The Insider System

Chapter 50: Back to Work

Leaving the Master Lab Lucas turned to him and said. "I wasn't expecting you to win her over in such a manner, Is it true you're going to help the Temple fight the Demon Lord?" Lake was being forced technically but that didn't change the answer. "Yes, I promised the Temple Head before I left."

"So what?" This was a good point if Lake was a normal person who could blow off his promises. For whatever reason The Insider wanted him to work with the Light Temple and he was just going to do it because he didn't care what side he was on. "I have other reasons to fight." Nice and dramatic the only problem was Lake didn't think Lucas would let him out of the spire now.

If Lucas let him run off to join a war he wouldn't be doing what was best for the guild and with his title of Guild Leader that was probably his number one priority. "Don't worry I have no intentions of doing it any time soon only if the world is at stake." Lake wouldn't mind saving the world if he didn't have a way of leaving it.

It seemed he was stuck here, so he hoped the Demon Lord didn't try to end the world as a big F.U. to the gods. "That's good to hear because I doubt the Demon Lord will end the world while he's still stuck on it." That was a rational expectation but Lake wondered just how long the Demon Lord would stay rational especially now that the God of Light was coming back from his manhunt.

Lake bet it was about to get very chaotic. He wasn't here for the last big war so he didn't know what it had actually been like. "What was it like during the Battle between the gods and the Demon Lord?" Lake felt like this information would help him be ready for whatever happened. "Very hectic. The situation changed on a daily basis. At the beginning we all thought it was going to end like every time before, then he had his first win. He attacked the dark domain Amanda was newly ascended but we all thought she would be able to at least hold him off until the other gods were able to provide backup but we were wrong a few hours after the attack we felt the Dark element drop in power slightly, a telltale sign that a god has lost some of their divinity."

Lake loved this kind of stuff; it was like he had been transported into a movie. His life on earth had always been a little boring and it seemed he was going to have the opposite problem now. "Not to say what you told me wasn't interesting, but I was more asking if the fighting gets down to our level. Like am I going to be fighting the Demon Lords minions soon."

"I plan to keep the Guild out of the fighting this time so you shouldn't HAVE to do anything." This wasn't what Lake was expecting. Lucas seemed hung up on what happened to Amanda so Lake just assumed he would want to get revenge on the Demon Lord. "We picked sides last time, and it caused the Demon Lord to focus some of his efforts on us. We thought as the Mage guild we would be able to help fight him without suffering too much damage but he used an underhanded method to beat us. He saw how divided we already were and just offered more power to one side."

Lake could see Lucas had learned his lesson and knew the same thing could happen to the Alchemist guild so he was hoping by staging out of it the Demon Lord wouldn't pay them any attention. It wasn't Like they were a big hitter any more, as far as Lake could tell they only had a fraction of the power they used to.

They had just stepped out of the enhanced mana portion of the spire and Lake could tell his body wasn't happy. "What's this feeling?" Lucas seemed to know what this vague question was referring to because he said. "Most people call it mana withdrawal. Anyone who can use magic naturally gets used to the amount of mana in their environment and your body likes it as high as possible. It's why we still keep the top of the spire like that and why all the Masters never leave. They're so used to it if I tried to turn it off they would all gang up on me and overthrow my position. Let me tell you the amount of resources we use to keep the gathering formation running makes me cry every time I see it."

Lake was starting to wonder how much power Lucas actually had in the guild; it was starting to seem he was just buying his position by giving everyone what they wanted and this was a very unstable solution because eventually someone came along that was willing to give them more. That had actually already happened, that was how the Demon Lord destroyed the Mage guild.

Lake bet Lucas could see this as well, maybe it was what gave him his plan to take power in the first place. Lots of successful people just imitated each other anyway so this was a good strategy. "Alright now that we're out of the formation let's get moving." For whatever reason Lucas didn't seem to want to run while they were inside the formation. Maybe he was just maximizing the amount of time he got to spend in the mana.

"You don't have to come all the way to the bottom with me, you can just stop when we get to your floor." Lake felt a little bad for Lucas; he wondered why he couldn't stay closer to the top of the spire. Maybe at top speed the trip didn't take him very long and he was just slowing down for Lake's benefit.

...

20 something minutes later, Lake was walking the hallway towards his room. He was about to eat lunch and he bet his servants were better cooks than he was. "Long time no see." Lake turned to see the girl Nia he had seen last night on the way to the library had just walked in behind him. "I'm pretty sure it's been less than 8 hours since we met."

After Lake said this he realized she had probably been being sarcastic, and he was stupid. "Are you about to eat?" Lake was about to eat or at least he hoped so. "Yeah I was about to have lunch." Lake wondered if Nia was going to end up like Solomon. She was clearly about to invite him to lunch but he wondered what her intentions truly were.

"I eat Lunch with Millie around this time every day, and I was wondering if you had met her yet." Lake didn't know who this was so he shook his head no. "Well, do you want to come?" Lake wanted to flip a coin because he felt both options sucked so he just went with the more polite one. "Sure, is it right, right now, or do I need to wait for a while?"

Lake was hoping he could go home for a while to change because he had sweated from all the running he had done. "It's right right now." Lake shrugged in his mind, it wasn't a big deal if he smelled bad, at least not for him. They might not like it while they are trying to eat. "Lead the way I only know where me and Solomon's rooms are."

Lake noticed when he mentioned Solomon's name Nia's demeanor changed slightly and this made Lake more excited about the lunch he was about to have. Maybe this was a shit on Solomon party, and he was the guest of honor. Starting to walk down the opposite hallway to the one he would take to his room, Lake could tell Nia wanted to say something but was holding back until they were in a private place.

"This Is millie's room, mine is the one across from her, so if you ever need anything just knock on her door. She stays in her room most of the time so you have a good chance of her being available." After she said this Nia knocked on the door and a few seconds later someone Lake guessed wasn't Millie opened the door.

"Come right in Madam Millie is just about to finish the food." The older man that Lake assumed was one of Millie's servants guided Lake and Nia to a table. "Millie makes the food, not the servants?" Nia looked at him like he had caught on to something that was meant to be a surprise. "Just wait and see, there's no reason to ruin the surprise." This was starting to seem like Lake had made the right choice in coming here.