Chapter 135: Gift

“We need to figure out where we’re going to train,” Moxie said, sitting down on her bed. Noah flopped down beside her. She sent him an annoyed look, but didn’t say anything.

“And you’re asking me?” Noah looked up at her and raised an eyebrow. “That’s concerning. Did you hit your head?”

Moxie rolled her eyes. “What, did you think I was just going to do all the work? And you aren’t a complete idiot. You were in the Windscorned Plateau. Do you think it’s an appropriate spot to train against monsters for the students?”

Noah blinked. He’d seen several different monsters in the area, but the most populous had been the Fluffants. Considering their unsettling herd mentality, the chances of drawing the attention of too many was a little too high. They’d end up wiping out entire plateaus of the monsters every time they trained – which was probably what Lee had done.

“Probably not,” Noah said. “They’ve gotten some practice against the Fluffants anyway. It might be best to train in a new area. We don’t know anything about where the survival exam will take place, do we?”

“That would defeat the purpose. It’s meant to be a surprise so they can prove that they can survive, even in unfamiliar territory.”

Noah rubbed his chin and stretched his arms out behind him. Moxie’s bed was unfairly comfortable. He wasn’t sure what she’d done to make it so soft, but was a dozen times better than his own room.

“Could we just go to every single location that they might choose? Or maybe Tim would know? He’s been manning the transport cannon for quite some time, so I bet he’ll remember where they’ve gone for previous exams.”

“That’s not a terrible idea, but there are a lot of locations. If we spent a few days in each one, we might be able to cover a lot of ground. And even if we did find out where the exam was, I’m not sure just straight up telling Emily and the others about it is the best move,” Moxie said with a shake of her head. “The point of this is for them to learn, not just pass.”

Noah winced. “Yeah. That’s a good point. I might have gotten a bit hyper fixated with that last exam.”

“I couldn’t tell,” Moxie said dryly. “The best thing we can do is train in a few areas that are representative of what they might encounter, but not perfect.”

“Do you already have some in mind?”

“Rough ideas. Nothing too laid out yet, but there’s an area called the Vibrant Woods. It’s woody and there are a lot of good locations to scavenge for food and water other than just killing monsters – most of which aren’t all that strong. There’s a Great Monster in the area as well.”

Noah nodded thoughtfully, which was harder to do than it sounded while laying on the bed. “That’s a good starting point. How much time do you think we’ll have to stay in each area? We could probably split the time between your survival training and some monster hunting.”

“That’s what I was thinking as well,” Moxie said. “You’re not opposed to it, then?”

“Nope.”

“Great. Then that’s what we’ll do. I’m going to get the dossiers for a few potential areas tomorrow morning, then. I was going to do it tonight, but we wasted so much time in the Office that the library is going to end up closing soon. Meet me early tomorrow, before the sun rises.”

“Sounds good. Oh, before I go, I had a quick question. You were met by a guard called Frederick before Brayden met up with you, right?”

Moxie thought for a second, then gave him a nod. “Yeah. He was very talkative.”

“That’s him,” Noah said. “He’s okay?”

“As far as I’m aware. He just dropped by and then left once he’d passed the information along.”

“Good,” Noah said with a relieved sigh. “I was a little worried. Until tomorrow, then.” Noah pushed himself upright and out of bed. He went for the door, placing his hand on the handle.

“Noah,” Moxie said.

Noah paused, his hand on the handle, and glanced back at her. It sounded strange to hear his actual name used in a proper conversation rather than just in his head.

“Yeah?”

“Do you think it’s safe to use your room again?” Moxie asked. “You know. With the whole Linwick situation.”

“Should be fine now that I can defend myself again,” Noah said with a grin. “Thanks to your help nursing me back to health and a little application of my favorite strategy, I’m good as new. And besides, we know what happens if they do manage to kill me.”

Moxie snorted and shook her head. “I didn’t do that much. Get out of here, then.”

Noah cocked an eyebrow. Before he could say anything else, a vine slithered out from Moxie’s sleeve and wound around his hand, pressing it to the door handle and twisting it open. Noah waved over his shoulder as Moxie pushed him out and shut the door behind him.

Still chuckling to himself, Noah headed down the hall back to his room. He headed inside, pausing as he surveyed the much plainer, boring room. At least he still had his giant stack of papers sitting near the door as decoration and defense against particularly unlucky Skinwalkers.

Noah’s eyes caught on his table, where a leather wrapped package sat tied neatly with twine. A folded piece of white paper stuck out from between the twine and the package. A small frown creased Noah’s features. He glanced into the bathroom as he stepped deeper into the room, but it was empty.

After checking beneath the bed, Noah was pretty much out of places to check for someone that was hiding. He turned to his desk, then paused and headed back into the bathroom. Noah stuck his gourd into the cabinet and returned to the room carefully pulling the letter out and flicking it open with a finger.

Hello Vermil – if I can still call you that,

I hope this letter finds you well. It has come to my attention that there was an unfortunate altercation involving you and some Inquisitors. I am mortified to hear that such a thing happened so close to the Linwick Estate. Had I known that you and Brayden had planned to leave so early, I would have ensured that the roads were properly prepared.

