Lone: The Wanderer

Book 3: Chapter 23: Calm and Induction

The blue-haired foxkin looked shocked and then immediately outraged upon processing the two dismissive and equally rude questions. However, before he could open his mouth to potentially escalate matters further, he was beaten to the punch by Lone.

Pulling out his adventurer tag and displaying it, he said, "I am gold-silver plate adventurer Lone Immortus, Immortus the Immortal. I'm currently on a quest to escort the merchant group behind me through these lands. We have no business with you just as you have no business with us. If you wish to continue interfering with both my job as an adventurer and my client's job as a merchant, then I will be forced to incapacitate you with brutal efficiency. On account of us being from the same species, I will overlook how you spoke to me a moment ago so let's just all move on, yeah?"

Lone felt like he was being more than generous here. This guy clearly knew about Void's existence and it was apparently some sort of taboo among foxkin. At least those in the know since the Church of the Primals had scrubbed the Primal from all records he had looked into thus far.

That could be a problem going forward but still, it wasn't exactly nice to be called an 'Abomination' even if Lone wasn't one to get offended easily.

The blue-haired foxkin furrowed his brow and seemed to be considering his options. Lone assumed he was wondering if the Golden Foxkin before him was arrogant or confident. Words were just words but Lone's adventurer plate was obviously real, so that put some weight behind his threat.

"What is your convoy's destination?" the man finally asked.

Lone raised an eyebrow. "What is your unit's destination?"

"That's none of your business. Now answer the question," the blue-furred foxkin snarled.

Lone shrugged. "Ditto."

With a noticeable flummoxed expression, the warrior said, "What? Did you just... make a random noise?"

"That doesn't translate over, huh?" Lone muttered under his breath before he spoke up and replied, "No, I said, 'ditto'. It means 'same'. Our destination has nothing to do with you. Make a choice now, attack us and die because you don't like me for whatever reason, or move on and continue your day. Choose in five seconds. On the sixth, I'll have made the choice for you."

Some more snarling and generally outraged body language was expressed towards Lone but suddenly, the entire unit of blue-haired foxkin calmed in an instant as if by the power of a skill, some magic, or perhaps an item.

"The forbidden one truly is dangerous. You are lucky you appear coherent and not like an active danger, Abomination. Should we meet again in different circumstances, don't expect me to be so forgiving," the leading warrior scoffed before he ran past the convoy with his men in tow.

Lone stood there in confusion. "But... I was the one who initially forgave you?"

He watched his blue-haired brethren run along the road into the distance as he used The Summoning Room's telepathy to speak to Soph. 'Follow them for a bit. Make sure they don't turn around and try to pull a fast one on us. Listen in on any conversations they have too, if you don't mind.'

'Sure! I can do that,' Soph said and, presumably, teleported away.

Lone returned to the Halbundon carriage. Hopping on top of it, he said, "Everything's resolved. Didn't tell me what they were doing but they seemed happy enough to leave us alone. I sent Soph to follow 'em for a little bit to make sure they aren't trying to trick us."

A moment passed before Rinrin said, "That's not true. They weren't happy. If not for the Calming Stones they used, they would have all been killed by you upon deciding to attack you for having awakened to Void." Immediately after the words of Altros's Voice were spoken, the little girl frowned and said, "I can't resist you if you don't give me some warning! Stupid skill."

"Void? What's Void?" Rodorick asked, concern in his voice. "Is that the black in your tails and hair?"

"Sure is. Dunno much about it to be honest. Seems it's not a very popular Primal among the... what type of foxkin were they? Blue fur," Lone asked.

Fenlo smiled up at the sunroof that he was speaking down through and replied, "What shade?"

"Light blue but not quite cyan," Lone replied.

"Ah, Azure Foxkin. They have an inclination towards air magic, if I recall correctly. Their racial skill, Sentu's Swiftness, lets them become one with the wind. It's rather rare though, not unlike your Tail Spear. I think it was one in ten thousand Azure Foxkin are born with it and only one in a thousand gain it through effort and hard work," Mistress Fenlo explained, completely disinterested in the topic of Void.

"Sentu's Swiftness? That's an odd name for a skill. Makes me think it was man-made," Lone commented.

"Many think the same though no one is certain, that is the name of the skill, however," she replied.

Rodorick looked between his wife and Lone and few times before raising his voice and saying, "Are we seriously going to ignore Lone almost got our convoy attacked and that he just casually revealed the existence of a ninth Primal?!"

"Darling, be quiet. We weren't attacked in the end and if he doesn't want to talk about his personal issues, then we have no right to ask about them," Mistress Fenlo said coldly.

"But Primals affect all beastkin!" Master Roderick countered.

The woman sighed and turned to face him. "Have you ever heard of this Primal before or another person besides Lone who has awakened to it? No? Have you ever so much as seen a beastkin with black in their bestial traits, hair, or eyes? Also no? Then it is a personal problem and darling, we are not rude enough to pry when not invited to."

That shut Rodorick up, earned a hand-covered laugh from Little Rinrin, and a full-on chuckle from Lone. He liked Mistress Fenlo. She was fierce in just the right way.

A few days later, Lone was going to bed for the first time in two weeks. The unit of Azure Foxkin had been truthful when their leader had said they would leave. Soph had followed them for half a day only for them to move further and further away.

