This Used To Be About Dungeons полностью

“Unclear,” said Alfric. “Legend goes that seven hundred years ago in Tarbin, three large families either chanced into it or somehow earned it from one of the gods, and careful marriages saved the line from going out. Those careful marriages aren’t as necessary today, because there are so many of us, but they’re still practiced to make sure there’s another generation.”

“But you didn’t want to marry her,” said Isra. “Or have her children.”

“It’s complicated,” said Alfric. “But no.”

“She seemed a little intense,” said Mizuki. “A little frightening.”

“She was always like that,” said Alfric. “And she was always cavalier about using her power, much more than we’re supposed to be.” He hesitated. “She’s an alienist.”

“A potent combination,” said Hannah. “If things go wrong with how she tries to bind, she undoes and tries again, ay?” Alienists were scary, mostly because the binding needed to be done with utmost care, and if it wasn’t, then people could die. Flaws in the binding could also crop up later on, resulting in self-immolation, or decapitation, or worse. It was something people didn’t go into unless they had both the natural aptitude and tolerance for risk, but for a chrononaut, at least some of the problems could be swept to the side.

“The extent of the risks she’s taken,” said Alfric, “the things she’s done and then undone… there’s no way of knowing. Entads don’t work with our power. The most you could do is comb through her memories, but if there’s a method of involuntary memory combing, I haven’t heard of it. There were suspicions though. Things she knew that she shouldn’t have known. Metaphors she’d drop that… weren’t the kind of metaphors someone would make unless there were certain things they’d done and seen. She admitted a few things to me, mostly petty crimes and social transgressions, but there was often the hint of something more. She said that she’d stabbed someone once, but she never revealed who because we got in a fight about it.”

“Is there a chance she killed me?” asked Mizuki, eyes wide.

Alfric’s lips went thin. “It’s not clear if she’s ever killed anyone. I don’t want to slander her. It’s all rumors, and I know how rumors that you can’t possibly refute can be. I… would think it likely that she’d spoken with you before but unlikely that she tried to hurt you.” If it had come to that, an alienist against a sorcerer… well, Hannah didn’t know enough to say, but her money was on Mizuki unless it was a surprise attack. The problem was that it very probably would be a surprise attack.

“She sounds horrible,” said Isra. She had her arms folded and was watching carefully.

“She wasn’t,” said Alfric. “I mean… you have to understand how it is for us. We live through days that we know aren’t going to matter. She came into her ability early, around ten, and I think at that age, she felt more of a need to push the boundaries. And then after that, when we were older, she knew exactly how far the boundaries could be pushed, how easy it could be to steal things, how people would react if she said something obscene, and—all of that would have been fine, maybe, bad things that got undone, but I never played those games with her, and she didn’t like that.”

“You never did any of that stuff?” asked Mizuki. “You never once insulted someone who you knew wouldn’t have any memory of it?”

“When I was younger I wasn’t perfect.” He took a breath. “I went into dungeons,” said Alfric. “Alone.”

Mizuki gaped at him. “City dungeons?” she asked.

“Ones on the city outskirts,” said Alfric. “Using a key that I stole from my parents. I just… wanted to see what they were like. I never made it out alive. Six times total. It was something Lola and I bonded over, though we probably shouldn’t have.”

“And then later on you had a fight and went your separate paths, ay?” asked Hannah.

“Not quite. I had plans,” said Alfric. “I was a part of the Junior Adventurers’ League, training, getting ready, recruiting a team, training with a team. I had maps and plans,” he turned to Mizuki, “and yes, I know, that’s very funny.”

She frowned. “Not in this context, no.”

“We were a week, a week away from heading out,” said Alfric. “We were just waiting for our last member to turn seventeen. Then, very suddenly, I was out of the party, and it was her party instead. I don’t know how long she had been working on it, but she pulled the rug out from under me.”

“And that’s why you have us,” said Isra.