Chapter Sixty: Ochimusha

    Serena woke to the sound of hurried footsteps in the outside corridor. She immediately knew the owner of those footsteps was coming to communicate bad news. It was the same type of determined strides she’d grown familiar with from her time as a captain. On many occasions, Tomes or Dagon approached her quarters in the Vengeance in the same way, always coming to inform her of a problem.

    She elbowed Amelia. “Get dressed,” she hissed before climbing out of bed and slipping on her instructor uniform. She barely had time to fix her jacket when the footsteps stopped outside her door and the person behind it rapidly knocked. Judging from the aether signature, it was either Ryosuke or the grandmaster.

    “A moment!” she called, then frowned realising it was unlikely her shout would be heard through Amelia’s sound-blocking ward. The room brightened, and she turned to see a golden glow with hints of blue fading from Amelia’s body - she had healed herself wide awake.

    “Instructor Halen?” a voice sounded from beyond the door, followed by more knocking. It turned out it was Ryosuke, after all. Serena exchanged a glance with Amelia. They were both confused and while Serena could keep her face neutral, Amelia wore her emotions on her face as if they were the latest fashion.

    Confusion. Concern. Worry.

    Serena left Amelia behind in the bedroom to get dressed. Exiting Amelia’s sound-blocking ward, she once again called out, “One moment!”. Thankfully, that stopped Ryosuke’s knocking. The man sounded like he was seconds away from kicking the door down.

    Something must have happened.

    Serena opened the door to see the Head Instructor with a tense expression. He looked her up and down before stepping through the doorframe and looking around the room. His eyes lingered on the closed bedroom door before locking onto Serena’s.

    He was carrying his weapon.

    “Is Amelia in there?” he asked. “I can sense some wards.”

    Serena felt her tongue twist, ready to click in annoyance. She liked and respected Ryosuke, but it didn''t bode well if the coming conversation regarding her and Amelia’s relationship started so curt. She knew many of the instructors possessed quite traditional views when it came to... her disposition. She’d hoped, and still hoped, that Ryosuke, who had travelled the Empire more than she had, would be more understanding.

    “Yes,” she answered flatly. “What’s wrong?” As she asked the question, her mind churned. Would Ryosuke, either by himself or under the grandmaster’s orders, storm into her room, armed, in the early hours of the morning? Even if they disapproved of her activities, this wouldn’t be the time or the place for them to bring it up.

    “Has she been with you the entire night? She hasn’t left?”

    The latter question prompted Serena to become sure this wasn’t about the potential discovery of her relationship. “Yes,” she answered. “She was exhausted after training her aura, so I invited her to stay the night.” Serena crossed her arms. “Why? What’s going on, Ryosuke?”

    He scratched his nose. “Is she decent? Can you fetch-” he coughed into his hand lightly. “Can you request she make herself known?” As his question finished, two more sets of footsteps could be heard, and a moment later, Ryosuke was joined by Nathaniel and Sarafina. Now, three Head Instructors were making themselves welcome in her reception area.

    Great. Why not invite the Empress along as well!?

    “We’ve woken the staff,” Nathaniel said. “Aethergram sent to the Old Guard. Perimeter guards were notified. They’re on the way.”

    “Amelia here?” Sarafina intoned smoothly, nodding her head towards the bedroom.

    “Coming!” Amelia''s voice sounded from beyond the door as the sound-blocking ward dropped. The door opened, and Amelia stepped through with a nervous smile and a small wave. She was wearing her uniform and - no doubt through a dash of spellwork - had it and herself looking pristine. With how she presented, no one would believe that less than a minute ago, she’d been fast asleep in Serena’s bed.

    That is if she hadn’t forgotten to put on her shoes.

    This idiot!

    “Hello, you three!” Amelia chirped.

    Serena eyed their reactions to Amelia closely. With relief, she noted their expressions softened upon seeing Amelia. Whatever Amelia was involved in, it hadn’t caused hostile intentions to form between her and the staff.

