What We Do to Survive

Four, technically Four-Three based on the naming convention the Earthshadow’s private enforcers used but I’d never interacted with any of the other Fours, met me at one of the side gates in the wall around the Earthshadow mansion. Four was a tall, slender man with a long streak of red running through his messy dark-brown hair. With his hood down and the identity-concealing spells woven into the hoods deactivated, he looked rather awkward in his matte black robe.

Though I reflexively called him young in my head due to his awkward mannerisms, and because he’d been introduced as the newest member of his team, I’d learned after a few days of working with the Earthshadow mages that he was actually nearly five years older than me. He wasn’t much of a mage, he hadn’t said anything about it but I judged him to be near the peak of second-circle, but he was rather clever and competent so I didn’t hold it against him. It helped that he’d been one of the few mages who had taken me seriously before I wiped the floor with One during a practice match.

Four looked somewhat surprised to see me when I stepped up to the gate. He was sitting just behind the wall with a slim booklet held loosely in one hand and his head resting against the trunk of one of the many fruit-trees that littered the manor’s grounds. When I called out that I had arrived he all but jumped out of his chair and nearly went face-first into the ground, only just catching himself on something I couldn’t see.

“I’m coming, I’m coming! Sorry sir.” He quickly brushed off his robes, shoved the booklet into an internal pocket, and rushed up to open the small metal gate set into a recess in the stone wall. “Thank you for coming. I’m sorry to say we weren’t expecting you for another half hour, One is meeting with a few of the other team leaders and––”

“It's fine,” I interrupted, waving him off. “I was nearby taking care of some other errands. I can talk to One later, let's go take a look at that picture.”

“Of course, sir. Let me just call someone else to watch the gate, it will only take a moment.”

I didn’t like it, but there was no need to antagonize him now. Unlike some of their other members, Four had been nothing but helpful throughout my time working with the Earthshadows. Presumably the picture wasn’t going anywhere, and perhaps they might even learn something useful while I was waiting.

As Four promised, fetching a different guard didn’t take long at all. Four rushed away, jogging around a corner to where I could sense a cluster of men sitting around a table. About a minute later, he returned followed by one of the Earthshadow’s severe-looking guards dressed in leather armor reinforced with metal plates over the vitals. I gave him a polite nod that he ignored, instead dragging the wooden chair Four had been using to a spot directly beside the gate but still hidden from view by the tall wall and took a seat.

“Okay,” Four said between heavy breaths, “I’m sorry for keeping you waiting, sir. Follow me please.”

He turned around and set off towards the manor. Despite myself, I felt my lips quirk up into a small smile as I followed after him. Four was just so… earnest. I really couldn’t tell if it was an act or really just how the man was as a person, but if it was an act he was doing a great job of it. Regardless, I appreciated him not acting like a conceited brat like some of the other mages that worked with him tended to. I had a feeling they just didn’t like seeing someone as young as me stomp them into the ground.

I was just glad neither of the proper mages I’d run into among them had decided to act up, because I didn’t fancy my chances against any sixth circle spellcaster, even a shoddily trained one. Both supervisor Zero and the man I suspected was Lord Earthshadow himself were perfectly capable of turning me into a wet smear across the training-ground floor if they wanted to.

It didn’t take long for us to make it down to the sub basement area where I’d watched the initial interrogation the day before. On the way we were joined once again by the fake maid who typically accompanied me while I was inside the building, though Four continued to guide us down the long corridors and stairwells that wound their way beneath the gleaming mansion.

Stepping into the observation room, I was surprised to see a Glasses sitting seemingly completely unrestrained on the floor of the interrogation room, a placid look in his eyes and a dopey smile on his face as he scribbled away on some paper using a lump of charcoal. Looking closer, I could just barely make out the faintly shimmering outline of someone standing in the corner of the room behind him, a common sign of a poorly controlled illusionary veil. From the taste of their mana and the shape of the outline, I guessed it was probably Seven-Nine, one of the interrogators I’d seen but not been introduced to yesterday.

Unlike the nearly empty room I’d sat in the day before, today the already somewhat cramped observation room was packed to the brim with people. Thirteen-Nine and Two-Nine were standing together beside the glass speaking in hushed tones as they watched the prisoner work. Two completely unfamiliar mages fussed over an open chest full of potion vials while a third carefully measured out small portions drop by drop into a large glass beaker. Another unfamiliar man was sitting in the room’s lone chair, watching the proceedings in silence. Judging from his nearing fifth-circle mana, he was probably someone important.

Four stepped into the room first and cleared his throat. Two-Nine turned away from the glass, a flash of annoyance visible on his face before he saw who it was. “Ah. Welcome back Four, and I see you have Mr. Hunter with you as well, very good. You may return to your duties, someone will call you if your services are needed.”

