Chapter XX

The Church was... wholly normal. Nothing like I'd been expecting from how foreboding Inorai was when she handed me the letter. It became clear the moment I passed the double doors that it had been emptied out for the meeting.

Past rows of pews, a man in a priest's cassock was conversing with a youth in a white suit wearing a faceless expression. The priest was old, clean shaven. He had a thin pencil moustache peppered with grey strands, and wore a dark flat cap and a monocle on his left eye. 

The youth... didn't seem very 'church-like'. No, if anything, he reminded me of a magus. His white suit was of expensive make, there was a navy tissue in his breast pocket the color of his eyes. His blonde hair seemed to softly shimmer under the distorted light coming through the stained glass depicting the Virgin Mary above them.

They were so enthused with another they didn't even notice me enter. So, naturally, I made the declaration myself.

"Hark! I am no little boy nor is my name Timmy. Yet, I have been summoned all the same. I brought an adult so don't get any ideas."

The older priest snorted uncharacteristically. "No priest would want you in their basement. Rest assured, child."

I was left at a loss for words. My impression was instantly changed into a favourable one as he fixed his monocle and trained his eyes on me. His companion only gave me an unamused look. 

"I will not leave you wondering." The older man continued. "I am Father Mark." He laid a hand on the shoulder of his 'young' partner. "You should be familiar with him."

I shook my head and introduced myself while eying blondie. "Nope. But, Henry. Good evenin'." 

The guy really looked like a magus and not at all like someone from the Church, but looks could be deceiving and besides, I'd no basis for the assumption either. This was my first interaction with the Catholic Church.

"Ah well, it's of no consequence." Father Mark waved his hand in dismissal, "We called you to accompany us back to the lair of that daemon you encountered. It would be most favourable to have someone with an understanding of it to help us cleanse it."

So... I barely got out the first time and they wanted me to jump right back into it. Hell nah. In the first place, that whole shtick was their fault. Someone on their side was the one to leak the nature of a daemon's birth to the one responsible for the ritual.

"You have a traitor among you."

"He was dealt with," The answer came easy. "We dealt with his disciples as well, just to be certain there was no chance of it happening again." He tilted his head, a curious glint in his pale eyes, "But, this means you are indeed intimately aware of the nature of the ritual."

This was the problem with dealing with these types, they gleaned a little too much from almost nothing. Well, it seemed interesting enough... but, there was no way in hell I was heading back in there as I was now. Not without some way to combat that thing myself.

With a sigh, I ran a hand through my hair.

"Nah. I'm good."

"If you're worried about safety, don't be. We have no intention of putting you at risk. I intend to be more than prepared after all. This young man is Sir Heine Istari. He was one of our brightest but now he aligns himself with your kind." 

My... what?

"Don't be so chummy with me." Heine pushed the priest's hand away with a slighted glare.

"See? Sir Knight likes you over me."

So... the guy left the Church to become a magus.

"No, he was a magus to begin with. From quite a renowned lineage too. He joined us out of distaste for his kind. When he left us too, we were less than enthused." Mark adjusted his flat cap and continued with an empty laugh. "Unfortunately, he killed over half a dozen executors when we tried to express our disapproval so there was no choice but to act like his departure was mutually agreed upon. This is simply an old favour."

"Don't air out people's lives so casually." Heine shot him another glare, fists clenched. It felt like he wanted to punch the priest. Well, I would too if those words were truth.

I considered my options quietly. If I went along, there was a decent chance I'd get murdered. But there was a decent chance that the same could happen in a random alley. It DID happen. This was fucking London, stab central of the world. On the other hand, if that didn't happen. I could steal some so-called 'baptism rites' and glean the magecraft of an individual that could force the Holy Church to back off through sheer violence.

Yeah, the choice was obvious.

"My inhibitions about going to abandoned places with an old priest aside, when do you want me?"

"In a week's time, I must gather my things and prepare for the rituals. I look forward to jolly cooperation."