I am relieved to hear that there were no significant injuries, but I do hope that none of your plans have been significantly impacted by this. Our partnership is beneficial, and I’d hate for it to end over something this insignificant.

Attached is a small measure of an apology. I hope you enjoy it.

Regards,

Father.

The paper crinkled between Noah’s fingertips as he pressed on it, anger dancing in his eyes.

“Slimy bastard. You nearly killed Todd and Isabel and you pretend like nothing happened,” Noah ground out.

That said, I suppose I don’t know if it was actually him – but every single clue points in his direction. If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and schemes like a duck, then it’s probably a duck.

Noah set the letter down and inspected the package. There was a pretty good chance the stupid thing was just a magical bomb – but, then again, Father was probably pretty well aware that Noah wasn’t someone that could be killed with just a normal attack. There was no point taking too much chance, though.

He walked over to his window, opening it and holding the package out in the air. Moving carefully, Noah pulled the twine out and winced, waiting to see if anything would happen. It didn’t. Blinking, Noah removed the rest of the wrapping, still holding the package at an arm’s length.

It was a square bottle full of some incredibly light liquid. A thick, brilliant red wax seal covered the bottle’s top, stamped with the shape of a phoenix. There wasn’t a label of any sort on the bottle that Noah could see.

He squinted at it, then shook it slightly. The bottle remained a bottle. The seal looked pretty solid as well, with no signs of leakage or tampering. Noah pulled it back inside and inspected it once more before closing the window and pursing his lips.

No way am I taking anything else Father gave me. I don’t need to posture anymore. What if it’s some new kind of poison that Father wants to test on me? Hell no. This is going on the shelf in case I ever need to discretely poison someone. Could be useful.

Noah set the bottle on the shelf beside the other one that Father had given him, which still sat unopened. Shaking his head, Noah grabbed the note and stuffed it into his pocket. He headed back into the bathroom, grabbing his gourd from its spot within the cabinet, and started to prepare for bed. He was halfway through pulling his jacket off when the window creaked open and Lee pulled herself inside.

“There’s a door, you know,” Noah said as he tossed his jacket over his chair.

“Boring,” Lee replied. “Did you figure out what we’re doing?”

“Not yet. Going to touch bases again with Moxie tomorrow morning to try to figure out exactly where we’ll go. She mentioned a place called the Vibrant Woods. Doesn’t really sound all that dangerous just from the name, which probably means it’s awful.”

Lee shrugged. “Names don’t mean much to me. I don’t know all that much about the topography of stuff up here.”

“That makes two of us,” Noah said with a chuckle. “I’m glad you popped up, though. There was something I wanted to let you know, but I didn’t get a chance to do it yet.”

Lee tilted her head to the side curiously. “Oh? Another secret?”

“I’m not sure if it’s exactly a secret, but it felt about right, as I just told Moxie. My name isn’t really Vermil. It’s Noah.”

“Oh,” Lee said. She didn’t say anything else for a few moments, then let out a small huff. “It fits you better than Vermil. Vermil is slimy.”

“Thanks, I think,” Noah replied with a laugh. “Just felt like something I should mention. Obviously don’t use it when we’re in public. Only you and Moxie know right now.”

“I still wonder what you are,” Lee said as Noah started to get into bed. “Did you tell Moxie that?”

“A human,” Noah replied. “That’s it.”

Lee sent him a doubtful glance. “Guess not.”

“What? I’m perfectly human. What’s wrong with me?”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night.” Lee scrunched her nose. She padded over to his desk and eyed the new bottles on his shelf. “What are these?”

“Don’t touch those,” Noah said quickly as Lee reached for them. She yanked her hand back. Noah hurried to add, “They’re from Father. Probably demon poison of some sort.”

“Oh,” Lee said, her eyes widening. “They smelled good. Maybe that’s part of why. Why are you keeping it? For the Rank 5 Demon?”

“Maybe,” Noah replied. “Never know when you’ll need to poison someone. They could come in use, you know?”

“Right,” Lee said, letting her hand drop and shaking her head. Her nose twitched. “They really do smell good, though.”

“Please don’t try them and end up getting yourself killed,” Noah said. “I still owe you some clothes. It would be a shame if you died before you got to shop.”

“That,” Lee said, putting a finger to her chin, “is a very good point. I shall ignore the smell.”

For now. I’m going to have to put those in a Lee-proof safe or something, or they won’t last for long. It’ll do for tonight, though.

Noah laid back in bed with a yawn, pulling the covers over himself and slipping out of the rest of his clothes. Lee opened his closet door and stepped inside. Noah spotted a small bundle of clothes that she’d arranged into a makeshift nest inside it.

“Uh… do you want me to buy you a small bed or something?” Noah asked.

“Nah. These are fine,” Lee replied before pulling the door shut.

Noah stared at it for a moment, then shook his head. He closed his eyes and shifted, getting more comfortable. Soon, sleep started to beckon him off into its embrace.

The last thing Noah heard before he slipped into a deep, much needed slumber was Lee’s voice as she mumbled through the door.

“If you’re just a human, you really don’t smell much like one.”