The Library
"Stop! That's enough!"
Before Joseph could even begin his incantation, Folmers stepped into his path. At the same instant, the guards rushed in and seized Zalier mid-charge.
Zalier flailed at empty air, thrashing for a few brief seconds before his body went slack and he crumpled to the floor.
Joseph looked at the man who had blocked him and let out a quieter sigh. Had his reaction been even a fraction slower, he might have burned Folmers alive right alongside Zalier.
"I apologize for intervening so suddenly. But you must not fight Zalier any further."
Folmers showed no intention of stepping aside.
"You saw it yourself. That man tried to kill me."
Before they had come to Zalier's laboratory, Joseph had made a single demand of Folmers: if Zalier proved to be the culprit, Joseph would be the one to make him pay. It was revenge, yes — but it was also a way to establish his own legitimacy.
Part of him had wanted to set Zalier on fire then and there. The problem was that Zalier was a mage backed by the Count's authority. Killing a man like that required a witness of equal standing, which was precisely why Joseph had used Torbin to extract a confession in Folmers' presence. He simply hadn't expected the fool to incriminate himself quite so easily.
"I apologize for that as well. Honestly, I truly did not believe he was the culprit."
Joseph had known as much. And how could Folmers have believed him? Joseph had shaken the man awake, dumped a crippled stranger at his feet, and declared the wreck an assassin sent by Zalier. Anyone in Folmers' position would have wondered whether Joseph's composed demeanor thus far had been a mask — whether he had been pursuing some other purpose from the start. Even so, Folmers had been in no position to dismiss the claim outright. If it turned out to be true, it was not a matter that could be quietly swept aside.
Folmers explained himself slowly, watching Joseph's rigid expression.
"Zalier is a mage His Lordship the Count brought here himself. If he dies within these walls, it may become truly difficult to escape the Count's wrath."
If the Count learned that a mage in his service had been killed by some outsider, even Folmers could not predict what would follow. The Count had ignored Zalier since the war began — the man was useless in combat — but that did not mean he would overlook the death of a mage who belonged to him. And if the Count ordered Folmers to hunt Joseph down, Folmers might well have to turn his own blade against him.
"I fully understand that you are angry. But I cannot condone anything beyond this."
Joseph glanced at Zalier, unconscious in the guards' grip. Blisters wept across his body, wooden splinters driven into the burned flesh. Left as he was, the man really might die.
Joseph watched him for a moment, then nodded. Zalier was infuriating — but not worth throwing away the future over.
"Understood."
The guards carried Zalier from the room. Folmers watched them go, his expression troubled.
"For now… I believe we need to discuss what comes next."
Joseph nodded. He wanted that conversation just as much.
A whimpering sound made him turn. In the farthest corner of Zalier's laboratory, Torbin was huddled on the floor, shaking so hard his teeth chattered.
"Eek! P-please spare me! You promised you'd let me live!"
The moment Joseph took a step toward him, Torbin went white and started crawling backward across the floor. A sour stink hung in the air. He had wet himself watching Joseph fight.
"What do you intend to do with him?"
Folmers asked it while watching the wreck of a man. Under ordinary circumstances, someone who had come to kill Joseph would have his corpse hung from the castle walls. Unlike Zalier, this one had no patron behind him — burning him on the spot would have caused no trouble at all. Folmers was asking whether Joseph wanted to do it himself, or leave the hanging to the castle.
"I'll handle this one myself."
Joseph gave the guards their orders at once. Torbin was dragged away, his ruined face slack with terror.
Joseph and Folmers went straight to the reception room. Folmers asked whether Joseph might want to rest his eyes, even for a little while. Joseph refused. After nearly dying in his sleep, he was not thick-skinned enough to close his eyes again in comfort — least of all after it had happened inside a castle he had believed was safe.
"What do you intend to do with that man?"
"I'll send him to the monastery."
Part of him still wanted to simply burn the man. But he had already promised to spare Torbin if the mercenary did as he was told, and Joseph preferred not to break his word when he could help it. It was not that he held promises in any special regard. He simply disliked going back on something he had already said. He had seen more than enough men who made a habit of stabbing their subordinates in the back, and he had no desire to become one of them. Watching a grown man old enough to know better dissolve into tears, snot, and piss had rather taken the fight out of him besides.
He could not simply let the man walk free, so the monastery it was — along with instructions that a criminal guilty of attempted murder was not to have his leg treated until he had been thoroughly reformed. Torbin was an old man with less time ahead of him than behind. He had wanted a quiet retirement on an assassin's fee. Spending what years he had left walled up in a monastery was not the worst fate available.
"I see. I will not interfere regarding that man."
Folmers let out a long breath, then drew something from his side and held it out. It was a book bound in thick leather dyed a deep green. Joseph knew what it was the moment he saw it.
"A grimoire?"
"That's right. Zalier's grimoire."
"You're giving this to me?"
"Even he will not be in a position to complain that it has gone missing. Think of it as compensation for this incident."
