Nemari was not happy. She kept it to herself, because the truth was that they needed to cheat. For this team, it was not about the journey, and as much as it bothered her that they were speeding through certain floors to the point that they were damn near skipping them outright, there was no point in complaining about it.
In truth, it wasn’t like they were doing anything all that different from other teams. They were just better at it, more efficient. Nobody liked fighting underwater, which was why Floor 8 was full of rank 9s slowly grinding out the anima they needed to fill their soulspaces.
But now they weren’t even crossing the floors. Again, there were parallels. Most people opted not to take the Antechamber portals so that they could start Floor 9 almost exactly where she was standing, and after that disastrous entry with the kraken, Nemari couldn’t blame them. But she got to have her soulprint and absorb it, too.
Not that the rewards mean much, most of the time, she thought somewhat bitterly. There was a new ring on her finger, one which Yoru claimed would enhance all elemental magic she performed. That was fantastic, and if her life had gone a bit differently, she’d have been ecstatic about it. Instead, it was merely one more bauble in the pile of gear she owned through no effort of her own.
It was stupid to be resentful. Logically, she understood that she was stronger and safer this way. Climbing wasn’t a game. But more and more lately, she struggled to find a reason to keep climbing. Another month or two would see her at rank 20, but it felt as satisfying as if she’d been carried the whole way. She hadn’t earned it. It wasn’t really hers.
But then she thought about almost her entire family turned into a pile of corpses, about how even the cousins from branch families had been dragged into this mess, and suddenly the power took on a new light. It had a purpose, and that purpose was to kill the man who’d destroyed her family.
Blaming Sorin was easy. If she hadn’t met him, none of this would have happened. He was only a catalyst, however, not the cause. Samael was the one who was truly responsible, and he’d been a font of endless misery for all of Floor 0 for years now. Getting rid of him could only make everyone’s lives better.
Something of what she was thinking must have shown on her face, because Odric pushed a sense of reassurance and support to her through Limited Telepathic Bond. She sent back gratefulness and assurance that she was fine, which he seemed to accept without question.
“How long do you think they’ll be this time?” she asked, just to get her mind off her brooding.
“Depends whether Sorin has to beat Morlin up again,” Rue said absently. She’d been watching the waves come in for the last twenty minutes.
“Master Yoru will keep the argument from erupting into violence again,” Vendis said.
He was a lot more talkative when Yoru wasn’t around, though that rarely happened. Nemari had been aware that the high families liked to raise guardian companions for their scions, but she’d never had occasion to know one before. Mostly, it had been a fact of reality she’d given little thought to.
Now it was just one more thing that made her angry. Vendis was a slave, for all practical purposes. He was bound to the Telpikes and had spent his whole life knowing he was someone’s property. The fact that he could just calmly accept that was almost infuriating, and it was only because Yoru treated Vendis like a friend rather than a servant that she’d bitten her tongue so far.
“Something I said?” Vendis asked, turning to look at Nemari.
“I don’t care for calling anybody master,” Nemari said bluntly.
“Ah, you are perhaps under the impression that I am not here of my own volition. Please, allow me to correct that assumption. I am under no contract or compulsion to serve. My employment with the Telpikes is exactly that. The only way legal action would be brought against me is if I abandoned Master Yoru mid-climb.”
“Sure, but you’ve been training for this job your whole life. You might technically have a choice, but weren’t you raised to think leaving was the wrong choice?”
“In the same way that leaving any job has consequences. My income would vanish, though I’ve banked quite enough already that my family and I would be fine for the next few years. I doubt I could regain my current position if I chose to leave it, but those are merely conditions of my employment.
“As to being raised into servitude… I doubt you understand how a retainer is selected, at least in the Telpike family. Master Yoru went through the same preliminary training as a child that I did. In fact, there were twenty of us in our year. Six washed out of the program early on. One died in an accident. Four others took jobs as retainers with other high-ranking scions of various branch families. Three of the students were like Master Yoru—there to learn to climb, but not as training for future placement in a high family.
Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.
“I doubt anyone questioned that I, out of those remaining, would assume this position. By the time we were ten, everyone knew we were best friends. Loyalty being the prerequisite for such work that it is, these kinds of things are watched closely. Those in power wanted to ensure an actual bond, not loyalty that could be bought and sold.
“Master Yoru is as much my brother as a man born to different parents can be. I am here for the same reason he is: to climb and grow stronger. Were our situations reversed, were I Vendis Telpike, I would still choose the same partnership we have now.
“When I refer to him as Master Yoru, it is because I respect the man and all he’s worked to accomplish, not because I am his slave.”
“Thanks for clearing that up,” Rue said dryly.
“I did not do it for you,” Vendis told her. “Miss Sildfall seemed to be operating under a false impression. I simply deemed it prudent to correct that before it could result in potentially damaging misunderstandings in the future.”
