to could have done said crime?”

“No," this time, the Orb suddenly turned its color red. Cecilia's eyes shot toward the man standing by. He appeared to flinch, his hand almost getting a hold of his sword.

Aria raised an eyebrow, looking at the questioned woman. Storm Rogue sighed with defeat and said, “There are a few people whom I could suspect, but as far as I’m aware, those people were sentenced to prison a few years ago," this time, the artifact glowed white again.

“Alright, I see,” Aria nodded lightly. “I believe this answers the questions I had for you. Thank you for your cooperation, Miss Storm Rogue,” she hid the Orb of Truth in her bag. “Sorry for the inconvenience, we will be going now."

Cecilia didn’t answer immediately, only looking at the woman who turned on her heels and started walking away. “Inspector Brinn," she suddenly called out.

“Yes?” Aria stopped in place and turned around a bit.

“Do you know where he is?”

“I'm afraid I do not,” she shook her head. “From what I know, he left Silvana two days ago.”

“…I see,” Cecilia answered with a quieter tone, her voice tinted with a glint of hesitance.

Aria turned around again, resuming her walk toward Silvana. Chris began walking behind her, but not before leering at Cecilia. Something akin to disdain appeared on his square face and at the same time, pressure oozed from his body. Cecilia felt the intangible bloodlust on her shoulders and almost staggered backward in surprise.

'...!' her brows shot upward slightly, but thankfully, the man didn't seem to notice. '...he's strong.' Cecilia realized, feeling some sweat trickle on her back. 'About 1st advancement... perhaps a little stronger. Strange...' she frowned as she turned around and walked to her tent. Hesitantly, she unfolded the entryway. Her eyes shot back, confirming that Aria and Chris were walking away, before deciding that she could enter. A thought about laying down and sleeping in a little appeared as Cecilia grasped the duvet she used in her sleep, but it was shaken off instantly. Instead, she stretched her legs and arms, beginning one of her morning exercises whilst thinking about the situation.

‘Bizarre.’ was her initial thought. ‘Seeing how Travis was ready to traverse the entire kingdom to fulfill my request, it’s weird to think that he could just change his class out of the blue. He was always so adamant that Rogue was the class for him. He could change it if he found something better, but not to Classless. He knows very well how difficult it is to begin a new class…’ she sighed for but a moment. 'But perhaps there is a reason for that.'

She wasn’t close with Travis in the first place. Their relationship was strictly that of a teacher and a pupil. The occasional small talk that happened sometimes wasn’t very informative of anything. Cecilia got to learn several classes Travis has had while not giving off too much information about herself, but there wasn’t anything vital about him. He was… not the smartest man around, but there was no denying how passionate he could get about practicing his skills. Even when he was sweating buckets and barely moving out of exhaustion, he still kept on moving forward. In a way, that was the reason Cecilia had the patience to train him despite him showing next to no progress for some time now. Whatever he didn’t have in skills, he made up for in sheer willpower to accomplish tasks he’d been given.

‘No. He wouldn’t change his class. Not unless he got something that really suited him better. But then... did he truly say that he's a Classless, under the Orb of Truth no less? Something is amiss. Either she is lying, or...' her eyes widened slightly. However, a sigh left her mouth immediately after. 'Pointless. I don't know enough to overthink this so much. I should investigate instead.'

She reached over to her backpack, tucked away in a corner of the tent. Within seconds, she was holding a communication sphere. Much like the ones that could be bought on the normal market, it was blue and fit in her hand nicely, albeit this one's surface shone brilliantly, telling her that it was not the same breed as others. Cecilia shifted its weight in her hand as she commanded her mana to seep into the sphere, forcing it to begin dialing the attuned one somewhere else.

The inside of the sphere started swirling around slowly, looking like a storm trapped in a crystal ball. The clouds of mana were swirling around the vortex in the middle, establishing a connection. And then, the movement abruptly stopped as a voice came from inside the ball.

“Hello? Ceci? Did something happen?” heavy and defined, the man’s voice rang in her ears, a clear glint of surprise in his tone.

“Is this a bad time, Cedric?” She asked.

“Define ‘bad time’.”

“Where are you?”

“Near Poiri. There’s something big going on here. Why?” he asked, and Cecilia could almost imagine the man looking around to make sure nobody was eavesdropping on him.

“Can you look into someone for me?”

“Depends on who and where they are.”

“His name is Travis Salliv. He’s from Silvana.”

“Silvana? Isn’t it where you’re stationed?”

“Yes. I’ll give you a brief explanation of the situation.”

-2 minutes later-

“And that’s all,” she said, finishing her explanation.

“Hmm... Didn't expect you'd take a student in. If he really went to finish your quest, he should be… I’ll get a map…”

“He should be past Icla by now. Within 3-4 days, he should be venturing into Guill.”

“Yeah, somewhere around that would make sense, so long he’s moving on foot.”

“Can you look into him?”

“*Sigh* I’ll see what I can do. The situation here is becoming a little unstable, but I’ll try to spare a pair of eyes.”

“How bad is it?”

“How bad does 'two thousand Inspectors around the capital' sound?”

“WHAT?!” Cecilia’s eyes widened in shock as she suddenly looked around. Quickly confirming that she was indeed alone in the tent, she lowered her voice a bit. “Why are there so many?”

“They were called around by the supreme priest, and they’re checked for something by the church’s bishops. They just come and go. Over a thousand of them arrive or get teleported daily, alongside higher ranks. It just started happening three days ago, and I have no idea when it’ll end.”

