The Insider System

Chapter 262: Meeting

Lake realized he hadn't ever asked where they were going as he stepped out and seeing they were at the palace he said. "It's been a while since we were here." Lake had come with Lucas on one of his trips here to look for one of Amanda's journals. "Try not to talk to the king too much this time. I don't have time to keep you from agreeing to everything he says."

"I'll stand next to you and be quiet unless someone asks me something." Lake had already told Lucas most of the stuff that was going on in the Metal Domain while they were on the way so his reason to come was pretty much done. Now all he was here for is as a source of additional information for Lucas in case someone was talking about something that Lake knew about.

As he followed Lucas towards whatever meeting they were about to attend, Lake started to see various types of guards he recognized. Seeing how many people there were from the Blacksmiths guild Lake remembered how important the Metal Domain was to them. Then came the people that were wearing robes of all colors that Lake guessed were from various temples and mage groups.

Lake could tell Lucas wasn't the most liked guy with the mages by the looks they were getting as they walked and Lake already knew it had to do with things that happened during the Mage Guild's collapse without asking Lucas anything. He eventually saw the people from the Light temple and he was surprised to see not only the Temple Head but the person who had attacked him for the dagger.

Lake was about to turn when he remembered he had been disguised as Jon when Tiffany and him had spoken so there was no way she would know him by his voice or face. The Temple Head would be able to remember him by his face but he didn't know if she would bother to come say hi just because they had met before.

Right after he thought this the Temple Head started to walk towards them. Lake was expecting a hello or something but he was completely ignored. "Guild leader Lucas, we were hoping we could speak before the meeting." Only after the Temple Head had said this did she spare a glance at Lake and he could tell she remembered him.

"What is it?" Lucas didn't seem to want to talk with them but that was what they were here for so it would be a bit extreme if he just said no. "Are you ok with me putting up a barrier so people can't listen?"

"That's fine." After Lucas agreed the Temple Head waved her hand and a thin membrane of mana formed around them. "We need to ask you about a person we need to find. I'm sure you remember us asking about the dagger that was stolen but we have a name now. Jon."

Hearing this, Lake wanted to look away but he kept his cool and instead of reacting he looked at Lucas like any good subordinate would in a situation like this. "Are you saying a person named Jon was the one who stole the dagger and you are asking me if I know them?" The Temple Head nodded when Lucas said this and Lake could tell Lucas was going through his head for people named Jon.

"Well I know of at least ten people by that name, could you narrow it down a bit more?" By the look on the Temple Head's face it was clear she thought Lucas was being unhelpful on purpose but she wasn't the one who answered. "We aren't trying to make things hard for you or your guild, I already talked with him and we came to a deal. We have just lost contact with each other and we are trying to find him again."

Lake looked back at Lucas and could tell he could tell they thought he was trying to hide something and didn't like the fact they thought he was trying to get away with lying when he really had no idea what they were talking about. In reality the only person who had lied was him and it had been to everyone.

Seeing this was coming to an end soon with Lucas being obviously mad, Lake decided he needed to just get this over with and bring the dagger to the Temple as soon as he got the chance. Seeing that Lucas was done talking, Lake took the chance to say hi to the Temple Head to help this interaction end in a slightly more positive light.

"It's good to see you again Temple Head." The Temple Head gave him a small smile while Lucas looked at him in an annoyed way. "Hello Lake, how's your Light magic coming along?"

"I actually started with Wind magic since it has less principles so I haven't made any progress in Light magic."

"Let's see what you can do then." Looking around Lake guessed it was fine for him to do a small amount of magic so he condensed a cube really quickly before stepping on it. "You're still a beginner but I'm sure you've been busy with alchemy."

Once they were done with their small interaction the mana membrane dropped and Lake waved as the two of them walked away. Looking back at Lucas Lake asked. "What was that about?" He could tell Lucas wasn't in the mood to joke around and followed him as Lucas tried to walk away from him.

...

"Who was that guy that was with Lucas?" Tiff hadn't expected the Temple Head to be on friendly terms with anyone who would be with Lucas. "He was someone who had to stay in one of our temples for a day while a deal was struck with the Assassins guild. He fought back when they tried to kidnap him so the Alchemist guild had to pay a hefty price."

"Wait, that guy right next to Lucas fought off an assassin?" It was pretty obvious what Tiff was getting at when she said this. "You said his name was Lake right, I'm going to try and talk to him alone when Lucas isn't around."

"Alright but don't push too much." Splitting from the Temple Head who was heading to her seat since everyone was here and the meeting was about to start Tiff went towards one of the walls to stand. Keeping an eye on the guy she felt had a good chance of being Jon in a disguise, Tiff waited till he was at least a few feet away from Lucas who was now sitting at the table as well.

Tiff wasn't sure how to ask someone if they were them so she said. "Is it you?" If it was Jon he would know what she meant.

...

Lake wasn't sure what had given him away but he knew he could easily get out of it even if lying didn't work. "I need to pay attention. Can we do this later?" Lake said it like he didn't even hear what Tiffany had said to him and just kept looking forward. He was hoping that as soon as the meeting finished Lucas would get up and this would scare her off.

Sadly she just said something else completely ignoring his request. "I'll be outside the Alchemist guild tonight if you have something for me." Seeing that she walked away, Lake made sure he had marked her and went back to paying attention. He quickly came to realize the amount of information he had fed to Lucas was giving them a huge advantage over the other leaders.

More than once people questioned where he had gotten so much information about a situation that none of them had been able to get close to. Once Lucas had given them all information on what they would need to do to take care of what was going on negotiations on what each group would be willing to send.

Lake wasn't surprised that most of the leaders didn't want to send a lot of people on the off chance that whoever they sent would be killed. There was also the problem that the Metal Domain was really hard to march an army towards with there really only being one small road there.

This meant they needed to send a small army of people that were on the higher end of strength and people were even less willing to commit to something like that. Lucas was one of the people who didn't plan to send any people and Lake guessed he should have told Lucas that he actually planned to go back before the meeting but he really didn't expect Lucas to not want to help at all.

Walking up and tapping Lucas on the shoulder while someone else was talking, Lake asked. "I planned to go back. Are you ok with that?" He could tell he was really getting on Lucas' nerves today but he saw that as a sign he wouldn't care if he went to die in the Metal Domain. "Why would you want to go back?"

Lake had no idea how to put the fact he wanted to get paid for everything he had done so he said. "The people who helped me escape are waiting for me to come back with help." Lake felt like this sounded plausible and was happy with Lucas' response. "I will be sending a few people to help evacuate any survivors and hopefully anyone who's still alive from my guild."

After he said this Lucas turned back to him and said. "If you fight, make it clear that I told you not to and that we were only there to save people from our guild." Lake found it funny that Lucas was still trying to stay neutral when the Demon Worshipers had destroyed one of their buildings but he guessed Lucas had some kind of deal that the Alchemist guild couldn't break.