Desecration Chapter84: The Worst Drug Is Boredom

"Hmmm...this, I have a few ideas of who specifically could've sent this," Argyle mumbled as he examined the seal. "None of them really make sense though, what would the Vankars want with you?"

I scrunched my brow, I recognized that na.

Not at all for good reasons.

"Fantastic, I've got the attention of a bunch of sociopaths," I grumbled.

Argyle blinked and turned to look at . "The Vankars are renowned for their honour and loyalty to the empire, why would their attention be anything bad?"

I rolled my eyes. I didn't feel like explaining their reputation among the peasants. Nor did I really care to regale to him that the 'virtues' of nobility were exaggerated at best, twisted at worst. Instead I huffed and extended a hand.

"Hand it over, let's see what they have to say."

Argyle perked up. "You're going to let read as well?!"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I?"

"It's just...this is an important letter! Probably. Most people won't let another read it without so kind of price."

"It's just a letter," I chuckled.

His eyes sparkled, and even the idiot of a guard that followed him around seed amused. I shrugged and broke the seal to roll out the scroll on the table. Argyle looked consud by curiosity as he got to what I could only call speed-reading, while I decided to take it slow. It was interesting in how little it said in so many words.

Argyle blinked and turned to before I could even finish reading. "Who's Erd?"

I scrunched my brow at the boy. "What?"

"Erd," he repeated. "He's ntioned only once at the end, but the whole letter reads like a dramatic buildup to reveal his na."

"Huh. Strange."

"So?"

I humd and got to thinking and...nothing. "Can't think of anyone with that na, no. Maybe they sent it to the wrong person? That'd be pretty funny."

"Well, the letter seems to be intended for a...'hunter of the rats', so it's probably for you."

"I don't fucking know," I sighed. "The na honestly ans nothing to . Since you seem to have read the whole damned thing already, would you consider summarizing so I don't have to?"

"You will not treat the young master like so petty scribe, ingrate," the guard growled.

I raised a brow at him. "I pray for the day when you learn how to shit, maybe then you'd finally rid yourself of the stick stuck up your ass."

"It's a sha your parents never taught you how to cleanse your mouth." the guard shook his head. "Then we might be free of the perpetual sll of bullshit perating your breath."

I scowled, bringing up my parents was a low blow. "At least I'm nobody's sycophant, how does the magister's cock taste? Is it glazed with as much honey as their words?"

The guard blinked, then opened his mouth wide in shock, as did Argyle as he turned to stare at .

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"What?" I said. "I thought we were bantering."

"Y-you do not insult a magister in banter, you ntally deficient raccoon!" the guard exclaid.

For once, Argyle seed to agree with his guard, nodding vigorously.

"Okay," I said. "Why?"

"You could face twenty lashes of the whip!"

There was a pause, and I took a mont to really think about that. Twenty lashes was a pretty high number. Might increase my understanding of pain though.

"Only if we told anyone, or if anyone heard," I said.

"We're in the middle of the hunters guild." Argyle scrunched his brow.

I nodded. "Exactly, so we'll be fine. It's just ever so loud in here. Isn't that right Everett!"

Everett didn't turn to acknowledge , despite my yelling of that last portion, continuing on with his al. I pointed to him as though he was a wonderful display of my point. Both the guard and Argyle looked at each other flabbergasted.

Argyle's eyes returned to . "Is it really that loud in here?"

Even his guard gave him a look for that.

"So basically it's all just pleasantries?" I raised a brow.

Argyle nodded, slightly confused. "Yes, as well as an open offer to visit their estate back in Feringale...they're weirdly treating you like so kind of equal—" I gave him a glare at that. "—Not that you're not! It's just that the higher caste tend to be...hmmm."

"Cunts?" I provided for him.

He balked at , but didn't deny it. I chuckled at his expression and patted him on the shoulder.

"Don't worry, I know you're better than them. Better than a lot of people I know actually. Though you are disgustingly naive."

"Thanks?" He said with a questioning frown.

I nodded. "No problem."

He seed to be taking a mont to process that, so I decided to roll up the scroll in the anwhile and stash it in my bag. I might have had no intention of visiting the coast, but proof that I had sothing from one of the main houses might be useful at so point. Who knows? Would be a waste to just burn it.

Especially since the paper was black and the ink was laced with gold. Made it look real fancy, how rich did a person need to be to send sothing like that so casually?

Maybe they were trying to impress , but riches were h.

I was more interested in whoever the fuck Erd was. I felt like I should've recognized that na for whatever reason, tickling the back of my mind as I futilely tried to pick out a relevant mory.

Ah well, if my elf brain couldn't recognize it, then they probably didn't matter. Maybe a distant family mber was acting as an artisan for the Vankars and impressed them enough for them to matter. Most likely scenario, also kinda la.

I shrugged and moved on with my day, hanging out with Argyle for a little longer before he had to make his way ho to his fancy estate. I made a joke that actually got a grin out of the guard, should've probably gotten his na at so point, if only to see him as more than a grumpy bumblefuck in fancy armour.

Got back to my room, trained so more, and actually went to sleep.

All together a very shit ti.

But it was routine, and routine had a way of making ti just...pass. Training and learning, so much godsforsaken learning. Monster encyclopedias, how to appraise a monster's worth (just because they were from the sa species didn't an they were equal! Fuck!), doing a bunch of random shit with my mana to connect to new Words.

Which was weird, if I did sothing with mana then It'd figure out whichever Word matched my intention on its own. Why did I learn nd and not heal? Or regenerate? Oh shit, that would be a very valuable Word to have.

I could already see the problem of nurturing it. I'd shelve that until I could handle enough mana to grow back a nail. Seed like the place to start.

Hells, apparently there was a Word for sword. Why was there a word for sword?! In what case would it be practical to specify that you wanted a sword for your spell? Unless you were a mage that specialized in empowering your weapons, then it was pretty pointless.

I guess they could use it to grow their soul?

Point being that Aira and Alvir were starting to get ruthless in their bestowal of knowledge. Aira because she was trying to distract from my self-destructive tendencies, and Alvir because he seemingly thought I was warming up to him.

I could tolerate him without wanting to rip out his eyes, I was not forming a bond with the bastard.

Otherwise it was sa old sa old. Training with Xae or Adaman and blah blah blah. Rhode coming along brought so life into the guild, but it settled after the twelfth party or so. Mostly because the guildmaster gave the mage a rather thorough scolding about making the apprentices clean up the resulting ss.

I was there for that, it was entertaining to watch the crotchety geezer talking down to a supposedly renowned mage.

The scolding actually worked, and everything went back to normal.

Bland and boring.

So. Fucking. Boring.

So I...uh...ca up with a little sothing. Nothing dramatic of course! I just needed to make life a little less dull for the mont. So, I may or may not have pieced together where Umoa lived, and decided to pay him sothing of a visit.