    “Amelia,” Sarafina said softly. “Where were you approximately an hour ago?”

    “Uh,” Amelia rubbed the back of her neck. “Here. Sleeping.”

    “Sleeping?” Sarafina questioned. “Since when?”

    “Mmm...” Amelia placed a finger on her chin. “Midnight?”

    “You shared Instructor Halen’s quarters?” Nathaniel asked, a frown forming on his face.

    “She’s been helping me with my aura in the evenings and early mornings,” Amelia said, shrugging nonchalantly. “It’s easier to stay the night than walk back and forth.”

    “Have you used any of your healing magic tonight?” Sarafina asked. “Especially recently?”

    “Only on myself,” Amelia answered. “To wake up.”

    The trio of instructors threw each other glances. Ryosuke’s eyes narrowed while Nathaniel and Sarafina looked confused. Serena loudly clicked her tongue, forcing the room''s attention on her. She dropped her neutral expression, allowing her growing anger to show.

    “Enough questions,” she stated, folding her arms and tapping her foot. “I’m not accustomed to having armed Speakers barge into my quarters day or night. Amelia has been with me the entire night. I state that on my honour and name. So, tell me, what the fuck’s going on?”

    Surprisingly, none of the three took offence to her directness. Ryosuke even bowed in apology. Straightening up, he gave one final glance towards Amelia before explaining, “Second-year Melanie Mori was found unconscious in Amelia’s quarters an hour ago. Lunaria found her after detecting an unusual amount of aether that indicated a fight.” Ryosuke raised a hand, cutting off Amelia, who’d begun to interrupt. “Miss Mori is alive and well. She’s only suffering from a small amount of aether exhaustion. Lunaria has her under a sleep spell currently. We’re interested in Amelia''s whereabouts and spellwork because while Miss Mori’s clothes show signs of being attacked by a blade, her body is spotless from both injury and dirt - signs we’ve come to understand are typical of Amelia’s healing and cleaning magic.”

    “She was attacked!?” Amelia blurted out.

    “Who attacked her?” Serena asked, locking eyes with Ryosuke, demanding his attention.

    “An ochimusha,” Sarafina jumped in.

    Serena hissed, feeling her eyes widen with surprise.

    An ochimusha!? Here!?

    “Now dead,” Sarafina continued. “His body is in Amelia’s room. Strangely, it looks like he died from aether exhaustion, which has us all puzzled. He entered through the window and certainly engaged in some kind of fight with Miss Mori. Only...”

    “Only... defeating an ochimusha would be beyond Mel,” Serena finished the sentence. The term ochimusha referred to an honourless warrior who had fallen into a dishonest and criminal lifestyle. They were assassins, thieves, and pirates. Above all, they were dangerous. Beyond the capabilities of an average trainee officer.

    “That’s right,” Ryosuke affirmed. “Judging by the symptoms of aether exhaustion, Lunaria reckons the man’s aura bordered on yellow, if not already there. Miss Mori was verging on orange - not a close match. Her aura wouldn’t have protected her against his attacks, and his weapons looked poisoned. As I said, Miss Mori’s body is unharmed, but her clothes carry the signs of being subject to cuts and stabs.”

    Resisting a sigh, Serena explained she was helping Amelia train in the evenings and early mornings and how she would invite her to stay to save walking back and forth between the main building and the magic tower. It wasn’t technically a lie; it would pass the test of an axiom crystal. It just slightly avoided what they got up to between those two training periods.

    Serena was sure that once things had settled down, some of the instructors might begin to construct... theories, especially the three who had seen Amelia exit Serena’s bedroom barefoot. For now, at least, they had bigger fish to catch.

    “In that case...” Lunaria murmured. “I’ll keep my thoughts to myself. I fear if I vocalise the few theories I have that fit with the facts, you’ll cart me off to the asylum for madness. Ha!”

    This prompted a few titters from the instructors in the room, but in their eyes, Serena could see they were having similar thoughts. Where could she even begin with this? As far as she knew, the nearest human healer that wasn’t Amelia was thousands of klicks away on the human continent! To the best of her knowledge, the only human healer both friendly and powerful enough to do what was described, was already here in this room! And that healer was adamant it wasn’t her!

