by Sarah Lin
"Perhaps for you, but this dog here definitely surpasses me."
"Ah, but I meant wild animals. Dogs have been our companions for millennia, likely raised from aura wolves. They have been bred for a great many purposes... including, at times, effective use of lucrim. This one is a companion and guardian, but others are bred as true war dogs. Though never equal to the strongest warriors, they are the best companions a human could ask for."
"What about cats?" Rick asked. To his surprise, Qing Shan immediately sniffed.
"Cats should never be bred to use lucrim."
"You don't like cats?"
"I like them well enough, but if they gain that much power, they will kill people." Qing Shan smiled warmly and ruffled her hand through the fluff on the dog's head. "Not like our good boy here. Such a loyal beast, yes you are." She continued praising it in Chinese, her content obvious from her tone, and the dog woofed happily.
Seeing her speaking to the dog so casually made Rick relax a little. That immediately made him suspicious, wondering if she was manipulating him - even monsters loved their dogs, after all. But whatever else was the case, he thought her affection for the dog was genuine, and she had twice helped him. As they approached a pagoda separate from the others, Rick decided to ask another question.
"Other animals can do things that we can't, right? I thought some of the most lethal lucrim-based poisons couldn't be replicated even in labs."
"Oh, the natural world has produced a great many wonders." Qing Shan waved the issue aside, her face suddenly serious. She took a seat inside the pagoda and gestured for him to sit as well, the dog already placing itself over their feet. "But I did not call you here to discuss science lessons."
Rick swallowed. "Why, then?"
"Truth be told, I gave you the original seal for one primary reason: to disrupt Alger. Your performance was adequate, yes, otherwise I would not have bothered. But what concerned me most was his interest in you. Minor investigation into your past has revealed nothing of note, however."
"I... well, that's because I'm not really anyone of note. Alger just likes people he says have a warrior's spirit."
"Actually, I lied." Qing Shan gave him a narrow smile. "There is one notable thing: it seems that you've nearly been involved with Alger several times, but always escaped his orbit. That is unusual. His proteges tend to be like Raggest, overflowing with power and lacking in questions."
"Just how many have there been?"
"I couldn't tell you. The man seems capable of accomplishing so much at once that some have speculated he has an entire organization of agents, yet he seems to work alone. What I can tell you is that those he trains tend to have short and explosive careers, but they don't end well. Some of them have simply disappeared, and all evidence points to their deaths."
"That's... I knew something was off about him, but I didn't know anything about that." It was insane to think that Alger, the wackily-dressed man who had welcomed him to the Underground, could be someone so notorious. "But if you want me to tell you about him, I'm afraid I don't know much of anything."
"A pity. I suspected as much, but it was worth asking." Qing Shan regarded him coolly, the weight of her gaze making him wonder if she was even older than she appeared. Immortals usually adopted a young appearance, but perhaps... "Because Alger seems to care about this little bet, we care as well. One of my younger sect sisters is actually participating, but I am less concerned about that than in making sure that it ends well."
"What would that look like?"
"Alger's candidate not winning, of course. We would take a victory, but truthfully, a Nokan or Siberian victory would be equally satisfactory."
Rick waited a moment longer, but she didn't say anything about him and it obviously wasn't an accident. "But you don't want me to win?"
"I would weep no tears if you did. But this H who trains you has a poor reputation for breaking those he trains, and we are unclear on who he serves. Anyone with unclear loyalties is suspect."
"It isn't Josiah Craw?"
Qing Shan was silent for a time, staring out into the garden. "Josiah Craw hired H, and we don't know why. He has always been an eccentric, but it has been some decades since he participated in any such contests. My master believes that he must know something we don't about the contest, perhaps some reward or consequence."
Though Rick was curious who Qing Shan's master could be, the cool look in her eyes suggested this was not the time to ask questions. After a long pause, she continued.
"I would not ask you to be a spy, at least in part because I believe it would be ineffective. But for this moment, you have deniability. Any information you can give us would be useful."
So that's what it was all about. Rick considered carefully, since it was entirely possible that he was handing intelligence to his enemies. But Qing Shan had actually stood up for him first, before H had stepped in. Telling them a little wouldn't hurt.
"First," Rick said carefully, "I think that you might want to know that Alger was meeting with the Global Lucrim Authority..." He went on to tell what details he could, focusing on Alger since he didn't want to betray H directly. Still, the rumor that had been mentioned... even if it was meant to make him distrust H, Rick had to admit that he had other reasons to distrust the man.
When he finished, Qing Shan nodded slowly. "Anything else?"
"Well, there's this. It might be proprietary, but..." Rick reached into his robe and revealed the vial, but to his surprise, Qing Shan immediately waved it aside.
"Formula T? Perhaps a secret for most, but a known quantity to us. You are taking a great risk in using it, but I suppose you can make your own decisions."
"Huh." Rick hadn't expected it to matter so little, but didn't quite want to let it go. He had an impulse to drink it, and that was what pushed him over the edge. "Could you send this to someone? Secretly, I mean, without H or Alger tracking it."
"It's within our capabilities. Why?"
