The suddenness of what Jonell had told me masked the anxiety I felt gnawing at my chest. This had bad news written all over it. I put on a cold persona but Ryan was a nice guy as far as I could tell. I was cruel and practical to a fault; I still didn't like it when bad things happened to good people. That part of my moral compass had remained firmly intact, if anything it had gotten even stronger over the years as I realised the true depths that some would sink to. It was technically my fault. They must have followed me to his house before I clocked them.
This had all the perquisite pieces to be a disaster. They knew where Ryan lived, and they weren't above killing people who were associated with 'heretics' or whatever they liked to call them. My pessimistic predictions were not particularly helpful to anyone, but it did help soften the blow when we finally arrived at the house.
Where the door was wide open.
Jonell was in shock, "You're fucking kidding me."
He charged in with little regard for what may be waiting inside for him. I pulled my emergency knife and followed him inside, keeping my head turned to the side in case someone was waiting for us in the entryway. The first thing I saw was the almighty mess that had been left behind by whoever had ransacked the house. Upturns tables, drawers and smashed pottery littered the floor. My head was going at a mile a minute. All of the worst-case scenarios I had just imagined flooded back through my vision like a morbid slideshow.
"Ryan, are you okay?"
"I think so!"
I released a breath I didn't know I was holding as his blonde mop of hair poked out from the kitchen archway. He still looked like broiled shit, but there weren't any new injuries that I could see. Jonell almost broke down in tears just from the sight of him. "What the fuck happened in here?" he murmured.
Ryan was unusually heated; "Those assholes from before kicked my freaking door down! One of them jumped me before I could grab my sword, and they looted the damn place while I hid in here. I knew I should have kept it on me."
I didn't blame him. It was easier to justify putting your sword down when your soul wasn't tethered to it. And letting go of your weapon is the best way to put yourself into a relaxed footing. I hadn't once felt relaxed for nearly a year by that point. I couldn't take the risk of someone stealing her, not after what happened in Blackwake. The Inquisitors, why the hell would they loot some guy's house but leave him alive? Ryan emerged from his refuge and turned to his immediate left, where an empty corner beckoned.
"Oh crap, you gotta' be shitting me!"
I look at the duo, "What?"
"They took my sword man!"
Jonell clutched his own head, "Are you messing with me?"
"No way – I'd never lie about something like this. It's not here. I left it right here."
Ryan was motioning to a spot against the wall near the door. Jonell was more relieved to find his friend alive more than the sword itself, but he was familiar enough to understand how important it was. Ryan was looking very flustered, it was a stark contrast to his 'American chill' that I had become accustomed to.
Ryan was despondent, "Man, what am I gonna' do?"
I snapped my fingers, "We're going to get it back, that's what. What did they look like?"
"There were three of them, two men and a woman. It was the same group that broke in last time, they must have been out for a little payback."
"Fuck me," I groaned. After I'd beaten John, I decided to spend an hour away from our hotel just to make sure that they weren't following me again. In that time, they'd found out that Ryan was holding onto a legendary sword, came back to his house, and stole it all without us noticing. They must have been waiting until Jonell left the house. I scowled, "Oh, I forgot them."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"Those thieves aren't just thieves, they're Inquisitors. They came here looking for me. They want to use your sword to get the upper hand, I assume."
Inquisitors weren't interested in the other Legendary Swords, lest they have a specific need for them. Stigma was the only object of their ire from amongst the collection. Ryan stared at me as he processed the information. Jonell was much angrier about the revelation than he was, "And you decided not to tell us any of that? Ryan could have been killed!"
"Him knowing that they were Inquisitors doesn't matter, Jonell. They were going to do the same thing regardless. I'd have thought that they'd leave you alone after getting humbled once already – but it seems that I was mistaken. They were too quick for me to inform you."
Ryan shook his head, "Well, they're gonna' have a hell of a time trying to use that sword. You know how long it took me to learn those techniques? It doesn't come overnight, and the sword isn't the talkative type. You have to do that stuff for yourself."
I envied him, I really did. To have a sword that was just a sword and nothing more.
"Those techniques, you called them Gates?" Jonell asked.
"Sure. There are a bunch of them, but they're crazy hard and really dangerous for an untrained person to try out. You might well rip an arm out of its socket if you're not ready for the force it generates. I had more than a few accidents getting familiar with it."
"Who taught you?" I wondered.
Ryan waved his hand in the air, "Just some old guy, a sword master I met when on one of my jobs. He said that he wanted to see someone master the power of it and all that junk. He was shocked to see a complete newbie like me with it though. He said it only arrives in a bolt of thunder to a chosen few."
"So, did it?"
Ryan nodded; "Sure it did. But… this was long before I had any idea about where I was or what I was doing. So much for a destined hero – I was a bum wandering around after getting tossed through a wormhole. Why the hell would an amazing sword appear for the likes of me? I'd never used one in my whole life."