Apparently, they were hunting down an opposing unit of Crimson Foxkin for their mock war which Lone found interesting. It didn't really concern him or Soph though so they didn't interfere. The leader had claimed to some of his men that they shouldn't report their encounter with Lone to their superiors as he would do that himself when they returned, assuming the planned skirmish with the Crimson Foxkin soldiers went well.

Lone thought that could be fun. He could use a small-scale distraction to bring his paranoid mind away from Arch Devil Zel. Then again, who was to say this wasn't some massively elaborate play from the demonic being to kill Lone? Only time would tell.

"Be back soon. Anything you want me to ask in particular?" Lone questioned Soph.

She held her chin as she sat next to him atop the Halbundon carriage. "Ask Swamp what kinda animals there are where he lives, please. I wanna know if they have chubby fluffy foxes too like our precious Kyuubi."

Lone laughed softly. "Sure, I'll do that." He leaned up and gave her a quick kiss before resting his head on her lap again. "Night."

"Goodnight, Lone," she replied sweetly.

Lone opened his eyes and took in a deep breath.

He glanced up at the mental locks and Rubik's cubes floating around his inner soul. His gaze then drifted to the massive golden chains stretching from Darkness's inverted pyramid and Sky's cloud palace to Void's dark abyss.

"Hello!" the chipper Darkness greeted him, its form being the standard galaxy body it regularly assumed these days.

It hadn't appeared like anything remotely normal or anyone that resembled a person Lone knew ever since it first took this strange purple galaxy humanoid form and he appreciated that.

"Hi, Darkness. Any changes that you haven't told me about?" Lone asked.

The Primal shrugged. "I still can't so much as sense the connection to your little meeting room any more. Sky came out of his palace for a moment earlier. I have no idea why. Maybe your constant improvement of Puzzle Locked Mind has bolstered the restraints on Void, giving the fellow some more freedom? Sky's far too focused on keeping that wild card restrained if you ask me. I can't even scratch your chains and Void isn't that much more powerful than us normal Primals."

"Huh. I would like to talk to Sky at some point. I need to ask it a lot of questions," Lone muttered before he nodded. "Thanks for the update."

"Any time. Have fun in your meeting, yes? Do let me know if anything juicy happens," Darkness requested.

"Will do. Seeya later," Lone replied before he stopped resisting Monsieur Librarian's call.

Immediately upon arriving in his seat, Lone heard Monsieur Librarian announce, "Let the 14th Conclave of Seekers begin."

Lone was about to engage in discussions with Swamp when two things startled him. Firstly, there was a second Tome of Omniscience on the first bookshelf of the room's walls. And secondly, there was a new member of the conclave.

Lone and Swamp had decided to call the book that had told Lone about demons and Swamp about a certain mushroom a Tome of Omniscience since it could tell the reader whatever they most needed to know at that moment. Monsieur Librarian hadn't objected so the name had stuck.

More importantly to Lone, however, was the new member of the conclave. The seats at the table were always the same. Monsieur Librarian occupied the table's head, Lone was always in the seat to Monsieur Librarian's right while Swamp was to his left.

The new member was seated next to Swamp and their outline was a deep scarlet red. They were looking around cautiously and the glowing robs orbs that represented their eyes spoke of countless calculations.

Lone and Swamp had gone over what would happen in the event of a new member joining the conclave with Monsieur Librarian's silent approval. Lone was the more knowledgeable and well-spoken of the two so he would be the one to greet and introduce the new members to the conclave and what it was all about.

"You must be a bit shocked to have fallen asleep only to wake up here. I'm Human, a founding member of the conclave alongside Swamp who you'll find to your right," the red member had centred its entire focus on Lone, apparently confused and puzzled by his words.

Regardless, Lone continued. "At the head of the table, you'll see Monsieur Librarian. He is our host and he does not actively participate in these meetings that happen once every second sixth sun at midnight. He will answer any questions you might have but be prepared to pay a price in the form of a question you must answer truthfully if he deems the answer you seek to be worthy of knowledge as payment. I'll demonstrate with three questions. One with an affordable cost, one without an affordable cost, and one he will not answer no matter what."

Turning to Monsieur Librarian, Lone asked, "How long is my lifespan?"

Monsieur Librarian tapped his chair's armrest for a moment before his multicoloured face smiled. He was clearly in approval of Lone's induction methods. "That is a complex question. If you just mean your biological lifespan, that you already know. It is infinite and will always be infinite. If you mean how long will you live, that is an answer that will change the moment I tell you assuming death is somewhere in your future. You will have to tell me the name of the person most precious to you for me to answer the second option."

"Thank you, I'll decline," Lone answered and Monsieur Librarian nodded.

Turning to the scarlet-red figure, Lone said, "Now, as you can see, Monsieur Librarian knows I will live forever naturally but he doesn't know why. He could find out on his own but that would buy me a free complex question. Since I already knew the answer, no payment was asked of me but both you and Swamp learned of my semi-immortality. All answers are given to the entire conclave regardless of who asked them and who paid the price if required. If his curiosity does lead to him learning something outside of your questions he might reward you with a free Tome of Omniscience. I'll explain what that is in a moment."

The red figure spoke for the first time since arriving. A feminine voice escaped their lips, alluding to their gender. "May I attempt the question that is unaffordable and the question that is impossible?"

Lone nodded. "Of course. Go ahead. By the way, do you have a name for yourself? Your real name will be unintelligible which is why I am called Human and he is known as Swamp."

Swamp moved his head and smiled at the red figure, agreeing with Lone's words.

"A name... Devil will do, I would think," they said, making Lone's stomach drop.