Его не звали, но он приперся / They never called, yet he is here: Глава 23

Chapter 23

Camrad_RIP 04.11.23 в 18:59

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Camrad_RIP 04.11.23 в 19:03

I had to spend the first couple of weeks after arriving in Arenam in a controlled semi-coma, and I wasn't even particularly sick. I mean, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't the kind of crisis where it wasn't clear whether I'd live to see the dawn. I even managed to monitor the mirror masking system through my sleep, though without the possibility to interfere in any serious way. Exactly four times, I was awakened for a brief couple of hours to either fix the network or supplement it a bit by replacing lost parts with new ones. That didn't make me feel good either, but I never once got to the point of threatening to deteriorate.

Camrad_RIP 05.11.23 в 19:56

My condition was both easier and more difficult than it had been after the Library because the time frame for my fallout was record-breaking. Yes, I was almost guaranteed to recover and regain full functionality (I wouldn't predict my sanity recovery), but it was going to take a long time. The strongest impact of the loads from the rapid pumping that saved me. I literally too abruptly inflated, making the vessel of my body too tight, not yet having time to adapt to the increased capabilities. And then I went straight into battle without looking back, without mercy for my health, and, to be honest, without hope of surviving the battle.

Camrad_RIP 05.11.23 в 20:00

The final massacre, combined with the final reward for my deeds, only aggravated the situation, creating a precarious equilibrium, which now it is better not to disturb. It will definitely come back to normal, but until that time, it is absolutely contraindicated for me to seriously strain my already battered Isekai essence. All sorts of "trifles," like controlling or even gradually developing a network of mirrors, automatic wrapping up in un-existence, and reflexive control of the information sphere, I can do so. But if I go out of the limits of "easy warm-up," I immediately risk bursting a balloon and being such.

Camrad_RIP 05.11.23 в 20:02

These weeks, the very first and the hardest were marked in my head by the sensations of continuous pain in my whole body and energy, which did not seem to be too painful, but it could not be shut up, could not be relieved, could not be anesthetized by any means. The worst thing was that it was impossible to fall into oblivion. There was no reason, no medical necessity, no possibility. Every second was remembered even too well, as was the flurry of my companions trying to help me. They were in a bad state, too, and could do even less I could, except for the bloodsucker. She was the freshest of the freshest, having taken on most of the possible worries. Giver sat unseen in the darkest corner of the underground base, coming out only for a few minutes and very reluctantly, hiding in the shadow of my defense net. For her, the first flash would be a near-fatal problem. Any trace of the hell nature, no matter where it would be seen, would be reacted to without delay or neglect.

Camrad_RIP 13.11.23 в 15:45

Tia, Hans, Hestia, Losius, and even Taria were so exhausted that they slept eighteen to twenty hours a night, spending as much time as possible in healing sleep to avoid the permanent effects of the kickbacks. Most of my potions were designed to cause catatonic sleepiness, avoiding other, more dangerous effects. However, I couldn't avoid them, so even in my unconscious slumber, the team was phoned with irritation and unhappiness, suffering from rashes, allergies, stomach upsets, and other intoxication, seemingly from every group of essences I could name. Well, except for Ygra. However, she suffered too because her breaker stick was taken away from her and hid a legendary artifact in a protective circle, but how could you explain to her the necessity of it?

Camrad_RIP 13.11.23 в 15:48

By the time I was able to stay awake and move relatively freely, even if only briefly and preferably without any use of the reserve, and my companions had stopped vomiting rainbows three times a day, choking on decocts of both my own work and mosquito-bought supplies, I had no strength even to show joy. Well, I didn't. While the creature left to manage Arenam was turning itself inside out but found free time, without harming other things, to ride me, who was sitting in a comfortable version of a wheelchair. And yes, it was a wheelchair with wheels made of spell-treated stone, not wood. The creature promised to find a mentally controlled levitating analog, but I preferred not to leave any trace of the search for such an unusual thing, even if she swore in blood that she could pull it off without suspicion.

