“One of his henchmen tried to kill me, so yeah, I’ll be watching out. What about you?”

“Mother said you barely mentioned me,” she said with a pout.

“I can’t go around making decisions based on dark, gorgeous eyes,” he said. “Besides, integrity is sexy.”

He reached out for her hand as they sat side-by-side, intertwining their fingers.

“You’ll be away for a little while,” he said.

“I don’t like that you’re not coming,” she said. “We could have had a fun little trip away.”

“We can do that when you come back,” Jason said. “I assume your family owns an obnoxiously large boat. We could have a little sailing trip. A picnic basket, some wine… a small army of nautically adept servants.”

She laughed, resting a head on his shoulder. “Something to look forwards to.”

“You can tell me all about your exciting adventures in the astral space.”

“Deal,” she said. “Maybe you should round out your awakening stones while we’re gone,” she said. “Take the chance to blitz some one-star contracts, get moving towards bronze. You have to get there before I hit silver, you know.”

“My friends told me not to do that,” Jason said. “It seems there might be an unusual opportunity not long after they get back.”

“Oh?” she prompted.

“They’re still not giving me any details,” Jason said. “It’s something to do with why they came here in the first place. They’re expecting another adventurer to arrive. A gold-ranker, apparently.”

“I’ve heard rumblings about that. Maybe you should catch that thief giving everyone so much trouble. My uncle and the Adventure Society director have been quite contentious about it, behind the scenes.”

“The whole thing seems sketchy to me,” Jason said. “High-profile jobs, the Duke and Elspeth Arella taking such an interest. The whole thing smells of politics.”

“You know, she was almost caught a few days ago. A group of adventurers almost pinned her down, but they were attacked.”

“By who?”

“No one knows,” Cassandra said. “They just slowed them down for long enough for her to escape, then fled themselves. Dressed all in black. They weren’t even iron-rankers.”

“I told you,” Jason said. “Politics. There’s a mess of undercurrents running through the whole business.”

“You don’t want to catch her?”

“She’s robbing from rich people,” Jason said. “I can appreciate that.”

“Aren’t you rich?”

“Not compared to you.”

98. The Point of Money and Power

98

The Point of Money and Power

The Adventure Society campus was a sea of chaos as the grand expedition prepared to depart. With the Ustei detained in the marshalling yard and being prepared to move, the adventurers were gathering in front of the main administration building. Neither space was designed for that many people or that kind of activity, so people were spilling out all over the campus.