Chains of a Time Loop

36 - State Secrets



The murk bogs were assigned a wide variety of tasks, most of which were some sort of scouting regarding the geography of the setting or the imperial security for the event. The imperial security was… supposedly very extensive, much more extensive than just Iwasaki standing outside the event hall door, which was weird because Myra had never seen literally anyone else.

Anyway, Myra and Iz volunteered for one of the easy tasks which involved confirming the locations of some key individuals from the empire. Geel was happy to hand it off to them on account of their familiarity with campus, and it was about as good an excuse they could possibly get to attend the campus party where key individual Malazhonerra Raine would attend. Conveniently, the organization wasn't due to regroup until 9:30 PM, which gave them plenty of time.

Thus, they were on their way to the party now. Out of unspoken agreement, they were taking the long way (walking) so they'd have a bit more time to talk.

"Are you upset about what I did?" Myra asked.

"Myra, we just went through this. I thought it was pretty reasonable, and I'm glad you did it."

"I thought you might be more candid without Shera around," Myra admitted.

Shera, of course, had stayed behind to keep an eye on the murk bogs, and to summon Myra back by radio in case anything were to suddenly happen. The poor girl was still visibly unhappy about the whole plan, but after her accusation had been so off the mark, she hadn't argued the point any further.

Myra still felt a little bad about it.

"No, I said just about all I had to say," Iz said. "What's up with the two of you, anyway?"

Myra sighed. "In what sense?"

"Any sense. I mean, you used to always be at each other's throats in class. Now she's your main companion for the biggest disaster to ever happen to you?"

"Well—I don't totally get it more than you! She always agrees to help, not to mention she saved me in the very first loop, so obviously I kept returning to her… But it's not like we don't fight anymore. You can see that. I'm more grateful to her than anyone else on the planet, but… I mean, she gets reset each time, so her understanding of me can hardly advance… So we're stuck… I mean, you get it, right? I don't even understand what she's getting out of it. Sometimes she seems to enjoy helping out, sometimes she gets frustrated, and one time she confessed to me."

"To murder?"

"Not that kind of confession, no."

"Well… How'd that go?"

"I dunno!" Myra threw up her arms. "At the time, I felt like I resolved it pretty well. But now the gap between us has grown even more… I avoided her the next two loops after that, and this one… I dunno. I'm afraid to be emotionally honest with her because I don't know how to not overwhelm her…" After a small bout of silence, she asked more quietly, "Iz, what do I do?"

"Hell, if I know. You know I never got along with her any more than you did. I'm pretty sure she despises me…"

"That's not true."

She chuckled bitterly and shook her head. "You've been friendly with her too long. You've forgotten what our interactions were really like. Anyway, you should ask Cynthia about this kinda thing. Or, you know you could ask—" She snapped her finger. "That popular athletic girl… what's her name—"

"Zirphilia."

"Yeah, she's actually good friends with Shera, isn't she? She likes you a lot, she'd probably help." They were approaching the field, and the noise of the festivities was starting to drown out their conversation. "I'd suggest you go talk to her now, but…"

But, of course, Myra wasn't going to be present at the party. There was too big a chance Ben would show up.

That ugly feeling again.

Maybe Shera was right.

Maybe I should have said so.

It wasn't like she wasn't taking precautions. She would be hiding out from inside the building, watching through a window, and they had some tricks to keep her obscured.

And even if Ben did find her, she had contingencies for that, too. Ever since the last loop, when she'd been arrested without an easy way out, she had taken it upon herself to learn a few more ways to off herself. She was pretty sure she could stop her own heart with a thought (she hadn't tested it), and with Iz's help, she had made a necklace that would slice her neck if her vitals changed suddenly, which would protect her from a range of plausible scenarios. (It would be particularly morbid if she were to overexert herself and faint again, though even then, it would probably be for the best. And anyway, Myra had been feeling a lot better the past couple of days.)

But even so, wasn't the number of contingencies itself a sign that maybe this was a bad idea?

