Chapter 132: Halloween

Chapter 132: Halloween

“Mom, I won’t let them keep the swords when they go to school. They can have them to show off outside, but I won’t let them bring actual weapons to school.” Isaac laughed, reassuring his mother once again. He’d returned a couple of days before October 31st, bringing with him a pair of fancy medieval-looking outfits for his sisters which he’d ordered before his departure.

Of course, they’d wanted to wear the half formal outfit, half gambeson suits of armor on Halloween. And the swords he’d also gotten them to teach them with absolutely had to be brought along as well. In fact, he’d gotten them a trio of blades each, a dagger, training blade and actual sword, but given that they weren’t going to be keeping the weapons today, he’d decided to let them run around with the actual sharp weapons. Of course, his mother had immediately taken askance to this, hence, the current argument.

“Ok, but they’re not allowed to play around with them on the way, no ‘playfully threatening’, nothing like that.” His mother insisted.

“I wouldn’t let them.” Isaac assured her “Blade safety is very important to me, and I’ve made sure they realize that.”

In fact, he’d included his [Blades] [Skill] in his [Bloodline], so they were already damn good with those swords, but the act of teaching them had actually gained them said [Skill] while the [Bloodline] boosted its advancement to an insane degree. Or rather, it would have, if they’d had the [System] unlocked. Isaac judged their current proficiency to be around Level 14 already.

But what he really needed to train them and others was his new [Class’] other central [Skill], [Legacy of a True Warrior]. And that was just the beginning of what he wanted to get. But it would take so damn long to get. Even getting the second central [Skill] would take ten more Levels.

Hildebrand’s Heir

Central Skills (double cost)

Legacy of a True Warrior

Armory of Ancient Times

Skills

Burden of Power

Legendary Blow

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Knightly Leader

Grizzled Visage

Valiant Charge

Expert’s Insight

Analyze Person

Empowered Endurance

Continent Strider

...

General Skills

Aura of the Old Warhorse

But that was an issue for later. For now, it was time to walk his sisters to school.

Of course, Isaac was in costume as well. He’d used [Hundred Faces] to spin the hair that had regrown since the battle in Korea into a pair of cat ears, then used some makeup to draw a black button nose and some whiskers on his face. It was, in essence, an incredibly basic costume yet done in a way that almost no one would have been able to replicate.

“So, are you two ready yet?” he called upstairs.

In lieu of a reply, a pair of tiny adventurers came tromping down to the first floor, looking like someone stole the outfits of a [Rouge] and [Bard], then spliced them together in a coherent and beautiful outfit.

“You two look so good!” his mother praised the two in that special tone only parents can pull off without sounding condescending.

The twins preened like a pair of peacocks in their armor/costumes, then rapidly shifted to embarrassment and ran outside with Isaac following after them.

“So, when are you going to fight another demon? They say you were awesome!” Tanja chirped, bouncing up and down next him in excitement as she anticipated getting to hear a war story.

... goddamned kids. Isaac simultaneously sighed and swore internally. The twins were kids, who hadn’t been exposed to the worst parts of the world, the darkness that permeated it, but they’d also grown up on a steady diet of Harry Potter, superhero movies and epic Fantasy. Saving a city still sounded like ‘fun’ to them, like something incredible and worth striving for, not a horrible, desperate struggle against overwhelming force as your friends and comrades died, with you unable to so much as shed a single tear in grief for fear of losing focus and a short while later, your life.

“Never, if I can help it.” Isaac told her “You know fighting ... isn’t fun, right? Not when it’s serious?”

“We know.” Viktoria replied with a long suffering ‘we know’ tone that sounded almost petulant. He’d told them this before, but there were certain things one couldn’t truly internalize from merely being told about. No, the true cost of war was something that, sadly, needed to be felt to be understood.

Maybe he could try to get them to understand by pressing the issue, explaining precisely what had happened to him, how people’s entrails had slopped out of their bodies as the monster tore their stomachs open, the horror in their eyes as they died ... but was that really something one should be telling a pair of six-year-olds?

He dropped the low, threatening voice as he continued “As the old saying goes, ‘he who sows wind will harvest a storm. Is that clear?”

With admirable calmness, the spy replied “Crystal.”

“And one more thing: I’d like to talk to ‘Mrs. Miller’. There’s a break in one and a half hours, right? Tell her to meet me in the small forest just outside the school.”

