Irium

"So you are a mage?" I ask.

"Well, I am not very good at it but yes." Cartel says. "So anyway, in order to make use of this opportunity that had presented itself before me, I need your help."

It makes sense. I am supposed to be Dues" p.a.w.n. I am not that but that"s how many might look at me when they see that I am going on missions given by her. So, help from someone like me is definitely going to be beneficial in times like these. But,

"You want to climb to the top of the mage world, right? Why not try to take help from someone like me on Earth?" I"d expect someone like that"d be far more useful to him.

"Hahahaha!" He just laughs it off as a joke at first, but upon seeing that I am seriously asking the questions, he answers with a smile, "That"s a thing, Irium Glice. There is no one like you on Earth."

I find that hard to believe. Like, really hard to believe.

"There are two things I need to have in my ally for this mission." He says, "One is the relation to Dues, which as you are referring to, a lot of people do and in fact, there are others like your friend Danny who were as closely involved in the whole incident as you are."

Yeah, that"s why it doesn"t make sense for him to come to me.

"But, the second thing" he deliberately takes a pause before saying, "is that I need that guy to be willing to do some evil."

…

He just looks at me with a smile as if it"s my turn or talk or something. So, I ask, "And you believe that I would be "willing" to do some evil?"

"Yes!" He doesn"t try to convince me into it. He just says it like it is a fact. So,

"You are very perceptive as well, Mr. Hopkins." I say with a smile.

He laughs and shakes my hand as he says, "Cartel please!"

*****

We were expecting a big secret hideout and/or some dead bodies or something but, after going into the subway station, it just turned out to be a simple subway station. Furthermore,

"The trail stops here." Jessica says.

"You serious!?" Roswaisa asks, not really looking surprised to be honest.

"Yes, I am serious." She says. "Raijū can"t smell past this wall."

"Yeah, the same goes for my Manticore."

Considering how experienced these two as well as their monsters are, I really doubt they are being deceived. The confusing thing however is that, according to them, the trail of smell stops at a wall. It"ll be one thing if it stopped at the platform"s end so we would know that Cartel boarded a subway and went somewhere but it stops at a wall, as if he just walked over to that wall and then disappeared.

"I never liked the detective games to be honest." I say. "What do you guys think might have happened here?"

Jessica, as she hears my questions, starts staring at the wall in question intensely as she says, "I think … he might have … come to this wall" she keeps contemplating as she continues, "and then he might have … stopped at the wall and … … … yeah, I have no idea."

What the heck was all that then?

"Let me give it a shot!" Grey looks at the wall even more intensely than Jessica did and says, "He might have stopped near the wall … and then might have turned around and … … … yeah man, sorry, no idea."

…

"Why did you even call these two idiots?" Roswaisa asks with a slightly annoyed expression.

"I thought we could use their experience." I answer. "And you don"t need to tell me that I was wrong. I know."

Roswaisa nods as if appreciating the growth in the mental capacity of a teenager. Well, after these two being completely useless, I think I kinda deserve this condescending att.i.tude of her towards me.

"Still," she says, "Even I can"t think of a lot of ways for a person"s scent to just stop at a place like that. "One possibility can be teleportation."

Well, that certainly would explain things and also make things a lot harder for us.

"Another possibility could be some scent-removing spell that I never cared enough to learn." Roswaisa says and starts walking away before I can return the condescending att.i.tude from earlier.

What the h.e.l.l! Why is everything that"s happening so d.a.m.n confusing?

*****

"However," I tell the birdy, "It depends on what the evil is that I would do it or not."

"I know, I know." Cartel says. "I know you won"t go around killing people for me. I have other people to do that kind of dirty work."

"Well, I might actually be willing to kill" I say, surprising him quite a bit, "if it"s Dues ex machina who"s the target."

Cartel laughs and moves his head in denial of my hopes. Well, if it"s not her, then I am not willing to kill.

"What I want from you, Irium, is to get to the d.a.m.ned Telmakim, fulfill your objective and all – but do it the way she doesn"t want you to."

Well, that is a very tempting proposal. I already want to comply even though I don"t know what he even means.

"Dues wants you to be the neutral guy that you are and just mind your own business." Cartel says. "I want you to do the exact opposite."

I can"t help but smile. Till now, I have been minding my own business. And I see now that is what Dues wants me to do. Why? Because I am going to all the places she did, right? I am having all the experiences she had, right? So, if getting to Telmakim from that snowy place I entered from was an experience Dues had, she too would have been minding her business. She wants me to do exactly as she wants. But, there"s no force stopping me from not doing what she wants. At the end of the day, the deal is that if I fulfill my objectives, she will reverse everything. There is no one agreement saying that I have to do things her way.

"So, what do you say?"

I look at him in the eye and … smile.

*****