147 – There’s the Saintess!
[ ??? lvl ??? ]
Dammit, thought Elise.
She looked at Samantha, waiting for the other girl to react, but nothing happened. Samantha looked back and smiled, but it was a friendly smile that in no way indicated that she knew what Elise had done. And while it was hard to tell with Samantha, Elise didn’t pick anything up on {Sense Emotions} either.
“Something on my face?” asked Samantha.
“No…” said Elise. “Are you using an artifact to hide your aether rather than a Skill?”
“What makes you think that?”
“You didn’t notice what I just did.”
“What did you just do?”
“I’ll tell you if you tell me who you are.”
“Nope,” she said with a light chuckle. “But that’s interesting.”
“I didn’t notice what you did either,” said Helene.
Elise glanced at Helene, then decided to use {Inspect} on her as well.
[ Myriad Nobility Changeling, lvl ??? ]
Elise almost let out an audible sigh when she saw that. She was pretty sure she wasn’t supposed to know who the other infiltrators were. It wasn’t a big deal though, and at the very least, it crossed Helene off her list of Saintess suspects. Her species was also interesting. Was it an evolution of some other kind of noble changeling? Could she pose as any nobility rank? That seemed pretty useful.
“Did you just do it to me too?” asked Helene.
“Yes,” said Elise, seeing no reason to lie.
“And you want me to tell you who I am in exchange for telling me what you did?”
“Yeah.”
Helene glanced at Samantha, and both shared a smirk. Elise realized she had made a mistake, but it was too late to take it back.
“Sure,” said Helene, and Elise felt the familiar chilling sensation of {Fey Bargaining}.
“Ahhh,” she sighed. “You got me.”
“Oh, you noticed that?” asked Helene.
“Yeah…” said Elise. “Well, I guess I don’t have a choice. I used {Inspect}.”
Helene flinched, a reaction that didn’t slip Samantha’s notice.
“...Oh,” said Helene. “Then I suppose you already have a decent idea of who I am.”
“I do,” said Elise as Samantha narrowed her eyes at Helene.
“Well, a deal’s a deal. I am Helena Wagner. The Garters are an offshoot branch that we sometimes use as cover to go around with less attention, but also without losing the benefits of nobility.”
While Helene’s voice was steady, her eyes were darting between Elise and Samantha, and she looked like she was about to break out into a cold sweat. It seemed that while Samantha knew this part, she didn’t know that Helene was a changeling. It also seemed that that wouldn’t be the case for long.
“I see,” said Elise.
“Hmmmm, now I’m not sure anymore,” said Samantha, still staring at Helene. “I figured out the Garter family’s connection to the Wagners, but now I’m not sure that’s the whole truth. Elise what did you see when you used {Inspect}?”
A bead of sweat formed on Helene’s forehead as she looked at Elise with pleading eyes. Elise completely understood her plight, and knew that if Samantha was untrustworthy, “Helena Wagner” would have to die. In fact, it was possible that she would have to die anyway, since Helene had no idea that Elise was a changeling too. At the same time, as she looked at the panicking changeling, she had an odd urge to continue to mess with her. Perhaps Oberon had rubbed off on her a little too much.
“Something very interesting,” said Elise, controlling her face to keep from smirking. “I don’t know if I should say though…”
“I’ll tell you everything I know about Three if you do,” said Samantha eagerly.
Strangely, after that exchange, Helene actually seemed to calm down. Elise felt a bit disappointed. Evidently, she wasn’t quite as subtle as she meant to be, and Helene had picked up on the fact that Elise had no issues with her being a changeling, nor did she intend on selling her out.
At the same time though, Elise was really curious about what Samantha knew about Three.
“What do you know about Three?” she asked.
“Lots of things,” said Samantha confidently. “For example: Did you know that she’s actually quite close with someone else in the class?”
“Who?”
“I’ll tell you if you tell me what you saw when you inspected Helene.”
Elise glanced at Helene, who shook her head slightly. Still on high alert, Samantha noticed that movement as well, and with a smile, stood up.
“I need to go to the bathroom. I’ll be right back.”
She walked away, and the moment she was out of sight, Helene’s face turned serious and she leaned in toward Elise as she spoke.
“What are you planning?” she asked.
“Nothing,” said Elise. “I don’t plan to tell anyone.”
“I don’t trust you,” said Helene. “How about a deal? You keep my secret, and I’ll do you one favor. It can be anything you want, as long as it doesn’t harm me or those I care about.”
This time, paying more attention, Elise noticed Helene’s aether fluctuate slightly as she primed {Fey Bargaining}. It was very minor, and very easy to miss, but apparently, noticing it let Elise pass some kind of threshold for the skill, because it earned her two levels of {Aether Sense} at once. It also left her with a bit to think about.
