Halkegenia Online v2.1 - Chapter 11 - Part C
You could tell a lot about people by the houses they kept, Argo thought. The guild hall of the Spriggan Kurotaka was like a great timber framed lodge. It was a place where there was always a fire blazing in the hearth. Where friends forged in battle boasted loudly to one another of past adventures and future triumphs. And where, even in the darkest of times, you could always find a helping hand.
Although only a little over three percent of all Spriggans belonged to the infamous band, Lady Morgiana had set a generous open door policy that extended to anyone in need. Some guilds might have balked at the strain on their resources, but like most things surrounding Spriggan governance, it just seemed to work.
Thus the Kurotaka had few enemies and many friends. That was probably why, Argo thought, there were so few Spriggans in the Guild ABC despite their large number of pre Summons renegades. Morgiana took good care of them all.
"I'm sorry, Argo-san." The Spriggan behind the message desk apologized earnestly."I couldn't get through to Lady Sakuya or Lady Alicia directly." Her name was Akina, and with the rest of the guild elites out on deployments, she was the senior Kurotaka darkness mage manning the guild hall. She was also terribly shy, her eyes hidden behind a screen of bobbed black hair.
"It's alright, that's to be expected at this time of day." Argo tried to hide her impatience as she glanced out a nearby window. It wasn't quite evening yet, which meant the Moonlight Mirror was still restricted to its daytime range. On a good day, Tristania was at the very limit of that reach and setting up an unscheduled communication could be tricky. "I was gambling on getting a direct connection. Send it through the relay. Priority one. Then come find me when you hear back."
"Yes, Ma'am!" Akina nodded.
With that done, Argo hurried across the busy hall and took the stairs to the second floor. By now, news of the raid on the Guild ABC had spread across Arrun and its seemed like every Spriggan in the city had started gathering in this place. The mood was still warm and friendly, but there was a tension in the air, and everyone was carrying a ready weapon.
Suisen took flight from her hiding place in Argo's cloak, leading her down a series of hallways until she arrived at the door of a secluded sitting room. It was part of the Guild Master's private suite. The Kurotaka guard gave her a slight nod of recognition and let her in.
"Heya kiddo!" Lady Morgiana waved languidly as the door behind Argo shut. "You shoot your message off?"
The Spriggan Lord was draped across a moss green sofa, her boots kicked up on the armrest like she was ready to nod off for a quick nap. Her body language was relaxed and she wore an easy smile that reached all the way to her warm gray eyes. Somehow, even Argo felt a little safer when Morgiana was around. Like this was a person she could rely on when she wasn't strong enough on her own. Like, well, a big sister. The same couldn't be said for the man on the opposite sofa, sitting hunched over, his handsome features pinched as he nursed a cup of tea.
Argo nodded. "I couldn't get through directly. But Akina is bouncing it off the Moonlight Net right now. We should get a message back soon."
"And my guild?" Ryo asked without looking up.
Argo thought it was pretty rich for a man who had fled at the first sight of trouble to be worried about his guild now, but all of Ryo's temerity had seemingly evaporated.
"The Serjeants took everyone inside the hall into custody." Argo answered. "There were some injuries, but nothing too serious." Thank the powers that be for small favors. "Captain Ittetsu has managed to convince the Serjeants to house them in the Watch lock up for now. Your guild is packed in like sardines and scared out of their wits, but they're safe."
"You can trust Buru-kun to handle that." Morgiana sat up easily. "He's good people."
Argo coughed into her hand. "In any case, it seems the Serjeants are searching the city for other ABC members, but they're only really interested in Ryo. It's exactly as Sakuya predicted."
"Hear that, Ryo-kun." Morgiana laughed cheerfully. "You're popular!"
"I don't understand." Ryo shook his head. "Why is this happening?"
"Have you not been paying attention?" Argo asked, or was her really just this stupid? "You and your guild were being used. The treason charges are obviously bogus, but the smuggling ones are based in fact." Ryo flinched at the accusation, but he couldn't deny the truth.
So he asked, "Do you realize how hard it is to live in this world?"
"Lookin' for pity, huh?" Morgana said in that patient way a sibling might listen to a poor excuse. "Of course I know. I get a half dozen Spriggans coming through my door every day looking for work. I help them the best I can. But I don't break the law doing it."
"That's why I hold you in high esteem, Morgiana." Ryo said, his voice now sounding tired. "You're not like the other Lords who prioritize their institutions over their people. But we don't have your strength or your connections. We needed resources to establish ourselves, more than our Lords would provide."
"So you started smuggling to bring in money on the side." Argo said.
"I helped my people." Ryo took offense.
"And bought your popularity in the process." Argo added, it was hard for her to be too sympathetic, she shook her head, that didn't matter right now. It was enough that Ryo was cooperating. "So, who was your contact in the Salamanders?"
"I don't know what you mean." Ryo shook his head. "My contact, the man who brokered the smuggling arrangement, he was a Sylph."
"A Syl- wait what?!" Argo frowned. "Are you sure? Why would a Sylph know about Rip Jack?" The information hadn't left Sakuya's close inner circle by the time Ryo had blabbed it in public.
"I don't know why." Ryo answered. "And I didn't really care so long as we got our silver. He seemed to know a lot about how Mortimer does things. That's how we learned to avoid the patrols."
