Henry’s eyes shot open as he felt Maurice’s nudge, and he tuned into his Octominds. Instantly, he became aware of what the subminds had seen and noted.

  On the schooling floor, two Octominds had been watching the small crowd of children still hanging around Stormsong as she displayed her control over the nimbus of water under her. Now that he had to suffer through Arisia’s training, Henry gained a new appreciation for the dolphin’s control over mana. As she floated around, followed by screaming and laughing children, he couldn’t help but think she might just become some sort of hero for the young humans of this settlement. Two of them were swimming with her, laughing as they swam up and down at the edges of the floating bubble of water.

  One girl slipped out of the bubble and began tumbling, only for a sprout of water to pick her up and push her back in the swirling ball. Seconds later, she was on Stormsong’s back, laughing at the other jealous and open-mouthed kids.

  Two other Octominds had been on Maurice-duty, and they were the two that had pulled on his attention.

  “[Henry! That’s him. The human in the yellow and red skin.]”

  Henry looked through the eyes of the clone and peered into the crowd of the market. Maurice was once more with Sera, and the youth had taken him to a place where Maurice could get a wallet.

  Well, they called it that, but it looked like nothing Henry had seen before when it came to wallets. It was a flat little circular piece of wood with runes around the edge and a crystal in the center. It could be charged with cores, and then it could be used to transfer tokens to another wallet by speaking or willing the number and rank of the tokens.

  Henry was tempted to pause and examine the information transferred to him by the Octominds, but that wasn’t the purpose of his attention being here. Instead, he gazed around until he found the person Maurice had been talking about.

  “[Skin? Those are clothes, Maurice. And I see him.]”

  It was a younger man dressed in flowing red and yellow robes, with two male attendants behind him, following as their leader tried to be subtle in his maneuver. The man was circling, slowly approaching Maurice from behind while Henry watched, and he wondered how he should deal with the brat when his main body was poked.

  Henry switched his point of view and found himself back in front of Arisia. The trainer held her notebook aside and gave him an arched brow. “Your subminds are fully engaged when they’re supposed to be idle. Is it more important than this training?”

  Now, how could he answer that without getting himself into trouble?

  Henry blinked and brought his train of thought to a grinding halt. In trouble? What was this, middle school? He was grateful for the help, but it didn’t mean he had to justify his actions.

  “Someone’s circling Maurice, and it seems like they’re up to something. Red and yellow robes with attendants. Does that mean anything to you?”

  Arisia closed her eyes and exhaled. Henry was pretty sure he saw a brow twitch.

  “Yeah. It’s the son of someone I trained, I believe. Deal with it, but don’t take too long. We’ve barely made any progress into your mana control, and we still have plenty to cover.”

  Henry nodded, then switched back to the blood clone above Maurice’s shell—after assigning a couple to watch over his main body—and watched as Sera and Maurice talked with a well dressed merchant while the young man and his attendants approached.

  [Human (C) - Lvl 43]

  Wait, how could Arisia tell I was using my Octominds? How is she seeing this stuff? I need to ask that as soon as I get back. Once this garbage is dealt with, he thought. As he watched, the two attendants separated from their master while the latter picked up speed.

  Henry didn’t know what the man intended, but he wasn’t about to let him do whatever it was he was planning.

  I wish I could create videos. I guess I could display what I’m seeing with illusions, but anyone could claim it’s fabricated.

  The attendants converged, and the young man was only a few feet away when Henry got a clearer grasp of his emotions. There was, effectively, some greed. A sense of superiority. A need to prove oneself. And a tiny bit of fear, though Henry couldn’t tell of what, but he guessed he’d have a better idea soon.

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  Dismissing Invisibility, Henry popped up atop Maurice’s shell, which made the young man’s eyes widen as he came to a stop. Behind him, the merchant haggling with Sera trailed off. Maurice turned around, which forced Henry to slowly turn as well so he could face the scheming youth.

  Henry’s yellow eyes stared into the newcomer, and he spoke with a clear, slightly echo-y voice. “Can we help you?”

