Chapter 61: The Caretaker
The city had a story now, and the story did not have Theo’s name in it.
The headlines had gone up overnight and stayed up. MIRACLE ON THE WESTERN ARTERY, one of them read. FOUR AGENCIES COME TOGETHER TO REPEL A CATEGORY IV GATE AND PROTECT THE CITY OUTSKIRTS, read another, over a photograph of Jupiter Lady standing on an empty road in the evening light with her cape doing something the wind had not asked it to do.
The entire narrative of course was switched, like how it was always done. The Hero Agencies that had caused this nuisance had used it to once again pump their reputation, burying the suspicion of an SS-rank and mitigating the damage of it ever reaching the limelight that they had caused the nuisance in the first place. Not one line of it mentioned the road, or the convoy, or the man who had stood on it telling everyone to get off.
They had a really good Damage Control Team.
At the same time, the Hero Association could not bother to care about what the Agencies were up to, because even they had more important matters to take care of.
The letter from Headquarters came twenty-four hours after the move, and it was very polite, which is how you can tell. It sat on the hall table for most of an hour before anyone touched it, cream paper, the Association seal pressed dry into one corner.
{Mr Theolyne Chadwick is invited to attend the Central Measurement Hall, Yellemite, at 09:00, for the completion of the classification process begun at the time of his awakening. Attendance is at the invitation of the Association. A provisional license remains provisional until measurement is complete.}
Estea was in the sitting room when it arrived, and she watched Theo read it. The fire had been lit an hour before and had settled into a low orange chew at the base of the logs, and she had not looked at it once.
Theo folded the letter back along the crease it came with, and looked away. There was silence between the two of them.
’Since, our relationship has gotten better, I could speak to her and seek her advice with these things right?’
Theo hesitated, but eventually turned to look at Estea, who pretended she was focused on the fireplace more than she had been staring daggers into Theo while he read the letter.
He inhaled and exhaled softly.
"It seems I’m officially ready to be measured, this will determine my rank and my destiny for the rest of my life. What’s your opinion? I suspect that the Association has been so helpful because they want me to stay with them. The Hero Agencies of course would be dying to recruit me, if I turn out to be anything above S-rank. With all that ruckus and potential, what do you suggest I do?"
Estea did not say anything for a full minute. Theo sat there through all sixty seconds of it, wondering if he shouldn’t have said anything at all, listening to a log shift and drop in the grate.
Just as he was about to give up, her cold, husky voice came out.
"I already said it before, control is seized, do not give anyone the one thing you have over yourself. The tower is a double-edged sword, even with these backings this remains true. Sure you will have a lot to gain, and so will they, and everything they gain from you is something you lost."
Theo pondered over her words while she sat sagaciously in her wheelchair, both hands flat on the armrests.
"So not the Association, not the Agencies, you think I should establish myself?"
Estea closed her eyes.
"It will certainly be a far more perilous road, joining an Agency might benefit you better. Than doing it alone."
Theo chuckled.
"I won’t be alone though."
Estea shifted her gaze, giving him an absurd look, dripping with disdain.
While Theo simply continued.
"I will have you. And Sesan... hopefully one day. And eventually Thall."
Estea sighed and turned away, toward the window and the flat grey water past the porch.
"Use an Alias. One completely unrelated to us."
Theolyne smiled happily and nodded.
"Yes!"
"Stop shouting, you prick."
"Yes ma’am!!"
Theo was slowly preparing for his descent into the Tower, immediately after his ranking. The moment his rank was determined, he planned to move the next day and start looking for a cure for Thall while garnering experience and growing as fast as he could, before his wives’ family came striking again. Nine in the morning, Yellemite, and then the rest of it.
Because of his absence too, he also needed to extend his contract with Uthed.
The man had agreed to be paid per hour, but Theo spoke to him to settle him per month for his service, and hoped that Uthed would protect his wives.
While he knew that Uthed was not the strongest Hero out there, the man still struck him as stronger than the average Hero, and the most important thing was that he had a rich combat intelligence and experience that wasn’t even dependent on his Hero Skills. He had no ability at all, and Theo had still never once seen him caught off guard by anything in this house.
And most importantly, Theo had come to trust him more than he would any other hero.
So, Uthed was the best he could think of. And Uthed, also agreed to help. In fact the man reacted like he had been expecting Theo to actually ask him to stay longer.
In the evening of the next day, Theo received another visitor, one whom he was supposed to interrogate.
The lady Lance had recommended was somewhat chubby, with black hair and bangs cut with edges so straight and sharp they might have been set against a ruler. Her gaze was indifferent, but hidden beneath it were warm eyes. She wore a simple gown and held a bag with both her hands as she stood in front of the house, waiting for someone to open the door. She did not knock twice.
Theo opened it and the woman lowered her head and bowed.
"My name is Odette Ferrow. I was recommended here by Lance Frost, as a caretaker."
Theo observed her details as she stood in front of him, before even letting her in.
[Profile]
Name: Odette Ferrow
Age: 51
Rank: (-)A — RESIDUAL
Attribute Affinity: none (severed)
Constitution: Standing Wall (0.0%)
Circulation Art: none (collapsed)
Skills: [Aegis (unavailable)], [Third Wall (unavailable)], [Hold The Line (unavailable)]
Status:
• Mana core ruptured on Tower Floor Fourteen, nineteen years ago.
• Pathways cauterised by the rupture. Reconstruction is not possible by any known method.
• Registered A-rank. Delisted eighteen years ago.
• Held a collapse corridor for forty minutes with an [Aegis] rated for eleven. Two hundred and six people came out of that corridor.
• No commendation was issued.
Theo stopped with his hand still on the door, and the awe came up through him slowly, the way it does when a number turns out to be a person. At the same time, Odette looked at him.
"Trying to steal my identity from my soul without my permission is unfair, sir."