Nemari wasn’t convinced, not in the slightest. Maybe the Telpike program was just different, but it still seemed a bit too much like he’d been groomed for the position from such a young age that it had never occurred to him to question it.
It was better to leave it alone at the moment. Righting perceived social injustices had a time and a place, and here and now was not it. When she was stronger, once Samael was dead and she’d gotten her own house in order, then she could devote her time to abolishing programs like the one that had produced Vendis.
Sure. That’ll be easy. Just overthrow generations of tradition—tradition that works, mind you—and convince powerful climbers not to take every precaution when raising their heirs. Can’t think of any way someone might object to that.
“I believe they’ve returned,” Vendis said, though he still hadn’t moved from his spot or even so much as looked around.
What sort of soulprint keeps you so aware of your ‘master’ that you can feel it when he’s nearby, I wonder.
* * *
Surprisingly, it was not Sorin who came back from the meeting chewing iron and spitting nails. Yoru’s face was blotchy with anger, and it was all Nemari could do not to stare at the vein throbbing in his forehead.
“Maybe just go for a walk and take a few minutes for yourself,” Sorin suggested gently, shooing the other climber away.
“Things went poorly?” Nemari asked.
“They went… as expected, I suppose. We confronted Morlin about him denying us the powerful soulprints needed for our builds. He lied about the suppliers not being able to find them. Yoru called him out. Things got heated. I stepped out once it turned from finances to family squabbling.”
“I want to say everything is resolved,” Sorin said after a moment’s contemplation, “but honestly, who knows? Morlin’s already proven he’s a slimy little weasel, so I doubt this’ll be our last time butting heads. As long as he picks up the rare soulprints we need, I think we’ll be fine for another month or so.”
“And what about when we move past D-rank rares and into C?” Rue asked.
Sorin shrugged. “The problem here is that Morlin knows we’re going to do what he wants in the end. I’m not going after Samael to help the Telpikes. So the only leverage we have is whatever loot we pull along the way, which, considering how fast we’re moving, doesn’t cover the expenses.”
“It seems short-sighted of him,” Odric observed. “Yes, he’s taking a loss for the next few months, but you’d think he’d want to be on good terms with who could end up being the strongest climbers in the tower.”
“Not to mention that enchanter’s cabinet,” Sorin agreed. “It is short-sighted, but only if we view it from the perspective that we’re guaranteed victory. Morlin is trying to hedge his bets instead of going all-in. He doesn’t see any reason to spend his money on rare, powerful soulprints that, as far as he can tell, we don’t actually need.”
“Still sounds like an idiot to me,” Rue muttered.
“I am officially making that idiot Yoru’s problem,” Sorin said. “If he can’t keep his father on the level, we’ll just cut ties with him. I’ve got my own market connection who’s a lot more agreeable anyway.”
What? He does? Since when? He’s only been in the tower for a few months, and we’ve been with him practically the whole time.
Sorin didn’t volunteer a better explanation than that, and despite being curious, Nemari didn’t press him. She might have if Yoru hadn’t come back at that moment, but once he returned, the focus shifted to him.
“The ‘unavailable’ soulprints are being purchased as we speak,” he said. “Today’s plan is to make it to the island with the floor guardian. Tomorrow, we’ll collect the soulprints, spend an hour or two integrating them into our builds, and then ascend to Floor 10. Any objections?”
“We might consider spending the day here instead,” Sorin said, causing everybody to whip around and look at him.
“You want to take time off from climbing?” Rue asked, incredulity staining her tone.
“I… I’m just floating the idea by you since we’re here. We don’t have to.”
Turning to Yoru, Rue asked, “Were the two of you separated at any time? Could this be an imposter with some sort of shape-shifting soulprint?”
“Not unless the imposter also has Liminal Gateway,” Yoru said in a deadpan tone.
“Wow, okay. Alright. Fine. Let’s just get going,” Sorin said. “Sorry I brought it up.”
“I don’t know. A break sounds nice,” Nemari found herself saying. “We’ve been pouring it on pretty thick the last few months. It’s not healthy to climb this much.”
“It probably wouldn’t be a good idea to do it here, at the very least,” Vendis said. “The last I heard, the bounty on Sorin was still growing. The rumor mill has bounty hunters scouring Floors 6 and 7 looking for you, but lingering near a portal hub is bound to get back to them. Perhaps we should travel a few hours up the archipelago and take some time there instead.”
“No, you’re right. We don’t have the time now. Yoru’s already got the plan laid out for us. Maybe once this is all over, I’ll come back for a nice vacation.”
Why does he look so sad about that? He never cared about time off before, Nemari wondered. She’d probably never know, and they had more important issues to deal with, so she put it firmly out of her mind.
Comments