Ryan was correct. What conditions did he fulfil to elicit the interest of what sounded like a divine being? Other than the fact that he was sent here from another world just like me. He didn't have any special skills or talents, and he didn't strike me as the genre-savvy type who liked to read light novels. The part of his story that I couldn't square was the 'old man' who had taught him about it. Surely, he must have known more than he was letting on, or Ryan was keeping the full details to himself. I was interested to know, but too polite to demand any more than what he had already shared.
"Since it can't talk – I assume there's no way to track it or kill the person holding it?" I queried.
"No. Should it?"
I shrugged, "I don't know. How many legendary swords do you run into on an average day?"
Ryan pointed at me, "You're saying your sword can do that stuff."
I sighed, "I never said anything like that."
"Because that's cool."
No, it wasn't.
"Anyway, this thing didn't appear in a thunderbolt. I picked it up off some dead guy. If there's no way to keep it in the hands of the designated wielder, we'll have to do it ourselves. It's a good thing that they're out to get me. We can lure them out and finish them off."
Ryan nodded, "Nice idea."
Jonell was worried, "Even without the Gates, Raiju is extremely dangerous. It can utilise elemental magic like a catalyst and confers inhuman speed to the wielder. This is not a battle to be taken lightly."
"I never take business lightly," I insisted, "These guys are going to regret crossing me."
Cali finally spoke from the front doorway, "It's a good thing we did not leave the city with such an interesting scenario brewing. Are you trying to say that this will be an extremely dangerous fight?"
Jonell was confused, "Yes?"
Her eyes glittered with excitement, her body wiggling beneath her coat like a worm in dirt. That was one issue taken care of, she wasn't going to get bored with that prospect on the horizon. I needed to come up with a plan. If I could get Ryan, Jonell, Tahar and Cali on the same page – then it would be easy to herd them into a location of my choosing.
John was the most likely to be given the lead position. He was intent on putting himself in danger for the sake of restoring his pride, according to Adel. But that presented an entirely new dilemma. I needed the Absolver in charge so that Adelbern could continue to sneak corrupted items away from the armoury. Rocking the boat by killing John and sending them into a flurry of civil conflict was not to my advantage, as it would likely mean more Inquisitors trying to get into the Federation.
Airing this desire to keep one of them alive would be suspect. I didn't want anyone but Cali and Tahar knowing about my connections with someone on the inside. It was always important to keep things like that close to the chest, because you never knew where the facts would end up should you let them slip. Even people you trust can have loose lips. How could I be rid of the other two while keeping John alive?
I'd need to isolate him, or put him into a position to escape from me without him realising that I let him get away. He'd obviously point the finger at the biggest meddler, Adelbern, should I do something so strange. Getting close to him with a more powerful weapon would be troublesome. He had already demonstrated an exceptional level of aptitude with a sword during our first fight. I couldn't go all out and kill him with my strength, which meant I had to play by his rules.
"What should we do?" Jonell asked, "You're the expert on this kind of thing."
"How do you suppose that?"
"Ryan told me you do a lot of dirty jobs, thievery, whatever."
"I used to. But breaking into some warehouse is a lot different to tangling with Inquisitors. If you're looking for an expert on warfare and combat, I'm not your man. Still – looks like I'll have to be the one in charge if we want to get it back."
"You want to get it back?"
Ryan cut in, "Ren isn't all bad, you know. He's a chill guy. I'm sure he has his own reasons to be helping us out! I feel reassured just having him on our side. Seriously, I don't want to be coming up against this guy in a fight."
Whatever Ryan meant clearly struck a discordant note with Jonell, who went from outraged to sullen at a moment's notice. I didn't know if he was any good in a fight. He had done mercenary work with Ryan before. It was harder to judge someone's capabilities when they didn't have the same cushion of insane, demonic stats like I did.
"What's your idea, Ren?"
"Like I said. They're looking for a fight with me. I'd rather we do this somewhere on our own terms instead of letting them pick. They ambushed Cali once already."
"It wasn't even difficult," Cali muttered bitterly.
"Who was the one who survived the fight?" I asked.
"An archer," she responded.
"Clearly they'll want to leverage their ability to launch a first strike. That's why we can put Tahar on overwatch for us – she'll scare them off."
Tahar still showed some hesitation when it came to killing other people, and I wasn't going to push her into that if she didn't want to. She had already done more than enough for us by hunting and teaching us to set up more comfortable camps in the wilderness. An arrow placed close to their hiding place would be good enough, Tahar had accuracy to spare when it came to shots like that.
"A good place to start a fight, huh?"
"I'm open to suggestions, if you have any."
"I have one or two," Ryan smiled.