Chapter 81 Professor Gnosis

  Isaac wasn’t sure what to expect when it came to Esmerelda’s great uncle. She had called him ‘eccentric’ and referred to him as the history professor. Given those as the key descriptors that she had used, Isaac thought that maybe his office would be a mess of papers detailing or referencing archaeological finds. Another option was for his office to look like its own little museum with glass cases around relics from ancient times. What he wasn’t expecting was a perfectly organized, very normal looking office, without a single artifact in sight.

  The professor looked to be in his sixties with a head of very well taken care of aged silver hair. His face was clean shaven to an extent that it looked like he had shaved that morning. His hazel eyes peered through thick glasses at the paperwork in front of him. His clothes were clean and every thread was as in place as the rest of his office. His vest was the same brown as the darkly stained hard maple furniture in his office, his shirt was the same light tan of parchment, and the buttons on both were tin, as were many of the knobs and other metal fixtures in his office. Unlike many of the college buildings, all of the lighting in his office came from a large window behind him and a variety of oil lamps that were placed all around his office, none of which were lit as it was still the afternoon.

  Upon the group entering, Esmerelda first, then Lucius, Isaac, and then finally Lenna, the aged professor looked up from his work and took in the quartet. “Master Lucius, Mer, I see you have brought two rather interesting non-students into my office.” He greeted his former student and his great niece. Before anyone could reply, he fixed his eyes on Lucius over the rim of his reading glasses. “Am I to assume you have taken a liking to my great niece, Master Lucius Arbencroft?”

  “We are working on that, Professor, but I believe that is a conversation for a later date.” Lucius explained with a slight bow. “I have brought the double platinum level adventurers native to my home, Isaac Wexler, the Lord of Darkness, and his wife, Lenna V’Nova, the Lady of Hellfire. They have a rather strange request so I would request that you hear them out.”

  The professor, whose nameplate on his desk simply read ‘Professor Gnosis’, looked over Isaac and Lenna for a moment before he gestured to the pair of seats across his desk. “Please, I bid thee welcome and offer the temporary use of my seating to the travelers from afar.” The professor told Isaac and Lenna.

  “We accept the welcome and the offer of a brief respite from the weathers of gravity.” Lenna replied with a curtsy.

  Isaac was obviously confused, as were Esmerelda and Lucius, but he chose to just follow Lenna’s lead and ask questions later. Lenna approached and took the offered seat and Isaac did as well, with Lucius closing the door behind them and then he and Esmerelda taking a few steps further inside so it didn’t look like they were about to leave.

  “Tin is a strange choice, Professor Gnosis, but I shan't pry.” Lenna told the old but much younger man. “Instead, we have a request of which you will be compensated for completing. We would discuss payment as well as the task if you would allow it?”

  “I allow the discussion of a task and payment but do not agree to complete said task or accept said payment at this time.” The professor replied.

  “The task is to teleport to Safeharbor to retrieve a Bottomless Bag from a specific person, then teleport back, and then finally hand over the item to either myself or my husband.” Lenna explained. “You may now offer what you would agree is a valid recompense for the completion of said task.”

  “Am I able to know the contents of the delivery?” Professor Gnosis asked.

  “Not unless you swear to not inform another being by any means.” Lenna answered. Isaac was starting to get suspicious with how exact the wording that both parties were using was. It wasn’t like Lenna to care so much about the specific words used.

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  “Am I able to know if the contents are to be used in an antagonistic or offensive manner?” Professor Gnosis questioned.

  “They are not intended for such, no.” Lenna replied. It was then that Isaac realized that they weren’t speaking in Overworld or Innerworld Standard but Elvish.

  “The task will require two Grand Teleportation spells, an interrogation from the Crown’s Inquisitors, and half an hour.” Professor Gnosis summarized.

  “Correction:” Lenna cut in. “If the teleportation circle is used, and then your Grand Teleportation is made from an alternate location, you will avoid the interrogation from the Crown’s Inquisitors.”

  “At the cost of two thousand gold.” Professor Gnosis stated. “Are you going to cover that cost?”

