CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Mercury woke up with a sore back (??). As she stretched, her back cracked in 5 places at once. Spinal damage..? are you okay, Mer? "Ow ow ow!" Mercury screeched, leaping up like a monkey. No more stretching for her, I guess. Maybe today's just not her day, poor thing.
Oh, well, Mercury, You're certainly not the first person to just not have a good day. Join the club, girl! Anyway, Mercury decided that she'd spend the entire day confined in her room and lazing around. There's been enough chicken-dancing, sword-swinging, and blackmailing in the past few chapters, so let's just take this one easy, alright?
Nada. Nope. That's what she decided, but if I was gonna let that happen then this would have ended with the sentence "Mercury spent the rest of the day doing exactly that - lazing around" and we would be at the next day right now. There's no way that's happening, sorry. Get up, Mercury, You're gonna face some more drama today. A lot of drama. Sorry, what can I say? I desperately need views, so you're gonna have to sacrifice your sanity for it. On cue, Mercury stopped stretching out her back opened the door to her room, and peeked out curiously.
Literal tumbleweeds. There was no one there. No one watching her, that is, Nice, then! Time to snoop around. Mercury took off her bathroom slippers and tiptoed down the hallway. Ohohoho, got you now! almost instantly she heard voices. yeah, eavesdropping! possibly the rudest thing ever, but she gets a pass since she's the main character. Mercury held her ear up to the door and tried to listen in. Shucks, the wood was too thick!
Nada. Nope. Again, you thought I'd let that happen? Suddenly, the voices rose a bit higher and drifted past the wood - and into Mercury's ears. ("That was my doing, by the way, Mercury, be grateful. you can hear now." The author sighs, looking up from her typewriter.) "What are we going to do about the girl?" A voice asked. Seedy. "Who?" another, slightly lower-pitched voice asked. "Rue, I think her name is. I've seen her with the douchebag prince a lot. They might be planning something." Internally, Mercury wanted to burst through the door and hug him. Douchebag was right! Finally, someone understood! "Should we just kill her?" another voice asked, and Mercury froze. No more hugs for them. "Nope, that prince is too sharp. Especially their friend of his, the blond-haired noble bloke. They'll track us back to the emperor too easily." Mercury unfroze. Phew! I got worried for a sec there, too! As long as she wasn't getting killed, she was fine with anything. "Hmmm. then? should we try to get her on our side?"
Ooh! two-timing! Mercury could help the crown prince out that way (even though she was technically already two-timing as rue… three timing?), and then she'd just hand them over to the crown prince once she was done with deceiving them. Yup, sure. "Yes, we should try to recruit her. What more news do you have?" the deeper voice, who had asked to kill her earlier, said, and the higher-pitched voice sighed. "Intel is slow this week, so that's all I got. Sorry." Footsteps echoed towards her. Exiting the room. The meeting was done. Mercury was standing in the grand middle of the doorway. What the heck! Mercury desperately glanced around, and then grabbed her sword out of her belt and gave it a serrated edge again, like she had when she first got it. Stabbing that into the wall, she used it as a handhold to scale up to the beams on the roof, where she perched and prayed that they wouldn't look up. stuff like this only works in novels, Mercury, so you're lucky that this is a novel. As the door opened, two figures stepped out. Mercury squeezed her eyes shut. Come on, Mer, loosen up. You don't have bad luck like me (the author has the worst luck on the planet), so you're relatively safe. The figures pulled up their hoods and covered their faces, and then opened the window and casually leaped out. (????) After a minute, Mercury checked to make sure all was quiet. "Good riddance! I hope you break a leg from that fall or something!" Mercury sighed, shifting off the large oak beams and down the wall once again. As she was about to touch the ground, the crown prince walked in behind her, looking typically fancy. wow. How do you even wear that? dude? Mercury gaped at a silk tie studded with rubies, and a black suit lined with gold paper. Wow, she could bet that the outfit alone was a fortune, dude. Forget wolfskin rugs, if she sold the crown prince's hide, she'd be set for life! "Uhm…. isn't that heavy?" Mercury asked, blurting the first thing that came to mind. She then slapped a hand over her mouth, but it was too late. "Not really." The crown prince dismissed, and suddenly Mercury grinned like a cat. (????? Maybe I made this MC too unpredictable. Sorry.) "Whatever. I was waiting for you. I have something to tell you!" And then the story of everything that had just happened ran out of her mouth.
