A few hours into the day, Vicente finished meditating and recovering from the night before, having reached 72% progress at the Senior Apprentice level.
But soon after this morning’s meditation, Vicente didn’t stay at home but went out into the street with plans to start sorting out some matters that he could pursue with his real identity.
Leaving the house, he went to the academy where Nina had been studying, where he quickly gained access to the area to go to Shelby Staples, the teacher who he said had called him there this morning to talk about his sister. 𝐨𝘃𝗹.
Finding no problems at the academy and no one watching Shelby this morning due to the incident the night before, he was soon outside the class where this woman was teaching.
When he got there, Vicente saw Nina sitting very calmly in one of the first chairs in the classroom and sighed, realizing that his little sister was fine.
After waiting for five minutes, he finally saw the woman leave the classroom and come to see him after ignoring three knocks on the door.
Seeing that it wasn’t an academy employee but her latest ally, Shelby’s expression immediately changed, and she quickly made up an excuse to leave her students alone while she dealt with Vice.
As she approached him, she couldn’t hide her nervousness and asked. “What happened the night before? Do you know how worried I was? You almost ruined all our plans!”
Vicente bitterly laughed. “It wasn’t as if I had the situation under control… Anyway, what’s done is done. But I have good news. Defiant Tyranny is finished.”
“Really? You don’t have to tell me. The Scarlet Syndicate attacked all of Defiant Tyranny’s outposts in the early hours of this morning!” Shelby told Vicente, showing him how fast her allies were.
“Oh?”
“They killed a dozen of Defiant Tyranny’s Acolytes who tried to steal the faction’s members and got in their way. The rest of the members of that group defected during the attack, and today, Defiant Tyranny no longer controls any of their territories in Millfall!”
“As expected… Things are really chaotic. But you should be happy about it. No?” He asked, looking into the woman’s eyes.
“You think I’m happy about a little chaos caused by unplanned actions? That’s terrible! My way, the chaos in these noble families would be much worse! My way, there would be a revolution. Even the royal family would have to choose new nobles!”
Vice looked at her more seriously and said. “We’ll see in the future. For now, I have nothing to do with what has already happened. I just came here to see how Nina is and tell you I’m adjusting my plans. In about three days, I plan to make my move.”
“I’d be careful if I were you.” She warned him. “With the royal army still the enemy of our mutual friend and now the Symons family wanting his head, I wouldn’t act before I was sure of all the possibilities.”
“I know. Don’t worry, I’ll be prepared.” He said.
“I hope so, but is it true that there’s a 3rd-stage basilisk in The Rocky Gorge?” She looked at him anxiously.
Vicente saw the power this woman had to have all this news before the middle of the day and realized that he would have to be more careful with her if he ever became her enemy.
But he answered her. “Yes, at least one of those beasts is in this area. Our friend would probably have died last night if it weren’t for them.”
Hearing this confirmation, Shelby gave him a somewhat mixed look.
“Do you know what this means for Millfall?”
“Danger?”
“Not only that… Opportunity.” She said, despite her fear of one of those beasts coming to this town.
“Basilisks aren’t just beasts protective about their territory. As powerful and hostile beings, they wouldn’t hesitate to attack a city to make themselves stronger by devouring powerful things or people.
With last night’s incident, it will only be a matter of time before it attacks us or we attack it.
Then there will be opportunities for us.” She clenched her fists. “Not only is the body of a 3rd-stage basilisk valuable even to Mages, but so are its possessions.
Wherever its nest is, that basilisk will almost certainly have many valuable human possessions in it.”
Basilisks, or beasts in general, could grow stronger by devouring their enemies. As creatures with little rationality and who acted instinctively, they usually hunted down strong humans who invaded their territories and sometimes attacked cities.
But the beasts had little or no use for human artifacts like those of the men who had chased Vicente the night before.
After devouring their prey, these creatures would store everything they found on their enemies in their nests!
Knowing it, Shelby couldn’t ignore the potential basilisk hunt in The Rocky Gorge that would surely take place in a few weeks or months.
“Would you like to join the hunt?” Vicente looked at her with interest but also saw that she liked to take more risks than she seemed to.
“Not me, you.” She grinned at him. “I’ll take care of gathering information and supporting you. In return, you’ll go to that place and give me a piece of what you get there.”
“That won’t work. I’m not strong enough to face that creature…”
“Don’t be so quick to refuse. Think about it first.” She said confidently. “If you consider it, I’ll help you solve your problems with the Martial Court. Once that happens, your only troublesome enemy in town will be the Symons family.
But I can’t get involved, or I would only make things more difficult for you.”
Vicente said nothing when he heard that, keeping Shelby’s words in his mind. “I’ll think about it after I’ve handled this situation. I’ll give you an answer in a few days.”
“Perfect. I hope you won’t disappoint me.”
With that settled, Vicente said goodbye to Shelby and soon made his way to Nova’s house, with whom he had many things to talk about despite being in his real identity.
He wanted to see her as Vicente before his next ‘trip’ out of Millfall, as he would soon be away from this place for days…
At the same time, he was a little worried about her after the night before and couldn’t help but go to see her now at the beginning of the afternoon.