  “If that is part of the requested payment, yes.” Lenna agreed.

  “In exchange for this task, I would require payment in an item of drow origin that is older than one thousand years or something that is tied to an event that will be, or has been, written in a history book.” The professor offered. “As well as two thousand gold for the teleportation circle expenses.”

  “Would a story suffice?” Isaac cut in. “A first hand account of the fall of Jallen V’Nova, Patriarch of the Contantis V’Nova branch, from the person who slew him?”

  “If it is given under a truth spell, so it might be noted as a verified source that could be added directly to a history book detailing our current times for the future generations, yes.” Professor Gnosis agreed. “Would that be you, Lord of Darkness?”

  Isaac nodded. “It would be.” He confirmed. “And you could have secondary accounts if you were willing to wait at least a month for them, if that is not enough.”

  “I am willing to count a secondary source as being worth five hundred gold towards the teleportation circle cost coverage.” Professor Gnosis offered.

  Isaac looked at Lenna with a raised eyebrow. She nodded and then turned back to the professor. “That is agreeable.” Lenna stated. “Now, let us state the agreement in its totality.”

  “Yes.” The professor agreed.

  “In exchange for Professor Gnosis using a teleportation circle to travel to the city he wishes, using Grand Teleportation to travel to Safeharbor, retrieving a Bottomless Bag from Margaret the head of household of the V’Nova Wexler manor, using Grand Teleportation to go back to the city he used it from, using a teleportation circle to return to Altesia, and then transferring the Bottomless Bag in question to either Lenna V’Nova or Isaac Wexler personally, and the secrecy of the transaction for the time of no less than seven years, Professor Gnosis will receive a Truth-Bound first hand account of the fall of Jallen V’Nova from both his slayer and a small collection of second hand accounts not totaling less than four.” Lenna had to stop and take so many breaths as she listed off the contract as if she was reading a legal document. “Do you, Professor Gnosis, agree to these terms?”

  “I, Professor Gnosis, agree to your terms, Lenna V’Nova.” The professor agreed and Isaac felt the slightest vibration in not just the mana around them but also his wife’s soul.

  “What was that?” Isaac questioned his wife now that the agreement had been made. “And why have you both been talking like that?”

  The professor gave him a confused look and Lenna just quirked a smile. “The kind professor was operating under the assumption that I was a fey and not actually a V’Nova. Specifically a fey of the autumn court, I believe?” She said that last part with a questioning look towards the professor.

  “A fey? Why?” Isaac couldn’t help but wonder. He had never even met a fey and if she was a fey from one of the courts, a fey known for tricking mortals, then why did he even agree to it in the first place?

  “Because I have never heard of a V’Nova defecting from Dri’El and the Emperor’s service.” The professor explained. “I had assumed the Lady was a fey who had taken on the appearance of, and assumed the life of, a fallen dark elven noblewoman, and then immediately done something so out of pocket for no reason other than to shake the status quo.”

  “For the record,” Lenna began with a look towards Lucius and Esmerelda. “The Full Moon Pendants that the guardsmen in the Arbencroft Duchy use aren’t strong enough to reveal an Archfey, but they are still strong enough to reveal a fey noble of any of the courts. So, if I were a fey, then I would have to be an Archfey, otherwise I would have been discovered long ago. However, since the Veil, no Archfey is able to stay on Primatia. The Veil cuts off their connection to their own territory and they will starve to death, even if they could get in.”

  “And you just went with it to mess with him?” Isaac wondered.

  “Yes and no.” Lenna replied. “I was curious to see if he would agree to a deal with a fey in the first place. It takes a very confident, prepared, or reckless person to agree to a deal with a fey. And considering all of the tin surrounding us, I would say prepared.”

  “What does tin have to do with fey?” Isaac wondered.

  “Tin is magnetic to fey magics.” The professor explained. “Any fey magics directed at me will hit the buttons on my clothes instead of myself directly and every other piece of tin will work like a lightning rod towards any stray effects.”

  Lenna leaned forwards a bit in her chair. “This does bring a question: Why are you so afraid of the fey, Professor Gnosis?”