Camrad_RIP 13.11.23 в 16:06

I couldn't banish the creature rolling my "throne" away because she deserved encouragement for not only following my instructions, taking root in the city, and putting it under her boot but also coming out all of us in the most difficult time. Her most trusted pawns, never leaving the base at all and doted over every escapee from Eternal, providing comfort and favorable conditions for recovery. I didn't forgive her for those depilated Conans, of course, but since I wished to forget that embarrassment as soon as possible, there was no need to remind her. There were no other mistakes on her record... or she hadn't been caught yet, and somehow I believed the latter much more than the former.

Camrad_RIP 07.12.23 в 20:09

The general feeling was like the morning after a very heavy drink and an equally heavy fight with the use of improvised means, in which I managed to win but could not leave unscathed when the hangover had not let go yet, bruises and abrasions were heavy, the whole world seemed gray but underlyingly understood that it was a good party There was no mood to do anything, but I had to sit and choke on some light salad and porridge on milk, just to let my body recover. For the first time, the whole team gathered together. Even Giver took her body out to feed on proteins and carbohydrates, and the mood was as if we were burying our favorite hamster, having bought a coffin for him with the price of three monthly salaries.

Camrad_RIP 13.11.23 в 16:09

"All city services under the Crown have received a new batch of instructions to look for anything suspicious." The ordinarily wine-sipping bloodsucker sitting in the corner of the desk is probably the only one who is at all functional right now. "I get the impression that these recommendations, orders, and rescripts are sent by different interest groups, albeit under the same seal. Today's demands are even hysterical. The demands for results on the search for Hell cults are so demanding that I'm thinking of organizing and cleaning up one just to get them off my back."

Camrad_RIP 13.11.23 в 16:22

I wonder why some bloodsuckers can easily eat and drink normal food, breaking it down into dust and not even shitting, albeit wasting energy instead of restoring it, while others have to almost manually clean out the stomachs left over from the time of human existence from the slag trapped in them? In this respect, bed bugs are amazingly diverse, as in all others. There are so many varieties in the world that you can break your head, to the point that each nest takes on its characteristics over time. Perhaps it's because they work with essences and are therefore, very susceptible to mutation. After all, no matter how you work and such a dense substance, a liquefied concept, in fact, will still siphon and seep into the body. Even into my body, which I have noticed and cleaned more than once after working with the Vessel! And in creatures who live only on it, all this is even more vividly expressed, which makes them resemble original people the less, the longer they live and eat.

Camrad_RIP 13.11.23 в 16:25

My subordinate, for example, can drink wine with relative ease, even though she spends a tiny amount of energy on its disintegration, but she can eat any garnish only at the expense of her development. Developed stats allow her not to be greedy for the disintegration of the eaten right inside her own body. She just likes the taste of wine and can enjoy it, and the same milk, especially fresh, especially human, and directly from the source (preferably cute and brainwashed) even gives a weak nutritional effect. Vegetable juices, like most soft drinks, are generally indistinguishable from musty water. It still discerns flavor, but the critter's instincts cause it to be rejected and prevented from being enjoyed. Why wine or, say, aged Zainberg rum retain their flavor and don't tug on her instincts, while beer of any kind goes to waste, she can't understand.

Camrad_RIP 13.11.23 в 16:27

"Don't you dare even think about the layered loop, Sister." While I'm dumbfounded, having gone into the depths of philosophical and scientific reflections, Giver begins to organize her less experienced companion. "Even if you manage by some miracle to pull off the organization unnoticed, you'll attract irreparably much attention, and there's no telling whose will be worse - the ruined Eyes and angry clergy or my kin. At least one of the nineteen cults that had taken root and managed to do real damage to the world of endowed was initially positioned as a fully controlled entity."

Camrad_RIP 07.12.23 в 20:12

Yeah, I agree. It's enough to remember Tavimark (which I'm following because that's where we stopped before jumping to Arenam), where emotions have been raging for the third day already after all three cults there became public. The public was represented by a hastily assembled investigative team, which was crammed with not the coolest and most influential interrogators (those of the influential and experienced who were alive, sane, and functioning were needed in other areas). The interrogators may have been weak, but they were well equipped, the Imperial Treasury had opened its coffers, and the temples, including those serving the Grimmentray, were generous in pouring gold into such endeavors. The Eyes' representative in Tavimark, who had been about to organize a promotion for himself, was now desperately fighting for the right to pay the investigators a fabulous bribe to keep, if not himself, then his family alive.

