A Lucky Four-Leaf Clover
Carlos smiled.
"Naturally, not every Master can sit the Grand Master's throne."
"Is the training difficult?"
"No. Becoming a Master is the hard part. Becoming a Grand Master is not."
Yan bristled.
"Nonsense. If it were that easy, why are there only three Grand Masters on the entire continent?"
Since rising to Master, Yan had driven himself until the blood ran. Even so, the Grand Master's realm remained hopelessly far off.
Carlos stayed perfectly calm beneath the other man's anger.
"What is difficult is obtaining a certain special resource."
"A resource?"
"Yes. That scarcity is why there are so few Grand Masters."
He let the words hang, meaningful, and held out his hand toward the Motaro. Yan burst out.
"So Motaro is what it takes to become a Grand Master!"
"Correct. I will show you the process myself."
The king spoke up, excitement getting the better of him.
"If we have Motaro, we can turn every Master into a Grand Master?"
"Yes. It is possible."
"Heavens above!"
Carlos let out a sigh.
"Your Majesty, Motaro is not easily come by. Why else do you imagine our Empire has managed to produce only three?"
The magic towers hunted the stuff with fire in their eyes. For a knight to lay hands on Motaro was a long and bitter labor.
Yan said, "Then the Grand Master of the Ril Duchy...?"
Of the three Grand Masters living, two belonged to the Empire and one to the Ril Duchy. The question had not even finished leaving his mouth before Carlos supplied the rest.
"Yes. We accepted their Motaro and taught them the method."
Bianca cut in. "You said you would show us yourself."
"I did."
"You mean you'll take it right here?"
"Yes. I will demonstrate first, and then I will teach you the method. In thorough detail. Should Grant Kingdom ever count more than ten Grand Masters, you would at last be fit to stand against the magic towers."
"And do you truly believe that day will come?"
"We must keep hope. And we must keep working."
Carlos closed his hand into a fist and went on.
Flushed, the king passed him the Motaro. Carlos opened the glass vial, tipped the Motaro into his mouth, swallowed it in a single gulp, and settled cross-legged upon the floor.
The moment Chris stepped into the passage, vertigo took him. His ears stuffed shut and the world wheeled. He clenched his eyes and spun the mana through his body, forcing his pitching balance back under control.
When the dizziness ebbed he opened his eyes and looked around. He stood at the center of a temple whose roof had been ripped away, leaving nothing but pillars. Deeper inside, a sacred statue had lost its upper half; only the lower body remained. A glass vial rested against the statue's left hip, and inside it was Motaro.
The bag still hung at his waist. Lightning had charred it black, but the leather had not split. Chris tucked the vial inside and walked out of the temple. Light flared behind him in that same instant, and Daryl was sent through.
She saw him and thrust out a hand.
"Give it."
"Give you what?"
"The Motaro."
"Did you leave Motaro here for safekeeping?"
"There is Motaro here. I am certain of it."
Chris gave up the denial and drew out the vial. Daryl's face broke into a brilliant smile. He was the one holding it, yet she seemed utterly convinced it was already hers.
"So you did pick it up."
"If I hand over the Motaro, what do I receive in return?"
"Your safety."
"That leaves me at a rather severe loss."
"Do you want to die right now?"
Chris had been threatened in this particular fashion often enough to be thoroughly accustomed to it, and the experience had made him equally adept at turning the threat around.
"Shall I destroy the Motaro?"
The smile vanished from Daryl's face.
"You do love threatening to destroy a treasure the moment it suits you. Keep that up and it will become a habit."
"Then swear upon your mana. If you take the Motaro, you will never do anything that brings me harm."
She agreed without a heartbeat's hesitation.
"Fine."
"And hand over every mana stone you are carrying."
That demand she granted only by half.
"I have uses for them myself, so I cannot give you all of them. At your level, half will be more than enough."
"Very well. I will concede. In exchange, I would like a little advice."
"Advice on what?"
"I have bound one ring, and from here the way forward is rather murky."
"Watching you fight, I would guess your seed attribute is wood."
"It is."
"Our seed attributes differ, so my counsel would do you no good."
Whether that was true, or merely an excuse from someone who could not be bothered to teach, was difficult to say.
Almost certainly the latter.
Chris decided to press.
"Your seed attribute is wood as well, is it not?"
Daryl smiled, awkward.
"You noticed?"
"I did."
"Sharp of you."
"I have lived off reading other people's moods since I was a child. My instincts are excellent."
"You said you bound your first ring?"
"Yes."
"What kind?"
"An evergreen."
"Broadleaf, or conifer?"
"Conifer."
"Then next time, picture an evergreen broadleaf as you bind the ring."
"Would a different kind not serve me better?"
"The more the kinds diverge, the easier the path to the intermediate stage, so if you are thinking of the future, that is the wiser course. If you are thinking of the present, a similar kind is better. The ring comes together with comparatively little trouble."
"You mean that if I choose the comfortable road at the start, raising my realm later grows more difficult."
"Yes."
"If I set the evergreen aside, what sort would you recommend?"
"Grass will do. Moss will do. Fungi, such as mushrooms, will do as well."
Chris's Klpandi had taken the shape of a weed, so he set grass aside at once.
"Can moss and fungi be bound as wood-attribute rings?"
"They can. It is difficult."
She considered for a moment, then added, "Try, first. If it will not take, compromise at the level of a fruit tree."
"Compromise?"
"Do you have a favorite fruit?"
"I am fond of peaches."
"Then use a peach tree. It should bind more readily than the other fruit trees."
"And you?"
"I took the dissimilar path."
"Then I will do the same."