The deal wasn’t bad at all. If she agreed to it, she would calm Helene’s mind, and earn herself a favor. Freddy specifically didn’t want the infiltrators to know each other, so this was also perfect for that, since Helene wouldn’t suspect her. On the other hand, she didn’t want to be bound by any deals. It wasn’t a harmful deal, but it was one with conditions she didn’t set herself, and having any magically enforced restrictions on what she could or couldn’t do gave her the ick. Especially for a deal so vaguely worded with no time limit.
So, was it worth deliberately messing with the infiltration operation and revealing that she too was a changeling to avoid getting locked into a deal? Her first instinct was to say “yes,” but she also knew that it wasn’t the only option. She could tell a lie. Something similar that didn’t reveal herself, but also kept Helene from insisting on a fey bargain to guarantee Elise’s silence.
“I will not accept that deal,” said Elise. “Are you with Ostra?”
Helene flinched again.
“You don’t have to worry,” assured Elise. “I am an ally of Ostra.”
Helene narrowed her eyes. “And? I still can’t trust you.”
“I know,” said Elise. “So how about a new deal? I won’t tell anyone for three days. In exchange, you will go ask your superior if I am really trustworthy. Tell them that Eleanor Gray found you out and ask them if it’s a problem.”
Helene looked doubtful.
“A month,” she said, activating {Fey Bargaining} again.
“Why a month?”
“Three days is too short. You could watch me all three days and try to find out who I work for and where they are. A month gives me a bigger window to figure things out, and makes it more difficult to surveil me.”
“How about three days, and I also promise not to surveil you or do anything else to try to find out where you live or where you work or anything like that?”
Helene considered that for a moment, then nodded. Elise felt the cord of aether tighten between them, then nodded back and smiled.
“Well, now that that’s taken care of, do you know who Samantha is? Or Three?”
“No,” said Helene, shaking her head. “But if your hidden identity is important to you, I recommend staying away from Samantha. Though it might be too late. I decided to spend some time with her after registration because she seemed interesting, and she figured out my first layer of cover almost immediately. I don’t know who she is, but she’s dangerous, and she has a lot of resources when it comes to information.”
“I see,” said Elise.
“I think that it is only a matter of time before she figures out the second layer, and at that point… Well, things might get dangerous.”
“Yeah…” agreed Elise.
Samantha was dangerous. Elise was pretty sure that she would be found out eventually too. At least her princess identity. Though that would be a little difficult, since as far as she knew, there were very few, if any records of her being a princess. Either way, even if not for her, Samantha was dangerous for Ostra, since she was apparently so good at sniffing out false identities, and now she was getting aether lessons on top of that.
“I think we need to figure out who she is,” said Elise. “Use her identity to bargain for ours.”
“Ours?”
“Well, I don’t want her to figure out who I am either.”
“I see,” said Helene. “I agree. Then another deal? We’ll tell each other whatever we find out about her until we figure out her identity.”
“No,” said Elise. “I’m not taking that deal. But we can compare notes. I don’t want magical obligations to do so though.”
“Fine,” said Helene. “But for now, I truly don’t know anything about her. Other than that she is hiding who she is.”
“I know that she had two bodyguards on registration day,” said Elise. “They were dressed up as her parents, but they were clearly bodyguards.”
“I see,” said Helene. “Further evidence that she is someone important. Or at least wealthy.”
“Yes,” said Elise. “Also… Nevermind.”
“What is it?”
“Nothing.”
Elise almost mentioned that she had an idea of who Samantha might be, but decided to hold her tongue. If she was right, she didn’t want to completely expose Samantha, and if she was wrong, she didn’t want to have to explain why she thought Samantha was the Saintess. It was better to figure it out on her own. Helene didn’t look particularly happy about that, but didn’t press the issue. A minute or so later, Samantha returned.
“So?” she asked. “Do we have a deal?”
“No,” said Elise.
“Ah. Shame. I’ll just figure it out myself then.”
“Good luck.”
“By the way, I was thinking about you while I was in the bathroom and how you have {Inspect},” she continued. “That’s a pretty rare Skill. Only a few Classes get it, which really narrows down the options for what you can be. That is, of course, assuming it wasn’t given to you by a divinity, in which case you could be any Class, but being so blessed would also narrow things down. Either way, I have two guesses about who you might be.”
Elise refrained from smiling as she saw how far off Samantha was.
“Go ahead,” she replied, nodding.
“First, you’re an anti-spy employed by Jelor Academy to make sure that there are no unsavory folks running around, pretending to be students. Or to keep an eye on problem students to make sure they don’t take illegal Classes.”
“I see,” said Elise. “And what’s your second guess?”
“You’re the Saintess of the church of Light.”
“What?”
“I heard that the Saintess of the church of Light hasn’t been seen much recently. I also heard an interesting little rumor that she was attending the school in disguise this year.”