Camrad_RIP 07.12.23 в 20:14

He'll keep it, I guess. Even though he would be bound with such shackles and oaths, which he would have to weaken for years, because even though he had made a mistake, he was at least a pro, relatively loyal to the Empire of the Ages, and there was a big shortage of such people. And it is still a group of investigators caught clean enough and intimidated by threats of retribution for the probable abuse of power. Many will be too stupid to be seriously frightened or too smart to get caught, starting to make their gesheft, taking advantage of the confusion and opportunities that have opened up.

Camrad_RIP 14.12.23 в 07:09

"I'll believe you on that one." She curled her lips in annoyance. Without off the scale perception and my perk for picking up small details at all indistinguishable. "Too bad, it would have been an excuse to clamp down on the temples a bit."

Camrad_RIP 14.12.23 в 07:10

I noted the bloodsucker's strong dislike of clerics because brainwashing them was difficult and risky. They have to work with minimal influence and pure psychology, without the games with other people's minds that the creature likes so much. That's why they still retain a certain amount of autonomy, not under her full control, which makes the pale mistress almost furious. And it's also worth checking if the Giver has poked around in the brains of the overconfident bloodsucker because she agreed with her rival very quickly, without even arguing or trying to win back the position. I mean, the devil was right, but it would have been in the bug's character to respond with a couple of counterarguments just to keep up face. And she didn't do that, while the deviless can't help but realize that if for digging into the main team's heads, I'm going to beat the ass (figuratively, but in reality immediately to death), I can miss the influence on the bloodsucker, and when I find it, I won't punish her much.

Camrad_RIP 14.12.23 в 07:14

It wouldn't be hard for someone with her experience to unobtrusively lead a less experienced creature to attack, attempt to apply the ring's gifts to the possessed, and then proceed her with her threads until she was obedient. It's unlikely she'd dare to do that, going against my will and orders, but it's still a possibility. And if she were to try to brainwash anyone in my circle, she'd start with the Arenams creature because she's the perfect candidate.

Camrad_RIP 14.12.23 в 07:17

"Oh, yes, working with temples is always hard. That's true." The deviless picks up, trying either to extinguish even the echoes of discontent in the emotions of "sister" or to move the topic away from the dangerous moment for the disclosure of its probable influence. "But in this, I can give you a certain amount of advice of the kind that no books will describe, not of the kind that can be obtained by ordinary and not-so-ordinary means. Advice that will unlock the full potential in the performance of a deprived being who can give and be gifted with talents like you and me."

Camrad_RIP 14.12.23 в 07:19

There's no arguing about it because you'd look stupid. After all, in the organization of clandestine destructive organizations by creatures with brainwashing abilities Giver, with her experience, is incomparably cooler than all of us put together and multiplied by two. So much cooler, that one can't help but wonder how much she is needed at all and if she can't be made non-existent... or at least sealed like a genie in a bottle and forgotten about for about a hundred years. Sealing devils is considered to be one of the most classic ways of dealing with them, though relatively rare against the background of everyone's favorite banishment. As it happens, it is not easy to kill such creatures permanently, for any serious damage or threats will cause them to try to escape to their Hell, even if at the cost of weakening.

Camrad_RIP 14.12.23 в 07:23

Semi-material bodies woven from the pure flair and energy of the Domain are quite rare; more often, devils incarnate themselves into possessed flesh, which weakens their powers but gives them greater protection and the ability to sacrifice such a shell. The massacre in Eternal is not indicative of that. On the contrary, no one tried to escape there until the very last moment, and even then, I have a feeling they didn't try, even though they wanted to. I quite admit that the archdevil forced his toys not to retreat by direct control because they fought to the last and started to run away only after his death.