She looked at Iz. The girl was looking straight ahead, fixed on their destination, the field where the event was taking place, where their classmates were dancing and drinking.

"Okay, um. I should hide. You sure you're ready to face her?"

"Myra, I've been waiting to face her all month."

"You know… the whole thing's not exactly… I mean, it sounds badass in the abstract. To piss off the imperial princess so much that she snaps and—but the actual event is—"

"Myra," the other girl cut her off. "Did any past-loop-me ever tell you to stop me from meeting the princess?"

Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

"Well, no, you told me the opposite, actually—"

"Then it's settled," she said, her tone final.

"Okay." She patted her friend on the shoulder. "Good luck."

Now that they were back within the imperial borders, Myra could use the acoustic eavesdropping spell again. It took some time to set up, though, and by the time she had, she only caught the tail end of Iz's reunion with Cynthia. From the looks of it, it had involved, at first, hugging and wailing, until Cynthia remembered to be mad, at which point she grabbed Iz by the shoulders and shook her violently.

"When I get my hands on Myrabelle, I'm going to smother her! Smother her! Where is she?"

"She'll b-be around t-tomorrow," Iz barely got out as her diaphragm was thrown about like a whip. "Sh-she's fine, I promise!"

Myra glanced around. Aurora and Sky were around, messing around with the rock-climbing. Tazhin had gotten involved in Zirphilia's water ball game—wait, where was Nathan? Nathan was usually together with Tazhin preparing a strategy for couch wars. She scanned the crowd several times and didn't see Nathan anywhere.

"We were so worried…" Cynthia was saying. "There were these scary notes in Myra's room from someone named 'Ben'…"

More than one? Ugh… Whatever. She'd stop by her room later and see if it was important (it wouldn't be). Myra was a little annoyed that Cynthia hadn't made the connection from 'Ben' to 'Benkoten,' but it was probably for the best.

She scanned again for Nathan. Hm. The last time Nathan didn't show up, it was the time he was upset because Ben had vanished without a trace. She was pretty sure she would have heard if that were the case again, though.

But she would have to put a pin in that.

The princess and her friend were here.

"Hey, I know you."

And here we go.

"I'm surprised you remember me," Iz said.

"Yeah, of course I do," the princess said, nodding. "You're the genius commoner who won that contest. What's your name again?"

"Isadora."

"Yeah! That's it." The princess snapped her fingers. "It was on the tip of my tongue. How about we have a go?"

"A 'go'?"

"Yeah! Let's face off. A proper mage's duel. Genius commoner versus princess of royalty. Who shall emerge victorious? Birthright, or hard work and talent? Eh, what do you say?"

As always, she didn't let Iz get a word in before she teleported out of her dress into her revealing duelwear, then cracked the knuckles on her hand in her usual display of aggression.

"And why should I say yes?" Iz asked.

"Hm… how about… I dunno, what do you want? Name your own prize. I won't even ask you to put anything on the line in return."

On and on….

"How about…" Iz's eyes scanned up and down the unhinged woman in front of her. Her gaze stopped, as always, at the opulent, bloodstone brooch.

She opened her mouth to speak, then she stopped.

Her eyes slid down to something else.

"Your wristwatch," she said.

What?

The princess blinked. "Oh, this?" The princess looked down at her watch. "Nahh… I can't bet this."

Iz, what are you doing?

Iz narrowed her eyes. "You said I can pick anything."

The princess gave a sheepish grin. "Yeah, sorry, Grandfather would murder me if I gave this thing away. I meant, like, pick anything within reason, you know?"

"What is it, exactly?" Iz didn't let up.

"It's a private family thing. C'mon, when I say 'anything' I obviously don't mean—I mean, I'm not being literal, right? You can't ask for state secrets, right? You can't ask for dungeon codes or military satellite coordinates. You can't ask to inherit the Jewel Spire. Obviously, there are some things you can't ask for. You can't ask for this watch." She crossed her arms. "Just pick something seriously."

"I—" Iz looked at the cheerful princess in confusion. She wasn't acting anything like Myra had told her to expect.

