Immovable Mage

– Era of the Wastes, Cycle 217, Season of the Setting Sun, Day 96 –

Terry clenched his fists and took a deep breath. He was more nervous than on any day in the Proving Grounds. Most days, Terry felt comfortable holding his own in a fight, but his current plan required something else. Something he hated.

Persuasion.

Deception.

Deceptive persuasion.

Terry would have loved to follow the Veilbinder’s example, but he was very aware that he wasn’t the Veilbinder. If push came to shove, Terry had not the slightest delusion about his ability to come out ahead after a fight against all hostiles in the city. He was simply not a powerful mage of legend, nor did he see himself as such.

Be that as it may, Terry did not feel comfortable ambushing and sneak attacking the manor’s guards either. Terry sincerely wanted to follow the Path of a Mage. In contrast, Terry felt very much conflicted about the path pointed out in the Warlord’s Inquiries. Thanatos was definitely not the person that Terry wanted to be in the future.

Between the two paths, Terry had to find his own. The rest was an exercise in improving his chances.

Terry knew that he lacked the skills of a thief. He suspected that Wallace from the dungeon scavengers might have found a way to infiltrate the manor and steal the entrance key undetected, but Terry himself had no such confidence.

Terry suspected that even if their prison break had not been discovered already, they would not have much time. One thing was certain: People would come after them. Terry could not say how quickly they would be able to trace their steps, but they would come sooner rather than later.

Objective one: create chaos. Create a situation of uncertainty and ambiguity.

Terry searched through a lot of memories while trying to come up with a plan that allowed him a chance to get what he wanted without straying from his chosen path for the future. He found that the missions when he had accompanied Sigille and Matteo were a great source of insight, as were their stories about missions they had done before.

After reading through The Warlord’s Inquiries, Terry had learned the vocabulary to put their implicit lessons into an explicit phrase: influence, the psychology of persuasion.

If there was no time to convince everyone, then the next best step was persuasion. When Thanatos described it in his essays, Terry felt that this was just another form of lying, but together with the real life examples from Sigille and Matteo, the picture subtly changed.

In many missions, there was a strong time pressure and too many people in the way. No time to convince everyone. No desire to kill everyone. Persuasion, deception, and intimidation were in between.

Terry still did not like it, but it seemed better than to kill outright. He had already resorted to intimidation when he had to deal with the imperial censors in Tiv. He resented lying and he was aware that he was bad at it, but perhaps persuasion was a workable compromise.

The only thing that gnawed at Terry was that he could not help but think of Minister Kipkoi when thinking through his plan. He had not forgotten the Preacher’s style of using a truth to tell a lie. Terry did not like recognizing the Preacher in himself.

Focus.

Terry shook his head, observed the surroundings, and mentally counted downwards to get the timing for his spell expirations right. Meanwhile, he tried to assure himself of his plan again.

There was something they called Social Proof and how it influences people’s desire to not act out and misinterpret a situation. In ambiguous situations, people are more likely to jump on the chance to have someone else step up and interpret the situation for them. Someone else that can be blamed. Avoiding responsibility and, perhaps more importantly, avoiding embarrassment in case you have interpreted the situation incorrectly.

Ergo: chaos. Objective one.

Terry nodded to himself. He recalled how Bjorln had once taught him and his siblings to deal with situations where they required help from bystanders.

Disambiguate the situation and remove the uncertainty by explicitly calling people out and state the situation in clear terms. Allow them to share responsibility instead of taking it all on themselves.

Terry smiled slightly because the image of Samuel’s face had sprung up in his mind, specifically the praising look that Samuel carried whenever a student applied new knowledge. Only Terry was not sure how Samuel would feel about Terry applying the lessons from the Warlord onto old guidance from Bjorln. He grit his teeth and forced himself to focus again.

Objective two: build influence. If I can get one of the guards to back me up in front of the others, I’ll have Social Proof covered even more. I have the Authority point of influence covered with my Thanatos uniform. If I can make it seem as if I have helped them, I can play on the Reciprocation aspect as well.

If I can influence them, I can get them to move out of the way. We only need to get our hands on the entrance ticket.

Terry tried to ignore the warning voice in his mind that pointed out possible critical failures in his plan.

If the entrance ticket failed to work…

If Rafael used the ticket for himself and abandoned him…

…the voice sounded like Isille’s.

No choice. I have to make do with what I got. I see no better path.

Terry had reached the count he had been waiting for. Let’s hope I can keep a straight face.

Technically, I’m only telling the truth. Only, I know it’s misleading.

A misleading truth.

I hate this.

Terry walked slowly towards the manor. He suppressed the desire to simply call out to the guards.