    Could it have been a demon? As the thought formed, Serena was already pushing it out of her head. Demonkind had no gods of healing, and no demon have ever communed with Aseco. Neither had any demon ever developed enough communion to form even the first-circle healing spells.

    The worst part was that Serena knew Amelia wasn’t lying. She had known the woman long enough to understand how difficult it was for her to lie about anything. It was both a blessing and a curse and that especially held true tonight. It was a blessing to have Amelia not be involved, and also a curse that she wasn’t because it meant there was someone else with powerful healing abilities that could hide themselves from Lunaria’s perception.

    Had another ridiculous existence like Amelia popped up? Was there another powerful healer somehow friendly to demonkind? Was there some kind of hidden talent that Centralis Intelligent had pulled out?

    “I’m going to check on the other body,” Serena said, turning to Amelia. “Are you okay?”

    “Mmm!” Amelia nodded, although with forced enthusiasm. “I’m happy to see Mel’s okay!”

    “You can heal her when we wake her up,” Lunaria intoned from her chair. “Not that she needs it, as you can tell. Just don’t do it now - the feeling of aether exhaustion might help her remember the fight.”

    “Back soon,” Serena declared, standing up. Nathaniel left the room while Ryosuke and Sarafina were going over some papers. Judging by their comments, it was the results of the student headcounts and searches. “Anything unusual?” she asked as she passed.

    They both shook their heads.

    Serena stepped into Amelia’s bedroom. It was well-lit; the aetherlights had been turned up fully. Lying on Amelia’s bed was the corpse of the ochimusha. Standing against one wall was the grandmaster. He was watching the dead body with cold eyes, almost as unmoving as the corpse on the bed.

    She gave the dead ochimusha a look over. He was an assassin, alright. He wore dark, well-fitted clothing so it wouldn’t catch on any thorns or brambles. He wore no shoes; his aura would have protected him against anything he could step on, so he would have favoured the extra feedback through his bare feet. His weapon of choice was a steel knife, its deadly blade now lying harmless next to him. There was blood on the blade, as well as something else. Serena leaned closer to examine it.

    “Poison,” the grandmaster growled. “Careful.”

    “Right,” Serena nodded. She could see the sticky resin coat. If this was the blade that cut Mel, then it was even more evidence she was covertly saved and healed. Furthermore, Serena wasn’t an expert tracker or hunter, but she knew enough to determine that the ochimusha’s placement on Amelia’s bed wasn’t congruent with Mel’s blood trail. Someone had placed him here after he was dead.

    “Manwese,” the grandmaster stated. “Perhaps from Tanhae, judging by the base of his horns. No one here recognises him, so he probably isn’t named. Once the Old Guard get here, I’ll get copies of the photographs they take and see if anyone in my brother’s circle knows who this is.”

    “We’re passing the investigation onto them, then?” Serena asked. Considering the Speakers involved and the fact the crime happened on the grounds of what was technically a military establishment, the grandmaster have the authority to take charge himself.

    “Oh, we’ll do our investigation, but on paper, it’ll be them,” he said, raising a fist and squeezing it tight. “The Old Guard handle the perimeter security, which means this bastard slipped through their net. I’ll bring the seven hells onto them for this failure.” His eyes darkened and somehow became even more cold. “If the girl had died, I would’ve taken their heads.”

    He wasn’t joking.

    “Do we know it was the window?” Serena asked.

    “Mmm,” came the grumbled response. “Lockpicking marks on the lock.” The grandmaster finally moved, walking past Serena and closing the door. A burst of aether erupted from Lunaria, and Serena experienced the now-familiar sensation of being in a room wrapped in a sound-blocking spell. Now, it was just the pair of them.

    And a corpse.

    “Instructor Halen,” he intoned, his presence filling the entire room. “Do you know anything about this? Is this Thornheart’s work?” He glared at her, and Serena could swear she could feel herself shrinking under his gaze. She thought she had a weighty stare, but this was something else.