"hmmm. That's a good idea. But are you sure you won't go to their side and stab me in the back?" The crown prince asked, and Mercury grimaced. You were right, sir! Once a douchebag, always a douchebag! Some people (like the crown prince, in this case) never change!
"I would love to, Your Majesty, but then you're going to reveal that I am Mercury and then I'll be dead." Mercury sulked, and the crown prince chuckled. "Very well. Do that, then. and make sure to mail some reports to me, about what they're doing." Uh-huh. Mercury was going to make sure to send the most terrible, cryptic, confusing reports in the world. He was going to suffer. Mwahaha! "yessir! now get lost!" Mercury said, pushing him out the hallway grabbing her sword out of the wall, and tucking it into her belt. The wall kinda crumbled, but the mark was pretty small so she left it untouched. not that she could do anything, anyway. explanation, check. That weird question, check. thoughts about killing the only heir to the throne and selling his hide, and check. Boy oh boy, what a good day (this is sarcasm). As she walked back into her room, she pondered what this meant. She certainly didnt want to tie Iodine and Nox up with her, but she would have to fill them in. Not like last time, where she had completely left out the fact that Mags existed by accident. "Well, I won't forget anything this time," she murmured. As she opened the door to her hotel room, she saw Iodine and Nox waiting for her. And another person. Looks like someone had beaten her to it. "Hiya!" Mags said, slipping back the hood of his cloak to reveal his face, smiling broadly. Mercury sighed. Here we go again. "Who's this, Mer?" Iodine asked, and Mercury sucked in a breath. Time to get to work. Oh boy, this was gonna be a challenge.
"A friend. It's hard to explain, but basically when I was making an ID he just kinda showed up and was like, 'follow me', and so I did because everyone else in the room was glaring daggers at me - oh you should have been there I felt like I was going to melt - and then turned out he was really seedy and double-crossed me and then *something* happened and he got double-crossed too, and then we both ended up kidnapped and so I had to use my usual ridiculous plans to escape and that's why it took so long to get my ID so yeah he kidnapped be basically but it's fine since we became friends after and also he knows the crown prince, who wants to take down his dad and needs my help to do it, so basically we're a trio, and I didnt tell you all because I thought it would be rude to drag you into this kinda mess and so I didnt tell you but now I kinda did, so… oops? anyway, you in or not?" Mercury asked, and then said, followed it up with, "Oh, wait. You probably need a minute to process that. Well, I'll wait."
She sat down on the wardrobe in her room and dangled her feet around in the air. Her friends were gaping at her, jaws slack, and Mags was rubbing his chin while smiling. thoroughly enjoying their confusion. "Oh, so you're in the plan to take down the emperor as well?" Mags asked, and Mercury nodded. "Yep. Hi, Comrade!" Mercury said, getting off the wardrobe to bump fists with Mags.
"Uh-huh. Well, I do suppose I have to return your favor." Iodine said, holding out a hand. Mercury took it and helped her up. "What favor?" the MC couldn't help but ask, and Ioidne winked at her. "You said you'd always be on my side, so I should do the same." Mercury gaped at her. Did that mean… "I'm so glad! Welcome aboard, Io!" Mercury said, rushing to hug her friend. Iodine smiled and patted her head. "Alright, then, I'm in too," Nox said, standing up, and Mercury beamed at him.
"This is like watching an extremely corny soap opera. Are you done yet?" Mags asked, beaming at them too. Mercury's smile instantly melted into a frown. ?!??!?!!!? He was watching the entire time?!!! ("Well, of course he was." The author scoffed.)