Camrad_RIP 07.12.23 в 20:18

In a normal situation, when there's a whiff of danger or at least a serious battle, devils run away without a second thought, grabbing what they can grab, as Giver, Tia, and even the bloodsucker had told me. In fact, the first thing they build into possessed bodies is a mechanism of quick retreat, so they don't just run away like diarrhea but don't lose their pants on the way, i.e. the accumulated sonm. That's why mages, especially Alishan ones, have long ago and firmly mastered the classes of all kinds of sealers. A devil is, in fact, an energy and a fleur that is much more vulnerable than Shadows or Nightmares, and mortals take advantage of it. Not to kill, but to take them out of the game for years... until the artifact fails and starts affecting the environment. In fifty encounters with powerful creatures, only three are irrevocably destroyed, while five are sealed. The remnants are unevenly divided between violent exile with a kick in the ass and a smooth retreat according to a set plan and under cover of little value. Uneven because you can't tell where one transitions into the other.

Camrad_RIP 13.11.23 в 16:32

In the evil and unkind Empire of Ages, they still prefer to destroy the creatures at once, even if there is a high risk of their escape, but the Alishan cleanup teams like to put the djinn in bottles. Well, that's what I'm saying, by Earth analogy, because on Alurei, there are their own Djinn - endowed and very rare intelligent, possessing extremely plastic energy and etheric body, due to which cause a lot of questions from all sorts of naturalists. How is it so - the form of existence is close to energetic, and there is no affliction with planar scourge, as well as loss of endowment? In general, very interesting, and the purchase of a living genie will cost a huge mountain of gold, in addition to a bunch of obligations and services.

Camrad_RIP 07.12.23 в 20:21

Well, the dissection of endowed djinns and the sale of titsy djinns in harems will be left to the Alishans, as experts on slavemancy, but, I think, to lock Giver in some box Tia and I will be able to because the devil will not resist us. But we still need to recover because now neither I nor the druid can even walk normally. Or rather, we can, we can even fight, but the consequences of it will be such that it would be easier to play seals and not to twitch unnecessarily, straining tired bodies and auric shells.

Camrad_RIP 14.12.23 в 07:26

The conversation at the table was sluggish, kept up solely by the pestering of both creatures by Taria because even though she'd gotten all the potion rebates, she was less exhausted than the others, and she had a stick in the ass that just wouldn't let her keep quiet. But her fervor wore off... and no, it was just the end of breakfast, and the dancer continued to pester the bloodsucker about what her toys were doing with the boots she'd given her for her services to her mistress. I just can't understand one thing: how did she manage to make the creature, who was completely unashamed of her actions and the perversions, to something resembling a mixture of embarrassment and get-off-from-me?

Camrad_RIP 14.12.23 в 08:02

No, I guess I don't want to know that.

Camrad_RIP 05.11.23 в 22:07

"Wait, Tia." When everyone else had dispersed, I called out to the elf who was about to retire back to her room and who was also, I'm sure, a little tired from the constant cleansing meditations that were supposed to get rid of the tiniest traces of the malicious fleur. "You've finished the basic purification cycles, right? I mean, you've got some free time, just a little bit, right?"

Camrad_RIP 14.12.23 в 08:03

"Quite right." The stoic reply came after a pause, caused by another muscle spasm as a consequence of taking the physical-enhancing potions. "To continue would be possible, but this carries the risk of throwing the last coin on the already tired of being in a precarious balance. Now all I have to do is check out the quality of the local library... which is, to put it bluntly, far better than expected, but far less than desired."

Camrad_RIP 14.12.23 в 08:04

Yeah. The bloodsucker had a certain affinity with magpies or even hamsters, in addition to its mosquito nature. It dragged everything of little value and not nailed down, which can be appropriated without raising suspicion. And now we're not talking about gold and other wealth, but about books, scrolls, information of any kind, and, to a lesser extent, various near-legal artifacts and amulets. She needs information, and thanks to someone's influence, the lady has specifically turned on self-improvement as an ideal shadow ruler. So let the list of local literature in the ace of Tia's level cause only a condescending smile, but even the fact that this list at all causes her at least something is a recognition of quality.