    “No,” she answered. “It’s not. I know this.”

    “How do you know?”

    “Because I know her. I know when she’s lying, and she’s not lying. She’d testify to this under an axiom crystal, as would I.”

    “Hmm...” the grandmaster rubbed his chin. The pressure in the room eased. “Know any likely suspects? People with the means and motive to order this?”

    “Any high-ranking member of the human clergy?” Serena offered with a shrug. “A Northern fanatic? This could be the work of a hundred different organisations. The list of possible suspects might be thousands. To be honest...” She sighed. “I thought something like this might have happened sooner rather than later.”

    The grandmaster took a moment to reply. “This doesn’t feel like a particularly sophisticated attempt. An honourless warrior against a Speaker? Madness. Madness and stupidity.” He shook his head. “Human groups wouldn’t waste an ochimusha on a half-hearted attempt like this. This came from a demon, but that hardly narrows the list.”

    “Maybe...” It was worth a shot. “Darkblades?” Serena suggested. “They’re both mad and stupid.” Even as she said it, she didn’t really believe it. She fully expected that, at some point, the Darkblades would try and assassinate Amelia. They’d had more than a few discussions around the subject. But this? It felt sloppy. Amateurish. Like some spoilt rich boy had thrown money at a problem he had no idea-

    Could it be?

    “There... is one person,” Serena tentatively began, a memory from her time in Kenhoro slowly surfacing. “A Lord-Prospect Jin. I never found out his first name. He was a snarky, stuck-up brat with too much money who would never be sanctioned with full lordship but still liked his friends calling him Lord. That kind of man. I, Amelia, and an intelligence officer called Aiden Adachi encountered him in a Kenhoro restaurant for the moonrain festival.” She placed a finger to her temple, closing her eyes, trying to remember the events. It was tricky - she’d been drunk at the time.

    “He was a sixhorn. Three pairs. Long braided dark hair. He had a group with him. Four to six people. Similar appearance less the horns. He pulled his sword against Amelia. I stepped in and gave them all a beating.” Serena decided she wouldn’t mention that the primary motivation for her actions was Amelia’s promise that if she could get them all unconscious within five seconds, she would agree to anything Serena requested when they were alone in bed.

    She’d greatly profited from that deal.

    “There’s probably more than a dozen Lord-Prospect Jins walking about Kenhoro and Tanhae...” The grandmaster took a slow breath. “But not a lot of sixhorns. My brother would know who that is. You think this Lord-Prospect Jin is the type?”

    “For this?” Serena gestured towards the corpse. “Young, brash, stupid... unable to drop a grudge, too scared to get revenge against House Halen directly, so he blames everything on the human... it’s possible. At the very least, the stupidity fits.”

    “Stupid indeed. He’ll hang for this.” He nodded towards the door. “I’d like to bring Thornheart in to discuss this incident. Then, we’ll wake the girl up and see what she remembers. When the Old Guard come and make a mess of everything, don’t mention this Lord-Prospect in any statements. We’ll ask Thornheart to do the same.”

    “They’re that incompetent?” Serena asked. She knew there was some bad blood between the Old Guard and the military, but didn’t know it extended all the way up towards figures as important as the grandmaster.

    The demon shook his head. “It’s not so much as incompetence; rather, the hacks have so many contacts on the inside they’ll end up leaking everything, whether intentionally or accidentally. We’ll do our own investigation before this Lord-Prospect finds out he’s a suspect from a broadsheet headline.” He faced Serena. “It’ll be a long night. They love taking photographs of everything and speaking to everyone multiple times. I also need you to complete an incident report for military records.”

    Right. Of course. Paperwork. Serena’s time in the military had caused her to learn there were three things guaranteed in life: death, taxes, and the inordinate amount of paperwork you had to fill out when anything interesting happened.

    Letting a small sigh escape, she joined the grandmaster in returning to the reception room, where a long night awaited them.