“I can arrange that. And I hope that our future interactions will be ... less tense. I’ll give the phone back to Polizeimeister Habicht now.”

There was another set of rustling, and then Habicht was back on the other end of the line.

“So, what was that about? I’ve never seen that jackass so nervous?”

“You couldn’t overhear?” Isaac asked.

“Sensory dampening field.” Habicht replied.

“So, this guy, what’s his name and position?”

“Johnathan Schmidt, the BAU’s spymaster. From context, I’m guessing he’s the one who sent the spy?”

“Yep. Says it’s for their protection, which makes some degree of sense, but I still don’t like it. At least now I know who to blame if something happens. Thank you for your help.” Isaac hung up.

On one hand, there’d always been that worry in the back of his mind, just how exposed his family was and what might happen to them while he wasn’t there. He’d always known that his only recourse was to take such terrible vengeance that hurting them would simply not be worth it, that anyone who tried would find their lives in ashes before they died in agony so no other person may make such an attempt. Therefore, having someone else working on keeping them safe was an incredible relief.

On the other ... someone was watching his family. And that was creepy as fuck.

Isaac ended up walking in circles around the school, using [Sneak] to fade from people’s attention as he did so. Otherwise, a man hanging around a school meant for five to ten-year-olds ... not a good look. He could have talked himself out of that, especially with his connection to the cops, but that didn’t mean he wanted to risk it.

And then, the second period ended and the children streamed out of the building and into the schoolyard to play. Isaac chuckled as he watched his siblings play tag though in this case, everyone else was ‘it’, a huge crowd chasing the blonde whirlwinds. It was cute, especially as he could tell they were holding back and letting themselves getting caught.

But there was a person leaving the schoolyard as well, draped in stealth [Skills], but still perfectly visible to Isaac’s senses.

Miller was around Level 30 or above, with a mid-range [Aura] that helped her blend in or disappear from view as she wanted to, helping her blend in as anything she wanted.

She entered the small copes of trees, looking around, failing to spot Isaac until he let himself grow visible behind her.

“Good morning Mrs. Miller.” He said, and she barely managed to avoid jumping in fright. She might be a spy, with a few years of work under her belt and all the right training, but she’d also just gotten a call from what sounded like a person who was a few steps above her direct superior and told to meet a terrifyingly powerful person in an isolated locale. And not just that, but said person had been able to hide from her. She might hide it well, but she was scared.

“Good morning Mr. Thoma.” She replied cautiously.

“So, you’re here to keep an eye on my sisters?” he asked.

“Yes.” She nodded.

“What are your orders?” he asked, his [Aura] tightening around her, able to notice even the slightest hint of deception.

“To watch your sisters, look into anyone who hung around and looked suspicious, and make sure nothing happens to them.”

She seemed sincere, but as a [Spy], there was a fair chance that she had a [Skill] to fake that. But short of completely blowing his top, there was very little Isaac could do about this situation, so he responded calmly.

“I suppose that’s a good thing. But let me tell you the same thing I told your boss: I couldn’t do much about you if you had bad intentions here and now, but after something goes wrong ... well, I suppose I’ll leave that up to the imagination.”

Isaac grinned darkly and cocked his head to the side.

“But that’s not anything you or your colleagues have to worry about right?”

She nodded uneasily.

“So we understand each other, good.” Isaac pulled an Aspect of the Poltergeist out of his storage space and tossed it to her “Catch.”

Even off kilter as she currently was, Miller was a very high Level human and managed to snatch the glowing orb out of the air with casual ease.

“You’ve already got an Aspect of the Specter, I think that’ll give you a nice upgrade.” Isaac flashed her a grin. He’d now let her, and by extension, her superiors know that none of their obfuscations worked against him, but he was willing to play ball and could be generous.

“I’m gonna go to work now, and I think you should to. And let’s try to avoid having meet again, shall we?”

And with that, Isaac teleported as far as [Phantom Step] could take him, engaging his [Stealth] [Skills] simultaneously, so when he emerged out of her line of sight, there was nothing to indicate he was still in the area. To her, it would have looked like he’d teleported a hell of a lot further.

His insides were still in turmoil by the time he reached the university, but he decided he’d work through that on his own time. He had work to do.