Absolute Mana Dominion: All My Talents Are SSS

Chapter 52: 52 - Messenger

Vikir lowered his mana rifle slightly. "Yes, my lord. What do you need me to do?"

Adrien looked once toward the end of the street where the surviving Arquenay soldier had disappeared with Léon’s body, then back to Vikir. "I need you to take the documents from the camp to Valebrand. Today."

Vikir’s expression tightened. "You’re sure?"

Before Adrien could answer, Vikir dismissed the mana rifle, causing it to vanish from his hands.

"Yeah." Adrien dismissed Umbral Root, relieved when the constant mana drain disappeared. "Whatever room we had to move carefully is gone now. Léon crossed into Clairmont territory, tried to kidnap Ariane, and died doing it. I have no idea how Gaspard is going to react when his son’s body reaches him."

Vikir glanced toward the blood and broken ice around them. "You think he’ll attack Greymoor?"

"I think he might." Adrien rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. "And if he comes with everything Arquenay has, Greymoor doesn’t have the men or resources to take that comfortably."

That was the part Adrien had wanted to avoid. He had intended to use the evidence slowly, squeeze Arquenay where it hurt and come out of the whole thing with something that strengthened House Clairmont. Léon had just removed the slow part.

"I was going to bring them down anyway," Adrien continued. "I just wanted time to get something out of it first. Land, money, leverage, whatever made sense when we got there. We don’t have that luxury anymore."

Vikir gave a small nod. "And you’re worried the Crown won’t listen."

"After what happened to my father, I’d be an idiot if I assumed a Clairmont letter lands on the right desk." Adrien looked directly at him. "That’s why I’m sending you instead. I need someone I trust to put the papers in front of the right people personally."

"Then I’ll do it."

Adrien studied him for a moment. "You can get there quickly?"

"It’ll still take a few days. I’ll need to reach a teleportation port first, Valebrand isn’t exactly next door. Once I’m through, I can handle the rest."

"That’s good enough." Adrien reached inside his coat and pulled out a folded document carrying the Clairmont seal. "Take this too. It identifies you as acting directly for House Clairmont. With that, they should have a much harder time turning you away at the gates."

Vikir accepted it carefully and slid it inside his coat. "I’ll leave immediately."

"Take copies of everything. The originals stay in Greymoor."

"Understood."

Adrien held his gaze. "And Vikir... don’t hand them to the first clerk who smiles at you. If someone tries to bury this, keep moving until you find someone who can’t afford to ignore it."

A faint edge entered Vikir’s expression. "That part I can do."

"Go."

Vikir left without wasting another minute. Adrien watched him disappear around the corner before the tension in his shoulders finally eased a fraction.

Then Ariane hugged him. It happened quickly enough that Adrien almost stepped back on instinct, her arms locking around his middle before he could react.

"I was scared," she admitted quietly.

Adrien looked down at her and placed one hand against the back of her head. "You held them off until help got here. You did well."

Ariane pulled back enough to look at him. The exhaustion from Winter’s Reach was still written across her face, and now that the danger had passed, the fear she’d been holding down was starting to show with it.

"Because of me, the family’s in danger now. If I hadn’t gone out today, Léon wouldn’t have had the chance to—"

"Hey, stop." Adrien cut her off before she could build the thought into something worse. "You didn’t do anything wrong."

"But he came for me."

"That’s on him." Adrien’s voice stayed calm. "You went out to do your job. Léon chose to bring armed men into our territory and try to take you. You don’t get blamed for someone else’s stupidity because you happened to be the target."

Ariane’s mouth tightened. "And now Gaspard might attack us."

"He might. We don’t know yet." Adrien glanced toward the road Vikir had taken. "If he does, then he gives us every right to answer him openly. I’d rather it doesn’t come to that, but pretending this was your fault isn’t going to change what happens next."

She breathed out slowly, and Adrien gave her shoulder a light squeeze. "Vikir’s taking the evidence to Valebrand. If he gets it in front of the right people before Gaspard does anything stupid, we may not have to deal with this alone."

"And if he doesn’t?"

"Then we deal with whatever comes. For now, we’re going home. Mother needs to hear this from us before the rumours arrive first."

They had barely started toward the carriage when shouting came from the far end of the street. A group of city guards rounded the corner at a run, slowing almost immediately when they saw the bodies, the damaged carriage, the melting ice and the blood spread across the stones.

The officer at the front recognised Adrien and Ariane and went pale. "My lord. Lady Ariane. What happened here?"

Adrien looked at him for a second longer than was comfortable. "You tell me. My sister was nearly kidnapped inside a city under Clairmont territory, and none of your people noticed until the fight was over."

The officer’s face tightened. "My lord, I apologise. We received word of fighting only moments ago. If we’d known sooner—"

"I know. You would’ve come sooner." Adrien wasn’t interested in hearing the rest. "Find out how ten armed men got into this area without anyone asking questions. I want names, routes, and anyone who saw them arrive."

"Yes, my lord."

Adrien gestured toward the street. "And clean this up. Move the bodies somewhere secure and keep people away from the scene until you’ve written down what happened."

The officer nodded quickly. "We’ll handle it."

"Please do. By tomorrow morning half the city will have invented its own version anyway. I’d rather they don’t get to stare at the evidence while they’re doing it."

Ariane gave him a tired look. "Can we go now?"

Adrien looked at the carriage, then at the road back toward Greymoor. "Yeah. We’ve got enough explaining to do for one day."

They left the guards to the ruined street and started home.

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