While he waited for Stephen, Wolfe had activated [Detect Hidden] and learned in an instant that the warnings of the Adventurers Handbook were not to be underestimated.
With the spell at maximum power, everything hidden was revealed. The floor under the rug, books hidden behind other books, faces under makeup, but most importantly, every single scrap of clothing became translucent, revealing the bodies hidden underneath.
Wolfe tore his gaze away from the stout and elderly Librarian by the door with a shudder and inspected Stephen’s true form.
What he saw was appalling, the most horrific level of abuse he had ever seen a human survive. The real Stephen was an emaciated young woman, tall and unnaturally slender, with stringy blonde hair.
Her entire body was covered in long scars from a whip or blade, and her face was half melted by fire, though both blue eyes were clear and focused. But on top of that intertwined mass of scar tissue, every inch of her body except her face and lower stomach was covered in tattooed magical circles.
As far as Wolfe could tell, most of the tattoos were for strength, both physical and magical. Some were defensive spells, and many were for concealment. On the left side of her chest, above her heart, Wolfe could see the active circle powering her disguise.
Despite all those augmentations, Stephen was still incredibly weak as a Witch and no more physically powerful than an average male bodyguard.
“You promised that you would help me get closer to Ella. You owe me a Favor, Demon.” Stephen whispered so as not to break the library rules.
“A very specific one, and I even told you how it will be fulfilled. But first, we need a private room for this, or we will disturb the others. There are reading rooms at the side of the library, follow me, and I will complete our deal.” Wolfe agreed.
Stephen followed Wolfe to the reading room, then took a seat across from him at the table.
“This needs physical contact. The more, the better. You can sit beside me, or at my feet, or in my lap, but we need to be in contact.” Wolfe told him with a smile, immediately raising Stephen’s suspicion.
“And why do you need that to fulfill our deal?”
“You can’t perform the next tasks I will ask of you in this condition. I need to repair some of the damage first, and then we can proceed.” Wolfe explained.
“My body is fine. Tell me what you are planning.”
Wolfe just shook his head. “You and I both know that is a lie. Don’t say it out loud again, many of the teachers and Familiars are sensitive to lies, and you don’t want them looking deeper. Now, will you behave and get over here, or am I coming over there?”
Despite the fact that he was inwardly freaking out about having the fact that he was in disguise noticed so soon after his arrival, Stephen reluctantly made his way around the table, and Wolfe pulled him down onto a footstool in front of his chair.
“Stay still while I see what can be done.”
When he began to pour mana into Stephen’s body, beginning at the base of the skull, the first thing Wolfe noticed was that there was a healing spell active on his body, but it was very weak.
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The scar tissue was a physical impediment to mana flow, but like water flowing through sand, it was moving through the hundreds of scars at a gentle trickle. In order for the healing spell to work properly, it would need a lot more mana than it had been supplied with, and Wolfe wondered if that was a deliberate act to keep Stephen’s condition from deteriorating or if it was simply the best that he could do to repair himself in his current state.
If not for that scar tissue, Stephen should have been a very powerful Witch, and Wolfe intended to remedy that situation. He couldn’t improve her situation until the scars were removed from the path, so Wolfe searched her body for the healing spell runes, then slowly began adding mana to them, ignoring the gasps and moans that he was inducing.
“Focus on healing the inside first. Clear the flow of mana by healing those portions of the scar tissue.” He instructed, and Stephen stared at him in shock for a few seconds before beginning the incredibly delicate and difficult task of healing the internal scarring.
[Lights out in five minutes. We will remind everyone who is not studying overnight to please clear the library.] The staff announced, ending their session with only a small improvement in Stephen’s mana flow, thanks to a few pathways that had been cleared of internal scarring.
“Come see me again tomorrow. We will continue until you are ready, and then we can move on to proving your worth to Ella. If this method fails even after putting in all that hard work to prove your value, we could cheat, and I could bring you two much closer with a single spell, but at the moment, we need to go.” Wolfe told the startled Witch in disguise.
Wolfe knew that a single spell to accomplish everything he was sent here for would certainly be tempting, and the extra time to think about it should build the curiosity level high enough for Stephen, or whatever their real name was, to consider the proposition.
The library assistant gave a startled look at the two handsome and muscular young men coming out of a private room at closing time but didn’t say anything as they left and returned to their rooms in silence.
Stephen could not deny that the Council’s plan had failed. He was found out, even though the disguise was supposed to be thorough enough that no Witch would see through it, and there was no way the Demon would keep his secrets forever. But Wolfe had promised to help him get as close as possible with his bride-to-be, and Demons were supposed to be unable to break a deal.
All night long, he tossed and turned in bed, wondering what the spell might be that could solve his problem. There shouldn’t have been any such miracle cure, but Wolfe seemed so sincere in his insistence that he could solve Stephen’s dilemma with a single spell that there must be something that he overlooked.
When the alarm went off in the morning, there were still no answers, so Stephen headed to the cafeteria to say good morning to Ella and make sure his brother didn’t do anything last night that would get him kicked out of the academy.
Gerry was a hot head and looked down on everyone he met, which was sure to cause even more trouble here, where he didn’t have the family Elders to control him and keep him out of trouble.
As soon as he entered the cafeteria, Wolfe greeted Stephen with a hug and sent such a strong surge of mana into the healing spell tattooed on his scalp that it almost made Stephen moan in pleasure.
That would definitely give everyone the wrong idea, and he briefly wondered if that was the Demon’s plan. Get the academy to think they were lovers so that nobody would question the time they spent together with the Witches.
It was sneaky and underhanded, but deep down, the thought was enticing, especially with the lingering feeling of Wolfe’s mana running through her veins.