Camrad_RIP 14.12.23 в 08:55

"Then try, if it's not too much trouble, to put together a training program for me like you suggested before." I control every reaction and facial muscle with the kind of care one uses to drag an unexploded shell farther away. "Well, given our condition, so more emphasis on all that boring theory and other calculations..."

Camrad_RIP 07.12.23 в 20:23

I gradually shut up under the absolutely expressionless gaze of the elfess looking straight into my face, whose right eyebrow twitched a little, however, literally by microscopic amounts, but I noticed. At times like this, Tia is really... not exactly frightening, no, but unnerving, a feeling akin to being near a bare wire or at great depths in some mine. There's no danger unless you go down there yourself, but there's the realization that one wrong move and it will be painful, bad, and ugly.

Camrad_RIP 07.12.23 в 20:25

"Tin." She managed to say my name with too many meanings in it, a reason for pride or jokes, but, to be honest, I'm afraid to make fun of her because I understand everything, the defeat by the flair and all that, but somehow I don't want to pull the tigress by the whiskers (or ears). "For the sake of the eternal Stars and all that is holy beneath the Heavens maimed by our deeds and mistakes, not a single word."

Camrad_RIP 14.12.23 в 08:58

I chuckled, giving the dumbfounded chuckle of a worthy /b/rother of the all-powerful /b/rotherhood, which made Tia's gaze even more expressionless. I tried to pull myself together, but then I imagined Taria's reaction if she found out about the elf's accidental dream, and then I nearly burst my throat trying to swallow my laughter and not laugh like a young unicorn, because my imagination always worked so well.

Camrad_RIP 14.12.23 в 10:29

"Okay, that's it, I'm calm. I'm just, uh. ugh." I can easily withstand the slightly judgmental stare of the seer, who's wrapped up in whatever disguise she has available to her in her current state, but then I picture Taria's face again, to whom the essence of our conversation has been revealed, and I laugh a coughing laugh again.

Camrad_RIP 14.12.23 в 09:00

Smack!

Camrad_RIP 21.11.23 в 20:06

"Ouch." I pretend that I'm really hurt from the slap I received, which I wouldn't have been able to dodge in my current state anyway, and then I go on the offensive. "No, seriously! That would be really funny!"

Camrad_RIP 19.12.23 в 12:51

"You're so hard to talk to." Tia exhaled, as if she'd lost the steel rod and half her backbone at once, and sat back in her chair. "And I hoped to the last minute, like a little child relying on chance, that you were in no condition to cross-check. Then I realized that such hopes are not only insultingly unfounded, because it is not for fallen leaves to trust in Fortune, but also completely illogical, simply dangerous, because the check is obligatory, always obligatory, and its presence is a priori better than its absence! All the devils of Hell! Tin, I..."

Camrad_RIP 19.12.23 в 12:53

I clap my hands loudly, interrupting the nervous breakdown of Tia, whose emotions are already jumping from intoxication, not to mention the overall picture of our conversation, and then I put my palms out in a protective gesture, preventing her from continuing.

Camrad_RIP 19.12.23 в 12:54

"Look, let's just agree that fleur is a very insidious thing and then pretend it never happened because it never did," I speak up, drawing a line and issuing a final verdict. "Especially since it's going to take me a long time to recover from all this, and I'm going to have nowhere to spend my free time anyway. In fact, consider me motivated. or demotivated."

Camrad_RIP 19.12.23 в 12:55

At the last phrase, which was clearly prompted by the mocker's property, the elf even gave out something resembling a smile, albeit a somewhat strained one. I'd expected to be teased or even embarrassed, of course, but a couple exchanges of teasing would not be enough for that, not by a long shot.

Camrad_RIP 14.12.23 в 10:30

"I'm infinitely flattered by your trust, Tin, as well as understanding, in that I'm not going to cajole or exaggerate." Apparently, my attempt to dot the Igreks was successful enough, or it was just that Tia had miscalculated me again and calmed down on her own. "That dream was inspired, plucked from the depths of my subconscious thoughts that otherwise had no right or opportunity to germinate, and we both realize that. Such an action, to which I was led by the logic of a lust-infected dream, has the right to exist only in the expanse of such dreams. There is much about you that irritates me, much that I cannot and will not hide, much that I cannot accept, much that I cannot understand, but I will hardly decide to distort the purity of your desires out of a desire to correct what I consider to be a mistake. Especially in such a form. If not because your hands hold my loyalty and eternity, then at least out of a lack of the right skills."

