Chapter 240 (1/2)

“I…” Randidly started, then he changed tactics. “Why are you participating in this tournament?”

“I’m following Shal,” Dian corrected, her face twisting into a grimace. “Or I was, through you. But you, I believe, have complicated things. Although his chances of doing so are small, even with the prophecy about the Spear Phantom, our true fear was always Lucretia’s 3rd gift for Aemont. She would not let his death stop her from giving it.

“There are a few dozen theories in the form it will take. Some believe that she will give Aemont a second life, by using Shal’s body. Another is that she will create a fake version of Aemont, and present it to Shal. After all, her first two gifts were an image, and then an incredibly powerful rune that can allegedly devour the strength of others. With these worries in mind, some of the Masters of the Central Region… put a few geases on him. Other’s worried this would weaken his will, lessening his chances of becoming the one who could L*(*&() the Calamity, but a master engraver perfected Haelthing’s work, creating a rune on Shal’s heart that would hide him from Lucretia’s gaze.”

“And you coming here now…” Randidly said slowly, an inkling forming in his mind.

“Because several months ago, Shal began acting erratic, where he had been content to stew in his anger before. Because of you.” Dian confirmed. “Since he’s now moving, I was dispatched to watch him. Imagine my surprise when he produces a disciple of the Spear Phantom Style, and one from another Cohort, at that…”

Randidly stiffened. Not that he necessarily kept it a secret. But his skin color and lack of a third eye weren’t unheard of in this world. For them to know where he was from…

“Are you surprised?”

Saying nothing, Randidly turned and tried to focus on something else. His eyes traced the lines of the glowing runes that protected this room. So, this was another ploy. All to protect Shal from receiving a “gift”. Yet somehow his presence had galvanized Shal into moving, which exposed him to…

Probably whatever was currently happening to Shal, as he hadn’t been seen in days…

Randidly looked up at her. “About what?”

“That I know of your origin.”

Randidly waved a hand dismissively, ignoring the question. It seemed more like a show of force to intimidate him than a conversation topic that would be useful. “Do you know where Shal is now?”

“No, and I was hoping you had some more information.” Dian said lightly, but her body language shifted to something closer to a fighting stance. Randidly just frowned, saying nothing. After several long seconds, Dian relaxed.

“Hmph, you don’t scare easily, do you? I suppose you would have to, to inherit part of the moves of the Spear Phantom.”

“So why are you telling me this?” Randidly said, willing to ignore her silly posturing again.

“Like I said, for some information.” Dian said, her eyes scanning Randidly. “Anything you can tell us about what you did to animate Shal to this extent will be helpful. Anything you saw him do that seemed suspicious. Any of the people that he has associated with. We will take care of everything and perform the necessary investigations…”

Randidly pondered it for several seconds, throwing his mind back. Times that Shal had been suspicious… It’s not that there weren’t such moments he had suspicions about Shal, but usually they made more sense as time went on. Besides, Randidly had his own secrets too, and would be quite miffed if someone had gone around speaking of them, especially because it seemed that Dian was a representative of the establishment.

In terms of his own interactions with Shal… Randidly couldn't’ really know what influence he could have had. He supposed she meant their initial contact, in the dungeon. But that had been coincidental; and Shal had really only saved Randidly so he could be used as a punching bag for the Shamans. After that, Randidly had been summoned by Shal on some hairbrained quest, one that he had almost completed, before Shal became increasingly erratic.

Well, Randidly supposed it made a certain amount of sense that Shal wanted to preserve the honor and integrity of the Style, which was why he was now fighting. Shal had even passed the diary of Aemont on to Randidly, so the Style could continue, even as he seemed to harbor quite a lot of anger towards his father.

Looking back on it though, since Randidly had been summoned, Shal’s actions had become slightly erratic. First coolly training him to participate in the Qualifier, then, after his victory, becoming more aggressive, killing their way into a prison for the benefit of the time, and then killing their way out. In order to cover that, he had sold himself after the tournament, and then he had become alternately furious and unreliable, disappearing for a few periods.

It was hard to think of this most recent disappearance as anything other than an extension of those previous times, but Dian seemed pretty sure that it was the result of influence by Lucretia, based on Dian’s presence.

Randidly sighed. But still. He didn’t want to share this problem with someone who he couldn’t really get a grip on their motivations. So he ultimately chose to say nothing.