Andrew Rowe - Sufficiently Advanced Magic

I could understand the logic.

I had some moral questions about the idea of creating new attuned for the express purpose of warfare — even if they were meant to be deterrents to an invasion, rather than offensive tools — but I still could see where she was coming from.

In some senses, I wanted to agree with her. Learning to create our own attunements so that we didn’t have to send more children to die in the spires was a noble goal. Making new attunements that were better than the existing ones had a strong appeal, too. I’d be researching it myself if I had the capability.

I didn’t even mind being lied to or manipulated. I was a little hurt, but I’d be deceptive if I had to do it for a cause on that scale.

I saw flaws in Orden’s plan on other levels, though. More practical ones.

“You said before that Tenjin would have destroyed everyone if you hadn’t incapacitated him. What happens when the other visages find out about this? You can’t conceal working on a bunch of artificial attuned forever. What’s your plan?”

Orden nodded. “If you’re all willing to cooperate, I will take Vera to the rest of her team. They need her help in order to continue their studies in an efficient fashion. Vera quite wisely did not share all of her data publicly, and while I’m confident she has records somewhere in Caelford, searching for them would take some time. Cooperation would be far preferred.”

“After that,” Orden glanced from side-to-side, “Katashi would need to be dealt with. Ideally, before your little seven day deadline.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You want to kill Katashi?”

She shook her head. “No, no. Killing a visage or a fully grown god beast is a terrible idea. Their mana density is too high. They’d explode like a bomb, probably leave the city a crater. We’d have to incapacitate him somehow, ideally in a way that makes Edria look responsible. Dalenos will undoubtedly seek revenge if he vanishes. It would be best to point them in the direction of our enemies.”

Jin trembled silently, clenching his jaw tight.

I took a step closer to Orden, balling my hands into fists. “You’re talking about starting a war over a lie — and that’s operating under the assumption you could even hurt Katashi in the first place.”

Orden shrugged. “It’s not impossible. Admittedly, we knew Tenjin’s strengths and weaknesses from working for him for years, and he was always more of a scholar than a fighter. There is no doubt that fighting Katashi would be a more difficult endeavor and there would likely be terrible losses. But we are fighting for the future of our country. I’m sure you can understand that.”

I could understand that. The infuriating part was that she had ideas I could strongly sympathize — even agree with — if she wasn’t talking about starting a war to cover her covert operations. I couldn’t justify bloodshed on that scale for an experiment.

But that wasn’t even my biggest problem.

I folded my arms. “Not only is starting a war to deflect from your research horrifically immoral, it’s an unreliable plan. And you’re gambling our own nation’s survival on it.”

Orden waved a hand dismissively. “If blaming Edria doesn’t work, we’ll find another route. Perhaps we don’t need to move against Katashi. We can find a way to placate him before he deals too much damage. Maybe point him toward Keras again. It’s a manageable problem.”

I saw the bodies of the Soaring Wings that Mizuchi had left in her wake.

And, with all the resolve I could muster, I clenched my fists and said something unwise. “Leaving a trail of dead bodies in the wake of your schemes is not a manageable problem , Orden. If you truly want to protect Valia, you need to stop treating her civilians as acceptable losses.”

Orden closed her eyes. “It’s a utility calculation, Corin. I can—”

I put my hand on the hilt of my sword. “Let me stop you right there. We’ve all heard about stories of sacrificing a hundred to save a million. I get the concept. That’s not the core problem. The problem is that you’re taking a cascading series of greater risks — and several of them have the chance to wipe out the entire population of our country. If a group of freshly attuned students can figure out your plans, do you really think no one else will?”

“But you didn’t figure out my plans, Corin. You saw something amiss, and then I explained my plans. I can see you’re concerned, and that’s understandable. We need to make certain we execute each step of this plan as perfectly as possible to mitigate the very risks you spoke of. I want to work with you, not against you. If you have an alternative suggestion, I’d be glad to hear it.”

I considered that. “Let us finish our mission and deliver Vera to Katashi. Even if you want to fight him at some point, this gives you more time before he starts taking chunks out of our city. Time you can use to research him, find weaknesses like you did with Tenjin.”

“Not possible, I’m afraid. We require Vera’s assistance to expedite our research. And now that you all know my plans, I can’t risk you making contact with Katashi. You could tell him everything I’ve told you.”

Vera folded her arms. “And if I don’t want to help with your little research plan?”

Orden shrugged a shoulder. “That would be quite unfortunate — but I do have more rings.”

The smug expression on her face when she watched Vera’s fists clench was enough to finalize my decision.

I didn’t draw my sword. That would be a pointless gesture, one that might have triggered a response from her.

Instead, I offered her a final question. “I don’t suppose there’s any chance that we could convince you to surrender to us?”

Profeessor Orden didn’t even laugh this time. “Oh, Corin. No, there would be no chance of such a thing… You aren’t considering anything foolish, are you?”

I turned to Sera and said, “Signal.”

I’d always wanted to make that joke.

She didn’t laugh. She just spun, waved a hand, and said, “Wall.”

A wall of ice sprung up between us and Derek.

“Derek, break that wall!” Orden shouted.

I heard no response from the other side.

I reached into my bag, grabbed the return bell and charged it with mana, then rang it. I’d made sure that Vera, Jin, and Sera were in range.

Nothing happened.

That was when I remembered that Professor Orden had been drawing runes on the walls, presumably including anti-teleportation ones.

Vera turned and blinked at me. “Uh, that clearly didn’t work. Now what?”

I shoved the bell back in my bag. “Now we run!” I turned, opened the door to the spider webbed room, and stepped inside.

Sera, Jin, and Vera fell in right behind me.

I slammed the door shut. “Watch for the spider.”

Vera took a step closer to me. “Don’t suppose you’d be willing to lend me a weapon at this point?”

I rolled my eyes. “Just take the dueling cane off my belt, you should be used to it by now.”

She unsnapped the cane. “Great! Brings back memories.”

I sighed, reaching into my pouch and pulling out my etching rod. I knew Orden could teleport, but I could play the same way she did.

In the fountain room, I could hear something slam into the ice wall, but I ignored it and focused on drawing the anti-teleportation rune.

When something heavy slammed down behind me, ignoring it was harder.

“Uh, Corin, there’s—” Vera started.

“Great Spider,” Sera began. Her voice was barely a whisper. “I am a Summoner, and I wish to make a pact with you.”

Oh, Goddess, please let that work.