"You have a weird taste in people," Nox muttered, and Mercury elbowed him. "But why are you here, Mags?" she asked, and Mags took an envelope out of his cloak. As usual, she didnt see where he was slipping it out from. He clearly didnt have any pockets. Mags held the envelope out, and Mercury took it. "Currently, the crown prince's faction is much greater than the emperor's. It seems everyone is in favor of the emperor being dethroned, but we have a bigger problem to face. The guild of Ultreon, that is. They have officially sent rouge." Mags said, and Mercury frowned. Went rouge? As in, like, they decided to not obey the crown prince or the emperor? "And they're going to select a leader soon. Apparently, someone got a royal scroll, so whoever can present that becomes the new leader of the guild of Ultreon. The scroll was apparently sent when they confirmed that the person was fit to be their leader." Mags said, and Mercury flinched. In the envelope he had handed her, was a perfect drawing of the bamboo scroll she had gotten. It seemed like such a long time ago. (which, technically, it was kind of a long time ago.) "The new leader of the guild?" Mercury asked, and Mags nodded.
"How do you know, though?" Mercury asked, and Mags put a finger to his lips. "The crown prince is the leader of the guild, remember? Or, he used to be." Uh-huh. So Mercury was the last one to find out. "Yeah, sure, and just leave me out. Right?" Mercury asked, frowning, and Mags shook his head. I only found out an hour ago, so I had to use a teleportation scroll to get here as fast as I could. Anyway, this new leader is expected to lead when they go to war at the imperial palace. We'll see who wins." Mags said, smiling a tight-lipped smile, and Mercury sighed. So that was the war. It was all slowly clicking together now, right? Yes, the resolution is almost upon us. "The war… the crown prince did mention that. Do you think Mercury has the scroll?" Mercury said, checking if Mags suspected her. "If she did… It would be the end for us. The guild of unteron is too big for us to win against." Mags said slowly, and Mercury inwardly sighed in relief. Looks like he wasn't too sure. But she had another problem - the ding-dang scroll that everyone was looking for was sitting in her duffel bag, in this very room. "So, are you looking for the scroll?' Mercury asked, and Mags nodded. "not just the scroll. also the person." Oh, great. more people were looking for her, and another thing for her record.
Mercury's record so far:
- killing like 70 people (all of them were Leu's)
- discovering the truth about her government
- being hunted by the biggest and most powerful guild in the world (guild of Ulteron)
- lying to a child (fluorine)
- hiding her identity (which is illegal, btw)
- committing treason (the imperial family is looking for her)
- being the leader of the very guild that is hunted her down (guild of Ulteron, see number three)
Oh yeah. Her record was pretty bad, huh? Well, whatever it was, it was too late to change anything. She'd just have to see how things would turn out, and they could only turn out two ways. With her head on a chopping block, or her head standing next to the crown prince's head and still attached to her body. A good ending and a bad ending.
"Looks like we're heading towards the bad ending," she muttered to herself, and Mags smiled. "What was that?" "Nothing. Anyway, is that all? can you go?" Mercury said, and Mags smiled again. "If you wish for me to leave. By the way, the war is going ot be starting by next month. Be ready." With a final pat on the head, he pulled his cloak over his face once again and walked away. As soon as the footsteps faded, Mercury dropped down to her duffel bag and opened it, taking out the scroll. Inside was the royal scroll, also known as the crest of the Guild of Ultreon. She recognized the squiggly squiggle on the top now. "So it's really me. I'm really the one." Mercury said, staring at the scroll. She just couldn't believe it. Really? "Mer. You're the next leader." Nox breathed, joining her to look at the scroll. Mercury sighed. No, she had wanted to believe that she was hallucinating and that this was all really just a really funny joke. Now that Nox had seen the crest too, though, it wasn't a joke anymore. "Oh, Mer. what are you going to do?" Iodine asked, and Mercury shrugged. "You know exactly what. When I become leader, I'll tell the guild to help the crown prince out. After that, I might or might not stay as leader, but I'll worry about that when it happens." she said, and Iodine nodded. "How can we help?" Nox asked, and Mercury shrugged again (x2). "For now, we need to get ready as much as we can. As in, a training arch. We've only got a month. Also, we need to get hold of a good information guild or source." she said, listing off things on her fingers. "Got it. But, isn't Mags technically our source?" Nox asked, and Mercury bopped him on the nose. "Yeah, but we need a second one. How about it? an information guild?"
Nox nodded. "I know where one is. Follow me."