One lesson that had appeared in Sigille’s stories was that people felt less wary towards you if they were the ones to approach you first. The Warlord didn’t include such a point on trust but he did include a section about positions of strength in a negotiation and how the initiator starts with an inherently weaker position, because they appeared to be pressured more by the status quo.

Let’s hope I won’t mess up.

Terry steeled his face, or hoped to do so at least.

With firm steps and straight posture, Terry walked in front of the mansion’s wide fence. He stopped and looked around without any effort to hide himself or his actions.

Before two minutes had passed, Terry had already caught the attention of the guards.

“Can I help you, soldier?” A woman approached Terry from the security guards.

Probably the security manager.

Terry turned to look at the woman’s face. He narrowed his eyes and after an intentional pause, he replied. “Depends. Have you seen anyone suspicious lingering around this district?” Terry could read wariness on the woman’s face and he continued before she could speak. “Late in the night or early in the morning?”

The added details caused the woman to consider the question more seriously. She waved two of her colleagues over and then inquired from Terry: “Suspicious how?”

Using the truth to tell a lie… Terry involuntarily frowned. Fortunately for Terry, his reluctance increased the impression of him having something important on his mind.

“There has been a prison break during that time frame,” said Terry slowly and in a flat voice. “There is reason to—”

“That’s the uniform of the Proving Grounds.” One of the security guards interrupted and pointed at Terry.

Terry was taken aback. He had not realized that there were differences in the crimson uniforms among the Thanatos soldiers. To him, they all looked the same. Again, Terry was lucky that the security guards could not tell the real reason for his scowl and his moment of silence. To them, Terry appeared like a soldier disgruntled with being interrupted.

“Don’t interrupt,” barked the security manager. She glanced at Terry’s uniform. “An incident in the Proving Grounds? What is going on?”

Terry was inwardly happy that his specific attire worked in his favor and that it gave him some additional credibility. The security manager took Terry’s slight smile as a sign that he appreciated the reprimand for the guard that had spoken out of turn.

Be taciturn. Say as much as necessary but as little as possible. Less opportunity to mess up. Lead them into an interpretation but let them arrive there themselves. If possible. People like to be right and affirmed. Terry reminded himself of the Warlord’s lessons.

“You are correct,” affirmed Terry. “Some incarcerated combatants from the Proving Grounds have escaped.”

The security guards glanced at each other. The woman in charge nodded and another security guard spoke. “We haven’t noticed anything of note since midnight. If I may ask, what makes you think that—”

“That the fugitives might linger around here?” Terry forced himself to interrupt to not lose control of the conversation. “It is reasonable to assume that they are trying to leave the city but there is a chance that the prisoners have some unresolved business here.”

The guard that had been about to pose his question closed his mouth and considered Terry’s question instead. His expression contorted in thought and then he looked at the manager. “Is it possible that…?“

Terry had no idea what the security guard was thinking, but he was curious to find out on the off chance that it could help him build a story.

The security manager did not fail to notice Terry’s display of interest in his facial expressions. She cut off the security guard with a look.

“Can you tell us the name of the escapee?” The security manager asked Terry.

“Escapees,” emphasized Terry. “It is confirmed that there is more than one.”

“A large-scale incident would warrant more activity,” remarked one of the security guards with skepticism. “Why is there only one soldier looking around here?”

“For the manhunt, yes, but that would happen outside,” interjected another guard. “This just seems to be the devil’s advocate play. I remember that from my own deployments. One of the officers played the role of the devil’s advocate to insure against unlikely scenarios. Nine times out of ten it’s a small waste of resources. The tenth time it offers a defense against being accused of carelessness. Nothing is worse for a military career than the armchair critics with the benefit of hindsight—”

“Hold it for now, we—” The security manager interrupted her subordinate only for herself to be interrupted by loud rumbling.

*BOOM* *BOOM* BOOM* The earth quaked. Screams and shouts reverberated through the area.

Terry averted his face from the security guards in order to hide his facial expression. Crap. Did I underestimate the height?

Terry was well aware of the reason behind the unfolding mayhem. By my count, it should be… There!

“Careful!” shouted Terry and jumped up into the sky on layers of divine mana. He covertly transfixed a shield at an angle while making sure that it looked as if he was simply blocking without spellwork.

*TANG* A giant boulder impacted on the shield, and was broken apart by the collision with an immovable object.

“Bloody hell,” exclaimed one of the security guards.

“Where did this thing come from suddenly?”

“Nice shield arm!”

“Impressive.”

Terry secretly deactivated his Immovable Object spell and returned to the ground with shield still in hand. “Looks as if…” He let his voice trail off while rocks of various sizes were raining down from the sky all around them.

