Let’s say I needed to convince someone to take me somewhere without actually knowing where. This person needs someone to help with something. How bad of an idea would it be to try to volunteer to help without knowing what the task is?

  Agensyx didn’t reply at first, though Jay caught a wisp of a feeling of absolute bafflement and knew he’d been heard. It was an entirely justified feeling; to put it lightly, the plan was completely batshit and didn’t really qualify to be called a plan in the first place.

  Eventually he got a response. I hope this is a thought experiment and you have not embroiled yourself in some convoluted plan.

  I definitely haven’t yet. But it might be on the table.

  You confuse me, Jay. You needed to gain knowledge, so you came here. Now you are looking for a reason to leave? We have not even been here a day.

  The spirit had a point. Jay had torn through the books he’d found but unless he spent years down here, he wouldn’t be able to find even a significant fraction of the information he was looking for. There were too many things he needed to know and he didn’t even know enough about the specifics of those things to sort the good information from the bad.

  He did his best to explain as much to his familiar. Coming here might have been biting off more than I could chew. Sure, now I know the Class Curse hasn’t always been around. I even know how long it’s been happening for. The task feels a little bit more possible knowing that. But there’s too much other mixed in with that information. And I have to remember everything. Every. Single. Word. Even the stuff that’s so unreliable even I can see the issue with it without the full context.

  I don’t have a way to sort the good from the bad when it’s less clear-cut than that. I need practical knowledge.

  Agensyx’s thoughts hummed. And what makes you think this will give you that kind of practical knowledge? You seem to be lacking a lot of the details of what this help would require.

  That was also a good point. I’m sure I can get more information. Unless this is your way of telling me that this is a horrible idea and I shouldn’t try.

  I did not say that. I can see some of the logic of what you say. But to do anything without the proper information is an exercise in folly. You know this. Do not fall into that trap.

  Jay pushed a feeling of wordless agreement across the familiar bond. I’ll put some more thought into it. And maybe see if I can get some details.

  Good. If you need me, know that I may not be able to get to you quickly. There are intriguing caves under this island. I am attempting to explore the ones not in use by the library.

  Interesting. You’ll have to tell me if there’s anything interesting down there. Or any cave monsters.

  Both are possible.

  Jay blinked. They are?

  I will tell you after.

  Caves on an island with the potential for monsters in them. That may have been the biggest argument in favor of going somewhere else and doing something to gain more active knowledge of the world. Jay hadn’t even thought of the potential for cave monsters to exist. Maybe they were normal. Maybe every cave in this world was infested by monsters. He wouldn’t know.

  Venturing out – further than just an island off the coast of a continental empire that seemed to be in the final stages of death from what he’d read and seen – might give him that kind of knowledge. Or at least it might give him the chance to earn it. Jay didn’t know what earning that kind of knowledge would look like. If he was lucky, it would be more of this kind of thing: sitting in a library, consuming books.

  But he had a nasty feeling it was going to be more the kind of thing that involved monsters though. He’d have to try to turn that into a good thing somehow. Maybe he’d try to think of it as a chance to get more familiar with the System and his abilities. The only book Jay had found on the System had mentioned that everyone else had access to it from the moment they were ten, with that access expanding over the course of seven years until they could choose their Class.

  No one knew why it was seven years specifically. No one knew where the System had come from at all, as far as he could tell. It was like the sun, always just there as a fact of life. Jay might be the only person on the planet who knew that there was a chance that it was artificial, even if he wasn’t sure how much he trusted what Kalras had said about that after how much information had been missing from the binder.

  Jay’s stomach growled, audible in the library’s heavy silence. Agensyx’s advice had been to think it over. To make sure he knew what he was getting into. A meal break sounded like the perfect time for doing that. He just had to hope it was better than the hardened twice-baked bread the Wanderer had given them for their meals on the ship.

  And that it was cheap enough for him to afford after paying for that passage in the first place.

