Apocalypse: Fairy System by Macronomicon (fox in socks read aloud txt) 📕

“You get something from that?” Jeb asked, glancing over his shoulder at the keegan in the corner, far away from the little girl’s bed. Nancy watched him with apprehension.

“Yes. If Nancy’s recollection is correct, O’sut said ‘you just committed a reaping, not an Honor Duel.’”

“Does that mean something?” Jeb asked.

“It implies that the rule is that the nobles must trick the children into challenging them to an Honor Duel, which they will then win handily.”

“That’s disgusting.”

“You don’t know the half of it. The winner of an Honor Duel is free from legal repercussions for the murder of the loser. Any of the aristocrats of Solmnath who’ve successfully tricked and murdered a child is legally untouchable for that murder,” Zlesk said, tightening his boney fingers into a fist. “This loophole must be closed.”

That explained why the judge was so desperate to stop Jeb from reaching O’sut. The judge had been so brazenly overconfident that he hadn’t covered his ass, legally speaking.

“What, there’s no age limit on Honor Duels?” Jeb asked.

“Not really,” Zlesk said, before his expression brightened. “But there is a book.”

“Go on.”

“Every Honor Duel that takes place in the empire must be recorded as such. Otherwise, what proof is there it wasn’t a simple killing?”

Jeb thought about it for a moment. “Are you telling me there’s a big book somewhere that’s got a list of names, and on one side will be people like ‘Baron Von Kraggle’, and the other side will have ‘Timmy the Orphan’?”

“Basically. It’s called the Book of Honor, and it’s kept in City Hall. In this case, ‘book of honor’ might be a misnomer.”

Jeb leapt to his feet. “If we get that book, we can get them for child trafficking! We get their names, trace the money they spent to buy the children from O’sut, and we’ve got them.”

“Identify the culprits, then take them down for any reason we can. Normally I would have moral objections to this, but this kind of scum needs to be removed,” Zlesk said, nodding.

“Get up!” Jeb said, heading for the door. “Let’s get to this book before they do. If you know about it, they have to know about it, too. If they haven’t come after it already, they will soon!”

“Jeb…” Zlesk said.

“What?” Jeb asked, glancing over his shoulder.

“You’ve got a broken arm, your other doesn’t work so good, and your foot is still in the shop.”

Jeb glanced down at the loaner pegleg, just visible past his arm in a sling. “What’s your point?”

“We’re not in the best shape to go after it,” Zlesk said, motioning to his own bandaged form.

“Hmm… understood. Better get help,” Jeb said, chewing his lip as he went through his list of contacts. For an operation like this, he wanted someone smart…someone stable…someone with Myst powers...

******

“Someone like you,” Jeb said, clapping Eddie on the back. They were standing on the roof of a building somewhat overlooking the center of the city of Solmnath. The hot sun was just beginning to ease up, but the rooftops themselves were still toasty against bare skin.

“This really doesn’t seem like a good idea,” the wild-haired roboticist said, setting up his satellite dish and aiming it toward City Hall.

“You didn’t think the funding and the power-leveling was going to be free, did you?” Jeb asked. “Besides, we’re hunting child-killers. Be more stoked.”

“Plenty of kids to go around,” Eddie grumbled. He tapped Legolas on the top, and the drone rose up into the air, resting on a silent plume of air. The drone was a modified package carrier from a nearby derelict Amazon warehouse, so carrying a book shouldn’t be too hard.

The stealing part, though; that was going to be Eddie. Why? Because Eddie had two working hands and Jeb couldn’t read the aliens’ chicken-scratch.

Soon as I get some free time, I need to get right on that… Just as soon as I finish making all my weapons, search the rest of my body for those weird implants in the fifth dimension, find and kill all the people who profited from murdering children….

I might be illiterate for a while.

Indefinitely, if he got murdered.

Eddie stared down at the City Hall for a moment, then back to Jeb. “I don’t think I can do this.”

“Eddie, you’re gonna have the best backup you could possibly ask for. Legolas here,” Jeb said, pointing with his thumb. “You told me yourself he’s the most advanced drone on the face of the planet. He’s as smart as a golden retriever.”

Legolas’s cameras oriented on Jeb and the whole thing wobbled in place, the only method of emoting the drone had.

“What about you?” Eddie asked, his eyes pleading.

“I will be your lookout,” Jeb said. “If you die, I will make sure to tell everyone back at the orphanage what happened to you.”

Eddie paled.

“And if something goes wrong, I’ll just tell you.” Jeb picked up the old phone connected to the dish and spoke into it, his voice echoed by the speakers on the drone’s body.

“Testing, testing, one, two, three.”

“Do I have to do this?” Eddie whined.

“No,” Jeb grudgingly admitted. “But I can keep you out of the basement for an entire afternoon if you don’t.”

The old man’s face became a mask of stone-like determination.

“Let’s do this.”

***Kol Rejan, level 57 Courier***

Kol glanced up, the tugging sensation in his mind leading him unerringly to his prey. The human was above him, on the roof of the building for some reason.

This fellow might be more trouble than he’s worth. Word was the man had been tapped by an enforcer to stir up trouble in Solmnath.

Now Kol had to decide whether or not to try and make good on his assassination. As a professional, he had to weigh the risk of crossing an enforcer against the