Chapter 1703 (2/2)

“I’ll pay you double what she is offering, just to walk away.” Don Beigon said after taking another sip of his tea. Randidly had to forcefully suppress the desire to mirror that movement, afraid that another sip would make him more susceptible to persuasion due to the Don’s strange Skillset.

Randidly shook his head. He would not walk away. Some part of him believed it was for the best to avoid drawing the ire of this man… but another part of him refused to consider stepping back now when he so truthfully believed that Claudette didn’t deserve this.

“A man with principles.” Don Beigon mused, still with his eyes on the spring. Small fish flitted back and forth in the shallow edge of the pool, dancing with the dappled light that filtered down through the water. “As beautiful as stained glass… and just as fragile. Well. Well well well. Let me at least explain myself a bit. I do not want you to get involved while ignorant of the circumstances.

“Claudette is a weakness. My weakness. My only child, my precious daughter. And the unavoidable truth… is that she will someday leave me.” Don Beigon sighed. “Her spirit is too bright. She would never consent to stay here forever, protected from the despicable elements of the Nexus… heh, don’t give me that look. Do you think that the Frost Matriarch or the other Pinnacle Seekers will be able to protect her? To get to me, to get access to Alymian… do you know what would put the Pinnacle Seekers immediately in line? Power. Power solves every problem in this fucked up world. And that’s assuming… that the ones seeking to control my daughter aren’t the Pinnacle Seekers themselves. Those fanatics who base their whole existence around an impossible dream.”

Randidly pursed his lips. In the end, when he opened his mouth he asked a question that had been bothering him for a while. “Why… is Alymian so important to so many people? And powerful people, at that.”

“Ah… this makes sense. Your image is yet too shallow for you to realize,” Don Beigon murmured. “You understand the Pinnacle, yes? You essentially create a world. An internally consistent world emerges from your image, whole and pure. Well, that is the ideal; most often you make the attempt and someone sabotages you or, more likely, your attempt is flawed and you fail.

“To those Speculum and even less who feel like they are close to taking that final step… two examples of how it may be done are better than one. And Alymian is the only publicly acknowledged success in the history of the Nexus.”

“Publicly acknowledged…?” Randidly probed, sensing something from the way the Don had spoken. But the man just smiled blandly at him. And when Randidly opened his mouth to press further, he found that he could not.

And he could read the reason why on the Don’s face. I have already given you this hint. You dare ask for more in the face of my favor?

Randidly gritted his teeth. Don Beigon’s strange social Skills… gave him a feeling of pressure like nothing he had ever encountered before. HIs ability to interact with others had grown, but this was quite a bit beyond his comfort zone.

Luckily, the Don moved back to the prior topic. “You might think me heartless to do this to Claudette, but I have no choice but to find a more permanent means of protection. She will suffer in the short term, I cannot deny that… but I would rather knowingly give my daughter away and guarantee she is safe but upset… than wake up one day and find that she is raped and dead in some dark corner of the Nexus. It is my worst nightmare to think that she would die and I will not be able to recover her body.”

What’s left unsaid is that the transaction will be binding leverage for you, Randidly’s jaw clenched even further. Your Skills… you will bind this individual very tightly to the promise of protecting her… as a wife. And the fact that you are making this public… will that act as a subtle deterrent? How influential are you…?

“If she cannot realize the truth herself… I will make the decision for her.” Don Beigon shook his head. “That is my prerogative as her father.”

Randidly’s skin tingled as he looked at the intense man. He licked his lips and forced his jaw to unclench. Then he shook his head. “You… cannot protect her forever. Part of love is allowing… allowing those you protect to experience pain. To allow them to be hurt by the world… because your truth is not theirs. They need to find it for themselves.”

In that second, all of the amiable candidness in Don Beigon’s expression was gone. Suddenly he was a hawk, riding on a tidal wave of molten flames. “What do you know of love, Mr. Ghosthound? What do you know of protection and responsibility?”

Randidly began to tremble underneath the force of Don Beigon’s image pressure, even as the polite invitation to tea acted as a binding that prevented Randidly from manifesting his own image in response. Subtle and unspoken agreements bound his Soulspace. But Randidly’s emerald eyes blazed; he did not need an image to resist this little bit of pressure.

“My world even now experiences the System, Mister Beigon.” Randidly hissed. “An entire world is balanced upon my continued success, lest it be tossed aside by the Nexus and left to a slow death by energy famine after I am buried. So please, do not mock my understanding of responsibility.”

For the third time, Don Beigon’s eyes twinkled with surprise. All the bluster fell away and the man chuckled. “Heh. It’s been a while since someone has dared speak out against me. Interesting. Perhaps I can understand why you have the false stench of hope on you. Hmmm.”

Randidly tried to keep his breathing steady as the Don rapped his fingers against the table and thought. Finally, the older man spoke again. “...how about this. I promise to not stop you from making a deal in my daughter. Because I think you are aware of how easy it would be for me to do so, without even threatening your life. And honestly… I don’t think your interference will change anything. Giving her an outlet for this hare-brained scheme of hers… is likely a positive thing. In exchange… two things. One, you keep this meeting between us a secret. Mostly because I don’t want my daughter peeved at me. And secondly… to go along with the first portion, I’ll teleport you to the entrance and you’ll approach once again. What do you think?”

Randidly had been expecting some steep costs for the promise of non-interference, but the requests from the Don… were quite reasonable.

Of course, Randidly’s heart sunk when he had that thought. And because they are reasonable… I don’t think I can refuse, can I? He nodded with a heavy heart.

Don Beigon smiled. “I’m glad we had this talk, Mr. Ghosthound. Reach out if you ever need anything. You’ll find I’m quite good at getting… almost anything, for the right price.

Then the Don snapped his fingers. In the next instant, Randidly was standing once more at the base of the mountain, looking up at ten million stone steps. Mist drifted above him in long clumps.

“This is what you meant by ‘teleport to the entrance’? What a petty old man,” Randidly muttered. Then he shook his head and began to climb once more.