Terry had transfixed these rocks earlier and he had carefully chosen the locations where they would drop. He wanted to cause havoc and chaos, but without any casualties if possible. He just needed a story.

To Terry’s dismay, he was now discovering that he had spent so much time worrying about the timing of everything that he might have neglected to properly take into account how the height at which he transfixed the boulders would influence the force upon impact. The damage he was causing was beyond his expectations.

“Looks as if your worries have been correct.” The security manager continued Terry’s line of thought for him. She sent a meaningful glance towards one of the security guards while more were running over.

I hope they won’t notice that these are coming down straight from the sky. Terry was worried about the apparent lack of curved trajectory of his prepared projectiles. Luckily, the security guards did not notice the oddity.

“Earth magic,” muttered one security guard in a somber tone. “Could it be…?”

“Let’s assume it is, just to be safe,” said the security manager and her expression darkened.

“Do you have an idea of the attacker’s motive?” asked Terry. He did not have to fake his interest, because whatever they had in mind could help Terry build a story. “Specifics would help.”

One of the guards spoke up unwittingly. “Well, there is an earth mage among the prisoners in the Proving Grounds who—”

“I’m sorry but this concerns particulars of our employer,” interrupted the security manager. She continued with pointed emphasis: “Particulars which we are not at liberty to discuss.”

The security guard that had spoken up before paled and nodded hurriedly. “Of course.”

“We are thankful for your warning.” The security manager addressed Terry. She glanced at the rubble that remained from the boulder. “As well as for your help, but we have business to attend to.”

Seems as if there are some stories to tell in that mansion. Figures that someone living here would have a few enemies. Let’s hope they’ll be somewhat distracted by their imaginary threats.

“You…” Terry cleared his throat to continue with a firm voice. “You might want to evacuate the people first.” He looked around. “Someone that is willing to cause such a scene in the middle of the city…”

Once more, Terry left his voice hanging. He knew that the only reason he and Rafael were willing to risk it was because they would be pursued anyway and that, if everything worked out, they had a quick way to escape with the entrance ticket.

Taking these aspects away, it would take a madman to start trouble at a center of Thanatos power. An irreconcilable grudge. A fearless lunatic. A powerful aggressor.

The security manager smiled thinly. “The thought has already crossed my mind, thank you.” There was no gratitude in her voice.

She reminds me of Tiana when we first met. Terry noted how the woman appeared irritated when Terry suggested to her what to do.

No matter, I can only hope that they will move the inhabitants to another location.

Terry walked away while outwardly observing the unfolding chaos in the vicinity. In truth, Terry was paying close attention to the mana signatures of the security guards and everything related to the mansion that held the entrance ticket, the key to their escape from Thanatos. He was relieved when he sensed people evacuating the main building.

Terry nearly flinched when he recognized one of the faces running by. It was a man he had seen among the audience in the Proving Grounds. Fortunately, the man simply passed by Terry without paying him any heed.

Terry calmed himself. No one here knew him in his regular equipment. They did not know his armor. They did not know that Terry relied on the divine hammer inscription. Most importantly, no one here knew that Terry occasionally utilized boulders when the situation called for it.

Terry involuntarily pictured one of the ghouly Alricks pointing fingers at him and telling on him and his boulder style. He quickly pushed the silly thought away. He continued counting and spreading his mana for his mana touch.

Terry frowned when he noticed a rock falling down right towards a pair of boys looking stunned. He quickly dashed over. Terry did not run directly towards them. Instead he passed by them and the rocks instantly transfixed in the air above their heads with all of their previous momentum lost.

Terry continued running without stopping. He made sure that his projectiles from the sky did not cause any casualties under his watch.

Thanks to his initial choice of target locations, Terry did not have to interfere much, but he had to run a lot for the times he did interfere, because he had spread his projectiles out so as to cover a wide range instead of drawing attention to a specific building.

Whenever Terry had to take action, he made sure to not destroy his own cover by utilizing the pretense of using a shield to block.

When his counting had reached the number for the next phase, Terry accelerated and circled back to the mansion.

That one should come right about…

Now!

The largest of all the boulders so far was falling down right towards the mansion, specifically towards the area that prevented mana from leaking outside. The area where the entrance ticket must be located.

*BOOM* *KRCHK* *Wroom*

Terry reflexively grimaced at the destruction. If I had been better at compressing my mana, I would have been able to give them more time to evacuate.

If anyone else could have heard Terry’s thoughts, they might have cursed him to death. The mana foundation and spell control he had displayed during his hurried preparation for this unfolding scene was objectively an extraordinary feat.

Even a part of Terry felt proud at how far he had come since he had begun learning magic. As always, however, that part was overruled by the discrepancy between who he was and who he wanted to be.