Camrad_RIP 19.12.23 в 12:58

Was she so gently hinting that the very idea of forcing me to study, even against my will, even under hypnosis and with a bunch of eighteen-plus ratings, even though it would remain just an idea, was still somehow appealing? I would have thought I was suffering from paranoia, but the very feeling that allows me to tease those around me as effectively as possible suggests this hint, the ghost of its existence, was left deliberately. My comrade, Tialrianrelia, you are treading on very thin ice trying to play "who's going to outwit whom" with me! You, honorable one, have a great deal of experience, and I admit that you have managed to catch me several times, but now, by treacherously attacking me with my own weapons, you have stepped into my territory, and you no longer have the advantage of surprise.

Camrad_RIP 19.12.23 в 12:57

"I see, got it. Everything is fine," I replied, stretching tiredly in my chair, closing the subject. "Taria, so be it. I won't say a word... or write or transmit it in any way. Don't look at me like that."

Camrad_RIP 19.12.23 в 13:22

I was completely sincere outwardly, and inwardly, too, but what was needed now was not sincerity, but lies to be passed off as sincerity. We're both not in the best shape, but she has suffered much less and recovered more thoroughly. She, at this very moment, has more available to her. I could go high, but it would cost me days and weeks in partial impotence, and so what little of my abilities I can use unhindered is inferior to what Tia can use unhindered. And that's where I'm starting to run my game.

Camrad_RIP 19.12.23 в 13:29

The string of images, the roundelay of information matrices, and the way I can work have suffered relatively little, requiring much more attention and concentration than the utmost concentration of mind and spirit, which could finish me off. And I manage, though on the verge of coughing up blood (not dangerous, but again to bed and lie flat until morning), to create a kind of deception inside the deception, to pretend that I was trying to hide something, but did not calculate the forces, and therefore part of the hidden thoughts leaked out of unexistence, caught in the field of attention of an experienced seer.

Camrad_RIP 19.12.23 в 14:08

What did I show her?

Camrad_RIP 05.11.23 в 22:08

It was just a carefully concealed regret, even from myself, at what Tia had just said. Not really regret, but a kind of sadness that even though we'd fully disclosed the cards, restoring our trust, there was still something sad about it. I risked the fact that Tia was no simpleton, no ordinary fortune-teller of some trade guild; even in her weakened state, she was still a monster with more experience in such intrigues than I lived, even if I counted only the time spent in the specific battles of several seers.

Camrad_RIP 19.12.23 в 14:10

I took a risk, but I managed, of course. As I said, she was a pro, and that's why she didn't show that she noticed and ate my deception, even to the inquisitive eye or in her clairvoyance. I even began to worry that she didn't really look at my reaction and therefore didn't catch the "truth" that appeared for a short moment. Pieces of images scuffed up and even to myself, as she was obliged to think, not completely clear, as if only just awakened. Images formed into a picture that one summoner liked what she saw in her dream very much and subconsciously, he would be all for it if the strict teacher Tia decided to speed up and motivate the learning process with her hypnotic legs.

Camrad_RIP 19.12.23 в 14:13

To be honest, I just wanted to leave the situation hanging and see how she would react and whether she would try to lead me to believe that she knew about my desire and was ready to make such a sacrifice. And would it be a sacrifice at all? After all, the whole fantasy, the fleur dream, came from her subconscious, not mine! But that would be a bit ugly and even dishonest in some respects, no matter how funny and hilarious it would be afterward. So I only used the network of mirrors to look at the face of the elf who turned and left the room calmly because on that face, despite all the self-control, still flashed several very contradictory emotions. Surprise, shock, amusement, bewilderment, and even a slight anticipation, though the last one was probably just my imagination, and I couldn't be convinced.

Camrad_RIP 19.12.23 в 14:15