  *

  Lunch – dinner? Jay realized he had no idea what time of day it was anymore – had cost him a single bronze. Not bad, all things considered, but the real treat had been the experience of getting it. There hadn’t been workers behind the little window in the sectioned-off eatery, or at least not living ones. Jay’s first thought had been robots. That was certainly what they looked like: joltingly moving mannequin-like robots.

  Then he’d paid more attention to the pinging of the sense that was still new to him and realized they were made of magic. They didn’t feel like Alister did. They felt more like an active, ongoing spell. Spells that served bowls of stir-fry doled out with mechanical precision.

  Delicious stir-fry, too. Whatever spell that was, Jay wanted it. He could probably recreate it with undead if he was willing to take that route, but dead flesh making food didn’t sound like the best idea from a food safety perspective.

  He cleaned out the last of the bowl and slid it into the slot labelled “Dirties” in the wall of his booth. It splashed as he stood up, rattling down whatever little canal was on the other side as he turned to leave. Or turned to try to leave at least, since he hadn’t even managed to take a step by the time a hand pushed him back down into the booth.

  The woman with all the charms on her cloak sat down on the other side of the table. Her face was serious, but from what he’d seen on the boat, that was basically her default expression. Jay still didn’t know what most of those charms and decorations were, but from this close, he could pick out which one was the marker of her type of magic. Apparently she was an ice elementalist of some sort.

  He knew what she was going to say and decided to head her off. “You need help with something?”

  “How did you know that?” Her voice was not what he had expected. There was grit to it, gravel like she’d made a habit of damaging her vocal cords or spent a lot of time sick.

  “Took a guess. Why else would you have made me sit back down and then joined me?” Jay didn’t want to let on about the real reason he knew. Telling someone you eavesdropped on them having a private magic phone conversation didn’t seem like a good idea.

  Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  “You must be a good guesser, then. Yes, I need help. Yes, it’s something big. Yes, it’s a good cause. Does that take care of any reservations you might have? Should I go into more detail?”

  “Definitely more detail. That much assurance up front makes it sound like I’m about to help with a coup or something,” Jay joked.

  “You really are a good guesser.” She looked legitimately impressed this time.

  “You’re kidding.”

  “Not as much as I’d like to be. But I was serious when I said it was for a good cause. How much do you know about Kinicier’s Haven?”

  Jay cocked his head. “Not much.” He didn’t mention that the only reason he knew anything about the largest island in this little chain at all was that the name had shown up in one of the abridged history books he’d found.

  “No one ever knows all that much about it,” she sighed. “That’s part of why I’m looking for help in the first place.”

  “For a coup.”

  “Yes, for a coup. A good-natured coup. A necessary coup. Do you know how long we’ve been trying to get rid of our leader? He’s completely insane.” She took a breath. “Look, how many people support actual corporeant slavery? Not constructs, servitors, or half-golems. Enslavement of thinking, feeling people.”

  She started to go on but Jay held up a hand. “First, that’s insane. Second, good to know that that’s not normal. Third, I’m on board.”

  “You are? Just like that?”

  “What kind of person wouldn’t help out with something like that?”

  “Tell that to the people who keep saying no. Which has been everyone to this point.” She sounded like she hadn’t expected anything else but was still disappointed no one had said yes.

  “Some people,” Jay commiserated. “So what exactly do you need from me for this?”

  “Mostly I need you to show up and do whatever you can do as long as it’s public and directed against the Duke. I don’t know much about Tamer magic, but anything you can do to convince your animals to disrupt things or attack his forces is good enough.” She paused for a second. “But how strong are you? When I said you were the only one that agreed, I meant it, and that means we don’t have anyone else to actually kill the bastard in charge.”

  “Probably not strong enough for that,” Jay confessed. He wasn’t the surest on how the levels functioned, but from what little he knew, 2 was not generally considered the kind of level to be assassinating rulers. “How are we getting there?”

  “Walking most of the way. Then a little bit of time in a rowboat,” she said.