“Yes sir. Thank you sir. For Earthshadow.” He nodded sharply, clapped a fist against his chest, then walked briskly out of the room. I watched him until he disappeared around a corner, then shrugged internally and stepped into the room myself. Two-Nine said something I couldn’t make out to Thirteen, then came over to meet me.

“I hear you guys managed to get some results after all,” I began, “impressive. Things didn’t seem to be going too well when I left. What changed?”

“Ah, well it was a number of things. We were not expecting much yesterday, not once we first ran into the oaths. As soon as we found that direct means would not produce any results, the goal became to explore the exact conditions of whatever oaths of secrecy the men swore. Though a powerful and obscure magic, no oath is truly flawless, particularly not those used by such cretins. Often times, those flaws can be exploited if you know what you’re looking for.”

“Oh?” I asked curiously, “and I assume you found something useful then?”

“We did indeed! These men belonged to the Ludin syndicate, which uses a rather standardized oath of secrecy for all its members. My colleague has some experience dealing with the group and found a clever workaround. The men are sworn not to communicate any information about their jobs or employers to outsiders, but their oaths do not stop them from engaging in some perfectly harmless acts of artistic expression, hmm?”

What. That… that was a thing people could do? I considered some of the oaths I’d sworn or had other people swear over the last few years and swallowed heavily. That was moderately concerning. Very convenient right now, but potentially very, very dangerous. I was pretty sure I knew where Two was going with this.

“So,” he continued, “with a careful mix of potions and some mind-affecting spells, we’ve had our prisoners doodling rather effectively. Fortunately it seems that this one,” he jerked his head towards the glass separating us from the cell, “was something of an amateur artist in his youth. Nothing exceptional, but it's rather convenient for us.”

“I see,” I said slowly, mind racing as I considered what the interrogator had told me. “I imagine the process is somewhat inconsistent?”

“Unfortunately so, but it still gets results. It's not good for finding specific details, our suggestion spells are simply not precise enough to manage that, but Thirteen has made great strides in narrowing down our targeting. He’s been at it since late last night and we’re pretty sure we’ve identified the key players. A certain face has appeared in a number of pertinent drawings, one we haven’t been able to identify as of yet, but we believe her to be the woman who hired them.”

I was rather eager to see the image in question, but I was still shaken by the man’s comments on the fragility of secrecy oaths. Was I missing something in my own research? I knew some of the common issues that could arise with that sort of magic, such as the resistance caused by reluctant or unwilling oathtaker, but everything I’d read told me that as long as the oath was worded properly and allowed to take hold, it was nigh impossible to circumvent without some incredibly potent magic. And yet, somehow, these rather pathetic mages had done it. I needed to understand.

“Very promising. You mentioned narrowing down your target data, could you tell me a little more about your process?”

I spent another few minutes quizzing the man, but didn’t get nearly as much out of it as I would have liked. He was perfectly happy to talk about the general idea of what they were doing, but refused to elaborate on any specifics.

As far as I could tell, the process was mostly dependent on those potions that they kept pouring down the prisoner’s throat. They kept his mind addled and suggestible, allowing relatively simple spells and the quiet whispers of the interrogator in the room with him to push him towards the topics the interrogators were interested in.

Things became a lot more reasonable when we came to that part. It wasn’t that Glasses was actively just showing us his boss’s face, but rather they had him drawing scenes he remembered from the appropriate time period and then eliminating extraneous faces and details from those images until they found what they were after. I saw several rough sketches of a dimly lit bar, the trio walking furtively along a dark alleyway, and even one that clearly took place inside the very safehouse we’d raided the day before.

Finally though, it was time to see what exactly they’d called me over to look at. Two led me out of the room and down to a larger, open room where a half dozen men and women stood huddled over a round table. Two nudged one out of the way and I stepped forward to look down at the large, hand drawn scene.

“We’ve had a few people come through trying to identify this woman, but we’ve had no luck yet. We thought Heiress Earthshadow may recognize her, she appears to be around the right age, but no luck as of yet. Five things she might be wearing some sort of disguise, in which case it will come down to divination magic once again. We were hoping you may be willing to help with that.”

Goatee sat at the bar facing a young woman holding a long-stemmed glass with something floating in. Glasses really was an excellent artist, even while drugged out of his mind on all sorts of potions he had perfectly captured the expression on the woman’s face. The very familiar woman’s face. Even in black and white, I would recognize the stupid bitch anywhere.

I took a long, slow breath, fighting to keep my boiling magic under control. This was no place to make a scene. “She looks familiar, but I’m not quite sure,” I said slowly. “I’d be happy to help with the hunt, though I’m afraid my schedule is going to be rather busy in the near future.”

“Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated.”

“Of course.” I took another deep breath, then exhaled loudly. “It is good to have a face. This should make things easier.”

“Indeed.”

“Thank you for your time. I think I will need to take my leave now.” I turned away from the table, but I could still see that stupid, smiling face dancing before my eyes. Brenda had a lot to answer for.