"Maybe someone with an alt account?" Morgiana asked. "I mean, back when that mattered. Or it could have been . . ."
"It wasn't Rip Jack." Ryo answered quickly. "That much I'm certain. Unless he can be in two places at once. They seemed knowledgeable about the Sylphs as well. But I never got a clear look at their face, and they spoke oddly."
"Oddly?" Argo asked.
"Like they couldn't speak without slurring." Ryo elaborated. "I thought maybe it was something they were doing to keep their anonymity. Something about them was familiar though, I just can't place it. I'm sorry."
There was a knock at the door and the guard poked their head in. "Hey, boss, uhm we got a . . ."
"F-forgive me . . . I-I know you're having a private conversation, Big Sis!" Anika said as she squeezed past, "But I really need to . . ." She froze as she saw Ryo sitting on the couch. She looked from Morgiana to Ryo and then back to Morgiana. Morgiana simply smiled, pinched two fingers at the corner of her mouth and zipped them across. That was all the assurance Anika needed. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but I thought this was much too important to wait. I'm afraid I couldn't relay your message, Argo-san."
"Huh?" Argo looked at her oddly, "Did the relay not pick up?"
"N-No. I got through to Rere." Anika said. "But you see the problem is . . . he's here in Arrun."
"What? Is he AWOL?" Argo shook her head, no that didn't sound right, the Darkness mages of the Moonlight Network were selected for their reliability. And only a fool would think they could get away with leaving the post linking Tristania and Arrun unattended.
"Well that's the thing." Anika pulled out a small notebook. "He says he was reassigned to the Sylph embassy. But if that's the case, my log book never got updated."
"There a problem?" Morgiana asked conversationally. "Cuz I'm starting to think I should be feeling the way you two look."
Argo ignored the question, instead, her brain started firing on all Cylinders. "Could I see that for second?" She asked Anika, pointing at her notebook.
Anika clutched the book to her chest. "I-I'm not supposed to show this to people outside the Moonlight Network, even you Big Sis, or Commander Theory will have my head!"
"Relax, kiddo." Morgiana stood and came over to tussle her black hair lightly. "I won't let that mean old lizard lady harm a hair on your head. Pinky promise!"
Reluctantly, Anika offered her notebook. Despite it's small size, it was surprisingly dense. The pages were packed tightly with the smallest and neatest writing Argo had ever seen.
"Suisen!"
"Yes mistress!" Her pixie flitted into action.
"I need you to run this through a data table and check for direct connections between here and Tristania." Argo placed the book on the table and allowed Suisen to go to work drinking in the most up to date pages.
Morgiana leaned down from her imperious height and whispered in one of Argo's ears. "So, you're gonna need to explain this to me."
"How much do you know about the Moonlight Mirror?" Argo asked.
"Uh . . . It's a magic mirror? You can talk to people on the other side." Morgiana gave the answer Argo expected of someone who just used a tool without understanding it "And I guess it has a bunch of variable that effect its range?"
"Right." Argo said raising a finger. "Not just it's range though. In order to function, Moonlight Mirror needs both points of contact to 'share the same sky'", Argo quoted from memory. "The mirror's range is governed by the mage's mastery of darkness magic and grows as their aptitude increases. The range also doubles at night. But there's also limit on the number of people you can have in your contacts."
"Ten!" Akina said. "One for each finger." She demonstrated by holding our her left hand. Around the base of each finger and thumb was a ring like pattern, bolder than a tan line but fainter than a tattoo. "We used to be able to swap contacts out using our menu, but since that doesn't work anymore, we darkness mages have to cast Moonlight Link on each other. Which means we have to meet in person to update our ten contacts."
"Because of those limitations, Mortimer implemented communications protocols for the Moonlight Net." Argo continued. "Our mages need time off to rest. And they can't be expected to stand out in the open all day waiting for a call. So the network needs redundancy. But it also needs to be able send unscheduled messages efficiently through as few relays as possible. There's a balance that has to be maintained to keep the network functioning at peak efficiency. If someone ordered one of our mages off of their post, then it could delay priority communications over a wide area."
"Okay," Morgiana said, "Who can do that? Mort?"
"Mortimer or any defense force commander." Argo said. "But it's supposed to be subject to review and approval. Either your friend really is AWOL or their commander screwed up big time." Or they hadn't screwed up at all, Argo realized with a chill.
"Mistress, I have completed my review." Suisen reported, standing atop the open ledger she announced. "There are presently no direct links between Arrun and Tristania. Second and third order contacts are not currently scheduled." Which meant they might be able to get through, but there was no guarantee, and it was likely to take time to contact the off duty casters.
"We need to get word to Tristania right now." Argo realized, thinking fast. "Akina, do you have Lord Mortimer's attached caster in your contacts? Mort left for the Gala last, which means he's the closest to Tristania, but he should still be within your range."
"She does, Mistress." Suisen supplied helpfully.
"Right, YotaMega!" Akina snapped her fingers. "Here I'll do it right now . . ." The Spriggan girl froze. As if she couldn't believe it, she pulled back the hair covering her gray eyes as she stared at her right index finger. Argo felt her stomach clenching up. Akina was supposed to have ten contacts, five on her left hand and five on her right. Her right hand only had four. The runes ringing her index finger were gone.
"Argo-san?" Akina whispered as she met Argo's gaze. "W-what does that mean?"
