The Path of the Executioner was one that came with great strength but at the cost of low Luck. Cassarae must have been particularly favored because the Quest gave her the ability to offset that poor Luck out of the gate.
Unfortunately, that treasure was stolen away, taken by Lauren, who now had the number one spot on the Merit Leaderboard all to herself. And according to Cassarae, her rewards for the Common Quest Leg were actually far less than what she received for the Fragmented part of the Quest.
Sylas hadn’t really considered this aspect of things before, but what if the use of the necklace wasn’t to give Cassarae great Luck, but to instead place her on a level playing field with everyone else?
Although everyone was facing problems of their own, Cassarae’s seemed to be outsized.
This sounded ridiculous to say when Sylas was facing the rage of two heir candidates and a government, as well as the system on top of that. But most of the problems Sylas had gotten into were forced by his hands or inevitable due to his starting circumstances.
By comparison, Cassarae’s bad luck seemed much more random and coincidental.
After all, Cassarae wasn’t born into a family like the Grimblades, and she wasn’t scouted by Legacy, as far as Sylas knew, when she was young either. She had started off her village in the middle of nowhere, and it didn’t seem like a particularly strategic point either; she just placed it down as soon as she could so that she would have some method of self-protection.
And yet…
She had ended up with not just one, but two compromised spawns. There was a System City right next to her that not only had Sylphs but ones that wanted to target her specifically. The Enclave had been close enough to affect her progress, but far enough away that they were a headache to deal with, and the cherry on top of all of that was that a portal had appeared right above her head, leading right to a government official wielding way too much power who also happened to want to deal with her.
And not a single one of these things was a result of any prior action or background on the part of Cassarae.
If Sylas was correct and things continued like this, it was likely that her Luck would only boil over and grow worse.
In fact, this bad Luck was likely proportional to her current Class Grade. It had only gotten worse after her Class progressed to Common.
‘I have to get the necklace back for her.’
Sylas’ gaze flashed.
“Okay. Go back now and be sure to protect yourself.”
Cassarae rolled her eyes. “I don’t need you to tell me that.”
Sylas would have replied, but his mind was already elsewhere. He was trying to build out a plan in his mind. Even if it meant standing against Legacy and forging yet another enemy for himself, he needed to get that necklace back. Or else…
He was certain that Cassarae wouldn’t survive the fallout.
He vanished soon after, leaving Cassarae alone in the small coffee shop landscape.
She shook her head and sighed. She had trouble reading Sylas sometimes, but at others, he might as well have been an open book to her.
This was one of those latter times.
When he was worried, he didn’t say anything. He just worked harder.
And right now he was worried about her.
Maybe that was the one constant. Whether they were together or not… he had always been overprotective.
Cassarae couldn’t help but smile lightly.
**
There was a silence that had hung over the office for a while now.
Lucius sat behind his desk, reclined in his chair, taking a sip of what looked like a hard, brown liquor from time to time. Though he didn’t seem to be abusing the substance considering his calm demeanor and unhurried sips, the half-empty bottle on the table told a different story.
Still, all things considered, he was still well-dressed; his expression, though a bit flushed, was still healthy, and his breathing was steady and rhythmic.
However, if one could see his status window, one would see that he was staring at the same System-Wide Message. In fact, he had been staring at it just like this for the last two days.
There was a click at his door, and Nathan walked in. He carried the same carefree demeanor and had clearly recovered long before Lucius had. But that was because the next steps weren’t any skin off his back.
It had only taken Nathan a minute to tell Lucius what to do if he wanted to survive. It couldn’t have been simpler, really: Give up his right to the competition of heirs and return to the Grimblade family.
If Lucius insisted on staying in the Evergreen Territory, he would die. If he tried to escape and rebuild in a new Territory, he would die. Pretty much anything he did that required having his cake and eating it too would result in death.
He had sacrificed a great deal in exchange for Sylas’ death, and now that he had failed, he would have to sacrifice more to avoid his own.
“Bloom is awake now,” Nathan said.
“What did she say?”
“He’s alive.”
“We know that much already. The rest, I mean,” Lucius said calmly.
“The Warrant worked. Or, I should say that it’s working even now.”
“A full 50% reduction?”
“Yup.”
“What about his Professions?”
“It was suppressed for what looks like two hours or so before rebounding.”
“So you mean to say the plan went quite smoothly?”
“Precisely.”
“And it still didn’t work.”
“Exactly right.”
He had given up the city he spent half a year of his blood, sweat, and tears on. He had given up the right to claim ownership over the Evergreen Territory; he had even harmed Bloom, who would likely be unable to use her Profession in such a way for months, if not years…
All for nothing.
Lucius stood, pouring the rest of his whisky into the pot of a nearby plant. He had enough.
“I will listen to you this time. Let’s return to the Grimblades. I will give up my heirship rights.”
Nathan nodded in silence, but he couldn’t help but wonder if this was really where it would end.