A grimoire was among the most important possessions a mage could own — even someone who knew nothing of magic understood that much. Handing one over as compensation, without its owner's consent, was a disciplinary measure against Zalier. It was also a message: overlook him, in exchange for this.
Joseph thought back to the magic Zalier had used. A massive tree summoned from wood scraps. Roots bursting up through the floor. The book was almost certainly concerned with plants and trees.
Doesn't seem like it would be of much use to me, but…
He considered it for a moment, then took the grimoire. There was no reason to refuse something offered for free.
"And… you must have been badly shaken by what happened. Allow me to apologize for that first."
Folmers spoke slowly. In the brief span since the fight, his face seemed to have aged years. Joseph was a mage Folmers had personally invited into the castle, and Zalier had taken it upon himself to try to kill the man. There was no getting around it.
This was a world where power and bloodline could manufacture legitimacy from nothing. Had Joseph been an ordinary commoner, noble authority would have silenced him and that would have been the end of it. The problem was that Joseph was a mage — a Combat Mage that not a soul in the castle failed to recognize. If word got out that he had been harmed, an already chaotic political climate would be poisoned by ugly rumors besides. This was a matter of Folmers' own reputation. No — of the Count's.
"I never imagined Zalier would cling to power quite so desperately."
"There's no need. If anything, I think I let myself get too worked up."
Contrary to Folmers' fears, Joseph answered as mildly as he could manage. His life had been in danger, and that still angered him — but he had no intention of sinking his teeth into the matter and worrying it further. Dealings with those in power were best concluded on amicable terms. Even if it was only words, making a point of seeming unbothered mattered.
"I am truly grateful for your understanding."
Folmers inclined his head slightly and went on.
"Zalier's disposition will likely be decided after His Lordship the Count returns."
The man was apparently being tended in a private room. Priest Rekor would assist with the treatment, Folmers added. Joseph had already seen a priest's Divine Magic during the demonic beast hunt — several of them working together had restored, in an instant, a soldier whose guts had been on the verge of spilling out. With that kind of power, Zalier's recovery would not take long.
He'll probably try to kill me the moment he's on his feet again, but…
Even so, Zalier recovering was better than Zalier dying. If the man actually expired, Joseph might well find himself hanging beside those five corpses on the castle wall. He glanced out the window. What looked like a flock of crows was wheeling and circling near the ramparts.
"Then… what do you intend to do going forward?"
"I think it would be best if I left the castle."
Folmers made a low sound in his throat. Of course he wanted to keep Joseph. None of the castle's problems that Joseph had agreed to handle had been touched. But given how things had fallen out, there was no justification for holding him — and for Joseph, with Zalier still very much alive, there was no other choice. How was he supposed to close his eyes in a place where that man was still breathing?
Instead…
Joseph spoke to the heavy-faced noble across from him.
"Baron, if you'll permit me, I'd like to make a proposal."
"A proposal?"
A peculiar light of expectation entered Folmers' eyes. Joseph nodded and continued.
"If you will promise me compensation, I will resolve the territory's problems as I leave the castle."
"The territory's problems…?"
"What if I dealt with bandits or demonic beasts along the way out?"
Folmers' eyes went wide. Mages were, as a rule, self-centered and eccentric creatures. Getting them to do anything always required the form of a request; they prided themselves on being a breed apart from common soldiers. That was why Folmers had invited Joseph to the castle and even provided him a laboratory. And now a mage was making the offer himself — a mage who, mere minutes ago, had been the target of an assassination.
To lose a man like this because of that idiot Zalier…
Folmers vowed, then and there, that Zalier would pay a price to match.
"Is that true?"
Joseph nodded. He could no longer remain at the castle. But walking away with nothing to show for it felt like a waste.
I may not get the perfect arrangement back, but I should at least walk out with something to show for it.
Just as he had after the demonic beast hunt, he intended to extract corresponding payment before he left.
"Th-then wait a moment, if you would."
Folmers gave a servant a quiet instruction. A short while later the man returned, and Folmers passed what he had brought directly to Joseph. It was a small key, copper-colored and worn smooth in places, looking old at a glance.
"This is…"
"The key to the library. Access is forbidden, in truth, but…"
He pressed it into Joseph's hand as he spoke.
"Honestly, I do not know what compensation I can offer you. But I heard you tried to obtain permission to enter the library. With this, you will be able to come and go as you please."
Joseph's eyes widened. Apparently Folmers had known that Joseph had asked the guards about library access on his first day at the castle.
Come to think of it, they said all the castle's grimoires were in the library…
Since the war began, the Count had ordered every grimoire in Valois Castle sealed inside the library. That was why Joseph had tried to secure access with Auger's help.
That's right. I'd forgotten.
Between the demonic beast hunt, his research into the fire grimoire, and Zalier's assassination attempt, the last stretch of days had been so chaotic the matter had simply slipped his mind.
"The books in the library belong to His Lordship the Count, so I cannot simply give them away. But it is a place that has gone unused for a very long time. I can try to pull a few strings for about one volume. I expect a man like you will find what he needs in there."