I sat with the other Arrivers at the hotel, listening to Suiz’s report.
“...And that sums it up,” he concluded.
After hearing about the saint candidates, we were all speechless. It was a surprise to hear that Aifan was using orphaned children to farm desired skills, and it was a bigger surprise to hear Neme had been one of them.
The whole system struck outsiders like us as weird, but it was apparently considered normal in these parts. There weren’t many countries in the world that would take in orphans en masse, and I had no doubt that they’d saved plenty of kids that way... I just wasn’t convinced that it was exactly ethical. That said, the saint candidate system was apparently halted after Neme obtained Saint’s Authority, so I figured it was a moot point. The church was still taking care of orphans, and I didn’t see a problem with that.
However, according to Suiz’s intel, Neme had refused to become the saint and subsequently left the church. She’d then later turned up in Puriff and gotten into dungeoneering. Suiz hadn’t dug into her personal reasons for leaving, but I knew it must have taken a tremendous amount of determination for a shy girl like her to run away from home and start a new life in a faraway place.
On top of that, we Arrivers knew just how passionate Neme was about conquering the dungeon. Even when the party disbanded, she was the only one who didn’t give up on her dream. Her methods weren’t entirely realistic, I’ll admit, but she’d gathered new comrades on her own and kept dungeon diving. Her ardor was almost an obsession. I wasn’t sure where that motivation came from, but I was mad at Cardinal Fuge and Acting Saint Arcia for getting in her way.
“Thanks, Suiz,” I said. “I’m surprised you were able to gather so much information in such a short amount of time.”
“Gotta live up to my reputation, you know.”
“How do you even get that kind of intel?”
“That’s a trade secret.” Suiz lifted his index finger and gave me a silly wink before instantly switching to a serious expression. “Now, here’s the big part...”
“Everything until now has sounded pretty big, honestly.”
“This is the biggest. In short, it concerns our plan to retrieve Neme Pargin.”
At those words, the Arrivers all tensed up. We were finally making progress toward getting Neme back.
“There’s one thing that needs to be taken into account for us to do this,” warned Suiz. “It’s about Acting Saint Arcia’s skill.”
“Her skill?” Was it that powerful? Stronger than Erin’s or Force’s? I had to wonder.
“It’s called Greater Far Sight,” he explained. “It’s the superior version of the Far Sight skill.”
I wasn’t sure what Suiz was getting at here. What was so special about that skill? Erin looked every bit as puzzled as I was.
Seeing this, Suiz continued, “All the skill does is allow its bearer to see extraordinary distances—but you need to consider that you’re all being tracked with it.”
“What?!” Erin and Roslia both yelped in shock. The rest of us were just as surprised.
“It’s safe to assume that’s how they had you all marked in Puriff,” said Suiz.
“No wonder...” Force nodded sagely.
That explained the timing of their attack at HQ—specifically while I, the Arriver’s Enemy Search user, was in the dungeon. I had failed to notice their presences before the attack too because they’d made sure to stay out of my detection range.
“This means they know you’ve made contact with me, Suiz Myran. And that we’re holding a strategy meeting in this hotel room,” Suiz continued.
“Really?!” Erin whipped her head around to get a look at our surroundings.
Suiz raised a hand to stop her. “Whoa there, don’t give us away. They don’t know we’re aware of Greater Far Sight yet.”
“Right...” Erin mumbled, looking back at Suiz.
“Greater Far Sight can only see distant things. It doesn’t convey voices or reveal what we’re saying. They’ll be none the wiser about our discussion so long as we stick to talking, so just stay calm.”
That was one small mercy, at least. It was a tough break that the enemy knew we were in town, but if they could hear the details of our rescue plan too, we’d be utterly powerless against Cardinal Fuge.
“So, what do we do?” Erin asked. “The church knows we’re here to get Neme back, right? We’re in trouble if they shore up their defenses.”
Erin had a good point. We were up against Aifan’s top brass. We couldn’t engage in a direct confrontation. Our only hope was to catch them by surprise—and that apparently wasn’t happening.
As we pondered our options, Suiz continued, “The situation isn’t all bad. Think of it this way—if Arcia has kept a constant eye on you guys, she knows that you don’t have anything up your sleeve. This means they haven’t prepared any counter security yet either.”
“I see.”