Daryl swept her hair back.
"I am a Seven-Ring mage."
"That is a rather sudden announcement."
"I am talented enough to stand among the high Ring Binders. That is why I could bind dissimilar rings."
"I suspect I may have about that much talent myself."
"I doubt it."
The dismissal stung, and anger rose hot in Chris's chest, but he did not let the irritation show. He still had knowledge to pry loose, and he meant to take every scrap of it.
"Is there any other advice?"
"I should think I have earned my supper."
"Then spend a little more of it."
"And why should I?"
"Because to you, I am a piece of luck. A four-leaf clover."
Daryl's eyes went round.
"You?"
"Thanks to me, you have already gained two Motaro. At that rate, one might fairly call me a bringer of fortune."
Daryl laughed.
"The second Motaro is not in my hands yet."
"Then swear first."
Daryl spoke a Mana Oath in the exact words Chris fed her. He tossed her the vial. The moment the Motaro was hers, she discarded every pretense of goodwill.
"I ought to kill you."
Chris jerked around, already set to run, and Daryl laughed.
"A joke. It was a joke."
He turned back and studied her with open suspicion.
"I told you it was a joke."
She drew a spatial pouch from her robe and tossed it over.
"The mana stones, as promised. The pouch is extra."
Chris looked inside and his mouth fell open. There were far more mana stones than he had imagined. Seeing his astonishment, Daryl preened.
"I am a Seven-Ring mage. Stones like these are well within my means."
He abandoned the bag tied at his waist and hung the spatial pouch in its place.
Daryl searched the temple, then beckoned as she started down.
"Come on."
"...?"
"I am still hungry. We need to find more Motaro."
"Why insist that I come with you?"
"You said it yourself. A lucky four-leaf clover. Keep you at my side, and I have a feeling I will stumble into a windfall."
Refusing a Seven-Ring mage was no simple matter. Chris could have struck his own mouth for all that talk of lucky omens. He followed her anyway.
They descended from the temple and entered a city emptied of people. Chris looked over the half-ruined streets as they walked.
"This is not the city from before. The Horace Ruins truly are vast."
"This is not the Horace Ruins. It is a different ruin."
"We opened the way with a Gold Key."
"The ruins across the continent run on similar systems. That is why we believe the same person made them, or the same power."
"What is this one called?"
"That, I do not know yet."
They passed a colonnade of massive columns and entered an enormous building, one slope of its roof fallen in. The main gate was wide enough for three carriages to pass abreast. Chris pointed at the plaque hung above it.
"What does it say?"
The letters were the Divine Language, and he could not read them.
"It reads Sitta City Hall."
Daryl nodded to herself and added, "So these are the Sitta Ruins. Let us go in."
She started inward. A high mage was about as far from leading by example as a person could be; anything difficult or tiresome was shoved onto an underling without a second thought. Yet Daryl was walking at the very front, where the danger was greatest. She meant to find the Motaro first and claim it.
Deep in the city hall's great chamber, a Silver Key hung from the neck of a mage's statue. Daryl sprang lightly and snatched it free.
Watching her pocket the key, Chris said, "I was told a guardian watches over the treasure. There does not seem to be one here."
"The first to enter is not hindered by the guardian. Without that particular benefit, we would hardly be so desperate for the keys. Shall I give you the Silver Key?"
At the casual offer his eyes narrowed, creasing at the corners.
What is wrong with this woman? Did she eat something spoiled?
"It is a kind of transaction, so you need not look at me with such suspicion."
"A transaction?"
"I will pay you the key in advance. Should Motaro come into your hands later, you will turn it over to me."
"Trading Motaro for a Silver Key is a loss on my side, is it not?"
"The key is a certain gain. Motaro is an uncertain future. If you never obtain any, then I am the one who loses, and I lose alone."
Weighed with that risk in mind, her proposal was reasonable enough. Chris made a show of thinking it over, then nodded.
"Very well."
"Truly?"
"Ready coin before my eyes is better than an uncertain future."
Ever since his conversation with the ogre Kanta, Motaro had left a bad taste in his mouth. Unlike other mages, he was not staking his life on the stuff.
"I like a man who does not dither."
Daryl handed him the Silver Key. When he moved to use it, she warned him at once.
"Leave the ruins this instant and you break the agreement."
"Do I?"
"You agreed to give me the Motaro if you obtained it."
"I see. Unless some danger arises, I will remain in the ruins for a year and assist you in your work, Mage Daryl."
"A year?"
"I have an engagement a year from now."
"If you have an engagement, nothing to be done."
"And how many years were you planning to stay?"
"Until the place closes."
On the outskirts of Terium, the imperial capital, three men had gathered in the gloom of a hidden room inside a decaying building.
Simon, guildmaster of the Black Hand Guild, stared absently into a wineglass filled to about a third.
"Every mage who was giving chase went into the ruins?"
Abas, the vice-guildmaster, answered.
"Not every one. A few stayed behind."
"And the man who tore the passage open with a Gold Key was Gary?"
Doltan, manager of the Header branch, said, "Gary is not his real name. It is the name on the false papers our guild prepared for him."
"His real name?"
"We do not know it."
"The names that came up then were Sid and David?"
"Yes."
"What manner of men are they?"
"David is a Thought Formulation mage of Mick Magic Tower, disciple to Randal, a mage of Seed Cultivation. He is presumed to have died in the Horace Ruins."
"And Sid?"
"Almost nothing is known. There is a claim that he belongs to Hermann Magic Tower."
Abas added, dry as dust, "From the look of it, Gary put on Sid's manner and made fools of quite a few mages."