  Henry had been tempted to use a terrifying and unnerving voice just like that of the Trickster, but he didn’t want to alienate himself too much. A bit of modulation and echo would do so he seemed just a little alien enough to be interesting and respected, but not too alien so he’s feared.

  “Lord Sev?” asked Sera, blinking at the newcomer.

  Without looking down, and as the surprised schemer recovered, Henry sent a message to Maurice. “[Tell Sera to get us two—no, three of those wallets.]”

  “[Okay!]”

  The so-called Sev tilted his chin up, gave Henry a dismissive look, then focused on Maurice.

  Oh right, this body’s a clone. I probably still show as a D-rank.

  Henry chuckled inwardly as the young man stared down at the crab.

  “Guest, why do you allow such weak beings to speak for you? I came to welcome you to our city, but if I’m going to be insulted this way, then I challenge you to a duel.”

  Henry was considering how to answer this and how he should go about asking about the rules and the prizes when Maurice beat him to the punch. “Oh. Okay!”

  “[Goddamit, Maurice.]”

  “[What?]”

  “[Don’t accept duels without knowing what the rules are, you goof.]”

  “[Oh. Right!]” Maurice sheepishly rubbed his pincers together and stared up at the blinking lord. The latter must have not expected his challenge to be accepted this quickly, but he clearly hadn’t been ready for what Maurice would say next. “What are the rules? And what do I win when I beat you? Aside from your core, you don’t seem to have anything of value.”

  Holy crap, Maurice.

  The plaza went dead silent, and if Henry had been in a human body, he would have been cackling at the young man’s outraged face.

  “The rules? The rules?” repeated the young man, face slowly contorting as his anger ignited. “The winner gets to live, creature. I’m making this duel to the death, and if you are no coward, you will accept it as such.”

  Maurice looked down at his claws, then around, then back up at the young man as his attendant tried to pull him away from the ever-worsening deal he was committing himself to. “Yes but what do I win if I beat you, though? I, at least, have a nice shell as well as my core. What do you have? Do you have pretty shells? Treasure? Henry said we shouldn’t eat human meat so I’m not interested in your body. What else do you have?”

  Someone laughed in the crowd. The young man’s head whipped toward the sound but he didn’t seem to find anyone. The man glowered at the crab who barely reached his hips. “Fine. I will bring one of my treasures. The duel’s tomorrow, at dawn.”

  “[Three treasures and in three days,]” whispered Henry into the crab’s mind.

  “Five treasures. In three days,” said Maurice.

  Sev bared his teeth in a snarl, then his lips pulled in a feral smile. “Alright. Three treasures. In one day. It won’t matter anyway, because I will carve you out of your shell before I display it to my guests.”

  “Okay!” said Maurice, then the crab turned away from the lord and looked up at Sera. “Can we get three wallets instead of one? I need them for… things.”

  Sev spat something to his attendants then stalked away, quickly cutting through the crowd that seamlessly parted in front of him. Sera blinked down at Maurice, then looked up at the merchant who was just as slacked-jawed as the young farmer. Slowly, both began haggling once more, though this time the merchant was quick to agree to Sera’s price, and both kept shooting Maurice and Henry looks.

  “[Good job on getting a rise of that kid. But don’t kill him.]”

  “[Okay. But why?]”

  “[It might create some unnecessary trouble. We’ll just beat him up, take his treasure, then let him go. We don’t need C-rank cores anyway,]” said Henry, then he paused. “[Actually, this is all you. Can’t help you fight, but I can give you a couple of orbs to heal up and restore some mana if you need them, just in case. And if it gets bad, we’ll run.]”

  “[Okay!]”

  Henry didn’t see how Maurice could lose to a mid-level C-rank. It might be close, and humans might be more strategic with their skills than monsters, but Maurice was not weak, and he didn’t have a mobility issue compared to Henry. A lack of water was no problem to the crustacean.

  Unless that interferes with his implosions?

  Henry would have to make sure that wasn’t the case, but he wasn’t worried much. After a quick glance around, he cast Invisibility on his clone before moving back to his main body.

  Back to training.

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