NOVEL NEXT 109: Professor Neliel
109:
A moment of awkward silence passed between Tom and Valeria as he considered the implications that her statement carried.
Then, Tom shrugged.
“Oh well, I guess he had it coming,” Tom declared, his tone coming out more flippant than he had intended.
That was all the time they had for conversation as Professor Neliel burst into the clearing, his eyes bloodshot as he took stock of the situation.
“Valeria, step away from that man. He’s working with the kidnappers!” Professor Neliel made an impassioned plea, his expression one of genuine panic.
“Kidnappers?” Valeria asked, the doubt in her tone audible. “He just saved my life, Professor Neliel,” She replied, her tone carrying an iciness that was enough to make Tom raise an eyebrow.
“All an act, I tell you. An act!” Professor Neliel declared while Tom sized him up patiently, making no effort to plead his cause. “He wants you to go with him willingly so he can ransom your father!”
“Orchestrating an assassination just to stage a kidnapping? You insult my intelligence, Professor— No, traitor Neliel,” Valeria replied, her tone full of undisguised scorn.
Of course, Tom knew why the normally calm and reserved Professor Neliel was acting in this manner. If the assassination failed, the Nottrakon Family would make sure to eliminate every single person involved in the plot, eviscerating every last tie that could link them to the attempt on Valeria’s life.
“Then…,” Professor Neliel trailed off, his expression abruptly darkening. “Die,” He whispered under his breath.
Tom’s expression abruptly changed as his senses registered the two already formed earthen blades flanking Valeria from opposing directions.
He had made a mistake.
While his senses were stretched to their limits, Professor Neliel had been craftier. He had shaped his blades during his conversation with Valeria, making sure that they were positioned perfectly.
Then, as soon as it became clear that negotiations had broken down, he commanded the blades to close in with a pincer attack.
Had the threat been directed to Tom, he would’ve caught onto it the moment the blades shifted. But Professor Neliel’s goal had never been to harm him, only his target— Valeria.
He had underestimated Neliel’s ruthlessness.
A mirror opened up before one of the approaching earthen blades while Tom’s form blurred as he moved to intercept the second.
One attack was neutralized but the second…
Professor Neliel had played his cards well.
Tom let Mirror World fade away with the absorbed attack, while he activated Lifeblood’s Blood Scion ability.
It only let him manipulate the blood of recently slain enemies, which the purported leader of the Nottrakon Family’s Elite Guard happened to be. Thankfully, Valeria was standing next to the now deceased leader when Neliel burst in, in an effort to confirm his identity.
Tom could only forge blood weapons with the blood scion ability, which was further capped by the limits of his mental stat.
He had enough of the latter, so he didn’t hesitate to consider a large, spiked shield a weapon.
Tom watched as the golden earthen blade pushed away the wielder-less spiked shield, his lips curling up into a faint smile as his purpose was accomplished.
The momentum powering the blade’s charge had dulled and this time, when Tom used Nvein’s mimicked blade to intercept it, he didn’t hold back in the slightest.
The blade turned to dust.
Tom had no time to celebrate his success, as the sizzling and crackling of thunder echoed out behind him.
He turned, just in time to witness Valeria slashing her sword with wild abandon, sending forth an arcing slash of thunder.
Professor Neliel hurriedly moved to dodge the blow, his gaze dismayed as his best chance to assassinate Valeria just barely slipped out of his hands.
He evaded the first strike, but Valeria was like a valkyrie whose rage had been given physical form. Powerful and relentless, she finally caught professor Neliel on the fourth blow.
Tom had expected the deadly thunder to shave off the leg it had targeted, but instead it seeped inside, seemingly without doing any harm.
A second later, Professor Neliel’s scream punctuated the air as the deadly current coursed through his body, causing his muscles to seize up.
Before Professor Neliel could recover from the onslaught, Valeria closed the distance between them with electric currents empowering her stride.
Tom watched as the light in Professor Neliel’s eyes dimmed, a single, painless strike bringing deliverance to him.
Then he blinked.
“Well, damn,” Tom muttered, his expression one of visible surprise. Valeria was far from being a threat to the current him, but that didn’t mean that she hadn’t just dispatched a professor without batting an eye.
“A mere minor noble dares turn his blade towards me,” Valeria spoke, her tone coming from scorn instead of hate. “It was an end befitting his duplicitous actions.”
“Now princess, I don’t know anything about this Noble business of yours,” Tom replied. “But if you want to survive this, you’re going to have to let me lead you. Preferably without being charred to dust in the process, thanks.”
“Like I could harm you,” Valeria replied, the mockery in her tone doing well to conceal the self-doubt concealed within.
Tom figured that it was the closest he would get to verbal permission, given the Noble woman’s rather fiery personality.
He took it and a moment later they were off, with Tom keeping one eye on Valeria even as he ran with his arm around her waist.
He did not want to be electrocuted, no thanks.
“So, you’re okay with going to the Noble District?” Tom asked as he ran, his body showing no sign of strain or being winded in the slightest.
“The Nezarie Family estate, please,” Valeria replied.
“I didn’t think Nobles were the type to say please,” Tom remarked as he accelerated his pace by a notch, his gaze flashing with an urgency similar to Valeria’s own. He could defend himself well enough, but as Professor Neliel had proven, that didn’t mean he would be able to defend Valeria against everything the Nottrakon Family had left to throw at her.
“You’re probably at least as strong as my father and just saved my life for the second time. I may be a Noble, but I’m not a boor,” Valeria replied with a huff, as if she was actually offended by his words.
“Fair enough, princess. I’m guessing you want an escort till the front door?” Tom asked.
“Considering how far-reaching this conspiracy seems to be, yes. I’m still not sure why you’re doing this, or for that matter, who in the blooming aeraniculumn you are, but my father would be amenable to discussing any compensation you want.”
“Nope,” Tom replied. “There’s no such thing as a free lunch and sorry, but I’m not getting involved in a brawl between the royal family, the Nezaria and the Zenari.”
“You think you’re going to just… get to walk away after ruining the Nottrakon Family’s plans like this?” Valeria asked, her tone tinged with disbelief.
“I’m not thinking anything, I am going to walk away. But hey, your life got saved in the process so, hurrah,” Tom cheered, finding himself leaning more and more into the Fool’s persona as he entangled himself with increasingly dangerous forces.,
“Don’t say no until you hear his offer,” Valeria replied, throwing out a last-ditch effort to recruit Tom before the conversation died out.
Ten minutes later, as Tom stealthily climbed up a two storey building, he let loose his grip on Valeria.
“Wait,” Valeria muttered as she surveyed her new surroundings. “Why are we here?”
“Welcome to the Nameless District, princess. The food is lathered in salt to avoid tasting rotten, the beer’s so watered down I wouldn’t even use it to wash my hands and it’s probably not the entrance they expect us to enter from.”