Mantle of the Gods

I was glad to be on land.

Growing up in Zeb, there hadn’t been any significant bodies of water around and I wouldn’t have had the time or money to go out on them if there had been. It wasn’t that I got nauseous on the trip over to the island, just that spending a few hours surrounded by lots of people while knowing I couldn’t swim if something went wrong hadn’t been my definition of a fun boat ride.

To make matters more complicated, Geasi, the red-haired, green-eyed assistant teacher, had been acting more awkward than usual. I knew that she was nervous about not being a good enough teacher to have her own class. She’d been so anxious to prove herself that she’d pushed a student so hard that the rest of the team had been forced to expose themselves during a boss fight, to cover for her.

By contrast, Fray Harror, the homely brunette with brown eyes, looked like nothing had gone wrong the day before. Whatever Trent Vowler, our head teacher, and Gesai had said to her last night had calmed her nerves and she was at least smiling, which was usually difficult to get her to do.

The rest of our team got off the boat to make way for the other team from the Cathedral. I hadn’t realized that Celia Taray’s class was going to be joining us on this extra side trip. Five of her six students were children of Nobility, which meant that of the four original teams that had started this year at the Cathedral, she had the most privileged students.

Except for James Juel. The red haired, brown-eyed Hitter was the only Mundane, or child of parents who weren’t Adventurers. Until recently I’d thought that a person could inherit a Mantle randomly, but it had been pointed out that most of the Mundane students knew that they were the illegitimate children of some Noble. I felt bad for him because I knew what it was like being around Nobility that thought little of the Mundane.

His teacher, Celia Taray, was one of the most successful Nobles in the Ward. Most dungeons were owned or maintained by either the Dispatchers or the All-Temple. She owned four different dungeons and kept Farming teams going all the time. She used her position as a teacher at the Cathedral to scout new talent and network with more Noble families.

That was why we had been diverted from our task of filling out a backup team and sent to this Desolation. Trent was representing the Temples' interest in claiming the dungeon here, while Celia was trying to claim it for herself. It was the middle of the semester, so we still had to have classes in the dungeon and rather than leave her students behind she had brought in a dungeon guide, Arlo Heema, to teach her class while she was in the negotiations.

The blonde-haired blue eyed man was in his late eighties, though for an Adventurer, that was only around middle aged, especially for a dungeon guide. Most Adventurers who pushed floors ended up dying in the dungeon, but a guide was someone who stayed a few Tiers below their level and helped others Farm. Since he was looking after students, he couldn’t powerlevel them, but the experience he had with so many different dungeons was going to be almost as good as the person he was filling in for.

We watched the eight of them walk by. Celia nodded to her former teacher, but that was the most of an interaction they’d had for the entire trip. There was a parking lot at the end of the dock, where they split into two Chasers, four-seater vehicles without tops and large wheels that were made for driving in rough terrain, and drove off.

All twelve of us followed after Trent as he led our group to the same place where Celia’s group had left.

A short, balding man of about seventy met Trent before he got to shore.

“Welcome to the Desolation of Wurn!” He voice came out in a singsong way. “What can Vone Gona help you with today?” His red eyes shone as he smiled.

“Hello Vone.” Trent reached out to shake the man’s hand, “I need four Chasers.”

“Four?” He looked at the parking lot where only two vehicles remained. “I’m so sorry, but I only have two left, perhaps if you had been the first ones off the boat, I would have had enough for you.” Vone gave up what had to be the worst fake sad face, “But! Do not worry! You look like you would be good friends, so! I would be willing to rent you my own personal Chaser for you as well.” He looked at us, “And if you feel that you cannot squeeze together, I could look around and see if I could find another one.”

Trent pulled out four chips. I couldn’t see what the denominations were, but considering the size of Vone’s eyes, I knew they were way more than the dealer had been expecting. The older man put one of the chips back into the Crystal band on his wrist where he kept his inventory.

“That was what I would have paid for four Chasers.” He fanned the three coins, “There will be four Chasers in the parking lot by the time that my students get there or I’m taking another coin away.” He plucked one coin with his other hand. “And if I make it to the parking lot before the Chasers are there, then this is what I’ll pay for them.” The other two coins disappeared.

Panic began to crawl over the other man’s face, “You… you… know that we have Dispatchers here.” He wiped his forehead, “And Authority!”

Trent smiled, “Good, tell them that Trent Vowler is here to collect the Chasers he reserved and someone is acting a lot like a Bandit and trying to gouge him…”

“You’re Trent Vowler? THE Trent Vowler?” Vone turned around, “Iago! Bert! Get those other two Chasers out here NOW!” He looked back at the other man, “I didn’t know you were THE Trent Vowler. I thought that was just a name someone was giving. Like we get people calling themselves King Sidam. I mean, who in this Ward has ever met royalty from the other side of the world?”

Trent lifted an eyebrow.

“Of course YOU have. I meant like…” He turned around. “BOYS! WHERE ARE THOSE CHASERS!”