“...Where did you hear that?” asked Elise.
“Ah, strike a nerve, did I?” said Samantha, smirking.
“No, I’m not the Saintess, I can promise you that,” said Elise. “I’m just curious where you heard that she would be here.”
“It’s a secret,” she said. “Though if you find out who I am, you’ll probably be able to make a pretty good guess. But damn, are you really not the Saintess? I thought I had you.”
“I’m not,” said Elise.
“Dang. Well, back to the drawing board, I guess. Also, we need to get moving soon. We spent a while talking, and class is starting soon.”
“Right,” said Elise.
As they finished off their food and got ready to leave, Elise was lost in thought trying to understand the last part of the conversation. Whatever plan she was formulating to sniff out the Saintess had disappeared when Samantha instead accused her of being the Saintess. Did that mean that Samantha wasn’t the Saintess?
No, she could just be trying to throw me off, thought Elise.
After all, who else would know better about the Saintess being here than the Saintess herself? Maggie had made it seem like the church was trying to keep it very under wraps, and Elise doubted Maggie was going around blabbing to everyone. It was possible, and maybe even likely that Samantha was saying that just to keep Elise and Helene off her trail.
Elise kept an eye on Samantha as they walked toward the hidden classroom, thinking of ways she could find out. All her magical means had failed. Whatever artifact she was using to hide her aether also seemed to block {Inspect} and Elise thought that forcing her with {Fey Bargaining} was a bad idea. She had no idea how Samantha would respond to that, or more importantly, how whoever was behind Samantha would respond to that if Samantha wasn’t the Saintess.
So, with her magical options eliminated, she was left with mundane options. While the Rune of Fate was a big tell for who the Saintess might have been, there was an even bigger one that Elise hadn’t yet touched on: the Saintess was from Earth. She didn’t need any kind of magic to make references to Earth, and if Samantha was the Saintess, Elise didn’t think she would be able to keep a straight face, no matter how good of an actress she was.
Elise waited until they turned onto the road leading to the trapdoor to start though. There were too many students on the main roads, and she didn’t want to make a scene. When they came to the hidden road, Elise was about to say something when she heard a familiar giggle from further up. After a few seconds, they came across Jesse and Sophie walking leisurely to class, with Sophie laughing at something that Jesse had said.
“Hello, friends!” called Samantha.
“Hi!” replied Sophie, running back to greet Elise.
“Hello,” said Jesse, smiling.
Elise once again noticed how odd his aether was before she felt a tugging on her sleeve and looked over to see Sophie leaning in.
“I told him we had a rabbit,” Sophie whispered.
“What?” Elise whispered back. “Why?”
“He asked, and I panicked,” said Sophie.
Elise sighed. “Well, it’s fine. It’s not like that really means anything. Try not to say too much more.”
“Okay.”
Elise turned back to the others where Jesse and Samantha were talking about the classes they had in the morning. Apparently, Samantha only had Modern Language, having chosen to put her other classes all in the afternoon so she could sleep in later, and Helene did the same. Jesse, meanwhile, did all his electives in the morning, saving the mandatory classes for the afternoons.
“So you all just came from lunch then,” asked Jesse after Samantha finished talking about her schedule.
“Yes,” said Samantha. “If you’re free tomorrow, you should join us. You too, Sophie, if you can get here on time.”
“I don’t think so,” said Sophie sadly. “I can barely get here in time for this class.”
“Shame,” said Samantha. “Then could I talk to you after class. I have a question to ask you.”
“Well, Eleanor and I have another class right after, but for a couple minutes, yeah.”
“That’s plenty,” said Samantha. “Now, shall we get moving?”
The group of five continued on the way to the trap door, and Elise resumed thinking about how best to reference Earth. She tried thinking of some clever ways to do it without standing out too much. Maybe she could quote a famous movie in conversation so that only the Saintess would notice. However, she soon realized that finding an opportunity for something like that was just not in the cards. The conversation was too chaotic, and the number of references that were more or less universally understood on Earth wasn’t very high. It would be better to be blunt about it. Or bluntly subtle, to be more accurate.
“Have any of you ever heard of a place called America?” she asked as they went down the stairs into the cellar.
Elise kept her eyes on Samantha, but the redhead didn’t react. Someone else, however did.
“Did you say America?” asked Jesse, looking at her with eyes full of… desperation?
“Yes,” said Elise.
Wait…
“Someone was talking about it earlier, but I don’t think I’ve seen it on any maps,” she continued.
“D-did they say anything else?” asked Jesse.
His aether was more chaotic than ever, but his emotions were as easy to read as any Elise had ever seen. Shock, hope, desperation, and joy.
No way… thought Elise.
Then, she used {Inspect}
[ Saintess of Light, lvl 6 ]