“What are you doing?”

  “GAAH!” Vic said, dropping down to the ground and crashing on it with the elasticity of a cat. “You scared me!”

  Vic turned around. Fuck.

  Fuck no.

  He was there, standing still while staring down at her. Looming with his mask on. Dreadfully dreadful. How had she been found so fast?

  “Hey, don’t do that to people! It’s creepy!”, she said, when he stayed silent for too long. Good excuse to insult him.

  “Why exit through a third floor’s window? Did you think you were scurrying off and disappearing from sight so easily?” the Cursedblood Emperor asked, looming. She tsked and rolled her eyes. “Haven’t I told you before? You stand little to no chance here.”

  “Am not doing that, duh, I’m just taking in the sights”, she said, gaslighting. She got up and dusted her knees. Broken grass had smudged all over them. No matter. “You really need a new hobby. Clearly, threatening random people is not working out for you”, she said, hearing the distinct sound of his failed intimidation check in her own imagination, and she then stared down at her nails. Hm. What to do to put some distance between them both?

  She lightly began walking at her right, away from him, down the slope. The academy was on top of a hill, it was only down hill from there on.

  He walked at her side.

  “Perhaps you also need to figure out the different purposes that doors and windows might have, but alas, to each their own flaws, I suppose”, he said in good humour, and she immediately rolled her eyes. Okay. How to best lose that guy. Making him recoil in horror by speaking enough brainrotted words might work. It was fifty-fifty, honest. Ugh. Should she just cut her losses and rainbowblast him while he still didn’t think she’d take up arms to get the hell out of this city? Hm. She had a little less than half of her mana bar and the additional bonus that the game system had granted her on top of that. Hm. Hm, she needed to isolate him from his subordinates to increase her chances. They were too close to the Academy right now. Lundumpster and Nomora were very close. Lilyn’s position, unclear. The other two would have something to protect. The Academy. Hm. That would make things worse for them. A couple of priests were coming too for the shield. Ugh. Still… Wasn’t it a sufficient distraction, as they’d have something to be occupied by if she put it on fire? Would they think she would hesitate to blast that place into oblivion if she thought there were still people inside, as there probably were just a few? Ugh. Fuck. She was hesitating.

  “Whatever you are scheming, I care not”, he said, dusting his shoulder with a slow, noble movement. Aw, he’d gotten affected by the fact that she hadn’t humoured his pathetic attempt at getting a raise out of her. “Someone once told me that you… antagonize people as though your life depends on it. I can see it now.”

  “No, I don’t”, Vic said, without looking back. Her pace turned a little faster through the garden, but he was taller and had longer legs and putting distance that way didn’t work. He kept the pace. Would running be considered rude or very rude? “I only antagonise people as a sport.”

  He snorted. She squinted.

  “Why are you acting buddy buddy? We’re not friends, chummy pal”, she said. Her eyes met the one of a gardener who’d looked up from the bushes he was tending there. He gaped, his eyes going from her to the guy next to her, and then focused on his work like it was the most interesting thing in his life.

  She grimaced and kept walking. The fake god next to her pretended no one had been there and acted like nothing was out of the ordinary.

  “I’m only trying to temper the gravity of the moment. After all, you entered the academy when I explicitly asked you not to”, he said, his voice taking a weird crystal clear tonality, and Vic bit angrily her lips. “Did you forget the only request I made to you?”

  Vic laughed meanly.

  “Please”, she said, not meaning it one bit. “We both know that was just some basic reverse psychology trick. You wanted me there, you old bastard.”

  “Reverse psychology?”

  “Don’t mind that. You just asked me not to do something and I did it because of that.”

  “And so, you can be reasoned with, it seems”, he said lightly.

  She fucking hated this.

  She stopped walking and stared back up at him. He stopped too, staring back down.

  “Listen, I don’t know what you’re playing at, but I don’t like it. I don’t like you”, she said, staring at the black empty holes of his tree mask.

  “That wounds me.”

  “Don’t care, didn’t ask”, she quickly said. It was late. Maybe she could say she needed to fetch herself something for dinner. Ugh. No. He’d probably say his imperial mercifulness would take care of it, and she’d end up being served like a spoilt little nothing and fed like royalty, and while yes that did sound nice… The cost of that would be too great. “What do you want?” she said. She felt her stomach grumble, but thankfully, it made no sound and he hadn’t noticed.

  He stared back at her and didn’t reply.

  She shouldn’t have announced her intentions with Lunbumster. Silly her. She couldn’t stop herself from being honest and frank, and that lying principal had surely somehow shared that already with his god, which is why he was there. One more reason as to why she didn’t belong here. She was too brutally honest for this shithole.

  “Can’t you get a clue when someone wants nothing to do with you?” she said, scornfully. “You’re starting to act just like that stalker of that puppet god. You know how that fella always ends up? Friendless, defeated and clueless, because it doesn’t have the power of me and anime on its side.”

  She made magical purple sparks crackle along her closed raised fist.