With an unsatisfied expression on his face, Terry rushed into the sky on layers of mana he summoned with the divine hammer inscription. He could already see the elastic robe from one of his old imprinted gymnastic rings hanging in the air. He had given them to Rafael so that the felan would be able to lower himself safely.

[I have good news and bad news.] Rafael’s thought transmission reached Terry.

Together with the thought transmission, Terry received a bad premonition. Terry caught the elastic robe of his paired rings and used the bidirectional attraction inscription from his glove to attract the ring and return everything back into his dimensional storage before the item could raise questions.

[The good news is that there are plenty of valuables here.] Rafael did not bother hiding the greed in his voice.

[Leave them,] said Terry. [We only want to get out of here.] Terry had a bad feeling.

On the one hand, Terry understood the logic behind looting what he could to increase his chances.

On the other hand, he didn’t like the feeling of attacking others to steal from them. It was one thing when the item originally belonged to one of them – like the entrance ticket – but it was different with the other items.

[Yeah, that brings me to the bad news.] Rafael sounded sheepish. [The entrance ticket doesn’t seem to work yet.]

Terry felt his stomach plummet when his bad premonition came true. His mind raced from the implications and the whirl of mana signatures all around him. He was now close enough to see Rafael. [Do you have the ticket?]

[Yes, but it’s not working yet.] Rafael frowned. [I figure it might have something to do with the distance. It needs to charge. It should be usable soon though.]

[Leave everything else.] Terry ordered firmly. [We’ll have company soon.]

[All the more reason to clear out the place and use the stuff to hold the others off!] protested Rafael.

Terry sighed in frustration. He could already make out some familiar mana signatures. [What’s more important? Getting out of here and into that secret realm or to fill your pockets now?]

[Both.] Rafel replied without missing a beat.

[Stick to the story we prepared before,] stressed Terry.

He involuntarily recalled the first lie of his life, back when Jorg, Lori, and Terry had accidentally blasted a hole into the wall in Lori’s room. The two childish faces of his siblings had emphasized the importance of sticking to a story.

Terry pushed the memory of his family away. [We are Thanatos soldiers. They won’t notice the missing entrance ticket in the chaos, but if you clear the place out, we would be at a loss to explain the situation. The longer we can avoid a fight, the better our chances to get out.]

[I still prefer my idea of fighting them with their own artifacts,] grumbled Rafael. [More style to it. Fine, buddy. You got me out, I’ll follow your lead. I hope you know what you’re doing.]

Terry suppressed a snort and thought: Me too.

[Jump down and look around,] ordered Terry. [Remember, we are looking for the culprits. Do not avoid the security guards. Let me handle the talking.]

Rafael and Terry landed on the ground. Terry observed the vicinity and made sure to place himself between Rafael and the approaching security guards. Before the security guards could speak up, Terry already addressed one of the familiar faces. “I think I’d like to know more about your employer’s particulars.”

“Who—?” “He’s the soldier that tried to warn us before.”

The guard looked at Terry. “I can’t tell you anything. You have to speak to our superior.”

“I will,” said Terry. “Or rather someone will. I still have something I need to do.” He spotted one of the guards looking up towards the breached room and then narrowing his eyes with suspicion. Terry addressed the soldiers quickly: “The whole room is a mess. From what I could see, there are many valuables in that room.”

The suspicious guard had not expected Terry to bring up the topic of the room’s contents himself.

“If I were you, I would get someone to check the damage and see if anything is missing,” continued Terry. “I can’t judge that for you. I only saw that the room was filled with valuables.” He caught the gaze of the familiar face among the guards. “I don’t know about your employer’s situation, but it is my impression that the attacks are more intense around here. I hope you managed to evacuate in time.” Terry hoped that his change of topic would catch on.

“Yes, we…” The security guard whirled his head to another direction. “Sorry, I just received a message.” He looked at an item on his belt. After a moment, he turned to Terry. “We have noticed a few suspicious fellows.”

Terry averted his face and pretended to look for something. Really?! Wow, okay? Who? He lifted his head again and spoke with sincere interest. “Where?”

“On the other side of the street,” replied the security guard. “They are not our— They might not be behind the earth magic assault but they could be involved. They’re a bunch of mana martialists who are keeping their distance but seem to have their eyes on our mansion.”

Terry narrowed his eyes. He spoke to Rafael: “Pass on the news.” [No idea what’s going on, but if you see a chance to hide and lay low, take it. Inform me as soon as the entrance key becomes usable.] Terry turned to the security guard again. “Lead the way, but we shouldn’t scare them into running. I have questions.”

“We all do,” growled one of the security guards. “Someone has to pay for all the damages.”

***