Iz shook her head quickly, seeming to collect herself. "Okay, fine. I want your necklace, then."

She rolled her eyes. "C'mon. You can't have this either."

"Why not? Does it contain state secrets?"

"It's… a private family thing." She crossed her arms. "Maybe this was a bad idea. How about this, if you win, I'll buy you a house. Wait, sorry—" She turned her eyes to Violet. "Vi, is that rude? To imply a commoner needs a house?"

Violet answered only with a rise of her shoulders, but her nasty smirk said everything that needed to be said about what she must have felt towards 'commoners.' It had been, what, ten loops since she'd seen that bitch? Not long enough, honestly. She'd forgotten how damn smug she looked. What the fuck was her deal? No wonder the smug bitch didn't have any friends, always looking down her nose at anyone who wasn't richer than god like she was—

"I want your necklace," Iz said again.

"Look, if you're hell-bent on winning something I'm wearing—" The princess ran a hand seductively down her chest, plucking gently at the elastic. "You could go for these state secrets, yeah?" What.

"W-w-what?" Iz stammered out. Her face froze with her mouth half-open, and she took a step back in disgust.

"Princess!" The maid hissed. She looked mortified. Violet, for her part, was somewhat inscrutable, having put her hand over her mouth.

"Oh, come off it," the princess snarled, seemingly towards everyone.

Iz made several attempts to say something, but she was paralyzed, the conversation going so different than everything she'd been told to expect.

Violet finally spoke up. "C'mon, Mala, she obviously just wants some nice jewelry. You could offer up some nice jewelry, right?"

"No, I don't want just want some nice jewelry!" Iz snapped, finally breaking out of her trance. She seemed so offended by the notion. "I want that!" She pointed at Mala's pendant. "I want your necklace."

"What the hell?" The princess asked. "Why? You don't even know what this is."

Iz folded her arms. "I can tell it's important to you."

"What do you mean, you can tell? It's just a fucking necklace."

"You said it was a private family thing. Let me guess, it belonged to your mother? Or it's some kind of keepsake?"

The princess reacted much like Iz had only a moment ago, seizing up in shock. "How the fuck did you guess that?"

"Am I wrong?"

"Why would you ask for it knowing it was so personal? I just wanted a friendly fight."

"You said I could ask for anything."

"Fuck it. Fine. I'll put my fucking necklace on the line. Vi, you're officiating." She tossed the necklace to her friend.

So much for the relief of a familiar scene. This was a catastrophe.

Ordinarily, the princess came off as the clear aggressor party, but this time, there was something substantively different about the whole thing. Iz had doggedly gone after the pendant necklace for seemingly no reason… She never got a chance to state her motive.

Even the murmurs which rippled through the crowd had a different tenor than usual.

"Why's she so obsessed with the necklace?"

"Going after her mother is kind of low, isn't it?"

Maybe more than a little.

"Pretentious ass probably thinks she can't lose—"

They were different, right? Or was it that Myra could just hear them better because of her eavesdropping spell?

They squared off, and Violet Penrilla began her announcement.

"All right! We are gathered for the duel between Isadora and Princess Malazhonerra Emerald Raine. At stake by Princess Malazhonerra is her honor, and her mother's bloodstone pendant. At stake by Isadora is her honor. We shall use the Prerarian Code of Duels."

Despite everything, things were on track. That pretentious fucking speech was the last thing she needed to forget all her reservations about being here. She could get Iz a good ending no matter how many loops it took.

Remembering she had a role to play, she honed her senses to the battlefield. They had decided together that Myra would be responsible for blocking the princess's cheat shot. Two cheats would cancel out, and maybe they could get an actual fair fight.

"Are there any objections to the terms?"

"Works for me," the princess snarled.

"I—I don't have any objections," Iz said, her face almost drained of color.

"Then let us enjoy a fair fight, and may the best mage win."

"3… 2… 1…"

It was time to see what this duel would look like when it lasted more than zero seconds.

"Begin."


Tip: You can use left, right, A and D keyboard keys to browse between chapters.