  She heard a relaxed sigh from him. It unnerved her, but she never showed it. She stared back like a lizard instead.

  “I’m here to ask you precisions on the material you require for your future staff, which I rightfully owe you”, he said simply. “I would never let it be said that I wouldn’t reward properly a task that was so very triumphantly accomplished. Such a shame, that you left before informing me of its nature this morning.” Vic froze. “A short-lived mistake, the kind that is easily corrected.”

  Wait. No way. She’d forgotten that?

  Vic stared at her side, on the ground, then back at him. He had his arms behind his back, that stupid oaf. She seethed internally for no particular reason, she just felt like seething.

  “You didn’t point it out before now. You did that on purpose. You did”, she said. He didn’t reply, but his mask was still in her direction, so he had to be staring. That bastard was smiling. She had no doubts about it. That’s why he wasn’t talking. He was trying to hide the giddiness, and the mask would do nothing to mask the tone of his voice.

  She opened her mouth but closed it. Fuck. She shouldn’t tell him what she planned to do.

  “I’ll give you one more day to get it”, she said. She was leaving tonight anyway. Time to cut her losses and run.

  “So very demanding”, he said, and he brought his gauntleted hand to his chin, barely rubbing it. She grimaced. “Very well. What are the materials you require?”

  Vic squinted, then started walking again. He followed along.

  She eyed her list.

  M’kay. She needed to figure out which one he was most likely to have. She didn’t want him to know all that she needed. Knowledge was power and all of that.

  If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  “Do you have plated radiant stibnite?” she said, picking the most likely one. That was a rare ore she’d never found so far, but maybe he’d have it in his coffers and that would honestly be a weight off her back if she just got it like this by snapping her fingers at him repeatedly.

  He paused.

  “…Radiant stibnite?” he repeated. Vic thought he sounded stupid as he repeated it dumbly. Fuck, he didn’t have it.

  “Yes”, Vic said dryly. What was the problem now?

  “…Stibnite is common enough in small clusters, and I surely have some, but… by radiant, do you mean the mana-conductive kind?”

  Vic blinked, feeling absolutely spent for no good reason.

  “You don’t have it, now do you?” she said jadedly. She saw one of his fingers twitch. It would have been funny in another circumstance. What a pain. Apparently that metal was too rare, even for this fancy guy.

  “I could give the word that I am actively searching for that mineral, and even send requests out to merchant guilds that are tied to me”, he said smoothly, straightening up while unwrinkling his robes.

  Vic stopped jadedly staring to put an end to all of that. It was dangerously going to turn into a monologue about the affluence and prosperity of his pet project city.

  “I’m not remotely waiting that long to get my grabby paws on that metal. Moving on”, she said. He stilled. Hopefully he was embarrassed about his own inadequacy. One could only hope. Hope was a beautiful thing. She saw him bristle instead. She sighed back, and he faltered. “Alright. Do you have…”

  She thought about it.

  Should she just ask about the infernal ore? Ugh. The principal would probably tell him she was searching for an uncommon infernal ore already. She didn’t want him to know which one specifically. The less he knew, the better.

  “Do you also have no rare infernal ores in stock?” she said, raising an eyebrow. She’d restarted walking.

  He didn’t answer, but he walked along.

  After a few more seconds, she raised her other eyebrow.

  “Infernal ores are forbidden goods in my hallowed city”, he said, and it sounded like those words were escaping his gritted teeth. “With good reason”, he added lightly after the way she’d been staring at him changed.

  Vic chuckled. The sentence “Pathetic.” was implied in her laugh.

  “What sort of staff requires those materials in the first place?!” he demanded.

  “Look at me, I’m a professional tinkerer!” she said, mocking him, “and I’m the only one that’s allowed to require blind trust of others, gnehgnehgneh!”

  He stopped walking. She took a few more steps to put some distance and only then stopped in turn. Distance was nice, distance was good.

  “Do you do everything in your power to infuriate me?” he said.

  Vic blinked several times, like her eyelids were little butterflies’ wings that were writhing to fly away.

  “Not everything is about you”, she said. “It’s not my fault you have nothing I need.”

  He stopped. Maybe he was swallowing down. Swallowing the harsh truth, yes indeed.

  “There must be something”, he said. Vic rolled her eyes. Did he want the full list or had it now turned into an ego issue for him?

  Vic squinted while staring at the list once more, making it less apparent that she was rereading its lines.

  She smirked.

  “Oh, do you have a… Gatherer’s wafer?”, she said. She smirked a little brighter.

  “A what?”, he said.

  She had no clue what that was anyway too. Probably some sort of biscuit. Good to know that this guy didn’t know either.

  She opened her mouth to say a smart ass thing but got interrupted. She frowned.

  “By Gatherers, do you really mean that extinct precursor species?” he asked.

  Vic stared back owlishly. He’d get nothing from her. No information what’s so ever.

  “Do you have it? What I need?” she said. It sounded questioning, just like she’d wanted it to sound.

  He grumbled. Vic didn’t even acknowledge it.