‘So, it is connected to the Inspectors from Silvana leaving…’

“And that’s not even the strangest thing. Some of our scouts have reported that THE supreme priest has gathered elite troops and is going to launch a crusade against forbidden classes. But at the same time, he’s killing low-level monsters in dungeons in the north.”

“…why? Isn’t he around level 450?” Cecilia frowned. Sitting down, she fixed the tunic that got stuck under her armpit.

“Exactly. Why the hell would he go and annihilate dungeons, and not even close them? I have no idea what’s happening. We can’t even sneak inside the city at this point. Even Joseph is having a headache trying to seek information. He just goes, reads minds, and scribbles some info, but it’s all the same. Nobody knows the reason. Church servants don’t disclose the information to them, so they’re just going in blind. It's as though they don't want anyone knowing about that crusade.”

“…I see,” Cecilia nodded to herself. “Do you think they could be preparing for a war?”

“Not really. From what I know, the supreme priest has some elites of the Moil Kingdom and Chis Empire by him. With Moil being neutral to continental affairs, it’s highly unlikely. We're still searching for more information. I'll be sure to spare a pair of eyes for your guy, though.”

“Maybe don’t. Sounds like you need higher headcount there than I do here."

“No, it’s fine. We better keep a low profile for now anyway. That being said, what about you? Anything at all?”

"...a bit, yes," Cecilia looked around before bolting to the tent's entryway. Quickly checking that there was nobody around, she returned to the sphere. "There's definitive traces of 'them' around here. Seems like they have some connections to the authorities."

"Are you sure about that?" Cedric asked, his voice tinted with a bit of reserve. Cecilia could imagine his sleek face contorting.

"Unfortunately. One of the guards around here appears to have a presence nearing a 1st advancement class. I will have to observe him a little to learn more, but it seems to be natural. He was probably put here by them."

"I see... haaah, I really hoped at least Western Forna would be free of them. Gods damn it, I keep on feeling like we're one step behind."

"...I think it's best to cover one issue at a time. If 'they' decide to make Forna a second Rruta, I don't think our entire branch will be enough to stop them."

"And I'm afraid you're right. Gah, I'll have to discuss the issue with Joseph once he has some time. I think I have to go soon, so, was there anything else you wanted?"

“I think I got everything. I’ll let you know if I uncover anything more here. Greet Joseph from me.”

“Will do. Try to uncover more, but please stay out of their reach."

“I’ll be careful. You know me,” she replied, albeit a little coldly.

“A little too well. Stay safe, sis."

“You too,” she replied and severed the connection. With a heavy sigh, Cecilia put down the orb into her pack.

The situation was becoming bizarre. Just why would Inspectors be called upon to the capital? If they aren’t preparing for war… what other purpose might they have in there…?

No. Don’t think about things about which you don’t know enough. Cedric was already on site and investigating. There was nothing she could do to help his group except stay hidden from authorities and 'them'. And that brought her thoughts to that Aria girl from before.

‘She said she’s a substitute Inspector… I don't recall any position like that in Galia... Forna is a weird country.’ Cecilia shook her head as she got up from her position. Now that she was awake, the time was approaching to do her morning routine of training.

‘He got 29 days left.’ she thought. ‘…provided that he is still actually doing that quest.’ but she shook her head. No point in pondering on that.

Stepping in between some trees, deeper and deeper into the forest, and brought out the dagger from under her clothes. Weighting it in her hand a little, she looked forward and picked a tree as her target. With fluent motion, she made a few slick, almost evasive steps, circling the plant, and then cast two spells in succession.

Within a second, she warped a few meters closer to the tree and slashed a total of 12 times. After that, she felt mana shift around her and hid the blade under her hand before she was transported back to her original position. On the tree she picked, a dozen marks made by her knife remained, all of them faintly glowing red for a moment before cooling off. Cecilia sighed.

‘<Elemental Infusion> is... quite disappointing. It’s level 8 already, and yet, barely any power. Frustrating.’ she gritted her teeth momentarily before calming down. ‘I hope that future skills will be better. Otherwise, getting to 2nd advancement will take too long.'

Cecilia originally started as a Rogue. She tempered her skills over and over again, allowing even the most basic of the skills she performed to wield deadly power behind them. The less she had to strain herself in her fights, the better for her. It meant she could reserve her strength in case anything much more powerful than herself appeared. It was always like this. After reaching level 100, was allowed to choose an advancement class. She could’ve evolved into an Assassin, as most did, choosing an obscure Shadow Rogue subclass… in fact, she had several choices. But, in the end, she chose to become Elemental Rogue.

As unfitting as her choice was for her, it wasn’t picked without any reasoning. Her brother was a Mage, and the organization he led had more of that class than it had Rogue-types. It made sense to her that she’d pick a class that was familiar with elements, but… her choice backfired on her. The skill she received when becoming a subclass was called <Elemental Infusion>. Its principle was simple: infuse the next attack or skill used with the energy of a chosen element to increase its power and grant it additional effects. On the surface, it sounded good, but as it turned out, the user’s understanding of elements was a crucial aspect of its function. Unfortunately, Cecilia had little understanding of any elements at all. Thanks to being taught by a couple of Mages, she managed to gain some insight into primal elements, but even then, the power of her strikes was pretty… shabby. This was largely the reason she never showed her elemental skills to Travis. She didn’t want to show off the weak side of her skills.

Cecilia stood in front of the tree again and used a simple Blink Strike. Within the short time window when the world around her slowed down, she managed to strike a total of 17 times before she had to return.

She kept on training for some more minutes, which extended into an hour before she stopped. The feeling of hunger washed over her once again, and finally, she submitted to it, playing around with her knife as she was returning to her tent.

At the end of everything, the day had only just begun.