"There's a woman I know who does this sort of thing professionally. I think... she would like to see this. I've been meaning to send it to her, but I've never had a real opportunity."
An odd smile played on Qing Shan's face, but she reached out and took the vial from him. "That is a small favor to grant, after you have been so helpful. Yes, give us the address and we can send it to her."
Rick did so, handing over the vial with only a little regret. The night had gone in several different directions he never would have expected, but he thought this was a good result. Though he hadn't spoken to Lisa enough due to the recent chaos, he knew she would enjoy studying the Formula T. Before he could wander far into his thoughts, Qing Shan rose to her feet.
"After this, we will not contact you. Compete in the Showdown, prepare for the final contest, and do whatever benefits you personally. However, please keep in mind what I said. If Alger was interested in you once, he may still be. Believe me when I say that his concern for your well-being is more harmful than our self-interest."
With that, she swept away without a farewell. Rick was left thinking about everything that had happened. He still tried to tell himself that everything was great, since he was still being paid to train and had gotten through the crisis period. That was little comfort when an experienced immortal was expressing so much discomfort. It was hard to know what to do.
An enormous head dropped into his lap and the dog whuffed eagerly. Rick smiled and rubbed it behind the ear. Well, there was one thing he could do.
Chapter 22: Intermittent Conversations
Rick spent the rest of the party avoiding human interaction in whatever ways were available. Though the dog clearly would have been happy to sit or play with him forever, as time wore on, Rick realized that he would need to connect with his mentor and sponsor again. He didn't want to find out what would happen if Josiah Craw became truly impatient.
So he did a feeble imitation of socializing. Though he avoided the drinks, some of the food was amazingly good. He got the
sense that there were serious politics going on among the immortals, but he was also aware that he was a piece, not a player. Even the immortals here were in the grip of larger social systems and bounds of propriety. It wasn't a life he wanted, just something he was sampling in an effort to take himself upward.
Toward the end of the party, one of the palace aides came and requested his Showdown card. Rick was skeptical for a moment, but he'd seen how the lives of the wealthy relied on certain assumptions of trust, and it wasn't like the card itself had great value. So he handed over the card and tried not to think about it, even though it wasn't returned at the end.
Eventually H showed up beside him and jerked his head toward the door. Josiah was saying farewell to some of their hosts, kissing the hands of all the women and vigorously shaking those of the men. Though Rick had been evading eye contact, when he looked up he saw several lanterns floating overhead, ferrying guests back to their homes.
Or the closest thing they had to homes, if they were competitors.
They were escorted back to their lantern by a young man and Rick found himself a bit disappointed that it wasn't the woman from before. He immediately kicked himself. She had been nothing but professional, it was just him getting distracted. Much of the time he could sink all other thoughts into training, but when he had to be around other people, sometimes other thoughts wormed their way to the surface. Perhaps a reason to do more training, then.
"Quite a bash, eh?" Josiah sat back and laced his fingers over his coats with a look of deep satisfaction. "I've always said it, the Orientals know how to host a man. They also usually have the decency not to allow lesser types into such functions. All very respectable. Even that Siberian fellow was a gentleman in the end."
H and Rick didn't say anything, nodding like bobble-heads.
"Ah, but on that subject, it is time to give you the fruits of your labor." Josiah reached into a pocket and revealed a card that he passed on to Rick. "I hadn't yet given you my stamp of approval, since this was all so irregular, but you seem an able young lad. And you did something right, because our hosts gave you a seal of their own. Two in one day, eh? Not bad for a night of amusements."
"Thank you, sir." Rick took the card and examined the new seals. One of them looked to be of the same shining ink as the first Jade Seal, but this one had an elaborate pair of characters. Though he couldn't read them, he thought they were familiar from some of the art he'd seen throughout the house. By contrast, the other seal was a metallic coat of arms with a tiny assortment of symbols he couldn't make out.
They were silent for a while, then Josiah began rambling in praise of their hosts again. It went on for a short time before H coughed slightly. "Master Craw, perhaps we should discuss our plans?"
"Oh, yes, I suppose." Josiah turned toward Rick and regarded him seriously. "I know that a vigorous young man like yourself must be eager to participate in the Showdown, but this competition between myself and my chums really is the higher priority."
"Has a date been set?" H asked.
"Not at the moment, so you have at least some months. Those are your instructions, man! Keep him in the Showdown and prepare him for the fight to come. We have yet to decide on the terms or venue, so you must be prepared for everything. I expect to see verve from you, lad! Verve and vigor!"
When they returned to Odiyu, Rick was gladder to see the demonic city than he'd thought possible. Josiah left him with a crushing handshake and left in his flying Model T, careening out at a frankly terrifying rate. If he passed over any urban areas on his way back home, the chance of an accident seemed quite high.
Apparently the party's length had been entirely predictable, because by the time they reached the road, a taxi had pulled up waiting for them. H was oddly silent as they entered, but when they started back to the hotel, Rick looked over at him and smiled.
"Horatio, is it?"
"Oh, don't start." H lit up a cigarette, then glared down the taxi driver when the man objected. "My parents were involved in these circles, and they thought 'Horatio' was a very modern-sounding name."
