53
1286 Words
Matt didn’t hear any scorn or judgment in her voice, which told him they had done well enough to not get berated. That didn’t mean they wouldn’t go over the fight once they got back to their home, but it would at least be a conversation, rather than them getting yelled at.
Liz shrugged. “Damn, that acid was nasty. Followed the spine like a f*****g straw into his brain.”
Matt winced at that visual, but Luna seemed unconcerned. “You did your best. Now let’s take a walk and see someone not doing their best.”
Invisible, the four of them walked out of the building where they were, just in time to see the assassin being led to the sidewalk, where he was grabbed by two guards and lifted by each arm.
Matt was scanning to see what Luna had meant, and only saw it when two blades the length of his forearm flashed from the ground at the two guards. Or rather, the assassin in their clutches.
The blades easily cut through the man’s arms and therefore removed the cuffs that suppressed his cultivation.
Like a fish in water, the suddenly-armless assassin flew and vanished around a corner and down the street, quickly leaving Matt’s spiritual perception range.
Luna swished her tail. “The woman was a distraction and his helper. She was trying to start a fight with you, Liz. A decent plan, but the target liked to chew his ice, which screwed up their timing.”
Turning to them, she asked, “How would you have done the assassination differently?”
Matt sighed as he realized this would actually be a long night.
At least they were off that damn ship.
11
Matt was sitting at the table in Mara and Leon’s suite while eating breakfast with Aster when Luna appeared from nowhere to sit on their table, startling them.
“Get ready. Ciceron just arrived, and I want to get the three of you in sooner rather than later.”
Liz, in the middle of shuffling to the table in her pajamas, rushed over and shoveled the food Matt had made for her down in seconds, before spinning back to their room right after Matt and Aster.
While the two humans changed, Aster brushed her tail out with her Concept, stiff wind split into fibers and replicating a brush.
Less than a minute later, they were ready, and Luna opened a portal that led them to an ordinary sitting room. On the other side, a familiar gray-haired man lowered glowing hands in favor of a deep glare at Luna as he started shouting at their manager. “I literally just arrived in the system three minutes ago, and you’re already inside my house! Do you know how rude that is?”
Luna flicked her tail in dismissal. “You’ll be flooded with applications from other managers, and I dislike waiting in line.”
Ciceron paused and shook his head. “How did you even get in here? I know I’ve changed the codes at least three times since we were dating.”
While Matt was processing the fact their manager had dated anyone, let alone the keeper of the legacies, Luna snapped right back at the other man.
“Well then, change more than the last few numbers. If there is anything to use an AI for, it’s making passwords a three-year-old can’t solve.”
Ciceron worked his jaw and growled right back, “It’s two hundred digits! Damn it! Ugh. You know there’s a process for this, right?”
Luna flicked her tail as she started licking a paw. “Yes, which would mean you’d need to reject a lot of applications before you got to us. Just put them in now and make it easy for everyone.”
Aster finally lost her patience and asked, “Are you sure you aren’t still dating? You two bicker like you are.”
Ciceron snapped. “No!”
Luna just shrugged. “We’re on a thousand year break.”
Hearing that, Matt had to ask, “A thousand-year break? Is that a break or breaking up?”
Luna shrugged. “I needed a good nap, and relationships need work, so it was easier to hit pause on it.”
Ciceron jerked back like he had been struck as he said, “You said it was about the casserole!”
Luna nodded right back. “Yes, after you burnt the casserole, I needed a break. I’d still be napping if these three hadn’t popped up on my radar.”
The look she shot them didn’t hide the fact she’d rather still be napping.
“As much as I’d like to reminisce about old times, the children don’t need to know our past.”
The older man looked like he wanted to argue more, but Luna cut him off. “Matt, I imagine Ciceron would be interested in hearing about the white hole you found in Minkalla.”
Ciceron blinked twice, then flickered for a moment, returning to their speed seated at a long table that hadn’t been there before, and setting down a giant tome covered in magically-flowing text.
“Tell me everything and I’ll let you skip the line.”
Matt didn’t miss the smug look on Luna’s face even as she walked deeper into the house, leaving the three of them to the inquisitive legacy curator.
“So, Matthew Alexander, you found a white hole during your delve into Minkalla, cycle 479 AE. Would you kindly recount the full story? You are being recorded.”
Matt glanced at Liz and Aster, and they shared a shrug as they took a seat and began their tale, beginning with the challenge that had first led them to finding the required materials.
While Ciceron allowed them to recount the entire story without interruptions, he immediately started pelting them with questions, perfectly ordered in chronological order corresponding to when Matt had mentioned it in his speech.
It was almost funny seeing how similar his questioning was compared to Luna’s, while also being wildly different. Luna cared about their actions and decisions, while Ciceron wanted them to identify the exact shade of bronze the treasure chest had been when they pulled it out, going as far as to create illusions for comparison. He was even worse than Erwin, something Matt wouldn’t quite have thought possible before now.
After they had been forced to sample types of sand to find the right consistency, Matt finally had enough, pulled out their house, and dug through the loot closet until he found what he was looking for. He pulled the mirror from the ‘keep’ pile, the key and compass from the ‘find a good buyer’ pile, and even grabbed the cornucopia that had been so involved in finding the other three that was sitting on their kitchen counter.
Ciceron spent close to ten minutes inspecting them, and when he finally went to start recording them, Liz suggested, “Ciceron, while you look at these, can we get our legacies?”
Ciceron looked at them with a bewildered face that strongly reminded Matt of all the times Erwin had completely forgotten something important. “Yes, you are right. I can ply Luna for any missing information when you guys are under. Good idea. I’ll need some time to see if these items are special in any way. The other Great Powers certainly know of this, and hundreds of keyholes implies hundreds of keys…I’ll need to check some old records to try and find some hints.”
Matt nodded. “Yeah, I figured the Empire would know about something like this. It’s so old, after all.”
- Writer