  “My city is built on top of the ruins of one of their… remnants”, he said. “Sealed to the public, of course. Their exploration has been limited to slow, methodical expeditions over the last fifty years for the sake of safety. I could… authorize a more focused mission in search of that artefact you seek. Your cooperation would accelerate your finds, without any doubts. Researchers have never spoken to me of such an artefact so far, or used that name to describe it at least.”

  UGHHHHHrrHHH.

  Buuuut she don’t wannaaaaa stay heeeeeere.

  Vic tugged down her cheeks in despair.

  “You don’t even know if you have it. You want me to gamble. UGH”, she said.

  She grabbed her face and massaged it angrily.

  Whatever! Whatever. It didn’t matter. This was good, actually. Now she knew where to find that “wafer”. In ruins. Of those DEAD Gatherers. Which were an extinct forlorn species apparently. What a bunch of dead suckers. They couldn’t make it simple for her. There had to be multiple ruins scattered across the land. There had to. Yeah. She’d find those elsewhere.

  “I cannot force you to do anything you don’t wish to do, youngster”, he said, and there was no bite to it. “If the wait for its search is too long to your tastes, perhaps there is some other material-”

  “No, nah, you won’t have any of them”, she said. “I give up.”

  He seemed to be staring without moving.

  “Let’s settle with the search for the wafer. I’ll give you an extra week”, she said. “At least that will be done.” Yeah, whatever. That could give her an extra day for any unfinished business on her hands.

  “Very well”, he resolutely said, brushing off invisible, non-existent specs of dust from his layered layers of robes. She wanted to make a face.

  “Very well”, she imitated him.

  His mask tilted down.

  “Do not start this again.” he warned.

  Vic rolled her eyes.

  “Please, I have better taste than to do that again”, she said, and dusted her shoulder nonchalantly to mark the difference between them and of how gaudy and conceited his every move was.

  It didn’t seem to work.

  She heard him make a small amused “hm” and she hated every second of it.

  “By “do that”, I meant that I have better taste than imitating you”, she said, making an explanatory gesture.

  “A paltry imitation, that it would be”, he said. “It’s a good thing you do not cling to imitating your betters. You would be incapable of it.”

  Vic glowered.

  “You’re a bastard”, she said.

  “Language!” he tutted patronisingly.

  Vic raised an arm and a hand, palm turned towards his masked face, fifty centimetres away from it.

  He stopped abruptly.

  “I won’t fucking hesitate, bitch. Don’t test me”, she bit. The corners of her eyes registered motion from thin pale roots.

  “I thought you were better than taking up arms so quickly”, he said coldly. “It was just amused banter.” Oh, she was so ready to throw hands.

  “I am not better. You said it yourself”, she shot back. “And I don’t banter with you. I don’t share amusement with you. You’re nothing I respect.”

  He chuckled lightly.

  “How hurtful”, he said.

  “And you’re about to go from emotional pain to physical and psychological pain so fast if you don’t change your tune”, she said.

  “Fine, very well”, he said indifferently. “My apologies. The threshold between childishness and mercilessness is strenuous indeed. I will not cross the line again, youth.”

  Vic sighed. She wanted to rub her eyes into oblivion.

  “You’re so uptight. How did you get so many people to suck up to you?” she said jadedly, and turned away.

  He chuckled darkly, walking again at her side with his stupid arms behind his back.

  “I suppose it was a lot of work, patience, and planning”, he said.

  “Qualities I couldn’t care less for”, Vic said. She squinted as he ever so slightly chuckled back. Better have him believe that she was no good at planning. He’d never see her schemes coming.

  “Hm, I’d say you care most about honesty, fairness, and justice. Good qualities to possess, and you’ve counteracted their shortcomings with a good healthy dose of a little something.”

  “And what is that thing?” she said, uncaring, passing by a tall pale tree with dark blue leaves. She stared at it.

  “You’re a realist”, he said, and it sounded like a compliment. “When reality comes to hit you in the face, you fight back with a vengeance”, he said. “I’d know.”

  Vic chuckled.

  “Oh yeah. You know”, she said, smirking.

  He didn’t raise to the bait.

  “Oh, and Victorya?” he said, stopping. Oh. They’d reached the exit of the Academy’s gardens. It’d been right behind the pale tree, which seemed to be the centrepiece of the garden’s entrance. “You may keep the mask”, he said, motioning at her shoulder pad. “You only need to show it at the doors of my palace should you want adequate lodging. Guards will recognize it for what it is.”

  Vic stared back at the empty holes where his eyes should be.

  “I’m so not doing that”, Vic said shortly. The fake god in emperor’s clothes let out a short empty chortle.

  “You may do as you will”, he said. “Goodnight.”

  He turned around and walked away, passing next to the white tree. Vic felt the hairs at her neck angrily raise.

  “What mind game is this?” she yelled. His mask turned just slightly, but he wasn’t looking back at her. She felt her upper lip quiver when he answered.

  “Oh, please, Victorya.” he said. “I’ve come to terms with it. There’s nothing you’ll do that you won’t have chosen.”