"You could just change it, or tell people to call you anything you want."
"Could, but we are what we are. Have you gotten the jokes out of your system yet?"
"Actually, I wanted to talk about training." Rick settled into his seat and tried to get back into the proper mindset. "Are you really going to pull me out of the Showdown to focus on the fight? I know we have a lot to work on, but that seems... I mean, at minimum, you wouldn't be earning any money off me, right?"
H puffed on his cigarette for a time, then slowly shook his head. "If I get my proper payment from this, it will make up for the rest. But you're not getting any bonuses for seals earned through parties, only from winning. What would be best is to focus on your lucrim growth. We won't worry about winning money or earning seals - three is plenty for someone who's only been doing this for a few months. I'll put you into events when they'll test you in the right way."
"That sounds like a good plan to me. Are we going to participate in the rest of the Showdown in Odiyu?"
"No, you've already shown all your tricks. No point trying to place in the remaining events. Better to use that time to prepare for the next one."
"Alright, where are we going next?"
"New Zealand." H saw his surprised expression and shrugged. "For a little island, they've had more impact on the world than most. They have a dragonweight and Australia doesn't. Go figure."
"It's still not a very big country, right?"
"Yeah. That means that the Showdown won't be huge there, including the prizes. You should still encounter some local Lucores, because they have a few tricks your defensive core needs to experience, but it should give you a month to train."
Rick was mostly glad to hear that, but his mind rolled onward. "And after that is Siberia?"
H nodded, but said nothing for a while. Eventually he finished his cigarette, ground it up in one hand, and then looked back to Rick. "You might have managed so far, but your stubbornness over the demonic bond issue is still a major flaw. Your training will be useless if you won't help yourself."
"I'm trying to set up something with my demonic contacts." Or so he hoped. "They'll be in Siberia. Don't put me in any events too quickly and I should be able to get it worked out."
"I hope so, because you won't be able to sit out Siberia. Their champion will want to test you directly, and they don't have the same laws about personal injury there. If you don't have the power to back up this attitude, you'll pay for it."
Something else to look forward to. Rick sat back and closed his eyes, because he knew he wouldn't get much time to rest.
~ ~ ~
Though Rick had harbored hopes of returning to the demonic side of Odiyu, both to explore it further and to contact Bftgage and Ythsil, H insisted that leaving would be too great an opportunity for spying from other groups. Rick didn't see the point, when he'd be showing his training in public in the next Showdown, but he accepted it since he was interested in training anyway.
After some time correcting errors his hasty training had created, H focused primarily on teaching him something new that seemed completely inexplicable. It was all lucrim constructions that Rick hadn't seen before, and sometimes frankly baffled him. He could tell that they involved transferring energy, and obviously they would be the basis for another Lucore, but beyond that he was clueless. H seemed aggravated by his slow progress, but told him to simply keep at it.
Though it was easy to sink back into his training, it was again texts from Melissa that pulled him out of it. As soon as possible, they arranged another video chat. He saw that she was wearing a new jacket, and as always she looked healthier than before.
"Too busy to talk, Mr. McBigPants?" She raised an eyebrow at him and he chuckled.
"Sorry, it's been busy. But how does having big pants relate?"
"You know, the saying about people getting too big for their... well, I guess that's the op
posite. Okay, here's how it goes: your pants are getting so large that they're covering your mouth. This also causes you to change your name to Leeroy McBigPants."
Knowing better than to question further, Rick just smiled and changed the subject. "How have things been in the YLAA? I read a little online about you guys going on some sort of field trip?"
"No, that's still coming up." Melissa leaned back in her chair and smiled. "We're going to Europe and I'm actually looking forward to it! Supposedly we'll be meeting our European equivalents - Junge Kämpfer Aus Europa or something - but I think it's really an excuse to travel around. But I'm glad we'll be doing it, since I worry you're going to come back all worldly and experienced."
"Yeah, I was going to mention that. I've been learning so much, I'm losing the ability to speak English. If you can't speak seven new languages by the time I get back, we can't be siblings anymore."
"Don't be silly, brother. How are you going to learn that many new languages when you have a different girlfriend in every city?"
That actually did bring up a current frustration, but it really didn't matter while he was talking to Melissa. "How do you think I'm learning them all? Pillow talk is the best instructor."
"Eww!" Melissa pretended to slap her hands to her face in horror. "Don't scandalize my sensitive ears!"
"I seem to recall your sensitive ears making some pretty suggestive movements... wait, fuck, that doesn't work."
"The ability of my ears to speak is well-known! Legendary, even!"
Rick gave up trying to say anything clever, even by their silly standards, and just grinned at her. "But really, how are things going with you?"
They talked about everything, going longer than usual. Rick began doing his exercises subconsciously and was surprised to note that Melissa seemed to be doing the same thing. Hers involved more lights dimming and dark flames licking up around her, but neither of them paid it any mind.
When it really got too late on her end, Melissa glanced at her wrist, which did not hold a watch, and sighed. "I guess we have to stop soon. Look at the time, and all that. Part of the reason I wanted to do this now is that we might not have so much time during the European tour. But after that... I was wondering if there was any way we could actually get together. In person."