Giving him a small nod, I turned on my heel and left. Once outside, I was about to make my way down the stairs to join Luviagelita in her car but was stopped by Heine grabbing my arm. As before, his pretty-boy face was completely expressionless.

He offered only a few words before disappearing down the sidewalk.

"Don't trust anything that comes out of that man's mouth."

...I didn't even get the time to tell him those words were unnecessary. 

Who in their right mind would trust a guy like that in a world like this?

-

It was the evening on the next day, after the lecture exploring the applications of Structural Analysis and Projection Magecraft, that I approached my Professor in his study. It was a quaint room not befitting a man who was supposed to be a member of the Twelve Lords.

He was idly sprawled on a couch, a book over his eyes and a lit cigar in his mouth while his apprentice, Gray wandered about the room, occasionally looking between me and her Master before trying to put on a scary face which just ended with her looking like a chipmunk.

Pretty cute. I was even jealous.

Anyway, back to the reason I was here. It was only right to run a certain idea of mine through Waver considering his genuine nature and the admirable nature of his knowledge about this particular world and its workings, both mystical and political.

"I wanna patent other people's work."

The Professor let out a loud groan and tossed the book on his face across the room. It hit the wall behind his table before finally tumbling to the floor. Gray moved to pick it up immediately.

"I saw this coming." The tip of his cigar burned brighter as he inhaled deeply, turning his face aside to exhale. "That is not a good idea at all."

Quietly, I waited for his 'lesson'.

"In the first place, any particular magecraft is reserved only for those within a certain family, past a few spells. The family will have focused on this research for as long as they have been around. This helps to maintain the mystery that powers it, and limits the access to the limited pool of resources from which to draw. I covered this before."

He did. A Thaumaturgical Foundation was like a pool of water, so there was a limited amount of water to draw. The more people that could, the less that was available for each individual person. It made sense then to hoard this all for oneself, especially for magi who let their greed and their lust for knowledge rule above all else.

"So, the complete research of one magus is largely useless to another. If we go about it logically. What correlation does illusory magecraft have with, say, jewel magecraft? None. Then, there is the centuries, perhaps, millennia of research into a certain path. The notion that this can be parsed, understood, and replicated by someone at but a glance is simply too absurd for any magi to even entertain."

Indeed, it was. But, they should know better than anyone that in that type of world, there would be nothing such as 'too absurd'. Because to assign that nature to something, was to say that it was not achievable. It was to surrender. The whole point of magi was to struggle. It was counterproductive.

"That's not right."

"It isn't. But it is true." Waver exhaled thick plumes of white smoke. "But, when they realise it IS indeed possible for this to happen. You will be put down in the best of scenarios. Then, they'll bid on your body, and on your blood."

My mother and sister.

"You don't need me to tell you what comes next then. It would be impossible for even the kindest magus to pass up the chance."

Yeah... this was why I ran my idea through him to begin with. I'd had my suspicions about this but he'd confirmed it. Maybe I could invest some of my time into Alchemy and make gold or some such to fix the issue with wealth. That was a safer, and stabler option.

But, it raised another question.

"Why not you?"

The air stood still, and the room became silent. Then, abruptly, Waver threw up a hand before lying back on the sofa, turning to the side to bury his face in the cushioning. My professor raised a hand and waved it in dismissal.

"Too troublesome."

I couldn't help but laugh at that reasoning, even Gray smiled. It was a pretty smile.

"Fair enough, teach."

I trusted his words. I trusted him. And, I would repay his kindness. I was not the kind of man to deny someone who'd done me good. That was when I realised my heart wouldn't allow me to join any faction other than Luviagelita's when it came to it.

I owed Inorai this.

-

Hope you enjoyed.

You can find five chapter ahead at patre0n.com/Bleap. They're a total of 10-12k words so equal to about ten of what usually passes for a chapter on this site. But, I'm not satisfied with the number so I'll be doubling it before next week.