  “We’re walking across the ocean? Are you going to freeze a path for us or something?” If she could do that, he had no idea why she needed his help. She could probably freeze her Duke’s blood inside him.

  “Ha. No, I wouldn’t need help if I could do that to ocean water on that kind of scale. There’s a network of caves under the island that goes the whole way across a hidden sea to come up on the Haven.” She pulled a small cube of ice from the air and popped it in her mouth. “It’s how I got here in the first place.”

  Huh. Caves under an ocean with their own hidden sea inside. That didn’t seem possible, but if it was how she’d gotten here, he couldn’t really doubt it. “Alright. I guess I could use a hike. How do you feel about snakes, by the way?”

  “As long as they’re not in my bed, I’m fine. Is that your type?” she asked.

  “They’re what I’ve got.” Something occurred to Jay that he really should have gotten clarification on before agreeing to help. “Do I get paid for doing this? In any way?”

  The woman bit her lip. “We…don’t have money. Slaves, remember? What kind of payment were you expecting?”

  “I have a single bronze to my name at the moment, so anything would be good.”

  “How do you have less money than I do?” She frowned, tapping at the table for a few seconds. “What if we took a quick diversion after killing the Duke to let you take some of his money? An amount within reason.”

  “Works for me,” Jay said. “I should probably tell my partner what I just signed us up for. Give me a second.”

  Are you still down in the caves? Jay sent.

  Yes. Have you come to a conclusion about what to do next? Agensyx asked.

  Something like that. I may have committed to something.

  Jay could hear the spirit sigh. And what exactly is it that you have committed us to doing?

  Politically motivated violence. A coup of some sort.

  The bond boiled with anger for a breath. Tell me you had a good reason for that and did not just throw yourself in a meat grinder of a situation for the sake of doing something.

  I have a reason. I think it’s a good one. I can’t believe your first assumption is that I’m just doing it for the sake of doing it.

  The feeling he got back was the equivalent of a raised eyebrow.

  You have a very unfair picture of me in your head, Jay protested. But yes, there is a good reason. Apparently there’s slavery happening and I was asked to help coup the guy in charge to stop it.

  That is, Agensyx admitted, actually a good reason. Do you need me to return to the docks?

  No. Apparently those caves you found go where we need to go. After a long hike. And some time spent rowing across an underground sea apparently.

  Then I will try not to kill too many of these creatures down here before you arrive. You could use the training with your abilities.

  That had just been insulting. Jay didn’t bother replying to him, instead raising his head again. The woman – Jay realized he didn’t know her name, which felt odd given what he’d agreed to do already – was still sitting across from him.

  “He hated the idea at first. But I talked him around,” Jay said.

  She gave him a confused look. “You didn’t go anywhere. Or pull out a commcharm. How were you talking?”

  Uh oh. “Personal secret. Anyway, I still don’t know your name.”

  “Probably should have asked about that before agreeing to treason and sedition, shouldn’t you?” She was holding back laughter. He could hear it.

  “Maybe. I don’t exactly make a habit of doing things like this, but I’ll have to keep it in mind for next time. So what is it, or do I just keep thinking of you as a walking windchime?”

  “That’s certainly an option, if you’ve grown attached to calling me that. But if you’d prefer a name, mine is Cinri.”

  “No last name?”

  “Take a guess why.”

  “Right. Well, my name is Jay.”

  “No last name?” Cinri echoed.

  “Carter, but I figured we were going one-for-one here.”

  She gave him a flat look. “That’s my whole name.”

  “So when do we leave, Cinri?”

  “I’d prefer as soon as possible, but if you have business you need to attend to while you’re here, we can wait around a little.”

  “I just need to look for a certain kind of book,” Jay said. “It shouldn’t take me long.”

  “Good. Then I’ll wait here. But remember that the longer you take, the longer it is before we can free people,” Cinri admonished.

  There wasn’t much Jay could say to that, so he slid himself out of the booth and busied himself looking for books on subclasses.