Even if Cardinal Fuge was the most important man in the country, keeping someone under maximum security around the clock wasn’t easy. Guards were expensive, and concentrating too many of them in one place left other locations vulnerable. He had Greater Far Sight on his side to keep tabs on our movements, so there was no need to bother initiating countermeasures until we made a move in the first place. In fact, when I checked out the Salengre Cathedral with Enemy Search, the security around Neme hadn’t seemed particularly tight.
“Then we should hurry up and do something,” the impatient Erin suggested.
Suiz nodded. “The lass is right. Right this moment, preferably.”
“Wait, right now?” Roslia asked. Her confusion was understandable. None of us had expected to go for it immediately.
“You look surprised, but yes. The enemy is on their toes too, so we have to take the initiative.”
“But we haven’t prepared anything,” I protested.
“Neither have they. The second we show any sign of getting ready, the real fight begins. And they know we’re having a strategy meeting right now...so you can count on more guards starting tomorrow.”
“So you’re saying our best bet is acting today?”
“That’s right.”
Was this our only chance? I didn’t like the idea of going to rescue Neme without a plan...but when I thought about it, the Arrivers usually played things by ear anyway. Dungeon conquest was a battle against the unknown. There were times where advance preparations meant nothing, and those were the times the Arrivers’ raw talent carried us through. I was the kind of guy to solve things with meticulous planning, so maybe I was just worrying too much. Time was constantly ticking. The situation would only worsen while we sat around wringing our hands. There are times in life when not making a decision is a decision in itself.
“I understand,” I said. “Let’s do this. Now.”
“Very nice. Now we’re talking.” Suiz clapped his hands together. “Fortunately, we have a Mapping scout on our side. We know everything about the cathedral’s layout. You can even see hidden passageways around there, can’t you?”
“Well, yeah, a few...”
The city of Visril had been built up as a mountain fortress by Aifan’s hero, Forge Maltaios. Its roads were already complicated enough, but there were caves and underground tunnels everywhere too. There were also lots of alleyways and such that had fallen out of use after the expansion.
“I don’t think it’ll be that hard to get to Neme,” I volunteered. “But we need to do something about Greater Far Sight or the whole operation will be blown.”
“That isn’t a problem. Greater Far Sight isn’t almighty,” Suiz offered in return. He then shared what he knew about the skill. “First, Greater Far Sight can only ‘see’ one thing at a time. So if you split up into two groups, she can only follow one of you. And the one she’s most likely to target is Note, who has specialized abilities for infiltration.”
“So while she’s watching me with Greater Far Sight, she can’t follow everyone else...”
“That’s right. Greater Far Sight is a skill that allows you to see into the distance either by designating a particular point or projecting her field of view. Even if she marks you, she has to be able to see you.”
“In that case, is it possible to shake her mark?”
“By outrunning it, you mean? I suppose it’s not impossible if you can move at a speed faster than Greater Far Sight can follow, but the easiest is to turn invisible.” With that, Suiz turned to look at Erin. “So, Miss Mage, can you use invisibility magic?”
“It’s not out of the question.”
During her training at the magic city of Izaar, Erin had learned all kinds of spells. Apparently one of them was invisibility, even though it didn’t have much use inside the dungeon.
“If invisibility works, then Stealth should have an effect too,” I said.
I couldn’t completely erase my presence like the Headhunter, but I could at least make myself harder to spot. If I used Stealth in conjunction with Shadow Runner, a high movement speed art, I should effectively be able to disappear from sight.
“Wait a minute,” Erin said, mulling over something. “I know an easier way to shake Greater Far Sight with magic.”
“Some other spell?” I asked.
“You know the one, Note. If she has to see someone with Greater Far Sight, then what if they just warp away?”
“Warp, as in...?”
“I could teleport you with Gate.”
Gate was a highly advanced spatial magic spell that connected two points instantaneously. Erin had defeated her final opponent in the Seventh Sage Selection, Eskar Burnout, by using his own signature version—Transfer Zone—against him. She’d picked Gate up in the process of learning that. Honestly, Erin was a fearsome mage...although I wouldn’t expect anything less from an Arriver.
“Unlike Transfer Zone, Gate can be used on people,” she explained. “There’s rarely time to use it in battle, but it might come in handy in a situation like this.”
“Excellent, Erin!”
Her Gate was the best bet we had for Operation Rescue Neme, so we spent what little time we had left finalizing a plan and getting to work.